- 18 -

Pandora threw the cabin door open and scrambled over the bed, leaping to the corner where her gun leaned. She ripped at the cloth wrapping, desperate to free her weapon. She had cleared the breach for transport, but left the reloading mechanism filled with shells. With a flick of her thumb across the latch the gun fell open, then she slammed it shut again. Now it was ready to fire.

Pandora spun and caught sight of Lilith pushing herself up into a sitting position. Her sprint across the bed must have woken her. Lilith rubbed at her eyes, then looked over. Pandora watched her breathing change pace. That was a hint that something was wrong, but it wasn't until fear washed the woman's face that Pandora looked down. The end of her shotgun pointed carelessly in Lilith's direction.

"Shit, sorry!"

Pandora swung the gun down and away from her roommate. She chewed on her tongue, angry at herself for making such a stupid mistake. Now that she knew the truth about Lilith it was obvious how hard the past few days must have been for her.

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Offering to tell her stories about my past hunts, barging into her room unexpected, and... holy Hell, the note promising to kill the youkai. And now I've shaken the poor girl out of sleep to point a gun in her face.

Like Pandora needed to give Lilith any more reason to be afraid of her. But she had no idea how she was going to ease that fear, and right now there was no time to think about it. Pandora's eye darted to the writing desk where she had left the handgun. Letting her shotgun hang from its strap, she reached over and grabbed the gun and the magazine.

"Lilith, I know you're tired and confused but do your best to listen to me."

Pandora pressed the magazine into the gun, then pulled back the slide, chambering a fresh round. With the weapon prepped to fire, she pressed it into Lilith's hand.

Pandora locked eyes with her. "There's screaming coming from the far end of the ship. I'm going to check it out. Lock the door behind me and don't let anyone else in." She placed her finger at the tip of the gun's barrel. "If someone other than me tries to come in, point this end at them and pull the trigger."

This wasn't what Pandora had imagined when she promised to teach the girl how to use a gun. But then, everything about their relationship was different than she had imagined. She would have to do something about it eventually, but the thought of it drew her stomach to knots. For now, she simply switched the handgun's safety off and locked the door behind her, leaving Lilith alone in the dark.