Author's Note: So. I got so mad at this thing because I got so stuck on it, it wasn't even funny. I would just stare blankly at the page in front of me for what seemed like hours and just nothing. So, that's how the other story line was created (Angelus) because I needed something that I could actually write on without getting so pissed. Anyway, part of the solution came from changing my bad guy's motives. So I THINK I finally have everyone, including the characters up to speed - motives established and all that good stuff.
So, in short - I am mostly happy with this chapter. The only part I don't like is I don't leave you with a cliff hanger. Oh well. Read and review!
"I actually thought we'd already established they were trying to kill you…" Maze said dubiously. "That whole exorcism thing and all."
Lucifer leaned back, head tilted against the cushion of the couch as he swirled the remains of a Jim Beam's 'Devil's Cut' around the bottom of the bottle he held. It was a mid-shelf quality, but all he really wanted out of it was the bite of the 90 proof. If one couldn't get drunk, he could at least pretend.
Or perhaps he was now human enough that he might actually succeed. He had every intention of putting the theory to the test, even if he had to drink the whole bar to do it.
"Not necessarily," Lucifer said absently. "You said so yourself – that wretched woman who killed herself at the station – she didn't want to cause me harm, she said she was trying to free me. At the time, I assumed she'd simply bought into the idea that we are not occupying our own skin. Unfortunately, it now seems that they've finally caught on to the idea that Samael is more like a dormant personality than a separate entity."
"So…are we going off the idea that someone out there knew what an exorcism would do and was simply trying to cause you pain?" Maze said, scrunching up her face. "Or are we back to the assumption that someone knows what they're doing, and they're just trying different ways of bringing Samael out?"
While Maze had in fact been Lucifer's right hand for much of his reign, humanity remained as much of a mystery to her as it did to him, though even that statement wasn't wholly accurate. Maze understood their need for debauchery, to seek hedonistic pleasure even at the expense of their immortal souls. She could understand how it never became boring or dull because it never became dull or boring to her. She fed off sadism and masochism like others fed on air. And as much as he loved her, she – like all demons – had exactly no concept of long term planning, because she existed in the here and now and that was all that mattered. In a very unfortunate way, Amenadiel was much the same way. They had their short term goals, and that was it. Long term consequences didn't occur to either of them until it was too late.
Lucifer rubbed his forehead, trying to will away the lurking ache that plagued him for the better part of the last two days. His brother had been of no further help – at least not immediately. He promised he would speak to Michael on Lucifer's behalf, because at least Lucifer would accept Michael's interference. Even if it was begrudgingly.
But Lucifer adamantly refused to ask his Father for anything, no matter how many times Gabriel tried to convince him that if he would only ask, He would give Lucifer whatever he desired.
The cruel irony of that made Lucifer laugh loudly enough he caught the attention of one of the community's residents, who simply stared at him like he was a mad man.
"I'm not entirely sure Detective Espinoza's assumption that they're trying to cause pain is accurate, either. I think perhaps they didn't necessarily know what was going to happen, I think it was like a trial run – to see if I had any reaction at all. I think they assumed that there would be a reaction, I just don't think they expected the one they got. In all likelihood, it was a test to see if perhaps I was going to be different than the others they already discovered."
And killed.
Maze shook her head, sliding down the back of the sofa into the seat opposite him, and snatched the mostly empty bottle from his hand.
He let it go without protest.
"Okay, so the symbols and the writings, and the binding sigils…" Maze listed off, ticking off her fingers as she did so. "Those were to see if you were the real deal? Why even bother with the murders then? Why not just come to Lux and try it on you here? You're oblivious to most of the things that go on here anyway."
She downed the rest of the bottle in one go, looking disappointed when she realized there'd hardly been a mouthful left. "Why run the risk of getting the police involved when they obviously didn't do anything so elaborate with the other Samaels?"
It was something that had bothered him the entire trip back from Three Rivers. Whoever this, or they, were, had changed tactics drastically. Four quiet deaths that no one had ever discovered – the only reason Lucifer knew was because he had Gabriel's Ledger to consult, and now suddenly they were creating violent, grotesque caricatures of 'honored sacrifices', like he was some pagan god that demanded offerings.
There was really only one conclusion that he'd come up with that made any sense. "They had to run the risk of the police, if they wanted to get my attention. They couldn't do it here because they simply wouldn't have the opportunities – here I have security. Here there are cameras, and doors and locks and hundreds of other witnesses at any given time. It was easier for them to create something they knew would get my attention, somewhere outside of Lux. Somewhere where they could control the environment."
And, Lucifer suspected, away from Maze. If these people understood how to muddle through hundreds of years of different texts with different interpretations of who and what the Devil was, or – more importantly – that Samael even existed in the first place, and now maybe were one and the same…they likely knew there was something not quite human about Maze, either.
If they didn't know before, they certainly did now simply from her interaction with Kincaide at Lux. Even if they hadn't physically been present, hundreds of phones with social media capabilities were. It would be like their own private viewing with guaranteed anonymity.
Maze tapped the lip of the bottle against her own thoughtfully. "But why change the search criteria? How would they even know to make the leap from Samael to Lucifer? You said so yourself – the other victims had the name Samael. Why would they suddenly go from targeting people with that name to you?"
Lucifer shrugged. He didn't know. Not for sure anyway. "I think I have my brother to thank for that, actually. Doctor-patient confidentiality aside, I'm fairly positive Amenadiel let slip my old identity to someone he probably shouldn't have. Or – and I don't think I prefer this – someone out there is very well versed in biblical lore. According to Detective Decker, there's stories about how Samael and Satan are the same creature, and then people could easily make the jump from Samael to Satan to the Devil to Lucifer."
Maze raised a scarred eyebrow. "Blondie is on the Believer bandwagon now?"
Lucifer scoffed. "No. That woman remains endearingly obstinate that I am nothing more than human. But Detective Espinoza somehow managed to spin the theory to appeal to her sensible nature. Something involving serial killers having their own rituals they need to practice. I wasn't really listening."
Maze huffed irritably. "I don't see why we can't just show her the same way we showed Dan." She allowed her face to flicker for a moment, the macabre death mask visible for a split second.
Lucifer's reasoning for not using more undeniable methods of proving his identity to Chloe were entirely selfish – and there were many of them. None of which he trusted Maze with.
Perhaps because the one he clung to the hardest was that as long as she didn't believe him, as long as she thought that he was just strange and perhaps a little crazy, she wasn't afraid of him. Her tolerance of him without a sexual interest wasn't just a novelty it was…refreshing – a feeling so foreign he still wasn't sure that was the word for it. That she still chose to work with him without being under the effects of him, was something of wonder. He'd been bored by everything, for thousands of years – interest in things and people and creatures were fleeting at best…but Chloe Decker continued to intrigue him.
No. He would rather she thought of him as being insane than see him for what he really was.
"Don't you dare," Lucifer snapped, surprising even himself with the anger behind the words. "Her belief in who I really am doesn't matter in this. Detective Espinoza is enough for now. It might actually be of some use to us that she has an outside perspective."
"Except whoever if after you, or the old you, doesn't have the outside perspective," Maze argued. "They know who you are."
"They might know who I am – clearly they thought the other Samaels were something else, too. As near as they can figure, I'm at the very least not human. Whether or not they've figured out that Samael isn't another entity remains to be determined because they keep going back and forth on whether or not they're trying to separate us, appeal to him or kill me. Their tests, however, leave a lot to be desired as far as definitive proof of their end goals," Lucifer pointed out. They seemed to alternate back and forth what their end game was – were they trying to convince Lucifer that his true nature was Samael's? Thus all the melodramatic 'true son – show yourself' commentary? Or were they convinced that they were two completely separate creatures? Lucifer simply a place holder, or occupant in the same body that controlled it? Neither were true, so what was going to happen with their further 'trials'?
Lucifer didn't particularly like the idea of dying, but he preferred it over going back to being Samael.
Maze hopped back off the couch and heading for the penthouse's bar. "Seriously though. Why would they even want Samael? We're talking about the original villain of the story. The guy that actually did all that you get blamed for. I mean, Samael was the guy who had a hand in pretty much every major catastrophic disaster in human history until your Father made you. Who would want an angel so awful even God went 'ah shit' and got rid of him?"
If Lucifer was honest, there wasn't a whole lot about being Samael that he actually remembered. At least, not where Samael ended and he began. The irony in this misery was that Samael actually enjoyed causing the pain that Lucifer was blamed for. The Angel of Death reigned over duplicity of the human spirit, and the misery he caused. Nothing delighted Samael more than the battlefield, the indiscriminate killing and carnage – setting brother against brother and father against son.
Somewhere in the Fall – Samael ceased, and Lucifer began, and that was all he really knew.
That, and his Father who once spoke to him as an equal hadn't uttered a word to him since. Not in explanation, not in condemnation. Simply radio silence for thousands of years.
"No idea," Lucifer said, taking the offered bottle she handed him. "The question is whether or not they want him loose, or they want him dead. Neither of which hold much appeal."
Maze pondered the predicament for a moment. "You said there were binding symbols at the first scene, right? And at the second one?"
Lucifer took a long, slow drink from the bottle. "Yes. Well, first one was a binding symbol used primarily on graves that doesn't do anything. Second was an actual, functional trap."
Maze nodded slowly. "Do we think they knew what they were doing? Or were just trying shit off Google search?"
"Get to the point, Maze," Lucifer grumbled.
"Those first couple of attempts, they didn't really seem like they were trying to kill you or anything else like that. They actually were pretty passive. Maybe the reason why they threw everything into the first scene was because they just needed to make sure they got your attention. If it'd been any old murder, they couldn't guarantee the Detective would call you in. And then with the second sacrifice, they removed all the bullshit, and left a functional binding sigil. Maybe they weren't expecting you to wait for the police to show up to get trapped. And the woman? Maybe she was another part of trying to figure out why you weren't reacting the way they wanted. Maybe the exorcism was because at that point, they thought they'd figured out why you didn't like their 'gift'. And then when she almost killed you, they realized that you're not separate people."
Lucifer sat suddenly bolt upright. "And then the third one was because they were trying to test their theory of Samael being merely dormant. Or, at the very least, that maybe some part of him was simply repressed and I needed a reminder."
Maze snapped her fingers. "There was that guy, the one at the first scene. You said there was some old guy who told you it was all for you, and welcome home or some bullshit, right? Maybe they'd finally gotten mad at being ignored, or because you weren't reacting to what they considered a gift the way they thought you should."
Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Those were flattery? Why does everyone think I care about death in my name? It's not like anyone gets out of life alive – if you're bound for my realm, you'll get there eventually. I don't need them kicking down the door like Jack bloody Torrance."
Maze shrugged. "You have to admit. How you get represented in lore and how you actually are, is kind of a significant divide. Maybe they really are admirers, and they went from trying to catch you like a Pokèmon to trying to bring about the part of you they think would appreciate them and their efforts. Because nothing of Samael was even brought up until like the third victim, and that was after Señorita Psycho tried to kill you by accident."
He frowned. "I'm not sure if that makes more sense or less sense. So they go from assuming what most people do in the beginning – that I would appreciate death in my name. And then they decide that since that didn't get the reaction they wanted, they made another sacrifice. And then…what? Decided that maybe they were unappreciated because they were trying to appeal to something that isn't there, so they're now trying to remind me of who I used to be?"
Maze only offered another shrug. "People are crazy. Who says they have to make sense? Isn't that their deal? Being able to change at the drop of a hat? We have purposes that we are designed for. Humans may be simple minded, but their motives rarely ever are. But that Kincaide woman was the first mention of Samael."
"What was it that she said she was after?" Lucifer asked. "Besides the part that she got wrong with the idea that she was trying to free me of my earthly vessel."
Maze scrunched her face up in concentration, trying to remember the exact words. "Something like…she was trying to get you to show yourself, and…something insane. Oh!" she snapped her fingers. "She said she wanted to 'touch the divine, and be touched in return.' And that she wanted to be saved."
Lucifer drummed his fingers along the back of the couch. "I'm beginning to wonder what exactly they think Samael represented. The few mentions of me in history at that point weren't exactly what I would call flattering or remotely pleasant. It's Samael that's listed as being the Serpent in the Garden. What could possibly make anyone want to have that back?"
Maze didn't answer right away, and when she did, her voice was much quieter, and she didn't look directly at him when she spoke. "They have your wings. Not Samael's. Yours. Somewhere, they have the history wrong. They figured out that you and Samael are the same person…but they don't understand that Samael is the bad guy. Not you."
Lucifer clenched his hand into a fist tight enough he felt bones crack. "Perfect. So they're inspired by divine madness. That never ends badly, does it?"
It also meant any attempts at trying to logically figure out their next plan of attack were pretty much a waste of time and effort. Lucifer liked to think he was a pretty good strategist. He understood long term consequences better than most of his siblings. He could predict a lot of behavior because his dominion was over desire. All desire. Forbidden ones were definitely more his forte because that's what he had the most experience with, but anything that one wanted and couldn't have – those he could understand.
Unfortunately, no one in the Heavenly Host could predict the behavior of a True Believer because True Believers were insane. There was no predicting batshit crazy.
"Well, if they succeed they're going to figure it out real quick that it was a bad idea," Maze quipped.
Lucifer couldn't help the grim chuckle. "Yes…no better way to jumpstart the Apocalypse than by breaking one of the last spoken Words of God by bringing back the archangel that was trying to start it on his own."
Ta da! Hopefully, with this chapter out of the way, the next one won't be so damn awful hard to write. Seriously. I hate exposition chapters, because I'm the omniscient author, and I have to come up with a rational way for the characters to make the leaps my brain does for the story line/motives of the bad guys. I have read, reread and gouged at this chapter since the last time I posted on this story. So please, let me know if there's something I've completely missed (I'm like Jim Butcher - I rely waaay more on the readers to tell me 'but wait - in THIS chapter you said this, not that' than my own memory). Or if something else needs explaining.
Also - some people have asked for a cameo or appearance of Constantine (the show, not the movie) because he's mentioned twice, and others ask me not to. I, personally, love him. But ultimately the reason why he's mentioned is because I want people to know that I include all that's possible in THAT show is possible in THIS story. So magic, witches, the oncoming darkness, voodoo, etc. Trust me, it actually plays heavily into the motives of the villain. Or villains. Muwahahahhaa...so now to cast a vote again. Would you want to see Constantine in this? Not a major part, but just actually physically show up.
As always - I love you, I miss you, and let me know what you think! (PS for all the PM'ing people - don't apologize for 'bothering' me. I love hearing from you and I write for you).
