-- Chapter 24 -- A Moment to Trust --

An obscenely low cut emerald body suit covered Aisllin's generous smooth curves. With a critical eye to her reflection, she added chains of gold and platinum. She needed to look prosperous and polished for this meeting with Laluc. The bastard would try to take her priceless discovery away if he thought he could, but she could never arrange the auction without his help. An auction for one of the rarest commodities in the universe, a live Kryptonian, it was still hard to believe her good fortune.

After a cautious peek into her spare bedroom to confirm her Kryptonian's continued slumber, Aisllin locked the bedroom door behind her. A delicate ring-chime filled the room and she rushed over to the door. Composing herself before opening the door, she fluffed her spiky hair and jangled her jewelry. A wave from her hand set the door sliding open and she smiled seductively at the alien on her doorstep.

Laluc wasn't tall, standing barely four feet high. His gentle violet skin was covered in yellow speckles. He held up a hand, partially webbed with only three fingers and a long highly articulated thumb. "You called angel?" His broad fish-like eyes stared up at her unblinking. "I came just as soon as I could get away."

Aisllin rubbed at her visitor's slick head and dropped down to one knee. "I do appreciate you darling, Laluc. I need your help. Could you, perhaps, organize an auction, the kind a real Sorian would attend? It would be a personal favor, and I would be very grateful," Aisllin purred.

Like a predator scenting blood, Laluc's mind clicked into active mode. "You have a rare alien specimen? What species? Is it intelligent? Maybe, is it a good pet species? I need to know a few things so I can get the right bidders together." He leaned into Aislinn's rhythmic stroking of his scalp. "I do have a reputation. If I bring a Finnian to the wrong auction, I could lose a thumb and future business."

"I can't tell you the species, but it is intelligent. The serious collectors will be interested." Aislinn intensified the massage to Laluc's scalp over-stimulating his pleasure centers.

With lightning speed rivaling Clark's own, Laluc seized Aislinn's hand. The whore thought she could use him? "Don't try to play me, girl. You know the species, you tell me," he hissed.

Aislinn had been afraid of this. He wasn't going to let this go with a vague description or a few head rubs. She'd have to offer him a percentage. "I'll give you ten percent, it's my best offer," she hissed.

"Straight to a percentage? Is it that valuable then, girl?" Laluc said. "Tell me the SPECIES!"

Goddess help her, Aislinn struggled, trying to free herself from Laluc's grip. She could feel the sticky secretion of neurotoxins seeping from his pores. The son of a... Let her brain turn to jelly or give him the information? "Damn you. Stop, you don't have to do this. He's a Kryptonian, a real one. I swear it's true."

Laluc didn't let go or let up. "If he is a Kryptonian, he's worth quite a bit, but I doubt you have him speciated correctly. Intelligent bipeds are in high demand whatever the species. Either way, I don't see that I need you, angel."

The poison was burning its way up her arm, and she couldn't break Laluc grip. "No! You genetic throwback!" Wildly, she beat at his head and neck, her fists making no headway against the thick armor immediately under his skin. Her vision started to blur. Aislinn barred her teeth and spat at her murderer. Then, out of nowhere, she was free.

"Don't touch her, you freak."

Aislin's vision cleared and she was gifted with a unique sight. Her extra bedroom's door was resting on the wrong side of the room, and dearest Laluc, suspended by his neck in the center of her living room, was gasping for air. Clark had looked exquisite and appealing when she'd seen him in the alleyway, but standing there empowered and defending her, he was a God. For an instant, she was tempted to keep him. "You need me, Laluc," Aislinn whispered. She used a different language, a street version of Galactic Standard that hopefully Clark wouldn't understand. "He trusts me, and you'll never contain him without me. Do you still doubt his heritage?" Switching languages, Aislinn rose slowly. "Clark, he's a customer of mine, and he got a little out of control. He's sorry. Aren't you Laluc, dear?"

"A customer?" Clark whispered. He had heard the fight despite being deeply asleep, and instinctively he'd focused his eyes to look through the door. Protecting his friend hadn't been a hard decision. "What is it you do, Aislinn?"

"I'm in service, specialized," Aislinn said. "It is an honorable profession."

Clark placed the alien he'd been subduing on the ground and stepped back. "Could you be more specific? Maybe it's my screwy memory, but I don't know what you mean by that."

Silly innocent... "I'm a courtesan," Aislinn said.

Laluc laughed hoarsely at that comment and shrugged. "Loosely defined, maybe. Courtesan implies education and refinement that you only aspire to."

Aislinn turned a cold stare his way and barred her teeth. "I suggest you reconsider your attacks, Laluc. That is if you wish to remain partners."

Clark watched the interchange between these two beings skeptically. Laluc, or whoever he was, seemed dangerous and angry. "Are you sure you're okay with him?"

"Give me a solar cycle to set things up," Laluc said. He used street Galactic Standard, following Aislinn's lead. Inside he was seething. A doxy from the street was dictating terms to him. This girl didn't know who she'd picked a fight with. "Ten percent is acceptable..." for the moment.

Clark watched Laluc until the door closed behind him, and he crossed his arms over his chest. He turned a possessive look toward Aislinn. "I don't like him at all."

"It isn't about liking the customers. It is about getting paid for your work," Aislinn said. She patted Clark's arm went to her sink to scrub what she could of the toxin off her skin. "Laluc always pays, and in the end that makes him a good customer."

"He was killing you, though, wasn't he? This courtesan business seems a little dangerous," Clark said. "You should be more careful." His one and only friend had almost gotten herself killed and she was acting like it was nothing. It was something to him though. Maybe it was selfish, but he needed her.

Aislinn nodded and turned to grin down at Clark, inspiration striking. "You could protect me. I've never had a bodyguard." It would be something to keep her pet busy until the deal with the auction came through, and a way to keep her safe. It was brilliant. "Fair trade, room and board in exchange for your bodyguarding skills. I was planning to offer to train you as a courtesan, but with your strength." She pointed to her crumpled bedroom door. "I would feel so very safe with you watching over me."

Clark nodded, his posture straightening unconsciously. It was the first thing that had felt right since waking up with no memories. He could be a bodyguard, a protector. "If you think I'd make a better bodyguard than a courtesan? Well, you would know. I could protect you. I'd be honored."


Marble steps leading up to arched mahogany doors, Lex's house had the distinct air of a medieval church. Chloe could almost imagine that she was back in the Middle Ages coming to confession, when climbing those steps. She wasn't here to confess though. She was here to lie. Chloe pushed her self-disgust aside and tried to focus on the task at hand.

Without bothering to use the doorbell, Chloe slipped through the front door. She knew where she was going, and the housekeeper always made her nervous. Through the museum quality beauty and up the gently curving staircase, Chloe crept quietly. It was easy to move silently as long as you stayed on the thick oriental rugs and off the shiny marble or wood.

The door to Lex's office was just barely ajar, and Chloe ducked her head around. The speech she planned to deliver was on the tip of her tongue, but Lex was asleep. With his head lolled forward resting on his chest, he almost looked like a child, tired from playing. The dark circles under his eyes weren't childlike though. His normally immaculate attire was rumpled and wrinkled.

Chloe frowned and hesitated over the threshold. He looked so exhausted like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders. And she was here to lie to him, to shut him out. It didn't feel right or fair. Lex cared about Clark as much as anyone else. He'd spent the GNP of a small country looking for him. Didn't that count for anything? Were the Kents planning to keep their secrets forever?

"Hello," Lex said. His voice barely carried above a whisper and he sat up straight.

Chloe met Lex's gray green eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She'd been so busy contemplating how unfair things were that she'd missed Lex's awakening. He didn't seem childlike or innocent when he stared like that. "Hi, Lex. Didn't want to wake you there. Sorry for sneaking up on you."

"Not a problem," Lex said. "I was just getting a few things in order and losing my fight with a bit of jet lag. What can I do for you?" It had become a knee jerk reaction with Lex, when he saw Chloe he tried to guess what new hair-brained scheme she'd devised to find Clark. Today he'd just thought about Fisk, and what he was going to do about the knowledge that man had brought to the table. Chloe, like Clark, would not approve of extortion, and Fisk was her discovery.

I'm going to lie to him. "Actually, I came by to..." ...lie to you...I can't do it. I can't stand here and tell him I think Clark's dead and that I'm going to Metropolis for the summer. I can't. "The truth is..." I can't tell you the truth. I promised, and it isn't my secret. "I'm going to Metropolis, Lex. I called my sponsor at the Daily Planet and they hadn't called the first alternate for my internship." Chloe walked forward and took the seat across from Lex. She pulled the chair as close as she could. "I can't tell you why I'm going. I can't tell you the truth. You deserve the truth, and I think you should ask for it."

The truth? The fogginess clinging to Lex's brain was gone with a rush of adrenaline. What had Chloe discovered? "What do you know? You can tell me, Chloe. After we've worked together on this for so long, I thought we were a team."

It was hard to deny Lex something as little as the truth when he was looking so perfectly handsome and earnest. Chloe felt tears swimming in her eyes. How had Clark ever gone through his life like this, lying to everyone? "That's just it. I didn't discover this one. It isn't my secret to tell." How much could she say without breaking confidence with the Kents? She'd already broken with the spirit of her promise to guard Clark's secret. Damn it, they didn't get to guard this secret forever. They weren't the only people who loved Clark. "The Kents know more about what happened to Clark than they ever let on. I think you should ask them some hard questions, and don't stop until you get some real answers. You deserve the truth. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't be here." Chloe rose and offered Lex her hand.

The Kents know more than they've ever let on. The Kents...the liars...Lex felt anger, cool and strong, spring to life inside him. All this time, not knowing, searching, working with them, helping them, and Martha and Jonathan were lying to him. How dare they lie to him? They took his help, smiled to his face, and... The words failed him. He was just so angry. Lex stared at Chloe's proffered hand and contemplated refusing it. She wouldn't come clean for him, but she hadn't lied either. Rising slowly, Lex took Chloe's hand. "Working with you, was an unexpected pleasure, Ms. Sullivan." Nothing in his face or eyes thawed the cool words. It was a dismissal, but not a total rejection.

Had she done the right thing? Chloe was suddenly filled with doubts. Lex Luthor might not take the truth the right way. The cold young man who'd replaced her friend might respond with cruelty and anger. Who was the real Lex: the boy who held her when she was having a breakdown or the man staring at her like she was a bug? How had she forgotten what Luthor meant? Chloe didn't give voice to her doubts. She turned and walked away. Maybe it wasn't a mistake? Without looking over her shoulder once, Chloe walked away from Lex and his home. She was afraid to look back, afraid of the shadows that might stare at her from those beautiful eyes.