Two women hugging the devil


Sorry. There is a bit of science in the first thirty lines, Ella is a scientist... After that no atoms anymore :-)


The three took seats around the table in the lab. "What is wrong with the dust, Ella?" Chloe asked.

"I have an acquaintance at Caltech, met her at a Star Wars convention. She tested the dust for me in their mass-spectrometer."

Chloe glanced at Lucifer. She had no idea what a mass-spectrometer was, but he pursed his lips.

"What do you know about atoms?" Ella asked.

"What I learned at High School," Chloe said.

"I invented nuclear reactions," Lucifer said, causing Ella to roll her eyes.

"You know that iron exists of iron atoms?" Ella asked.

They both nodded.

"You ever heard of isotopes? That there do exist four different kinds of iron atoms. All the same for chemistry, all doing the same chemical reactions, but with slightly different weight. I should say mass, but weight is easier for you."

Chloe shrugged. Lucifer looked a bit offended.

"Never mind," Ella said. "The four types of iron atoms are called iron-54, iron-56, iron-57 and iron-58. Ninety-two percent of all iron atoms on Earth are iron-56."

"Please, Ella," Chloe said.

"Almost there, Chloe. Ninety-two percent of all iron on the moon or on Mars is iron-56," Ella continued. "Less than half of a percent of all iron in the universe is iron-58."

"Ok," Lucifer said. "We believe your percentages. But what is your point?"

"Hundred percent of the iron in your dust is iron-58. That is impossible. Never ever has someone found a grain of dust of pure iron-58. It can't exist. Not on Earth, not on any other planet scientist know of."

Lucifer inhaled deeply. "I see your point."

"Please," Ella said. "Where does this dust come from?"

"We already told you," Lucifer said

Ella had closed her eyes, her fingers fiddling with a piece of paper on the table. Chloe raised and walked to Ella, seated next to her and took Ella in her arms. "Your soul is not in danger, Ella," she whispered.

"He can only be a method actor, a very good one," Ella reacted. "Always stays in character. But the iron… Why would iron in hell be all iron-58?"

"I have no idea," Lucifer answered. "Dad created the universe, as they taught you at Sunday school. He also created hell. Why did he make iron in hell different? As with everything, he never told us. I didn't even knew it."

"It can't be," Ella finally opened her eyes. "Tell me the truth."

"I am the devil."

"I believe in the Big Guy and in heaven," Ella said. "I believe in ghosts. I believe in the devil and in hell."

"Well." Lucifer spread his arms and grinned. "Here I am."

"But I can't believe it is you. The devil would be here in LA and helping the LAPD solving murders? That would be…" She shook her head. "Please, give me proof."

"What would you do if you got proof?" Chloe asked. "Could you handle it?"

Ella looked to her, to Lucifer and to Chloe again. "I…think so."

"He will not hurt you. He doesn't want your soul."

"It can't be true," Ella said. Her voice so soft, Chloe could barely understand.

Lucifer raised and closed all blinds around the lab. He stepped to the place that gave him the most space left and right of him. "As the detective just told you, miss Lopez. You're safe, I don't want your soul."

Ella looked at him, Chloe could feel her tremble. Lucifer moved his shoulders and with a whooshing sound his wings appeared. Chloe felt Ella stiffen. The girl winced and moaned for a second, before blurting: "You're an angel."

Lucifer tilted his head and raised a pointing finger. "You're a good Catholic girl, miss Lopez; went to Sunday school each week. How many angels with the name Lucifer did they tell you about?"

"Only… You… You are the actual devil."

"Indeed, miss Lopez." He let his wings disappear and opened the blinds of the lab again.

Ella just looked at him, eyes wide open. He turned to her and said: "I just rebelled against dad, I only offered a naked lady an apple. Those were your own words when we first met."

"You didn't create hell, you only worked there," she whispered, repeating the line he answered her back then.

He grinned. "Exactly. I will get you both a coffee, then you can talk with Chloe without me listing."

"You love him," Ella said to Chloe after Lucifer left.

Chloe nodded.

"You're not scared."

"No."

"And you really have been in hell to interrogate Arietta."

"Yes. Oh, I admit I was a bit frightened before we went and hell is…" Chloe took a deep breath. "Depressing. Lucifer's touch gave me the strength to go on."

"Oh, girl," Ella said. "And he doesn't want your soul."

"Nor yours," Chloe said. "Trust me, trust him."

Ella went silent until Lucifer came back with three cups of coffee.

"Caramel triple frappe, double whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles for miss Lopez," he said.

"You know my favorite coffee?" Ella asked.

"I saw you drinking it twice and I saw the look on your face doing that," he explained.

Chloe still had her arm around Ella's shoulder. She felt Ella relax. The girl grinned and said: "I hope you will not demand my soul for that caramel triple frappe, double whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles?"

He smiled but shook his head. "As each human, one day – I hope far in the future – you will die, miss Lopez. And then I hope to never see you again."

Ella laughed, stood and hugged Lucifer. "How sweet to say you never want to see me again."


Next morning before Chloe could take the first zip of her coffee Ella popped up and without introduction asked: "But what is beyond those clouds?"

"Brown fog, brown air," Lucifer answered, apparently remembering the last sentences of their yesterday's conversation. "I once flew up for maybe two hours or so, but nothing changed, just a brown daze around you."

"But, as any color, brown means light or else everything would be black," Ella said. "Where does the light come from?"

Yesterday after the reveal in the lab, Ella had been questioning Lucifer about the physics and structure of hell. Ninety percent of his answers had been: 'I don't know', 'I never questioned that', 'No idea', to great frustration of Ella. But Lucifer kept giving his answers with not a trace of annoyance.

"I never thought about that," Lucifer said.

"You created the stars, made them light up."

"On the Earthy plane, yes. As told yesterday I invented nuclear fusion to do so. Still proud of that."

Ella clenched her fists. "And for hell?"

"Dad created hell with the help of two of my sisters. I'm really sorry, miss Lopez. I was not involved and never asked about it."

Ella sighed, shook her head and said: "I need a coffee."

At the same time Ella came back, an officer came to Chloe's desk. "Detective Decker? A dead man in a food market. Collapsed in broad daylight. First idea was heart attack or something, but a doctor that looked at him thinks he might be poisoned."

"I take this one," Chloe said. She looked at Dan who was at his desk busy with paperwork, and decided to leave him at his desk. Ella and Lucifer would be enough.


"Right, so what have we got?" Chloe asked the uniformed officer who led them to the victim."

"60 years old, male," the officer reported.

Ella knelt next to him. "Based on the bloodshot eyes and the closed throat, looks indeed like this guy was poisoned," she said.

Lucifer stepped closer and took a look at the man's face. "No, no, no, no, no, this is horrific,"

Chloe raised her eyebrows."Dead bodies don't usually affect you."

"You know who this is?" Lucifer asked. "This is Chef Javier. Owner of Sol De Javier."

"Did you know him?"

"Javier Arias, yeah. Well, only by his work," Lucifer answered. "I mean, this chap was, uh... an artist in the kitchen. He made the most exquisite Mexican cuisine I've ever had. And now… I'll never taste his perfect tamales again."

"So this isn't about the man, this is about your stomach," Chloe concluded.

He grinned. "That's why I have you, detective. To remind me of what is important. But someone definitely needs to be punished for this."

They talked with the grocers and suppliers, who told them Javier came here every morning after having breakfast at his restaurant to buy fresh ingredients. "Yes, he tasted some," almost all told them.

"So the poisoning could have happened at any outlet over here," Chloe summarized when they where back with Ella.

"No," Ella said. "Not if my guess what poisson it is, is right. I have to test in the lab, but I think it took ninety minutes or so to become fatal."

"Miss Lopez," Lucifer reacted. "That puts him squarely at his restaurant. We can't think his own staff poisoned him. I mean, the man was a visionary."

"Everyone at the restaurant's a suspect," Chloe said. "We need to interview all of his employees."

"And find out whether he wrote down his recipes," Lucifer mumbled.

"Ella, you come with us to the restaurant?"

Ella shook her head. "I better first make sure I'm right about the poison."


"You smell that?" Lucifer said when they entered the restaurant. "It's the last of Chef Javier's brilliance gone forever."

Chloe asked the staff to gather in the restaurant's kitchen. "Hi. So is this everyone that works here?"

"Yeah, that's everybody," one them answered.

"You think one of us killed pops?" another asked.

"Pops? What, are you his daughter or something?"

"Uh, no, that's what we all called him. We were like a family here."

"Well, hold on," Lucifer interrupted. "So everyone here saw him as a father figure? Oh, this is interesting."

Chloe sighed shaking her head and pulled him a few steps back. "There are so many reasons to commit murder. Don't let your issues with your dad cloud your judgement."

"Of course not, detective. But I simply understand what it's like to want to escape the clutches of a difficult father. That's all."

"I know, Lucifer. But I don't think Javier was…"

"Hey, Detective," an officer at the door behind them called. "Your sister's here to see you."

Chloe turned around and frowned. "I don't have a sister. So it can't... Oh, no."

It was her mother. Penelope entered with her arms spread "Hi, sweetie, guess who's back."

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise," Chloe sighed, gritting her teeth. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well, you know how exhausting those convention circuits can be. I just wanted to get home."

"Mom, I mean here, at my job."

"Well, you weren't answering your phone, so I called your department. A lady told where you are and that you have a new partner. And she sounded so jealous when she said he is so handsome and…"

That was the moment Lucifer stepped closer. Her mother looked at Lucifer. She went silent, her eyes opened wide, her skin turned pale, she started to tremble. Chloe realized that just as she had remembered their meeting of almost thirty years ago, her mother remembered too.

"Lucifer, my mother. But you have seen her before. Mom, my partner; Lucifer Morningstar."

"He…" her mother managed to stammer. "Your partner…"

"Your an actress, mom," she whispered in her mother's ear. "And there are people watching that shouldn't know. Act as if you see your daughter with a nice, handsome man."

"But he is…"

"Yes," Chloe snapped. "He is. I know. Act. No-one else should know."

Penelope swallowed. Lucifer held out his hand, Penelope trembled, but took it. Lucifer beamed his Lucifer smile to her and kissed the back of her hand. Despite her knowing what he was, the Lucifer charm worked as she giggled and smiled back.

"I'm a speechless," Lucifer said. "Penelope Decker. As I live and breathe, the Vampire Queen! I'm still so proud you gave your autograph."

"You… really?"

"I've always enjoyed your movies, mrs Decker," he said, still holding her hand.

"Yes… you came… Please call me Penelope."

He kissed the back of her hand again. "Maybe mama Decker is allowed?"

Penelope's eyes widened. "You… and Chloe…"

"We have a murder to investigate, mother," Chloe interrupted them. "Why don't we have lunch together? Then we can talk."

"Splendid idea, detective. Mama Decker, where can we meet you for lunch?"


The people working in the restaurant all told them almost the same, they all started with 'I loved Javier', he was as a father to them, they all called him pops. Then they admitted he was not easy, furious if you made a mistake and no matter what you gave him it wasn't enough. He was tough, but fair and cared about his people.

"He was…" a young man started.

"Like a father to you," Lucifer said. "Yes, we've heard that one before."

"He was my father."

Chloe looked at the man's ID and said: "This is Javier's son, Junior."

"I don't work here anymore," Javier junior said. "I-I've been away a while. I still can't believe he's gone, man."

"You and your father had a strained relationship?" Chloe asked.

"It's... it's complicated," junior answered. "You know, I feel like the only thing that made him happy was this place."

"So let me guess, you tried to follow in his footsteps?" Lucifer asked.

"Yeah, I trained as a chef, yeah."

"And Dad was domineering, acted like a god in the kitchen?"

"You have no idea," Javier junior answered.

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

Junior told them he left the house and his father years ago, tried to go his own way, but came back to have one more meal with his dad. They had breakfast this morning in the restaurant and planned to talk again coming evening. "….said he had something he wanted to tell me, but…"

"So now that dad's gone, I'm guessing the restaurant goes to you?" Chloe said.

"No." Junior shook his head. "I don't... I don't deserve this place."

"Well," Lucifer whispered after junior had left. "Isn't that a coincidence? Boy returns home, and, conveniently, his pops drops the next day? Lucky bastard."

Chloe tapped his arm and shook her head. "If Junior isn't inheriting the restaurant, then who is?"

After Javier junior they had a talk with Anne Martin, the sous chef, number two in the kitchen after Javier. She had prepared the breakfast for senior and junior this morning, but claimed many people had their hands on the plates.

"Who will take over the restaurant?" Chloe asked.

"It's no secret Javier was grooming me to take over," Anna answered. "He was my mentor. He taught me everything. He meant the world to me."

The conversation was interrupted by Chloe's phone. "Hi, Ella." It was a short call after which Chloe said: "The poison used to kill Javier was mercury mixed with heroin."

At that moment Anna, turned pale, blood came out of her mouth and she fell, the same symptoms as Javier had when he died.

"Do you still think she's a suspect?" Lucifer asked, after Anna was taken by an ambulance.

"What I want to know is…" Chloe mused. "Did she ingest the same thing as Javier by mistake? Or was she poisoned, too?"

They got a call from Dan. "Can't find much of the employees in the police files. A Naomi Austen. She worked as a hostess there last year till she was fired. She has two arrests for heroin possession over the last year alone."

"Heroin," Chloe said. She searched through her notes of the interviews. "Naomi Austen. That name sounds familiar. Oh, okay. One of the cooks said that she showed up two days ago, and was yelling at Javier and Anne, so…"

"So we talk to her," Lucifer ended her sentence.


No one answered the door when they knocked at Naomi Austen's apartment. Through a window they witnessed a messy place with all tools a junky would need. Lucifer walked to the door and opened it. "Protocol," Chloe said.

"I know, detective," he answered. "But let's take a look."

They found heroin, they found personal belongings of Javier junior.

"So junior and Naomi know each other," Chloe concluded.

Naomi came in, confessed she had a small fight with Javier senior, but had an alibi for the breakfast this morning. She told them junior was clean now, didn't use drugs anymore.

"What next?" Lucifer asked as soon as they were back in their car.

"Meet my mother," Chloe answered. "Lunch together, remember?"

He looked at his watch and nodded.


Lucifer and Chloe met with Penelope at a Brazilian grill restaurant close to the precinct. They were ten minutes early, but nevertheless Penelope was already there.

"Mama Decker, how happy to see you again," Lucifer greeted her.

Penelope's laugh showed how nervous she was. "Really? I mean… No. Yes, yes. If…"

He took both Penelope's hands and kissed each of them. "I mean it when I say I'm happy to see you. I love your daughter. I will never harm her, nor you, nor your granddaughter."

Penelope nodded and swallowed. "But you're the devil."

"I am, mama Decker."

"And you came to visit me years ago."

"Only to see your movie."

"Not for my soul? Not for Chloe's soul?"

"Back then I didn't even know you had a daughter, mama Decker."

"But apparently you came back for Chloe?"

"Well," Lucifer looked at Chloe and grinned. "I didn't. She came to me. First in the Delilah case she interrupted me playing the piano and then with our second case, with Robbie Russell, she again came to me while I was playing."

Chloe smiled. "It's true, mom. I came to him." She told her mother how she didn't tell him she know what he was. While Lucifer ordered the lunch, she told her mother briefly about their first few cases.

The food came and they did eat. Lucifer asked: "And when can I see your next movie, mama Decker?"

Her face felt. She sighed. "I will do audition this evening, Lucifer. But…" she shook her head. "A small role. Starring in a movie is not easy for a woman of my age."

"You're not old, mama Decker."

Penelope smiled. "Nice to say, Lucifer. But main roles are for young women. For men age doesn't matter much, but for women… Last month I did audition for a large role in a movie 'Bride for eternity'. They ask for a woman my age, but that's the only movie this year."

"Well," Lucifer said. "Why wouldn't you get the role?"

"Because Betty Vanmeer also did audition."

He frowned. "Betty… Light brown curly hair?"

"Indeed."

"She's a crappy actress."

"But the mother of the girlfriend of the producer."

"Is she?"

Penelope shrugged and looked at Chloe. "Where is Trixie? I called Julie but she was not going to pick her up after school."

"Not today," Chloe said. "Trixie has a friend who will pick her up after school. They will visit the zoo. Eat together at the zoo and watch a movie on sharks after that in the zoo's cinema."

"No, no," her mother said. "I need her tonight. We will go to that audition together, my little pumpkin and me."

"Together?" Chloe asked, her voice louder. "You really think it's a good idea to use Trixie as a prop?

"A co-star. Everyone's gotta start somewhere."

"How can you exploit your family for your next acting job?" Chloe was close to shouting.

"You know, for someone who hated acting, you sure know how to be dramatic. What is the name of that friend. I will call her mother and explain the girls have to go to the zoo another day."

"You can't push Trixie into this the way that you pushed me."

"Mama Decker," Lucifer interrupted. "What role in 'Bride for eternity' did you try to get?" He had his phone in his hand.

"Brenda, the mother of the protagonist."

He nodded and waved his hand to tell her to continue her conversation with Chloe.

"Who is the mother of that friend?" Penelope repeated. "I will call her."

"O yeah," Chloe scoffed. "Call her mother. The friend's name is Maze."

"And the mother?" Penelope insisted.

"Lucifer," Chloe said. He looked up from his phone. "Who is Maze' mother?"

"Lilith," he answered.

"My mother would like to know her mobile number."

He raised his eyebrows. "Lilith's? She died twenty years ago."

Penelope blinked at him. "Twenty… This Maze…"

"A demon. She is Lucifer's first lieutenant and one of hell's head torturers. She was with Lucifer when we first met them, after the premiere of 'Vampires in Hell'."

"You said she was Trixie's friend," Penelope snapped.

Lucifer laid down his mobile and smiled at Penelope. In the meanwhile Chloe said: "They are best friends."

Penelope stared mouth wide open at Chloe when her phone rang.

"You better take it, mama Decker," Lucifer said. "It's the producer of 'Bride for eternity'."

Penelope took the phone from her purse and looked. "How did you know?"

"I just sent him a few messages. Answer the call."

She accepted the call. "Yes", "Yes of course, "Me?", "Yes, I can come immediately", "That is wonderful", "See you".

Penelope looked at Lucifer. "I got the role of Brenda."

Lucifer smiled. "What a coincidence. So no need to use the urchin for another audition tonight?"

Chloe looked at him with eyes half closed. No doubt he had called for a few favors. "How?" she asked.

"I'm financing that movie, detective. I just reminded a few people of that fact. I told them no Betty Vanmeer in a movie I pay for."

Chloe shook her head, but Penelope stood and hugged Lucifer. "Thank you. It seems I have to go."

"We have to go too," Chloe said. "To see whether Ella discovered anything and to find junior. We still have a case to solve, Lucifer."

Her mother was still hugging Lucifer who had his usual frightened look in his eyes; the look he also had when Trixie or Ella hugged him.