Eric insisted on driving.

It didn't matter that Lucifer was now stone cold sober. Eric was clearly leading the way and wanted to get to the park on his own terms, in his own flashy car. Lucifer didn't mind, although he did feel like they blended a bit too well into the fog in Eric's silver car. At least Lucifer's Corvette was black. Better to be a shadow in the mist than look like the mist itself.

Not that anything bad happened on the drive to the park. They certainly made it there in one piece, parking in the exact spot they'd used just a few days prior, when Eric had shown Lucifer their billboard.

There was a difference this time, though. Three cop cars were sitting in the parking lot, one shining a useless spotlight through the fog toward the interior of the park. Lucifer noticed tire treads on the already sad grass, indicating someone had gone further into the park. Another cop car, perhaps?

"Clearly someone called the 9-1-1," Lucifer said morosely. It meant there were strangers walking all over his crime scene, muddying the evidence that would have been so easy to find otherwise. Still, he popped out of the car and headed toward the dark path that led into the park. He was hopeful that Chloe or Pierce weren't here, but that someone would at least recognize him.

Unfortunately, the frowns on the faces of the cops loitering by the cruisers told him he wasn't going to get very far. And they definitely weren't from the precinct he hung around. Getting into what they considered their own crime scene was going to take some work. Or mojo, as it were.

Lucifer was straightening his shoulders, getting ready to use his devilish charisma to get around the officers, when there came a bloodcurdling scream from deeper in the park. A second later, shots were fired, and another scream—this one animal-like—had all of the officers scrambling, leaving Lucifer standing by himself.

Bloody Hell, what was happening?

Lucifer's hair fluttered in a short breeze as Eric blasted past him, vampire speed blurring into the fog as he went. Suddenly, he found himself all alone in the parking lot. Another gunshot rang out and Lucifer broke into a jog, not wanting to miss out on all the excitement.

He followed the sounds into the dark night, the cop car's spotlight barely cutting into the darkness. When he saw flashing lights ahead, he kept going, although the gunshots and screams had finally stopped.

The colourful lights of an ambulance lit the scene before him. There was a man down, just feet from the ambulance, another one hovering above him, administering first aid with such a no-nonsense manner that even without the uniform Lucifer would have known he was a paramedic. There was a woman lying on the broken concrete as well, uncontrollable sobs coming from her. Every few seconds she'd let out a single word plea, "Plea-a-a-se." She was in a fresh puddle of blood, and Lucifer realized it must have come from being shot at by the cops.

Eric stood in front of her, a snarl on his face as he faced down every single cop that had come in those three cop cars in the parking lot.

"She's hurt," Eric called out. "She's hurt and she didn't know what she was doing."

"Stand back or we'll be forced to shoot!" The yell came from a burly looking beat cop, clearly the one who was in charge.

Lucifer bristled at the threat to his Viking. No one, no one, would harm Eric. He wouldn't allow it. Before he could move to stop any of the cops, Eric's entire body language changed. Suddenly his hands were in the air, and Eric went from angsty vampire to charismatic bar owner in the blink of an eye. It never ceased to amaze him how Eric could analyze a situation and determine the best act to put on. "Officer, you have to understand, Yvonne is hurt." Putting a name to the predator—a smart move on Eric's part. Giving her a slice of humanity would make it harder for the cops to try to kill her.

Hopefully.

Eric gestured with one hand behind her. "Look at this woman. What do you see?"

"Move!" This was a second cop, clearly trying to take aim at Yvonne, despite Eric's refusal to get out of the way.

"I'm not moving," Eric said calmly, turning his gaze to the second cop. Lucifer watched the man shift uneasily under the watchful eye of the Viking. "This vampire was set on fire. Paramedics were called and given no warning that what they needed was blood, not bandages. It's not her fault her instincts got the best of her. And then you fucking shot her."

"I just need Amber," Yvonne sobbed from behind Eric.

As Lucifer came closer, he felt ill at the sight of her. Her clothes were soaking wet but charred, although clearly no longer smoldering from being set on fire. What hair she had was gone, and her skin was a strange amalgamation of bloody burns and perfect, new flesh. The burns were strangely hypnotizing, like nothing Lucifer had ever seen on a human—alive or in Hell, for that matter. Pieces of flesh were charred away like firewood, mixing with coagulated blood. Her wet shirt had mixed with blood on her chest, where he could just make out two bullet holes in the fabric. She looked like shit, to be blunt. But she was a study in the way a vampire's body healed itself, and Lucifer couldn't help but want to peer at her.

"You! Get back before you get hurt!" This was from the burly one who thought he was in charge.

"Don't be silly," Lucifer said, so comfortable in his own safety that he headed straight for Yvonne. "The only threat I see are your guns. This vampire needs sustenance."

Yvonne blinked up at Lucifer as he came to crouch in front of her. "Please," she begged him. "If I could just get to Amber. Please tell me she's alright."

For a moment, Lucifer swore that she knew Lucifer knew the whereabouts of Amber. But the fearful hope in her eyes told him that she had probably been asking after Amber since she could think straight. Which probably wasn't until she'd attacked the paramedic who had arrived to help her. The scene before him told a very simple story.

Someone had undoubtedly called 9-1-1 after Amber and Yvonne had been attacked. Amber had been long gone by the time the cops and paramedics had shown up, and Yvonne had miraculously survived the attack. Lucifer scanned through the dark to spot the looming shape of the fountain not that far away. Amber had said Yvonne had jumped in the fountain and it seemed she'd been correct. And while dousing herself in the murky waters of the old fountain had certainly stopped her impending death, Yvonne had clearly been hurt. Badly.

Lucifer didn't doubt for a second that Yvonne hadn't intended on attacking the paramedic. But when they'd shown up, ill-equipped to deal with a dying vampire, her instincts had probably kicked in. It wasn't that far between the fountain and the open doors of the ambulance. She'd probably jumped from the water and immediately begun to drain the man. Maybe if the ambulance had had a stock of Tru Blood, this wouldn't have been a problem.

Hadn't the damn stuff been invented for blood transfusions in the first place? You'd think the one place that would have emergency synthetic blood would be an ambulance. Not just for hurt vampires, but for anyone who needed a transfusion. They even had specific blood types for Heaven's sake!

"Amber is alright," Lucifer soothed the worried vampire. "She fetched us to come look for you."

The words immediately put the hurt vampire at ease, the worry slipping from her eyes to leave only hope and pain. "She's okay?"

Lucifer nodded and then reached out, offering to help Yvonne try to stand.

"I need to get to her," Yvonne said. "That, that—thing—was still after her. I don't doubt it's still tracking her." Yvonne shuddered as she finally stood up, and Lucifer couldn't decide if it was because she was thinking of the monster or because of the pain she must still be in. She was partially healed, but she needed more blood. Desperately.

She was a glaring reminder to Lucifer that while Eric might never age, something as simple as a flame could snuff his life out. He didn't like it. Not at all.

"If I could just see Amber," Yvonne was still talking. "Her blood is stronger than most. She will heal me. I promise I won't lose control again." A sob escaped her as she looked at the paramedic that was being helped into a sitting position by his coworker. "I didn't mean to attack you!"

Lucifer needed to get this woman back to the office. Whether she would take a sip from her friend—her lover—or depleted Lucifer's stock of Tru Blood, the woman needed blood and badly. They didn't have the bloody time for the cops to calm down and for the paramedic to decide not to press charges. He looked to Eric, hoping the other vampire would know what to do, because none of the cops had lowered their weapons and Lucifer didn't think they were going to get out of this park until that happened. It seemed Eric felt this way too.

He began to move away from Lucifer and Yvonne, arms open in supplication as he moved toward the cop that seemed to be in charge. "Officer, I'm sure there's something we can do to resolve this issue, don't you think?"

Time seemed to slow down. Not like when Amenadiel stopped time, mind you. It was different, as if time had simply gotten lazy. Languid. Eric was pulling a full glamour, it seemed, as he reached the first police officer. Lucifer watched as the others gravitated toward him as well.

Lucifer loved it when he got to watch Eric bend a human's will. It was positively breathtaking. The feel of his vampiric magic sent tingles across Lucifer's skin. When this was all over and they were back at home, he was definitely dragging Eric up to the loft.

Lucifer was happy to stand back, supporting Yvonne while he watched his lover work his magic. Eric was good at this, Lucifer knew, and he wasn't surprised as each cop's shoulders seemed to slump as they got close to the vampire and were caught up in the glamour. His words were quiet, as if he were speaking secrets to the beat cops. He watched the leader, the big one, nod his head. Not eagerly, but with a mesmerized look on his face.

Yvonne leaned against Lucifer and made a noise of surprise. "Five at once," she said. "He's good."

"Isn't he just?" Lucifer asked, feeling proud of the Viking. "He can fly, too!"

"He must be ancient," Yvonne replied.

"Over a thousand years," Lucifer told her. "And his own maker was about that same age when he turned him."

"Well, I suppose you're right." The cop in charge was nodding his head. "I can see how accidents like this can happen." He looked at his colleagues. "No harm, no foul, right? We can just head back."

"Excuse me?" The affronted words came from the paramedic who had been attending to his coworker. The man Yvonne had attacked was sitting up now, but clearly in no position to stand up and defend himself. "Accidents just happen?" The other paramedic was getting ready to defend his friend's honour, it seemed. "She almost killed Harry and you just say accidents happen?"

The burly cop stared at the paramedic, but there was confusion in his eyes. He was obviously still under Eric's spell, but if the paramedic kept it up, he'd start listening to reason again. There was only so much a vampiric glamour could do, and if logic and reason started chipping away at it before it took root, it could all unravel. Lucifer couldn't have that. Not if he wanted to take Yvonne back to the office and let the two women reunite.

He left Yvonne to stand on her own, heading toward the paramedic who was getting into a self-righteous huff as the cops continued to stand around doing nothing. He drew up in front of the paramedic. "Lucifer Morningstar," he introduced himself, friendly enough. "I understand your colleague has been hurt, but I ask, was your ambulance equipped to deal with a hurt or starving vampire?" Lucifer asked, his gaze flicking toward the strobing lights behind them.

There was no response from the paramedic, but he did pause in his anger to give Lucifer an uncomfortable look.

"Perhaps a selection of Tru Blood or synthetic blood? It's well documented that synthetic blood can help heal a vampire just as well as the real thing, yes?"

"Well, no one told us we were going to treat a vampire," the paramedic said.

Lucifer shrugged. "Should that matter? Do we need to start stating what species a person is so only a specific ambulance will arrive? Or should you not be equipped to deal with different kinds of people and different kinds of problems?"

The paramedic had forgotten the cops by this point, his attention now solely on Lucifer. "What are you trying to say?" he asked slowly.

"What do you think I'm suggesting?" Lucifer asked. "You're looking to arrest a woman who was under duress, hurt beyond comprehension. You showed up ill-equipped to deal with the emergency, prepared only to deal with humans. What I see is a malpractice suit. I ask you, do you want that?"

"It's not worth it, Brent," Harry said from at their feet. "I'm not dead. And let's face it. I was an idiot. She told me to stay back and I didn't listen."

Lucifer looked down at him. "Did you now?"

"He was trying to help," Brent admonished. "And the thanks he got was fang marks and major blood loss."

"And she was just protecting her friend and was set on fire for her efforts," Lucifer countered. "So unless you've spotted the one-eyed bastard that's harassing people, I'm afraid we don't have the culprit who caused this mess, do we?"

Both men stared at Lucifer, which he found a bit dizzying, considering one was sitting on the ground and the other was standing. Who did you make eye contact with? The one who was hurt or the defensive one? He ended up looking between the two of them. "Well, have you seen this monster?"

"N-No . . ." Brent stammered.

"But surely the call that summoned you here must have spoke about it?"

"Yeah, but . . . People are crazy, you know? They see someone set on fire and they assume monsters."

Lucifer sighed. Well, there went any hope of getting any leads from coming out here. He looked back to see the police officers disappearing into the fog, Eric standing by himself in the shadows. "Yvonne needs to be brought to North Star," he told the other vampire. "She needs more blood."

Eric glanced at Yvonne, a compassionate look on his face when he took in the burns that hadn't yet healed. "You won't lose your shit and eat your girlfriend?" he asked, deadpan.

She shook her head. "She'll give me blood, but I'll know when to stop. I always do." She looked to the paramedic, guilt written across her scarred face. "Normally."

"Take her back quickly," Lucifer told Eric. "I want to look around for clues, but I'll be back soon enough with the car."

"Clues?" It seemed one cop had decided to stick around, even if they weren't waving their gun around anymore. "What kind of clues?"

"To see if we can't figure out who attacked Yvonne and chased her friend Amber," Lucifer said shortly. "The real reason you were called out here."

The cop looked confused for a second, but seemed to shrug it off in the face of doing some actual work. "What are we looking for?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Green algae is the only thing I've got to go on."

"You've got this?" Eric asked, an arm slipping carefully around Yvonne's waist.

"I might not be able to smell it, but I know how to look through a crime scene," Lucifer said.

Eric nodded, a satisfied look on his face. Eric trusted him, and it would do Lucifer well to remember that. They made a good team. They'd even managed to diffuse this situation. No Chloe Decker needed here.

A moment later, the two vampires were gone, rocketing into the sky and leaving Lucifer alone with two upset paramedics and one beat cop who seemed eager to look for clues to a mysterious crime.

Lucifer sighed. He was eager to look for clues, but he had to admit to himself that having Chloe here would help, even if he didn't actually need her. She was so much better than him at finding the boring, mundane things. He was an action sort of guy, not the one to pull out the proverbial magnifying glass and look closely at a scene. If there were clues to be found, they normally just jumped out at him.

Still . . .

"We're looking for algae," he told the beat cop, deciding if he was willing to help, he'd take it. "Perhaps some footprints. And might as well look over at the fountain."

He squared his shoulders and prepared himself. And he thoughts these words as he began his search: What would the Detective do?

Look at every bloody inch of the park, that's what.