Lucifer's warehouse

From the outside, his warehouse was an inconspicuous building that stood in a landscape of the exact same looking buildings, where normally only large corporate companies stored their property. Lucifer Morningstar and his Lux nightclub just didn't fit in this place. His warehouse was the only one without high fences and security cameras. On top of that, the door wasn't even locked either.

"I can expect something jaw-dropping, can't I?" Chloe felt certain and wasn't happy about it.

"Are you suddenly scared to find out I might have built a second Eden on Earth? All touchy and heavenly sexy? The promised 70 virgins in the afterlife?" Lucifer teased her, clearly amused, and held the door for her open.

"Sure, although a sex club is nothing I wouldn't expect from you," Chloe fired back sarcastically. For sure, there was something hidden in there because she noticed this surprisingly uneasy smile as Lucifer asked her to come in. She didn't need to be told twice.

As they entered his warehouse, he turned the lights on and its secret content was revealed to Chloe's. She didn't know whether it was a big disappointment or a big relief. Shelves up to the ceiling stowed countless boxes and on the ground, there were dusty sheets concealing many unidentifiable objects and furniture while a stuffy smell reached her nostrils. It felt more like an oversized attic. So much stuff laid around, yet it seemed like everything was still somehow organized.

Lucifer carefully watched her reactions and swiftly confirmed, "Told you, there is nothing special in here." He was convinced she had seen enough now and wanted to leave, but Chloe, instead of listening, walked further in and took a closer look. After all, it was only the first impression and she had to be one hundred percent sure about this. Her gut feeling asked for it and she trusted it.

"Take your time then," he sighed, slightly annoyed. He silently followed her, with his hands resting in his trouser pockets. Soon her sharp senses ultimately brought them to a black curtain spanned between two shelves. A very strong musty smell tickled her nose, which she couldn't quite identify.

Was there finally something inside he wanted to keep secret? Strangely, he showed no sign of preventing her from going any further. No, her curiosity was pleasing him by now and he eagerly told her to go on. Behind the black spanned curtain she discovered old paintings, antic statues and crazy relics which were placed alongside a new strange looking path she accidently was about to enter.

"Wow, what is all of this?" she mumbled, stunned by this overwhelming view. The thought that a single man just like him possessed this huge and rare art collection was unbelievable because all these objects where partly so beautiful, rich in detail and massive. Surely no one in the world was able to afford them. "I bet all of this belongs in a museum," she continued amazed.

Lucifer was proudly willing to enlighten her about the numerous things she stared at in awe. "Throughout my visits on Earth, I've always gotten myself some souvenirs, but I was often unable to get them down to Hell in time because of my single-minded brother always spoiling my fun on Earth too soon. He forbid it. Therefore, I had to hide them well, but lately I thought it was time to store them altogether with the Lux related stuff in one place. So, I created a private nostalgic garden to wander through past memories whenever I feel like it."

Chloe shook her head in disbelief.

"I can't believe all of this is yours. But more importantly, you store these high-valuable objects and you don't even care about the possibility that someone could just take advantage and steal them? You don't have any kind of a security system in here," she glanced around, noticing the door, "and the door doesn't even have a proper lock on it," she finished, giving him a grave look.

"Why should I? Nobody steals from the Devil and gets away with it," he answered quite naturally as it indeed wasn't a big deal for him. Lucifer yet again confronted her with his odd Devil persona and she felt like he was making fun of her valid concerns.

"Yeah, right, because you're the Devil," she joked, as she thought he had intended, but it only elicited a disappointed expression from him.

"I am the Devil, Detective," Lucifer defended himself offended by her attitude.

Her guilty conscience hit her mood at once and she felt deeply blameworthy. Of course, he was serious but, if she was honest with herself, she still didn't really know how to manage his delusional side. She knew he had built up this Devil persona to shield himself from his gruesome past, and the huge scars on his back were shocking proof of that past. Playing along was still a difficult task for her, however, she accepted his bizarre behavior and actually kind of liked it somehow. She just wasn't sure why.

She cleared her throat and promptly picked something up that looked like a metal bulb decorated with gold patterns to distract themselves from the awkward outcome of this conversation. "What's this?" Chloe asked, puzzled.

Thankfully, Lucifer took the clumsy hint and a big grin emerged on his face.

"This, Detective, is an instrument of torture from the Inquisition. Torturer inserted this in people's rectum or mouth and opened it by twisting this metal screw. Straightforward and very painful. Demons actually love to play with this cracking toy," he gladly informed her with a chuckle. "I have more to show if you like to. The classic Rack, the Brazing Bull of Ancient Greece, the-"

"Ew," Chloe immediately put that offer down in disgust. "No, thank you, Lucifer. I don't really want to know the details of any other instrument of torture. Perhaps that's why it smells a bit like rotten flesh in here. Well, I've seen enough." She then decided and turned to him.

He on the other hand suddenly seemed irritated and started to look around vigilantly. "Actually, that's an alarming point, you've just mentioned," he agreed. "It shouldn't smell like rotten flesh in here."

It didn't take long to figure it out. As they hurried down the path, it led them to a wide-open space where they made a grim discovery. Four corpses were bounded hand and foot to four of the five chairs placed in a line in front of a gigantic masterpiece of art, which was a two-meter high and three-and-a-half-meter wide canvas bookended in an old black wooden frame. The killer had heedlessly ruined the artwork by drawing big nonsensical symbols on it with red paint that strongly looked like dried blood. However, the most horrible scene was the state of the victims. You could see the terror and pain on their faces except for the one, whose head was missing. Another body still had a spear stuck in i

Chloe had never seen anything this vile and cruel in her life and it left her in shock. "What the -" she said. She was mortified. Her eyes reached out for comfort but surprisingly this scenery had deeply disturbed Lucifer as well. He stood there almost dead still with a terrified look on his face that said it all. Never had a case ever affected him this way, not even the first case they worked on together, and it made this whole situation a touch scarier.

"Lucifer? Are you alright?" Chloe slowly worried about his mental state.

She just couldn't understand what exactly had shook Lucifer to the core. It hadn't been the corpses or the horrific view but the painted message on his most beloved work of art. She didn't know the language, but Lucifer did. It was Enochian, the language of angels. There the threat was written:

Who is next, my dearest Samael?

It was the malicious aura ascending from these words and he felt its meaningful impact in his heavy chest. Lucifer knew there were some snippets of his mother tongue out there on Earth, carelessly used by satanic lunatics or theologians but no one had ever written these symbols so fluently nor had an earthling ever known the specific arrangement of symbols for his ancient name he so detested.

This was without doubt the doing of a divine being and it was mocking him.

"Y-yes," he ensured calmer and more collected, finally detaching his eyes from the murder site. "I was fascinated by this… aesthetic view."

Chloe didn't believe this was a reaction of fascination, but she let him be for now and called the LAPD. Soon the whole place was full of people. At some point, the FBI and even professors from various art and culture committees showed up to examine his art collection about its authenticity. They were beyond baffled to find pieces from famous artists among his art collection, which they didn't even know of their existence. Nonetheless, nothing was stolen as they had suspected and therefore, Lucifer wasn't arrested. Still, there was a downside.

"I am so sorry, Lucifer. They have confiscated everything because they don't believe you're the true owner. Unless you can prove your ownership, you probably won't get anything back. It's a matter of national treasure now," Chloe joined him and sadly informed him about the fate of his art collection. However, Lucifer remained silent and it seemed he hadn't even listened to her. He just stared at the enormous painting and it became clear for her that it was holding the most value to him.

"Unfortunately, same counts for this artwork as well. At least, it is evidence and thus in our hands for now," she tried to improve his depressing mood but he was too caught up in his own thoughts, which were wildly circling around his new unknown foe. Dearest Samael… It had to be someone he knew. One of his siblings? But whom, and why now? He swallowed a lump in his throat and ran his hand over his face.

Ignored by Lucifer, Chloe inhaled sharply and turned to forensics. "Found anything, Ella?"

"For starters," Ella paused her examination of the dead corpse and looked to her. "I would ask: Oh, hey Ella, how was your week off so far? Great, thank you for asking. Nobody could have foreseen the big serial killer bomb that blasted me right out of my comfortable pajamas. No big deal for me though."

"I'm so sorry, Ella," Chloe felt slightly guilty. "I just needed my best forensic expert.

"I guess I can take that compliment. Besides, we don't have a serial killer every day," Ella forgave her easily. "So, back to our dead guys. Cause of death is probably impalement with this spear over there, but I can't cancel out poison 'cause there are strong typical indications on the bodies. Maybe they were tortured by the poison and then killed. I don't know for sure yet. Time of death is also difficult to tell right now because they didn't die a short while ago. Well, we didn't find the missing body parts either and I haven't yet found anything on the bodies that can help. Taken all together, we don't have much but I'm working on it."

"Thanks for your help," Chloe appreciated her hard work. "So, who do you think could be a suspect?" she called out to Lucifer and folded her arms but her pointed remark met deaf ears. He really was unbelievable. Why was he so obsessed with these symbols? "Can you actually read that?" she tried to get through to him because something deeply bothered him and she really wanted to know why.

Chloe waited patiently by his side and her effort finally paid out. He gave her a brief glance and inhaled deeply before he talked to her. "I can't believe someone ruined my Leonardo da Vinci. It represents the story of the Fall so purely and truthfully accurate. It's a shame. He made this for me, so I would never forget him and our lovely long nights together."

"Right…," Chloe didn't expect an art lesson from him out of the blue but just went with it and scanned the many small stories taken place on the canvas. Well, she wasn't an art expert and she surely wasn't convinced she stared at a Da Vinci, but this work was truly beautiful.

Her general interest let him dip deeper into the subject matter with newfound élan and a big smirk. "He was an insane man as a person and in bed, let me tell you. It was a huge challenge for me to flip him but it was a fun one. Flipping men was indeed my thing at that time. Well, at the end, he presented me this." He spread his arms, "His love confession. I laughed so hearty at him back then. Uh, I had never appreciated his work as much as I do right now."

He went silent again, thoughtful and she could feel his hurt and infuriation.

"It's an inexcusable crime," she then concluded after a quiet time and looked at him with genuine, serious eyes. "We are standing right in the middle of an inexcusable crime and in the center of all of this is you. I really need your cooperation otherwise I can't help prove your innocence."

He sighed, defeated by her words and took her offer with a subdued mood. "It's probably my blackmailer."

"Blackmailer?" she repeated in surprise and forced him to look at her.

"Yes. Look, Detective, this is a message. Someone is clearly threatening my reputation," he made it quite clear to her in a sudden outrageous tone and pointed to the corpses. Chloe frowned, irritated by his accusation but he wasn't yet finished with his explanation.

"I did every one of them a favor and got one in return. This dead fellow to begin with is Jack Folder, the famous lawyer whose kept criminals on the loose and this one is Walter Grey, CEO of the delivery company which is also famous for their drugs shipping operations throughout the world. This headless man here is James Monroe, undertaker and the best creator of identities and surprise, this dead man is Pitch, the best entertainer for not so legal desires. Include William Portz and voila. These big names were killed in my warehouse and had business with me ergo news will spread and my reputation is damaged."

"So, these men were killed because of their dealings with you," she summed it up.

"No, not only killed but body parts were also sent to me in packages. That's how I know this headless man is James Monroe," he revealed.

"Since when? You've never told me about that," she replied frustrated. "We need these packages."

"A month but I told Maze get rid of them," he answered but stopped her complaints immediately with a wave of his hand. "That's not the point. I wouldn't mind a blackmailer because first, I've never had one before and second, he mostly acted just like one of my many lovers who couldn't get enough of me. I'd never imagined he would involve the police to lure me here -" he halted, a sudden realization dawning on him. "Or, maybe… maybe, he made it a police matter because I gave him no attention."

"Or maybe it was not intended after all," Chloe pensively connected the evidence. "William Portz' body was found accidentally by teens playing in this closed remoted facility. There's a fifth chair here, empty. Perhaps the blackmailer had arranged a meeting with our victim, in your name, about the contract. Something went wrong, perhaps he got suspicious, and the blackmailer chased William. Then William somehow fell over the railing. Maybe those teens interrupted the blackmailer and he killed William in a hurry and then fled. I know it is a far-fetched theory and it needs proof." She exhaled. "But if I'm right, this scenery wasn't even his finished statement to you and all of this is just the beginning."

"He surely got my attention now," he mumbled upset and then suddenly he changed his mind. "I have to go."

"Wait!" Chloe insisted and went after him. "I told you not to leave me like that ever again or this partnership is gone." It was selfish but a necessary step to threaten him about his given promise because this case was about him after all and she needed him more than ever.

He immediately stopped and turned. This childish annoyance in his expression meant nothing to her. "This is the Devil's work from now on, Detective," he said determined with a coldhearted tone, and she instantly knew he was about to do something very illegal. This path however, she was not willing to let him take.

"You'll do nothing without me. Your name is number one on the suspect list and unless you can prove your innocence, I won't let you go. Even if that means I have to handcuff you and drag you with me back to the precinct," she was dead serious and as a proof of her own resolve, she put her hand to the gun.

This was an unmistakable sign and he clearly saw it that way because there was no silly joke leaving his mouth. No, he was reflecting her ultimatum although he disliked her very much in that moment. He groaned angrily, struggling with his choice but then he finally decided which was more important to him.

"Fine," he hissed reluctantly. "I'm going to prove my innocence. Perhaps Maze didn't get rid of today's package. I'll ask her but-"

"No ifs, no buts," she demanded at once. "If you're blackmailer story is true, we're going to stop him together."