a study in: volatile recklessness, little girl turned rage, vengeance, grunge, morbidity, moral dilemmas & eye openers, reaching rock bottom for the fifth time, guilt swallowing you whole. pinterest.
( mia goth / female / she/her ) — ANNALISE 'LIS' HALSTEAD has been living in Port Leiry for HER WHOLE LIFE. They currently work as a STORE ASSISTANT AT EARSHOT RECORDS, and are 23 years old. No one is sure if they’re actually a HUNTER or if they’re connected to THE BROTHERHOOD. They tend to be quite IMPULSIVE and IRRATIONAL, but can also be PROTECTIVE and DETERMINED. — ( dani / gmt / she/her / 29 / n/a )
Name: Annalise 'Lis' Halstead
Occupation: Hunter Store Assistant @ Earshot Records
Age:Â 23
Sexuality: Bisexual
Species: Hunter
Clan/Pack/Coven?:Â The Brotherhood
Hometown: Port Leiry
Relationship Status: Single
Personality Traits: Volatile, Reckless, Impulsive, Irrational, Protective, Adaptable, Loner, Instinctual, Determined.
Important Headcanons:
Abandonment & Loss
Swap Our Places
Biography:
The Halstead's have been Hunters for generations upon generations. There was never a doubt in the world that that would be what Annalise trained for and became. She started training at a young age, the same age as her sister before her, and her brother before that. It was something she enjoyed, something she was finally good at but it all came to a striking stop when she was 15.
The day her mother and father came home without her brother by their side, Annalise immediately knew something was wrong. Her mother looked sick, like she hadn't stopped crying and her father... well, he looked like he always did; never giving away a single emotion. Hardened. He told them, without much empathy, that their brother was dead. Killed during a hunt. No questions were answered, and it was left at that. It couldn't be talked about without their mother shutting down completely and so they didn't talk about it. The two sisters were immediately pulled out of training, the parents not wanting to risk the lives of their daughters; after all, how could they survive if he didn't? Lis' older sister didn't much mind, she wasn't the type for hunting. Far too involved in herself to care for much else. Annalise was furious.
Rage filled her, and it hasn't left since that day. Angry at her father for stopping her training, angry at her brother for dying and leaving her, angry at whatever creature killed him ( read: angry at all creatures until she finds the one responsible ). If you don't anger Annalise, hell must be freezing over. When she turned 18, she went straight back to The Brotherhood. The decision was hers now; she was an adult, and she resumed her training, finally earning her tattoo, which she displays proudly along her forearm.
In 2024, her brother returned, changed. He was a vampire, and whilst angry that he had cut himself out of their lives for so long, it was understandable. As time went on, she understood more and more, until it crescendoed violently when their parents found out. Annalise uncovered their plan to put an end to Reid once and for all, and that, along with her quick spiral due to alcohol and substance abuse, led her to the only decision she thought she could come to.
Annalise Halstead murdered her parents. Her mother was never a target, meant to survive and have a second chance at life after being under her father's thumb her entire adult life, but a tussle at the top of the stairs between her and her father sent her mom tumbling down, hitting her head. Reid caught wind of her plan, but their mother wouldn't invite him in. He had to wait until she passed to cross the threshold, to see Annalise bleeding out on top of the father she was struggling to put a quick end to. He was going to die; it was just whether it was slow and painful or quick and painless. Reid delivered the finishing blow and healed her, then took her to their sister afterwards.
The next month is a blur. She stays at home, the family home where they died, barely surviving. Annalise is sent to rehab, undergoing therapy at the same time. When she returns, she is kept in The Brotherhood on the condition that her leash is very tight and she gets herself a job. She is currently saving to move out of the family home once again, something both she and her therapist decided she needed to do for her mental health. She wants to sell it, but she and Rose both own it, and that would mean Rose sits and has a conversation with her. Something told her that wasn't happening. The guilt of what she had done eats her alive every day, but it's not that she regrets that her parents are dead - she regrets what she put her siblings through by doing it.
Wanted Plots:
Sister: Annalise's older sister. She was never interested in being a Hunter. This wasn't because she disagreed with it, in fact she agreed it just wasn't an aspiration of hers. She wanted desperately to live her own life and make her own decisions. And then her brother died. . . Every cloud, right? - ROSE HALSTEAD
Dead Brother: What if he wasn't dead? Older then Annalise by a good six-eight years, he was experienced. He was trained. The poster boy for The Hunters. The one you would least expect to die. So what if he didn't. . . well, depending on your definition. A wolf or vamp ( utp! ) got him. Turned him. Their parents would rather think of him as dead then think of him as one of them. - REID HALSTEAD
@rosexhalstead
She sat alone in a home that felt foreign, her mind numb, curled up on her sofa under a blanket. None of it was familiar - the stuff belonged to her, she could recognise most of it, but she didn't remember the apartment. Annalise imagined it was one of the first memories the Doppelganger took, needing to know basics like where she lived and worked. She had faint memories of Earshot, memories deemed too unimportant to absorb in a rush. Would she ever get the rest back? Would they slowly return to her over time, or would she have to kill her mirror image for them to restore? All she knew was that there were no guarantees, they knew too little about these creatures, and all they did know was that it was rare to survive after they assimilate and take over your life.
Annalise was one of the lucky ones, but knowing that her guilt and sadness was too overwhelming for the creature to be able to stand killing her made her feel worse about it all, about how her life had gotten, how she'd gotten to this point.
There was a weight in her chest pressing down heavily, like something other than the memories was missing. She felt like there was part of her essence missing, as though she were not quite whole. The feeling was one she remembered feeling in the past, but this was different, it was at the very core of her being.
She had gotten herself a new phone a day or so after getting out of the cave, but she only had a few numbers memorised. One of them being her sister, who she'd text earlier in the day.
Annalise: Hey, can you come over? Some things have happened and you need to be aware of them. No one's hurt or dead.
Rose: I can't until later tonight. Busy day at work.
Annalise: That's fine, just whenever you can. I appreciate it.
The knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts getting up from the couch to answer it. "Thank you, for coming. Come in." She invites her in, voice quiet, dark circles under her eyes as she steps aside for Rose.
Prove to her that he's him? That.. confuses him. He starts to open his mouth to speak, but she continues and he allows it without interrupting. The mention of her parents startles him more. Cameron helps her to her feet and answers her first request as he does so: "Our first hunt together, I made a mistake that caused a comedy of errors. We eventually killed the beast, but it was the first time you heard me laugh."
He does not do so often, even on good days. Humor is.. hard. But this moment is proving to be a more difficult one, too.
When she stands, he holds onto her elbow gently with a gloved hand. "Annalise. Your parents.." He can't break the news to her here, not on a random street. "I'll take you to the home. We can talk there."
She allows him to help her up, looking at him intently as she waited for his answer, prepared to run if she needed to. Cam's answer soothes her, eyes still brimming with tears as she practically throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. "It's really you." Annalise whimpers, not even noticing that he's colder than he should be with her own body temperature so dysregulated.
He talks about taking her home and she's torn; she needs to warn them, but she needs to get Ella out of the tree. She has to be able to, right? She tries to remember what Brair said, fingers moving to the necklace around her neck. Deep down, she already knew there was no getting either of them back, but that didn't mean she couldn't look for a way, and her parents would be the best people to help with that. Annalise swallows thickly and nods as she pulls out of the hug, eyes focused on Cam as she tries desperately to recall a recent memory of him. It's like she knows it's there, but it's all blurred around the edges, too faded to bring to the forefront.
"Okay. Let's... let's go home." It was the first time she had thought to check her pockets, but they were empty. Phone, keys and purse all gone. She hoped someone was home to let her in.
Althea chews on her lower lip - if the Brotherhood hasn't been protectors in a long time, it would make sense. There was a chance the branch back east were infested long before she got there, and it was just Murph who brought it all to light in the worst way. She doesn't know anyone other than herself who moved over, and she was never official anyways.
She starts to shake her head, because this is where she doesn't have any information. "Best guess I can give you is.. if you guys have a leader, then maybe talk to 'em. Tell 'em you want out but only because you think you can do better good on your own."
Maybe that'll work. Maybe it won't. "If you.. If that don't work, then come find me."
The thought of talking to Aurelia made Annalise grimace. She had practically begged the woman to allow her to come back to The Brotherhood after her stint away, telling her she was ready and it was what she wanted. The hunter truly thought it was, at the time, but she realised that it just put her into the throws of her problems even further, her parents echoing throughout the entire organisation, even if it was just in her head.
"Yeah... I'll do that. If uh, if I need to take you up on that, where's best to find you? Here?" Lis questioned, knowing it would be best to have an ally in the Fellows if she was going to follow this through. She knew she had people she could go to if things went tits up, but running to a vampire, whether it be Cam or otherwise, was probably not a good look to the Fellowship if she was hoping to get in with them after her departure from The Brotherhood.
"What do you mean wrong?" TJ asked the girl, eyebrows furrowed. "This is how I've seen it. Lime. Alcohol. What is it supposed to be? A lemon?" He let out a laugh at the idea of it. "That would be too sour!" But maybe he was wrong. It was highly likely, considering he had barely any experience when it came to clubs and partying.
"Alcohol and then the lime?" To him, it sounded foreign. But then again, maybe it was an American thing. "How sure are you of that, hm?"
"You can use lemon too, yes." Annalise deadpanned at his laugh, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the guy who was clearly trying a little too hard. "Some people prefer the sourness of the lemon, but lime is more traditional." She shrugged, sipping at her own drink again and almost intent on going back to ignoring him, before the stranger said something that gave her the hope of making this interaction interesting.
"I'm willing to bet paying for the drinks for the rest of the night that it's the alcohol, then the lime. Some even lick salt, drink the tequila, then bite the lime. If I'm wrong, I'll pay for the rest of the night. If you're wrong, you will. Wanna do the honor of asking the bartender, or googling it, or shall I?"
It feels so unglamorous, being a vampire and driving your own car. Even Dracula had a stage-coach guy. Still, one must as one must, and she needs to take care of business; it's been long enough.
The lingering truth binds her with a handful of others - faint strings that mean even now she can find her own among the masses basking in their stupidly comfortable, bee-buzzing summer. It's this preternatural sense that has her sitting outside of a record shop, rolling a window down as Lis Halstead - the important Lis Halstead - emerges from the darkened shop.
A sucker-stick hangs from her mouth. "Annalise Halstead, if that is your real name which I believe it is not." She makes wriggly fingers out of the window, looking down over the rim of sunglasses (at night!) as she affects a heavy Lugosian accent;
She senses it as soon as she steps outside the shop, one of her kind lingering nearby. They were growing in numbers, it seemed, and Lis was happy for them but she just wanted to live the life she had managed to steal for herself. All she'd ever wanted to do is live like them, among them; it looked like fun. There wasn't much fun to be had when you were stuck in a form that didn't even fully form.
"Keep your voice down," she hisses, stalking over to the car that the other beckoned her from, "Why should I?" Annalise's arms folded across her chest, brow raising as she watched her carefully, even if the accent served to pull a small amused smile from her.
She couldn't risk being caught now, just because this one was speaking without thinking of who could overhear them, so it didn't take much convincing for Annalise to climb into the passenger seat. "Where are we going?"
The heat now was nice, though it wasn't a scorching heat. A warmth against the skin, and a much better balm to his emotions than the biting cold was. He was leaving the cafe as the woman entered, a bag of fresh rolls in tow from his first pay at the gym. It was.. not a lot, but it helped to get them by until he was able to find the resources to get an actual job with an actual place to stay. Caterina would enjoy the bread, he hoped.
He turned, struck by familiarity, and watched as the woman shoveled food into her mouth and began to yell and thrash. It was different seeing her in both the daylight rather than in the dim, strobing lights of the club, and also this.. feral. Her words make no sense but as she clamors away, Elio cannot help but to follow her.
At the ground, and then against the wall, he approaches slowly - as one might a wild animal. Hand held out, palm up. "..Lis? Are you unwell?"
The look of terror didn't ease as he approached, only growing as he spoke her name. She didn't know him, she'd never met him in her life, she was sure but he knew her. What was happening?
"I don't know you." Annalise murmured, pressing herself as far back into the wall as she could as she looked at him, seeing if any spark of recognition would hit, but it didn't. There were so many holes in her mind, holes that were stitched back together so poorly everything kept falling out still. Ella had said to go to Reid. Reid was here. Reid was dead. Go to Reid. Reid is gone. She couldn't retain it, couldn't think of the last time she saw her brother; it was all foggy around the edges. When she tried to recall, sometimes it was when she had been a kid, but another image tries to claw it's way in, and she's older in it. She doesn't understand.
"Don't touch me, I'll scream. I don't know you. How do you know my name?" Her head lolls backwards, hitting the wall. She repeats the motion a couple of times, head going dizzy as she battles the stars in her eyes. "Something is wrong. She's in the tree, but before she was in the tree, she said to find my brother. My brother is dead. Gone. But he was here after he died and he's here now but it's not possible." Annalise fights back the sobs, she has to get home.
"You know me? Do you know where I live? I need help getting home. I have to warn them. Not everyone is as they seem, they're not all them. They've been taken; killed or frozen, both, smashed open. I smashed her open."
She says everyone has fun. Elio tries to remember a time in recent memory that fun was easily accessible. It was not in America - that time had been plagued by simple survival. It was not with the witches across the sea. Perhaps the villa, where wine was plenty and conversation was calm. Not fun, like this fun. Games and toys were never for him once he'd been given the gift. Play had been a word long since forgotten.
But he tries not to dwell on missed childhoods and the worries of making it to the next day. Instead, he tries to offer a smile and answer the question lobbed at him. Be in the moment, his father used to say. The moment now is unfamiliar to him, but he tries.
"Sour, fresh, rich." He does not know if that combination can be anything, but it reminds him of rich foods followed by the sour grapes picked fresh off the vines in the times hidden away in the countryside. "If your tastes are.. different, I should like to try yours, as well."
If only his sister could see him now - trying to navigate these waters.
She grins at his requests for a drink, something popping into her mind instantly. It never ceased to amaze her, what this little hunter knew; how many useless facts and song lyrics stuck in her head, the training drilled into her since she was a child, and an extensive knowledge of alcohol seemed to be the long and short of it, but it served Annalise well now.
"My tastes are different, but you're welcome to indulge. I've heard trying new things is something that's considered healthy." The blonde replies, eyes practically glued to Elio as she drank him in. The curls surrounding his face, falling just to his brow, his sharp features softened by his smile, the way his skin glowed. He was a beautiful man, a rarity considering he was one without the arrogance of knowing it, it seemed.
"Lovely bartender, my handsome new friend will have a Pisco Sour, please. I shall have an extra dirty, sweet Martini." She spoke, only glancing at the bartender before eyes were back on Elio. She had picked something the opposite of his purposefully, so that he could indulge in both and expand his horizons. A dirty Martini with a splash of Vermouth gave the drink a sweet finish it usually didn't have, and she loved the way the flavours danced on her tongue. Annalise wondered if he'd prefer to taste them from her tongue rather than the glass, but the thought was batted away, not intending on scaring him off just yet.
As much as Cameron would have loved to enjoy the return of the sun, all he has to enjoy in the night is the lack of snow and ice. It hasn't all disappeared overnight, but it has melted. The river running through the city runs high and fast, and most people have returned back to normalcy. So when he hears shouting a block over and much more commotion than should be normal, he changes course.
In a blink, he's at the source - and finds himself face to face with a haggard, distraught friend. Tree? His emotions don't normally seep into his features, but confusion is writ plainly on them now.
"Annalise?" He crouches down to her, holding a gloved hand out. "You look unwell."
Wide, scared eyes look up, and relief sets in at the familiar face. It only lasts a moment, before she's pressing herself back against the wall again.
"Tell me something only I would know. Prove to me that you're you." Annalise's logic wasn't quite there, but she didn't fully know how the Doppelgangers worked yet; she didn't realise how much her own memory had been affected.
"I was so cold. I was dying. Shiny cold caves and faces that didn't belong. She didn't belong, not me. I belong! It's her brains decorating the cave floor now!" She exclaimed, giggles soon devolving into earth-shattering sobs. "I need to warn my parents, Cam. I need to tell them. They have our faces, walking around like they're us. She wasn't us. She spilt like mercury mixed with blood and brains. And now Barbie is in the tree, or the tree is Barbie."
Water from the melting snow laps at her legs, but she's unfazed, eyes focusing on Cam instead.
"Take me home. I need to tell my parents. They must've noticed, right? Ella said she did, so they must have. I wasn't me. I was trapped. Cold cave with tunnels that went on and on... I think I was there for months and months."
Althea takes a moment to think about the Fellows she's met over the years - which ones she gets along with, which ones she doesn't. Eventually her answer is a lift of her hand and waving motion that says, 'Ehhh.' "Sometimes, sometimes not. It's really-- The Brotherhood is like one singular unit, yeah? Fellowship is a whole lot looser. Some people will hold it against you, some people won't - but there's no big, like, conglomerate telling you that you're a piece of shit, and you can't tell the ones who give you hell to fuck off without being kicked out. Common goal, different reasons."
She hopes that makes sense.
After she finishes, Lis explains and it all becomes increasingly clear. There's a shiver in her spine that makes her uncomfortable about Anika dating a vampire - but it's not something she wants to voice about the woman's brother. And she doesn't want to dictate how others live their lives - but now she'll keep a clearer eye out. If Port Leiry ever sees them again, that is. She looks down, jaw tightening some. Her mind doesn't focus on the vampire of it all, but her dead mentor buried on her property. Her grip tightens on the beer in her hand.
Althea allows silence to sit for a moment, while she thinks. When she finally looks up, she's forced herself to relax and not think about mistakes or fears, "I think you're looking for us, Lis. The Brotherhood's only gonna chew you up and spit you out."
They sent a shiver of realisation down her spine; the words were so simple, yet it felt like they made everything click into place. A puzzle that she had all the pieces for, but it wasn't quite fitting together. Althea had managed to put it in simple terms and give her the answers to questions she'd been asking herself for a long time. The Fellow was right; Brotherhood would spit her out, almost already had done, and it was worse to be out on your ass in the cold than to voluntarily defect, wasn't it?
"A friend told me recently that he never believed in the order, thought that we were protectors once, but we weren't anymore. I think he's right. I don't think The Brotherhood have been protectors in a long time." She murmured, her mind suddenly reeling with whatever the process was of leaving The Brotherhood. Sure, she had known of defects every now and then; it was rare, but it happened, yet she had no idea of the process of it - of what happened. Did she just turn around and tell Kennedy she was leaving and that would be that? Or would it turn to threats and violence?
"I... Have you seen people who have defected from Brothers to Fellows before? I don't know what to expect." She chews on her lower lip, a deep anxiety setting in. She didn't want to have to fight her way out, and she half hoped with everything that had happened with her recently, Aurelia would be relieved and let the little hunter on thin ice leave of her own accord.
In a world where Felicity Van Brunt is no longer on top, but clinging somewhat desperately to a side somewhere while the whipping wings of conspiracy threaten to cast her down to rock bottom, this is a nice little hit on the crack-pipe of a life she's not sure she's able or willing to fully indulge anymore - late night collisions with Beautiful People In Clubs is still a hell of a rush, but she's found a new drug these days - a needful hunger for more steady companionship. That prospect scares her - hence the fact her ass is low-key grinding against the hips of a stranger in a rich magician's debauchery den.
Would Astor answer her calls? It's as likely as not - they aren't close, but they are rich people in a town full of rich people. Well, her richness these days is increasingly in character and not pocketbook - Casper's made sure of that with his backhanded freezes and positively vampiric draining of reserves. Zoe isn't guiltless either- but she's stupid, and stupid is at least somewhat forgivable.
"We have," Flick says, turning and getting very close with Lis. "I have a penthouse. It's not an Astor penthouse, but it does have a very big, very soft bed."
She won't have it for much longer either - best make do.
Annalise smirks at the closeness, and the offer makes her mind tick. It wasn't every day that a girl got an offer of a penthouse with a beautiful woman and a big, soft bed. She had experienced it for a little while, or at least the old Lis had done, it was time for the new Lis to get in on some of those experiences, wasn't it?
"I can't say no to an offer like that from a woman like you." She grins, taking Flick by the hand and leading her off the dancefloor. No time better than the present, and AJ Astor had long been forgotten.
The cold air hit before they even got to the exit of the club, Lis picking up her coat from the cloak room and wrapping it around her before heading outside, "I'd almost forgotten about the snow." She grumbles, thankful she'd worn at least semi-sensible clothes for the weather. "Lead the way, princess."
It's all hormones - adrenaline pushing her legs through thick snow and somehow letting her champ through uneven footing provided by unpacked powder and gnarled roots - it has to be for Annalise, too, whose rocket-shot had given her more air than she'd expected - but by the time she's being hauled breathlessly out of the snow, the tree-thing is practically wailing - even if that wailing its just the sound of tree boughs and branches clawing at what has to be a monumental bellyache.
Aelita only makes it a few steps before falling onto her bum alongside her partner, breathlessly and smilingly staring at the fruits of their labor, even if she knows her ribs are gonna be screaming in the morning. "Yeah, but what a rush, huh?" She says, grin hanging open so she can suck down air.
She looks back to the slowing creature, and then watches as it crawls to a stop, sinking into the woods. It does just look like a weird tree now, if one that looks taken out of a book of fairy tales. There's a weird energy in the bit of woods they've found eachother in now - silent save for the rustle of wind through sleeping branches and the crackle of dying pockets of fire from the poor attempts at burning the ent into submission.
"Lets uh, let's clean up - then... Sweetwater?" The Hunter Bar and staging ground is a place she's only poked in on a handful of times.
They were both going to ache in the morning, and Annalise was sure going to suffer for it, but right now she pushed those thoughts to the side because now was the time to celebrate their victory.
She pulled her phone out of the inside pocket of her jacket and snapped a picture of the down-and-out ent. "It's my first one, you can't not, right?" Annalise chuckled, her breathing slowing somewhat as she was finally managing to catch her breath. It had been more of a workout than she thought, but she thought that even if she was in her prime, it would've been a difficult fight.
Annalise stands, starting to gather their scattered supplies to haul them back to the truck, nodding at the suggestion, "Oh, for sure. Get back, shower, and meet there?" She suggested, wanting to shower the smell of burnt tree and pesticides off her before showing her face at Sweetwater. Plus, she hoped that a hot shower now would soothe the screaming muscles she was sure to face in the morning.
The sound of her heart beating still pumps in Ella's ears over the rest of the bodies surrounding them, no one paying them any mind. Still connected even after she's finished feeding. It's the closest they've been since they had first met. Something still feels not right. About the position, about the context, about what just happened. It isn't something she'd find herself normally even consider. Maybe the problem wasn't Annalise, maybe there was something wrong with the vampire's own mind.
Eyelashes flutter as she tries to connect the Hunter's words. 'Antis…?' the meaning finally settles and she tilts her head slightly. That doesn't sound quite right. Medications, drugs, made the blood taste like chemicals. This was…something else. Or maybe she really was being paranoid. But instead of voicing concern, she slips into false understanding easily. An easy smile taking over as she gives a nod. "Oh yeah, I'll be fine. I've probably had way worse in my system before, the seventies, remember? I'm just glad you're alright. I tried not to take too much. Are you feeling alright? Not woozy?"
"Ah, yes. The seventies." Annalise chuckles, wondering if the other truly was a party girl in all the partying decades, or if that was something that got old quickly, and perhaps she'd picked different hobbies. She supposed she'd never truly know.
"I'm fine, great, truly." She grins, arms wrapping back around Daniella as they danced. She enjoyed the bite, something of a recollection clawed at the back of her mind, but it was of no importance, brushed away. "And don't worry, I'll tell Reid I got the mark from some kinky hookup; he won't want to ask questions after that." Lis teased, chewing on her lower lip as she looked over the blonde vampire.
"I think I could get used to a bite as gentle as that. Probably something trauma-related, but I... I think I enjoy it. Is that strange?"
Anika glanced down at her hand, where the same handmade band wrapped around her finger, carrying the promise of a thousand forevers. His mark, much like hers, served no purpose anymore. A faded brand that had lost its meaning a long time ago, although it was different for both of them. They were different in their suffering and in their bliss, yet somehow they'd found one another in their darkest moments. That was something neither of them could explain, nor find the right words for. At least not words that wouldn't fall on deaf ears, because to Anika, it seemed that no words (sharp or soft) would ever be the right ones for Lis. She'd walked in Lis' shoes before. lived through the pain of losing a sibling, losing a parent, losing everyone. She'd been deaf once, too.
A moment of quiet, as the last of her phone's battery fueled a weak flashlight, illuminating faces and the uneven walls of the shelter.
Eventually, she said: "No, I got no idea."
Anika hadn't asked him about that, who he'd seen or where he's been, if he planned to stay. "But if there's shit you gotta ask him, you gotta find a way to do it. It's why he's here." For you. She didn't want to think Lis would fail to see that while there was still a brother left to speak to.
The flashlight swung in her hand, catching Lis' blue eyes, "You got a gun, Lis? 'Cause the other day I had to kill some weird ass thing, and it wasn't pretty." Hissed words came through gritted teeth, quiet enough to keep prying ears away. The damn thing could get inside people's heads, at least according to what Althea had told her. "And I got only one good hand, so unless you're ready to kill some fuckers — since they seem to be evolving or some shit — I think letting someone know where we are is a pretty fucking good call."
Then she stepped back, letting her eyes adjust to the poor lighting as she watched people pass bottles of water around. They seemed calm, like this happened every damn tuesday, like they were sitting at home watching the news or reading the morning paper. She reached for one of the bottles, when she'd noticed the old woman passing them had been staring at her, her gaze so wide and unblinking that Anika thought her damn eyeballs might pop right out of her head.
"I know," she murmured, fighting the urge to push her into the doppelgangers and hope there was one lurking that needed a body to take, to kill this one, but that was all Doppel, not Annalise. She could feel that, no matter if she felt like Anika was taking away her brother, deep down she knew that getting out of Port Leiry was probably the best thing for him. Too much had happened here, but Annalise missed him. Life was easier for the doppel without him there, but he made his little sister feel seen, even if he thought they were closer to strangers than family now.
"I said what I needed to; I don't want to hold him back, Anika. Am I angry that he left again? Yes. Am I angry that anything seems better to him than being there for his sisters? Yes. But do I get it? Also, yes. And I'll be angry when he leaves again, but it's the norm now. Reid doesn't stick around; it's who he is. He'll pick himself, and you, and it hurts, but... It's understandable." Her voice was shaking, but it was all she could do to keep the anger and other unpleasant emotions at bay.
She winced as the bright light hit her eyes, squinting past it to Anika and nodding, "Yeah, I got a gun." Lis didn't like to use it if she didn't have to; it wasn't her preferred weapon, but it got the job done. "Again, good luck. There's been no signal for a while now."
Following the gaze to the old woman staring, she stared back, hoping that she'd get the message to stop being so fucking obvious. She didn't want to get made, not ever, and especially not with the brother's girlfriend - wife? - by her side. "Ignore her, probably lost her carer or something. I'm sure shit will ease up outside soon, and then we can take our chances out there."
She had passed out in the freezing winter and awoken under the blazing summer sun. Briar's jacket was around her, cooking her from the inside out, her body fragile and thin, a hunger within her that she didn't think she had ever felt, her throat so dry it was sore.
Annalise stood, and the world spun, her head pounding, as she kept walking.
"She's gone. They're gone. What month is it?" She murmured to herself, her legs struggling to not give out from underneath her with each step she took. Passing by a cafe, her eyes couldn't tear away from the food. She knew it was wrong, but she didn't care.
Lis moved to the closest table, snatched their glass of water from their hands, and drank it down greedily, stealing the food from their plate and shoving it down her throat. The hunter felt like she hadn't eaten for months - had it been months? Ella said she'd noticed.
Ella.
Head snaps back behind her, food forgotten, a twisting tree stood where she last saw her friend, and a necklace weighing heavily on her chest.
"She's in the tree. She's in the tree, we have to get her out!" Annalise looked around frantically, and all she got back were people looking at her like she was crazy. "Are you deaf?! She's in the tree, all twisted and dark. She's trapped. I--..." Her world spun, falling to the ground with a thump, though quick to scramble away from the people who might touch her. She didn't want to be taken again. "No, you're not taking me again! I'm not letting you!" Annalise screamed, moving away until her back hit a wall, and her arms wrapped around herself, rocking to try to self-soothe.
"She's in the tree." She kept murmuring, repeating it, as if it would give any more information. As if saying it enough times would bring Daniella back, or the kind witch who had found and helped her.
Brother. That sounds fucking weird when he thinks about how Rose had greeted him; less sister, and more old, distant comrades. But he has to remember, she's a little different to when he'd left; rehab must have done a number on her, if she's chirpier than a canary, tonight. He won't let himself think it's actually because she's glad to see him; they don't do warm hugs anymore, apparently. His will always be cold-sided.
But she elicits a sudden, hostile reaction out of him with a thumb over scar tissue, tracing the patterns of a mark that he'll never again wear. He thought she might have left it there, but she's a battering ram on everything he's yet to explain to her. Fingers curl away from her, eyes wavering on her face.
"I should have got rid of it a while ago." is about as much explanation as he would give her; he didn't deserve it; a stain to have it, as a deadman. A thousand reasons other than the one that really tipped him over the edge of the cliff. Denver had left scars that were more than skin deep. Reid pulls his hand out of hers, before anymore phantoms threaten to burst from the seams of his memory. The rest of it, had a longer explanation that he cared to voice in one conversation. He cannot remember the last time he asked her, either. Whether she still gets her tattoo fuelled by magic that serves her as a protector: "You still get yours worked on?"
It's a game of tennis, passing the questions, back and forth so they didn't have to talk about themselves. He ruffles her hair like she's a kid again, for just a moment.
"Now where've I heard that before? You steal that line?" he pokes, as the smile on his face turns prideful, for all that she's accomplishing. "But I'm glad you're finding a way to manage," And that daily substance abuse isn't the norm. That message can be pulled from the inching frown on his face. "Now lonely I can empathise with." Historically, and on nights where there's nothing but hunger on his mind. "Actually, maybe addicition too, if the red stuff counts for shit."
He's trying to make light of it, like there's nothing shifting between the siblings and that dark things don't have to stay in the shadows completely. "But I'm proud of you, Lis." That's the real part, of all of it. Reid knows what it's like, more than she'll ever know to wake up, or know that every night there's a fight of wills that one battles with, every moment they're conscious. He gets it. Even if he can't imagine hers.
He supposes the difference between them, is necessity; one of them would die, eventually, without one of the substances.
Then, back to the ring. His thumb spins it on his finger, smooth and glossed. "Yeah, something like that." There had been no chapel, or priest; no formal arrangement beyond Reid delivering his version of forever to Anika. The kind that hadn't breached conversations beyond lifetimes. But they were, he supposes, married on everything but paper. Then, as if he needed to clarify that it had been the same woman (and not someone new) who'd left town with him, he says: "To Anika."
"You should have," she confirmed, dragging her eyes away from the burn and back up to him, "Not because of you, but because of them." Them, being their parents. This one had strong feelings about them, and not just the ones that attracted the doppelganger to Annalise in the first place. There's guilt and shame, anger and hurt, but there's a fire inside that still burns hot even with them dead. A fire that seems to be turning the tide to focus on her own people, the Brotherhood. She sees them every time she's within anything Brotherhood-associated, sees them in the training methods put in place, in those who feel a desire to kill anything that goes bump in the night. It incites rage in this little hunter; she can feel it so deeply.
A deep breath at the question, before releasing it and nodding, "For the time being. I'm not sure how much longer. Kennedy has me on thin ice, and I'm not too sure I believe in the behind-the-times mantra anymore." She leans closer and lowers her voice to a whisper. "I'm thinking of defaulting." To the Fellows, or just becoming rogue - working for herself, a vigilante hunter, protecting those who need protecting in the moment. Magic helps, but it's not needed. Silver for a wolf, a stake for a vamp, and a gun for the witches. Anything more complicated, she didn't have to get near unless it left her without a choice.
Annalise laughs, leaning back and taking another hit from her vape, "Reid, how you surprise me, keeping up with your popular culture." She watches him for a moment, noticing how this one's smile actually starts to reach her eyes for the first time since being in this body. The brother provides hope, even if he's the unknowing cause of a lot of pain. "I don't think it counts if you literally need it to live, unless you've gone Ripper style and you just haven't told me."
She didn't want to dwell on the loneliness part of their conversation; she was so lonely that it hurt, but it was the bed that the Halstead had made for herself, so she had to lie in it.
Laughter fills her ears again, and she's batting a hand at Reid, "Yeah, no shit. I'd be concerned if it wasn't." Annalise didn't fully trust Anika, but she didn't know her well enough. All she knew of her was that she was enough to get her brother to leave town, and to leave them when they needed him the most. A reason that wasn't her fault, but it made the woman leave a bitter taste in the youngest Halstead's mouth anyway. "If you're happy, then that's great, Reid. Truly."
She chewed on her lower lip, debating her next question for a few moments before speaking up, "How uh... The dimmer switch still hovering between on and off? Seen Annabelle yet?"
Her shoulders visibly drop in relief after Lis says she's okay with it. That's.. good, that's good, yeah. Althea rubs at the lower half of her face, as if it to rid herself of the rest of the tension. They're cool, no reason to worry. "Yeah?" She raises both eyebrows, shifting her shoulders as the tattoos adorning her back start to itch - a phantom sensation, she knows.
"You can ask whatever you need, totally." She nods, drinks a bit, and continues on after clearing her throat. "Look, the main difference I noticed is that it's not.. Fellows aren't all bound by that one code. We all have our reasons."
Her reason isn't the same as Heron's, wasn't the same as the other founders, either. She's not sure if it was the same as Anika's. "My reasons are - honestly, fuckin'.. I'm afraid. And I wanna help people be less afraid. I've met Fellows who hunt cause they hate, and others who wanna protect. I guess as long as you want to hunt, no matter why, you're welcome."
"But those reasons," Lis started, wishing she had something fucking stronger than soda right now, "Do they impact others? If one person has a vendetta, or wants to kill every supernatural, is it held against others if they think you should only kill someone who is actively harming people? Have you ever been ordered by anyone to kill someone?"
She chewed on her bottom lip, wondering how much she could trust Althea, if she should offer context. "I... I don't know if Anika's told you, but her boyfriend? My brother? He's a vampire. Most of my friends, those whom I'd consider my closest allies, have been taken and turned. Wolves are practically human most of the month. Witches are mortal. It just doesn't feel right anymore, unless they're genuinely a threat and I... Fuck, I don't think I can stand to be in a guild that my parents had such a heavy hand in anymore. It's too much. Too much pressure to be like them, when I would honestly rather dive onto my sharpest blade than ever turn out like them."
Tequila would be really fucking good right now, she thinks to herself.
"I want to hunt, but I want to hunt for the right reasons, and I'm not sure that fits anywhere."
