A/N: Welcome back everyone to a new chapter! I'm not even gonna keep you on tenterhooks, but let you dive RIGHT IN! Just gonna remind you that this story is rated "E" for obvious reasons *wink wink*. You can skip the lemons if that's not your jam, you won't miss anything important (but who skips lemons?!). Now grab yourself some popcorn, have a listen to the music and enjoy the read! :D

Recommended Songs:

UNSECRET X ALAINA CROSS - OUT OF MY CAGE

Alina Baraz & Galimatias - Show Me

Rosenfeld - Do It For Me

Walk - Saint Chaos (feat. Sam Tinnesz)

Cold Blood - Valen

Tonal Chaos- Tomb Of The Damned

GoldTop feat. Sam Tinnesz - Paradise Is Lost

Chapter 18 – Decline

[UNSECRET X ALAINA CROSS - OUT OF MY CAGE]

It fit, bringing her to this place. The silence up here. The wide open sky. The view. The theme. He wondered if Lucifer would understand.

Morning hadn't fully broken yet, but the sky at the horizon was already starting to turn orange and purple in its most beautiful ways. He was right on time. Not much longer and people would pour in on this place. It was one of the most beloved hotspots for sightseeing in Los Angeles afterall and a fantastic place to take impressive pictures.

But now it was still quiet. And aside from a few tourists that were there to enjoy the sunset, the only other occupied parking lots were those marked for the staff. They were working inside the building and would have their focus entirely up in the sky on some odd stardust, very, very far away out in this universe. And those few tourists, they wouldn't pay him any attention either.

No eyes would be on him.

Nobody would notice her.

He pushed the wheelchair ahead in front of him over the asphalt walkways and along the edge of the viewpoint. The path was lined up with telescopes and a few benches here and there. A young couple sat curled up together under a blanket, eyes fixed towards the east on the horizon.

His present was tucked in a blanket as well, resting calmly, eyes hooded and indifferent. The artificial lights provided from the lamps along the way and those attached to the building were just enough to find your way easily along the area, but still shrouded them in enough shadows to mask any paleness or any limpness from his profane cargo that might have given him away.

Smiling to himself about how utterly easy this part was, he wheeled her down the pathway to the right side of the building. He knew there was a cafe attached on the lower floor, with a fantastic view from its terrace or from the inside through its floor-to-ceiling windows, and with said cafe there was also the necessary space for any disposals the guests would leave behind of their meals.

The slope made a turn to the left and around the corner was exactly what he had been looking for.

The cafe was still closed for several more hours, so it was very likely that his present would only be found late in the morning when the first service personnel would arrive to prepare the kitchen as well as the tables for the guests. It would give him enough time to find a deserving candidate for his next present. Another one that would help him gain back His almighty benevolence.

Arriving at the container, he put on the breaks on the wheelchair and made sure the blanket was wrapped around her. This wasn't about giving her any comfort. No. He had to make sure not to ruin his clothes.

He heaved her up over his shoulder with a little grunt and with a hard push and swing of his body, tossed her into the pile of bags. Facedown, she laid awkwardly spread out, her left arm angled up, her right twisted down, and her right foot was dangling just over the edge, the high-heel at the verge of slipping off. The blanket still covered parts of her back.

Taking a deep, satisfied breath, he turned around, looking over the ledge across the city. Now the sun was starting to set, the first golden rays of the day sharply peaking over the horizon and covering LA with its glorious shine.

….He'll be very pleased with this present!...

...Yes… Yes! Another foul miscreant gone from the planet's surface!...

...Continue with your holy work! He will take you back into His arms in no time!...

...Your beloved Samantha is waiting for you…

Fighting to keep the tears from spilling, he smiled in fond memory, before retrieving a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping the handles of the wheelchair. Without a last glance at the container, he made his way back up the slope and across the front plaza towards his car.

It was time to find himself a deserving candidate for the next step.

[Alina Baraz & Galimatias - Show Me]

Lucifer woke up next to Chloe, who had her face slightly tipped away from him with her eyes closed. Her hair, a beautiful mess spread across her face and pillow, she took deep, relaxed breaths. For a minute he just rested on his side, watching her, but then his eyes wandered to her chest, observing the soft rise and fall and how small tents peaked in her negligee. His already throbbing nether regions stirred with a rush of excitement.

He wanted her. He always wanted her.

But he didn't want to throw himself onto her like a sex-deprived idiot, despite his own body craved exactly that. Instead, he thought about a bit of a toned down version of giving and receiving and snuck a hand beneath the covers, carefully brushing over her stomach and testing just how deep asleep she still was.

A soft sigh blew from her lips and a faint smile was resting on her sleepy-face, but other than that, she didn't make a move at his touch. Holding himself up on his other arm, he leaned closer towards her and slowly let his hand travel south over her stomach, past her belly button and over her mons pubis. A light, shaky exhale left him as he felt the warmth radiating from her sex. Carefully pushing aside the silken fabric of the negligee, he placed his hand gently against the curve of her pubic bone and lightly used his fingers to spread her folds.

Pensively, he looked at her face, searching for any indicator that she was waking from his touch, but her breathing stayed calm and deep. His own breathing however became heavier and he felt his heart starting to pound with thrill. Ever so slowly he padded his middle finger against the soft, exposed flesh, feeling the nub just like the slightly wet entrance of her. His mouth watered and his cock twitched with the desire to taste and feel her. Biting on his own lip, he forced himself to hold back a moan or any sound of despair and pleasure that could give him away.

With utmost caution he then curled his middle finger and used his fingertip to brush from her entrance through her folds, up over the bundle of nerves. In a slow pace, with just a little bit of pressure, he rubbed up and down along her sex, feeling at once her body's response to his gentle ministrations. Arousal began leaking against his finger, quickly coating it's length.

Now the first real reaction came from Chloe as she stirred with a quiet murmur which he deciphered as an appreciative hum. Both her body and subconsciousness seemed to enjoy the treatment, making him more horny, confident and bold. His face just a few inches away from hers, he began to slowly press his finger into her, barely able to keep from moaning at how sinfully slick she was and how easy it was to slide his finger all the way inside her until his knuckles hit her soft bottom cheeks.

His throat tightened and again he had to fight for his self-control in order to not whimper in bliss. But while he tried his best to forbid himself to utter even a syllable, Chloe's lips parted at the deep intrusion of his finger and the sweetest and lightest of moans brushed from her lips. Her eyes stayed close, only her brows twitched in a wondrous confusion for a split second before her face relaxed again.

He could feel her body's inner reactions were much more active than her outer. Her muscles contracted around him in light pulses, quickly relaxing and adapting to the size of him. The tip of his tongue pressed against the back of his upper incisors in concentration and alertness, he curled his finger to a come-hither motion and started to slowly move it back and forth. He gulped thickly as he heard another quiet moan from her and suddenly a small tremble rushed through her body. It faded again as quickly as it came and he briefly wondered, if her body was subconsciously telling him that it didn't like what was happening, but then her head turned into his direction, snuggling comfortably into the pillow while her left leg dipped to the side, opening her centre further for his movements.

Closing his eyes, he relished in the sensations of feeling her and seeing her so pleased although unaware of why that was. Her chest rose and fell in a quickening interval and her arousal was starting to pool against his palm. He didn't feel like he was able to control himself for much longer, the desire to see her eyes, to fully hear her moan and gasp in pleasure, far too alluring.

Overpowered at last from his own inner heat, he closed in on the last inches towards her and leaned down towards her neck, right below her ear at the junction of her neck. With a shaky breath, he flicked out his tongue, tasted her tender skin and kissed the spot with a low growl. Meanwhile his finger kept thrusting with a faster and rougher pace, and Chloe's eyelids fluttered as her brain and body were both pulled away from her dreamland.

Brushing his nose along her cheek, he travelled his lips over hers and gently kissed her again and again, chaste and feather-lightly, in complete contrast to how lewdly his finger worked back and forth. He moaned, hearing how his thrusts and her plethora of fluids created a delicious slick squishing sound, and his hooded eyes longingly watched as hers opened and recognised him.

"Lucifer…" she hotly breathed and reached up with one hand until she felt the soft curls of hair at the back of his head. Humming in pleasure at his very seductive wake-up-method, she parted her lips some more and invited his tongue to caress hers.

He melted into her touch, feeling oddly deprived of it, and mapped her mouth with hungry brushes of his tongue, swallowing the groan that pressed out of her lungs when he added his ring finger into her dripping heat. Sharing their laboured breath, he rested his forehead against hers, gazing through her eyes into her soul as he thumped his fingers over her precious, spongy spot hidden inside her. He watched her pupils dilate at the staggering sensations he put her through, her body beginning to twitch and squirm from the building climax in her core.

He could tell she was close to her release, telling by the increasing amount of arousal dripping from his hand and covering her skin in a soft, sticky film where his palm kept padding against her. Hungry for her cries of pleasure, he sucked her bottom lip and nibbled at it before letting it slip back, swollen and red, a sinful tease.

Chloe's eyes fluttered as they rolled back into her head, her body arching into his touch. "Lucifer…" her moaning voice came pleading, desperate and as an affectionate warning to him of what his touch was doing to her - not that he needed to be confirmed.

With her being fully awake - although not fully there with her brain because of the ecstasy she was experiencing - he pushed himself up on his knees next to her, keeping his fingers buried and working inside her, and slung his free arm around her slender waist. Eyes travelling to her glistening, dripping sex, he lifted her lower body a little, changing the way his fingers pressed against her sensitive spot. A wild, long-stretched growl rumbled from his chest as he took a deep breath and let her delicious smell intoxicate his senses.

"Mmm… yesss," he hissed in admiration, duped by her arousal that broke through any possible control he might have still had until this point. Eyes blazing up, his head lowered to her pubic mound and for a moment he let his shaky breath tickle her wet skin. Then, parting his lips, he dipped his tongue out and ran the flat of it from where his fingers pumped into her up over her clit. He savoured her taste in his mouth, his eyes falling shut in a moment of reverence and indulgence, his chest producing yet another low growl of appreciation.

Chloe's reaction to his added ministration was just as divine as her taste. Her hips began to roll up and down in his hold, stuttering here and there as he closed his lips around her small bundle of nerves and gave it a long suck. And when he began to tease the bundle with quick flicks of the tip of his tongue, she finally tipped over the edge.

Crying out, one of her hands reached up to cover her mouth and quieten herself, the other found her right breast and squeezed it hard. Her whole body convulsed in waves as she came on his talented, long fingers, and her brain barely recognised that something about her climax was different, more intense, wetter.

He purred and growled against her sex as her body succumbed to the intoxicating pleasure of her release. His fingers continuing to thrust, her addicting arousal gushed out of her, dripping along his fingers and trailing along his palm. Greedily and exhilarated just like her, he lapped up every drop she offered to him, drinking from her leaking well like a starving man. He let her ride out her orgasm until she calmed down to small twitches and spasms before he lifted his face and pulled his slick fingers out.

She looked absolutely magnificent. Her face was all flushed and her eyelids fluttered as she refocused on the world around her. Her hand let go of her breast and slowly dropped onto the sheets. Her stomach moved lightly with her ragged breathing that slowly returned to normal, and, last but not least, her tongue slipped out to moisten her dried lips.

A true Goddess to behold.

Rising to loom above her and to be on eye level, he moved his glistening fingers to her parted lips. "Here," he breathed, huskily, "Have a taste of the divine." When her lips parted some more, he slid his fingers into the hollow of her mouth. Sensually, her tongue glided against his fingers, taking them in deeper until her lips closed around the base of them and she sucked. Groaning at the erotic sight and the feel of her tongue swirling along his fingers, his obsidian-hard cock stirred in painful neglect.

Moaning around his fingers, Chloe diligently cleaned them from her own arousal. Not deaf to Lucifer's ordeal and thrilled by the prospect of returning the favour, she reached down between them, grasping around the throbbing girth of his erection. She smiled as much as her filled mouth allowed it at the sight of his jaw going slack. Clearly her touch felt already like salvation. The weight and hardness of it were enough to draw another approving sound from her that vibrated into his fingers, before she pulled her head away and let them slide out. Placing her other hand against his chest, she gently pushed him to the side.

[Rosenfeld - Do It For Me]

He obliged to her wish, settling back down on the mattress and watching her as she straddled his legs. With shallow breathing, he looked down at her from hooded eyes, whimpering when she lowered her head and ran the flat of her tongue from the base of his cock up to its sensitive tip. Gasping, his eyes fluttering close when her warm mouth took him in, he laid his head back into the pillows and let the suction of her take the tension from his limbs.

"Fuck, yes…" he uttered shakingly, reaching down to brush aside her hair and cup her cheek, feeling how it dipped in with each of her sucks. Her tongue curled and padded against his shaft as she sucked him in alternating intensity and he could tell she wouldn't have to do that for long before he'd explode from her heavenly fellatio.

She did her best to take him in as deep as her gag reflexes would let her and made use of her other available techniques to please him. Circling her thumb and index finger around the top of Lucifer's balls, she took a light grip onto them and gently pulled them down to a careful stretch. His response was more than delightful. His cheeks blushing ever so softly, his free hand gripped a fistful of the sheets and his brows came together in a blissfully tormented frown. He let out a hoarse, short grunt, before his teeth caught his lower lip to stifle a more throaty groan and she could not think of anything in the world that looked sexier than him right then and there.

Releasing his lip again with another grunt, he opened his eyes to look back down at her, watching in carnal fascination as she bobbed her head up and down, his cock disappearing and reappearing, each time feeling harder and turning a deeper shade of red. The stinging rush throbbing through his balls and all through the length of his cock was increasing by the minute and eventually he couldn't hold still anymore. Knowing she would adjust to his movements to make herself comfortable as well, he jerked his hips up in a slow roll, adding to the sensations of her mouth by thrusting into it on his own accord.

He panted, the things she did with her tongue causing a tingling rush in his loins that set free the first drops of precum. She moaned around him, vibrating her euphoria into him, followed by a deviously lecherous bite around his girth just hard enough to conjure a cry from his lungs that was lost somewhere between pain and pleasure.

"Holy shit… oh fuck… Ngh… I'm so bloody close," he rasped and grunted through gritted teeth again when she pulled off of him just to give his shaft a bite she then soothed along the pulsing vein with the tickling tip of her tongue. She was driving him mad on his way to his own release, teasing him wickedly with another pull on his balls. Taking in a sharp, hissing breath through his teeth, he let go of the air in a guttural growl, his eyes blazing up with hellfire, but this time, the flames kept burning.

He watched her, hungrily, predatorily, as she wrapped her lips around him again. His cock slid over her tongue along her oral cavity until his tip hit her uvula. She coughed and bobbed her head back up and down, sucking him in stimulating waves, humming with her eyes closed. Her hand let go of his balls and instead reached up to his stomach, grazing her nails lustfully over his contracting abs. The slightly sharp sting caused his balls to tighten and his hips rutted into her mouth in a stuttering rhythm, unable to match her as his body closed in on its imminent release.

All he needed was just a little more.

"Look at me," he breathed, his words coming out trembling. Swallowing thickly, he gazed down at her with shallow gasps for air, his hand reaching out to cup her cheek again. He brushed his thumb over her warm, flushed skin in small circles and waited for her to oblige to his wish. When her eyelids lifted and her ocean-blue eyes looked back at him, open, rich and so very beautiful, succumbing to his glowing embers, he felt like his body had stepped through the Pearly Gates.

"Ngh… Chloe!" he groaned out shamelessly loud, feeling his cock pump and throb as it shot its release into the back of her mouth. Rutting his hips upwards, he met her halfway, the continuous suction like an overload to his system. He spasmed and shivered as his climax lasted on a few more seconds and eventually his body collapsed into the sheets.

He closed his eyes, pleasantly exhausted, and bathed in the afterglow of what he had just experienced twice.

Heaven.

The first time was by watching her fall apart through the work of his fingers and the second time when feeling himself fall over the edge through the divine work of her lovely, oral equipment and a pair of eyes he would easily be able to tell apart from the other seven billion roaming the planet. No other pair was able to do this with him. And for no other pair he would gladly repeat his Grand Fall.

He kept his eyes closed for a moment longer until the burning in them subsided and his breathing calmed down. His satisfied resting smile on his lips, he felt Chloe snuggle against him from the side, one hand on his chest, one leg slung over his with her foot lightly caressing along his calve. He let out a light, short hum and opened his eyes, warm browns drowning in captivating blues.

There she was, his love, his soulmate, his siren, his partner, his Goddess.

He calmly took in the sight of her, her eyes wide, loving and observant, her cheeks rosy and her hair at least as wild as it had been when he woke up. "Good morning, luv." He leaned in and kissed her deeply, tasting the exquisite mixture of them both on her tongue before adding with a cocked eyebrow and a sheepish smirk against her lips, "How was that for an awakening?"

[Walk - Saint Chaos (feat. Sam Tinnesz)]

It had been a great morning for both of them. First Lucifer's special and much appreciated wake up call, then an equally hot, steamy shower, followed by a giant pile of pancakes with vanilla sauce, maple syrup and Nutella.

The sun was up high in the sky with hardly any clouds in sight, Trixie took off to hang out with one of her friends for the day, and, as if it was all holidays in one, Lucifer got a call from the precinct.

"You found my car?!" Lucifer asked in a rising tone of surprise. "Where is it?"

He listened and blinked confused before his brows narrowed into a frown. "A guy named Jack Butts aka Scars And Stripes?" Where had he heard that utterly ridiculous name before? His eyes began to move in thought, the foggy memory slowly starting to become clearer.

It was that day at Lux… The day Flora was kidnapped…

He came in for a favour and—

"Oh, bloody hell!" he shouted, his eyes flickering crimson. "That blasted twit!" The officer at the other end of the line cited a statement to which Lucifer gritted his teeth. "Yes. Yes, it… it was a favour. - No… I'm not going to press charges… But I swear, if his tiger has put as much as a scratch in my Corvette, I will give him the dad-damn Roy-treatment!" A confused stutter from the officer made him sigh and roll his eyes. "Roy, as in Siegfried and Roy?! Ugh… Nevermind... Thank you. I will get it right away." Cursing under his breath, he ended the call.

Closing the dishwasher with a thump of her hip, Chloe looked at him with a smile. "So your car is back, huh? Told you it couldn't hurt to put out that search. But it somehow sounded like you knew who took it and it wasn't our butcher. How come?"

"Yes, well," he began with a grumble and sighed. "I just remembered something from the day Flora had been kidnapped. She was the last in a row of patrons that I granted a favour for. The patrons' names before her though and the favours they asked of me were rather vague because of the memory loss. The officer just told me that they found my car with a guy who said that I had given it to him with my consent. That I was granting him a favour."

Raising her brows, Chloe stepped up to him, gently brushing her hands up and down his sides. "And did you? I mean, do you remember?"

"Yes, I did," he muttered, crestfallen, and put his phone back into his jacket's inside pocket. "And now I remember the guy."

"Okay… and what was that about a tiger?" she asked, curiously, her detective-senses tingling as she felt that there was a little more to the story.

"See… He told me he is a performer, an artist, a magician. And you know how much I love a good trick," he purred, smirking, before the corners of his lips dropped again. "His stage name is El Chupa Tigre. He performs with a hand-raised tiger. Talking about a horrible choice for a stage name…" He let out a chuckle but as Chloe just frowned at him, not understanding the problem he referred to, he elaborated further, exasperated,"It means The Tigersucker!"

Shaking his head in attempts to get rid of the horrible images that began to build up in his mind, he went on. "Anyway, for his new show he wanted to enter the stage with a classy car, but the poor sod couldn't afford anything with his paltry income so he asked if he could have my Corvette, just for the first gig. And he wanted to put his tiger on the passenger seat."

Chloe had to put her hand over her mouth to force herself not to burst out laughing, but her shimmering eyes and the wrinkles forming at their corner as her cheeks lifted gave her away nonetheless.

"Great, you think that's so funny," Lucifer grumbled, butthurt. "Can't believe I was so stupid to give him my car… There's probably a ton of tiger fur all over the seats now! And woe betide that cat if it marked my Corvette as its property!"

Stepping towards the door, keeping the smirk to herself, Chloe grabbed her jacket and keys. "Come on then. Let's get it from the precinct. Then you'll find out if the tiger has claimed the Devil's convertible-throne or not."

Not having to be told twice, he followed her suit, cursing and secretly thinking about appropriate punishments in case his beloved car showed any signs of mistreatment.

As it turned out though, the Corvette was just fine. No scratches, no fur and no muck of a giant, overly territorial cat. The only thing that Lucifer noticed with a slight whiff of disgust was the smell. The smell of a cat that, although it was hand-raised, still stunk like a wild one.

Sitting in his Corvette in the parking lot at the precinct, hands running delicately over the steering wheel, Lucifer scrunched his nose with a disapproving huff.

"Hey, don't worry," Chloe tried to appease him, lovingly using her hold onto his chin to make him look at her. "You can just send it to a professional cleaner. I'm sure you have somebody in your contact list, right?"

Grinding his teeth, he straightened himself in the driver's seat. "Yes… I have. I just hope the leather won't suffer any damage through the cleaning process..."

It was endearing how much Lucifer cared for his car and it was clear that he would do everything for what- and whoever he loved. His car included.

The vibration and ring of her phone pulled her out of her swooning moment. "Decker," she answered the call and listened. "Yeah, I'm still outside the precinct, why? - Okay… - Okay, yeah. Of course. I'll take it. We'll be on our way there immediately. Thanks for letting me know."

Lucifer looked up at her, curiously, his worry about his precious car gone the second he saw Chloe's expression turn serious. "Who was that?"

"Lieutenant Fletcher," she said, her voice sounding anything but carefree. "A body has been found at the Griffith Observatory. Ella's there, processing the scene. She called in that I should be taking on the investigation, because she found something that could be related to our butcher."

His eyes widened with sparked alertness at her words and his heart began to pound up to his throat in an instant. "I'll get us there in ten minutes," was all he replied and Chloe wasted no time and climbed in on the passenger seat. He was eager and tensed up with the worry of someone else having become this sick bastards' victim. He hoped it hadn't come to this already. He hoped that his gut feeling hadn't been right.

He hoped that this murder didn't happen because they had wasted their time waiting.

[Cold Blood - Valen]

The observatory was crowded with tourists taking pictures at the iconic landmark, but they weren't just looking across the ledge to enjoy the spectacular view over the city. They also gathered at the crime scene tape that hindered them from getting to the right side of the building where the observatory's cafe was attached. Police and their tape was attracting bystanders like the light was attracting mosquitoes.

Being waved through by an officer when Chloe flashed her badge, Lucifer and her followed the path along the side of the building until it turned into a descending slope. It formed a curve and at the end of it they reached the walkway towards the Observatory's cafe.

"Hey guys! Over here!" the sound of Ella's voice rang, making them both turn around.

In a secluded corner of the lower level, Ella stood on a small ladder above a trash container, her camera in hand.

Stepping closer, the body came into their view.

A woman, dressed to the nines in a beautiful, cream turtleneck dress, laid face down in a pile of trash bags. One knee sunken into the container, her other leg was stretched out, the bare foot dipping over the edge. A bronze coloured high-heel on the ground. Her copper hair flowed in big curls ending just shortly past her shoulders, gracing the smooth-looking skin of her. A temptation.

But the two massive lacerations on her back destroyed that look of beauty.

"Hey Ella," Chloe said with a heavy breath, taking a short look around. "Where's Dan?"

"Hey," she greeted them back shortly. "He's talking to the staff who found the body and wanted to go through the bystanders to check if any of them saw something."

"Okay, good… You called the Lieutenant, thinking this one might be related to the butcher?"

"Yeah, I think so," the forensic murmured, clearly turning down her voice and gesturing for Chloe and Lucifer to come closer.

Intrigued, although somewhat confused about Ella's gesture, the two stepped closer.

"The wounds on her back… Her… anatomy… It looks weird, okay?" she muttered, looking at them, distressed.

"What do you mean, weird?" Lucifer inquired, looking over at the poor woman's body. She looked truly beautiful, he thought, without even having seen her face or the rest of the front of her body. But something about that beautiful back, no matter how unfortunately disfigured, seemed strangely familiar and caused the hair on his neck to stand on end.

Turning towards the body, she pointed at the lacerations. "Something was taken out of her. There's tissue there that shouldn't be there, and there are incisions that show that there was even more of something there that now isn't there anymore."

Frowning, completely confused by her explanation, Chloe and Lucifer looked at each other, before searching for a clearer answer from Ella. "I'm afraid that didn't help, Miss Lopez. What do you mean by 'there's tissue there that shouldn't be there'?"

Looking around nervously and making sure nobody was listening in, Ella lowered her voice again. "I'm talking muscles, sinews and pieces of bone that a human body shouldn't have. And the wounds… Well..." Ella swallowed thickly. "Reminded me of what you told us was done to you, Lucifer. The marks are all messed up on the edges. Some are sharp, some ripped, some parts even seem burned..."

A weight of a ton seemed to suddenly pull at Lucifer's heart, dragging it down into his bowels and ripping his entrails with a feel of nausea. His pulse skyrocketed and a tremble started to roll through his body, forcing him to clench his teeth in order to keep them from chattering. The world around him seemed to darken. Ella's voice and the sounds around him became dull and the throbbing pulse of himself became the main beat in his ears. "Who is she?" he uttered through his teeth, eyes glued to the back of the victim.

This couldn't be.

Was this possible? He didn't know of any other of his siblings having come down to earth since he arrived.

No. This couldn't be.

"Ella, what do we know from her?" Chloe added softly, spotting Lucifer's change in demeanour. He was all tensed up again, his jaw was grinding, his eyes were practically drilling into the dead woman's back and his hands started to clench at his sides as if he was fighting for self-control. And she knew he was. What Ella indicated was not a good sign. Not good at all.

"No purse, no nothing. She didn't have anything on her. We took her prints. They still run through the system, but it'll help to get her down and add a picture to the search. I just took the last photos when you arrived, so we can put her down now." Ella motioned for her taller forensic colleagues to give her a helping hand with the body. Carefully, they lifted the woman's body from the container and laid her down on a stretcher with a bodybag.

The woman's head limply tilted to the side, away from Chloe's and Lucifer's view, her shiny hair tousled all over it. Gently, Ella brushed the hair from her face and set her head straight again with caution. A sad smile on her lips, Ella started examining the woman's face and the rest of the front of her body.

Chloe joined her closely, exchanging a few words on some bruises that were visible around the victim's wrists, but when she checked on Lucifer, she suddenly found that he stood frozen a step behind them, staring at the body with his eyes torn wide open in shock. "Lucifer?" she asked, feeling her chest tighten. "Lucifer, what's wrong?"

There was something inside of him that broke apart. He could clearly feel that shattering inside his chest and then the sharp shrapnel of a sound of despair that longed to be freed from his lungs but got stuck inside his throat. Only an odd, quiet grunt gurgled from his throat. He wanted to respond to Chloe. He had heard her, even though her soft voice sounded so far away. He wanted to tell her about everything, but the impact of what surfaced inside his mind was far too overwhelming.

[Tonal Chaos - Tomb Of The Damned]

~o~

He feels nauseous and dizzy. The injection into his throat still hurts and he can feel as the substance spreads from its point of injection into his system. It affects his brain immediately. He wants to hold back, wants to keep the answer to himself, because he knows that if he were to speak, if he were to reveal this information, then others would get hurt.

Others would end up dead.

He needed to stay quiet at all costs.

"Now, let's see if you can still hold back that information. Talk!" the man growls and he's sure that if he wasn't wearing a mask, he would feel his spit in his face. "How many are here aside from you?"

He tries to keep his jaw locked, tries to press his teeth together, but his muscles loosen up and something in his brain loosens up along with them. He feels fresh tears sting in his eyes and screams at his inner self not to give in.

He mustn't give him what he wants.

But no matter how hard he tries to fight against the building urge of opening his mouth, he doesn't win the fight. The effect is just too strong.

His tongue wants to move. His vocal cords ache with the desire to vibrate.

His heart bleeds as he takes a breath and he speaks against his own will.

"...N-Nine…" he presses out and squeezes his eyes shut at his first betrayal. It isn't a lie. Of course it isn't. But it is a betrayal nonetheless to those he talks about.

He glares at the man, every inch of his body feeling on fire with pain.

The man's eyes narrow and his head tilts mockingly to the left. He's so close, leaning in towards him, but still so far out of his reach with his arms heavy as lead and his restraints strong enough to stand any of his weak attempts to move.

"Give me their names. Give me everything you know about them," the man demands in a deadly calm tone.

He shakes his head - if you can call it that, with his head barely moving an inch left and right - and presses his tongue against the top of his mouth, trying desperately to keep it under control. But that sweet salvation was so close. He just had to give in to the ease that wanted to guide his muscles.

"Come on… Tell me the names of those wretched kin of yours…" the man purrs darkly, his eyes shimmering with malice.

The lure, the sweet demand of the man, is pure torture for his body and his mind. He can't stand the fights both against his own body's reaction and his drugged mind's wish to talk for a minute longer. He knows he has to think fast, so his mind tries to focus on the nearest, useless thing it can think of and the words break free from him.

"They've got funny namesss," he drawls and a confused laugh rumbles in his chest. "I never knew why Dad did that, y'know? With them all sounding so similar…" His foggy mind drifts off in disdain and resentment. "Omniscient… Pfft! Ssssure… I think He was just lazy… Lazy… Almighty my arse—"

A sharp slap against his cheek makes him wince and his head swings to the side. His vision spins and he feels more nauseous than before.

"Don't you dare take me for a fool! Answer the fucking question!" the man roars, leaning closer again.

Suddenly something glistening comes into his view. As his vision sharpens again, he sees edged metal coated with blood and shivers.

"You need a little motivation, hm? Don't you worry… I can give you that. And I can do this for a looong time..." the man purrs darkly, and steps around him.

He can see him in the mirror.

He feels his presence so close to his most vulnerable spots on his body. He knows that there are mutilated stumps on his back, flesh torn open, blank bones sticking out, crushed and sawn through, and hot blood still dripping down his back.

And then he realises in horror what the man is going to do.

"N-No… No, p-please! P-please don-n't—"

But the man doesn't stop.

The blade thrusts mercilessly into his back and his lungs tear free an agonized scream.

Blood and saliva drip from his mouth, his vision blurring and the periphery darkening with an impending blackout.

Oh, how much he longs to pass out to avoid it all. To not give that sick bastard the satisfaction. To not feel anymore. To not accidentally utter another careless word that could endanger the life of an innocent.

But it seems that fate really isn't on his side at the moment.

"How's that for not giving me a straight answer?!" the man growls angrily and, as if to accentuate his point, twists the blade left and right.

A fresh kind of pain surges through his body and he screams again. He sobs, his mind and body crying out in despair, begging to not feel the pain that is so much worse than his fall.

"S-s-stop… P-please, I— " He breaks off, cursing silently that he cannot control himself.

"I told you, I can do this all day," the man reminds him sinisterly, adding another twist with the knife.

His head dips forward an inch in attempts to get away, but he stays stuck in the straps. "Noooo! Gaarrrgh! Please… please stop… I'll tell you… I… " He trailed off, the pain slipping aside and making room for something colder. Something freezing.

Guilt.

He can't handle any more, can't keep his mouth shut, no matter how hard he tries, and lying, even if it was to a miscreant like this bastard, was not something he was going to do either.

So he breaks apart with the tiniest of hopes that this will somehow spare him from any further pain. That it will perhaps even save his life. He tries telling himself that it could even give time for the Detective to find him, irrationally pushing aside the fact that she had probably not even noticed him missing, let alone had any idea of where he was.

He breaks apart, succumbs to the pressure and complies.

He tells him.

He tells him everything.

When finally the man pulls away, every answer is given.

He led the butcher to the sheep.

"P-please… Don't… Don't hurt them—"

He sees the incoming punch. Feels the hit even before it lands.

And, unable to escape the impact, everything goes black.

~o~

[GoldTop feat. Sam Tinnesz - Paradise Is Lost]

"-cifer? You... me? Lucif...? Look… me! Can... hear me?"

He blinked, feeling the thud of a soft slap against his cheeks, and his senses returned to focus.

"Hey?" Chloe's voice rang urgently, but laced with loving care. Her wide eyes searched for recognition in his. "You were out again," she added in a whisper, her palms gently pressed against his cheeks.

Staring back at her, he tried to regain control over his body, but his muscles still didn't want to oblige to his will. His jaw locked, he felt his attention drawn towards the stretcher.

It was out of the question.

It was her.

A brutal force of something cold hurt behind his eyes and pushed aside the dam of composure.

Silent tears dripped over his lashes and were caught from Chloe's fingertips as her palms kept caressing his tensed face.

"Lucifer?" her voice sounded again, a hint of rising concern and premonition in the density and shake of his name. "Do you know her?"

He didn't manage to speak, didn't dare risk falling apart. Because he knew he would.

It was his fault. Just like he couldn't protect Flora, he couldn't protect her.

Feeling Chloe's question still lingering oppressively and suffocatingly thick in the air, he all but inclined his head in a barely noticeable nod.

Chloe fought for composure herself, her jaw tensing as she swallowed the lump in her throat that had formed because of his extreme reaction. "Who is she, Lucifer?" she mouthed, imploring him with her eyes, begging him to look at her again and answer her.

It was the unbreakable divine connection and magnetic pull he felt towards her that called out to him, her plea resonating within him and making him look back at her.

She could read him, he knew it, because she was on the verge of tears as well. And she was grieving, because he was. She felt with him, even though she didn't know any details yet.

That's how much she cared.

"Who is she?" she repeated, her voice just barely audible above the white noise in his ears.

Shuddering out a breath of despair, he blinked, releasing another wave of sorrowful tears.

A last swallow and a last shaky inhale gave him enough strength to form an answer. But it wasn't just an answer. It was also a confession. A confession to his failure of protecting her.

"My sister."

A/N: Dun dun duuun! :D Well well, that certainly was an eventful chapter. Cold, hot, some laugh in between and then cold again. :D I hope you enjoyed this rollercoaster-chapter! I'm not done with Lucifer-nightmare here as you can see. The craziness continues and you'll find out more in the next chapter! Leave me your thoughts and worries and happiness and just about everything! I'm curious! See you soon!

- Luni