Ferelden, three years ago.
It all happened really fast.
Not exactly that part, though. Kahrin like to think she could draw out an experience for a long time if it suited her. And while this was supposed to be business, she didn't mind taking a bit of pleasure from it.
One moment she was astride him, grinning down, letting out a few obligatory grunts to let him know that he was more or less getting the job done. She rocked her hips forward, setting the pace, and leaned down to kiss him hard on the mouth.
He dug his hands deep into her hair and kissed her back. "I love you, you know."
She pulled back slightly and looked at him, "Hey, thanks. Clearly you're not so bad yourself, cowboy." She braced herself on her hands behind his shoulders and smirked. "Well, I guess technically I'm the cowgirl. But you'll forgive me if I don't call you 'bronco'."
The young mayor rested hands on her hips, and he might have laughed, she wasn't entirely sure. She couldn't think about that right now. Running her mouth along his neck and sucking at it slightly, she slid her hand up and behind the place where the mattress met the wall. She felt the cool handle of the dagger in her grasp at the same moment that he let out a slightly strangled moan and pulled her face back down to his. Kahrin let go of the handle of the blade for a moment to kiss him back.
"Stay here with me, Kahrin." Fantastic, he was going to get all sappy over a lay.
Changing the subject she leaned forward again, giving the appearance of needing to stretch, and reached for the dagger again, gripping her fingers around the hilt and pulling it out above him and sliding it carefully under the pillow beneath his head. The familiar smell of sweat and sex mingled in the air – that unmistakable smell of fancy flowers growing in damp soil.
She didn't like to tell people that she actually enjoyed some things in life, but if she were so inclined, the smell after sex was up there with things that she didn't hate. Especially if it was the result of a good romp with someone who treated her well enough and that she didn't despise.
This situation had all the basic ingredients.
Too bad this had to be the way of things. Business was business and it was, after all, survival of the fittest. She couldn't help it that she had enough blood to run her brain.
Whispering softly in his ear, "Alistair, we might have had a shot at being happy. I'm so sorry."
He cupped the side of her face and looked confused for a moment just before his face exploded with shock and and then pain. "Kahr, why …" The tang of his blood mingled with with the other scents as she slid off of him and for a moment it twisted her stomach.
She really did like him. Maybe more. She'd never know now.
"It's nothing personal, baby," she turned her back to him and wiped the blade off on the sheet. Her eyes seemed to go a bit haunted after a moment of looking at him, bleeding massively on the mattress and seeing that blood form a blossom on the stark white sheets.
She pulled on her clothes as quickly as she could, shoving the dagger into a sheath and then shoving it into the waist of her leather pants. Kahrin hesitated by the door, "For what it's worth, I hope you don't die."
She slipped out into the night and disappeared into the shadows.
Kirkwall, the present.
Kahrin walked out of the butcher shop clutching her brown-paper-wrapped parcel to her chest. She hated having to do lunch duty, and apart from that, she tried to not think about the fact that the mouth she spent a good amount of time attached to often contained the contents of this bag. With that thought in mind she turned into the drug store, scanning the signs over the aisles for the dental hygiene. Dude was gonna brush his teeth after every meal if she had to pin him down and do it for him. Maybe some breath mints, too?
Picking up the items she stepped over to the counter and tossed them up on top, then tried to pull some bills from her tiny pants pocket with one hand while not setting her package down.
"Sudden interest in dental hygiene? Is this something they impart on all the murderers in prison?"
Kahrin's muscles tensed and she turned around, giving the blonde princess behind her a smile. "Attempted murder. Haven't you heard, I'm all rehabbed."
Anora gave her a strained smile. "I'm sure you had a perfectly adequate stint for leaving my brother to die. I mean, three years? That's enough, right? Completely makes up for shoving a knife in his belly while he exhibited his poor choice in company."
"Did you come here to bust my chops, try to drag me back all crying and repent-y back to prison?"
"Not exactly. The thought had crossed my mind, but places like that aren't really meant to deal with people like us, are they?" Anora raised a single eyebrow at her. "Knowing you, you'd just get out again. Bat your eyes at someone and get them to help you. Isn't that how it works?"
"You don't know what you're talking about." Kahrin grabbed her purchase from the counter, forgetting her change, and walked out the door.
"Don't you walk away from me, Kahrin." Anora was hot on her heels only the way another Slayer could be. "You don't get to get off that easy."
"You think it was easy? I don't think he knew his way around a gir-"
"I will beat your teeth in if you finish that sentence. I'm not going to let you just-"
"Let me? Oh, I'm so sorry, Princess, that I didn't ask your permission before getting busted out to help save the world. If that interferes with your tantrum, I'm oddly all right with that." Kahrin stopped and looked at her, her lips curling up on one side of her mouth and her shoulders shrugging slightly.
The right hook from Anora came quickly, and Kahrin barely had enough time to block it, dropping her bag on the ground with a thud that didn't sound particularly healthy for the contents. She held Anora's fist in her hand for a moment before shoving her back, and the blonde slayer's eyes flicked down to the bleeding parcel on the ground.
"You're feeding them? You've gone to a new lo—"
"Well, the butcher shop was fresh out of donuts."
"And you're going to what? Rally them behind you? Get cozy in their beds?"
"Are you here to get all judge-y on me over vampires? Because I think just maybe I might have the kettle on speed dial for this one." She bobbed head slightly to one side, her eyebrow arching just slightly.
"That was different," she snapped.
Kahrin smirked slightly, she liked having a barb or two in her own corner. "Was it? Are you so sure it's all that different?"
Really, she shouldn't enjoy eliciting that particular glare from the self-presumed Queen of Ferelden, but she just couldn't help herself.
The difference between the two of them came from two elements. Where Anora had all of the classic training provided by Watchers over years of honing, Kahrin had picked up everything she knew dodging flying fists courtesy of one parent or another and then later on the streets. She knew how to improvise – she was a scrapper. So when Anora twirled in with a well-aimed kick Kahrin slid the bloody package on the ground over at her, causing her to trip.
She regained her balance and swung out with her right, and Kahrin ducked it with preternatural reflex, sticking out her leg to sweep Anora's leg out from under her.
Anora rocked back up to her shoulders and hopped up to her feet, then let loose a barrage of punches which Kahrin traded blow for blow with quick blocks, finally finding a small opening and driving her elbow up under Anora's chin, which knocked her back just enough to give Kahrin an opening to take off running.
She knew Anora was behind her. They were equals in so many ways. They shared the same powers and speed, and while she might have been considered the great hope of all of humanity, Kahrin wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of using her past mistakes to stop her from moving forward and doing her part. She never expected her forgiveness, but she was going to work for it. Eventually.
The whole trying to kick her ass thing was, admittedly, a bit of a deterrent.
Kahrin pulled herself up on a fire escape ladder and climbed to the roof, leaping neatly across the rooftops, making her way back to Anders' Investigations. She'd always been faster on the rooftops, except that one time, but to be fair, she'd had her own knife neatly twisted into her stomach.
Not that she probably hadn't deserved it. Well, maybe not that trippy dream coma.
She made the top of the office and flung open the roof access door with a loud scraping of rusty metal on concrete and was greeted with a face that was only vaguely familiar.
"Kahrin."
Shit, Watcher's Council lackeys. Again.
She backed away, plastering a grin on her face. "Hey, now. I don't remember inviting you to the tea party."
The woman held a gun out in front of her, her dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. "You're coming with us now, Kahrin."
"You're buggin'. What are you going to do, put me down like a dog if I protest? Because I gotta say, that's not a real incentive." She held her hands up in front over her, palms out, wondering if she could kick it out of her hands before she pulled the trigger.
It was a non-issue, it seemed. Anora landed on the rooftop behind her, and another goon came around the skylight.
"Where's the vampire, Cauthrien?" the guy asked.
"We have the bottom of the building surrounded. They should have him down any moment. We'll have both of them for transport. Alive if we can help it," the woman shot back at him.
"What?" Kahrin and Anora exclaimed at the same time.
"That was not part of the deal. He was never part of it," Anora glared.
"You didn't think we'd tell you this part, did you? When you ally yourself with the very thing we are meant to cull, then you have to expect a little bit of resistance. Now stand down or we'll be forced to take you in as well." Cauthrien's face was cool resolve.
"You're trippin if you think that's gonna happen." Using the distraction Kahrin kicked the gun out of the woman's hand and knocked her to the ground. "You with me, Princess? I think we have some guys to save downstairs. Wanna set the pissing match aside?"
Rolling her eyes, Anora clocked the other grunt and he fell like a sack of hammers to the ground. "Let's go." Running to Kahrin's side the linked arms and flung themselves from the roof to the side of the next building, legs spinning in circular patters until the let go of one another and grabbed the fire escape of the neighboring building. Lowering themselves enough to jump to the ground, they joined wrists again long enough to clothesline a black-clad man running at them with a gun trained. As he went down Kahrin grabbed the weapon and spun around ramming the butt of it into the next face she came to.
While fighting each other their particular styles didn't help them with advantages, but as a team, they managed to play off of each other and take out the operatives quickly. Kahrin kicked the door in and they raced up the stairs throwing open the office door. Kahrin came to a dead halt, taking in the scene.
"Fantastic. Figures you come back just in time for food," Saoirse rolled her eyes, setting the sandwiches out.
"Did you get my blood?" Carver asked casually over his shoulder while trying to start coffee.
"What? No! I was busy keeping your asses from being hauled off to cheery London!" Kahrin crossed her arms and glared. "But, you know, you're welcome. I bought you a toothbrush, O-neg." She tossed it to him, hiding her relief that they all seemed to be fine.
"Thanks! Hey, look! It's got the bendy head for my hard to reach places!" He gave her a bit of a knowing grin. "Welcome back. We were about to send out the search party."
"The search party found me," Kahrin said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
"Why? Who's here-" Anders stepped out of the lift and stopped still, mid-stride. "Anora."
"Anders. I think we need to talk." She set her face in a hard line and motioned to the lift. "Alone. And, don't go far, Kahrin, we're not finished."
"Well, suddenly I'm not in the mood for sandwiches. Anyone else want Thai food?" Saoirse grabbed her purse and strode for the door.
"Right, let's go then." Carver was right behind her.
"Yeah, fuck if I'm sticking around for the show. You comin' too, Finn?"
He was already ahead of them and on his way down the stairs.