Chapter Eight: Deal Or No Deal With The Devil

Liv and Lucifer started walking out of the precinct, not wanting to handle the paperwork part of murders. "So where to now, medical examiner?" Lucifer asked.

"Well, we got the antagonist of the week. I should probably get going back to Seattle soon and get a better brain. We could watch a movie while waiting for Clive to finish, but I won't watch something stupid like A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. I hate stupid, flashy, hollywhack movies like that. You know-"

Lucifer didn't want another rant so he cut her off. "You want to get the personality and memories of a new brain, right?"

"Oh my god, yes. Why, do you have one?"

"Maybe," Lucifer said. "You remember our deal? I didn't tell anybody about your undead-ness, now it's your turn to repay the favor."

The two reached Lucifer's car and got in. "And this favor includes a brain?" Liv questioned.

"It should."

They stood in the forest in front of an unmarked grave, Lucifer fishing up a brain. They both seemed visibly uncomfortable with what was happening. "So, what's the favor again?"

"My brother, Uriel, he knew about the flaming sword. We're trying to find all of the parts, but it's proving to be quite difficult."

"So, just to get this straight, you want me to…"

Lucifer stood up, now with a dirt-covered brain in hand, but he didn't look at it. "Yes. Look around at us celestial beings and get a vision about the piece of the flaming sword. It's here, whatever that means, so you should be able to find it." Lucifer plopped the brain into Liv's hands, and she looked disgusted. She knew that she's eaten worse, and that she wouldn't even taste to dirt or get sick by it, but the thought of eating something dirt-covered made Richard's brain squirm. Hot sauce was needed, but alas, hot sauce couldn't be brought through the TSA.

Regardless, Lucifer closed his eyes as Liv took a hefty bite out of his brother's brain. "It'll take a few minutes for the brain to kick in. Is there any place specifically that you'll think will get a vision?" she said as she put the organ back into the tomb.

"Yes actually."

By the time they got to the church that Uriel died in, Liv couldn't feel any of the urges of Richard's brain, but she couldn't feel the new one either.

The zombie looked around the church, trying to trigger a vision. Nothing happened until she looked back at Lucifer. Upon seeing him in their current location, she gasped, clearly going into a vision.

Lucifer watched as she stood in a daze, guessing what she was seeing. The church probably wasn't the best first place to take her. The instant she exhaled sharply, Lucifer clarified "It was in self-defense."

"What?" Liv asked.

"What did you see? Do you know what he meant by 'the piece is here?'"

Liv shrugged. "It was the strangest thing. I was definitely having a vision, but everything was bright white. All I could hear was a monotone hyme. Nothing here should have triggered something like that."

Lucifer looked disappointed. "Yeah, I should've expected that; Azrael's sword is thorough. No soul probably means nothing to pull memories from." He sighed. "An angel's brain in a human's body probably wouldn't have turned out well anyway."

"Yeah," Liv mumbled. "An angel's brain." She never fully believed Lucifer when he kept saying that he was the devil, but she's never had a vision like that before. Maybe there really is a such thing as heaven and hell. Which way would she go when she dies? Like genuinely dies. Could the Lucifer that she's been trying to get with this whole trip really be Satan himself?

A ringing phone snapped Liv out of her thoughts. Seeing that it was Clive calling, she answered it. "Hello?"

'Tom Ellis and Rose McIver have been put under arrest,' he said. 'Where are you?'

"I had to do a favor real quick. And good news: the brain wore off. You won't have to hear about boom shots or something on the way back home."

'Thank goodness for that, but you should hurry back. The LAPD already got us tickets back first thing tomorrow morning and a one night stay near the airport. They want us to leave soon, because of LA traffic or something.' Hearing that, Liv realized how little traffic there'd been all day as she drove around with Lucifer, but she shrugged it off, although she couldn't help but think of it like driving through a movie studio. Richard's brain really did a number on her view of movie, and reality to an extent as well. 'The same detective's we were working with are going to drive us there. You're still with Lucifer, aren't you.'

"Yeah, kinda. We'll be back soon though, don't worry."

Luggage in hand, Liv and Clive stood in front of their hotel with Lucifer and Chloe standing near the car.

"It was a pleasure working with you two, and the whole LAPD," Clive said.

Chloe nodded. "While some of your methods are a bit… strange… the pleasure was ours. Right Lucifer?"

"Why of course. And feel free to come back any time Medical Examiner; I never got to show you the top of the water tower after all."

Liv smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. You could come to Seattle too, as long as the, um, virus doesn't spread too fast."

"Oh please, I'm the devil. I can't get 'viruses'. Trust me, I've tried. Besides, they do call me old scratch so I'd fit right in regardless."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Are you two still talking about zombies?"

"No," Liv lied, "the flu is real bad in Washington right now." She faked a cough into her arm.

"Okay then," Chloe said, not believing her. "Have a safe trip."

With one final wave farewell, Chloe and Lucifer left, leaving Liv and Clive alone as they bring their luggage to their room. The next day, a shuttle came and they were soon back in their home city and back to work.

"Hey, do you know the actors Tom Ellis and Rose McIver?"

"No, why? Did you get their autographs or something?" Ravi asked.

"They were the murderers of the John Doe, who was named Richard Tator. After a vision, Lucifer and I found them really fast. He had some weird abilities."

Ravi smiled. "You were working with a person named Lucifer? Did you ever dance with him in the pale moonlight?"

"I wish. I bet he's a great dancer, "Liv mumbled. She shook the thought from her head and continued what she was saying before. "But anyway, he insisted that really was the devil. There were some weird things too, like he gave me a completely blank brain of an angel apparently, and he could get people to share secrets. Do you think he really could be satan?"

Ravi shrugged. "I got laughed out of the CDC for believing in things like zombies, and you can see who was right about that. The devil is widely believed, so it actually existing doesn't seem too far fetched really."

"But if he exists, so does heaven, hell, angels, demons, and God. Someone in heaven made zombies; Lucifer even said it sounded like something God would do. Someone chose for this to happen."

"Don't worry about the devil in the details. If God exists or not, it doesn't really change much. But enough about God, tell me more about LA. Did you have a hell of a time? When you were with Lucifer, did all hell break loose? Did he find work for idle hands? There are all these questions, so little time."

Liv told Ravi as much about Lucifer as he wanted to know, which basically covered the whole trip to LA.

It wasn't long before life went back to normal. A new murder needed solving, and a new brain needed eating. The one day spent in LA with a devil of a man and his partner became a distant memory for both parties involved.

A/N: I wrote the last chapter at, like, midnight and immediately posted it. I reread it, realized it sucked, and spruced it up a bit. Some new lines were added, so check it out again if you want. And this should be it; a zombie and the devil are no longer working together. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, and the story as a whole. By the way, from day one of writing this I was trying to make the pun about dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight. Essentially, that one joke was the whole point of this story. Do with that information what you will. I'm glad you all liked the story so much. Thanks for reading!