Chapter 12: Everyday sort.

Clark sat in the hallway of the hospital. He had left Chloe's room when her dad came in letting him take over watching her. He had called his parents and told them what happened, they hoped everything was OK and said they would stop by in the morning during visiting hours.

He sat on the bench going through the previous evenings events, trying to make them make sense. What kept sticking in his mind, besides the blood, were the green glowing eyes and the face that went with them. He knew who Chloe's attacker was, he just didn't understand why.

"Clark man, what happened?" It was Pete, he came jogging up to Clark's bench and sat down next to him.

"How did you get in here Pete?" Clark asked. "It's after visiting hours."

"I conned my way past a nurse by pretending to be an off duty orderly who left some stuff here. So gimme the details Bro, what the hell happened?"

So Clark told him what he knew. He told him of waiting in the Talon and of going out back. Of some how being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. He told him of the blood and how she had almost died. He told him about his hand going numb and he told him about the green eyes and the face that went with them.

Pete stared at Clark as he related what he knew. A worried frown coming to his face.

"Ok this sounds almost exactly like what happened to James Marsden." Pete said.

"What do you mean?" An alarmed look coming to Clark's eyes.

So Pete filled him in.

"Yesterday me and Chloe went and investigated someone getting murdered downtown."

"Downtown Smallville?" Clark asked.

"Yeah. It was James Marsden. He was found in the alleyway behind the hardware store. We snuck into the alley and overheard the Medical Examiner talking to the Sheriff. He said that there had been massive trauma to the side of his neck and that there was almost no blood."

"That sounds exactly like what would have happened to Chloe if I hadn't been there. Why didn't you guys tell me sooner?" A tinge of anger creeping to Clark's voice.

"Hey calm down Bro." Pete said noticing the change in tone. "You would have been completely up to date if you had bothered to call me back yesterday. I left like 5 messages. By the way where were you?"

"That's not important now. Your right though, it's not your fault. Sorry I snapped at you, it's just been a long night." He sighed as the anger left him. Clark looked up as a nurse came out of Chloe's room.

"Clark man all signs are pointing to Chris Voss. I know it's hard to believe but everything leads right to him."

"You boys friends of Chris Voss?" The nurse said as she passed by. Both Clark and Pete turned to stare at her.

"Why yes, yes we are." Clark said. "Do you know him?"

"Oh yes I was his night nurse when he was in here last week. I only remember him because of the remarkable recovery he made after being hurt so bad. Oh but you know what I really can't talk about that can I. Anyway if you boys see him again be sure to tell him that Nurse Becky hopes he is feeling 100 percent again."

"Oh defiantly, we'll pass that along to him." Clark said trying to sound convincing.

"Well you boys have a good night then, your friend in here is going to be just fine." She smiled and sauntered off back to the nurse's station.

As Nurse Becky left Clark started to put some off the pieces together.

"Something had to have happened to him to expose him to meteor rocks somehow Pete. That would explain why my hand went numb when I hit him in the alleyway and when I touched Chloe's neck. Everything seemed to start after the tornado and when Chris got hurt. We need to find to out what happened to him. Let's try and find the records room and see if I can get in there." Clark looked at Pete.

Chloe was one of his best friends, there was no way he was stepping aside when it came to finding out what had happened to her.

"Lead the way."

10 minutes later

They had found the records room easily enough, the door was plainly marked, but it was protected by a key card reader so they would have to find a key in order to get in. Luckily that was easy enough too. Clark found a doctors lab coat hanging near a nurse's station. It was easy to get with Clark's speed but the records room door was in a high traffic area. Even with Clark's speed they still had to key the door open and someone was bound to notice it opening and closing. They needed a distraction and Pete Ross was just the man.

"You sure your up for this Pete?" Clark asked.

"Don't worry man, piece of cake. How hard could it possibly be to walk down a hall and make a lot of noise." He grinned.

"Ok, well whenever your ready. Remember I'll meet you in the cafeteria afterwards."

Pete surveyed the hallway trying to decided the best course. He layed his eyes on his target. Slapping Clark on the chest he gave him a smile and said "Wish me luck."

Clark watched him go. He was leaning against the wall about 5ft down from the records room door. He had the key card hidden in the palm of his hand. He watched Pete slowly walk down the hallway, all of a sudden he tripped and fell right into a large cart carrying metal food trays. The sound was, if nothing else, loud. All eyes turned to look at the mess and people started coming up to see what the problem was. In a flash Clark was against the front of the records door. He pressed the key card to the lock, the light turned green and he quickly swooped inside.

The room was dark but with his enhanced vision he could clearly see through the darkness so he didn't bother turning on the light, one less thing to notice. Looking up and down the aisles Clark spied what he was after. At the back end of the room was a computer terminal and printer. "Bingo!" he thought. He sat down and turned the monitor on. The machine was an access terminal to the records mainframe and as such was never turned off. As the screen came up he noticed that it wasn't protected either. 'Thats weird. But I guess the outer door was supposed to be enough." He started a basic search and quickly came across Voss's name. Hitting the print key and grabbing what came out he returned the room to it original state and went to the door. Switching his vision to the x-ray spectrum he peered into the hallway. The nurse's and orderly's were just finishing cleaning up the mess. With a breath he turned the door knob and zipped out of the room with a breeze.

They sat in a back corner of the cafeteria trying not to be noticed. Clark layed the copy of Voss's records out in front of them.

"Looks like he was admitted into the hospital on the day of the tornado with a bad cut on his arm. He must have been out there along time because the report says he had lost a lot of blood."

"That sounds terrible." Pete said.

"Yeah I know. They administered a blood transfusion but at first it didn't take. Apparently he has some kind of really rare blood type. They didn't have it in stock at first and it says that he actually died for a few minutes in the operating room."

"He was dead?"

"Yeah, for three minutes. But it looks like they had just gotten a matching donor in that afternoon and were able to find it and administer it along with getting his heart started again. That has to be the key Pete."

"What do you mean Clark?" He said not quite getting it.

"Something must have been wrong with that rare blood type transfusion they gave him. If it was infected somehow by the meteor rocks that might explain whats been going on. Voss's need for blood, why he killed the rabbit, Marsden and almost Chloe. They gave the blood to him while he was still technically dead Pete. Who knows what kind of effect meteor tainted blood would have on him in that state."

They sat there trying to comprehend everything that was going on.

"So he really is a vampire?" Pete said.

"Looks like it. Although not your everyday vampire."

"Everyday vampire?" Pete looked at Clark questioningly.

"You know what I mean. We need to find someway to stop him."

"What we need to do first, is find him."