Chloe studied the slender glass vile that she held in her hands, slowly twirling it end over end. She deliberated whether or not to give it to Dr. Leanne McCoy for lab testing to find out the truth about Lucifer or to leave sleeping giants lie. She knew through her self-study of the past few days, she wasn't the woman she once was. Since being shot at the beginning of the year, Chloe knew she had come back . . .different. Not wrong or tainted, but somehow, she came back a changed woman.
Increased sight, hearing, smell, agility accompanied by greater strength and agility. The fact that if she cut herself she healed and that she had an ability to speed the healing of others. None of this she ever believed possible until Lucifer Morningstar entered her life.
Chloe rolled her eyes, letting loose a dark laugh as she remembered Amenadiel's lame attempts to convince her that Lucifer suffered from Histrionic Personality Disorder. As he rationalized Lucifer's behavior with bizarre actions such as shooting himself in the stomach, exploding blood packs and trying to explain Lucifer's voodoo-eye-mojo thing as neural linguistic programming and blame Lucifer's mental state on a bad childhood, Chloe felt her temper simmer and she an unusual flash of cold behind her blue eyes.
Chloe tossed the vial of blood into the waste can and left the station for the evening.
A powerful instinct of suspicion and foreboding surrounded her as she made her way toward the front doors of the Police Station. 'I have one chance to find out who or what he is and how he's affected me.'
Chloe turned around, almost running from the front doors to her desk, retrieving he blood vial from the waste can and pushing it deeply into her coat pocket.
Chloe knew one thing about her partner and friend, whatever or whomever he was, he was no liar. She successfully resisted the urge to belt him into the next room of Lux. Still, why was Amenadiel determined to convince her of Lucifer's supposed mental illness? Chloe felt alone without anyone to speak to about it except Lucifer. At that moment, she decided she wanted to know more.
Whomever or whatever Lucifer was, Amenadiel wanted her to drop it and not investigate further. Yet, the changes that occurred in her body left Chloe is a state of disbelief. She needed answers. Whatever affected her might affect Trixie and for every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. Once on the road, she made a quick call.
"Dr. McCoy here," a low, husky voice answered on the third ring.
"Doctor, it's Chloe Decker," she breathed deeply. If she went forward with this action, there was no returning to the safety of ignorance. "I have it."
"You have it?" Leanne's husky voice rose an octave.
"I do," Chloe confirmed, fighting the urge to run the red light that took too long to turn green. "How soon can you test the sample?"
"How long will it take you to get to my office?"
"I can meet you in fifteen."
"Does anyone else know about this sample?"
"Lucifer knows," Chloe answered, tapping her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as she waited for the light to turn green.
"And he's doing nothing to discourage you?" Leanne made no attempt to the incredulity in her voice.
"Not at all," Chloe said, gunning the car as the light finally became her favorite color. "In fact, he insists that I have it tested. It's his brother, Amenadiel, who tried to rationalize everything Lucifer has done."
"We'll test it and we'll find out once and for all if the devil is in the details," Leanne replied, glee lacing her voice. "Be careful getting over here."
"Yes, Mom." Chloe chuckled.
Three hours later, the doctor state at her desk in stark silence with the blood vial in her hands. "I ran your blood sample in comparison to Lucifer's and a strange thing happened while I was in the lab."
"Hmm," Chloe sat with arms folded and her face in a careful, neutral expression.
"When the samples were far apart, both appeared as AB negative. However, when I had them closer together and studied Lucifer's sample under the microscope, it changed."
"Changed?" Chloe's eyes widened slightly. "That's impossible."
"Exactly, that's impossible," Leanne agreed. "So, I decided to do some empirical testing. While only a few feet apart, I noticed that some of Lucifer's Blood Turned O Positive right under the lens. There weren't any other blood samples in the labor other than yours and his. When I moved yours further away, by the time I returned to the lens, Lucifer's blood possessed antibodies to fight against A and B antigens."
"In English, Doc?" Chloe shrugged.
"Antigens are protein molecules. Think of them as birds. Birds of a feather flock together, so people with A positive blood can accept A positive blood or O positive Blood. Then, you have the antibodies that defend against these antigens, considering them invaders. If someone, for instances is A positive and gets a transfusion of AB negative blood, the antibodies are going to attack the antigens and destroy them."
"Like fighting an infection or disease."
"Bingo," Leanne rose from behind her desk. "I thought it was insane and just me misinterpreting the data, but I tested the theory three times, Chloe. Whenever your blood is in proximity to Lucifer's, his blood undergoes a metamorphosis from AB negative to O positive. In the span of a few minutes, it loses some of its unique qualities and becomes mundane. However, when your blood is near his, the antibodies in your blood increase exponentially, making you Wonder Woman."
"So, what does that mean?" Chloe asked.
"When Lucifer is close to you, is he prone to injury?"
"He does some very reckless, dangerous things," Chloe admitted. "One time, he tried convincing me that he is the Devil. He goaded me to shoot him and I did."
"What was his reaction?" Leanne leaned forward, focused on Chloe.
"He said, 'bloody hell, that hurt!'" Chloe chuckled for a second with a horrible imitation of an English accent. "I almost believed him."
"Something about you makes him vulnerable," Leanne's brow furrowed in contemplation.
"He said the same thing, Doc." Chloe remembered that night when she'd opened up to him about how their 'thing' went beyond work or sex. 'It seems, Detective, that you make me vulnerable, too.'
"Somehow, you siphon his energy, his strength, his abilities when you're around him and absorb them," Leanne shook her head. "The question is how?"
"The Devil is in the details?"
"If he truly is who he claims, you are messing with forces that are beyond any mere mortal's ability to understand. Destroy this blood sample and let no one know you've ever had it," Leanne's voice became urgent. "You can't tell anyone of this change that occurs in you when you're around Lucifer. Most of all, you can't let him know. To do so puts yourself at risk and the Devil is a very powerful entity."
"You believe him?" Chloe gave her old friend a skeptical glance. "Really?"
"Do you have a better suggestion?"
"Equipment malfunction," Chloe suggested. "Some element of contamination during the lab tests."
"No, these microscopes are state-of-the-art," Leanne shook her head, handing the vial to her. She pushed her red frames so they fit perfectly "I've destroyed my samples and I'm going to burn the data. If this information gets into the wrong hands, you might find yourself on the Devil's bad side."
"Lucifer always has my back," Chloe rebelled against Leanne's notion that Lucifer was more than an eccentric nightclub owner with a penchant for arrogance, a gift for making people of both sexes melt and an overdose of charm. "He'd never hurt me."
"Or he may be using you to his own ends," Leanne started feeding her data sheets into a nearby shredder to the left of her desk. "If I were you, I'd sever your connection immediately to keep you and Trixie safe. If he's here, then others like him can't be far behind and you don't want to be caught in a war against the Host and Fallen."
"What do you mean?"
"Grab some holy texts and start reading, my friend," Leanne fed the final page of her documents into the shredder. Standing up, she pushed a stray black strand out of her face, tucking it behind one ear. Readjusting her eyeglasses, she pursed her lips in contemplation. "The last time Lucifer went to war, he had his ass kicked."
"I believe in good and evil, right and wrong, but the Devil and God? No, I don't get into the whole religious thing."
"You have a partner who has done inexplicable things on several occasions that can't be rationally explained, Chloe," Leanne's voice rose and became harsher with each word. "You don't know what or whom you're dealing with. Stop sticking your head in the sand and damn it, be a detective. While you're at it, I'd talk to some clergy, have your house blessed, get some holy water and anything else to keep the Devil away. You need to educate and protect yourself."
Well into the night and several cups of coffee later, Chloe's vision blurred from fatigue and her mind was tied in knots from absorbing massive amounts of information. She covered holy texts from several faiths, Wikipedia and . What nightclub had its own Wiki site?
Chloe ran her finger through the stray strands of her ponytail, studying her list and starting her forth cup of coffee.
1) Lucifer had a rough childhood.
2) Lucifer wanted to be equal to God.
3) Lucifer's pride got the best of him, he fought a war and he lost.
4) Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven.
5) He's responsible for all of the evil in the world.
Lucifer never lied and he always had her back. After pouring over some texts about Angelology, she found out another name he'd been given throughout the ages was Samael, the Lightbringer. His story differed quite from the one she'd learned a child in Sunday School.
1) He wasn't God's first angel, but Samael was His favorite.
2) Samael didn't believe in predestination. He rebelled in favor of free will.
3) He didn't lose a war, he was kicked out of Heaven into Hell to cool his heels for awhile.
4) He became the Lord of Hell.
Finally, Chloe studied her notes of everything that Lucifer had said to her of significance about his being the Devil to see how it compared with the varying versions of the man, the myth and the legend.
1) When investigating Delilah's death, Lucifer said he was immortal.
2) He'd once mentioned Silver City. She'd only told Leanne about it and how she'd dreamt being there.
Chloe had a hard time with #3: It was a time when Lucifer was convinced she had turned against him and thought him capable of murder. "Well, well, Detective, where do I begin? With the grandest fall in the history of time? Or perhaps the far more agonizing punishment that followed? To be blamed for every morsel of evil humanity's endured, every atrocity committed in my name? As though I wanted people to suffer. All I ever wanted was to be my own man here; to be judged for my own doing and for that? I've been shown how truly powerless I am. That even the people trusted: the one person, you, could be used to hurt me."
4) Lucifer couldn't get drunk, "Pesky supernatural metabolism keeps getting in the way."
The one connection that made any sense was "Silver City." That was the missing thread that Chloe decided to follow back to the source. With renewed inspiration, she pushed the books aside, returning to a website that had mentioned the mystical metropolis of the afterlife. Another twenty minutes turned up some interesting factoids.
1) Silver City was "outside the created order of things" and apparently predated the rest of Creation.
Chloe didn't want to believe, but Lucifer had never lied to her yet; why would he start now? It explained why Amenadiel was anxious to discourage further investigation of Lucifer and anything about his past. As Leanne had said, "If he's here, then others like him can't be far behind and you don't want to be caught in a war against the Host and Fallen."
So, Chloe refocused her attention on the name, "Amenadiel." After tracing his name through interlinear scriptures back to its oldest Aramaic roots, she found that Amenadiel was God's first angel, his name meaning "The Truth of God." Chloe's tenacity for finding evidence proved fruitful. Amenadiel was also known as Ametiel. Along with his brothers, Gabriel and Michael, he opposed the creation of Humanity. As punishment, the feathers from his wings were burned away, making them grow back sooty gray rather than the dazzling white like those of his brothers. Before the forth cup of coffee wore off, Chloe's tired eyes say the first blue and pink rays of morning pour through her front window.
Mid-October 2016
Chloe felt frustration well up and she pushed it down. She refused to let emotions get in the way of her investigation of a double homicide. Lucifer had suggested that she and Maze go out on thee town, work some of Maze's contacts to see what she could dig up about the triangular stamp found on one of the victim's inner wrists. So far, Frustration: Home Run. Detective: Zilch.
"Good one, Decker," Maze gave slow applause, laughing at Chloe's failed attempt at getting information. "On how not to get laid."
"I'm not trying to get laid, Maze." Chloe said, exasperated at Lucifer's private attendant's needling.
"I don't get it," She gave Chloe a puzzling look, taking another swig of her beer.
"Maze, what's not to get?" Chloe snapped. "Two women have died and their killer needs to be brought to justice."
"Well, did you talk to the bartender?"
"Yeah. He said something was going on across the street in the abandoned building. I put a call in for a warrant to the judge, and I'm waiting to hear back." Chloe started sorting through the murder file, looking for anything that might fill in the missing pieces.
"Great. Looks like you have some time to kill," Maze pulled the Piña Colada out of Ella's hands, plunking it in front of Chloe. "Have a drink."
Ella shrugged as she saw her party-in-a-glass back in Chloe's possession and didn't miss the forced smile plastered on Maze's face.
Chloe shook her head, a look of defeat in her eyes "No, I'm gonna call it a night."
Ella saw her turn away and saw her opportunity. Reaching past Maze, she snatched back the coveted mixed drink, taking a hardy sip of the sweet beverage. She saw a blonde walk over to them and greet them as if she knew them.
"Hello, ladies," The blonde greeted them.
Ella studied the blonde as she slurped another long sip of the mixed drink through the neon green bendy straw. The blonde looked familiar somehow, petite, heavy-rimmed black glasses, wearing a pink off-the shoulder top. Ella couldn't place where she'd seen her, but she they'd met somehow.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" Chloe asked, pleasantly surprised by the blonde's unexpected appearance.
"Maze invited me. She said it's girls' night."
"No," Chloe drawled slowly, turning toward Maze. Each word punctuated correction. "I'm working a double homicide."
Maze sighed heavily, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "C'mon, Decker, would it kill you to just relax for once? All you do is work, work, work."
Ella noticed how easily Maze took the file's contents from Chloe's hand and effortlessly reassembled them in order before closing the file. She originally surmised that Maze was too self-absorbed in herself to notice anything and Ella thought, 'First impressions are the best ones, anyway.'
"Wow, Like you're one to talk," Chloe fired back in a rare show of her inner bitch. "You're at Lucifer's beck and call 24/7. It's like you're his personal concierge.
"I'm not his personal anything, anymore," Maze denied.
"Are you sure about that?" Chloe retorted, giving her a skeptical glance as she gathered up the file. "Well, you basically still live there and it's not like he's pouring you any drinks."
"Jealous much, Decker?"
"Of what, sloppy seconds?" Blue eyes classed with onyx.
Maze rose from her bar stool, moving into Chloe's personal space. "Hey, at least, I know how to have fun. What about pleasure? Men? Women? Sex Toys? When's the last time you had sex? "
"Is that all you ever think about?" Chloe asked, not surprised that Lucifer's bartender had a mind that thought very much like his.
"Hey, it's Girls' Night. Why does everything always have to be about work or sex?" Ella interrupted quickly.
"Do you ever shut up?" Maze sneered.
"No," Ella flashed her a big grin. "It's Girls' Night Maze. No fight, just fun, okay?"
"Yeah, I agree," Linda nodded in Ella's direction, speaking in a slow, calm voice to soothe two tempers about ready to boil over. "Girls' night, done right, is about female bonding."
"Exactly," Ella agreed wholeheartedly, raising her Piña Colada in an agreeing toast.
"Girls' Night is about really getting to know each other, sharing problems, origin stories and secrets."
"Can't we just drink?" Maze conceded defeat: no fight tonight. Damn. She took another swig of her longneck.
"Fine," Linda agreed, now that tempers had been brought back to a reasonable level. "I'll start. Um," I worked my way through med school as a phone sex operator."
Chloe's eyes widened.
"No way!" Ella gasped in disbelief.
"1-800-ProfessorFeelGood," Linda's voice dropped an octave, becoming sultry and inviting.
"I would totally call that," Ella gushed.
"Nice," a slow grin crossed Maze's lips, nodding her approval. There was much more to the doctor than she'd thought. Good to know.
Ella reached past Maze again, extending her hand to the blonde. "Hi, I'm Ella, by the way. I love that we just skipped the small talk."
"Hi, I'm Linda. So, next origin story," she cast a glance in Ella's direction.
"Uh, yeah. Okay. I'll go next, I guess," Ella shrugged. "I used to steal cars."
Linda's jaw dropped, Chloe's eyes widened and Maze gave a grudging shrug. "Not bad, kid. Maybe, you're not as annoying as you sound."
Ella looked Maze directly. "Who's next?"
"I was forged in the bowels of Hell to torture the guilty for all of eternity!" Maze proudly declared.
There was a moment of awkward silence that hung between the ladies.
"Interesting share," Linda found her voice. "Okay, so Now, you go, Chloe. Female trust. Come on.
What's on your mind?"
"What's on my mind, like, other than the case?" Chloe asked, a small break in her voice.
"Yeah," Linda encouraged.
Chloe swallowed hard, not remembering the last time someone had asked her a question about her life and her well-being. She felt a hot liquid sting her eyes and she blinked a few times to ward away the looming fears she'd held at bay for too long. She nodded slowly, inhaling deeply for courage when she felt three sets of eyes all intently staring at her. "Well, um, a little divorce, single parenthood uh, possible homelessness and most likely many, many cats in my future."
"Or things that require batteries," Maze smirked.
"Okay, you know, that's-that's that's what I'm talking about," Linda affirmed. She held her hand high and motioned for the bartender. "Bartender, tequila, stat!"
Chloe had a feeling the night was just beginning.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Notes: Just a question or two I've always wondered about:
1) If Lucifer's wings were white, then why were Amenadiel's sooty gray?
2) What is Amenadiel's back story?
3) Was Chloe truly oblivious to Lucifer's nature or did she know more than she appeared?