A/N: Welcome to a new chapter my friends. I have thought quite a lot about one certain event going on in this chapter and have finally decided on what you will read here. Be ready for more Hurt than Comfort and for the story to unfold further. ;) Enjoy the read!

Recommended Songs:

God Body Disconnect - Descend with Demons

Secession Studios - Dancing With Flames

Chapter 5 – Blood

[God Body Disconnect - Descend with Demons]

He wants out. He wants nothing more than to get away.

The tiled room around him is reflecting shadows in the dim blue lighting. They are scary. Shifting and swirling, bending and racing. He is afraid of the shadows. They bring pain.

Wanting to look around, he finds himself unable to turn his head. He tries to lean his body forward, to move his hands, but his limbs don't follow his orders. All he can do is move his eyes. The bright shape in front of him moves. But somehow it's also not in front of him. No. It passes through the dark shape. Or maybe it moves behind it? It's too confusing.

The light above him flickers, buzzing quietly. He looks up, but it hurts to look directly into it. Too bright, even though his surroundings seem so dark. Forcing his eyes to shift to the right as much as he could manage, he saw the blurry edge of what he thought must be his shoulder.

Suddenly a blue hand grabs onto his shoulder, the fingers tensing as they tighten their grip.

He squirms and grunts, tries to pull away, but nothing happens.

"No… No, stop it…" he tries to say, but the words echo only in his mind and don't pass over his lips. "Don't… don't touch me…"

The hand grips harder. It moves him and it's uncomfortable, because he can't pull away, his limbs still not cooperating with him. He feels himself panicking.

"Don't touch me… Don't… Let me go… Don't…" he tries again. This time he feels his lips moving, but he can't hear his own voice, so he tries harder. "Don't touch me!"

His pulse races. He's terrified and feral like a cornered animal. He can feel his body covered in cold sweat, his muscles aching, and the hand pulls at his shoulder almost painfully strong once again.

"Lucifer... Lucifer? Hey, Lucifer?" the male voice calls him. But it begins to shift, transitioning higher into a more frantic and richer in colour tone. It becomes familiar. It becomes female. "Lucifer?!"

"I SAID, DON'T TOUCH ME!" he roared in a wild frenzy with wide blown, hellfire eyes, startling up from the bed. His right hand gripped tightly onto a delicate, warm throat, the pulse beneath his palm thundering. Before he could understand what was happening, Chloe released a rasping grunt, trying desperately to breathe as Lucifer's fingers cramped up around her throat, squeezing mortal tissue to a degree close to breaking bone and being fatal.

"Ngh-u-c-fer!" Chloe pressed in raw panic, eyes wide and stinging with tears, her fingers clutching onto his broad palm, desperately trying to peel him off of her. "I c-n't… b-rea-th-"

It took him five long seconds for his vision to adjust to the soft, warm light in Chloe's bedroom, to grasp that he had moved, to understand he had actually shouted out loud, and to realize that he was forcefully choking Chloe. It had been a nightmare. And he had woken up in another one right after. Appalled by his own body's reaction, he pulled his hand away with a grunt of disgust and shame, scooping back on the bed as far away from her as the headboard allowed him to. The connection with it was sending a dull pain through him, but his mind was too shocked from his own actions to even really realize how his sensitive scars pressed against the wood.

Eyes dimming back to their natural brown shade, he stared back at Chloe, trembling and unable to properly breathe, as if he had been the one choking for air and not her. "I- I- I'm- I'm s-s-sorry," he stuttered, unwanted tears welling up and pressing through the dam. He gazed into her wide blown, ocean-blues, before he looked a level lower at her throat, watching as she gently caressed along the choked area, swallowing and catching her breath. He had choked her hard and he was sure it would leave ugly marks soon. The thought of having hurt her caused a sickness to come up in his own throat.

She felt her body shaking with adrenaline and, although she didn't want to admit it to herself, yes, also with fear. She had seen Lucifer enraged before, had seen him snap from one moment to another, she had even been the unintended target of his outbursts a few times, but he had never gotten physical towards her, not once. To feel the wrath of the Devil first handedly now, and quite literally so, she found herself overwhelmed with shock.

"I d-din't... I- I didn't m-mean t-to-" Lucifer stuttered along, his heart breaking when he saw her tears streaming down her cheeks. "D-Detective... C-Chloe… Please, I-" He couldn't bear it. Couldn't stand to see the look of fear in her eyes, caused by him. Swallowing the acid feel of disgust over himself and blinking away his own tears, he got out of bed and stepped to the hanger with his fresh clothes. He needed to get out. Needed air. Needed to get away from her, for his own sake and hers, because he knew he was terrifying her with what he had done, and he couldn't blame her for it. He wasn't sure who of them both was more shocked and appalled.

The sun was shining its betraying warm morning rays through a few branches of a tree outside the window and into the bedroom, and a short glance to the alarm on Chloe's nightstand told him it was 6:30am. As he slipped into his shirt, he noticed that Chloe was already dressed for the day. And she hadn't moved at all. The pressure in his chest was crushing him. When he was fully dressed, she eventually came out of her frozen state, wiping her arm over her face before looking back at him.

"I think you should take things slow, you know?" she said in a small, tearful voice, standing up and stepping towards him. She was visibly pulling herself together, pushing away what fear had shook through her. How she was able to do that, he didn't know. "Once you gave Ella the remaining things necessary for her analysis and as soon as you get ruled out as a suspect, I think you should step away for a bit."

She wanted him gone. That's how scared she was, he thought. His hands dropped from his button line, his brows coming together in a confused frown. "I.. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to-"

"I know," she cut him off, raising her hand before he could protest. "I know, Lucifer. It's alright. I'm alright. I promise. But I mean it… You should step away from this whole thing. I don't think it will do you any good."

He frowned, irritated. She said he should step away, but if it wasn't because of her being scared, he wondered what the real reason was. "What? But… why? You said, I could be part of the investigation. That I could help. I need to help, Detective." He knew he sounded hurt. Angry even. It seemed his protective walls had come crumbling down with the events of the previous day, and he found himself conflicted, between feeling upset because of the lack of his own protection and not giving a flying fuck. For this very moment though, his emotions settled with the latter and with feeling hurt. And when he was hurt, lashing out in anger was his last resort. "You lied to me," he pressed, his tone and eyes growing hard like stone.

Her heart sank at his insistence, right before Lucifer sent another knife into it with his last words. "No, I didn't," she tried to assure him, her voice weak and shaking. "I'm worried about you, Lucifer. You should see Linda about this. I think she could hel-."

"I'm not a bloody nutter! I don't need-" he hissed angrily, but bit his tongue before he could speak a lie himself. Taking a deep, calming breath, he sighed. "I want answers. And I'm pretty sure the doctor can't give those to me. But that fucking, sleazy bastard who did this to me… He will have answers, and I'll make sure to find him and squeeze them out of him." Collecting his ruined clothes from the previous day and putting them into his empty duffel, he grabbed his jacket and stormed out of her bedroom, heading downstairs.

"Great… Just great," Chloe breathed to herself, head falling back into her neck. She quickly gathered a thin scarf from her closet and wrapped it neatly around her neck, being quite certain she'd see a handprint there real soon. Once her cover-up was settled, she headed after him, just hearing the front door slam shut. He was angry, hurt and obviously pissed. He'd be difficult to handle today, she knew that. And what was even worse: If she were to send him away because of his state of mind and behaviour, he'd only become even more unpredictable. This really hadn't been a good start into the day.

The burning pain in his shoulder blades had decreased to an annoying, but endurable, stinging sensation, which only showed whenever he'd stretch a bit too much. He hoped the pain would subside fully though, but he expected phantom pain to still surface every now and then. He knew that experience quite well since his prior, intentional, wing-removals.

"You sure you're okay leaning back like that?" Chloe asked carefully but concernedly, and threw him a glance to the passenger seat. She had seen him tense up several times when she took corners and it was troubling to think she caused him pain he wouldn't admit to her merely out of stubbornness.

"It's fine. They only sting a bit. I can handle it," he assured her, but he could tell his words still sounded evasive, because he was. He was keeping his anger on a short leash. "And they're not weeping or anything. In a day or two the scars will have healed up as much as possible, I suppose." Leaning towards the window, he stared outside with nothing in focus, his mind reeling over his divine attachments.

For such a long time he had despised them, hated them for how they defined him as someone and something he didn't want to be. A mindless soldier of heaven, not allowed to ask questions, not allowed to desire anything else but to serve. The wings had been a pair of glorious looking shackles and it had been a reverent moment of freedom when he liberated himself from them before. It had been strange to realize how he had been so very wrong about them and about all of his being in the end. As Amenadiel said, angels were choosing their own fate, self-realising and materialising what they believed they deserved. It was never really about what was visible on the outside, but the way he felt like on the inside.

And thinking about his inside now, he wasn't sure if he'd deserve to get his wings back, no matter how much he would like to feel their weight again. Surely he could love, show his devotion and do good in the world, but he couldn't deny the darkness inside him that called for revenge. For punishment. The person responsible for cutting off his wings and leaving him like a piece of trash in that forsaken, abandoned building in the middle of a thunderstorm, would likely find himself at the hands of a very unstable Devil, once he'd get a hold of him. And he wasn't sure if these thoughts alone were already his doom, tainting him with a darkness that wouldn't let his wings sprout from his back again.

Chloe really wanted to lift his mood, but the truth was that she was rather tense herself. Today would be a big day for them with lots of analysis being done that hopefully sooner rather than later would give them some clearance and less to worry about.

Arriving at the precinct, they both stayed quiet on their way inside. As soon as they entered the bullpen though, Chloe could feel the disturbing atmosphere. All eyes were on them immediately, hesitant, concerned, shy. People were whispering to each other, making small gestures pointing towards them. It was sickening, the way rumours were spreading so damn quickly and she had a good idea what kind of crap they'd talk about. She knew it since Palmetto. It didn't matter how much everybody had liked Lucifer before. Someone from the precinct being involved to whatever degree in a homicide, caused everybody to lose their damn manners and decency. But the worst part of it was that she knew Lucifer was aware of the looks and whispering as well. As if being the religious punching bag for humanity's atrocities wasn't enough of a punishment already.

"I'll give these to Miss Lopez," Lucifer muttered lowly, clearly disgruntled, lifting the duffel with his torn, bloodstained clothes. Widening his strides, he quickly headed to the forensics lab, withdrawing from the pool of curious eyes and loose mouths. He was about to announce himself and greet the young Latina, who was deep in focus over a microscope, when Ella raised her arm and pointed to the spot next to her.

"Just put the doughnuts next to me on the table, Steve. I'll pay you later. This chica's in the zone," she said, completely consumed by her work. She looked to the side on a piece of paper and scribbled down some hasty notes.

"Erm… Sorry to triple disappoint you, Miss Lopez," he made himself known to her, causing Ella to startle, swirl around and look at him with wide eyes. Offering her an apologetic, sad smile, he lifted the duffel for her to see and put it on the big table in the middle of the room. "It's just me, Lucifer, not Steve,. I also don't bring you doughnuts, but blood and mud stained clothes. I hope you like the flavours. And sorry for interrupting your... zone."

"Heyyyy! Youuu! Oh my god, that's right! The clothes! I- I- I asked you to bring them a-a-and… you did! Th-Thanks!" she stammered, fidgeting around and flashing him an awkward smile.

Lucifer sighed, dismissing the mention of his Father, too upset to give Him the effort of a remark. Lingering at the table, he looked back at her expectantly, hoping for her always curious science-mind to have some information she wanted to share with him, simply to pull him out of his own little hell he felt stuck in. But instead of showering him with nerdy information, the young woman seemed strangely antsy, more so than usual. Immediately, his inner anger and frustration sunk into the background, making room for genuine concern to arise for her. "Is everything alright?"

Her brows shot up, melting together with her hairline as she gazed at him, looking caught in the act. "What? No. I mean... 'Yes!'. I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be? Do I look like I'm not alright? I'm super duper alright! Everything is hunky-dory."

Staring at her utterly dumbfounded, his frown deepened. "Ooookaaayyy…?" This most likely is my fault, too, isn't it? It's just my luck... "So, erm, is… is there any news you have on my case?" he asked trying to shift the conversation forward to something more productive than weird stammering. He hoped she'd now move on to her regular nerdy, science-knowledge-spreading, and, considering this was a personal matter for him, he was all ears to hear whatever tiny, weird information she'd have for him. Whatever would get him closer to find the bastard who was drooling over his wings now.

"That's erm… That's hard to say…" Ella stammered on, murmuring something about difficult scientific processes and unclear situations.

Stepping over to her instruments, he blatantly skimmed through some papers, apparently some test results with vocabulary he didn't understand. Dismissing her strange stammering completely, he grabbed a handful of the papers. "What did you analyse?" To his surprise, Ella jumped in front of him, took the pages out of his hands a bit too forcefully and stepped away from him again.

"Oh you know, just… some boring tests on the samples I took. Some dirt here, some blood there. Nothing fancy. I'm sure you can think of more interesting things. Maybe a party at Lux?" she babbled and threw him another awkward smile.

What the bloody hell is going on with her? She's usually not this weird. Not to this extreme. He stared back at her in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on that made her so nervous. Her eyes continued to stare at him widely, her pupils dilated. She fidgeted around and seemed to try to avoid having him any closer to her. Looking, or rather listening, more closely, he noticed her heart was racing madly and she kept swallowing and worrying her lip between her teeth. And then his eons of knowledge about torment kicked in, deciphering the signs and giving it a name.

Fear.

"You're afraid," he stated surprised. Taken completely off guard, he frowned and put his hands to his hips, baffled. "I- I don't understand. Why would you be afraid of me all of a sudden? You've never been afraid of me." His throat tightened as he glanced back to the papers in her hands and a dark thought washed through him, sparkling a sickening dread in the pit of his stomach. "Did- Did you find something that proves I've murdered that guy?"

For the first time since he entered her lab, Ella's demeanour changed, confused, but clearing with focus at the same time. Looking down at the papers for a second, she focussed back on him. "W-what? You... I- I can't- I mean… Oh my god..."

She's so scared. Maybe she thinks I might snap and do something to her … Just like I hurt Chloe this morning. She looked so scared, too... "That test result you have there. Does that show that I'm responsible for the death of the guy in the warehouse?" he repeated his question. He looked at her, both devastated and hopeful, wishing that whatever she had found would rule him out as the murderer, but the young forensic woman just gazed back at him in fear.

"I don't understand, Miss Lopez! What have you found out, that got you so bloody scared of me?!" he pressed, his voice raising in frustration and tension. What if it's not about that?, his mind suddenly rang and he froze. She tested my blood. He swallowed thickly. "You looked at my blood..."

Ella's arms reached around her, her free hand taking a hold onto her small cross necklace. It was the only sign he needed, confirming he had been right. She was shaken not in fear over him being a potential murderer, but rather shaken in her belief as she was confronted with proof that made her belief valid, made it real. Shaken because the realization over who was standing in front of her dawned upon her. She knew. She had seen something that didn't fit into her world, because it was not from her world.

Breathing heavily, Ella backed away from him as far as the desk behind her would allow it. "I- I tested it... Seven times," she stuttered, her voice shaking, but it was obvious she was fighting for control and by the looks of her eyes watering, she was not successful. "With different machines even! They didn't malfunction! That DNA, it… it's… it makes no sense. It's- It's not… not..."

He released a tense breath, his shoulders sinking. "Human," he quietly finished the sentence for her. It was horrible to see her like this, to feel her fear, and to know how this revelation would change her life. He hated it. That moment when realization hit and the ground was pulled away right from beneath their feet. And he knew there was not much he could do about it. Everyone reacted differently to divinity becoming a real, tangible thing in their life and the universe they lived in. All he could try to do was to carefully test the waters.

"Please don't be afraid of me, Miss Lopez. I would never hurt you." What is my word worth? I have never thought I'd ever hurt Chloe either… Turning slightly away from her, he gave her more space and the security of not having his physical focus aimed towards her. Instead, he stepped around the big table in the centre of the room, appearing as if he was inspecting the lab, rather than the conversation being the centre of his attention. "I'm actually very fond of you, you know? Ironically also because of your faith," he murmured and let out a soft laugh. "But mainly because of your positivity. Do you remember our first conversation back at that carousel crime scene?"

Curiously glancing over to her, he saw her posture relax a little. Her hand was still fumbling on her cross necklace, but by the shimmer of wonder in her eyes he could see her brain was trying to navigate away from her fear towards the memory he made her evoke. After a few seconds, Ella frowned. "I said that I believe the Devil is misunderstood and getting a bad rep."

"Yes," he breathed with a soft smile, remembering clearly how touched he had been at her warm hearted reaction. "You had me pleasantly surprised. It made me immediately like you. You weren't judging like most others, despite what your belief says about me."

Ella's expression changed from confused and conflicted to wondrous. Putting the test results aside, she looked at him more intently than before and he realized it was the same look the Detective had whenever she was trying to figure something out. "Does anyone else know?" she mouthed, glancing out the window into the busy precinct for a second before staring back at him, her tone becoming firmer, more confident and with a hint of reproach even. "Does- Does Chloe know?!"

She was taking the celestial revelation rather smoothly, or so it seemed, and he hoped that as their conversation was continuing, the newfound knowledge would start to settle more easily. "She does, yes," he answered her honestly, feeling the warmth spread in his chest as that truth lingered and embraced his core. Having her in the know had been a tough road, but eventually it had led to her acceptance of him and the reveal of their feelings towards each other. All the hiding had finally come to an end, and he was beyond grateful that he was now able to share everything with her, knowing she would have the same understanding. "Dr. Martin also knows. If you… feel like you need someone outside of work to talk to about this, then perhaps you might find it helpful to seek her out. Thinking about it… The Douche is actually now the only one from the inner circle who doesn't have a bloody clue. Well… I'm sure it's for the better in his case..."

"Okay… okay…" Ella breathed quickly, starting to pace in her little corner. "You… you're not exactly… You know…" Gesturing wildly with her free hand, she bit on her lip in search for the right words.

"Yes, I'm aware. Trust me. No hooves, no horns, no trident and no back-end tail," he listed up, sighing. Of course humans would state the visual first. When seeing only his normal looks, he was hardly able to be comparable to anything that was in the books… until he'd reveal his Devil face that was. Then they'd run for the hills screaming.

"I was about to say not evil," she quietly stated.

Now it was his turn to freeze and stare at her. His heart began to flutter from the sweet spot she had unknowingly landed a hit on and he felt his throat closing with a lump. "I- I'm not?" he choked in question, eyes glazing with fondness over her words.

She stopped her nervous pacing and made a few steps towards him. "No. Of course not. You… you're helping the police." Shaking her head in wonder, she pursed her lip, looking at him as if he was the greatest enigma. "Just, erm… Why exactly is that?"

He stood a few more seconds perplexed about her simple response that had him so affected. Clearing his throat a bit awkwardly, he straightened his shoulders, careful to not stretch too much. "Well, believe it or not, I have a strong sense of justice. In hell I was punishing guilty souls, but it's hardly satisfying in the long run. And trust me, eternity is a very, very long run," he explained and gave her a short grimacing smile. "When I started to help the Detective, I… I felt a sort of accomplishment and satisfaction when putting the criminals to justice before their death and keeping them from harming anyone else. It felt good. And... I felt good as well."

He watched as Ella considered his words. She kept taking breaths to speak up, but stopped each time and he wondered what was stuck in her mind. Perhaps it's still too much to process. This has been hardly the most common reaction. And she has only seen my blood so far. I could still show her my Devil face, if she'd ever want to and is ready for it, but… I'd actually prefer to show her my wings for a change. But those are out of the game right now… Bitterly sighing at his own train of thoughts, he hadn't noticed how Ella had stepped closer to him once again, stopping in arms reach.

Biting her lip, her hand tightened around her necklace, her eyes looking up at him watery. "If all these things about you have been so wrong… what does that say about Him? Is anything about Him even true?"

Well, buggers. Again her reaction was not what he had expected. "Miss Lopez," he began softly, offering her a warm smile. "Just because I was falsely depicted as evil and branded the scapegoat from humanity, doesn't mean God is nothing like you believe Him to be." It was difficult to re-evaluate faith when the parameters had suddenly been completely changed. It felt like a betrayal and there was almost nothing that hurt more than that of a deep rooted belief being shaken to its core. He was well aware of that. "I'm certain that Dad watches over you. Believe me when I say, He loves humanity."

Her big eyes pensively kept their stare at him, insecure and wondrous, but his words seemed to have struck a chord as the doubt was beginning to ease from her face. "Please consider talking to the doctor or the Detective." A smile creeping up his lips, he shrugged with a little snicker. "Hell, you could even talk with Maze or Amenadiel, if you want to have another infernal or celestial being to talk to other than the Devil himself." His grin slowly dropped as he saw the latina's eyes widen once again. "Oh, bollocks. I shouldn't have said that, should I? I guess it was a bit too early to pop the news on your special friends."

"I-i-i-infernal?! A-a-as in from hell?! Maze?! Holy frigging crap! A-a-and Amenadiel? H-h-he's… he's… your brother, which means, he's an… Oh my god… oh my… friggin'... god!" Bending forward, Ella struggled for breath, hyperventilating, her face paling. "Oh god… GOD?! Holy crap! Oh Jesus… JESUS?!"

Bloody hell... There goes her sanity… Well done, Lucifer, well done! "Woah, woah, easy there! One celestial baby-step at a time, although the hipster sandal-guy really doesn't count as a celestial, mind you," he tried to appease her and quickly closed the distance to her. Finding her too busy trying to put her thoughts together instead of worrying over the Devil in front of her, he gently took her hands, helping to steady her. Leaning in, he intently looked at her until he had her focus. "Alright, Miss Lopez. I want you to take a deep breath into your nose." He watched as she tried to follow his instruction, clearly shaken and overwhelmed. "Aaaaand out through your mouth. That's it. And again. Slowly. Deep breath in…. aaaand out."

He felt sorry for her. For all the revelations that were crashing down on her like a meteor shower and for all the craters he knew the impacts would leave behind. The knowledge would change her one way or another. He didn't know how much and what exactly it would do with her, but he knew she wouldn't be the same person as before. And that saddened and worried him. "I'm used to people being pursy when they see me, but this was a bit too close to the unconscious side for my taste," he quipped, hiding his own insecurities with his humour once again and observed her closely.

After a few moments of calming her breathing, Ella carefully let go of his arms, looking at him more relaxed, although still slightly wary. "Thanks," she breathed and he could see it was a moment of realization once again, but a rather pleasant one for them both. "You really weren't kidding, huh? No method acting."

Softly snorting at her, he playfully grimaced. "I'm afraid not." Seeing her respond with a small laugh herself, he felt the tightness in his chest release a little bit more. "It certainly made for some amusing conversations with you though." Giving her a wink, Ella finally let out a true giggle, warm and at ease, and he let out a satisfied sigh. This was much better. He wanted for her to be trusting in her skills and keep her faith in the good and his Father, because they were giving her both strength and security. And it was good to know she wasn't afraid of him anymore. How curious. From the friends who found out, the most faithful one had the least trouble… Is that your way of being funny, Dad?

The sound of the door opening made them both turn, and they watched with some amusement as Chloe came in with a file in her hand. "Hey guys. What's up?"

"My bloody mood, that's what's up, Detective!" Lucifer cheered back, flashing her his billion dollar white smile.

She blinked, if not at his impeccable, dazzling teeth, than at his sudden mood change. "Oh... okay. That's good news then," Chloe responded with a small, surprised nod, glad to see his optimism and happiness back in action.

"Yes! Guess what? Miss Lopez is in the know now," he emphasized, his smile spreading from one ear to the other.

That made her brows melt up into her hairline, her eyes widen and her jaw drop. "What?" she breathed, shocked. A small voice in her back kept repeating that surely he was just joking. His usual Devil-talk to Ella, a constant back and forth between them that she didn't realize to be the truth, but thought of as passionately consistent method-acting.

He paused, slightly bummed she didn't understand him explain it the first time, or perhaps not even trusting what he had said to be true, even though she knew he wouldn't ever lie. "I said, that Miss Lopez is now truly enlightened," he clarified with a bit of a pressured smirk, expecting her to now follow along and grasp the good news. But when Chloe's brows just scrunched together in a frown and she stayed otherwise motionless, he sighed, flailing his hands in defeat. "She knows that I am really the Devil, Detective. She analysed my blood. I told you it was bound to confuse her."

"Oh," was all Chloe managed to say, her lips still parted like that of a stranded fish. Blinking, she observed Ella. "That actually happened faster than I thought… And… you are... okay? No world-shattering thoughts about your small existence or what you're gonna do with that knowledge?"

"No.. I mean... Yeah... Urgh… I just can't believe you guys haven't told me! All the freaking times we were joking around and you… you knew!" she exclaimed, offended, yet relieved, and gave Chloe's arm a playful slap.

"Oh, in her defence, the Detective obviously isn't as practised as I am in the whole Devil-topic and how telling the truth just doesn't really make people believe me anyway. She keeps rolling her eyes at me when I explain to humans how I am actually the Devil. See? She's doing it right now," he stated matter-of-factly and gave Chloe a pointed smart-ass look. "Although I must admit, each time I do so, I do have a splinter of hope that the human could simply believe me without further proof, but, spoiler alert, it never happened so far."

"Humans really are a tough crowd, huh?" Ella asked sympathetically and shared an amused smile with Chloe

"That's what I've been trying to tell you folks since ages," Lucifer vigorously agreed, nodding his head, all serious.

Chloe was beyond relieved about Lucifer's mood change. And it wasn't even much of a surprise that Ella was the one who had brought the happy mood to Lucifer. "Glad to see you're feeling better," she pointed out quietly, warmly smiling at him.

Eyes locking with hers, he froze, her comment able to touch him beyond the physical, breaking through barriers of defensive humour and into his suffering core. "Yes…" he breathed, otherwise speechless.

"So, Ella, what can you tell us?" Chloe focused back on the forensic. "What have you found out so far?"

The energetic Latina, back in her métier, spread out the papers of her analysis. "Alright so. As for Lucifer's blood, that's really difficult to take apart. Like, there's stuff going on that's physically not possible, okay?" She looked at them both, expectantly, but all she got back was a smile from them both that said 'Yeah, we know'. "Anyway. What I did find out was that there was some really bad drug juice going into his system."

"So, I remembered correctly. I was drugged," Lucifer grumbled, feeling his muscles tensing up at the thought.

"What kind of drug was it?" Chloe asked, looking at the analysis with curves and data, diagrams and cryptic medical language.

"Well, I can't exactly say how much of it all was in his system, but it looks like two components so far and one of them was definitely a really nasty one. It was something called decamethonium. That's some really mean stuff on the market. Not that you can just purchase it. It's restricted to research purposes and may only be used in severe emergencies, because of its drastic natural effects as well as side effects." She looked between the two, her expression worried and reluctant.

It was obvious she held back information, and when Lucifer saw the uneasiness and sorrow in her eyes, he knew she held back because of him. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, to remind him of how vulnerable he had been, of having been at a crazy person's mercy. "Spill it, Miss Lopez. I'm a big boy."

Releasing a tensed breath, Ella nodded. "Okay… sorry. I just… puhh… okay. Decamethonium is a depolarising muscle relaxant, meaning it immobilizes, but not produces unconsciousness or anaesthesia."

Chloe froze on the spot, the realization and depth of what Ella explained in just one sentence was hitting her unprepared. She felt an overwhelming need to vomit. Last night, it had been the sight of Lucifer's back and now it was the knowledge that he had his wings forcefully removed while being conscious. The brutality just reached another level.

"I was awake…" Lucifer drily summed up the result of Ella's medical explanation, his teeth gritted, the anger seething in the ring of his voice. "And I couldn't... I couldn't speak." Scream. I couldn't scream. Miss Lopez knows. The Detective knows. She knows I couldn't scream when that piece of shit cut off my- Swallowing, he slipped his hands into his pockets, feeling his fingers starting to tremble, his palms sweating and his mouth tasting like ash. Awkwardly the seconds passed by between them. Chloe stood frozen and pale. Yeah… she knows. Clearing his throat to disturb the silence, he finally took a long, dragging inhale, turning to Ella again. "Have you found anything else yet? What about that dead guy? The samples you took from my hands? Anything?"

"Lucifer," Chloe suddenly spoke up, coming out of her torpor. She tried her best to keep her voice steady, gently reached for his arm and gave it a squeeze. "We've talked about this. Please… Don't take it the wrong way. But you can't be part of the investigation until you're cleared. I'm sorry." It broke her heart yet again to see his expression falter for the shortest moment, before he built up his walls again, practised through eons of having taken whatever atrocity that had been thrown his way.

"Yes… That's what you've said, Detective" he muttered bitterly, pulling his arm away from her, trying to push away the grief and anger, the hurt and humiliation, the agony and helplessness. It was all too much to endure, so his shields went up automatically. "Thank you for your sympathy and trust, Miss Lopez." Trying to give Ella a half-hearted smile, he stepped past Chloe, around the big table, and headed out of the lab.

"Lucifer, wait," Chloe's sad voice rang after him, but she didn't follow him when the door fell shut behind him, feeling her heart and legs both as heavy as lead.

[Secession Studios - Dancing With Flames]

He couldn't look at her, couldn't stand the hurt in her expression, mirroring his own. She felt horrible because of what happened to him, he could tell. But the sight of her, being overwhelmed with dread on the one hand and on the other having her push him away, was impossible for him to endure. It was worse than the cruellest hell loop he could imagine for himself, or perhaps, this was exactly it. The most tormenting punishment of all.

Walking out through the bullpen with firm strides, he felt the eyes on him, heard the whispering and shocked gasps as he skipped past the tables towards the stairs, and his throat closed up again. He felt like a suffocating fish, yet at the same time he wanted to punch a hole into the concrete wall from a burning, white-hot anger raging in his core.

Out… I gotta get out of this bloody precinct…

Once in the parking lot, he took several deep breaths of fresh air, filling his lungs to the brim and letting the breeze calm his jittery nerves.

It's okay… I'm bloody fine… She doesn't want me in the investigation? Fine then! I'm gonna fucking do it my own way!

Padding his jacket, he gritted his teeth. No phone. Of course not. The police must've picked it up in the warehouse. Padding along his pants' pockets he felt his pulse rising again.

Bollocks… No wallet, no cigarettes and no Dad-damn keys either! Where's my car anyway? At Lux? Dammit... I didn't pay attention last night… I was so fucking zoned out...

Grumbling, he started to walk around in the parking lot and, as he reached the second row of parked cars, came to a halt in front of a matt black '69 Boss 302 Mustang. His mood shifted, the car being like a silver lining on the horizon. "Well, hello. Aren't you sticking out from all those lemons? You show up at the exact right moment and you deserve a nice ride with me." Checking the door handle of the car, he confirmed it was locked.

No one in their right mind would leave such a beauty unlocked...

Fingers lightly brushing over the handle, he let his charm do its wonders. With a click the door pin shot up and the way was open. "Thanks darling," he purred and hopped inside, smiling, satisfied.

His Corvette was a shining star, smooth and classy. The Mustang was its older, best friend, edgy, wild and just as beautiful. But while he had to treat his Corvette and its manual gearbox with loving care, he knew this beast would love to be treated with a rough hand and it would give him the roar that resonated with his inner Devil.

Hands caressing over the steering wheel, he focused his charm again, this time on the car's engine, concentrating on the inanimate object. "Come on, baby. Let me hear you," he mouthed in a hot whisper and a second later, the engine sparked with life, greeting him with a powerful roar. "What a naughty girl… Now. Let's show you around and put that horsepower to work. I'm on a hunt." Smirking with a dark glint in his eyes, he put in the gear, tightened his grip on the steering wheel and hit the road.

He was determined and had a plan. In his mind he was already going through the list of contacts he knew. The phone numbers of the most important of them he knew by heart. Everybody else would only be one additional call away. It was all about knowing the right people and all of them were open to some form of exchange for a favour to ask. And his range of favours was almost unlimited, as long as he deemed them fitting to his personal layout of ethics. The only point he felt his ethics slipping on, was at the handling of the bastard responsible for his situation.

His pulse thundered, anger fuelling him and pumping adrenaline through his veins. His fingers tightened their grip further, knuckles white, and his foot floored the gas pedal. He could feel the boiling heat inside him, the searing wrath lashing out like a merciless whip, the red veil tainting his mind in a powerful frenzy like that of a wild rodeo bull.

He yearned for vengeance. For blood. For bones to crack and screams to erupt. Yes. Screams. Violent, soul-shattering screams of horror and pain, turning hoarse, teary and cracking at the point of exhaustion. Like the ones he had been denied to share. Like the ones he felt stuck in his lungs and core, unable to break free. Instead they were smouldering inside him, striking roots and spreading like a black mould around his heart.

A/N: Woop woop! Oh boy, Lucifer's pissed, haha! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, especially with the rather unspectacular celestial-reveal for Ella. I've gone through various ways of how to play it out and decided I liked this one best. I enjoyed the thought of her being the most "easy going" about the reveal, with her being the most religious of the group and always having had a certain connection to Lucifer. So. Lucifer's picked a car (please look it up. it's *fingerkiss* and in my opinion fits an enraged Devil quite well) and he has a plan. Wonder what road he's gonna go…. Muahaha! Alright! Lemme know your thoughts and feelings! I'm curious! :D

See you in the next gruesome chapter!

- Luni