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“Lucifer, I’d like to take a look at the case together,” Chloe shouted from the elevator as she entered the penthouse. “I couldn’t reach Pierce but I thought–“ She stalled, hearing a strange noise coming from behind the couch. “Lucifer?” she asked hesitantly this time. She was hoping he was not engaged in some sexual game with the ‘Britneys’ as he called them or some new conquest of the moment.
She peeked over the couch, hoping to not interrupt anything. Lucifer’s back was to her and he was bent over someone she couldn’t see. She turned her head away, not wanting to be caught staring in the middle of some orgy.
“Oh! Great! You are here!” she heard Lucifer say. She took a deep breath, ready to refuse whatever proposal he was going to make. “Maybe it will work this time,” he added and Chloe frowned. What was he talking about?
She turned back slowly, half curious, half afraid of what – or rather whom – she would find. Her heart missed a beat when she acknowledged the scene in front of her.
Lucifer was holding two electrodes like the ones to recharge a car’s battery but much bigger. Wires were connected to each of them, leading to a huge power pack, the size of a small refrigerator. On the floor at Lucifer’s feet, Pierce was lying motionless on his back, eyes opened to the void.
“What have you done?!” Chloe screamed, coming around the couch and kneeling beside Pierce.
“It’s not what you think, Detective. Let me explain,” Lucifer said calmly, getting up off the floor.
Chloe took Pierce’s pulse but there was none to be found. “Oh, my God! You killed him!” She yelled, before she started CPR.
“That is precisely the point,” Lucifer answered, shutting down the generator to avoid hurting Chloe accidentally. “Pierce is not really Pierce but Cain, the world’s first murderer. My Father cursed him and–”
“You’re crazy!” Chloe shouted while doing the cardiac massage. “I trusted you! How could you kill my boss?! Were you jealous to the point–”
“The Devil doesn’t get jealous!” Lucifer retorted, indignant. “Let me explain,” he repeated, way too calmly, which infuriated Chloe even more. Tears were running down her cheeks now. Tears of hurt and frustration. She had feelings for both of them and now, she had lost everything.
She stood up, CPR obviously useless, and pulled out her gun.
“Lucifer Morningstar, you’re under arrest. You–”
“Detective!” Lucifer interrupted her. “There is an explanation to all this. Please just list–”
“Don’t make things more difficult than they already are,” Chloe cut in. She hated how emotions made her voice shake. She fished her phone out of her pocket with her left hand while she was still pointing her gun at Lucifer. “Turn around and put your hands on the piano.”
“Detective, Chloe, please listen to me. That is what Cain, I mean Pierce, wanted. To die. I was helping him–”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses! You killed him! You–”
Behind her, Chloe heard a loud gasp. She glanced quickly to see Pierce sitting on the floor, a hand on his heart.
Alive.
“Oh Thank God! You’re alive!” Chloe let out in a breath. She forgot Lucifer for a moment, rushing back to kneel beside Pierce, making sure he was fine.
“There is really no reason to thank Him,” Lucifer let out with a huff, waving towards the ceiling. “He is the reason for this mess in the first place.”
Now that she was certain that Pierce was alright, Chloe stood up and went furiously towards Lucifer, taking out her handcuffs as she went. She grasped one of his wrists, turned him around and cuffed him before he could react.
“Detective! Please! Let me at least explain why–”
“There’s nothing to explain. You’re lucky that he’s alive and that it will only be ‘attempted murder’. Now, shut up while I call this in.”
“No, stop please!” Lucifer said, grabbing her wrist.
Chloe looked at Lucifer’s hand on her arm, uncuffed. She looked up to see Lucifer holding the cuffs in front of her, a defiant grin on his face.
“I have already told you, I can get out of these,” he said, eyebrows raised. “Now, would you please listen to me? I–”
“There’s nothing to listen to,” she cut him once again, snatching the cuffs out of his hands. “I don’t know how you managed to get out of those but I will make sure to fasten them properly this time.”
She went to cuff him once again but Lucifer made a step backward, holding his hands in the air in an attempt to calm her. Lucifer looked at Pierce, still sitting on the floor, hoping for some help from him. The bastard just stayed there, an amused smile on his face as if the whole situation was a big joke.
“Please,” Lucifer begged Chloe one more time, “Detective. Please, just listen.”
The puppy dog look on his face was heartbreaking and he hardly ever begged, but Chloe couldn’t let her sentiments get to her. He had tried to kill Pierce and she couldn’t let that go.
“As I told you,” Lucifer reiterated, “Pierce is Cain, from the Bible. Dad cursed him a long time ago and–”
“Will you shut up!” Chloe yelled, totally furious. “Enough with the crazy metaphors! I knew you were delusional but this is going too far.”
Chloe swallowed past the lump in her throat and shook her head, starting to dial to the precinct to request backup. There was no point in arguing more. When his delusion was harmless, she could live with it. Now, it was too late.
Lucifer was getting unnerved now. Why wouldn’t she believe him? He looked once again at Pierce but the latter was obviously not going to help.
“They are not metaphors!” Lucifer shouted back.
Did those things have a will of their own or was it his own decision? The next thing he knew, a bottle was sent flying on the ground and Chloe’s eyes were widened in shock. Lucifer glanced off to the side, eying the huge glowing wing and the mess on the floor.
“No, no, no!” he yelled at the ceiling. “I define who I am! Not You!” Turning back to Chloe, he sighed and gave her a tight smile.
“Well, I guess you believe me now?” he said awkwardly, spreading his arms to each side of him.
Chloe glanced between Lucifer and Pierce a few times. For several minutes she couldn’t move, couldn’t think but finally her mind began working and she began to understand. She blinked and clutched her gun before rounding the couch and stopping in front of Pierce.
“You!” she cried out, aiming the gun at the Lieutenant. “You bastard. You lied to me! ”
“What?” Pierce blurted, standing up. He was not expecting Chloe’s furor to be turned towards him.
“You’ve known this whole time,” she yelled. “Why didn’t you say anything when I was about to arrest him? You stayed there letting me look like an idiot!” Her hands were shaking and her voice was breaking. “You fooled me about everything! About you and Lucifer. You made me doubt myself! You– You…” She stalled, too infuriated to continue. It was not only what just happened that triggered this burst of anger but everything that came before it. “Get out!”
“But he’s the Devil,” Pierce said angrily, pointing towards Lucifer. “Why isn’t he the one you’re angry with?”
“Because he’s my partner and if he’s right,” she glanced at Lucifer, “you’re the first murderer humanity’s ever known! And Lucifer has never lied to me! Now, get out!”
Pierce stood up straighter and with one last furious glance at Lucifer, went to the elevator. “This isn’t over,” he directed his comment to Lucifer but also made it be known that he included Chloe as well.
After Pierce – Cain – left, it was going to take a while to wrap her head around what to call her boss, Chloe put her gun away and returned her attention towards Lucifer who had hid his wings in the meantime. Now that they were alone, she wanted to see them again.
“Where are they?” she asked.
“Hidden where they should have stayed,” Lucifer answered. He was surprised that Chloe hadn’t run away the moment his wings had popped out. “Detective, I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to–”
“No, I’m sorry,” Chloe cut him off, holding up her hand, silently asking for a moment to speak first. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, despite how incredible the truth is. I mean, you never lie about anything else. Why should this be any different?”
Lucifer was speechless. She was there, standing in front of him, not running away and visibly still sane.
“Aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked in a little voice.
She shook her head. “Why? Should I be?” she asked, looking him in the eye. “I know you, Lucifer. We’ve been working together for more than two years. I know that you’d never hurt me.”
“No, of course not, but I mean… I am the Devil.”
“It’s not as if you had hidden that fact from me,” Chloe said with a little laugh. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think about all this. I mean, I’ve never been a believer and never paid attention to all this Devil nonsense.” She stopped, remembering a time when they had first started working together. They were in her car staking out the place the kidnappers said they were keeping the girl Lindsey.
“Do I scare you?”
“No”
“I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything obvious, like a tail as proof.”
Suddenly she smiled and remarked, ”So...no horns and no tail?”
“No horns and no tail as you can see,” Lucifer huffed in exasperation, turning around. Why must everyone think he had a tail and horns?
“But... wings,” Chloe continued, a little more hesitantly. “Magnificent, pure… can I see them again?” she asked, biting her lip.
“They are not what defines me, Detective. That is my Father’s doing, not mine. The sneaky buggers seem to pop out at the most unexpected moments since they grew back. I wanted to show you my Devil face, but my Father took that away when He slapped these wings on my back!” Lucifer turned toward the bar.
Chloe came closer and laid her hand on his arm. When he turned to her, she reached up and stroked his cheek. “I don’t care about your Devil face. You might be the Devil, but you are a good man, Lucifer Morningstar. Immature and challenging but far from evil.”
Lucifer closed his eyes, stunned by Chloe’s reaction. He had been so afraid she would reject him, run away as far as she could. He smiled at her, a warmth building in chest. He felt at peace, a feeling he had not experienced since... well, long before the fall. Those times when he and his siblings had been sitting on the meadows of Heaven and been grooming each other's wings.
The same instant he recalled that feeling, a "whoosh" was heard and Chloe gasped, her expression changing to pure awe.
“Bollocks! Not again!” Lucifer huffed.