I'm Half-Doomed and You're Semi-Sweet

Kira followed Pete up the stairs.

“I don’t understand why-”

He abruptly stopped and turned to face her on the staircase.

“You saw what they did to Joe. And he’s a hunter. Don’t you know what they could do to you?” he turned back around. “Andy will teach you to fight, just in case.”

It had been a week since Joe’s attack. He’d mostly healed, although his blackened eye was still visible.

He took it in stride; making jokes about his attackers. Patrick, on the other hand, was more worried than ever and forcing everyone to take extra precautions when leaving the warehouse.

It didn’t help that Joe’s attackers were unfamiliar and neither himself nor Andy could identify them properly.

“But-” she was about to point out the fact that she was a hunter as well.

“I don’t care if you think you’re a hunter, just give me some peace of mind and let Andy teach you,” he sighed impatiently.

“Why should you care?”

“Look, if you’re going to live here, you’re going to know how to fight properly, and that’s it,” he interrupted, pushing the door at the top of the stairs open.

In the short time she’d been staying at the warehouse, she’d never once been up here.

There were supplies everywhere, from cross-bow type weapons to the classic wooden stakes and vials of holy water. Punching bags, weights, and countless other equipment crowded the far left side of the expansive space.

She turned to the right upon hearing a grunt and the sound of something whizzing through the air and then making contact with wood.

Andy was armed with stakes, having target practice on the opposite side, getting nearly every stake to the center of the bull’s eye.

They watched him for a few minutes before he finished and finally noticed their presence. He gave a slight smile before grabbing his water bottle off the floor and chugging half of it down.

She kept at a slight distance; she hadn’t gotten to know Andy as well as the others throughout the time she’d been here. She was a little nervous, for some odd reason.

“Andy’s our best fighter,” Pete offered, nudging Kira in his direction.

“Best human one, anyway,” Andy replied, tossing his water to the side.

Pete left an anxious Kira with Andy and made his way to Patrick’s small library.

“Patrick, can you help me something?” he immediately asked upon entering, not noticing that he’d interrupted Hanna, who was deep in conversation with him. “Sorry, I didn’t-” he began to apologize; but she stood up and left, brushing past him wordlessly.

As if he didn’t exist.

He ignored that fact and looked back towards Patrick, who had multiple books out on his desk, as usual, and looked stressed out.

“Will you help me figure something out?” he asked quickly. He looked up, waiting for him to continue. “So, Kira sneaks out sometimes, and I don’t know where she goes, but last time she came back with-”

“Pete, I don’t have time to help you figure out where your girlfriend goes for walks in the morning. Sorry,” he sighed, clearly frustrated.

“She’s not-” he began to protest. Patrick raised his eyebrows at him. “Never mind,” he rolled his eyes, not knowing why he felt the need to keep his and Kira’s non-existent relationship secret.

“Why don’t you just ask her?” he asked obviously.

Pete sighed loudly, knowing Patrick was too busy and in the wrong mood to be helping Pete out with his vague suspicions.

“Never mind, I’ll figure it out myself,” he decided, leaving Patrick in his study.

And it was going to drive him crazy until he did.