This Mask is Not Me

She sighed contently drifting between sleep and being awake. She felt beyond safe in his arms, and loved the feeling, the attetnion, the sheer emotional poetry of it all. She turned her head a fraction, so she coudl see him, he looked as content as she felt, which was nice. He wasn't stressed, or at least, it didn't seem like it, which was also nice. This moment was beyond perfect, she couldn't ask for anything more. All the drama, all the stress, it just melted away, leaving her happier then she could have ever imagined being.

Vaix glanced down at her as she looked up at him, still purring as before, rocking as before, holding her close to him, yet with little force to allow her escape at any time. He smiled as She looked up at him, feeling the same as her. He wasn't stressed anymore, he was sure though, once the moment ended, he might be a little due to her arm. But nothing more than that. He kissed her again, eyes zoning out as he found a lack of use for them. It was more something to feel, than to see.

Shaye sighed, smiling up at Vaix, eyes closing as she began to drift in and out of sleep. She purred a bit, pressing her face against him again, rolling on her side in his lap. She was tired again, though not to suprised about that. She heard someone knocking on the wall, and shook her head, confused. She didn't know if she was awake of dreaming anymore.

Vaix smiled as he watched her start to sleep again, then jumped a bit as the door was knocked on. Curiously he scented the air, but didn't move. He didn't want too right now. He was enjoying being at her side, not being pestered by teenagers.

The knocking continued, and Shaye mumbled under her breath, sitting up a bit and staring at the door.
"Someone's trying to get in" She mumbled, watching as the handled jiggled. She looked confused, slightly worried. She didn't recognize the scent, and it wasn't human.
"Vaix" A voice called form outside. The pounding on the door continued.

Vaix's teeth bared at the mention of his name, he growled loudly. Then placing Shaye to one side on the couch, pointed a finger at her. "Stay," he grumbled. Then turned and walked to the door, pulling it open and sticking his head out. "What?" he snapped, eyes narrowed as he took in the figure standing at the door.

"I'm not a dog" The shifter vampire mumbled, but didn't move off the couch. She did however turned over and peer curiously over the back of the couch. Sighing, she wondered who was here, and who knew Vaix.
"Well is that anyway to greet an old friend?" A tall, pale vampire asked, leaning against the wall. His name was Adrian and he had met Keith and Vaix years ago in Russia. He was a shrewd vampire, and was well known amongst their kind as dangerous. He was a well known theif, and often collected things, rare, rare things. Of course, he had heard about Shaye, the only vampire shape shifter currently in existence, and was curious to see if the rumors were true.

Vaix blinked at the sight of Adrian, he sighed. "Sorry, I've just been tight lately. It's good to see you, you look well." He smiled a bit, curious to see Adrian again, wondering what he wanted. Knowing Adrian, he probably was here for something. He stepped aside offering the other vampire to come in. Knowing it was rude to leave a guest outside, even if he was worried for Shay, he was sure he could handle Adrian if he did anything uncalled for. "What brings you over here Adrian?" he asked curiously, walking back inside and leaving the door open for him, he went over to Shaye and mumbled to her. "Shaye, this is Kith and my friend, Adrian." he signaled to the vampire in the doorway.

"Oh, I was just in the Alps and then I heard you were in town with your family" He murmured, stepping inside, his eyes instantly focusing on Shaye.
"Ah, so this is the newest memeber of your family?" He asked, smiling at Shaye.
Shaye nodded her head to Vaix, "Hey" She murmured to Adrian. "I'm Shaye" She stood up a bit, walking over to shake his hand. If Vaix let him in, he odviously trusted the other vampire.
Adrian's eyes grew wide as he took in the beyond beautiful female in front of him. "My. It's a pleasure to meet you, Shaye" He murmured. Accepting her uninjured hand.

Vaix watched, growing tense for a second as she offered a hand, but in seeing it was uninjured allowed it. "Be careful of her other arm Adrian," he muttered calmly, seeing no harm in warning the other vampire, "she's burned it pretty badly, we came out here to have it heal for a bit before returning back to Keith and the rest..." He wandered over to stand with Shaye, still protective of her.

Adrian immediately glanced down, noting the white bandage.
"Ah, of course I will be careful" He murmured, smiling at Shaye. "So Keith and the others are not here?" He asked, this was good, one less overprotective vampire to contend with.
"No, they're staying at a cabin a bit further up the hill" Shaye responded, smiling at Adrian and allowing her hand to fall back down to her side. She smiled at Vaix and looked at Adrian, he looked nice enough.
"Well, I was hoping I would have an oppertunity to catch up with you my friend. It's been far to long" He said to Vaix, grinning wolfishly.

Vaix gave a nod as Shaye answered Adrian's question, then blinked at the whole catching up thing. Then gave a shrug, "sure. If you'd like, he took Shaye's hand, wandering back over to the couch with her, sitting, then pulling her into his lap again, holding her against him as before, though his feet remained on the floor instead of up on the couch. "What's new Adrian?" he asked curiously.

Adrian watched Vaix's holding Shaye, very protectively. It clicked in his head though, this was vaix's mate. Sighing, he sat down opposite.
"Wel first off, when did she join your family?" He nodded at the gorgeous vampire, smiling at her. He didn't address the question to Shaye however, prefering to talk to Vaix, he was smart, and knew Vaix would tense if he only spoke to Shaye. He shook his head and smiled.
"Where have you been? Last I heard was that you and your interesting family were in some small town in the states"

"Shaye?" Vaix asked curiously, glancing at her for a second as he thought, a couple years ago, not long. She's only been a vampire for three to four weeks though. Still very young." He kissed her cheek fondly, then pausing at the last question. "Yes, we were. But there was some serious drama with a slider, and we decided to take a vacation..." He frowned as he remembered Seth, he'd blown up their homes, half of Vaix's body. He had Andy to thank that he wasn't horribly disfigured.

"Wow. Sliders can be chancy" Adrian said, sighing. He had heard something about that as well. Sliders were odd creatures. Smiling at Shaye, he could tell she was young, but she didn't act like many of the young ones of their kind.
"So are you staying here in Europe then? I would assume so, after all, there's nothing left in the States for you" It was true, they had nothing there.
Shaye shrugged. "Keith was talking about getting a property in England" She murmured, smiling at Adrian.
"So, I hear you're a shifter as well?" He asked her, smiling reassuringly at Vaix. Adrian was beyond cunning, very good at what he did.
"Yea" Shaye responded, smiling at him, feeling comfortable in his presence.

Vaix blinked, having known nothing about going back to England, his home country... He blinked, but didn't say anything, he watched Adrian, growing slightly suspicious as his friend asked that. But saying nothing against it, it was a natural question to ask if you'd heard rumors on it. "Yeah, she is. Not to much at the moment though, with her arm. She can't change when she's hurt. It's getting better though, I think. Can you shift again yet, Shaye?" He tilted his head curiously to her.

"Yea, but only little things, like hair and eye colour" She responded, smiling at Vaix. Adrian shifted forward in his seat subtly, wanting to see the change, even if it was only her hair.
"Can I see?" He asked politly, it was only natural to be facinated by such a phenomenon.
"Sure" Shaye responded. Her hair colour changed suddenly, going from dark, almost black, which was her natural colour to a deep red.
"Oh incredible" Adrian said, eyes growing wide. He could already picture her, the crown jewel of his little collection.

"Mm hm," Vaix purred softly as he watched her hair change. He ran his fingers through her red hair, looking at it with the same awe Adrian was experiencing, with all Shaye's wounds, he never really got to see her change much, so it was just as interesting after years of living around it. He glanced at Adrian curiously, then asked. "So what brings you out here Adrian? Surely not just a conversation..."

Shaye expertly changed her hair back to it's original colour, right under Vaix's fingers, before turning her attention back Adrian. Sighing, she leaned against Vaix, sighing happily.
Adrian watched Shaye with a grin, before turning his attention back to Vaix.
"Well, as usual you have seen through my casual facad. Honestly, I'm here on buisness. I heard about a rare artifact being in the area, and I decided to come see if I could aquire or even find it. He turned his attention back to Shaye, her look was curious.
"I'm a collector and a trader of rare artifacts' He explained to the shifter.

Vaix rolled his eyes at the truth, "of course...But if I'm correct, you rarely ever keep any of them right? You find them to sell, or has that changed now?" He remembered seeing Adrian selling somethings, and keeping his favorites, he guessed it was still the same as before. A business was a business after all...

"Well, it depends. I often do sell things, or find artifacts for a specific buyer. But, I do have a few favorite items" He said, smiling at Vaix. His eyes flitted to Shaye again, but it was only for a moment, he knew, in time, he'd have her. He sighed and returned his gaze to Vaix.
"If you don't mind my asking, how did you ever get such a bad injury my dear?" He asked Shaye, though his gaze flited to Vaix, asking permission to breach the subject.

Vaix nodded at the explanation, then bit his lip lightly as Shaye was asked about the injury. It was her injury, she could decide when or when no to tell the tale to people. It made no difference when they were vampiric, and already knew she was injured. It was the consequence of fire. Every vampire was familiar with it. It was just the details Adrian was curious over. "Go ahead," he said gently, "it's your story..."

Shaye shrugged.
"Just had a run in with an angry human and a fire" Shaye said, not wanting to remember most of the deails of that night.
Adrian nodded, shaking his head sympatehtically. "Humans can be rather jealous" He murmured, piecing together the rest of the story. He shook his head and sighed, smiling at Shaye again. She was truely a rarity. His eyes grew rather wide suddenly. "Ah, so you're Keith's sister then? The shifter he found?" She nodded, he grinned, happy to finally have placed her.

Vaix watched them talk, observing Adrian curiously as he did, the way he spoke to Shaye was interesting. Or more, the questions and facial expressions. He knew Adrian was sly, and began to piece together that they probably had something he needed, hence the visit. He sighed softly, "so Adrian? What are you after in you job this time? Another special stone or weapon something?

"Book actually. Ancient book of spells. Supposedly somewhere on the mountain, in a cave, a group of mages have it. My buyer is very interested, and is willing to pay a great amount" He smiled. It was true, but the book didn't interest him anymore, the girl seated in front of him was far more facinating.
"I've been having some trouble aquring it however. Mages and their spells, so very bothersome" He said, his voice light and airy.