CHAPTER 1
The last case Chloe and Lucifer worked on together hit her, and especially the Devil, pretty hard. Despite all their combined efforts, they had been unable to save the kid's life. They arrived only a few minutes too late at the scene. But that wasn't enough, and all they could do once they got there was to arrest the perp and recover the lifeless body of the 5-year-old boy. Once the medics and CSI did their job, Chloe met Lucifer outside near the ambulance. She looked at him, silently asking how he was feeling. Being the Devil he was, he simply played it off and shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess that'll be one more soul for whoever took my job down there." He smiles, more out of habit than anything. He turns to the rest of the group, avoiding the eyes of the only one who can see right through his faked smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have guests waiting for me at Lux." He rearranges his jacket. "Detective, Lieutenant, Douche. I bid you goodnight."
Chloe watches him drive away into the night, feeling something was definitely off, although she's unable to put her finger on it. She weighs the pros and cons for a bit, before finally reaching her decision. Despite all of Lucifer's facade, she knew he wasn't as alright as he said he was, and as a friend, she had to at least try to get him to open to her. She knew the case hit him harder than he let on, especially the last body they found. The others, although gruesome, were adults. But this last one was only a defenseless child, and Chloe was pretty sure the feeling of injustice she had when they barged in and found the guy hunched over the tiny corpse had been shared by the Devil. She taps Dan on the shoulder, interrupting his conversation with the Lieutenant.
" Can you take Trixie tonight? She's over at my Mom's, but she can't keep her for the night because of an after-party for her revival convention."
"Sure. Do you want me to drop her off at school as well?"
"Would that be okay for you?
"Of course. It was my turn to have her this weekend anyway." He gives her a weak smile. He puts a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Now that we finally caught him I just need to be alone for a bit and take a break. I haven't rest much over the last few days." She takes out her keys. "I just need a quiet night in and some sleep."
"I'll see you tomorrow then."
She nods before she starts her car. She waves at Dan, but her mind is already set on Lux, and specifically its owner.
Lux – 40 minutes later
Chloe doesn't even bother to announce herself and goes straight up to his penthouse. She feels a nagging in her chest when she considers the possibility of Lucifer having brought back some of his guests to his penthouse to deal with the hurt of the previous case. Sex is his coping mechanism after all. The rational part of her brain reminds her of the last conversation they had before this gruesome case started when he said he had a bit of a dry spell lately, so there are high chances he might actually be alone tonight. As the doors slide open, Chloe can hear the latest song of Cage the Elephant blaring into his surround system. She can also smell cold tobacco. She still sees the smoke from the ashtray on his piano. Her heart sinks for a moment before she realizes he's indeed alone. She lets out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. She walks to him. When she finally sees his face, she feels a shot of pain. His usual suave grin is gone. He's lost in his thoughts, fingers entwined on his toned abs, looking straight out of his bay-window, his eyes turn to the sky above. He untucked his shirt from his trousers, getting rid of his jacket, vest and apparently his shoes and socks as well. He also unfastened one more button and his sleeves are rolled up, stopping just below his elbows. She sits on the arm-rest of his couch.
"Using the "Home Alone"-trick again, I see." Her tone is playful but fails to conceal the worry in her voice.
Lucifer jerks up on the couch surprised at the intervention. Once he registers the voice he heard belongs to Chloe, a smile creeps up his face and his facade is back on in a blink. He sits up, takes his glass of bourbon, and gives her his trademark grin. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Detective?"
Chloe's heart warms up once she sees his smile coming back. "I just wanted to check up on you. You were in quite a hurry to leave after..." She's unable to bring up the lifeless body again. "...you know."
"So, no work for tonight then?"
"No. I'm simply here as your friend."
"Oh! I see." His grin widens. "Friend with benefits?"
"Lucifer..." She half-scolds him, but still chuckles at his bad pun.
"What?" He replies, with as much innocence as the Devil can come up with. He sighs, playful. "I had to at least give it a try." He nudges her knee. "I got some take-out for tonight. It should be here any minute now, wanna join?" Chloe nods. "The delivery man should be here in about..." His doors swish open "...Now!"
He puts his glass on the top of his piano as he walks to the delivery guy. "Delivery for Mr. Morningstar?"
"That would be me." He takes the bag from him. The young lad stays at the door, looking around the penthouse. "I'm afraid tonight's a private party." He looks disappointed. Lucifer repeats his statement. "No wild parties tonight. You can go now..." He looks at his name tag. "...Anthony." As the lad leaves, Lucifer adds to himself. "There hadn't been any in while now."
He turns around and walks back to where Chloe waits for him. He grabs a bottle of red wine and two glasses on the way back. Finally, he shows her the brown bag, the glasses and the bottle of Merlot.
"I give you the famous burgers from Cassell's." He puts the bag on the coffee table and grabs a pouf to sit down on.
"Cassell's?" She repeats, a feeling of déjà-vu. "I hear it takes months to get a reservation at their place. They're like THE top-ranked burger restaurant in LA. And you had it delivered to your place?"
"What can I say, apart from you, nobody can refuse me anything." He hands her one glass. She accepts it. "To finally closing this case." He toasts, hardly believing his own words.
Chloe lifts her glass up and takes a sip. She stares back into his eyes, shocked at the contrast between his trademark devilish face and the pain crossing in his eyes. She puts her hand on his to get his attention. "You do know you have nothing to feel guilty about regarding this case." It's not a question. "You did all you could." Her voice drops and she squeezes his hand. Lucifer looks away. "But sometimes, it's just not enough." She gives him a comforting smile.
He looks back at her, his eyes finally matching the rest of his facial expression. "I'm the Devil, Darling. I don't feel guilty. It's a useless emotion."
He leans in, coming close to her ear, ready to unleash some comment about how he can help her feel better. But he forgets about it as soon as Chloe turns her head to face him, her mouth only an inch away from his. He stops, giving her time to back away if needed. When she doesn't, he closes the distance between them. The light kiss quickly grows more pressing and they reluctantly break apart to come up for air. Lucifer can't help the true smile on his face.
"I definitely didn't see that coming, but I feel much better now."
Chloe chuckles. "Me neither. That certainly went better than last time." "Déjà-vu indeed." She thinks.
"What do you want to do now, Detective?"
"I can think of a few things. But I might need to stretch first." She winks at him and laughs at his dumbfounded face. "So that's what it takes to render him speechless."
Lucifer finally comes back to his senses. He takes the wine bottle and checks the alcohol level. "Nope. That's not it." He pours himself and Chloe a new glass. "What's gotten into you, Detective. Using my own words against me. Lucifer likes."
"Maybe, I'm tired of resisting."
"So, I do affect you after all."
"Of course you do. You always have. And..."
Lucifer doesn't let her finish and seals his lips against hers, efficiently breaking her rambling. Chloe soon finds herself sitting on his lap on the pouf near the coffee table, their meal lays forgotten beside them. She slowly slides his navy blue shirt off his shoulders and removes her top soon after, giving the confirmation he needs that she wants this almost as badly as he does. She trails her fingers on his torso, over his abs, stopping at his belt.
"I like where this is going." He mumbles against the nape of her neck. His hands settle under her butt cheeks and he stands up, lifting her as if she weighed nothing. Chloe wraps her legs around his waist. He walks towards his bedroom, feeling Chloe's hands all over his upper body. He's halfway there when he hears a loud crash coming from his balcony. They both turn their heads. Lucifer reluctantly puts her down. He steps in front of her and steps towards the shadow.
"Stay here." He simply says.
"But..."
"No buts." Worry settles on his face. There were only two things that could crash on his balcony, and that was either a helicopter or a celestial being. And the shadow lurking there doesn't look like a plane or a helicopter at all. "Just stay here, please." Chloe nods.
Lucifer reaches his balcony in a blink. He carefully opens one of the glass door and steps outside. He closes the door behind him but not fully. Chloe does her best to respect his wishes, but her curiosity gets the better of her. She steps closer to the slightly open door and tries to grasps the bits and pieces of the conversation.
The human-shaped like being has his back to the Devil. "Who are you? And how dare you break into MY house. You better have one Hell of a good reason. Or are you just suicidal?" The last part is almost a growl.
The shadow turns around and drops to one knee. "My Lord." His eyes fall to the marble floor. "Finally! I found you."
Chloe looks at the scene, not understanding what's happening. She notices Lucifer's body stiffens and he balls his hand into fists.
"Who are you?"
"My King. It's me, Amaymon."
Surprise crosses over the Master of Hell's features. But it's soon replaced by a hard face. He looks every inch like the ruthless ruler of Hell people paint him to be. Chloe can't see his face but notices a change in his stance. "What are you doing here? I thought I told to stay in Hell to oversee my operations." His voice is cold, so cold Chloe almost doesn't believe it came out of Lucifer's mouth.
"I came to see you, my Liege." The demon answers, barely above a whisper.
"Why?" The Devil demands.
"Something happened while you were away." Amaymon finally dares to look up at his master, his eyes trying to gauge his reaction. "I need your help."
"Why should I care? I thought you were more than capable of taking care of my job. Or did I make a mistake when I assigned this responsibility to you? Should I put someone else in your place?"
"You can dispose of me as you please after this, my Lord." Lucifer can see panic fill his eyes.
On the other side of the window, Chloe desperately tries to make sense of what she hears. "Why does he keep addressing Lucifer as Lord, or King. Is he in on his whole method actor thing? Why does Lucifer look so different? And how did the weirdo get here?" She runs the questions in her mind over and over.
"What happened?" Lucifer asks.
"Several demonic creatures escaped their shackles."
"How is that possible. I only gave the power to cross over to you. As far as I know, you're the only one who has to ability to open up a portal to reach me, if need be."
"I don't know. They found some sort of loopholes, and some of them are now able to visit Earth. They must, however, inhabit a recently dead-body to exist in this plane." Lucifer puts his hands in his pockets. "Ever since you left, some of the demonic creatures you locked in grew more and more daring, testing the limits, rebelling against the authority you graced me with. I stopped them and made examples to discourage any further initiatives from them. It worked, or at least I thought it did." He sighs. "But I couldn't inspire fear in them as you did."
His face falls to the floor. "Please forgive me for failing you."
Lucifer ignores his plea. "How many escaped?"
He lifts his head from the floor. "Three so far, including Astaroth."
"When?"
"About a week ago."
"Where are they?"
"I don't know, my Lord. All I can tell you is that they took possession of freshly deceased humans and they plan to bring death and destruction here on Earth."
He turns on his heels. "I have to see Maze." He says as he opens the sliding door and steps inside. He bumps into a crouched Chloe. He absent-mindedly helps her up.
"What's happening?" Chloe asks him.
"Have you seen my phone." He ignores her question. "I need to call Maze. It's urgent."
"What's happening? Who is he and how did he get here?"
"Ha! There it is." He grabs his phone. Finally, he registers the Detective's questions. "I believe I found the explanation for our latest gruesome case, and why it arrived so suddenly."
Chloe frowns at his cryptic answer. "What are you talking about? You're making less sense than you usually do." She looks between Lucifer and the weirdo now standing inside, still confused.
Lucifer puts the phone to his ear. He gets sent straight to Maze's voicemail. "Maze. It's Lucifer. Call me back asap." Then he hangs up and puts the phone back in his pocket.
The demon doesn't give Chloe any time to ask her questions again. He takes a tentative step towards Lucifer, pushing Chloe aside.
"My King."
"What?"
Chloe now has a real look at his face. She only witnessed such coldness on his handsome face twice. It was when he threw Ty's manager through the window because he squeezed too hard, and after Spider killed Father Frank. But she realizes that these two incidents hold no comparison to the cold, hard face he wears now.
"What do you want me to do, my King?"
"Haven't you done enough already?"
"My Liege..." He starts.
"Enough!" Lucifer roars. Chloe jumps slightly and takes a step back, the realization of what's happening slowly sinking in. But still, she refuses to believe it. "I suppose Astaroth is the one responsible for this little outbreak."
"Yes. He started the rebellion I destroyed. I had no idea he still led it right under my nose."
"Lucifer?" Chloe weakly says, her voice a bit shaky.
Lucifer doesn't hear her, letting the former King of Hell take over for a moment. "What's his goal?" He has an idea, but he needs his third in command to confirm it. It takes all his will-power not to shift into his Devil appearance.
"He wants to take over your throne."
"Lucifer." Chloe tries again, failing to break his focus. When she doesn't get any answers, she loses it and breaks one of the empty wine glass at his feet. "ENOUGH!" She yells. "I want to know what's happening NOW!"
Lucifer blinks once, then twice to get his Devil back in check. Before he can answer, Amaymon makes a huge mistake and walks over to Chloe. He hisses. "How dare you speak to Him this way, you pathetic Human!"
In a flash, Lucifer comes back to reality and grabs the demon by the collar and backs him up against one of his Italian marble walls. The force of the impact is enough to break the tiles behind the demon's back. Lucifer lets go of the leash he managed to put back on the Devil inside him and growls low at Amaymon.
"How dare you speak to her this way!" His eyes flash red, the flames of Hell dancing in his pupils. His free hand goes around his neck. He squeezes just enough to hurt and get his message across, but not enough to kill him. "Speak to her with this tone again, and I'll make sure all the tortures in Hell seem like child's play to you. The Detective is to be treated as my equal. You will consider her your Queen, or you'll face my wrath. Is that understood?" He loosens his grip just enough for the demon to nod. When he's satisfied with his answer, he lets go of him.
Amaymon squirms on the floor, whimpering. "I'm so sorry, my King. I didn't know..."
"Lucifer..." Chloe whispers. "What just happened?" She's now in full-panic mode. "What are you?"
The question echoes in the Devil's mind, and he pictures that time she shot him. He finally realizes what happened. How could he be so bloody stupid and let his inner demon show? He had been so caught up in his rage towards Amaymon, Astaroth and his own guilt regarding the death of the child, that he completely forgot she was watching. "Detective." He takes a step towards her, his hands raised up, in an attempt to appease her. "You need to take a breath." Chloe backs away from him and towards the elevator. She grabs her stuff she put on his counter, including her holstered gun. Lucifer takes another step. "Detective." He repeats.
Chloe snaps out of her panic state, her cop reflexes kicking in. "Stay away from me, Lucifer."
He takes another step, clearly hurt by her rejection. His worst nightmare slowly unfolding in front of him. "Chloe." His voice is calm. "It's okay."
The Detective grabs her gun and points it at the Devil. "Stay where you are, or I'll shoot." He takes another step. Chloe takes the safety of her service weapon off. "Lucifer, stop!" She pleads.
Lucifer finally stops as the doors open. He watches, helpless, his love running away from him, her eyes full of fear forever burnt in his memory.
Maze's ringtone brings him out of his lethargy. He slides the answer button.
"She knows." He says
"What is it Lucifer?" Maze asks at the same time.
"The Detective knows." His voice is filled with sadness. He hears Maze's sharp intake of breath. He sighs and finally gets a grip. "Also, Amaymon's here. He informed me of a rebellion led, here on Earth, by Astaroth. The bastard eyes my throne."
"Is Chloe safe?" Lucifer doesn't reply. "Lucifer!"
"I'll fix what happened with Chloe." He looks over at the demon. "Can you find Astaroth and his minions. They've been occupying recently dead bodies."
"Like your Mom did?"
"Yes."
"I'm on it." Relief washes over Lucifer. He fully trusts Maze for this. His second in command is more efficient than a whole pack of his fierce hellhounds when it comes to tracking people down. "And Lucifer."
"Yes?"
"You better fix the situation with the Detective."
"Call me back in two hours." He hangs up. He turns to Amaymon. "Here is the address of the Detective. You'll watch over her until I can meet you there. Don't be seen, but protect her with your life as if she was your Queen. Anything that happens to her will happen to you, only ten times worse."
The demon nods and exits. Lucifer looks through his contacts and dials Linda.
Let me know what you think. Should I write the second chapter :D.
I hope you enjoyed it :D.