"Because he was worthy of his father's love," Lucifer told the murder. "And he had a chance at redemption until you ruined it."
Anne kicked a barrel at them and oil spilled out all over the floor. A split second later the oil was on fire and the entire restaurant with it. There was no way out. Oh how Lucifer hated being so weak! Usually he could just walk out of a problem like this without so much as getting his suit dirty. But now! Now he could feel the heat from the flames and he knew if he touched them, they would burn him.
"Lucifer if you have any ideas," Chloe told him. "Now's the time."
Sure he had ideas, but they all involved him being invulnerable! Then he realized something. It didn't matter if the fire burned him, so long as it didn't burn her.
"Cover your face, Detective," Lucifer said.
"What? Why?" Chloe asked.
"Oh, just do it," he added, frustrated. This was gonna hurt.
With the Detective's face protected from the sparks of the fire, Lucifer scooped her into his arms. He quite enjoyed the startled sound she made as she was lifted into the air, but no time for that. Lucifer walked forward to the exit and through the flames, feeling the heat more intensely than he had, even in hell. Using his legs, Lucifer kicked the door down and they both escaped into the cool night air.
"Put me down!" Chloe called and Lucifer obliged her now that it was safe to do so.
"I'm sorry, Detective, but there really was no other way," Lucifer explained.
He turned to face her then, carefully studying it for any signs of fear. He didn't usually get so close to her. Even if it had been to save her life, Lucifer didn't want that to cost him her trust. To his surprise though her eyes were clear of fear and rather focused on him, though not his face.
"Your arm," Chloe said, reaching towards him. Lucifer looked down. Most of the right side of his sleeve was gone and beneath it his skin had bubbled and was wicked hot.
"The Devil gets burned by fire," he sighed. "Irony at its finest, I dare say."
"I still don't understand why though," Chloe continued. "Why can you get hurt all of a sudden?"
"You're guess is as good as mine, Detective," Lucifer said cheerily.
The Detective shook her head in that way she did when she was kinda done with his shenanigans. Then she got out her phone and presumably called the fire department.
"Have you even tried to figure it out?" Chloe asked, while they were waiting. "Do you have any theories?"
"Always a detective, huh, Detective?" Lucifer chuckled.
"I'll take that as a no," Chloe sighed. "Doesn't it scare you that you are suddenly so different?"
"Sometimes," Lucifer said. "I'll admit it can be frustrating, but I prefer to think of it as exciting."
"You really have some strange priorities," Chloe chuckled at him.
"I suppose a mortal would think that," Lucifer replied easily.
"It's crazy that you aren't concerned," Chloe continued. "I mean if it was me I'd be trying everything I could to figure it out."
"If it satisfies your curiosity, Detective," Lucifer began easily. "I promise you will be the first to know if I do discover the reason for my sudden mortality."
"But how will you ever find out if you don't investigate?" Chloe asked.
"What do you suggest, Detective?" Lucifer asked.
"I don't know," Chloe began thoughtfully. "Can you do research? Has this ever happened to an angel before?"
"I wouldn't have the first idea where to research something like this on earth," Lucifer said. "And a trip to heaven is beyond me, even if I had my wings."
"What about your brother then?" Chloe asked.
Lucifer shook his head. "Amedideal has never heard of a vulnerable angel before either, either that or his poker face has reached uncharacteristically new heights."
There was a moment's silence in which Lucifer wasn't quite sure what to say. He wasn't nearly as concerned about finding out the reason behind his bleeding as the Detective was, even if he sensed she was right. Even with the pain from his burns as a constant reminder of his new mortality, Lucifer just couldn't bring himself to feel all that worried about it.
"I should probably have said this earlier," Chloe began, smiling at him. "But thank you for getting me out of there."
"Yes, well, walking out of there on my own would have looked bad," Lucifer said, awkwardly. He really didn't know what to do when she looked at him like that. It made him feel so strange, he hardly knew what to say. "On to other matters, like how Anne there just destroyed all the evidence against her."
Smiling, the Detective reached into her pocket and held up the small bag of white powder Anne had tried to kill them for.
"You little rascal," Lucifer grinned at her.
"We got her now," Chloe said.
"Yes, I believe we do, Detective," Lucifer smiled. His arm hurt, but that was fine. It was so new and bizarre how lately he could be in so much pain when there wasn't a scratch on him and yet when he was actually injured it hardly seemed to matter.
The fire trucks arrived just minutes later along with an ambulance and Lucifer ended up sitting in the back of an ambulance getting his third degree burns bandaged up. If he'd told the paramedic it would all be healed up in a couple days she would have just called him crazy. Besides the cool gel she put on it felt wonderful!
When Chloe returned to his side, she informed him of Anne's arrest. They also talked to Junior, telling him that his father had planned to leave him the restaurant all along.
It was a few days later that Lucifer next heard from the Detective. There'd been another murder and his arm was completley healed, so off he went to help her solve it! At first, it was quite boring, looking like a robbery gone wrong, but then Lucifer found out the victim was once a notorious playboy into drugs, gamblings and women, but now ran a charity. Bad boy turned good. Lucifer felt like he was solving his own murder, which was all rather more fun than some dead guy at the bottom of the stairs.
As always, he followed the Detective's lead as they interviewed witnesses and followed leads. Though Lucifer felt he had quite a lot in common with the victim this particular case didn't seem to relate to him on any other level, which made it much less interesting to follow. At least she needed his desire trick for this case, but she still never let him drive. All in all it wasn't one of his favourite murder cases, even if the mistress turned out to be a man.
It was quite satisfying when Chloe figured out that the charity's money for a school had gone missing. At first Chloe thought it was the lawyer, but after realizing he was doing all the work for the charity for free, she rather changed tactics. Chloe decided to appeal to the good natured family attorney's for the proof since it would be faster than trying to get access to the information through the proper channels. Lucifer had every faith the Detective could manage that one her own. In fact she might have more luck without him. Lucifer was more about desire than appealing to people's good side.
He went back to his penthouse, to enjoy a well deserved drink after making it through another day at the office. He was sure Chloe would let him know when she had anything from the lawyer. Lucifer had barely finished his first drink when he heard the elevator. He turned, expecting Chloe with news from the attorney. He was very much mistaken, however.
"I suppose she was right then about adding security to the elevator," Lucifer said to the man pointing a gun at him.
"Since I'm here to murder you, yeah, probably," the gunman said.
"I'm sorry strange disheveled gunman have we met?" Lucifer asked.
"Breify," the gunman said, then introduced himself as Detective Malcolm Graham.
"Oh, yes, coma boy!" Lucifer replied. "I remember now. Fell on tough times? Are you here for money?"
Even though he was trying to remain calm, Lucifer could feel his heartbeat rising. He'd gone almost his entire immortal life without ever feeling any sort of concern or worry over bodily harm, yet now here he was at the mercy of some idiot with a gun. The Detective was right. He really needed to know why this was happening. Why was she always right?!
"Nope, don't need money," Malcolm said. "Just here to kill you."
"Why kill a man you've barely met?" Lucifer asked. "In my experience most humans have a motive for murder?"
"I made a deal with an angel," Malcolm explained. "I'm never going back to hell."
"Ah that means she was right," Lucifer smiled. He really wasn't surprised. After all this was Chloe Decker's hunch not some smuck's. "You really have been to hell and back. Interesting. If that's the case then this won't affect you at all." Lucifer showed his Devil face in it's full form to absolutely no effect. "Very interesting indeed."
"Rumor has it that you aren't immortal anymore," Malcolm continued, raising his gun to point it right at Lucifer's head. "So if I pull this trigger it's bye bye Devil."
"And what? You think killing the King of Hell will keep you out of it?" Lucifer laughed. "I assume this angel you made a deal with was bald, black and way too serious to ever have fun?"
Despite his brother's holier-than-thou attitude he really was the only angel on earth at the moment who had the wings to pull a soul from hell. Lucifer had guessed as much earlier given the Detective's hunch about Malcolm, but until now Amenadiel's reasoning for such an action had been a mystery.
"Ah yeah," Malcolm mumbled.
"You've been duped," Lucifer laughed again. "Angels have absolutely no say in who goes to hell. We can't even kill humans. It's against dad's rules."
"But he said-"
"The Devil never lies," Lucifer interrupted him. "My brother, on the other hand, is spinning quite the tale here. Amenadiel can't keep you out of hell, but I can."
"How?" Malcolm asked, his gun lowering slightly.
Lucifer held up his pentecostal coin. It was the only thing he could think of to save his life and if he understood this man's desires correctly it would work.
"What's that?"
"Subway token for the damned," he explained. "I was going to use it to get back to hell eventually, but I suppose you could use it to get out of hell as well."
Malcolm's gun arm relaxed even further as he looked at the coin.
"So what do you say?" Lucifer asked. "Are you willing to make a deal with the Devil?"
"What's the deal?" Malcolm asked.
"Don't shoot me," Lucifer said. "And the coin is yours."
Without saying a word, Malcolm moved forward and wrapped his fingers around the coin. He then walked towards the elevator without turning his back. Malcolm even waved as the doors shut behind him.
Lucifer's first thought was to call the Detective. She'd want to know she'd been right about Malcolm. Picking up his phone he dialed her number.
"You were right, Detective," Lucifer said the moment she picked up.
"About, what specifically?" Chloe asked with a sigh. "I'm kinda in the middle of something." Oh yes, that was right. He's almost forgotten. She was probably with the attorney right now.
"About Malcolm," Lucifer said. "He has been to hell and back."
"How did you confirm that?"
"Well he did just try to kill me in a vain attempt to avoid returning to Hell," Lucifer explained. "Plus he was completely immune to my devil face."
"Wait, go back," Chloe said, her voice more focused now. "He tried to kill you?"
"I talked him down," Lucifer explained. "But I thought you'd want to know you were right."
"Ah yeah thanks," Chloe said. "You sure you're alright?"
"Yes, fine," Lucifer replied. This call hadn't at all gone the way he'd expected it to.
"Okay," Chloe said. "I'll talk to you later then."
"Alright Detective," Lucifer replied and the call ended.
He thought she'd have been happier about her hunch being right. Chloe usually loved it when she figured something out. Lucifer was disappointed somehow that his news hadn't made her happy. He poured himself another drink.
His brother, trying to kill him, reminded Lucifer of what Amedideal had said to him upon finding out about Lucifer's new mortality. It seems he wasn't content to wait for Lucifer to get himself killed, but rather wanted to speed the whole thing up. Even so, bringing a soul back from hell was far worse behaviour than he'd ever imagined his brother capable of.
When his elevator door opened next, Lucifer felt sure it would be the Detective to come and explain her weird response earlier. Once again, however, it was not. Instead Detective Douche was walking off the penthouse elevator and looking rather the worse for wear.
"You're alive," Dan said, clearly surprised by this information.
"Yes, I know," Lucifer said. "What I don't know is what you are doing here, and dressed like that?"
"I came to stop Malcolm," Dan explained. "He's planning to shoot you."
"Ah, in that case you are too late," Lucifer said cheerfully. "Afraid you've missed him, though not by much."
"But then how are you alive?"
"Made him a better offer," Lucifer explained vaguely. He'd gotten so used to being able to tell Chloe what was actually going on, having to be vague with Dan actually felt quite strange.
"How?" Dan asked, perplexed.
"The real question is how you made it all the way here looking like you'd just been hit by a bus," Lucifer chuckled. He really had gotten used to just explaining things to Chloe, but Dan… Lucifer knew even if he told Dan the truth he wouldn't believe it.
Dan had cuts on his face, and his clothes were filthy and ripped. He looked positively haggard. "You look terrible by the way," Lucifer commented. "In case I wasn't clear."
"Had a rough day," Dan replied.
"Well I bet you could use a drink," Lucifer said gesturing to the bar.
But Dan didn't move. He just stared. "You're alive," he said again.
"Yes, we've covered that Daniel," Lucifer sighed. "Keep up."
The ring of the elevator made them both turn. The elevator door opened, but finally this time it really was his Detective.
"About time!" Lucifer exclaimed, turning to face her. "And you were right about one other thing by the way. That elevator needs a lock."
"Dan?" Chloe said, clearly surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"
"He came to warn me about Malcolm, though a bit too late to be helpful," Lucifer answered before Dan could speak. "But that's old news now. Did you convince the lawyer to squeal?"
"Yep. We got the victim's wife on embezzlement," Chloe explained, though she seemed distracted.
"Excellent!" Lucifer smiled. "Case solved then!"
"Not quite," Chloe said. "The embezzlement gives us probable cause, but she hasn't confessed. It will be a messy trial." She was clearly upset about this, which gave Lucifer an idea.
"Not to worry Detective," Lucifer said, offering Chloe the drink he'd just poured for himself. "I'll have a chat with her tomorrow and get the desires that drove her to kill for you."
"Thanks," Chloe said. She didn't take the offered drink, which was no surprise, but she did look at him. There was something in her eyes, something like the thanks but more meaningful. Lucifer smiled, just slightly without even meaning to. This seemed to be happening more and more lately, but he hadn't any idea why.
"So you're saying Malcolm came here to kill you and it wasn't a big deal?" Dan asked.
Lucifer pulled his eyes from Chloe to turn to Detective Douche. Dan was clearly having a hard time processing this information. Lucifer couldn't imagine why. Lucifer being alive had been rather a constant of the universe since, well, the beginning of time.
"How did you know Malcolm would try to kill Lucifer?" Chloe asked Dan.
"Got a tip," Dan replied, with a shrug.
"What kind of tip?" Chloe asked. "From where."
"I should probably get home, get cleaned up," Dan said, backing away. "Since everything seems fine here."
"Do you at least agree with me now that Malcolm is dirty?" Chloe asked.
"I'll see you later, Chloe," Dan said as he ducked out of the room and into the elevator.
"Now that the non-believer is gone I can finally explain," Lucifer began, but then he stopped. Chloe's eyes were still fixed on the spot where Dan had been.
"That was very strange," Chloe said, in her I-must-know-why Detective voice.
"Agreed, but onto more important things," Lucifer said, cheerfully trying to get her attention. "Not only were you right but it turns out my brother brought Malcolm back from hell specifically to kill me."
"Wait, what?" Chloe said, finally turning her attention back to Lucifer. "Why would your brother want you dead?"
"What he wants is me back at work," Lucifer explained. "And as I'm barred from Heaven if I die I go back to Hell. Amedideal told me as much a couple weeks ago, I just never thought he'd actually try and speed the process up."
"Wait, your brother threatened you?" Chloe asked. "Weeks ago and you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't think it was a big deal," Lucifer admitted. "Amenadiel has been trying to get me back to hell since the day I landed here."
"If Malcolm came here only to kill you, how on earth are you not dead?" Chloe asked, perplexed.
"Because Malcolm made a deal with the Devil," Lucifer grinned.
"Which means you gave him something and he didn't shoot you?" Chloe asked. Lucifer nodded. "What on earth would he have taken in exchange?!"
"Do you remember that coin I used to get into the auction house?" Chloe nodded. "The one I didn't sell to Grant. Well it's basically a get out of hell free card which is exactly what my brother told Malclom he could do."
"So you gave him the coin and in exchange he didn't shoot you?" Chloe asked. "Sounds like a shitty deal. What if he'd just taken the coin and then shot you?"
"Ah that isn't how a deal with the Devil works," Lucifer smiled. "If he'd shot me the coin would be mine again and useless to him, even if he was still in possession of it."
"Does he know that?" Chloe asked.
"Probably not," Lucifer said, cheerfully. "But it all worked out in the end. I could give him what he desired while my brother couldn't, so he doesn't want me dead anymore."
"Couldn't your brother just send someone else to kill you?" Chloe asked.
"I suppose," Lucifer said. "Though sending the one is so out of character I almost couldn't believe it. A second would be quite a lot to ask of my goody-two-shoes brother."
"Okay so putting aside the someone out to murder you thing," Chloe began in her serious Detective voice. "What you are telling me is that there is a dirty cop working at my precinct who is willing to kill to stay out of hell."
"About covers it yeah," Lucifer said.
"Okay so we need to report this," Chloe began. "We can go down to the station and you can make a statement and-"
"And tell them what?" Lucifer laughed. "That he wanted to kill me because he made a deal with the angel who brought him back to life? How detailed a description should I give about the magic coin I exchanged for my life?"
"We don't have to explain everything," Chloe said. "I know you've done it before when you omit facts without lying. People need to know he's dangerous!"
"Even so it's just my word against his," Lucifer continued. "Do you really think it will make a difference?"
"This is so frustrating!" Chloe exclaimed. "To know things no one else does. It's like being apart from them."
"I know," Lucifer said, suddenly feeling heavy like there was a weight on his shoulders. "I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have turned you into a believer, Detective."
"Why did you anyway?" Chloe asked.
"I-" Lucifer began, but he wasn't quite sure what he was going to say yet. Why had he done it? She'd been on the edge of believing and he'd encouraged her to shoot him.
"I didn't want there to be secrets between us," Lucifer said after a moment's silence.
"The whole 'see me as I am' thing," Chloe eched. "Yeah I remember, still doesn't explain much."
"All I've got I'm afraid," Lucifer said. "Unless you want a drink?"
Chloe chuckled. "No thanks," she said.
Lucifer took a sip of his drink. He could see the wheels turning inside the Detective's head. It was strange how much faith he had in this one mortal woman. Working side by side with her, Lucifer had learned how good she was at figuring people out. If he ever discovered who did it, Chloe would always find the why of it. She never gave up and she never gave in. She was virtuous to a fault, but she wasn't arrogant about it. Chloe always did the right thing, no matter the cost to her. She was just truly good, without an ulterior motive. She was simply perfect.
"I think Dan knows alot more than he's saying," Chloe said after a moment.
"It was rather strange for him to just show up looking homeless without a warning," Lucifer agreed. "Though if you hadn't been here I'm not sure I would have really registered that fact."
"I think we should start there," Chloe continued. "Because you are right, without all the celestial stuff, that no one in their right mind would believe, we don't have anything."
"Calling yourself crazy, Detective?" Lucifer asked grinning.
"You know what I mean," Chloe sighed. "They won't believe without proof so unless you want to prove to the entire precinct who you are?"
"Best not," Lucifer smiled. "As I said before, mortals rarely react well. Addiction, crumpled to pieces, that sort of thing. Oh and then there are the ones who react by accusing me of causing all their problems, my least favourite."
"Anyway," Chloe continued with a sigh. "I'm gonna go talk to Dan. Don't get killed while I'm gone."
"The Devil shall do his best," Lucifer chuckled.
Okay I know the last chapter wasn't very different from the canon, but this one is. Can you figure out what major part is missing? That is aside from Chloe not throwing herself at Lucifer which meant he wasn't acting all Saint Lucifer-like? Since Lucifer wasn't trying to get a high off good deeds he never volunteered his club to host the gala and thus was never in a position to get shot by the victim's wife... and therefore hasn't yet figured out who makes him vulnerable. ;)
Sneak Peek Chapter 16
Walking up to the door she rang the bell. Nothing. She rang it again. This time she heard a slight scuffling noise, and then the door opened.
"Oh hey Chloe," Dan said. "I didn't expect-"
"Like hell you didn't," Chloe snapped, walking in without an invitation. "You think you can just mysteriously know things, look beat up, and walk away without me wondering why?"
There were still cuts on Dan's face, but his clothes were clean and his hair was wet. He'd probably just gotten out of the shower.
"By all means," Dan said dryly as he closed the door behind her. "Come in."
"What tip?" Chloe asked again.