2. Chapter 2

#

Lucifer smiled. It was a not a nice smile but Chloe ignored that easily. Her own smiles had become just as sharp in the past seven hundred and fifty minutes since Dan had called to complain. Why did she make him leave work if she was just going to pick Trixie up herself anyway?

“We can start, detective, by you telling me everything you know. Then you can point out the FBI agent I ought to question.”

He said question. Chloe heard ‘seduce and or mind whammy.’ She didn’t care.

“Trixie was at school.” This part was easy to talk about. She’d already run through it a dozen times with a dozen different faceless blurs in uniforms. “I was stuck in traffic miles away. I called Dan at half two to let him know he’d need to pick her up at half three. He called me at four twenty two to ask why he had to leave work if I’d already picked her up.”

That moment was frozen in her memory. Still gridlocked in traffic her heart had started hammering like a racehorse, but she’d been absolutely helpless to do anything.

“I said I hadn’t. I was still on the freeway.”

She took a deep breath, but Lucifer wasn’t like the others – he didn’t interrupt.

“I called the school office. The receptionist was there. She said Trixie had been the last student to be picked up. A police car pulled up about four. Trixie got in. The car drove off. That was the last anyway saw of her.”

“Very well. Now tell me about this kidnapper. Does he have a name?”

“The press are calling him The Collector,” Chloe scoffed. She didn’t approve of giving these monsters the attention they wanted. Making him infamous was the last thing they ought to be doing.

“The Collector,” Lucifer hummed noncommittally. “Interesting.”

“I managed to eavesdrop on the FBI at their coffee break,” She gritted her teeth. She took breaks when working too. But it was her daughter. Calling for Lucifer – and interrupting his latest depravity – had been the longest break she’d allowed herself. “They have this psychology department trying to predict his behaviour, and their main hope is to track him through the emails. I was told to expect one at the twenty four hour mark.”

Chloe fell silent; Lucifer raised an eyebrow, and looked at her until she caved.

“Johnson said they’d be pictures,” she admitted softly, eyes tight with pain.

“Pictures could have clues,” Lucifer replied gently. “Don’t fret. I have given you my word you know.”

“I know,” Chloe replied shortly. “I want her back, Lucifer. I want her back right now. God what if they already-”

“Then I promise you, detective, they’ll never find the body, or the soul.”

She shouldn’t find that comforting. She did.

#

Mazikeen descended to Hell by dint of walking through the nearest shadow and angling herself down.

The Gates remained shut. Lucifer hadn’t been down here yet, despite reclaiming the full might of his powers, and so shut they would remain. There was a hoard of Damned souls lingering outside, unable to enter and unable to leave. No wonder Amenadiel had been in such a snit.

“Please, where am I – ‘

“Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god.”

“Forgive me, please, god can anyone hear me?”

“What did I do wrong?”

“This can’t be real. I’m an atheist do you hear me?!”

Mazikeen felt a sense of soothing warmth as she flew over the Damned and the Outer Wall. Hell itself changed according to the whims of their Lord and Master, but the Wall and the Damned never changed.

She was home.

Even the intrusive enchantments on the Wall filled her with a sense of nostalgic homecoming. Ugh. How human of her. Even a month ago, she’d have been disgusted with herself for becoming so contaminated.

But a month ago, she didn’t have a friend.

“The dog returns, I see.”

“Jealous, Lilith?” Mazikeen snapped back without needing to think about it as she landed on the steps of Lucifer’s palace. “Five years, just he and I up Above.” Her smile was all teeth.

It would surprise no one to know that Hell had invented politics. As Lucifer’s bodyguard, Mazikeen had the honour of constant attendance to Lucifer’s person. She performed many roles; His left hand; his envoy; his messenger; his secretary; his housekeeper and his lover.

What she did didn’t really matter. According to Hell’s social rankings the closer you were to Lucifer, the higher you stood.

Mazikeen had served in his very shadow since the night he’d Created her meanwhile Lilith had been an experiment; Adam’s original wife turned first demon of Lucifer’s own Creation. An experiment that now ruled a division of three hundred thousand soldiers, but an experiment none the less.

“How you must have pined,” Maze continued, observing the pristine palace with interest. It was a mighty creation of black and white marble, and it dominated Hell’s landscape. Every famous architect, builder, painter, artist who had ever earned time down Below eventually added to it in lieu of mercy. In the past five years, a good deal of progress had been made. Leonardo had gotten his extra tower at least.

“I await his return loyally, notice the speed with which I arrived?”

“Indeed, you were so quick, you must have been here already. Waiting in his empty bed? Have you been there all this time? It must be cold.”

“And yet you have retuned alone.” Lilith’s tone was as sharp as a dagger. “Abandoned were you? Did Lucifer grow tired of your dubious charms…again?”

Victory was sweet. Sweeter still when her opponent was Lilith.

“Actually, our Lord awaits my return eagerly. I come with Orders, Lilith,” she held out her hand. The baphomet coin glowed brightly with Lucifer’s Grace – proof that the Orders did indeed come from him.

Lilith glared, her eyes flickering orange, but there was nothing she could do or say to Maze now and they both knew it.

“Well?” she hissed.

“You are to take your Legion Above. In mortal guise, you will sweep the continent known as America and the surrounding territories. Your target is a mortal child named Beatrice Decker; she is to be brought to Lucifer immediately. Whoever holds her captive is also to be located and brought to our Lord for Punishment,” Maze recited faithfully and formally. “This is her picture.”

Lilith blinked.

“The entire Legion to go Above? Are we at war?”

“No. The child was stolen from Lucifer.”

That was all that needed to be said. They knew, and loved, what Lucifer did to thieves.

“It will be done,” Lilith promised with a firm nod. Their feud would never end, but Lucifer’s will always took precedence. It didn’t surprise Maze when Lilith immediately turned away, leathery wings snapping from her back as she launched herself into the air, flying hard for her own demesne. Soon the clamour of horns and bells could be heard, the sound ringing across all of Hell in a careful pattern that Maze could interpret automatically. Hell was organised.

Division of Lilith. Emergency summon. All ranks report. Immediate deployment.

All throughout the realms of Hell, demons set aside their tools and their playthings, collecting weapons and armour, hastening to Lilith’s call.

#

“Oh Agent Johnson,” Lucifer crooned, “It is Agent Johnson isn’t it?” He crowded into the agent’s personal space with a devilish grin. “So very nice to meet you.”

“Yes, that’s me.” Agent Johnson puffed up proudly under Lucifer’s enthralling gaze, his beer belly bulging against the cheap shirt. “And you are?”

“Lucifer. Morningstar.”

“I see,” Agent Johnson shook Lucifer’s offered hand in a daze whilst Chloe watched from a gap in the conference room’s blinds with the door ajar to hear properly. How did he do it?

Maybe it was the cologne? Maybe it wasn’t cologne but some sort of air-borne drug? Surely not, that was a bit too contrived, even inside her thoughts it sounded insane, but there had to be a logical explanation – and it wasn’t animal magnetism. Chloe refused to believe that people would tell him anything just because they were attracted to him.

Not that it mattered. Results mattered; Lucifer had proven able to mind-whammy anyone, except her – thank God, and that was just what she needed right now since Agent Bloody Johnson refused to talk to her.

“I’ve never met an FBI Agent before,” Lucifer flattered as easily as he breathed. “You must be working on something terribly important to have so many of you down here.”

“Ah, well,” Johnson deflected hesitantly, weakening. “It is an important case, I suppose.”

“It must be so dangerous, so exciting,” Lucifer purred, arm wrapped about Johnson’s shoulders, pulling him in companionably and conveniently drawing him away from his team, the police offers and closer to where Chloe was hiding.

Chloe noticed a few of her colleagues side-eyeing each other with looks of amusement. They knew what was going on, but Johnson wasn’t one of them, and Lucifer’s charisma had to be seen to be believed. Maybe they were dicks, but at least they were dicks to Johnson too.

“Yeah, it’s been crazy. The Collector’s struck again. My boss is breathing down my neck, I have the media hounding us like dogs and we’re no closer to catching the bastard.”

Was it the bad view or were Johnson’s eyes glazing over, Chloe wondered in amazed disgust. Some people were far too easily taken in by Lucifer’s….Luciferness.

She forced down the instinctive panic at Johnson’s words.

So what if the FBI were floundering about like a fish out of the water. Lucifer had promised, and she wouldn’t give up, ever, not if it took her thirty years.

Please don’t let it take thirty years.

“Sounds positively awful. Surely, you must have something, hm? Some little detail, come on, you can tell me, Johnson, it’ll be just between you and me.”

Lucifer’s voice was sultry, enticing, rich dark chocolate with a hint of danger.

“We’re focusing on two paths,” Johnson reported, he seemed to have completely surrendered to Lucifer’s charms - not that Chloe was shocked; that last display had been a masterpiece. Even her heart was fluttering like a butterfly. “There’s the tech side, the emails, the video link, the whole auction really. It’s all vulnerable to tracking, but Julie says he’s good, Connor Brent good so unless he makes a mistake we won’t get him that way.”

Chloe abandoned the window to press her ear to the gap in the doorway. This was exactly what she needed to know. TrixieTrixieTrixie.

“Then there’s the psychological side.” Johnson continued, “The profile’s pretty solid. We know he watches his victims for at least two weeks before he takes them – and that means his job either revolves around travelling or he’s got money. Julie says it’s probably money as the tech he’s using isn’t cheap and he’s switching it out regularly to prevent reverse hacking.”

Clever criminals were the absolute worst, Chloe thought. Bad enough to know Trixie was in the hands of a monster in the first place; knowing he was a smart criminal was an extra order of magnitude terrible.

“That narrows the suspect pool. Because the victims are all are children of influential people, and he’s deliberately torturing the parents, it’s likely that he’s the child of someone influential himself, almost certainly abused and neglected by them, which ties in with the money angle. He’s not a paedophile himself, just sadistic. He’s selling them only to hurt the parents. That tells us a lot about him.”

“What about the car,” Lucifer questioned sharply. “How did he access a police vehicle? How was it not noticed?”

“We don’t know. That’s new. It may be a sign of some sort of stressor the culprit’s experienced recently, or he’s devolving, maybe changing methods, maybe he wants more police attention.”

“And-“

“You! Stop that right now!” The voice was as unwelcome as it was familiar.

Dan.

Chloe sighed, head thumping against the wall. There went that chance. Still, it was a great deal more than she’d had before.

“Detective Douche,” Lucifer greeted impatiently. “Interrupting as always. It’s like you don’t want us to find the spawn.”

“I,- er-, I have to get back to work,” Johnson stuttered out, shaking off Lucifer’s trick and heading back to work at a brisk trot, eyeing Lucifer uncomfortably over his shoulder. Chloe had seen that reaction many times before. Did I just- oh shit, I did.

One day, she’d work it out.

“How dare you,” Dan hissed, “That’s my daughter you’re talking about. Mine. Of course I want to find her.”

Chloe knew she should get out there and stop them fighting, but seriously, why did she have to play peacemaker? Men. They ought to tattoo their measurements onto their foreheads and save the world a load of trouble.

“Really?” Lucifer drawled, “It looks like you simply don’t want me to find her.”

“Stop bothering the FBI and let them do their jobs,” Dan returned lowly. “You aren’t wanted here. Just leave before you make things worse, as always.”

Oh he wasn’t going to take that well, Chloe thought, too exhausted to really care right now. She needed about twelve hours sleep but knew she wouldn’t be getting it. She forced herself upright, TrixieTrixieTrixie, then went to separate them so they could all get back to work.

“Tell me, Douche,” Lucifer growled, stalking towards Dan. The shadows suddenly seemed longer, thicker and darker. Chloe blinked and the moment was gone. Damn, she really did need to sleep and why did the department have the air conditioning on at this time of the year?

Dan retreated to the wall – and she caught the surprise on his face when the wall hit his back, as if he hadn’t even realised he was backing away. The flare of annoyance in his eyes told her he hadn’t and the loss of face burned. She shouldn’t find that amusing either…but Johnson would be warier now. She felt rather justified in a little schadenfreude.

Naturally, Lucifer had to play with his food. He trapped Dan with each hand flat against the wall to either side of his head blocking both exits. If Dan wanted to escape, he’d have to duck under – and Chloe knew he wouldn’t; that was too much like surrender.

Lucifer’s smile was downright satanic.

“What do you desire most?”#