Clark's eyes narrowed and Lois saw the sudden interest in them. Clark had been in the dark about his origins, and this demon might be able to answer some of the questions which had been hounding him for his entire life.

“Can you tell me why I…” Glancing at Lois he shook his head. “What about Jimmy?”

“They're going to try to make a trade.” Lorne said. “Don't do it.”

“What do we have that she wants?” Lois asked. It took her a moment, and then she looked at Clark. “Oh.”

“What would happen if she gets him,” Lois asked.

“If she could control him, the intimidation factor would give her a lot of leverage; get a lot of unaligned demons to follow her.”

If Lois was the thing demon children feared, Clark was the thing that terrified their parents.

“His wife was having babies.” Lorne winced. “He was going to say goodbye.”

Lois was going to question this, but at the look on his face, decided that she didn't want to know.

“The blood never comes off,” Lorne said. “Most demons don't care, but things with souls do.”

Lois froze. First Olaf, and now this demon. She felt a moment of panic, and her voice froze in her throat.

Everybody would know what she had done.

The guilt was bad enough, but the shame…that would be the end. Lois had talked to enough victims of violent crimes to know that sometimes the shame was the worst part…the feeling that the people you loved were never going to be able to see you the same way again.

“You have a bright and shining soul,” Lorne said. “I don't get to see many of those. These things that have been happening aren't a reflection of who you are.”

“Am I a demon, or a hellthing?” Clark asked, after the silence grew too long.

“You aren't even from this earth,” Lorne said. “You aren't remotely like a demon.”

“Then why?”

It took Lois a moment to realize that he was asking why he'd been abandoned. Where were his parents, why hadn't they wanted him?

It was another question they had in common, although Lois knew the answer to her question. Her mother had been in a bottle, and her father had been immersed in his work, or in his floozy of the week.

Clark had gotten the better deal.

“They loved you,” Lorne said. “And they had to do it.”

His arm slid around her and Lois tensed. With anyone else, she would already be pushing them away, which at her current strength might have pushed them into a wall.

“Clark?” she asked.

“Trust me.”

Lois stared up at him, and the squalor of the alley, it's strange and unsettling smells faded away. All she could see was him and the sky above them.

Although she'd dreamed of meeting a good man, a hero, Lois had given up on the dream a long time ago. The world was a thousand shades of gray and nobody was perfect. Men were flawed. Inevitably they had disappointed her.

It was so odd meeting him here and now. At the time in her life when she was the most vulnerable he was here. He had power, but he didn't abuse it. He was kind. He was competent and talented.

He'd lived the life she'd always dreamed of. He'd been loved and he surely had never felt the deep feelings of loneliness that had been her companions throughout her childhood.

It took Lois a moment to realize that she saw stars.

She clutched at Clark as she looked down.

It was beautiful. A sea of glittering lights spread out as far as the eye could see. From here, all the petty imperfections were washed away, and all she could see was the beauty.

Was this how he saw the world?

He smiled down at her nervously, and Lois sensed that this was an important moment for them both.

Clark was sharing something precious with her, something that was precious to him. She could see in his expression that he expected her to scream, to reject this.

Lois returned his smile, and while it was initially forced, it soon grew to be natural.

If she'd met him on a blind date, she never would have believed that a man could be such a perfect match for her. She'd have been convinced that he was hiding something, and she would have been trying to discover his dirty little secrets.

Now, everything was different. Whenever she looked at him, all she saw was stars.

The faster Lois could get them both away, the safer Clark would be. He'd be able to escape before the witch came to her senses.

It seemed like a perfect plan.

It wasn't until she felt a familiar feeling of paralysis stealing over her that she realized it had already failed.