Notes : Ok… if no one comments on THIS one.. then I swear I'm going on strike :P

Really

I mean it.

Honest.

Either that or I'll kill off Clark ;) I can do it! I'm a fanfic author, never forget that : ) Continuity my ass…



Shadows : Chapter 5a

The lamp directly above Chloe's car was broken, as was the next one down the street in either direction. It seemed an odd coincidence and both he and Chloe stopped before entering into the resulting region of ominous darkness.

"It could be a coincidence, right? At some point in the history of mankind three lights in a row were bound to all go out at the same time." Clark wondered if Chloe was trying to convince him, or herself. If she was trying to convince him it wasn't working and if she was trying to convince herself… then from her tense expression that didn't appear to be working either. "Ok, too much caffeine, next time I'm strictly limiting myself to two cups."

She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him towards her car but he held on and pulled back instead. Chloe made a grunting sound when she realized he was completely and utterly refusing to move.

"Wait… just wait a second." He pulled her closer and put one arm around her protectively, then he carefully looked every direction. Darkness was a problem for normal vision, but Clark had other options.

"Clark?" He ignored the question in her voice and took everything in. Staring into every crevice, looking not only at, but also through, every corner until he was absolutely sure they were alone.

Finally he gave up; he was jumping at shadows. "Ok Chloe…" a last feeling of caution prodded him and he decided it was best that he pay attention to it "Just stay close to me, ok?"

He could hear the smile in Chloe's voice, "Sure, I'll be your security blanket." They'd barely stepped out of the light when he heard something and stopped again. Chloe had obviously lost her fear and made a noise that he was fairly sure could be classified as a giggle. "We're never going to get there this way."

"Didn't you hear it?" He looked again, faster this time but just as thorough. He still couldn't see anything, yet he was sure they weren't alone.

"Hear what?"

"Footsteps."

They stood still, just within the shadows' embrace, and listened. "You're hearing things."

Clark shook his head. "No, there it was again. Don't tell me you didn't hear that."

He felt Chloe pull herself away from him unexpectedly and resisted the urge to stop her. "Come on Clark, I don't want to spend all night standing out here. I want to go to your place, sit on your couch, and maybe steal a couple of pieces of your mother's famous pie."

Unwilling to let her proceed alone he followed her towards her car, staying so close that he was almost touching her the entire way. Finally he was forced to back off, separated as she moved to the driver's side while he waited at the passenger door.

A shiver traveled up Clark's spine, refusing to go unnoticed and insisting that somehow, someway, something was wrong. Then he heard the footsteps again. Clark wasn't imagining anything, there was someone there. Turning he stared into the darkness behind the car, if he could hear someone then he should be able to see someone. Damnit!

Anger consumed him at the affront to his perceptions and he pushed, then pushed harder, increasing the pressure inside his head as if some giant bubble was wrapped around his skull and if he tried hard enough he might, somehow, make it burst. Suddenly the thin curtain between his mind and his eyes shredded, ripped apart from the force of his protest.

The figure was tall and almost invisible, his one piece of clothing a dark black trench coat that whipped around him, riding on the gentle night breeze as if it were a blistering gale. He was slightly crouched, his body angled as if he'd been about to literally pounce on Chloe. For some reason she didn't even seem to know that he was there.

As if he could sense Clark's gaze, the man's head slowly turned away from Chloe to look, instead, at Clark.

The eyes were completely black, not black surrounded by white but dark pools of obsidian where light had no business existing. The voice was deep, rough, and mocking. When the figure spoke he started slowly, almost hesitantly, not from emotion but, instead, as if he was so unused to talking that it took him a moment to remember how.

"Now this is interesting." Every syllable carried upon it the scent of death.

Chloe spun away from the car door and stared in shock. "Where the hell did you come from?" Hell wasn't normally in Chloe's vocabulary, but the same word had been lurking in the back of Clark's mind. In most cases it was an expression, in this case it felt like it might be literal.

"Clark?" Her voice wavered as she said his name. Why didn't she move?

"Yes. Clark. How did you see me? You really weren't suppose to see me you know." The thing, because calling it a man suddenly seemed an insult to the human race, was within several paces of him. He tried to figure out what to do but instead found himself staring into its eyes, his thoughts a jumble as he tried to extricate himself and bring them together into some kind of coherent form.

"Clark?!" Chloe's voice was far off, completely terrified.

Why would Chloe be terrified? And why did it seem to matter so much…

Then it turned away to look at Chloe and in an instant Clark remembered where he was and what was going on and why exactly he should care. The thing had moved so close to him that it couldn't be more than an arm length away. He hadn't even seen it move.

"Watch." The single word slithered out of its mouth towards Chloe and she stood, staring with panicked eyes, obeying.

One hand, a blur amidst the night air, flew towards Clark's chest with the force of a bullet, pounding into him before he could react. Then it stopped, frozen as if it had impacted not against a human chest but with a steal wall. The thing's face contorted in an imitation of confusion and disgust before it howled, reaching out again to sweep its arm across Clark's throat.

But, of course, again it didn't work. Clark was finally ready and as the thing's clawed hand hurtled by he leaned back just far enough to avoid its touch. The air vibrated against his skin at its passage.

Reaching forward Clark grabbed the thing, not caring what it was or who it was, and he threw it into the brick wall of the nearest building. Or, at least, he tried to. When his hand reached the black trench coat covering there was nothing to grip, nothing for him to hold onto, and his hand simply passed through. When he pulled out of the thing's chest his hand felt like it was covered in oil and filth… like he'd just washed it in a sewer and dried it with heaps of garbage.

The entire exchange had been quick, too quick, and Chloe was still standing on the other side of the car staring at them. Clark doubted she'd been able to process anything beyond the first of the creature's ineffective blows.

All anger had faded from its visage and the eyes were staring at him while a malicious grin cracked its lips. "Very interesting." Clark fixed his gaze on its mouth, the eyes felt dangerous somehow and something inside warned him to avoid being drawn back in.

How do you hurt something when you can't even touch it?

It tilted its head in Chloe's direction, and then turned back to consider Clark for a moment. Even without seeing its eyes he could tell what it was thinking. The final proof of this permeated the next two words out of its mouth.

"Race you."

Time slowed down as it began to move, not running like a man but instead flowing as a shadow before a tilted light.

Chloe! His mind shouted out in protest and he didn't have time to consider the results, didn't have time to think of other options; Clark was caught between moments as the darkness moved to engulf her. There was no time left for debate and, in the end, it wasn't needed.

He moved.





Chloe watched as the creature slid around her car, creeping up on Clark step by step as he just stood there. Staring at it.

She wanted to scream but her lungs refused to suck in enough air. She wanted to run but her feet seemed to be embedded in the cement. She wanted to put her arms around Clark and protect him, but he was over six feet away and separated from her by several tons of red automobile.

All she could do was call his name and put into her voice every ounce of fear and terror and hope that somehow he would notice and just move. But he simply stood there, staring into its eyes, until it finally turned the dark orbs towards her instead.

"Watch."

Watch as Clark died. That was what it meant. For the briefest of moments she hated herself. She should be able to DO SOMETHING. Then reality shed itself with a single tear and she did as it had told her. She watched, consumed in instant depression as with the single blink of an eye its fist drilled into Clark's chest like a spear.

The world ended, and Chloe waited for it to take her along with it.

Several moments later, with a frustrated scream echoing on the night air, she realized that for some reason Clark was still standing, staring at the creature. The blank look was gone from his face and he was looking at its mouth, fear and disgust written plainly and unmistakably.

And he wasn't dead.

And the creature looked almost happy for some reason. It looked like it had just found a new toy and now it was going to go play with it.

And Clark wasn't dead.

She had no idea why, and she really didn't care.

Clark wasn't dead. The thought continued to chant in her head like a mantra.

Two pairs of eyes turned towards her and she heard the words cut through the air, said in a voice that produced images of flowing blood and rotting corpses even as she tried to focus on their meaning. "Race you."

Maybe the world was going to end after all.

On one side of the car shadows flowed towards her, on the other Clark's form blurred as it seemed suddenly to exist opposite her, beside her, and everywhere along the path in between all at the same time.





The moment lasted the merest fraction of a second as life competed with death to reach a single goal. Gabriel was fast. Clark was faster.



------------------------------------

More Notes : I was going to just write the whole chapter at once again, instead of posting it in parts, but damnit I've been waiting to write this portion for a while : ) So here it is, now I'm going to try and force myself to get some sleep.