Born into a decidedly artistic family, Annalisa was always more attuned to the precise and scientific. In the end, the struggle with her family ended in a compromise. Architecture, with its mixture of artistry and engineering, was a comfortable middle ground for both sides. She spent twenty years of her life designing beautiful buildings throughout the south until her talent caught the eye of a Toreador ancilla who sought to preserve it for all time.
Resentful of the way her life was cut short, she attempted to continue her work, but it has gotten harder and harder as the years have passed. She came to Baton Rouge to be away from her sire, but has found that the distance hasn't helped. She still feels her inspiration draining away, replaced by a growing rage at what she has become and those who have done it to her.
The last building she designed was the Elysium, an immense modern art gallery, which she has been keeper of for the last ten years. Since then, she's been rechanneling her energies into vampiric politics, becoming a reknowned hostness while making contacts among kindred from as far away as Atlanta and Dallas. She's also been using the discrete security systems, secret doors, and hidden spy holes to collect the secrets of those who enter its walls. Most are aware of the most well-used of the hidden chambers and hallways, but there are twice as many which as used only by the hostness.
Annalisa is a profoundly unhappy person. Her Embrace and the forced emotions of the Blood Bond have sapped her passion and her creativity, leaving her driven only by her spite towards those whom she hates. Deprived of the level of expression she had in life and her mortal family, she has resorted to power-brokering and blackmail in order to strike back at those she feels ruined her life and her talent.
She has grown very adept at hiding her disdain, however, and most assume that her collection of secrets is motivated by the usual lust for power which afflicts so many kindred. Only a few guess at her deeper motives and those watch her carefully. Her outward demeanor is one of ironic amusement and good humor, with a certain charm and wit that can only be the result of practice and calculation.
Annalisa secretly dislikes or hates most kindred, but there are a few whom she actually gets along with. She likes Esteve and doesn't mind doing business with him, though she resents the implied threats behind their information 'sharing'. She is fond of Ben Chung, mostly due to his artistic endeavors, but finds the fact of his true appearance disturbing after having seen him once with Obfuscation, and tends to avoid him now.
While Annalisa has acquired some measure of influence among the kindred, she doesn't have the financial or political clout that many do among mortalss. In fact, she makes a point to not spend too much time around the living, as they remind her too much of what she's lost. She feeds almost exclusively from the small portion of the gallery's staff which is aware of what she (and the others) are.