11.

Katniss studied her waffle with pursed lips in the dim glow of the lampposts that boarded the pavement.

"Does this look like sugar or dust to you?" she asked, tilting the waffle she had wrapped in paper napkins before leaving the house earlier.

Peeta barely glanced at the leftover from breakfast, amusement dancing on his face. "I told you you should have eaten it before patrol."

Her pursed lips morphed into a full pout and she tried to decide if she was really that disgusted by the possibility of swallowing vampire dust. She had kept the waffle wrapped and safe in her pocket the whole time they had toured the cemetery, determined to save it for after when she would feel the urge to eat something sweet. She always craved something sugary after patrolling for some reason.

She hadn't even found that many vampires that night. A few in the graveyard that hadn't really been a challenge, a couple in dark alleys… They were getting closer to the town's center right then because Katniss' not so subtle aim was to walk Peeta back home so he would get there safely since he didn't have his truck. His father wasn't letting him drive yet, from what she had gathered, because of the concussion.

In the end, she shrugged and took a big bite, praying it was sugar and not dust, unwilling to waste perfectly good food. Fortunately, it didn't taste weird.

"How's the arm?" she asked, between two bites.

Peeta winced and rolled his left shoulder a couple of times. "Better. Haymitch wasn't kidding with the training."

"You wanted to learn." she pointed out.

That afternoon training had been challenging, maybe because it was the first time they all trained together and the fact that Effie had spent half the time coaching her sister had distracted her. Haymitch had run both she and Peeta through drills that had kept increasing in difficulty.

"I did. I do." Peeta countered. "I'm just not… I don't feel that great yet."

He rubbed his forehead with a sheepish wince and Katniss winced in sympathy. She was feeling so bad for him that she handed him what was left of her waffle but he refused with a shake of his head. She didn't insist too much. Killing vampires, as it turned out, made a Slayer hungry.

They were nearing the bakery and when they passed in front of the shop's front window, she let her eyes linger over all the pretty cakes and pastries lined up to catch a potential customer's gaze. She could remember a time when she had spent hours watching those cakes, fantasizing about them, how they would taste on her tongue… She had been so starved back then that she would have done anything for a piece of bread. The cakes had looked amazing but not as much as the bread she had watched people walk out of the bakery with, the same bread Peeta used to sneak to her sometimes to her great embarrassment.

The lights were still on on the bakery's upper floor but Peeta didn't stop in front of the door like she expected him to, like she did. He kept on walking.

It was late. Late enough that normal teenagers should have already been home, sleeping in their beds, mindful of the fact the weekend was over and school would start early the next morning. Late enough that parents would be asking questions if their child didn't show up soon, probably.

When he noticed she wasn't next to him anymore, he stopped and turned around, a question on his face.

"Don't you live here?" she asked with a frown, pointing at the lit-up upper floor. She had assumed. He had never brought her to his house since they had started hanging out and she had never asked where he lived precisely but she had vague memories of hearing him talk about living over the bakery from kindergarten…

"We used to." he said, understanding dawning on his face. "We moved after my dad franchised the bakery. My mom wanted a house. It's not too far from Madge's actually." Her frown deepened and she looked up again at the light that was still clearly spilling through the bakery's upper floor windows. Peeta sighed. "That's probably my dad. They converted the apartment into an office. He usually comes home late. Or not at all."

"Oh." She didn't know what else to say.

Peeta shrugged and buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He opened his mouth and, for a second, she thought he was going to make a joke to lighten the mood but he licked his lips instead, avoiding her gaze. "We could do another loop."

"Sure." She readily accepted the suggestion, already mapping the quickest path that would take them closer to the wealthy suburb where the mayor and his family lived.

She wasn't that eager to go home either and she could think of worse ways to waste time than walk around with Peeta.

Truth be told, she didn't miss the trailer park. It hadn't taken long for her to feel at home in Haymitch's house. The problem was that she sometimes felt a little… trapped. She wasn't used to have to answer to a higher authority, she wasn't used to have to tell someone she was going out or that she was safely back in, she wasn't used to having someone care about her wellbeing to the point it was sometimes suffocating.

Sure, Haymitch had more or less already stepped into that role when he had become her Watcher but he had been acting weird since they had moved in. His newfound obsession that Peeta shouldn't ever go upstairs with her without Prim to act as chaperone was only the tip of the iceberg. He also insisted they needed to eat vegetables at least twice a week and that they shouldn't drink too much soda even though he was the one doing the grocery shopping in the first place so he could simply stop buying soda if their sugar consumption bothered him that much.

Prim had joked that it almost felt as if he had skimmed through a parenting book and was trying to implement everything at once. They had laughed for ten minutes straight at the thought of Haymitch secretly hiding a Parenting Teenagers for Dummies book under his bed.

It was very funny to laugh about it at night with her sister, it was a little less funny when he insisted on asking questions nobody had bothered asking her in years. Were parents that troublesome when they weren't comatose on their bed all the time or was Haymitch trying too hard?

"What did you tell your parents?" she asked, following her inner train of thought, and when Peeta looked at her, clearly puzzled, she waved her hand in the air. "About the concussion. They must have asked you how it happened…" All the more so after the car accident that hadn't been so long ago… "You never told me."

Peeta had showed up at school one morning, two days after the mad dash to the hospital, and had acted as if everything was perfectly normal, insisting he felt better and was alright to go back to classes. Since Effie had still been in a coma of sorts, neither Katniss nor Haymitch had looked at that too closely.

"They didn't ask." Peeta answered after a moment.

"They didn't ask?" she repeated, surprised. Even her mother would have asked if she had been called by the hospital because Katniss had managed to get concussed…

Peeta was silent for so long she thought it would be the end of the conversation.

The only sound was the echo of their footsteps on the pavement. The streets were deserted. Not a passerby, a vampire or even a stray cat wandering by. Katniss' grey eyes kept darting around anyway, studying her surroundings by reflex, trying to hone her Slayer senses like Haymitch insisted she ought to do.

They were nearing the nicer part of town and the houses reflected that. The lawns were becoming larger and greener, the fences were straight and all looked brand new…

"My dad thought he knew how it happened and I didn't tell him he was wrong." he said at last. "My mom doesn't care."

Katniss bundled the napkins that had held her waffle in a big ball and forced it in her pocket until she could find a trash can to toss them in. The waters felt treacherous and she wasn't certain if she should push or not. She wasn't the most attentive person but even she had noticed Peeta was reluctant to talk about his family, almost as reluctant as she was.

And she couldn't stop thinking about the burn scars on his arms, couldn't stop drawing connections, couldn't stop replaying his ridiculous fear that he would somehow end up physically hurting someone he cared about…

"What does your dad think happened?" Her voice sounded careful to her own ears, almost wary. Peeta's face closed up like it rarely did. He slouched a little, burying his hands deeper in his pockets, staring at his feet… Katniss felt bad for butting her head in where it didn't belong. She understood wanting to keep some things private, she truly did. "Never mind. You don't have to…"

"It's not my first concussion." he cut her off in a soft voice. "I think it must be my fourth one." She wasn't sure what to answer to that so she remained silent. He gave a strange bitter snort that didn't suit him at all. "Dad got me a new video game this time."

She felt cold. As if someone had poured a bucket of icy water over her head. Her stomach churned and, for a second, she couldn't breathe, exactly like at the worst of the Lachnoc demon's thrall.

"Your dad hurt you before?" She whispered it because she couldn't say it aloud properly. It was too difficult to imagine. Mr Mellark looked so nice… He always had a nice word for her when they crossed paths in the street, always had a twinkle in his eyes… She had always thought he looked sweet and funny with his big mustache, even when she was still a child…

"That's what everyone always thinks, right?" he replied with that same bitterness. "That it's the father. It's always the father on TV. You know why? Because mothers aren't supposed to be able to hurt their kids. Humans like to think it's against nature but there are plenty of animal mothers who eat their babies if they think they're deficient."

Realization hit her straight in the plexus.

His mother… His mother was a witch. And not the Effie kind of witch. A real mean-spirited greedy person who would have cut her own hand rather than help anyone in need.

And his mother, apparently, was also the kind of woman who hurt her son.

Katniss' sight turned red.

The thought that anyone could willingly hurt someone as sweet as Peeta… Never mind that but the fact that anyone would willingly hurt someone she considered family… Her hands closed into fists.

"It's pathetic, right?" Peeta laughed but it was self-deprecating and full of misplaced shame. "I mean… I'm taller and everything. She…"

"It's not your fault." she interrupted him, a frown on her face. She stopped walking, expecting him to do the same, but he kept going, not even glancing back at her. He kept going and she had to jog to catch up. When she did, she grabbed his arm, tugged… He stopped then but she thought it had more to do with Slayer strength than any real intent on his part. "It's not your fault." she said again. "You know that. Tell me you know that."

It took a really, really long time for Peeta to look up from his shoes and he didn't meet her eyes very long, barely a fraction of a second, just long enough for her to realize he didn't know that, that he thought something was wrong with him for his mother to hate him so much.

"Please, don't pity me." he murmured, the pain in his voice almost too much to be borne.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, her words betraying her like always when she needed them most.

In the end, she let her hand slide from his elbow to his wrist and, after a moment of hesitation, to his fingers. They were difficult to grab because they were still buried deep in his pocket.

"Don't be stupid." she scoffed. She knew she was too harsh but she didn't know how else to express this.

His blue eyes met hers again, a little longer this time. He made a visible effort to swallow and then force a smile on his lips. "It doesn't matter anyway."

"Of course, it matters." she retorted, squeezing his fingers. It was a tight fit in his pocket and her wrist was bent at an odd angle and it hurt but she didn't take her hand away just yet. "Is that why you were so scared of…"

"I don't want to be like her." He turned away from her, walked a few steps further along the next white picket fence…

His fingers slipped through hers but she wasn't sure how to hold him back.

Usually, he was the one reaching out for her.

"I don't ever want to be like her." he spat.

"You're not." she promised. His back was still turned to her and she didn't know what to do so she stopped thinking and followed her instinct. She crossed the short distance between them and tossed her arms around him, hugging him tight from behind. His breath itched and his fingers coiled around her forearms. She tightened her awkward embrace, hoping she wasn't going to accidentally smother him to death. "You're not like her. You could never be like her. You're the best person I know."

His laughter, this time, was a little more genuine, a little more Peeta.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, sounding disbelieving. "You hang out with heroes. You remember Haymitch, right? And Effie?"

But Haymitch was like her, tainted and cynical, unable to look at life without waiting for the other shoe to drop. And Effie… Effie had her shadows under all the cheerfulness, if anything that Lachnoc demon had brought them to light.

Peeta… Peeta was good. She knew it in every fiber of her being.

"It's different." she argued. Peeta was warm and it reminded her of falling asleep next to him. Realizing she was still holding him, she slowly let go and stepped back, leaving him enough space to turn around. Ill-at-ease, she fingered her braid. It was her turn to avert her eyes. "We should go. It's late and I don't want to fall asleep in Math again."

"Right." Peeta said, licking his lips. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "My house is just around the corner. You can leave me here, don't worry."

Her brows furrowed and she looked straight at him. "You're not going back there. You're coming home with me."

He seemed at a loss for words for a moment and then he shook his head. "Katniss.."

"You're not going back." she insisted. "You can have the other guestroom, Prim and I prefer to share anyway."

"Katniss." he repeated, more firmly.

"Haymitch won't mind." She scowled. "Don't even try telling me you think he'll mind."

"Well, to be fair, he seems to mind me being alone with you a bit these days." he joked before shaking his head again. "Katniss, it's fine. I can take care of myself."

"Obviously, you can't." she snapped.

Something flashed on his face. Something that looked a lot like humiliation. It was gone before she could tell with any certainty.

"Goodnight, Katniss." he said firmly, turning back to head in the direction he had pointed at.

She swiftly sidestepped him and blocked his path, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Tell me you're not serious. Why would you go back there?"

"It's my family." He shrugged. "It's where I live."

"Your mother hurts you and your dad doesn't stop her." she retorted. "That's a shitty family."

"It's still family." he insisted, lifting his arms and dropping them back down.

"I'm not letting you go back there." she snapped. She wasn't letting anyone she cared about knowingly walk into a potentially dangerous situation. The world was dangerous enough without adding abusive mothers to the mix.

For a second, she thought he was going to get angry but she should have known better. Getting angry wasn't Peeta's way. He sighed. "Katniss… I don't need you to protect me. I'm fine."

"I'm supposed to protect you." she argued. "I'm the Slayer. I'm…"

"My mom isn't a vampire or a demon." he cut her off. "And I can handle it."

Could he, though? There were scars and bruises on his body that tended to prove otherwise. She wanted to bring him back to Haymitch's house. She desperately wanted to bring him back to Haymitch's house where he would be safe.

"It doesn't make it right." she hissed. "She doesn't get to hurt you or…"

"Katniss." he interrupted again. "You…"

"Not that this whole lover spat isn't entertaining but I have to say I expected better from a Slayer."

Both Katniss and Peeta startled and turned around, each reaching for their respective weapons at the same time. In the second it took her to spot the vampire – the very powerful vampire – she realized that they wouldn't go very far with their stakes and her bow.

Her bow, particularly, would be useless because the vampire was wearing an honest-to-god golden armor, the kind she had only seen on TV. He was dressed like a gladiator – and if that didn't spell Career to her, nothing would have – and there was a laurel crown on top of his blond curls. The resemblance to Cashmere was so keen that she knew it was Gloss, her brother.

She didn't know how she had failed to notice him before because the tingles at the base of her nape were strong now. And she had zero doubt the vampire was old and so much more powerful than any she had faced before.

"Peeta, run!" she ordered, shifting to a fighting stance.

Peeta, not surprisingly, stood his ground, clutching his stake tighter.

"Someone played too much Assassin's Creed…" he mocked.

Gloss's pale blue eyes passed over the boy and clearly dismissed him, his attention was all for Katniss. "So you're the one who killed my sister."

"And I'll kill you too." she retorted, all bravado. Her only hope was that she could slow him down long enough that Peeta could get to his house – assuming Peeta would even be sensible enough to leave.

"I don't think so." Gloss snorted, obviously not worried about that threat. "Actually, I came to tell you to enjoy yourself while you can, Slayer, because the Reaping is coming and, when it does, the Hellmouth will taste your blood."

A chill ran down Katniss' spine.

"Whatever you're up to, I'll stop you." she vowed.

Gloss's laugh was like broken glass.

"No, you won't." The vampire's smile was chilling. "Our master will rise. And you will fall. Mark my words, Slayer."

And just like that, as if he wasn't worried at all about her attacking him, he turned around and strolled down the street.

Her heart beating fast in her chest, she only hesitated for one second before taking off after him. Trying to, at least.

"Don't." Peeta begged, grabbing her arm. She turned her head to him, feeling betrayed and… "You don't have the right weapons." he insisted before she could try to argue. "The arrows and the stakes won't go through that armor…"

And he was right.

When she glanced back at the end of the street, Gloss had vanished anyway.

And this concludes this episode. DUM DUM DUUUUUM. Dramatic entrance of our play's villain. Also some overdue everlark. Next episode will start on the 25th! (I know it's a long time but there's hayffie week next week and i'd like a couple of week end free to get some advance on this story). Consider this the mid season two weeks hiatus ;)

Did you enjoy this chapter? Will Katniss tell Haymitch about Peeta? Will the world end before anyone rescues our baker boy? Will that bakery burn to the grouuuund? Who will hug Peeta first? What disaster awaits next episode? Let me know all your thoughts!