It was hard to keep her mind on normal cop stuff when Chloe knew there was an evil dagger bent on converting people to kill just floating around the city.

Normally with such a brutal murder she'd be looking for someone who really hated Maddie, but with the new information Lucifer had given her Chloe was now looking for someone with a very petty grievance against the victim. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain this to her superiors but that was a problem for later. First she had to catch the guy.

"Got anything?" Chloe asked as she walked in on Lopez jamming out to music while she worked.

"Yep," Ella said as she took out her earbuds and went over to collect something. "I rehydrated the burnt pieces of paper and they look to be some kind of map to the big hole in the ground you guys found. The only other thing I could make out was a logo. I looked it up and it seemed to be for a law firm. R&W"

"Richards and Wheeler!" Chloe explained. This was all starting to make sense. Lucifer's mother inside Charlotte Richard's body owned that firm. Chloe thanked Lopez and then bolted from the room to tell Lucifer.

The devil wasn't at her desk making a mess like usual. After looking around for a minute or so, she found him in the precinct kitchen eating a yogurt.

"Lopez figured it out," Chloe told him. She noticed that the yogurt in question had the word 'Dan' on it but decided to ignore it. They had bigger things to deal with right now. She then went on to explain to Lucifer how his mother had to be a part of this.

"I don't know why I'm surprised," Lucifer grumbled. "She always makes chaos wherever she goes."

"I think we should go talk to her," Chloe replied.

"And by that I hope you mean me," Lucifer counted.

"Definitely not," Chloe stated firmly before turning towards the door and her car. "You coming?"

"Do I have a choice?" Lucifer asked. Chloe replied that he did not and they left.

While they drove, Lucifer talked a bit about his mother and some of the things she'd done in the past that he hadn't liked. If Chloe wasn't mistaken the devil seemed anxious, like the case was starting to hit a bit too close to home, or maybe he just would have rather confronted his mother alone. She couldn't tell.

Lucifer didn't say anything as they got out of the car and headed into the building. Chloe flashed her badge to get past the front desk and then they were up on their way to the top floor.

"Let me do the talking," Chloe told Lucifer.

"Can't make any promises there," the devil replied.

Knowing that was about as good as it would get, Chloe opened the door, hoping Lucifer wouldn't lose his cool with his mother.

"I said no interrupts," Charlotte - or rather the goddess - said. "So unless you are that broad shouldered intern from this morning-"

"This is official police business," Chloe replied.

"That hardly matters," Charlotte responded without looking up from her desk.

"Mum!" Lucifer snapped and the goddess looked up.

"Hello son," she said with a smile. The way the goddess was looking at Lucifer and ignoring her, it was almost like Chloe wasn't there. She decided to make herself known.

"We have reason to believe you lead humans to Azrael's blade knowing it would lead to chaos and death," Chloe stated.

"Have you ever heard of something called the reverse cowgirl?" the goddess asked, turning to Chloe in an annoyed kinda way. "You look like you could use one."

"Alright that's quite enough of that," Lucifer snapped. Chloe couldn't blame him on that account. At least her mother had never put such an image in her head.

"You drew maps to Uriel's grave," Lucifer accused her. "And gave them to humans!"

"Does that mean someone found the blade?" the goddess replied excitedly getting up out of her desk chair, suddenly interested.

"So you admit you lead someone to the grave?" Chloe said.

"Someone," the goddess laughed. "More like a dozen someones. Or was it fifteen? I had to be sure one of those idiots would actually dig the thing up." She chuckled like she was talking about tricking mice into eating cheese.

"This isn't funny," Chloe said in her most authoritative cop voice which had absolutely no effect on the goddess of all creation.

"Why in the world would you tell people?!" Lucifer yelled at his mother with even more feeling than Chloe.

"You're the one who left it in a hole in the ground," the goddess replied huffily.

Chloe could tell Lucifer was about to yell at his mother again, which would get them nowhere, so Chloe held out her hand to stop him before she started speaking.

"Why did you lead people to your son's grave?" Chloe asked calmly. "Why did you release the blade on humanity?"

The goddess stopped for a moment, clearly uninterested in sharing what she knew. Chloe was trying to think of some way to motivate her when Lucifer beat her to it.

"Why mum?" Lucifer asked. "Why would you do such a thing?"

Turning away from Chloe as if she wasn't there, the goddess addressed her son.

"I wanted to get your father's attention," the goddess admitted. "I wanted to grieve with him. Talk with him. Uriel was our son, not just mine and I thought He'd care, so I reached out! And guess what I got back?"

"Nothing," Lucifer offered.

"Yes, exactly right!" the goddess said. "Nothing!" She seemed genuinely upset now. Even if the idea of humans dying didn't bother her in the slightest she did at least love her children in her own odd way and perhaps her husband God. It was a lot to wrap one's head around, but Chloe was doing her best.

"I figured if His beloved toys started stabbing each other with a celestial blade maybe He might take an interest."

"You know what this means?" Chloe said, turning to Lucifer who seemed nonplussed. "Your mother is the murderer in this case. The idiot she sent to dig up the blade was her murder weapon but all the intent came from her."

"That's adorable, detective," the goddess laughed. "But you can't very well arrest me for drawing a map to the woods now can you? And no one in their right mind is going to believe just touching a blade made them capable of murder."

"Not to mention the fact that you own a law firm and would almost certainly find a way to get you off even if I did have an air tight case, which as you point out I don't," Chloe continued.

There was a pause then Chloe spoke again in a more authoritative voice. "But I won't forget this. You are responsible for the end of human lives now and not just the one you walk around in."

"This body was dead before I got here," the goddess said in a huff.

"Humans are dying because of you," Lucifer told her in a melancholy voice.

"Humans die," she replied dismissively. "They all die eventually. It's what they were meant to do."

"But not like this," Lucifer replied with feeling. Chloe could tell he was genuinely upset by his mother's coldness.

The goddess didn't seem to like this sentiment coming from her son. She stared at Lucifer with a disapproving look and spoke in a way that made it very easy to believe she was Lucifer's mother even if she looked more like his hot model friend.

"Your time here has changed you," the goddess said. "You seem attached to these creatures." She gestured to Chloe as she mentioned the 'creatures' without looking at her.

"They are people," Lucifer corrected her. "Not creatures."

"I couldn't for the life of me figure out why," the goddess continued without listening to Lucifer's reply. "But then you told this human." She gestured to Chloe again. "All about us and I have started to wonder if maybe she is why."

Just then the goddesses gaze shifted very sharply to Chloe and Chloe felt a chill run down her spine. If looks could kill Chloe felt like she'd be about six feet under right now.

"Don't! Mother!" Lucifer snapped. He moved to stand just slightly between his mother and Chloe in a protective way. He'd moved so automatically, that Chloe wasn't even sure he was aware he was doing it. It was a behavior she'd witnessed in him many times, yet still found hard to seemed to be how Lucifer was, protective of her without realizing it. Chloe had observed the behavior enough to know it to be true but she hadn't a clue as to his motivation. Why had the devil randomly selected her to be his pet project? Why had he put himself in danger countless times to protect her? Why had he killed his own brother to save her? His desire trick didn't work on her but could that be enough to direct his attention so much?

"Now out! Both of you," the Goddess snapped. "You are ruining my cowgirl high."

"Ew," Chloe said under her breath.

"Agreed," Lucifer added.

"Before we leave I'm gonna need a list of all the names of the clients you gave maps to," Chloe said.

"And why should I do that?" the goddess huffed.

"Because if you don't help with the investigation I will send Maze to make you," Lucifer growled.

Chloe sighed. "You can't make threats like that in front of me," she reminded him. Lucifer just looked annoyed but didn't say anything.

Chloe usually let this stuff slide with Lucifer since she knew he'd never be an actual threat to a human. In this specific case he was talking about violence between a goddess and a demon which Chloe had decided was out of her jurisdiction.

"With a judge's approval I can make you hand them over," Chloe continued addressing the goddess again. "Or I could just arrest you for impeding a police investigation."

"Ha that will take ages," the goddess beamed. "By then the blade will have been through many human hands." She sounded quite happy about this, joyful almost. Chloe realized this was going to be an outside the rules type of situation. Goddesses didn't care about the rules or saving human lives for that matter.

"On second thought Lucifer," Chloe turned to him. "I'm going to leave and pretend you aren't going to threaten this woman into helping us."

"Roger that," Lucifer said and Chloe turned and took a few steps in the direction of the door.

"Oh fine then," the goddess snapped. Chloe grinned as she turned around to see the goddess digging around in her desk drawer. "Here you are then."

"Thank you," Chloe said with forced kindness as she accepted the list before turning to leave.

Lucifer walked beside her as they headed down the hall and entered the elevator.

"I'm getting the distinct impression that your mother doesn't like me very much," Chloe said with a bit of a laugh to her voice.

"My mother doesn't like anyone," Lucifer replied. "She claims she wants to stay here and get to know us but then she pulls shit like this."

"Have you ever wondered why you care about humans more than anyone else in your family?" Chloe asked him.

"Do I think it's your fault, you mean?" Lucifer countered.

"Oh I know it isn't my fault," Chloe replied easily. "You cared way before me. We met because you were getting overly involved with the murder of a friend of yours. A human friend."

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right," Lucifer sounded a bit surprised by this but only slightly. Overall he just sounded sort of concerned. "I honestly haven't thought much about it," Lucifer continued. "Humans are just fun, you know?"

"Well just so long as you have it all figured out then," Chloe teased him.

"We should focus on finding the blade," Lucifer said, clearly trying to change the subject.

"When we get back I'm going to compare the names on this list to the list of petty complaints we have against Maddie," Chloe replied simply. "The match is the one who dug up the blade. Simple enough."

"Well I guess that makes sense," Lucifer replied lamely. He was clearly at a loss for how to change the topic again.

Chloe decided to be nice and stay on devil friendly topics as they exited the elevator and headed to her car. When they walked into the precinct she didn't waste any time and went straight to her list of names.

"Duncan Watts," Chloe said as she looked at the results. A quick search revealed he'd have more than enough reasons to kill Maddie. A stolen parking space and pissed landlord was more than enough motive when dealing with a magic killing dagger.

Convincing Dan this was the way to do proved to be a bit tricker. He didn't understand where she got the information so Chloe said she had an anonymous source and left it at that. Dan was unimpressed but didn't object. Chloe was not looking forward to writing up the report for this case. It was going to read like fiction.

The moment they entered the building Lucifer ran up the stairs to look for the knife. Chloe had been about to run after him when she spotted a bloody handprint on the double doors to the left of the staircase.

"Lucifer!" she called to get him to come back down.

They opened the doors together and walked into the results of a brutal scene.

"So much for stopping the massacre," Lucifer whispered to her. There was no other explanation for what they were seeing. Chloe counted six bodies before she recognized one of them.

"If Duncan had the knife," Chloe said. "He doesn't have it anymore." And she pointed to where Duncan's body lay near the door.

Getting out her police radio she called it in. She hoped Lopez could get something out of this that would help with her report, but honestly it wasn't likely. Chloe knew exactly what had happened here without Ella even lifting a finger. Duncan had come in with the knife and started attacking. Someone had gotten the knife away from him and someone else had picked it up until there wasn't anyone left alive. This is the very thing she'd been afraid of when Lucifer had told her what that blade could do to mortals.

Even so she had to call it in. She had to go through the motions. Not doing so would make her look very guilty or at the very least incompetent. Chloe tried to act surprised when Lopez told her the impossible results of her investigation.

"The weapon was passed from one person to the next like a game of murderous hot potato," Lucifer summed up the whole situation.

"It's insane and I know it's insane but he's right," Lopez said in wonderment. She went on to explain how each of them had likely gotten the blade in turn and killed whoever was closest before getting killed.

"So whoever survived this massacre probably has the blade," Chloe concluded.

"That or they ditched the murder weapon," Lopez replied. "Shouldn't you be focused on catching the killer rather than the weapon?"

"Right yes," Chloe said. Stupid celestial knowledge sometimes made her sound so stupid. "Let's do that. Looks like we have one extra mat." She checked the chart and knew who they had to interview next.

Jensen Glory was the leader of the yoga cult and had quite the rap sheet as it turned out. Sexual assault among other things. Chloe suspected he wasn't the type of guy who really needed a magic blade to do some damage, but interviewing him got them nowhere. His home security confirmed he'd stayed home sick that night.

"But look who subbed in," Chloe said as they checked the computer system Jensen had given them access to.

It was Corrina. She'd been at the studio covering for Jensen. Lopez's forensics had confirmed that Corrina didn't kill anyone at the yoga studio but did that mean she'd gotten the blade and ran after the killing had ended? They'd checked out her house but she hadn't been there.

"She could be scared and hiding," Chloe offered.

"Or she has the blade and someone else is about to die," Lucifer countered. "Someone she had a grudge against."

"So the question is who would Corrina want to kill if she suddenly got a murderous rage inducing knife?"

"Jensen," Lucifer suggested. "He's sexually assaulted women before, maybe he did with her as well."

"It's worth a look," Chloe said.

Chloe drove them to Jensen's house and they hadn't so much as walked in before they found her. Corrina was standing over Jensen's body.

"I was in class and Duncan barged in. It was horrible," Corrina said. "All those bodies, and the knife was on the ground."

"And it started calling you," Lucifer stated.

"Did I do that?" Corrina asked.

"Yes," Chloe told her gently. She was starting to realize what happened. "You wanted retribution for a grudge, probably an old one, but not an insignificant one."

If people who got hold of this blade killed over a parking spot without hesitation she could only imagine the power the blade had over someone who had a real grievance worth killing over. It was hardly Corrina's fault once she took hold of the dagger.

Chloe's suspicions were confirmed when Corrina went on to admit to his rapping her years earlier. She'd tried to forget, to bury the memory, but the knife had brought it out.

"I did this," Corrina said hysterically. She started crying.

Crying meant she wasn't looking at the body anymore. Chloe knew it was now or never. She whispered to Lucifer to pick it up and hide it on him. "You are the only one who can hold it," Chloe told him before turning away to focus on Corrina.

"Yes. You did this," Chloe told her gently. "But I don't believe you had a choice."

It wasn't like Chloe could go into detail and be believed, but she resolved right there to label this as self-defense in her report. Justice had been served here, and the blade was out of human hands.

Chloe sent Lucifer away to find a safe place to keep Azreal's blade. "And not in a hole in the ground this time, okay?" she'd said. The devil just nodded before slipping out the back door. Chloe gave him a solid five minute lead before calling in for backup and reporting the body.

Everything after that was a lot of running through the motions and cop paperwork. Corrina barely remembered anything when she'd been holding the knife and was quite happy to believe Chloe's version of events.

Overall she thought she'd contained a complicated celestial situation rather well until it came time for her report. Murder weapon gone, no motive for anyone in the yoga studio, and no real explanation as to how she figured out pretty much anything on this case.

Chloe went to Lopez to try and find something to make her information make sense and to her luck it looked like Duncan's foot print matched the one found at Uriel's grave site, so at least she'd have some forensic evidence to explain how she got from A to B even if it was weak.

Her report looked like half good luck and half poor management by the end, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. Sometimes being in the know about goddesses, devils and demons was a real pain in the paperwork.

Back to updating once in a blue moon it seems. Had the flu for the better part of a month, kinda brought down my productivity levels but I didn't totally disappear on you. ^_^ What do you think of the new chapter?

Sneak Peek Chapter 39

Lucifer walked into the precinct and decided to head straight for the fridge before heading over to Chloe's desk. Opening the door the first thing he saw was a pudding very clearly labeled Dan. Jackpot. Lucifer had just picked it up and about half way through peeling back the lid when a very loud 'ha' from behind him made him jump.

"Caught in the act!"

"Hello Detective Douche," Lucifer said with a sigh.

"I knew it was you," Dan said triumphantly.

"Calm down," Lucifer replied. "It's just pudding."

"This is not just about pudding!" Dan said with such conviction Lucifer almost put down the pudding. "This is about me wanting my snack and it not being there. This is about disappointment and theft."