A/N: Just a little "what if" alternate story because I felt sorry for Luci being so helpless in this scene.
"Most would have dropped already. You're clearly very strong."
The man continued to speak but Lucifer could barely focus on his words. Something was wrong with him. He couldn't speak anymore. And if this wasn't the worst, now his arms and legs also started to lose their strength.
And then he dropped to the ground.
Unable to move, Lucifer had to endure being dragged to the other end of the apartment by the man who was obviously Les Klumpsky, the killer he and the Detective were looking for.
"Lucifer?" The Detective's voice. It sounded far away, but it had to be her. She was looking for him.
And then there was Klumpsky's face right in front of him, showing him with his index finger in front of his mouth to stay quiet. A mocking gesture since Lucifer couldn't say anything anyway.
The face disappeared and Lucifer was left with a very limited field of vision, being unable to move his head or limbs. Then there was a short, metallic sound. Whatever it was, it didn't sound good.
Something was moving in front of him, coming closer fast. Probably the psycho, trying to finish him off now. If only the Detective wasn't so close by, he could easily reverse the situation and finish off Klumpsky instead. If only he wasn't so vulnerable around her.
"Lucifer!" The Detective's voice was now in front of him. Lucifer moved his eyes to where the voice came from and recognized that she was right there with him.
And with the killer.
"What happened? Are you okay?" The Detective's voice sounded alarmed.
Something was moving behind her. First it was only a shadow towering up over her, then the form became clearer and Lucifer could see that it was Klumpsky. He was holding a huge knife in his hands and his face was distorted into an ugly grin, showing exactly what he planned to do with the knife.
Lucifer's eyes went to all sides, trying to signal the Detective that something was not right, that she should look around her. But she was so focused on Lucifer that she didn't seem to notice the man sneaking up behind her.
Don't hurt her, Lucifer thought, getting desperate. Don't… hurt her.
But the killer came closer and closer without the Detective noticing it. His grin got even wider when he reached her, the grin of someone who was completely out of his mind. He would do it. There was no way for Lucifer to stop this lunatic from doing it.
And then he did it.
With a fast movement Klumpsky's hands came down, stabbing the Detective in the back with the knife. She let out a scream, her eyes wide in surprise. The psycho behind her started laughing and hit her on the head so she would fall over. With a painful sound she rolled over and disappeared from Lucifer's field of vision.
He hurt her. He… hurt her.
Lucifer was screaming inside but no sound left his lips. Still being paralyzed, he could only stare at the grin of the killer in front of him. Klumpsky stared back at him, seemingly satisfied with the situation.
"Is she important to you?" Klumpsky asked. "Maybe I should kill her slowly then."
With these words, he moved to the side to where the Detective fell to the ground. All that Lucifer could see now was the door of the apartment, still open, but no one seemed to have heard the Detective's scream. That or everyone chose to ignore it.
There was a strange numb feeling inside Lucifer and he was sure that he was panicking. This couldn't be the end. He had only just come back to earth. He and the Detective had only just started being in a relationship. He couldn't lose her right after it finally happened. She was way too important to him.
And yet, he was so helpless. He let himself be knocked out by some random serial killer. He, the Devil… who was supposed to be much stronger than this man could ever dream of. Because he was vulnerable around the person he cared about the most. This was so wrong. This was not how it should be. He had to do something about this psycho killer. He had to protect the Detective.
The more he thought about these things, the more the feeling of numbness changed into something else. It was burning inside him, though he couldn't tell if it was hot or cold. Then he noticed that he could move his fingers slightly. Good. It seemed like whatever the psycho injected him was already wearing off.
Lucifer closed his eyes, trying to focus on the burning sensation inside him. Slowly, the feeling of normality returned to his body. He moved his head to the side and there was Klumpsky—he was leaning over the Detective's body, doing something that Lucifer couldn't see from his position.
Seeing the killer so close to the Detective made Lucifer furious and gave him the last push to fully move around and get up. Still staggering a bit, he approached the man from behind, and grabbed him by his shoulders. Klumpsky let out a gasp, seemingly surprised by the sudden attack. Lucifer didn't think twice about it and threw him as far as he could.
Normally, Klumpsky would have flown through the entire room, but Lucifer's strength was still not fully back. Klumpsky crashed into the table, groaning with pain. Lucifer didn't care about it. His attention was already focused on the Detective in front of him.
"Detective?" Lucifer kneeled down to her and touched her face. "Are you okay?"
"Lucifer…" The Detective slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. "I'm… It hurts."
"Everything will be fine, I promise," Lucifer said, relieved that she was still alive. "We'll get you to the hospital and then you—"
"Lucifer!" The Detective's voice was full of panic.
And then he could feel the presence behind him. Lucifer moved to the side, trying to evade the attack that was coming. But he was too slow. The knife touched him at the shoulder, ripping open the suit he was wearing and hitting the skin under it. Lucifer expected a sharp pain from being hit by the knife but it was only minimal.
"You…" Lucifer growled and got up. "You're gonna pay for all of this."
Klumpsky stood there, holding the knife in front of him. Then without any warning he jumped at Lucifer, trying to stab him again. Lucifer moved his arm to deflect the attack and when his arm hit Klumpsky, the knife fell out of his hand. Lucifer used the chance, grabbed Klumpsky by his shirt, and slammed him into the cupboard behind him.
"You dared to hurt the Detective," Lucifer said in a dangerously low voice. "That was a mistake."
Klumpsky squirmed in Lucifer's grip which made Lucifer only more furious. He grabbed Klumpsky by the neck and held him up in the air. Then he pressed his hands tighter around the man's neck which made him gasp for air.
"Lucifer, don't kill him!" The Detective's voice behind Lucifer was weak but it did the trick and calmed him down. Slowly, he lowered his grip around Klumpsky's neck.
He had almost lost it. He had almost killed the man in front of him and in the moment of doing it he fully believed that this was the right punishment for him. This man had killed several people and caused so much harm to others. He deserved to be punished, deserved to die a death ten times more painful than what he did to his victims.
But the Detective was right, he shouldn't kill him like this. It might have satisfied him for a moment, but it would have caused too many problems later on.
"Seems like today is your lucky day," Lucifer growled and threw Klumpsky again through the room, this time further than the first time. Klumpsky screamed when he hit the wall on the other side of the room and stopped moving after falling to the ground.
Lucifer was immediately back to the Detective's side, checking her condition. The wound on her back didn't seem to be so bad but she definitely needed medical treatment.
"Everything will be fine, Detective. I'm gonna call the ambulance now." Lucifer took out his phone.
"If I were you I would not do this." The voice came from the other side of the room, followed by the click of a gun getting unlocked.
Lucifer looked into the direction the voice came from and saw Klumpsky standing again, with a gun in his hands, pointing at Lucifer and the Detective. It was the Detective's gun. He must have taken it when he was leaning over her.
What a stupid rookie mistake, Lucifer thought. He should have made sure that Klumpsky was really knocked out and unarmed. But he was too worried about the Detective.
"Put your hands up and get up," Klumpsky ordered him to do. "No tricks or I'll shoot."
Angry at himself, Lucifer slowly stood up, holding his hands up in the air.
"I'm surprised you can move already," Klumpsky continued. "Normally people can't recover that fast from it. I guess I should have killed you immediately."
"Alright, you win." Lucifer tried to speak in a calming voice. "But you don't have to do this. Let me make you an offer and—"
"Shut up," Klumpsky said. "I'm not letting you guys just go. I wanted to kill her slowly in front of you, but you're too strong so you have to die first."
And before Lucifer could say anything else, Klumpsky pulled the trigger.
Everything happened so fast that Lucifer couldn't react to it. All he could hear was the Detective screaming and then he could feel the impact of the bullet hitting his chest. He stumbled backward and expected to fall to the ground. It was over. The psycho shot him. And now he would shoot the Detective. The one thing that Lucifer couldn't let happen.
Eyes still wide in shock, Lucifer noticed that he was still standing. He slowly looked down to where he expected a hole in his chest and blood coming out of it but the only thing he could see was a small hole from where the bullet hit his suit. He didn't get hurt. He didn't die.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Klumpsky pointed the gun with shaking hands towards Lucifer and shot again. And again. But the most the bullets did was leave more holes in Lucifer's suit.
Lucifer let out a laugh of relief. "Nothing is wrong with me. In fact, I haven't felt this strong in a while."
He started walking towards Klumpsky who kept shooting until the magazine was empty, staring at Lucifer in panic. Klumpsky was still trying to shoot when Lucifer reached him, even though now only the metallic clicks from the empty magazine could be heard.
"You should give this to me." Lucifer took the gun calmly and put it on the table behind him.
Klumpsky kept staring at him, his body trembling. "Go away! Leave me alone!"
"I don't think I can leave you alone after what you did," Lucifer replied.
He then grabbed Klumpsky by his shirt and looked directly at him with his devil eyes. Klumpsky started screaming in panic, trying to get away from Lucifer, but Lucifer's grip was too firm now that his strength returned to him.
"I won't do anything to you now," Lucifer said, "but rest assured that there will be a special place in hell, reserved just for you."
"You… m-mon-monster!" Klumpsky screeched, trying to get away in a last attempt before he passed out.
"Is this okay, Detective?" Lucifer asked after he helped her sit on the couch.
"Yes, thanks." She smiled at him.
Lucifer smiled back at her. He was so glad that she was not seriously hurt. After Klumpsky passed out, Lucifer called the ambulance and shortly after that the backup unit arrived as well and brought Klumpsky away. The wound on the Detective's back was not very serious and after some medical treatment she was released from the hospital. Lucifer insisted she stay with him at least for the night and she didn't decline.
He brought a blanket so she wouldn't get cold, then he sat down next to her and embraced her, making sure not to come too close to the wound. Feeling her warmth so close to him was comforting and once again he felt a huge relief.
"I'm so glad that nothing happened to you," he whispered.
"Me too," she replied. "Thank you for saving me, Lucifer."
He looked at her and couldn't believe that he almost lost this amazing woman. She was precious and he knew he had to protect her—no matter what. Slowly he leaned closer to her and they kissed, making Lucifer forget about all the fears and worries for a moment.
"Lucifer?"
"Hmm?" he replied, eyes half closed and still feeling the positive effects of the kiss.
"How did you do it?"
The question brought him back to reality.
"Do what?" he asked.
"Well… when I found you, you couldn't move at all. And then you suddenly started fighting Klumpsky. And at the end," she paused for a moment, "he shot you. But nothing happened even though I was there."
"I'm not sure," Lucifer replied. "He injected me with something which did paralyze me. I was unable to move when he hurt you, for which I'm very sorry."
"It's not your fault, being paralyzed is a horrible feeling. And usually it lasts for quite a while, but apparently not in your case."
"I remember there was something else in me… as if I was burning." Lucifer tried to remember more details.
"Burning? That sounds weird."
"I was only thinking about you and that I had to help you. I couldn't let Klumpsky harm you more. I had to prevent him from doing more. And then somehow I could move."
"Did you… choose to be no longer vulnerable around me because you had to save me?"
"Maybe?" Lucifer wasn't sure what happened but that made sense. "I still don't fully understand how this vulnerability thing works. Oh, I have an idea, let's just test it."
"What?" The Detective raised her eyebrows.
Lucifer jumped up from the couch and came back smiling, holding a knife in his hand.
"What are you planning to do?" she asked warily.
"It's easy, Detective," he said. "I just need to cut myself while you're close to me."
"Are you insane?" She obviously didn't approve of his idea.
"Just a small cut, I promise," Lucifer said, trying to calm her down. And then he moved the blade along his left palm.
There was nothing. Not a single cut, not a single drop of blood. Lucifer could feel some slight pain, but otherwise he was completely unharmed.
"Look, Detective!" He showed her his palm with a feeling of relief.
"You're not bleeding… you're really no longer vulnerable." She stared at his hand as if she couldn't believe it.
Lucifer sat back on the couch, beaming of joy. "I think you're right. While I was unable to move I was thinking how absurd it was that I'm only vulnerable around you, the person who I want to protect the most. This must have changed it for me. I felt so much better and confident when I could finally move and protect you. I think you make me invincible."
"That's amazing." The Detective was now smiling at him.
"It is indeed," Lucifer said. "From now on I can protect you even better."
It was a phenomenal feeling. There had been too many times where he cursed himself for being vulnerable around her when the only thing he wanted was to protect her. But this was over now. From now on he would be able to shield her from bad things.
Lucifer looked at her with a loving face. "But for now… no dangerous things. The doctors said you shouldn't move too much so you can recover. So how about some food and then a movie?"
"Sounds good," she replied. "I'd also like some more kissing."
Lucifer smiled. "How can I think about doing other things when you offer me this?"
"Well, we can start with that." She smiled back at him, then leaned closer and kissed him.
Lucifer closed his eyes and kissed her back. And he couldn't stop thinking how amazing she was, how she made him feel all these good things when she was with him. He felt like he could do anything when he was with her. He felt truly invincible.