Detective Decker and Lucifer had been sitting in the stationary car for several hours, watching Cutter from a distance. By now it had gotten dark, and she had come close to actually strangling him at least half a dozen times whenever he bothered her yet again with something totally inappropriate. Or, by contrast, something that had absolutely nothing to do with anything. She thought that if there was a Olympic discipline for brain gymnastics the Devil would win all the medals, no competition could even come close. Lucifer groaned and said:
"This is the longest I've spent in a car without having sex."
She looked at him in disbelief that he could just out of the blue say something like that as if he was talking about the weather. All she could reply was:
"Eewww..."
She asked deadpan:
"Are you sure that you are Alexanders father and not Michael?"
She wanted to throw a few more pointed things at him before the gaping Devil could answer, but she was interrupted. Cutter was finally going to meet the stranger after all when a second heavy bike stopped next to his. The biker took off his helmet, and both Chloe and the Devil immediately recognized the hot-tempered biker who had wanted to attack Lucifer in the bar. Renny, as Cutter had called him. They watched the two argue for a while, during which it was clear that Cutter was taking the much younger Renny to school. Something the younger biker did not care much for it seemed. He pulled out a gun and shot Cutter after which he jumped on his bike and took off. Chloe immediately grabbed the radio and reported the shooting and that she needed backup and an ambulance. She and Lucifer got out of the cruiser to go see how bad Cutter was wounded and if he was even still alive. Instead of the Devil following her, the latter quickly got behind the wheel of the car and gave chase to the fleeing Renny. Chloe was livid at the Devil for once again leaving her alone and running after his own target without thinking and leaving his partner hanging. She was so going to have a srious talk with him when they got back to the station! It didn't take long for reinforcements to show up, after which there was nothing left for her to do but take one of the police cars and give chase after Lucifer before he did something stupid.
She saw the biker flee into a building with Lucifer hot on his heels and slammed on the brakes in full force. She got out and made a run toward the building, Lucifer, and their suspect. After all, the latter had not exactly made it easy on himself by fleeing upstairs. Once he reached the roof, there was no way left for him to escape anymore. Lucifer reached the roof, saw that his prey was virtually literally trapped as he had nowhere to run, and smiled wickedly. He aligned his jacket perfectly, and as he nudged his cufflink back into perfect place, he heard both Chloe coming up the roof and Renny's voice:
"They're yours.... I didn't know they were yours, man..."
Lucifer replied laconically:
"Yes, they are mine!"
For a moment he let Helvuur flare up in his eyes. Chloe swallowed for a moment, but Renny became terrified and practically screamed as he stood against the small wall at the edge of the roof:
"I didn't know, man.... I swear, I didn't know they were yours!"
Lucifer replied:
"I really don't care; they are mine and I want them back, so where are they?"
And then something happened that both the Devil and the detective did not expect. Instead of answering, the man jumped over the wall to his death many floors down. With a look full of utter disbelief, Lucifer looked down where the man's corpse lay broken on the pavement and muttered:
"Why... why did you have to do that, you fool..."
Chloe just felt that what they had seen hurt Lucifer internally. She also saw a whirlwind of emotions in the Devil's eyes, and none of them bode well. She said,
"This is not your fault, Lucifer.... You didn't touch him or even threaten him. You are innocent; he jumped himself."
He looked at her brusquely and practically snapped at her:
"Of course I am to blame; of course this is my fault.... I'm the Devil, remember!"
He didn't give her a chance to answer and disappeared through the door downstairs. He knew he had to hang around for a moment because they would want an account from him, but then he would disappear in the direction of Lux. He had clearly heard the detective gulp when she had seen a fraction of the fire in his eyes. He concluded that therefore she did fear him, the Devil, and would never want to work with him again. The second thought he had was that Renny had taken the secret of where his wings were with him to the grave. That he would only hear from his wings when they showed up somewhere in the future in a totally inappropriate way.
Ella had come to the scene, but she didn't have much work to do. This was a jumper; no one had pushed him, no violence had been used, and there were witnesses of what happened. This was straightforward. When she was done, Chloe gently took her by the arm and pulled her to a dark corner where they could talk for a moment undisturbed. After Chloe had told the story to the point that Renny jumped, she shook her head and said to Ella:
"When he saw him jump, I could just feel that he couldn't believe what he had just seen and that it hurt him beyond belief. He also didn't understand why Renny would have done it."
Ella had listened intently to every word and noticed how very upset Chloe was. She said:
"To be honest, I'm not surprised at all that Lucifer reacted the way he did."
The detective did not really register Ella's words and replied:
"I told him it wasn't his fault. That Renny did it himself. He looked at me in disbelief and said that he is to blame, that he is responsible because he is the Devil. I fear that he might do something stupid."
Pleadingly she looked into Ella's eyes:
"Ella. You don't know him, but when he struggles with something emotionally, his first reaction is always an incredible amount of booze, drugs, and...well...an orgy or something..."
Ella took a deep breath and asked:
"How much do you know about the Christian faith? Let's stick with Catholicism because that's pretty much the oldest of all the other groups."
The detective looked at her, not understanding, and Ella spoke:
"There are ten commandments; break one of them, and it doesn't mean you automatically end up in Hell after you die. You can find forgiveness for most sins, as they say, if you are sincerely repenting your actions and try to right those or make up for your wrong behavior. However, there are also seven deadly sins and The Big Guy does not joke around with those. They guarantee pretty much a one-way ticket to Hell. I bet Lucifer hates those with a passion as well as those who succumb to those seven deadly sins. The commandment "Thou shalt not murder also applies to suicide. Whether you kill someone else or yourself, in the eyes of God it is murder, and there is no exception. It is a ticket straight to Hell."
Chloe said:
"Is the commandment not thou shall not kill?"
Ella shook her head and said:
"No, that's a mistake they made a very long time when they translated ancient Hebrew in Greek or Latin. No idea, not important for that what I was saying. Think about it if the commandment would really be do not kill, then Hell would be filled with cops, soldiers and people who killed because they followed orders or protected innocents."
Chloe nodded in understanding the subtle difference between the two words. Ella continued:
"All suicides are condemned to hell, the place were Lucifer has been exiled to for thousands of years, the place he absolutely hates with a passion. How many Renny's has he not seen there? Or much worse, teenagers committing suicide because they couldn't take it anymore being bullied, or being mistreated in terrible way's like sexual abuse and rape. Lucifer was king of Hell against his will; those souls arrived in Hell against his will, and Hell only served for one thing: to punish. To see a soul of a otherwise completely innocent teenager arrive in Hell must have been as much torture for Lucifer as it was for the soul itself. And now, tonight, he witnessed someone who voluntarily jumped to his death and straight into Hell because he was afraid of Lucifer. Yeach, chicka, this will not have done our Devil any good. Something like that will be fucking with his brain!"
Chloe Decker thought for a moment and then said:
"Alexander, I need Alex, and we need to talk to Lucifer to make sure he doesn't do stupid things, or worse..."
Ella smiled:
"Then we're in luck..."
"What do you mean, Ella?"
"Alex is in Lux; he's expecting me."
Chloe looked at her and asked:
"You have a date with Alexander? You kids do not only like fast cars, you do not waist time now are you?"
The little Latina turned red in the face and quickly said:
"No, no, not a date.... He wanted to show me his collection of sports cars; that's all..."
Chloe smiled softly and said with kind of a knowing motherly smile on her face:
"Of course, no date, just fast expensive cars, hmmm..."
This made the lab tech get even a little redder in the face. The detective said,
"Okay, let's drive to Lux and bring Alex up to speed!"
Fifteen minutes later, both ladies arrived at Lux. Chloe parked her cruiser in the spot now reserved for her at the courtesy of Lucifer so she would have a spot in the Lux garage at all times and then hurried to find Lucifer. It turned out he wasn't to be seen in the club, so she took the elevator to the penthouse. He was sitting behind his piano, a cigarette burning in the ashtray, a glass of whiskey on top of the piano within reach, playing what seemed to be a sad little tune. He hadn't heard her come in, he was so lost in his own thoughts. It was only when she gently took a seat beside him on the piano bench that he was startled. Not daring to look at her, he stopped playing and said softly:
"I understand that you are afraid of me, detective, now that you have seen my eyes. I promise you, I will no longer bother you at work. I will call Olivia tomorrow and say that I quit."
Instead of saying anything, she first laid her head on his shoulder; only then did she say:
"I am not afraid of you, idiot Devil..."
He looked at her in disbelief and amazement and spoke softly:
"But I clearly heard you react on that roof when you saw my eyes..."
She sighed deeply and almost whispered:
"Maybe it's the most normal thing in the world for devils but not for us humans. Lucifer, I wasn't scared of you; I was frightened silly. The first thing I thought was that you would hurt yourself, that you would lose your eyes."
Now he didn't seem to understand anything anymore and asked confused:
"Why in Father's name would I lose my eyes?"
"That's what I mean my idiot Devil. Put yourself in my place for just a moment. For humans, fire is dangerous; it can horribly injure or even kill you. I have only known for a few hours that you are the one and only Lucifer from the Bible. Something I still have to get used to immensely. I still see you as the human Lucifer who is absolutely nuts, can drive people crazy, does not know boundaries and has the sense of humor to match that of an adolescent. But when I see a human being and part of that human being is on fire, my first reaction is shock because I instinctively expect to see severe injuries. Do you understand?"
Lucifer thought about her words for a moment and then only said:
"Oh..."
She wanted to distract him for a moment in hopes of stalling for time until Ella would show up with Alexander.
"What was that you were just playing?"
Softly he said:
"The piano version I made of a song I heard a long time ago. A poor but talented man I met once in the South. For you that would have been a very long time ago. I helped him get his first record deal before I had to go back to Hell. The next time I resurfaced, I learned that humanity had more or less eaten him up with skin and hair and spat him out again. His name was Blind Willie Johnson, and the song is called 'Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground.' Music is truly one of the greatest things you people have produced. The money and industry surrounding it, not so much, remember Delilah."
He began to play the song again as he told her about Johnson's sad life, how it was that he went blind, how they used and abused him, how he died, even how his grave disappeared into history. But also what he had done to recover that grave, restore it, and had a hand in having Congress select the song to officially become part of the heritage of the US. And something he had nothing to do with but seemed incredibly proud of. Indeed, the song is on a gold record attached to the spaceship Voyager 1, the first man-made craft about to leave our solar system. Chloe felt him grow inwardly calmer as he recounted, and his fingers seemed to caress the keys of the piano. She had know for a while that she was falling for this man, this Devil. This was the moment when she could see into the depths of his soul without looking, and the ground fell away beneath her. She was helplessly lost, didn't know how things would continue, and at this moment she didn't give a damn. All she wanted was to hear his voice and hear him play.
A few floors down, Ella came to a stop in her little old car in front of a closed garage port that would provide access to minus 2. For the umpteenth time, the engine stalled as it so often did when she stood in front of a traffic light or something. Next to her was a box where she could press the code. She keyed 666 and the gate slid up noiselessly. Since it was a ramp, she didn't bother trying to get the motor running again and just let it roll inside. When she saw what this part of the garage housed she suddenly didn't dare drive a single inch further. She brought the old Honda Civic that had seen much, much better days to a stop. Got out, closed the door extremely softly as if she had just driven into a holy sanctuary, and stepped into the garage. Everywhere she looked she saw iconic cars and motorcycles parked. Her throat became cork dry. The walls were decorated with old commercials, neon and posters, but not overly so. No hair on her head doubted that these too were authentic and must have cost a fortune. She heard a voice and walked toward it. Her sneakers made sure she was virtually soundless. Suddenly she realized Alexander was speaking to someone and she heard:
"Mom... I'm scared?"
Some giggling followed that statement.
"And what is my tough Antichrist afraid of?"
One word sounded and immediately the Latina held her breath, unable to take another step and just kept listening.
"Ella..."
"Why are you afraid of that sweet girl my boy?"
"She's special mom... I've never seen, met anyone like her before."
Ella clearly heard the warm voice of Celine who was now in her motherly role:
"You're going to have to be a little more explicit kid. You've already had girlfriends and boyfriends so it's not like I'm going to have to tell you the story of the flowers and the bees."
"That's what I mean mom...
Surprised, Celine asked:
"The flowers and the bees?"
Alex sighed and said sarcastically:
"Yes mom the flowers and the bees... Mom, I have a father whose activities in that area would make even Bacchus get red ears. I do not know if Rome invented orgies or if they just imitated him after one of his visits. Things which I don't want to know anything about in the remotest way and would prefer to be on another continent or even planet if he decides to throw one of those special parties in Lux. No, Mom, I don't mean sex! You know I'm very different from Dad in that regard. I mean that until now, I knew very well where the line is. My past dates, that was all pleasant, enjoyable, sociable, but never more than that. Because I know very well that more than that is not written into my future. Is not in it for me. Because I know very well that wanting more will only cause pain and misery for both parties involved. Fuck grandma and grandpa and their tinkering with the DNA of the three species. So close together and at the same time so far away from each other that we are not really compatible with each other. That knowledge in the past has always made me very aware of the fact that there is a boundary I cannot cross. But Ella? Ever since I first saw her this morning, and especially after lunch and the pleasant ride in the Senna, I can't get her out of my head."
It was silent for two seconds:
"Then why don't you ask her out on a real date instead of trying to show her your toys here."
"If it was just a date then it wouldn't be a problem mom and I wouldn't feel this way now. For the first time in my life I know what people feel when they talk about having butterflies in your stomach. When I think of Ella I think of more and I don't mean your damn flowers and bees. I mean I want everything damn it! The whole rimbam that comes with a real relationship from A to Z!"
"Are you afraid she'd say no if you asked her out with that premise, wanting to make something real out of it?"
"No, I'm afraid she would say yes..."
And again Celine's voice sounded sarcastic:
"Oh yes, because that makes it so absolutely clear kiddo. You're in love with a gorgeous girl, you want to ask her out and you're afraid she'll say yes? Yeah, that makes sense..."
He laughed but it sounded a little sad:
"Yes mom, it makes sense in our own fucked up way because we are what we are. Suppose she says yes, suppose it becomes something real, suppose it is so good and real that there is a real future in it. What should I say when the time comes that the relationship has progressed to the point where that one question is inevitably going to come up?"
Celine thought for a moment and asked softly,
"You mean the flowers and the bees and the consequences question?"
"Yep, definitely that damn question, mom."
"You exist after all, something that normally should not have happened. Your grandparents tampered with the DNA in such a way that Nefilim should not be possible. And yet here you sit moping to me."
"As far as I know, since the Flood, I have been the absolute exception that confirms the that rule."
Again Ella heard Celine's giggle:
"Boy how hard are you making it... You are so blown out of your socks by beautiful Ella that you are already sitting here worrying and running scared of something that may not even be there. You just made a bunch of assumptions. Now let me make one. What if Ella is okay with the fact that you can't procreate children. What if this dream that's seemingly been eating away at you for the last few hours came true? What if she's okay with it and you still want kids? What's to stop you from adopting a baby. You haven't even been on a real date yet. Why don't you do like any normal guy your age. Ask her out but be honest if she says yes, tell her you can't procreate children before it has grown to the point where the absence of that piece of information could cause misery."
She heard him stand up from a leather seat, heard him press a kiss to his mother's cheek and said,
"As always you are right mom. But that date is going to have to wait a while. Ella seems to be processing a few things and has resolved not to just date someone she just met right away. So that's going to have to wait a while until she's ready. I hope she says yes because yes mom, I am really in love with her. Love at first sight seems to exist after all. And at the same time I'm scared."
"Alexander, you're scared because you've never been in love before in your life. It's that simple boy. Now dear Ella needs some time you say. Why do you not use that time and try to swoop dear Ella of her feet like all good boys do."
Alex stepped out the door of the small office and stood face to face with Ella who stood looking at him with eyes wide open. His eyes winded just as far as hers and all he could manage was:
"Ella...I... oh fuck..."
He turned as red as a tomato when he realized that she had probably overheard much of the conversation. Seeing him turn so red brought her smile back to her face, the warmth dispelled the surprise in her eyes and she said:
"Oh, we are definitely going to talk about this you and me mister.... All of these machines in this garage I absolutely want to get to know up close and personal too. Those two... desires... we're gonna have to put aside for now I'm afraid. Something happened while Chloe and Lucifer were searching his container. We could use your help."
The red disappeared from his face, he rubbed through his curls for a moment and asked:
"What happened?"
"The one who killed the guard and stole the container committed another murder. Lucifer drove him into a corner on a roof. The guy apparently found nothing better to do than jump off the roof in front of them."
"Dead?"
"You can't get much deader than that, about as flat as a pancake. The ME can have his fun making the list of what broke in his body when he hit the ground."
She seemed distracted for a moment and thinking of something:
"Maybe he'd better make a list of what that guy didn't break in his body, would save him a lot of work."
She shook her head:
"Sorry, momentarily distracted."
He couldn't help but smile at the way her brain seemed to function. He found the next words a lot less pleasant:
"Yeah, your dad didn't exactly process it in a good way seeing that happen. Shifts the blame to himself, calls himself the Devil, and all that."
He sighed and said,
"let's go..."
As they walked toward the elevator, he unconsciously placed his hand on the small of her back. Something she did not find at all disagreeable...