- 30 -

Allister strummed his fingers against the galley table and pretended not to notice Pandora scanning the room every five minutes. He didn't know how many more times he could ignore it, though. It was her second time since being seated and her fourth since they had entered the dining hall. He knew Pandora wouldn't want to talk about her problems, but they hadn't even ordered yet for God's sake.

He tried to distract his mind with his surroundings. As a high-ranking member of the crew, he had never eaten in second-class before. He found the dining room to be dreadfully small. It made everything feel cramped, despite second class having the fewest passengers among it. Making matters worse was the uncomfortable seating and slow service.

"Is it always this much of a wait?"

Pandora didn't answer. She was once again out of her seat and craning her neck for a better view. He reached over and pulled her back onto her chair. In the span of a blink, her hand had clutched tight around his wrist. Venom spilled from her gaze. He released his grip on her shoulder and slowly she released her grip on his wrist.

"You need to calm down, Pandora," he said, rubbing his fingers over the indents her nails had left in his skin. Luckily, she hadn't broken the skin.

"Oh, I'm perfectly calm. But next time you grab me on my bad side I'll pull your eye out and let you see how it feels." He had no doubt Pandora would honor that threat. He made a note to stay on her good side, literally.

"I meant about Lilith."

Pandora's eyes softened and she dropped her head. "She's not here. She's so upset about what I did she can't eat."

Allister moved to put a hand on her back, then thought better of it. "What did you do?"

She regarded him with curiosity for a moment, then spun away from him. When he called her name she adjusted the chair beneath her to face away from him as well. He had mined all the information he was likely to get for the time being. A grand total of one piece. Pandora had done something to Lilith.

The vagary of it pissed him off; he might as well know nothing. But for now, there was nothing for him to do but go back to waiting. If it takes them this long to take orders, how long will it take them to cook the food?

Allister perked up when he saw a young woman in uniform make her way over to the table. He glanced down at the menu one final time, even though he had decided what to order fifteen minutes prior.

"Excuse me, Sir."

He looked up, ready to list off his choices when his stomach dropped. The half-sure smile on the woman's face gave him a bad feeling. She was a waitress all right, but she wasn't there to take his order. He set the menu flat on the table and let out a long sigh.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I'm sorry to bother you before your meal." The woman avoided eye contact as she spoke.

"There's a," she hesitated, "Situation... in the back that could use your personal attention."

The waitress's words were a weight that pressed Allister down into his chair. He knew exactly what kind of situations the head of security was called on to attend to these days. Who did it kill? The chef? A few waitresses? Whatever the case he wasn't looking forward to it.

By contrast, Pandora was full of excitement. There was a shine in her eye and a grin on her lips. Not the best reaction to more needless death. However, Allister had to admit he preferred it to the way she had been moping around before. She certainly needed something to take her mind off her problems; he just wished it wasn't this.

"Alright," he said standing. "Would you like to come, Pandora?" Of course, she was already up and headed for the kitchen before he finished.

"That woman does whatever she wants," he mumbled to himself, then jogged to catch up.

Pandora disappeared into the kitchen with the waitress just before a loud crash echoed from the doorway. Allister rushed through to find the white tile floor splattered with a thick red puddle. His breath hitched as fear struck him. He prepared himself for a fight until he heard the chef shout, "Fuck sake!" That's when he noticed the massive stock pot still rolling back and forth at the puddle's far end.

"As if we haven't had to take enough items off the menu already!" the chef screamed.

The young cook behind the spill scrunched up and mumbled, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." With each repetition, he changed his attention from the chef to Pandora and the waitress, then back again.

As Allister came down from his adrenaline high he couldn't help but laugh. Pandora turned back and gave him a wicked look, but that only made him laugh harder. Sauce covered her pants in a thick sheet like she was wearing tomato knee socks. The poor waitress had gotten it even worse. She was covered up to the neck.

The young cook had finally finished his rambling apologies and snatched the pot off the ground. "I'll start again right away!"

"That sauce takes hours to reduce." This time, the chef spoke in a low tone. It wasn't for lack of anger. That still burned bright in his eyes. He sounded defeated.

Pandora reached a finger over and wiped the freckles off the right side of the waitress's face. Tasting it she said, "What a shame. It's actually pretty good."

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The kitchen staff all looked at her dumbfounded. The waitress stumbled back, her remaining marinara freckles hidden by a fresh blush. Allister closed his eyes and strummed his fingers against his forehead. He just didn't understand this woman.

Does she have some impulse to always be the center of attention?

"Great, you're back," the chef said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. "As if this day couldn't get any worse."

Careful not to slip in the sauce, Allister took a spot next to Pandora and leered down at her. "Pandora, what exactly does he mean by 'back'?"

"I'll tell you about it later."

That was almost certainly a lie, but he questioned if the answer was even worth the hassle. He was learning that it took a certain amount of energy to deal with Pandora. Better to save that for now. At least until he knew why they had been summoned.

"Never mind that for now," Allister said, turning to the chef. "What was the situation you needed help with?"

"Andrew!" At the chef's shout, the young cook holding the stock pot stiffened. "Put that damned thing down and go show them the storage room."

"Y-yes, sir."

Show them the storage room, not show them the body. The wording, mixed with the general atmosphere in the kitchen gave Allister hope. Maybe this had nothing to do with the rouge youkai after all. Part of him still hoped the damned thing had flown off and fallen into the ocean, even if he knew it was still on board.

The pot rattled a bit as the cook's shaky hands placed it on the counter. Then he waved the hunters over and started toward a door at the back of the kitchen. Allister followed the young man to the threshold when Pandora called him from behind.

"Allister, here!"

Pandora was still in the center of the kitchen, several small rolls in hand. She tossed one in his direction and said, "No reason to work on an empty stomach."

Allister managed to catch the bread after some struggle. It had bounced clumsily from hand to hand a few times before managed to get it under control. Turning his attention back up, he met with a devious grin from Pandora. The chef was not nearly as pleased with her as she was with herself.

"Someone get this witch out of my kitchen!"

Pandora's smile winked out of existence, replaced with seething hatred. Allister threw down his roll and rushed over to stop what he was certain would happen next. Like he predicted, Pandora spun on her heels ready to face down the chef, but he reached her before the fight could properly start.

He was aware what he planned to do next would piss her off no matter what, but he did make a point of moving to her good side first. He grabbed her arm and dragged her out through the doorway as she shouted every curse word he knew and a few he didn't. Impressive, considering he worked with sailors.

"Let me go, Allister! I'm not going to let that fucking bastard use 'witch' like it's some kind of slur."

"Stop. He's not worth your time."

Pandora ripped herself free of his grip, but to his surprise stayed in place. With how mad she had gotten, he was sure he would need to chase her back into the kitchen.

"Don't tell me how to use my time."

She threw the roll she had stolen to the ground. Its surface was jagged from being crushed in her fist. Almost like a beige mountain range with valleys in between each peak.

"Dickhead!" Pandora brought her boot down on the roll, crushed dough squirting out through the treads of her shoe.

I guess it's a salt flat now.

"Why let it get to you like that?"

A stupid question. He knew that much even before the stunned look she gave him. As if to make him feel like even more of a jackass, she didn't answer, instead opting to simply hold her tattooed arm out for him to see. But Allister had already made an ass of himself, so it was time to double down.

"You know the truth; that there's nothing wrong with being a witch. Why let what he thinks bother you?"

"Have you ever been hunted, Allister?"

They both knew the discussion was over after that question. Pandora turned and headed toward the cook waiting at the end of the hall. "Come on, let's look at this storeroom."

That she would even speak to him after that last exchange was a mercy. She was right. Less than a decade ago not only would it have been legal to kill Pandora on sight, but profitable. Who was he to tell her other's opinions don't matter? Not when, within her lifetime, the public opinion was that she was a youkai.

There was nothing left for Allister to do now except apologize. He prayed that she would accept it. The air grew chill as he made his way to the cook. Hopefully not an omen for Pandora's response. The fact that she had headed inside without him didn't give him much hope on that front.

"Here we are, Sir," said the cook.

"Thank you," he hesitated for a moment trying to remember the man's name, "Andrew."

"Of course."

Allister's feet crunched on the splintered remains of the door scattered across the hallway. "The chef said this was a storage room, correct?"

"Cold storage, yes. Beef specifically, Sir."

That explained the chill in the air. The cool from the storage room likely leaked into the hall even before the door was ripped from its hinges. Someone had hung a heavy blanket across the doorway to try and hold in some of the cold, but that was a losing battle.

"You can head back now. Thank you."

Once the cook was on his way, Allister pushed past the blanket and into the refrigerated room. Shredded butcher paper had been tossed about like confetti. Most of it lay soaking in translucent red puddles; not blood, but myoglobin. The metal shelves that had lined the room were overturned and mangled on the floor. The youkai must have broken in to feed, and it had left one hell of a mess in its wake.

Pandora stood at the room's center, carefully straddling a shelf, with the half-eaten remnants of a steak hanging from her hand. Allister stepped over twisted metal to close the distance and said, "Pandora, you were right. I didn't think and ended up saying something horrible. I'm sorry."

"It's gone. No more beef. No tar tar. No more filet mignon, sirlion, or hamberg steak. No wellington. All of it gone." She tossed the ruined meat to the ground and turned to him. "We have to kill this thing before it breaks into the cheese room."

"Please, Pandora. I'm being serious."

Pandora crossed her arms under her chest and sighed. "Alright, fine. We can have a serious discussion. What you just said to me is some of the most half-considered privileged bullshit I've ever heard, but I know what you were trying to say. My impulsiveness ruins things, you were right about that much at least."

"Lilith?"

Pandora parted her lips but didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her gaze down to the floor. Crouching down she said, "I think we can get a rough dental outline from this piece of steak. Scratches in the wall could give us estimates of claw size. Not to mention all the feathers around."

"Why don't you show the data you collect to Lilith? She seemed to be quite the detective. Maybe she can help you ID the creature."

Pandora wrapped her arms around herself, curling up even more than she already had been. "I know what you're trying to do and it won't work."

Allister hadn't expected it would. Still, he felt a need to try. The problem was he had no talent for subtlety. So instead, he would try to shock some answers out of her.

"Fine. But just tell me one thing. You love her, don't you?"

Pandora was silent for a long time. "Don't be stupid. I've only known her for a week."

It wasn't the answer he expected, and he guessed it wasn't really the truth, but he didn't think it wise to push her further. Allister turned to leave, defeated.

"But..."

He stopped and glanced back over his shoulder.

"I think I would fall in love with her; if I just had enough time. That's what I was trying to do. Buy a little more time. But I ruined it."

Allister turned away. It hurt too much to look at her. She was back in that vulnerable state from the night before, only this time he had done it to her. He found himself hoping, for the second time in so many minutes, that she would be able to forgive him.

"Thank you, Pandora. I'll leave the rest to you."

Allister pushed past the blanket and into the hall. It was time for him to find out what happened between those two. It was time to talk to Lilith.