3
Someone rubbed Haymitch's back while he puked his heart out but it took him a moment to realize it was Katniss and that she looked concerned.
"Okay…" Hawthorne joked, a bit uncertain. "I thought we could all use an early dinner but…"
"That was a great idea." Cinna cut in, pulling out a burger from one of the bags and immediately biting into it. "I am starving."
With all the magic he had been doing, that wasn't surprising.
Haymitch heaved a few more times and then wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, ignoring Katniss' disgusted pout when she opened the tap to wash everything away. She also opened the window, which he didn't take offense at.
"I'll take mine to go." she announced. "I'm going back to the Hellmouth. Gale, can you drop me off?"
"I'll drive you." Hawthorne agreed. "But I'm coming with you."
"Bad idea." Haymitch muttered, dropping back on the chair. The smell of the burgers still made him slightly disgusted but it was manageable.
Katniss looked undecided, she watched the boy with suspicion. "Can you follow my lead this time or are you going to get hurt again?" She made a face. "Or maybe you're going to try and steal my power away to give them to some other poor girl?"
Hawthorne took the hit with barely a flinch. "I still don't approve but I'm not letting you go alone. No way."
"She won't be alone." Haymitch countered, trying to get to his feet but only managing to fall back on his ass right away.
"Right." The boy was downright mocking now, he looked back at Katniss with his eyebrows raised. "You ain't really taking that one as back-up, I hope?"
Haymitch opened his mouth to tell him to fuck off but Katniss answered more quickly than he did.
"No, I'm not." the girl confirmed.
"Like hell you're not." he scoffed. "And you ain't going charging in either. This isn't your typical vampire nest. It's…"
"I've got a plan, alright?" Katniss snapped. "I've been thinking about it."
He glanced at Cinna who lifted his eyebrows and gave him a discreet shrug. The warlock didn't have an idea and neither did he, really, so… "Okay. Let's hear it."
"Chances are, if Effie's like that after a few months, Snow's gonna be fucking weak after centuries spent in the Peacekeeper's custody. Right?" Katniss suggested, directing her question at Cinna.
The warlock nodded. "That is indeed likely."
"Okay, so we need to take advantage of that." she argued.
"Yeah, we really do." Haymitch approved. "Problem is, Snow's gonna be tucked in the middle of his vampire army, under a hotel full of people. The basement's huge. And I mean huge."
"There used to be an arena underneath. A life-sized one where he made various demons, humans and supernatural creatures compete." Cinna hummed. "There were living quarters for him and his lieutenants too, it was a real royal court. Likely, that is where they are." His face grew somber. "Which I should have realized sooner. Haymitch… You knew the Careers were probably there."
Haymitch made a face. "Might have suspected."
"And you didn't say anything?" Cinna growled, his eyes turning entirely black.
He took a deep breath. "Vampire army."
"I could have saved Portia." The wrath in that roar was pure magic and it made his skin crawl.
How he missed Effie and the gentle tingles of her magic…
"You would have gotten captured or killed." he argued. "And since we would have been forced to go with you cause we're the good guys, you'd have gotten us all killed, Cinna. Tell me right now you would have done the safe thing and taken a minute to plan before rushing in. Tell me."
"Nothing can capture or kill me." the warlock snarled.
"Effie's mother sure came close to killing you, though." Katniss remarked with a glare. "And you almost bled Effie out earlier so, you know… Maybe don't go casting stones. At least, Haymitch was trying to protect you."
Cinna's eyes slowly went from entirely black to a little less dark. Eventually he bowed his head in admission. "I would have lost control and rushed in."
"The moment I had a good idea to take that place, I'd have told you." he apologized. "But I didn't have anything. It's the same problem as it was back then. It's damn near too well protected."
"I've got a plan." Katniss insisted, folding her arms in front of her chest.
Hawthorne propped himself on the table, fishing a fry out of the bag. Haymitch pretended not to see because the sight of food was enough to make him want to puke again.
"We're all ears." he prompted.
"You're sure you want to come?" she challenged the boy who simply nodded once. "Okay, then we sneak in. Gale will hit the fire alarm so the employees and guests evacuate and I set the building on fire. I sneak out, the vampires burn. All is well that ends well."
Haymitch was silent for a moment but more because he was battling chills than because he was impressed by the plan. It wasn't an awful plan at all – and it really was better than the ones she used to come up with a few months ago – but…
"You're gonna set a building on fire with the Seam's police right in the meadow?" he mocked and then shook his head. "That's the least of the problems with your plan anyway. Ain't too bad, sweetheart. You're getting better at tactics."
"What's wrong with that plan?" Hawthorne asked. "If we can make sure the humans are out…"
"You are forgetting about the humans they might be keeping below the hotel and who won't be allowed to evacuate." Cinna pointed out. "They have been in hiding for the most part, so they must have some people for food and, perhaps, to be turned later. And with Snow weakened, they will probably want to keep him hidden away and fed for the time being so I would say human presence down there is almost guaranteed. If you set the hotel on fire, you are sentencing those people to death."
"Then we go down and free them before torching the place." Katniss shrugged.
"You and what army?" Haymitch prompted. "Cause we took out a lot of vampires in that meadow but we didn't kill them all. They still outnumber us. If you go alone with only that boy for backup, that's suicide. And not just for you."
He held her gaze just long enough that she got his message.
Hawthorne was not him or Effie, or, for that matter, even Peeta. Peeta was only human but he had trained with them and already had good notions of hand to hand combat before he joined the team. Peeta also knew when to listen to orders and fall back. Hawthorne didn't have the best track record with that.
Simply put, Haymitch didn't want to send her into the wolf den with that boy for sole support.
"Fire would not work anyway." Cinna pointed out. "They have tunnels."
"Tunnels?" Hawthorne frowned.
"That part of the Seam is a cheese wheel." Haymitch sighed. "There are old service tunnels that connect to what's left of the old mines, to maintenance shafts, to the sewers… It's a maze and that's what vampires use to get around during the days. There are a few that come and go to the Capitol. You want to set the hotel on fire, you're gonna have to collapse the tunnels first or it won't do any good."
"Can we do that?" Katniss asked seriously.
"Can you do that, rescue the humans, trigger the fire alarm and get out without getting spotted by the Careers, Snow or their army? All by yourself?" He shook his head. "No. And if they're smart, and they're definitely fucking smart, those tunnels are gonna be heavily guarded anyway. My mom tried that back in the day, that's how she got captured and tossed in that arena in the first place."
He rubbed his face.
He hated to say it but…
"I think for now the best bet is to… to do damage control." He hesitated. "We're betting on Snow being weak but we don't know for sure and we don't know how weak. He didn't look good but I only got a glimpse of him… There's no telling he's not still powerful enough to take out a Slayer."
"The more we will wait, the more powerful he will get." Cinna pointed out.
"Can't you do something?" Katniss demanded. "If you come with us…"
"I have been doing a lot of magic today." The warlock shook his head. "And even back then I was not enough to stop him alone. He's been sired by an old one, I am just… I am the child of a demon, not its direct product. It might not seem like much of a distinction but, trust me, it does count."
Hawthorne visibly flinched at the child of a demon part.
"There's no way you will get to Snow and back out alive." Haymitch muttered. "And I don't want you facing him alone."
"But we have to do something." Katniss argued.
"We could pack up and go." Hawthorne suggested and when every pair of eyes turned to him, the boy shrugged. "Just putting that option out there. Is it really our problem if…"
"Ask that to all the dead kids." Haymitch spat but he took a deep breath. "You're right, though. It's not your problem and, I told you already, you should take your family and go." He licked his lips, swallowed hard and turned to Katniss. "And if he does that, we should consider sending Prim away with him. Maybe even Effie and Peeta until they're… operational again."
"I'm not leaving Katniss." Hawthorne argued stubbornly.
Haymitch ignored him but rolled with it. "Then we should discuss sending the kid to friends of mine in England."
Mags and Finnick would take Prim in and make sure she lacked for nothing, he knew it. And short of that, he supposed they could also send her to Flickerman. He had been Effie's Watcher, he might not mind.
None of them, he was sure, would mind taking Effie and Peeta in either, not even in their current conditions.
He was just trying to think about their well-being first. They were sitting ducks for now and…
Snow loved sitting ducks.
Katniss stared back at him for a long time and then rubbed her eyes. "What do you want me to do for now if you don't want me to attack them?"
He wavered.
If only the headache would leave him alone…
"Going back to the Hellmouth ain't a bad idea." he acknowledged. "You should patrol the woods. There's still gonna be lots of cops around, probably… Make sure nothing gets to them. Watch The Capitol, see if you can get info. One of the Careers coming in or out… That sort of thing. But nothing reckless, Katniss. This ain't gonna be a sprint, it's gonna be a fucking marathon. We won't win by being impulsive, we've got to be smart."
Katniss slowly nodded her understanding. "Fine. I'll try to stay out of troubles."
He snorted and slowly rested his head on the table because the kitchen was spinning all around him. "Like my girl on fire can do that…"
"I hate when you call me that. I didn't put myself on fire on purpose and it was one time." she grumbled.
"Two times." he corrected. And all within a couple of weeks of her becoming the Slayer. "Cinna, fix the boy's ribs before he goes."
Hawthorne wouldn't be much use with broken or cracked ribs.
She patted his shoulder. "You're staying here, then?"
He groaned his assent but realized belatedly she wasn't talking to him.
"I will make the withdrawal potions for him." Cinna answered. "Then I have a witch to find and kill."
There was an edge to Cinna's words.
He almost felt sorry for Effie's mother.
But it was the smartest move.
Elindra was a threat.
They didn't want Snow to go to her to fix him, after all…
Look at our little scoobies planning mayhem and murder XD So, how much do we trust Katniss and Gale to follow Haymitch's orders? And how much do think Elindra is toast if Cinna finds her? Let me know your thoughts! Next week, we take a scenic road trip with Gale and Katniss :p