The next morning, LAPD officers were taping up the scene of the crime. Detective Chloe Decker was already busy examining the deceased, identified as Douglas Birchman by his parole officer.

It was a stressful day for Chloe. She was still dealing with the aftermath of her divorce from Dan, none of her fellow officers seemed able to provide her with emotional support, her daughter Trixie was in the middle of a "Frozen" phase, and, worse of all, her best forensic examiner wasn't there to cheer her up with a witty, nerdy retort.

She turned to Officer Fernandez. "Where's Ella? She's always here before me."

Fernandez shrugged. "You didn't hear? Ella called in this morning saying she was going to be late to work. Something about needing to deal with a personal problem."

That struck Chloe as odd. Sure, she didn't know much, or really anything, about Ella's personal life. But Ella never came in late to work unless she was 100% incapacitated by a stomach bug. And she hadn't been sick in months.

"Problems, Detective?" And then there's him...

Lucifer Morningstar walked up behind her, a tall cup of who knows what in his hand. Usually, Chloe could deal with him since he had actually proven himself to be useful in several previous cases. But today?

"Lucifer, I don't have time for this. Ella's missing, and we need to find this guy's cause of death."

"Well, what's holding you back, Detective?" He stepped over to Birchman's body and whipped off the protective cloth placed over it. "Get in there and start doing whatever it is you do."

Sometimes, Chloe wanted to shoot him. She already had once. But they were in public. So she settled for shoving him out of the way and taking a hard look at the victim's body.

Birchman's mask had already been removed, showing his ugly face contorted into a surprisingly peaceful expression, like he was pleased to finally be free of his miserable life. There was also a large red stain on his chest where blood had been pooling. It seemed obvious that he had been stabbed. No defensive wounds, so it had to have been someone he knew. And the wound wasn't messy or gapping, but small and clean. Yet from the pattern, Chloe deduced that the murder weapon was larger than a penknife or a switchblade. Which meant the killer had to have known what he or she was doing...

"Out of the way, out of the way, forensics coming through!"

Ella crashed through the police line like a hurricane and landed right next to Chloe. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, but still looked like she had just jumped out of bed and raced down to work. And judging from the smell, she hadn't remembered to use her toothbrush either.

Chloe carefully backed herself away. "Ella, where have you been?"

"Sorry about that, Decker. I must have overslept or something, but I didn't want to get yelled at by Lieutenant What's-his-Name, so I said I had a bug. Then my car nearly ran out of gas, which is weird because I'm sure I still had enough last night to get here today, and then I needed some coffee, and the line was really long, so I bought a five-hour energy and chugged it behind the wheel, which made me super-hyper and come to mention it where's the body I really need to get to work workworkwork...

Her words were becoming increasingly slurred and unintelligible. Chloe made a note in her mental guidebook: Do not let Ella have caffeine. EVER.

Grabbing Ella by the shoulders, she shook her furiously, like a blender full of iced milk. As soon as all the excess energy and excitement was out of Ella's system, she returned to normal.

"What just happened?"

"You spazzed out. Oh, and it looks like this guy was stabbed by someone wielding a knife with a long blade. They knew what they were doing, so I'm guessing this must be premeditated in some way."

"Um, yeah, sure. I'll see what else I can find on the body."

"Detective!"

Lucifer walked up with a terrified-looking old lady on his arm.

Chloe smirked. "Don't tell me this is your latest one-night stand."

"Oh come now, Detective. It's not my fault women are attracted to my endless charm and charisma. After all, I'm like-"

"Walking heroin. I'm heard this one before. Now who is she and why is she here?"

"Well, Betty here says she saw the murderer. I've checked her out and she appears to be telling the truth, so why don't you go ahead and ask her your police questions?"

Chloe turned to Betty. "Is this true?"

The old woman took her time getting the words out. "I saw..saw..the Angel of Death!"

The entire body of police glanced over at her. Even Ella, who was normally too absorbed in her work to hear anything.

"Ma'am, calm down. You saw the Angel of Death?"

"Yes, yes! He hid his face, but I saw them! I saw his wings! He revealed them after he stabbed that man! Like he enjoyed it!"

She grabbed the front of Chloe's jacket. "Please, you have to believe me! Angels and demons walk among us, spreading their evil wherever they go!" Another officer grabbed her arm and led her away. "We have to band together to destroy them before its too late!"