Okay, Chapter two of KQH. Surprisingly, I've not got much to say other than enjoy the story, so, without further ado…
Hell
Lucifer looked around in confusion, while Chloe and Trixie got their bearings. Chloe looked at him, "Lucifer, what's wrong?" He gave a disbelieving laugh, "What's wrong? What's wrong, Detective, is that this is not what Hell is supposed to look like. Not in the slightest."
Chloe looked around, taking in the sight of what for all intents and purposes could be called a sprawling landscape dotted with small villages. Well, of course everything also looked as if it had been created to look as dark, uninviting and demonic as possible. Hearing Lucifer's mutterings, she looked to him, "What is Hell normally supposed to look like?" He shook his head, "Not this. It has always been essentially a maze of doors, each one leading to an individual's punishment. Not a bloody medieval landscape!" Hearing the slight hysterical edge to his voice, Chloe grabbed his arm and said, "Well, how should we go about figuring out what happened?"
Lucifer shook his head slowly, before glimpsing something out of the corner of his gaze, "Well, I suppose that's one place to start." Looking to where he was, Chloe saw a dark and imposing castle sat on a slight hill. "A castle?" Lucifer looked at her, "Trust me, Detective, this is as confusing for me as it is for you. Right then, child, hold on to your mother, we're going to do this the fast way." Putting action to word, he unfurled his wings. Seeing Chloe struggle to do the same, he told her, "Just change into your demon form for now, we can practice partial transformation later." She nodded and changed into her demon form.
Together, they flew towards the imposing structure, before alighting inside what seemed to be the main courtyard. Stalking towards the large wooden door, Lucifer pounded on it, sending thunderous booms echoing inside. Moments later, a slat moved aside and a pair of eyes peered cautiously out.
When the eyes landed on Lucifer's unhappy visage, they widened, before the slat slammed shut and the massive doors ponderously began to open.
Seeing Lucifer's impatient mien, Chloe laid her hand on his arm once again. He looked over and nodded to her, taking a few deep breaths. By the time the doors opened, he appeared calmer, though that was belied by the fact he strode imperiously forth and grabbed the lapels of the man who was stood waiting for them.
"Where is Paris?" Lucifer ground out. Stammering in fear, the man couldn't get the words out. Chloe looked at Trixie, who had been silent so far, just taking in her surroundings. Rolling her eyes at Lucifer, which earned her a smile from her daughter, she walked forward and extricated the man from Lucifer's grasp. Turning to look at him, Chloe crossed her arms, "Lucifer, you can't expect an answer if you scare the pants off them." He grumbled, but just raised an eyebrow when he turned to face the man again.
Quickly, the man gestured for them to follow him, before being led deeper into the castle.
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The man led them into a grand chamber where there was a grand throne of black marble on a raised dais, in front of the stairs leading up to was a simple marble chair in which was sat a man in a simple, black chiton. He was consulting a tome of some kind when they walked in.
Pushing past the man who had led them, Lucifer strode forward, "Paris!" he barked, the man in the chair startled and dropped the tome, looking up quickly, his eyes widened and he got up and bowed to Lucifer, "My King, you have returned," He said. Lucifer waved it away, "Yes, yes, I'm back. Huzzah. Now what the bloody Hell happened to, well, Hell?" Paris shook his head, "We're still not sure, my lord, it happened about a month and a half ago, suddenly there was a massive flash and Hell had changed to look like this, I've been trying to find out what happened since. Unfortunately, I have been unable to determine the root cause."
Lucifer began to pace, "A month and a half ago, you said?" Paris nodded, and Lucifer continued to mutter, "That would make it, give or take, an hour and a half ago… Oh bugger." He turned to Chloe with the most serious expression she had ever seen on him, "I fear this may be in equal parts yours and my faults, Detective."
Chloe was taken aback, what had she done that had so dramatically changed the landscape of Hell? Lucifer continued talking, turning it into a type of lecture as he tried to figure out how it had happened.
"As you may know, each angel's power is different, dependent of his or her function. For example, Amenadiel has, rather, had, the power to slow time to a crawl in order to do father's bidding on earth without being seen, you are well aware of my power. This is true of each of my brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. Charlie, for instance will have some sort of power himself when he comes of age… Regardless, you, as a half divine being, would also have some type of power, which could be explained away as the power to make divine beings mortal, but I don't think so, as you had absolutely no effect on Amenadiel's powers and only parts of mine, and I have never heard of a divine being's power being that of nullifying just one other being's power. However, we must also take into account that it seems my father has had a hand in your creation since your conception… However, I believe that I may have figured out your power."
Chloe raised her eyebrow at his theatrical pause, and he paused, before frowning, then continuing to speak.
"Though, I will admit it is not a perfect explanation, now that I truly think about it." He frowned deeper and lapsed into silence, obviously perturbed by the problem he was mulling over, "However!" He suddenly continued, paying no mind to the fact that everyone else in the room started as he did so, "It is the best explanation I can come up with right now. I believe your power, strange as it may seem, is to alter my reality." Seeing her disbelieving face, he continued, "I know it sounds very strange at first, but I believe it fits most of the facts we have, though it also seems to work in a proximity-based fashion. For example, you absolutely believed that I would be injured when you shot me, and I was, and you believed that if I am to be hurt in any way, I should receive a corresponding injury, and when I am around you, I do. I'll be the first to admit it has its flaws, but it is the best theory I can come up with. And the current state of Hell is the biggest point in favor of this."
Chloe raised her eyebrow again, unsure where he was going with this, "Allow me to ask you a question, and then we'll see if you understand where I'm going with this. When you think of kings and queens, what does it make you think of?" Pondering for a moment, she responded, "Probably medieval Europe… No. You don't mean…?" He nodded his head, "I see you understand." Seeing Trixie and Paris' confused expressions, he elaborated. "About two Earth hours ago, I was about to leave for Hell before the Detective here-" Chloe interrupted him, "Lucifer, I stopped being a detective the moment I accepted your offer, you don't need to keep calling me that." He nodded, and continued, "Where was I before Chloe stopped me? Ah, yes. To make a long story short, I offered to make her my Queen, which she accepted." Paris gasped and quickly bowed to her, to which she seemed distinctly nonplussed. Lucifer continued, "I then had to perform a modified ritual to make it official. When that happened, your preconceived notion of what being the Queen of Hell would be like overwrote what was currently there. Or at least, that's as close as I can figure out what happened given the information I have. I do have to say, Chloe, I much prefer your idea of Hell to what it was before.
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After processing what Lucifer had said regarding the changes in Hell, Paris proceeded to take them on a tour of the highlights of the new landscape of Hell.
"As you can see, my lord and lady, Hell is now divided into small towns, we took a census and determined that the populations of the towns average around 3000 people, and we have a fair mix of professions throughout. Another strange new twist, my lord, is that we seem to have become divided based on how sinful we were, by levels instead of proximity." Here, Lucifer turned and raised an eyebrow at Chloe, "A twist on Dante, Chloe?" She blushed, "It seems so." Lucifer nodded, "He wasn't entirely wrong, it used to be that the closer to the center of Hell, the more sinful the person, and he was somewhat correct on how I decided on who went where, but it was more based on how I felt about the person's actions themselves, rather than some arbitrary designation of one of the cardinal sins. Take Paris, here, for example, he went back on his word in the battle of Troy, and you know my thoughts on lying, Chloe, oath breaking is just as bad." Chloe gaped at the man guiding them, "You're Paris of Troy?" He nodded, "I am indeed, my lady." Chloe looked at him, "Can you not refer to me like that?" Paris stumbled, then looked at her with confusion, "Why not, my lady? You are the Queen of Hell; it would be most improper of me to refer to you as anything else." At a motion from Lucifer, he continued their tour.
Chloe looked pleadingly at Lucifer, "Can you tell them not to call me that?" He smirked at her, "And what would they call you instead? You agreed to become my Queen, reverence and adoration from the masses of Hell goes hand in hand with that. Now, if you don't have any other requests, I'd like to find out how else you changed my kingdom." Lucifer snapped his fingers, and turned to Paris, "That reminds me, Paris, if I'm not mistaken, it seems as if industry has cropped up?" Paris nodded, "Oh, yes, my lord. As you are well aware, the majority of the people here on this level are normal people who did nothing else wrong other than believe in other gods, or else simply did nothing extraordinary either way in their life. So, we have always had a large population of crafts and trades men and women, but just never the proper means to make use of them. From what my agents are telling me, they are quite enjoying the chance to do their work again." At that, Paris started before turning fully to face Lucifer, "That reminds me, my lord, something strange happened with the major demons when Hell changed. It seems that they were moved along with those who had opposed you in the past, into the castle's dungeons, which were woefully inadequate to hold them. We had a mass breakout soon after the changes finished, none escaped Hell, but some of them have been proving most elusive." Lucifer looked at him, "What about her, Paris? And those that haven't escaped?" Paris nodded, "She is still slumbering and unaware, and as to your other question, that actually leads us neatly back into your question about industry. For reasons we haven't been able to determine, a new metal has begun forming under the ground on this level. Our best minds think it has something to do with the level of sin emitted from the lower levels, it resembles iron, but is harder and darker in colour. We are pretty sure it is a new element, so have taken to calling it Sinium, due to its perceived origins. Our blacksmiths say that it similar enough to iron to not hinder them in any way, but we have also found that for some reason it nullifies the powers of major demons and the ones we have captured are in cells lined with it. The mining and smithing communities have begun to really pick up, and there is talk of making mints and currency, I will let you know how things proceed on that front." Lucifer nodded absently, still mulling over the information Paris had given him about the demons, "You said none of the escaped demons have managed to leave hell?" Paris nodded, "Yes, my lord." Lucifer nodded back, "Good, keep me appraised of the situation, especially if she stirs." Paris bowed, "Of course, my lord." Seeing Chloe's questioning look, Lucifer shook his head, "It is nothing you need to concern yourself with, I will apprise you if this changes."
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Hours Later
Deep in the bowels of Hell, where the most evil and sinful of people languished; liars, betrayers and oath breakers all, a man walked out of the shadows. He had horns protruding from his head and leathery wings from his back. He looked around at all of the pitiable humans wailing in wretched pain and agony from their various punishments, before mentally selecting one. His choice was a younger man wearing some type of uniform. It didn't really matter who, it was his position in the chamber that was important; near a shadowed area that not many were paying attention to. The man crept over and snatched the man, making sure he kept silent, before performing the complex ritual that would allow him to traverse between the realms of Hell and Earth.
He was about to leave and wreak havoc upon the world, when he noticed two guards enter and head for someone he hadn't noticed before. It was a middle-aged man, surprisingly enough, he seemed to be wearing clergy robes. His interest piqued, the man crept closer, keeping to the shadows, before getting closer to hear what the were saying. "…een of Hell requires your presence at the castle right away. She wishes to speak with you."
The man blinked, from what he had overheard, it sounded like they had said that Hell had a queen, which he had never heard of. Deciding to delay his plans for mischief and mayhem, he made his way towards the castle, keeping to shadows, and relying on disguises when it was unavoidable. His curiosity had been piqued, and he had a feeling he would want to hear what was said.
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Present
When they had returned to the castle, Lucifer had had Paris summon the best mason and smith that he knew, and couriers were quickly dispatched. Taking a seat on his throne, he joking offered Chloe his lap, and was thrown off balance when she accepted, giving him a smirk in response. Trixie coughed and they both shook themselves out of the states they had been in. Looking at her, Lucifer pondered aloud what he should do with her. Her indignant replay made him clarify his statement. "Child, not only does time move much quicker in Hell than on Earth, you are now functionally immortal after you come of age, though I can make it stop later if you want." Seeing that both Chloe and Trixie were starting at him open mouthed, he asked them, "What?" Chloe snapped out of it first, "Lucifer, are… are we both immortal?" He shrugged and nodded, "Well, functionally immortal, because there are things, divine things, that can kill an immortal, as you know. Demon steel coming to mind. That's what Maze's knives are made of. But that is a metal in very short supply. There are a few metals found in Heaven that have the same properties, holy iron comes to mind, the others are rare enough that you shouldn't need to worry about them. But aside from divine metals, you are as invulnerable as me, though that does bring up the question about where my invulnerability stands with you being close. Paris, bring me a knife." The man, who the two girls had almost forgotten about in their shock, scurried off to do his lord's bidding.
Coming out of her information overload, Trixie asked a question of her own, "When do I come of age?" Lucifer nodded, "A good question, which reminds me of my initial point, but I'll cover that in a moment. Even though by modern standards, coming of age would mean turning either sixteen or eighteen, where this is concerned, coming of age means turning twelve, as that's the age when angels gain their powers." After hearing that, Chloe asked another question, "When that happens, she'll stop aging?" Lucifer nodded, "Unless she asks me to make her stop at another age, which I can only do once, her physical appearance will be that of a twelve-year-old girl, though she will continue to mentally age. You've seen Amenadiel and my appearance, we chose those ages. We have a sister named Azrael who chooses to look closer to around twenty years of age. The only time that you've met a divine being who didn't choose how they look was when you met my mother, who didn't choose how she looked for obvious reasons. It is your choice, child, but know that once the choice is made, it can't be changed."
Trixie nodded, and told him she would give it some thought, before he continued with his original train of thought. "As I was saying before we got side tracked, I believe you will become quickly bored doing whatever you want all day, and I'm sure your mother would not want you to slack on your education," seeing a nod from Chloe, he continued, "So I will set you up with some of the best tutors here in Hell. You will be taking classes from the likes of Socrates, Pythagoras and Caesar." Seeing their wide-eyed looks, he laughed and said, "Weren't you listening to Paris earlier? Even those who were virtuous in their life, but believed in different gods were sent to Hell, though a very easy version of it, in fact I would imagine Paris has assembled some of them into a court of advisors already."
"Indeed, I have, my lord." The man stated as he made his way from the shadows of the doorway to present Lucifer with a knife. Grasping it, he looked to Chloe and used the hilt to mock toast her, "Here goes," and dragged the blade across his palm. "Huh," he said, inspecting his unblemished palm, "I honestly wasn't expecting that. It seems you either don't affect me in Hell, which the current state of it would belie, or you have fully embraced belief in my powers as I have stated them, which brings up an interesting idea that I would like to test later."
Chloe nodded, then turned to face him fully, "Lucifer, I know that Father Kinley is in Hell, do you think it would be possible for me to speak with him?" Lucifer nodded, "I think I could easily arrange that, but you could as well, you know. You are the Queen of Hell, only my word carries more weight." She nodded, then turned to Paris, "Please send word that I wish to talk with Father Kinley as quickly as possible." He bowed and said, "At once, my queen." Before hurrying off. Chloe looked back to Lucifer, "How will he know where to look?" Lucifer smiled, "While my kingdom is vast, as you saw, it is by no means unorganized. I'm sure one of the first things Paris did was have his agents perform a census to find out where everyone now resides."
The silence that they had fallen into did not last long, as Paris returned along with a man and a woman. The three bowed, before Paris approached and introduced the two. "My lord and lady, may I introduce Tom the mason, and Lauren the smith?"
Lucifer clapped his hands together, "Excellent, Paris, why don't you take Chloe and Trixie on a tour of the castle while I do my business with these two?" When Chloe objected, Lucifer wouldn't say anymore on the topic, though he promised they would both like what he had planned.
When Paris had led the two women out, he turned back to the two people left in the room and rubbed his hands together, "Right then, let's get started."
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When Paris returned with Chloe and Trixie in tow, Lucifer had finished his business with the two and had sent them away to start their projects. Well, one of them, the other had brought up a good point, and he had sent her off with the promise to obtain what she needed, and send it to her.
Chloe had given him a look when she walked back in, but he had just smiled and shook his head. It was right around that time that two guards walked in the room with Father Kinley restrained between them. They both inclined their heads towards the dais, and the people on it, but Kinley stayed standing. This was quickly rectified by one of the guards bringing the butt of his spear into the back of Kinley's knees, forcing him to fall to his knees. "You will show respect to the King and Queen of Hell," the guard bit out, before resuming his previous position.
However, it seemed that his time in Hell hadn't dulled his tongue. "My apologies my lord, I was unaware of your return, may I congratulate you on it?" His reply to Chloe was even more sarcastic, "My deepest apologies my lady, I was unaware of your new position, may I congratulate you on your nuptials, and yet admonish you for straying from God's grace?" His words were ended by the point of a spear being pressed against his neck, "You will show the Queen the respect she deserves." He nodded as much as the spearpoint would allow, and it was removed, the guard turning and bowing more fully to Chloe, "I apologize for not ending his poisoned words quicker, my lady." Chloe looked distinctly nonplussed at being shown this amount of blind reverence, but managed to nod at the guard, before noticing he couldn't see it due to him bowing, so she managed to say, "It's fine, no harm done." Turning to Father Kinley, she had no trouble speaking.
"I hope you have enjoyed your stay in Hell so far, Father?" He looked at her, his eyes narrowing, before answering, "Aside from not deserving my punishment, and being consigned to the lowest pit of Hell, I have no complaints, my lady." The last was said with enough sarcasm that Trixie moved from her place at Lucifer's side and angrily tried to get to Kinley, before she was restrained by Chloe. Kinley's eyes widened. "Not content with damning yourself by accepting a proposal from the devil himself, you bring your own daughter as well? What did your husband say about that?" At that, Lucifer stood and strode down the dais towards the kneeling figure, "Her husband encouraged her to ask her daughter to accompany her as he knew it would make her happy. As for her ex-husband, well, we didn't bother to ask. Does that answer your question, Father?"
"Lucifer." At Chloe's call, he turned around and gave her a questioning look. "I had him brought here so that I could let him know that not only did his plan to kill you fail, His plan to have demons entice you back to Hell and leave me failed as well. Not for you to kill him again." Father Kinley smiled, "So that means that my plan with the demons did work." Lucifer snarled and made to move back towards him, but Chloe grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Sneering at the man herself, "Yeah, that plan worked great, it almost got Lucifer's nephew bound to hell in his place. His newborn nephew." The smile dropped from Kinley's face quickly, before he rallied and tried to send one last barb at Chloe before Lucifer exploded and killed him. "I am surprised that you didn't even let your ex know you were leaving, my lady." Chloe stayed Lucifer with simply a look and answered Kinley, "Dan has been very busy with the LAPD lately, the string of homicides that you set in motion has kept his department going as they search for the 'Church Killer' so I hope you made peace with God, as it seems you're not leaving for a long, long time. Take him away."
As the guards removed Kinley, Lucifer looked towards her and raised an eyebrow, "For all your protests, Chloe, you seemed to take to being royalty quite well." She blushed a little and decided to forgo that topic for another, "Thanks for standing down when I asked you to, out of curiosity, if you had killed him, what would have happened?" Absently, Lucifer noticed Trixie seemed interested in the answer as well, so he indulged them, "If someone of Hell is killed while they are in Hell, they reform quickly. If they are killed outside of Hell, their spirit is erased. I'm not sure what would happen if someone not of Hell was killed in Hell. I, and now you two, are exceptions to that in that, while we can be killed outside of Hell, we will return to Hell, and we are essentially unkillable inside Hell itself."
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As Lucifer explained the workings of Hell to the new royal women, the man crept back out of the castle, making sure to remain undetected. As soon as he was free, his face broke into a massive evil grin as a plan that had been growing since he heard the information disseminated in the throne room, began to solidify into a course of action that had the potential to cause much more trouble and strife than whatever he had planned before. He needed to get to the surface, quickly.
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Los Angeles Police Department
Detective Dan Espinoza was getting worried. Neither Trixie nor Chloe had been at her apartment when he dropped by to pick her up. He had called Trixie's school, only for them to tell him that she had not come in and Chloe had not called and excused her. After that, he had tried calling Chloe, only for it to go to voicemail. Next, though it pained him, he tried calling Lucifer, to no effect either. He had even called Chloe's mom, who said she hadn't talked to either in at least a week, he reassured her that he was just wondering if they had talked lately, not wanting to worry her if things turned out all right. Now, he was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, pondering the problem. It seemed that every adult in Trixie's life, and Trixie herself had disappeared off the face of the Earth. He started; he hadn't tried every adult that Trixie had connections with. He quickly fumbled for his cell phone before dialing the number. He tensely waited for the person on the other end to pick up, his hope dwindling with each ring, before she answered. "Hello?" Dan sighed in relief, "Maze, it's Dan. I was just wondering if you know where Lucifer is?" There was a moment of silence on the other end, before she spoke again, "No, I don't, why?" Dan sighed, he was nearly out of options though, and besides, Maze was a bounty hunter, if anyone could find them, it was likely her. "Well, Lucifer, along with Chloe and Trixie seem to have gone missing." There was another, longer, pause before Maze spoke again. "Right. I have a few ideas, but they'll take a while to check into, but I promise you, I'll find them. In the meantime, you might as well file a missing persons report and get other people looking too. Cast as big a net as you can." He nodded, though she couldn't see it, and said, "Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that right now. Thanks, Maze." She made an acknowledging noise before the line clicked and went dead.
He stood up and made his way through the precinct before making his missing persons report. It was as he was walking away after doing it that he was approached by a pale man dressed in a sharp suit. "Excuse me, Herr…?" Distractedly, Dan gave his name. "Herr Espinoza. I couldn't help but overhear you're vorried about your vife und daughter, ja?" Now paying a bit more attention, Dan warily nodded, and the man continued. "Vhat if I told you I had information about your vife und daughter, und the man known as Lucifer Morningstar?" Now the man had Dan's full attention, and suspicions. "I would ask you what information you had and how you came by it." The man laughed and waved his hand as if dismissing the matter, "How I came by this information vas nothing nefarious, I assure you. As to vhat the information is, how about the location of your vife und daughter, as vell as the true nature of the man known as Lucifer Morningstar." Dan was interested, he had to admit, but he still wasn't sure if he could trust this stranger. "How do I know I can trust you?" The man laughed, and said, "If you follow me, I'm sure I can convince you of the veracity of my vords." Dan nodded hesitantly, and said, "If you'll give me a couple minutes to grab some things from my desk, I could meet you back here in, say, ten minutes?" The man nodded and Dan went back to his desk to collect his cell phone, sending a quick text to Maze about the update, and grabbing his service weapon.
When he went back, the man was still waiting for him, and together, the two left the precinct. Dan asking him one final question before they exited the building. "What's your name?" The man laughed and shook his head, "Of course, how rude of me. You may call me Herr Faust." The man smiled and Dan was certain that, for just a moment, his eyes flashed red.
Wow. I have no words. I used them all up writing that chapter, which is the longest chapter I've ever written myself by far. Bonus points to whomever can guess the identity of the man helping Dan, though I'm not exactly making it hard. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the music for which was Heartbeat by Vicetone, which is part of Monster Cat. If you've never heard of it, I highly recommend it. It's a lot of electronic, club kinda music, but there's a few gems in there, and even the club music is pretty good. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next week.
Note, I am currently looking for a beta to help me get more time for writing, if anyone is interested, please PM me. Also, I have a poll up on my profile to see which story people want to see me write after this one is done.