Caught in the Fire

Chapter XXXVII: And the Rock Cried Out

"You are a gift from God, Chloe Decker... just like me."

For a moment, Chloe could only stare at this woman, this Elisa Jane and a lieutenant of the LAPD, unable to comprehend those words. "What does that mean?"

"It means you were never supposed to exist," the Lieutenant said, sounding like she was speaking from experience and was only telling Chloe this to spare her the same fate. "God made you for Lucifer. You were put here on Earth only for him, to be his little plaything. Don't be anybody's plaything, Detective."

Chloe drew back, sensing sincerity in her voice. This woman wasn't telling her this as an attack. But it made no sense. She was just Chloe Decker, wearer of sensible brown shoes, buyer of hot dogs at COSTCO. That was all there was to her, right? She couldn't be a gift from God, whatever that meant. This woman was their enemy and had to be lying to her for some nefarious purpose.

In a shaky voice, Chloe finally responded. "I don't believe you."

"Demiurgos knows," the Lieutenant insisted. "He's hiding it from you so that you'll fulfill your role in God's plan. My man on the inside heard the whole thing at their little gathering before he was captured."

"It won't work," Chloe said with a shaky voice, "You won't turn me against Michael with these lies. It didn't work with Amenadiel and it's not going to work with you either."

"You're supposed to be a homicide detective and you're siding with the mass murderer?" the Lieutenant asked almost cheekily.

Chloe felt like they were at a standstill as she pointed a gun at a woman who didn't seem at all bothered by it. And neither of them were leaving. Maybe Michael would come up if she took too long to get down to the nightclub, so she was going to try to buy as much time as she could. "You say Michael killed Ildith, right? I asked him about her. He doesn't know who she is. Unless you're Ildith? The resemblance is uncanny."

"Ildith was someone I loved very much, like you love Trixie."

Chloe tensed at her mention of Trixie, wondering what this woman planned for her daughter as well. "Is Ildith from The Old Testament? Is she in The Old Testament?"

"You're a curious one, aren't you? All I care to tell you is that Demiurgos murdered her without mercy or regret, and he never even bothered to learn her name."

"That's impossible." Chloe shook her head, thinking that her age and the timeline of events just didn't add up. "Michael hasn't killed anyone for thousands of years. And God decreed that angels can't kill humans. And you're like, what, thirty?"

The Lieutenant clutched her pendant tightly and looked at Chloe with a raised brow, and even gave a short, disbelieving laugh. "I watched the construction of the pyramids in Egypt, Detective, and that was long before Ildith's murder."

Chloe frowned, looking the Lieutenant over, wondering if she could really be immortal. Was that to be her fate as well, she wondered? "Is Ildith Lot's Wife? Your goons seem to be afraid of salt."

"I will tell Demiurgos myself before I kill him. Right now, I'm more worried about you."

Chloe scoffed and shook her head at the Lieutenant's gall to say that after trying to have her killed. "I've had enough help from you to last me a lifetime. Now, why don't you go face Michael? He's down at Lux. Or are you too afraid of him?"

The Lieutenant's gaze hardened with rage. "I don't fear Demiurgos, Detective. You're the one who should fear his plans for you."

"I've made my choice," Chloe said with conviction as she held the gun with one hand and the other reached for a pair of handcuffs, "and you're under arrest for orchestrating the attack at the Hawthorne Mall. Oh, and for threatening Bluestone's family to force him to try to kill us."