8.

Enobaria lunged and Haymitch dove left without even thinking, rolling down on the floor and back up, his stake in his fist. He adjusted his fighting stance, knowing that if she was one of the legendary Careers – and she was, why would she have lied about her name? – he had zero chances. He could decimate fledglings, he could handle his own against average vampires but vampires sired by a Master who had been alive for centuries? Cashmere had wiped the floor with him and if it hadn't been for his Slayer…

"I've been looking for you." he said when she didn't immediately attack again. She was watching him, her head tilted to the side, intrigued rather than scared. It was hard to say because of the demon face she was rumored to never take off – clearly an overestimation, she did take it off to hunt – but he thought she looked amused.

"Have you?" she retorted in that weird accent of her. "Do you have a death wish?" She tilted her head a little more. "You are older than what I usually go for but there is something about you… You are in luck, I am in need of an army. I might turn you, after all…"

He took an unconscious step back, which only amused her further. "Thanks but no thanks. Name's Haymitch. Rings any bell?"

All the amusement vanished from her demon face. She looked a lot more alert suddenly, a lot more hungry too.

"The Slayer's bastard turned Watchdog. I understand what our master saw in you." she hummed. "You have fire. I will so love extinguishing it."

Her tongue poked at one of her fangs and it was both gross and obscene and still Haymitch found himself twitching in his pants.

Thrall, a voice warned at the back of his head and he made sure not to meet her eyes again. He could throw off a mild thrall. He had trained himself to. It didn't mean it was a nice experience. And there were no guaranties her thrall was mild. Vampires who could hypnotise people were rare but more dangerous than most.

"Why are you here?" he asked, tightening his hold on the stake. "Why now? Why after all this time?"

"It's been foretold." She shrugged as if it was of little consequence. "I'd say ask Gloss but you won't live long enough to meet him. Shall we dance now?"

She was swaying a little from side to side and Haymitch clenched his jaw, focusing all his thoughts on Effie, the way her body felt under his hands, the way his stomach somersaulted when she kissed him soft and slow… He was so not going to fall prey to a thrall. That would be embarrassing.

When she pounced, he made a feint to the left and then threw himself to the right, barely managing to land a punch in her plexus that didn't even slow her down. It felt like slamming his fist into a wall.

He felt the familiar ripples of Effie's magic over his skin as her claws glided off his leather sleeves and he slipped free of her grip.

He ran.

He ran without glancing back, slowing down to think or even considering what it would mean for the people left inside the club.

He ran all the way around the nightclub, climbing and jumping over fences with the agility of someone twice younger, aware she was hot on his heels and mysteriously kept tripping on garbage bags… He jumped on his bike and kicked it on with shaky limbs and let the engine roar his way into the night, knowing she would still pursue him and that regardless of whether she had a car or not, she could probably catch up if she applied herself to it.

She was old and powerful and dangerous…

Fuck but without that luck spell Effie had casted…

He only breathed more easily once the bike shot past the Village's gates. With the cloaking spell in place and if his witch was right, nothing with evil intentions would be able to see the place never mind enter it. He slowed the bike down a little and finally kicked it off in front of his house, his heart hammering hard in his chest, feeling shaky like he had only ever been when he had found himself face to face with Snow himself.

Forcing himself to take deep calming breaths before his heart exploded, he slowly tossed his leg over the bike and dragged his body to his front door. Nobody had bothered locking it, he noticed. A glance in the living-room told him Prim had fallen asleep on the couch and someone, presumably Effie, had tucked her in under a throwaway plaid. He had thought he would find her in the library but it was empty so he kept going all the way to the kitchen.

She must have heard the bike because she looked up immediately.

She had made herself at home and his mind was divided about that. One part of him liked that she was now wearing one of his flannel shirts over her pajamas and that she seemed to be in the process of swallowing up everything sugary in his cupboards while scrolling on her broken IPad. Another part was annoyed at the intrusion, at the assumed notion that she was welcome to behave as if she lived there…

"What happened to you?" she immediately asked, bolting to her feet and rounding the kitchen table so fast he thought she must have teleported.

She looked frightened and when she reached for his cheek, he simply leaned into her palm, too tired to deal with his complex feelings. He must have looked a fright, he figured. He had lost his helmet at some point, which he only realized belatedly was too bad given the reckless speed at which he had been driving. Most of all though, he knew he was white as a sheet and looked terrified.

"Never let me stop you from using that good luck spell ever again." he mumbled. "In fact, I insist on it. Use it all the time. Fuck." He escaped her hand and walked around her to the liquor cupboard. He didn't need to look to know she had a disapproving expression on her face but he still poured himself a drink. "Enobaria's in town."

She gasped. "What?"

"Yeah." He left it at that. Enough said. He gulped down half his glass of whiskey and finally turned around. "What's with the sugar craving?"

The table was a mess of ripped open cookies packages, half eaten pop tarts and there was a sticky glass with a half empty bottle of coke next to it. She didn't usually drink soda and if she did drink it it was the fuzzy orange kind. She didn't like coke.

And the fact that he knew that about her…

Are we still casual?, she had asked less than forty-eight hours earlier.

He wished he had a better answer now than I fucking hope so.

It didn't look casual from where he was standing. Not when he was so tempted to just wrap his arms around her and forget everything else. Not when he had offered her a job only a couple of hours earlier without even checking with Chaff even though opening an agency had sort of been a more or less concrete project of theirs for a while now. Not when he hadn't mentioned her to his best friend, not even once, when he would have usually laughed about screwing a Council member. Not when they had somehow decided to raise kids together without even discussing it properly beforehand. Not when his heart clenched every time she tossed one of those bitchy looks at him.

Not when he could feel himself slipping toward a pool of unwelcomed feelings inside.

Not when he was so terrified of feeling but unable to stop, unable to call it quit and pull the plug.

"I thought I might need the boost of energy." she dismissed. "I will clean up."

"Obviously." he snorted because he couldn't picture her leaving that kind of mess behind her, never mind in someone else's house. He ran his hand over his face. "Did you find how to reverse the spell?"

"Yes." She sighed. "Do you think Katniss has any chance against her?"

He couldn't remember the last time he had been able to have two simultaneous conversations with someone without getting confused. Chaff maybe.

You had to know a person really well to get to that level of…

"No." he answered honestly, choosing to ignore the relationship problem for now. The thought that there were two other vampires as old and powerful didn't bode well. "Walk me through it, I'm gonna be doing the magic tonight. Sugar boost or not."

She reeled back from that first piece of information with barely a blink. "There is nothing we can do. It has to be Peeta."

"Then write me the spell and I'm gonna get it to him." he ordered, finishing his glass in one go.

She shook her head and leaned against the table, folding her arms in front of her chest. "It is not that easy, Haymitch."

Of course.

When was it ever?

°O°O°O°O°

Katniss hated blood.

She truly, really, hated blood.

Human blood, that was. She didn't have any problem with getting fish or animals ready for supper. But human blood…

Her hands were covered with it as she struggled to secure a tourniquet around Peeta's thigh. The sight of his mangled leg was enough to make her stomach churn again and again. There was a chorus of what have I done echoing around her spinning head, her ears were ringing and she was pretty sure if she opened her mouth she would puke. The leg looked half cut off.

She struggled to get her phone out of her pocket as soon as she had finished making sure he wouldn't bleed to death. She needed Effie. Badly. It was possible she needed an ambulance even. Would the witch be able to heal that? She had looked ready to collapse earlier and…

No signal.

She bit down on her bottom lip, wiped her sweaty brow with her forearm and considered her options. She could leave Peeta and try to find some place with coverage so she could call for help. She was reasonably sure the dog wouldn't hurt him – she wasn't so sure it wouldn't come after her now but that was a risk she was willing to take. The problem was the woods were thrumming with dark creatures and vampires and the scent of Peeta's blood…

If she left him to get help only to come back and find his corpse…

"Katniss…"

Her gaze darted back to his face and she dropped the phone, crawling closer to his side. "Peeta. Peeta, how do you feel?"

Fuck, it was such a stupid question…

His blue eyes were less blank than before but he wasn't entirely lucid either. "You've got to go… Dangerous…"

She grabbed his hand and rubbed it between hers because it felt cold.

"You're not dangerous." she snapped firmly. "Stop saying that. Stop thinking that."

He searched her face for a moment but she wasn't certain he was even seeing her.

"Almost killed my mom…" he mumbled. "Earlier… I…"

"She probably deserved it." she spat. And she wasn't certain she wasn't going to finish that woman off anyway. She was burning to do it. To put an end to anything that threatened her family.

"I'm dangerous…" he repeated and his voice broke. "I'm…"

"You're not." she cut him off. "Peeta, you're the best person I know. Save for Prim."

It was a high compliment coming from her and it left him a little stunned. He stared at her hard, his fingers twitching between her hands…

"I just… I wanted to be safe…" he explained, his face crunching in pain. "I didn't want… Effie got hurt…"

"Effie's gonna be fine." she dismissed.

"But it proves it, don't you see?" he muttered. "The dog's my inner monster… It…"

"It's terrified of hurting people." she finished for him firmly, rubbing his hand harder. That was her theory at least. "It attacked me because I tried to get close to you and because you think you're somehow going to hurt me. Because you're that stupid." She scowled at him. "It attacked Effie because she tried to come between the two of you. It attacked us for the same reason. It's not trying to hurt us, Peeta, it's trying to keep everyone away from you. We'd all be dead otherwise."

"No…" Peeta shook his head. "It was supposed to…"

"I don't care what it was supposed to do." she interrupted. "If that's your inner monster then I'm safer with you than with anyone else. It could have ripped my throat off, Peeta, it licked my cheek instead. That's how dangerous you are to me."

He watched her, confused and scared and in pain.

She wasn't sure how much of the conversation he was truly following.

With a sigh, she leaned closer until their foreheads were pressed together. His breath stuck in his throat and then he let out a long one. It was warm against her lips.

"Why can't you see yourself like I see you?" she whispered. "You're the best of us. Why don't you see that?"

"I'm…" he countered and then stopped and licked his lips.

"You're a good person." she argued. "You're the boy who left bread in my locker when I couldn't find food to feed my sister. You're… You're the best person I know." She closed her eyes and tried not to notice how clammy and warm his skin felt against her forehead. She was scared suddenly that the wounds were too serious, that she had only made it worse by attacking the dog's leg, that… She was scared that… "You're not going to die. I forbid it. All right?"

"All right." he whispered but it sounded faint.

She drew back a little, framed his face in her hands… His eyelids were fluttering close…

She wasn't sure what made her do it.

There was an ugly, terrible knot of dread in her ribcage, pushing on her lungs, keeping her from breathing normally… This ugly, terrible feeling that he was dying, that…

She crushed his mouth under hers.

As far as kisses went, it wasn't good – not that she had much of a frame of reference – a simple press of lips against lips. No finesse. No skill. Nothing that…

It startled him into opening his eyes. He blinked hard, staring at her with such adoration that it made a lump appear in her throat. He looked at her as if she was the sun and the moon and stars and she could vaguely remember her father looking at her mother like that and her mother looking just as enamored and it was just so…

She leaned back in ever so slowly, hesitant, unsure…

The sound of displaced pebbles made her look up but not in time.

This was why she hated emotional entanglements. She had been too distracted. She hadn't been paying attention.

There were three vampires standing in the opening of the cave and she barely had time to jump over Peeta to bodily shield him before they attacked. She didn't have any opportunity to reach for her bow and she wouldn't have had enough range to use it anyway. She felt for her stake but before she could take it out, she was engaged in a fight that shouldn't have been as complicated or hopeless as it felt.

It wasn't that they were particularly strong vampires, it was that her main objective was to keep them away from Peeta's helpless body. She twisted and punched and kicked, rolled, jumped and crouched… All to herd the vampires away from him.

She took a particularly vicious hit to the chin that, she was sure, almost broke her jaw but instead of wallowing in the pain, she used the momentum to get her stake free from her belt. Fangs dug in the meat of her shoulder, tearing the leather of her father's jacket…

"Oh, no you didn't!" she snapped, enraged because this jacket was one of the very few things she had left of him.

She dispatched that particular vampire but the other tricked her and suddenly, before the cloud of dust had even settled, one was at her back keeping her trapped in a choke hold and the other one was getting dangerously close to her throat…

There was a rush of adrenaline as she elbowed the one behind her right before the other one could bite her… She was in hot water and she knew it though.

The snarling took her aback for a second because she hadn't known vampires could make that sound.

And then the one that had just kicked her in the stomach was snatched away by a huge clawed paw. Katniss barely had time to register the surprise on his demonic face before the dog literally bit his head off. It seemed disgruntled to find itself with a mouth full of dust but it didn't let that stop it. It jumped right next to Katniss, his back leg trailing after it, useless and bloody.

She didn't need its help though. One foe, she could manage by herself.

The vampire didn't even see the stake before it was deep in his chest and she let the piece of wood clatter to the ground once he was dust. She skidded to her knees next to Peeta, worried by how pale he looked. And that was without mentioning the small puddle of blood underneath him.

"Peeta!"

He was fighting to keep his eyes open and they were staring at the huge dog that was half-heartedly snarling at her. When she tried to grab him, thinking she would just carry him up until she got a signal on her phone and hope he wouldn't die in the process, the dog's fur bristled and he growled a lot more menacingly.

"Oh, for…" she mumbled under her breath. She stood up, studied the dog and then took a leap of faith. Her guts were telling her Peeta would never harm her in any shape or form. She headed straight for the beast who watched her warily but without any blatant trace of hostility. She didn't let herself hesitate when she tossed her arms around its huge thick neck. "I'm not afraid of you. I'll never be afraid of you. You'll never hurt me. You're good and loyal and if this is your inner monster then we're all very safe with you. You're not second best for Gale and you belong with us. With me. And I'm not leaving you behind. Ever. So get that into your thick skull and let me save your ass."

"Kat…" Peeta breathed behind her.

For a second, she thought it was more stupid warnings about how he would hurt her. But then the dog let out a content sigh and she almost stumbled because suddenly she wasn't holding on to anything. The beast was gone. Simply gone.

She didn't waste time trying to understand the why or the how. Magic was always overly complicated.

She grabbed Peeta, ignoring his pained whimpers, picked up the bloodied phone from the ground and she ran as fast as her legs would take her.

Cliiiiiffhanger.

Double one because I need to warm you there won't be an update next week-end. I won't be around much because my best friend is visiting and it's been ages since we've seen each other so I don't really want to stress about schedule and posting. So next chapter on the 27th. Sorry for the inconvenience. :/

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts!