The Glitter Jungle:
Fiction:
Vicious Beauty
Luthor blood. Clark/Lex, Lionel/Dominic
Pretty little fingernails grow harder and longer, nice soft little teeth become fangs. Eyes flare with an inhuman light.
Lex is no longer a child.
Elongated canines flash in Lionel's smile.
"I'm glad you could join me, son."
-=-=-=-
Lex had known since he was very young that this would happen some day. The muscles spasm in your back, not so much painfully as much as just growing, expanding. The rush of power through your arms and wrists as the claws grow and sharpen within seconds. That indescribable feeling around your eyes and then the shock of being able to see in total darkness.
The flow of strength into every cell of your body, like drinking icy liquid fire.
The need, the hunger.
The blood.
The Luthor blood inside him.
-=-=-=-
"No such thing as vampires, Lex."
Lex hid the sharpness in his smile. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Clark..."
Was it his imagination, or did the boy blush?
"I know, Lex. Still. Vampires?"
Lex took a sip from his mochaccino. "I'm just saying, Clark. It could happen."
Clark shrugged. "I think you've spent too much time in a dark and dank castle, Lex. The horror-movie-ness is ingrained in you."
Native soil, his father had said, and the family's estate. Coffins in the cellar, no, pardon, in the crypt, although Lionel had agreed that it was purely for show.
-=-=-=-
"Forget all that nonsense about sunlight and garlic, son." Lionel sighed. "Vampires are nothing like those creatures in fairy tales."
He had hated those tedious lessons as a child, just like he had hated the lessons about business in later years. But now he understood. They were necessary, essential for his survival.
"We come from a long and distinguished line of vampires, Lex, and I'd appreciate it if you stop making faces behind my back, and try to listen."
He was only six. The thought of his father with long, Dracula-like teeth made him laugh.
Until he saw them.
-=-=-=-
Lionel hadn't let Lex see him feed until he was eighteen. He had promised Lillian that the child would be as sheltered as possible. Lex was taught everything, but only in theory.
The shock wasn't what he expected it to be; maybe because by that age he believed his father to be capable of killing, so actually viewing the bloodletting wasn't as disturbing.
It wasn't as gory as he'd expected, either.
And death wasn't involved; only Lionel's teeth in Dominic's neck, and something about the assistant's reaction made Lex think that maybe this *should* be disturbing, for a whole other set of reasons.
"My turn now?" Lex said flippantly, and it was worth it just to see the blanched look on Dominic's face, which convinced him that indeed something was going on between Lionel and his little drone.
Lazily, Lionel licked a stray drop of blood off Dominic's cheek.
"You won't get to feed until the change occurs. You know that, Lex." He said patiently. Then his tone shifted slightly. "And even then, you won't get to touch Dominic."
We'll see about that, Lex thought.
-=-=-=-
"Do you think people just walk around drinking other people's blood?" Clark shook his head.
Lex shrugged.
"Humans do the funniest things, Clark." And why did Clark look guilty all of a sudden?
-=-=-=-
His days in Club Zero.
You don't spend your entire life learning about vampires without being interested in the myths.
All the young goths, so much makeup and Lex's unique look was a huge success. All the sex.
And the blood.
Playing vampires with his little friends, with fake fangs and little silver daggers, and the AIDS tests every three months. Lex was terrified when his father walked in on him one day. He was in bed and this boy he'd just met was sucking on a little cut on his wrist.
Lionel surveyed the scene; the kid with the long raven-black hair who was freaking out because drinking blood and fucking strangers is one thing, but being caught by a grown-up is another; Lex's unabashed nakedness, the drugs, the blood...
Lionel chuckled, turned around and left the room.
The kid stared at Lex.
"Your dad is cool."
You have no idea, Lex thought.
-=-=-=-
He's gone through the change now; he was one of the tribe. He went to Metropolis on weekends to feed.
The myth about killing a human being every night and draining him completely of blood?
"How do you propose one would make so many bodies disappear, Lex?"
Lex hadn't thought of it, but he wouldn't admit that to his father.
"You only need a little bit of blood, and you can go without for almost a month before it starts... to hurt." Something about the shudder in Lionel's voice suggested he knew more about that than he wanted to, and Lex filed away that information.
-=-=-=-
"It's best if you find a mate; someone who would always be near you in case you're in the mood for... a light snack." Lionel cast a look at the door which led to the outside office, where Dominic sat and worked. Lex wondered if a fully grown vampire can see through walls. "Better be someone you care about," Lionel admitted reluctantly.
Lex wanted it so to be Clark, but knew it would never be possible. Lionel had let him read the Clark Kent confidential file a few hours after his change ended.
"You don't have to worry about your mate running to the press. The bond between you won't allow it."
Lex thought back about all the people he'd done weird things to and with, wondering how many of them his dad had to buy off to keep them from telling the world.
"Your mother..." Lionel hesitated, wondering if he should tell Lex or not. "Your mother had Pamela."
Everything fell into place. Including the reason Lionel had kicked Pamela out the minute Lillian was gone.
"You will find someone. There's no rush; you're only 25." Lionel grinned and rested his hand on Lex's shoulder in what passed for fatherly reassurance in their family. "I was over 35 when I met your mother."
Lex wonders if Lionel had Dominic while Lillian was still alive.
Eventually, he asks.
"I hadn't fed on anyone else while I was with your mother." Lionel says, his expression hard. Later he tells his son about the strength in drinking from a vampiress as powerful as she was. About the months of hunger during her illness.
Lex feels closer to his monster of a father than he ever did.
-=-=-=-
"Would you want to be a vampire?" Clark ventures.
Lex almost chokes on his drink.
"Live forever, stay young?"
Lex recalls the Eighties.
"Sleep all day, party all night, never grow old, never die." He mutters.
"Well would you?"
Lex never had to think about it before. It was a given.
-=-=-=-
"Don't hunt what you won't eat, Lex."
Lex raises an eyebrow.
"Unlike in business," Lionel intones, "with blood you don't have to be greedy."
Lex touches his little fangs, much smaller than they were during the change, but a lot sharper than they were before it occurred. He plays with them, licks them, enjoys the feel of power in them.
"You don't want to get caught; I can't stress this enough, Lex!" his father's voice rises and Lex looks up, startled. He grins and feels the teeth in his own smile, feels the start of the rush in his fingertips.
"Money will only take you so far," Lionel says, contradicting everything Lex had learned in his short life. "You must learn to control yourself."
There is a little sparkle of golden fire in his father's glare, and Lex wonders if it had always been there and he just never noticed.
-=-=-=-
He walks the streets of Metropolis at night; thinks of all the old vampire myths, of prowling in the shadows and about harmless people passing by, unaware of the evil that lurks in the dark.
He chuckles, and enters the club. No flashing neon light above the entrance, no glamorous celebrities and semi-celebrities in expensive clothes coming there to see and be seen. Not here.
He bites a little, plays a little, careful not to be too greedy, not to be noted. Sees some familiar faces, but they don't say hello or wave to each other. Not here.
And he comes back home to Smallville, where he doesn't get to feed or to play, where he never shows his fangs, not literally and not figuratively.
Not here.
-=-=-=-
"Wanna order something?"
Lex smiled at Clark, who was eagerly ogling the menu. "No, my mochaccino is enough, thanks. But go ahead, order what you like. It's on me."
Clark scrutinised him, and for a moment, reminded him strongly of Martha Kent.
"You don't eat enough."
-=-=-=-
His first feed.
Clumsily sweeping his father's hair away from his neck, licking his own fangs nervously. He wasn't sure what to do.
Well, he knew what goes where, but still.
"Lex." Lionel turned impatient. "Blood. Now."
It made him angry. It was his first time and Lionel was in no hurry and could afford being patient and indulge him. There was no need for this tone of voice.
Long sharp claws grasping at his father's biceps, tearing the expensive fabric of his suit and drawing blood. The scent of it heated Lex's senses, and he could feel an ache in his teeth he'd never felt before, but he knew immediately what it meant.
Blood.
Now.
He could feel the skin break under his fangs before he completed the thought, and then salty and heavy liquid in his mouth, like milkshake, but not really. The feel of soft flesh under his lips, ripe with flavour and so succulent, blood coursing from beneath the surface and into his mouth. Lex savoured it, moaning as he licked around the torn tissue, sucking and slurping like he hadn't done with real food or drink since he was a little boy. Revelling in the thickness and taste of it, in the sheer power. Burying his fangs in Lionel's neck, hiding his face in the long hair that surrounded him, and drinking, and drinking.
"Lex!" His father pushed him away, and he fought back, not wanting to let go of this newfound source of heady nectar. A brief struggle between them ended with Lex on his knees at his father's chair. The wound in Lionel's neck was ripped open, bleeding profusely, but before Lex's eyes it slowly healed and closed.
"Don't be greedy. We talked about this." Lionel's shirt was soaked with blood. Lex whimpered.
An understanding shone in old vampiric eyes. "I know." Lionel caressed his son's head, his voice softer than usual. "Your first time."
And that's why he only ate in private during those first few weeks. Only from Lionel, only when they were alone in the room. Learning to control the blood lust, learning to stop in time, gradually learning how to keep the gash as small as possible, not to leave a visible mark above the shirt line.
Clutching his father close and suckling, feeling safe and warm and maybe even loved. He felt like a newborn at his mother's breast. And it was very much the same, wasn't it?
-=-=-=-
"Your dad spends a lot of time in Smallville lately." Clark said. Not that he had a problem with it; but it was unusual.
"We get along better nowadays." Lex smiled
-=-=-=-
"It's completely different, with the Others." Lionel had always called those who were not like the Luthors, not vampires, 'the Others'. He smiled at Dominic, and then turned to look directly at Lex. "Doesn’t feel the same, doesn't taste the same, and you shouldn't act the same."
Lex stepped forward, hesitantly.
His father growled. Lex backed off, and Lionel calmed, canines retreating and posture relaxing. Dominic was still nervous and uncomfortable in Lex's presence, but he relaxed a bit when Lionel held his hand.
"I'll just show you with Dominic; then I'll take you to a club in Metropolis, and you can find someone there."
Lex wondered if the softness, the tenderness in Lionel's touch, was something to be done with all the Others or if it was just something you did with someone you cared about. The vicious Luthor touched his assistant's short hair gently, wrapped an arm around Dominic's frame and only then bit down on the offered throat.
Dominic's eyes fell shut and a smile spread on his face. Lionel was right; it was completely different with the Others.
-=-=-=-
And one time they did get greedy.
His father took him to meet Victoria Hardwick. She commented something about father and son, suggested they should all get together some time.
"What a novel idea."
Lionel smiled at his son. Teeth flashed and Lex was not ready for this, not until after, when they were both sitting on the floor, covered in red.
Lionel called someone on his cellular phone.
"...To clean up after us."
He turned to Lex, smiling.
"You won't get to do this often, son. Enjoy it while you can."
Lex looked at the drained body at his feet. It didn't look like the Victoria he knew; it was just an empty plate.
One he and his father had shared.
-=-=-=-
Living with your dad is not all about blood and bonding.
Lex shut the door behind him and leaned against it, taking a deep breath. Then he walked down the hall and away from the office in which his dad was flat on the desk with Dominic pounding into him.
Lock the door next time, dad, he ranted to himself.
-=-=-=-
The pain inside him, dark and sharp, clawing at his ribcage from within.
He couldn't go to Metropolis this weekend because of business; forgot to go that weekend because he'd been busy; another weekend Clark asked him to stay and attend a party. The fourth weekend he had prior obligations.
He was starving. He couldn't cope with the pain. His fingers trembled at the dial, and he fought his need to call daddy to get him out of this.
It *hurt*.
It hurt so much. Lex bit his own wrist experimentally.
That hurt too, although not so bad. He couldn't feed on that, but at least it distracted him from the hunger.
He couldn't drive to Metropolis, he knew that. His hands were shaking too much, his vision blurred.
He picked up the phone, and dialed.
"Clark?"
"Hmm? Lex? What time is it?"
"Clark, I need you. Come here. Quick."
-=-=-=-
"You're a *what*?!"
Lex was scratching all over, biting on his own fingers and wrists. "A vampire. You heard. Don't act so damn surprised, Clark. I *need* you."
"I..." Clark looked at the claws, the fangs marring the beautiful features he knew so well. "What can I do?"
"Blood." Lex licked his lips around the word, savouring its sound in his mouth. At Clark's shocked look he added, "Just a tiny bit, Clark. A tiny, tiny bit... you know I can't hurt you anyway... please."
"Um." Clark wondered how to tell Lex he can't bite or cut him when he realised what Lex had said. "Can't hurt me... anyway?"
"Clark? Later!" Lex was almost twisting in his chair, unable to sit still when he could smell all that blood flowing, so close to him, yet so unreachable.
"Later," Clark agreed.
He looked at his own fingernails doubtfully. And then he tried scratching them over the skin of his arm.
Long red lines appeared, but the skin wasn't broken. He tried again, and drew some blood. Before he could attempt a third time, Lex was in his lap, holding the bleeding arm to his mouth and licking at it hungrily.
"Clark," He moaned into the fast healing flesh. "I need more."
It didn't taste like other people's blood, and Lex wondered briefly if it was because he cared for Clark or because the boy was indeed nothing like other people.
Alien blood. The thought hit him as the side effects did. He bit on the soft flesh of Clark's arm, and his teeth pierced the skin and allowed for a free flow of blood which lasted for a few moments before the skin healed.
Lex is no longer hungry.
-=-=-=-
"How did you do that?"
Lex smiles, baring sharp teeth. "Don't know," he says, leaning his head on Clark's shoulder.
"You said you can't hurt me."
"I think the blood..."
"You know."
There's no need for any more words. Lex, more in control now that he's fed, is silent.
Clark repeats it, quietly, disbelieving.
"You know."
-=-=-=-
"A vampire and an alien. It's rather poetic... in a Smallville sort of way."
Lionel watched the live video feed of the fight his son had with Clark. He thought to interfere, but Dominic stopped him.
"The boy needs to learn..." Dominic trailed off. Lionel understood without words. And agreed.
-=-=-=-
"I told you my secret."
"Because you needed something from me!" Clark was furious.
"I would've told you eventually. Besides, if my lie was not telling you I knew, then you must remember yours was not telling me in the first place."
Clark roared, and charged. Lex evaded him easily; he didn't have superhuman speed, but he did have the natural vampire grace Clark lacked.
"Are you afraid of the truth, Clark? Of knowing you fucked up so much worse than I did?" He didn't expect another charge and was not ready for it; a hand stronger than steel gripped his already-healed wrist.
"All this time you knew, and your father knew. And you let me..." Clark growled, at a loss of words. Something in his senses awoke at the call of the wild; the beast that Lex had become allowed Clark to let his own beast loose.
A fire in the vampire's eyes answered his growl; glistening canines revealed in a mute howl. After that, all Clark knew was the hard body beneath his, the taste of blood in his mouth, the feel of the soft flesh of Lex's neck giving in under his teeth. The quiet scream, the sheer power in Lex's transformed body as the man bucked under him.
Clark sat back, panting. Tearing his shirt off, he scratched his own chest viciously, letting drops of blood appear all over the smooth surface of his skin. Lex attacked him now, his wild snarls drowning in Clark's torso as the droplets of red were quickly licked away and absorbed, the power in them used to open the wounds further, Lex's teeth slashing at flesh no longer invulnerable.
Don't be greedy.
Lex moved back, gasping for breath.
"Clark..."
The skin was smooth and unmarked again; but the eyes were still wild, the voice still a continuous growl.
"Clark, I..." Lex found himself flat on his back on the plush carpet, his clothes torn off him, and the growl in Clark's voice was no longer about blood.
It was a different sort of hunger.
-=-=-=-
"Come to bed; it's time to turn the cameras off." Dominic motioned for Lionel to follow him.
"They're beautiful," Lionel mused. "Like animals."
"Lionel. Bed."
-=-=-=-
Even with his fast healing, the bruises would last a day or two. Lex ran his fingers over the welts and abrasions, grinning.
"Sorry."
He glanced at Clark. "No need to be sorry, Clark," he purred.
"You *like* this?" Clark looked at the marks, disbelieving.
Lex chuckled. "Which part of my previous reaction made you think I *don't* like it?"
The low continuous growl started again. Lex looked at Clark in the mirror, startled.
The sound intensified.
-=-=-=-
"I should probably get home." Clark said, regretfully.
Lex couldn't even find the strength to wave his hand. His tongue tried licking around a very dry mouth.
"They'd be worried about me. I said I was going to a friend's place. But they'd be worried."
Lex tried to say goodbye but couldn't quite manage.
"I'll come back this afternoon, okay?" Clark smiled and kissed Lex on the forehead. "Will you be up by then?"
Lex looked down at his own cock. He didn't think he'd be up by next year, but who knows. Fast vampire healing and so on.
"Bye, Lex!"
-=-=-=-
"Where have you been all night?!"
"Lex's." Clark smiled, baring his teeth unknowingly.
Something radiated from him that prevented Jonathan from asking more.
-=-=-=-
"I take it you and the boy made up?"
Lex's response was something between a growl and a purr. He flipped over to lie on his back, scratching his stomach lazily and grinning.
"That's nice."
-=-=-=-
"Where are you going?"
"Lex's."
"You were there all night!" Jonathan was angry, Martha was worried.
"Well, that was like, *nine* whole hours ago!"
The door slowly closed. Clark was already gone.
-=-=-=-
Everything looks so different in broad daylight.
"Lex?... Oh."
Clark stopped at the sight. A sunny afternoon in the garden, all flowers and green, Lionel's teeth deep in his assistant's bare shoulder, and blood dripping.
"I'll come back later," he blurted.
Dominic smiled at him pleasantly. The whole scene was surreal.
"Lex is upstairs."
Just like a normal date with a normal person, only the normal parent telling him where Lex was had a mouth full of sharp fangs and blood.
"Um, thanks, Mr. Luthor."
Clark bolted.
-=-=-=-
"Um, Lex? Your dad is biting someone in the garden."
"Dominic. And yeah, I know. Those two have *no* concept of privacy."
Of all possible reactions, this was not what Clark had expected.
-=-=-=-
Lex's skin is cooler than ice cream and warmer than the sun.
Clark might not know real poetry like Lex, but he knows pop songs. And Lex seems to be burning from the inside while his skin has eternal A/C so Clark drifts with the metaphors.
And licks.
And bites.