A/N: Welcome back my fellow Lucifans! Another chapter awaits! I'm sure it will soothe some of your worries from before and likely answer a few questions! I hope you're ready for this! The plot thickens! MUAHAHA! ;) Enjoy the read!

Recommended Songs:

Apocryphos, Kammarheit, Atrium Carceri - A Lonely Strain

Detroit: Become Human - The Interrogation

Atrium Carceri - Reborn

RESIDENT EVIL 8 Village Trailer Music

Nexus - Serenity

Evolving Sound - No Room For Faith

Exclusion - Putrefaction

Chapter 10 – Pieces

[Apocryphos, Kammarheit, Atrium Carceri - A Lonely Strain]

Chloe stared at the screen. She replayed the footage again and again, and eventually let it halt at the most crucial moment of it. There were actually, surprisingly, two moments that were of grave importance. But the second one was where she simply froze.

"So?" Dan's voice rang from behind her. He had obtained the footage from the traffic camera which fortunately showed the front of Lux and its side street. It wasn't the best angle and, although it was bright daylight, the important part laid in the shadows.

"Can we zoom in on that, make this a better resolution, lighten it up or something?" she pressed with a desperate tone, not tearing her tired eyes off the screen.

Dan released a long sigh. "I already asked our technicians. The details are lost in the dark. They can't recreate detail out of nothing… Sorry, this is all we've got."

Of course. If there was no pixel information in the dark, brightening it up wouldn't show more details in the image. "Okay…" she mouthed, not realising how Dan continued to stay behind her, waiting.

"So?" Dan asked again, his tone a mixture of worry and curiosity. "Will you show him?"

This was big. She knew this would be yet another tough pill to swallow for Lucifer, but there was no way around it. "Yeah. Maybe this is gonna spark a memory." She closed the footage and nodded at Dan a collegial thanks. Taking a deep breath, she brushed her hair back and stretched in her chair.

I hope Lucifer will remember something of this…

She secretly chastised herself for having the small wish that he would remember, as Lucifer had explained to her in quite the detail what the flashbacks were like for him. They were brutal and so vivid. But it was such a crucial thing to get more information, especially from Lucifer directly. Every little detail he could provide from literally his own perspective could immediately push them towards a suspect and the solution of the case.

But now there was yet another piece added to the puzzle. The first moment in the footage that had surprised her showed something that needed her attention. It wasn't just about Lucifer anymore.

Accessing the national databank for missing people, she narrowed down the search on L.A. and detailed the profile outputs to adult women who had been called missing since the last two days. A list of names and pictures of twenty-six women was the result. She just finished printing the list as Nick, Ella's assistant, came up to her with a bunch of papers in hand. "Oh, hey Nick."

"Hey. The results from the graphologist came in," he said, offering her a satisfied, winning smile as he handed her the report. "It's a match."

It wasn't really a surprise of course, but now they had it black on white. This would be circumstantial evidence, but at least it could be used to make Gregor sweat. And she needed him to finally speak up and say something. "Thanks Nick," she mumbled, mentally preparing herself for a difficult interrogation.

[Detroit: Become Human - The Interrogation]

The light of the interrogation room was truly unforgiving. For everyone in the room. For Chloe it meant that it was impossible to hide the circles under her eyes as it showed how little sleep she had had. But that was a mild weakness to take in comparison to what Gregor looked like. It seemed that one night in a cell had already taken its toll on him. He was fidgety, fumbling on his expensive rings he surely felt the necessity to protect as he had shared the cell with a drunkard and he was constantly checking the clock.

"The results are clear, Gregor," Chloe said with a stern voice and slammed the graphology report on the table. "It's your handwriting."

Gregor crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, not giving the report a look. "Pfff… so what? It's just some words..."

"Oh really? And what do those words mean exactly, hm? 8358 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 2.00 pm. Wait for him in the sidestreet and do what he says. 60.000$," Chloe repeated the note and gazed with practice through Gregor's defensive posture. "Come on Gregor. We know this isn't about a normal job. You sent out Zak to meet up with the man who kidnapped and tried to kill Lucifer."

"I did NOT DO that!" Gregor grunted, huffing out a scoff, shaking his head and looking down in thought and obvious tension.

Chloe fell quiet and observed him, her mind going through the only two possibilities that seemed plausible. There was the possibility that Gregor knew about everything. That he had known exactly what the task was all about and that Lucifer was the target. It was certainly fitting into Gregor's list of prior, not sentenced charges pressed against him. However, Gregor's shocked reaction when she had first mentioned Lucifer's name had seemed genuine and not faked. But to say that Gregor knew absolutely nothing was simply impossible. He had to know more. Which brought her to the other and most probable possibility. Gregor knew something but not all of it. The question was, what did he know and what not.

It was difficult to decipher Gregor's gestures of tension. It could be nervousness, anger, frustration, but also fear. The latter point though made her mind stumble. Why would he be afraid? Of what? Going to jail? Or was it more about him being afraid of another person? If so, who?

It's not like a crime boss would have really anybody to be afraid of. At the end of the day, he's gonna find himself in a hell loop, even if he had never been convicted and…

Her mind suddenly jumped to a conclusion she hadn't thought about before.

Oh….

"Lucifer," she spoke into the tangible tension of the silence in the room and Gregor's eyes flickered up to her. Her voice was calm and understanding, but still strong and inquisitive. "You're worried. You really didn't know this was about him, didn't you? You thought it was just another job for your handyman. Maybe you didn't pay attention to the address. It could've been just another resident in the tower. You didn't expect it to be the Devil himself."

Gregor swallowed, trying to hold the eye contact, but eventually looked away again. He stayed silent and ground his teeth.

Oh yeah… now I can see your distress…

"Look. Lucifer won't be your problem. At least not if you're opening up, Gregor. You've got blood on your hands, yes, we both know that, but you can count yourself lucky Lucifer is alive. You can at least try and make some amends by telling us what you know of the contact."

Sweat began to trickle from Gregor's temple, his leg suddenly bouncing in a fit of impatience. "You won't press charges?" he asked, making it sound half like a question and half a fact.

She knew the game Gregor wanted to play. A perverted version of one favour for another. Yes, sometimes this method was used, in most of those rare cases when it was about the immediate danger to another person's life. But this was not the case now. "Are you kidding me? Your employment of Zak is handwritten. If we just find one more hint that leads to you, you're screwed, Gregor. You know that, right?"

"Well… until then…" Gregor muttered, challengingly lifting his brow at her. "Am I free to go?"

Now it was her time to grind her teeth. They just had one lead, which was not incriminating evidence just yet. Of course it seemed like it. But in front of a court it was hardly stable to say the least. They needed more. More leads, more evidence, more information. "Yeah," she grumbled with a glare, grabbed the file from the table and opened the door. Guiding Gregor out of the interrogation room, she walked to one of her colleagues. "Hey Monica. Could you finish up the papers for him? He's free to go. For now-"

"Gregor?! What are you doing here?" a familiar, male voice rang from behind and both Chloe's and Gregor's eyes widened.

"Lucifer?!" they simultaneously responded, Chloe in surprise and Gregor in shock as they turned around and looked at the Lord of Hell.

Chloe shot Gregor a narrow-eyed look before focusing back on Lucifer. Stepping closer to him, she lowered her voice and smiled. "Hey… You couldn't wait to see me yet again, huh?"

But instead of smiling back at her, Lucifer's tired eyes were confusedly looking at Gregor and back to her. "Hm? What? No, I… I wanted to…" He sighed, trailing off. "I... I don't understand. What is he doing here? Did he finally slip up with one of his dubious shenanigans?" He brushed past her and gave Gregor's shoulder a strong slap. "Hey Gregor. What have you done that broke your lucky crime-train, hm?"

With a loud whimper, Gregor flinched back and away from Lucifer, and lifted his hands appeasingly. "L-Look Lucifer, I really didn't know! I had no idea this was about you!"

Chloe stared back at Gregor, seeing her theory suddenly proven right. And Lucifer, much to her surprise, quickly caught up with the situation, even without her explanation.

"You didn't know what, Gregor? What was about me?" Lucifer asked, somewhat irritated at Gregor's reaction. It took him just a moment to actually realize, Gregor was reeking of fear. Fear for punishment. Which meant he was feeling responsibility for an act of injustice. The unknowing smile on his lips dropped, as the dots fully connected. "Wait…Oh no. No no no... You?" he breathed, bitterness sounding in his tone. "You are responsible for what happened to me?!" His voice rose with boiling anger that ruptured in a sudden blaze of his eyes. His whole posture changed in an instant as his muscles tensed, his back straightening and his shoulders broadening, making him seemingly tower over Gregor like a Goliath, even though Gregor was just slightly smaller than him.

Gregor stumbled backwards, trying to evade Lucifer's wrath, but the Devil followed his movements, crowding and dwarfing him against the nearest wall. Lucifer felt the throbbing pulse pumping adrenaline through his veins, his core in a wild, blinding frenzy over what Gregor appeared to have done. Shooting his right hand forward to the Russian's throat, he squeezed and pushed him up the wall with ease. "THIS IS ALL YOUR BLOODY FAULT!" he roared, feeling a deep ache rushing through his shoulder blades at his wide stretched posture. "You helped him take them from me!" he added in a trembling hiss, the furious rage mixing with a sadness he couldn't contain.

"Ghhh….urrgh… nghh…I….d'n't gnkw!" Gregor grunted, unable to form words as he tried to breathe.

Surprised about her partner's sudden and very public, devilish outburst, Chloe stepped up to his side and took a hold of his other arm, shaking it. "Lucifer… Lucifer, stop." Her heart thundered up against her throat as she saw several of her colleagues turn towards them, ready to intervene with force, if necessary. "Lucifer," she pressed, pushing herself more in front of him and thus in between him and Gregor. "Look at me! Your eyes, Lucifer!" she whisper-shouted at him, finally seeing his eyes snap down to look at her.

He saw Chloe's worried expression, the sorrow in the beautiful pair of blue eyes. She pleaded at him and he could feel how they cracked through the fiery shell of his, soothing his aching core. The hellfire in his eyes died down to reveal a set of troubled browns. But despite the soothing of her presence, emotions continued to boil over, resulting in the pressure in him to break through in the form of tears. It was brutal. The massive, suffocating ache inside him, the sheer endless amount of anger and hurt, had no way to really get out, to really show and so he choked out a whimper and let go of Gregor's throat. Panting, he made two shaky steps backwards, staring at Gregor who was trying to catch his breath, rubbing his throat. "You'll burn in hell for this," he breathed in a threatening whisper, his eyes glassy.

"I swear, I didn't know the job was about you!" Gregor rasped. "Why would I've come to meet you the other day? Fuck! I didn't pay attention to the damn address and that guy didn't say anything about you!"

"So you admit that you sent Zak out for a kidnap and murder?" Chloe pressed sharply, throwing Lucifer a short glance to make sure he wasn't collapsing or doing something that could possibly infringe a law while standing in the middle of a police station. She wanted to take care of him, wanted to hold him, make sure he would feel her as his anchor, but she knew she couldn't do both that and interrogating Gregor at the same time. Plus, the coincidence of Lucifer's appearance at the precinct was working in their favour and it seemed Gregor was now ready to shed the information he had been holding back before.

"I… I… " Gregor stuttered, gritting his teeth. "I just knew it was a dirty job, alright?! The guy needed a strong man. I didn't know any details of what this was about. Just that he would need the support for one day. I had no idea he wanted to kidnap and kill Lucifer!"

Chloe's eyes narrowed with harshness. This revelation from Gregor had been exactly the breakthrough she had hoped to get, but now that she had part of a confession, it was sparking the anger of what he had made possible. "Get back into the room, Gregor. It looks like we're not done yet. Come on, move!" Grabbing his arm, she dragged him along back towards the interrogation room.

Teeth clenched and trying to gather back his composure, Lucifer followed along with quick strides. He watched as Chloe pushed Gregor back down on the chair, noticing her tight-pressed lips and her cold glare as she stared daggers at Gregor. She was pissed but tried hard to stay professional and not snap. Seeing her so angry about Gregor helped him to finally get back the grip on his own emotional outburst and he became even more composed when Chloe looked back at him and motioned for him to come closer and join in on the interrogation. After a brief hesitation, noting that she seemed to be fine with him taking part in the investigation at this moment, he stepped towards the table, but refrained from sitting down. He doubted he could stay seated during this 'conversation'.

"Alright, Gregor. Speak," Chloe firmly said as she sat down in front of Gregor. "And don't you even dare try to weasel your way out of this with a deal."

"God, I swear, I don't know anything!" Gregor whined and ground his jaw, uneasily looking between Lucifer and her.

"Wrong answer!" Chloe hissed, slamming her palm on the table. Gregor was circumlocuting, trying to evade the inevitable or buy himself time for what was impossible to defer. She decided to nudge him into the right directions, forcing him to remember the details. "What's his name? How did he contact you? Did you see him?"

Flinching at the loud slap, Gregor focused back on her and swallowed. "I- I don't know his name! H-He called me. He must've gotten the number from one of my contacts. I never met him personally."

"And what exactly did he say?" Lucifer asked, stepping to the empty chair next to Chloe and resting his hands on the metallic rim, his posture still intimidating.

"He said he needed a man for hire. A strong bloke who wouldn't ask stupid questions and who would do whatever was necessary to get a job done," Gregor explained, rubbing his hands nervously over his thighs.

"And you thought of Zak," Chloe continued with an accusatory tone.

"Well, yeah. He was a tough guy," Gregor said and grumbled. "The idiot didn't have a phone or laptop, though. He was a bit paranoid, so I contacted him with the note. Can't believe that fucking note is now the rope around my neck…"

Okay… that's a start… "What did he sound like? Anything that stood out? Young, old, rough, smooth voice. A lisp, a rasp, and accent. Anything that comes to your mind," Chloe pressed, feeling the tension from Lucifer next to her as he took a shaky breath. He had heard the man, but couldn't recall the details. Hopefully the information Gregor was giving could help spark Lucifer's memory, or support him in their talk with Linda later on.

"Erm… he didn't sound so young or old. Maybe in his forties? His voice was smooth… He was speaking very clearly… It sounded… somewhat cold," Gregor said visibly recalling his contact.

"Cold?" Lucifer muttered with rising interest. "How do you mean that, he sounded cold?"

"Oh you know, that deliberately slow and clear speech," Gregor explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Sort of cold-killer style. He sounded… how do you say… emotionally detached in a way. But with a hint of a smile."

A cold shiver ran through Lucifer. He remembered the cold blue eyes. He could see the wrinkles twitching in their corners as the man smiled beneath his mask. The voice was muffled, but he could imagine seeing his lips move. See how his teeth and his tongue would show every once in a while when he'd open his mouth. He wanted to recall the voice, wanted to hear the words again, so he could draw information from it to find the bastard, but the memory stayed muffled.

Chloe carefully glanced at Lucifer, seeing him lost in thought. "Alright. What about the payment?"

Gregor sighed. "We had arranged a cash stash. Like I said, no personal contact."

"And how much did you get out of that deal, hm?" Chloe glowered at him. "How much was a life worth to you?"

"Hey! I told you, I didn't know what he wanted to do with my man!"

A metallic bang rang from the side and caused their heads to turn with a surprised gasp. Lucifer had flung the empty chair against the wall. His eyes blazed up as he leaned over the table, his face inches from Gregor's. "The Detective asked: How much?!" he growled, his voice vibrating with rage. "Answer, you bloody maggot!"

"On-ne Hundred Th-Thousand," Gregor stuttered, staring terrified into Lucifer's eyes. "Oh god, please don't kill me!"

A weak, angry smile tugged at Lucifer's lips. "Oh, don't worry... He's not gonna do it and neither will I. But my eyes will haunt you for the rest of your miserable life and you will remember every single night what is waiting for you on the other side."

It sounded harsh, cruel even, but Chloe knew this was Lucifer's world. Hell. He knew how it worked. He knew the guilty would get their just punishment. It was real and not just a phrase. And confront a criminal with that reality, make him see, was the only true satisfaction Lucifer could get. Because the divine system never failed. It would get Gregor and every other guilty soul.

And Gregor whimpered and trembled. "I'm-m s-s-sorry… I… I'm so sorr-"

"No, Gregor," Lucifer said with a calm voice. "You're not sorry. You're scared. And you should be."

Chloe swallowed and a heavy, thick silence spread between them all. Lucifer's aura was intimidating the guilty on a truly inhuman level. He was both being brutal and divinely powerful. But ever since she had seen him command the demons back to hell she knew this was the throne he had been forced to mount, the burden he shouldered. To put the wicked in their place. To tell them the real truth of their own failings and the punishment that awaited them.

"You'll put your information, everything you've just said, into a detailed statement," Chloe eventually said, shutting the file in front of her and standing up. Gently touching Lucifer's arm, she motioned for him that they were done here and headed to the door.

Gregor's eyes went wide and frantic. "W-what does that mean for me now?! H-Hey! I told you everything I know!"

"I told you we're not making a deal with you. Your statement together with your prints will be enough to get you behind bars," Chloe replied and stepped out of the room. Heading straight over to Dan, she saw him buried in various files and taking notes. "Hey Dan. Could you finish up with Gregor? We've got enough on tape to convict him this time. He seems to not have known the details, but he admitted to having sent Zak out to do a dirty job."

Dan looked back up at her and then over her shoulder at Lucifer and back at her. His expression was clearly troubled and she knew why. He wondered if she had told Lucifer of the news yet. When she shook her head at him he nodded. "Okay, sure, Chlo. Good job." He got up, offered Lucifer an awkward, thin-lipped smile and walked into the interrogation room, shutting the door behind him. He would explain Gregor's rights and then arrange the formalities for his custody.

Lucifer took a long, shaky breath, trying to calm his nerves and sort his thoughts. He hadn't expected to come to the precinct and encounter the person who made his abduction possible, nor had he expected it to be Gregor. This hadn't been the reason for him coming to the precinct in the first place. "Detective…" he began, his expression troubled as he searched for words to explain what had happened.

"Lucifer…" Chloe responded softly, "There's something I need to tell you. To show you, actually."

He frowned, his thoughts stumbling. "I… I need to tell you something, too… and… in fact, show you something, as well."

She looked up at him, expectantly. "Okay…"

Releasing a soft sigh, he made a quick decision and smiled at her. "You go first." He gestured at her, trying to find the patience to hold back on his own information and to be open for whatever news she wanted to share with him.

It was sweet how even in such tension, Lucifer was still able to be a gentleman and let the lady go first. Smiling, she motioned him closer. "Alright. So..." Sitting down at her desk, she pulled up the video footage the technicians and Dan had gone through before. "We got a hold onto the traffic cam footage opposite to Lux. Unfortunately the side street is quite in the shadows and the quality ain't the best either." She set the footage to where a woman walks into the side street. "Here. Watch."

[Atrium Carceri - Reborn]

Leaning a bit forward to get a better look at the screen, Lucifer observed the scene in the footage. The main entrance of Lux was closed, but the side door laid ajar, as it usually did when he was around to grant favours. He watched as the woman, or maybe young lady, walked purposefully up the side door and headed into Lux. Something in his mind stirred with a spark of excitement, but he couldn't really pinpoint why that was. For a few moments nothing happened, but then a set of car lights went on, revealing that a SUV had parked in the street.

Chloe then fast forwarded the footage about fifteen minutes forward until the side door of Lux opened and the woman from prior stepped out again. Suddenly the slide door of the car opened and a figure jumped out. It threw itself onto the woman, wrapping a set of arms around her torso and head. She struggled, kicking and tossing, but seconds later, she stopped. The figure, now more clearly visible as a tall man, grabbed the woman's waist and dragged her limp body into the back of the car.

"What the bloody hell…" Lucifer breathed, staring wide-eyed at the footage. "That woman got abducted directly at Lux?!"

"That's not all of it," Chloe said pensively, feeling her throat close as she knew what was about to happen in the footage.

Lucifer forced himself to focus, although his insides felt boiling with anger. A few moments passed by and the tall man climbed out of the car again, shortly standing, shrugging his shoulders. It seemed odd somehow. Like he was loosening up. Then he rushed to the side door of Lux, flung it open and ran inside. Another three, maybe five, seconds passed and two men now came out of Lux.

He squinted his eyes, leaning closer to the screen, his mind stirring with a subconscious tingle over a memory scratching beneath the layer of ice, trying to break through. The sunlight indirectly gave view on the second man as his light grey shirt was shimmering in the dark alley, and Lucifer released a choking gasp. "That's me…" he whispered, the realisation hitting him like a truck.

Lucifer raced to the SUV when an arm came forth from the darkness of the inside, reaching to his throat. The other man slung his arms around Lucifer and dragged him into the back of the car, where the woman had been brought into and at least one other person seemed to be in. Then the man slammed the side door shut, raced to the driver's side, hopped in and drove off.

Lucifer's vision blurred and he was glad he could grip onto Chloe's table for support as he felt his knees starting to shake.

He had just witnessed his own abduction and that of a woman.

"What the… " he trailed off, straightening back up and looking between the footage and Chloe back and forth as his brain processed the information that steam-rolled over him. "What…. What happened there? Why did I… How did this..."

She silently cursed. Of course it was troubling for him. She had known it would be difficult. Reaching to the side, she pulled close another chair. "Sit down," she quietly said and gently guided him down. He didn't protest or resist. His knees simply gave in and he landed with a squeaking thud. Taking a hold of his left hand, she ran her thumb over the back of it in soothing strokes. "I think this is Zak. It seems like he first drugged her so she wasn't resisting and put her in the car. Then he waited a moment and ran into Lux, getting you. You ran out first. I think Zak lured you outside somehow. Maybe he was faking an accident, urging you to come out or maybe he just said the truth and told you that the woman who came out of Lux was just getting abducted and he called you for help..."

[RESIDENT EVIL 8 Village Trailer Music]

~o~

"Help! HELP! Please! Someone, help!" the tall man shouts in despair, his eyes wide and his breathing hard and frantic.

He looks up from his piano, his fingers coming to an abrupt halt as they play a disharmonious acord. "What's wrong?" he asks, feeling his pulse rise in alarm. It is obvious the man isn't just in superficial distress, but clearly in panic.

"That woman! She came out from here and then this guy outside grabbed her! He's trying to drag her into his car! QUICK!" The man whirls around with his arms and runs his hands over his face in shock.

He startles up, the piano bench scratching over the floor as he darts around the instrument. His heart thunders. It's her. No. She was supposed to have a good life now. A better life. Away from her condescending parents. She was supposed to be free. Not kidnapped.

He sprints outside, the metallic door slamming back against the building. He sees the car. The engine is running, the sliding door open. "Flora?!" he calls out, heading towards the open car. "FLORA?!" He doesn't realize the man behind him is not helping with the rescue and he doesn't see the arm coming out of the darkened inside of the car as he leans inside. He feels the sharp sting in the side of his throat. He feels the odd sensation of pressure as something is shot into his system. The last thing he sees is a pair of female legs as he drops down into the car. And then everything goes dark.

~o~

[Nexus - Serenity]

Blinking, he startled from the vivid memory and rasped for air. His vision cleared and a tender warmth against his hand made him turn and see Chloe looking at him with wide, worried eyes.

"Hey…" she whispered, her voice unsteady as she seemed to hold back tears. "It happened again, didn't it?"

She knew. How long had he been gone? Seconds? Minutes? Did anybody else notice? He clenched his teeth in frustration. "Yes…" he uttered under his breath. Slowly, hesitantly, he glanced back at the screen that had stopped in a frame that showed how he was being pushed into the SUV. "Her name is Flora," he murmured, the memory that surfaced seeming to have burned itself back into full presence. "I remember that moment."

Chloe stared at him, shocked and frozen. It was odd to hear those two words from him. Of course she had hoped he would remember, yet at the same time, to hear that he actually did, opened up so many questions about what he remembered. And of course she was also worried about what it did to him emotionally to remember what had happened. Still holding onto his hand, she leaned in towards him, making their conversation feel more protected and private. "Can you tell me about it?" she asked carefully, not wanting to pressure him, if he wasn't ready or in the condition to speak about it.

Lucifer didn't really think about whether or not he could tell her. The memory had pushed itself up to the surface like boiling magma and now it just erupted from him like he had forcefully held it back for too long. "She came to me for a favour," he began, licking his dried lips as he recalled their conversation. "She was trying to get away from her super rich and condescending family to become a professional chef. Her passion. Her parents wouldn't allow it and threw her out, cutting off support. She didn't want money from me, just any other help I could give her that would get her started somehow. So I forwarded her to a chef who owed me a favour, have him employ her as his sous-chef in training."

Listening to him, she had a small, sad smile on her lips, taking in the information he had about the woman and the thoughtful favour he granted her. Grabbing the printed list of missing women from her desk, she skimmed through the pages until her eyes fell upon a young woman with the name of Flora. She turned the page towards Lucifer. "Is that her?"

A young, stunning looking woman, with green eyes, rosy skin and shoulder-length, light-brunette hair looked back at him. Subconsciously running his fingers over the picture, he nodded. "Yes… that's her." He thought back to the previous day where he tried to remember his patrons. He realized his memory had been all mixed up the other day. He clearly remembered now that he had six people coming in for favours. And poor Flora had obviously been the last.

She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. Despite her parents having thrown her out, it seemed that at least someone had cared enough for her to inform the police. "Alright." Putting the list away she made a mental note to inform her parents about the abduction and to update the search for Flora accordingly. "What else do you remember?"

"That man… the one found with the knife in his chest, erm... Zak," he murmured, looking at her, frowning. "He came running into Lux, calling for help. He looked completely frantic and desperate, saying that the woman was getting pulled into a car. I rushed outside, thinking that I could catch the guy responsible and save Flora, but… when I reached the car and leaned inside, someone else was in there and injected me with something. Then I passed out."

Her heart slammed madly in her chest. This was real progress. It was one thing to see something on footage, but a whole other to additionally have him remember things and give such a detailed statement. Gently letting go of his hand, she searched her pile of files for the one with the photos taken of the crime scene. "Can you verify if this was the car that was in the side street?"

He took the folder into his lap, looking at the photo she pointed out at him. "Yeah. That's it." The photo slid loosely down in the folder and revealed a big batch of other photos, the top one of which showed the inside of the car's back. The seats had been removed and dark patches of blood showed at several spots, some smeared, some pooled, soaked into parts of the flooring. At the edge of the trunk two wide smears showed dragmarks out of the car.

[Evolving Sound - No Room For Faith]

~o~

It hurts. Everything hurts. He's rasping for air, but it's as if the oxygen ain't enough to help his fuzzy brain to get cleared up. Swallowing down the mix of blood and saliva in his mouth, he grunts in discomfort, but regrets it right away as his throat aches from the tone he's producing.

Everything around him is shaking and swaying. He feels sick. He knows something happened to him, but everything feels vague and distant as if he had just awoken from a nightmare and couldn't connect the dots of a story anymore.

Something feels strange about his back. It hurts more than the rest of his body and when suddenly there is a drag towards the side, he feels his body tumbling and his back crashes against a hard surface. His eyes and mouth tear open in a harrowing scream, the pain surging through his back so sharp that he feels like he's about to die from it.

"Hey! Shut the fuck up you freak!"

He continues to feverishly rasp for air, tries to be still so as to not provoke the painful feeling again, but it doesn't work. Something makes his body drag along again, causing his body to roll to the other side of wherever he was, and his back slams against a hard surface again. He screams and cries out, and then his voice dies as his vocal cords simply give up from being too sore.

The world around him continues to sway until suddenly it stops. There's a loud thud, then some wet, crunching sounds and then a strange rumbling, added by a roaring thunder.

"Damn rain… Fucking mud ruining my shoes…"

He blinks, again and again, and sees the man who had asked for his help. Frowning in confusion, he grunts and huffs, feeling a pair of hands roughly grabbing him by his wrists and pulling at him.

"Fuck, you're one heavy sonofabitch… Nghh! Come on…!"

~o~

[Exclusion - Putrefaction]

"Come on, Lucifer, look at me. Hey, look at me," Chloe's voice rang urgent but still quietly. She held onto his cheeks, gently patting them until his eyes fluttered and his dilated pupils turned to focus on her.

"Mmm…" he murmured, coming back to his senses. "Bloody hell… Again…. This is starting to become a rather quick thing now, it seems." He noted her hands stayed on his cheeks, dearly holding him in place as she was assuring herself of his condition. "Thanks, Detective… I'm alright. I just… I remembered the transport in the trunk to that warehouse… I was pretty much out, feeling dizzy and sick… Everything was hurting, especially my back, but I didn't know at that moment why that was. I think at that point the amnesia already had set in…"

She wondered if somehow Lucifer's mind had come to a kind of turning point. That he reached a stage where his memory could more easily be triggered. "Lucifer…" she began softly. "I think we should head to Linda right away. I can take the photos with me, if these help spark your memories, but overall it's a much better, controlled environment to have those flashbacks. What do you think?"

He wasn't sure why he had been so worried, as he saw her supportive look. He could see that she wasn't pitying him, that she truly wasn't thinking of him being weak when he was having the flashbacks, but that she was simply by his side, holding his hand and making him feel that he wasn't alone. "Yes... " he answered, his voice hoarse. "I think… I think that's a good idea." Offering her a thankful smile, he closed the folder with the photos and handed it back to her. "But… first you need to see something. It's basically why I came to the precinct in the first place. Miss Lopez took it into her lab."

Intrigued, she followed Lucifer, as he took the lead heading to Ella's lab. The Latina was busy powdering a small package in preparation to take fingerprints off of it. "Hey Ella."

"Oh, hey Chloe. Hey Lucifer." Ella looked at him with a small smile. "You better?"

"Yes… Thank you Miss Lopez," Lucifer replied with an equally small, but thankful smile.

Chloe wondered about the little exchange between the two, but focused on what was on the table. Only when she stepped a bit closer, she could take a look into the package. Her face paled when she saw the blood-stained feathers. She swallowed thickly, spotting that there were darker spots sprinkled in the package. Small pieces of flesh. Her hand went up to her mouth as she forced herself not to retch. "This… this was sent to you?" she asked, looking back at her partner.

Lucifer nodded. "Yeah. Special Delivery," he muttered with a bitter huff. "No consignor."

Ella put down her protection glasses and reached for an evidence bag that laid at the side of the table. "There was something placed beneath all the… erm… you know. We didn't see it at first." Putting the small bag in front of Lucifer and Chloe, she revealed the note that was secured inside of it.

The room around him seemed to pull away as he stared at the handwritten note.

So you survived.

How unfortunate.

But now I wonder…

Can they grow back?

If so… perhaps we will meet again. Who knows?

In any case, enjoy my presents.

There are a lot more to come.

"Jesus Christ…" Chloe mouthed but immediately regretted her religious mutter and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping her comment didn't feel like a pinch of salt in Lucifer's wounds. Gently rubbing along his arm, she looked back at Ella. "We're gonna head out. You let me know when you find something, okay?"

"Of course, Chloe," she replied and reached for Lucifer's other arm, giving it a light rub. "I'm so sorry, Lucifer… We'll catch him. I promise we'll do everything to find this sicko."

Nodding in a daze, Lucifer blinked. "I know… I appreciate your effort…" His eyes travelled back to the package with his feathers. "It would be best to seal them away, Miss Lopez." When Ella just looked at him in silent confusion, he specified. "The feathers. Although it is dwindling, they still carry parts of my divinity in them, and having humans exposed to divinity, without carefully supporting the situation, can lead to dangerous consequences. I mean… you have only seen my blood under a microscope and it's shifted the world as you knew it out of its hinges. My feathers are a whole other level." He looked between her and Chloe with a soft smile. "And while the two of you might be alright handling them, having come to terms with what they are, other people would not be able to do the same without support."

Ella looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. "Oh... I see... Okay, sure," she mouthed approvingly. "I'll finish my analysis and then store them away for safety."

Saying their goodbyes, Chloe took the lead out of the lab. With the folder of photos in her right hand and subtly holding onto Lucifer's arm with her other, she walked him out of the precinct. It wasn't really a supporting hold in the sense that she could catch him in case his knees would give in, but rather a mental support, reminding him that she was at his side and she had his back.

The morning had been incredibly strenuous and combined with their short night's rest, she wasn't sure how she'd make it through the rest of the day, and especially how both her and Lucifer would stand the session at Linda's, but at last she could see a silver lining as the case was moving forward. Things were developing instead of being stuck and she allowed herself to be excited and hopeful for Lucifer to find some form of relief.

A/N: Wooa! BIG chapter at the precinct, lots of emotions, but also finally some more information on what happened! Now, I know there's still one big mystery there about Lucifer's vulnerability, but you'll learn about that, don't you worry ;) Be patient my dear friends.

In any case, it seems like it's not just about Lucifer anymore, but also about a young woman called Flora. What do you think the deal is with her? And what do you think will happen at Linda's? So much to come folks! SO much more to unravel! Woop woop! :D

I hope you enjoyed the ride in this chapter. Stay tuned and I'll see you in the next one!

And if we don't hear us again with another chapter before May 28th : I wish you heaps of fun watching Lucifer S5B!

- Luni