Chapter 21: After-party
Before Natalie could begin to process what she had heard, the elevator dinged. A frantic Maze seemingly appeared next to them. Her firm hand hauled back the club-owner against the couch so she could properly inspect him for wounds.
"Good to see you too Maze, I'm fine. Mostly untouched, unfortunately for me." Lucifer informed the demoness, giving Miss. Varquez a heated look.
With the return of Maze, Natalie pushed the towel into Maze's hand and then retreated out the elevator. Hopefully without her presence to reminded him, the creature's natural effect to be forgotten by humans should prevent any mental trauma from his witnessing of the attack. Of course there was the matter of him seeing the creature at all. With a mind full of questions, and the cover of dark, Natalie returned to her apartment.
Evan sat on the couch, with the sword cleaning and maintenance kit spread on the coffee table. The great-sword was lain across his lap as he gently brushed a cloth pad over the length of the blade. When Natalie walked through the door, he was quick to carefully set it aside and rushed to hug her.
"You should have called me." He said with a thick voice. The tears that glinted in his eyes brought down a hammer of guilt.
"I didn't find out till tonight. It had already been a week. Now that no one in the underground trusts me, I didn't find out until it was almost too late. Besides, I didn't want to interrupt your date with Devin." She responded gently, stroking his hair in an attempt to comfort him. "It was just one Pale One, a stupid one at that."
A rough giggle came from the young man as he released her and returned to tending the sword. "Needs to be resharpened soon." He muttered.
"Gah, I hate traveling to Europe to get it sharpened. International security is a nightmare these days." She retorted with a smirk.
His soft laughter assured her that he had calmed from his worries. Natalie flopped into the arm chair and fell asleep watching Evan's repetitive motions.
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Lucifer looked after the elevator in confusion, interrupted when Maze threw the towel at him.
"If you're fine, then dry off and explain." She said with her arms crossed.
He took the towel and began to strip off his remaining clothing. The whole suit would need to be dry cleaned. "Well you first. What happened at the station?"
"Dead body wouldn't stay dead, then just dropped again. Like Nat said it would. Only a couple little scruffs on some of the other humans, here and there. I'll check later with Nat about if it's anything to worry about." She said curtly.
He narrowed his eyes and retorted in kind, "Miss. Varquez defeated the monster."
He was greeted by a huff as Maze turned to go to the bar for a drink. "Ok, ok. What do you want to know?"
Lucifer was quiet for a minute before he began asking questions.
"Is... Is everyone alright? The detective, Miss. Lopez, Daniel?"
"All fine. Completely untouched. As am I."
"How are they reporting it?"
"Don't know. The station was so relieved when the thing stop moving, they just stuffed it in the morgue again and everyone went home for the night."
He nodded again. "Alright, your turn then."
"What was Nat fighting?" Maze asked without hesitation.
"It was a strange creature with limbs like a crab, and near translucent skin. When I first saw it, it seemingly vanished, but the rain made it easily visible. It spoke with an ethereal voice, Maze."
Maze gave him a look that spoke to her little belief in the last statement.
"Oh, I would never joke about this, Mazikeen."
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Natalie poured over her contract, trying to find out the rules on "calling in sick" for this damnable position. Exhaustion kept her in the arm chair, even after Evan had gone to bed, re-awoken, and gone to something or another. She didn't have the energy to hear, yet alone listen.
It wasn't until there was a pounding on her door that she considered getting up. Instead she attempted to ignore it; in hopes that who ever it was would grow bored and leave. When Maze's voice carried through the door, Natalie sighed and finally forced herself from the chair.
"Maaaaaaze." She drawled as she leaned on the now open door frame. "Great timing, I need to call in today. Sammie can lead practice and the performance tonight."
"Yeah sure, call and make it happen." Maze commented as she pushed into the apartment. "So your Pale One. Some giant albino crab, huh?"
Natalie deeply frowned with a sigh. Mr. Morningstar must have told her before he had the chance to forget.
"It's best to let him forget, and not ask about it. You should forget about it too." Natalie said as she flopped into the chair again. A few swipes of her phone completed taking care of volun-telling Sammie of the day's change.
Maze's annoyed voice cut in to Natalie's thoughts, "Why does no one at the station remember what happened last night?"
"The only reason you remember is probably because you keep talking about it and haven't slept. You should do that."
"What about you? Why do you remember?"
Natalie only sighed. "Doesn't matter. Go home, and get some sleep Maze. I need to sleep." She said softly.
Maze didn't response, but did leave Natalie to her napping. When Evan returned home, he forced the stubborn woman to finally retire to the bed.
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Lucifer's pacing came to a stop once Maze returned. "Well?" He asked expectantly.
"Nothing, she just keeps saying we need to forget about it." Maze replied.
He leaned both hands onto the bar top before him. Something about this left a rolling in his stomach, something to do what that feeling he kept ignoring about the strange woman.
"She knows something, Maze." He whispered.
Maze scoffed a laugh, "Yeah, yeah she does."
"And we need to know what it is." He finished with a dark tone.
"Yeah, yeah we do. Ya know, I think this is the first time we've agreed on something in a while." She said with a smirk.