1x1 with x_fire

Alexi smiled, "Good" He dug through his stuff, looking for his pants. Sighing, he slipped into the washroom, emerging in a pair of nice jeans, no shirt though. He sighed, toweling off his hair. "Sorry" He teased, sitting on the bed, and pulling his socks on, before digging through a shirt.
"Where are my shirts?" He grumbled, tossing clothes aside, a small pile slowly building behind him.

Keith glanced at Maddie as she came running into his room, trying to get past Demitri.
"Maddie" Demitri murmured, shaking his head. Keith sighed, Demitri had moved aside, and Maddie was barrleing towards him. Shaking his head, he knelt letting the little girl crawl into his arms. Demitri sighed, shaking his head and sighing as he stepped further into the room, watching Keith with a worried expression.
"I won't hurt her Demitri, I promise"
"I know man, just, you know"
"I know" Keith smiled, letting Maddie cuddle against him.
"You okay Maddie?" He asked, cradling the little girl protectively in his arms.

Maria sat up gently, watching as Alexi pilled up clothes. "Get that other drawer." she murmured, nodding her head to the dresser gently, laughing quietly. "Wouldn't surprise me if you don't have any left." she thought outloud, smirking gently before falling back gently on the bed.


Maddie swallowed as Demitri stepped aside, whimpering slightly as she ran into the room. She scrambled into Keith's arms, letting herself cry quietly as Keith held her. She dug her face gently into his shirt that smelled like fire and smoke. Maddie coughed gently before brushign the tears from her face before looking up at Keith, worried. She stared at him for a moment, as if she could read his mind by catching his eye. His emotions were blocked from her. Maddie firgured that was what the golden glow had been.
After a moment, Maddie shook her head and burried her face back into Keith's shirt though she wasn't crying anymore at this point.

"Damn, damn and damn" Alexi cursed, shaking his head and sighing.
"I need to go shopping" He sighed, pawing through the clothes. He fianlly found a grey, long sleeve athletic shirt, though it belonged to Demitri and he slid it on. Sighing he sat down next to her, cuddling her comfortably, kissing her injury lightly.
"Everyone else alright?" He asked, stretching out comfortably on the bed.

Keith sighed, rubbing Maddie's back, sitting down on the bed. He was still beyond angry, but he truely did care about the little girl, and he wasn't about to hurt her, not like that.
"Everything will be fine Maddie" He murmured, brushing his fingers through her hair. Demitri sighed, sitting on the floor next to Keith, stretching out, before curling around his knees, looking up at Maddie worridly.
"Maddie" He said, softly. Worried about his little girl. He sighed, Kristen was still upstairs, though he anticipated her arrival any minute.

"We'll go tomorrow." Maria said, smiling. "You'll need a new wardorbe before we go to Rome, I expect." she murmured thoughfully, laughing quietly as Alexi kissed her injured hand. She smiled reassuringly and simply shrugged.
"I'm tired. But otherwise, nothing important." Maria murmured, narrowing her eyes as she looked over him. "You seem to be alright.." she said quietly, sighing in relief.


Maddie swallowed, almost afraid to speak. She knew Keith was just trying to reassure her, and she nodded gently. Looking over at Demitri, Maddie sniffed, rubbing her eyes and noes.
"I wanna stay..." she murmured, looking at Keith, wondering if that was alright. Glancing back at Demitri, Maddie's eyes flickered to the door.
"You can go back to Mama...she's worried, but I'm ok." she spoke quietly, slipping into the soft philisphoical tone when using her gift.

Alexi smiled.
"We leave in three days. Damn, poor Keith" He sighed, would the angel still want to go to Rome. He sighed, shaking his head and frowning.
"I'm fine, besides a few cuts and burns" He said, smiling and kissing her lightly. He shook his head, kissing her cheek, "When do you wanna go shopping?" He asked, smiling. He was fine with whenever.

Keith nodded at Maddie.
"You're welcome to stay kiddo" He said, Demitri nodded.
"Alright, don't bother Keith please" He said, getting up, tossing a look in Keith's direction. He dashed up the stairs, smiling at Kristen.
"Hey, Maddie wanted to stay with Keith" He explained, sitting next to her and wrapping his arms around her protectively.
"Maybe you should call Alayna, Keith's really upset, I've never seen him like this, not even when he fell"

Maria nodded, and the frowned. "Oh, Keith..." she murmured, her shoulder's falling. She wouldn't put it past him if he didn't want to go now. She smiled lightly as Alexi kissed her and she sighed.
"Mmm, not till morning love. I'm exhausted." she murmured, turning her head to kiss him on the mouth gently again.


"I won't." Maddie murmured, watching as Demitri left, trying not to wince. She frowned, wondering why she got this sharp pain in her chest everytime she wasn't with him. Gently, Maddie wound her fingers into Keith's shirt, leaning her head against his shoulder. She only knew a few things, the major being the pain Keith was in. If it were Maddie, she wouldn't want to be completely alone. She knew why Keith was upset, but she didn't full understand it. Alayna had cared deeply about Keith, Maddie knew that just be looking at the two of them. Why would Alayna hurt Keith like this? Maddie brushed a few stray tears from her eyes then. She wouldn't pester Keith about it though, so she kept quiet.


Kristen sat up as Demitri came back into the room. She was just about to get up and walk downstairs herself.
"I hope you told her not to ask a thousand questions..." Kristen murmured, holding Demitri's arms as they came around her.
"Something's just not adding up about this Demitri..." she said quietly, frowning and letting herself lean back against Demitri. "Maybe I should..." Kristen said then, sighing and running her fingers through her hair. Looking back at Demitri, Kristen winced. "That bad?" she whispered. She hadn't met Keith after he had fallen, but from the sound of things, it must have been terrible.

Alexi laughed, nodding.
"Rest love" He said, rubbing her back and sighing. He had no desire to rest, he wasn't tired right now.
"I'm gonna go get something to eat, from the fridge" He said, meaning the bottles of blood.
"Be back shortly love" He said softly, shaking his head and sighing.

Keith smiled. "So why did you wanna hang out with me Maddie? I'm not really that much fun right now" He knew the little girl was curious, like Alayna. Damn, no more mentioning her name.
"You can ask me questions if you want, I don't mind" He messed up her hair a bit, smiling. He wasn't going to deny the little girl her curiosity.

"I did, she'll behave" He sighed, "That bad, and honestly Kristen, I don't care if something's not adding up. She broke her promise to him, over stepped her bounds. She didn't consult us on her agreement with Nicko, so her little sacrfice, was for nothing, she thought she'd be protecting us from him, but she only ended up hurting someone, and in doing so, has probably destroyed an angel, which, could be disaterous."

Maria sighed and rolled her eyes gently. She stood up quickly to change into her loose tank top and shorts pajama's before slipping under the covers of the blankets. She sighed in relief, rolling onto her good side, pulling the blankets around her tighter and closing her eyes as Alexi left.
"Mmm.." she answered, already out of it before he walked out of the room.


Maddie pulled herself away from Keith, bracing herself by placing her hands on his shoulder's gently. She looked him over then, concerned more than curious. She still couldn't sense anything from him, which bothered her, but Maddie tried to ignore it.
"Cause you need someone..." Maddie said simply. "You were angry, and upset...no one should have to be alone with all that." she murmured quietly, swallowing then. She muttered something, smiling despite herself as Keith mess up her hair. She ran her fingers through the curls, smoothing them down, fixing what Keith had messed up.


Kristen sat up then, looking back at Demitri. "Like you said, she thought she had no choice." Kristen said. "And how do you know of this promise she made him?" she asked then, frowning. She sighed, rubbing her face gently.
"I don't know Demitri...." she muttered then, running her figners through her hair and sighing. She could somewhat understand why Demitri was so upset, but to her, it just seemed like Alayna was trying to help...which once again completely backfired.

Keith smiled.
"Well thank you Maddie, but this is my problem, okay? Not yours. So I don't want you to worry about me" He helped her fix her hair, but it was true, this was his problem, and Maddie was far to young to be worried about grown up relationships.
"Don't you wanna be with your mom and Demitri?" He asked her, knowing it probably pained her to be apart from her adoptive father.

Demitri arched an eyebrow.
"I overheard them, not that I meant to, but she promised never to hurt him again" He sighed, knowing that Kristen didn't blame Alayna, though, he didn't appreciate what Alayna had done.
"I'm sorry Kristen, this is hard to explain, but as a coven, the oldest vampires have the authority to make the decisions on stuff like that, not a human, particular not one who doesn't understand the rules" She had shifter rules, they had vampire rules.

Maddie looked up at Keith again, hearing the small bit of anger under his words. She sighed but nodded. Gently, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug before pulling away again. "Ok..." she said quietly. Maddie nodded gently, looking at Keith with worry and concern as she slid away from him and bounced off the bed. She put a hand on the door, turning to look back at him once more before closing the door behind her and walking back out.


"Alright, so how can you blame her when she didn't know how offensive her actions where?" Kristen asked quietly. "I'll call her and talk to her." she murmured then, not wanting to continue this discussion if it would aggerivate Demitri, which it seemed it would. Standing up as Maddie walked in, Kristen pulled her phone out of her pocket before walking out into the hallway.
Maddie walked into the room, frowning as Kristen brushed past her. Turning back to Demitri, Maddie looked at him, then back at Kristen, still walking towards the bed. "Why is mommy frus-" she stopped then, her shoulder's falling. "Oh.." she said, pulling herself up onto the bed and rolling herself up in a ball next to Demitri.

"It's fine Maddie" Keith waved at Maddie as she left, he sighed, falling back on the bed, stretching out and exahusted. He crawled under the blankets, wincing, and shaking his head. He wasn't sure if he could sleep, but he knew he needed to, his injury ached, reacting to his actions from earlier. He sighed, shaking his head and sighing again. He opened his eyes, throwing his clothes off and lying under the blankets.

Demitri winced, looking up at Maddie.
"Well, you know how shifters have rules? Vampires have rules too" He explained, standing up and picking her up. He placed the little girl on his lap. He had a sharp response to Kristen's question, Alayna didn't understand, but when she hadn't understood with Kristen's own rules, it had been a big deal, well, his stuff was just as important as her's. He sighed, shaking his head, "What's up buttercup? Keith alright?" He asked trying to change the conversation.

Kristen sighed, leaning against the wall as she dailed Alayna's number. The call never went through, Kristen got the voicemail. She tried again for safe measures, with the same result. Either Alayna's phone was off, or she had no service wherever she was. Kristen sighed, leaving a small message after calling the thrid time. "Hey, it's Kristen. I just wanna talk. Call me when you can. Bye." closing her phone shut then, Kristen rubbed her lips gently, slidding her phone into her pocket before walking back into the bedroom.


"Oh, ok." Maddie murmured, closing her eyes as Demitri picked her up and moved her around. She didn't exactly care, but she did want to lay down on the bed a bit, it was soft than Demitri's lap. Maddie shook her head in response to the question about Keith. "No. But he doesn't want to talk about it. So I didn't bother him." she murmured. Maddie glanced at Kristen as she came back in, before closing her eyes again, sighing.
"I left her a message." Kristen murmured, falling onto the couch with a long sigh. "This is such a mess..." she said quietly, rubbing her eyes and temples gently.

Demitri glanced up as Kristen came back in.
"A mess that could have been avoided" He stated, letting Maddie climb off his lap. He smiled, kissing Maddie's forhead, and pulled the blanket over her, "Tired or cold?" He asked, glancing at Kristen subtly, he was still annoyed, but he wasn't about to argue with Maddie. He shook his head, "Honestly Kristen, I know you think this was her mistake, and that's all it was to you, but think, if she had broken shifter rules, you would be annoyed, I know that. She broke vampire rules, I'm annoyed by that. She crossed a line, and not only did she do that, she nearly destroyed Keith, in fact, she did" He sighed, running his fingers through his hair, practically viberating in his anger.
"I don't want to argue this with you, but please, see this from my perspective"

"I'm not frustrated with you being annyoned." Kristen said simply. "You have every right to be, and I understand that. I would be too I guess. I don't even know what the deal was Demitri, so I'm still a little confused. I was half conscious when we got to the ski-lodge and I passed out completely. Some point between then and now, Alayna must have left, but I don't remember."

Maddie murmured something, pulling the blankets around her tighter. "Tired..." she murmured, looking over at Kristen before glancing at Demitri. She didn't like how tense either of them were and she dug her face into the blanket gently, sensing Demitri's anger.

Demitri sighed, "Tired? Do you wanna sleep in here? Or do you wanna sleep in your room?" He asked Maddie.

"We're all confused Kristen, she up and took off. Then she shows up here, telling Alexi that she made a deal with Nicko, and we have to leave. She didn't ask, she told" He growled a bit, but managed to restrain himself. "She didn't consider anyone in this, she seemed to assume we'd leave, that she had been helpful. All she did was break Keith's heart. Then she watches Keith decimated half Nicko's men, and somehow blows up a tank, I dunno how, don't ask" He sighed, "Then Alexi tells them they can collect their dead, and offers her a chance to return, forgiveness. She turned him down, then said something about a vacation. Does she belive she can just come back?" He sighed, looking at Kristen.
"She screwed up Kristen, she did something awful, she broke rules, overstepped bounds, and broke someone's heart. I hope you can get ahold of her, but if she does come back, don;t expect me to be nice, please" He sighed, looking at her, stressed, but no longer angry.

"I'll go to my room." Maddie said, accepting the opportunity to leave. She pushed the blankets away quickly. She reached up to kiss Demitri's cheek, scurried off the bed over to Kristen to do the same before leaving for her room. She hardly left her door open as she walked into her room, knowing Demitri and Kristen needed time to themselfs.


Kristen rubbed her temples. She sat up, listening to what Demitri was telling her. She sighed then, scrunching her eyes shut, shaking her head. "What was she thinking?" Kristen muttered, sighing. Now it all made sense. Except that bit about the tanks. Kristen's head shot up at that, and she clamped her mouth shut, as Demitri said not to ask. 'ok' she mouthed, listening to the rest of his story.
"She probably turned him down know what she had done completely and utterly...backfired." Kristen murmured. Kristen shook her head then, sighing. "No, I don't expect anything from you love. You have every right to be angry." Kristen fell back against the couch then, staring up at the ceiling, shaking her head gently.

"She wasn't thinking" He said with a small frown. Sighing, he watched Maddie scamper off, smiling.
"Thank you Kristen" He moved, sitting next to her, kissing her lightly, before slipping down onto the floor, back pressed against her knees.
"I can't understand why she would so willingly toss away her relationship with Keith? I mean, I understand that she thought she was helping, but she made it look so easy" He sighed, humans were fickle, they didn't seem to get that mythical or supernatural beings became attatched.
"Damn" He sighed, leanign back, his head rested on her knees.

Kristen sighed. "No, I guess she wasn't..." she murmured, falling into a thoughful silence after that. With Demitri at her knees, Kristen shook her head, still looking distantly up into the ceiling. As if that would hold some answer to fix all their problems. Kristen knew it did. Pulling her eyes away from the ceiling, Kristen looked down at Demitri, gently running her fingers through his hair.
"Well, we don't know how she's faring right now...it may not have been as easy as it looked for her." Kristen murmured. She checked her phone then, knowing that Alayna hadn't called her, but wanting to check anyway. Nothing. Kristen sighed then, rubbing her eyes gently.

"I doubt it was, but she made it look far to easy" He stated simply. Despite her apology, it had been harsh. He sighed, glancing up at Kristen as she ran her fingers through his hair, it was soothing, but he was still aggrivated. He sighed, "Kristen, it was cold, I mean, she barely looked at him, apologized, and was gone. It was beyond harsh" He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know why she would do this, and even if she thought she was helping, she didn't even talk to him" He sighed, that was the worst.
"She made a huge decision based on their future, on everything, by herself" Demitri sighed, in his opinion, when you were in a relationship. You made major decisions together. He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back against Kristen's knees, a small, soft sigh escaping his pale lips. His mind was racing, he had gotten the tickets to Rome, and he wasn't cancelling the trip, Alexi would have a fit.
"Do you think Keith will still wanna come to Rome?" He asked, sighing and shaking his head.

Kristen sighed. "Demitri, I can't claim to know the inner workings of Alayna's mind..." she murmured quietly. Her mind was still reeling, trying to piece things together, firgure out what had happened while she was gone.
"Don't make me leave like that again Demitri. It hurts, and I'm always lost and confused when I come back." Krsiten said then, sighing and shaking her head, half joking.
"As soon as Alayna calls me back, I'll talk to her, Demitri. Maybe there's some way to fix all of this..." though, at the moment, Kristen wasn't all that hopeful. She sighed then, rubbing her eyes gently.
"He may not want to..." Kristen murmured. "Not now anyway. You'd think he would rather stay here while we're gone for two weeks."

"He probably will. And you had to go. This wasn't a fight that you could safely be part of" He grumbled, shaking his head.
"I'm just as confused and disoriented when you're gone, but it was the safest course of action. They were bombing the house" He sighed, pressing his back itno her knees, gently, enjoying the pressure. He was tired, still sore, and a bit sick from everything, but overall he had improved greately.

Keith sighed, there was no way he was going to Rome now, that had been Alayna's idea, but there was no sense in runing the vampires vacation. So instead, he'd stay here, alone, house sit or something. He could think that way, and not have Kristen or Demitri hovering about him, worried he'd fall apart or something.

"No fight I can safely be a part of in your book darling." Kristen muttered, chuckling quietly. She knew Demitri hated her getting into any kind of conflict, espically when it came to other shifters. Though at this point, Kristen was somewhat sure that he had accepted those fights she would get into, though maybe not entirely.
Kristen sighed then, as Demitri pressed against her legs once more. She stood up, taking his hand and gently pulling him towards the bed. She wanted to lay down, sleep even. Sheesh what time was it? Kristen kicked off her shoes and pulled off her jacket before falling back on the bed, pulling Demitri with her, kissing him gently.
"It's done now." Kristen murmured, running her fingers through Demitri's hair lightly. "I doubt they'll come back, knowing what they'd be up against."

Demitri nodded mutely, as she pulled him towards the bed. Sighing he kicked off his ruined skate shoes, flopping down tiredly. He was tired, beyond tired, but, his mind was also racing, thinking of everything that had happened, and could happen.
"I hope so" He commented stiffly, slipping out of his burnt clothes till only his boxers remained as he slid into bed next to her. He frowned, he hoped Alayna came to her sense, came back, tried to make things right with Keith, she couldn't leave it this way, not with how screwed up Keith was now.

Kristen smiled lightly, pulling the covers over her, not caring that she was still in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. She rolled onto her stomach, facing Demitri, looking at him from over the pillow that she had her arms wrapped around.
She closed her eyes then, nearly asleep the next instant.

Her dream was vivid. She saw everything that had happened. The explosions, the fire. The planes. The tanks. Everything happened in flashes and blurrs. Colors swirled, mostly reds, oranges, white and black.
She saw Alayna, one hand on a soilder, one hand outstrecthed towards a tank. It was destoried the next instant. Kristen grew tense, realizing how thick the magic was in the air. And it wasn't just from Keith who had whiped clean half of the troops on the hill. The soilder Alayna had been holding onto fell to the snow. Alayna's face was pale, worried, and scared. Mostly confused.
As that dream faded away, Kristen woke up. It was picth black in the room, and Kristen could hear soft footsteps against the wooden flooring of the bedroom.
"Dad?" Maddie's soft voice was an entity in the darkness to Kristen, but she could feel the matrice shifting and Maddie climbed onto the bed. Kristen sighed, turning her face back into the pillow, making it seem like she had fallen back asleep, wondering what Maddie wanted at this time of night.
"Daddy?" Maddie asked again, and Kristen could hear the sheets ruffling as Maddie shook Demitri lightly.

Demitri's eyes fluttered open, "Mmm?" He looked at Maddie, sitting up and picking up the little girl.
"What's wrong?" He asked tiredly, trying to keep his voice low so he didn't wake Kristen. Keith was still awake it seemed, he could hear wings of the angel ruffling, and was relieved to know he was still here. He sighed, shaking his head and rubbing hsi eyes, befor turning his attention back to Maddie.
"What?" He pressed, worried, maybe she had a nightmare or something.