Author's Note: As someone pointed out, freaking out about 'holy cow, that's a lot of reviews' and then saying 'read and review' is pretty much shooting myself in the foot. I didn't mean try and outdo the previous number, it was more a mild coronary about how many people were reading this and liking it enough to review in the first place and I didn't want to disappoint in such a new fandom. So, sorry for the panic. This is also my first attempt at really writing Maze and Dan with no help from other canon characters, and we don't know a whole lot about them, so it's sort of made up as I go along, but I am *trying* to make them sound canon (because the situation they're in? Totally not canon).

Also - a couple of you leave the BEST responses (Chades, griffinheart67 - I was dying reading your 'short story' of a review)


She didn't look like domestic terrorist.

Kaitlyn Kincaide of Chicago looked perfectly ordinary, sitting across the table from Dan and Maze, her hands cuffed to the tabletop, her club outfit replaced by generic police issued coveralls. They'd made her scrub down, unsure of what chemical or biological agent she might've used to take down Morningstar, and her hair and face were clear of makeup and product.

She looked young – she was only twenty-five.

She looked empty.

Perhaps that was what bothered Dan the most. Maze claimed to be a demon (and after dealing with her over Lux's accounts, Dan was hard pressed to argue). Lucifer claimed to be the Devil. But looking at the two of them, no one would ever think to call them hollow.

Kaitlyn hadn't spoken a word since the club. It had nothing to do with the impressive bruising around her neck from Maze, either, according to the medical staff that cleared her of contagions before bringing her to interrogation.

She hadn't fought either, not after Maze caught her. She'd passively gone along with the arresting officers that showed up after the 911 call, and hadn't said a word one way or another to the staff that checked her over. She'd been read her rights, and the closest thing she'd given as an answer was smile and nod when they asked if she understood them.

"I can get her to talk," Maze had said, flexing her long, elegant fingers that Dan thought looked abnormally sharp.

"Screaming isn't the same thing as talking," Dan pointed out.

"Maybe not to you…"

Seriously. Where did Morningstar find his hired help? The League of Assassins?

Dan pinched the bridge of his nose. "No torture. No capital punishment. No maiming, stabbing, bruising, shooting, burning, or anything else that might be categorized under that first one."

Maze's eyes flashed irritably. "What does he see in you humans?"

Oh good. Two deluded psychos in one room. There was no way for this to go seven ways to hell in a handbasket. Bright side though? Apparently Maze was already well acquainted with all the different roads there.

Dan glanced around, though he already knew they were by themselves. Something else Morningstar and Maze shared – their ability to get the chief to look the other way on letting them 'help' with investigations.

"Vague threats. Good cop," he pointed to himself. "Bad…whatever," he pointed to her, and Maze gave him a genuine smile.

A sadistic one, but genuine. He'd take what he could get at this point.

"Ooo, role playing. I can get onboard with that," she purred.

Dan felt his face flush what was probably a darker red than Maze's lipstick and turned back to the coffee machine. "Okay, so when we go in there-"

The crackle of the recording machine made him turn and curse. Violently. Maze was sitting in the interrogation room with the other woman. How the hell did she get in there so fast? He hadn't even heard the door open.

As he entered, he'd half expected to hear the tail end of a not so vague threat from Maze, but the ninja bartender was unexpectedly quiet.

"Oh good," he said, dropping his case folders on the table, setting his coffee mug next to them as he grabbed the other chair next to Maze. "You didn't kill her. I'm pleasantly surprised."

Kaitlyn seemed to ignore him, smiling serenely as she had since they arrested her.

"What brings you to LA, Miss Kincaide?" Dan asked conversationally. "The weather? Probably a lot nicer here at this time of year than Chicago, right?"

Kaitlyn's empty eyes slid over in his direction, but she remained mute.

"Look, I know you can talk, we've spoken to your family. Who, by the way, is really worried about you. Said you'd left home a year ago and they hadn't heard from you since."

More silence.

Dan sighed. "Look, Kaitlyn…can I call you Kaitlyn? We don't need your confession to put you away. There were more than half a dozen witnesses to the incident at Lux, including myself. Mr. Morningstar is expected to make a full recovery, but that doesn't mean that we can't have to tried for attempted murder, domestic terrorism, public endangerment, and those are only the first things that come to mind." He flipped open the casefile folder. "There's at least seven more charges here of varying degrees of severity that alone could get you five to ten years. With all of them, you're looking at twenty-five, minimum."

Again, he was met with silence.

"I'm not interested in a confession. I'm interested in a reason," Dan said, and he could see the flicker of something in Kaitlyn's eyes. "What did you do to Morningstar?"

Nothing.

Dan sighed, glancing over at Maze to see if she planned on making good on her role playing, but Maze wasn't paying attention to him. She was eyeing Kaitlyn with an intensity usually reserved for actual fires, and Dan was honestly a little surprised that Kaitlyn wasn't at least beginning to smoke.

"What is that I can't see,

With ice cold hands taking hold of me,"

Dan couldn't have been more surprised if Elvis and a T Rex had showed up to dance the macareña. Why the hell was Maze singing? Was she trying to serenade her boss's attempted murderer?

"When God is gone and the Devil takes hold,

Who'll have mercy on your soul?"

There was something in her voice, something that Dan couldn't quite describe – a rhythm under the melody that made goosebumps stand out on his skin and his hair rise on the back of his neck. He imagined this is what sailors heard before they crashed into the rocks to drown. He was about to question her sanity along with Kaitlyn's, when he looked back at the prisoner and realized that finally, something was beginning to get through to her.

Kaitlyn hadn't moved, but Dan could see the awe on her face, completely enraptured with Maze's voice. He'd seen men show less interest in porn stars than Kaitlyn showed the bartender.

"No wealth, no ruin, no silver, no gold

Nothing satisfies me but your soul."

"You're beautiful," Kaitlyn breathed.

Dan had said that with less conviction on his wedding day. But at least she spoke.

"What did you do to Lucifer?" Maze demanded, voice now cold and dark as shadow.

"Why don't you show your true face?" Kaitlyn asked. She sounded genuinely confused – as though she wondered why Maze would wear a party mask the day after Halloween.

Maze looked unimpressed, folding her arms and crossing one leg under the table, bobbing her foot up and down impatiently. "I don't feel like listening to you scream." She paused, tilting her head to the side, considering. "Yet."

"I wasn't trying to hurt him," Kaitlyn said, petulantly. "I must have said the wrong words."

"What did you say?" she demanded. She tapped her sharp nailed fingers against her arm impatiently.

Kaitlyn looked away. "If they're the wrong ones, they'll hurt you too," she said.

Dan felt his skin crawl. There was something indescribably wrong with Kaitlyn's voice. Contrite and simpering and oil slick and without true feeling.

Maze didn't say anything, arching one delicate eyebrow expectantly.

"I was trying to get him to show himself," Kaitlyn protested.

The words meant nothing to Dan – they'd officially detoured into Crazy Town, but at least Maze and Kaitlyn seemed to be headed in on the same road, because she seemed to follow the train of thought without issue.

"What you see is what you get with Lucifer," Maze said.

Dan doubted that.

Kaitlyn shook her head. "I didn't mean Lucifer, I meant Samael."

There was that name again. Dan recognized it as the one Chloe had pegged as a prior identity for Lucifer.

The name obviously meant something to Maze because her eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline. "You tried to do what?" she said, and Dan tried to subtly move his chair away from her.

"I was just wanted-"

"I heard what you said," Maze snapped. She uncrossed her arms, slowly putting her foot back down to the floor as she stood. "Let me get this straight…you tried to get Samael to show himself? You tried to undo God's command?" Maze leaned forward, dangerously close to Kaitlyn but Dan wasn't about to get between them. He'd rather break up a fight between a scorpion and a cobra.

Kaitlyn had the sense to lean away from the bartender. "You can't undo God's willHe renamed Lucifer as the Morningstar. Samael no longer exists. The angel of death is gone."

Was it just him, or did she sound a little upset about that? And was this still a metaphor? Did Lucifer fake his death to become who he was now? Is that why there was no record of him?

"What were the words you said?" Maze demanded icily.

Kaitlyn flinched away, as if Maze had raised her hand to strike a blow, but the woman's hands remained firmly on the table top. "If they had that reaction on him, wouldn't they do the same to you?"

"Angels and demons, honey…we're not the same," Maze purred. "Besides – an acquaintance of mine owed me a favor. Very little hurts me."

Kaitlyn's gaze shifted left and right rapidly, trying to decide whether or not to answer Maze.

"I doubt the same could be said for you," Maze said mildly. "And I'm about to test that theory, if you insist on testing my patience."

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus-!" Kaitlyn blurted out, but was interrupted by the completely inhuman snarl of rage from Maze.

"You tried to exorcise him?" Maze snarled. "And you thought that would bring back Samael?" She raised her hand, fingers out and bent like claws, and were those actual claws he saw? No – a trick of the light. Or he was losing his mind. "I should've snapped that pretty little stupid neck of yours the moment I laid eyes on you."

Oh shit. She wasn't joking or trying to scare her, Maze was really about to kill her.

"Aaaand that's enough," Dan said, jumping to his feet to catch Maze's hand before she could slice Kaitlyn's face to ribbons. "Time to bring it back down."

The look Maze shot him was murderous.

"I thought you wanted her to talk," Maze growled.

"Talk, not scream," Dan reminded.

"Same thing," she said.

"No, no, no it's not, and no matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it true. So…down, demon." He pointed to the chair.

There was a flash of something in Maze's eyes – something as inhuman as that sound, but there was something else. Was that…respect? No, that was pushing it. Maybe just appreciative interest.

With a huff, Maze sat back down, folding her arms as she resumed her original position as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Crazy people. He was dealing with crazy people.

"Sorry about that, Ms. Kincaide," Dan said, taking a seat again. "But could you possibly elaborate on that? Why would you want to…exorciseMorningstar?" He'd decipher this conversation later with Chloe. Crazy aside, he didn't want to run the risk of Kaitlyn clamming up again after she'd suddenly decided to talk.

Kaitlyn glanced nervously over Maze who pulled her lip back to show teeth.

"I wasn't trying to hurt him!" she said. "I didn't know that's what the words were!"

"The first one is exorcizamus – literally has the word exorcize right in it. If you couldn't figure that out, then you're dumber than you look," Maze said snidely. "And that would be a trick."

"We tried other ways, but it didn't seem to have any effect on him at all," Kaitlyn protested. "I didn't think this one would do anything either, and if I'd known it would do that, I wouldn't have tried!"

"We?" Dan echoed. "Who's we?"

Kaitlyn continued as if he hadn't spoken. "We weren't trying to hurt him, we were just trying to free him!"

Maze frowned. "Free him? Free him from what? He's already abandoned Hell."

"From his earthly vessel."

That sounded ominous.

Maze shook her head, making a disgusted noise. "Whoever came up with the idea that we need hosts to walk the Earth should be shot. That's not a vessel, you ignorant twat. That's him. Same as this is me."

Something occurred to Dan. "Wait, are you the one that's been murdering people with all those religious symbols?"

Kaitlyn looked affronted. "We didn't murder anyone. They were sacrifices. They were perfectly willing."

"Who's we, Kaitlyn?" Dan repeated. "Who else is working with you?"

"The Order," Kaitlyn said.

"Of what, the Phoenix?" Dan asked. "Names, Kaitlyn. I need names."

"The Order of Samael," Kaitlyn said, as if it explained everything.

"You're not helping yourself," Dan warned. "I need the name of somebody, Kaitlyn. Who told you the words for the exorcism? What the hell is your endgame?"

And almost as if a switch was turned, Kaitlyn's talkative mood vanished, and she turned to Maze, that same, empty and serene smile slowly spreading across her face like the Cheshire cat. "To touch the divine," she said, smiling. "Touch the divine, and be touched in return. We want to be saved."

She bit down, hard, and Dan launched forward thinking she'd just bitten off her own tongue. But it wasn't blood that bubbled from her lips – it was white foamy bubbles, tinged pink.

"Are you kidding me?" Dan shouted. "Cyanide?" He threw open the interrogation room door and shouted for an ambulance. If it was cyanide, then it would be pointless, but he couldn't not try.

Maze looked wholly unimpressed by the woman's choking and seizing on the floor, and remained unmoving in her chair.

The woman was dead in seconds, and the two of them were left staring at her body.

Shock kept Dan there. Indifference stayed Maze.

"Who the hell are these people?" Dan demanded. "Exorcisms? Sacrifices? Suicide pills in their teeth straight out of a Cold War spy movie? Who does that? And that bullshit at the end? What the hell was she talking about, and don't you dare try and tell me you don't know."

Maze frowned, not necessarily concerned, but at least marginally unhappy about this development. "She's a True Believer."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Maze sighed, rolling her eyes. "It means, Detective…we have some very serious problems on our hands."


Ta da! Someone asked for an update for the weekend, so happy Easter everyone! Hopefully I didn't completely ruin your view of Maze or Dan. I promise, Lucifer and Chloe will be back next chapter. I gave them the day off.