Author's Note: Soo...I have two possibilities for how this story goes. One would be like maybe another 3 chapters and then done, or...much longer, but with considerable more whump on Lucifer's part. So, I leave it to you guys. Let me know if you want it wrapped up sooner rather than later, or if you want to see Lucifer suffer a bit (don't worry. I'll put him back the way I found him). Also - THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS AND THE SUPPORT! You have no idea how much I love hearing from you guys about whether or not I'm doing well at this, it really does help!

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"We're looking for someone with some sort of medical background," Dan said, dropping the ME's report on Chloe's desk.

"They find something?" she asked, quickly flipping through the pages.

"They're pretty positive that what they used to drain his blood are actually IV cannulas – those needle things that they use for transfusions and blood donations, except put into arteries and opened all the way up. They found needle marks on the femoral and the jugular and like 15 other sites. I didn't even know we had that many arteries," he said.

Chloe studied the pictures, flipping back and forth between then rapidly. "No bruising like they had to dig…so probably someone who has done this a lot. Remember how bad my arms looked when I donated blood last time?"

Dan shuddered. "You weren't the only one…I swear that intern stabbed me with the biggest needle they had and then joy sticked it back and forth until I threatened to shoot him."

"But there's no bruising here – not even the beginning signs of ones. There's no multiple sites, no signs of digging around…so someone with a lot of practice. Probably not someone with the donor mobiles, but someone who starts IV's. Surgical nurse? Oncology nurse?"

"There's more," Dan said. "This time, they took their time. No rapid bleed out from serious injuries. The ME thinks that maybe this guy was held for a while – they found traces of ketamine and something called Midazolam in his system. And I mean minute traces, because he had almost no blood at all left. They found some in the muscle surrounding the injection sites."

"Midazolam…" Chloe echoed, and tapped a few keys on the keyboard. She recoiled at the information provided. "I didn't like these guys before, but now I really don't like them."

"That bad?" Dan craned his neck around to read the screen. "Causes conscious sedation…Jesus, you mean the guy was awake when they were draining him of blood?" He twitched involuntarily. He had a serious, serious issue with needles. He'd take death first. Especially after that woman with the American Cross.

"Probably. I suppose the only good thing is that he wouldn't remember it or really be fully aware." Chloe glanced over at her husband. "You going to be okay there, cowboy? You look like you're having a seizure."

Dan almost jumped out of his chair, visibly and physically shaking off the imagined needles. "You know I hate those things. Ugh…makes me twitch just thinking about it."

Chloe laughed, and Dan scowled.

"At least I'm not afraid of an arachnid that can't hurt me," he snapped.

Chloe's smile vanished and she pointed an accusing finger at him. "Spiders can kill you. Brown recluse? They liquefy your skin and eat it. That is a completely legitimate concern, Daniel."

"Yeah, well apparently needles can kill you too, so-" Dan stuck out his tongue, a la Trixie style.

"Now I see where our daughter gets it from," Chloe said. "Truce?"

Dan nodded, sitting back down. "Tentative truce."

"Medical history, working knowledge and access to heavy duty narcotics…" Chloe started listing the things they were sure about.

"Any way we can look up religious affiliations? Like they do in the military?" Dan asked.

Chloe shook her head, and then snapped her fingers. "No…but there is a listing of independent compounds in the US and the facilities they have. They have to be self-sustaining, right? No outside help. At least for some of them."

Dan let his head drop back against the head rest of the chair. "So we're looking for a Satanic cult with an operating hospital?"

"Not necessarily a hospital, but one that would claim to have a professionally trained doctor or something like it."

"Morningstar have any helpful insights on to what type of occult we're looking for?"

Chloe shook her head. "I'm not sure he's even coming back in to consult on this one. He knows something about those markings, and the ritualistic displays, but he's not telling me anything. He keeps repeating that he doesn't know, and last time I asked him about it, he disappeared and hasn't been back since."

Dan didn't answer for a moment, thinking about it. "Your working theory is that he was part of a cult when he was younger, right?"

Chloe looked surprised he'd even been paying attention when she'd started to run ideas past him about the origins of Lucifer prior to the five years of recorded existence. "Well, yeah, sort of…I don't have anything concrete to go off of, but it's what I have for now…"

"Okay, so let's assume you're right – don't give me that look. Let's say he was part of a cult. It fits with his personality choice, right? You said you'd found a separate name that he said he used to go by, right?"

"Samael," Chloe confirmed.

"So let's assume he has a reason to pick Lucifer as an alter ego. Things we're looking for is a son cast out by his father, once fairly important or high ranking, and then decided to go against his father. That's the general story of how Lucifer fell in Christian lore."

"I've been searching cold case missing persons files for a couple weeks and I haven't found any probable leads. His description is too basic – 6'3'' white male with brown hair and brown eyes, and no one with matching description of his scars has shown up in any database."

"You're assuming someone would've reported him missing. The Devil didn't run away from Heaven, he was thrown out. If that's a mirror of his own history, Morningstar isn't going to be a missing persons case." Dan paused. "Who would've thought those years in Catholic school would actually be useful?"

Chloe smirked. "I'm beginning to wish I paid closer attention when we would take Trixie to church."

Dan waved her off. "Nah, I knew it wasn't your thing. I'm not much for evangelizing, and I kinda lost faith in it too."

"So if not a missing person…" Chloe turned back to her computer, and hit a few keys, drawing up a map of the nearest religious sect compounds. "Maybe we're looking for the name Samael in conjunction with one of the leaders?"

"The problem with trying to look it up on a computer is that someone would've had to report something for the police to have it," Dan pointed out. "These guys are like their own separate countries on US soil."

"We can at least narrow it down," Chloe said. "For instance…travel time. Let's assume that someone isn't going to travel more than fifty miles to come into the city to set up a crime scene. For one thing, if it's just about murder, then they have to have a reason for wanting to come into the city to dispose of the body and in such a flamboyant fashion. So we can get rid of these."

She tapped a few keys and the red dots of interest on the map suddenly reduced.

"We're looking for a self-sustaining compound, probably with limited access and exiting of members," Chloe continued. "Anyone who thinks this is an appropriate expression of religious belief isn't going to have an open door policy. We're looking for Manson Families."

A few more dots disappeared.

"You said medical facilities and at least one doc that has to know what they're doing," Dan mentioned.

There went another couple of dots.

"So that's now only three compounds that we have to look at," Chloe said, pointing to the last remaining highlighters. "Better than three hundred and forty-seven that we had ten minutes ago."

"Any chance of reducing them further based on criminal activity or the Feds interest?" Dan asked.

"As soon as we ask the Feds for help, you know they're going to take over, and it'll be over for us," Chloe said. "We can at least ask around before we go to them."

Dan shrugged leaning back and stretching. "Is it so bad for them to handle these guys? I mean, they're a bunch of whack jobs. We got enough of our own."

"Because then they're going to have to talk to Lucifer," Chloe said flatly.

"So? That guy loves to talk to people," Dan said.

"Because at best, they're going to think he's delusional. At worst, they're going to think he's a suspect," Chloe pointed out.

"You did ask if the message was for him," Dan pointed out.

"Yeah, and did you see the look on his face? It wasn't his normal, arrogant 'I'm the center of the universe look at me'…he was legitimately upset that that could be the answer. I think he's finally understanding that people can be crazy when it comes to religion, and he's attracted the wrong kind of person this time around. And besides…if the Feds do think he's hand something to do with it, and they do something to piss him off, I'm not sure how well that's going to go down," Chloe explained.

That caught Dan's attention. "You saying he's dangerous?"

"Everybody can be dangerous, Dan, under the right circumstances. I would happily murder anyone who messed with Trixie," Chloe said. "But even though I don't believe him about being The Devil, he's a master manipulator. You remember the guy who killed Delilah? That case where we first ran into Lucifer?"

"You mean the guy who shot you?" Dan asked. "Yeah, I seem to recall that."

Chloe waved him off. "Anyway, I went to go see him in jail, and he was in the psych ward, and as soon as I brought up Lucifer, he went berserk and started smashing his head into the wall until it bled and the orderlies had to come in and sedate him. Later, that case with the male empowerment speaker? When I got to the scene, he'd done something to have all three of them cowering and practically pissing themselves out of fear."

"Jesus, Chloe, why do you even let him work with you? And you bring him around our kid?" Dan demanded.

"Shut up and listen, okay?" Chloe ordered, holding up her finger. "Lucifer is possessive. He is vindictive. He can be violent. But at the same time – he will never do anything to someone he doesn't think deserves it. Eye for an eye is pretty much his motto. But if you try and make him do something? Something he really doesn't want to? All bets are off. You can ask him to do anything, and he almost always does, even if he doesn't really care about the reason. I don't see Feds asking him to do anything, and I've seen what Lucifer does when he gets annoyed. Upset? Upset is when people wind up in padded rooms, and I would really prefer to avoid that."

"That's the kind of guy you want to work with?"

"I didn't have a choice at the time, remember? Kind of a social pariah here at work," Chloe pointed out. "As strange as his behavior is, he at least wanted to work with me, which is more than I could say for you up until a couple weeks ago."

Ouch.

"And as far as Trixie is concerned, Lucifer likes to avoid her at all costs, but tolerates her affection…even if he does try and get her to play fetch with Barbie dolls, so no, I don't worry about him doing anything to her."

"Fine, fine. We won't call the Feds in just yet. But Morningstar is going to have to start explaining what the hell is going on, and why he seems to be the intended audience. Where is he, anyway?"

Chloe sighed. "Where is he always?"

(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*

"I'm not interested in helping on this one, Detectives," Lucifer said, resolutely ignoring them as he sipped his whiskey. "You'll have to find another consultant."

"Come again?" Dan asked, shouting to be heard over the music.

A heavy dance beat, so loud the base made the floor vibrate drowned out almost everything else. Lux was packed like Chloe had never seen before, and the booze, women and music flowed freely.

"I'm not going," Lucifer shouted back. "Would you like me to put it in writing? I'm pretty good with legally bindings contracts."

"Aren't you always trying to nose in on cases?" Dan demanded.

"Actually, Detective, I'm not," Lucifer said. "I go when asked, but I do not have to do anything." He held his glass up in the traditional 'cheers' gesture. "Thus the beauty of being an independent contractor."

"People are dying, Lucifer!" Chloe protested.

"That's what people do," Lucifer snapped. "They live, they die, and they seem to like helping each other along the way. Far be it from me to interfere with free will."

"Lucifer-" Chloe reached out for his arm as he turned away from her, but he practically jumped backwards, slapping her hand away.

"How many times do I have to say it?" Lucifer snapped. "I'm not going to any insane cultist compound, for any reason. You've survived for years without me or my help, and you don't even believe me about who I am, so what benefit could there possibly be for me to go?"

"How about because your currently our resident expert on crazy religious nut jobs?" Dan said. He looked at Chloe. "Why am I even trying to convince him to go?"

"If you want someone who can get answers from people, take Maze," Lucifer said, indicating the beautiful woman behind the bar. "She's just as knowledgeable on the subject of Hell and its occupants."

Dan actually seemed perfectly willing to accept that trade, but a sharp glare from Chloe brought him back.

"You're the one with the actual clearance to work for the LAPD," Chloe said. "Not your bartender."

Lucifer shot a knowing glance to Dan, raising a suggestive eyebrow. "I think we could agree that Maze is much more than a bartender, right Detective?"

At Dan's bright red flush of embarrassment, Chloe knew Lucifer was now purposely trying to aggravate them into leaving, because a defensive Lucifer was malicious when he wanted to be. She'd ask Dan about it later, but right now, she wanted to know what the hell had Lucifer so adamant about not coming with them.

"Did you come from one of these places?" she asked. "Is that why you don't want to go with us?"

Lucifer scowled. "For the last time, I am not a delusional mental patient escaped from a cult. I am not pretending to be anyone. I am Lucifer. I am The Devil. Everyone else seems to believe me, but not you. But fine, if that's what gets you to go away, sure. You got me. I don't want to go back to my family's crazy farm. Happy?"

Any response Chloe had was interrupted with the appearance of a very beautiful, very drunk woman, draping herself across Lucifer's shoulders, giggling uncontrollably.

"Hey there, handsome," she said, smiling up at Lucifer as she sipped her own drink.

Chloe could smell the liquor on her breath from where she was standing.

"Hello yourself," Lucifer said, his irritation evaporating, replaced by his usual devilish smile.

"Dance with me," the woman said, and pulled an unresisting Lucifer with her.

As they watched him go, Dan threw his hands up in frustration. "Los Angeles has eighteen and a half million people. There has to be at least one other person we can ask to come with us."

"How about Maze?" Chloe deadpanned, folding her arms. "She even comes recommended by our current expert. And I think she's a ninja."

"Wasn't she also the one arranging celebrity death matches between suspects?" Dan asked.

Chloe shrugged. "You seemed perfectly happy to take him up on his suggestion ten seconds ago."

Dan opened his mouth to answer, but she watched as his gaze slid from her to the dance floor in the direction Lucifer and his drunken fan disappeared to. "Something's wrong."

Chloe glanced back over her shoulder where he was looking.

Lucifer and the girl weren't dancing – they weren't even moving. The woman had her face pressed against the side of his, her long, dark hair obscuring most of her features. She was almost as tall as he was, now that she wasn't slumping sideways and leaning on him. But instead of her hands being either wrapped around his waist or over his neck like the dozen other girls' and their dance partners did, she had hers gripped what looked painfully tight around his wrists, nails digging into his skin.

"What the…"

She didn't even finish the thought.

Suddenly Lucifer's head snapped back, his entire body going rigid. There was the bright flash of light from someone's camera phone that briefly obscured Chloe's vision and when the light disappeared, Lucifer was alone. He swayed briefly, possibly jostled by the crowd on the dance floor, stumbling back a step. His now freed hand came up to his lips, briefly touching his skin before pulling them back to look at his fingers.

The woman was gone – vanished in that brief flash of light from the camera. Just like the old man in the crowd at the first crime scene.

Even from here, Chloe could see the bright red of blood, as he stared at his hand in confusion and wonder.

Lucifer coughed suddenly, and there was a spray of crimson that was unmistakable.

That was when others noticed.

"Call 911!" she shouted at Dan, shoving her way through the panicking crowd as they tried to get away.

Lucifer sagged forwards abruptly, pitching forwards to the floor and barely managing to catch himself on his hands before he fell face first to the ground.

Chloe slid to her knees in front of him, gently catching him around his shoulders before he fell. "I got you," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She was dimly aware of the rest of the crowd, most panicking and trying to get away from all the blood – so much blood – and there were few more flashes from camera phones because those were the types of people Lux attracted. She could hear Dan on his phone, calling for an ambulance in a cool detached voice even as she could see him running his hand nervously through his hair as he paced back and forth in a tight two step circle.

Lucifer coughed again, harder, unable to catch his breath in between violent bursts that just seemed to get worse. He was gasping and choking at the same time, hands gripping onto her sleeves leaving crimson handprints smeared across the cloth.

"You're okay, you're okay, you're going to be fine," she told him, even as she could see blood was coming from more than just his mouth. His entire body shook, even as he tried to keep his head upright but she could see his eyes starting to roll backwards.

"Ten minutes," she heard Dan say and cursed that it might be too late.

"Find the woman," she snapped.

"I already did," a woman's voice snarled. It sounded less than human, and Chloe glanced up briefly, trying to keep her composure as her partner was possibly dying in her arms, choking on his own blood.

Maze stood at the bottom of the stairs to the exit, holding the woman around her throat with one delicate hand. The bartender was perhaps six inches shorter than the woman she held, but with strength belying her small stature, she held the woman pinned against the bannister, her toes barely scraping the floor. Maze's hand clenched briefly, cutting off the woman's air.

"We need her alive," Dan said. "See if she has anything on her, like an aerosol."

The thin, wheezing gasp from Lucifer took her attention away from the bartender and her victim and Chloe found herself trying much of what she used to soothe Trixie when she'd been three with pneumonia, coughing so hard it bruised her tiny ribs.

There was a terrifying rattle to Lucifer's chest as he tried to breathe, but for every tiny breath he managed, he gagged on blood with the immediate coughing fit. She could feel the blood soaking into her jacket where his face was pressed into her shoulder, and she tried to keep his head up an unobstructed.

He wasn't even just bleeding from his mouth, though that was certainly the worst of it. People teared up when they coughed violently, especially for long bouts that were more choking than coughing – it was reflex. Except Lucifer's eyes had tears of blood. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere – from his eyes, from his nose, and his mouth.

She briefly considered it being an airborne pathogen but she was already exposed and so was everyone in the club.

His hands tightened on her arms with bruising force, and she could feel more and more of his weight collapsing on to her as he lost his battle with consciousness.

"Stay with me, Lucifer," she demanded, giving him a light shake. "Come on, keep your eyes open. You're going to be fine."

She watched him struggle, his lips turning blue from lack of air even as blood stained his teeth. He managed to focus on her for a moment, and in that instant she could see the accusation in his eyes.

"Liar…" he gasped. His shoulders shuddered once more before he collapsed, unconscious into her arms.


See? Whump. Just like I promised. How did I do? Like it, love it, loathe it? Let me know! (I also have this private competition with a friend for reviews and feedback, so I'm trying to win)