"There is no sister."
Ella's words echoed through Dan's head as he gripped the steering wheel just a little bit tighter. As soon as Ella said the words, they exchanged one quick glance and the two of them mutually and instantly agreed to back Chloe and Lucifer up. Their friends were headed straight for a trap. Once they made sure their prisoner wasn't going to be making any escape attempts, they jumped in Dan's cruiser and hightailed it for the loft.
"They're gonna be okay, aren't they?" Ella asked anxiously from the passenger seat.
"They're gonna be okay," Dan was resolute. He had to believe they'd be okay. He'd be damned if he was going to lose anybody else important to him. He shifted in his seat as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and handed it to Ella, "But it can't hurt to warn them."
Ella took the cue and dialed Chloe immediately, putting the phone on speaker.
"Dan?" Chloe's voice came over the speaker.
"Chloe, it's a trap," Dan blurted.
"Dan, I-I know. I know," Chloe sounded out of breath, "We had to find out the hard way. Pierce, he tried to kill us."
Shit. What did that mean? Was Lucifer hurt? The guy was a dick but he didn't deserve to suffer the same fate as Charlot-
"What? Are you okay?!" Dan swerved. A horn blared at them. Dan jerked the wheel to get the car back in its lane while trying to somewhat settle his nerves.
"Yeah, I am," Chloe was quick to assure, but her voice wavered, "I-I don't know how, but I am… Or maybe I do know. Maybe I've been avoiding the biggest truth this whole…"
Dan and Ella could hear faint gunshots in the background.
"Chloe, don't go in there without back up! Ella and I are almost there," Dan said quickly but it fell on deaf ears.
"I have to go."
Chloe hung up. Dan and Ella exchanged worried glances once more. With a determined look, Dan pressed on the gas pedal with a little more force.
~*~
Tires screeched to a halt as Dan parked haphazardly near an alleyway. He and Ella jumped out of the car and raced to the loft. They slowed their pace as they entered. They both noticed an unconscious man in the entryway. What the hell happened here?
Dan drew his gun, instantly on alert and gestured to Ella to stay quiet and keep behind him. They crept along the path to the more open area of the loft. Dan furrowed his brows at the strange scene. There were bloodied feathers littered all over the floor. There were bullet holes in the columns and in some of the statues that were most likely stolen.
He peered around a column to see Lucifer crouched down by… was that Pierce? They were talking but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He flinched hard when he felt a hand on his shoulder. One quick look to his left confirmed that it was only Ella offering silent support. She was squinting toward the two men as well, her trained eyes trying to make out the scene before them.
He holstered his gun. If Pierce was on the ground, seemingly incapacitated, there wasn't any immediate danger. The detective and the forensic scientist ventured further into the room toward Lucifer and Pierce.
"Lucifer?" Ella called out worriedly after a moment of tense silence.
The crouched figure of Lucifer stood up and turned around to face them. But when Lucifer faced them, it wasn't to the form of a handsome playboy with deep brown eyes, but eyes filled with hellfire. The Lucifer they knew was gone, only to be replaced by a creature with a red, scarred visage.
"Miss Lopez? Daniel?" It spoke with Lucifer's voice.
"L-Lucifer?" Ella stuttered out, eyes wide.
Scarred, absent brows furrowed as the creature posing as Lucifer took a step forward. Dan and Ella took a collective, stunned, wide-eyed step back.
Lucifer looked back and forth between his two friends. They had mirrored looks of shock (and was that terror?) on their faces. Surely being faced with their dead Lieutenant couldn't have caused this reaction.
"What's the matt-…?" He took another step forward when he caught a glimpse of red in a reflection in a faraway, broken mirror. Slowly, he lifted his hand to feel what he knew was already there – his Devil Face had returned.
And Daniel Espinoza and Ella Lopez had seen it.
Lucifer looked back at Cain's dead body and back at his (hopefully still) friends.
"This isn't what it looks like… well, maybe it is."
Ella stepped in front of Dan. Her eyes were still wide, but she inched her way closer to Cain's dead body, keeping the Devil in her eye line. She bent over to get a closer look at the body, her cross necklace swinging from her neck.
"I-Is he dead?"
Lucifer nodded.
"Ella, get back!" Dan hissed. She was only about a foot away from Lucifer – his Devil Face still firmly in place. Who would've believed it? Lucifer had been telling the truth all this time. Not that any sane person would ever believe anyone who proclaimed themselves to be the Prince of Darkness.
Lucifer truly was the Devil.
Was this what he really looked like? What was he doing on Earth? In LA? What did he want with them? Were they all now damned to Hell?
"It's just Lucifer, Dan," Ella looked back at Dan.
Dan nervously palmed the butt of his gun still sitting in its holster. He shifted his weight back and forth from foot to foot, but he didn't move from his spot. He was too stunned to do much more than just watch the scene in front of him.
How was Ella so calm?
Ella shuffled her feet just that much closer to Lucifer. She got close to him, breaching that precious personal space bubble, and looked up at him. Lucifer nervously looked down at her. He was as still as a statue – too afraid that the slightest movement would send her running for the hills. He didn't even blink. Why was she getting so close to him? Miss Lopez was religious. She was one of Dad's number one fans. Now that she knew the truth, there was no way she'd want anything to do with him anymore. If her crisis of faith back at his penthouse wasn't enough, surely staring the Devil right in the face would be enough to send her right over the edge.
Her eyes began to fill with tears that refused to shed.
"Does it hurt?" Ella's voice broke as she tilted her head, taking in his Devil Face. She reached out a hesitant hand, her fingers hovering close to his cheek but not quite touching.
"N-Not anymore," Lucifer's voice cracked.
In a blink, Lucifer's face melted back into the one she was familiar with. Before anybody could say anything else, all heads turned to the sound of descending footsteps. Ella dropped her hand.
"Lucifer, you're okay!" Chloe hurriedly came down the staircase with a sigh of relief. She turned to address the Latina next to him.
"Ella, what are you doing here?"
"Uh, we-we figured out that you guys were walking into a trap with Pierce and didn't want you guys going in without backup," Ella stammered out and gestured back at Dan with her thumb. Chloe followed Ella's gesture to see Dan on the other side of the room with a look of shock still on his face.
"Dan, are you okay?" Chloe started over to him.
"I-"
"He's fine!" Ella cut him off, "We're just relieved to see that you're okay, Decker. That you're both okay."
"Oh my God," Chloe spotted Pierce's dead body. She walked over to his still form, bloodied feathers crunching beneath her footsteps as she made her way over. She slowly turned her head back around to give a questioning look to Lucifer, "What happened?"
"We fought and…" Lucifer found his voice, "I… I killed him."
"Self-defense."
It wasn't a question. Chloe was stating it for everybody.
She got down to business, "I should call this in… you guys should bring Barrow in to the station. I'm assuming he's still at Lucifer's penthouse?"
Chloe gave Dan an expectant look.
"Y-Yeah… Yeah, he's still there," Dan managed to respond, though his eyes were glued to Lucifer.
Chloe looked Lucifer over. Those gunshots she heard… she was so scared he was shot. Wait a minute – were those holes in his white dress shirt? They looked like bullet holes. But if he was shot in the chest, surely he'd be on the ground dead sure as Pierce was. Those holes must be something else. Or maybe there weren't any holes – a trick of the light on his shirt? Her eyes raked him over once more, assessing him for any other potential injuries and then she spotted blood on his left arm. His suit was slashed horizontally by a blade.
"You're hurt," Chloe stepped up to Lucifer, her hand rushing to his arm in concern.
"It's nothing – just a flesh wound," Lucifer assured her, gently shrugging her hand off.
"What about you, Detective?" Lucifer's eyes were soft, "You were the one shot in the chest."
"I'm fine," Chloe touched the spot where she was hit in her bulletproof vest, "Only a little sore. I'll live. You're the one who's bleeding."
Chloe reached out a gentle hand to his wound once again.
"I assure you, I've had worse," Lucifer gave her a reassuring smile. Unconsciously, he cleared his throat and attempted to close his suit jacket just that little bit more to cover the bullet holes in his shirt – the movement causing Chloe to drop her hand.
"You're hurt," Dan echoed with pinched brows. He had come a little bit closer to the trio. How could he be hurt? But he's seen Lucifer bleed before. Was it all a trick?
"I'm fine, Daniel," Lucifer said, his voice sounding far softer than he ever addressed him before.
"You should go with Ella and Dan," Chloe said, "I can handle things here. You can give your statement about everything later. You should patch yourself up… and we can continue our conversation another time."
"As you wish, Detective," Lucifer gave her a small smile and a slight bow of his head.
Chloe lifted her phone from her back pocket, turned around, and called the scene in as she stepped away from the trio.
"Lucifer," Ella gently touched Lucifer's uninjured arm, looking up at him, effectively drawing his attention away from Chloe back to her, "Come on, let's get you back home."
Lucifer numbly let himself be led by Ella. Dan slowly followed.
~*~
Once they were all outside, Dan seemed to snap back to himself. Ella and Lucifer were walking a little bit in front of him, heading toward Dan's car. Somehow, in his rush, Dan managed to park next to Chloe's cruiser. Lucifer continued walking toward the car. Dan grabbed Ella's arm, jerking her back toward him. She let out a little squawk of surprise. Lucifer did a double take once he realized Ella wasn't by his side anymore. Dan took a protective stance in front of Ella, his arm raised in front of her – as if his arm would block any attempt Lucifer could make at getting to her.
"Dan," Ella sounded exasperated. He could practically hear her eye roll behind him, "What are you doing?"
"He's the Devil, Ella," Dan stated and nodded at said Devil, "You saw his face. He's the actual Devil."
Ella opened her mouth to respond but Lucifer cut her off.
"As I've said since we met… But you have nothing to fear from me, Dan," Lucifer practically spat his name. It was clear to Ella he was trying to hide his hurt from Dan's reaction to his identity, but pressed on, business as usual.
"I'll get out of your hair. You and Miss Lopez can take care of that human stain back at my penthouse and bring him into the station. I'll wait for you to leave. You won't have to suffer my presence."
"What? No," Ella refused and forcefully pushed Dan's arm down with a glare. Dan let his arm be moved and she stalked over to Lucifer.
"You're hurt."
"I assure you, Miss Lopez, my arm is just fine," Lucifer said once again, lightly cupping his wound with his other hand, "It won't take long to heal – Celestial healing and all that."
"I don't mean your arm," Ella shook her head. Now it was Lucifer's turn to look confused.
"I saw all those bloody feathers, Lucifer," Ella said, "There weren't any shot up pillows in that loft. And even if there were, those feathers wouldn't have been covered in blood. You were shot. Weren't you? In your… wings?"
Lucifer gaped.
"Man, this is crazy!" Ella let out a hysterical laugh, babbling, "You have wings… and-and you were shot in them!" She gave a crazed look back at Dan that clearly said 'Can you believe this crazy shit is actually happening right now?'
"He's got wings, Dan! And he got SHOT in them," she pointed at Lucifer and continued to laugh hysterically, "I can't believe this is happening."
"You protected Chloe," Dan stated over Ella's laughter.
"Didn't you?"
"I did," Lucifer admitted. He and Dan stared each other down. A mutual respect formed between the two of them over Ella's head as Ella's hysterical laughter tapered off. Lucifer may be the Devil, but he protected Chloe. That's what mattered the most to Dan.
"We realized it was a trap the moment we stepped foot into the loft," Lucifer began, "Pierce was there. He expressed his desire to kill me…"
Ella balked at that.
"The Detective wasn't having it. For some reason, she wouldn't leave my side. She stepped in front of me and fired off a shot, clipping Pierce in the arm. In retaliation, one of Pierce's men shot the Detective in the chest," Lucifer was visibly affected by his own words, but he pressed on, "The shot went into her bulletproof vest, but I didn't know that… She fell in my arms. There were more gun-toting lackeys on the second level of the loft. Pierce commanded to finish us off…"
"I did what I had to do to keep her safe."
"You wrapped your wings around her," Ella breathed in realization, reminding the two men she was still standing there.
"And I'd do it again," Lucifer declared, "I'll always do whatever it takes to keep the Detective safe. No matter what. You can always be assured of that… even if I am the Devil."
With that, Lucifer slowly turned away from his friends, with a prim tug to his suit jacket; he stoically headed back toward Dan's cruiser. Dan had the decency to look a little ashamed. Then Ella and Dan exchanged empathetic glances and wordlessly followed. Lucifer made it to the passenger's side, clearly intending to ride shotgun, but before he could open the door, he let out a howl of pain and collapsed to the ground.
Ella and Dan rushed to his side.
Then there was only darkness.