Chapter One:

Barry Sommers was a nobody. Just another dreamer that got off the bus. He waited on tables, auditioned in his spare time. He tried to make a name for himself, a brighter future, but when asked about the past, he would say that he had none. But he had a past, one that came on a crashing wave, smashing into the sand that now buried his body. Whatever dreams he had left were washed away.

Lucifer followed Chloe Decker across the sand. She remained a foot ahead. She glanced over her shoulder at him, and he met her gaze. Then, he looked away, remembering the long night that they shared. He had never talked to anyone for that amount of time, and he felt like a weight had lifted from his chest. But Chloe could not hide how she felt. He saw her fear, her confusion, and maybe even a glint of anger. She was not angry at him. She was angry with herself, and she wouldn't tell him why. And they had fallen asleep together, but when she awoke, surrounded by his white wings, it startled her. And she's been keeping her distance ever since.

"Morning, Ella," Chloe said. "What do we have?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Ella Lopez replied as she looked from Chloe to Lucifer. "Something's different between you two." She inched closer and then gasped. "Did you…"

"Chloe," Dan said as he walked toward them. "Nice to keep us in the dark. I was worried about you." He glanced over at Lucifer. "And you."

"I wouldn't be worried about me," Lucifer said. He looked over at Chloe.

"I'm fine, Dan. You don't have to be worried about me," Chloe said. "We're okay," and she shot Lucifer a look.

"Something's different between the two of you," Dan said.

"I know. Right?" Ella continued to look from Chloe to Lucifer. "I think someone had a magical night."

"Could we focus on the case?" Chloe snapped. She didn't mean to, but she did not want the attention that she was getting. "How did he die? Did he drown? Was he strangled?"

"Okay. Let's focus on the body," Ella said, but she exchanged a look with Dan before she did that. "He didn't drown, and he wasn't strangled."

"So, how did he die," Dan asked.

"Well, that's the weird thing." Ella knelt down toward the body and brushed the sand off of his chest. A small handprint was seen, burned into his flesh. It was pressed right up against his rib cage. "It's almost like it was reaching for his heart. Something you might see in a movie."

"I doubt that, Ms. Lopez." Lucifer finally drew closer to them, ignoring the tension that he sensed from Chloe. "A person did not make that mark."

"Here we go again," Chloe said, and Lucifer looked at her, trying to figure out if she meant to be funny or sarcastic. "So, something supernatural killed her?"

"I believe so, detective. An angel might have done this."

"Okay, Lucifer. Chloe had told you to knock that off."

"It's okay, Dan."

"No, Chloe, it's not. It's time for Lucifer to stop playing games."

"I'm not playing any games, Dan." Lucifer approached him. "The detective…. Chloe and I had a long talk last night about everything."

"You just talked?"

"Yes, Ella. We just talked, and obviously, someone…". Chloe gave Lucifer another look. "A person killed this man."

"So, what about the mark?"

"It's definitely a brand, Ms. Lopez. One that a woman had made."

"You can't know that, Lucifer."

"Yes, detective. I can because of the handprint. It's much smaller than mine."

"So, men can have small hands."

"Can I see your hands, Daniel?" Lucifer waited, but Dan stuck his hands behind his back. "I believe a woman had made this mark."

"An angel," Ella asked. "Really? Why would an angel do that?"

Lucifer opened his mouth to answer, but Chloe answered for him. "An angel didn't make this mark. A person did," but she did not look at Lucifer when she said that.

"Are you angry with me, detective?"

Before Chloe could respond, a uniformed police officer hurried over to them. He was out of breath. Lucifer patiently waited for the young man to pull himself together, but Chloe grew more impatient. She was about to snap at him when Lucifer stepped between them.

"Come on, rookie. Out of it. Why all the fuss?"

"There's another body," the rookie gasped, and he pointed down the beach past a nearby sand dune. "He's missing his head."

"You sure it's a person that we are after, detective?"

"What the hell are we dealing with, Lucifer?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it's an angel." Lucifer stared down at the handprint on Barry Sommers's chest. "I think it's something much worse."