This Mask is Not Me

Vaix shrugged, "We could meet her anywhere. But I think it would be best to meet her away from Keith, the longer it takes her to get up to our room, the more time we have to make sure she doesn't make it to Keith." He chuckled lightly at the smack comment, "Yeah I suppose a god smack would do her a world of good. Just remember we are in a public place. Violence really isn't tolerated here." It would be hard, keeping the conversation mellow enough to keep attention away, yet being firm enough to get their point across.

Roxa was arguing with Iggy in the driveway. Keith had taken his car, and that left Iggy's Mustang. But Iggy wanted to drive it, and in his mental state and ability, she didn't trust him one bit. "Just let me drive for god's sake Iggy..." She growled.
Iggy had parked himself in the driver's seat and was grinning at her. "No way, it's my new car, and your driving's scary."
"Oh please, it is not. We're wasting time arguing, just let me drive..."
"No," Iggy laughed, turning the key into the ignition and patting the passenger seat.
Roxa came stomping around to Iggy's side instead, narrowing her eyes as he laughed nervously and shrunk down in his seat. She grabbed the back of his shirt, lifted the lightweight vampire and dropped him in the passenger seat, hopping in just as he tried to scramble back in his seat. She ended up sitting on his head. "Iggy," she growled.
Iggy gave a muffled laugh, "Get you butt out of my face."
"Get your face out of my butt!" Roxa snapped back, and Iggy did as he was told with a pouty frown.
"I'm soo not in the mood for this," Roxa growled, backing out, or more like falling out of the gradually slopped driveway and taking off towards the hotel. Iggy muttering under his breath about hoping the car made it out alive.

Shaye ganced at Keith, "Let's go to the lobby" She said, standing up, "She'll have a hard time getting to our room anyway" She murmured, smiling a bit at him.
"Come on" She lanced her fingers with his, making sure she looked semi presentable, though she was wearing Vaix's shirt and a pair of short shorts. Roxa would probably lecture her about her appearance, something about her dressing like a homeless person in public. Roxa was always on her about her appearance. Either it was to revealing, to tomboy-ish, to upscale, because Shaye didn't dress like Roxa, at all.
She slipped her flipflops on, running her fingers through her dark hair.
"Maybe she'll just whine at me about my apperance, totally forget about Keith" She said with a small chuckle.

Vaix nodded about the Lobby comment. "Good idea." With that he slipped on his shoes, took Shaye's hand, feeling her fingers lance with his, kissed her forehead lightly as she gave a half smile, and quickly jotted down a note for Keith so he knew where they were, and that Vaix had his cell. Though he didn't know how much good it would do if Keith couldn't talk...
"We can only hope she'll just forget about Keith. It would make everything so much easier...but, I don't think you look bad." Then again he wasn't Roxa, she always nagged about Shaye's appearance, though Shaye in his eyes was prettier than Roxa could ever be.

"You always think I look good, to Roxa, everything I wear is inappropriate" She said with a small chuckle, "Remeber that dress I wore to my grad?" It had been a gorgeous dress, full length, just very tight, strapless, with a slit in the leg. Roxa had nearly killed someone, but Keith hadn't cared, and neither had Shaye's date, which had been Vaix.
"She almost had a panic attack, no she did have a panic attack, she tried to make me wear the dress she had picked out" Shaye shuddered, her and Roxa had extremely opposite tastes, Roxa wasn't modern, that was for sure.
Shaye led the way to the stairs, knowing Vaix wouldn;t willingly step in the elevator, and she didn't expect him too.

"I know," Vaix laughed back, "that girl has something to say about everything. I liked your dress far better." Talk about revealing, Roxa lived in a time where the more clothes you wore, the better. Unfortunately she couldn't pull herself to far out of it. Iggy's managed to talk her into a short dress out of pure persuasion only he could ever truly manage. While he'd gone to the prom with Shaye, Roxa had gone with Iggy, because no one was every really interested in a relationship with him. Not when he was so...odd. To put it lightly anyways. He wandered down the stairs with her, to the main lobby, taking a waiting seat only to be acknowledged by the man at the counter. "Can I help you?"
"No we're just waiting for someone," Vaix muttered back, to which he got a nod and moved attention to the papers the man was sorting. Vaix just sat and sighed, "I wonder how quiet Iggy's going to be..."

Shaye laughed softly, "I really liked that dress, I had it altered, now it's short" She said, smiling lightly. She knew it had been revealing, Vaix's eyes had popped out of his head. She shrugged, it wasn't the worst thing she had ever worn, if Roxa saw what she wore at night, hah. She chuckled, Roxa would flip if she knew about Shaye and Vaix, she was undre the impression they were 'behaving' themselves.
"Maybe we should show her that website, she could yell and rage at us, totally leave Keith alone" She joked softly, though her eyes darkened sadly, she was still upset about that.

"Did you?" Vaix asked curiously, smiling at her as she mentioned having the dress altered. He hadn't known about that, she'd not worn it for him yet he guessed. Oh well, she could show him some other time, perhaps not when Roxa was going to cause havoc. "Oh god, do not show her that website, I beg you. You know who she'll blame? Me. I'll never hear the end of it..." He groaned at the idea, Roxa'd have a spaz, hell she might even faint. Faint then lecture their ears off. He sighed softly and shook his head. Giving Shaye's hand a squeeze as she became saddened over the sight. "Think of her reaction to it, " he suggested, to take her mind of it.

Shaye laughed softly, "She'd flip, my god, it would be priceless" She was thankful Roxa had no idea how to actually use the computer, she refused to learn. Her time had been perfect in her opinion, so, nothing 'new' was good. She rarely used the TV, couldn't even work a DVD player to save her life. She sighed, leaning against Vaix, "This is going to be madness, she's so convinced that she's the only one who can take care of Keith that she doesn't even realize it's her and Iggy making this worse" She said, sighing softly.

Vaix nodded in agreement, "I know. She can be selfish in that way, and she won't see it no matter how hard you try to point it out. But you're right, if we can get her to focus on something else we could be in the clear. Not the website though, we want to distract her, not scar her." He chuckled and shook his head at the idea.

It was at that point that Roxa pulled up into the parking lot in the visitor spot. She'd tried her best to ignore Iggy as best she could, and by this point she was trying to persuade him to stay in the car. She knew, at least, that Iggy was to much energy for Keith to handle properly. She shook her head at him as he laughed and took the driver's seat again, clinging to the wheel and hissing playfully at her, "Mine."
"Keep it. I don't want a car," Roxa muttered back. She turned and strolled into the hotel, about to ask for Vaix and Shaye room number when she spotted them sitting and chuckling about something. She sighed, here we go...

Shaye smirked, "I dunno if she'll be willing to be distracted Vaix" She sighed, "We just won't let her upstairs. I mean, Roxa won't hurt a human, so worse comes to worse, we call security on her" She said with a small smile.
She glanced up, "Uh oh" She mumbled, nodding in Roxa's direction. Her green eyes narrowed, she was in such a bad mood, and Roxa was not making her life any easier.
"I don't even want to deal with this, could she have worse timing?" Shaye grumbled tiredly, standing and stretching as Roxa made a bee-line towards them.
"She looks pissed" She mumbled, running her fingers through her dark hair.

"That's true," Vaix mumbled about the security comment. Roxa seemed to like to pretend to be a human far more than any of them. She tried to eat what they ate, acted like them, and was easily taken in by the authorities. He made a face as Shaye signaled to the petite vampire across the room. He stood as well as Roxa came over to them. He lay a calm hand on Shaye's shoulder and muttered gently to her closest ear, "It'll be fine love. You don't even have to speak a word if you don't feel like it."
He stood calmly, still and emotionless as Roxa wandered up to them with a frown and a puzzling look. Her reaction was as predicted, "What are you guys doing down here? Shouldn't you be upstairs looking after Keith?"
"We are looking after Keith," Vaix grumbled back, pulling Shaye closer to him. "Roxa, please don't be difficult when I say this but, you can't possibly think moving Keith again is a good idea. He's sick and tired, exhausted. He came here because it's quiet, and you and Iggy are not quiet. He brought us everything we needed to look after him, and now he's fine. You're only causing him more stress than necessary if you go up there to get him."
Roxa narrowed her eyes. "I am perfectly, one hundred percent capable of looking after Keith. The doctor told me how to look after him, he's safer in the hands of someone who knows what she's doing. The move won't be stressful if you just help me move him. Someone can sit in the back and hold him on the way back home, where all his clothes and things are, where his life is. He needs to come back home."

Shaye's eyes narrowed, obviously she'd have to say something.
"Roxa, I will say this once and only once. Keith is staying here, he needs to be away from stress and nonesense, and you and Iggy create more drama then a TV sitcom. He came here by choice, and he'll leave, when he decides to, not a moment sooner" She narrowed her eyes, "His life is with whomever he chooses it to be with, and for now, he's chosen me and Vaix, so, get over it, go home and deal. Keith showed me Alexi's note, I already put the flipping IV in his arm, so, in the realm of whom can take care of him, I'd say Vaix and I are more the capable" She said, crossing her eyes and resisting the urge to hiss.
"If you don't agree to leave, I will not hesitate to call security on you, I don't want to, but I will not have Keith's health compromised for your desire to be in control of everything"
Shaye knew she was being harsh, but right now, she didn't care. This was Keith she was talking about, and all she cared about right now was him. She and Roxa could get over their issues later.
"Look Roxa, I am sorry, but Keith's not leaving"

Roxa's eyes widened a bit at the stern and harsh tone Shaye used on her, the spewl given to her about why she should just leave Keith be. She tensed when Shaye mentioned security, her lips pursed, she growled lightly and narrowed her eyes. She glanced from Shaye to Vaix, to the small amount of people around them that had overheard and become curious at the argument going underway. She couldn't make a scene here, not in a public area. She sucked in a breath and narrowed her eyes at Shaye. "Fine, keep him. I'll be praying for his well being when something goes wrong." With that she turned sharply, flung the front doors open and left.
Iggy was sitting in the drivers seat where she'd left him, an arm draped casually over the side, and a cocky, knowing grin over his face. "Didn't go like you wanted it to did it?" he asked with a raised brow.
"No, it didn't. Move over, I'm driving," Roxa growled.
Iggy smiled up at her, "I could have told you the outcome before it would happen. But you didn't really seem to be in the mood to listen to me." He didn't move over as she'd demanded.
"Iggy, I have no patients for this right now. Move over and let me drive us home." Roxa hissed threw clenched teeth.
"I mean, what's so bad about Keith bunking it with Shaye and Vaix for a while? At least he's safe-"
"Iggy, move..."
"And they could take as good of care of him as we could, if not better."
"Iggy!" Roxa snapped, "Shut up! I'm not in the mood. I don't need your logic being rammed down my throat. Now move over before you end up walking!"
Iggy's eyes widened, and he clung to the steering wheel, "But it's my car..." he whined with a nervous laugh.
Roxa bared her fangs and gave such a look that Iggy shrunk down and crawled into the passenger's side, watching her worriedly jumped into the vehicle and tare down the road with it..

Vaix watched Roxa storm out, he sighed and looked at Shaye with a light smile. "Well done Shaye Love." He kissed her cheek gently and watched the door, listening to an engine roar, then the scream of tires as Roxa sped off.

Shaye's green eyes narrowed, hard.
"Fine, goodbye Roxa" She said, turning a bit and slumping against Vaix.
"Thanks" She murmured, wincing at the sound of the abused car, "Poor vehicle" She said, resting her head on Vaix's shoulder, relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with Roxa again, not until Keith went home at least.
"Well, that's over" she said, trying to look on the bright side, "I think I'm gonna take another hot bath" She really did need to calm down and rest, her head hurt, she felt stressed, beyond stressed, and she was sure Roxa would be calling and freaking out at her all the time. She winced, "Come upstairs?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

Vaix stroked her back as Shaye slumped against him. He felt how tense she was, how stressed, and with Keith living with them, there was no escaping for Shaye's relaxation. He kissed her again gently nodding at the bath comment. "That sounds like a very good idea Shaye." He gripped her hand and smiled to her when she asked him if he was ready to go back to their room. "Yeah I'm coming, he walked along beside her, his hand clung tightly to her's. He watched her out of teh corner of his eye, making sue she was okay, then opening the hotel room and wandering in with her.
---
Iggy was whining and whimpering at the treatment of his car. Two days old, and it was being treated like crap. He rubbed the side of teh door as if he thought it would help, but Roxa only rolled her eyes. "Relax," she grumbled, "It's just a car."
"But it's my car," Iggy whined back to her, "Keith gave it to me for my birthday. Don't you think you could drive it a bit...gentler?"
Roxa rolled her eyes again, "It's fine Iggy." Though he obviously wasn't convinced.

Shaye winced, 'I guess" She said, slipping into the washroom, shutting the door behind her, but not bothering to lock it. She turned the bathwater on, slipping into the tub before it was even full and leaning back against the tub, half asleep already. She wasn't relaxed, just beyind stressed, so far stressed she couldn't even stay awake anymore. She sighed, knowing Vaix was probably worried sick about her right now, not that she could say much, she was worried about herself. She sighed, turning the water off, before she flooded the washroom and tried to force herself to relaxe.

Keith's eyes flickered open, squinting for a moment before he saw Vaix. He heard water running and assumed it was Shaye. He was relieved to find he was still in the hotel room, and low and behold, it was quiet. He knew, however, that Roxa wouldn't give up that easily, and with his luck, she'd try sneaking in and like manhandled him out the window or something. He was to weak to even move, and she could probably do it, even with him struggling.

Vaix slipped off his shoes and watched Shaye turn tail into the bathroom. He sighed softly, worried eyes listening to the water run, then eventually shut off. He wondered if it was best to leave her be, or go comfort her. He was worried about her, and her mental health. He felt Keith's eyes on him and glanced over at the sleepy-eyed, sick vampire laying in their bed. He smiled softly, then wandered over to Keith, grabbing the remote for the TV and setting it on the table beside the bed for him, along with a glass of water. "Would you like some ice for your throat Keith?" he asked quietly, looking after Keith to try and take his mind of Shaye's distress, and Roxa's fury.
---
They pulled in the driveway, Roxa lunged up and out of the car and stormed off to the house. She was contemplating just taking Keith, but she figured it wouldn't be that easy. Vaix and Shaye didn't sleep like regular people did, and finding an hour where they were both asleep would be nearly impossible. She glanced over at Iggy, who was hung over the side of the vehicle rubbing a small scratch she'd given it on the way over. He looked stressed out, but it was just a car. She couldn't understand his fixation with it. She stormed around inside the house, just in time to hear the car start again, and Iggy pull out of the driveway with it. Her eyes widened as she watched him leave, her eyes hardened then she grumbled, "I'm to tired to even care anymore," and threw herself on teh couch and fell asleep.

Shaye sighed, leaning back against the tub, her entire body ached suddenly, probably from all the tension coursing through her. She tired to relax, but it was hard, really hard, her mind was racing, she was tired, all she wanted to do was pass out, but she figured it was impossible. She shuddered, kicking her legs out, splashing water around the tub, letting it slop onto the floor. She finally hauled herself up, pulling a towel around herself and drying herself off, pulling her clothes on. She sighed, sitting on the toilet and gripping her hair, feeling tempted to just yank it out, she was beyond stressed at this point. She sighed, rubbing her face, everything was wrong, she felt herself slipping lower into depression, which she knew wasn't good, but, hell, she couldn't bring herself to be the 'old' Shaye.

Keith nodded, he definately needed some ice. He pikced up the note pad, "How'd it go with Roxa?" He knew she'd be back, it was Roxa, she was probably plotting her way to get him back into that mad house as he wrote. He shuddered once, before slumping exahustedly against the pillow. Glancing up, he heard Shaye in the washroom, but she never came out, which was slightly concerning.

Vaix read the note with dull eyes, "Roxa? Oh, she got told off by Shaye, she stomped her feet a couple times and took off in someone's Mustang." He shook his head and sighed, "She wasn't happy, that's for sure. But at least Iggy didn't come in and make a spectacle of himself. It went rather smoothly I'd say." But it wouldn't be smooth at the same time, Roxa wasn't done. He knew that. She was a right fighter, even if she was wrong, she just needed to feel like she was in power. It had something to do with helplessly watching her family age when she was a vampire. He was also aware of teh long length of time Shaye was spending in the bathroom. He wondered if maybe she'd fallen asleep in the tub, he doubted it was something so pleasant. "I'm going to check up on her," he muttered to Keith, leaving and coming back with Keith's bag of ice, then leaving once again to go see Shaye.
---
Iggy was on his way back to the hotel, Roxa was driving him nuts, and for teh sake of his car he wanted to hide it somewhere, while he was doing that he could always pay Keith a quick visit. At least he hoped. Maybe he'd get kicked out like Roxa. So long as he didn't make a scene he figured it would be fine.
He pulled into the parking lot and wandered into the hotel, asking for the room number, then strolling along upstairs to the room. He pondered knocking, then decided to just open it, and so he did. He wandered around the house quietly looking around until he saw Keith laying in one of the rooms. "Keith!" he smiled and wandered over to him. "Roxa's abusing my car Keith, she's balding teh tires and scratching the paint. So I'm going to hide it, but I just wanted to see you... how are you? Same as before?"

Shaye glacned up at Vaix, rubbing her face once more and smiling half-heartedly, though it was brittle, sad.
"Hey" She mumbled, sitting up a little striaghter, though she was still slumped over.
"How's Keith?" She asked, mainly because she didn't want to talk about herself, not now, Vaix would have a fit if he knew how she was feeling, mentally. She sighed, it was hard keeping it together, particularly for him, because she figured Vaix didn't need anything else on is plate, and worrying about her would be to much to ask. She shuddered, staring at the still wet floor, still slumped forward, trying to fake being alright.

Keith jumped nearly half a foot when Iggy appeared, ice cubs flying from his mouth. He gaped at Iggy, so Roxa had taken the MUstang, not the truck, poor mustang. He shuddered, if Roxa knew iggy was here, he was screwed, end of story. He glanced up, hoping Vaix had heard his younger brother or something.

Vax didn't notice Iggy because of the sight he had before him. Shaye's smile did next to nothing, if anything only heighten what he was seeing. A blind man could see Shaye was depressed, like seriously depressed. He swallowed, big blue eyes watching her sadly as he muttered back, "Hey Shaye..." at her greeting.
"Keith's fine," he muttered softly, "He's recovering quickly, he'll be fine in a couple weeks." He wasn't falling for her change of direction, but he gave her the good news as a futile attempt to perk her back up. He wandered over to her, stood in front of her and looked down at her with sad eyes. Then he knelt down and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. "You wouldn't ever leave, right Shaye? No matter how sad you were, you'd never leave me right?" God, he was scared. He'd never been so scared in his life. watching his soulmate slowly slip into a depression, no matter how hard he tried to make her feel better. Now what? She'd get so sad she'd commit suicide? He shuddered and pressed closer to her.
---
Iggy smiled at Keith's reaction. "It's fine Keith, Roxa's to stressed to come after me. he knows I'm here, and she doesn't care. So long as I come back home....you're coming back home too right Keith? When you get better? He smiled and crawled onto the bed, laying down beside him.

Shaye's green eyes flew open, "God, no Vaix, I would never, ever leave" She breathed, looking at him sadly, that he had even thought that, hell, she must look awful. "Vaix, I promise, I would never do that" She said, leaning against his shoulder, trying to reassure him now, she sighed, it was hard, trying to reassure him, when she couldn't even reassure herself.
"Vaix, I'll never, ever leave you" She murmured against his neck, and that was the truth, she'd never hurt him that way, never. She knew he was worried, hell, she was worried, but no matter how bad it got, she'd never commit suicide, she cared more about Vaix then she did her own happiness, so hurting him was the last thing she'd ever do.

Keith sighed, noddng, he would go home, when he felt up to it. Just getting to the hotel had nearly killed him, so leaving before he felt a hundred percent, that wasn't even feisable, unless someone moved him. He heard Shaye and Vaix in the washroom, eyes snapping wide open as he overheard snatches of their conversation.

"Yeah?" Vaix relaxed only slightly as she reassured him she was here to stay. He was relieved, more than relieved, but she was still depressed, still sad, and there was still nothing he could do about it. He sighed and pulled away from her, holding her shoulders and looking her in the eye. His own expression was one of pure worry and helplessness, a sort of begging look that pray she smile from her heart once more, like she'd used to. "Why are you so sad Shaye? Is it me? Or what's going on back home? Or Keith, is it Keith? Keith's getting better Shaye..." He continued to stare into her green eyes, almost getting lost in them, but his grip to her shoulders remained tight, to show he had no intentions of letting her go until the situation was made clear.
---
Iggy blinked at the sharp change in emotional waves that came from Keith. He smiled, then sat up and looked down at the sick vampire with a curious tilt of his head. "Keith? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Shaye looked miserably at Vaix, "No love, it's not you, never could be you" she said softly, shaking her head, letting him manipulate her body. She saw the worry and sadness in his eyes, her own eyes filled with mixed emotions, her eyes warring with her heart as she tried to hide what she was feeling.
"Honestly Vaix, I think it's just a comglomerate of everything, I'm-" She cut off, shrugging.
"I just don't know" She finally broke, collapsing against him, just leaning, she couldn't talk anymore, couldn't think, she felt like she was losing it.
"I think I'm losing it" She sighed, face hidden against his chest.

Keith stared at the door, "Shaye" he wrote on the pad, suprised Iggy wasn't already aware of what was happening in the washroom. He winced, the misery in his sister's voice was so strong it was nearly breaking his heart. Maybe he should just go back to his place, let them be.

Vaix watched her hide her emotions and sighed, her answer was one he already knew, but it was her last statement that really got to him. She's losing it? Losing what? Her sanity? Her ability to coop? He didn't have the mental strength to know the answer to that. All he knew was that she was losing something, and it was ruining her. He closed his eyes as she hide up close to him, leaned against him and took shelter in his arms. He, himself, was being haunted by the one thing he could not protect Shaye from. These were things his arms could not stop, his love could not heal, and it was hurting him just as much as it hurt her, if not more, for the fact that he also bore the weight of everything else that was happening in his life. He'd fallen into silence, his chin rested on top of her head his arms had lapped securely around her, but he didn't make a sound, he wasn't even breathing anymore.
---
Iggy looked from Keith to the door, he'd been to caught up in his adopted brother to notice anything else. When he saw what Keith wrote, his emotional eyes searched out, and caught a wave of sorrow so intense his jaw parted and twisted into a grinning, haunting, and psychotic smile, his eyes bulged with energy and life, and his muscles tensed and bunched and shook as they attempted to settle the high within himself. He didn't move, couldn't move for fear of what would happen, like a loaded spring the tension only grew with each second he didn't react, but each second he didn't react, the room also remained in tact. He hoped Keith did something, anything, to calm him down.