A new chapter, enjoy!

The chapter is now betaed. As always much my thanks to Senema for her help. All remaining mistakes are my own because I changed a few things afterwards.

It could be that I disappear for a few weeks or more for personal reasons but we will see if it comes to that. I just want you to be prepared.

Chapter 26

Lucifer walked into the police station the next morning and went straight to Chloe's desk. She sat there with a rather grumpy face and leafed through files. He sat down opposite her. "Ah, detective, how was your night? Do we have a new case?"

Chloe pushed the file away in disgust before turning to Lucifer. "We had one but the FBI took it over. Apparently, many other states have had murders of this particular and unusual nature too."

"What special types of death are you talking about?" Lucifer asked, seemingly curious, although he already knew the answer.

"There were hearts torn out and heads torn off, although no one knows exactly with which method. The evidence points to a way that is actually impossible." Chloe threw up her hands in frustration. "Then we had a huge fire at the docks. After it was extinguished, we found almost 200 dead people in a warehouse. They killed each other with knives, machetes and the like, it looks like a gang war. The fire destroyed almost all traces but the remains of various drugs were found, quite a lot actually, so the DEA took over the case."

Lucifer was inwardly impressed; apparently, Gwennie's people had done a great job at the docks. He wondered if she had something to do with the FBI taking over the case at the Council meeting place too. "What a shame. So we don't have a new case?"

"No, Lucifer, we don't have a new case", Chloe replied with a sigh. "Where were you, by the way?"

"Oh, I was with Elijah and his family. Such lovely people," Lucifer replied light-heartedly. He saw, how Dan rolled his eyes.

"How is Elijah?" Chloe asked curiously.

"I think he's better now, we had a little party." Lucifer grinned. "He was able to release some of the frustration that had built up in prison." He was aware that Dan was giving him a sidelong glance, who, unlike Chloe, knew exactly how this release of frustration had looked like.

"How long was he with you?" Chloe looked thoughtful.

"Maybe until 11pm." Lucifer shrugged nonchalantly. "We were in my penthouse. Eventually, Freya decided for the entire family that everyone return to the hotel as Elijah looked too exhausted." He chuckled amused. "She can be quite bossy."

"Have you talked to Elijah today?" Chloe asked next.

"No", Lucifer answered truthfully. "But we want to meet again tonight at my place."

Chloe sighed. "Unfortunately, we didn't really get any further with his case, there is still more evidence against him than for him."

"Elijah knows you believe him and that's the most important thing to him, Detective", Lucifer said reassuringly.

"Dan and I will stay on his case. We won't give up", Chloe said firmly.

"That's good to hear." Lucifer got up from his chair. "Now if we don't have a new case, I'm going back to my club. As a club owner, your work never stops."

"If I find out anything, I'll let you know." Chloe turned back to her files.

"Thank you detective." Lucifer left the station quite satisfied, that had been a successful visit. Since Chloe no longer had the case, he didn't have to keep deceiving her.

When Lucifer entered the penthouse, Kol was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. "Is there anything interesting in there?"

"Yes, we are on the front page twice." Kol chuckled amusedly. "Even we've never competed with each other with our headlines. Do you have something new?"

"The FBI has taken over the case at the Council meeting place." Lucifer looked meaningfully at Kol. "Apparently there are similar deaths all over the States."

Kol laughed. "My family is not responsible for all deaths of this nature. But that's good news."

"You mean there are vampires who work for the FBI?" Lucifer asked in amazement.

"Maybe, but if so, then only in the office, not in the field." Kol shrugged. "What I do know is that there are agents who are compelled to overlook anything related to the supernatural. When this happens, the cases remain simply unsolved and the investigations come to nothing."

"Interesting. So no innocents are used as scapegoats?" Lucifer asked interested.

"No, that could lead to other problems." Kol shrugged. "Better these cases remain unsolved. What about the fight at the warehouse?"

"Drug Enforcement has taken the case", Lucifer replied. "They'll probably treat it as a gang and drug war gone wrong. Enough drugs were found."

"Very good, as Gwennie promised." Kol looked content.

Lucifer grabbed a coffee too. "Where is Maze?"

"She's down at the club, apparently goods were delivered and she had to handle them." Kol put down the newspaper and stood up. "I'll check on our involuntary guests."

"Did you have problems with them tonight?" Lucifer asked curiously. He had heard nothing suspicious in the night.

"No, but they're finally beginning to understand the mess they're really in." Kol looked pleased. "So far, Marcel and Vincent have always been lucky that at least one of us has always spoken for them or been on their side. This time things look very different, our family has not been in such an agreement for a very long time."

"Because of Elijah?" Lucifer said thoughtfully.

"For the most part yes." Kol looked unhappy now and sat back down. "The last few years have been tough for Elijah, he has been suffering from depression. We had fears for a while that he would follow Hayley but he's finally recovered somewhat. This trip to Los Angeles was his first vacation of a sort since all the drama with Hope started all these years ago."

"Who are Hayley and Hope?" Lucifer asked intrigued.

"Hope is Klaus's daughter and Hayley was her mother." Kol hesitated for a moment. "She and Elijah were together, at least sort of. They had never the chance, to really be a pair and live together. She died a few years ago and Elijah blames himself for it."

"Was it his fault?" Lucifer asked concerned.

"No, it wasn't. It was a team effort in which too many things went wrong. Hope ultimately triggered all this as she kidnapped her mother and rendered her helpless. Our enemies could so take her captive and at the end Hayley scarified her live to save Hope. At this time Elijah had lost his memories, thanks to Marcel and Vincent, and did nothing to help her. He never forgave himself for it and Hope made it worse as she blamed him too and attacked him.

All of us blamed him alone too, especially Klaus, and so we never held Hope properly responsible although without her nothing of this would have happened. My brother is unfortunately a martyr and never defended himself against our allegations. As a result Hope and Elijah's relationship is still not the best, they are simply not close. Which is kind of funny, because without Elijah she would have never been born, because both her parents wanted to kill her at some point during her pregnancy."

Kol seemed visibly nervous now. "Hope doesn't know about this. It's a touchy subject in our family and I would appreciate it if you would keep what I've told you to yourself."

"I will keep it a secret", Lucifer immediately promised.

"Thanks." Kol nodded stiffly and stood up again before leaving the room.

Lucifer looked after him thoughtfully. He felt it was rare for Kol to speak so openly to strangers.

Lucifer sighed. As fascinating as the dynamics of the Mikaelson family were, it was best if he went downstairs to help Maze or she would make him pay. And Maze knew how to make someone's life hell without torture.

xxxxx

Kol wasn't even mad at Freya for practically forcing him to take the watch. Like her, he had realized that Elijah was at the end of his tether and needed some time to himself. He'd planned on volunteering anyway but it was always better not to seem too eager with his family.

Maze had been good company and she was refreshingly hard-nosed. Rarely did he and his family meet people, who were so similar in personality to them, and with whom they could form such a friendly bond. Most of the people they met were put off by his family's ruthlessness and feared them. It was quite pleasant to let go and show what they were capable of without seeing fear or disgust on the faces of those, they wanted to befriend.

Kol wasn't like Elijah in that he took it much to heart when his former friends suddenly became afraid of him and turned their backs on him but it wasn't easy for him either.

Somehow talking to Lucifer had been easy because there was no judgement and no accusations. So he had said much more than he had originally planned. He just hoped that Lucifer would keep his word.

Kol entered the makeshift dungeon and first checked Vincent's chains. He stared at him with hatred and Kol smirked as he squeezed the handcuffs together a little tighter until Vincent groaned involuntarily.

Only then did Kol stop and face the werewolf, who avoided meeting his eyes. Kol checked his bindings too and next turned to Sofya, who was still standing completely rigid. You could see that she was in pain and that she could hardly bear this forced position.

"You can move, my dear, but you will not approach the door nor the other prisoners." Kol didn't forbid her to attack him. If she did, he had greatly overestimated her intelligence.

With a relieved look on her face, Sofya moved for a few minutes and Kol watched her vigilantly until he decided she had gotten enough relief.

"Okay, love, get in a comfortable position." Kol waited for Sofya to comply before he compelled her again not to move.

Next Kol looked at Marcel, who looked just as strained as Sofya. However, he did not intend to show Marcel the same mercy. "Don't move a muscle!"

With a laugh, Kol left the room. Marcel was lucky that he didn't force him into an even more uncomfortable and painful position. Kol found himself to be very generous and gracious after nearly dying in agony from Marcel's venom.

A few hours later, Lucifer and Maze came back up.

"How long until the club opens today?" Kol asked curiously.

"The club is closed today", Maze replied readily.

Lucifer nodded. "Yes, on this day suppliers are always coming or craftsmen are here to repair occurred damage."

Kol checked his watch; it was almost six o'clock. "My family should be arriving soon." He looked at Lucifer and Maze. "I hope you are aware that it will be intense when my family takes their revenge."

"Don't worry", Maze waved him off and grinned. "I already saw it yesterday."

"No, you've seen how we take revenge on those we don't have a personal grudge against", Kol corrected. "When it's like with Marcel or Vincent, it gets much uglier."

"Oh, I have no problem with uglier", Maze replied light-heartedly.

"Me neither", Lucifer said with a shrug.

"Well, don't say, I didn't warn you", said Kol, amused. "We're going to let Elijah choose what happens to them, and my brother can get extremely creative and petty when the mood hits him." He got serious. "And Elijah is in the mood. You may not see it as relative strangers, but we do. Elijah is really pissed off, which means Marcel and Vincent will soon be wishing they had never chosen him as a target for their little conspiracy."

"I can't wait to see this." Maze was intrigued.

Kol laughed. "Just don't expect it to get violent or bloody. Just because Elijah can get violent doesn't mean he uses it always as a method for his revenge. My brother sometimes thinks there are worse punishments than death. Having seen him carry out some of these punishments, I fully agree with him. Even I almost felt sorry for them afterwards, which is pretty rare."

"No worry, I got my fill for violence yesterday", answered Maze. "And maybe I'll learn something about punishment that I didn't know before."

"After hearing your stories last night, I can hardly imagine it, love." Kol winked at Maze jokingly.

"Oh, your stories weren't bad either, very amusing", Maze replied wittily.

"I'm sort of glad I didn't overhear those conversations", Lucifer murmured. "Since I know Maze's stories and she liked yours too, tells me everything I need to know."

Kol suddenly cocked his head to the side. "Your elevator is coming up and I can hear my siblings talking." He smirked. "It's showtime."

Lucifer and Maze looked at each other and started to grin as well.