Far and beyond the stars there's
A place where all the love,
All the goodness we could have still resides
But we choose life away from the light
You can find ghosts of loss in the gaze of your
Beautiful child

Sonata Arctica – What Did You Do In The War, Dad?

Chapter 17

An elephant in the room

3 weeks later

"You cannot catch me!" I giggled and ran across the garden. I was very careful for not to run too fast, I wanted Owen to think that I was a human girl. And I wanted him to catch me. Gawain was running next to me, barking and wagging its little tail. He was the cutest thing I had ever seen, I loved him. I loved Owen too; he was the first friend I had ever had. I was so happy that he wanted to play with me, he always made me laugh. He didn't think that I was a demon and he was never mean to me like those human girls.

It was daytime, but I wasn't tired at all, I enjoyed spending time with Owen and Gawain too much to be tired. I had talked to papa and Rebekah about my nightmares, they had told me many times that I wasn't bad, those people had been bad. I wasn't a demon, I was special. Owen had said that too, he was so sweet. I still didn't want to feed on humans, somehow I was afraid that someone would hurt me again if I would, but papa, Rebekah, uncle Klaus and uncle Kol let me to feed on them.

I had been proud when I had told them that I hadn't said anything about them to the bad man who had hurt me, I had protected my family. Uncle Klaus and uncle Kol had been very quiet, but Rebekah had started to cry, I hadn't meant to make her feel bad. Papa had told me that I didn't have to protect him; it was his job to protect me. I didn't believe that, I would always protect him and my whole family.

Owen would be my family too, we would get married when we would grow up, I had already told him that I wanted to marry him and he had agreed. He had taken me to the kitchen to meet his mama, I had curtsied like Rebekah had taught and asked her could I marry her son. She had looked shocked and stuttered and I should speak with papa, but I knew that I didn't have to; papa had promised to give me whatever I wanted that would make me happy. Owen didn't seem to catch up with me, so I slowed down. He slowed down as well; I stopped and turned to look at him.

"You are not really trying," I said.

He smiled and stopped in front of me.

"Mama told me to be a gentleman when I play with you."

I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because you are a girl," he replied. "And you are a lady."

"No, I am not," I argued. "I am your fiancée. You do not have to act like a gentleman towards your fiancée. Right?"

We both pondered about it for a moment, I wasn't completely sure how grooms were supposed to act.

"I can ask my mama," he suggested.

I nodded.

"And I can ask papa or Rebekah, I am sure they know."

I looked at him and blinked my eyes like I had seen the women in the tavern doing.

"Do you want to hold my hand?" I asked.

Owen looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded.

"Sure, if you want."

I smiled and took his hand, squishing it tightly.

"You will be a great husband," I said and kissed his cheek. That made him blush; I loved how shy he was. "You need to get me a ring."

"Oh…" he muttered. "Where do I get it?"

I thought about it, but I really didn't know. I would have to ask papa about that as well.

"I do not like this chap," Kol muttered and crossed his arms while watching two laughing children and a barking fur ball running around in the garden. "I think he is up to something."

Rebekah looked at him disbelievingly.

"Kol, he is 9-years-old."

"That does not matter," Kol snorted. "I already chased girls when I was 9."

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I remember, you pulled their hair and shoved them on the ground; that is what children do."

"Exactly! She is smaller than him, he may not be careful enough…"

"For heaven's sake, Kol, she is a vampire! If anyone is in danger to get hurt, it's him."

Kol snorted, he still didn't think it was a good idea to let her to socialize with some human boy, although he had to admit that the boy had probably helped her at least a little. She was smiling and laughing again and what was even more important, she was feeding.

"Well, I think it is cute to see that you care about her," Rebekah said and tapped his shoulder.

Her words made Kol tense; he didn't want anyone to think that he was weak. Yes, maybe he cared about her, but that wasn't anyone else's business.

"She is my progeny," Kol replied coolly. "I believe it is my responsibility to show some interest."

Rebekah seemed amused.

"Whatever you say, brother."

Kol huffed and marched towards the courtyard, Rebekah stayed in the garden to watch over Eva, as she always did when the little vampire was playing outside. Who would have ever thought that his sister could actually be maternal? But then again, who would have ever thought that he himself could care about a child, there certainly wasn't anything paternal about him. No, she wasn't just any child, she was his midget. To be honest, at first he had only seen her as an interesting new toy, something that could entertain him for a while.

Even though he had his faults, he wouldn't have intentionally turned a child, but since the damage had already been done, he hadn't seen any reason to waste her, like Elijah had done. Then he had unfortunately noticed that despite of being a vampire, she was still most of all a child and not even him was twisted enough to neither corrupt nor certainly torture a child. The sad thing was that comparing to those hunters; he actually started to seem like a decent guy. That was actually pretty annoying.

He could still hear the sound of her laughter while reaching the courtyard; she seemed to have a good time with the boy. That didn't mean that he would have started to like the boy, he didn't want her to get hurt again, not by any human. The need to protect her felt very strange, he hadn't felt anything like it for a long time. Perhaps in some way she reminded him of Henrik. They had been very close and Kol had loved his baby brother, the pain of losing him hadn't disappeared along the centuries, even though he didn't show it to anyone.

He had spent most of his vampire life by himself; he only lived with his siblings occasionally, sometimes months, sometimes even years, depending on his mood. He usually enjoyed especially Nik's company, probably because they had a lot in common and they had often hunted together. Nik certainly hadn't been good company a decade ago when he had lost his chance to break the curse, but things were better now. Kol bit his bottom lip while marching inside; he had a big decision to make.

Elijah had told him yesterday that his siblings were moving to Cornwall, just in case, and now he had to choose whether he would move with them or go to his separate way. Basically the choice shouldn't be too difficult, he had spent almost a year with his siblings and he wanted to travel, but… His midget would go where his siblings would go. That was a dilemma he had never thought he would have to seriously ponder. He sighed before entering the parlor; Nik and Elijah were sitting on the sofa.

"I think she will love the sea…" Nik was just saying.

"Are you sure that she is ready to move?" Kol asked casually. "She is still recovering."

"Yes and we want to keep her safe," Elijah replied. "What about you, have you made your decision yet?"

Kol shrugged and poured himself some wine.

"Not yet."

They all turned to the door when Eva came in running, followed by Rebekah.

"There she is," Elijah said warmly when she wrapped her arms around him. "Did you have a good time?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Owen is so sweet, he let me win."

"That's nice," Elijah said and picked up his goblet. "It sounds that you really like him."

"I do, he is my groom," Eva announced proudly. "I will marry him."

Kol bit his lip; his brothers seemed amused as well.

"We have already practiced for our wedding night," Eva continued.

Elijah started to cough; it seemed that he was choking on his wine.

"What?" Nik, Kol and Rebekah asked simultaneously.

Eva looked at them all alternately; obviously she couldn't understand why they were so upset.

"I will kill that boy…" Nik muttered.

"You will have to wait for your turn," Kol hissed.

Rebekah kneeled in front of Eva, trying to look calm.

"Sweetie, I need you to tell me what happened. No one will be angry at you, I promise."

Eva looked confused.

"I…"

"What did that boy do to you, sweetheart?" Nik asked tensely.

"We…held hands," Eva muttered. "Was that bad?"

Elijah cleared his throat and it seemed that Nik was about to burst into laughter, but Kol didn't find this funny at all.

"Yes, midget," he said. "You must understand that boys only want one thing…"

"Kol!" Rebekah snapped. "She is 8!"

"That's my point," Kol replied tensely. "She should not have anything to do with boys!"

Eva looked at him insecurely.

"But…I like Owen, he is nice."

"Yes, yes," Kol huffed. "They all seem nice at first…."

"Kol," Elijah said firmly. "This is not the right way. Come here, Eva."

She glanced at Kol before moving in front of Elijah, he lifted her onto his lap.

"It is nice that you have a friend, but you must remember that he is a human, he is not…like us. And about you marrying him, that is something that adults do, you are both children."

"I know, papa, but I want to marry him when we grow up," Eva said. "Can I?"

An uncomfortable silence followed her words; no one seemed to know what to say. Kol knew that they were all thinking about the same thing, she would never grow up. Elijah looked tense to say the least; even he had trouble finding words.

"Eva…"

She looked at him expectantly, but he didn't seem to know how to continue.

"Hey, midget," Kol cut in. "I bet I can get to the library faster than you."

She turned to look at him and jumped to the floor.

"No, you cannot," she said determinedly.

Kol grinned.

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

"Hey, you cheated!" she protested when he zoomed out, but she was right behind him. She was fast, so fast that he didn't have to slow down at all; she still reached the library before him.

"I won," she laughed and showed him her tongue.

He smiled and scooped her up.

"So you did."

The sincere trust in her eyes made him uncomfortable, people never looked at him like that and he certainly didn't want them to.

"Can we do that again?" she asked.

"Sure."

He was willing to do that as many times as it was necessary in order for her to forget her question. Obviously someone would have to have that talk with her sooner or later, but later sounded much better.