Good evening :)
Here is the new chapter! Will Chloe finally find Lucifer? Read and discover it!
INHUMAN
Half past one...
Why did everything look extremely slow? Even this private jet supposed to bring them in record time to him seemed... spineless. Nothing was going fast enough, except the stream of her thoughts. Chloe looked with apprehension at the hour indicated by her watch: thirty-one past one. They were in this plane for an hour, the journey requiring the maximum one hour and thirty to reach their destination. Another thirty minutes before touching the mainland. Before getting closer to him. To approach a semblance of answer.
Thirty minutes.
Wait much too long.
She waited... was going round in circles for six months. This extra delay was just... unbearable now. Unsustainable. She was so close... so close to have answers to her questions... so close to finally having the opportunity to understand the reasons of his departure.
So close and yet... so far away.
Every minute separating her from this city...from this motel... from Lucifer... left a chance for the latter to flee again. Each minute significantly increased the gap between them. Increasing in the same way the incessant buzz of questions and uncertainties whirling in her mind. What if he was already gone? How to find him? Would she loose his trace once more? What if she finally found him? What to say? Where to start? The blames? The explanations? Just...say nothing?
No.
That...she just can't do this. She couldn't know how she would react in front of him. In the flesh. Not a memory. Lucifer...in front of her. There was so much...rancor, resentment between them now. Before she even had a real opportunity to see him again. She hoped, too. What exactly? Chloe wasn't quite sure. Coherent answers, for starters... understandable ones. Even a minimum. Apologies...maybe. And...a confirmation. Let him confirm that she was in no way the cause of his precipitate departure. That their story wasn't involved.
Let him make this pain in her chest disappear. This sorrow that hadn't left her for six months.
Chloe mechanically rubbed her palm against the leather of the seat where she was sitting, staring at the nocturnal landscape through the aircraft window without really seeing it. She stopped this mechanical movement after a few seconds, rolling up her sleeve and took an umpteenth look at her watch. An exasperated sigh accompanied her frenzied gesture and Chloe raised her head to Mazikeen, seated in front of her. The latter gave her an angry look before exclaiming with spite:
" Chloe...If you look this watch again...I swear I'll strangle you! "
The detective drew quickly on her sleeve, hiding the object responsible for the fury of her roommate. She sank back into her seat, sheepish, apologizing:
" Sorry. It's just th..."
A brief jerk travelled the whole plane, shaking undoubtedly due to some turbulence, interrupting the young woman. Maze jumped in her seat, clenching her jaws tightly and clasping the leather armrests of the chair with her hands, almost tearing the materiel with her nails. Chloe stared at her, dubious, stiffening more to the shock of a new air jolt.
" You're okay? ", inquired the latter, intrigued.
Mazekeen nodded briefly to reply, still firmly clinging to her seat, her features strained. Another turbulence shook the private jet, accentuating the body stiffness of the young brown woman under the blindsided glare of her friend.
" You're sure? ", the detective insisted . " You don't really seem...comfortable. "
" I hate planes...What a great idea to invent such a thing to move! ", Maze mumbled lip-tightly, the latter closely tightened by the tension that seemed to inhabit her since the beginning of the shocks.
Chloe found rather strange that a woman like Mazekeen such...intrepid was scared by planes. It didn't stick at all with her badass image. And it was probably for that reason that her roommate had been careful to not mention it. That was understandable. No one likes to share his phobias – ridiculous or not – with others. Even less Maze. The young woman therefore refrained from any comment, unwilling to give a new pretext to her friend to strangle her. She stopped glaring at the latter to let her eyes go astray on what surrounded her. This jet was very luxurious. Of those we only see on the cinema. The seats were more comfortable...Materialized fleece clouds. A design bar occupied the bottom of the plane, not far from the door. Every part of the furniture, every object...shouted only one thing: luxury.
" Who did you threaten to find a plane at this hour? ", the detective asked, rubbing the leather of the chair with her fingertips.
She took a suspicious look at her roommate, who only answered with a vague shrug of the shoulders. A new shake made her shudder, her fine fingers gripping the leather armrests with angrily before she deigned to inform Chloe about the man or woman possessing this luxurious plane:
" I didn't threaten anyone...Not really. I just reminded this blonde bitch how much she owed Lucifer..."
A blonde bitch...That meant nothing for Chloe. Who could that much owe Lucifer to prepare a flight in the middle of the night? Without compensation, moreover? Was she one of those people who once asked her former partner for a favor? A person who simply paid off her debt? This debt was surely substantial in this case. A debt that was more than welcome right now. Without this plane, the chances of finding him before he left again would have been slim. Tiny. Nearly non-existent, even. The blonde bitch's help was providential...If they arrived on time.
Once again, she stroke – over the fabric of her sleeve – the rigid surface of the watch on her wrist, her gaze losing itself in the nocturnal landscape offered by the aircraft window on her left.
" We'll find him...", Mazekeen said.
Chloe stopped rubbing her watch, focusing her attention on her roommate. Maze, still firmly clinging to her seat, looked at her with infallible determination. The young woman's lack of determination. A determination purged of doubts...of uncertainties. Chloe also wished to be rid of it... Be able to say with a truly certainty that everything would be fine. That everything would go back to normal. She really wished to be inhabited by this boundless conviction which never left her roommate. She wanted to find him...to confront him. Just...see him again.
" Yeah...", the detective whispered, rubbing her thumb more slowly against her watch. " We'll find him."
Chloe clasped her hands on the dashboard, clinging as best as she could to this one, her heart drumming fiercely against her ribcage. She didn't want to die so stupidly! Her heart missed an umpteenth beat at the umpteenth turn taken at a mind-blowing seed – according to her – by her roommate. A turn perfectly controlled, she had to admit, but nevertheless frightening and dangerous for their health. She tightened her fingers more on the dashboard, frightened by this irresponsible driving. Maze took a new turn, Chloe bumping against the passenger window under the kinetic effect imposed on the car and on her body.
" Maze...", she articulated in a tense voice. " Slow down! I really would like to arrive in one single piece at the motel..."
In response, her roommate pressed the accelerator pedal, Chloe being strongly wedged against her seat by the significant increase in speed of the vehicle. She barely distinguished the nocturnal landscape offered by San Francisco at the advanced stage of the night, which was copiously deformed by the speed effect. How did Mazekeen perfectly control the driving of this car at such a speed? Lucifer was certainly not the only one to have an irresponsible driving...
" And I'd like to arrive on time! ", retorted her friend, clutching the shift lever before taking another turn, the heart of the detective again missing a beat at this bold maneuver.
The latter didn't add. Maze was right, in a way. They clearly had no time to scrupulously comply with the highway code. Therefore, she set aside her professional scruples towards the regulation and the safety of pedestrians to grab any surface od the car: gestures highly vital to survive. They would talk about the highway code another time.
After more deadly turns than the detective could decently count in her current state of fright, Maze slowed down at last. A slowing down that also decreased her panicked heartbeats. She slowed down until she stopped the vehicle in front of the motel so desired, shutting the engine. Chloe finally loosened her fingers on the dashboard, closing her eyes and strongly inspiring air through her nose. She swallowed, exhaling deeply through her mouth, before grabbing the handgrip on the passenger side with a slightly trembling hand.
Never.
She would never let them drive again. Maze and Lucifer were real public dangers behind a wheel.
Never.
She swore it.
She opened the car door, coming out of a trembling and unsteady gait of the vehicle and closing with a blow behind her. She raised her head, examining the motel in front of her. The dirt kingdom would have been a more... appropriate denomination. This place was a real dump. And she only saw the outside, the interior of the rooms must certainly have been in a most lamentable state. She examined – puzzled - the yellowish, peeling structure surrounding the dilapidated staircase leading to the rooms on the first floor. The white paint of the facades was more... greyish, actually, the painting being covered with some colorful and suggestive graffiti.
Six months.
Six months to live...here. Lucifer...here. How was that even possible? Why? Why do such a thing, him who was so...him? He had money. The detective didn't understand. And perhaps there were nothing to understand... or too much. The more she looked at the dilapidated building, the more her confusion grow. How could Lucifer have lived here for six months? Why did he inflict this to himself?
She stopped staring at the motel building to approach Maze, the latter nonchalantly leaning against the front of the car. She spotted – on the left of the staircase with uncertain strength – a building isolated from the others. Smaller. Probably the reception. Maze straightened up quickly, urged to find her former boss and friend.
" So? What do we do? ", she asked, impatient. " We break the doors one by one to find him? "
Chloe hesitated before answering. Maybe it was an attempt at humor? No...Of course not. That was Mazekeen. Of course, she was serious. The detective came closer to her friend, stopping at her side to contemplate once more the filthy floor where the doors were. She pinched her lips, pretending to seriously weight the pros and cons, leaning her head slightly on the side as she crossed her arms against her chest.
" Mmmhhh... Tempting! ", she finally said. "Or... We could question this guy.", she said casually, pointing fingers at the isolated building on the left.
Maze stared at the men visible from where they were, the latter half-slumped against the foul green counter, waiting for new customers. She said nothing a few seconds before shrugging and pulling out a huge knife from the back of her jacket. The blade was probably more than fifteen centimeters. Chloe jumped briefly at the sight of this impressive bladed weapon as her roommate made a step toward the reception. The detective grabbed her arm, exclaiming:
" What do you think you're doing with this?! And...H...How did y... Where were you hiding this knife?! ", she asked genuinely intrigued, took a puzzled look at the back of her bellicose friend's jacket.
" What?! ", the latter got upset. " You said we had to question him, right? "
Chloe strongly pinched her lips, briefly closing her eyes before placing herself in front of Maze, palms in the air towards her. She opened her eyes, demanding with firmness:
" Just... Let me do this, will you? "
Maze looked at her before shrugging her shoulders again, indifferent, and putting away her deadly blade in her curious dorsal hiding place. Chloe sighed softly, lowering her arms along her sides and nodding to her friend. She walked to the front door, Mazekeen following her closely. She looked with disgust at the black and white checkered tiles covered with unidentified dirt, her heels sticking tightly with every step taken towards the counter. She walked over it, tickling at the sight of an enormous mouse in the right corner of the room, not far from a vending machine. She examined the man – in his 40s – slumped behind the counter and absorbed by reading a magazine. Chloe saw a small copper bell in front of her and gently patted on it, hoping to draw attention of the receptionist to the state of awakening little quantifiable. The latter didn't move an inch, except to slowly turn a page of his magazine, merely mumbling in a grave and pasty voice:
" We're full. "
Chloe highly doubted it, doubt shared by her roommate who mumbled a few words in her back: "...miracle! ". For her part, the detective simply tatting the little bell insistently and continuously until the receptionist finally deigned to give her a minimum of attention. The latter finally raised his head towards her, his features distorted by a tenacious weariness, his long black hair falling around his grumpy face. She offered him her most charming smile while showing him her badge.
" We're not here for a room. Have you seen this man? ", she asked him while showing him a picture of Lucifer.
He looked at the picture before vaguely shrugging his shoulders, pressing his cheek against his squat hand.
" Frank?...'been here for six months. 'Don't have to complain about him. He paid cash on the nail each week! If you knew how many people leave without let anything...", he said with consternation.
Franck. He changed his name. Of course. It was logical and clever from him. The fact that he took this name as his was... unexpected and amply understandable to her. Franck Lawrence... the only priest having found thanks to her partner's eyes. His deceased friend. This man of faith who had respected him... listened to him. Yeah... She perfectly understood this choice.
" Could you give me the number of his room? ", the young woman asked urgently, her heart pounding again vigorously at the same pace as the hope pulsing in her mind.
The limp straightened up a little, scratching the back of his skull for a moment before informing the latter:
" You've just missed him, m'lady! He returned his keys fifteen minutes ago."
The hope that she felt warm inside her quickly melted away, Chloe's features sagging under defeat. She squeezed her partner's picture in her fingers, staring at his static features on this trivial image as a huge pain permeated every fiber of her body.
" Having said...", added the receptionist, looking over detective's shoulder. " His car's till here. Maybe he's still around here somewhere. "
Chloe raised her haid strongly, full of hope, leaning more towards the man slumped against the counter and promptly asking :
" You know where he could have gone? "
Maze approached her, the young woman feeling her presence at her side as the receptionist seemed to think long about the possible places where Lucifer might be.
" Mmmmhhh... I know he sometimes gets into bars in the middle of the night. He's insomniac...", he mumbled after a time.
Maze let out an angry whistle before violently planting the sharp point of her blade in the green counter, the man jumping sharply and taking a panicked look at the two women.
" Where?! ", her friend spat in a threatening tone, clutching the handle of her weapon.
Chloe sighed at the... direct approach of her roommate without reprimanding her. Even if it wasn't really civilized, Mazikeen could quickly achieve a result. And she also had enough of the monotonous digressions of this individual. She fixed her piercing glance on the latter, waiting for a clear and precise answer from him.
He stammered, trembling with fear:
" There are two bars where he used to go! The first is two blocks in this direction: Old Oak's...", he said, pointing to the street adjacent to it. " the o-other is south of the city, n-not far from the stadium! 'Know nothing more... I-I s-wear! "
Maze abruptly pulled the blade out of the cracked wood and offered a predatory smile to the receptionist, the latter huddling up, frightened. She then turned to the detective, the two women exchanging a look before Chloe moved away from the counter and said:
" Thank you... for your cooperation. "
They went out of the building together, stopping near the car, Maze putting away her weapon in her jacket while Chloe was looking towards the street indicated earlier.
" We'd better split up. ", she suggested, turning to her roommate, closing the sides of her trench coat as a fine rain fell from the night sky. " I'll go to Old Oak's and you can check the stadium... I'll call you if I find him. "
Maze nodded before taking a seat in the car, starting at full speed in the deserted street and quickly disappearing from the sight of the young woman. Chloe also moved away from the motel, eager to find him.
Finally.
They had a chance.
One single chance.
Chloe pulled away some wet wisps taunting her vision with her hand before looking at the illuminated sign above the door.
Old Oak's.
It was the bar indicated by the receptionist. She stood in front of that door, a sweet music still filtering across this barrier, undecided. Anxious, above all. She rubbed her hand nervously against her trench coat, wet by the insistent rain. She had to come in. It was ridiculous to stay in front of this dammed door without getting answers to her questions.
What was she afraid of?
Of seeing him again? That was what she hoped, right? That's why she came here. Find him... Talk to him. Was that the source of the problem? This...postponed discussion for far too long? This succession of unspoken?
Chloe tightly clamped the fabric of her trench coat with her hands, a quiet anger suddenly heating her body. Why did she feel this anxiety? She got nothing to worry about! Nothing! He was the only one to blame... He was the only one responsible for this disaster!
She inhaled deeply, drawing into this latent rage before opening the door and rushing inside. She passed the entrance hall to arrive in the main room In-lieu of bar. A welcoming place...cheerful. The exact opposite of what pleased her partner. An authentic meeting place, quite similar to the bar where her colleagues used to meet at the end of the day. The same bar where Lucifer had promptly defended her honor. She observed the customers gathered there, mostly sitting at the tables and counter, laughing and friendly exclamations shooting here and there as she moved forward. The air was stifling, coated with the various alcoholic scents of the many drinks imbibed. She approached the counter, setting against a corner partly hidden by a carved wooden pillar, scrutinizing the room intensely.
Seeking Lucifer.
And she saw him.
A vision that froze every inch...every living cell...every meninge of her organism.
He was here.
Chloe firmly clutched the corner, unable to take her eyes off this man she had been seeking for a very long time. All rage...All resentment quickly diverged in her to be replaced by a genuine dismay.
What the hell happened to him?
She watched at her former partner sat and half slumped against a piano not far from the exit door, in the center of the room. Surrounded by many jovial customers and yet...alone in the world. Isolated from the world.
Lonely.
A shadow.
Chloe had before her a shadow. A sketch of Lucifer. This jovial and frustrating man in all circumstances didn't exist in this room. Here...Now...He was diametrically different. He emitted an extremely dark energy, an essence that painfully pricked the epidermis of the young woman, whether real or not...she felt so. She scrutinized him, trying by this analysis to rationalize Lucifer's disturbing state...knowing full well that she wouldn't succeed. She observed from her hiding place his profile, his features which had so much missed her. His features haunted her nights. His unruly black hair. His nascent beard contrasting with his skin of a disturbing pallor. These purple dark circles caressing the bottom of his dark eyes. Much darker than she remembered. This face so endearing in her memory, his face frozen...his features communicating a tension, an internal torture that she could never have suspected. She also observed his outfit...also the opposite of his habits. No more impeccable and overpriced suit. Just a basic, ragged black shirt, his sleeves rolled up revealing his forearms affixed again the black wood of the piano. Dark blue jeans...This entire getup only communicated simplicity. Nothing else. He absent-mindedly caressed his still-filled drink on the piano, lost in thought. Lost in the middle of this ambient hubbub.
Lost for too long.
Chloe didn't know what to do. She had come in...eager to fight with him, but...She could no longer dislodge her glance from Lucifer. So she stood there, rummaging frantically in her pocket while keeping an eye on him. She grabbed her phone and quickly send a message to Maze as low music tones resounded through the crowded room. The detective raised her head, intrigued. She saw Lucifer gently tap a few keys, his eyes still vague. Out of place. Out of time. It looked like he was playing mechanically...without really trying to compose a real melody. Yet...the scattered tones finally made a soft and heavy sound. As heavy as the mood of her partner, the latter finally stopping to caress his glass to play with both hands.
Always alone with himself.
Insensitive to the people around him. Insensitive to their appreciation.
His voice...hoarse and weak sounded in the room.
Weak and yet...filing the room with ease.
I'm walking in this cloud
In this cloud, upon love
Chloe leaned against the pillar, unable to detach her gaze from him, caught by his voice...this vocal distress formulated in a desperate and magnificent music.
But still I feel this doubts
Feel this doubts, about us
He was playing with grace, despite this sadness...this distress she could feel in him, around him. He sang and played without deigning to raise his head towards the other people. He was playing...only for him. Only for her.
I'm walking in this cloud
In this cloud, upon love
He played with more vigor, the bass tones resonating with more force in the room while keeping to sing also more strongly.
This road can't be mine, can't be mine
Giving it up, ooooooh
Giving it up, giving it up
Once again, more bass tones were played with his perfectly agile fingers while he was singing in a much more powerful voice, his gaze still fixed on the keys.
Stand down, drop these weapons now
We're walking in this lie, walking in this lie
You know I try, try to compromise
We're walking in this high, walking in this high
He didn't sing. Lucifer talked to her. He talked to Chloe through this music, through this words. She was hit hard by each word, each intonation...striking precisely her being...her heart. He was begging. Begging for forgiveness. He softened his voice, muttering:
We are pushed back and down
I'm out of my mind otherwise
We are pushed and fallen down
Into this ground and space
Giving it up, ooooh
Giving it up, giving it up
No. She refused. Categorically. She won't give up. Never. And he neither.
Stand down, drop these weapons now
We're walking in this lie, walking in this lie
You know I try, try to compromise
We're walking in this high, walking in this high
He played with rage, no more speech coming out from his mouth. That would have been superfluous. These powerful tones...those tones that made the air vibrate talked far more than futile words. One last time, Lucifer sang the chorus:
Stand down, drop these weapons now
We're walking in this lie, walking in this lie
You know I try, try to compromise
We're walking in this high, walking in this high
In this high, walking in this high
The silence received these last murmured words, her partner playing with extreme softness the last music notes. He lowered his hand against his thigh, lost in thought as many enthusiastic exclamations or congratulations fell on either side of the room. Lucifer paid no attention to it, finally straightening up and slowly walking towards the emergency exit as the customers returned to their conversations. Chloe walked away from the counter and made her way through the crowd gathered around her, apologizing frequently for every bit of insistence from her. She finally reached the door, clutching the handle gently without advancing further.
Here she was.
Their moment.
Their reunion.
Was she ready for it? Was he?
There was only one way to find out.
Slowly, the detective opened the door, leaving only a few centimeters of opening to separate her from him. She went out without a sound, the icy breath of the nocturnal wing titillating her wet neck. She gently closed the door behind her and watched Lucifer strolling through the deserted cul-de-sac. He hadn't noticed yet her presence, his back to her as he tried to light a cigarette despite the incessant rain. Chloe swallowed and walked a few steps, stopping not far from a dumpster, plunged into darkness. The cul-de-sac was weakly enlightened, the artificial luminosity offered by the lampposts quivering regularly.
She remained here, undecided -once again - about haw to approach him after all this time.
She saw him stiffen in the partial darkness, raising his head strongly before him while pulling a long puff on his cigarette. Chloe instinctively stepped back behind the dumpster, puzzled. Lucifer continued to look at a point in front of him, still, each muscle stretched with suspicion.
" I know you're here...", he said in his low voice. " I'm not in the mood for hide-and-seek games tonight...Show yourself! "
The detective remained still, increasingly perplexed. He heard her. Why was he looking in front of him and not towards her, then? She gestured to get rid of her ridiculous hiding place when she heard a guttural laugh in the dark alley.
Feminine laugher.
Sweet and...
Inhuman.
To follow...
Song : CLOUD - ELias.
Youtube fandom : Lucifer X you know I try - joeyclauk ( really good! )
Next chapter as soon as possible and don't forget reviews (still and always appreciate!)