Fire & Silk; A Vampire Everlark AU

Chapter 6

Peeta's P.O.V.

I get to the Castle doors and right away Johanna and Finnick are in my faces. With questions like: 'what did you do' 'why would you do it' 'did you use her' and all that crap.

I try to quiet them down so I can explain, but before I could, I feel a hand grabbing my arm.

"Delly?" I ask, turning around. She smiles demurely before tugging me along, her pale face bright. I throw a look to Johanna and Finnick before letting myself be pulled away. Delly takes me to the kitchen, and my throat tightens as I remember the stew for Katniss.

"Delly," I say again, and she turns around. "I don't want to cook or do anything. I want to go to sleep and let my rose turn red already so I can just leave my life. I've messed up too much." I make to leave for my room, but she manages to snag onto my shirt again and turn me around.

She pulls me into her and crushes our lips together. I freeze in her hands as her tongue swirls along my lips, asking for entrance. I pull away, hands practically glued to my sides as I try to not slap her. "Peeta? What's wrong?" she asks, her face making it seem as if I'd done something terribly unbecoming of myself.

I roll my eyes to conceal the anger. "You know what's wrong," I practically hiss. Her once-bright face turns dark. "I don't like you, Delly, okay! So stop, please. My...my heart belongs to someone else." Delly crosses her arms as I finally turn and leave, storming away. I slam my bedroom door close behind me, almost fuming.

I pace around my room, letting my thoughts get the better of me. Something irks me, however. As if I should be doing something at the moment, should be somewhere other than where I am.

My brain tugs me all over the place until I come to one, breath-stealing conclusion. "Katniss," I say in a whisper.

I run out the doors, and into the forest without a word to anyone. I run and run until stopping dead at the gates of District 12, breath heaving out of me. I look from the outside in, trying to see if there was anything to pinpoint Katniss's location. Something must've gone wrong. Someone must've done something.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Let's just hope nobody recognizes me or sees me for what I am. Almost as soon as my foot passes the threshold of the district, my blood thrums. People mill about carelessly as my nose curls at the rush of smells that are both familiar and new to me. But before all of those; the tang of blood overpowers everything.

I rush towards a small house and run inside, trying not to disturb anything in my search. Nobody's inside. I walk outside the house and look around frantically, trying to remember a vague sense of where she lives. There are so many houses, and I don't know what one she's in. I have no choice but to look at every one.

I'm six houses in when I stop to catch my breath, still no sign of Katniss, though. People are starting to glance at me weirdly but I ignore them, and start looking in another building. But as I try to push into it, the door doesn't budge. My eyes narrow and I back up, sprinting forward full-speed and slamming my shoulder into the door. It splinters open.

The house is drenched with the scent of blood, the closest source being right on this floor. However, on the second floor, I know there is a lot more.

My mouth waters at the smell, senses going haywire at the prospect of so much food. Instantly, I scold myself, and force my mind to think of what all the blood could mean.

I take a breath out and walk into the living room, eyes scanning everything. Until I see her, lying on the ground, curled up in a dark halo of her own blood... naked.