Shadow

Wesley jerked awake abruptly, his heart beating erratically and sweat drenching his bare skin. The movement caused Valentine, who was curled up against his side, to wake up too. Valentine's eyes flung open, and after a brief scan of the room determined there were no immediate threats, he turned his full attention to his mate.

"Hey, hey," he said, sitting up and placing his palm on the merchant's heaving chest. "You're okay. Calm down. You're okay."

Wesley struggled to take a few deep breaths as he blinked rapidly into the dark room to try to clear the visions swarming in front of his eyes.

"What happened," Valentine asked, wide awake as he watched the panic in Wesley's eyes slowly dissipate.

Wesley swallowed the lump in his throat as he covered Valentine's hand with his own and held it tightly to his chest.

"Sorry," he managed to breathe the words. "It- it was a nightmare."

Valentine's eyes softened. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Wesley closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "I- uh. It's stupid, now that I think about it. I don't know why I freaked out so bad."

Valentine ran his hand soothingly over Wesley's skin, helping him calm down even more. "I'd still like to hear it."

Wesley blinked at him a few times.

"Um, there was this. . . shadow," he said before his eyebrows furrowed and he corrected himself, "Maybe that's not the right word. It was like this. . . entity. It was made of black smoke, or maybe ink. I couldn't tell."

A light frown marred Valentine's lips as his gaze flicked away from Wesley in thought.

"What was it doing?" he asked.

"It was. . . it was waiting. Watching, maybe. It was just in the corner, pulsating and swirling in on itself. I woke up when it started coming toward me."

"That's. . . odd," he said, his eyes still narrowed in thought. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"There was something else too," Wesley said, causing Valentine's eyes to return to his face.

"What was it?"

Wesley looked hesitant. "What- what does your father look like?"

Valentine's face scrunched in confusion at the unexpected question. "Like his features?"

"Yeah," Wesley said, "Like does he have white hair?"

Valentine's body tensed.

"Yes," he said in barely a whisper, watching his mate with worried eyes.

"Does- does he have gold eyes?"

Valentine's anxiety rose. "Yes."

"An ivory tail that glints gold in the light?"

"What did you see in your dream, Wesley," Valentine asked in a dead serious tone. "Tell me exactly."

"Not much," he said, his nerves rising at Valentine's reaction. "Just a few glimpses here and there. It was mostly about the shadow. The only reason I asked about your father was because he was wearing a crown the few times I saw him."

"What was he doing?" Valentine pushed.

"Smirking," Wesley said. "He said some stuff too, but the words were muffled."

Valentine reached out and wrapped his fingers around the obsidian amulet that still hung around Wesley's neck. "I think you should take this off."

"What? Why?" Wesley immediately became defensive.

"My mother's magic appears to be latching onto you."

"What does that mean?"

Valentine sighed, running his hand over his face.

"I mentioned once that all the members of my mother's side of the family are born with a magical gift. An ability that they don't need to learn. Mine is hydrokinesis, or the ability to manipulate water. My mother's is prophetic dreams."

Wesley could feel his face going pale.

"My mother didn't just put her magic into that necklace. She put her abilities there so she wouldn't be tempted to use them."

"Does that mean she knew they would latch onto me?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Maybe not. It's likely that she didn't think you could conjure enough magic from your own reserves to activate them."

"Wait, I'm using magic?"

"It appears that way."

"Seven Hells," Wesley said, shifting uncomfortably on the cot. "Does that mean there's some weird demon shadow out there waiting to attack me?"

"I don't know," Valentine sighed, "But probably not. You're untrained so you're probably just seeing a jumbled mess of useless information. You saw my father, I'm pretty sure of that, but the rest is probably just a normal nightmare weaving itself in."

Wesley relaxed a little at that, but he was still on edge.

"Why hasn't it happened before?"

Valentine shrugged, "Your magic probably got excited when we-"

Wesley clapped his hand over Valentine's mouth.

"I get it," he deadpanned, feeling Valentine's smirk under his palm.

After Valentine pulled Wesley's hand away he said, "The abilities are like a fire. They don't burn if you don't feed them. You were somehow able to pull some magic from the world around you, probably from me as well, and the abilities fed off of it to show you that dream."

"What other abilities did she put in here?" Wesley asked curiously, pushing the small obsidian stone around with his fingers.

"Well I know gills were one of them for sure," Valentine said.

Wesley's eyes widened. "You weren't the one that gave me gills?"

"Well, yes and no," he tilted his head from side to side as he thought of how to explain it. "I transferred the magic when I kissed you and the abilities in that necklace reacted to keep you from drowning. You're technically the host at the moment, so the abilities are loyal to you and your will. I just gave you the kindling to start the fire and made you think about breathing underwater. I suspect the ability to give you a tail also resides in there. It's one of my mother's specialties."

"I could have a tail?" Wesley asked, glancing down at where the blankets currently covered his legs.

Valentine bit his lip to suppress a moan at the images of Wesley as a merman his mind conjured, and when the merchant gave him a questioning look he laughed lightly and said, "You'd make a gorgeous siren."

Even in the dark, Valentine could see the blush rise to Wesley's neck and ears. Perks of predator vision. Unable to resist, he leaned forward and caught the merchant's lips with his own.

Wesley hummed contently at the feeling, reciprocating the kiss. Their lips fit together like they were made for each other. And in a way, Wesley supposed that they were.

After a few moments of mind numbing ecstasy, Valentine pulled himself away from Wesley's lips.

"I love you, Wesley Roberts," he said with a blissful smile.

"I love you, Valentine Cross," Wesley returned easily.

Valentine's eyes sparkled before he dropped back down on the bed, intent on snuggling back up to Wesley's side and getting a few more hours of sleep in. "We'll start swim lessons tomorrow," he said as he nuzzled himself into a comfortable position next to his mate, "since you don't seem very keen on taking that thing off."

"She asked me to keep it safe," Wesley defended himself, one arm around Valentine while the other gripped the pendant.

"Mhmm," Valentine's eyes were closed, ready for sleep.

"I think you just want to see me with a tail."

"Got that right," Valentine smiled, arm slung over Wesley's torso.

Wesley exhaled heavily through his nose in a quiet huff of amusement. "Goodnight, Val."

"Goodnight."

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A/N

Quick! What's the most useless thing you own?

Happy Wednesday,

-Mora Montgomery