The crowd at LUX was raving tonight, and Lucifer sat on the main couch, gathering his thoughts. Women were surrounding every empty space near him. But instead of feeling turned on or satisfied, Lucifer felt numb. He downed another shot quickly, feeling none of its effects slip down his throat. He was still partially immortal, and the buzz no longer affected him. Reaching for his whiskey, he downs that too within seconds. Anything to fill the void he is currently feeling. That...and the unsettling one behind it. The hunch that something isn't right in the world right now.
"Need a refill?" Maze asks as she struts up to him, holding his favorite brand. "We are all stocked up."
"Not right now Maze," Lucifer says, placing the two empty glasses on the table in front of him. "I'm not in the mood."
She places one hand slowly and seductively on her hip. "Whatever do you mean? Lucifer, you never turn down a drink!"
Lucifer nods his head in defeat. "I know. But something, just doesn't feel right tonight."
Maze settles into the couch, and goes under Lucifer's arm as he curls it around her shoulders. They be in a complicated friends with benefits relationship, but they both knew they couldn't ever give themselves to one another fully. Maze was there to protect him, and he had a bigger job to do. Yet, this didn't stop them from enjoying the presence of one another. "What about it? Do we need to-" she begins to sneak her hand around his tight waist, "sneak away upstairs for a few moments?" Maze lowers her voice to a whisper, leaning in so close she can smell his aftershave burning through her nostrils. "Maybe that will make it feel right-"
Lucifer doesn't necessarily push her off, but he does decline her offer using his body language and a simple small "No," in a a deep but caring tone. "Not tonight."
Maze slumps back and rolls her eyes. "Look Lucifer, you are spending a lot of your time lately with Chloe. I get that being separated isn't fun, but maybe you need a break from her. You know, for your own personal health."
But what if every moment away from her feels like an eternity longer than the one I was serving out as the ruler of hell?
Lucifer also breaks his normally perfect posture and slouches into the folds of the couch's fabric. "Maybe your right Maze. But there is just something about her, it's so enticing."
"Like what?" She questions. Lucifer takes a second to put the first thought in place before speaking.
"When I am around her it is like time doesn't exist. Chloe makes every moment count and takes nothing for granted. And her personality is so light, even after the world has tried to tear her down in every way. Strong and brave don't even begin to cover the extent of what she really is. I can be selfish, impatient, and stubborn. Although when I am with her, I feel like she is my match because not only does she challenge me, but it's like she loves me through my imperfections and helps shape them into something better. Every time I am with her it seems like somehow she gives me strength, control, and courage that makes me want to constantly evolve to be the man she needs. Chloe is the light in my ever present darkness, she is everything I never could have imagined I would want. I-"
Stopping himself, Lucifer realizes he is actually saying all of this aloud. He is shocked at himself for not only for being able to recognize how he is feeling, but being able to say it so loud and proudly. The woman next to him stares at him with shock and amazement. She leans forward and takes one of Lucifer's hands in her own.
"You really love her, don't you?" Maze confirms, her voice breaking halfway. Her eyes filling with happy tears. Sure, maybe a part of her was angry that he couldn't ever fully love her. But the way Lucifer went on about Chloe, she could only hope one day someone might be able to say that about her. Despite her demon status and all, she still wished silently she could have something as deep as what Lucifer so blatantly feels.
"I-I-" Lucifer is rendered response-less. He takes a small moment to close his eyes and force his good thoughts past the large wall in his mind. It usually blocks any emotion but sarcasm, but he wouldn't allow it. Not right now. "I do." A smile surprisingly makes its way to his lips and up through his cheeks in a warm brush.
"Then go to her," Maze admits quickly, patting the devil himself lightly on his back and smiling both at that irony and how happy he looks right now. Having not seen a smile like that in ages allows her to easily agree to say, "I can look after things here for a while."
Nodding, Lucifer rises to his feet and begins to walk away before turning around quick. "Thank You Maze," he says with his whole dark heart. Leaning down smoothly, he places a single quick kiss on her soft left cheek. She closes her eyes taking it in, knowing he will be long gone when she opens them. Sure enough, he is gone even though his kiss lingers on her skin. Maze raises her hand to touch it, thinking back to his speech and how passionate he was about Chloe, and she begins to think how happy she is for him. Standing up to make her way back to the bar, a revelation hits her.
Maze suddenly remembers the information she gave Ammenadial. Revealing what she at the time could have only guessed Lucifer's weakness was. Now, she knew for sure he was weak for her, and it's like she can feel her own stunted heart skip a theoretical beat.
She lets her thoughts slip quietly out loud. "What have I done?"
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Stopping his vintage 61' Chevrolet Corvette in front of the lab, he can see all the lights are still on inside and Lucifer knows it is well past midnight. I thought I told her to go home, he grunts. Shifting gears to park, and untwisting the keys from the ignition, he exits the vehicle and lightly shuts the fragile door. Walking up to the building he also takes note of the door being unlocked, opening with ease. With only a quick walk to the main room he quickly notices how vacant the place really is.
In front of his stands the same computer, and it was blinking rapidly in large letters VIEW RESULTS. Naturally, Lucifer relieves his curiosity by clicking on it. The picture that gets pulled up is exactly what Lucifer wanted to see.
"Bloody hell, I was right!" He cries out, hitting his hands down on the table in excitement. To celebrate, he does a little circular dance, rotating his hips clockwise at his will. For once, his accuracy was on point.
But why would she have kept this to herself? Why didn't see call me? Where is she? He begins to wonder, staring at the monitor. Something at the top of the screen was fuzzy. Leaning in, he realizes a piece of tape just hanging on the top of the monitor, snaking it's way towards the back. Lucifer reaches one of his hands around the back of the monitor, and pulls up a shred of paper. Not even paper in fact, but rather money. Not only is it no longer usable thanks to being only half a dollar bill, but it is also defaced with writing on it. Big bold letters reading out BANK.
"Bank?" Lucifer questions to himself aloud. Wonderful, Chloe left me a clue but one I don't understand. Although...Chloe had told him once that when humans were confused, they used a specific search engine of sorts. Go...Goog...Google!
He opens a new tab on the computer and searches up Los Angeles Banks. The top search is not only purple from being previously clicked on, but the time last visited reads 10:45pm. Just shortly after he had left her. The site itself reads of an old abandoned bank on the also abandoned half of the city. Chloe left him all the clues he needed for now. But still, why didn't she tell him in the first place?
He makes split second decision to follow after her using the clue she left. It's a long drive, but he knows he might find her there, and that makes it worth it. The moon shines down on the shiny exterior of the car, and Lucifer stares at it as he lays his foot down further on the gas. Taking turns turns sharp and recklessly not only because he can and it is exhilarating, but because he can feel the bad feeling increasing the closer he gets to this location. Placing his small shred of faith in his gut feeling, he knows it is no longer a matter of if something is going to happen, but when. However, this when was already on the clock, counting down from this moment on. A race against time.
Lucifer nears the building, his heart drops into the pit of his stomach. Shattered glass surrounds the sidewalk, and even before he can exit the vehicle he can see what he hopes aren't blood marks on the pavement. His weight in his shoes cause each already broken fragment to split into microscopic bits. As Lucifer kneels and he can feel the cold degree of the sidewalk through his pants. The night had turned cold and harsh, he could almost see his own breath. Using his right pointer finger, he touched the largest pool of crimson colored liquid on the concrete, and rubbed it between his thumb. If there was any mistake before, he could confirm himself that this was blood. However, there was a large chunk of bloodied glass on the ground, two in fact. One about inch or two long, the other going on three or four, globs of blood still attached to it. However, the blood didn't look the same between them. As if they were from two different people. NO doubt one from the killer, and one from Chloe herself. But which was which? Lucifer was out of his field, and he knew he was onto something but he didn't know how to deal with it.
He was out of clues, and he knew the longer he waited to do something about this discovery, the longer something could be happening. His eyes flash to the blood pool, and looks like it was dragged for a bit, streaks pulling towards the left. Extending his legs, he follows the pattern as long as he can until it reaches the curb. From here, there are sharp tire marks, and the nothing. Dead end. Game over.
Lucifer knows he doesn't want to deal with the first suggestion that comes to mind. It means trusting someone he doesn't even want to be around. But maybe he could do something Lucifer couldn't. He quickly goes through the contacts on his phone, shuddering when he sees the nickname pop up. Chloe had inputted the number for emergencies-
Chloe.
Even just thinking of her name makes his heart stunt. Lucifer is reminded why he now has to do what he will do. To save the woman he loves. This is an emergency, so he must take certain procedures even if they clash with everything in his right mind. With a single touch screen button push, he raises the phone to his ear.
"Hello? Detective Douche, I need your help. Yes I am aware how late it is..."
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The light above her head burns Chloe's retina's as her eyes flutter open. It seems like the world is turning in counter-clockwise circles, and the feeling is making bile push up through Chloe's throat. She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out and she is forced to take a moment to try and slow things down. The nausea is extraordinary. When it lightens every so slightly, Chloe makes her first attempts at moving. Her shoulders shake back and forth and up and down, but she can feel that her wrists are restrained and when she looks down she can barely make out the blurry cuffs holding her in. Throwing her head back with a grunt, she has to close her eyes again. A scream is burying itself deep within, but Chloe pushes it down as she continues to self examine her situation.
It feels like she can't move her legs, or feel them for that matter. Her brain reminds her of the drug she inhaled, and she knows she won't regain feeling above her waist for a while now. This rendering her both scared and helpless. Chloe strains her head forward again to look down at herself and the first thing she notices is her gown stained in blood.
Wait gown?
As if there wasn't enough to worry about, her attacker had undressed her into what looked like a partially ripped and used hospital gown. Chloe shuddered at the thought of a rapist pig undressing her, and she can only hope that was all he did while she was unconscious. If she thinks about the unknown too long, she'll end up crying or freaking out which is the last thing she wants to do. Knowing if she really wants to know the unknown, she has to live long enough to get to a hospital to be checked. So she thinks about the blood again as her brain takes her back to falling through the window at the bank in a short violent flashback. A shard of glass must have gone in, and from all the blood she is guessing it had to be bigger than the one that was in her attackers arm. She was becoming too drugged to notice the pain at the time, and now she can still just barely feel it since it is located at the point on her waist where she is numb. Looking past the first injury she finds, her eyes catch something they wishes they hadn't. Her left ankle isn't in a nice position, and she thought for a moment she could see her own bone protruding from it.
Once again, she can feel the vomit in her mouth. Pushing it down, she knows it is at least better that she cannot feel the pain that it is probably radiating. She looks at her surroundings to take her mind off of the gruesome sight below. Now that her vision is beginning to sharpen, she can see the concrete walls, damp, almost as if it was a basement of sorts. On a table there looks to be a radio, as well as medical bottles everywhere, with all sorts of labels and warning skewed across them. There is a large can of turpentine, and a box of matches on her left. A table of medical instruments are on her left with red covering their tips and handles. She can now recognize the surgical light shining on her in this dark room, and the fact she is on an emergency gurney. The pieces of the puzzle all begin to fit.
The turpentine and matches to burn the bodies. Instruments of torture still stained with blood. Everything medical to fit a medical student's background. Innocent demeanor, easily pushing the blame onto someone else. The cut on his hand caused no doubt from struggle rather than his defense of a pet. The blonde hair found at the crime scene matching his same locks. And most of all, the clear motive to hurt Royal.
Lucifer was right.
"Somebody is awake I see," Thomas says, each syllable rolling smoothly off his tongue. His smile is wide as he rolls out a stool from under the desk and sits on it. He reaches out his hand to move the hair out of Chloe's eyes. "Pity. This whole thing would hurt a lot less if you were still under." Chloe tries to struggle again, but with no avail. "Feisty," he comments. "I love girls who plays hard to hurt. Royal did the same thing. So did Olivia."
Chloe can feel the sweat make its way down her forehead as she mutters a single word from her dry throat. "Why?"
"Oh dear Detective," Thomas begins. "I'm sure you already know. Royal treated me like trash, when I put her on a throne. All I ever wanted was to be the man she deserved, but she just couldn't see it that way. When she pushed me away...well I became even more obsessive. Even violent. I didn't mean to kill her, but I caught her on the way to the mailbox. I asked her why I couldn't make her happy. Royal called me every name in the book, as well as repeating over and over that I was crazy and stupid. She throws people away like money, treats them like bugs under her heels. I really didn't have any intention to hurt her.
"I just grabbed her wrists, to try and get her to even look at me let alone further the conversation. She hit me with her purse and said I was going to die alone. I remember getting angry, but I don't remember much when it comes to details or actual actions either than I know I knocked her unconscious. I put her in my car. I took her here. Something about her brain just puzzled me. Why was she the way she was? Was it neurological, physical, dental? I had no idea who could turn down such a man as myself. Naturally, as a curious student, I then began to experiment on her. I wondered what made her different. She kept fighting me, so I drugged her and hurt her. Trained her to behave while in she was in facility. But her body couldn't take it and she died earlier that morning. So I burned the body and threw it in a dumpster, covering my tracks as well as I could. I even called the cops saying I found her, and talked to you to throw you off. Who would suspect the person who just stumbled upon the body during a morning run?
"But quickly, Olivia caught on to what I did. Knowing Royal so well, it was only a matter of time before she put motive to kill. So I caught her in the parking garage, and drugged her. I began to think not only did I need to cover my tracks before she ran to the police, but I could experiment on her. The events of time repeated itself. However, I wasn't as careful this time since I left you just enough to catch me. Then I decided not only could I have the evidence if I found your weakness, but I could also have the only person left standing in my way. You know too much Detective," he finishes, shrugging a no longer white lab coat over his shoulders.
There are blood stains all over it, and Chloe can't stop but staring at them all. "But don't worry too much dearie," Thomas ensures as he places surgical gloves over his hands and hitting a button on what she thought earlier was a radio, but now realizes is a sound recorder. He presses the button down until it clicks, and then makes eye contact with Chloe for a moment while he smiles.
He strokes his gloved fingers down Chloe's slender arm while his voice becomes a whisper. "I'll be sure Lucifer gets the chance to hear your final screams."