Ashes || Book 3 of 'I Caught Fire Series'

Chapter 5 - LOTUS

My hands fix the pencil skirt I wear as we enter the morgue, going towards our latest victim. The doctor leads the way down the hallway as we tuck our badges back into our pockets, informing us, "Your colleagues are already inside."

We round the corner and step inside, spotting the angel and the demon. They turn and Crowley smirks between the three of us, "Agents."

"Okay, this has gotta stop. All right, give me that." Dean mutters as he snatches the visitors badge off of Crowley, who cries out, "Armani!"

"Okay, enough!" Sam calls out frustratedly, "Let's have a look."

Sam reaches forward and pulls back the sheet covering the dead man. His eyes are burnt out and hollowed, much like the rest of Lucifer's previous vessels.

"Ooh, it looks like somebody forgot to put on his sunscreen." Dean murmurs as Cas explains, "This was Wallace Parker, the very powerful CEO of almost everything."

"And apparently, Lucifer's latest vessel. Wasn't strong enough to hold him." I state, taking in the rapid decay of the body.

Sam covers the man back over with the sheet as Crowley speaks "Lucifer's not content with slutting it from one random vessel to the next. He's moving onto blue chips, celebrities, captains of industry. He just got a lot more dangerous."

"I agree with Agent Zappa." Cas says and Dean rolls his eyes, "Oh, will you stop?"

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We are currently in a motel room in town, looking into our sources on Lucifer. Dean puts a beer down on the table and looks to his brother, "So, find anything? Anyone powerful or respectable who suddenly changed... Or exploded?"

"Well this is pretty interesting. This is the archbishop of St Louis with Wallace Parker." Sam states, turning around the computer around to show us two middle aged men, one dressed in a suit and the other is a red priest robe. They are holding one of the comically big checks.

"So?" I ask with a frown and Sam clears his throat, "So that was him three days ago. And this..."

He reaches down and taps to the next images, "... Is him last night at the opening of a food kitchen. Notice anything missing?"

Dean swipes back and forth between the photos and I notice the rosary is gone from the priest. Dean notices this too, "Yeah, the big mother of a cross around his neck."

Sam smiles in appreciation, "Exactly. And this morning, his office canceled all further public appearances without comment."

"Okay, so you're thinking that Lucifer blasted out of Parker and into his buddy the Archbishop here." I state and he nods his head, "Worth a shot."

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The skies roll with deafening thunder and blinding lightening as the sky pelts down rain around us. Dean pulls up baby out front of the Archdiocese of St Louis. It's a big, beautiful mansion that still has the feeling of one of the those country cottages. The three of us rush out of the car, and I spread my wings over the three of us to shield from the rain.

We get to the front door and Dean looks around, "It's awfully quiet."

"Yeah, I put in a dozen calls to the Chief of Staff. No one returned." Sam explains and Dean nods, "We'll have a look around, if it is Lucifer, we'll call the rest of the Scooby gang."