Chapter 14

Into the Parlor:

"Or he could be right here."

Their eyes met and they both looked up.

As though a switch had been flipped the sun silently set behind a hill to the west. Pete and Clark both stared up into the trees trying to see where the voice had come from. The forest was dark but Clark's vision went beyond merely x-ray. He could clearly make out Christopher Voss crouching on a tree branch almost thirty feet off the ground.

Pete followed Clark's gaze and they both stared into the darkness. Voss stood up and started walking back and forth. The tree branch was easily thick enough to support his weight but what worried him was that even though the branch was only 4 inches wide, he strode across it like he was walking down the street.

"Welcome to my parlor Clark. I so rarely get to entertain visitors, at least for very long." He gave a small smile and jumped almost ten feet to another branch.

"Clark?" Pete said the fear evident in his voice.

"Just remember what I said earlier Pete." Clark tried to be reassuring. It was hard trying to keep the fear out of his own voice though.

"So I have to ask myself what you think you are hoping to accomplish by coming here." Voss said staring down at them. "It doesn't matter though."

"Chris, you have to come with us. Your sick and you've hurt a lot of people."

"Oh I am beyond sick Clark. Way beyond. There's no need to play these games anymore. I know I'm dead. I know this is Hell." His smile faded.

"Chris you're not dead. You're just sick; you've been infected by the meteor rocks. You have to let us-" But Voss screamed back

"Let you what Clark? Help me? Save me? Heal me? Why? I understand now and I accept it. It's much easier to bare the pain if you just accept it. In fact it is actually quite enlightening."

Like a rock he plummeted to the ground, landing squarely on his feet. He looked up at the two of them, then smile back. He sauntered towards them. Clark tried to prepare himself for whatever Voss might do. As much as he wanted to break Voss in half for what he did to Chloe he knew that it wasn't really his fault. It was the meteor rocks.

"I've embraced the darkness Clark." He moved liked the wind. One moment he was twenty feet away the next he was on top of Clark, pinning him to the rocks behind him, one hand around his throat.

Clark had seen him move, Voss was fast now, but not as fast as Clark. What startled him though was when he grabbed his throat. The instant Voss touched him pain erupted in Clark's head. He could barely choke a breath into his lungs. It was like a vice around his neck, green tendrils emanating out from Voss's fingers.

"There is something different about you Clark; I don't know what it is." He looked him up and down taking a deep breath. "I know, you smell...different. Why is that Clark? What's different about you?" He trailed a finger down the side of Clark's neck. It was like a knife slicing into him.

Pete hoped that Voss's attention was fixed. He moved behind Voss as un-menacingly as possible. Bending down he picked up a fallen tree branch. As he straightened up he swung at Voss's head, hoping to catch Voss as surprised as possible. It almost worked.

Voss's free hand shot out and caught the branch before it impacted. He turned his head slowly to look at Pete.

"Don't worry Pete I'll get to you in just a moment." He twisted the branch hard and jerked it out of Pete's hands. Spinning it sideways he swung it into Pete's chest. The impacted knocked him back onto the ground, all the air knocked out of him.

He smiled turning his head back to Clark "Now Clark, please I must know." Was all he got out.

It took all of his strength under the Kryptonite induced torture but he managed to grab a handful of dirt and leaves from the rock he was pinned against. As Voss turned his head back towards Clark he flung his hand right at his face.

Voss coughed and let go. Instantly the pain left him. He still felt weak but his strength was coming back fast. Voss was coughing and rubbing his eyes; Clark looked to Pete and knew they had to get out. In a flash he moved, grabbing Pete and racing away as fast as he could.

Voss wiped the dirt out of his eyes and picked a leaf from his hair. Turning back he said "That's not very nice Clark." He looked around, they were gone.

'Ah well' he thought as he bent down to pick up a small flat rock. 'They're not who I wanted anyway.'

"Clark we are in some serious trouble here. What happened back there?" Pete said when Clark stopped running after about 5 miles

Clark fell to the ground, trying to catch his breath. He was still feeling the after effects of Voss's touch.

"I don't know Pete. It was like he was holding a piece of meteor rock in his hand. That's the only thing that's ever had that kind of effect on me." Clark was rubbing his throat. "This is bad Pete. If he has this effect on me whenever he touches me I don't know if we can beat him."

"Is there anyway to counter the effect that the meteor rock has on you?" Pete asked.

"Not unless I want to fight him in a lead suit." Clark said dejectedly.

"You know we have another problem." Pete said.

"What's that?"

"We don't know where he's going. I mean you can zip around the city looking for him but what do we do when we find him? If you can't even grab him to hold him till the cops get there he could easily kill a bunch of people and now it looks like he is looking forward to it." Pete was getting frustrated.

"We just have to find someway to incapacitate him till a swat team or something can get there." Clark rubbed his neck absently checking to make sure there was no permanent damage.

"I know he's a vampire Clark but I don't think garlic or holy water is going to stop him and we can't exactly wait till the sun comes up."

They sat in silence for a few moments and then it came to him.

"I have an idea Pete but it's a little risky and I am going to need your help."

"Any plan, at this point is good plan Clark. What is it?" Clark told him.

"Your insane. You can't possibly think that's a good idea."

"No I don't think it's a good idea, but do we have any other option?" Clark asked.

Pete sighed "Alright you know I got your back. Where do we go from here?"

"First we check on Chloe. Then we find Voss."