Lux two weeks later…

Patrick stood behind the bar and took a moment to take stock of events. The bar had been slammed, news breaking that the clubs owner was back from the dead. It was wall-to-wall bodies, everyone wanted a piece of him. Lucifer appeared night after night, inviting people into his booth but never taking anyone up into his penthouse. Also Patrick had noticed the extra security, that had never been there before the policewoman had moved in.

Patrick had been relieved when Chloe had temporarily been the manager at Lux, the club was quiet and he had no responsibilities. Now he had heard on the grapevine the boss had set her up a little detective agency on the second floor to keep her occupied since the news said she had been suspended. Now Patrick was the manager and he was annoyed.

He noticed that strange woman was in again. She was possibly the ugliest woman that Patrick had ever seen. As tall as she was wide with a face that could only be described as a saggy ball sack with makeup on, she wore the highest heels possible which Patrick estimated brought her up to five foot. The weirdest thing was she always got to speak to the boss, no accounting for taste he thought. He decided he wanted a smoke so he went out the back to take the garbage out.

Lucifer received his strange looking visitor with the briefest nod, his eyes never leaving the dancefloor. He spoke to her in a guttural language that no human would understand.

"Roxanna of the Lillum. Do you bring me news?"

She sat next to him in the booth and lowered her eyes to the floor.

"Master, she does not make any move out of the compound where she is residing just out of the city limits. More and more of the humans do come every day, but they hardly leave."

Lucifer scanned the crowd.

"How many humans?"

"I estimate at least two thousand master."

He grimaced, but made no other sign.

"She is building an army; it's going to be the battle of the lake of fire again."

Roxanna felt a chill down her spine, she remembered that day. Many of her brothers and sisters died horribly, on that fateful day Lilith had tried to take Hell over. She had forced her siblings to follow her will, but she had been one of those who rebelled against her mother. She had sided with the angel who had taken on the army of Lilith singlehanded, carving a bloody path in his wake. She and Mazikeen had been the first two to take up arms on his behalf, which is why they were his left and right hand respectively. Many of her brethren followed and Lilith had been beaten back. Satan had then made an oath he would protect the Lillum, one that many of them had felt he had broken when he had left to live on Earth.

"It is time to bring my guard up, Amenadial will have to cope without them. How many are left that can be counted on Roxanna?"

"250 master that would die for you, the rest I would not trust to put a knife in your back or pass on information to her."

Lucifer waved her away with his hand and she left. He his protective instincts had reared up the day Chloe had tangled with Lilith. So he kept Chloe in the penthouse as much as possible with a promise that show would not contact anyone, it was a promise she stuck to as the incident with Ella had shook her. Ella had recovered a week later and Azrael had been so happy that they had gone on holiday to Vegas. Amenadial had pounded Remiel into submission to cover for her sister as he had pointed out it was her first holiday in eons. Chloe still took it hard though, terrified of the power that grew in her. Lucifer tried to spend as much time snuggling with her, trying to make her feel safe and loved. He never touched her sexually or made any advances, Lucifer knew she needed time to emotionally heal.

He spent most of the nights downstairs in Lux, pulling in information and waiting for any sign of a threat. During the days he held his council of war, the city politicians and police chief now came almost daily as the situation in the city got worse. Violence and protests against the patriarchy of the state were common occurrences, business was failing and society was breaking down. The humans didn't understand what was going on and in their darkest hour naturally turned to the only angelic presence in the city.

Di Marco had arranged for the Vatican to give out relief to the people of LA and tried to show a presence of mother church in a city that threatened to fall to the cult of Lilith. The police offered protection to the aid workers and priests, but the situation was getting increasingly hostile. Lucifer was tired, he hadn't slept in two weeks. He blamed his father for all this mess and the bloody angels that did bugger all to sort it out. If he was omnipotent he wouldn't repeat that mistake…

Lucifer noticed customers standing by the bar arguing with the staff about drinks running out. He couldn't have cared less, but it was bloody annoying. He signalled a waitress over and asked her where Patrick was, he paid that lazy git a lot of money so he wasn't bothered. The waitress indicated she would look for him.

Five minutes turned into thirty and one of the security men that Chloe had hired came running over looking serious. He bent down to Lucifer and asked him to follow him outside. They pushed past the crowd of staff who had congregated round the back entrance that only they used. Lucifer clinically noticed that they all looked upset but he pushed on till he met what he had been brought to see.

There was a large Lux sign at the back of the club on the same level of the second floor of the building. The sign was lit so as it offered advertising to the back street where the club intersected and had the bonus of lighting up the yard where the staff used as their area. It was on this sign Lucifer saw the body of a man that had been strung up in the parody of the crucifixion. The skin on the back of the body had been sliced from the victims back and arranged in a wing like pattern. There was a sign that hung around the victim's neck that Lucifer had no problems reading,

"God is dead, long live Lilith."

Lucifer was numb, he thought to himself. Poor Patrick.

Four hours later…

It was six am and Lucifer staggered upstairs looking like death. His hair was sticking up everywhere, the suit was disheveled and he stunk of cigarettes. He had worked with the police and then made sure all of his staff had got home ok. Lucifer had told his staff that they would get full pay as the club was shut due to being an active crime scene. He didn't care, he would welcome sleep more.

The elevator pinged open and Chloe stood there, just wearing one of his shirts and bed socks. Her hair up in its messy bun and Lucifer thought she couldn't look more beautiful. She saw his face and she looked concerned, Lucifer cursed the night's events as he didn't want her stressed under any circumstances.

Chloe walked up to him and put her arms around him. Lucifer kissed the top of her head and smelt the coconut scent of her hair. They stayed like that until her belly rumbled, so she chuckled and led him to the kitchen where she fixed them both bacon sandwiches. Lucifer was weaving on his feet from exhaustion, so Chloe's mothering instinct kicked in she led him to the bathroom and helped him bathe. She then led him to the bedroom where they lay on the bed just holding each other. Lucifer tried to close his eyes, but sleep would not come.

"Tell me what has happened my darling?" she said in a soft voice and stroking his hair. Lucifer went rigid with terror.

"You won't break me Lucifer, we are a team. You can't keep hiding stuff from me."

He sighed and said "I promise, but I won't sleep if I think you will run off and try and sort it without me."

Chloe saw that he was torn and gave into a temporary truce. Lucifer finally gave his body up to the sandman and he never felt Chloe reach for her phone so she could read the latest local news.