Epilogue: More Consequences

The day after, Lois Lane didn't feel different, not really. A spring in her step, but that could have been from the sex; Blaze had decided to show her girlfriend what a morning blowjob felt like, and now, her cock sated, Lois truly understood what guys saw in that kind of thing.

It was a cool morning, but Lois felt hot. Like she was running a low fever, but not unpleasant. Angelica had told her to expect that, and Lois thought she could get used to that, leaving her jacket open, exposing a bit more skin than normal. If this was what being demonblooded meant, it was all to the good so far.

The Daily Planet's Greatest Reporter left her apartment with her new dick stuffed in her pants, HIV-free and ready to face the day.

Lois Lane was just passing the cathedral when the church bells rang out terce—and at the first ring she nearly doubled over at the sudden pain and nausea that hit her. It was like the worst period bloating of her life, all at once, no warning. The reporter staggered on, barely able to move from the shock...and then it rang again... If anyone in the crowds noticed the woman stagger past the church, clutching her stomach, then dashing into a McDonalds to be messily sick in the toilets, they gave no sign. Metropolis might not be Gotham, but big cities were big cities, and it would have taken much more impressive sights than that to shake most citizens out of their self-absorbed daze.

The reporter washed the taste of bile out her mouth with a cup of coffee, and made her way back towards the Daily Planet.

Okay. Church bells are to be avoided, she decided. Slightly different route to work, try to avoid walking by them when they're ringing in the hours, shouldn't be a problem. Not like I've darkened the door of a church in a long time anyway.

Maybe it was the encounter with the church bells that made Lois skittish the next few blocks. When a gaggle of nuns came toward her on the sidewalk, Lois actually stepped into the street to give them a wide berth, flipping off a honking cab driver as she passed. There was a queasy uneasiness in her stomach the rest of the way to work...she was somehow keenly aware of clerical collars, the crucifix hanging between the rather impressive breasts of the blonde woman, the old woman with the rosary on her wrist...the young goth woman with dyed-black hair, too much mascara, and an inverted crucifix drawn on her forehead in pen was almost a relief.

Once inside the Daily Planet building, Lois gave a sigh of relief. She always felt safer here. Better yet, she saw someone she knew in the elevator...and quickened her step to make it before the doors closed.

"Clark! Hold it!"

Her fellow reporter pressed the button. He stared at Lois strangely as she rushed into the elevator, trying not to spill her coffee, breathing only a touch hard as she passed the threshold.

"Thanks, Smallville!" she said earnestly, and gave him a smile as she hit the button for their floor. The blue eyes stared at her from beyond those thick black plastic frames...somewhat coldly, she thought.

"What's wrong, Kent?" she asked. "Normally you're glad to see me."

Clark Kent reached out and hit the emergency stop; the elevator ground to a halt. Lois Lane's smile failed...and she was suddenly aware, once again, how much of a big man Clark Kent was. He'd been a running back in highschool football, with the broad shoulders to show for it, and when he stopped slouching and stood up to his full height, as he did now, he was more than a head taller than her.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Lois Lane?" His voice was low, calm, utterly confident...and held an edge of menace that Lois had never heard before. Almost instinctively the reporter backed into the farthest corner.

"What...Clark, what are you talking about? I am Lois Lane?"

He took a step closer, his jaw set...she had never seen Clark Kent move like that, with such deliberation. It was like seeing a continent shift.

"You don't...smell like her. Something is different. You smell...wrong."

Lois Lane's eyes widened. Could he actually smell the demon blood? That wasn't possible! Not unless...

His left hand shot out, too quick to see, and grabbed Lois by the throat. Arm at full extension, he lifted her up, pain immediately gasping as all the weight hung off her jaw, and Lois knew that should have been impossible, no one was that strong...

"Tell me what you've done with her!" He said, and deep inside those blue eyes they began to glow...red...

There was a crash as the elevator doors ripped open. Lois caught a glance of a crimson fist smash hard into Kent's face, sending his glasses flying. For just a split second, the reporter caught sight of him without his glasses, and the pieces fell into place...and then Superman dropped her and turned his attention to the person who had struck him.

Blaze stood in her full demon form, some kind of headdress on over her horns to keep the hair out of her face, a long orange garment with spiky pauldrons and a belt of leering demonic faces that managed to keep all of her important bits covered while leaving her arms and legs bare.

"Foolish Kryptonian!" she snarled, loud and dramatic. She gave Lois a wink and the briefest shrug of her head; the reporter caught the hint and bolted past her lover as Superman, now in his uniform, launched himself at the demon.

Lois heard the crack of the impact of their blows. It was like if two statues armed with sledgehammers went at each other, that kind of ringing, massive, weighty thud that you felt in your bones. The reporter dashed out of the building, and she was only part of the crowd running from the battle...because if there was one thing that would shake Metropolitans out of their daze, it was being stuck in the battle between two super-yahoos in costumes...

On the street, Lois turned back. Windows on the bottom floor had cracked, and dust was blowing out. She could still hear the blows, albeit dimly, and somewhere there was an alarm going off, sirens of approaching police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. That sickening sensation in the reporter's gut returned when she realized that this was all because of her...Superman had smelled the difference somehow, the taint in her body, and he had... Lois shook to think what he might have done to her, thinking she was some sort of clone or double of the "real" Lois Lane, if Blaze hadn't interrupted and saved her.

The reporter looked around at the milling crowd. Any other time, Lois knew, she would have been rushing into the building, **** to get the story, to be able to relay the fight in the evening edition like an old-time radio announcer at a boxing match, giving the blow-by-blow. Now...Lois wasn't sure what to do. Where to go, where was safe. Her cure from last night had bigger consequences than she imagined.

Then her eyes caught the goth girl. She was in the street, fear on her face, not looking where she was going...Lois heard the honk of the truck and was moving, instinctively. Legs pumping, feet beating into the asphalt. Her hands came up and shoved at the black-haired woman's back, pushing her out of the street, back to the safety of the sidewalk. Lois caught the young woman's hazel eyes with her own, that upside-down cross in pen on her forehead folded into a confused look...

When the truck hit Lois Lane full on the side.

By the time the pain of the snapping bones in her arm registered, Lois Lane was already underneath the truck, rolling, bumping against the road, the hot metal frame, and the road again. Her head bounced hard against something...and Lois knew no more.

"...I'm her girlfriend, I want to take her home!"

Angie's voice. Lois stirred, body aching terribly.

"I'm sorry miss, but unless you have a medical power of attorney..."

Someone else. Female, older, rasp of a smoking habit. A nurse?

"She's awake," Clark's voice. "Ma'am, with all due respect, can we at least see her?"

A warm hand slide into Lois Lane's right hand. Slim, warm, familiar. Angie. Lois squeezed...tried to open her eyes. She managed one.

"Hey," she croaked, feeling the gauze over her left eye, the weight on the cast on her left arm. There was a floaty-feeling, and Lois realized she couldn't feel her legs, but she could see them, beneath the blanket in the hospital bed.

Angie was in her human form, wearing one of Lois's blouses over those greasy-looking black jeans she favored. Clark Kent was back in his civvies, a rather dumpy-looking suit. He pushed the glasses up on his nose, face a mask of contrition and hurt.

"Lois..." He stopped, started again. "How do you feel?"

"Not too bad, really?" She tried a smile. "Must be on some good ****."

"You'll heal," Angie gave her hand a squeeze. "Real fast. Back on your feet in no time."

Kent saw the gesture, and his eyes showed the pain he was in. "Lois...Blaze explained. About the two of you. I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. I thought." He shook his head. "I thought someone had...done something to you. I was angry. I...care for you deeply. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay, Clark," Lois said. "I didn't...it's all been so different, since that night. I guess I never thought about the consequences of my actions. How it would affect...us. If things had gone differently..." Lois sighed, her head sinking between her shoulders a little. She felt like an idiot, a heel. She knew that being with Blaze, one of his direst demonic enemies, must have broken Superman's heart.

"Sweetmeat," Blaze said. "Speaking of consequences...there's something else you should know."

"What?" Lois **** a grin, trying to imagine what else could possibly happen to her today. "Am I pregnant?"

Kryptonian and demon raised their eyebrows, and shared a look...and then stared back at Lois. The utter seriousness of those two looks hit Lois Lane harder than the truck had. It was like a hole opened up in her stomach.

"Great Caesar's ghost," she whispered.

Utterly inappropriately, Lois got hard. She saw the blanket tent between her thighs, so stiff that it ached, even through the painkillers. Blaze gave her Mona Lisa smile. Kent tried and failed to suppress a smirk.

"Well, I'm guessing at least part of you is happy to hear about that." Blaze said, and leaned over to kiss Lois on the cheek. Lois leaned into it. She knew there was more to say...to Blaze, to Clark...but Lois was ready to face the consequences of her actions. Especially this one.