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**Ethan Park.**
He stood poised at the edge of the terrace, absorbing the urban vista from the vantage point of the Kamar-Taj Los Angeles safehouse.
Ethan drew in a steadying, deep breath. He had only just finished his morning routine and stepped out of a restorative shower when the distant wail of police sirens fractured the quiet morning air.
Apparently, a murder had occurred in the neighboring residence—the property that had recently been listed for sale. He peered down at the unfolding chaos from his elevated perch.
Below, a sleek, black 1962 Chevrolet Corvette C1 convertible pulled to a stop, and a towering, charismatic man stepped out of the driver's seat.
**The Crime Scene**
Meanwhile, Lucifer and Detective Chloe Decker remained at the center of the cordoned-off street.
She marched toward him, meeting him halfway across the driveway, noting with immediate suspicion that Lucifer was actually wearing black evidence gloves.
"Since when do you voluntarily wear evidence gloves?" she asked, her brow furrowed.
"Detective," he mumbled shiftily. "I... ah... hmm..."
"Oh. Is this about the other night?" she pressed. Lucifer looked genuinely perplexed by her words. "Lucifer, I don't want you to feel like you have to be someone you aren't when you're around me. And if this is part of the reason why you think you hate yourself... then..."
"Oh, heavens no. You are not to blame, Detective," Lucifer interrupted, his voice dropping an octave. "All my self-hatred is entirely self-inflicted. I have no one to blame but myself for that." He brushed past her, making a direct line for the crime scene where the victim lay.
"I still don't understand how this epiphany is supposed to solve anything," Chloe sighed, keeping pace beside him.
Hovering over the corpse of the deceased woman was LAPD Forensic Scientist **Ella Lopez**.
"Stop!" she announced with sudden, startling gravity. "Hammer time!"
Ella immediately launched into a brief breakdancing set, but all she received in return were blank, confused stares. Ella stopped, looking visibly disappointed by the lack of applause.
"She was killed with a hammer... Come on, guys, I've been waiting years for that one," she grumbled, handing Chloe the preliminary report. "Anyway, the victim's name is Megan Murphy. Thirty-four years old, one-half of the—"
"—of the Murphy twins," Chloe finished for her. "Yeah. Local celebrities for the 'Twin-Stick' real estate empire."
"Any suspects?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah. The twin, actually. She was found standing over the body when eyewitnesses spotted her, but then she bolted," Ella clarified. "We have a BOLO out, but no luck finding her yet. The realtor who actually discovered the body was the younger sister, Beth."
"And according to this, Beth wasn't aware of any tension between the twins," Chloe noted, scanning the files.
"Well, there is a darkness waiting just under the surface... waiting for a chance to emerge," Lucifer mused, bending down to get a closer look at the body's spiritual residue.
Just then, The air around them grew heavy—as another presence made itself know.
"Using lyrics from a song to impress the ladies?" a voice echoed from the surrounding gloom. "How devilish indeed."
Ethan finished speaking as he stepped out from the shadows of the garage door, emerging from the back of the building.
"Holy shit... is that..." Ella started, her voice trailing off.
"Yes, Miss Lopez... that is Ethan Park. In the flesh. And for the record, I know they are lyrics; I used them to emphasize my point," Lucifer finished for her. "The real question is: what are you doing here, Mr. Park?"
Chloe and Ella exchanged wary glances as Lucifer moved a few steps toward Park.
"I was in the neighborhood... Imagine my surprise when I sensed a celestial," Ethan spoke, his eyes drifting down to Lucifer's right hand. "Is your hand giving you trouble?"
Following the epiphany that he hated himself, the Lord of the Underworld's body had begun to self-actualize, reverting back to his demonic form—starting with his right arm.
Seeing Park's attention fixed on his hand, Lucifer immediately tucked it behind his back.
"No trouble at all, thank you very much. As for why I am here... you do possess eyes, do you not? We are trying to solve the murder of this woman," Lucifer added.
"'We'?" Ethan asked, shifting his gaze toward Chloe and Ella.
"Hi... I'm Detective Chloe Decker," Chloe said, taking a step forward while looking toward Lucifer, who stood protectively in front of her. " Lucifer has been a LAPD consultant,"
Ethan raised an eyebrow at Lucifer Morningstar being a consultant for the law.
"Ella... Ella Lopez," Ella added, partially hiding behind Chloe.
Silence hung in the air for a brief, heavy moment.
"You can relax, Detective. I'm not going to make a scene," Ethan said, noticing Chloe's hand drifting toward her service weapon. He glanced back at the deceased woman before locking eyes with Lucifer. "Not here. But I was wondering if we could have a little chat," he asked the devil.
Lucifer looked at Chloe, ready to refuse the proposal, but as she met his gaze, he stiffly turned back to Ethan. "Yeah, I would be delighted."
"I would like to join, if you don't mind," Chloe immediately added. Ethan simply nodded. From his shadow, the hands of Tora partially emerged, weaving the air to open a Sling Ring portal that revealed an empty diner across town.
"What the fuck is happening..." Ella muttered, taking a few steps forward to examine the gateway.
"I haven't seen this trick in a while," Lucifer remarked, stepping through the portal with Chloe and Ethan following behind.
Lucifer made his way inside the diner as if he owned the place. As Ethan stepped through the gateway, it snapped shut behind him, leaving a startled Miss Lopez behind.
**Inside the Diner:**
Lucifer and Chloe sat on one side of a booth while Ethan sat opposite them.
"Anything else?" the waiter asked after bringing coffee to Ethan and Chloe.
"No, nothing for me. Thank you, Mer," Ethan replied.
As Mer walked away, Ethan looked back at Lucifer. "Mer, over there, is a family man. He works two jobs trying to provide for his children. I helped him in the past, so whenever I'm here, he keeps things on the downlow," he explained.
"Why are we here, Mr. Park?" Lucifer asked, his patience beginning to fray.
"Well, I just wanted to make sure... that you are upholding your contract with Kamar-Taj," Ethan explained before taking a sip of his coffee.
"I haven't heard that name in a long while. Kamar-Taj... is that place still around?" Lucifer asked with genuine curiosity. Ethan offered a firm nod of affirmation.
"What is Kamar-Taj?" Chloe asked, looking between the two men.
"Oh, Detective, it's a place where humans with a talent for the dimensional arts learn to fight... and protect this reality as you know it," Lucifer explained.
"Oh..." Chloe replied, absorbing the information word by word, after the revelation that Lucifer is the Devil, Chloe has learnt to accept what Lucifer says on facevalue. Then, recalling Ethan's earlier comment, she asked, "What contract?" She looked back and forth between Lucifer and Ethan.
"Ten millennia ago, I had an encounter with an obnoxious human. His name..." Lucifer trailed off, trying to recall it. "His name... I've forgotten. Well, regardless, we fought, and he lost," he added.
"His name was Agamotto, and it was more of a tie," Ethan interjected, providing the ancient lore.
"Well, whatever. The bottom line is We agreed to a mutual beneficial agreement, the contract involved me banning the possession of humans by demons. In exchange, I get to roam the Earth unrestricted for eternity." Lucifer spoke.
"Yes. As long as you don't cause any mayhem," Ethan added.
"Yes... 'mayhem,' he says, after dropping a meteor on the capital city," Lucifer added sarcastically. Then his tone shifted. "It's hard... it's hard to come to terms with a violent nature of Man... hating the power it has over us. I understand that better than most," he said, glancing at his right hand.
There was a brief pause, Ethan took out his wallet and placed a twenty dollar bill on the table as a tip.
"Mr. Morningstar, I was raised by the monks of Kamar-Taj to believe in grace—that we can be touched by the divine and transformed into better people. If you tell me you are a different man from the stories I've heard, I say fine. But I was also raised to believe in retribution. So If you step out of line... I will be there." Ethan shrugged his shoulders. As he finished, he activated his Shadow Manipulation, sinking back into his seat and vanishing entirely.
Lucifer gulped. He stood up, walked over to where Ethan had been sitting, and sat down opposite the detective. He looked at Chloe, appearing slightly guilty.
"You're acting weird, Lucifer. What is it?" Chloe asked, noting his reaction.
"So... the possession thing. I was never truly fond of it anyway," Lucifer admitted, looking at Chloe. "And this Agamotto may have insisted on a 'no demons on Earth' type of contract and the contract in itself was not binding, I skirted it by banning possession, which still allowed demons to be present on Earth in their physical forms."
"So technically, you didn't break the contract," Chloe added, absorbing the knowledge.
"Yeah. They made a deal with the Devil, Detective. What did they expect? But I think Mr. Park may not see it that way," Lucifer added.
"Maze... is she in danger?" Chloe asked immediately, remembering the demon who had followed Lucifer through the gates of Hell.
"No, she shouldn't be," Lucifer replied just as Mer returned to the table.
"Anything else I can get you? More coffee?" he asked.
"No, Mer. Thanks for your service, but we were just making our way out," Lucifer said as he stood up. "Take this... Mr. Park left it for you." He handed over Ethan's twenty-dollar bill.
"He always leaves a big tip." Mer glanced at Chloe's badge. "I know what people have been saying about him... but he's a good guy. He helps people."
Lucifer then reached into his back pocket, produced a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills, and handed the entire bundle to Mer. "Take this, too."
"Is this for real?" Mer asked, staring at the bundle of cash in disbelief.
Chloe, seeing the opportunity, interjected. "Yes, it's real, Mer. May I ask—if you don't mind—Ethan mentioned he helped you in the past?"
"It's not exactly a secret. He did... he helped me get a job at this place. More importantly, he cured my wife. She had leukemia... he cured it. He's a good guy," Mer repeated firmly.
"Oh... and you will find your Chevrolet Corvette parked in front of the shop," Mer added, looking toward Lucifer.
"What!?" Lucifer exclaimed, rushing out the front door. Indeed, his car was there, idling perfectly. He walked closer and noticed a small note tucked under the windshield wiper. It simply read:
*"Nice ride."*
"Let's go, Detective," Lucifer said, crumpling the paper and tossing it into the back of the convertible. "We still have a murder to solve."
**Later that night:**
In the residence of Mazikeen, a priest sat bound to a metal chair, with a ball gag in his mouth, in the center of the living room, the shadows of the apartment clinging to him like a shroud.
"When the Devil walks the Earth and finds his first love... evil shall be released." Mazikeen spoke, her eyes fixed on her serrated circular knives. "The Prophecy, right?"
"Father William Kinley, a rogue priest and investigator for the Vatican... you are obsessed with this ancient prophecy, which states that when Lucifer Morningstar meets his first love, it will unleash Hell on Earth." Maze stopped and looked toward Eve, who was anxiously pacing the perimeter of the room.
"You even attempted to have Lucifer forcibly returned to Hell. After Chloe learned the truth about him, she approached you, didn't she? It's only natural, she was distraught, learning the fact that the man she cares for is literally the Devil."
"But you took advantage of that vulnerability. You provided Chloe with a sedative-poison to weaken Lucifer while you performed an exorcism, but in the end she rejected your plan. You failed... like the pathetic man you are." Maze finished as she pulled out his mouth gag with her hands.
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A/N: So how was the chapter?