Chapter 20
Lucifer rushed forward, catching the pale Messenger angel before she crashed to the polished marble floor and cracked her head open. He looked up at Detective Decker in a frantic look. Hope had gone pale, frighteningly so, and she was boiling hot.
"Quick!" He ordered, thinking rather on the fly. "Get some Holy Water!"
Chloe placed her Glock back in its holster, stepping over the ashes of the demon as she stepped toward the font. She pulled a cloth off the table near it and dipped into the blessed water. The woman held it there before bringing it to Lucifer, careful to keep it from dripping all over the Devil. Lucifer directed it to over the angel's mouth, and Chloe squeezed it. Almost as soon as the water passed the Messenger's lips, color returned to her face almost immediately and she gasped, coughing a bit as her eyes flew open.
"Wha-?"
"Steady on there," Lucifer directed. There was panic in her eyes as they fluttered about, but then when they focused on Lucifer and Detective Decker, she settled down just a moment. Hope took a deep breath and licked her lips.
"Did we get him?"
"We did." Chloe assured her. Her brow furrowed as she leaned forward, "What on earth was that?"
"I don't know….." Hope turned her head. "We don't have a single clue."
"Let's. Not worry about that." All eyes went to Lucifer. "I think now, we should get you somewhere for you to rest."
Hope nodded before falling back down asleep. Lucifer, Chloe and Maz moved swiftly, bringing Hope back to the Lux. She was placed in the master bed, covered in a satin green sheet. Her breathing was rhythmic, slow and steady but it wasn't what worried Lucifer.
It was the power that he saw in the church.
He hadn't seen such power since the Rebellion, when the Archangels found their place as the most powerful of the armies of Heaven.
"How is she?"
"Beter. All she needed was a bit of rest."
Maz looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You saw the power that she held. That's no Messenger power right there."
"I know."
"That's the power of the Archangel."
"I know."
"How did a Messenger get that type of power?"
Lucifer sighed as Maz sat right next to him. "I don't know. But it means something's about to go down."
"What are you going to do?"
Lucifer's eyes went to the shield that was mounted on the wall. He turned towards his demon torturer with a tense face. "We'll figure it out tomorrow."
"You're gonna give her the shield?"
"She's going to need something to help her."
The two sat there in the peaceful quietness of the penthouse apartment, listening to the sounds of the young Messenger breathing.