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“Lucifer, you promise not to complain?”
“ Yes , Detective. My Halloween is your Halloween for now on. Even if it means...sitting...in a 2013 Toyota with hand warmers as our only source of heat for hours on end.”
Chloe sighed and turned the ignition on. “Trust me, I didn’t want to do a stakeout either. I've already missed one Halloween with Trixie because of work. But it's in these people’s motive to meet tonight.”
“In a dusty old warehouse.”
Sh nodded, watching him situate himself into the passenger seat. “In a dusty old warehouse.”
“Well,” Lucifer continued, reaching into his pocket. “In case you aren’t home in time to conquer the urchin’s bounties, I brought some enterprise.”
He pulled out a few fun-sized candies, making Chloe smile when she realized the gesture he offered. “It is the Devil’s Holiday after all. You can call me Santa Devil. Not ‘Old Saint Lucifer’, though, anything but that. It's a lie that would frankly drive me mad.”
“I remember your Saint day. I would rather do without that Lucifer, anyway.”
Chloe plucked the singular chocolate kiss from his small variety, popping it into her mouth as she made eye contact with Lucifer. Before another beat, she leaned over the console to give him a teasing, lingering peck.
He followed her retreat, eager for more as always, but she bit her smile and put the car in drive, heading off to their stakeout destination as Lucifer set back in defeat. Their hands soon found each other in the middle as always.
The warehouse was a bit closer to town than they thought it would be. The entrance had a faded sign above it with busted bulbs and rained-off lettering. They rounded around back, only to find there was only one available vehicle entrance with the top labeled Stage Door. With an exchanged glance Chloe shrugged and continued the drive inside. Lucifer’s eyes darted.
“What warehouse has one entrance?” Lucifer mentioned. Chloe looked around.
“LA cops aren't the most intelligent when it comes to old locations. If I didn’t know any better, I would say this is a theater.”
“We’ve had many experiences with those.”
“Yeah, but never abandoned ones. Look at that.” Lucifer followed Chloe's pointed finger. The car was right off of backstage, and the front of the audience could be seen through the curtains. A chandelier hung amongst dusty air that only shone slightly in the moonlight of some collapsed roof. “It looks haunting, doesn't it?”
“Looks like we're getting a proper halloween after all,” Lucifer swallowed.
She parked within the curtains and shut the car off, setting back in her seat.
“Looks like it, yeah.”
“So, ehm, what...why… why do we need to be here, again?”
Chloe turned to Lucifer, dumbfounded. She watched his eyes dart across the space visible to them to see if he was joking. Telling by the set of his eyebrows, he wasn't.
“Lucifer. I just told you - we have reason to believe the suspects will be meeting here tonight, based on the consistency of their gas payments to a gas station down the street.”
“Oh, right, of course. My apologies, Detective.”
Chloe narrowed her eyes. “It's...it's okay.”
His fingers distractingly moved across hers. It made her smile as it alway did. She gave her a little squeeze in response. But, in turn, he nearly jumped out of his seat.
“Lucifer! What the hell!”
He exhaled. “Apologies again, Detective. It seems you just caught me off guard.”
“What, are you thinking of something?”
“No, everythings fine.”
“You promised you wouldn't give me a hard time about any parties you're missing.”
“No, Detective, it's nothing like that. I keep my promises. You know that.”
“Yes, but you also act weird and refuse to admit why.”
She let what she said sit for a bit. The theater remained still, eerily so, with no tell of anyone coming in for some time. Chloe checked the time every few minutes, ever check even more exasperated than the previous. The late October chill was starting to hit them.
“Lucifer, are you cold? I have blankets.” No matter the weather he always refused to wear anything more than his suits. Something about ‘The devil doesn’t get cold, I've lived in a pit of fire most of my life’. But he still yelped when she pressed her cold feet into his shins at night, so she could call bullshit.
“What? Oh, uh, no, I’m...I’m alright Detective. But say, why must we be in this theater? Why not park the car outside?”
“Well, there's more than one entrance. Plus we thought it was a warehouse at first. It’s more insulated than outside, too.”
“Of course. It’s just…”
Her eyebrows rose in realization that he was going to actually tell her what he was thinking.
“Well, this building is a bit old, isn't it? I think a murder having happened here is much more likely than these... suspects arriving.”
“Lucifer - what -” it dawned on her. She listened more closely. The wind sweeping through the roof and echoing across the audience hall, the fluid ways of the curtains swaying, countless corners for faces to peak from behind… “Lucifer, do you think this place is haunted by ghosts?”
There was a slight pause before his answer. Once where she suppressed a giggle. “What?! No! The Devil… frightened by a few stray dust bunny souls when it's my job to torutw them?! What...what a... ahem ….absurd notion.” he flicked imaginary lint off his suit as another strong wind blew against the side of the building. “No, I just believe this is not the...safest spot for us. This building will be collapsing within seconds. Us with it.”
“I don't think that’s true. These aren't the strongest winds ever. And this is in pretty good shape.”
“I don’t know, Detective. Someone may come up behind us and kill us before we even know it. With all these...curtains and blindspots. I think it's best to leave. For safety.”
“Lucifer, it's okay to admit you are scared of ghosts. They probably have some grudges against you, so you have reason.”
“As always, I love you, Detective, but I find it very offensive for you to say I am frightened by such a ridiculous idea. Ghosts… ghosts are not real.”
“Alright. If you say that, you will have no problem with getting out of this car and walking outside to so-called safety from this building. Much faster than me having to reverse this car all the way out.”
“I don’t believe I should. The murderers could pop out anywhere. Best for you to drive all the way out. So we stick together. No surprises.”
“Murderers? You mean suspects.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Well, either way, I won't be driving out for at least another half hour.”
“Alright then. I guess we ought to wait here.”
Chloe allowed herself one more giggle.
Within the next half hour, the wind grew. They had left the stage door open and the chill had traveled from there. The curtains blew more, and the sound faded more and more into a howl.
“Detective, I think I heard them coming.”
Lucifer had been more attentive than usual. When she heard this, she asked him what he meant.
“Listeen, Detective. You can hear them screaming a battle cry.”
All she could hear was the wind.
“I don't think -”
“No Detective, they sound angry. Or hurt. I think it's best we call for backup and leave--”
“You know,” Chloe interrupted, smirking. “Now that I think of it, I know this theater. It closed down in the eighties and could never be re-bought because of what you said - someone was murdered.” In reality, she had never even known this theater existed. She's lived in LA her whole life and never has. It was just going to be amusing to watch his reaction. “It was in the middle of a show, too. A woman was singing before she just started to choke on her own blood. Right there, right onstage. Turned out she was poisoned by the understudy.”
“All the more reason to leave.” he responded quickly. “Lets go, now, c’mon.”
This time, Chloe allowed herself to laugh full on. “I can't believe the Devil is afraid of ghosts. Really, the irony.”
“I am not .”
“Sure.”
The last half hour was almost up when Lucifer told her to listen in once more.
This time, though, he wasn’t wrong.
“Music, Detective. A death march I'm telling you. It is the end of our days.”
“Lucier, come on , this is getting -”
And then an orchestra reached her ears.
Soft. carried in with the wind from somewhere outside most likely. But no one was playing this sort of music at costume parties.
“You're right, there's music.” She panned to his face to find it completely fear-stricken. With a smile, she turned to the stage. “Looks like the ghosts want us to dance.”
“I can assure you it is a trap.”
“Come on, Lucifer, when have I ever offered you to dance. This stakeout seems like a bust anyway. Might as well make the most of it.”
“Detective, I -”
The biggest gust of wind yet blew in. the curtains bowed onto the stage and pressed up against the car. And - amongst it all - a white lace dress, presumably from an abandoned costume rack, blowing through the air and into the audience.
Lucifer was frozen with fear. Chloe let out a disbelieving laugh and turned to him.
“Come on Lucifer, we have to dance now. The ghosts are asking for it!”
“There is no such thing as ghosts .”
“I will not let us leave here until you give me a dance.”
He looked at her. “Well, I have promised to never refuse you, Detective.”
She beamed at him and unlocked the car quickly. Running to the center of the stage where her faux story’s singer asphyxiated, she offered him her hand, gentleman style.
Lucifer’s eyes did not rest their danger-seeking and he cautiously made his way over to her. His hand met hers as a long string of violins started to whine.
A nice and easy dance...heartfelt. Hands in eachothers and arms around waists. His grip was more tense than usual, and everytime she attempted to meet his eyes they were anything but. It was amusing.
“Lucifer,” she murmured to him. He glanced down at her. The longer he did, the more the worry melted away. “I'm sorry if it feels like I'm teasing you. But you don’t need to be strong all the time. You can have fears, even if they are irrational.”
“I told you, i don't believe -”
She gave him a look that quieted him.
“You’ve been so much more open with me, and I'm proud of you for it. But be open with yourself, too.”
He looked at her for an extensive period. And then, as if the music wasn't coming from some haunted, supernatural force, he spun her out to arms length as the music swelled. Pulling her back in, he bent her into a dip to kiss her. Her lips pressed into a smile.
“You are so dramatic.”
He pulled her back up, only for Chloe to pull him in for one more, contradicting herself.
“No wonder you aren't afraid of ghosts,” Lucifer thought out loud as they started to reverse from the theater. The music had eventually died down, and so did their laughter as they danced along to it. The spirits of the place were tired of them. “You have the devil as your partner. Who would want to mess with that?”
Chloe giggled, thinking of their couples-costume idea of Hades and Persephone. Next year, perhaps, knowing all the parties were dying down at this point in the night. Turning back onto the street as Lucifer at the last candy, she glanced back at the theater they parted from.
Only it was no longer a theater - it was exactly how LAPD described it - a crumbling warehouse.