I'm baaaackk! I promised you all a quick update and here it is! I hope you all are satisfied with this new chapter. Please please please read and review/follow/fave. Let me know what you liked/didn't like. I'm always looking to improve! Enjoy! Xo - SF

Trigger Warning: Mild {Description of crime scene}

3 Days Earlier

The sun was bright, reflecting off the metal fire escapes that twined along the sides of the district buildings like some strange vine. The area was usually devoid of movement, dead so to speak. Today it was alive for the worst of reasons. Sirens wailed from the various emergency vehicles lining the back stretch of alley. Cop cars formed a perimeter along the edges, and the yellow caution tape blinded if looked at. And in the center of all the hustle and bustle was the first sign that something sinister was loose in Los Angeles

"I've never seen anything like this."

Disgust laced the voice of Detective Chloe Decker. The normally put together, tough as nails, cop was at a loss for words. She took a deep breath forcing herself to look again. She would have no problem recalling this scene for future reference. This would be burned into her memory for years, and likely appear in her nightmares. She managed to shake the chill creeping up her spine and turned to start barking out orders to some of the cops along the perimeter. They were in a fairly secluded back alley, but the nature of this case piqued a primal curiosity in even the nicest of people. They didn't need the details of this to leak.

"Chloe.."

Detective Dou… Dan Espinoza had walked up behind her, but his eyes weren't trained on her. Instead they were drawn to the scene in front of him.

"Dan, this is, this is a big one."

"I know. You're going to have to be careful. This looks like a massacre."

"Whatever happened here needs to be discovered Dan. And the killers brought to justice."

"Killers?" How did you already profile this?"

She shot him a look, already too irritated with the destruction of the morning to deal with him as well.

"Do you know anyone physically capable of doing this on their own?"

She turned on her heel and walked away. She briefly looked around for Ella, wanting the forensic scientist's thoughts on both the murder itself and the religious context. The pint sized brunette must have already headed back to the station however, as she was nowhere to be found. Chloe resolved to check in with her as soon as she reached the station. She just had one pit stop to make first.

She left the scene, walking briskly. Her blonde hair was tied up to try and keep the sweaty strands off of her neck. The blouse and jeans she wore felt sweltering even in the mild dry heat of early spring in Los Angeles. Chloe really just wanted to duck into a bar and get a drink, pretend there was no case to solve. It was far too early for a drink though and it wasn't just the case that was bothering her. She knew the task she really dreaded was her pit stop. Telling her partner. The sometimes kind of helpful, but always really annoying, official civilian consultant to the LAPD was not going to like this. At all.

Sighing, she resigned herself to her fate and made her way to her car. She got in, turned on the air conditioning, and pulled away from the curb leaving the grisly murder scene behind her. She drove toward the center of the city, noting the heavy traffic. As she drove her mind started casually profiling those that walked along the bustling streets and wondered if among them hid her killer.

It felt like mere moments later she reached her destination. She tried to shake off the haze the horrors of this morning had settled over her. Arriving at Lux was with both relief and dread. Chloe felt safe in the presence of her Lucifer, but she knew the scene she would have to recount would bring about the side of him she didn't like.

She walked through the front doors, and nodded to Maze who sat behind the bar polishing glasses.

"No humans to hunt down today Mazikeen?" Chloe smiled at her roommate, who unsurprisingly was rarely home now that she had a job to obsess over.

"I already got him. The rest of the day is mine. Figured I'd clean up the bar for tonight. Saturday nights are always big for Lux. You should come tonight! We could have a good time."

Maze raised one eyebrow suggestively and grinned like a predator that had cornered its prey. No matter how many times Chloe had that look directed at her, it never failed to be unsettling.

"Can't tonight Maze, we have a .."

"Case, of course you do. Silly me, assuming killers take the weekends off."

Chloe almost laughed at the pure irritated sarcasm that dripped off the other woman's every word, but managed a sheepish grin as she sought refuge in the elevator.

As the elevator silently glided up to Lucifer's apartment, she thought about how he might react. She had decided to not think about his determination to be viewed as the Devil, instead just accepting him for the man that he was. But with this case, she found herself pondering all the events she couldn't explain when it came to her partner. The multiple strangers that insisted he was the Devil, fear glazing their eyes, voices raised in desperation. The gunshot wounds that caused pain and drew blood, but seemingly disappeared as though never there. And the worst, a glimpse of his reflection, one with red skin and fiery eyes. One blink had erased that image and she thought for sure she must have been seeing things. Hadn't she?

Her musings came to an end with the gentle ding of the elevator and the smooth glide of the doors. Chloe could hear piano music, but the great black piano stood forlornly on its own by the personal bar. The music drifted from the other end of the room, beyond the doors of the balcony.

"Lucifer?"

She walked forward, coming around the corner to find her partner enjoying the unusually warm spring morning. Reclined in a deck chair, wearing a bathrobe, head back and eyes closed, facing the sun. A speaker beside him had music echoing out over the noisy city below. It was the most relaxed she had ever seen him, and she was here to ruin it.

"Lucifer!" She called again as she gently shook his shoulder.

His dark eyes popped open and almost at once a deviously sly grin crossed his face.

"Ahhh, Detective! To what do I owe the pleasure?" As he spoke he sat up, one hand reaching up to block the suns glare. His eyes traced her whole body, making her shiver. The look was flirty and playful, gone as quick as it came, but replaced with a much more sincere look of happiness. She faintly smiled at the joy that crossed his features at the sight of her, but quickly grew somber again.

"How about we go inside and... I don't know uhh... get a drink?"

"Why Detective, at ten in the morning? You really are for the 'it's five o'clock somewhere' rule." He smirked at her as he rose. In typical Lucifer fashion, he sauntered past her oblivious of her worry, his speaker still blaring. She followed him inside, closing the balcony doors behind her.

To give herself a minute she let her eyes wander around the living room area. She started with the elevator through which she entered and followed the room around. She took notice of the expensive but simple decoration, meant to highlight the already natural beauty of the architecture. Her eyes dropped to the couch dominating the central space. Admiring the dark tones she heaved a sigh and sat, turning to look at Lucifer. His back was to her, likely so he could sneak far too much alcohol into the concoction she probably wouldn't drink.

He hadn't seemed to have noticed that she had followed him in yet, which wasn't all that unlike him, but did afford her the chance to study him. He was tall and lean, but toned and well-muscled as well. His dark hair was short, the hint of a five o'clock shadow around the base of his jaw. He looked good, even in just the deep red bathrobe and a pair of slippers, way too good.

She started when she noticed his hand, holding her drink out to her. Their eyes met, his smoldering. That signature smirk crossed his features as she took the drink, shaking her head as if to shoo away the buzzing thoughts.

"See something you like, Detective?" The pass was carelessly tossed over his shoulder as he walked down the hallway behind the bar, and by the time she had recovered her thoughts, he was returning impeccably dressed in a dark suit and deep red tie.

"Lucifer, I need your help."

"Well of course you do Detective. New case?"

Her eyes actually rolled in response to his pompous remark but he remained unfazed.

"Yes, on a case. But Lucifer, you're not going it like it."

"Oh dear, is it boring? I don't see how you could possibly need m…"

His stopped as she picked up the drink he had made her and took a gulp, and he suddenly looked genuinely puzzled.

"Chloe, are you all right?"

She was surprised by the use of her name, but even more shocked at the overwhelming concern that had overtaken his usual haughty persona.

"It's a bad case. In all my years of law enforcement I've never seen anything sooo," Chloe paused and looked up at him as she sought a word that could describe what she had seen, "… evil."

"Tell me. We need to find our killer and give him due punishment."

"Killers. Plural."

"Pardon?"

"Lucifer. There are ten victims. This has to be the work of more than one person."

His eyes widened, mouth open.

"You mean to tell me Detective, that we have a murderous group to catch?"

"I'm afraid that's not the worst of it."

"Not the worst of it!"

"The bodies… the bodies were all positioned in a straight line. Flat on their backs, arms crossed over their chest, naked."

Lucifer leaned forward, his brow furrowed.

"Detective, what aren't you telling me?"

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it took several seconds before she was able to speak again. Her eyes flicked back up the meet his and she winced at his narrowed eyes and pinched expression.

"Their faces are gone. And written on each body is the name of an angel... in blood. Azrael, Gabriel, Uriel…"

She trailed off as her partner's expression grew murderous and the fire in his eyes so resembled the Devil he claimed to be.