The devil and his ring


"Where would mother go?" Azrael asked.

"Shopping mall, Charlotte Richard's home, her work, just to kill a few humans," Maze suggested. "We check some malls?" she proposed to Raziel.

"We check Charlotte's work and home," Chloe said to Lucifer.

"I check whether her credit card is used and Ray-Ray keeps an eye on people that suddenly die in LA," Ella said.


'Her credit card is used in the Lux,' Ella texted early evening. Chloe and Lucifer where on their way to Santa Barbara to check a beach house that Charlotte owned and immediately turned around back to LA.

'Raziel and I will be in the Lux in twenty minutes,' Maze texted. 'Wait for you?'

'No. See what she wants,' Chloe answered and said to Lucifer: "Your sisters and Maze get along quit well."

'Azrael and I stay at the precinct until you have talked with mom,' Ella texted in the meanwhile.

Lucifer nodded and grinned. "Maze and my sisters are supposed to fight each other when the apocalypse would happen."

Chloe gave that a serious thought. "The apocalypse. Do you know…"

"A made up fairy tale by some guy called John, who never had been on Patmos, detective. I might have problems with dad, but neither of us has any plan to destroy the Earth. I'm more afraid you humans do that."

They got a next text from Maze at the moment they passed Thousand Oaks. 'Mother is dancing in the Lux in a tight little dress with multiple humans. Maze tries to talk with her.' The phone number was Maze', but Chloe suspected Raziel had typed the message.

When they turned onto Sunset a next message came: 'Mother is asking Maze about the ring that Lilith has had.'

"You mentioned Lilith before," Chloe said. "She was… Maze' mother?"

"Indeed. Mother of the Lilim, the demons of the highest rank in Hell."

"How many siblings does Maze have?"

"Seventy thousand, give or take a few. But there are millions and millions demons of lower ranks."He explained how dozens new demons came to be every minute again to deal with new souls that were doomed. It was only when they entered the Lux, that Chloe remembered Raziel's message talked about a ring.

"What ring did your mother asked about?"

"Lilith's ring." Lucifer showed her the ring with the black stone. The ring he was – as long as she remembered – wearing on his middle finger. They had reached the railing above the dance floor of Lux. They halted and looked down. Lucifer's mother in the body of Charlotte Richards was dancing on a table. Amenadiel was standing in front of her and talking with an angry look. Maze and Raziel were at the bar, giggling and whispering.

"What is special about that ring?"

"I have no idea. Lilith gave me the ring as a memento of her after she decided she wanted to die. Mum never was close with Lilith so why would she want the see it?"

"Maybe she wants to have it," a voice next to them said.

Chloe looked aside. It was the mysterious punky-girl with the army boots and black hair with dyed pink highlights. "Who are you?"

"An acquaintance of Charlotte Richards. I've visited the place where she… dwells a few times to drink a good glass of wine together and watch the beautiful waterfall over there."

"What's your name?"

"Rory."

Chloe hesitated for a second. "Rory is short for…?"

The girl gave her an unexpected hug, then touched her belly for a moment. A smile appeared on her face. Then she looked at Lucifer. "I know… Charlotte. She will ask for the ring. She will press you to give her the ring."

"How do you know?"

The girl shook her head. "No time for that. Do want to annoy her?"

"Always!"

"Give the ring to Chloe before going down. It will really confuse Charlotte."

"Lucifer!" The yell came from down below from the dance floor, where his mother in Charlotte's body looked up to them.

"Take the ring. I just checked, it's safe, really," Rory whispered in Chloe's ear.

"Lucifer come here!" his mother ordered in the meanwhile.

Chloe looked down again, then turned to Rory. The girl was gone.

"Detective." Lucifer took her hand and slipped Lilith's ring on her middle finger. "Of course we will annoy her. Let's see what mum has to say."

While she followed him downstairs, she noticed the ring started to change color. First she blamed the reflection of the lights of Lux, but she raised her hand and saw the black had changed in green and was then turning to blue.

"Luci," Amenadiel called. "Tell mother to behave. Humans are looking at her."

Chloe trailed behind Lucifer, only listing half to the conversation, most of her attention at the ring that changed color every few seconds until the stone became white and stayed white.

"… all these men looking at me is fun."

"I don't want to hear that from my mum. Why didn't you stay in Amenadiel's apartment?" Lucifer asked.

"There is nothing there. No television, no internet, no book to read. He just sits in his chair. It is boring."

Lucifer raised his eyebrows. "My bro invented boring." He grinned, Amenadiel looked offended. "You should have said, bro. We will get some equipment at you place. Leave that to me."

"I don't need gifts from you."

"But you will get them," Lucifer said.

"I'm so happy when my sons help each other," Lucifer's mother said. She took both Lucifer's hands in her hands and smiled at him. "Speaking of gifts, Maze told me you got a gift from Lilith."

The six had moved to the end of the bar: Maze, Raziel, mom, Amenadiel, Lucifer and Chloe a bit away from the busiest parts of the dance floor.

"A reminder of an old friend," Lucifer said.

"She was also an old friend of me, son."

"Was she, mum? I can't remember you were that close."

"I have known her billions of years before your father and I created this universe," mom snapped. It didn't mean much to Chloe – she knew the five celestials around her were old – but the others frowned.

"You knew my mother before this universe was created?" Maze asked. "How…"

"Not your business," mom interrupted her.

"It's a fair question," Raziel said, laying her arm around Maze shoulders.

"Maybe we should have this conversation more in private," Amenadiel hissed, glancing at people close to them.

They moved to the elevator to go up to the penthouse and as soon as the doors of the elevator were closed, Raziel continued. "You and father created and designed this universe, including all of us in it."

"Not Lilith." Mom looked at Chloe and Maze. "You want them to know? They are not angels, not my children."

"Yes, I want them to know. Whatever you're gonna tell," Raziel said.

"Lilith was equal to your dad. A deity that existed in higher dimensions just like he and I. She came with us to find shelter in this universe, as she had troubles with one of her siblings. Your father and Lilith were brother and sister, her powers are, were, as huge as his."

"So Maze is our cousin?" Raziel asked.

"The angels and the Lilim are cousins," mom said.

"You never told us."

"You never asked."

"What about the ring?" Lucifer interrupted while they entered the penthouse.

"Do you have that ring?" countered his mother.

"No."

"Do you know where that ring is?" she insisted.

He took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Tell me."

"What if I don't?"

His mother raised her chin, giving him a disdain look. "How many humans shall I kill?"

Amenadiel stepped forward. "Mother, you can't…"

He was interrupted by his mother, who lifted the big, muscular angel one handed with no visible effort. "Honour thy mother, son."

"Here is the ring," Chloe said, taking it off her finger and handing it to the goddess.

"Ah!" For a second the goddess laughed. "Lilith's powers and knowledge!" The laugh disappeared. She frowned. "This can't be Lilith's ring."

"It is," Lucifer said.

"There are no powers in the stone. Who else did wear this ring?"

"Only me," Lucifer answered. "I gave it to the detective five minutes ago. Less than."

"Maze told me Lilith's ring has a black stone."

"It was black when Lucifer gave it to me. It got all kind of colors and then it became white," Chloe said.

"You're lying," mom snapped.

"Or Lilith's powers went to Chloe," Raziel said. "But that is not possible. Lilith described the ring to me. The energy would set a human body to fire. What exactly happened?"

Chloe described the color changes she had seen while walking down the stairs.

"Not possible," mom repeated. "She must be lying."

"Why?" Lucifer and Amenadiel asked simultaneously.

Mom stepped aside and looked away, angry. Raziel told: "I talked a lot with Lilith, so could explain many mysteries father and mother never wanted to discuss…"

"Angel of mysteries," Lucifer whispered to Chloe.

"… and she described to me what she did with the stone," Raziel finished.

"When was that?" Amenadiel asked.

"Thirty years ago, something. I always stayed in touch with Lilith. She was aging already. She poured all her powers and knowledge in the stone. As coming from a female deity only another female could receive them. That's why she gave the ring as a gift to Lucifer: he wouldn't take the powers."

"And when Chloe put on the ring?" Maze said.

Raziel shook her head. "There I don't understand. She is a woman, so the powers would flood to her. But she is a human, the sheer amount of power would burn her within seconds." Her eyes met Chloe's. "Azaki metzan nicahai Lilith?"

"Sorry?" Chloe said.

"I asked whether you have Lilith's memories. In an ancient language Lilith preferred and spoke most of the time. It looks like you do not have Lilith's knowledge."

"But where did it go?" mom snapped, turning to the company again. "I need that knowledge. The Flaming Sword and Lilith's powers and I can force my husband to follow me."

"Father destroyed the Flaming Sword, mother," Amenadiel said.

The goddess smiled and caressed his cheek. "Don't worry, my boy. Leave all to your mother. We will be a happy family in the Silver City again. But where did Lilith's powers go?"

"They left the ring while Chloe was wearing it," Raziel said. She walked over to the bar, take a small knife and came back. The angel slammed the knife at the back of her own left hand, but no wound appeared, then looked at Chloe. "Chloe? Please. Just to make sure." She carefully presses it against Chloe's hand, resulting in a small cut and a drop of blood. Raziel unfolded her wings and touched the small cut on Chloe's hand with a feather. The wound immediately closed and not a scab was left. "Lilith's immortality is not in your body. Where did it go?"

They now all looked at Chloe. "I don't know," she stammered. "I have no idea what this all means."

"Only a celestial woman could absorb Lilith's powers and survive," Raziel said. "Did you touch any one while walking downstairs?"

Chloe shook her head. "The stone was black when Lucifer put the ring on my finger. I looked at it after a few steps and it was still black. Then it suddenly flashed green. There was no one close at that moment?"

"Why did you gave the ring to Chloe?" Maze asked.

"That girl…" Lucifer hesitated. "The girl we saw in the bar and that brought mum to the elevator. She stood above the dance floor at the railing when we came in."

"What a coincidence," Maze said dryly.

"You think she was waiting for us?" Chloe asked.

"What do you think?"

Chloe slowly nodded. "She said her name was Rory and she knew Charlotte and that Charlotte would ask for the ring. She suggested Lucifer would give me the ring."

"And you did?" Maze asked Lucifer, frowning. "You listened to a stranger? I would like to meet that woman."

"She said it would be safe. She had checked," Chloe continued.

"Safe?" Raziel asked. "As if she knew what powers the ring contained, but knew these powers would go… I can't think of where… Then she knows more of Lilith's powers than we do."

"So she must be an angel," Maze said.

A four-folded "no" came from Lucifer, Raziel, Amenadiel and the goddess.

"I know my own children," the goddess added. "She must be a demon."

"No way." This time the reaction came from Lucifer and Maze.

"For I know my siblings," Maze snapped. "And only the Lilim can walk on Earth in their own body. And even only if some angel brings them."

"She must be a human," Amenadiel said.

"She knows too much for a human," Raziel said.

"So she doesn't exist," Lucifer concluded and grinned.

Lucifer's mom walked to the elevator.

"Mother?", "Mum?"

She looked back. "I need time to think. I must try to remember how to use the Flaming Sword without Lilith's knowledge."

"Where are you gong?"

"Home," was the last word they heard before the elevator doors closed.

"I will inform Azrael on what happened," Raziel said and folded her hands.


Only minutes later Azrael landed on the balcony with Ella in her arms. The two got a detailed update on mom and the ring.

"… now you say Rory had visited the place where Charlotte lives," Ella interrupted Chloe.

"Yes."

"But earlier you used the word 'dwells'."

"Yes." Chloe gave it a thought. "Dwells is the word Rory used."

"A human doesn't say that word when she visits another human on Earth," Ella said. "This Rory must mean she visited Charlotte in hell."

"To drink a good glass of wine?" Lucifer shook his head. "I can assure you, miss Lopez, the doomed souls in hell don't drink a good glass of wine with visitors. And they don't have a nice view at a waterfall."

"There is no waterfall near the three houses she owns around LA either," Ella said.

"So?" Maze asked. "Heaven? I told you this Rory is an angel."

"Charlotte Richards is in hell. I brought her there," Azrael said. "And mother is praying at this very moment to me again. Demanding me to come."

Raziel counted on her fingers. "Who and what is this Rory? Where did she visit Charlotte? Where did Lilith's powers go? What does mother want from Azrael? Why does mother think the Flaming Sword still exists?"