Lucifer: Taken

Part X

*Hi everyone! I just wanted to make a quick note and thank you for all of your likes and comments. Your support is truly wonderful. Here are a few of the top tags that this story is sitting at right now, that I'm really just baffled by: #1 in #princeofdarkness, #10 in #lucifernetflix, and #20 in #lucifermorningstar. So grateful for you all! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This chapter will be kind of short, but we'll pick it back up in a few days.*

A chorus of 'Lucifer' rang out in the penthouse in varying tones: Chloe's was a concerned exclamation, Amenadiel's an ecstatic greeting, and Uriel's was a smug 'gotcha'. The look on his face was that of a predator who had finally got its prey, and knew that it had no means of escape.
Lucifer was impossibly still as his brothers approached, hardly breathing as his mind worked itself into overdrive to try and find a way to make it out of this situation alive. To be in Uriel's presence again was maddening, and it took every ounce of willpower he had to not kill him where he stood. As if he could read his brother's mind, Uriel brushed his coat aside to reveal Azrael's blade at his hip, offering a minuscule smile.
"Brother. Uriel has come down to visit for a while. Isn't that just spectacular?" Amenadiel said with one of his easy, elated smiles. Lucifer's left hand clenched and he forced a smile.
"Excellent. Always room for more divine family members, hmm?" he returned, taking a few steps toward them. He hadn't broken eye contact with Uriel since he'd entered the room, and didn't plan on letting him out of his sight.
"How many brothers do you have that you haven't mentioned, man?" Dan questioned, giving him a side-eye. Lucifer glanced at him, having forgotten that he was standing there. Chloe was ever present in his mind whenever she was around, but Dan? Dan was forgettable.
"Too many," Lucifer said pointedly to Uriel. "I didn't tell you about my brothers for a reason, and now that they're here, we have some family matters to discuss. Detectives, if you wouldn't mind." It was a dismissal if he'd ever heard one, and Dan wasn't going to sit and argue. He motioned to Chloe, whose eyes were fixed on Lucifer. When neither detective left, Lucifer turned his head to look at them, irritated.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked, looking wary of the situation. Lucifer waved her off, noticing that his hand had been clenching around broken pieces of glass, and was now trickling blood. He quickly shoved it in his pocket to hide it from his observant partner.
"Fine. Just a few things to duke out here. I'll see you?" he asked, though it was very much in a get out of my house now tone. Chloe nodded, sparing one last look at the brothers before she and Dan exited via elevator. Now that the Detective was gone, Lucifer returned his full attention to his brothers, who had both fully entered the room and were settling in around the main living space.
"Luci, Uriel's just come down to give us some news from the Silver City," Amenadiel informed his younger brother, using the same awed tone he always did when discussing their birthplace. Lucifer slowly walked toward them, unsmiling.
"And let me guess what that news is: 'I need to return to Hell where I belong, or you will be forced to take me out of existence entirely?'" Lucifer spat the words Uriel had used with him back in his face, with extra emphasis on 'forced'. Uriel made no indication that the words bothered him, pleasant smile still resting on his face. "Well, I hate to break it to you, brother, but I'm not your devil."
"Luci. Uriel isn't here to force you back to Hell," Amenadiel explained. Lucifer let out a harsh laugh.
"Well, the three days of torture and repeated 'you need to go back to hell' could have fooled me! Brother, I wish you'd just say what you meant!" Lucifer's eyes were wild as he approached Uriel, hovering over him with his lip curled. Even with his arm in a sling and blood drying on his shirt from his newly opened and restitched wound, Lucifer looked a hundred times more threatening than Uriel ever could.
"Three days of torture? Luci, what are you talking about? What did Uriel have to do with your kidnapping?" Amenadiel demanded, and Uriel had the audacity to look surprised.
"Three days of torture? Kidnapping? Lucifer, what has earth done to you?" Seething rage had been slowly consuming Lucifer, and he finally snapped, using his free hand to grab his younger brother by the throat and slam him into a wall.
"Do not play any dumber than you are," Lucifer hissed, squeezing. Uriel's fingers came up to claw at his hand, trying to free himself. "No one does what you did and gets away with it. Do not test me." Amenadiel grabbed Lucifer's right shoulder with a firm grip, the pain of a thumb in his wound causing him to tighten his grasp, fighting the excruciating pain for only a few seconds before it got to be too much and he let go.
"Both of you, sit down and tell me what happened," Amenadiel said, and in that moment, Lucifer could see God's right hand man. Well, Angel. Uriel slowly backed toward the couch with his hands up in surrender, and Lucifer stalked after him. The three brothers took their seats like some sort of divine couples therapy session, and Amenadiel looked to Lucifer.
"Tell me."
"Long story short, our brother dearest set up a series of murders to lure me to him so that he could kill me." Lucifer recounted the story from the beginning of the case up until the point where he was at the hospital, sparing few details. When he was finished, Amenadiel looked to Uriel.
"Is any of that true?" he questioned, and Lucifer huffed.
"I don't lie, brother. You know that," he defended, but Uriel sighed.
"Yes, Amenadiel. It's all true. I came from Heaven to get Lucifer back to Hell, where he belongs, and there was some collateral on the way," Uriel admitted.
"There was some collateral?" Amenadiel repeated in disbelief, anger seeping into his own voice. "The collateral being the fact that our brother was nearly wiped out of existence?" Lucifer couldn't help but feel a small amount of satisfaction that Amenadiel was taking his side, even through all of the rage.
"Whatever it costs for the greater good," Uriel affirmed. "Lucifer returning is the greater good. He has no place here."
"Leave, Uriel. Go back. This is no place for you. Let Lucifer be." Uriel stood, unfurling his wings and knocking a stack of books off the side table in the process.
"I'll leave. But this isn't over, brothers. Not by a long shot," Uriel warned. "Oh, and Lucifer? The last deal on the table: go back, or there may be a change in pattern that takes your Detective from you. You have two days." Uriel smiled before he disappeared. Lucifer leapt from the couch and lunged at him, grabbing empty space. He stared at the place where his brother had been moments before, breathing heavily.
"Luci, he's gone," Amenadiel said from behind him, trying to calm his younger brother down before his short fuse blew up Los Angeles. Lucifer spun around to stare him down, gaze accusatory.
"You brought him here. You brought him within feet of the Detective," Lucifer thundered, and in that moment, Amenadiel saw the fallen angel who had ruled the demons. The Lord of Hell. This was him: formidable, frightening. Enraged.
"I am so sorry, Lucifer. I didn't know. I had no idea how caught up in all of this he was. I never would have even entertained the thought had I known," he apologized. "What Uriel did is unforgivable. He will not hurt anyone else here." Now that the immediate threat was gone, Lucifer's energy and adrenaline left him, and his legs shakily carried him back to the couch, where he collapsed heavily, breathing as though he'd finished a marathon a few minutes ago.
"Luci," Amenadiel said gently. "What did he do to you?" Lucifer's body trembled in exhaustion, and he let out a shuddering breath. The fire was gone from his eyes, replaced by weariness. Amenadiel had never seen him like this. Had never seen an angel like this period, even a fallen one. It was a sharp contrast from the strong image of him just moments ago.
"He has Azrael's blade," Lucifer informed him quietly, letting his eyes close for a moment before they snapped open again. "We have to keep him away from Chloe." He started to stand, and Amenadiel gently pushed him back down, ignoring his protests. He wanted to ask more about the blade, Lucifer could tell, but he held back.
"I'll find Chloe. I'll follow her, keep her safe. Rest, brother. Be ready. I'll let you know if anything changes." Although Amenadiel's words were soft, they were no suggestion, and left no room for argument. And Lucifer had none to give anyways. He sighed, settling back into the couch.
"Don't let him hurt her," he murmured as his eyes closed.
"I promise."