Family Portrait
By Elandria Lore

They are his Family. His Children. His Blood.

He found them almost a century apart: Clark in England, son of a poor farmer, Lana in Paris, daughter of a witch.

Clark was young: sixteen and gawky with it. Smile as bright as a sun Lex barely remembered.

He was beautiful. Magnificent. But it wasn't until Clark looked up at him with guileless green eyes, a crumpled steel blade in his hand, and shyly explained to him how he'd fallen from the heavens in a rain of fire that Lex knew his century long solitude had ended.

Lex had taken Clark's hand, kissed his palm where a scar would never lay, and said, "You were meant for me."

"Yes," he had whispered with hitching breath, eyes wide and awed. He didn't move as Lex cupped a hand around his neck, leaned closer. Shivered as Lex ran his hands through his hair and breathed deeply, hands fisted on his thighs.

Already intoxicated at the thought of Clark's blood, Lex held himself tightly, drawing out the anticipation as he nuzzled at Clark's neck, lips catching and tugging at Clark's skin. Tongue slipping out to taste - salt and heat and something other than human. He had to close his eyes at Clark's deep moan. "You," he whispered against flesh, his teeth lengthening in his mouth with an ache that he felt through his whole body, "Are mine."

Clark cried out and arched against him as Lex's teeth sunk into his neck. Body shock as his skin was pierced for the first time since falling to earth.

Lex tasted the fear and desire over the deep, heady richness of Clark's blood. He tasted strength and power; the kind he thought could only belong to one of his breed. But it wasn't the same power he tasted when he'd killed his sire. Lionel's blood had been thick and bitter, almost black. But Clark's was like purity. Like the sun. Almost blinding in it's force, and Lex fell inside of it. Reveled in it, drinking deep and long before pulling back and looking at Clark's face.

Pale, yes, but full of bliss. And when Clark's eyes opened, hazed with lust, Lex smiled, opened his throat with the edge of a blade and laid himself bare in front of his childe.

"Taste me," he said, voice ragged. "Take me inside."

Clark had. In every way, Clark had.

"Why could you touch me?" Clark had asked, years later. After they had found out that blades could not touch their skin and clubs could not bruise them. That the sun was merely an inconvenience and Holy Water just a nuisance. They could fly, of course, but were better, stronger, faster than any other vampire to ever exist. That they could shoot fire from their eyes; freeze things in place with their breaths.

That they were invincible. Gods among men.

"Why could you touch me when nothing else could?" he asked, green eyes filled with innocence, even after all of these years, along with puzzlement.

Lex captured the hand Clark had been using to trace over the pale skin of Lex's chest. Pressed a kiss to the same palm that he had kissed years before and said, "You were meant for me. You are mine."

Clark smiled silkily at the words and rolled over, pressing himself full bodied against Lex. "Yes," he whispered against Lex's lips, tracing the bow of Lex's mouth with his tongue before licking inside. "Yes," he whispered, stroking his hands over Lex's chest, down his stomach, across his thighs. "Yes," he whispered as he stroked Lex's cock once, twice, before sinking onto him, back bowed and body tight.

"Yes."

Lex had never had cause to be jealous. Such a human emotion, and Lex hadn't been human in over two hundred years. He never had reason to begrudge Clark his occasional conquests, so rare to begin with and always fleeting, that he was surprised by the surge of possessiveness that welled up when he first saw Clark with Lana.

He wasn't even with her, just gazing at her adoringly from across the room. It was a disgusting display and after a few moments, Lex couldn't abide it anymore, sidling up to him and murmuring, "If you want to bed her, then do it. Your simpering is nauseating."

"She's not someone a man just beds, Lex," he said, not taking his eyes off her for a moment.

Lex resolutely didn't grit his teeth, but it was a near thing.

He came across them hours later after trekking through the woods, following the scent of Clark and woodsmoke. Herbs were burning in the fire, filling the night with an earthy, heady scent, and Clark was lounging drunkenly against a tree, hands bound in front of him, eyes glued hungrily to Lana's form.

She was skyclad and speaking in Latin, and after catching the grin Clark threw in his direction, he settled in to watch the show. Somehow, knowing she was a witch had his annoyance edging back a notch.

Clark had always been intrigued by the unusual.

Unusual and beautiful: exotic, even with her much too thin body. Her hair was long and dark and thick, and her eyes wide and green. Lex smiled suddenly when he realized how similar she and Clark looked. Acknowledged that if his first reaction hadn't been jealously, it most likely would have been attraction.

Their resemblance was more than physical. She had the same fire veiled in innocence, the same wickedness hidden in her smile.

Her incantation ended and she lowered her eyes to Clark, strode toward him with sinuous grace and knelt next to him on the dirt. "My sincerest apologies, my Lord," she said in accented English. Lex couldn't see her eyes from this angle, but he doubted that the look in her eyes had anything to do with contrition.

She held up a dagger, making it shine in the firelight. "But I have need of your blood."

He shivered along with Clark as she delicately cut the stays of his shirt with careful flicks of the blade. Clark didn't try to speak, just watched her with hungry eyes. Lex couldn't help but lick his lips in anticipation.

"Just one small drop," she continued, talking mostly to herself. "A tiny prick that you will barely feel." She spread Clark's shirt, baring his chest, solid and sculpted. Ran a hand lightly over his breast.

Lex stepped forward soundlessly, unable to remain back.

"Si beau, si fort, mon amour," she whispered, leaning close. Dragging the blade lightly across his skin. Clark was panting, eyes dark, and it took only one more step closer to see that he was already hard.

Lex was standing directly over them now, but Clark's eyes were fastened on the Lana, and hers were equally as captivated by Clark's chest.

"Give yourself to me," Lana said against Clark's lips as she pressed the blade into the skin of his throat, the long line of red surprising both men; Clark arching up into Lana with a moan as Lex dropped to his knees and grabbed Lana by the throat.

"He is mine," Lex said, voice deep and resonant, as he swept her hair to the side and sank his teeth into unblemished skin in one smooth motion.

It was Lana's turn to gasp; pressed hard between the two of them, her body convulsed, just once, and Lex drew back, looked in her eyes and said, "I could kill you for touching him without permission," he said, drawing a thumb across her unguarded neck, and feeling her shiver.

Clark moaned and nuzzled the other side of her neck, nipping and worrying with his teeth, but not breaking skin.

"A flick of my wrist," Lex continued, running his other hand down her side, cupping her breast and absently fondling the nipple.

"He came willingly," she said, her voice breathless and quavering. Defiant words, nonetheless.

"Yes," Lex said, grinning with all of his teeth. "And so will you."

He pushed her forward until she was bent over Clark, mouth hovering above a thick line of blood on his neck, trailing down his chest and stomach to still fastened trousers. Writhing, Clark let out a mewling, beseeching noise.

"Abomination," she whispered fiercely.

Lex licked at the still oozing wound on her throat, tightened his hand on her neck and hissed, "Yes."

"It is either become you or die," she said, eyes blazing up at him. "Not much of a choice, no?"

"You will not die from your wound tonight, my dear," he said in a low voice. "Merely remember this as a dream. A fantasy," he said, reaching between their bodies and unfastening Clark's pants. "Something to keep you warm on cold nights."

Clark's erection sprang free as Clark surged up into Lex's hand, brushing fluid across Lana's naked belly.

"But if you join us," Lex continued in a silky, seductive voice, his hand moving from Clark's cock to her slick folds, "You will never be cold again."

Her voice rose and broke as Lex's fingers breached her, gasping and trembling as he once again began to feed.

"Lex," Clark said from beneath them, voice rough and used. "Lana."

"Taste him," Lex commanded. "Take him inside."

Lana jerked once and then leaned forward, lapping at the blood on Clark's belly and up to his chest. Clark hissed in pleasure as she reached the open wound on his neck and began to suck. Moaned deep in the back of his throat as Lex easily maneuvered her pliant body until she was straddling Clark's thighs, until she was pressing down and taking the full length of Clark's cock.

"He is my gift to you," Lex said, draping himself over her back, hands touching her neck, her sides, her breasts, and the place when she joined with Clark.

"And she is my gift to you," Clark said, eyes intent on Lex as Lana fucked herself through death and into rebirth.

She came violently, body trembling and then collapsing on top of Clark. Eyes still on Lex, Clark easily snapped his ties and gently rolled Lana off of him until she was resting at his side, weak and defenseless as her body accepted the change.

Flushed with new blood, still hard and slick with Lana's juices, eyes still on Lex he said softly, "My gift to you."

Dizzy with want, Lex tore his clothes from his body, and sank onto Clark, just as Lana had. Fed on Clark, just as Lana had.

Surging up into him, Clark wrapped his arms around Lex's body and pierced his throat, drawing out both new blood and old: Lana and Lex.

Already gaining strength, Lana stirred, sitting up: eyes full of want as she watched their frantic coupling. Laying a delicate hand against his cheek, she said affectionately, "Abomination," and then kissed him, licking blood off his lips.

Lex cried out, shuddering and open and vulnerable for the first time since turning.

Lana touched him soothingly and crooned in French as Clark came inside of him. "You will never be cold, mon amour," she said, brushing her hand over his brow. "You will never be cold again."

In his penthouse, high above the Metropolis lights, Lex turns back to Lois. "I would be nothing without my family," he says simply. Honestly.

"Yes," Lois says, "Brother and sister, right?" Her tone says it all, as does the elegantly curved eyebrow inching up her forehead.

"Yes," Lex says, his own lips tugging into a smile. He liked Lois immensely, ever since he first saw her. Liked her passion and her presence and her willingness to do anything to get the answers she wanted.

Neither Lana nor Clark had shared his opinion, warning him against her.

"She'll ask you questions you don't want to answer," Clark said, glaring at her from across the room.

Lana's arms wound around his neck as she tucked herself into his side. "She smells of the desert," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Of thirst," which was, in Lana's opinion, an unpardonable sin.

"I don't want to drink from her," he said, pressing his lips to Lana's forehead, "But I do want her as an ally."

"And her questions?" Clark asked, eyes going green.

"What makes you think I have any notion of telling her anything I don't want her to know?"

Clark didn't smile back, just ran a hand across Lex's shoulders before wrapping an arm around Lana, easing her from Lex's embrace. "Be careful," he said seriously, and it was that-that desire to guard and protect-that had Lex's reaching out, clasping Clark's hand before he could go.

"She can wait," he said, his thumb running across the back of Clark's hand before he released it. Clark's eyes deepened in color, and Lana smiled, and Lex had to wonder at his luck. That even after all these years they still yearned for him, ached for him as much as he for them.

"Penthouse," Clark said roughly, and Lex grinned-brilliantly, wickedly-before cutting his way through gilded ladies and dashing men, leading them through back hallways and out into the rain swept alley.

"Here," he said, then pushed Clark roughly against the wall and kissed him, hard and sharp, fucking his tongue into that wide, generous mouth "Stay," he said, a whisper across lips, before he pulled away and turned to Lana, cupping a hand over the back of her neck and hauling her close, the fabric of her dress whispering in the darkness between them.

Her mouth was smaller, sweeter, and just as ravenous. When he pulled back, both panting in a long unneeded instinct, he turned her until she was facing Clark, and then pushed against her neck, urging her to her knees.

Clark's head dropped back against the brick, eyes closing in bliss as Lana's quick, graceful hands opened his trousers and pulled out his thick cock. Lex felt Clark's low moan shiver through him as Lana licked delicately at the head of Clark's cock. Cold air and hot mouth, like slivers of ice and fire, Lex knelt next to her and whispered, "Make him wet," before unzipping her dress.

It was deep and red, like burgundy wine, and the silk parted easily over the pale skin of her back. Lex closed his eyes and listened to Lana's mouth moving wetly and Clark's choked off moans as he ran a hand through Lana's thick hair before brushing it aside and licking at her neck. Metallic and salty and perfect, completely unlike human skin with it's layers of powders and chemicals and lotions. Lana had fed earlier, just before the party, and Lex could taste the heated blood beneath her skin without ever having to break through. It was a heady feeling, and he couldn't get enough, mouthing down her spine and over her ribs.

Clark's moans were getting progressively louder, and Lex moved back up to Lana's ear, whispering, "Slow," before getting to his feet.

Clark looked wild; thick dark hair, and flushed face. Red, red lips, and black eyes. "Lex," he said, sounding drunk and wrecked, holding out a sex clumsy hand to drag Lex close.

Lex went, mouth to mouth, tongue slicking inside as his hands tangled in Clark's hair.

"Let me come," Clark pleaded when Lex released him. "Please."

But Lex only shook his head, raised his hands up to Clark's ravaged mouth, traced his fingers over their shape, then said, "Suck."

And Clark did, another deep moan rising from his throat, agile tongue moving wetly over Lex's fingers.

Lex's right hand worked at Clark's throat, skillfully undoing his tie and starting on his buttons, feeling the wild surging of blood that had nothing to do with a pounding heart. His hand spread across Clark's chest before he dipped his mouth and took a pebbled nipple into his mouth, sucking a bruise that would fade in moments, but that Clark would remember.

"You can come," Lex whispered against his jaw, his hand trailing down Clark's stomach, "but only if you can stay hard."

Lana pulled off with a wet pop just as Lex's hand circled Clark's cock and stroked. Lightly. Just once.

Clark's eyes went wide, then slammed shut as he shuddered and moaned, body trembling with the effort to stay upright.

"Good," Lex crooned, then nodded to Lana, who greedily took Clark back into her mouth with a breathy moan of her own. Clark jerked against him, still sensitive, and Lex soothed him with a hand over his chest. "I want you to fuck her," Lex said, nipping at Clark's jaw. "I want you to lift her up and spread her open," he said silkily. "Can you do that for me?"

Clark made an unintelligible noise, but his eyes were fervent, and Lex petted his cheek and said, "Good." Then he dropped again beside Lana, ripped her dress down her back and said, "Open."

Lana gasped as Lex pushed two wet fingers into her ass. Pulled off Clark and breathed harshly against his hip, writhing between them as Lex invaded her from behind.

She didn't need much preparation, and Lex wasn't willing to wait any longer. He stood, lifting her at the waist, turning her and pressing her against Clark. Clark hooked his arms under her legs, and she leaned back into him, twining her arms around his neck as, her voice a breathless command of, "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me."

They were gorgeous as Clark entered her, dark heads thrown back, as they gasped for breath through full red lips. Clark's hands were dark and wide against the pale skin of her thighs, rough looking against all that softness, and Lex shuddered, stroking himself through his pants as they rutted against each other with abandonment. Complete lack of care for situation or circumstance, they would be as happy in a bed or on a stage, and their enjoyment wasn't just for the act, but for each other.

And for Lex.

Lex stepped closer, his mouth brushing against the bare skin of Lana's shoulder, down to her breast, her belly. Dropping to his knees again, Lex spread her slick folds and licked up inside, enjoying her breathless shuddering moans as she came, her ass squeezing around Clark's cock, causing his rhythm to stutter. He grinned to himself, licking his way around the base of Clark's cock, the taste of his lovers mingling on his tongue.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Clark said, through gritted teeth, rhythm hitching again.

Dizzy with want, Lex stood, kissing messily at Lana's panting mouth, hands clumsily undoing his trousers, before he slid inside her: heat and pressure and unbearable bliss. Lana clenched in welcome, smiling silkily at his breath catching in his throat, then licked at his jaw and said into his ear, her voice drenched in the accent of her youth, "Fuck me, Lex. Take me."

And he did. They did.

Lana wrapped her thighs tight around Lex's waist, grinding against the both of them, and, now freed, Clark's hands moved up to caress her breasts, to caress Lex's face.

"Lex," he said, voice rough and used. "Lana."

At the sound, Lex lost his ragged control, his thrusts speeding up until he was pounding into her, Clark helpless to do anything but follow. Lana's voice rose between them, high into the night as she clenched and came, splintering apart around them. Clark's harsh cry followed hers, and Lex thrust once, twice, almost whimpering at the maelstrom of sensation, before empting himself inside her.

When he came to, they were petting him and cleaning him and whispering words of love and faith and forever into his skin.

He gets the almost irrepressible urge to tell Lois the whole story as she primly sits across from him with skeptical eyes, but only the thought that she would never-could never-understand forestalls him. "They are my family," he continues as the two people in question enter from the terrace, windblown dark hair and eyes only for Lex. "My first love and my only loyalty."

When Lex reaches out, Clark grabs his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, and Lana bends down, kissing him lightly on the lips; a brief contact, nothing more.

"And how do you two feel about Lex and the name he's trying to make for himself?" Lois asks shrewdly. They turn toward her with matching cool eyes. "His ambition is going to change your lives drastically."

"What is life without change," Lana says, but instead of trite, her expression makes the words seem sharp edged.

"And what is ambition without love to temper it," Clark adds, his fingers still tangled with Lex's

Lois' eyes narrow slightly as she looks at them, her eyes finally landing on Lex's. "Dangerous," she says and watches Lex's sly grin.

"I assure you," Lex says with amusement, "that my family will keep me from doing anything too reckless."

Lois shoots him a look from under her lashes, the air between them filled with disbelief and arousal, caution and intrigue. Lex wants to cultivate them all, stroke them and nurture them and watch them grow. She will be his unwitting ally, telling the stories he wants told, digging deep for answers that she will never find, only increasing her desire to dig.

She will follow his career and pen stories about him that will have the public just as breathless as she is. Just as anxious to know.

By the time Ms. Lane is done with him, the Luthors will be legend.

And Lex will lead an empire.

Lana's hand touches him lightly on the back of his neck. Clark's grip tightens.

Lex smiles.