DEVILSVENOM.

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."

"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.

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.

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?

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."

"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.

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.

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.

"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.

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."

"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."

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.

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."

"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."

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.

Lis seems to be coming too more as Briar speaks, her own eyes are trained on the witch's profile. On the way she soothes the other. A sight she's never witnessed before. She wonders if this was something Ironwood had taken from her too.

At Lis' question of the necklace she gives a little 'Hm' curious herself about the trinket, fascinated by its gleam. Whatever it is, it is clearly a final key in this process. It's is like second nature when Annalise looks back to her and she looks back at her. She hopes her smile is reassuring, even if the look she is getting hurts a bit.

"Don't you worry about us, you need to go home. Find Reid, he'll keep you safe. Everything will be fine."

"-ehr... simply don't do either of those and we won't need to find out." With a nervous and manic smile, she pats the woman's shoulder, to gently solidify that as tantamount. A bold contingency, perhaps, but dire straits called for such dire plays.

Daniella reassures her friend, Briar looking between the two of them as they share, wordless or otherwise, their goodbyes. Between the three of them, at their feet, a small black vine blooms with red blossoms, and she kneels to whisper its instructions and then to Annalise she looks, suddenly serious.

"This little creeper will lead you to safety. It will know who and what to avoid. I do hate to cut this all short but time is of the essence."

And it's true; the cold has been growing, first week by week, then day by day, but now, hour by hour and minute by minute. If they are to save this city and keep safe everything outside of it, they must do as they must.

"Good-bye, Annalise," she says, and the little black vine begins to writhe its way back the way she and Daniella had come. "You've a few breaths, Ella. Make of them what you will, I've got to go... steel myself."

She looks back to Briar and nods; it's all she can manage now, to show she understands, the exhaustion fast taking hold. Follow the creeper-looking thing, find safety. She could do that, but first she at least recognised that she needed to say goodbye to Ella.

Her thoughts swam, confusion and all muddled up, intertwined like a knot proving difficult to come undone. "I don't understand what's happening," Annalise whimpered, hands reaching for Ella, "But this feels pretty final." She swallowed thickly, bringing the vampire into an embrace, "Tell me something. Something no one else alive knows, something real. I don't want to forget you."

Tears well in her eyes as she looks up at the vampire - Vampire Barbie - her Barbie. Why did it always have to be the ones that she held dear who had to sacrifice themselves? Hadn't this town taken enough from her? From all of them.

After their goodbye, she had no choice. She had to turn and walk away, or she would never do it; so she followed the thing Briar had made, and she didn't look back. If she looked back, she would run after Daniella. If she looked back, she wouldn't make it home.

And yet, he is doing what every soldier might do once they get a bit of free time: talking to women. He'd heard plenty of stories of other guard dogs and the escapades they would get up to. He had also sworn to never be like them.

It is embarrassing, almost, to know that he's found himself in the exact situation. He comes back to her as she calls him pretty, and he simply blinks in response. "I.. don't know that I am fun." The words, even without his struggles with the language, come out stilted and stuttering.

A drink would not harm him, though. "I can.. drink with you. Yes." A nod here, bu the does not know if he'll be able to dance with her. It's not that he doesn't want to, it's that he doesn't know how. She seems troubled - in the way that makes him think she needs this night, and that makes a flare of concern light up in his chest. Perhaps, then, he can help her forget her troubles for an evening.

"Would you .. I am not familiar with American drinks. Would you p-pick one for me?"

"Everyone has fun, in their own way," Annalise shrugs, ensuring to allow him to get his words out before starting to respond. She may not be the true hunter, but she wasn't rude, and this one was interesting. The accent alone was enough to keep her interested, but then wasn't it the same to almost everyone?

She grins when he agrees to the drink, tapping the bar to get the attention of the bartender. "Hmm, I certainly can, pretty boy. What sort of flavours do you like?" Lis asks, taking the menu from the bartender, which includes all kinds of drinks, from simple to extravagant cocktails. "Sweet or sour, fresh or dirty, citrus or rich?"

It was out of pity, rather than interest, she was sure. She had learned that most interactions with the blonde she'd decided to take over were just that. The troubles exuded from her, clear for anyone to see, and they made a choice: steer clear, or stay and help her have one good day. She hated the pity, but craved the attention, so she traded one for the other.

He's run out of money pretty quick, once he'd made it out here. Commission money's good for groceries, when it comes in, but that kind of stuff was getting harder and harder to find. That made him grateful for this gig helping him keep his tiny efficiency apartment; even if he knows deep Aria'd never let him go without a place to stay if push came to shove, he hardly wants to impose on anyone.

"Speaking of, got like an hour or so before we gotta start locking the place up - you wanna grab a burger or somethin' after? My treat." Secretly, he hopes she says yes, because something about the way the walk home feels lately makes his skin crawl - some company wouldn't be unwelcome

She wondered what it was like to walk around Port Leiry without knowing about the creatures that go bump in the night. Annalise had never been blessed with that ignorance, not when she knew about them from a young age and the ruin they could inflict, which caused her to grow up too fast, but at least she was prepared for what could come at her.

Nothing frightened her more than thinking about those who didn't know running into the wrong creature, and not seeing their next sunrise.

Annalise was snapped from her thoughts at the mention of burgers, a rare grin coming to her lips, "Oh, absolutely. I could eat a horse." She teased, grabbing a box with the rental returns to begin checking them back into the system. "I warn you, I eat like one, too. You may no longer be able to look at me the same afterwards." She could put away food, that was for sure.

"Busy guy - but aren't they all." Felicity quips; and she too lets out a quiet burst of giggling as this single-serving friend pulls her closer. Flick indulges, enjoys, and then shakes her head. "Not recently - haven't been looking exactly, but if you are, I could probably set something up."

"Is he likely to answer your calls?" Annalise questions, wondering what he'd respect more - a girl so desperate to get in touch with him she asks a stranger, or someone who would wait for when the busy, rich man has the time to get back in contact with someone he likely saw as a charity case.

The tree-thing plucks the axe out of its limb with another, and it seems for a moment like that's calmed it down, but all it's done is give it a moment to find them, but by the time it does, they're already in formation. It lumbers towards Lis then, and then Aelita takes off, pumping her legs through the snow with every ounce of energy she can still muster. When she reaches Annalise she rips the first pin out, stepping up and letting her companion's body do the lifting. She's nearly knocked breathless as she lands on a limb, swinging madly around as it lumbers and twists. It's nearly impossible to hold on and hurl the smoke grenades, but one shake this way and another that, and she sees the opportunity, underhanding the belt into the deep hole before she lets herself be flung into the snow near Ana with a shout and a grunt of shocked surprise.

It happens quickly, Lita running at her faster than she would expect through the snow, and soon Lis is being used as a stepping stone, springing her upwards with all the momentum she can muster. Halstead backs up almost instantly, not wanting to be anywhere near the ent when their fertiliser bomb goes off, but a limb almost ruins their whole plan. The hunter stares on, unable to do much of anything as Lita is being flung around, but with one good throw, their plan is in motion.

Moving towards Aelita's landing spot, she helps the hunter up and backs away. As soon as the thing starts to slow down, she lets out a breath she didn't realise she was holding and collapses in the snow - for once, the cold was welcome as she wiped sweat and dirt from her brow.

She glances over to said woman when she lays a hand on the Hunter's chest, glad for her assistance in calming her down. In warming her. Light eyes catch on the gem finally, eyebrows pinching for a moment before she smooths her features, acts like she knows exactly what it is as a way to hopefully comfort Lis further.

"It's fine, not the worst she's called me." She tries a soft smile, fingers of her left hand pushing back disheveled hair behind Annalise's ear. "I noticed." She assures her, honestly she's been so caught up in the slow unraveling of her thoughts and constant reading to really know if there had been anyone else having avoided most others.

She turns to Briar herself now, keeping her hands on the Hunter's skin in hopes of being calming for the other woman. "She isn't going to be hurt further is she? If so we need another."

"I'm sure you'll have much to explain when you've returned, child." Briar says, hand moving to the woman's back, clad in her offered coat now. "You may feel weak, but your presence here might be the sort of serendipity that saves lives." Souls, at least; lives are ephemeral and flesh is a mouldering trap after all, soft and squishy and meant to be used and discarded - it's the soul that's iron - well, not so much iron these days, she chides herself.

Briar's fingers and nails knead at the stranger's back, imparting unto her the barest sip of magic - enough to sate what is most like a starving belly, a dry throat - enough to solidify her resolve to ensure escape. "I will you keep this coat, Annalise. And here..." She draws a necklace from its depths, dangles it in front of her. "I'd planned for this to sink lost forever into the soil here, but in exchange for the way out, will you carry it with you? Keep it safe for us?"

Til the day you die, she does not say. Her answer will not change the outcome here, at this infernal lake, but it will become the hinge upon which her future and Daniella' swings between prospect and oblivion.

There was a conversation she wasn't privy to, a plan she had no knowledge of and yet had been thrust into, and even in an altered state, she could tell that it was dire. Annalise knew something was wrong; her mind wasn't what it had been before, but she couldn't remember what it had been.

Fingers on her back were soothing and calming, and, what was more, she felt the changes within her. She no longer felt like her stomach was eating her from the inside out, or that her throat was going to close up from being so dry - it was enough to allow some concentration on what Briar was saying, enough to realise the seriousness of the situation.

"I... Yes, I can wear it, but what does it do? What do I have to do?" It had to be more than a simple necklace, something more than an accessory to wear. It seemed like the unspoken words were protect this with your life, but what were the consequences if something were to happen to it?

She looks scared and Ella takes a step closer and then another until she takes her face in her hands. "Breathe Lis, breathe." she murmurs, eyes locked with the younger blonde. She turns to look at Briar. " This is the nature of these creatures? To take and replace?" she finally understands. A creature she's never heard of in her long years upon this earth. And then light eyes are back on the Hunter.

"Briar and I are going to take care of these things, are you hurt at all?" Maybe not the time for such personal worry, but if she was going to be gone after this interaction she'd let herself indulge a moment.

It would be cruel perhaps, to kill the girl and dominate the vampire so quickly after unyoking her, but there can only be so many detours before saving anything becomes saving nothing.

Briar moves to the other side of the girl, Annalise, and pulls the heavy coat from her shoulders before draping it across her shivering shoulder, the cold biting into her almost immediately. To Daniella's question, she nods, as if she knows anything about anything, and then returns her attentions to the girl.

Her hand pulls then from the pocket a singular gem on a twinkling chain; the stone fashioned back together. It glimmers in the dim dark, as if a fire reflects in it nearby. A year and some months prior its fission had released her into the world - now resealed, she had wondered if it might play key again, but without a soul to carry it out, she had all but abandoned the idea. Now...

A warm hand goes to the girl's breastbone, and Briar breathes, trying to get her to match rhythm.. "You'll be safe, so long as you be calm, yes? Breathe, like this trollop tells you. You might yet be the one to save two lives."

Annalise is thankful for the coat draped around her shoulders, pulling it tightly around her as teeth chattered, glancing between Ella and the woman she didn't recognise.

Briar.

The name wasn't familiar, should it be? Was this something else her hazy mind struggled to grasp, or information she never knew? Trying to remember caused her to squeeze her eyes tightly shut, whimpering at how out of place everything felt, how out of place she felt.

Hand on her breastbone now, the women touching her, grounding her, but it caused panic to rise. Something was going on, something big, and Lis had been caught in the middle of it. She remembers her own eyes staring back at her, ready to kill, before something stopped it. It couldn't do it, and Annalise didn't know why, but this was almost worse. She almost wished it had killed her.

"She's not a trollop." Lis growls, but she copies Briar's breathing, some warmth finally setting in, at least at the surface level.

"Did anyone notice? That I wasn't me?" She asked Daniella, though her eyes already betrayed that she knew the answer. Nobody was close enough to her anymore to notice; she had no one to put her first, no one to fall back on when the world went to shit.