3.
Katniss wasn't having a good day.
She was missing practice again.
And Gale wouldn't stop asking questions. All day with the questions…
The whole school was buzzing about Cato and Clove's disappearances and she couldn't tell anyone that Clove, at least, was…
She kept staring at the house with a scorn on her face.
She had checked the address Haymitch – don't call me Mr Abernathy when we ain't in class, sweetheart, makes me feel like a dinosaur – had given her three times and there was no mistake: it was here. He was living in a big house fit to host at least four people, at the very end of the very classy suburbia that had been so expensive that even the wealthiest people in town hadn't been able to afford it. It had long been abandoned – which was why most of the houses were empty and it looked like a ghost town up there. This, somehow, was a joke.
She had been debating between joke and nightmare since the previous night though.
After they were done eating their burgers, he had taken her to the woods for a patrol. A part of her had wondered if she was crazy to follow him up there where they would be alone and he would be able to do whatever he wanted with her before murdering her like the crazy person he obviously was.
They hadn't found Cato but they had found the guy who tended to the cashing machine at the gas station. And he had been very intent on eating them for dinner.
Haymitch had been absolutely unhelpful.
He had leaned against a tree and had shouted instructions she had followed as best as she could. She hadn't known she could fight before, not like that at least. But fighting, it turned out, had become instinctive and it made her body hum with the thrill of the hunt. The feeling when she had dusted that vampire had been incredible but it had only lasted a few seconds. Then her stomach had started churning again because it was uncomfortably and unfamiliarly full and Haymitch, instead of congratulating her, had told her she needed to up her game if she didn't want to end up dead.
She had argued that she had killed three vampires in two days and he had barely gotten one.
He had replied that they were fledglings and that if they ever encountered a master vampire, they would both be in troubles. Apparently, age and power came hand in hand for vampires.
She needed to train.
He had told her that at least ten times. She needed to train, to become better, to become stronger, to become…
She wasn't sure what she was supposed to become. Not dead probably.
The thing with Haymitch… One second, she hated him. The next, she pitied him.
He was nasty and mean but half of that seemed to be an act and the other half self-preservation. She could relate.
Anyway, that was how she had ended up staring at a house that looked just as empty as its neighbors, in what could have been the wealthiest part of town if it hadn't become the most decrepit. The house itself wasn't in awesome shape. The grass was out of control in the yard and at least two blinds were broken and hanging against the outer wall. It looked just as deserted as the other ones.
She only knew it was the right one because there was a bike parked in the driveway.
Now, the bike didn't look shiny or new but it looked in pristine conditions as far as she could tell – and she wasn't an expert on bikes by any means. She knew it was a Harley because the brand was right there for her to spot, white words on the black paint.
The bike was the reason she had checked the address the last two times. She just couldn't picture Haymitch on a bike, the same way she couldn't picture him teaching her anything about fighting. Sure, he had dusted that vampire the night they had met and, sure, he had slammed his elbow in Clove's face… But, then again, he had also gotten bitten.
The front door suddenly opened and Haymitch stood there, glaring at her. "You're gonna stand out here all day or you're gonna come in at some point? You won't learn anything out there, girl." She scowled but stomped her feet into the house, annoyed to have been caught staring. "Before I forget…" He thrust the vampyr book in her hands before he had even slammed the front door shut. "Homework."
She placed it in her bag with a little more care than he had shown, still feeling an odd sense of belonging for that book, and kept quiet.
She was ill-at-ease.
She didn't want to be there but he had said he would help with the money.
The way she saw it, since she didn't have a choice, she might as well get as much out of this Slayer thing as she could get. She would hunt vampires down and train with him and, in exchange, he would get enough food to feed her sister and he would help her take care of the bills. It was like a job, albeit a dangerous one.
She followed him to the kitchen. There was a plate on the table with a sandwich on it and an unopened bottle of coke next to it.
"Eat." he muttered, heading to the counter. He poured himself a cup of coffee and added some of whatever he kept in his flask into it.
She felt herself turn red. "I don't need…"
"It's just a fucking sandwich not a four stars meal." he cut her off before she could finish her lie. "You're gonna burn a lot of calories and I'm pretty sure you didn't have lunch or breakfast. Eat."
This time it was an order and, since it was in relation to the job, she could accept it without it being charity. She still regretted accepting Mellark's piece of cake the previous day. He seemed to think they were friends now. He stopped to greet her in the hallways and chatted with her in Biology until Madge arrived and he never seemed to think it wrong or odd that she only answered by monosyllabic answers. Charity was dangerous.
She cut the sandwich in half and carefully didn't notice that it had been made and not bought. She couldn't remember the last time someone had fixed her a snack.
"Eat it all." he grumbled when he saw what she was doing. "I've been to the shop. I have groceries you can take home."
Her heart was racing again.
How much was risking her life worth? She couldn't take too much or it wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be a business deal anymore. She couldn't allow herself to depend on anyone because… It wasn't just her, it was Prim too and when Haymitch would bail – because adults always bailed…
"Didn't know being a teacher paid that much." she shot out.
"Doesn't." he dismissed. "The teaching is just for cover. I hate it." He shook his head. "Being a Watcher pays well and I've got few needs."
"Why this house?" she asked. It was too big, too isolated and there was a musty smell in the air as if it had been closed up too long.
"'Cause I own it and it was easier than go real-estate shopping." he deadpanned. "Now, stop playing twenty questions and eat your sandwich so I can kick your ass down a peg or two."
When he led her down to the basement, after she was done eating the whole sandwich, she was very confident he wouldn't be able to land so much as one hit. She remembered the feeling from the previous night, when she had been fighting that vampire… She had felt incredible. Like she was coming into her own. The power was hers and she had felt invulnerable. He, on the other hand, had no superhuman abilities, was old and, she suspected, a little drunk. Easy prey.
Haymitch had turned the basement into a gym of sort. There was a punching bag dangling from the ceiling in one corner, various weapons mounted on the walls and training equipment crammed into another corner. She inspected the swords and axes with curiosity while he dragged heavy looking gym mats to the center of the room. Some of the blades were rusty. She went over to the punching bag and realized it was a little saggy.
"I'll get all that fixed." Haymitch said when he saw what she was looking at. "Most of this stuff is outdated anyway. Start warming up."
She revised her judgment. He hadn't turned the basement into a training room. This stuff must have been around for decades.
What had he said about the house again? 'Cause I own it. From one of the two times he had lived in the Seam?
"So you can shoot a bow." he said, still arranging mats while she stretched like they did in PE. She felt more and more stupid. "What else?"
"Knife." She shrugged. "Sometimes when you hunt, you've got to use one. I can toss one well enough."
"Yeah?" he perked up. "Knives were kind of my specialties back in the day. Doesn't work that well with vampires but they're not the only bumps in the night. We'll start with stakes." He tossed one in her direction without pausing to check if she caught it or got impaled by it – she did catch it. "And your hand to hand combat skills 'cause let me tell you… You suck. Come here."
He didn't bother grabbing a stake and she was a little scared she would hurt him with the pointy end of hers.
She was so confident she would win that it was a total surprise when she ended up flat on her back.
A fluke, she told herself. She was stronger than he was now. She was faster. She was the Slayer.
A few of her kicks and punches landed but mostly because he let her. To her speed and her strength, he opposed actual skills and that… That was harder to deflect. Every time he managed to hit her, he mocked her about what she was doing wrong.
She changed her mind about him not being a terrible teacher.
The third time she ended up on the floor, she decided she was done holding back her punches and she attacked with all she had. It still wasn't enough to win but there were mistakes she knew she wouldn't do again.
Underestimating her opponent was one of them.
It lasted for what seemed like hours. And when he finally declared they were done, well past the point where she could form a coherent thought, he handed her two groceries bags, told her to go home to take care of Prim and then meet him at the cemetery at eleven.
She grumbled a lot about it, mostly because all she wanted was a shower and to crash into bed, but he kicked her out the door while she was still protesting.
To make things worse, Prim jumped on her as soon as she crossed the threshold of the little trailer they lived in. "Where have you been? Gale called to ask why you were missing practice again. Have you been missing practice?"
She had wanted to avoid that particular conversation a while longer but there was no escaping her twelve year-old sister, her inquisitive blue eyes, or the demonic cat that followed her everywhere around their home but hissed at Katniss every time Prim's back was turned. She needed to ask Haymitch about possessed cats.
She carried the groceries back to the kitchen, not surprised not to see their mother anywhere in the main area. She would have been surprised if their mother had been up. She was sometimes. She got up and made waffles and for a few hours she remembered she was supposed to be the adult around there, then she went back to bed, curled up on her side and refused to interact with anyone again.
"Where did you find the food?" Prim insisted, a frown on her small face. "Is that a real apple?"
How bad had things gotten that a twelve year-old was so excited to see an actual fruit? The fruits they ate tended to be dry and come with the cereals. She let Prim snatch the apple and couldn't help but smile when she saw how delighted she was at the taste.
"The cheeseburger yesterday and now real food…" Prim continued, her mouth full. "Did we win the lottery?"
"I found a job." she said. "I might not have time for the archery team anymore. I will explain to Gale tomorrow."
Prim frowned and climbed on the wobbly stool. "But you love archery…"
"Yeah, but…" she hesitated. She did love shooting her bow and she was sure she would have plenty of reasons to practice. Hand to hand combat was all well and good but she didn't see the point of going to contact if she could take care of the problem at a distance. This being said, Haymitch had been pretty clear her chance of surviving the year were slim. Never mind going all the way to college. She tried not to dwell on her suddenly short lifespan. There was only one thing that counted and that was Prim. "The job is more important right now. And we can finally have some decent meals."
Her sister watched with an entirely too knowing look on her young face. "It's not fair. You love practice. I don't mind eating only cereals…"
"Don't worry, little duck. The job is cool." she lied, ruffling her hair.
Prim ducked away from her hand and fixed her braid, laughing a little. "Yeah? What is it?"
"Superhero." Katniss teased, putting the groceries away.
"Come on, tell me." her sister begged and she was soon distracted from the practice question by Katniss' evasive answers about what kind of work she had found. And she was even more distracted by the box of chocolate chips cookies at the bottom of the bag.
She thanked Haymitch for that one.
At least until she found herself roaming the cemetery later that night.
It was creepy and wrong in all kind of ways. Haymitch lectured her about how to spot the suspicious deaths in the paper in a bored voice while they walked between two rows of fresh graves. Then, he left her alone with a freshly resurrected vampire and watched her struggle against him. He didn't lift a finger to help, not even when the vampire slammed her against a headstone that broke on impact and left her stunned on the ground. The vampire closed in and she was pretty sure she was going to be the new record for shortest Slayer alive when the demon disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Haymitch was frowning down at her with a very displeased expression.
"You're too cocky and I won't always be here to save your ass. You could have taken him if you had been paying attention in training earlier." he declared.
"I thought you were supposed to give me some advice." she snarled, jumping back on her feet just to show off.
"You want some advice? Here's one." he sneered "Stay alive."
That concluded that particular day of lesson and set the tone for what happened during the next two weeks.
Katniss' life had fallen into some kind of routine.
Every day she woke up, she fixed Prim's breakfast – with actual healthy food now – she went to school, tried to awkwardly deflect Gale's pressing questions and Peeta's more and more frequent friendly conversation, went over to Haymitch's house after school was over, invariably wondered if the bike was his or if he was keeping it for a friend because she had never seen him on it yet, ate whatever snack was waiting for her in the kitchen, pointedly ignored the empty bottles of liquor and the fact that his house was slowly turning into a dumpster of sort, trained with him in the basement to whichever form of torture he had picked that day – hand to hand, sword fighting, pointless exercises of meditation that seemed to annoy him just as much as it did her… – then she would go home to spend some time with Prim, sneak out once her sister was asleep to go roam a cemetery of Haymitch's choosing, argue with him, kill a few vampires, argue with him some more, and go home to crash in bed.
Rinse and repeat.
Until that Thursday morning when a shadow suddenly fell across the yellowish page of the vampyr book she was painfully trying to study and she looked up, startled, to find Peeta Mellark awkwardly standing there. She was hiding behind the bleachers outside the football field. It wasn't the smartest hidden place but it had served her well so far.
"What are you reading?" he asked.
"Just some… novel." she lied.
Before she could do anything, he had snatched the book as if it was the most natural thing to do.
"Vampyr…" he read. "I didn't know you liked that sort of stuff… What is it about? Is it like Twilight or…"
She was on her feet before he even registered she had moved and had grabbed the book back.
"It's nothing like Twilight." she spat. That much, she was sure of. Unlike Twilight, a good vampire didn't seem to exist. Once a human was turned, they lost their soul. And without a soul to guide them, there was only the demon. And demons weren't nice. "What do you want?"
He seemed taken aback and flashed her a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bother you… I just saw you and…"
"I have to go." she snapped.
She ran away before he could offer whatever pastry he had probably brought along for her that day. She wasn't in the mood to see him make a kicked puppy face when she would refuse and she was in any less of a mood to accept a little more of his pity.
Besides, she was annoyed he had seen the book. She would give it back to Haymitch for safekeeping, she decided. She didn't dare leave it at home, too afraid Prim would accidentally find it and either figure it all out or have her committed. But it was clear it wasn't any safer to bring it at school.
Haymitch was pretty insistent on rule two. He kept saying if you got innocent people involved, they inevitably got hurt. And she didn't believe he was wrong on that front.
She would give the book back to him later, she decided.
"What did Mellark want?" Gale asked, suddenly falling into steps with her as if they had been walking together all along.
She didn't startle. Because she was the Slayer and Haymitch had been ranting for two days about how she should always be aware of her surroundings at all times. He liked to repeat she was oblivious. She hated it when he was proven right.
"To talk. I don't know. Why?" she muttered.
"Rory says you've quitted the team because you found a job?" he insisted - like he had more or less every day for the last two weeks.
She got mad and stormed away without even bothering with a lie.
Clearly, boys were incapable of understanding subtle messages though.
Madge arrived early to Biology for once and they were making awkward small talk when Peeta stopped in front of their bench, interrupting them with his greeting. He looked nervous and Katniss frowned.
"Hey again" he said with a smile that seemed a little forced. Katniss frowned. Madge looked from her to him, clearly amused by… Katniss wasn't sure. Apparently, neither Madge's amusement nor her own silence mattered because Peeta soldiered on. "I was wondering if you had gotten the text? About the party?"
Katniss wasn't even sure he was talking to her anymore. She glanced at Madge who helpfully nodded.
"I did." she confirmed. "But I'm not sure I can come… My parents don't like me going out after dark and The Capitol…" She shook her head, her blond curl bouncing around. "I don't know… Are you going, Katniss?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." she admitted because it seemed like the quickest way to put an end to the conversation.
The Capitol was a fancy very posh hotel situated in the middle of a meadow, not too far from the northern border of the woods. She could have saved money for ten years and she was pretty sure she still wouldn't have had enough to pay for one night. It was for wealthy tourists who came to hike in the woods and the surrounding mountains.
"Oh…" Peeta exclaimed, half-relieved and half-disappointed. "We sent a text to everyone. It's an open invite party… Glimmer's dad rented The Capitol for the night on Saturday… I was hoping… I mean… I could be your ride. If you need one."
"A party?" she repeated, stunned. She had never gone to any party. She was never invited to any party.
"I mean, like I said, it's open to everyone… You can come with whoever you want…" Peeta rambled on. "Are you coming with Hawthorne, then? You two are going out, right?"
"Going out?" she kept repeating, feeling like a dumb parrot. "With Gale?"
"So… You're not?" he insisted.
Katniss had never been so relieved to see their Biology Teacher. Miss Tigris might have been extremely weird but she was still less weird than this conversation.
"I could drive if you want to go and you don't want Peeta to pick you up." Madge offered. "I'm pretty sure my parents might let me go if I tell them I am going with a friend… Besides, with all those people disappearing… It would be safer to stick together, don't you think?"
She was a little too shocked at having been called Madge's friend to react in time.
Madge looked too hopeful, like she really wanted to go. Katniss had zero interest in going to a party at all but she couldn't find it in her to crush her dreams after being called her friend. So she said she would think about it.
She was so angry and frustrated that it was actually a relief to direct all that at dummies during training. All the vampires were very sorry to have crossed her path that night during patrol.
Haymitch actually praised her.
Well, he said 'Good job, sweetheart' but it was the best she had gotten so far. Not that she cared what he thought about her but… Yeah. It was good to know her Watcher believed at least a little in her.
Of course, that feeling of satisfaction didn't last long. The next morning, Madge stopped next to her locker while she was talking with Gale – awkwardly avoiding more questions. She introduced them because she couldn't remember if they knew each other or not and then she regretted it when Madge immediately asked if she had thought about going to the party the next day.
"You're going to Mellark's party?" Gale scoffed in utter disbelief.
"It's not Peeta's party, it's Glimmer's." she corrected through clenched teeth. Gale had been hitting on her nerves for days at this point. He was her best friend but he was also being a pain, refusing to respect boundaries she was trying to put in place for his own safety.
"Oh, sorry… It's Peeta now?" he mocked.
"Why are you like that?" she snapped. "He didn't do anything to you."
Gale stared at her, gaping a little, and then he chuckled. "You're joking, right?" She was being totally serious and her face must have reflected that because he sighed. "You can be so blind sometimes…"
"And you're a pain in the ass." she snapped, shut her locker door and stormed away to her Math class, grumbling under her breath.
Her mood wasn't uplifted by the fact Peeta tried to catch her eyes at several points during the day. She was so desperate to avoid both boys that she lingered in the classroom after her History lesson.
Haymitch studied her for a second, closed the classroom door and sat down on the desk next to hers. "Spill."
Katniss' scowl only deepened. "Why are boys so stupid?"
That clearly wasn't what her mentor had been expecting. Maybe he had thought she had found something demonic. Too bad. It was just about her sucky life.
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ceiling with a sigh. "That's something about taking care of teenage girls I haven't missed… Katniss, let's make something clear. I ain't gonna advise you on your boys troubles."
"You don't advise me on much." she complained. "Mostly you shout and insult me. You're sure you passed your Watcher degree or whatever?" She made a face. "And it's not boys troubles. It's just my stupid best friend who's upset because that other boy – who I kind of owe 'cause he gave me bread one time or two – invited me to a stupid party."
"Your best friend likes the boy?" he asked in a long-suffering tone. "That qualifies as boys troubles."
"My best friend is Gale. You know, Hazelle's son. And he hates Peeta for whatever reason." she explained. "Try to keep up."
He glared at her a little but, mostly, he looked amused. "Your best friend who's a boy is upset because another boy invited you to a party and you can't figure out why? Maybe I do need to give you some advice after all, sweetheart…" He waved his hand. "You're not going to the party anyway. You've got to patrol. Problem solved."
"Yeah, but that's not that easy." she retorted, ignoring that last part. Nobody had said he was in charge of what she did or didn't do outside of slaying duties and she didn't like the thought he believed himself entitled to refuse her the permission to go out. "'Cause my only other friend aside from Gale…"
"Boy or girl?" he cut her off.
"Girl. Madge." she clarified before going on. "She wants to go and her parents won't let her unless I go with her… So, you see, I think I should go even if I really don't care about a stupid open-invite party…"
He must have been getting bored with the conversation because he startled. "What did you say?"
"About which part?" she deadpanned. She was pretty sure he wasn't that interested in her life problems. He was barely interested in her when it wasn't about training. "I guess you're right anyway. I don't have time to go to a party."
"You're going to the party." he argued.
She frowned. "Can you make up your mind? You just said…"
"Open invite?" he scoffed.
"Peeta said they sent a text to everyone…" she confirmed. "It's open to all."
He was watching her, waiting for her to make a connection. When she didn't, he rolled his eyes. "Fangs included? They need permission to enter a private place but an open invitation will do the trick just as well and the town's crammed with them… They won't resist that kind of free buffet."
He really didn't look pleased about that.
"It's at The Capitol." She waited to see if he knew what that was and when he nodded, she went on. "They could have gotten in anyway. A hotel isn't private property, right?"
"Right." he sighed. "Still. Now we know… You've got to go. Sacred duty to protect the innocents and all that jazz…"
He didn't seem pleased about that either.
"Don't look so glum. I can handle a few vampires." she grumbled.
"Without me as back-up?" he challenged. "We're gonna have to hope so, yeah? Cause I don't think I can blend in with teenagers. Congrats, sweetheart, you're going on your first solo mission. Try not to set yourself on fire, this time."
She's going on her first solo mission! Are you excited? Are you scared? On a scale of one to Hunger Games 10 how bad do you think it will be? Do you feel for Haymitch having to play heart consellor? Let me know your thoughts!