I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long, I moved house at the start of the year and it has taken me a long time to get my internet sorted. I'm back now and I'm going to aim to have a chapter a week up (I've been writing even if I haven't been posting so I'm almost finished this story). I don't think I'll be finished by the time the new season airs on May 8th (excited about that one) but I'll give it my best shot.

Thanks to everyone who has hung around and reviewed, hopefully you all enjoy the next instalment.

Chapter 17: A Black Feather

Chloe got into the car and stared out the front window as Lucifer pulled into traffic. They had until they reached the station to make sense of this, but Chloe had the horrible feeling that this was going to be one of those confusing conversations that left her reeling for days.

"What is with the feather?" She asked cautiously. Lucifer changed gear and looked down at her, she wished he would watch the road more when he drove.

"Based on the effect it had on our unfortunate human, it can only be an angel feather." Lucifer explained, waving his left hand absently over his own shoulder.

Chloe stared at him. "How can one angel feather cause all this."

"Humans and the divine are not designed to mix Detective. Your mortal minds struggle to comprehend the divine and exposure to it, particularly for someone with…shall we say a few screws loose its overwhelming."

"I'm coping." Chloe said, "and so does Linda."

"Exceptions to the rule Detective, I'm an irresponsible ass but I do try not to break too many of you." Lucifer changed lanes quickly and Chloe's heart jumped into her mouth until the traffic settled again.

Chloe considered what they knew. "This kid, he wasn't that bad. His mental illness was well controlled he was doing great according to his doctors."

"Until the feather." Lucifer reminded her. "And based on the description it gets worse."

Chloe looked at him and Lucifer threw her an unusually serious look. "What do you mean?" Chloe was trying to understand all this and work out a way to tell the New York detectives all this information without seeming like they were both insane.

"A black feather." Lucifer sighed, looping the block that housed the precinct to give them more time. "Makes it so much worse."

"Why." Chloe wasn't sure she actually wanted to know the answer. Everything was so much easier when Lucifer was just a crazy person with a bible fetish.

Lucifer sighed and she could see him straightening things out in his head so he could explain it to her. She had seen him do the same thing time and time again when she asked him more difficult questions. Linda said he did the same thing for her. He was explaining massive concepts to them, things that their 'mortal brains' just weren't designed to understand. Chloe often wondered, usually followed by the consumption of a lot of alcohol, just how much Lucifer actually knew about how the world worked. "Not all angel feathers are the same. In fact most of them are very different."

"Like humans don't all have the same skin colour?" Chloe tried.

Lucifer tilted his head and pulled into the underground parking, he eased through the narrow lanes, only one eye on the parking spaces. "In some ways. Most angel feathers are a shade of grey or brown. Rather startling if you're a human, but middling range on the brain melting metre. There are some exceptions."

"Like yours." Chloe said warmly. Lucifer's feathers were brilliant white and brain meltingly beautiful.

"Mine are the biggest exception." Lucifer sighed. "Thanks to dad for that one." Chloe smiled at the bite of sarcasm in his voice there. "Raphael has peacock feathers for some completely unknown reason. My suspicion is dad was sampling some pretty strong alcohol that day."

Chloe frowned and tried to picture someone with peacock feather wings, failed and went back to listening to Lucifer's description.

"Azrael's are black and at a guess I'd say it was one of her feathers that is causing all our problems." Lucifer pulled into a park and turned off the engine. He turned to look at her seriously.

"All angel feathers are divine, but there are some that have more individual and as a result more potent effects than others. Mine are filled with divine light, the sort that creates suns. It's part of why I was so desperate to get them back when they were stolen."

Chloe nodded in understanding, though she didn't quite get it. She had seen Lucifer's wings. They were beautiful and filled you with a sort of adoring awe that was highly addictive. Still they didn't seem as bad as he was saying. Although she was more resistant to Lucifer's divine and devilish abilities than your average joe.

"What about Azrael's?" She asked, "She's the angel of Death right? So what her wings make you want to kill people?"

Lucifer shrugged. "My sister doesn't usually interact with humans outside of the dead. But it would make sense. She's the angel of death, that's a pretty powerful position. It would stand to reason that her wings and feathers would imbue a sort of desire for death in whoever was holding it."

"Not a good thing in a mentally unstable kid."

"No." Lucifer agreed.

"Ok, we have an answer. Now I just need to work out how to tell Kate Beckett and not sound like a complete mad person." Chloe opened the door and got out. Lucifer unfolded from the other door and raised an eyebrow. He studied her over the roof of the car. "Now you see why I don't lie Detective, much too difficult."

Chloe rolled her eyes and they headed into the precinct.

For this chapter you are going to have to pretend that Boo Normal was ever so slightly different. I need Azrael's feathers to be as easily identified as Lucifer's lovely white ones. Call it poetic licence if you will.

For those who are interested Raphael's peacock feather wings are from the comics, they're lovely.