Someone calls the devil 'dad'
"The angel with the red wings just left," Lucifer reported the next morning as soon as Chloe was awake.
"Anything else happened?" She yawned.
"Not that we know. Raziel and Azrael kept me informed on what Saraquel and Lomeniel were telling all my siblings. As they described her, it must be Rory. She was in dad's office for hours. They came out together and Rory flew away before any of my siblings dared to approach dad. And when they finally asked, he told them they would hear when time is ready."
At breakfast Lucifer was thinking it over. "I don't know. My daughter can't have a relation with dad, so Rory can't be our child. But she said aunt Ella. A child of – let's say as example – Saraquel wouldn't know miss Lopez."
Chloe shook her head. "Why not. First I thought the same, but then I realized when Ella and Azrael stay together, Azrael would be a real aunt and a child would call Azrael's lover also aunt. Any half-angel could call Azrael and Ella aunts. So we simply still don't know."
"My daughter would talk with dad?" he scoffed and then looked painful. "If that's the case, she must hate me."
The interrogation of Sharmila Pahat-Nassar was a piece of cake. She first pretended not to speak enough English. "We speak Hindi at home."
"Ham Hindee mein intaravyoo kar sakate hain," Lucifer said to Sharmila and whispered to Chloe: "I proposed to do the interview in Hindi."
For a moment Sharmila looked at him, then her shoulders sunk and in English she tried a new twist: "I refuse to talk without my lawyer."
Saying that she gave them an angry look, but Lucifer's moyo cracked her and she admitted to have paid twice fifty-two hundred dollar to have Adriana killed. "She doesn't belong to us, doesn't belong to the family. Nilam was wrong adopting her, that, that… vah gandee, bura ghusapaithiya."
"That filthy, nasty intruder," Lucifer translated for Chloe.
"Fifty-two hundred," Chloe said as soon as Sharmile was back to a cell. "Nick got five thousand, that leaves only two hundred for Rico."
"You think Rico was the boss, given how the money was split," Lucifer understood. "We can celebrate a solved case."
"Celebrate?" Chloe sighed. "Nine murders solved. Even if I can transfer eight of them to colleagues who's cases are now solved, I have to do some paperwork to transfer those eight."
"That is…" he started. She gave him a look and he shut his mouth before he dared to say 'boring'.
It took longer than she wanted before they could start with the paperwork, for Nilam Nassar and Manpreet Pahat came with two lawyers; Nilam in a wheelchair with a nurse. "We want to be present while you interrogate mrs Pahat," one of the lawyers stated as soon as they were in a conference room with the nurse waiting outsite.
Chloe smiled and put a copy of Sharmila's signed confession in front of him. "I told her she indeed has the right to wait for a lawyer, but my partner friendly asked whether she wanted to confess and she did. You can listen to the recording of the interrogation."
The two lawyers seemed in shock.
"And also on mrs Pahat-Nassar's phone we found calls and messages between mrs Pahat-Nassar and a man called Rico Sanchez who confessed to be involved in arranging the murder."
"We would like to see Sharmila," Nilam said.
"No problem for her attorneys," Chloe said. "For yourself you have to ask the DA."
Nilam glanced at Manpreet before asking: "Do you think my grandsons, Adriana's cousins, knew what their mother was doing?"
"We have no signs they are involved," Chloe said. "Non at all."
Nilam sat for minutes with his eyes closed. Than he nodded. "I will ask the DA for permission to talk with my daughter."
Sharmila's father and husband left, the two lawyers visited Sharmila and Chloe could finally continue her paperwork. During lunch Ella enthusiastically told about the plans and preparations she and father Frank were making, letting Chloe wonder – not for the first time – how the girl could love both God and the devil. And as always she came to the conclusion Ella simply loved everyone.
Halfway through the afternoon lieutenant Monroe called Chloe to her office. "… and please bring mr Morningstar with you if he is in."
Lucifer was in, so the two of them went to Olivia's office to find Olivia together with a man with a star on the collar of his shirt, indicating the rank of commander. "Commander Jim Vanzanten," Olivia introduced the man, followed by: "Detective Chloe Decker and her consultant mr Lucifer Morningstar."
Chloe hadn't recognized the face, but she knew the name: the detectives had had an email last week mentioning commander Jim Vanzanten would be the new head of the Detective Services Group. She glanced at Lucifer. His questioning look at her made clear he had no idea who the man was.
"My thanks and congratulations," Jim Vanzanten said. "I understand you just caught a hit man and solved nine murders." He only looked at Chloe.
"Thank you, commander," Chloe said. "We did."
"They are the A-team of the homicide department, commander," Olivia added.
"I know," Jim said. "I've seen the statistics of the last twelve months. Highest solving rate, shortest average turnaround time, highest confession rate. You do a remarkable job, detective Decker." He still hadn't looked at Lucifer.
"My partner and I do a remarkable job, commander," Chloe said. "Our successes are a team effort."
"Well." He showed her a fake smile. "Your partner is an untrained civilian. A far as I could find he never had any class or training in policy work. Wouldn't you prefer a sworn policy officer as partner?"
"No," Chloe said. "I would not."
"Commander," Lucifer suddenly said. Jim finally looked at him. Lucifer bent towards the commander. "What is your wish, commander? What do you want more than anything?"
"I want a clean detective's department."
"We all want, commander." Lucifer smiled. "And why do you ask detective Decker to look for another partner?"
"I do not want a satanist in the ranks of the LAPD."
"Of course not," Lucifer whispered. Jim still stared in Lucifer's eyes, some drops of sweat on his temples. "No one wants that. And who is that satanist?" Lucifer leaned back, breaking the eye contact.
Jim Vanzanten gasped for breath. "You. You are a satanist."
"Me?" Lucifer laughed. "Certainly not. I dislike satanists."
"You say you are the devil."
"I am the devil."
"Commander Vanzanten," Olivia interrupted them. "We both know the LAPD encourages diversity and tolerance."
"Of course."
"Anyone is free to choose his religion and worship whatever deity they want in this country. And besides, mr Morningstar doesn't worship satan, he never ever talks about religion in the precinct. He never uses the word worship."
"But…" Jim pursed his lips and looked at Lucifer. "Why do you use a name that offends the lord?"
Chloe saw Lucifer raise his eyebrows and grabbed his hand before he could speak. "He had the name when he left his father's house, commander. One can not be blamed for the name he received from his parents."
That silenced commander Jim Vanzanten for a moment. He scratched his temple and turned to Olivia. "When checking the financials I couldn't find the payments you make to mr Morningstar."
"He works as a volunteer. I did bring up payments when he signed up as consultant, but he…" Olivia cleared her throat and looked at Lucifer.
Chloe realized she had never asked how much Lucifer got payed for his work as her consultant, apparently… nothing? Lucifer in the meanwhile smiled at commander Vanzanten. "The lieutenant named the max amount she was allowed to pay me and I told her I refuse to work for a just a tip. So no payment was the only option left."
"You earn your money with that nightclub?"
"No. Lux looses money."
"FBI and Tax Office has checked the Lux and mr Morningstar's financials several times," Olivia said. "They never found anything suspicious, commander. I saw to all that and it is checked again on a yearly basis."
"The financial department could not give me a summary of his expense reports either."
"He never files an expense report, commander," Olivia said.
Lucifer grinned. "You expect me to fill in some paper to get the fuel repaid when driving to a crime scene? Do you know how many people are tortured in hell with paperwork?"
On the word hell commander Vanzanten folded his hands and closed his eyes. With a strong voice he spoke words in a language Chloe didn't recognize, but sounded as the demon language Maze sometimes spoke. Still talking he opened his eyes and looked straight at Lucifer: "… ende en leydt ons niet in versoeckinge, maer verlost ons van den boosen."
He took a breath and Lucifer used that moment to say: "Want uw is het Coninckrijcke ende de cracht ende de heerlickheyt inder eeuwicheyt, Amen. Really impressive." Lucifer turned to Chloe. "The Lord's Prayer in seventeenth century Dutch. Not that many people speak that nowadays."
"You can speak the language of Canaan," Vanzanten muttered.
"With Canaan you mean the ancient biblical region in the Levant?" Lucifer asked. He shook his head. "The Jews who lived there didn't speak seventeenth century Dutch. Let me guess: your ancestors were Dutch, you're member of a conservative Dutch reformed church?"
"Yes. Where the church service is still done in the language of Canaan."
"O, my dad," Lucifer mumbled. "And they still use the bible translation that was printed in the Netherlands in 1637?"
"The 1657 edition." Vanzanten stared at him. "The only bible translation that was inspired by our Lord. All other bible translations are written by the Evil One. But if you can speak the language of Canaan, you're not possessed by a demon. I was afraid that an evil being had worked his way into the LAPD, but you are just a poor, wandering soul." He raised and turned to Olivia. "I hope your A-team will solve many more murders. In the meanwhile I will pray for mr Morningstar's soul. One day the Lord will show him the light."
As soon as commander Vanzanten had left, Chloe looked at Lucifer. "What?"
"There are a few very orthodox reformed churches that stick to old bible translations. Didn't know there is one in California. He is convinced the language of his bible is the language that was used in ancient Israel."
"And you responsible for all other bibles?" Chloe chuckled.
"I never wrote a single word."
Olivia coughed and Chloe realized they still sat in the lieutenant's office. "So you speak seventeenth century Dutch?"
"Yes. And modern Dutch of course."
Olivia looked at him for some moments and then said: "C'è una lingua che non sai parlare?"
"Parlo anche italiano, tenente."
Olivia's eyes went to Chloe and back to Lucifer. "Chloe sa che sei il diavolo?"
Lucifer smiled and turned to Chloe. "The lieutenant asks in Italian whether you know I'm the devil."
Chloe took a deep breath. "Why… Well, lieutenant. The head of the Detective Services Group, your commanding officer, just concluded Lucifer is not the devil."
"I'm glad commander Vanzanten is happy with the answer he found," Olivia said. "But I came to another conclusion."
"What gave it away, Olivia?" Lucifer asked.
"Jimmy Barnes fired six times, forensics found the bullets only yards away from where they where fired, smashed flat as if they had hit a steel wall. Jimmy was gone mad and is still shooting you're the devil. You just spoke Italian and Dutch. You regularly speak Spanish in the precinct, you speak English, this morning Hindi. In earlier cases you spoke Vietnamese and Swahili with two minor witnesses. The confessions you get out of people. Oh, not to forget the Gladstone case."
"Gladstone case?" Lucifer asked.
"In little more than an hour Chloe came with the summary I needed. No way she could have read through the file in that time. She explained to me she remembered the case, but that can't be true: she was only involved in the first two days of desk research and I checked the archive recordings: she never looked at the whole case before I assigned it to her. I don't know what magic you did, but something supernatural gave her the time to do this."
"We went to hell with the case file." Lucifer raised his hand and assured Olivia: "Nothing frightening. It was the detectives own decision. Two days in hell are only five minutes on Earth, that gave her the time to read through the file."
Olivia closed her eyes, hold her breath for a few seconds and then nodded. She looked at Chloe. "Of course. Two days in hell. Detective Decker…"
"You taking this remarkably well, lieutenant," Chloe said.
"It is not something I just found out, detective Decker. I…" She took another deep breath. "If the devil wants to walk around in LA, I prefer that he works with the LAPD and not with some criminal organization. To me, supporting your partnership and keeping it low profile for staff officers and commanding officers, seemed the best thing to do."
"Thank you, Olivia," Lucifer said. "I appreciate this."
Olivia played with the papers on her desk, swallowed and said: "There are a few more persons I wonder about. That woman that visits Ella Lopez. I had it checked but no security cam ever sees her entering the precinct, nevertheless she shows up almost daily in Ella's lab and I heard she was your sister."
"She is my sister. An angel."
With her eyes wide open Olivia slowly nodded. "Next there is this Mazikeen Smith, now together with a second woman bounty hunting. Nine days ago they brought in a gang of fourteen men, half of them professional martial art fighters. Just two women, no firearms. And the two women hadn't a scratch, something that couldn't be said from the men they brought in."
"Maze is a demon," Chloe said. "Forged in the bowls of hell to torture the guilty for all of eternity. The other woman is Raziel, sister of Lucifer and the angel of mysteries."
"They are supposed to be enemies," Lucifer added. "But they have a hell of a time together on Earth. Forgive me the pun."
"And thanks to detective Decker these beings are supporting the LAPD," Olivia murmured.
Chloe and Lucifer had just started diner when Lucifer froze. "My mum," he whispered. Chloe watch his face going from shocked to angry. "Mum is in Frank's church and is holding Ella hostile. She orders me and Azrael to come immediately."
"Why?"
"She didn't tell. I have to go, detective."
"You? I go with you."
"But we don't know what mum is up to. I will fly."
"No discussion, Lucifer. You can take me with you."
He sighed, nodded and they went outside. He took her in his arms ans spread his wings. Chloe had her phone in her hand and was texting Maze and Linda to warn Raziel and Amenadiel.
When they entered Frank's church, Lucifer's mum was standing in the far end before the altar with her hand around Ella's wrist. A man she didn't know was standing two steps behind the Goddess, large nose, dark hair, eyes in the shadow of large eyebrows. Father Frank was a bit aside to the left looking worried. Azrael was already in, walking halfway the nave towards Ella and the Goddess. They hurried to catch up with Azrael. A single lamp above the choir left most of the corners and walls in the shadows.
"Stay there," the Goddess said just before they reach the choir.
"Mum," Lucifer said. "What are you doing? Why involve an innocent human?"
Chloe heard footsteps behind her, looked and saw Maze, Raziel and Amenadiel coming in.
"Why? You should ask our Azrael," the Goddess answered Lucifer. "Up to know she ignored my prayers to see me. But those horny humans in your precinct could tell me Azrael befriended this." She held up Ella's arm.
"Let Ella go, mother," Azrael begged. "I'm here. What do you want from me."
"Your blade."
"But…"
"Hand me the blade now."
"In exchange for E…"
The goddess touched Ella with her free hand. Ella screamed. Azrael suddenly had a large knife in her hands.
"Give it to Uriel," the Goddess ordered. The man behind her came forward. He looked at Azrael with a derogatory grin and took the blade out of her hand.
"Uriel?" Chloe whispered to Lucifer.
"One of my brothers. I have no idea what he is doing here."
"Lucifer," his mum said. "Ignite the blade."
Lucifer's look showed he had no idea what she wanted. "Ignite?" he stammered.
"Dear boy, Azrael's blade is the Flaming Sword. The sword you had to guard the garden of Eden."
"Impossible," Lucifer answered. "Dad broke that sword. It's destroyed."
"It is not destroyed. This is it," Uriel said. With a haughty look he held the tip of the blade inches before Lucifer's face. "Touch it and ignite it."
"How…" Lucifer raised his hand and touched the side of the blade.
"Father broke the sword," Raziel said.
"Mind your own business," Uriel snapped. Amenadiel made a step forwards.
"Everyone, step back," the Goddess said. Her voice resonated through the church. Chloe noticed she had made the step back as ordered before she realized what was said. All others also made a step back. Mum has the power to command, Lucifer had said. That looked like this. "What do you know about breaking the sword?" the Goddess asked Raziel.
"Father broke two pieces from the sword and hided them."
"Indeed. But do you know where?"
"I don't know, mother."
"Of course she knows," Uriel snapped. "Mother, they will follow you if the sword is ignited. We only have to make all these fools a bit more cooperative."
"Mother, what is he talking about?" Amenadiel asked. "Follow you where?"
"To the Silver City, my boy," the Goddess said with a smile. "We will break through the gates and we will be a happy family again."
"Some of your children will be killed while they defend the gate," Raziel said. "That does not provide you a happy family."
"I won't follow you," Lucifer said.
"Nor will I," Amenadiel and Azrael said almost simultaneously.
"Uriel has read the patterns," the Goddess said. "He said you all will. Uriel?"
"They will, mother."
"You're lying," Raziel said. The three angels and Lucifer did a step forwards to Uriel.
"Stay." The Goddess used that voice again and the four froze for a moment.
Uriel walked back to his mother. "Mother believe me. As soon as the sword is ignited and Michael has the sword, our problems will be solved."
"What has Michael to do with this?" Lucifer snapped. "He helped mum to escape."
Uriel ignored him. "Mother, one of them might know where those two pieces are. They will talk if I just kill a few of the humans here. Or maybe the demon."
His words caused movement: Lucifer to pull Chloe back, Raziel to step in front of Maze, Azrael to come forwards to Ella, but again a sharp command of the Goddess froze everyone around her and sent Azrael back.
"Let me kill the priest first, mother," Uriel said. "That might be enough."
Footsteps came from the left. Chloe recognized the person before she stepped out of the shadows just beside father Frank. Rory.
"One more witness, mother," Uriel said. "Let me start with her."
Rory stepped forwards. "Don't make a fool of yourself, just hand me the blade."
"Rory, step back," Lucifer shouted. "You can't fight him. He can read what you will do."
"He can only read patterns a few years in the future, dad. I come from to far in the future for him to read anything."
Uriel first laughed, then hesitated and hissed: "There are no patterns around you."
"See?" Rory smiled at Lucifer.
"Doesn't matter," Uriel snapped. He raised the blade and made a step in Rory's direction. "This will take your soul."
"Be careful," Chloe screamed.
"Yes, mom," Rory said. "I will be careful, I will be home before dark and I will not show my wings to the children in the neighborhood."
It sounded as something Chloe would regularly say to her daughter in the future. Rory looked aside to her and winked. The woman was definitely her daughter.
At the moment Rory looked at Chloe, Uriel jumped forward to Rory with the blade in an outstretched hand.
