Chapter Text
“Jehoel,” Lucifer snarled as he pushed Chloe behind him.
Giving a little bow, the redheaded angel said, “At your service. You know Nuriel, of course.”
The other angel tipped his head slightly. “Hello, Brother.”
“So whose side are you on?” he asked. “Dear old Dad’s? Or the rebels?”
“What makes you think we’d be with Father?” Nuriel spat. “That old geezer, lying to us about Michael. We can’t trust him anymore.”
“No, Brother, we’re not with Father,” Jehoel said. “That’s why we need you on our side.”
Lucifer laughed harshly. “Right. And what makes you sods think I’d do anything for you? It wasn’t so long ago that you all held me in the highest bloody contempt.”
“That’s why we need the Old God. Father says we can control you through her,” the redheaded angel said as he pointed to Chloe.
The two angels started fanning out, making it hard for their fallen brother to keep his eyes on both of them. Jehoel seemed to be the leader, so he watched him more closely, but Nuriel was making him edgy. He had to subdue them so that he could get Chloe to safety.
“That’s a load of rubbish and you know it,” Lucifer snapped. “Father doesn’t know what the bloody hell he’s talking about.” Without taking his eyes off the intruders, he whispered to Chloe, “Go get dressed.”
She started to protest, then realized that she had her gun and knife in the other room -- she could help Lucifer if she could get her hands on them. With a quick nod, she dashed to the bedroom.
Both angels watched her go, as Lucifer took a few steps forward, a feral grin on his face.
Nuriel suddenly rushed him, knife raised to strike. Lucifer grabbed the angel’s knife arm, trying to keep from getting impaled, and wrenched hard, pulling Nuriel into Jehoel’s path as the other man tried to stab him. Tackling both brothers, the Devil fought for one of the knives. Jehoel managed to get out from under the dogpile and kicked Lucifer viciously in the ribs, throwing him across the room. There was the sickening sound of bones cracking at the blow, and Lucifer winced as pain shot through his side. Bloody hell, he had forgotten about the detective -- he was mortal when Chloe was around. With a roar, Nuriel launched himself on his fallen brother and stabbed him between the ribs. Swearing, Lucifer threw the other man off of him and gripped the hilt still stuck in his side. Nuriel raced up, kicking him in the stomach; while he was bent over, Jehoel brought his fist down hard on the the back of the fallen angel’s head.
Lucifer felt blinding pain; then there was nothing.
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“Well, that was a lot easier than I was expecting,” Jehoel said with surprise as he looked at the prone man.
“I can’t believe he’s the strongest angel next to Michael,” Nuriel added.
“Old God!” Jehoel yelled as he yanked up Lucifer and put his knife to the unconscious man’s neck. “Get out here, or else your lover dies!”
Their scuffle with Lucifer had lasted mere seconds. Chloe had scrambled to get her gun and rushed out, but saw her lover go down before she could do anything. Seeing the knife at Lucifer’s neck, she hid the gun at her side and quickly backed up into the bedroom.
It was inevitable that she was going to get taken. Thinking quickly, she yelled, “Okay! Just don’t hurt Lucifer!”
With a speed that surprised her, she threw on her clothes, shoved the gun into her boot, along with her little shiv, and walked out with her hands raised. She couldn’t afford to lose the gun. If they were going to take her, she had to make sure she could defend herself. It was her hope that as long as they didn’t know it was filled with Hell-forged bullets, they would let her keep it.
Nuriel grabbed her by her hair and dragged her over to Jehoel, who sheathed his knife and let Lucifer’s body slump onto the floor. Although the pain in her scalp was intense, Chloe refused to cry out. Nuriel threw her at the feet of his companion, next to Lucifer. Her insides screamed with fear as her eyes gazed at the unconscious man. He was so still -- had they killed him?
Before she could even move, the redheaded angel grabbed her chin and wrenched her head up, his eyes tracing over her face. “So you’re the Old God,” he said. “You certainly have Lucifer under your spell.”
“I don’t have anyone under any spell -- I’m human,” she snapped.
“That’s not what Father says,” Jehoel said. He grabbed her by her shirt and hauled her to her feet. “Well, it doesn’t matter what you are. You’re coming with us.”
“Like hell I am,” she spat as she punched the angel. His head didn’t even snap back; he just laughed.
“A spitfire! I like you!” he said with a feral grin. With the speed of a cobra, his hand lashed out, punching her in the jaw. Chloe crumpled to the floor, knocked unconscious from the force of the blow. At Jehoel’s nod, Nuriel picked up the woman and threw her over his shoulder. The two angels walked out to the balcony with their precious cargo, then took off in flight.
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“Lucifer? Lucifer?”
Pain was the first thing that the fallen angel was aware of. A bloody blinding headache, and a terrible agony in his side that made him want to scream whenever he took a breath. He opened his eyes to see Trixie leaning over him, concern shining in her eyes. She looked so much like her mother at that moment that Lucifer’s heart gave a painful squeeze. And then Maze was there, her hands hovering over the hilt of the knife that Nuriel had left in him. Groaning, he touched the back of his head to find a lump the size of an egg on it.
“B-bloody hell,” he muttered as he pulled his hand away to see it covered with sticky blood. And then the memories came back and he snapped to attention, his eyes darting left and right. “Chloe -- where’s Chloe?!”
He tried to get to his feet, but Maze held him down. “Don’t move, Lucifer,” she said. “You’re badly injured. Amenadiel’s trying to get in touch with Raphael.”
“No, no, no --” Lucifer cried as he fought against his demon. “They have her! I have to find her --”
“Lucifer, if you don’t lay still, I’m going to beat you unconscious,” Maze growled.
Trixie sat down next to the prone man. “Please, Lucifer, stay still.”
Lucifer’s crazed eyes slowly grew calm as he looked at the little girl. “W-what are you doing here? Bloody hell, how long have I been out?”
“Minimum day,” Trixie said simply. Her face was filled with fear. “Bad angels took Mommy, didn’t they?”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Lucifer tried to beat back the panic and guilt that was pounding in every fiber of his being. “Yes, child,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”
The little girl lay down beside him on his good side and gave him a hug. “You’ll save her, I know you will,” she said. The fallen angel suddenly wanted to start bawling at the little girl’s simple faith in him -- and what kind of Devil would that make him? Despite the pain his movements made, He reached over and hugged her hard.
“I’ll save her, child -- I’ll do whatever it takes. I give you my word.”
Maze rolled her eyes at the sentimental scene before her, but said nothing. She turned at the sound of the flurry of wings at the balcony. “They’re here,” she told her boss.
Lucifer looked up as Amenadiel and Raphael walked in, with Raphael immediately trading places with Trixie and crouching next to his fallen brother. Inspecting the knife wound, the angel hissed as he looked at the mess. “What the hell happened, Luci?” he asked.
A laugh escaped Lucifer, but it was not a pleasant sound. “Jehoel and Nuriel. Those bloody bastards -- the rebels -- have taken the detective.”
“Crap,” Raphael muttered. “Hang on a minute, this may hurt,” he said as he pulled the knife out. Working quickly, he pressed his hand against Lucifer’s lacerated side. The injured man inhaled sharply as blue light from his brother’s hand flooded his body, healing the broken ribs and the cracked skull, as well as the flesh wound.
“I still have a bloody headache,” Lucifer complained as he pulled himself to a sitting position. Raphael rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, well tough. You get what you get. Consider yourself lucky that they left the knife in to act as a cork. Now I have to get back.”
“Wait,” the dark-haired man said as he gripped his brother’s arm. “Do you know where I can find the detective? And what’s going on with the war?”
Raphael shook his head. “It’s bad up there. Pretty evenly matched, if you ask me, so there are a lot of casualties on both sides. I’ve been up there with a bevy of healers trying to help everyone. We’re neutral, you know, so we’re going from side to side, trying to keep everyone in one piece.
“I don’t know where you can find Chloe, but I’ll snoop around up there and see what I can uncover. Find her soon, Brother. I like her, and I don’t want to see her hurt.”
Lucifer’s thoughts were still a little scattered from the blow to his head, but he managed to latch onto Raphael’s last sentence with a fury. “What do you mean, you like her? You bloody well better unlike her, you sod!”
“Oh for the love of --” Raphael stood up. “Yes, I like her, you ass. As a friend. Now for Father’s sake will you please just shut up before I kick you?”
The fallen angel glared at his brother, not sure whether to believe him or not, while Amenadiel, Maze and Trixie sat there snickering at the exchange.
“Luci has it bad,” Amenadiel muttered.
“It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen,” Maze whispered back with disgust. “He’s softer than one of those nasty teddy bear things that Trixie has.”
“But Lucifer is cute when he’s cuddly,” Trixie defended. Everyone chuckled at the little girl’s statement except for Lucifer, who gave them all a baleful stare.
“The Devil is neither cute nor cuddly,” he said with dignity as he got to his feet and walked to his bedroom. “Right. Excuse me while I get dressed. I have a detective to find.”
“My guess is that the rebels will come soon to make demands on Lucifer,” Raphael said to Amenadiel. “Help him remain calm. Killing the messenger isn’t going to do Chloe any good.”
With that, Raphael took off for home.
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Lucifer stood under the spray in his shower, kicking himself for being ten times a fool. Guilt shot through him at the thought of the detective defenseless and in the hands of those vicious angels. Bloody hell, if only he hadn’t been caught without a weapon.... If only he hadn’t been mortal.... If only...!
Sighing, he scrubbed the blood on his body away. With detached eyes he watched the pinkish water go down the drain. Stupid, bloody mortality! He didn’t even know why he was mortal around Chloe, only that it really put a dent in his fighting skills against his siblings.
Well, one thing was for certain -- he had to find the detective. She was his heart, and he couldn’t live without her. If they harmed even a hair on her head, he’d make them regret it.
As he stepped out of the shower and got dressed, he tried to think of the best places to look for Chloe. He had no idea where they would take her. Somewhere on Earth, that was for sure. But where? She could be anywhere....
Walking back out into the main area of his flat, he headed for the bar. Noticing that Amenadiel was looking at him intensely, he paused in midstep. Maze was leading Trixie toward the elevator, a warning look on her face. WIth a glance, he saw an angel on the balcony with black hair and gray wings.
“Brother,” Amenadiel said, “Puriel is here to discuss terms with you regarding Chloe.”