You're falling farther than
I've ever seen you fall before
For me to wonder when
I'll recognize you anymore

To see no light inside your eyes at all
To bang my head against the wall
And force myself to watch you pull away

Caleb Kane - Once

Chapter 54

Alternate reality

"Hello, little one," Stefan said to me very calmly before I managed to get over my surprise. "There's no need to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you."

I stared at him disbelievingly, what the hell was he talking about? What was he doing here and where was Rebekah? He was smiling at me sympathetically; this definitely wasn't the ripper I had known.

"What…" I muttered.

"Are you alright?" he asked, he sounded genuinely concerned. "The chains aren't burning you, are they?"

I shook my head, was this some kind of joke or had I ended up in some alternate reality?

"What is going on?" I finally managed to ask. "What are you doing here?"

He sighed.

"I'm really sorry about all of this, but no one is going to hurt you, I promise. I'm Stefan. What's your name, sweetheart?"

This wasn't a joke; he had no idea who I was. Compulsion. But who had compelled him and why? Only an Original could have done that. Rebekah? Why would she compel her lover to forget me? He was looking at me expectantly, for a moment I had forgotten that he had asked me a question.

"Eva," I muttered, trying to clear my thoughts.

"That's a very pretty name," he said, like he would have talked to a child. "How old are you, Eva?"

"Why am I here?" I asked, I was in no mood to play with him. "What do you want from me?"

He looked guilty when he stepped in front of me and kneeled down in order to be on the same level with me.

"Listen, sweetheart, as I said, no one is going to hurt you…"

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Stef," a familiar male voice interrupted him.

My eyes widened in shock when I saw Damon standing in the doorway. What… He glanced at me carelessly while stepping inside; Stefan stood up and turned around to face him.

"Playing Mary Poppins with our hostage, are we?" Damon huffed mockingly.

"Enough, Damon," Stefan replied. "She's a child and we're not monsters."

"Speak for yourself. And besides, I think it's safe to say that she's no helpless little bundle of joy." He paused and turned to look at me.

"Are you, sweetheart?"

For the first time in a long time I was speechless, this couldn't be the Damon I had known and loved. The arrogant smile, the coldness in his eyes, the mocking tone of his voice…. What had happened to him?

"I'm curious," he continued when I didn't say anything. "What are you to Elijah? My guess would be his pet. Have he taught you any good tricks?"

"Damon," Stefan snapped.

"Relax, bro, I was kidding. Where's your sense of humor?"

"He's… your brother?" I muttered.

"Yes, it's hard to believe, isn't it," Damon replied.

It really was. Maybe I had indeed ended up in some alternate reality. Damon was the ripper's brother and they had chained me in their cellar. What the hell was going on? I knew that Kol had compelled Damon to forget me, but I still would have never expected something like this. What I remembered was the sweet, heartbroken baby vampire who had been completely lost.

He had told me how he missed his deceased mother, felt guilty because the death of his father, hated but also missed his little brother, loved the woman who had played with them both and turned them into vampires and hoped to find some place in this world where he belonged. For a short moment we had both found that place together, we had been a family. I had tried to find him several times along the years, hoping to make sure that he was alright, but now I felt guilty for not trying harder. There didn't seem to be much left of my sweet baby vampire.

"Stefan?" a female voice said from the door. "Elena just told Jenna everything; she could use your help and…what the hell?"

The blonde woman was staring at me disbelievingly, she looked shocked.

"Easy there, blondie," Damon huffed.

"What… what the hell are you doing? This is a child!"

"Hardly. She's a vampire."

The woman looked even more shocked, she didn't seem to know what to think.

"Who is she? What is she doing here?"

"She's Elijah's pet or maybe his girlfriend, I don't know or care. The main thing is that he's not going to do anything as long as we have her."

"She's the leverage you mentioned?" the blonde asked disbelievingly. "You can't be serious, does Elena know about this?"

"Yes, so back off. Right now we're all stuck in here, so let's try to get along, shall we?"

The blonde crossed her arms and glared at Damon.

"Stefan? You're fine by this?"

"No, but we don't have much choice," he sighed. "We need to deal with Klaus and now Elijah is on the loose, so I would say we need all the help we can get."

Klaus? What was going on here? Did they honestly think that they could "deal" with Klaus? If they had somehow got on his wrong side, they didn't stand a chance. I needed to get out of here and get to the bottom of this. I was pretty sure that Damon and Stefan wouldn't release me, but this blonde seemed useful. She turned to look at me when I let out a sob.

"I want my mommy. I'm scared and these things hurt."

The blonde was already approaching me, but Damon stopped her.

"She's a child!" the blonde snapped. "You can't keep her like this!"

"The mini monster is faking it," Damon snorted. "She's fine; the vervain isn't touching her skin."

"I don't care, this is still wrong."

"Well boohoo, feel free to complain to Amnesty, nobody here cares."

"You just wait…"

"Alright, alright, enough," Stefan said. "Look, Caroline, I don't like this any more than you do, but as I said, we don't have a choice. We can't let her go; she's the only thing keeping Elijah from killing us all."

The blonde pressed her lips together; she didn't seem pleased at all.

"Fine, but I'm not leaving her like this. I'll be right back."

Damon rolled his eyes after she had zoomed out.

"This is going to be just peachy. You, me, Elena, Auntie Gilbert, little Gilbert, the blondie, the waiter boy, Bonnie and our special guest star, the mini monster. Just like the Brady Bunch. Too bad Katherine took off; this circus could have used one evil bitch."

"We have you for that," Stefan stated.

"Ouch, nice one, Stef."

I couldn't help but to feel curiosity when I observed them. Knowing that they were brothers was more than strange and neither of them seemed to be the person I had known. I wanted to ask what they had done to anger Klaus, but right now it would be best to keep my mouth shut and my ears open. I couldn't help but wonder what papa had to do with all this. According to Dr. Martin, he needed the brunette for something, that was pretty much all I knew. Everything else I would have to find out by myself. I looked up when the blonde returned with a teddy bear and a blanket.

"Are you kidding me?" Damon snorted.

"Shut up," she huffed and marched in front of me. "Hi," she said and wrapped the blanket around me. "I'm Caroline."

"I'm Eva."

"It's nice to meet you, Eva. I'm sorry for that jerk."

"That's Mr. Jerk to you," Damon huffed.

"You just love to hear yourself talk, do you?" Stefan snorted.

I suppressed a smile, for some strange reason they reminded me of Klaus and Kol.

"Everything is going to be alright, Eva," Caroline said and touched my cheek before placing the teddy bear next to me. "Is there anything you need?"

I saw genuine concern in her eyes, my appearance often made people protective of me. She seemed like a nice person and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to take advantage of her kindness, but I would if I would have to. I needed to get out of here and find papa before he would kill everyone. I blinked my eyes and rubbed my cheek against Caroline's arm.

"Could you stay with me, Miss Caroline? I don't want to be all alone."

"Yes, of course…"

"No," Damon cut in. "Again, she's faking it. Go upstairs, no one is staying here."

"If you think that you can give me orders…"

Suddenly she was quiet, we had all heard it. The doorbell.

"We're all here, right?" Damon muttered.

Caroline nodded.

"Yeah."

The three of them zoomed out almost simultaneously, leaving me alone in the cell. I tried my hardest, but I couldn't move my hands or legs, I was completely stuck. Damn it.