This is my first Good Omens fanfic, Lucifer´s too, hope you enjoy it!
Lucifer and Good Omens are not mine!
"It´s a great house, don´t you think?" Thaddeus J. Dowling said after introducing his family to their new house in Los Angeles, from where he was planning to launch his presidential campaign. All this time was finally paying, with him being elected as the next candidate for the republicans and nothing was going to stand now between the presidential chair and him. It was, after all, what he deserved for all his sacrifices in the past.
Behind the man, his son Warlock wasn´t much convinced. He knew that his father, an awful parent as none other, would be a terrible president and even more of a terrible father if he won the elections. The man would force him and his mother, a bad parent in her own right but nowhere as much as her husband, to perform the part of the happy family in front of the press even more for the presidential campaign, despite not having seen them in months. He will have to appear in dumb public places, smile in front of idiot paparazzis… all because his father wanted to be president, something he didn´t want him to be. In fact, he didn´t even want to be here, and by here he meant this damn country. He was pretty much happy with his life in England, thank you.
"Warlock, dear, you haven´t begun unpacking" his mother interrupted him while doing his internal monologue. Harriet Dowling had a gift for appearing when no one wanted her close, something that turned her son crazy.
"Other people do it for me" answered the boy, wondering if she would hurry and disappear. He still needed to call nanny and brother… Crowley and Aziraphale, as he found out they were really named three years ago. It was them he really wanted to be with, not his dumb parents. Why couldn´t he lives with them?
"Sweetie, the service is not going to come until the tomorrow, you can´t sleep like that in your room" Harriet refused to leave, opening one of the boxes. She made an expression of distaste when she got a very old snake plush out of the box. "You still have this? Haven´t I told you to give your old toys to the charity?"
"Nanny Ashtoreth made Apples specially for me"
"It´s old! You have new toys, throw the old ones away!" the woman ordered, taking the plushie. Her son threw himself towards her, wrenching the precious snake out of her grasp. They glared at each other, Warlock with all the rage his fourteen years of life could amass. Can´t she see that it was a precious childhood heritage? From the only people that ever gave a damn about him more than as a political tool. "Warlock…" there was a knock on the door before she could utter another word. "I want that thing away before I come back. In the charity donations box, okay?"
"Apples won´t go anywhere" answered the teen, hugging the thing. The boy heard his mother go down the stairs and answer the door, only for her to scream a few seconds later. Warlock ran towards the stairs only to see a couple of men stabbing Harriet until she was all red and immobile. They saw him in that moment and pulled out a gun. Thaddeus arrived that moment to ask why all the noise, receiving a bullet when Warlock moved to put himself under cover.
"Come here, brat!" one of the men screamed while the other rushed up the stairs. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed Thaddeus was still alive to put a bullet in his head, before running behind Warlock. The teen entered his room, locking it and putting boxes in front of his door. Then he pulled up his cell phone.
"Please, please" he pleaded as he marked Crowley´s number. "Please, nanny, brother, pick up the phone, I need you" finally someone picked up, a running car in the background, but before the receiver of the call could say a word "HELP!"
"There he is!" one of the men screamed, locating the door. He started trying to take it down, but before he could do it a car stopped in front of the house. The youngster cowered in a corner of the room. The house was far away from the city, there was no reason for a car to stop in front of it…
"Warlock!" Crowley caught his attention as he appeared on his window, dark wings extended as he miracle the window open. "Come here, child, I will take you down. Quickly!" the demon hurried as the intruder managed to nearly open the door. Warlock quickly ran to the window and to the arms of his mo… nanny, who flew away and towards a secluded road. The Bentley was waiting for them there, along with a known white form. "Aziraphale…"
"Warlock, what happened, dear?" the angel asked, extending his arms to comfort the terrified teen. "Shhh, it´s okay. We are here now, nothing is going to happen to you." He assured as Warlock hugged him, the plush snake still in his hands. "What happened, Crowley? I knew something was very wrong when Warlock called screaming and you miracle the car to Los Angeles, but…"
"Two men broke into the house and murdered his parents" explained the ginger, opening his sunglasses to cover his eyes. Then he looked around himself. "Angel, as much as I want to give you all the time to comfort him, those men are still on the loose, so…"
"Don´t say anything more" Aziraphale got Warlock into the back seat before positioning himself in the front seat next to his demon. "Crowley, dear, I don´t want to have to remind you, but…"
"I know" the other hissed, knowing full well what he was talking about. He didn´t even want to think about it, but if one of them ends up being discorporated by those delinquents… "But right now Warlock is a priority. He just lost his parents and is in danger. He needs us."
"Yes" the principality coincided. "Let´s find somewhere to stay for the night, then."
Unknown to them, the house had alarms that were set off when the men broke in. In less than an hour, the LAPD arrived to the scene. They called homicides division when they found the bodies on the floor, being answered nearly immediately because of the public nature of the case. Dan Espinoza, the detective in charge, entered the house. Just seeing the pool of blood the wife´s body was lying in chilled his blood a bit, but years in his job´s line of work made him able to control his reactions.
"Ella, what do we have here?" he asked the forensic scientist, who was examining the woman´s body. Harriet Dowling looked terrified, as if her last moments of live has been a hell on earth. And how could she not, especially seeing how many stabs her body had.
"We have two adult bodies, of a couple in their fourties" she announced, trying to contain her horror. Sometimes he believed she was too sensible for this job, but the woman was one of the best CSI he has ever worked with, so… "Harriet Dowling here and her husband Thaddeus upstairs. At least fourty stabs for her, bullets for him."
"And the son?"
"What?"
"They have a son, Warlock Dowling, fourteen years of age" Dan answered, remembering seeing the child in many of the campaign propaganda Dowling released for his presidential campaign.
"No teen body" Ella answered, still concentrated in Harriet. "But there was an open window in one of the rooms. It´s too high, but…I guess he could have escaped through it. If there were stairs waiting for him there."
"For some reason, I don´t believe that" the detective looked around a bit more, hoping to find Warlock Dowling dead or hiding in one of the rooms, but there was not luck. He was about to search the surroundings when one of the agents brought him some photos from a security camera of the perimeter. Dan opened his eyes, they showed the teen entering a Bentley along with two male adults, one in dark clothes, another in whites. And he seemed to trust completely in them. "Just what the hell is going on?"
-In another place-
"And maybe, maybe, you can go with me to the concert. I assure you it´s a great band, will have the LUX full and… detective douche!" Lucifer greeted him as always, making Dan roll his eyes. A few months of blissful rest from the eccentric consultant´s mockery were definitely not enough. Amenadiel did the same, but didn´t make anything to shut his annoying brother up. "And here I thought I lost April´s fool this year!"
"Lucifer, leave Dan alone" Chloe told him, rolling her eyes. She was practically chained to her desk doing the paperwork, the formerly fallen angel doing nothing more than distract her and her ex having all the fun. "I heard you had a hard case. A double homicide, no?"
"And a very public one. Thaddeus Dowling and his wife" the blond opened her mouth. An important politician has been murdered? Why was that not in the news? And why have they given the case to Dan? Why not her? "If you want to participate, I will appreciate the help. I am tired, running on caffeine, without any clue of the murders or missing child…"
"Missing child?" she asked, interested.
"Yes" the male sat down near her, pulling out the pictures and casually dropping it on her table. "Warlock Dowling, fourteen, a perimeter security camera caught him with this individuals…"
"It can´t be" Lucifer said in true amazement as he picked up one of the photos. It has caught the face of the person that got the child out of the house, his eyes hidden by a pair of dark glasses. "Brother, tell me I´m seeing what I think I´m seeing"
"What, Luci?" Amenadiel gave the picture a look and immediately his expression changed. To one of surprise… and something else. "Raphael?"
"Raphael? Do you know this individual?" Dan asked, surprised at finding clues in the most unsuspecting place from the most unsuspecting people.
"He… He is our brother" the dark skinned angel began, gulping. Why did Raphael have to appear now? Dammit, this was a talk he was hopping to avoid since he came back from Silver City. And since he learned about free will. Because… Because if Luci found out… "The second youngest" he stared at the photos again. "It think I know this other guy too…"
"Yes, wasn´t he one of Gabriel´s little employees?"
"Gabriel?" Dan intervened.
"Another one of our siblings" Lucifer answered with obvious distaste. "A true snob, that one. I don´t know how his employees deal with him." then his attention returned to the photo. "Anyway, what is Raphael doing here? And when he arrived? Last thing I knew, he was happily living in London."
"Don´t look at me, I don´t keep tabs on him" Amenadiel answered.
"That´s not important now" Chloe interrupted them, rubbing her temples. First she found out angels and demons were real, then she started dating the Devil after a very disastrous start including a mad priest, the first woman and demons and now she had to deal with a children kidnapping angel? Or couple of angels, if she had to wonder.
"Of course" her ex-husband finally seemed to wake up from his stupor. "Does he have any other relation here in LA? Someone else he could turn to?" both brothers shook their heads. Crowley´s territory has always been Europe, the furthest he has gone from London was Jerusalem. "I want a search warrant for Raphael Morningstar and…"
"Oh, that´s not his name, detective douche, he changed it when he acquired British nationality" during the Second World War, but Lucifer wasn´t going into details. "I just don´t happen to remember now… maybe I have it written down in my phonebook in the penthouse" the Devil got up, trying to remember if he brought the book of the fallen with him after his last trip to Hell. "I will go to pick it up."
"No, you stay here. You too, Amenadiel" the two angels looked at the human with astonishment. "I´m sorry, but there is conflict of interests. And Raphael could try to put himself in contact with you…"
"Not with me" the Firstborn answered, lowering his eyes a bit. "You see… our family had… a kind of conflict some years ago…"
"Raphael was kicked out of home along with me" finished Lucifer, rolling his eyes. The detectives didn´t need a complete explanation of the problems the most divine and dysfunctional family had, only a short recount. "I should know because I spent the first years after our banishment taking care of him. He was in hysterics when that happened…"
"He probably is going to contact you then" Amenadiel lifted himself from his seat, forgetting that Lucifer and Raphael were also not on speaking terms. "I should try to contact Gabriel, he probably has more information about the man with Raphael."
"Can´t you do it from your cell phone?"
"No, it doesn´t make long distance calls" the angel excused himself, ignoring Lucifer´s mocks about sending dear old Gabe his love. He hid himself in a room and try to contact the most infuriating archangel in all Heaven. He considered also calling Michael, but having mentioned her twin (Lucifer) last time he was in Silver City soured his relationship with her a bit. Meanwhile, Lucifer tried to remember the damn name without his damn book without success.
"You know, I give up, I will call Maze to see if she could bring me the damn book" he said, marking the number on his phone. The demoness answered after a few minutes, the sound of sharp knifes in the back.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Maze? Please, darling, be a dear and bring me my phonebook. It´s in the safe, you already know the combination" the sound of knifes being sharped suddenly stopped, only to be replaced by the one of Maze´s boots hitting the ground.
"Why? What happened? Are they here for Charlie again?" she asked in alert mode. On the other side, Dan was confused. What does Charlie have to do with this? Had Raphael something to do with his nephew´s kidnap? "If they as much as touch a single hair in his celestial head, I´m going to…"
"No, it´s just that I have seen an old employee of mine in a photo of a crime scene" he answered, trying to release as little information as he could. "You know, the ginger one, Ambar eyes, likes plants, specially apples and introduced me to Eve."
"What is Crawley doing out of London?" she asked, a little bit calmer. Everybody down there knew the Serpent of Eden, be it as the best tempter in history or as the worst traitor Hell ever had. As a lover to humanity too, so he wouldn´t even dream to put a baby in danger. And he barely left the city of London since it was created, let alone the British isle, and when he did, it was short trips like Edinburgh or Paris.
"Crowley!" Lucifer screamed as he was finally able to remember. "That´s the name he goes by now, Anthony J. Crowley. Thank you, Maze dear, I won´t be needing the phonebook after all."
"Lucifer, answer me, what…" he hanged before she could finish. Dan was already ordering a search warrant for Anthony J. Crowley, British citizen, getting surprised when they found no records of his entering the country. He was about to ask Lucifer if all of his brothers were as rich as him when Amenadiel entered.
"I talked to Gabriel" he said, looking uncomfortable. "He knows nothing of Raphael, but the other guy in the picture is A. Z. Fell, another British citizen. He owns a bookshop in Soho and… used to work for Gabriel in the… family business." The dark skinned angel revolved a bit. "Fell was fired when he was found out having an affair with someone from the competition."
"And by competition you mean me" Lucifer muttered. Just how many things has he lost while he was in LA? Well, an Apocalypse almost happened nearly without his knowledge, so it could be many. Wait, the Apocawoops. The demon and the angel that stopped it. "You mean that he… and Raphael…" a nod was his only answer. "Shoot, I lost the bet!" they all looked at him with strangeness. "Back home, I was Mr Sexy, but our little brother was Mr. Sympathy. He had many admirers following him all the day, even when he was at the hospital…"
"Hospital?"
"Raphael used to be a doctor before he lost his medical license. Which was exactly when he was kicked out of home" Lucifer rolled his eyes. "As if our damn Father hasn´t taken enough from us."
"Anyway, he can try to contact…"
"Dan, why don´t you let me take them to the penthouse? I can spend the night there with them, waiting for their brother to call" Chloe suggested. This was an angelic thing, nothing Dan could solve. Or her, at least not without the right information. "Amenadiel has to help with Charlie too, he will surely be more comfortable doing so in the penthouse than here. Besides, Linda won´t want him here. I can call her to come when we are there."
"Well… if you think it´s best…"
"Of course, see you later" she picked up her paperwork and guided the two angels to the elevator, waiting for the doors to close behind them to ask. "Okay, you are going to explain me what is happening right now."
"Not here, detective" Lucifer instructed. "Penthouse"
-In the penthouse-
"So… the Serpent of Eden and the Archangel of Healing and Guardianship are the same person?" Linda asked, a glass of coke in her hands. By her side, Charlie slept like an angel. Which he kind of was. "And he and the Angel of the Eastern Gate are an item?" Maze nodded, more informed of the situation thanks to the infernal gossip she caught. "And how does that work? Are they like normal interracial couples or…"
"Don´t ask me, Crawly was always a mystery to me" the demoness served herself more alcohol. "Awful fellow, but a good tempter, mischief maker too. Preferred to be here on earth than down there."
"And who does not, dear Maze?" Lucifer drank more alcohol. "It´s hot, humid and terribly dirty down there. The reception is terrible and the people worse. Who would want to get down there?" he gulped down all his cup. "What I really want to know is why hasn´t he appeared yet. He should have come to me immediately."
"Maybe because you were distracted enough to allow other demons to sentence him to death by Holy Water because he helped stopping Armageddon" What? Lucifer wasn´t informed about any tribunal or trial having been formed to judge his brother for that. He actually kind of wanted to give him his thanks for that one, it would have been horrible if the world ended then.
"Wait" Chloe got into the conversation, a little bit tipsy. "Armageddon actually happened?"
"Yes, like three years ago" Mazekeen informed, raising her own cup. "Don´t worry, it got thwarted by a rather strange pair of angel and demon" she explained raising herself from her seat. "Do you have something stronger?"
"Serve yourself" Lucifer got away from the bar, letting Maze get to the good stuff. "Why wasn´t I informed about a tribunal judging my brother for treason?"
"Beelzebub knew you would stop her if you knew, what else" his former bodyguard said, suddenly serious. "In all Hell, only that bitch is powerful enough to keep something concealed from you" he kept quiet, contemplating that. "And why are you so surprised? The harlot was married to fucking Gabriel. Some of his assholeness should have stick by in her."
Things have started, now, with the angel and demon in a mad dash to escape and the Devil, the angel and the detective searching for them, let´s hope the things didn´t end up badly. And I always liked those fics where Crowley is really the Archangel Raphael, but doesn´t remember. You will soon see why he doesn´t remember, it´s going to be a surprise. Anyway, Warlock is still in danger, being targeted by those two assassins, and there is more problems on the horizon. Will those two manage to keep their child safe? Will the police find them? And how will Lucifer explain Adam to Chloe? Because that will surely come up later. Review!