Encounters

"Of course I'm not," she replied with a roll of her eyes and glanced back at her guards. Some guards they turned out to be, she had guarded them better then they were guarding her. "...but do you honestly expect me to tell you why I'm passing through here? You may not be apart of a pack, as you claim, but you're still a wolf. There will be someone out there that you will listen to, someone out there that controls you enough to get the information and that is something I can't risk."

Annalise sighed heavily, her mind shifting to the thought of blood. She probably needed to feed soon... "From what I've heard, there is a leader that most of your kind follow. Don't you follow him as well?"

"Follow whom? I'm a tough nut to crack and so far, no one has cracked me." he shrugged casually, almost as if it didn't matter.

"It could be a casual game of twenty questions?" he suggested, sitting down and leaning against the tree he pulled his shorts out from behind. The sun was beating down on them, it struck him as odd.

"I guess you have one of those rings, yes? The rings that allow you to walk out in the daylight?" he asked, "I'm a rogue, sweetheart, I follow no one and not even my creator.."

"Then ask and we'll see what happens..." she still hadn't decided whether or not she would answer him honestly though. With over 600 years under her belt she had mastered the art of hiding her true thoughts and emotions so he wouldn't be able to tell a truth from a lie.

Annalise glanced down at her ring as it gleamed in the light. "We can walk in the sun without bursting into flames, we just rash horribly, but yes. I obviously have a ring." Gestures at her body. "I am rash free after all... Why are you a rogue? I can't see that your alpha would have taken that news very kindly."

"Nah, he doesn't care." he replied, it was pretty much the truth only a few minor details were left out. "Rash free? Isn't that some STD or something?" he asked, running a hand through his hair again while his eyes roamed her features, he didn't hide that he was looking either.

"For an old woman, you're pretty hot."

"No, it's not some kind of STD. When a vampire is in the sun, they get a rash. Think of it as if we have a skin allergy, our skin is very sensitive to UV Rays. When our skin comes in contact with the sun we get a rash." she replied with a roll of her eyes. Almost one hundred percent positive that he already knew that an was just being an ass.

Annalise stood there, unmoving as his eyes moved along her form. "I know, one of the perks of my body never aging." Her eyes flick along his form, starting from the ground up, smiling appreciatively when she passed over his stomach. "Unlike yourself I'll look this way forever," she said it like she was proud of that fact, but a big part of her wasn't. She didn't have the opportunity to grow old, have children, fall in love. Those things weren't apart of her life plan because she was stuck like this forever, and she had yet to meet anyone who could love the walking dead.

He took note of her rolled eyes and smirked, he was only being an ass about the rash they get. Of course he knew about it! He had known about it since he was naught but a child.

"I don't really care though, at least I can live a relatively normal life. Have kids, have a family, have a life but with this war going on I'll be lucky to get a girl that lives long enough.. don't ever marry someone who turns around and stabs you in the back." he suggested, looking at the blue sky in awe.

"I guess you Vamps use and abuse, bite then drain and dump. The whole life cycle..."

"I doubt I'll ever get married so I don't have to worry about getting stabbed in the back..." she trailed off, staring off into the distance, eyes unfocused. It almost felt as if he was throwing it in her face, showing her what she couldn't have, would never have.

Annalise's eyes narrowed and she turned to stare at the pup. "I don't take blood from the man I'm with... not unless they ask. Food is not something I like to associate my mate with, I prefer to keep the two separate. An you know nothing about the way I live my life, there is no life cycle about how I go through relationships." she growled, feeling the urge to punch something.

"An what about you? You look like the love 'um and leave 'um type of guy. Do you lure them into your bed with whispered sweet nothings and false promises before disappearing before they have a chance to wake up?" she asked, her expression blank.

"I haven't slept with a girl since my pregnant wife with twins was killed nearly 3 years ago," he snapped, remaining where he was sitting.

"I wasn't talking about your mate or mates, I was talking about draining humans or what ever you prefer in general." he snarled, calming himself by closing his eyes and breathing through his nose.

"And you know nothing about the way I live mine, alone."

Annalise was shocked, but refused to show it, leaving her face neutral. "How were the killed?" Almost praying that he didn't say vampires, she was beginning to feel for the man and that just wouldn't do. She didn't want to feel any sort of kinship with a wolf, they were the reason she was in this stupid fight and had been for years.

"I don't drain humans," Annalise growled, eyes darkening with rage. "I might not like them or think much of them, but they are my food supply and I'd rather not get rid of that any time soon. I have drained a human on occasion, but can you honestly tell me that you've never taken a human life? An what is your excuse?"

She sighed softly, "You're right, so don't make assumptions about mine either. There's obviously a lot of things neither or us understand about the other."

"Their bodies were drained, her stomach ripped open and the babies were laying beside her.. the placenta was completely dry..." he said, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the tree.

"I've never actually spoken to a Vampire about their eating habits, lay off. All I've heard is rumors and first hand experience which usually occur at night," he sniffled with disdain, "I can count on one hand how many humans I have killed. Can you?"

His brow creased suddenly.

"Why do Vampires an Werewolves hate each other? Why are we even in this war?"

"No," Annalise admitted with an indifferent shrug. "but I've been alive for over six hundred years and it hadn't been common knowledge back then that we didn't have to kill to stay alive. We had been under the impression that we had to drain them, that the last drop was what sustained us." She replied stoically, foregoing responding about his wife. It was as she suspected, a vampire had been at fault and a rogue one at that.

Annalise shrugged and brushed off some dirt from her blouse, this was why she hated the forest. You could never go in without getting dirty, it was a good thing she didn't mind getting her hands dirty every now and again. "I honestly don't know... All I can say is that we were in control and the wolves didn't like that. We've been fighting ever since since neither of us are willing to back down. Mostly because we've gone too far just to give it... Why do you think?"

"Control, everything is about control." Dyten laughed cynically, opening his eyes to look at the Vampire.

"Thousands of years ago it was said that the Vampires and Werewolves use to live in harmony, that they took turns ruling. When the hell did that change?" he asked, a bird coming and sitting on his shoulder. He looked at it before whistling in a similar tune as to what it was singing, they matched perfectly.

"I honestly have no idea when or why it changed, but does that really matter now? Whether or not we used to live and rule in harmony isn't important anymore. We're fighting now and the other species are starting to get involved. It isn't entirely about us anymore, and whether or not I think they are even capable of doing any real damage is beside the point." Annalise sighed heavily as eyed the some of her vamps returning.

Her eyes trailed along the forest floor, she had felt a slight thump and wondered what had caused it. She had a bad feeling and tried to brush it aside. "You have to stop looking into the past for answers. What you need is in the here and now, you can't change anything that already happened. We can only work on what is to come..." Annalise replied, she was feeling a bit philosophical all of a sudden.

"I think everyone is just sick of the Vampires deciding for them, I mean, you might be one of the biggest species but everyone has a voice. Do you think that there could be a board of leaders, instead of just a Queen Vampire? You know, the whole politics thing.... like Obama!" Dyten chuckled, the bird pecked his ear gently and he whistled it's tune again.

"Sometimes, the past is the key to the future..."