Lucifer turned around, taking in the frozen scene. The room was just as it had been before its occupant first arrived, frozen at the beginning of his loop.

The problem was that this room should have been occupied. Had, in fact, been occupied for hundreds of years. And now it was empty.

Lucifer glared at the demon who had found the door of the room ajar, not so much because it was his fault, but more for a lack of somebody else to glare at. The demon ducked his head, slowly inching towards the door.

"No trace of him?" Lucifer inquired, already knowing what the answer would be.

"No, my lord."

Lucifer sighed. This was already the fourth mortal soul that had gone missing. At least, the fourth they were aware of. Hell wasn't exactly a small place. This might well be just the tip of the iceberg. So far, the search for them had been fruitless. That, too, wasn't unexpected. Trying to find anything in hell was like looking for a needle in a burning haystack.

What he didn't understand was how they had left their rooms in the first place. Nothing like this had ever happened here for millennia, and now it seemed like there was some sort of disappearing epidemic. Surely these cases were connected somehow. He just had to find the connection and he would have his answer. Lucifer glared at the demon again, for good measure. He backed away another step, only to collide with one of his brethren who had just hurried in through the door. Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"My lord, there is a visitor for you in the reception hall."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Which one of my siblings has deigned me with their presence now?"

The demon frowned in deep concentration, but apparently failed to come up with a name. "The tall, angry guy with the black wings."

"Now now, is that any way to speak about one of your king's brothers?" Lucifer said, voice cold. The demon's eyes widened in horror. Lucifer raised a hand, smiling. "Just kidding. He's a pain in the ass." He looked around, deciding that there was nothing more to be done here at the moment. "Very well then, let's see what he wants."

Lucifer entered the massive hall made entirely of black stone, a hollow smile on his features. "Amenadiel. I didn't expect to see you for a couple of eons at least. I hear bringing up offspring is quite time-consuming." He smirked, wiping some dust off his sleeve. "Unless you do it like dad, of course. Then it takes no effort at all after the moment of creation."

"I am not here to talk about father."

Lucifer sat down in the black throne at the centre of the hall. It was a smaller version of the one atop the spire, but still quite impressive in its own right. "Then please do enlighten me as to why you're here, brother. You have me at the edge of my seat with anticipation."

"Something strange is happening on earth."

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "There is always something strange happening on earth. Did I ever tell you about the time I visited in 1967 when I-"

"Lucy. This is serious."

Lucifer sighed. "Go on then. What has your panties in a twist now?"

"A story on the news about a man who has been dead for 22 years, who now reappeared, not looking a day older than when he died. The news reporter asked him where he'd been and he gave what I would call quite an accurate description of hell." Amenadiel paused, gauging Lucifer's reaction. "Did you, by any chance, loose one of your charges?"

Lucifer groaned. "Several, actually," he admitted. "Although I wasn't aware that one of them had made his way back to earth."

"Several?"

"At least four that I know of."

"What? How?"

Lucifer threw his hands up, glaring at his brother. "How the hell should I know? We just keep finding empty rooms with open doors. Nobody has seen or heard anything. They just disappear."

"How did they leave their cells?"

Lucifer rolled his eyes, making a frustrated huff. "As soon as I find one, I'll ask them. Until then your guess is as good as mine. You know just as well as me that the doors aren't locked."

Amenadiel shook his head. "Regardless, none of them have ever been able to leave before. Something is not right here, Lucy."

Lucifer stood up, coming face to face with his brother. "Indeed, it isn't. What do you suggest we do about it?"

"We capture the one on earth, question him as to the means of his escape, and bring him back where he belongs."

Lucifer smirked. "Sounds like an adventure."

It had turned out to be less adventurous and more tedious work than anticipated. Tracking down mortals on earth was only marginally easier than tracking them down in hell. They started with their only lead, the news channel in New York that had conducted the interview. Not only were they extremely reluctant to give them anything, but after some convincing, it turned out that they didn't actually have any useful information like the man's current whereabouts. It was a dead end.

Lucifer had consulted the records before they left, which meant that he had the names, dates of birth and days of death of their four runaways, but that was it. In the end, he'd been forced to admit that what they really needed were police resources. Which is what had brought him to where he was now.

He stood in the precinct, watching the detective at her desk. She was focussed on a case file and hadn't noticed his presence yet. He saw the dark circles under her eyes, the sadness in her features, the uncharacteristic air of defeat easily readable from her posture. He added them to the ever-growing list of his crimes. It had been almost five weeks since he left, but the detective was clearly still affected by his actions. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. He could find the information he needed in some other way.

Just when he was about to turn around and leave, Chloe looked up, and their eyes met. She froze. Lucifer took a deep breath and stepped closer to her desk.

"Hey," he said. Chloe didn't react, she just continued staring at him, her mouth slightly ajar, her eyes wide in shock.

"I need your help."