Hello dear readers. I'm sorry for the long wait and more sorry if you forgot the story in the meantime. As usual, consider I'm deeply ashamed of the way I torture your language. In this big chapter, you'll have various characters POV: shocking from Marcus, worried from Chloe, and puzzled from the two angels trying to communicate...


Chapter 8: Tricks no treats

In his own stunning house in the outskirts, not so far away from Lucifer's one, Marcus Pierce was thinking hard too. And nearly about the same things.

Right in front of a large window, he was sat lonely at his small wooden dining room table, a cold dish in a white plate in front of him, toying the food with his fork while he was staring intently at the drawing, picturing one of the many faces Lilith could wear.

Indeed, Chloe Decker had a hell of a good instinct, the other day, when she talked about "a superspy with a really cool cloaking device"... Without even realizing it, he smiled softly at this still vivid memory, and took a gulp of his already tepid beer. He liked her. Or at least he liked her instinct. Yes Decker was more than right. Because Lilith had her very own, very special, cloaking device. Something thrilling that God should never have given to her : she could alter her glamour to appear just like her target wanted to see her. Simple as that. The perfect embodiment of every fantasy of a woman…

He sighed and got up to put his untouched plate in the fridge.

God probably wanted this to be sure Adam would like her. He couldn't risk to have his father say "No, she's ugly" while presenting the first woman ever, right?

Cain became aware of this trick of hers the hardest way possible.

Passing in front of his collection of beautiful mineral rocks, he let out a grim smile. Pebbles and stones. Who still knew, except few old bigots, he had killed his wanker of a brother Abel with a rock? He certainly owed them a lot; hence the magnificent samples he gathered all around the world from time immemorial.

He shrugged to push away these memories that were ironed in the flesh of his large biceps. So much for the metaphorical shepherd. Indeed God marked him like cattle... But who cared about the specifics? About how and why all of this happened? Everything had already been thought, and rethought a zillion times. He didn't need a reminder of the part Lilith had played. Or why he would never be able to "understand" or "forgive"... He guessed nobody could. What would you do if you had to find your writhing brother making silly noises, buried to the hilt in a woman that was looking just the same your adored mother? What would you do if this viper had fooled you to make you believe she would be your spouse? The shapeshifter Lilith lied to both of them. She used her mighty charms and their painful hunger for having spouses when you couldn't find any except Havah. She did this willingly. She destroyed his family because she was in a path of revenge against God. Because He banned her only love in Hell… They were just collateral damages in a war that didn't concern them.

He gritted his teeth. He had however no regrets of having killed Abel. If Lilith wore faces that could lure her prey, every face must have a deep meaning. For him, she had the face and body of a beautiful black beauty with traces of Asian, because the first celestial he ever saw before was like this. The one that did his mark. His face has faded long before. He could cross the street, Marcus was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to recognize him. For Lucifer, ever the narcissistic, she was looking like a female version of him. Strangely enough, nothing was revealed when Espinoza looked at her… But how could this pathetic corrupted cop could have been touched by the Divine, in any way?

He pondered this a while before shaking his head. All of this was useless. What he had to think instead was a proper way to close this case. Obviously Lilith would never fall under human justice for that baby murder or for the killing of two unfortunate people at Morningstar's club. How do you ever restrain in jail someone that could vanish into the thin air?

He thought of her on the sidewalk, her false vulnerability, her almond eyes, her enticing threats of death… Nothing but lies. Oh, he would have loved to believe she could kill him by "absorption". Because all this shit wouldn't be his problem anymore... But he already knew he couldn't find oblivion between Lilith's tits and thighs, as sweet and deadly they can be. He survived lava in the pit of the Krakatoa volcano. He survived Nagasaki. He knew to the bone everything about fusion point and melting... Sometimes he doubted to be able to die even if he was thrown in the heart of a supernova.

So the only choice left was to let Lucifer find a way to get rid of her, make her disappear or leave, while he was taking care of people's curiosity and providing a new logical and understandable culprit. To say it loud, he needed to frame someone else… At least, for the baby murder that put his precinct under deep political scrutiny.

Leaving the dining room, he went to his sofa to retrieve the copies of the files he had taken with him when he left the office. He sat his muscular shape to read them carefully.

Mr and Mrs Solano. The parents were probably not a good choice. That would be difficult to come with a whole made up backstory. His second idea, more manageable, would be Miguel Solano, the cousin because the man had a shadowy past in street gangs. That could be far easier to put his own shadowy men to search or make evidences against him. However, as a member of the seemingly large Solano family, he could receive protection from them, because those catholic groups were generally tightly knit. If Miguel was the type of the prodigal son, trying to do good after difficult beginnings, everything would depend on how he was accepted in his community.

So his other, and probably best, choice was to frame... the nurse, Miss Naaji. He knew it was harsh. He had met her. She was nice. But this cruel world was not made for nice people to survive. He could not afford sentimentality. He would have to explain logically the butchery and that wouldn't be easy either because white weapons were not female favourite ways to kill. Everybody knew it nowadays. The good point: she seemed to be a loner; he would have to check if someone would be prone to stand up for her. And she had another remarkable trait in common with the drawing : she was equally beautiful. More than that. With a close watch, one could recognize identical racial markers. For once, Lilith's illusion trick could be just purposely useful. All he had to do now, was to find a corrupt psychiatrist to pressure, and make him say that this woman on the picture was some product of the troubled mind of the schizophrenic nurse… A projection of her dark side or some rot like this… This could be the perfect tragic and horrible story people would like… Tragic but somewhat understandable. What Lucifer had said? That the nurse could have killed the baby in frustration, because she can't have one of her own? Thank you very much to be such a helpful Devil!

A phone call coming from his "left pocket" device - the one he used for his criminal activities - interrupted his musings. He went to dig in his jacket that was left on the back of another chair.

"Boss? said the voice of his right-hand man. Are you free to talk?"

"I am. What do you have for me? Did you follow Morningstar as I told you to?"

"Yes! I'm outside his place. There had been a... slaughter in this house... From what I can see from the window, there are piles of bodies and blood everywhere."

"Really? Who did this?"

"Your guy!"

Marcus started to smile very happily. If he could gather evidence against Lucifer Morningstar, his day was getting better and better. Still a very helpful Devil!

"Sorry boss, I have to cut, I have some kind of situation here..."

"No! Move to a safer position and call me back! It's an order!"

His man didn't bother to end the call, obviously keeping the phone in a tight fist. Marcus heard light muffled footsteps and a heavy breathing when the other held his phone again.

"What's happening, who is trying to attack Morningstar? I made it clear to the gangs he was mine."

"Not who! What! hushed the man. I don't even know what those creatures are! Some bizarre dogs coming from Chernobyl or something… they can have multiple heads… If I wouldn't know better I would swear the house is on top of a hellmouth!"

Marcus gritted his teeth again. Great! More supernatural. He had to take a decision very quickly even without knowing what it was about. Of course he was disappointed because he could really have used some more regular and human bodies against the Devil…

"Are you still here?"

"Yes. It's calmer now. No more cries and growls. Someone is at the door. Caucasian, brown hair, about six feet high... Looks like an accountant."

"Okay. Use this time to break in quickly. I want you to take one of these dogs that could fit in the trunk of your car. I'll send you an address where you'll leave it."

The man acknowledged briefly after a short hesitation. Marcus had a smile. He would have not be pleased to kill this employee for starting to cause more problems than he could solve for him. The guy should have sensed it and shut his mouth up. Pierce went to a drawer to retrieve a small notepad where he kept "useful" contacts.

Some pharmaceutical labs would be far too pleased to pay a great deal for an unknown animal species they could run tests on. Later, he could even send his own "cleaning service" to the villa to get more and make cash.

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.°.

Chloe didn't know how this happened. One minute she was reading her files and the other, she could just see blurry lines of text dancing in front of her eyes with no meaning anymore. There was something in this story that was making no sense. The total lack of any evidence. Of course you could be not so surprised to find a hospital really clean, but Ella had checked three times. And nothing. Not a single drop of blood, not a hair, not a fingerprint that shouldn't have been here.

Nothing else than a mysterious blur on CCTV, unhelpful to identify anyone. She was eager to see if the identikit would allow finding someone in a national database. Of course she would have wanted to dig more in the past of the Solano family, or in the hospital employees, but it was late Friday afternoon and she was tired. She could have used some distraction to prevent her to crash her nose on her keyboard and fall asleep just here, without even going in her bed.

With Trixie and Maze's departure, the flat was very silent and still. Maybe too much.

What would have been perfect was the light and mindless banter of her partner... Lucifer was like her own miracle pill to help her relax on crime scenes. Since he wasn't serious very often, she had to let her mental grip go for few seconds to scold him. But more than once, after his silly remarks, she regained her composure and could connect dots, or have other ideas. And she really needed other ideas in this case…

On the other hand, considering the strange way - or stranger than usual - he was acting with her, she was not sure it was clever to try to talk to him outside the strict boundaries of work. Sooner that day, things went really awkward. Again.

Lucifer was flirting as he was breathing. A natural, some would say. But after all they have been through, after she nearly died, he was not really trying anymore to get actively into her pants. She was not that desperate. Who wants to be a notch on a bedpost? A nagging little voice in the back of her mind answered: half of the town and more. Shut up, little voice. Anybody would have understood she wasn't ready because he wasn't offering any of the guaranties she needed. But Lucifer wasn't anybody.

In his odd inappropriate way, he probably tried to have a more personal conversation when he talked about hypothetical kids with her. At least, she hoped that was hypothetical... The idea was mere nonsense. However when she closed her eyes and let her mind wander, she could imagine the father he would be... A freaked one, fiercely protective, probably worse than a Jewish mother. She smiled as images of him, making disgusted faces changing the nappies, or parading among the mothers in the kindergarten with an adorable "mini-me", filled her mind.

This was quite unlikely to ever happen though.

She had her own guess about his past. Possibly exotic but quite not as he chose to picture it. What concerned her was his own set of questionable values, his violence and surprising strength, and some broken sides of himself he thought she didn't see. How many times had she pleaded him to stop himself in front of a murderer pinned high on a wall? How many times did he look surprised to find her at his side, as if he was so focused on his rage he had totally forgotten she was here? He was truly delighted when Dan offered him a comic book called The Punisher"Most appropriate because I'm caught somewhere between both Castle" he said*... Who knew he was actually watching this lame and unrealistic cop show? Did he found Stana Katic very attractive? Or… maybe... Nathan Fillion? In her opinion, to his credit, Rick Castle had two perks: he was bringing coffee and accepting to wear a bulletproof vest!

She sighed impatiently. There were so many more serious questions she would have liked him to answer, as he promised some time ago on the voicemail. It was sad to see a grown man like him with so many gifts, trying to make his way in this world, with less than a clue about the meaningful purpose of life, about friendship or love or anything that matters…

That's how she was seeing him: funny, unusual and broken. She was proud he had chosen her as his unofficial guide to be less cynical. This was something precious and peculiar for her: to embody a positive side of authority and justice. If he had missed them in his childhood with wrong adults around him, she could understand and forgive many things…

Many things but not him still having sex with his sister. Even if she was a half-sister. Or even adopted, like Amenadiel.

She took her phone and stared at the screen before typing a teasing message to be sure he would answer: "How is the night, your Devilishness?"

She waited a bit, until the point she thought he was probably right in the middle of an orgy and far too busy for her. Then, as she was putting the device back in the coffee table, it ringed back and offered just a word. "Hectic."

She looked again at the screen, because that was an unusual answer. Lucifer was always between two extremes: or he was exclusively talking emoji (to the great delight of Trixie) or he was typing extensive memos with full sentences and punctuation.

"May I call U later? 'bout the case?"

"Yes."

Short again. She frowned. That was not him at all. "You seem busy. Maybe Monday is better for boring questions?"

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.°.

Retreating of few steps to avoid to be hit by a geyser of blood, the dark haired angel rose his head from the screen of the phone. He tried to shout to cover the growls a huge and very visible hellhound was eliciting, while this totally abnormal Lucifer was trying to kill it. He was forbidden to make a move.

Just after his arrival, even before he could hear the slightest explanation, Castiel** had the bad surprise to actually see behind his host, a hesitating hellhound sniffing at them both . As if the creature didn't know which one to attack first. Lucifer just threw him a ball of fur and let out a strange curved blade. Fifteen seconds after, a phone rang and the Devil commanded him to see who it was. Well, it was not really an order. More a practical request because his hands were full at the moment. So Castiel complied because he could see this man was brave and a good fighter. And probably an angel, because he was too strong for a human.

Someone named "The detective" was sending puzzling texts to him, as if they were in friendly terms, calling him "your Devilishness". Flattering him? So maybe a demon. But the so-called Devil asked him to answer for him, but without revealing too much of the real situation here. Fortunately, being brief was one of Castiel's talents.

Lucifer was on the back of the threatening angry creature, relentless arms around its neck, strangling it slowly until it went limp. However, it was a fraud, the hound was just pretending and jumped to attack again. His teeth grazed the arm of Castiel when he lifted it to protect himself. He never saw such a cunning one. His own silvery blade came in his hand.

"Your detective is asking if she has to call back on Monday. What do I answer?

"No! roared the weird Lucifer, I'm finishing just this one…"

"Do you want me to help? Or replace you? I've my own blade with me…"

"Since when do I let the guests have more fun than me?"

The other angel blinked. "You think this is fun? I'm not sure you're the Lucifer I know, but you may be more wicked than him…"

Since he had an audience for his prowess, Lucifer's strength had multiplied. God knows why he wanted to impress the newcomer! The man had just the time to claim he was an angel, an angel of the Lord, as if they could be from someone else… He was staying calm, and not much impressed, barely interested. On the contrary, Lucifer was deadly curious so he quickened the killing. He plunged the large knife of Lilith right in the heart of the beast and twisted. With the help of his leather clad foot to maintain it, he eased out the shiny gold and cleaned it on his trousers.

.

He turned with a big smile and asked to see the device.

"Sorry I have to take that one, we'll talk just after. Press the button to call back, and put on speaker, I really need to hear her voice now."

Her? So the detective was a woman, like Donna or Jody? The Devil was doing business with the Police? That was wrong! "Do you want me to wait outside?" he asked politely.

"No, I won't be long. As much as I'm craving to see her, that would be the worst idea ever… but I must provide convincing answers, otherwise she'll guess something is wrong."

Castiel asked himself why the Devil was working with a cop and lying to her. The best thing with Sam and Dean friends in the Police was they were aware of everything... To the great pleasure of the Devil, the answer was immediate. The foreign angel watched his weird unknown brother becoming weirder than ever, talking with a seductive intent he only heard in Dean's voice and the Pizza Man.

"Detective, what a pleasure! Is everything ok?"

"Yes. I was just realizing I could really use your point of view on the case."

"Mhh, are you finally admitting you miss me?"

"Is it so extraordinary I need my partner? What's the point of a team if I'm left alone? Everyone fled today… And your mojo trick could have been helpful one some witnesses."

"I know I'll have to make amends for this and failing you. In my defense, my sister is... in trouble. And pain. She's not feeling very well and I don't have the heart to leave her alone this week-end."

"Sorry to hear this. Can I do something to help? What kind of trouble?"

"Health issues. I don't want to bother you with too personal and gruesome details about someone you don't know but… she had a… miscarriage." After all, that was the correct term when birth went wrong and too soon…

"Oh my God! That's why she was in town... Is she OK?" The guest angel saw his host wincing when Father's name was said.

"As you can guess, not very much. But my family is warned and well… some are already here - not the one I would have expected - but anyway… I'll call you back later when she can find some rest, is that alright?"

"Of course. I'm sorry for disturbing. I was not imagining this. Neither that you'd be such a… hum… caring brother…"

"Well, you would know if you'd let me pamper you the right way, sometimes..."

Even Castiel rolled his eyes at this one. Dean himself would never risk so cheap lines...

"Stop being silly, the woman said with a concerned voice. And call me back if you need anything. I could stop by if you want…"

"Thank you, detective. We'll see later when she will be out of danger. I have to go now…"

Lucifer used a clean piece of his shirt to end the call but had the surprise to see a double "kiss" emoji that had him smile happily. The man in front of him was a bit shocked by all he had heard. This was not his brother usual way at all.

"I know it's none of my business but… are you in a… romantic relationship with this police officer?"

Lucifer's smile fell. "No, I only… care for her. I work with her, that's all" he clarified a bit stiffly.

Castiel was not convinced at all. "Well, as I said, not of my concern. Unlikely, unless you are plotting very unangelic things. You're cruel and selfish. Do I have to remind you how you tortured me for fun? And Sam?"

The Devil displayed a shocked face and played amnesia. This new vessel was really a good actor, skilled in the feeling area. "I maybe am selfish but certainly didn't do anything of that sort! I would have recalled. You seem to know who I am but I don't know any Castiel among my brothers. Or sisters for the record. I swear it's the first time I see you. Is it possible you might be a young one, born after my Fall?"

"I don't think so. Father does not create new children. Or maybe He does, but since we don't know where He is now…"

"Wait? Dear Ole Dad has left the Silver City? Note that would explain pretty well why he's never answering..."

"Silver what?"

"Heaven, hello! Where are you from if you don't know the Silver City?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing! Every angel, even you, is well aware Father had been hiding for years among humans, passing for a prophet!"

"Don't tell me you believe that stupid story of God Johnson! This was not really Dad! The piece of Azrael's blade scrambled the poor man's brain, that's all…"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the young angel sighed deeply. "Listen, something is totally wrong. I don't understand who you're talking about, and I do believe you are not either. So there is only one explanation: I've been crossing another universe and you are not my Lucifer. I know it's possible. I do it sometimes with my humans."

The Devil was frowning, thinking every of this was highly doubtful but stopped in his tracks and started a slow teasing smile. "Your humans?"

The other seemed embarrassed and his cheekbones went a bit rosy. He crossed defensively his arms on his chest. "I mean… obviously they are not mine… I don't own them… I'm not that kind of… anyway. I'm just... hanging out with them. I've been on Earth for a while because I was not very popular upstairs, among the other angels."

"What did you do for that? What was your desire?"

"Something you'd probably despise: I chose to fight for humans against my own kin. Don't get it wrong. Of course I think they are bizarre, but… with time, I became accustomed. Some of them are… quite nice. They call me their friend and an official member of "Team Free Will" as they say... They also like to tease me but it's not to be mean."

The tall Devil was listening very carefully and smirked because he liked the name Team Free Will. Something worth fighting for in his opinion. "No I don't despise your choice. Tell me, why do you think they do this to you, a powerful Angel of the Lord?"

Castiel had a flash of a beautiful sad smile that made Lucifer thrill a bit at the warm of it. "That's it. You make it sound exactly like them… Have you been here for a long time? I must admit I'm still having difficulties to pinpoint the right thing they can have in mind. They often take pride to say something and think something very different while they are talking… To answer you, I think they are uncomfortable to express their feelings. And… I'm grateful for this, because I'm far more uncomfortable with mine… That's odd! I don't know why I'm telling you all this."

Lucifer smiled. "Humans are liars. Born like this. That's why I have my gift: to make them tell the truth through their desires. How could I punish them properly if I was tricked by their words? Usually my gift does not work on my siblings, maybe it's because you're from somewhere else?"

"Or maybe it's because I lost my grace a little while. I managed to have it back, but during this time, I was nothing more than a human… Damn! Stop it!"

.

Coming from the first floor, they heard the loud bang of a crashed door and heavy footsteps climbing the stairs in an obvious rush. "Lucifer, are you still here?" Soon, Maze came in with wild eyes, knives ready, followed by a coughing Amenadiel, bent hand on his knees, and trying to breathe again. "Where is it?"

Secretly happy to see them at last, Lucifer turned himself elegantly in his ruined suit to point several nasty piles of already rotting black flesh around. "Here, here, here… More in the bathroom, two in the nearby corridor…" He bent to catch the small black rabbit that had stayed by the foot of a pedestal table, gnawing patiently at the wood. "...and this one too, but I still don't know if it's dangerous, because… well… it's just shivering and loving to be cuddled against my natural warmth…"

"Luci! What is all that mess!" asked Amenadiel, definitely sobered up in a shock.

"Hellhounds!" answered both Maze and the unknown angel at the same time.

"And a hellrabbit, I guess" chimed in Lucifer holding it by the neck. "All granted by your so prolific mother, dear…"

Maze shrugged. Seeing Lucifer was ok, she made a beeline to Castiel and started to turn around him and get long whiffs of his shoulders that had him very uncomfortable, but he tried to remain stoic. "He smells like an angel, but weirdly."

"An angel? Impossible! cut the First-Born. I know all of them and I don't know this one!"

Lucifer gently grabbed Maze's arms to make her step back and give Castiel some air, because he was glaring and being tense. "Demon!" he muttered. "I should have known..."

The Devil clasped his hands and rubbed them a bit nervously. "Ok everyone, time for introductions. This is Castiel, he's an angel from a parallel Earth or dimension, I'm not sure. Apparently he can travel like this and heard my call like you did. Castiel, the big ugly one is my brother Amenadiel. He's currently having his sorry ass on Earth because he is fallen with no powers… And the ferocious hottie is Mazikeen, formerly Head of my Torturers in Hell, now my… reluctant and jealous friend. The one you didn't see yet is Lilith, mother of the…

"Lilith!" jumped back Castiel with a croaky voice becoming all a sudden very pale. "The First Demon has joined you in this universe?"

Next to them atop the stairs, a sudden huge flap sounded. Lilith appeared in her white plush bathrobe and her big black wings that had Castiel mesmerized and stuck on the spot. He had never seen visible wings before, neither visible hellhounds for the record.

As usual when she was unsettled, she blinked and turned impolitely to ignore the newcomer. Addressing to Lucifer she asked: "Is he the snack you promised me? Thank you! I'm really starving now." And in one swift move, she extended her arm, grabbed Castiel by his tie and vanished with him before anyone could stop her.

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TBC

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* Reference to the TV show "Castle" (Richard Castle, charming police consultant, and his muse the detective Kate Beckett) and reference to the Marvel Universe for Franck Castle being "The Punisher", a violent and troubled man chasing crime to give justice by immediate death.

**In case you managed to avoid it during the last 13 years, Castiel is an angel from the Supernatural TV show. He's not in friendly terms with his own Lucifer. This is a small very temporary crossover.