The Devil's Bane

The Unexpected Scene

The usual rush out of the house in the morning felt particularly arduous to Chloe Decker as her attention was focused upon worrying about Lucifer. It usually was to be honest. She never entirely knew where she stood with him, and his tendency to sleep with every human being in LA didn't make it any easier. She was upset specifically about a small mark she had seen etched on his wrist as though he had cut it into himself. It looked a bit like a comb with two sides, or a spine with only three ribs, but that was beside the point. She had no idea why he would carve that into his own flesh, and it concerned her.

When she got to the crime scene it didn't get much better. She would just have to ask him about it subtly, Chloe decided. And just then Lucifer arrived late, as usually. She said as much.

"Lucifer you're late, as usual."
"My apologies detective. I didn't realize my punctuality had such an effect on you. It's hard to miss me, I know", came the smooth reply, accompanied by that infuriatingly handsome grin.
"Stop preening and get to work", Chloe admonished. "We have a white female, early twenties, dead about 36 hours."
She turned to her right and looked down at the small figure with dark hair who was crouched over the body with a magnifying glass.
"Ella do we have cause of death?"
"Looks like strangulation!" called Ella from her position on the ground. "There are only two other visible wounds on the body and neither of them are debilitating enough to be considered."
"Okay", Chloe said breathing out slowly. She could focus on this. This came naturally to her unlike dealing with Lucifer's bullshit. "So she was strangled, by a male based on the size of the bruising. Lucifer you ride with me to talk to the parents. Ella go back to the lab and see what if you can find any evidence." Lucifer nodded and gestured for her to lead the way, and  she did.

When they arrived at the house of the deceased she tried to broach the topic. "Do you have any tattoos?", she asked.
"Tattoos? No. Why do you ask?"
"Oh nothing I just thought I saw one on your wrist the other day", she said casually, keeping her eyes averted. Lucifer glanced at her with a queer expression on his face. She didn't recognize it...Lucifer was...uncomfortable?
"No I don't have any", he said quickly. "Now we'd better ring the doorbell, yes?"

By the end of the day she has gotten no closer to learning the secret. The case would take a few days so there was no need to work into the evening but she had gotten no answers, and so said an unsatisfied goodbye to Lucifer who was, as usual, making things all about him. This time it was some issue with his dad not trusting him enough to be honest with him. It didn't concern her much, he always seemed to get over these things.

When she had put Trixie to bed she laid down and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind but it was no use. The questions and theories kept swirling around in her head until she sat bolt upright, determined to go over to LUX and demand the truth. She glanced at the clock: it was an hour till midnight. Oh well, she needed answers.

The elevator dinged quietly as she reached the penthouse and stepped out, walking over to the small bar. She could hear strange noises emanating from the alcove where Lucifer slept, little whines and then comments in a smooth British baritone. Did he have a dog up here, or worse a woman? She frowned and listened again. Two dogs? She was curious. Against her better judgement she slowly made her way to the entrance, then climbed the stairs. "Look Lucifer I don't know what you think you're doing but..." she turned to look at the figures to her left.

"Oh my god."