Kahrin rubbed her eyes.
Seriously it was too early for this shit, but a deal was a deal, so even though she was pretty sure the birds weren't even awake she pushed open the door of Anders Investigations. She hadn't even had time to change her damned clothes, but it wasn't really like she had a home to jaunt off to anyhow.
And of course she was sitting at the desk when she walked in, looking perky with her sports bottle of water in her cutesy strappy sundress, acting like she knew dick about the computer in front of her, pecking away at the keyboard with two fingers.
Actually, if Kahr remembered right … She smirked.
She strode across the room and hopped up on the break table next to the coffee maker and scooped up the box of donuts, helping herself to the last two glazed ones before anyone even noticed she was there.
Finally the redhead looked up at her and arched an eyebrow. "Oh. It's you. What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be serving life for murder?"
"Attempted murder. No one died. It was a misunderstanding. I did my time, Red." She shrugged. "Most of it anyhow. Finn was all swell and busted me out."
"You stabbed the mayor of Ferelden."
"Allegedly. He had it coming."
"I heard you were fucking him at the time."
"Right. Had it. Was. I got confused. Nobody's perfect, Red." She stuffed the rest of the donut in her mouth. She hadn't eaten a proper meal in days.
"Well, don't get any ideas about boning my boss."
"Oh, Red. I wouldn't dream of getting groiny with your squeeze." She cocked her Cousland Eyebrow at her as Saoirse narrowed her eyes. It was bloody obvious they were sweet on one another. "I'm just here to get twelve-steppy. He asked me over. I just had a few stops along the-"
"And no more with the trying to kill him." Her eyebrow shot up. "We had enough drama around here with Little Miss Ferelden, and he's in a good place now."
Anora. Perfect little Anora. Slayer of the Year.
"Look, Red, we're on a strict no staking policy now." She rolled her shoulders trying to loosen the tightness leftover from sleeping on a floor with-
Fucking hell. Forehead walked in the door. How in the world... in broad daylight... shit. Sewers. Figures.
He walked right over to her, bold as brass. "Hey! Donuts!"
Kahrin clutched the box away, habitually. "It'll cost you one carton..." She blinked and blushed faintly under her tan skin and absently rubbed the tattoo on her face. "Oh, hey, sorry. Habit I picked up. What do you want with donuts anyhow? You don't eat." She proffered the box anyway, almost afraid of the answer.
"I know, but they go nice with my morning cup." He reached into the fridge under the table and pulled out a butcher's container as if he owned the place, sloppily dumping some into a mug and shoving it into the microwave, jamming at the buttons with his big fingers. "You left in a hurry."
She glared. "No reason to hang around when the ride's over, C. I'm not big on the snuggly portion of the day. Especially when the other party is on the liquid breakfast. Nothing personal."
"Carver." Of course now was the perfect time for Saoirse to stick her nose into things.
"Sister." He glared back.
"I don't think you get to call me that any- wait. You didn't... Oh. I'm going to be sick. Fuck, you two."
"Pretty much." Kahrin stretched her arms over her head and popped her shoulder. "And I gotta say, Red, after that ride, I'm almost sad girls don't do it for me. I'm dying to see if it runs in the family."
That shut her up. Possibly for the first time in Kahrin's memory of her. And it was long and colourful memory of the former cheerleader.
The microwave beeped and Carver gave her a light smack on the ass, and she gripped his wrist reflexively, being just a little faster than him. "Hey there, hands. Let's not get grabby. I'd hate for you to meet the business end of Mr. Pointy before breakfast."
"You'll be back."
"Hey, dreamer. You know what the definition of insanity is? It's doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Kahr shoved him away with a wry twist on her lips. "Learned that in murder rehab."
He snorted and pulled his mug from the microwave. It stank like hot copper.
Thankfully Finn walked in, his nose stuck in some fat tome written in little scribbles that Kahrin didn't have a hope in any number of hells of recognizing. He adjusted his glasses as they slid to the end of his nose. The years had been rough on him, but in a good way. Five years ago Finn never would have come down to the pen and sprung her. And five years ago he'd never have all that scruff on his face. Or be so obviously packing a piece in the back of his jeans.
Or, hell, be wearing jeans.
He stumbled through the sunbeam which neatly divided the office and was probably all that was keeping Saoirse and Carver from lunging at one another when he looked up.
"Kahrin, you're here! Wonderful. Anders is expecting you."
She rolled her eyes. "Fuckin' A! Let's get rockin'. Donut?" She held the box out to him as she dropped down off the table. Saoirse shot her a look. "Not in a sharing mood? Fine. Getting ready for a kill gets me all hungry and horny, and clearly one of those has been taken care of."
She tossed the box on Saoirse's desk and stepped into the elevator with Finn, who tried to pull the gate shut as Carver blocked it with his arm. "I'm comin' too."
"Oh, sorry Junior, but your ride's over. This elevator's going down, and you already did. You'll have to get back in line." Kahrin pushed him from the lift and slid it shut as he scowled at her, his forehead pulling down into the beginning of a massive brood.
The lift was pathetically slow, and the ride not at all awkward. No. Her eyes were drawn to the scar along Finn's throat and she bit her lip hard. It wasn't too far off in her memory that she'd hunted him down herself and put it there with a broken shard of mirror in a fit of pique. There was a time that he'd told her that her goals were not in line with the mission. Didn't matter that her whole family had been killed and tortured. She wasn't entirely broken up about her mum who was too busy enjoying the falling down and passing out parts of life to get her a dog of her own, but still, it was the principle of the thing. So she and Finn'd had a nice violent chat shortly after the whole Alistair stabbing party.
Then she'd come after Anders.
The bastard had refused to fight her, and eventually the fight had left her, and he'd refused to kill her when she'd begged.
I hate that it hurts. I just want it to be over.
Sorry, Kahr, redemption doesn't work that way.
What the fuck do you know?
I know a little about this.
That he hadn't given up on her had meant something.
Until Miss Goody Two-Shoes with the stake shoved up her English Channel had shown up, and the world had gone to hell in a handbasket faster than she'd been prepared for. Someone had taken a bit of exception Kahr's little stunt with Mayor Theirin and to save everyone a bit of a headache she'd turned herself in.
Not until she'd landed an elbow in her stupidly perfect nose, though.
But that was then, and now they needed her. It was nice to be needed. Kinda made her feel all tingly in the lower reaches.
Anders came out from the back of the dank little apartment, toweling off his bleached hair. She didn't even want to know how vain a vamp had to be to maintain that colour blonde, or how they did, not having reflections and all. Maybe as obsessed as Forehead had to be to keep his hair so pretty and coiffed all the time. She'd never seen two dead guys fuss with hair more.
Anders pulled a black t-shirt onto his wiry frame and tucked it into his pants. "Kahrin. Lil' nip. Finn says you have some information for us."
"Yeah. As it turns out, it's easier to rough up informants if you're able to actually get to them. And if the person you're getting it for is alive and not ragingly evil." She hopped up onto the kitchen table. She still had a nice scar along her neck from that escapade that was perfectly fang-shaped. But hey, everyone was alive and kickin' now. "Seems your boy Vael's been on ice for a few years."
Anders froze in place. "Vael? You're kidding."
"Not even. And he's got a real jones for you babe. I don't know why, but he's gone to a lot of trouble to find you." She ran a hand through her hair.
"Seems he's found a way to put himself into a form of stasis, and now he's been awakened by a demon. I believe he's found a way here." Finn rattled on as if he was lecturing, taking his glasses off and cleaning them on the bottom of his rumpled button-down shirt.
"Uh, no." Anders frowned at them both. "Vael and I sort of go back." He was really good at stating the obvious.
"What'd you do? Screw his pooch? From what I heard he's mighty pissed off."
"Well, not exactly." He gave her a well-practiced frown, the kind that wears into a face over centuries. Velanna and I kinda... ate his family and pretty much his entire parish."
Kahrin gave him her Look.
"Velanna had a thing for religious orders. Said they were like cookie jars."
"So we're talking big time V then." She hopped off the counter and took the three steps to the fridge because her stomach was raging, unsure why she bothered, because all that was in it was a butcher's cup of pig's blood.
"Yeah. Something like that." She didn't like the ominous sound of his voice. Next time she got into bed with someone, they needed to not have two hundred years of baggage that liked to go portal jumping for vengeance.
Fucking vamps and their fridges. She was friggin' hungry.