V E N O M O U S

“Or I could get my faaaavorite Jackson to open it for me.” 

“Pffft. Lazy. Fine fine --- pass it here,” She took the jar and gave it a pull, only to find it really was firmly shut. Ava adjusted her grip and tried again, the lid making a satisfying pop! As it came loose, “Tadaa~”

There was a brief moment when Holden feared that she would reject his proposition and he would have to brave that person but those thoughts vanished when he saw her smile and only sheer will force kept him from sighing in relief “Lunch, dessert, you can ask for dinner to go if you want. My name is Holden, by the way. Thank you very much.” he offered comely, beaming at the blonde and relaxing on his seat with an easy grin.

Ava laughed as she motioned for him to take a seat, “I like you Holden, you’re brazen.” But brazen without being immediately irritating, which was a skill, he was clearly charismatic, “I’m Ava. Who’re you avoiding today? Is there any particular role I ought to be playing here?” She asked lightly as she brought the glass of soda toward her to take a pull from the straw.

              Eventually, it became clear that the woman across from her wasn’t a threat, at least not in that moment and with children running around them at max speeds, practically begging for cake and more tea; it was enough for the woman to sit down and enjoy the tea that was poured and given to her. “I could name a few, but I guess I’ll let it be without an argument,” she said with a smile and slightly forced chuckle as she rested comfortably in the chair given, taking a sip of the tea that was given to her. “This your pass-time? This can’t be your actual job.”

It seemed that the woman was relaxing, and that was good enough for Ava as she smiled and poured her tea and a little amused incline of her head when she took it. The smile was the winner for Ava,because despite her hunting and what not, she did take simple pleasure from making people happy, “Oh gosh no. I work at Arabica, this is my little piece of heaven though. I’m an avid gardener.” She chuckled and nodded to the various potted plants around them, “This time of year isn’t so good with all the storms blocking the sun, but when it clears my oranges and lemons will come out finally.” She chuckled, “I sell a lot of the fruit and veg I grow in here, I love looking after it but it’s too much for me on my own.”

“I’ve learned how to keep a secret well enough. Though in the case that anything salacious does involuntarily get out, rest assured you’ll be taken care of. Now, who is this person?”

“Deal,” She smiled broadly, “I believe her name is Katherine, pretty brunette? She came looking for something recently, wanted something on the slow side of the burn. She is after him specifically. I’ll let you muse over which of your brothers she might be planning to pester.”

Hunter. The fact that the presence of one of his own pulled his hand tighter around his gun said wonders, all falling completely silent as he turned to meet Ava. “I’m the last person, actually.” He corrected her with little to no questioning in his voice. In his mind, everyone that walked the earth would be the first to open their mouths, and he would always be the last. “Clearly.” He didn’t quite know how to explain it, how a certain trust — a kinship amongst his own could so easily trickle between his fingertips following the deathly blow Lyra Valentine had laid at his feet like the wolf there now. “Does it fucking matter what he did? He’d dead. End of.”

She could only roll her eyes at that as she holstered her weapon, there was no use ever expecting him to cut the attitude. Ava circled the wolf before crouching down, when it came to corpses the hunter always did have a fascination, but she felt that you could learn a lot from the dead, “Nope. It doesn’t matter. Mind if I--” But she didn’t wait as she rolled the wolf over onto his back to eye up the bullet wound. It was clear the cogs were turning in her head, “This might just be perfect… This might just work.” She muttered, which was never a good thing to hear from her lips.

“Not the word I’d use. What are you doing here, Ava? I didn’t ask for a poisoned cake.” Though she didn’t exactly shy away from the assistance. Not that she particularly needed it, but Ava was one of the few hunters Beck could stand. “Nobody I didn’t already put a bullet in. You wanna see the body? Walk thirty paces beyond that tree.”

“Everyone loves a good ol’ slice of poisoned cake. Maybe if you had one you wouldn’t be all busted up right now,” Her fingers deftly helped wrap the bandage around her arm and secured it in place. She looked over her shoulder to where Beck indicated, “I’ll check it out in a moment,” She’d more than likely grab a sample or two for her work, “I have more stuff back at the Greenhouse that can help with that-” She nodded to her arm, “-If you wanted, of course.”

He scratched at the scruff on his face, taking in the seen of Ava with a glass a milk. She looked like an innocent little kid sitting on his counter. It was different from the skilled and dangerous… hell scary even, hunter he had known in the past. He did like it though, he liked the fact that she didn’t scare the living shit out of him now. “Damn, all this time and I never saw you around. That’s crazy. I really do need to get out of the house more.” His smile fell and he walked in to lean against a counter across from her, “After everything that happened, with the witch and all, I decided to retire, I guess. I just… I went so long, going so hard after her. I needed a break. I do some hunting every now and again now, but its more to help out anyone who needs it, unless of course its a witch. I guess you can call me hired help when it comes to hunting, I’m retired unless you call my name. You staying out of trouble or are you still neck deep in it like you used to be?”

The trouble with Ava these days was that if you did know her before her notable shift in demeanour that it could be even more unsettling - because how exactly does one go from stone cold killer to bubbly sweetness who  likes to bake cakes? She was a cautionary tale if there ever was one, “Mmmhm. Pretty nuts, I would’ve at least expected you to swing by the coffee shop. Unless you have and I’ve just not been there at the time -- that’s where I work by the way. Hint hint.” Pay her a visit, Brax, she’ll make it worth your while. She sipped on her milk and shrugged, “Hunters never retire.” That sounded like the old Ava, “But they do take breaks from time to time I suppose.” At his las question, she gave him a cat like grin, “I’m always in trouble Brax, but I make sure in this town that no one knows I’m usually the cause of their problems. Just the supplier.”

“Yeah, I mean I do it for free most of the time anyway. The way people get in trouble here would be good for something like that.” She grinned, “and believe me I’ll stick to what I know best, mean stuff doesn’t fall in that category.”

Ava scoffed, “Never do anything you’re good at for free!” She told her, folding her arms over her chest, “If you’re good at something, you make sure you can charge for it. Even if it ain’t much, little things with love and attention can expand into bigger enterprises.”

“Which is what exactly?”

“It was kind of an accident that it even exists, buuut it’s essentially an extra bang for your buck. Slows your metabolism temporarily so you can let the booze work double time on you.”