Chapter 3

The first page of the Book of Nephilim opened out to reveal two short paragraphs, one in an unfamiliar script, one in Latin, and two small photographs. They depicted the same girl, one as a young child, one as a teen. The girl had an olive complexion, waist-length dark hair, twinkling black eyes, and one of the brightest, purest smiles Lucifer had ever seen. 'Cora' the inscription at the top of the page read.

'That's not her,' Lucifer said quickly, almost dismissively, fingers reaching out to flip to the next page. He swiped the line of Latin print under the girl's name with his other hand. 'Daughter of Lezmegadiel and the sorceress Kyrene – ah, a sorceress, I suppose there was more than self-actualisation at play there – well, I certainly didn't expect him to be the first at any rate –'

'Hold on,' Eve piped up. 'I recognise her.'

Amenadiel looked amazed. 'How?'

'There's this little garden near the gates of the Silver City,' Eve explained. 'I didn't go there much, 'cause there wasn't many people about… but it was nice enough. Big trees with red leaves, fountains, this cute little waterfall… anyhow. Every single time I did go there, she was there. She never spoke to me, but she was always either sat underneath this big tree in the corner, or sat in its branches.'

'Only human souls spend their time there,' Amenadiel supplied. 'And not often – too close to the gates. Eve, do you think you remember exactly how to get there?'

'Pretty sure,' she answered.

'Well it's a lead,' Chloe said encouragingly.

'Right, next,' Lucifer muttered. 'Stay close, Eve – let's see if you recognise any of the others…'

The next page depicted a boy and a girl, same height and build, both with silver-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.

'Sachairi and Sophea,' Lucifer said, translating the Latin as he read. 'Son and daughter of Jophiel – that bastard, he never told me he had children!'

'Twins, too,' Amenadiel added, following the text. 'Luci, I didn't know this either!'

'Jophiel's the one who was close to Michael at the vote, right?' Chloe checked.

Maze nodded with a scoff. 'Idiot.'

'Didn't the two of you always just hang out at sex parties, though?' Eve chipped in. 'Probably not the best time to, you know, mention the kids.'

Lucifer scoffed. 'Not always sex parties!' At the sight of Maze's raised eyebrow, 'Okay, fine, it was mostly sex parties. But still, there was always the drinks beforehand… and after… and after that. I can think of many occasions just off the top of my head where we were sat alone for a minute or so – could've just casually said that he had two little Nephilim running around, especially as they were born… ah, seven hundred years ago… Not to mention just two short months ago we spoke at length just downstairs!'

'Wait, these kids are seven hundred years old?' Linda gasped. 'They've got to be immortal, then, right?' Her eyes went wide. 'Wait – does that mean Charlie will be immortal too? Are they mentally like teenagers, or mentally like adults? Am I going to have a perpetually eighteen-year-old son when the time comes? Wait, and you said the girl who came here had wings, so Charlie will probably have them too! Wow, this is all just hitting me, sorry…'

Amenadiel pulled her into a gentle embrace. 'It's gonna be okay, Linda,' he soothed. 'Whatever happens, both you and Charlie are going to have the best support system that Heaven, Hell and Earth all have to offer.'

'You're doing a great job, Linda,' Chloe said.

Lucifer turned away from the book to look her in the eye. 'We don't have all the answers, Doctor,' he said softly. 'And it may be a while before we do – if we do. But for what it's worth, none of us celestials could ask for a better friend… or mother, in Charlie's case.'

The room was silent for a moment.

'Thank you,' Linda said, shakily, eventually. 'I'm sorry, this is supposed to be about you and your child…'

'Yeah, c'mon,' Maze said with a clap, though none of the others missed the look of concern she had sent her friend's way.

'Right,' Lucifer turned back to the piano.

He turned over to the next page. Time seemed to stand still for a moment, though this time not because of Charlie. His hands shook as he traced the next images, his heart pounding.

'Luci?'

'That's her. On the right. She's the one from the other evening… but she looks… older now.'

The others crowded around the piano for a closer look.

'Oh Lucifer, she's beautiful,' Linda breathed.

Chloe moved closer, having shifted to one side to allow Amenadiel closer to Linda. The girl in the picture didn't look much older than Trixie. She had dark hair like Lucifer's, twisted into a childish, braided style that was halfway between elegant and haphazard, equally dark eyes, a slender nose, a soft rounded chin. She wasn't smiling like her cousins had been, the image clearly having been taken without her knowing. The longer Chloe stared at her, the more the odd sense of warmth and familiarity that she had had before returned.

'Luci,' Amenadiel said gently, 'the girl on the left, look – twins again –'

Lucifer tore his eyes away from the picture of the angel – his daughter – and looked at the other page.

'Eleonora…' he read. 'Filia de… Lucifer.'

'You have two daughters?' Eve broke the spell first. 'Oh my God, Luce, that's amazing!'

'Wait,' Chloe said urgently, as soon as she glimpsed the other picture. 'Eleonora – she was here, Lucifer – downstairs, you know the girl I was telling you about, who you asked your bartender to look out for?'

Lucifer gaped. 'She came to Lux?'

'With three others – they could've been her cousins!'

'You're sure?' Maze asked. As Chloe nodded, 'How long ago?'

'A half-hour, maybe?'

Maze and Eve exchanged a look, making the decision in a split-second. 'Let's go. If they're staying in LA, they might not have gotten far.'

They had almost got to the elevator when Chloe called after them. 'Be gentle with her, she was really shy.'

Lucifer in the meantime had made a beeline for Lux's tablets, while Amenadiel and Chloe got closer to the open book. The commotion had woken Charlie, so Linda moved to comfort her son.

'Did she speak to you, Chloe?' Amenadiel asked. 'Eleonora?'

'Not much,' she replied. 'She seemed really scared… she just said she had been looking for a friend called Rory, and asked if I had seen them.'

'Rory?' Amenadiel pondered for a second. He peered closer at the inscriptions as Lucifer came back over, the security footage Chloe had saved taking its time to load. 'Hang on… Eleonora and Aurora… Aurora… Rory?'

'She was looking for her twin sister?' Chloe said, piecing it together. 'Was she trying to find her here, perhaps thinking she had stayed with Lucifer?'

Linda made her way back over, Charlie on her hip, a shiny blue pacifier in his mouth. She peered at Lucifer, who was sat solid, pupils dilated, barely moving.

'Lucifer,' she said gently. 'I know this has been a crazy few minutes, and I know that you're probably incredibly overwhelmed. But all of us are here for you.'

Chloe moved to sit at the piano bench next to him, placing a hand on his thigh and her head on his shoulder, hoping the physical touch would anchor him during his impending panic.

'They didn't tell me,' he choked out eventually. 'I have two daughters, and nobody told me.'

The elevator dinged one last time, signalling the re-arrival of Maze and Eve.

'I'm sorry, Luce,' Eve said as they entered.

'We were too late,' Maze elaborated. 'We found this halfway down the street.'

And she pressed a beautifully shaped, long, gleaming white feather into Lucifer's hand.

Rory blinked several times, her eyes adjusting to the light. After clearing up her Uncle Jophiel's mess on Earth, she had killed an hour or so in Purgatory. Rory had found the isolated in-between place shortly after she had got her wings – it was quiet and utterly boring, with a bizarre aspect of time… which is what made it such a great hiding place. The only problem was returning to Heaven: the Silver City was predominantly silver, and after the dull tones of Purgatory, it took some time to reacclimatise.

Deciding that the gardens would be a better place to start than the stark white walls of her room, Rory flew to one of the largest trees, intending to sit in its shade. As she folded her wings away and got comfortable, she heard a tiny rustling in the branches above her head.

'Cora?'

Her cousin hit the ground with a bounce and a wide smile. 'Rory!' She bypassed an embrace – like Rory, she did not like physical contact – and sat by her feet.

'Why were you hiding from me?' Rory asked her.

'Ellie said you wanted space,' Cora replied, tapping her toes and clicking her fingers. 'Or will she say that? Sometimes I forget…' Her knees started to jump.

'What happened to you?'

'I believe humans call it a sugar rush,' Sachairi said, striding over to join them. 'Welcome back, cousin.'

'What?' Rory sneered. 'You're not gonna tell me off for going rogue?'

'And deny Ellie the pleasure?' he retorted calmly, eyes twinkling. 'I think not.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Why's Cora acting weird?'

'Well it's a long story,' he replied. 'But while we travelled all the way to Earth trying to find you, some human gave us this peculiar, intricate, small piece of paper, which Soph said was currency –'

'Yah, humans use paper money these days. Your point?'

'Well, Ellie came back here before we did, she was scared, but we were curious enough to go for a wander, and we stumbled across this metal box on wheels with a square hole cut out of the middle, and – get this – another human inside the box was exchanging this currency for foodstuffs.'

Rory scoffed. 'I get it, food vans weren't a thing when you last went to Earth, but what has that got to do with Cora being all jittery?' Their older cousin was now back in the tree, legs hooked over a branch, swinging upside-down while giggling.

Sachairi sighed. 'She had ten American dollars' worth of this soft sugary substance – I forget what it's called…'

'Shit,' Rory said. 'I knew showing her the dead mortals' cotton candy room here was a bad idea.' She glanced between her hyperactive cousin and her normal one. 'I'm guessing that's a lot?'

'The bag was bigger than her head,' he agreed. 'And it was bright blue, Rory, I didn't even know food could be that colour. Do you know how long this lasts in humans? Perhaps we can halve it and then we'll know when she'll be back to normal…'

Rory laughed. 'No clue. We didn't have that stuff where I grew up. Just be grateful she's on a sugar high and not anything stronger.' They watched as Cora fell out of the tree, up-righting herself just before impact. 'Where are Soph and Ellie?'

'Oh, yeah, I promised I would pray to them if I found you…' He clasped his hands together for a brief moment. As Rory glared at him, 'Don't give me that face, cousin. Ellie in particular is annoyed with you – she was so scared when she found out you'd gone to Earth, but since we got back we found out from Uncle Lezmegadiel that you freed a human from Hell!'

'I also tried to visit Michael, confronted Lucifer and helped clear up your father's recent earthly mishaps, but hey, who's counting,' she said irritably, looking towards the garden gate.

Sachairi looked dumbfounded. 'Well,' he said quietly. 'I think we would all like to hear that story.'

'RORY!' came a shout as Ellie and Sophea arrived in the garden amid a flurry of feathers. Ellie flung her arms around her twin, ignoring the way her entire body stiffened. 'I'm so happy you're safe.'

Rory stepped back when she was released, glancing at Sachairi. 'I thought you said Ellie was pissed?'

'Oh, she is,' Sophea said. 'But while I too would love to know what in under Granda's name you were thinking messing around on Earth like that, I think we may have a bigger problem.'

'Which is?'

Sophea sighed. 'When we came back from Earth from looking for you, Rory, I went and found Ellie in Granda's library, so that we could try and find some more information to help us find you. But, someone else has been there, too.'

'You didn't out our existence to another angel, did you, sister?' Sachairi said, glancing between Sophea and Rory.

'Lucifer isn't 'another angel', Sach,' Rory snapped, rolling her eyes. 'He's the devil, and he already knows Nephilim exist because of our cousin Charlie.'

'No, brother,' Sophea assured him, ignoring her cousin's comment. 'But another angel has been in the library since we went there last.'

'How do you know that?' Rory asked.

'Because our book has gone.'

Rory scoffed. 'Is that all?'

'What do you mean, 'Is that all?" Ellie said, rounding on her twin. 'The book with our pictures, names and parentage has gone missing –'

'Well, half-parentage in our case, Ellie –'

'Which means any number of our aunts and uncles could find out we exist at any minute!'

'Is that really so bad?' Rory asked.

'Whatever it was, God must have had a good reason to keep us hidden away,' Sachairi said solemnly. 'We would do well to honour him by keeping to ourselves.'

'I disagree,' Rory countered.

'Yes, you've made that quite clear,' Ellie said. She sighed heavily. 'What did you do? You really scared us, Rory!'

'So I've heard,' Rory replied airily.

'I went to Earth. I spoke to humans –'

'Singular nouns go without the 's' at the end in English, Ellie, c'mon you taught me that,' Sophea interjected, making Rory snort with amusement.

'And we nearly got caught by one of Lucifer's demons!' Ellie's voice was shrill with fear.

'Well, you did,' Sachairi pointed out.

'Okay, so?' Rory said. 'You had your little adventure, I had mine.'

'My point is, you ran off with no warning and you scared me and I… I tried so hard to find you and I couldn't and –' Ellie broke off and took a deep breath. 'Please don't do that to us – to me – again, Rory!'

Rory looked contrite, but made no promises. She would not lie.

'Why did you come after me anyway?' she asked her sister.

'We're Nephilim, Rory. We protect our own. You said it to me so many times when we were little… and I figured, if you went after Lucifer, you could get hurt, or worse.'

A rare touch of emotion spread over Rory's face. 'Well, for what it's worth,' she said, far gentler than before, 'Lucifer really isn't all that scary, you know. I think I managed to freak him out a little, actually. He's not worth worrying about.'

'He's going to be God,' Sophea said in a hushed whisper. 'What does that mean for you two, for any of us?'

The tension only compounded when Cora fell to the floor, shaking uncontrollably, eyes bright white and wide.

Dan drifted across the floor to the penthouse as the sun set over the city. He had watched as Eve and Maze descended to Lux for drinks and dancing, had felt a pang as Chloe left to go and collect Trixie from her science camp for the week, and a small measure of sadness as Amenadiel and Linda had made their departure with Charlie. He wandered out to Lucifer's balcony.

'Hey man,' he said by way of greeting, as he stood before Lucifer's slumped form. His friend appeared deep in thought as he sat in an armchair. Dan noticed he had a white feather clutched tightly in one hand and was looking at it as though it was the most precious thing in the world.

'Hullo, Daniel,' Lucifer intoned dully, not taking his eyes off the feather. 'No luck at the precinct?'

'No,' Dan replied. 'It sucks so bad, not being seen. Did you find your kid?'

'Yes and no,' he answered. 'I know her name now, but that's it – oh, other than the fact that she has a twin sister.' And he ran a finger gently across the long vane of the feather.

'You have two daughters? Congratulations, man – that's awesome,' Dan enthused. 'Did you find the other one, then?'

'She came by Lux, looking for her sister, but, well, we didn't know it was her, and she got away.' Lucifer sighed. 'I just hope she comes back… They're both so young, and LA isn't exactly safe…'

'Angels are older than they look though, right?' Dan reasoned. 'I mean, c'mon man, you only look mid-thirties, tops.'

'I don't know how old they are,' Lucifer said, agonising. 'Even the files on them in Dad's library didn't say, but its less than seven hundred years… and angels speak of millennia the same way humans speak of months – in the grand scheme of things they're practically babies!'

'They'll be okay, Lucifer,' Dan reassured him. 'I don't know about your second girl, but the one I met seemed like she could definitely handle herself, even if she did seem to be going through something.' He paused. 'What are their names?'

'Eleonora is the one who came to Lux earlier today,' Lucifer breathed, holding up the feather in his hand a little way. 'And the other one – the one who you met – is Aurora.'

'Aurora, huh?' Dan said reflectively. 'Honestly sounds kinda badass. Suits her.'

'Yes it does,' Lucifer agreed.

'Oh,' Dan said, putting two and two together as he two looked at the shimmering piece of divinity in Lucifer's hand, 'I think Aurora shed a feather by your desk. I'd go get it for you, but, y'know…'

Lucifer got up wordlessly in pursuit, returning a minute later with a dark red bladed feather in his other hand.

'I'll have to be a bit more careful with this one,' he chuckled lightly, looking at it with no less awe than its brighter twin.

'Has this ever happened to her before?' Ellie demanded of Sophea as Rory and Sachairi rushed towards Cora's convulsing form.

'Once or twice,' she answered. 'One time was just before you and Rory were born, that was intense, and I remember another time when me and Sach were quite young.'

'What do we do?' Rory said helplessly as she crouched by Cora's side. 'One of you go get Uncle Lez!' Sophea was gone with a single powerful flap of her wings. Sachairi gently lifted Cora's upper body, cradling her head in his lap.

Ellie gently took one of Cora's hands. 'Cold as ice,' she reported.

Two loud flaps were heard behind them, and Sophea rushed back over, accompanied by their Uncle Lezmegadiel.

'Uncle – she just fell and started shaking –' Sachairi rushed to explain.

'She's freezing,' Ellie added.

'How do we help her?' Rory asked.

Lezmegadiel smiled softly at them. 'She's having a vision,' he explained. 'Her mother was the same.'

'She has visions all the time, Uncle,' Sophea reminded him.

'And most of the time they are small things, no?' he replied. 'The weather on Earth tomorrow, which warrior angel will beat which other one on the training grounds, which colour highlights Rory will get in her hair next…' He smiled at his younger niece, who rolled her eyes at him. 'Visions like that do not affect Cora all that much, because they are mundane, and take up little of her energy; they are also predictable and would likely be speculated by those who pretend to foretell.' He looked around at the earnest young faces, his brow creasing in concern as he looked down at his daughter. 'But right now… she's seeing something big, possibly several things at once.'

'How do we pull her out of it?' Sachairi asked.

'You don't,' their uncle replied simply.

'What do we do when she comes back?' Ellie asked.

'She'll be a bit disorientated,' Lezmegadiel warned. 'Don't crowd her. She may well start spouting prophecies the way she does, and she'll be distressed if she thinks you don't understand her, so pretend, please, it'll help her recover.'

The group quieted for a moment.

'Uncle,' Sophea said after a moment. 'Do you know of anyone who might be interested in our files from Granda's library? They're gone.'

'I heard from Gabriel that Amenadiel swung by for a visit earlier today,' Lezmegadiel said with a shrug. 'He is Lucifer's closest ally, it would make sense if he was allowed access…'

Just after he finished speaking, Cora lurched forward with a pained gasp, eyes wild and frantic, but back to their usual black. Ellie and Sophea backed away, Sachairi continued to gently hold her in place.

'How are you doing, sweet girl?' Lezmegadiel said quietly, but in a normal tone of voice. 'Did you see anything worthy of note?'

Breathing heavily, Cora reached out with both arms, taking Rory's hand in one, her father's in the other.

'Loops of life weaving loops of time,' she said softly, but very quickly, her expression agonised and anguished. 'They who question turn the loom, spin the loops. Those in dark shall be no longer. They who fall shall rise anew, they who hurt shall learn to heal.' Her voice rose, high and shrill. 'The ring, the dual miracle, a new age, powers of flesh and powers of blood, the bastards that never were!' She looked at Rory urgently and squeezed her hand, 'The miracle… the bastards that never were!'

Rory could only nod wordlessly, gripped by the intensity of her cousin's stare.

Her grip then lessened, and she turned to her father and said, in her normal calm voice, 'Sunny. The younger. The same.'

'That was impressive, cousin,' Sachairi said very gently after several seconds, when it became clear she had finished. 'Do you feel better?'

Cora smiled, a pure, innocent smile, and she got to her feet. 'I am not unwell,' she sang.

'Of course not, Cora,' Rory said quietly. 'You may be the strongest of us yet.' But as Cora moved towards her father, she mouthed 'What the fuck?' to the others. Sachairi gazed after Cora in concern, Sophea shook her head with a careful shrug.

'Rory, can we talk?' Ellie said after a minute. 'In private?'