Hi everyone! Took a while to write this, but here it is!

Serial killer POV is in italics at the beginning - skip if you need to!

Her beating heart pumped blood through your veins. How quickly you sold your soul for a few extra years on earth on the borrowed time of a dead woman's organ. What claims do you have over it? It was never yours to take.

It's your time to cross over. Now, the heart is where it belongs, as is your soul.

You girls, so innocent yet so guilty of hedonistic crimes. Obsession is never good, is it? Especially not when the 'boys of your dreams' are plastered across your bedroom walls while your bible lies gathering dust under your bed. How dare you hold other gods before Him? And yet the church receives you week after week, unknowing of your false witness.

Neither the church nor the heavens will be receiving you after death.

Chloe didn't stop to look in the mirror before she left her apartment that morning, unknowingly looking as mismatched as her daughter would that day. With a huff, she collapsed in the driver's seat of her cruiser. Three murders in one night. How many in total was it now? She did a mental tally, counting on her fingers… first on one hand, then onto the next...

Nine.

What was the one left?

What would the killer do when it was over?

She clipped on her badge and gun as she looked through the windows toward the faint stars. It was still black outside. She groaned, not even remotely guilty of her selfish request for the murderer to wait a damn day or two. Or even until daylight. Switching her car into gear, she pulled away into the darkness.

It was 3:25 AM when she arrived at the public park. The body was found on a bench, head lolled off to the side, the 'Exodus' verse carved over his heart. Police spotlights at the scene set the shadows in stark contrast with the pallor of the dead man's skin, giving the body an almost zombie-like appearance.

"Anonymous tip," Officer Rodriguez said, walking up with a coffee in hand. "Probably from a drug dealer looking to do business."

She looked around at the dark and empty park, the sound of crickets from the distant trees loud in her ears. "Yeah, not surprised," she said, glancing at his to-go cup. "Is that for me?"

"Not a chance, Decker," he snorted. "But I think Lopez might be willing to donate."

Turning toward the flashing lights of the cop cars, Chloe found Ella opening the trunk of her car for her professional-grade camera, thermos slung over her shoulder. Bags of various degrees of overflow littered the inside of her trunk, one with files sticking out from between the clasps.

"Thanks," she gave him a nod, heading toward her friend setting up her camera under the lights.

Chloe trudged to her car. "Glad you got the call."

Ella snorted. "Yeah, I'm not." Without Chloe even having to ask, Ella put down her camera to pour a small capful of coffee for the detective. "Anything new with this one?"

"He's escalating. Killed three people last night." She sighed, taking the small silver cup. "He isn't using his knife, either."

"Wait, back up. Three murders?"

"Yep."

It was silent for a few moments as they sipped their coffees, their faces reflecting the flashing red and blue of the police cars surrounding them.

"Shit."

Chloe blew on her coffee. "Yep."

The next couple of hours were a blur. Time lapsed as rapidly as a movie montage with Chloe and Ella moving around the scene, early morning runners slowing to take a peek, and cops hustling to and fro. Before Chloe knew it, she was heading to her cruiser to head back to the precinct.

"I gotta stop at the other crime scenes," Ella said as she packed her camera equipment. "I'll see you there."

An elephant stepped on Dan's chest, otherwise known as the full weight of his daughter body-slamming him five minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off.

"Oof," he buckled inwards.

"Dad! Dad! Daddy!"

"What, what, what?" he muttered into his pillow before rolling over to find his daughter propped up in bed next to him, toothy grin revealing the new growth of her canine. She was fully dressed in a colorfully striped tee and mismatching neon purple corduroys. Behind her, red chucks flew back and forth with the excitable wiggle of her feet.

"Ella's here!"

His head fell back against the pillows. Why? Groaning, he rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Tell her I'm coming."

A few minutes later, the pajama-clad detective wandered into the kitchen with freshly brushed teeth to find Ella teaching Trixie a hand-clapping game. Trixie was giggling, catching on quickly.

"Mornin' Ella. Coffee?" He held up the empty pot before measuring out his dose of caffeine for the day.

She looked up from her game with Trixie. "Sure, anything is better than whatever shit we have at the station."

The kitchen was silent aside from Trixie's clambering to find her cereal, fortunately not the sugary cookie breakfast found at Chloe's. The coffee began to percolate as Dan walked over to sit opposite Ella on the sofa.

"So," he began, looking at Ella expectantly.

"Right," she started, shuffling to open the buckles of her satchel. "So, finding that print gave me some other ideas. Um…" she continued to look through multiple files stuffed in her bag.

"Did you get another match?"

"Wait," she held up a finger. "Here it is."

Handing him a file, she continued. "Chloe asked me to look into that first scene again, the one with the peeping teenager? We went through the boy's house for prints and fibers, et cetera, but we never talked to the neighbors."

She pointed to the file as Dan opened it. "That's the history on the woman he was creeping on. Apparently, her family abused her as a child. She was in and out of the foster system for years before she went off to college. If you look here…"

She shuffled through the papers in his hand to look for the medical record. "At her first home, after she was taken away from her bio parents, they had a physical done with their pediatrician. Read this."

Dan looked down at the description underneath the drawn image of a sexless body meant for indicating locations of pain or injuries. The document was a copy of a copy, old and barely legible. Faded marks covered the underside of the pictured body's arms and upper back. But there, at the bottom, a few words stuck out. He had to squint to see: "scars," "wounds," and most importantly, an unfinished description of the scratches, "Exod-".

His mouth went dry. God bless Ella.

"How did you get this?"

"I called." She smiled innocently. "I said I was a member of the LAPD. It wasn't a lie."

"Uh-huh," he closed the file with one hand as his smile grew, and wavered. "Have you mentioned this to Chloe?"

Ella's face fell. "Not yet, she doesn't know this guy was at Pierce's crime scene. I'm not sure how to… well, you know." She bit her lip.

"Yeah, I'll talk to her. But first, grab your coffee." Reaching up to ruffle his bedhead, Dan sighed. He stood from the couch and moved toward his bedroom.

"Cups are to the right," Dan gestured. "Pour me one too, I gotta get ready to go."

"You got it, sir!"

"And Ella?" He called from behind the door.

"Yeah?"

"The LAPD is nothing without you."

She reached toward the coffee pot to refill her thermos, grinning.

Chloe sat down at her desk after following up with the detective who examined the other bodies, both teenage girls found in the same bedroom with their own verses. At least she didn't wake up to a phone call about that sleepover gone wrong. She sighed in relief. "Okay, so…" she whispered to herself, pulling up the browser on the computer. "Which verse do we have left?"

Pulling out a pen and paper, she went down the list, making notes and crossing off items. Nine of the ten were eliminated, leaving one left.

Thou shalt not kill.

Possibilities of victims swam through her mind. Would he commit suicide? She almost hoped that to be the case. Even though he wouldn't be facing criminal justice, no one else would get killed. After all, what if he started on the seven deadly sins next? She shivered, but a new presence at her desk put an end to her thoughts.

"Hey Chlo," Dan tapped the spine of an old file on her desk. "I gotta talk to you."

She eyed him sideways. "About what?"

"Follow me." He jerked his head toward the viewing room next to interrogation.

She rolled her eyes before shoving herself up and away from her desk, keeping up with Dan's footsteps. Unwelcome tension sat in his shoulders, but she was sure she was the only one who could see it, thanks to their history. The unknowing precinct around them persisted at its normal pace as they passed.

Dan turned around as the door clanged shut behind him, hitting the file against his other palm and avoiding her gaze.

"So, what's this about?" She crossed her arms.

He took a breath. "Ella and I found a few pieces of information that may help us, but…"

"...but what?"

Dan chewed on the inside of his cheek. "He - he was one of Pierce's men."

A sudden coldness swept through her body.

"How… how do you know this?"

"You know the knife you found? Ella matched the fingerprint to one of the guns at the loft. He had to have been there. Must've gotten away."

She swiveled to peer through the one-way glass, hand moving absentmindedly to her mouth. What had he seen? Lucifer's wings? Lucifer's face? Her eyes darted back and forth as quickly as her mind raced. Is this why he was killing people who disobeyed the commandments? Ridding the world of what he thought was the damned?

Thou shalt not kill.

He didn't just see Lucifer's face. He saw the Devil himself kill Pierce, his boss.

He's coming for the sinner of all sinners, Lucifer himself.

Lucifer wasn't infallible. She shot the man - Devil - herself and was wearing the offending bullet around her neck. If the killer was at the scene, he saw for himself that Lucifer could bleed. Her mouth went dry.

She pulled out her phone and dialed. It was ringing…

And ringing…

"Come on Lucifer," she muttered as she paced. "Pick up pick up pick up…"

And ringing…

She looked up at Dan whose eyes reflected the same worry coursing through her. Right as her heart was about to explode from her chest, the familiar voice came through the phone.

"Detective, to what do I owe this early morning pleasure?"

"Hey," she responded, relief flooding her voice.

"Are you quite alright?"

He seemed alert enough, remaining tendrils of sleep slowly leaving his body. She checked her watch. 6:30 AM. Not exactly the devil's hour. She covered her pumping heart with her hand. "Yes, yes I'm fine."

She made eye contact with Dan as she talked through the phone, "Can you come down to the station?"

"Ask and ye shall receive."

She cracked a small smile. "See you soon."

Placing the phone in her pocket, she spoke to Dan. "He's on his way."

Ella almost always had her laboratory blinds open at the precinct. After all, there was an abundance of goings-on going on she couldn't miss. Last she looked, Joe from environmental services was delightedly discovering a $100 bill in the vending machine, and Lucifer was surreptitiously leaning a hair's-breadth over Chloe as she browsed the computer. Not that the detective minded, Ella was sure. The lab was her front-row seat to the LAPD soap opera.

Unfortunately, her blinds have remained closed since then for productivity's sake… which was terrible for her inquiring mind ("metiche" as her Abuelita liked to call it). This morning was the first day in weeks she revealed the outside world if only just to let in the morning light she was lacking at the start of this godforsaken day.

"Mierda," she muttered as she sifted through the evidence. As much as she loved her job, searching through the nearest trash can at the park on three hours of sleep was not her ideal day. She wrinkled her nose at a murky substance oozing down decaying banana peels and clusters of maggots. Ugh. Taking off her gloves, she leaned against the edge of the table to catch up on this week's soap opera, the hard metal biting into the small of her back. She heaved a sigh as she surveyed the routines of the vibrant life around her, ignorant of her investigative eyes.

She sipped her third coffee (one for each crime scene, being the excuse), and promptly spat it out at the sight that met her eyes.

Lucifer descended the stairs dressed to the nines, hair immaculately gelled, and cufflinks perfectly adjusted. But that was old-hat, and not what caused the sudden expulsion from Ella's mouth.

A second Lucifer walked down with him.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she stared. They weren't mirrored images. Not double vision then... she thought as she rubbed her lower back where the table dug in. She bent a blind and squinted through the small slit. While Lucifer 'one' strutted in his Burberry, Lucifer 'two' fiddled with the jacket of his Ermenegildo Zegna. But besides their appearance, they had one main thing in common: both immediately routed themselves to Chloe's desk. Ella snorted.

She took one last sip of her coffee before bursting out of the lab, the open blinds clanging against the metal door as she made her way out into the fray. The brothers' bickering voices grew louder as she approached. They slapped at each other's hands, playing keep-away from the curled tips (and bald patch?) of Lucifer 'two's' hair. She stopped five feet away with her jaw slack, staring.

There was no way Lucifer had a twin.

No. Freaking. Way.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the two. Both Lucifers stared back, Lucifer 'one' rubbing his cheek from the sting of an unsuspected slap.

"Hello, Ms. Lopez."

"Uh hi, Lucifer…" She looked toward his doppelganger, unsure. "I'm assuming?"

"Yes," he rubbed his palms together as if floundering to find a way to keep this meeting from happening. "Might I introduce my brother, Michael."

The other man stiffly reached his hand out in anticipation of a handshake.

Ella uncharacteristically took a few seconds to examine Michael. He was stiff, barely blinked, and didn't smile as he reached out for her hand. It's as if he'd only just learned what a handshake was. How awkward. But he must be something, Ella reasoned, having to deal with this ageless juvenile twin his entire life. And, any friend of Lucifer's was a friend of hers.

"Michael!" She burst out. "Bring it in, buddy."

Swatting the hand aside, she snatched him around the middle and squeezed, faintly hearing Lucifer's whisper, "Put your arms around her." If she had a guess, Lucifer was behind her mimicking a hug for Michael's sake.

Just like his brother, it took a few seconds for the man to realize what was happening. But when Michael finally came around and wrapped her in his arms, it was at that moment Ella experienced the best hug of her life, better than the smell of cookies in the oven or the memory of her Abuelita's cooking. It reminded her of home. The warmth of his body encompassed her, squeezing tightly. She was floating. She inhaled his scent, Lucifer's cologne made unique by Michael. It was heady.

She didn't want to pull away. He didn't either, she suspected, as Lucifer had to touch his shoulder to guide him away. She looked up through her lashes to meet his eyes, neither of them fully relinquishing their hold.

"I'm Ella," she said, breathless.

"Ella. It's nice to meet you." He looked right through her. "I'm Michael."

Boy, did she get a wrong first impression. As she searched his familiar face, she could see the differences between the two clear as day. If Lucifer wasn't here, she could see how Michael could exude a quiet confidence, broken only by Lucifer's irritating ability to push his buttons. She giggled at the thought.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Oh for fuck's sake, quit ogling each other before I develop IBS."

He stalked toward Chloe's desk before they could respond.

Ella looked down at her arms partly wrapped around Michael's waist and pulled away as if burned. She looked away, scratching under her ponytail. "Uh yeah," she said. "Serial killer, you know. Gotta get a move on."

Michael's empty arms were still held out in front of him hugging only an echo of Ella's frame, face blank. "Right."

She glanced over at the forms of Chloe, Lucifer, and Dan deep in discussion before looking down to trace the tiles on the floor with her toes. "Would you, um, like to help?"

He blinked. "It would be my pleasure."

"Come with me." She took his arm and chattered away as she guided him to her lab, incredibly happy she decided to open her blinds that day.

Chloe stood behind her desk with the files open before her and a headache pounding throughout her skull. Definitely not enough coffee this morning, but that was the least of her worries.

"He's after Lucifer."

Dan huffed, but to Chloe, Lucifer looked a little too pleased.

"Little old me?" He grinned.

Dan curled his lip in disdain. "What makes you say that?"

Chloe and Lucifer briefly made eye contact before she looked away, more interested in lining up pencils on her desk than participating in this conversation. "Well," Chloe cleared her throat. "If he's super religious, he must have heard Pierce calling Lucifer by his name. He probably believes he's actually the Devil."

Both Lucifer and Dan scoffed, speaking over each other: "Because I am -" "That's crazy."

"Yeah well, he hasn't exactly convinced me he's sane," Chloe said, ignoring Lucifer.

"Fair enough." Dan put a hand on his hip. "So, what do we do?"

"Well, we give him what he desires." The two turned to look at Lucifer, Chloe's eyes drilling deep.

"You are not baiting him Lucif -"

"Well not me," he said, turning toward the open blinds of the lab. "I say we use the tools we have."

The two followed his gaze to find Michael earnestly enraptured in what must have been an educational session with their dear laboratory analyst. His eyes were bright with breaths coming out in laughter, unknowing of the sacrifice he was so willingly offered to be.

Dan raised his eyebrows. "You're a dick, you know that?"

Lucifer pulled away from the file aggressively shoved in his face. "I've heard worse."

"Lucifer, can I talk to you?" Chloe interjected, looking at Dan. "Alone?"

Dan shook his head and stalked away muttering.

It wasn't the first time they've been alone together since the 'incident', but now every moment was met with fresh eyes. Yes, he was her consultant, but he was so much more. He was powerful. The Devil was part of every religion, myth, and legend spoken from generation to generation, and here she was standing in front of him. In charge.

"Look Lucifer, we need to think of something else." She sighed as she closed her eyes, seeing the bloody feathers floating down. "Remember, you're not invulnerable."

"Yes, but only when -"

"I don't care. You're going to be on lockdown for as long as it takes until this is over."

"But Detective -"

"No buts."

A whooshing sensation breezed through her abdomen as soon as he slammed his mouth shut. Of all the people in the world, how did she end up being able to command the Devil?

He sighed. "What about Michael?"

"Look, I can't just throw him in there. It would never get approved. And I sure as hell am not putting you at risk as my…" Her eyes widened in shock at her mouth's betrayal.

He cocked a brow, placing both hands in his pockets. "Your…?"

"My consultant," her pitch raised, arms crossed.

He stepped closer. "Of course, I could never imagine putting you in that… position."

His chest was inches away from her, his lips inches from her forehead. The heat from his body seeped into her core.

She cleared her throat. "Well, let's figure out what to do with you in the meantime, hmm?"

"Yes, let's." A salacious grin formed on his face. "Whatever shall we do?"

"Uh, your penthouse. I'm keeping an eye on you."

"Oh, lucky me." His eyes glinted. "And my brother?"

She looked over to the Lucifer duplicate staring wide-eyed at Ella as she talked with her hair and hands flying. "He looks like he's being taken care of. Besides, he can't be killed."

Lucifer looked affronted as he trailed after her form. "Detective!"

The gleam from the single dimmed light in the dining room barely reached two feet outside the window, leaving Maze perfectly hidden in the blackness. To the inhabitants, it was a quiet night with the crickets unusually silent. They should have heeded that warning.

She could smell him from outside. Grinning, she clicked open the window silently, stepping into the perfectly designed house straight out of Pinterest. Barn doors separating the living room from the kitchen were slid to the side to give her a view into the completely gray open concept. Nothing here.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled to allow the stench to lead the way. Slowly, she found her way to the stairs. It was getting thicker. Heavier. More satisfying as she climbed.

The bedroom door was already open, inviting her to step in. A typical couple was tucked beneath the covers. Both were snoring, the man's feet hanging off the side. Maze drew her brows together.

Creeping closer, she stood above the woman. This was where it was coming from, but it was still faint, even less so than the empty house. How did it lead her here?

The woman snorted as she adjusted, her stretched out arm nearly touching Maze's thigh. Moonlight illuminated scars across her inner bicep. Words: "Exodus", it read.

Maybe Lucifer wasn't wrong after all.