Clark's greatest fear had always been that Lionel would someday know his secret.

Well, no, that wasn't true. His greatest fear was his powers being used for evil, by himself or by someone who controlled him, either with Kryptonite or by threatening his loved ones. But it seemed likely that if Lionel, or someone like him, came to know his secrets, his strengths and weaknesses, he might be in more danger of facing his true deepest fear than ever. That was why he guarded his secret so tightly. The fewer people who knew, the less danger of the information falling into the wrong hands.

Lex disagreed about Clark's methods—he was always quick to remind Clark of that—but he agreed that his own father was bad news. Lex's hints that Lionel might be more dangerous than they thought, that he might even have kryptonite on his property to protect him against Clark... that was a terrifying thought.

But even if Lionel did have kryptonite, it didn't necessarily mean he knew about Clark. They'd seen over and over again how Kryptonite affected people and monsters alike. Then again, any reason Lionel had Kryptonite was bound to be a danger to them.

So, partially ignoring Lex's warnings, Clark dropped by the mansion to do some recon. He might not have had eagle eyes, but his long distance vision was a lot better than the average human's, as far as he could tell. His X-Ray vision would come in handy, too, and his hearing would be helpful.

Standing just far enough from the mansion to be out of range of the guards who worked there, Clark squinted at one of the walls—the study was just inside. Lex had liked to spend a lot of time in there, and he wondered if Lionel would be the same. He focused his X-Ray vision.

A half second later, he jumped back, gripping at his eyes. They ached like something had smacked right into them. He searched his surroundings when he could open his eyes again, and he saw nothing, so he tried again.

Again, a half second later, a painful impact.

Clark frowned, rubbing at his eyes. That was new. He couldn't see through lead, but this wasn't like that at all.

Clark raced away to find a pair of binoculars in his barn, then ran back to his surveillance point. He scanned the outdoor areas. He could see a couple of faintly painted sigils, and a bit of glowing green kryptonite. It was at every entrance, enough that he couldn't win fights with the guards if he tried to get in, but little enough that he could probably stand to be in the house, if he could get in there in the first place.

Shifting his weight, Clark focused with his ears instead. It had taken a lot of practice to get to the point of being able to focus his hearing rather than just amplifying every little sound in the world. He focused on the space in front of the mansion first, hearing insects crawl on leaves and the hum of electricity running through an outdoor lightbulb, then he focused further inside.

Nothing. Nothing at all. Not even the electricity.

Clark frowned. It couldn't be that silent in the mansion. It was more like he just couldn't hear anything. Even lead didn't usually block his ability to hear.

What on earth was going on in there?

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This was always the part of hunting that John hated the most.

No matter how prepared you were, no matter how well you had done your research, there's always a chance that you would be wrong about everything, and all that would be left to do was run. This time, it wasn't his life in danger, since he wasn't the one the monster wanted, but that almost made it worse.

"Go ahead of me!" John cried, pushing Lionel ahead, and he turned back, waiting for the woman to reach them, before swinging at her with the poker once again. She went up in a cloud of smoke.

John turned back to face Lionel, who had reached the end of the hall, frozen and staring at the place where the ghost had been.

John ran to him. "Are you okay?"

"I—I don't know what she could be after . . ."

"She's after you. You have no idea what she could be attached to?"

Lionel cried out, pointing behind John. John swiped at the air behind him, barely looking, before turning back to Lionel.

"She's getting better at this. Your life is at stake, did you hold anything back? Anything of hers, anything of Julian's?"

"I—I didn't—Lillian!"

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John cursed under his breath. She'd materialized right by Lionel this time, and she held her hands around his throat.

"Hold on, wait!" John called, holding up the poker. "You know I can send you back. Just tell me what you want."

"Stay out of my way. I have no quarrel with you."

"Lillian, your husband didn't kill your son."

"He destroyed them! Both of them! I saved Julian!"

John caught his breath, realization flooding through him. He swung the poker, stopping just short of Lionel.

"Lionel. She's not upset about Julian. Do you have anything of Lex's?"

"I—I—of course I do! Lex lived here for years!"

"She shares DNA with him. Do you have anything with his DNA? A lock of hair?"

"He—he's bald!"

"He wasn't always."

Lionel's eyes widened, and he began to run. John ran the other way for a moment and dropped the poker in favor of the salt, gasoline, and lighter, then followed in the direction Lionel had gone.

Lionel threw open a door, and Lillian was there. She rushed forward and slammed Lionel against the wall, lifting him by his throat.

He had seconds. John ran into the room where Lionel had about to enter. It was a furnished guest bedroom, but dust covered the bedspread and shelves.

He went with his gut. He reached under the bed.

There was a box there, similar to the one Lionel had had for Julian. In it was a few photographs, a couple of keepsakes, and a lock of red, curly hair.

John poured salt and gasoline in the whole thing and dropped the lighter inside.

Lionel's gasping cut off with a loud shout, but all John saw was a flash of orange light in the hall. He ran out to find Lionel on all fours, gasping for breath.

John ran over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Okay?"

Lionel nodded, breathing hard, and he sat back on his knees.

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As predicted, Lex didn't sleep much that night. He was sure Clark was out trying to get better view of the mansion, that Chloe was doing all the research she could, and the thought that he was allowing 18-year-old kids to put themselves at risk when the adversary was his father kept him awake almost as much as the thought of what might actually be taking place at the mansion.

His father knew about the supernatural. That much, he was sure. Lex wasn't the only one who had been drawn to the mysteries of Smallville, and he knew about his father's kryptonite experiments, even if he wasn't sure whether the connection had been drawn back to Clark—it was only obvious if you knew him. But not having been hunting monsters himself since he was 16, Lex was sure he hadn't covered his tracks perfectly all those years.

He tried to put himself in his father's shoes. Knowing Lionel Luthor, he would probably try to monetize the supernatural somehow. John Winchester was well known among hunters, if Dean's word was to be believed. Maybe it wasn't a surprise that Lex's father had reached out to Dean's; still, Lex couldn't exactly imagine what he thought he had to gain. Unless, maybe, he had gotten himself into trouble and truly needed a hunter's services. More than likely, he had offered to pay John Winchester handsomely. If John was anything like Dean, that probably hadn't gone over very well.

As promised, Chloe was in early the next day with coffee. Her own eyes were at half mast. "What'd you find?" he asked her, accepting the offered cup without getting up from his desk.

"It doesn't look good," she said, sitting down across from him. "He's always had all these research projects going on, but they've mostly focused on Smallville. These days, he seems to be branching out. John Winchester isn't the first hunter he's called, either."

Lex sat up straight. "Have you heard from any of the others?"

She shook her head. "They're not getting back to me. It sounds like the encounters were pretty recent. But hunters are the least of it. Some of the circles he's been involved in . . ."

"Who are we talking about?"

"It's just rumors from a few of my hunter contacts. But he's been asking questions about summoning demons, he's been befriending witches . . . Lex, we were worried about John Winchester's safety, but I wonder if we shouldn't be worried about your father."

Lex looked away. Leave it to Lionel Luthor to think he could take advantage of the supernatural to gain power.

"Most people who get mixed in this kind of thing, they realize they've, uh . . . bitten off more than they can chew."

"My father isn't most people."

"I know." Chloe took a deep breath. "I'd still be worried if I were you."

"The only people I'm worried about are you and Clark."

"We're adults, Lex. We choose to stand with you, and with Sam and Dean."

He remembered how it had felt to be told he was barely an adult, when he was eighteen, so he didn't say it to Chloe. He wasn't going to be able to dissuade her. The best he could do was to help her. "Swear to me you won't go to the mansion without my knowing about it."

"I'm sure Clark did."

"That's Clark." He rolled his eyes, then sighed and looked right at Chloe. "Personal question?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever miss journalism?"

She smiled, shrugging. "On some days. This wasn't really what I was thinking of when I picked up the Torch in high school. But . . ."

"But?"

"It's still what I wanted to do. See things no one else has seen, dig into the story, find the truth. I always loved the investigative part. Even if I'm only reporting to you." She looked down.

Lex raised his eyebrows. "Clark told stories about you in high school. You loved getting the word out there. Even when it made people angry with you, you loved it. Don't you ever wish . . ."

Chloe laughed nervously. "Lex, are you trying to fire me?"

"I'm saying you don't have to be here, Chloe. You're talented, you're young—"

"And you don't mean what you're saying, or you wouldn't be paying me so much."

"I'm paying you what you're worth."

"I'm okay. I can take care of myself. You're just protective of me because I'm Clark's friend, and he's been like a little brother to you since you were kids."

He frowned. He wasn't sure how she would take it if he said what was on his mind—that she'd become like a sister to him, too.

"We need to get a message into the mansion before someone gets hurt. Can we focus on that?"

Lex sighed. "Of course. But you're getting a raise."

"You know, that's not a great way to dissuade me from working these cases."

Lex didn't say anything. This wasn't like other fights. If they survived this one, he'd be happy to have her help him investigate whatever came next.