5

With Paylor's story being projected directly into their minds, Haymitch didn't really need the shadow puppets show but Katniss seemed to enjoy it well enough.

Maybe because she didn't have a splitting headache that all this telepathy wasn't helping at all.

He couldn't even tell where the headache was coming from anymore. The lack of booze, Brutus hitting him in the face, the open wound at the back of his skull… The same went for the nausea. Was it him going into withdrawals or was it a concussion? Was his body so heavy and sluggish because it missed its daily – fuck that, he had barely touched a drink all week, so weekly – dose of liquor or was it the still throbbing shoulder and the fact that he was pretty sure if he took off his clothes, his torso would be black and blue?

Earlier during the fight, he had become a dead weight.

He was good at what he did and he knew it. He was no Slayer, he didn't have superpowers, but he had plenty of training, he had really well-honed skills and, most importantly, he had a brain. The problem was that he was also getting old, toward a time in life when demon hunters should know better than push it on the field. Which was exactly why he and Chaff had started more and more seriously talking about opening an agency somewhere, probably in Europe, and maybe hiring younger demon hunters, training them so they could go out in the world by themselves afterward… A bit like Watchers with Potentials but hopefully with a lower death ratio.

That day, in particular, he hadn't been up to par. Without Paylor and her demons, Katniss would have gone down. Because he hadn't been able to watch her back. Because she had been forced to watch his. And that couldn't fly. He needed to do better. Get better.

He needed…

He needed water but he had been in such a hurry to jump through a hell portal he hadn't thought about bringing rations or a canteen. The fuck was happening to him? That was the sort of things he should have thought of. The sort of things he would never have forgotten about if…

His mind flashed back to the kitchen, to Effie melting in his arms, to her words about fate and death and…

And then there was the boy.

He felt a stab of panic every time he thought about that boy lost in this fucking hell alone. Over three months. If Effie had been captured, if she hadn't found him… Was it even possible for him to still be alive?

One glance at Katniss and he knew he wouldn't even mention the likely conclusion.

Perhaps she already knew.

Perhaps she just didn't want to face the music.

Paylor's story was almost done and he realized he had barely listened.

It was the classic tale, though. Centuries ago, everything was just peachy, their clans lived in peace – or as close to that as you could get when you were living in a deserted hell with pools of sulphur and fire-lizards… He had been right and it was a matriarchy on account of female demons of that species being rarer than the males. When a female was old enough, she left her clan with some males to found her own and on and on it went… The females also apparently all had magic…

Haymitch revised his theory about the magic being powerful though. He had thought it was what was allowing Paylor to talk to them but a few of the male demons had initiated contact since so… He wasn't sure what degree of magic they were talking about. It might be powerful, it might be parlor tricks.

He wasn't surprised to learn the Peacekeeper was a male demon who had gotten fed up with women being in power. He had seen a lot of that in his time.

Slayers were supposed to be in charge, he believed that with all his heart. He had been raised by one – and then by a bad-ass woman Watcher – he had loved another more than anything else and he had made his best to guide four to find their own path.

Of all his Slayers, Johanna was the one who had really come into her own. By the end, she had been calling the shots and he had just been offering logistical and research support. That was the goal. For them to become the leader. Maysilee had been nearly there. Cecelia too. Alina and Annie had died too young. Katniss… Katniss wasn't there yet but, if she survived long enough, he could see her becoming a great leader. She was still young though, a baby on many accounts, and she still needed him for guidance.

That was what a Watcher was supposed to do: offer guidance, push their Slayer to become who they were supposed to be…

In theory.

In practice, the Council loved keeping a tight leash around their Slayer's neck and, most of the Council being men, they hated the thought of a woman in power more than he could explain. He wasn't sure how Coin had gotten herself where she currently was but it probably hadn't been easy and it also probably had to do with the fact she did share the line of thought that Slayers shouldn't lead but follow orders like good little soldiers.

Slayers were never soldiers.

They were born to command.

So, yeah, he got it. One man got his knickers into a twist because a woman told him to cook a fire-lizard one time too many and, just like that, the hellish paradise became a hellish hell. Apparently, the male demon had tried to kill his clan's shaman to steal her magic – which was doubly forbidden because attacking one of the she-demons was the worst crime in those parts and because male and magic shouldn't mix.

He carefully didn't mention he could do some, albeit not well and certainly not on the fly.

The demon managed to get away from the rest of the clan with a spark of magic and some others defected to his side. It was war, yada, yada, yada…

Always the same fucking story, Haymitch mused, watching Katniss' reaction. The girl was enthralled by the shadow puppets moving over the fire as she munched on her piece of lizard.

'Then, one moon, the sky tore open and the night-creature fell…'

Haymitch's attention snapped back to the shaman who was looking calmly into the flames. It was a deceptive calm, he could hear the hatred and the long burning anger underneath. Centuries ago, she had said. He wasn't sure how long those demons lived. Had she already been alive then? Or was it a story passed from generation to generation?

Truth be told, he had never seen demons like those and they were fascinating enough that, if Snow hadn't been roaming free in their world and half their team hadn't been missing, he might have considered writing a paper about them. Effie could have helped. They could have co-signed it. It had been a while since he had contributed anything to the Watcher's bank of knowledge.

'The Peacekeeper found the night-creature and the night-creature offered an alliance…'

Because, of course, he did. Haymitch snorted.

'But the night-creature was betrayed and enslaved.'

Haymitch perked up a little. Now, that was a part of the story he didn't mind. He hoped Snow had suffered. He hoped the vampire had suffered long and painfully.

At least until he heard the next part because he didn't feel that smug anymore after that.

Apparently, this Peacekeeper found a more efficient way to steal magic directly from Snow and so he kept him as a sort of magical battery, something he could tap into at all time. He stole his powers and used it for his own gains – one of which apparently being immortality.

Now, all Snow had in terms of magic was a very powerful thrall – Haymitch knew that for a fact – but vampires were demons and thus it was possible they had an inner sort of magic by nature. Still… It wouldn't have been pure magic and…

'With the nigh-creature powers, he enslaved our people.'

Yeah, that was bad.

A shiver ran down his spine as Paylor explained how the Peacekeeper had sent his demons to capture more of them and had somehow turned them against their brothers and sisters… Mind control. She didn't say it like that but it was what it was, Haymitch was certain. That Peacekeeper broke into the demons' mind and made them believe they belonged to him. Worse, since they were telepath demons, they would function like a giant hive with the Peacekeeper as the brain…

'Then, four moons ago, the night-creature disappeared and we thought the tide had finally turned…'

From what he got from the images in his head, unlike the clans that were mostly nomadic, the Peacekeeper had built himself a castle over the centuries, probably influenced by Snow if the style was any clue, and the different clans had planned to unite and take it, free their brethrens from the tyrant's rule…

Paylor's clan had been getting ready to join the others when Effie had stumbled upon them. Effie and Paylor had apparently hit it off and Effie had wanted to come along because, for some reason, she was certain her lost clan member was inside the castle.

A locator spell, he figured, she must have cast a locator spell of some sort on the boy.

Anyway, it had all gone to shit, as those things tended to go.

Apparently, the Peacekeeper had been collecting captured shamans for years and nobody had noticed, so he hadn't been as defenseless as the demons had hoped. The she-demons magic was harder to control for him than Snow's had been and he was weaker but not helpless. The demons got their asses kicked but the Peacekeepers had noticed Effie and, Haymitch supposed, her magic and he had ordered his brainwashed soldier to grab her.

What happened next was conjecture on Paylor's part but since the Peacekeeper was back at his all-powerful levels, she figured he was now using her as he had once used Snow.

It made sense.

Neither Snow's not Effie's magic was native to this world so it might be easier to control and somehow more powerful too.

Paylor stopped pushing the story in their heads and there was a weird hush on the camp that wasn't quite audible since no one had spoken for a long time as it was. The hush was in everyone's mind though.

Haymitch rubbed his mouth with a hand that was shaky for various reasons.

Three months was a long time to be captive. Three months was a long time to be used as a magical battery. Three months was…

He wanted to kill something.

"But…" Katniss finally said, tense. "What about Peeta? You didn't say… Do you know where Peeta is? Did she ever find the boy she was looking for? Our… The member of our clan?"

'Either he is a slave or he is dead.' one of the male demons spat into everyone's head.

'That's enough, Bobbin.' Paylor rebuked. 'I don't know about your clan's member, Slayer. We never saw him.'

Katniss was spiraling and it wasn't good.

Haymitch grabbed her arm and squeezed, hard enough to stop her from thinking up the worst scenarios. He had already done that and it wouldn't help.

"We know where Effie is and Effie can find him with a locator spell." he told her. "So now we've got a game plan. Get Effie, find Peeta, go home. That's better than what we had an hour ago."

Assuming Effie would be in any state to cast anything but that was a problem for his future self.

'You intend to free your shaman?' Paylor asked, curious.

"We're gonna need a plan of that castle if you've got it." Haymitch declared, all business now. "I need to know as much as possible about the place and that Peacekeeper. Anything you haven't told us yet, I need to know. Also we need our weapons and if you could help us get there, it would be great."

'Going into the castle is suicide.' the same demon from earlier said. 'You will be turned.'

"Like hell we will." Haymitch spat. "How does that even work? Is it a remote thing? Anyone who steps across a certain line gets entrapped or what? How does it work?"

Katniss was hugging herself and he squeezed her arm again, hoping it would make her focus. Peeta was either alright or he wasn't but sitting there and worrying about it wouldn't help anyone. What they needed to do was find out what had happened to him and that passed by getting Effie back.

'Why is your soldier acting like he is in charge?' Paylor asked Katniss.

Katniss looked up at the she-demon and then at him and then shrugged. "He kind of is. He's my… He's…"

"I'm her mentor. She's young and learning." he cut her off before they could digress into their cultural differences. Better to let her think she was Effie's apprentice or something. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I'm happy to let Effie be our leader when she's free. But I need to get to her, alright?"

The she-demon's black eyes studied him and then Katniss who was still struggling to collect herself. She must have reached a conclusion because she bowed her head in a slightly unhappy nod.

'We are not sure how the Peacekeeper turns our clans.' she admitted. 'His soldiers raid us, the captives are brought back to his castle. When they come out, their minds are not their own anymore.'

He thought fast and hard, trying to recall everything he had ever read about compelling magic of that kind. With borrowed power no less…

"I think it must be contact." he finally hesitantly decided. "He must turn them himself. Otherwise, if it was a perimeter thing, he would already have found a way to get the rest of you…"

"So we pretend to get captured and once we're inside we kill him?" Katniss suggested.

Not a bad idea altogether but that meant going in with hands tied and without weapons…

"Let's make that plan B." he tempered. "Do you have any plan of the castle? Anything we can use?"

'You want to attack the castle, the two of you alone?' Paylor regarded him as if he was crazy.

And maybe he was.

"He has my witch and potentially my kid." he scoffed. "We've come a long way to get them back, trust me, it's not a fucking power hungry misogynist demon who's gonna stop me."

A lot of that got lost in translation, he figured, but, at least, it shook up Katniss. Suddenly, she stood straighter, her eyes sharper than before.

"Right." she spat. "We're getting Peeta and Effie back. Alright. We need a way to sneak inside and maybe a distraction…"

"That's better." he approved. "If we kill that Peacekeeper, it should break the spell too. Your people should be free."

Paylor didn't say anything for the longest time. She was clearly thinking.

'The shamans who are imprisoned in the castle dungeons…' she eventually remarked. 'If you could free them and send them out, it might turn the tide… The Peacekeeper is not as powerful as when he possessed the night-creature… We noticed lately that the raids stuck closer to the castle and they kill more than they capture. Your shaman… She is weakening and there are only so many the Peacekeeper can control, I believe.'

That wasn't good.

To be expected, he supposed, but not good.

His heart squeezed but he couldn't afford the distraction. Not now.

'There's the sewers entrance.' the mouthy male demon – Bobbin – suggested. 'We tried to use it during the attack last time. It's guarded but…'

"Not a problem." Katniss growled. "We'll get in."

'They will know.' Paylor warned. 'What one knows, they all know. Their minds are connected. However… If we attack their front, will they really notice we are stabbing them in the back?'

"I'm not asking you to sacrifice your people." Haymitch winced. It would be very helpful, that was for sure, but… They looked like good people – the demon part notwithstanding – he didn't want any more good people to die that day.

"I am." Katniss cut in, standing up.

Paylor stood too and the moment felt intense somehow.

"If you help us, we can put an end to all this. I can free you." the girl insisted. "That's what I do."

Kill bad demons, Haymitch mused privately, or put a world on fire to get back to her boyfriend?

He really wanted to get back to her boyfriend too, though, and to his witch, so… He stayed silent. That kind of moments was important. It was Katniss making a stand, growing into her own power, making her own huge decisions that would affect people…

It was Katniss becoming the Slayer.

'Can you truly do this?' Paylor asked.

Could they? Haymitch was all bravado but he couldn't with one hundred percent certainty say it would work out.

"Yes." Katniss promised with enough fervor that Haymitch almost believed it.

Lots of projected confidence on the girl's part, he decided.

But whatever weird connection Katniss and Paylor had found, it seemed to work out in their favor.

Paylor turned toward the rest of her demons – not enough to take a castle.

'Warn the other clans.' she ordered. 'At moonset we march to war.'

A DAY MAY COME WHEN THE COURAGE OF MEN FAILS WHEN WE FORSAKE OUR FRIENDS AND BREAK ALL BONDS OF FELLOWSHIP BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!

...

...

Sorry, wrong movie. I got a tiny bit excited by the let's go to war move to get our boyfriend/witch back move :p Let it NEVER be said those two do anything by halves. Are you excited for what comes next? Do you think they will find them? Will they free the shamans? Will Effie still be operational or will she be a fried vegetable? WHERE is Peeta? All those questions! I cannot WAIT to hear your thoughts.

(Bobbin is a side character in TBOSAS, I borrowed him and I will put him back in place when I'm done haha)