A Simple Shadow Pt. 09

Tears stung his eyes. What had gone wrong between them? Shadow opened his eyes. Looking at him like this, he couldn't remember what he had done to deserve what had happened between them so long ago. Shadow leaned down to place his lips against each ragged slash in his calf in no way removing his fingers from the lines on his ankle. The flesh beneath his was cold and lifeless. Before he could rise up and turn away, the tears in his eyes were falling unchecked. "Damn you..." Shade couldn't bring himself to look at the marks where his own fangs had torn into Tarkin'ton's palm, or the eight lines that ripped across Tar's back, or the chunk of flesh missing on one of his shoulders. All defensive wounds of the night Shadow had first fled. The night he had gone blind. Tarkin had drug him back and had him chained in the dungeon for half a year, or more.

He stumbled away to a concealed wash room. Sinking to the floor beside a bubbling pool, he let the plants and darkness soothe him. His head tilted thinking he had heard a sound, but his senses were growing distorted again. He needed to leave this place! If Tar woke up while he was here, he would be punished. Even lying beside that cold, dead body would no longer convince him that the shadows would not once again rise against him! "Damn you!" Shadow knew he was being drained again. Hawk was right. He could feel it! His whole system was sick from the weakness. Stumbling up against the wall, he pressed a panel opening a hidden door to a concealed bedroom.

He thought someone moved inside of the room, but then it was gone. Shadow chalked it up to one vicious ghost letting the door slide closed behind him and falling heavily upon the bed. Someone brushed his forehead as he fought to stay awake. "Tar...why..." No one answered him. A cool cloth brushed his face lightly. He tried to swat it away and rolled onto his back, but by now his eyes wouldn't open up again. Shadow could smell Tarkin! He was in the room...so near! Shade moaned in helpless agony. "Go away! Please, go away," he begged him weakly. His fear grew sharply. If Tar could touch him and feel so solid while he was dead, he was lost already. Nothing he could do would stop him! "I am tired, Tar," he whispered, "just let me sleep." The cloth moved over his scars and he managed to catch it! Shadow heard a soft gasp as someone faded away. He sat up suddenly and looked around. The darkness was absolute and unbroken, yet the damp cloth still lay in his fist. "Oh, Gods, why," he groaned wretchedly. "Why did it have to end like this?" He saw a shadow that moved and paled in fear. "Talk to me," he snarled demanding an answer! The shape lit up with a small amount of purple light. It really was Tarkin'ton. Shadow swallowed, face pinched as he turned away.

"You are asking me why?" Shade shuddered. "You attacked me and fled."

"Tarkin..." Shadow shook dying inside. Did he really have to say it out loud? He lay back down and curled into the soft sheets hurting more than he could bear.

"Not out loud, then...why? Why did you run? I know you tell everyone it was Ash and Bael! You attacked me and fled before even that! Whisper it into my head, love! Why?" Could he really not know? After all of this time, he hadn't once figured it out. Tarkin had asked and asked while he had him chained in the dungeon. Shadow had sealed the thought away so tightly in pure anger and hatred. Tarkin'ton had felt his emotions, but had not been able to pluck the image from his mind. Was it even possible that he was still ignorant of his own crime? Shadow felt a brush of something that moved his hair away from his face and a sweet kiss affectionately placed on his brow. "Tell me. Please...You are driving me crazy not knowing, Shade! What did I do to make you hate me?" His begging pleas stabbed at his heart. They only made him cry harder wishing he could hate him in truth. Desperately, he wished for it, but every wish failed him! His heart would always belong to Tar! "Shade, please..." He sounded like he was fading away, growing softer and more indistinct. "I can't stay, love. I have to go; I am too weak. Try to get some sleep." Shadow felt another doting kiss on his cheek this time; he curled away from it uselessly. "Take care of him." A soft sound in the corner indicated someone moving as he let himself drift away. "Try to get him to eat. He never eats," Tar added in complete exasperation to whoever was with him...the mysterious Pevin?

"I will. Please, rest," the boy whispered.

"Don't you dare to harm him, Pevin! I love him more than you can know."

"Yes, sir," the boy agreed sullenly. Shadow almost laughed, but he was too far gone to do it. Was he actually asleep and hearing the conversation through Tarkin'ton, he wondered. Had he sounded so moody when Hawk had warned him of the very same thing downstairs? If they stopped fighting, would they be forced to share Tar? It would never happen!

"So jealous," the ghost sighed sadly. "What should I do?" Shadow wondered if he was talking where Pevin could hear him, or only in his companion's mind. "Stop loving," the ghost asked angrily. "Let myself die so you will both stop fighting me," he suggested with a snort of derision. "Too bad, lover," he snarled. "I am not in the mood!" With that last statement, he fed upon Shadow's energy until he drug him deeper into unconsciousness. "Treat him better than you would treat me! Or I will kill you both," he warned darkly as he disappeared.

Shadow dreamed. He didn't want to dream. He hated them here. They were always the same. They always took him back to that room...back to the pain...He resisted them restlessly losing hope, but dream he did.

'Pain lanced his back and drew forth an inadequate yelp. Shadow could feel the tug as jagged bits of metal were pulled savagely out of the open meat of his shredded back. The blood had become an unbearable itch down his legs dropping off of his toes. You would think he wouldn't be able to feel such a minor irritant, but it was maddening! Another lash slammed into his side and a rib shattered under the fury behind it! Shadow couldn't even draw enough of a breath to whimper at the pain of it. He pulled up on his arms and felt the broken bones in his wrists shift against the metal. It almost made him pass out.

"He isn't going to tell you anything, Tar. Leave him alone."

"Shadoc," Tarkin called out. "When did you get here?" The smile he could hear in his companion's voice still had the power to stab him with jealousy!

"Gods, Tar," he hissed studying the mess Tarkin'ton had made of Shadow. "Are you trying to kill him," he asked impressed by his handiwork.

"No, but," the desperate sadness in his voice bordered on near madness.

"Go on up and get some rest, Tarkin. I will clean him up," Shadoc offered. Shadow heard Tar leave as his brother stepped in closer. The water from his movement slapped at Shadow's feet. "Damn, Sha'da Limn...He is pissed off! What did you do to him? Try not to worry too much. He will do all that I ask of him." A hand moved in the broken skin along his back. "Did you know this one goes to the bone?" Shadow felt him lick at the wound laughing softly. "Damn, this is nice! I think I will just go up and fuck your pretty lover for you. Sweet dreams, brother of mine." The chamber sealed behind him and began to flood with water. Shade was too weak to even struggle, so he waited for it too weak to even call out for help...'

He woke bathed and bare. Shadow felt well rested, but the dream had left him royally cranky. He threw off the covers and pressed another panel to pass into yet another bathroom. The water eased some of the tension out of his neck muscles, but nowhere near enough. A sleepy-eyed boy came in from Shadow's old room watching him lazily. "Good morning," he mumbled. His hair was pure silver. Not white at all, but real metallic silver over a layer of dark black. Pevin's eyes were the exact opposite. His skin was the ashy shade of burnt charcoal sparking a memory in his mind. The nails were jet with a sparkle of silver in them and the same color was woven along his skin in intricate tattoos. Vine-like markings wrapped like a dark web down his arms from his knuckles to his wrists and from his elbows to shoulder blades. More graced his lower calf running up to his hipbones. Pevin flashed fangs at him when he smiled. "Hungry," he asked. "I need to eat and so do you." Shock swept through him.

"You are Meg'rin's son!" He also knew one of the two unlucky dragon twins below was his father.

"Yeah, he said you had an uncanny knack for tracing bloodlines." Pevin shrugged, but the casual gesture was at odds with his worried eyes.

"What," Shadow asked as he stepped out to dry off. He was already clean and the water couldn't relax a person who was being irritated, so he took the towel the boy handed him.

"Why in the God's names did you return," he hissed at him. Pevin's eyes flashed silver as he turned away. "You will have to make more clothes. I threw the old ones out," he admitted sullenly. Shadow dressed with a simple thought and felt the tug expending such a minor amount of energy caused him. Then, he melted into a shadow in the room to reappear beside Hawk down below. The boy came up screeching in fright from where he had been sleeping. It was the dim interior of the lower basement room and they were surrounded by the other, younger boys.

"My lord," Hawk said more calmly and cautiously, "can we help you?"

"Is everyone inside of this room that should be in here?" Hawk nodded looking around to be certain he told the truth. "Good," he sighed. Sealing the room drained him dry, but he did it. He adjusted the spell specifically against even the shadow walkers that populated the house and as an added precaution added a light spell to disperse the shadows in the room itself. Only then did he feel safer, he realized.

"My lord," Hawk sounded confused. "I have noticed that you do not like the darkness, but neither do you like the light. Forgive me. Are you not supposed to feel safer in the shadows? You cannot run in pure light."

"Why would I need to run? You boys can certainly hurt me, but not as much as I have been before. I am not afraid of any of you." Hawk settled down beside of him curiously, slowly allowing his fear of the vampire to fade. The boy's golden avien eyes and spotted, feathered skin were begging him to touch. "Gods, you are beautiful!" Hawk's eyes sparkled at him in pleasure.

"Thank you," he stated as he turned away. Shadow couldn't help touching the bare scars where the poor creature's wings had once been. They had been ripped away down to his very skin! He pulled him back into his body. The little avien snuggled in below his chin and drifted into a peacefully content state. Shadow's eyes closed against the bright light. "Are you still tired, my lord?" Hawk moved a little in his arms. "Perhaps food..."

"I am fine. I have eaten more lately than usual. It is not lack of food draining me."

"So he wakes," the boy sighed. It sounded a hell of a lot like relief in his voice! "I am healed. If you want a few swallows," he teased gently, "I can spare it." Shadow felt nearly compelled to take the offer when the boy moved to let his bare neck slide along his lips. "I am food. I don't mind feeding something that does not kill me, my lord." Without any conscious planning, his teeth broke through that fragile flesh to the blood below. "Shade," Hawk whispered with a prominent rush of lust that swept into the fluid he was drinking. It caused a noticeable reaction. Shadow broke the kiss, startled. Hawk leaned back, caught his face, and kissed him for real! The taste of his own blood didn't seem to bother him in the least as he explored his mouth hungrily. A soft wind ruffled his feathers as Shadow's hands eased down them carefully. The wind in the room caught his attention away from the budding desire.

"Your father was not avien," he stated in wonder.

"Not now," Hawk growled. "You can trace my lineage back to its roots later." Hawk used a knee and a hand against his leather encased groin to let him know what he wanted. "I hear no one can turn you on, Shade."

Those words had been true once, but obviously no longer applied. Was it wearing off? He mentally allowed his clothes to disappear and drew up those delicately golden thighs around him. "Obviously untrue," he teased as buried himself up into him. Hawk clutched him shaking from it. Blood rushed hotly through his veins until he felt a vicious need. Shadow tried to hold back and go slow as he generally enjoyed doing, but for once he needed quick! He took an extra sip at the boy's throat, but Hawk never noticed. The avien used his whole body to urge him into a speed he feared would tear his feathers out if he wasn't careful. Somewhere in that embrace, he tasted a flavor that did not belong. His entire being was swamped in the pleasure of sliding up in a hot grip of skin that pulled at him every time he drew away. A moan of near surrender sighed up from the boy...yet...something...was wrong...distracting Shadow. It was in the fading taste, but he couldn't risk taking any more. He didn't want to harm the tiny creature.

"Shade," Hawk called softly. "Did I lose you?" He felt his body react to his voice the way it had before tightening down in severe lust! It caused a sharp gasp as everything tensed for a few final plunges, before he speared up one last time to explode and surge into him in pulsing groans of exquisite torture! When he began to relax, it left him so tired he couldn't fight it off. "That is it..." Hawk stroked him like he was petting a sleepy puppy. "You should relax more often. Sleep, Shade," he whispered. Shadow felt the nearly hidden compulsion in his voice and let it drag him down.