Can the devil become a dad


Chloe told father Frank the little they knew about Rory so far, beginning with explaining Lucifer's mother. In the meanwhile Lucifer folded his hands sending a prayer to Raziel, Azrael and Amenadiel. Within minutes all three appeared: Raziel with Maze in her arms and Azrael with Ella. A slight surprise was Amenadiel who brought Linda with him. "We were having a drink together," he explained.

Ella smiled and nodded, Maze snorted with disdain. "Just a drink? I'm a demon, you know."

Amenadiel and Linda didn't react on Maze. Frank told them what he knew about Rory, ending with her calling God her grandfather. Maze laughed. "As I have been saying. She is an angel. Child of any of you or your siblings."

"Many humans call father, I mean our father, also father," Amenadiel answered, frowning. "Although he is not their biological father."

"But they never call him grandfather," Chloe said.

"And certainly no living human uses Sumerian," Ella added.

All three angels looked unhappy with that. "Do you realize what you imply?" Raziel said. "One of my brothers and one of my sisters would have slept together and they begot a child. A brother and a sister together!"

"Why not an angel and a human?" Ella asked.

Three angels, the devil and a demon shook their heads. "Humans and angels can have sex on Earth, but they can't get a child," Azrael said.

"If that was possible, Lucifer would have a thousand children at least," Maze added.

"But looks like she is referring to God as grandfather and talks about a grandmother while she seems to know your mother, God's ex," Ella said. "So explain?"

"We need to ask Rory," Frank said.

"O, my father," Raziel whispered with her face in her hands. "I can't believe one of my brothers and one of my sisters have a child together. Who?"

"Rory is about eighteen years old," Chloe said, Frank nodded.

"If she is an angel, she can be centuries old and still looking as eighteen," Lucifer said.

"Mother was banned to hell more than two millennia ago, so if she knows mother…" Azrael said.

"Then either she is more than two thousand years old or she visited mother in hell."

"I would have heard about such a visit," Lucifer objected.

"Unless she visited her in the last six years, when you were in LA," Amenadiel corrected him.

"She might have helped your mother to escape," Maze added. "Someone must have broken the chains of her cell. No way the goddess could have done that herself."

"We can discuss this over and over tonight, but we need to know more," Raziel said.

Maze looked at her, her eyes half closed and with a vague smile. "You want to see my home? At the same time we can try to find out who helped your mother's escape."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lucifer said. "You ask her to bring you back to hell?"

"No," Maze answered. "Not back. Just visit home to check your mother's cell."

Chloe could see Lucifer didn't like it, but Amenadiel and Ella said at the same moment: "Good idea."


Chloe woke early in the morning and opened one eye to check the alarm clock. Twenty to six. Something in the back of her mind jumped forwards. 'Humans and angels can have sex on Earth, but they can't get a child,' Azrael had said yesterday evening. What had she meant with 'on Earth'? She had had sex with Lucifer during that three day visit to hell… She placed her hands on her belly, laying on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"Detective?" Lucifer whispered. His voice full of sleep, eyes opened for a second then closed again. "You're awake?"

"Yes, sorry."

"What time is it?"

"Quarter to six almost."

He opened his eyes. "Anything wrong?"

"You like Trixie, don't you?"

"No," he said. "I don't like the spawn. I love her. Different love then loving you, but as much as you."

She smiled and stroke his cheek. "I think you would be a wonderful father."

He chuckled. "Well, happy you believe in me, but we will never know."

"Why did Azrael say 'on Earth'?"

He stared at her. She knew he had an eidetic, perfect memory and was now replaying the yesterday evening conversation in his mind to find the phrase. "Can't get a child on Earth, yes."

"But in heaven?" she asked.

"A soul can't become pregnant and there are no living humans in heaven."

"And in hell?"

"For the same…" He suddenly stopped and looked at her. "Detective?" he whispered.

"I missed a period, Lucifer," she said. "That never happens."

He was silent, didn't move, just looked at her. She couldn't read his reaction, whether he was happy or frightened, whether he would kiss her or run away.

"I will buy a pregnancy test today," she said. "I don't know. Not yet. It's only I missed a period and Azrael said…"

"No need for a test," he interrupted her. He laid his hand on her belly, after a few seconds he withdraw his hand and closed his eyes. "It is my fault, Chloe. I didn't know. Forgive me."

"Lucifer, what do you mean? What did you… do?"

"I felt something. I can feel a demon or an angel when I touch one. I mean feel their presence. She… it is a girl, she feels just slightly different from an angel. Forgive me, detective. I really didn't know. You have all rights and reasons to be upset. You…"

"Lucifer," she interrupted him. "I'm happy. I'm shocked and some planning would have been nice, but I'm happy."

"You are?"

"As Trixie told you during the diner at Javier junior, I always wanted two daughters. I'm happy. You will be a wonderful father."

"Me?" He blinked his eyes. "You wanted a second daughter. But it will be difficult. Your work."

She shrugged. "A pregnancy would always be inconvenient with my work. But I'm not getting younger, so if you would have been human I would have discussed it weeks ago with you. It's just you told me it was impossible, so I let it rest."

"But you're really happy?"

"Yes. Are you?" The last two words where a whisper, she could hardly hear herself. Up to now he had only apologized and cared about her feeling.

He unfolded his wings, put one over her and pulled her closer. "Me?" he was silent for some time, then smiled. "Just as you said, detective. Shocked but happy."

"It is only a few weeks old, Lucifer," she warned him.

"What do you mean?"

"Half of the pregnancies end naturally in the first two months. Most of the time a woman doesn't even know she has been pregnant. I'm happy. I'm happy that you are happy. But it's too early to be reasonably sure everything will go as we hope."

He thought that over, put his hand again on her belly and shook his head. "She feels very alive and very strong."

"But you never felt a half-angel fetus before?"

"No. Of course not. I had never heard of an angel and a human getting a child."

So he didn't know what feeling was just normal to feel or very alive and strong to feel. She didn't say, didn't want to argue about it. She just laid in his arms and under the wing and let it sink in. "Normally we wouldn't tell others until she is at least three months."

He nodded. "Normally? So not this time?"

"Rory can be a half-angel too. One of your siblings can have taken a human to heaven and the female one of the two got pregnant."

"The female of the two… The angel could not only be one of my brothers but also be one of my sisters… yes."

"The rest needs to know," she said. "I mean Maze, Raziel, Azrael and Amenadiel. And then I want also to keep Ella, Linda and Frank informed."

"And the urchin and mama Decker? Not about Rory, but about our baby."


During breakfast Chloe did send texts to invite the 'team' for an informal diner in the penthouse and added they had two important things to tell. Upon entering the precinct, lieutenant Monroe came with two files to Chloe's desk. "Two cases. A preference? One is about a realtor murdered while showing a client a house, the other one is Wesley Cabot murdered."

"What?" Lucifer almost yelled. "Wesley Cabot? Star of the Body Bags movies. Eighth-degree black belt. Absolute icon in the action genre. I adore his work."

Chloe had never seen any of those Body Bags movies and wouldn't have recognized this Wesley Cabot if she had met him, but Lucifer seemed exited. She expected him to reach for the Cabot file, but he hesitated and then reached for the realtor file. "Shall we go detective?"

"I would have expected you to pick the Cabot case," she said as soon as he drove the Corvette out of the precinct's garage and merged the car in the traffic.

"I thought some talking with realtors was more appropriate."

She looked aside. "Why?"

"We need a place for the four of us. You, the urchin, the new baby and me. You said yourself the penthouse is no place to raise a child and your place is in reality your mother's house."

"You mean we as a family will buy a house?"

He smiled at her. Of course it made sense, but at the same moment she realized either he would have to pay most of it or it would be much smaller than he would have in mind. She bit her lip and decided to avoid that subject for the moment. She opened the file. "Victim is Anil Nassar, a realtor. He had an appointment with a potential client to show a house. He went yesterday afternoon and didn't come back. He was found this morning in that house."

"No one reported him missing earlier?"

"Not mentioned in the file. We have to find out why not. He was found by his daughter. That is pretty much everything that's in the file. O, the real estate agency is called Nassar Real Estate and Property Management."

"He is the owner?" he asked. "Or was the owner."

"Same name, yes. But I do not yet know."


The daughter was Adriana Nassar, a blond woman with a large pair of glasses, 23 years old. Her face looked vaguely familiar to Chloe. "He was not at home when I woke up this morning," Adriana said.

"Was he home yesterday when you went to bed?" Chloe asked.

"I do not know. I…" Tears were in Adriana's eyes. "I should have checked, you mean. I came home past midnight and I thought he was in bed already."

"You had a wild night?" Lucifer asked.

"No! No." She sighed and shook her head. "My mother is sick. She went to a clinic yesterday and I was with her all evening.

"We're sorry to hear," Chloe said. "We will try to keep it short."

Again Adriana shook her head. "I understand you need information. Ask anything needed to find my father's murderer."

"Your father had an appointment yesterday. Do you know with who?"

"I should, but I forgot the names. I can check his agenda."

"You are both realtors? Work in the same company?"

"Yes. Nassar Real Estate and Property Management. My grandfather Nilam Nassar is founder and owner of the company. My father Anil Nassar and my uncle Manpreet Pahat both work in the firm, just as me and my cousins Nilam and Varun Pahat. All realtors."

Chloe nodded and made notes. "When you say uncle Manpreet Pahat, he is married to a sister of your father?"

Tears will still running over Adriana's face, her voice was hardly more than a whisper. "Indeed, aunt Sharmila. Grandfather was from India, came to the USA in 1962. He started as office boy and became a multi-millionaire." In the meanwhile Adriana had – on her phone – opened her father's agenda. "Dad had two clients that wanted to see the house. First one at one o'clock, second at three."

"Do you know them or did he know them?"

"I don't. They just contacted us to see this house. I have phone numbers and email addresses for you."

"And you were with your mother… What is her name?"

"Jyoti Nassar-Kharab."

"With her all afternoon and evening?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, Adriana," Chloe said. "But I will need to check. It is just procedure."

She nodded. "I understand."

"Does your mother or your aunt Sharmila also work for the company?"

"Mother never did. Aunt Sharmila has done the administration but stopped with it a few years ago."

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"She and my grandfather had some words about things."

"With your grandfather Nilam? Not with you father Anil?"

"With grandfather. They never wanted to tell me the details."


They found Ella taking pictures of the room on the second floor where the victim was found. "What do you have for us, miss Lopez?" Lucifer asked.

"Single shot in the back from a short distance. Point thirty-eight. Estimate it happened yesterday afternoon. About your invitation for this evening. What important things are you going to tell us?"

"As you said: this evening, Ella," Chloe said with a smile. "Was he shot before three or after three o'clock?"

Ella shook her head. "Impossible to say, Decker. The body wasn't moved after he was shot. So he came into the room, walked to the window and was shot in the back."

Chloe looked around. "On the second floor, with someone behind him that came with him. Must be during one of the viewings of the house."

"The second viewing, detective," Lucifer said. "If he was killed by the first viewer, the second one would either have found him or called the agency no one was here to meet him."

"You might be right," Chloe said. "Unless the second client just by accident did't show up."

"Robbery gone wrong?" Lucifer asked.

"The house is almost empty." Chloe shook her head. "His daughter said no problems with clients, no enemies. But it must be something around mr Nassar."

She called Dan and gave him the names, phone numbers and email addresses of the two clients. "See what you can find of them. Lucifer and I will first visit the office of Nassar Real Estate."

At the office they were received by Manpreet Pahat, the victim's brother-in-law and Adriana's uncle. "An incredible loss for the company and for the family," he said with a concerned expression on his face. Poor Adriana and poor Jyoti."

Chloe quickly checked her notes to be sure the Jyoti was Adriana's mother. "Did you already talk with your sister-in-law?"

"No, no. I first let Adriana talk with her mother."

He told her the same as Adriana had told: he couldn't think of anyone that had a reason to kill Anil. He himself had a solid alibi: appointments with clients yesterday afternoon. When Lucifer asked for his desire, he said 'to grow the company, become the best real estate agency of the city'. His two sons had the same kind of alibis and gave the same kind of answers when Lucifer used his moyo.

"The alibis don't mean a thing," Chloe said to Lucifer while they had a quick lunch. "They can have hired a hit man."

Her phone rang. "Maze?"

"The two of you have something important to tell tonight? Concerning the goddess?"

"Important, Maze. But tonight."

"Ok." Maze laughed. "Then we play the same game. We have some thing important too, but you have to wait."

"You found something in hell?"

"Important, Decker. But tonight." And Maze ended the call.

Her phone rang again. "Dan?"

"The first viewer was no problem. I just sent you a mail with his address. The man is looking for a house, has a family and viewed three more houses with other realtors in the last two weeks."

"Ok," Chloe said.

"The second viewer I can't trace. The phone is bought twelve weeks ago at a booth in a mall. Never used until this week to make the appointment to view the house and is powered down since yesterday afternoon. Email address he gave is never used to send any email."

Lucifer nodded and whispered: "As I told you, detective. Second viewer."

Chloe ended the call and admitted. "It sound as you are right. Nevertheless we first give the first viewer a visit, just to make sure."


The first viewer was a man called Nathan Willis. He was shocked when they told him mr Nassar was dead. "I left before two. The garden was too small, the house needed too much repairs, painting. Not what I was looking for. I mailed mr Nassar yesterday I was not interested." He should them the mail on his phone.

"Do you have a gun?" Chloe asked.

He had, a nine millimeter, barrel was clean and dry, not touched by oil for weeks she estimated. Lucifer using his moyo made him say, he just wanted find a house.


They went back to the house were the victim was found and checked with the neighbors, asking whether they had seen anything and asking for security cam footage. It was a busy street with cars passing every few minutes and no camera that was pointed at the house for sale. But they got gigabytes of pictures and movies to search.

They visited the booth in the mall where the phone of the second client was sold. At first it seemed a useless visit. "We've sold that phone, yes," a man at the booth told them after checking his computer. "To a Robin Coleman. Driver license was checked as ID."

"Do you take a picture of the ID?"

"No. We only write down the license number." Behind the man a young woman was looking at Lucifer, smiling and hardly breathing. Lucifer smiled back. The woman blushed and turned away, while the man printed the registration for them.

"I remember that Robin," the young woman suddenly blurted.

"Please," Lucifer said, beaming a smile to her. "Do tell."

"She was my first customer. I remember because the woman and her accent was a kind of Persian or Pakistani or so and the name was not."

"Could have been Indian?" he asked with a frown.

"Maybe. I don't know the difference. I'm sorry."

"And it was a woman?" Chloe asked.

"Yes. Yes. A woman. Older woman. Forty or fifty or sixty."

"That is quite a difference," Lucifer said.

"It's three months ago. I'm sorry."

"Never mind, girl. You were of great help."


"Robin Coleman?" the receptionist of Nassar Real Estate repeated the name. "Yes, I had him on the phone earlier this week. We record the calls, so I can give you a copy of the conversation."

"But it was a man?"

"Definitively a man, detective Decker."

She send them the recording of the conversation and they had to agree: this Robin Coleman was a man.

"What does that mean, detective?" Lucifer asked. They were in the car on their way home.

"Certainly not a robbery gone wrong. This is a long planned murder," Chloe answered. "Someone else bought that phone months ago with most likely a fake ID with a name that could be both male and female. They must have thought that after three months no one would remember the person who bought that phone. Bad luck for them it was that girl's first sale."

"And possibly – or likely – an Indian woman. His wife?" Lucifer asked.

"She is in a clinic," Chloe said. "But I agree that does not prove she didn't hire a hit man. But Adriana didn't indicate troubles between her mom and dad."

"Adriana doesn't look Indian. Blond, and not painted blond," Lucifer said.

"I trust your judgment on that subject," Chloe said dryly.

He grinned. "While her mother's name is really Indian. Visit the mother first thing tomorrow?"

Chloe nodded. "Not nice to interview a woman whose man is just murdered, but given that the woman who bought the phone, might be Indian we have to."


The same crowd as yesterday evening was invited to come to Chloe's apartment: Maze and Raziel, Ella and Azrael, Linda and Amenadiel and father Frank, but before the crowd came in, they first had a talk with just Trixie alone.

"… in the first two months, three months a new baby is very small and fragile."

"Mommy," Trixie said. "Are you going to tell me…"

"Wait a moment, monkey. Fifty percent or more of these small babies dies and most of the times the mommy doesn't even know she had a baby. You understand?"

"Yes… What…"

"Mommy has such a small baby girl…"

She couldn't finish the sentence: her monkey yelled and flung her arms around her. "I get a sister!"

It took some time before Trixie listened again. "… I understand, it's small and we have to wait and hope," Trixie said, now with a worried look. "But I will pray to Lucifer's dad he will protect his granddaughter."

Chloe raised her eyes, realizing who the grandfather was.


Maze and Raziel were the last to arrive and they brought an unexpected guest with them. "My sister Rymane." Maze introduced her to the others after taking Trixie in her arms and lifting her.

"Rymane of the Lilim," Raziel added. She turned to Lucifer. "I brought her with a reason."

"I hope it is a good reason," Lucifer said.

"Shall we tell first?" Maze asked.

Father Frank raised a finger. "I also have something to tell, but I'm happy to go last."

"I would like to go first," Chloe said. "Something that is too early to tell and normally I would have waited another two months, but you need to know because of understanding this Rory. I, well Lucifer and I, are expecting a baby."

"Impossible," was a threefold reaction of the three angels.

Raziel stepped forward. "Chloe? May I…"

Chloe nodded. Raziel laid a hand on her belly. The angel's eyes went wide open and she turned to the others. "It's true. But how is that possible?"

"Five weeks ago I was in hell with Lucifer. I needed to read a large file before the next morning and we used the trick that being a few days in hell is only minutes on Earth. And well…" Chloe blushed, realizing Trixie was still in the room. "There were two nights between the three days the visit took."

"Two night with Lucifer," Ella said and laughed. "As Ray-Ray said, an angel and a human can't procreate on Earth. Apparently they can in hell."

"Was it planned?" Linda asked, she looked pale.

"No, but is it very welcome," Chloe said.

"Welcomed by both of us," Lucifer added. They got the congratulations and hugs from all… all except Linda, Chloe noticed with some wonder.

"As I said, normally I would have waited another two months before telling," Chloe said. "But you need to know Rory could be the child of any of your siblings and a human. An angel could have taken a human to heaven and brought her or him back to Earth after sleeping together."

"Bring him back?" Azrael said. "A man? None of our sisters would do such a thing."

"Mm," Raziel reacted. "I know Saraquel has had more than one lover."

"I never heard she took one of them to heaven," Azrael objected.

"As if she would tell anyone."

"Anyway," Amenadiel interrupted their discussion. "This might indeed be the case, one of our siblings – I also would guess one of our brothers – and a human that was brought to heaven."

"So that widens the search who Rory might be quite a bit," Ella said.

"Yes."

"Maybe I can add to it," Frank said. "Or does Maze want to tell her story first?"

"Let's first go on with Rory," Maze answered. "Add your part, padre."

"I saw Rory this afternoon and asked a few question. First whether she meant God when talking about her ayaya. She admitted and said he was her grandfather. I asked whether ayaya was Sumerian. She said it was. Her mother is a human, her father an angel…"

Both Raziel and Amenadiel nodded.

"… and she has an older half-sister that is full human, so with a human father."

"Same situation as your daughter will be," Ella said to Chloe.

"Yes, well…" Chloe shrugged. "I guess it can happen that a woman that has a child with an angel also can have one more with a human. Not so strange." She turned to Frank. "Did you also ask about her amagal?"

"Yes. And it is indeed grandmother in Sumerian and she means all the mother of all angels with it. Her fathers parents she calls ayaya and amagal, her mothers parents are grandda and nanna and the parents of her sister's father they call abuela and abuelo."

"Hispanic," Ella said. "Exactly as Trixie calls Dan's parents."

"And she is sixty-six years old," Frank ended. "Then she smiled, said that was enough question and answer for today and walked away."

Maze closed her eye's half and looked at Lucifer. "Begot sixty-seven years ago? That was 1950. You haven't been on Earth between 1946 and 1961."

"I didn't leave hell in 1950 and around," Lucifer agreed.

"But she said earlier she knew you as good as her amagal knows you," Maze said.

"I didn't speak to mum for a billion years, so how good does mum know me?"

"But to summarize," Raziel said. "Born in 1951, begot in '50 or '51, her father is one of our brothers, mother most likely English speaking. What more?"

They couldn't think of much more and repeated the reasoning a few times, before Lucifer said: "And why is Rymane on this Earth plane?"

The demoness had been silent during all discussions. His words startled her and she looked for help at Maze and Raziel. "We went to hell to figure out how your mother could escape," Maze said.

"Rymane witnessed the breaking of the chains that kept mother's cell closed," Raziel added.

"What?" Lucifer sat straight, looking at the demoness who cringed. "And you…"

"Wait, Lucifer," Raziel said. "It was you who broke the chains."

"Me? Are you insane? I would never…"

"Lucifer, please. We are not yet finished."

"But…" He was interrupted by Chloe who placed her hand on his arm.

"Rymane, can you describe his clothes?" Maze asked.

Rymane was clearly nervous, she swallowed. "You wore a t-shirt with a cardigan, my king."

"Me?" Lucifer asked.

"The elbows," Raziel whispered and the angel laid her arm around the demoness.

"A cardigan worn with through at the elbows, my king."

"The jeans," Raziel prompted.

"Ironed jeans, my king, with a crease."

"Ironed jeans?" Lucifer was clearly shocked. "I would never…"

"Not you, Luci," Amenadiel said.

"No. It is crystal clear," Azrael said.

"What?" Lucifer yelled.

"Someone who looks like you and doesn't know how to dress," Maze said.

Lucifer slumped back on the sofa. "Michael."

Chloe touched his hand. He had mentioned his twin brother once, but not given Chloe much details. He hated him. She had not known they looked so alike that Rymane, who knew Lucifer, could be fooled.

"I'm so sorry, my king. If I had known… It's my fault," Rymane stammered.

"There was nothing you could have done," Raziel said. "If you had tried to stop him, he would have killed you."

Lucifer nodded slowly. "All true. There was nothing you could do, Rymane. You're excused."

"Michael…" Frank said. "As in the archangel Michael?"

"Yes," Amenadiel answered. "I never trusted him."

"You say now," Azrael said.

"He is creepy," Amenadiel continued.

"He is dad's favorite," Lucifer said. "I am the enemy."

Amenadiel sighed. "I know. You were the enemy, but one could trust you. I have never turned my back to Michael."

Lucifer filled all glasses once more, while Chloe and Maze brought Trixie to her bed.

"If Chloe and Lucifer can have a child, you and Amenadiel can have too," Ella said to Linda.

"We won't visit hell," Linda reacted.

"You can go to heaven together."

"No." Linda almost sounded angry. "I don't want to talk about it."

All looked a bit amazed at Linda and waited without speaking for Chloe and Maze to return. When they were back, Frank said: "Something is strange. Rory said she visited all six the grandparents last month."

"Her amalgal was in hell," Chloe said.

"Indeed. And if she is sixty-six, her nana and grandda would be hundred or so. The half-sister is older, so the abuela and abuelo even older than hundred. They must all be dead."

"So she can't visit them," Amenadiel concluded. "She must be lying."

Most of the others nodded, but Rymane raised her hand. "My king?"

"Yes, Rymane."

"May I speak?"

"Of course. Did you see Maze ask for permission to speak?"

"I beg your pardon?" Maze reacted.

Lucifer grinned. "Say it, Rymane."

"If this Rory is a half-angel and has wings, she can visit any grandparent in hell or heaven whenever she wants. It wouldn't matter they are passed away."