Author's note: Hello dear readers! I decided to write another chapter of this story before going back to my other one, Empty Sky, Empty Heart. I was just too excited to make you discover what surprise I have in store for you at the end of this chapter :))) I have to admit that this surprise was greatly inspired by a comment made by Navaros on a previous chapter. So thanks to you my friend for unknowingly giving me that idea ;) Also a big thank you to Bebec for your very good advices on this one. And now, place to the story. Enjoy!


Chapter 14

Kiss of Death

After a third restless night in a row, Chloe woke up without him by her side, again. Lucifer's absence seemed to be weighting down on her even more heavily every day, as if the fact that he was gone was slowly crystallising itself in her mind.

She passed her hand over the sheets on his side of the bed, trying to remember what it had been like to wake up in his arms during the two weeks that they'd really been together. Two weeks of knowing exactly her place in the world, with the man she loved more than anything and who cherished her equally. Clearly the best days of her life.

And now it could all be over. She might never feel his warmth and love ever again...

For a terrifying moment, a feeling of total emptiness washed over her which left her drenched in sweat. Until she remembered that a part of Lucifer was now inside her, resting in her womb. She placed both hands over her belly and gasped as she took deep shuddering breaths, doing her best to control her panic.

A wet gasp left her lips when she felt once again a warm wave course through her. She knew it was meant to calm her, but she could also feel a certain apprehension mixt into it coming from her unborn child.

"I... I'm okay, Sweetie..." she quickly reassured it. Saying so was actually helping her to get there. "I just miss your dad very much..., but I'll be okay... and so will you. Please, don't worry."

Her words, or maybe it was more her thoughts, seemed to have the intended effect for she felt the distress that was not her own diminish sensibly. She forced her own anguish to calm down too to prove to her child that she was indeed okay.

She really had to get herself back together and fast if she didn't want to traumatize that kid before it was even born. As tempting as it was to just let herself drown in sorrow these days, it was obviously not an option with that new amazing life growing inside her.

Chloe stroke her belly for a long moment to bring both of them back to a semblance of peace. What also helped calm her was to gaze upon the items she'd placed on the night stand to remember Lucifer by. In a vase was standing the now dried rose he'd given her at their beginning. Also, beside it rested a picture she had framed the day before. It was a photograph of them that Maze had taken on the night of their first and only date. The night he made his unique proposal. The night they had bounded themselves to each other for at least a lifetime. They both looked so happy, so in love in that picture. For sure, a love that strong was destined to overcome anything and last forever...

Chloe let that love wash over her and brought forth memories from her Blissful Memory list to remember the feel of being together and to keep their love alive. She'd done that a lot over the last few days, going through her BM list over and over again to stay sane, and she imagined that Lucifer might be doing the same. It actually did help a little with the pain. And now that she had a piece of Lucifer inside her womb, she knew that it would also help her survive their time apart, as hard as it was promising to be. Lucifer didn't have that chance though, and she could only hope that the few good memories they created during their short time together would be enough for him to get through whatever he had to face.

After a long moment of reliving their best times together, Chloe finally felt like she could be ready to face yet another day without him. She soldiered-on and rose up. There was a lot she still had to do to prepare Doom for his test in two days, obviously. His counter performance of the day before had demoralized her a great deal, until Trixie voiced an interesting idea that had risen her hopes back up. Considering Doom's intelligence, her daughter thought that showing him videos of police dogs in action could help him understand how to apply nonlethal strength in his attacks and act more like a dog. The idea was certainly worth a shot.

It was still early, not even 8am yet and everything was quiet in the penthouse. When she stepped down into the living room, Michael opened an eye from his lying position on the couch and reclosed it as soon as he saw who it was. She wondered how he could get any real rest at all while still staying alert for the slightest disturbance around him, but he seemed to manage it anyway. She also wondered when he might have come back from the night's hunt and how it went down. Details would have to wait for later though, since he needed as much sleep as he could get, as did Maze and Amenadiel who would probably show up only in early afternoon.

Chloe walked inside her daughter's room to discover Doom in the bed wrapped up under the covers with a still sleeping Trixie all snuggled up against his back. She lifted a hard brow at the picture before her. Doom looked back at her with shifting eyes and a guilty air about him, clearly conscious of the precarious situation he was in. Her eyes turned back to her daughter who looked so peaceful in her sleep, with her nose buried into the tick fur.

Chloe sighed noisily. How could she reprimand the hound for taking care of her disturbed child? Yet, sleeping under the covers was a line she was not about to let him cross again.

She signaled him to get out of bed with a slight move of her head and took a mental note to change the bed's sheets before tonight. The hound complied slowly, apparently trying not to wake up the child. Trixie stirred up anyway because of its movements. Chloe had been hesitant to wake her up so early today, but Trixie had made her swear to let her help with Doom's training. The mother was encouraged to notice that her daughter looked more rested than the day before. Hopefully, the nightmares might not have been as bad this time. At least her daughter had not woken up crying during the night, that she knew of.

Chloe gently stroke her daughter's hair out of her face. "Good morning Sweetie."

Trixie finished opening her eyes sleepily and smiled while stretching. "Morning!"

"Did you sleep well, Baby?"

Chloe saw a shadow cross her daughter's eyes.

"Humm..., better I'd say?" The child smiled encouragingly at her mother.

Her little girl was so strong! Chloe continued caressing her hair. "Was it again that bad dream about a skeleton trying to kiss you?"

Trixie nodded wordlessly with a grimace.

How peculiar! Chloe had a hard time understanding why her daughter's mind would conjure up such a nightmare when it already had plenty of horrifying memories to feed upon.

"Did you talk about that dream with Linda yesterday? Maybe she could help you with it," she said softly.

"Yeah I did. I'm sure the nightmares will get away with time," the child added with forced confidence.

"I'm sure they will, Sweetie," Chloe encouraged her with a false confidence of her own.

The mother pushed aside her worries for the time being and tried to change the mood to a happier one. "Do you feel ready to take charge of Doom's training this morning? You have a theory to put to the test."

Her daughter's eyes lit up with anticipation. "I'm ready! You'll see mommy, I'm sure I can teach Doomy."

"I'm fairly optimistic that you can. Now get up, you have a big challenge before you."

They started their day with a big breakfast and showers before Trixie went searching videos on utube on the TV. Michael accepted to relocate in her daughter's bed to let the living room to them.

Trixie found many recordings of police dogs going through multiple tests, though Chloe asked her to focus mainly on those that showed how to subdue suspects since it was the only part of Doom's training that really worried her.

Doom watched videos very seriously and attentively, if somewhat looking dubious at times as if he couldn't believe that humans and dogs were so weak. It also helped Chloe understand how it should be done and how she should change her training methods.

The viewing of the numerous videos took most part of the morning and it gave Chloe some alone time to check up on Dan on the phone. Unsurprisingly, his second case of a robbed armor truck turned out to have supernatural elements to it too. Witnesses still under shock were telling of a big winged thing getting away from the crime scene. Furthermore, the money found on the demon she questioned the day before matched the serial numbers of the stolen money from the first vehicle.

After thinking about it all night, Dan's working theory was that Lilith could be planning to buy a house or a domain with all that money. Chloe thought it made sense. After all, Moz'gan had said that Lilith wanted to find a hiding place out of town until she could strike at Maze. Dan's idea was to keep an eye out for properties that would be bought over the next few days. The main difficulty would be to do so without Murdock, his partner of the moment, noticing what he was doing. It was already a miracle that he could persuade Murdock of not telling the Feds, or even their Lieutenant, about the supernatural appearance of their cases. He'd convinced him that all the talk about a winged creature could only be rubbish and that they could never put it into a report anyway. He wasn't sure to be able to hide things from his partner for very long, but he was well determinate to do whatever necessary to keep the agent in the dark for as long as possible.

From the three new unexplained deaths discovered this morning around town, they gathered that the Soul Eater was becoming greedy. Something told her that Michael had not caught it yet last night. It would have to be stopped, and soon. Other than that, there had been no new eaten corpses found in the area. Chloe thought that it had to be an improvement to the situation of the last few days. On the other hand, information about the streak of disappearances in LA had leaked to the reporters who were now talking about it on the news. Everything to help stir up the fear and tension in town.

Come afternoon, Chloe requested Michael's help to assist with Doom's training in the gym while Maze and Amenadiel resumed the Valkyrie's training. Michael very reluctantly accepted to play the live dummy. Using faked humans had proven to be useless with Doom's strength and anyways, the two dummies they had were already broken. It didn't reassure the angel much that Chloe padded his arms, legs, and neck for protection.

Before they started, seeing the glee in Doom's wild eyes at the thought of attacking Michael, Chloe thought more prudent to reiterate the no killing rule, even if Michael was an angel. The excitement in the Hellhound's eyes decreased considerably at the warning.

She started slowly by only asking the hound to grab an arm or a leg to try and drag Michael down with minimal strength. It didn't take long for her to understand that an angel was not the best being to choose to play simple human. Michael was way too strong to be brought down easily even by a Hellhound, and blood was quickly drawn, to her utmost horror. Good thing that angels healed quickly!

That set back gave her an idea though. Apparently, a hellish beast could pierce an angel's skin as easily as a human's... So instead of asking Doom to subdue the angel, she instead asked Michael to help Doom gage the strength of his bites and strikes to not draw blood. It took a moment for the hound to get it, yet after many tries, he succeeded at applying his strength just short of making Michael bleed.

After that, Chloe saw no other choices but to play herself the suspect to be brought down. No amount of objections from Maze and the brothers were able to make her change her mind. She had to get results and quickly. Doom looked traumatized just at the thought of hurting her. Good! Maybe it would help him hold himself back. She had a thought for her unborn child and the danger that such a training could mean to it, but she reminded herself that training Doom to work by her side was imperative in protecting that baby's life along with hers.

She tread very carefully, first asking Doom to grab her padded arms or legs firmly but without drawing blood. Damn! That beast was strong! Amazingly, no blood was drawn. Chloe couldn't refrain a laughter of relief at Doom's outstanding performance.

From there, the training went surprisingly well. She made him pull at her limbs with just enough strength to throw her off balance, then a little more to bring her down. Doom quickly got the hang of it and soon seemed comfortable with the amount of strength to apply. They trained for a good part of the afternoon during which Chloe simulated different situations, such as a suspect drawing a gun, running away, or attacking. She got knock off more often than she could count, but never felt like she was in danger of being really armed.

Chloe was over the moon with the good results they got in so short a time. She couldn't wait to tell Trixie how well her idea had worked out. Her daughter was currently with Azrael, making the most of the angel's presence among them by attending another Spirit Walking session while she still could. As it turned out, Lucifer's sister could already be near the end of her stay with them. The angel didn't said it outright, but by seeing how she was able to fold her wings away this morning, Chloe understood that she was close to complete healing. She also realised that she would miss her new friend once the angel was gone and hoped that the she would visit sometimes in the future.

Focussed as she'd been on Doom's training, Chloe only noticed now what Maze was practicing on the other side of the gym. The Valkyrie was flapping her wings powerfully to lift herself off the ground and hover in the air for a few seconds before landing again.

Chloe's eyes bulged in stupefaction. Hadn't the demon vehemently said ever since she got those wings that she would never lower herself to fly with them?

Chloe tried to keep her voice neutral to not betray her surprise, without much success admittedly. "You're learning to fly?"

After another quick hovering in the air, Maze landed on one knee and snarled dangerously at her in warning. "You better not make a damn comment about it, Decker!"

Chloe understood that some subjects were better left alone...


"You are distracted, child."

Trixie opened her eyes to look shamefully at the angel's piercing green eyes sitting before her on the floor. She'd been trying for the last fifteen minutes to get into the relaxed state necessary for Soul Traveling, without even getting close to it.

"I'm sorry! I'll try harder," the child assured sheepishly.

"Beatrice," Azrael started softly, "there is something on your mind that is preventing you from reaching peacefulness. Trying harder probably won't help. Talking about it might though," she prompted.

Trixie lowered her eyes and sighed, looking very sad. She gazed back up at the Angel of Death with a trembling lip.

"Could you... Could you look at my soul and tell me if it has darken?"

Azrael was taken aback by the question and very puzzled. "Why would you think that your soul could be tainted, child?"

"Because I killed someone...," she answered faintly, "I don't want to end up in Hell!"

There she'd said it! The one thing she couldn't talk about with her mom or even Linda, because they could never give her an answer that she would truly believe. But Azrael could. She could see her soul and Trixie thought that she would tell her the truth, whatever it was. Trixie had seen Hell and she was afraid, no, terrified, of ending up down there to be tortured for eternity for her sin.

Azrael lost her countenance. "Child..., what I see in you is a lot of pain and guilt, but rest assured that your soul remains as pure as it was."

Beatrice's eyes filled up with tears at the angel's reassurance.

Azrael continued in a soothing tone. "What you need to do now is forgive yourself for what you had to do. You did nothing wrong!"

Trixie's voice shook with her sobbing. "You really think so?"

The angel nodded confidently. "I know so. And believe me child, I know how to recognize a dark soul when I see one."

Azrael knew that a guilty conscience could be enough to doom someone to Hell, but she also knew that this child had time to overcome her guilt. And the angel planned to help insure that she would.

Beatrice smiled at her through her tears. Only now did she finally feel like she could really breathe. She wasn't bound for Hell!

"Maybe we should resume this session another time?" suggested the angel.

"No!" Trixie sniffed her tears back in and breathed deeply. "I want to learn. I need to learn. Please?" Soul Traveling seemed to be the only thing making sense in her life lately and she needed it. Learning to control it felt like something important that she had to do.

Azrael smiled proudly at her. "I see you got the stubbornness of your mother."

It made Trixie giggle a little and helped her return back to a better state of mind. It didn't take her that long after that to be able to get out of her body and join Azrael who was already waiting for her.

They began by going around the place for a moment. After seeing that the child's soul was stable outside her shell, Azrael led her out of the penthouse down towards the lower levels of the building.

After a small hesitation, Trixie followed Azrael easily. The feeling of going through floors was very strange for her, but it was also a lot of fun. They ended up in the new gym where they saw Maze and Amenadiel fighting, and Michael being attacked by Doom. Trixie grimaced at the blood spotting the angel's arms and legs, which was clearly Doom's work. To her surprise, she heard her mom congratulate Doom for his last attack. Maybe her teaching of this morning was finally paying off?

Trixie's attention was drawn back to Azrael who was speaking to her.

"Let's go outside for a moment. But stay close to me, child."

Trixie saw Doom lift his gaze to them in surprise at hearing the angel's voice. And unexpectedly, the child realised that someone else had noticed their presence.

"Hey kiddo!" exclaimed Maze who winked at her before resuming her fight with Amenadiel. The latter looking clearly puzzled by Maze's words.

Trixie smiled at her demonic friend before following Azrael excitedly. It was the first time they went outside into the open. They made a little excursion around Lux from up in the air. The sensation of floating above the city was amazing! She wondered what it would be like to fly around at night. It would certainly be even more incredible.

That was when the actual teaching started. Azrael taught her how to sense if someone or a wandering spirit was to approach her body, and how to return to her shell fast enough to insure her safety. Then they practiced together, Azrael approaching her body and her snapping back to it as soon as she felt the angel's presence close by. She was getting better at each new try. She even learned how to push Azrael's soul away if she tried to enter her small body. That part was still very hard to achieve for her, but Azrael seemed content with her progresses.

They trained a lot longer than the day before and Trixie felt drained when she finally was allowed to return to her body. She first thought of going down to watch her mom work with Doom and Maze use her wings, but her state of exhaustion was such that she decided to go get a nap instead.

She woke up just before dinner, very much rested. During the evening, Maze and Amenadiel left with Doom to go chase a nasty demon that had been eluding them for days. The adults were doing their best to avoid speaking of the demons in front of her, yet she had gathered enough bits and pieces of conversations to understand most of what was going on. She couldn't say how the demons got to Earth, but she remembered a bright light at the abbey and many demons swarming around them when Lucifer had been healing her. She'd missed what happened next, but apparently some of those demons escaped Lucifer's wrath and were now roaming LA. She knew Maze and the angelic brothers would eventually get them all, but still, it was scary.

Michael would be the one protecting them tonight. He was a nice guy, even if he rarely smiled, and her mom seemed increasingly at ease with him, which had considerably lowered the tension in the place, she had to admit. Even though, Trixie would have preferred to have her hound with her for the night. She wouldn't admit it to her mom, but she felt safer with Doom by her side.

Azrael was the first to retire to her room for the night. Her mom offered to watch a movie, but seeing how tired she looked, Trixie pretended to prefer read a book by herself in her room before going to sleep. Chloe seemed surprised yet humored her and unsurprisingly went straight to bed herself.

Once in her room, Trixie felt restless. She didn't feel like reading at all. To be honest, there was only one thing on her mind at the moment. She had been trying to fight the urge all evening. Really, she had! How wrong could that be anyway?

She fought with herself a little longer until she didn't see any reasons anymore to keep fighting it. She told herself that all she would do was to go out and take a peek at the city at night. She would stay out only for a moment. No biggy!

Comforted by her reasoning, she sat cross-legged on the bed and emptied her mind. It was becoming almost easy to drift outside her body with all the practice she had today. She first made sure that her mother was still in bed and that Michael was occupied. She found the latter trying to figure out the TV remote and zapping channels. That should occupy him for a while.

She got outside through one of the big glass doors. There was one opened, but hey, going through it was so much funnier!

She found herself hovering above the dark city illuminated by thousands of lights. It was even better than what she expected. The view was grandiose and the feeling of freedom was exhilarating. She drifted a little farther from Lux and descended closer to the ground to observe the night life in the streets.

Her excitement was short lived though.

A strange feeling suddenly washed over her, making all her senses rise in alert. What created it she couldn't exactly say, but she'd met enough evil beings lately to recognize one when it came across her path. It was not that close per se, but its proximity was already alarming enough as it was.

Trixie snapped back into her body instantly, heart beating madly and panting. Maybe it hadn't been such of a good idea to wander alone outside after all. She crawled under the covers and rolled into a ball, trying to calm herself.

After a long moment, she understood that it was pointless; she would never be able to get to sleep alone in that room after what happened. So she got out of bed and sneaked up into her mother's bedroom. Apparently her mom had not been asleep yet, or only lightly, because she opened her eyes as soon as she crossed the threshold.

"Are you okay, Monkey?" She sounded concerned.

Trixie didn't want to worry her but she felt too terrified at the moment to think clearly. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" she asked in a small voice.

"Of course Sweetie. Come here." Chloe lifted the covers and let her little girl spoon up against her front.

Trixie drifted to sleep a long moment later, protectively settled into her mother's arms.


Down into an alley a certain distance away from Lux, a dark shadow was leaning over a woman, caught up in an apparently passionate kiss. His fleshless lips left those of the woman as if in sudden surprise. Leaving the young brunette drop to the ground, he lifted his empty orbits up to the dark sky, searching for the unusual disturbance.

There it was! Such a bright soul, hovering in the air. The smell of that soul was so appealing that he could feel the frenzy of the chase rise inside his rotten body. The unique soul disappeared all of a sudden, yet he could still smell its track. And now that he had set his sight upon it, nothing could ever stop him from devouring that soul.

The woman at his feet moaned faintly in agony. He was surprised to find it still alive. The distraction must have kept him from draining every bit of life from the pathetic being. He could still finish it before going after this new exciting prey.

He grabbed his snack by the throat and lifted it up at his level. The woman's eyes opened up in panic and she tried to scream when his skeletal face approached hers once more to suck the life out of her. Only a small whimper left her lips before he finished giving her the kiss of death.


Chloe woke up to a weird shiver running up her spine. Her little girl's steady breathing against her only brought small comfort to her uneasiness. Something was wrong, and the increasing sense of danger pulsing inside her entire being felt like a palpable entity. Staying as still as she could, she quickly assessed her dark surroundings, looking for a possible threat. At first, she couldn't see anything amiss with only the faint lighting coming from the living room.

But then she saw IT!

A shadow, darker than the darkness of the night, leaning over her defenseless daughter as if about to kiss her.

The fear that washed over her should have paralyzed her with its intensity, yet all her instincts were pushing her to protect her child. Faster than she thought she could react, Chloe's hand snapped up to grab what appeared to be the being's neck. The creature's advance stopped the moment she made contact with its cold body. Almost in the same breath, two empty orbits in a raw-boned face turned to stare at her. Not taken aback in the slightest by her action, the creature took its time to grin at her amusedly before tilting once more its head towards her daughter's face.

All coherent thoughts left Chloe in that instant, except for the certainty that her daughter was about to die if she didn't do something to stop it.

Almost as if in a trance, Chloe started feeling her entire being vibrating under an onslaught of power. A bright celestial light flooded the room as the creature was forcefully yanked away and hurled against a wall before it fell brokenly on the floor.

Chloe's brain registered the arrival of Michael, ready to bounce on the threat, but she stopped him with a hard shake of her head.

That despicable evil creature was hers.

Already half way up, Chloe straighten up in a fluid movement. Now in full control of her actions, she had the presence of mind of placing herself in front of a now rousing Trixie to prevent her from seeing the creature of her nightmares and what she was about to do to it.

Chloe lifted a hand towards the Soul Eater who was already recovering its senses. A beam of blinding energy left her hand and collided with the monster. The evil creature had absolutely no defense against such a pure celestial power. It started screaming and wriggling on the ground in agony as the few scraps of skin attached to its skeleton melted under an unnatural fire, along with the dark cloak covering its frame. Soon, its bones also dissolved to leave only a puddle of burning slime.

Chloe could feel Trixie huddled against her back, her face buried in her night shirt, quietly crying, but alive and safe. At the bedroom's entrance, Michael was frozen into place, silently watching the unnatural event unraveling before him.

When it was all over, Chloe lowered her hand shakily, observing curiously the celestial glow still emanating from it. The light slowly faded away at the same rate as did the power coursing through her. A soft warmth inside her womb was the only proof left that she'd not been dreaming.

Only then did Chloe fully registered what she just did.

What the fuck?


Author's note: Hey! Hey! Hey! I hope you liked my new creasy idea and that you had fun reading it. Please let me know. Thanks for reading, and commenting :)