2.

Gale felt like a stalker.

He had been watching Katniss slip out of her mother's trailer every night from his bedroom's window for the past week. Sometimes Mellark picked her up, sometimes it was Abernathy on his bike, sometimes she just walked away by herself… She always had her bow and her quiver flung over her shoulder…

He had tried to ask her about it. He had tried to ask nicely. He had tried to demand answers. He had tried to sweet talk Prim into telling him what she knew. He had tried to get Rory to see what Prim knew. He had tried questioning Madge. He had tried going to Heavensbee because surely a teacher picking her up late at night was against the rules. In short, Gale had tried everything to figure out what had happened to his best friend a little over a month earlier to make her so… weird.

So, that night, when he had understood it was one of those nights she would be leaving on foot, he had slipped out of his trailer and had followed after her at a distance despite the drizzle.

And he felt like a stalker.

When she led him all the way to the cemetery gates, he was surprised. He knew her father was buried there. His was too, not too far from Mr Everdeen's grave. But she hardly ever went to the cemetery in daylight, so at night? And with her bow?

It was easier to sneak after her in the graveyard than it had been along the paved streets lined with streetlamps that tossed pools of light on the pavement in which the rain danced like in one of those old movies. He only had to hide behind the big vaults that lined the path she was walking on – a path that led to the very old area of the cemetery and was at the very opposite of the plot where their fathers were buried.

At some point, he accidentally kicked a pebble and she whirled around, an arrow nocked, her eyes scanning the surrounding darkness… Gale stood perfectly still and held his breath, hidden in the shadow of a decrepit vault with a very ugly cherub on top. His hair was plastered to his nape by the drizzle that was more irritating than real rain would be. He couldn't even wipe his eyes.

The standout lasted for what felt like forever. Then, she scowled and started walking again. She didn't shoulder back her bow.

It didn't feel like she knew where she was going, she hesitated when the path forked into two narrow alleys but she finally turned right, selecting the muddiest path.

What the hell was she doing?

He got his answer five minutes later when she abruptly stopped in front of a vault which doors had been broken open. He didn't pay much attention to it because vandalism in the cemetery was so common in the Seam even newspapers had stopped reporting it.

"Next time, draw me a map." she grumbled.

For one terrible second, Gale thought he had been caught even if her words didn't make any sense. She would be furious, of course, but he was just trying to understand, to protect her because…

"Took your sweet time." Abernathy answered, hauling himself out of the vault, covered in dust and grime.

"Mom was up." Katniss dismissed. "It's one of these days she felt like doing stuff. She cooked a dozen pancakes for dinner. I couldn't leave Prim alone to deal with her." She waved her bow in the air, betraying her annoyance. "Did you find it?"

"We found dust, bones, more dust and a couple of rats." Mellark declared, suddenly walking up the steps and out of the vault as if it was perfectly natural to do so. For whatever reason, he was equipped with two big water guns. They were dangling from his belt as if he was still young enough to play cowboys and Indians – and as if the weather was cooperating. "No amulet yet though."

They both stood in the relative shelter of the vault, leaving Katniss under the rain but she didn't seem to really care.

"There are still two tombs to go." Abernathy mocked. "I say it's Katniss' turn."

Grave robbers.

They were…

Saying Gale was shocked and disturbed was an understatement. He had wondered where she had been finding the money lately… She claimed to be doing odd jobs for Abernathy but this? This was sickening. He had known there was something not right about this whole job affair, about this teacher.

He didn't know where Mellark featured in all this because Mellark, as much as he didn't like the other boy, was by all accounts a good guy. He got straight As, he didn't bully anyone, he didn't flaunt his money in anyone's face and he was the kind of person who would offer to give you a ride when he found you stranded on a deserted road somewhere – even if you hated his guts.

Gale had always known there was very little Katniss wouldn't do out of necessity when her sister was concerned and, while he was disturbed, he wasn't entirely surprised she would find herself on the wrong side of the law yet again – hell, he had been there before too, they had started shoplifting at the same time to feed their families. Mellark, though… It puzzled him.

Although… Should it?

He watched Abernathy good-naturedly pat Mellark's shoulder and chuckle when the boy wiped cobwebs off his arm with a disgusted face.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to tag along." the teacher reminded him. "This job ain't one where you can stay clean, kid."

Something was deeply wrong with that man.

Never mind the fact that the teacher didn't seem to like him much – because, after all, he had been to the principal several times to accuse him of being too familiar with a student – or that his own mother seemed to like him too much and had lectured him at lengths about making defamatory accusations about someone who, by all accounts, was actually helping the Everdeen girls. Every time Gale met his eyes, he couldn't help but shudder. They weren't quite empty but there was a darkness there. He knew in his guts the guy was dangerous and he had tried to warn Katniss. The fact that she refused to listen bugged him. The lie about him being a family friend was a slap in the face.

He knew the Everdeens didn't have any family friend named Haymitch Abernathy. He had known them all his life. He would have heard about him before.

And never mind the things he had found out…

"You watch, I slay." Katniss retorted. "I'm pretty sure that means, you're the one who has to dig into old dusty tombs while I protect your ass. You've seen any vampires yet? I thought I heard something earlier but I didn't feel anything. It seems too calm though."

Vampires?

Gale slowly crouched, careful not to make any noise, thinking he must have heard her wrong.

"We didn't see any." Mellark shook his head. "I was just asking Haymitch if he was sure this was the right place."

"That's what Ripper said." Abernathy shrugged, fishing a silver flask from his pants pocket. Ignoring both Mellark and Katniss' disapproving looks, he took a swing.

"What were you doing in a demon's bar in the first place?" Katniss asked, planting her hands on her hips. Her stance growing even more disapproving.

Abernathy seemed to hesitate then, almost reluctantly, he put the flask back in his pocket. "I wanted a drink. And I'm allowed to catch up with old friends, am I?"

"Ripper's a demon." she argued.

Demons? Vampires?

Could it be gangs? He knew there were a couple downtown. It was hard to ignore the drug circulating around the trailer park and behind the bleachers at school but he had never really taken an interest aside from warning his brothers he would skin them alive if he found out they ever touched the stuff…

"Ripper's a half-breed and she has her uses." Abernathy impatiently corrected. "Besides, her intel is usually good. If she says a vampire cult wants to use this amulet to bring an old god through, chances are good she's right."

"Is an old god as bad as it sounds?" Mellark asked. "'Cause it sounds worse than a succubus."

"It's worse." Abernathy shrugged. "It's a very huge demon. Usually worshipped by minor demons. Usually clever. Usually wants to take over the world. Easier on all fronts if we destroy the amulet first."

"You don't seem very worried." Katniss pointed out.

"Ripper said those vampires were amateurs." he dismissed. "Fledglings who want to play in the big kiddies pool."

"So we're sure it's not the Careers?" she insisted.

"Like I said. Ripper's intel is usually good." Abernathy sighed. "She likes it when I don't destroy her bar so she tries to stay on my good side… Now, who's gonna search the two last tombs? 'Cause I've already done two. Ain't fair." He was treated to two identical neutral looks and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you two owe me. I expect pastries and a nice bottle of whiskey."

Gale was completely lost and very tempted to think they had all grown mad. Maybe Abernathy had swept Katniss and Mellark into his psychosis. Unless they were talking in code.

"What's with the water guns?" she asked Mellark, once Abernathy had disappeared back into the vault. Or was it a crypt? It looked bigger than it appeared at first glance and there were stairs that disappeared in the darkness, like maybe it was going deep into the ground.

"Holy water." Mellark grinned, lifting both guns in the air. "It won't kill them but it might slow them down enough that I can stake them."

What the hell?

Katniss didn't look very impressed. "Just stay safe. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Always." the boy promised, still grinning. "Did Haymitch tell you we get to do magic next? Apparently, the amulet needs to be destroyed with holy fire or something…"

Katniss made face. "Are we getting Trinket?"

Trinket? How many teachers were in on this thing? He had troubles imagining the pretty Art teacher being part of a gang…

And what was that about magic?

Unless magic was some sort of drugs?

What if it wasn't a gang? What if it was a sect or something like that?

"No, he said it wasn't hard and he could handle it." Mellark answered. "We get to help."

"Yeah, right!" Abernathy's voice echoed from down the vault, entirely mocking. "You want to help with the magic but you don't wanna help with the grave digging! I see how it is!"

Mellark and Katniss both looked amused.

"He's in a fine mood." she commented.

"He did go to a demon bar." the boy shrugged. "Apparently, they've got the good stuff."

This was madness…

Then, out of nowhere, Katniss tensed and whirled around, her bow at the ready. "Incoming!"

Gale didn't spot the men until they were already upon Katniss and Mellark, they moved so fast his eye could barely follow. There were seven – eight? – of them and, before he could think about moving, about helping, Katniss had let an arrow loose and one of them had fallen. They had masks on their faces. Demon masks.

Mellark shot a spray of water at one of them and the guy crumpled on the ground, smoke rising above him, screaming in pain. Abernathy came rushing out, pieces of wood in each hands…

Gale searched for Katniss because the two others… He didn't care if they lived or died. Well… He might care a little about Mellark because the boy clearly was in too deep in the same whatever Katniss had been drawn in but he certainly wouldn't cry over Abernathy if he got slaughtered by a rival gang.

He spotted her on top of one of the vaults' roof. How she had gotten there when she had been on the ground two seconds earlier he wasn't sure but she was shooting arrow after arrow while Abernathy and Mellark fought them hands on…

She was going to kill someone.

The guy she had shot earlier… He hadn't stood up again. However, Gale couldn't spot his body either so maybe he had just run away… Maybe it wasn't too late…

She was going to kill someone and that wasn't something she could ever come back from. Shop lifting, grave robbing… Those were petty crimes but murder?

He reacted instinctively.

It took him a lot of efforts to quickly haul himself on top of that roof without slipping and breaking his neck but when he succeeded he immediately tackled her, disrupting her aim before another of those guys could get hit. He heard the pained grunt below and Mellark's panicked "Haymitch!" but had other problems, like trying to keep Katniss still.

She was strong though.

Far stronger than he had ever suspected.

She hit him in the stomach with the flat of her palm and it sucked the air right out of his lungs. She took advantage of that to flip them over and lifted her arm high in the air. He saw the stab coming down, saw the pointy piece of wood in her hand – the stake – and had only time to think, wide eyes and scared expression on his face, that she really believed the vampire thing…

And also, maybe, that it really wasn't what he had had in mind the few times he had let himself think about what it would be like for her to straddle him…

The stake stopped inches away from his chest.

Recognition flashed on her face and then betrayal.

"Katniss!" Abernathy bellowed "Get your ass down here! They've got the amulet!"

She bolted off him and off that roof as if it was nothing, as if the jump wouldn't have broken someone else's leg. He could only roll on his stomach and watch as she landed on one of the demon-masked guys – the one Abernathy and Mellark had been fighting together – and stabbed him in the heart.

The man exploded in a cloud of dust.

Gale rubbed his eyes, certain something was wrong with his sight.

Katniss ran off in hot pursuit of the four others who had fled shouting to each other about a Slayer – whatever that meant.

"You're okay?" Abernathy asked Mellark, outstretching a hand to help him up from the ground where he had fallen. they were both muddy.

"Yeah." the boy said, wiping himself off. "I got one! And I didn't miss the heart, this time. Did you see?"

"Sorry, kid. I was a bit too busy not getting bitten." the teacher scoffed, looking at the roof where Gale was still lying down. Gale wasn't sure and he didn't want to admit it but he thought Katniss might have bruised a rib. Not that Abernathy looked sympathetic to any possible injury. "Get down here, boy. You're gonna be sorry if you make me chase you up."

Gale scowled at the threat and ignored Mellark's startled face when the other kid finally spotted him. He did get down because there was no point staying up there and he was confident he could hold his own against a middle-aged man who abused liquor. He did it slowly and carefully, though, still not sure how Katniss had managed the jump without breaking or straining anything.

Abernathy was still glaring at him when he lowered himself to the ground but it was fine with him, he was glaring right back.

"How did you get roped into this?" he spat at Mellark because out of the two, Mellark was the sensible one.

The other teenager frowned. "To help Katniss, of course."

Of course. Abernathy had used Mellark's obvious crush on Katniss to get another disciple in whatever weird sect he was orchestrating…

Katniss, who came jogging back, an angry scorn on her face. Her grey eyes briefly stopped on him and they were icy cold before moving to the teacher and the other boy. She studied them attentively. "No one's hurt?"

"Scrapes and mud." Abernathy dismissed. "The amulet."

She shook her head. "I caught one but he didn't have it. The others disappeared."

"Great." the teacher snapped. "Guess who are the amateurs now?" He whirled around toward Gale. "And what were you doing here?"

"And why did you knock me off when I was about to shoot?" she hissed. "I could have killed Peeta!"

Mellark winced. "It's okay, the arrow just grazed me."

"Yeah but it gave the one you were fighting the edge it needed." Abernathy growled, glowering at Gale. "It could have killed you."

Gale was utterly done with their bullshit. He strode to Katniss and grabbed her arm, intending to take her home and give her an earful on the way. She remained rooted to the spot as if she was made of stone. When she shrugged his hand off, he felt it right up his shoulder.

"For fuck's sake, Katniss!" he exclaimed. "Let's go home before you get yourself into even more troubles!"

"Troubles?" she snarled. "Because of you there might be a huge demon on the loose before dawn!"

Abernathy coughed in a very unconvincing way. "Rule two."

Katniss rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on… He saw the vampires. He saw them turning to dust. Whatever."

"Those guys weren't vampires." Gale objected, grabbing her arm again. She was crazy. Deep into whatever bullshit they had told her. And with her mother… There were antecedents… Maybe… "Vampires don't exist."

"Denial 101." Abernathy snorted. "Right. No. There ain't any vampires. Whatever you think you saw today, it was a trick of the eyes. Those guys were just grave robbers and we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, run along home, kid."

Each of his sentences was dripping with sarcasm.

"Is that how you usually convince people?" Mellark deadpanned. "Let me tell you, it needs work."

"Vampires are real." Katniss stubbornly argued, shrugging him off again. "I am the Chosen One, which means I'm the one girl in all the world who can fight them."

He waited a second for the laugh or the "got you" all the while knowing she wasn't the one for jokes.

"You're delusional." he said, reaching for her for the third time.

She took one step back. "Grab me again and I will break your wrist. Best friend or not."

He ignored the empty threat and lifted both hands in front of him. "Katniss. Catnip. Vampires aren't real. You're nothing special." He paused and then shook his head. "No, you're plenty special but not… not because you were chosen to fight monsters or…" He licked his lips and shot a glare at Abernathy, his hands bundling into fists. "Did he tell you all that?"

"He's my Watcher." she explained matter-of-factly. "He's here to mentor me."

"For the good it does since you never listen." Abernathy grumbled. "Fine. You don't want to follow rule two and shout it from the rooftops, go ahead, but do it on your own time. We need to find those vampires before they manage to accidentally kick start a fucking apocalypse."

The man took two steps in the vague direction the vampires had taken and both Katniss and Mellark looked ready to follow without question. It only took a sidestep for Gale to block his path.

"What did you do to her? I don't know what weird stuff you're into but I swear if you touched her…" he growled.

Abernathy scowled. "I'm growing real tired of that particular accusation, kid…"

"Do you even know who he really is?" he challenged Katniss. Her face was blank so he turned to Mellark. "He's a fucking serial killer!" The teacher scoffed but Gale didn't let that stop him. With a hint of despair, because he could see he wasn't getting to either teenager, he continued. "When he was sixteen, he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend."

Abernathy froze. "Do not go there, boy."

He ignored the warning. "They released him because they didn't have enough evidence and he had a hot shot English lawyer but the police was convinced it was him."

"Your girlfriend…" Katniss whispered with a frown. It sounded like an unvoiced question.

"Yeah." Abernathy commented, his face twisting with pain. He pulled the flask from his front pocket and took a long gulp. "Let's go before I kill this idiot."

"She wasn't the first one." Gale continued in a rush. Katniss looked sad and Mellark had a thoughtful look on his face. Maybe he was finally getting to them. "His brother… Well, I'm not sure he was really his brother… The police couldn't tell. His mom was a kid when she had him and she died young. But there was another baby registered under his mom's name… Whatever. His brother disappeared one year before he murdered his girl. No trace anywhere. When she died they thought maybe he had killed him too." Abernathy's jaw clenched and, next thing Gale knew, there was a knife in his hand, a big hunting knife. He should have been scared maybe but he could only shoot Katniss a look of triumph at the proof that he was crazy. "I guess he liked killing helpless girls better though because after the police was forced to release him, he disappeared. A few years later he got a degree in London and he came back here, got close to a local high school girl. Four years later, she was found dead with her throat ripped out. And it doesn't stop there… There was a girl in San Francisco two years after. And three more since then." He took a challenging step toward their teacher. "That sure makes a lot of dead teenagers for one creepy guy."

"Yeah." Abernathy snorted bitterly, fingers gripping the handle of his knife so tight his knuckles had turned white. "It sure does."

"I'm sorry." Katniss offered.

Gale turned to her, ready to tell her it was alright, that they could forget the last month and a half, move on, that he would help… But she wasn't looking at him.

After all he had just told her, she was looking at their teacher and she looked sad.

"Save it." Abernathy muttered. "Get rid of him. We need to…" A cheerful tune rang out in the otherwise silent cemetery and the man turned to glare at Mellark. "What did I say about messing with my phone?"

"You said to get your new one to work because you couldn't do it yourself." the other boy shrugged innocently. "I thought you'd like having personalized ringtones for everyone in the team so you'd know who's calling. Katniss has the Brave theme and I picked Scooby Doo for myself."

Abernathy took his phone out of his pocket but didn't bother looking at the screen. "Don't tell me who Bewitched is for. I can take a wild guess."

Gale exchanged a glance with Katniss. Both because he had no clue what Bewitched was and because there had gone from a tension thick enough to be cut with a knife to something a little less… intense.

"I'm busy, sweetheart." Abernathy said. It was an original way of answering the phone. He was silent for a moment and then rubbed his eyes. "How much trouble? Cause on the trouble scale, I'm at a-vampire-cult-invocating-an-old-one level. Wait, what's that noise? Is that your teeth? Shit, okay, okay… How long can you hold on? Yeah, well, no, obviously I ain't gonna let them bring an ancient demon on Earth just to save your ass. It's pretty but it ain't that pretty." Whatever was said on the other end of the line, it made him smirk. "Don't act like those tight skirts ain't made to be noticed. Okay. Okay. Hang on. We'll be around as soon as possible."

"Is Miss Trinket in trouble?" Mellark asked once Abernathy had hung up.

"Major one, sounds like." the teacher grunted. "Guess it's a night for slaying. Katniss, we need to get rid of those vampires and go to The Capitol as fast as possible. I'm not sure how long Trinket can hold on without backup."

Katniss frowned. "Then, go to The Capitol. I'll take care of the vampires."

Abernathy looked torn. "I ain't letting you go into a nest alone." Mellark coughed and he rolled his eyes. "I mean without proper backup."

"Did you listen to a word I just said?" Gale growled when he understood Katniss was still believing all that craziness. "He's a…"

"He's my friend." she cut him off, shooting him a glare. "And you should trust me more."

"I don't even know how he can still be a teacher when it took me ten minutes to find out everything about him!" he retorted. "I tried to tell Heavensbee…"

"Must be my charming personality." Abernathy taunted. "Or maybe the fact that I've been cleared of all charges… Or, maybe, 'cause I found time to get a degree between my serial killing."

"You've got money." Gale sneered. "And money…"

"Makes the world go round." the teacher deadpanned, dismissing him to turn to Katniss. "They're gonna want an abandoned church for this ritual. Something holy but no longer sacred so they can get in…"

"The ruins not far from the woods on the other side of the highway." Mellark suggested immediately. "It used to be a church and it's the closest."

"Yeah." Abernathy nodded. "Okay. Let's try that one. If they're not there, we hit Ripper's bar. And if we've still got nothing… We swing by the Capitol, save Trinket and then we try to stop whatever's left, vampires or big demon."

"Go get Trinket." Katniss insisted. "We can handle the vampires."

"Can we?" Mellark asked, sounding a bit unsure. "I'm with you, you know that, but Haymitch has a point… I won't be as much help as he would."

"Gale can cover us." she declared.

"What?" Gale asked, at the same time as Mellark and Abernathy.

She didn't seem bothered by their combined incredulity.

"He shoots as well as I do." She shrugged. "He'll take the bow and clear out the fray for me. Peeta, what do you have in your truck?"

"Stakes, an axe and…" Mellark frowned and tossed an inquisitive look at Abernathy. "Did you leave a sword in there?"

"See?" Katniss told the teacher. "We've got weapons. We'll be fine. Go help Trinket. I don't like her but we said we'd do better, Haymitch. Nobody's dying tonight."

Abernathy watched her for long seconds and then gave a reluctant nod, his face grim. "Stay alive." He tossed Mellark a look while he picked up the helmet he must have placed on the ground inside the vault earlier. "Both of you. I'll come and help as soon as I can. If they manage to get the demon through… Run. You're not trained enough yet." He winced. "Best thing would be to kill them all before it gets that far though."

"Don't let the vampires invocate the demon." Mellark summed up. "Noted."

"You're all crazy." Gale accused. "All of you."

None of them even blinked at that particular accusation.

Soooooo Gale is now in the known - or is he? Do you think he will end up seeing the truth or will he continue denying? What does that mean for Peeta's place in the group? Can they stop the vampire cult without Haymitch? Can Haymitch get to the Capitol in time to save Effie? Will he survive for that comment about her tight skirts? Let me know your thoughts!