CHAPTER 4
Vakarian? What was Imitha's brother doing at her door?
She opened the door and stared at him. He nodded to her in greeting. He was dressed casually, in a black tunic and pants. She got the impression he felt more comfortable in armor, though.
"May I come in," he asked.
Lord, his voice. Struggling to keep her composure, Rosemary stepped aside to let him in. "S-Sure." She was a monster. She was a turian-crazy lust monster. This was Garrus Vakarian, her best friend's brother, and her first thought was... God, he's HOT. Upon further inspection, scars only added to his sexiness.
It was the dead look in his eyes that quickly got her over herself. "Imitha said she was meeting with you. Is she here?"
Rosemary frowned. "No, I'm meeting her in an hour at the local bistro. She said you guys were meeting here?"
Garrus looked sheepish. "No, we're meeting at the bistro. It's just... I know my sister. She gives you a time to meet, but expect to meet her an hour later. She... takes her time getting ready. I thought she might be with you, talking about girly... things."
Amused, Rosemary asked, "She gave you my address?"
Garrus shrugged. "It was mentioned in passing. Imitha talks... a lot."
Rosemary chuckled. "Very true." Then she realized what she was wearing. A pair of tight black pants and no... top. Just a short silk robe. A loose one. "Ah... fudge."
Was it her imagination, or were his eyes gleaming appreciatively at her state of undress? She blinked, and the look was gone. Huh, it probably had been her imagination. Rosemary hurried to get dressed behind the changing screen.
Garrus cleared his throat. "'Fudge'?"
"I have a younger brother," Rosemary said by way of explanation.
"Ah." Instant understanding. "So... how did you meet my sister?"
She told him the story while she got dressed. Garrus had a good laugh when she told him about her dismal baking ability. Rosemary smiled, hearing it. He sounded like he hadn't laughed in a while.
They chatted in the living area of the one-bedroom apartment, making casual, easy conversation. Garrus told her stories about the Citadel and she told him about Little Palaven and what his family had been up to the past two years; they even talked about the weather. He reminded her of Balint, only more guarded.
THUMP!
Directly above their heads, someone screamed.
Acting purely on instinct, Garrus pulled out his pistol - Rosemary strode over to the kitchen and picked up her heaviest cast iron skillet. Garrus smirked at her choice of weapon.
"Don't judge me."
They quietly exited her apartment and headed upstairs.
"Who lives there," Garrus asked.
"Ereba and her daughter, Keeya. Ereba works in the Presidium. Keeps to themselves. Nice people."
They reached Ereba's apartment. They could hear muffled screams from all throughout the hall. Rosemary wondered why no one else was investigating. Were they all at work? Or were they hiding?
The door was locked. Rosemary wasn't surprised when Garrus easily kicked in the door. It almost exploded off its hinges. Their landlord was cheap, as was his choice of building materials.
The sight that met Rosemary's eyes made her freeze in horror. Ereba lay on her kitchen floor, gutted. Before Garrus could stop her, Rosemary rushed to the asari's side and examined the wound, already knowing the truth. Ereba was bleeding out too fast. She would be dead in minutes.
Ereba looked relieved to see Rosemary. "Protect... Protect Keeya... please."
Rosemary shook her head as she took Ereba's hand. "Who did this, Ereba?"
"Still here... Protect Keeya. Oh, Charr..." The mother died with tears in her eyes.
Garrus still had his pistol drawn; his gaze darted around the apartment before alighting on a picture on the wall. Rosemary tearfully followed his gaze. It was a photo of Ereba and a dark, gray-plated krogan. Charr must have been Ereba's husband. But where was Keeya?
As if in answer to their unspoken question, they heard a sudden stirring. Rosemary gently returned Ereba's hand to her chest and stood up to investigate the sound. This apartment had the same layout as Rosemary's, and she knew that the closets were too shallow to hide a child. So she went to the only place that could hide a three-year-old...
Sure enough, she found the huddled form of Keeya in one of the cabinets under the sink. Rosemary had never had a close look at Keeya; she had always hid behind her mother, and had worn jackets with large hoods. She could see her more clearly now. Her skin was gunmetal gray, and she... did not exactly look like an asari. She didn't have the scalp tentacle... things. She had horns.
"Her crest looks krogan," Garrus said, looking as dumbfounded as Rosemary felt. Keeya looked up. Her face was of an asari, but...
"She's a hybrid," Rosemary realized aloud. How was that possible?
Garrus lowered his pistol. "It could... make sense. We're all synthesized now. Maybe the asari and krogan systems became more... compatible. Maybe we're all more compatible now. She's the first hybrid I've heard of, though. I don't know. I'm not Mordin."
The implications were staggering. But... She looked back at Garrus. "Who's Mordin?" The name sounded familiar.
Garrus' mandibles twitched. He whipped around and leveled his gun at the door. A woman stood there, staring at Keeya. She was an asari, and she wore an elaborate, purple mask. She also held a bloody sword at her side.
"Give me the girl," the woman demanded, her voice cold.
Garrus didn't look away from her. "Take the girl and go out the fire escape," he said under his breath to Rosemary.
"No can do. I don't even think the fire escape's attached to the building anymore," she whispered back, holding Keeya close.
Garrus sighed. "You should think about moving."
Rosemary looked past the assassin, her shoulders suddenly slumping with relief. "She's calling the cops. We're good," she told Garrus.
The woman whipped her head around in disbelief to see - no one. But it was too late. Garrus was on her in a second, kicking the sword from her grasp. He trained his gun on her head. "Give it up."
The asari snarled and lashed out to knock his gun from his hands.
BAM!
Rosemary winced from the bedroom where she and Keeya had escaped to; she had never heard a gun go off this close before. Well, it had been a while, she mentally amended, thinking of her experience with the husk.
Garrus appeared in the doorway of the bedroom. He looked none the worse for wear, except for the blood splatter all over his clothes. He also looked annoyed. "Really? Cheap doors? The fire escape? I need to have a talk with your landlord."
"Is she dead?"
"The bullet in her brain seems to think so."
"That makes no sense."
Garrus shrugged and put away his pistol. "Everyone's a critic."
