Caught in the Fire

Chapter XIV: Speak of the Devil

Chloe was driving to the police station, having successfully tuned out Michael's complaints by now. It was endearing, but there was only so much of it she could take. But something troubled her, and it was his freaky Lucifer impression and uneven knowledge of the human world. And apparently, he'd been to Lucifer's concerts at Lux? Not just the last one? What was the Archangel Michael hiding from her as he pretended to be the Devil he himself kicked out of Heaven?

"We're almost at the station," she told him before he could ask her 'are we there yet' again. "But are you sure you can do this? Everyone in there knows Lucifer. And a lot has happened since Moses."

"I fooled Daniel, did I not?"

"Yeah, but Dan's also mad at Lucifer. That may have been a factor."

"Well, I am confident that I can impersonate Lucifer. I am only worried about the people he works with. I met many of them in passing at Lux, but I do not know them like Lucifer does."

"Well, everyone loves him," Chloe said, wistfully, "He's always doing favors for them, like... One time, he got them a food truck with free burgers. He's always stealing drugs from the evidence closet with the excuse that he's 'inspecting them' but everyone looks the other way because they love him."

"I will keep that in mind. Anything else I should know?"

"Marcus Pierce, or Cain as you call him, was the lieutenant of the department I work with until his death. We have a new lieutenant now and the first thing she did was assign Daniel and Bluestone to work the case about Pierce's death."

"Mazikeen told me that this new lieutenant went to the penthouse asking about Lucifer and myself."

"Great, so she probably thinks Lucifer's disappearance is somehow related to Pierce, just like Dan."

"That will no longer be a problem when she sees me, I assure you. I will speak with her if I must."

"I hope you're as good at impersonating Lucifer as you think you are." She finally reached the precinct and went to find a parking spot on the upper floors. She caught him looking intently out the windshield, and she just knew there would be another question coming on. "What are you looking at now?"

"Are those cars I see on that roof?" he asked in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah." Here come the questions again. "We have parking spaces up there."

"Cars can fly?!" he balked, "Well, why did we drive all the way over here in this blasted thing then?" Chloe just looked at him, completely and utterly dumbfounded, and he cleared his throat and pretended he never said anything. "Ahem. So! That is the police station."

"Yep. This is where I do my detective work."

She drove into the parking area on the upper levels and found a parking space. She unbuckled herself and watched as Michael fumbled with the lock, trying to free himself, and she calmly reached over, unbuckled his seatbelt, unlocked the door, pulled the handle, and opened the door. He stared at her for a moment, looking sheepish, then he exited the car.

"Finally!" He shot the car a hard look as he closed the passenger door. "Blasted thing. Can we fly here next time, please?"

"No, Michael, we're not flying here next time," she said with a long-suffering look as she exited the car. "Now you know where the station is. Why don't you fly here next time, and I'll drive my car? Sound good?"

"Well, we both know I am not going to do that." He huffed, grabbing his shoulder, and rolling it again in discomfort, taking in the sight of all those cars surrounding them. "You humans are stronger than I gave you credit for. Imagine tolerating this day, after day, after day..."