Loving your dream
Carrying your pain
Watching me going slowly to my grave

Didn't know you
Didn't know you
Sipping hatred in a glass of milk
Injecting fears in my brittle little veins

Didn't know you
Didn't know you
Talking nonsense to me
I wish I could believe
Living me untended so little left to give

Awim – Kill Me

Chapter 15

Broken

3 days later

"How is she?" Klaus asked.

"What do you think, she is traumatized," Elijah replied tensely. "She has not spoken a word, she does not feed and when she falls asleep, she has nightmares."

Klaus clenched his fists; those bastards would have deserved to suffer much more.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Elijah shook his head, he seemed tired.

"Bekah and I have been with her in turns, she cannot be alone. Now if you'll excuse me, I have few things to take care of before picking her up from Bekah."

Klaus stood in the hallway for a while after Elijah had walked away, he hated feeling so helpless. He hadn't seen Eva after he and Kol had brought her back to the castle, he tried to convince himself that he was doing the right thing, Elijah and Rebekah took a good care of her, surely she was comfortable with them. Sadly the truth was that he was too much of a coward to face her, she probably blamed him for what had happened, like Rebekah and Elijah did.

Klaus certainly blamed himself and that definitely didn't happen very often. Seeing her tortured little body had genuinely shocked him, she was an innocent child who had offered him her favorite toy for making him feel better. How could anyone hurt someone like her? The thought made him furious, for the last days he had mostly just drank and took his anger out on anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross his path.

He had honestly never thought that he could feel like this, especially since he wasn't supposed to feel anything at all. He had to see her. Determinedly he marched towards Rebekah's chamber; he would just take a quick look. He almost turned back few times, but somehow he made it to his sister's door and stopped in front of it. The voice coming from inside wasn't Rebekah's, it was Kol's.

Klaus frowned and opened the door slightly, just enough to see inside. Kol was sitting on an armchair in front of the fireplace, holding Eva. There was a blanket wrapped around her and she had grabbed Kol's shirt with both hands, squishing it like her life would depend on it. Her eyes were open, but there was nothing there, all the innocent light in her eyes had vanished, she was just staring in front of her like a statue.

"Listen now, midget," Kol said using a very strange and uncharacteristic tone, apparently he tried to sound kind and compassionate. He didn't really succeed, something like that certainly didn't come natural to him, but it sounded that he was really trying.

"Rebekah told me that you have not fed and that is not acceptable. Are you listening to me, midget?"

She didn't say anything; she just stared in front of her.

Kol sighed and stroked her hair; she was still squishing his shirt.

"I am not going to say that I would know what you are going through, because I don't, but… Could you take just a small sip? Please."

Kol didn't get any reply; he waited a moment before biting his wrist.

"Just a little sip…"

Eva's body started to shake violently when he brought his wrist in front of her face, her eyes watered up before she closed them and shook her head.

"Bad…"

Her voice was barely a whisper, she was shaking even more.

"Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad…"

"Hey, hey," Kol said, trying to calm her down by stroking her back. "Eva…"

"Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad…"

"No, listen to me, whatever those sick bastards said to you, it was not true. Do you hear me, it was not true, you are not bad. You are a sweet little girl, my midget. Please come back to me."

There was pain in Kol's eyes when he wrapped his arms gently around the sobbing little creature, Klaus wouldn't have believed it if he wouldn't have seen it with his own eyes. Being completely honest, he hadn't thought that his little brother was capable of truly caring about anyone except himself. Not that Klaus himself was any different; he had preached to his siblings several times that feelings were a weakness. Of course he cared about his family, but he had a short temper even with them, he didn't tolerate disappointments. He waited until Kol had managed to calm Eva down before entering the room; Kol's face was callous when he looked up.

"Where is Bekah?" Klaus asked.

"She…needed a moment," Kol replied tensely.

Klaus looked at Eva who had curled up against Kol's chest; his hand was still stroking her hair. They were both quiet for a long while; there really wasn't much to say. Klaus had meant to offer to send some of the witches to examine her in case a physical damage prevented her from feeding and speaking, but obviously that wasn't the case. Her body was maybe healed, but her mind was shattered, who knew how badly. He noticed her horse on Rebekah's bed and picked it up.

"This is her favorite toy," he muttered and handed it to Kol.

"Hey, look who is here," Kol said, but she kept her face buried in his chest.

Klaus kneeled next to the armchair and touched her hair.

"You will have that pony very soon, sweetheart," he said. "Then I will teach you how to ride."

She didn't say anything, but her body didn't tremble anymore.

"A pony, huh?" Kol said. "That sounds like fun, would you agree, midget?"

Klaus turned to the door when he heard someone coming in, Rebekah looked exhausted and clearly she had been crying. Elijah was with her, he had wrapped his arm around her.

"Hi, sweetie," Rebekah said, forcing a smile on her face. "Did she…"

Kol shook his head.

"I tried, but I cannot force her to eat."

"No, of course not," Elijah said looked at Rebekah. "Get some rest; I will take her to my chamber."

Rebekah let out a sob and leaned on Elijah's shoulder.

"I'm sorry; it kills me to see her like this. She is just a child…"

"I know," Elijah replied quietly and touched Rebekah's shoulder before moving in front of the armchair.

"Eva? Don't be scared, sweetheart, it's papa."

Klaus was about to ask why would she be scared, but he didn't have time to do that when Elijah bent down and tried to pick her up from Kol's arms. She panicked completely, letting out a heartbreaking whimper. Her body was trembling again and she tried desperately to hold on Kol's shirt.

"It's alright, it's alright…"

Kol stood up and tried to turn her around so she would see Elijah, but she was fighting him as hard as she could. Rebekah tried to help them, but it took a long while before Eva was in Elijah's arms, squishing his shirt.

"I will see you soon, sweetie," Rebekah said and touched Eva's hair before Elijah carried her out. Fresh tears coursed down Rebekah's cheeks, but she wiped them away before sitting on her bed.

"Can I have some privacy, please," she muttered tensely.

Kol didn't need to be told twice, he left immediately.

"Bekah…" Klaus started.

"Just go, Nik," she interrupted him tiredly. "I need to rest…"

She lied down, turning her back to him. Klaus bit his lip, but he didn't say anything, he simply walked out. It seemed that his siblings truly cared about the little vampire, but that wasn't surprising, she really was something special. All he could think about was that there had to be some way he could help her. He wanted nothing more than to bring that light back into her eyes.