Authors Note: Thank you so much to all those who reviewed, added to your favourites or followed. It really means a lot, thanks guys! Just so you know this story is 5 chapters long. I promise the next I write will be longer ;) lol
Whump in this chapter! You have been warned ;)
The Devil paled when he realised who his captor was, but he forced a smile and chuckled nervously. "Azazel. Long time no see. How have you been?"
Chloe looked back and forth between them, her mouth hanging open. "You know each other?"
Both ignored her as they stared one another down.
The Demon stepped closer, standing toe to toe with Lucifer, a smug grin stretching across his pasty features. "All the better for seeing you again, My Lord." His words dripped with sarcasm. "Imagine my surprise finding the King of Hell running around playing cop with a human, and not only that, but seems to have sporadic bouts of mortality?" He suddenly turned away from Lucifer to face Chloe, his feral grin stretching as he stalked toward the Detective.
"Leave her be, Azazel!" The Devil growled, struggling against his bonds.
She backpedalled away from the man, her fearful gaze locking with her partner' furious ones, until her back collided with the wall. He reached out to touch her, though his hand never made contact as the Detective dropped down, using the wall to keep her steady and kicked her leg out, making him stagger backward.
Azazel seemed more amused than anything else.
"I see why you like her Lucifer." He shot a knowing glance at Lucifer, his eyebrow raised suggestively. "She has fire in her."
"Don't you dare touch her." Lucifer snarled, the temperature in the room rising once more.
"That's not part of the plan."
"And what is the plan, Azazel? Because I can assure you, this is not going to end well for you." The Devil snapped. "How dare you disrespect me!"
The sudden blow to the face was unexpected, though the blood that flowed freely from his nose was sadly a normal occurrence when Chloe was around, and Lucifer felt his blood turn to ice as he realised just how screwed he was. The Detective was going to be used against him, but not in the way he first thought. She made him vulnerable, meaning she only had to be near for him to bleed. She made him mortal. And Azazel was going to use that to his advantage.
"I can see you've reached the same conclusion I have, Lucifer." The Demon turned to Chloe with a smile that bared all his teeth. "Sit back and enjoy Detective. This is going to be good."
Chloe didn't get the chance to ask what he was talking about when he started viciously, pummelling into her partner with such ferocity she didn't know how Lucifer managed to remain silent. She called out, pleading for him to stop and tried to push herself to her feet and help, but as soon as she got close, Azazel backhanded her with such force that she was thrown back into the wall with a sickening thud and dropped to the ground. Her vision darkened and she thought she heard her name being called as the blackness wrapped her in it's embrace.
"No!" Lucifer screamed, straining against the shackles. His eyes igniting with fire and raising the temperature once more. "You'll pay for that!"
Azazel's lips curled in a menacing grin. "Really?" He stepped closer, arms spread wide daring the Devil to make good on his threat. "Show me, then. Come on Lord Lucifer, you know you want to." He teased, enjoying watching his former master pull and twist against his bonds like a disobedient hell hound. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment. Thousands of years I submitted to your rule, followed your commands like an obedient little soldier and did I ever get so much as a thank you, Azazel? No!"
"So what you're saying is, you're torturing me because I didn't thank the help?" Lucifer chuckled darkly. "Fine. I was a bad boss, I worked you to the bone, so many long, tireless nights and never once did I show my appreciation. Well I suppose it's better late than never. Thank you, Azazel, for all your hard work. It was an infinite, displeasure."
The Demon grumbled under his breath. He forgotten how sarcastic the Devil could be. "Don't worry Lucifer, you've got plenty of time to make it up to me." He glanced back at the human woman, laying so still but he knew she was alive. Could hear her heart beating like a drum inside his head. "So how does it feel?"
"What?"
"Being one of them, mortality, feeling things?" Azazel cocked his head, studying the man in chains for a moment. He never would have guessed that Satan had feelings while he ruled in hell, except of course anger. He felt that quite a bit.
Lucifer stayed stubbornly silent.
The Demon grinned. "Don't worry, I'm going to help you feel lots of things." His fist connected with Lucifer' face with a satisfying crack.
Lucifer's head snapped to the right. He chuckled, spitting out a glob of blood, and lifted his head to stare at his Demon. His vision wavered slightly, but he still managed a smile that showed his usually perfect white teeth stained red.
"The student becomes the master, hmm?"
Azazel didn't bother answering with words. He let his fists do the rest.
Lucifer's head sagged forward, his shoulders pulling uncomfortably from this position but the King of Hell was used to pain. He had suffered for eons because of his father. It wasn't the same kind of pain, emotional instead of physical, yet Lucifer preferred the latter. He could handle that better than emotions, and who didn't like a little pain?
Azazel had left him for now. Probably to clean the blood from his destroyed knuckles. Yes - Lucifer was proud that he'd managed hurt the demon with his face, that'll teach him. He tried to ignore the fact that he couldn't seem to breathe deeply without a stabbing pain in his chest. There was a distinct rattle and he knew that it would only take another hit from the demon to puncture his lung. That was not going to be way that Lucifer was leaving this plane of existence. He cast an uneasy glance upwards. No way in hell.
A startled gasp erupted from Chloe as she finally returned to consciousness. It took her a few seconds to find her bearings and when she finally locked her eyes on Lucifer and saw what state he was in, she hurried to get to her knees.
"Careful, D-detective. He hit you q-quite hard." Lucifer had no idea how humans managed to function, their bodies so frail that a few hits could cause such affliction. His chest felt like it was on fire and he'd only spoken a few words.
By the time Chloe made it to her feet and stood before her partner he was gasping, unable to catch his breath. She had to keep him calm and more than anything she wished she had the use of her hands, wanting to touch his face and try to sooth him.
"Lucifer? Look at me," she said, trying desperately to keep her voice steady and not start panicking. "Take small breaths. Like this." She showed him what to do, hoping that he could follow her instruction.
After what seemed like an eternity he managed to lift his head and focused on her, the burning sensation dwindled slightly, though it was still there. "T-thank you."
Chloe nodded and finally took a good look at him. "The hell Lucifer? What did he do to you?" She'd been around corpses that looked better than her partner right now. The whole right side of his face was completely swollen and bruised, blood covering most of his face from a cut above his eye and his possibly broken nose. His chest and stomach were severely bruised and she wondered how he was even able to breathe at all. His left side was worse and she guessed that was the cause of his deathly pallor.
Her own head started spinning and Chloe realised she may have moved just a little too soon. Lucifer must have noticed because he automatically tried to reach for her, the chains rattling as he moved and quickly realised his mistake when the pain returned, crashing into him like a wave of torment.
"Bloody hell," he gasped.
"Careful, Lucifer." She berated him. "I'm just gonna sit for a minute."
Chloe walked unsteadily back the few paces to the wall and slid down. She winced at the pain in her head, but didn't want to draw too much attention to her own injury when Lucifer had clearly suffered far more than she.
They fell into a peaceful silence, both contemplating their next move. Chloe knew she had to get the handcuffs off, if she could then maybe she could stop the man from hurting Lucifer and then somehow get her partner down from there.
"How do you know him?" she asked, breaking the silence.
Lucifer frowned as he shifted to face her, and immediately winced. "He, uh, he used to work for me."
"In Lux?" she queried, somehow knowing that wasn't what he meant.
"You need to get out of here Chloe." He told her, ignoring her question.
Chloe stared at him, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. "I'm not leaving without you."
Lucifer returned the look. "Yes, you are. If you can get out, you run and get help. The further away you get, the more of my strength will return."
"Don't be an idiot. That's not how this works." She really wanted to smack that man upside the head. "If I leave, he'll kill you."
"If you don't leave, he will!"
They hadn't heard their captor returning. He paused inside the door looking between them with a smile resembling that of a Cheshire cat. "Lovers tiff?" he questioned.
Chloe glared at him while Lucifer managed a stare so intense that she was surprised that Azazel didn't burst into flames in front of her.
"Ooh, touchy subject I see?" Azazel walked around his now mortal master and sneered. "I didn't think I was going to enjoy this as much with you being mortal, but I find it almost a challenge to see how long I can keep this going until your weak little body gives up. Your ribs are already at breaking point Lucifer, I can hear the bones grinding together and your laboured breaths." He tutted, pausing to look over at Chloe. "You, my dear must be an gift sent from heaven, because other than us demons, the only ones who want him dead more, are the angels. What better way for the Devil to fall a second time than at the hands of a human woman that you care for." He spat the word 'care' like it was toxic. "Is that poetic enough for you, Master?"
Chloe saw the glint of steel a second before Azazel drove the sharp weapon into Lucifer's side. Her partner let out a startled cry, trying to move his already injured body away from the pain, but it was useless. The Demon growled, baring his teeth at the Devil, and twisted the blade sharply, before yanking it back out.
Lucifer's shoulders wrenched painfully as he tried desperately to curl in on himself. The agony spread through him like wild fire, his chest tightening to the point where he thought he was going to black out. He could feel his blood soaking into his trousers and finally pooling on the floor beneath his feet.
"Stop it!" Chloe cried. Wanting to help her friend, but at the same time knowing she was useless to him if Azazel knocked her out cold again. "Please, take the cuffs off. I won't try anything."
She didn't expect it to work, but the man cocked his head as if studying her and shrugged his shoulders. Obviously not thinking she would be any kind of threat to him. At this moment in time she wouldn't be, all she could focus on was her partner bleeding and wheezing in front of her.
Azazel gripped her hands tightly before releasing the cuffs. His dark eyes boring in to hers and she could have sworn they looked jet black. "Try anything and it's him that's going to suffer. Understand?"
She nodded and rushed over to Lucifer. Shrugging out of her jacket she pressed it against his side hoping to stem the blood flow. "I've got you, I've got you. You're going to be okay." It sounded more like a plea than a demand.
Lucifer struggled, every inhale was excruciating and every exhale felt like he was being stabbed, repeatedly. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and he felt Chloe's touch, her gentle fingers wiping it away. His last thought before unconsciousness claimed him was just how beautiful she was.