Ella had heard out Belphegor's explanation, and that was how she found herself allowed to rest and under his protection through guest rites, whatever that was. Her injuries were going to remain until she returned to the mortal world. Were she dead they would likely disappear given enough time in a Hell loop, again, whatever those were. She didn't understand the mechanics of what was going on but she had passed normal a while ago and when she returned to Earth, well, maybe she'd get high off those pain meds after all. According Belphegor, a Demonic Prince's powers were limited by thresholds that, as far as he knew, were there to prevent the beings trying to take the domains of other princes. If they weren't physically restricted like his, they had certain conditions in which they could be used. Belphegor may have been the Demonic prince of judgement, but he was only able to judge those accused of crimes of being guilty or innocent. He had opinions on things and in certain situations he could petition The Devil for those restrictions to be lifted but such times were rare and had to be considered emergencies in order for such a petition to be considered seriously. Ella had been told in no uncertain terms that her being in Hell wasn't likely to be considered an emergency, or at least not a good enough one for Belphegor to make a petition on her behalf. He had said that he would speak with Lucifer and see if he knew anything about her arrival, but for some reason Ella had stopped him from doing so. If someone had brought her here intentionally then logically, they would have had to be very powerful. As such, Belphegor hadn't been able to do much to help, but he had explained what Ella likely needed to do. She had to journey all the way through hell, deal with all its dangers and try not be killed, maimed, burned, torn apart or eaten. She also had to try and avoid everything else in between. Politically, Hell seemed to be in turmoil; factions had been forming and the rumours were there was about to be a civil war. She sighed and sat back, thinking through her next course of action.
Botis looked over what his superior had shown him, and he understood his Lord's annoyance. With the torso of a human and the lower half of a snake, Botis knew he was the least imposing as well as the least powerful of the Five. He had grey skin and was notoriously fast and deadly with his blades. The only ones faster were Lucifer himself, and Ciaran. Despite that, he had more than earned his place among their ranks and he had a head for finding answers, which is why he was much more concerned over these missing shipments than he probably should have been. "You sssssaid that our King hasssss Malphasss looking into the problem?" he asked the leader of the Five. Ciaran nodded, though he could see the forced professionalism in the expression. She didn't hate him and he didn't hate her, if anything they respected each other's skills. The problem with them being assigned to look into this issue together was the fact they both had different world views. Ciaran was powerful but she only ever focused on what she saw. She had a very narrow mind by Demonic standards and believed the evidence she was presented with. Botis was the polar opposite to her. Due to his less than considerable strength, at least by the standards of the five, he had allowed himself to be more willing to look at things differently, to go back and look for things that might have been missed. He wasn't insecure or bothered about his lack of strength. By regular standards he was still extremely powerful. Ciaran had also been blessed by Nyx, the Princess of Pride, granting her new powers whereas he was still wielding the powers he had been created with. He brought his mind back to the conversation. "Lucifer is concerned. That is all the reason we need" the leader of the five explained. Botis waved away the comment not in disagreement but because its not what he wants to hear. "He hassss never ordered the five to look into ssssssssomething sssso routine" he hissed as he studies the list of the shortages. "Malphasssss thinkssssss one of the Sssssseven are involved?" he inquired. The Five Knights who served Lucifer directly had a strange relationship with the princes and princesses of Sin. Part of it was because almost all of them Lilim, the exceptions being Nyx, Megaera and Malphas, two of whom were more primordial in nature, and Malphas was a blood demon. While the relationship between them was cordial and peaceful enough, but they always vied for the King's favour. In truth, while the Seven led the realm politically with Lucifer overseeing things, the Five handles most military matters. Those who ruled the circles had their own armies, as was their right given by Lucifer himself but if there were ever to be a war in heaven, it would be The Five who served as Lucifer's generals. "Kimaris and Belial specifically. Dagon is on the move again" Ciaran said, and Botis hissed in displeasure. "The fool hopessss to garner their aid for another stab at Princcccehood" he hissed, and Ciaran shrugged. "His motivations do not concern me. Azazel is busy with nameless things. Zagreus tests the realm's security, Thanatos is busy serving as the reaper those pre who are so evil that the heaven have them predestined to come here. Belphegor is busy judging those at the gates and malphas is looking into him currently anyway. Absalom has been laying low and Malath has missed her quotas entirely..." Ciaran grumbled, her displeasure at this problem obvious. "And the fifth and Ninth circlesssss?" Botis asked, finally looking up from the records. "We both know Ramiel won't be a problem, and Anamlech has the King watching over him directly, considering he himself resides there" Ciaran shrugged. Botis nodded. While Zagreus tested the security of the underworld it was Dagon left in charge of the Seventh Circle. "What would he have ussss do?" asked Botis. "We are to deal with Belial, Kimaris and Dagon. Unfortunately we are to do discreetly, which means I will have to put out the Hornets" the female Knight replied. Botis nodded in agreement with the decision. "And me?" he asked. Ciaran waved a hand aside, obviously not too bothered. "Do as you wish. The only requirement is that we are discreet" she said. Botis considered his options, not entirely sure of the best way to look into things. "Absssssalom paid everything on time. Perhapssssss he might be willing to sssssshare information?" he suggested. Of all the Princes who ruled the circles, Absalom was the one that Botis thought might be the most willing to give information. He was loyal to Lucifer and only ever schemed against other princes or princesses. Ciaran considered the idea. "You have an informant there?" she asked. Botis nodded. "A ssssssssoldier. He isssss unremarkable but he could be convincccced" he replied, and Ciaran's eyes narrowed. "How do you intend to do that?" she asked. "I am sure that inssssspiration will ssssstrike" Botis said, and he meant it. The soldier in question was skilled, loyal and had been tossed aside due to terrible circumstances. Botis had the power to have him be reassigned, possibly even elevated to Duke if that's what the Demon wanted. The only problem was that he wasn't a spy. He was a soldier first and foremost and believed in Loyalty above all. Botis was going to have to make the offer extremely tempting if he was going to get this information. "Promise only what the information is worth. And be careful. Exposing this demon for the information means you can't watch Absalom's political machinations. Botis shrugged. "I do not care for them. They do not matter to me" he stated simply. Ciaran nodded, obviously agreeing with his opinion. "We have no deadline as of yet but we shouldn't take too long. Depending what Malphas delivers to Lucifer when they meet we might have more work. Let us do this quickly" she said. Botis nodded, and was quickly dismissed. He slithered away to see to his tasks, and Ciaran set about seeing to hers. It was time to unleash the Hornets.
It had taken way too long for backup to arrive and for Chloe to follow Trixie to hospital, and the news she had gotten hadn't been good. Amenadiel had driven her here and had stayed as long as dared before he decided to return to the scene and see what he could learn. Chloe doubted it was much but he had yet to return. Chloe looked over at her daughter. The doctors had been very quick to inform of Trixie's list of injuries, and Chloe's heart had been left broken when she'd heard them. A broken leg, three broken ribs, severe blunt force trauma, concussion, a badly bruised spine that risked paralysis, deep cuts that were very likely to scar. She'd asked for Ballantyne's record and found him having a lot of driving infraction and drug possession charges and even belonged to hate groups. The guy was notorious for hating immigrants. The guy had used to be a cop before his son had come forward dealing physical, verbal and emotional abuse, leading to him being fired from the force and thrown in jail for a few years. Evidently he'd chosen to lay low after getting out, the kid had wanted nothing to do with him and Chloe wasn't surprised. Ballantyne had seemingly remained silent after being dragged to the station and so far the evidence was slim. Chloe's gut was saying that Ella had the right of way, and Chloe would have never trusted her with Trixie if she wasn't a safe driver. Her current theory was that Ballantyne had been drunk or high, or this was a hate crime. Either way he was going back to prison. The truck had been clean of any illegal cargo. No drugs, no guns. Ballantyne had been working as a delivery driver since he got out of prison and had been by all accounts an employee who kept his head down and got on with his job. Whatever hateful bullshit he believed in he was smart enough not to broadcast publicly. It was also impossible to tell if this was a hate crime because there was no way he could have known that Ella, who had Mexican heritage, was in the car. If it was a hate crime Chloe intended to push for the hardest sentence imaginable for this, and whatever other crimes she could uncover. So far there was no detective investigating, and while she was detailed to Homicide but was more than able to be objective about this. She forced her thoughts back to Trixie. Her little girl was in a medically induced coma to try and help her heal faster and Chloe was forcing herself not to let her tears fall. Trixie's leg had been broken so badly that she'd had to have surgery to set the bones. There were plates inside her daughter so make sure she healed properly because of some asshole who had at the very least driven recklessly. Chloe had been forced to wait alone, but she didn't know how much longer she could do this alone. Maze was off bounty hunting, Linda had taken Charlie to meet her parents, Dan was on vacation and Lucifer was in Hell. Amenadiel was around but probably helping search for Ella who was still missing, and Chloe couldn't in good faith ask him to stop searching for their friend. She had considered calling Eve but neither she nor Chloe were particularly close and Chloe somehow doubted the first woman had a cell phone and even Eve did, Chloe didn't have her number. She hadn't dared tell Penelope because if she had her mother would come storming right here and cause more trouble and make the doctors and nurses more anxious than they already were. She had tried to call Dan but the timezone difference meant he was asleep or doing something else, and Chloe didn't have the money to pay the international rates. She didn't expect him to drop everything and come rushing home, and even if she did there was no way of knowing when Dan could get on a flight at such short notice. As a result, Chloe was alone, though she had sent maze a text letting her know what had happened, and if she didn't hear from Amenadiel soon she was going to have to call him. At the very least he could get word to Lucifer or ask one of his siblings for help provided he was allowed to do such a thing. The biggest mystery was Ella. No one knew where she was or if she was ok and that was extremely concerning after a car wreck. She hardly needed to lecture Ella about such a thing considering the younger woman's history. Ella was alive, Chloe knew it in her gut, she just didn't know where Ella was. She'd heard of Dante's Inferno but that was just a story, or at least she suspected it to be. Lucifer had been a little cagey about how much of humanity's myths and legends were real or fake. In part it was because he didn't like to talk about his celestial life and the other part was because Chloe hadn't cared to ask as many questions as she probably should have. He had explained a few things such as what dragged a person down to hell when they died, and Amenadiel had told her that Lucifer going back to hell wasn't just because of Charlie being kidnapped. Demons were forbidden from possessing humans and a number of them had done so despite his instructions. It didn't matter that they were recently deceased, possessed humans were serious and dangerous and had clearly been enough of a threat that Lucifer had been forced to return to the place he hated most, or one of them. Trixie had been hurt, and Chloe knew Lucifer would come if she asked him to, that he would have helped find Ella if she asked but she hadn't been able to bring herself to try. She had asked Amenadiel about angels receiving prayers in the first days after Lucifer had left and he had told her everything. It was an option, but Lucifer wasn't easy to reach, which meant that if she tried it needed to be an emergency. The problem was she had no idea how things had been going down in Hell. Amenadiel hadn't checked, which Chloe was silently pissed about, but she had decided not to yell at him until she knew a bit more about why. Celestial politics were tricky, and although Chloe wasn't the smartest when it came to the subject but she could deduce a few things. She speculated that Lucifer was omnipotent when it came to hell, and in terms of raw power and potential he was second only to his father himself. If that theory was correct, it meant that even God himself would have had a hard time getting into Hell. It also meant that as hard as Amenadiel tried he would likely only have a small window of opportunity and that was assuming Lucifer was in the mood for visitors. It wasn't to say that Lucifer couldn't leave for a few days, but that was assuming the state of his realm was at a place where all his hard work wasn't going to implode the second that he left. Chloe ground her teeth. She wasn't angry with him but was angry about how helpless she was. She couldn't do anything despite wanting to and even if she could she was either going to have to abandon her daughter or abandon her friend and surrogate sister. No matter which way she tried to cut it there were no good options. She could try to find Ella. The LAPD took care of its own, and she had the authority to use resources when she needed to. She was going to get in trouble for it later but she didn't care. She wanted to find her friend and make sure she survived. Ella didn't deserve whatever she was going through right now. She was just reaching for her phone when the doors opened, and Amenadiel stepped through, a woman with a spear at his side. Chloe sighed and knew she was about to be neck deep in Celestial bullshit yet again. She needed a vacation, and when all was said and done, she was going to take a few million dollars' worth of Lucifer's money and get herself an extended stay in Dubai or something. If he had anything to say against that then she was going to kick his ass, and maybe even get Maze to join in.
Ella didn't know how long she'd been trying to plan for, but she had come to several conclusions. First, she needed help. Belphegor had been clear that he couldn't provide it, and that the most he could do was grant her immunity as she passed through the first circle. After that, Ella was very likely to be on her own and she didn't like her chances with that being the case. There were rules that prevented the Demons from killing her but they were vague. They also only seemed to exist if she had been chosen to bring word of what Hell was like to earth, which she very clearly had not. As a result, the normal safeguards that would have protected her pretty much meant nothing. If demons didn't try to eat her then they would find other ways to be rid of her. The ones in Belphegor's circle might leave her alone but that didn't mean she was safe, it just meant they couldn't physically harm her. The second thing she had realised was that not all the Demonic Princes and Princesses were going to be sympathetic to her cause. Worse, if those Princes were absent from their circles as a few tended to be for one reason or another then she had to worry about the Dukes and Archdukes. Like with the Princes, some would be sympathetic but most would not be. No names had been mentioned as far but where the Princes had the power to protect her from most threats if they extended the guest rites that Belphegor had. Their underlings were much more prone to schemes if they thought it would increase their power, and Ella had learned she had more than just the circles to get through. She also had to journey through the Realms of the Princes and princesses of Sin. She didn't have the exact order, but supposedly, Envy was first, and Belphegor's protections didn't extend there. Ella had come to understand enough about Hell's hierarchy to know that the Princes and princesses of Sin each had their own agendas. She hadn't heard the names of all of them but she didn't particularly want to. She had already decided her best way forward was to avoid as many of the beings as possible. Like those who ruled the circles some of them would offer her protection and support but not all of them. She had been given the names of two of the embodiments of Sin. Kimaris was the Prince of Envy, and Ella had been told in no uncertain terms that he was the weakest of them. That didn't mean he wasn't powerful but supposedly he had angered another much more powerful than him. Not only had much of his strength been ripped from him but he had also been cursed. His ambitions were unclear but if he caught a Live Human... Ella wholeheartedly believed Kimaris would try to use her as a bargaining chip to get his former strength back. She doubted whoever had stripped him of it would succeed but there was another factor. Lucifer. Ella's third conclusion was that if she was in the Devil's realm it was probably a good idea to try and avoid said Devil. She was certain that she would have to cross him eventually but she wasn't exactly in a rush to do so. Her reasons were simple. The first and most obvious was he was the Devil. Ella firmly believed he got a bad rep but she didn't think he knew that and he would be just as quick to smite her as any other human. She also didn't know how he felt about Live Humans trapsing through his realm. It didn't matter to him how she had been brought here or what she had wanted, she was stuck here now and would be until someone took pity on her and helped her escape. She wasn't going to find that here and it was very unlikely she'd find that with the Devil. Her only real hope was one of the princes or princesses, but she hardly had a comprehensive list. She also had no allies. Belphegor didn't care for her, that much had been obvious after they'd met and he had frankly said as much. The other two whom he'd been with weren't exactly friendly either. Sathariel didn't care. He was the Demonic Prince of Famine and Thirst and was extremely weak compared to many. He was a Duke of Belphegor's circle and was only ever at judgements in case a soul was particularly difficult to obtain information from. His distaste for humans had been clear from the first moment she saw him and it had been for the best he was sent away. Apophis was another matter. He was the Demonic Prince of Illusions, Evil, Power and Primordial Energies. He was also Lucifer's hand of vengeance. Ella knew God had beings of Wrath and Vengeance but never expected the Devil to have them as well. Apophis belonged to no specific circle considering he was a creature of the Abyss. He was still a demon, of that there was no doubt but he was a dangerous one. Ella suspected that like with Belphegor, Apophis's full potential and power were locked away unless he had a direct assignment from Lucifer. He was massive as well. She had been surprised to learn that part of the Egyptian Mythology was true. He did despise creation but not all of it. He despised God's creations, humans included. The dude needed some serious therapy if he was still salty about it billions of years later. She hadn't spoken with the snake but Ella doubted he was sympathetic to her cause, but he might be willing to offer information. Carefully, she put her hands together and thought of him, and said his name. "Apophis" she whispered. The snake was there before the word had even left her mouth. It slithered towards her. "Sssssso. The human issss all alone" hissed the Demonic Prince. "And ssssshe callsss upon me.I am intrigued." Ella forced herself not to show any weakness or take any steps back. "I need help if I'm going to survive here. Sarthariel hates me and Belphegor doesn't care about me one way or the other. You're my only option while I'm here" she explained carefully. While she wasn't lying she knew she needed to bloat the Prince's ego a little. "And what makesssss you think that I would help you, daughter of Eve?" asked Apophis. Ella shrugged and gave the only answer that made sense. "Lucifer's favour. You're a prince and powerful now but imagine how he would reward you if he found out you offered your aid" she said, hoping her gamble would work. The snake laughed, or it sounded like a laugh, before it spoke again. "There isssssss nothing you can offer me human. I already have hissssss favour, and all you have are empty promisssesssss" it hissed. "Sure, but don't you want more?" Ella asked, committed to her approach now. "You are committed daughter of Eve, that much I grant you" Apophis said. Ella took in a deep breath and decided to just be honest. "All I want is information. Real information, something I can use" she begged. The serpent regarded her for a time. "And why would I grant your requesssst? There isssss no fair trade here" it hissed. Ella couldn't deny the snake's point there, so decided to ask. "What do you want?" she asked. "Your name" it said. Ella wasn't sure if giving her name would grant the Prince power over her but she needed that information. "That's all? It doesn't grant you power over me or something?" she asked. The snake gave its version of laughter again. "No power. Jusssst morbid curiosssssity" it hissed. Ella sighed. "Ella... Ella Lopez. Forensic Scientist of the LAPD" she answered. Apophis nodded, as if almost pleased to make her acquaintance. "What information do you sssssseek Ella Lopezzzzzzz?" asked Apophis, with a grin on its face. Ella took a deep breath. "I want to know who would do me harm" she replies. "I want to know who would help me and I want to know why I'm here." Apophis did its strange laugh again. "Issss that all?" it jeered at her, clearly amused, but also insulted. Ella raised her eyebrow, and Apophis seemed almost impressed. "I cannot ansssswer the first two. Asssssss for why you are here? There are many reassssonssss. Ssssssssome want to road the Earth. Damming you down here might help them accomplissssssh their goal" it explained. Ella considered this information. "But I can get home?" she asked. Apophis did its best impression of a shrug. "That remainsssss to be ssssseen. You ssssshould pray that you find Luccccccifer in an underssssstanding mood little one." Ella gulped but knew she had to ask her next question. "And if I don't?" she replied, fearing the answer but doing her best not to show it. "Then being dragged down here will be nothing compared how bad it could get" Apophis said, and Ella finally realised at that moment just how much danger she was in. "And I have to through the circles AND the Realms of Sin to reach him?" she asked. If Ella could find a quicker way through she had every intention of taking it. "There are no other wayssssss to the throne Ella Lopezzzzzz" it hissed. Ella sighed and knew things shouldn't have been that easy. She was going to have reconsider her approach. "May as well hand me a wand so I can cast a Magic spell and say Babakazamadoodle" she muttered in frustration, and began to again think about her options. The snake just slithered away, hissing its laughter as it went.
Lucifer had examined the records as closely as he could before looking into what steps Malphas had taken to deal with this issue. Sufficed to say the Prince of Greed hadn't let him down. He hadn't come to any conclusions yet but Lucifer hadn't expected any, but he had taken steps to find evidence that the shipments had been stolen or delayed. It was one thing for them to be missed by accident or due to other circumstances such as Azazel's draft to deal with the nameless things. Ciaran and Botis had both made their plans and intentions clear. Ciaran had unleashed her own personal spies, guards whatever purpose they served on any given day, The Marbel Hornets. Their orders were to poke around discreetly and from the shadows, hounding her informants for information or getting a look at the records of their targets. Botis had chosen to be a little more direct and have one of his agents go to Absalom for information. Lucifer had begun to take his own steps. While he didn't maintain as vast a spy network as many others and was loathed to use it in case he revealed his hand, Lucifer did have other sources of information. One of those sources was before him now. Uziel was the Demonic Prince of Ambition, False Hopes and Desire. Contrary to what many thought Lucifer's Desire mojo was a power he had been given from God. He had bestowed a portion of it to Uziel after he became a Demonic Prince and asked for the realm. Unlike Lucifer, his fallen Brother held no qualms about using Humanity's desires against them, and with his ambitions he constantly sought Lucifer's favour. Most of his powers lied in promising Humanity things they would never receive and crafting illusions to sell them on what reality could be. He wasn't powerful by Prince standards but he was ambitious, which meant he always had spies looking for opportunities that he could capitalise on. Lucifer leaned on him for information whenever he needed it, and didn't correct the notion that Uziel would be rewarded for providing it. The prince was a tool and nothing more. "No one speaks of a war against you my King" Uziel was saying as Lucifer paced, frustrated at things being far from the simple mess he had hoped. "My eyes are certain of it in fact. This sounds like nothing more than a squabble between Princes and Dukes" he said. Lucifer shook his head. He knew that much wasn't true or Kimaris wouldn't be involved. "Is that so?" he asked, his disbelief evident. "Either your spies are lying to you or they are nowhere near as impressive as you claim. No Princes or Dukes have declared war on each other. If they had the entire realm would have heard of it!" he retorted, and Uziel slunk back a little, aware that invoking Lucifer's fury was far from a wise move to see his ambitions fulfilled. "My spies speak only the truth my King. It is possible they prepare for a war yes but none have been declared. The hoarding of resources though. That I can tell you about" Uziel said, and Lucifer glanced at him, his annoyance vanishing and now replaced by curiosity. "And?" he asked, hoping against hope that Uziel's information was worth it. "How much do you know about the rebellion the traitor Dromos incited my lord?" Uziel asked "And I mean the specifics." Lucifer raised his eyebrow in curiosity but decided to play along. Uziel knew better than to waste his time with such a trivial matter that had already been dealt with. "He wanted me back in Hell. I refused and ordered him home. He and Squee had allies they summoned to Earth try and stage a coup" he answered truthfully. "I made efforts to look further into the matter but Dromos's numbers were few and the situation was resolved." Uziel hummed thoughtfully before he spoke up again. "I heard rumours that he had been content until someone approached him. Supposedly that someone was of high standing and promised him resources if he were to try and stage a conflict with you. The name however was never mentioned. The hoarding of resources began soon after Dromos began searching for followers" Uziel explained, and Lucifer clenched a fist. "Did your spies have any theories on how powerful this supposed person of high standing was?" he demanded. "The Princess of Seasons my lord" Uziel supplied. Lucifer ground his teeth. Yomiel was the Demonic Princess of Times and Seasons. She was far from Uziel's favourite person and was his biggest rival. Lucifer had given her greater power and domain than him because she had proven trustworthy as opposed to stabbing anyone and everyone in the back if it furthered an agenda or ambition. Yomiel took the form a human woman, young and no older than early twenties, she had a love of sex and often took vacation to earth herself. She always did so with Lucifer's blessing and used it as a way to spy on what Angels on the mortal plain might be up to. If Uziel was naming her it meant one of two things. He was either making a play for her domains of power and possibly covering his own involvement or she had actually done something to make him harbour genuine suspicion. Lucifer's mind leaned towards this being one of Uziel's political games but he had no real interest in playing them. If he was going to accuse Yomiel then he had every intention of hearing her story first. "Be gone" he ordered and waved his hand idly, removing Uziel from his presence. Lucifer thought over what he knew. Yomiel was the Archduke of the fourth circle and served directly under Malath. He had placed her there to keep watch on the princess of Schemes and Lies, and it was largely because of Yomiel anything in the fourth circle moved at any kind of swift pace. Malath was content to break the rules more often than not whereas Yomiel had always respected Lucifer's authority, and had acted outside of her interests more than a few times if it meant seeing his will done. Malath had certainly not lost any love for her Archduke, but given the fact Yomiel had been granted her position by Lucifer himself there was little she could do directly. If Yomiel was behind Dromos's attempt to begin a coup on earth it meant one of two things had likely happened. Malath had laid the groundwork for a scheme in Yomiel's head, but the princess of Seasons hadn't been willing to see it through so Dromos had been nudged in her direction and the two had spoken about it. Frustration over his abdication of the throne Lucifer could understand and he had no intention of being so cruel as to forbid his subjects from ranting about it. Yomiel especially would have been frustrated as Lucifer's very presence often helped her keep Malath in line and allowed her to focus on her own work as opposed to keeping watch on the Princess of the fourth Circle. The second option was that someone else had approached Yomiel for support and she had refused. Considering Dromos's previous standing as one of his more powerful generals, Yomiel had spoken to him in confidence. The only problem was that Dromos had evidently been promised something and had used the fact that someone had suggested Yomiel rebel to his advantage, seeking out whomever it was and made some sort of deal. Yomiel, naturally, had trusted Dromos's loyalty to Lucifer and had assumed the problem was going to be handled, only to find Lucifer had returned and was none too happy. His retaliation against Dromos had been swift enough, and while his rebellion had gone deeper than Lucifer had thought, it had been a war of inconvenience more than anything else. The idea had been that none would try to defy Lucifer again, and Yomiel was certainly not on any watchlists. As far as he knew she had never defied him or even dreamt of doing so and with a track record like that Lucifer was inclined to offer her the chance to explain herself. There was no easy way to go about this. Malath likely had her hooks in this somehow. It was too elaborate of a scheme for her to ignore, and journeying to her circle directly meant that Lucifer would reveal it had reached his interest if he went straight to Yomiel. His two best options were to approach through the third or fifth circles. Going through the third meant he would be able to approach Malphas and have a discussion with him, but yanking him away from his investigation so suddenly was going to mean attention. It was still possible to go through without summoning Malphas and looking over what records he had at his palace but Lucifer knew that he was far too careful than to leave them lying around. If he went through the fifth though, he had a plausible excuse. That he was going to speak with Ramiel regarding an issue that would see the unleashing of his wrath. It wasn't a lie either, there were some that Lucifer had become aware of that he might need to make his wrath clear on, and Ramiel would be much more than willing to see the task done. The only problem was that Lucifer needed his allies close and unleashing his Wrath, or his vengeance for that matter, was going to get attention from Heaven and not the good kind. The last time he had unleashed Apophis after World War Two had been such a nightmare that he hadn't done so since. The only reason he hadn't found himself embroiled in a Celestial War was because according Amenadiel, Dear Old Dad had seemingly planned on doing something about the issue himself. Lucifer had just beaten him to it. He sighed and considered his options. There was enough he could speak with Ramiel about in terms of unleashing him on humanity, so long as he didn't actually reveal himself. He decided to go through the fifth circle, and while there he would speak with Ramiel about making clear that the Devil was displeased with some parts of humanity. After that, he was going to have a conversation with Yomiel and see if Uziel's words held any weight, though he doubted they did. If Uziel was playing games then Lucifer swore that he would have Apophis and Ramiel make his displeasure clear to the Prince of Ambition. Until then, Lucifer would assume he was telling the truth and give him the benefit of the doubt. He began making preparations, and hoped that Ciaran and Botis had come closer to unravelling this stupid mystery.
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Chapter 4 Sneak Peek
As he flew, Lucifer considered what he knew for certain. Taxes or other supplies had been missed, come up short or deliberately not paid at all. It had caught the attention of Malphas who had begun investigating. While Lucifer didn't know what he had found and might not for some time, he had encountered difficulties in seeing his investigation through. Belphegor, Kimaris, Belial and Dagon had been the ones he was most concerned with. Indeed, Malphas had become so frustrated that he had spoken at length with Nyx and Megaera who had either said they'd speak with Lucifer himself on Malphas's behalf or had found the situation so concerning they felt there was no other choice than to bring it to him. As a result, Lucifer had humoured them by looking over the records and finding there had been a lot of missing payments. Some, such as Azazel, had been pre-occupied or other concerns that Malphas and he had understood. Others like Malath seemed to be calling him or one who acted with his authority out. The Princess of Lies was too smart to take this course of action unless she saw some form on reward in her sights. In order to look into things more discreetly so he didn't tip his hand, Lucifer had been forced to dispatch two of his Knights. Botis and Ciaran both knew to be discreet in their investigations and to avoid attracting attention but had only just begun. Lucifer didn't expect them to have learned anything as of yet and so he had begun to take a bit more of an interest in the situation. As he had done so, a connection had formed between the supply issue and Dromos's rebellion. Uziel had accused, falsely, Yomiel who had now informed him that Kimaris had unreported wealth. In case that hadn't raised her concerns, Fukin had managed to get a hold of an invitation to Corson, who was a direct minion of Thanatos. His attendance at this meeting hadn't been verified and lucifer knew Yomiel trusted Fujin because he didn't take foolish risks. Recovering the invitation had been enough for the two to confirm Kimaris was up to something, especially because his seal of office had been on it. It was enough for Lucifer to visit him directly but something seemed off. "Doesn't this seem too easy to you? All the pieces just falling into place like this?" the Detective's voice asked in his head as he flew. Lucifer was inclined to agree with his brain. A lot of pieces pointed towards Kimaris, and while that didn't bother Lucifer, he wanted his erotic dreams about the Detective back after all, even he had to admit it seemed a little too easy. Kimaris might have become fed up of his subtle schemes failing, but he was more foolish than Lucifer thought if this was his latest plan to directly get Lucifer's attention. Something about it seemed off to him.