Annalise

Ever since the letters had arrived, and they had talked about what happened. Things were unexpectedly, starting to look up. Eugene had been more open with her, ever since he hid how she had died. Annalise had even learnt where he disappeared to at night time. He went out to feed at night time, a local club kept blood stocked for supernaturals. Apparently it was run by a lovely old woman, who for all intents and purposes was a normal human, but was married to an elderly vampire.

Even in the face of the danger they were in, she couldn't help but feel strangely at ease.

It was nice. To be this close to someone again.

Annalise turned to gaze at Eugene, who was currently on the phone talking to someone. She wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, listening only to the lulls of his voice, letting it pass over her like a wave. She watched, as Eugene turned to her, giving her an odd look before focusing back on his conversation again.

He was calling up old friends he had in the Modesto Clan, to see if he could get any more information on what Vitus was planning. Finally, he put the phone down, placing it back into the pocket of his grey joggers. "How did it go?" Annalise asked, stretching out from where she was lounging on the sofa. She had decided to properly take advantage of the fact that her powers or supernatural beingness? Okay, so she wasn't too sure of what it was, she was just grateful she could lay down on the sofa.

"They are going to come over tonight to discuss it with us. They don't want to risk anyone over hearing the call," Eugene explained, sitting down next to where her feet lay.

"Who are they?" She questioned, she went to put her feet in his lap, but they fell straight through and back onto the sofa. Annalise gave him a sheepish grin in apology. He rolled his eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smirk.

"I mentioned they were old friends of mine," Eugene said. Now it was Annalise's turn to roll her eyes.

"Well, yeah I know that. But who are they?" she asked once more, with a pointed glance. "Raul Lehman, Dawn Lilith Brown and Cassius Ramirez. Cassius is the one who helped me find out what happened to you," He said, and Annalise immediately perked up.

"Really?" she said, her voice raising slightly, "Do you think they'll be able to see me too?" Eugene nodded, and Annalise had to control the irrational urge to jump up and down excitedly. It was thrilling, after 5 years of straight solitude just having Eugene was enough. But now, more and more people can see her. There was still a quiet longing for the past, to be able to talk to her mum, brother and friends but with each passing day, it was getting easier to cope with.

"There are different types of Vampires, we are Higher Vampires. Cassius, Dawn, Ruth and myself have greater senses. Meaning we can sense you, therefore see you. Lower Vampires are more susceptible to their base instincts, and can not sense as much as Higher Vampires can," Eugene remarked, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

Annalise sat on that information for a while, mulling it around in her head. It almost seemed typical that the only people who could see her were supernatural beings. If someone had told her this would happen when she died, she would have laughed, then abruptly tell them that they needed to get their head out of the clouds. But, here she was.

A ghost and a Vampire. How corny, she thought to herself with a little giggle.

"What is it?" Eugene gave her an odd look. Annalise shook her head, with a smile.

"It's nothing, don't worry."

-------

A few hours had passed with relative ease, before there were a series of knocks at the door. Eugene went to answer it, and Annalise trailed behind him. Peaking over his shoulder to look at the new arrivals.

There were three of them, as Eugene had said there would be. There were two men, and one woman. One of the men was tall, taller than Eugene, and with bulging muscles. He looked like a bodybuilder, only more intimidating. His hair was a platinum blonde, buzzed down in a military haircut. He stood upright, back ramrod straight, and face stern.

The other man was comparatively smaller, though still taller than Annalise herself. He had wavy black hair that just touched his shoulders, and tanned skin. He wore a brown bomber jacket that had obviously seen better days. The woman was the smallest of them all, coming up to around 5 ft 6. She had mousy brown hair, pale almost translucent skin and devilish brown eyes. There was a smirk on her face, and she looked totally at ease.

Eugene nodded at them in greeting and holding the door open for them so they could come in. "Welcome," he said. The serious looking man nodded back, but didn't say anything. "Eugene, I heard you ran into some trouble," the woman mentioned, she turned, her smug smile growing as she saw Annalise. "Here's trouble, then" she said, pointing at Annalise.

"Knock it off Dawn," the man with dark hair said, knocking her shoulder. The woman- Dawn laughed, sharp canines gleaming. Eugene sighed exasperatedly.

"I should introduce you to them, Anna. This is Raul Lehman-" he said, gesturing to the tall, serious man. "This is Dawn Lilith Brown-" pointing to the woman, "and this is Cassius Ramirez" he finished gesturing to the man with dark hair. Annalise stepped closer to them, looking at Cassius in particular.

"Thank you," she said to him, "For helping Eugene to find out what happened, for helping me" Cassius looked to Eugene in askance, and when nothing came of that he simply shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay. I enjoyed the challenge of hacking into a morgue," Cassius replied.

This time Dawn knocked him, "You're such a nerd sometimes," she joked, "Who says they enjoy hacking into a morgue?" Raul coughed pointedly, and both of them stopped before they could argue.

"I didn't introduce myself, my names Annalise Redwood, it's nice to meet you,"