slayers_desire | taking Clark to Rome

The Demoness does attempt to get a little closer, where the pheromones could do their work. She is going to be surprised that Clark won't notice. As for April, it just fuels her desires to mark her territory.

"Good. I think that is all I wanted to show you here. Ready to go home with me?"

Clark notices her moving, but doesn't pay any special attention to her. He still hasn't connected her behavior, or April's, with himself.

So he's a little surprised that she wants to leave so soon. "All right." He looks a little puzzled, but he'll follow her lead.

Taking Clark's hand, they turn to leave. And the Demoness is right there. In full attraction mode the creature is about to offer Clark a drink when April growls softly. Her eyes flashing red.

It should be easy to connect the behaviour now.

Somewhat inanely, Clark's thought processes jump straight to nature documentary footage where two rivals fight for the right to mate with another. Which isn't far off, except that he's already made his choice and wasn't even aware of the demoness's interest until now.

"Sorry, we were just leaving," he says, without a hint of falling under her influence.

April's instincts are close to that fight for her mate stage. And she can't help but smile at the Demoness' reaction that Clark is not interested. especially since that never happened for the Demoness before.

Fortuantely the Demoness backs off. Giving April and Clark the ability to leave without causing a scene.

Getting out to the fresh air helps to clear April's sense. Her eyes are returning back to their normal hue. And she relaxs. "Thats better."

Clark isn't sure whether that was just normal hands-off-bitch-he's-mine behavior, or if something else was going on, but he has a feeling he's missing something important. Especially since the demoness looked so surprised. "What just happened?"

"Pheromones. That particular Demon uses them to attract a suitable mate. It set off my..." April pauses, not really sure what to call it. "My petty jealous side."

Clark's flattered that she feels protective of him like that, and smiles a little. "Good thing that's another thing I'm invulnerable to, huh? She's not the first pheromone-manipulator to try to get her hands on me."

"It is your irresistable alien-genes I guess." April forces a slight laugh. She still feels bad about being possessive of him. She knows how Alicia had been and doesn't want to be like that.

And its tough at times, he had so much prior contact to other females. Connections made with Lana and Chloe that have transformed into close friendships. The annoying presence of Lana that could develop into something more. And other females who have been in her life that she learns about.

"Oh good. I guess then you were just naturally attracted to me." April jokes about having those sorts of abilities herself. Which she doesn't.

Clark isn't even thinking about Alicia. April's protectiveness stems from wanting to keep him safe and happy. Alicia's obsession was focused on possessing him like a trophy, a prize to be stolen and locked away. Though they may look vaguely similar, their attitudes and personalities are as different as oil and water, as are their motivations.

"Darn. Guess you're stuck with me," he teases her back. "The spell's not going to wear off."

They are in a private enough location that April is able to turn, gently grasp the edge of his shirt, and leans close. "And you are stuck with me."

Then kisses him. Softly. No signs of any latent possessiveness.

When she pulls him closer, he puts his arms around her in a loose embrace, his hands resting on her lower back. Though he's not one for public displays of passion - except when he's on red kryptonite - he feels secure enough to respond, returning her kiss with confidence and appreciation.

"I think I can handle that," he says with a smile, once they pull back a little.

The sensation of confidence from Clark sparks back those feelings of want and desire. April has to take a breath.

"Lets return to that library. There are some books I want to show you." She takes his hand, opting for just displays of affection instead of passion.

After walking back up to the villa, she explains something about the books. "A lof of the older books are written in older languages. But Rain has this computer translator and I don't think he will mind us using it."

"Oh, good. I only speak two languages and I doubt you've got any Kryptonian volumes." Although now his mind is stuck on the thought... is there a Krypton in this universe? Perhaps one that wasn't destroyed, and so his counterpart was never sent here. He has no way to know for sure, not unless he got his hands on an extraordinarily powerful professional telescope.

"I would not know, since I can't read much Kryptonian. I just know strength and soul. You still owe me another lesson." April points out. The Buffyverse has demons and vampires and all sorts of other creatures of the night, she is sure there would be aliens out there too.

"I am fortunate I can read one Demon language. And Latin. Learning Spanish now." And all of this was mostly self-taught.

The walk back to the library doesn't take long. There is less light as it gets closer to dusk, so April is glad to be inside the safe haven of the Villa. With its demon wards and protection from other creatures of the night. And she always feels protected by Clark.

Guiding him up to the second floor, April stops and closes her eyes. She starts to walk along one of the ailes of books, eyes still closed, her fingers running against book spines. Until she comes to the one she wants and pulls it out. And opening her eyes, turns to him. "This one is good."

"Remind me next time," he promises. With the circumstances surrounding her arrival in Smallville, and the attempt at normalcy since, it had completely slipped his mind. And while he doesn't know if the next time they meet will be suitable for such lighthearted things, he's hoping it will.

He trails along behind her, watching in interest how she seems to feel for which book she wants. And he's perceptive enough to know that it's not just the physical feeling that she's paying attention to. "What is it?"

"I will." When things feel right for lightheartness April will be glad to learn Kryptonian from him. And remind him about the dance she owes him.

"A history on the Scourge (http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/The_Scourge)." April hands the tome to him. "In our dimension, they were quite resourceful during the Second World War. When they were allies with an evil human known as Hitler."

Clark carefully flips open the book, handling it with the care that lifelong book-lovers tend to display, leafing through the pages. But he looks up when she mentions their ally. "So very much not nice people." Though he's only appeared to glance at a few pages from the book, each glance incorporated him reading the entire page at speed. "They definitely sound like his kind of folks."

"While Hitler was working to destroy the Jewish, the Scourge used their own concentration camps to destroy any half-demons they found." April watches his care with interest. Knowing that he respects books the same way she does connects them further.

There is a brief history of their rise and fall during the War. And how they came back to Los Angeles to attempt to destroy half-breeds again, which was prevented by a hero named Doyle. And of course some information on their strengths, their culture and their mentality.

Though he handles the book with care, he pages through it rapidly, eyes resting on each page for only a moment before moving on. Between speeding up his perception and a photographic memory, he memorizes the contents of the book within minutes.

"They must've picked their name because they thought it was ironic," he comments, sounding a little disgusted. He's run into some nasty pieces of work, but genocidal racists is something he doesn't have a lot of experience with. Especially in organized groups.

"They do not know irony. They called themselves what they wish to be, The Scourge." April bites her lower lip. There is information on some of their tactics used against prisoners too, like coercive mind control tactics, and using starvation and sleep deprivation to strengthen their cult.

"Fortunately, they have the same weakness as most Demons. Remove their head and they are dead."

Clark has always been taught that killing is wrong. For revenge, for justice, for anything other than immediate self-defense where it's the only option. But his parents' teachings never included something like this. The Scourge can't be taken to court. They can't be punished by a legal system. Even if they were, they'd just wait out any punishment and go right back to their old ways. They have to be stopped, and death sounds like the only option.

At the same time, he doesn't dare let himself fall into the trap of not thinking of them as people and therefore making it okay to kill. They're demonic, but so is part of April. And so is her father, and her allies, and friends. If he thinks of the Scourge as non-people, he'd have to consider her as such too. And he can never do that.

He closes the book gently, and hands it back. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You have never killed before." April respects this of Clark. She returns the book back to its place. "I don't want to be the person who forces you into something like that. It changes you. On a deep level."

"Even when what you killed was a monster, it still affects your soul."

"They can still be defeated without being killed."

"I've been responsible for death. Some of my classmates have died while fighting me, when I was trying to stop them from harming others. But all of them were accidental. I've never landed the killing blow myself." It's not the same as purposeful killing. But it doesn't mean he feels any less responsible for what happened. And he has been tempted on occasion, like when Phelan blackmailed Clark into using his abilities to steal and had his father framed for murder when he refused. Clark came within a split-second of turning that slimeball into bloody jelly that day, and only held back because he knew it would still be wrong.

"Defeated, sure. But for how long? Who else will they hurt once they recover?" There are dark places in his soul, traits drawn out by red kryptonite and condensed into the cruel, militaristic Kal-El that he briefly was. "I'm going to want to kill them." He almost already does, just thinking about what they're going to do to her.

"I too have been responsible for death." April walks through the ailes of books again, every now and then stopping to give him a new book. With his ability to read and retain so quickly, she can teach him so much about vampires. And Slayers. And witches. And werewolves.

"And once it was the killing blow." This was said quietly.

"We can send them to a Demon dimension where they can't hurt other humans. Or half-breeds. I just..." She pauses in the stacks. "I don't want you killing something because of me. No matter what state you find me in."

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