Guardian Devil

CHAPTER TWO: BLOODLETTING

Lex had left the farm when Clark told him to, but only to gather Dominic and two of his security team. Police were out of the question as they would want to talk to the Kents and take their sweet time before interfering in the good, old-fashioned family values Kent household. Lex also went to get the gun he always kept in the right hand drawer of his desk in the study. Lex thought, 'Jonathan has gone around the bend. And he’s going to take Clark with him.'

Panic swooped through him. 'I will not lose Clark. I will not lose Clark. I will die first. I will kill.'

Dominic and the security insisted on being the first to enter the Kent’s cellar, but Lex was fast on their heels. As Lex burst into the cellar his nostrils were flooded with the iron tang of blood, Clark’s blood. It was everywhere like an art splatter painting on the floor, the walls, the ceiling.

Clark was naked, his golden muscled form was streaked with the crimson gore, his knees were bent as his weight was completely born by his long arms tied above his head to a ceiling joist. A necklace with a piece of green meteor rock hung about his neck like a lodestone. The meteor matched the color of Clark’s eyes, which were unfocused with pain, not seeing anything, not seeing that Lex was there to rescue him.

Dominic and the security had Jonathan Kent cornered by the opposite wall of the cellar, his worn t-shirt and jeans speckled with his adopted son’s blood, the hand he raised over his shoulder still clutching his brown leather belt with the sharp bronze buckle that was also slick with Clark’s blood. Lex and Jonathan’s eyes met and the older man’s looked yellow under the harsh lone lightbulb in the cellar.

“Luthor!” Jonathan hissed out, spittle flying .

“You bastard! What have you done to Clark?” Lex’s blue-grey eyes grew dark as he took in the scene before him and understood instinctively that this was not the first time this act had taken place between Jonathan and Clark, but Jonathan had meant it to be the last. His fears about what was wrong between the Kent father and son that day were far outweighed by the horror of what was before him.

“He’s unclean. You’ve made him ... his thoughts of you have made him ... unclean.” Jonathan’s chest heaved and tears tracked down his cheeks. “My beautiful son ... and you’ve ruined him!”

Lex turned away from the elder Kent and rushed to Clark’s side. Lex’s hands cupped Clark’s bloodied face. 'Still beautiful, even like this. Oh, God, angel, I’m here.'

“Clark! Clark, can you hear me, it’s Lex. It’ll be okay. This is over. You’re safe,” Lex repeated it to Clark like a mantra as he tugged the meteor necklace off Clark’s neck. He knew the damned things made Clark sick.

“Ca ... case. Put ... it in ... case,” Clark wheezed out, bloody froth forming on his lips like sea foam. Clark nodded his head towards a small jewelry case resting on the floor by Jonathan’s feet.

Lex scrabbled over the cellar’s floor for the case, thrust the meteor necklace within it and closed the lid. The effect was almost instantaneous. Clark moaned softly, then clambered to his feet. He broke the leather bonds that held his wrists as if they were made of rotten string. The vicious wounds that covered every part of his glorious form began to close, leaving only the streaks of gore behind. Lex had known that Clark was special, different, and had secrets, but the wonder of watching the boy heal before him nearly brought Lex to tears. Lex was back at Clark’s side in moments, shrugging off his overcoat and wrapping it around Clark’s body. Dominic and the security team had been focused on Jonathan and had not seen the remarkable transformation. Lex intended that they never see it. The coat would hide the now disappeared wounds.

Lex pulled the coat tight around Clark’s naked form, his hands fisted in the front of it. Clark’s face mere inches from his, lips full and smooth and soft, available for a kiss that Lex had never yet taken, had thought would never be his to take until he saw that look on Clark’s face in the afternoon. Jonathan saw it, too, and it led to this ... beating. Lex looked into Clark’s luminous green eyes that had entranced him from the moment he came back from the dead on that bridge a year ago. They were haunted, showed scars on Clark’s soul that his great healing ability could not reach.

“I have ... have so much to tell you, Lex,” Clark whispered.

“Shhh, Clark, don’t worry about that now. It doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that you’re safe.”

“You’re damned, boy,” Jonathan’s voice cut the air like a scythe.

Clark reacted as if it were a physical blow, stumbling slightly and leaning on Lex for support. Lex clutched Clark to him, willing his own strength into the teen.

“Shut him up!” Lex called to his men. “C’mon, Clark, let’s get you out of here.”

As Lex helped Clark walk over to the cellar steps, Clark pressed his face against Lex’s shoulder, hiding from Jonathan’s maddened stare.

“Clark!” The elder Kent called. “God knows your foul thoughts, sees your foul acts even if I do not.”

Clark shuddered against Lex with each word. Lex gritted his teeth. He tried to move the shaken boy faster up the stairs, to get him as far away from the madman as he could.

“You’re cast out, Clark! Your sin stained soul will never see the kingdom of Heaven! YOU ARE LOST!”

Lex and Clark staggered up the cellar stairs at the last threat. Lex half-carried Clark to the limousine that had brought him to the Kent farm. The driver had rushed around to open the door, but Lex shooed him off. Clark sat on the seat, his bare feet still on the driveway.

“I have to go back down there for a little bit, Clark. But I’ll be right back. Will you be okay for a moment by yourself?” Lex kept his voice warm and low, not allowing the anger and rage that ate at him get through.
Clark nodded numbly. His body was healed but something else inside him was not yet. He couldn’t focus well on what Lex was saying, his mind kept repeating in an endless loop Jonathan’s curses.

Lex kissed Clark’s forehead and held his lips there for a moment with his eyes closed. 'This is what I’m supposed to do. This is my purpose. Protect Clark. Be his guardian ... devil.'

Lex twisted on his heel and went back to the front door of the house. His right hand sought and found the gun’s grip in his pants' pocket. As he strode down the cellar stairs, he brought the gun out of the pocket and into the light. Lex had never felt so icily calm before. Jonathan still stood covered in Clark’s blood in the corner, Lex’s mens’ weapons trained on him.

“What do you want to do, Lex? Call the cops or--” Dominic began.

Dominic’s eyes went wide as Lex brought up the gun and pressed it to Jonathan’s temple.

Lex’s voice was conversational, almost kind, but it sent chills down the mens’ backs in that room. “Now, Mr. Kent, or may I call you Jonathan, since we’ve dispensed with so many other niceties? Jonathan it is.”

Jonathan’s own eyes were riveted to Lex’s. He swallowed hard. Somehow the certainty of his righteousness had fled him the moment that cold steel sought out and claimed his temple. Why wasn’t his God striking down this creature of Satan. Luther ... Lucifer ... so close the reality of it is lost on people. 'But I know. I know the truth!' Jonathan’s mind gibbered.

Lex continued on, “Jonathan, its time we discussed Clark’s future and depending on your answer ... well, it will determine if you have one yourself. Let me tell you what I want.”