8

His kitchen was in a complete domestic disarray, like it was most mornings, and Haymitch briefly wondered if that was why the Council disapproved of Watchers becoming too involved with their Slayer or why they were encouraged to leave their family behind when they became the active Watcher. The urgent matter of the possible looming apocalypse had momentarily been replaced by the more pressing problem of getting care of everyday business: like making sure the three kids in his care were fed, calling the school in sick for himself, Effie and the kids – again – and making sure Prim would be on time at her own school because the girl was adamant about going since she would only end up being sent back to her room when something interesting happened anyway.

He wasn't sure what to do with Prim acting up. She had always been so sweet up until then…

"Are we being like those overprotective parents who suffocate their kid?" he asked Effie in a low voice, a little uncertainly, when he stole the mug full of coffee from her hand despite her pout. He needed the coffee. He hadn't gotten enough sleep lately. Or liquor. The tremors in his hands were troubling and he was starting to feel the first effects of withdrawals. He would be no good to anyone if he collapsed but, at the same time, he needed his wits about him and…

Effie lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow, her lips twitching. "We sent Peeta on a cover mission that could potentially have been dangerous just last night."

"Was talking about Prim." he winced, keeping his voice low although he wasn't sure why he bothered because, behind him, Katniss and her sister were bickering for the first time ever.

Effie winced too. "She feels left out."

"I know." he sighed, taking a sip of coffee and wincing some more because it burned his tongue. It was also dark and bitter and everything he didn't like. He wasn't sure how she could drink it like that.

"Haymitch, when you've dropped Prim off, can you pick up Madge?" Peeta asked, almost shouting to cover the noise the two girls were making. "She wants to help. She'll wait for you next to the square."

The boy waved his phone so Haymitch could get a glimpse of the text conversation on the screen. He nodded his assent because, at this point, they needed all the help they could get.

"I'll hit Ripper on the way back." he told Effie. "See if she's learned something since my last visit."

"With Madge?" Effie asked dubiously. "Be careful."

He rolled his eyes. "Ain't gonna start a demon brawl with her in the room, sweetheart, give me some credit." But showing up with a Maysilee look-alike might shake Ripper just enough that he would get answers. "Kid, let's go."

"You've got your shirt out of your skirt again, little duck!" Katniss complained.

Prim righted her clothes, grabbed her bag with something that wasn't quite a glare for her sister and snatched the spare helmet on her way to the door.

"Have a nice field trip, dear!" Effie chimed at her retreating back and Prim paused long enough to thank her but it lacked her usual warmth.

Haymitch took a deep breath, praying for patience, and followed the kid. There wasn't much conversation on the way to school and he felt bad about that. It wasn't the girl's fault. She was constantly overlooked and that couldn't be pleasant but he had troubles balancing everything and…

"Sweetheart…" he hesitated once he had dropped her off and she was handing him the helmet back. "I know it's not fun right now…"

She looked down at her feet, as if a little ashamed. "It's fine. I know you're all busy and it's important."

"Yeah, it's pretty important." he acknowledged, swinging his leg over the bike so he could stand in front of her. "But you're important too. Hell, half the reason I bother trying to save the world is because you're gonna live in it." He nudged her chin up. "We don't keep you away from that shit because we don't want you… We keep you away cause we…"

He couldn't say we love you. The words wouldn't roll past his lips.

Apparently he didn't need to because she suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. "I'm sorry I've been behaving like a baby."

"Not a baby…" he snorted, hugging back. "More like a regular teenager…"

And there would be more of that to come, he was sure. He had taken care of enough young girls to not be looking forward to that.

She looked up, a sad smile on her lips. "It's just… I know you have to take care of Katniss and I'm just…"

"You're not just anything." he cut her off, frowning. "What you are, right now, is mine. Family. And you're nicer than your sister so that's working in your favor if we're counting points…" She giggled and he winked at her before gently tugging on one of her braids. "Have fun on your trip. You've got a stake?"

Prim snorted. "A stake, holy water and a switchblade in my shoe."

"Good girl." he praised, bowing down to plant a kiss on the top of her head. "One of us will pick you up after school, so stay put. I don't want you walking around on your own right now."

He swung back on the bike, lifting his hand in farewell to answer her wave and kicked the engine into life. Finding Madge wasn't complicated even though the girl was doing her best to look like she wasn't doing anything wrong.

"First time cutting school?" he teased, handing her the helmet Prim had just relinquished.

She winced guiltily but hopped behind him without showing any apparent fear. "You're a teacher, you know, you're not supposed to encourage us to do that kind of stuff."

His laugh was swallowed by the roar of the bike.

If Madge had misgivings about visiting a demon bar, she hid them well. She remained close to him as instructed, didn't say anything at all, but her eyes traveled everywhere in the dump that was Ripper's with unabashed curiosity.

The half-demon behind the bar did a double take when she spotted her next to him.

"You're dealing in necromancy now?" Ripper challenged, a touch of fear in her voice. "That's what your witch was up to last night?"

Haymitch took his time cataloguing the various demons in the bar before perching himself on one of the stools. The place was almost empty and he doubted the couple of demons in there would be looking for trouble, they were the pacific kind.

"Take another look." He snorted, patting the stool next to his so Madge would know it was safe to sit.

Ripper did and, while she lifted her eyebrows in surprise, she didn't say anything more about his dead Slayer. She did however slam an empty glass in front of him and reach for a bottle on a shelf behind the bar. He didn't stop her when she poured the whiskey despite Madge's slightly disapproving glance.

"Looks like you need it." Ripper muttered, resting her elbows on the sticky counter and leaning forward a little. "I don't have much for you… No specifics. But something's up. Last night… Your witch, she must have felt it."

"She did." he confirmed. "But we went to the Hellmouth and there was not a fucking thing to see." He took a sip of his whiskey, savoring it, aware that the half-demon hadn't missed the slight tremor in his fingers. "Come on, you've got to have something better for me. I'd hate to have to break something…"

Ripper rolled her eyes, glancing at the blond girl who was sorely out of place in that bar. Madge Undersee was sticking out like a sore thumb and it only added to the weight on Haymitch's shoulders because… Well, he remembered sitting right there with another blond girl, her spitting image, and it had been… Perhaps not fun but…

Maysilee, Mabel and your mom…

The fact that those three had visited Katniss the previous night…

He saw them all the time in his nightmares. They were the ghosts he couldn't shake. But they were not real. And…

"Rumor is something's in the work." Ripper told him. "Something big. It's been deader than dead for a few nights in here. No vampires. A few demons have packed up and left town. You're asking me… The Careers are gonna act soon. Today or tomorrow kind of soon."

That was what he feared.

He turned the glass this way and that, making the whiskey whirl, thinking…

"What about the witch?" Madge asked, surprising both him and Ripper. When the half-demon's attention settled on her, the girl sat a little straighter. "Do you know anything about the witch they're using for their ritual?"

Ripper shook her head. "I don't know shit about that, kid. There are more than one strange magical being in town."

"So, you don't fucking know anything useful." Haymitch summed up, downing his glass.

Ripper glared at him. "I know I don't want Snow to fucking come back so I'm gonna give you a call if I hear more but, whatever's going on, they're not babbling about it. The Careers are running a tight ship, Haymitch."

"Fair enough." He sighed and stood up, gesturing at Madge to follow him.

"Girl." Ripper called reluctantly when they reached the door. Madge turned, both a little curious and more than a little afraid. Haymitch could feel it, no doubt so could the rest of the demons in the bar. "She was a fucking good Slayer. Don't go and get yourself killed, she wouldn't have liked that. Stay away from these parts."

Haymitch steered her out with a hand between her shoulder blades before she could answer. Madge was silent all the way to the bike and he cleared his throat, feeling compelled to address the problem that had never been outright spoken of. He had gotten used to having her around, had gotten better at not looking for the similarities but spotting the differences, he had stopped seeing Maysilee when he looked at her… He was as comfortable around her as he was going to get and yet he still hated the idea of talking about…

"She was a fucking good Slayer." he muttered reluctantly, his voice a little rough.

Madge flashed him a small sad smile. "Then let's make her proud and stop this before it starts."

He nodded at her because that… Well, it was a plan he could get behind.

"Hop on." he ordered, handing her the spare helmet.

"Do you believe her?" she asked, once she was settled behind him but before he could start the bike. "The demon? Do you believe her when she says she doesn't know anything?"

He didn't even have to think about it. "Yeah. She's got nothing to win if Snow comes back and she's not the kind who thrills on chaos."

Unlike some.

He pondered that as he drove them home, wondering if it was worth trying to locate some more chaos attracted demons and beat answers out of them… It seemed desperate but weren't they at the point for desperate measures?

Once they reached his house, Madge went straight for the library where she was welcomed with a semi-happy, semi-relieved grunt from Katniss who immediately closed the book she was reading. Peeta flashed her a grin, Cinna barely glanced up from the pile of codices he was consulting…

Effie was conspicuously missing…

"She's in the kitchen." Peeta helpfully offered.

Since nobody rushed to tell him they had solved this shit, he nodded his thanks and retreated to the end of the corridor where he found her making tea. She had changed into what he privately dubbed her would-be-Slayer outfit: skin tight black leather pants, a black corset that inevitably made his blood drift south and squared-heeled boots that made the whole thing look even more… sexy. He knew that if they went out she would complete it with a leather jacket that had a ridiculous glittery butterfly on its back and he just… He loved that. That she could be ridiculously girly even dressed to kill. It was…

"Expecting a fight?" he mocked.

She didn't startle but he figured she had heard them come in.

She kept her back to him. She was staring at his overgrown backyard through the window over the sink, absentmindedly stirring a bag of tea inside a teapot he was pretty sure he didn't own. He should probably have been concerned about her stuff migrating to his house with constant regularity.

"Don't you?" she retorted, a second too late and without enough amusement to make it a joke.

Haymitch glanced behind him to make sure nobody was about to interrupt and then crossed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his face into her neck.

He missed her.

He wanted her.

It hadn't been forty-eight hours since the last time they had been in bed together but he missed her and he wanted her and it scared him to death.

There would be no time for that, though. No time for sex. No time for stolen kisses.

They were in the eye of the storm.

He had been in enough of them to know, to feel it.

It wouldn't last.

Soon, too soon, they would be in too deep and they wouldn't be able to afford distractions.

And this thing between them… It was a distraction.

She leaned against him, closing her eyes, her hands grabbing his arms with enough strength to bruise… "I feel fate closing in on us, Haymitch… I am scared somebody will die…"

Chances were somebody would die. There were too many of them. The odds… The odds weren't good.

"That's part of the job." he reminded her.

"Ours, yes. Not the children's." she argued but snapped her mouth shut because they had talked about this enough times.

Katniss didn't have a choice, Peeta had made it clear he wanted to contribute any way he could, Madge wouldn't see combat and Prim would be kept safe at all cost in the Village. They would do whatever they could to keep the children safe. No… If anyone was really at risk of getting killed, statistically…

"If I die, you're up." he reminded her.

"Don't say things like that!" she hissed. "Didn't we agree you would…"

"I will fight. Fuck, I will fight…" he promised, pressing a kiss on her neck. "But if I die, you take over. Promise me. You grieve later, you kick Snow's ass right back into hell first. Promise me, Effie."

For a moment, he thought she wouldn't but then she let out a long breath. "I promise. You will do the same. If I die…"

"You won't die." he cut her off, tightening his arms around her. "You won't."

And yet there was this little voice at the back of his mind that told him she would because he had been stupid enough to let her sneak her way under his skin, to let her close, to…

"I told you…" she whispered. "I feel fate closing in. I told you once, didn't I? Me being here, being with you who could have been my Watcher… I feel it, Haymitch."

"You're just shaken up 'cause of that dream." he dismissed. "And you're tired. We all are. Fuck fate. Maybe we're all gonna make it to fight another day."

"Perhaps." she answered but she was clearly humoring him. "Still. Promise me. Duty first."

"Duty first." he agreed reluctantly.

She turned her head, a forced smile on her lips, and stole a kiss that he deepened because… It felt desperate. When she turned in his arms, he pinned her against the sink with his hips, wishing there was time to…

She drew her head back, licked her lips… "We should go back to the others. Help however we can."

"Yeah." he sighed.

She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. He let her rub his mouth with her thumb to erase the traces of lipstick and took the tray with the teapot and the cups before she could.

The mood in the library hadn't improved during his short absence.

Cinna was clearly getting more and more frustrated by the minute and Haymitch wasn't surprised when, after half an hour of the lot of them sipping tea and uselessly skimming through books they had already searched, he slammed a codex shut and stood up to pace the room.

Effie closed her eyes, a wince on her face. "Please."

Cinna tossed her an annoyed look but made a visible effort to relax. His shoulders lost some of their tension but not all.

It was all an invisible battle to Haymitch although he knew what was going on. He couldn't feel magic, not like Effie did, but for having been submitted to a spell from the warlock one time or two, he knew it wasn't pleasant. His magic wasn't like Effie's. It didn't feel warm and it didn't tingle. It felt hot enough to burn to ash in a second, like lava.

"This is pointless!" Cinna hissed. "None of those codices matches. We're wasting time."

What was there to answer to that? Cinna was right.

Haymitch swallowed back a sigh, about to suggest his half-assed plan about finding some demon to beat up in hope they would know something, when Peeta spoke.

"Maybe it's enchanted." the boy said and his words seemed to settle weirdly in the silence.

Both Effie and Cinna turned to look at him with a sudden intensity and, under the scrutiny, Peeta blushed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. You know better, I just…"

"No." Effie cut him off gently, waving her hand to dismiss the apology. "What were you about to say, dear?"

Peeta hesitated, glanced at Katniss who gave him an encouraging shrug, and cleared his throat. "Well… It was in one of the books you had me read about magic… Some family spellbooks… They're enchanted to make sure nobody but people belonging to the bloodline can read them…"

Haymitch's eyes traveled from Effie to Cinna because he was out of his depths but, for the two magic users, it was like a cloud had been lifted.

"Of course!" Cinna exclaimed, marching back to the abandoned unreadable spellbook just as Effie stood up to join him. "Damn Elindra."

"But why wouldn't she mention it?" Effie frowned. "She specifically told me not to touch the book. If I am the only one able to read it…"

"Because she did not want you to take part in the fight." Cinna growled. "She wanted you safe and that was her twisted way of accomplishing that. I hate this woman." He tossed Effie a slightly regretful look. "My apologies."

Effie waved her hand again. "She has that effect on a lot of people."

"So that's it?" Peeta asked eagerly. "Effie reads it and we finally know what this Reaping is all about?"

Haymitch certainly hoped so but, of course, Cinna shook his head. "It is not so simple. Elindra's warning was sound, the book is full of black magic." He looked at Effie who was standing next to him. "If you touch it, I cannot guarantee it won't corrupt you."

The witch appeared to steel herself. "It is a risk we will have to take."

"No." Haymitch said, rising to his feet. "We're gonna find…"

"Duty first." Effie reminded him flatly, keeping her eyes averted.

The kids were watching them with wide eyes, probably sensing the storm.

"That's my duty." he snapped. "We don't need someone as powerful as you turning dark. We need…"

"There is another option." Cinna interrupted, turning to face Effie. She turned too, out of reflex, and the warlock grabbed her hands. "Do you trust me?"

"Do I have a choice?" she joked lightly.

The grin Cinna flashed her was more predatory than amused. "Not really."

And then, before Haymitch could understand what had happened, Effie gasped and there was blood everywhere. Her forearms had split open along the veins and the blood… The blood was sliding all over Cinna's fingers, all over his arms instead of dropping to the floor…

Katniss reached for a sword and swung it at Cinna before Haymitch had even moved but the blade shattered on what must have been a magic shield.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Haymitch asked, panicked. Because if Cinna was betraying them…

"What I must to find the woman I love." the warlock answered and then he let go of Effie, his arms soaked with her blood up to his shoulders, his shirt dripping with it, and grabbed the book. A pleased smile blossomed on his lips. "It's working. I can read it."

But Haymitch wasn't paying him any attention because Effie swayed on her feet…

And then she collapsed.

*Evil cackle* I'm impatient to know what you all think...