Chapter Notes: Jessica has been returned to Bill by now, obviously, so it's been a little while. I could be wrong, but I believe cannon places it at around two weeks.
Kit cleared off Eric's desk, jumping up onto it and sitting on top of it with their legs crossed, so that they were able to face Eric. Pam prodded at Eric's hair, putting some type of product in it that Kit didn't recognize.
"Why are you sitting on my desk? Why can't you sit in one of the chairs or on the couch?" Eric's annoyance was betrayed by the smirk on his face.
"The desk is just as comfortable." Kit shrugged. "What is Pam doing to your hair?"
"I don't know. Pam said something about highlights, or something. She also mentioned that she might trim it."
"I am extenuating your natural highlights, because the sun obviously can't do it anymore." Pam interjected.
"Please don't cut it." Kit spoke quickly, a light dusting of pink dancing across their cheeks.
"Oh?" Eric raised an eyebrow.
"I don't mean to tell you what to do with your hair, it's not like that." Kit waved their hands as if surrendering, but ended up burying their head in their hands to cover their blush. "Just, your hair looks nice long."
Eric chuckled. "I wasn't planning on cutting it."
"Oh." Kit raised their face from their hands. "Would your hair grow back anyways?"
"Yes. Our hair grows back at a slower rate than human's, but eventually, yes."
"Would you ever grow your hair longer?"
"Why? Are you trying to turn me into your own personal Lestat?" Eric teased, satisfied in the renewal of the blush on Kit.
"No." Kit tossed a random pen at him. "You're insufferable."
Eric simply laughed at them.
Pam circled Eric again, adjusting whatever was in his hair. "As much as I love this conversation, you two have something far more important to talk about than hair."
The mood in the room sobered, heavy on Kit's shoulders. "What's going on?"
Eric sighed, reluctant. "Did you know that your friend, Lafayette, deals V?"
"Shit." Kit rubbed their hand on their forehead. "I knew he dealt drugs, I just never thought he would touch that."
"I am afraid it is a little more than that. If he just dealt V then I might have been able to find some benign solution. However, he takes the blood from the vampire directly, and the vampire he was working with has gone missing. You understand that this is cause for serious concern, but because Lafayette is friends with you, I am extending a courtesy. I am willing to listen."
Kit took a shaky breath. "I don't think Lafayette would have had a hand in that. He may have somewhat questionable morals, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any. He only started dealing because it brought in more money. He's paying for his home, but he is also working to pay for his mom to stay in a care facility, a good place, but also expensive. He's trying to take care of his family. I can't really tell you much else, because I don't know much else about the situation that you seem to have caught him in."
"I know you wouldn't have much information, which is why I wish to speak with him myself."
"Alright." Kit met Eric's eyes briefly. "Would you like me to contact him, and see if he can come here tonight?"
"There's no need for that. Chow is picking him up as we speak."
"Eric," Kit asked tentatively. "What does that mean?"
Lafayette's hands shook. His hands— normally so steady for crafting loved foods, holding tools for the road crew, or a camera steady— shook. He looked out the window at the moving scenery and contemplated jumping. The situation was strange. This wasn't ever how he imagined being kidnapped. His hands weren't tied, he wasn't gagged, and he was sitting in the front passenger seat.
He recognized the vampire as the one who had come in with the others to take away Bill a few weeks back. Was he going to be meeting with the other two blondes? He was too scared to ask.
"What would you do if you found him guilty of harming the missing vampire?"
Eric's eyes met Kit's with every year of his thousand behind them. "You don't want to know."
The room lapsed into silence for only a moment until Eric broke it. "Would you hate me for it?"
"No." Kit let out a deep breath that had been harbored in their lungs. "No. You are trying to do what is right by your people. Just doing your job. I wouldn't be happy, but I wouldn't hate you."
Kit let a leg drop from the desk and used it to bump their foot into Eric's calf. Eric relaxed some, a ghost of a smile formed on his lips, though Kit couldn't see it from watching their foot, but they could feel the atmosphere lighten some.
"Well," Pam spoke up when it was clear that neither Eric or Kit would be talking again. "As much as I enjoy this, I refuse to sit in this cloud of emotions. So, Kit, have you ever had your hair done?"
Eric snorted at Pam's typical attitude.
Kit brought their braid forward to rest on their shoulder, holding it in their hands and studying it as if it held the answer to Pam's question. "No. The most I've had done to it is trim the ends, and that was done at home."
Pam hummed, finishing up with what she had done to Eric. "Would you ever want to have it done? I could do something with it. If anything, I could teach you a few new ways to wear it. It's pretty long so there's plenty to play around with."
"Actually," Kit fiddled with the end of their braid. "I've wanted to get it cut short for a few years now."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I don't like it so long. It makes me look so feminine." Kit wrinkled their nose. "I keep it pulled back, but it's just so uncomfortable to look at as it is."
Pam came around Eric and leaned on the desk next to Kit. "I can cut it if you want me to. I just need you to find a picture of how you want it."
Kit's next words were mumbled, but heard clearly. "Could we also dye it?"
Pam smiled. "Of course."
Kit's face seemed to brighten, and they gave their own smile to the two vampires in the room.
"It appears that we will be making a stop." Chow spoke after glancing at the phone sitting in the cupholder.
Laff closed his eyes tightly, he didn't want to be killed.
"Pam wants to cut and color Kit's hair, and we need to pick up some supplies."
Laff opened his eyes and looked at the vampire whose focus was still on the road. "What? You mean I'm not going to be killed?"
"No. At least not at the moment." Chow glanced at Lafayette. "Do you know a good store to pick this stuff up?"
"Um, yeah." Laff spoke, his voice somewhat weak. "You need to take the next exit."
Chow stared down the wall of beauty tools in front of him, not sure where to begin or which one to choose. Lafayette looked over at the vampire after a few moments of stillness.
"Do you need some help?"
Chow tore his gaze away from the wall for a moment to glance at Laff. "Yes please."
"Well, to start, so do you have any idea of how short Kit wants to cut it? 'Cus with how long their hair is at the moment, there are so many possibilities, which is a difference between scissors and clippers."
"I have no idea. Pam just told me to get tools for cutting hair and purple dye. There wasn't much to go on."
Laff hummed. "Well, we can just get scissors and clippers, have plenty of options. And the clippers will need different attachments for different lengths."
He looked over the tools and grabbed a box from the one of the lower shelves. He surveyed it for a moment looking at the details and handed it off to Chow. Laff did the same thing for the scissors, a smaller kit this time on the upper left.
"Alright." Laff clapped his hands, a bit more enthusiastic than he was on the ride in the car. "Now, purple dye, that should be an isle over."
Chow simply followed Laff, who made his way over to the hair dye and surveyed each box.
"Now, Kit is a little pale, so you don't want something too dark, like those." Laff gestured to a couple boxes. "Those are colors for old white women anyways."
He picked up another box, this time a lighter shade than what he had been looking at, and read some of the information on the side. "This is a good shade, but it won't last too long."
"What about that one?" Chow gestured with the package of scissors to a box by Lafayette's knees.
Laff bent down and pulled the box from the shelf to study it. "Good eye, this one's perfect. And it has bleach with it too."
"Good. Let's get going." Chow turned and started walking to the register.
"Hold on, gotta get more than one, just in case they want to keep their hair a bit longer." Laff bent down and grabbed two more, and jogged to meet up with Chow. "If they only use one or two, having the extras can be used to touch up the color when it fades a bit."
Chow gave a curt nod.
Chow handed the shopping bag of items over to Pam, who surveyed them with satisfaction. However Laff's anxiety grew as he was led to the office, remembering how he had been taken from his home. The door to the office opened, revealing Kit and a blonde sitting in the chairs in front of the desk. The blonde's hair was distinctly wet and the smell of hair products lingered in the room. The place behind the desk was also taken up by a stool instead of a normal desk chair.
Lafayette was stopped in front of the pair by Pam, who later sat on the couch to watch the proceedings and deal with the hair supplies. Chow had taken up a stance by the door, and Laff couldn't help but feel cornered.
"Hello, Lafayette Reynolds. My name is Eric Northman, and I am a Sheriff for Shreveport and the surrounding areas. Normally, humans wouldn't be privy to such information, but you have interjected yourself into vampire law by dealing V."
"Oh, fuck." Laff quietly berated himself and felt as if his legs would give out under him.
Kit stood from their chair abruptly and pushed Laff to sit in it, noticing their friend's distress.
"Easy, Laff. We just need you to explain some things, that's all. Just be truthful." Kit leaned against the desk in between the two chairs, trying to provide some comfort for Laff.
"I will, I promise." Laff nodded almost violently.
Kit looked to Eric with a nod.
"I understand that you sourced blood from a vampire named Eddie. Did you harm him in any way shape or form?" Eric leaned forward on his arms.
"No. We had a mutual agreement. I never took blood forcibly."
"He is currently missing. Did you have anything to do with that?"
"No, I swear it." Laff answered quickly, feeling as if his heart was ready to jump from his chest. "He was fine when I saw him last, and fine when I left him."
Eric leaned back with a humm. "I am aware of your mutual agreement. When Eddie failed to check in with me, I sent Chow out to his home. Chow found his home open and Eddie clearly missing. His phone was left and there was evidence of abduction. I received the information about your agreement from his phone. Eddie knew our laws, and you didn't. Which is why, just this time, I am willing to be lenient. It is clear that you didn't hurt him. Do you have any idea who might have? Any aggressive customers?"
"No. Wait. Maybe," Laff took a breath. "Jason Stackhouse. I gave him some when he had problems gettin' it up, if you know what I mean. He was pretty pissed when I refused to give him any more. I'm sorry, Kit."
"I will need to look into that." Eric turned his head to speak to Kit.
"Jason is an adult, and I won't cover him if he fucked up."
Eric nodded. "Last question, Mr. Reynolds. Do you know of any other dealers? Particularly ones in the Dallas area?"
"No. I kept to myself rather than deal with other dealers, safer for me that way. Any contact I have with other dealers is through anonymous online chat, no names, no locations, just tips on how to sell a bit better."
"Thank you. That will be all. However, I ask that you stop selling V, unless you wish to face more dire consequences. Would you like us to call a cab for you? I assume riding with Chow again is not something you wish to do."
The tension in Laff's shoulders left. "I won't sell no more. I don't have any left in stock, and I won't get anymore, I promise. And if it is alright, could I stay? If you're going to be doing Kit's hair, I wanna see how it turns out."
Eric looked as if he wanted to say no, but a glance from Kit had him recanting his statement. "Alright, don't cause any trouble though."
Kit grinned, and Laff gave a light smile back. He was still a little unsettled, but he wanted to be with his friend. Pam had set up on Eric's desk by the end of their conversation, so Laff took her place on the couch. Eric simply stuck to his chair, working off the corner of his desk, but mostly paying attention to Kit and Pam.
"Chow, please take care of the other humans in the basement." Eric spoke quietly enough for the vampires to hear, but not the two humans.
With a nod Chow left the room. Eric looked back at Kit when he heard the sound of the clippers start. Kit seemed as if they would combust from excitement, and Eric wouldn't want to miss this, even if he did need to deal with some murderous rednecks.
Pam had already slapped their hands away from their head a few times, keeping them from petting the shaven parts of their hair. Pam had already put it through bleach, and they were waiting on the dye to set in, so it wouldn't have been good to touch it anyway. Their head was so light now, but they resisted shaking it to feel the weight. Kit didn't think Eric would appreciate it if they got dye everywhere.
"Alright, times up." Pam spoke when a silent alarm went off on her phone. "Shower until the water turns nearly clear. No shampoo, but put conditioner on when after you rinse off. And I'm going to cover the mirror before you pop in there, I don't want you looking until everything is done."
Kit pouted. "Fine."
They disappeared into the bathroom.
"That being said, neither of you are going to see it either. I'm going to finish styling in the bathroom." Pam gave pointed looks to the two men before disappearing into the bathroom with a handful of items and closed the door behind her.
They could hear Kit's yelp when the shower stopped, and then the sound of the blow dryer going. But it had been quiet for a while now, and they were left wondering. Wondering if Kit would love or hate their new hair and color.
The door opened, and Pam blocked the view for a moment.
Kit stepped out, and Laff just cooed. "Look at you, honey child, you look so handsome!"
Kit half buried their face in their hand to hide the growing redness of their face.
Pam poked at their hair a little more, adjusting some of the stray curls. "Their hair curls on its own pretty well, so I think letting it air dry would be better, I just used the curling iron this time because I wanted to be quick about it."
Eric marveled at Kit for a moment. They seemed more, but he wasn't sure what of. Their hair, once halfway down their back was only longer on the top portion of their head, enough to have overhang on their face, with sides and back shaved. And what once was a darker brown was now purple, much akin to the lilac fields he had seen in France under the moonlight, a rich royal purple.
"Your friend is right, liten räv (little fox). The new hair suits you well. What do you think?"
The big grin that overcame Kit only served to highlight their blush. "I love it. I feel more like myself."
Eric shared Kit's smile.
