Close together, but not too close, Ella and Alexander stood in the elevator. To his feeling, the elevator went way too slow to the top floor. To her feeling, the elevator went too fast to the penthouse. At the same time, both were tense. Hoping the condition in which they would find Lucifer was not too bad. So when the doors finally slid open with a ping, both were pleasantly surprised to see Lucifer standing behind the house bar with a small smile as he was seemingly pouring a glass of wine for his detective. A smile slipped onto the face of Ella, who immediately sought a seat next to Chloe, and Alexander looked suspiciously at the Devil. Lucifer saw his son watching, and as the latter theatrically began to look around, walk around, and search behind the cushions of the couch made of the finest Italian leather, the Devil asked:
"Are you looking for anything in particular, Alexander?"
This one looked at him, nodded, and said:
"Yep, and you better confess..."
Lucifer also poured a glass for Ella, and asked:
"What would I have to confess to?"
"Where did you hide those twelve Brazilian strippers and that pound of Peruvian blow? I know they must be around here somewhere because that's your way of reacting when something goes wrong. So..."
Both Chloe and Ella got wide smiles on their faces, quite understanding what Alexander was doing. That the son was deescalating the situation a little further so the Devil could start talking openly. As Lucifer took a glass to make Alex's favorite mix, he said something that stunned the other three, and for a few seconds, they didn't know what to say. Well, especially Alexander and Chloe in that case.
"Speaking of which... I've decided to adjust my lifestyle. Not completely, of course, but to say goodbye to some things, like the plethora of drugs and...hmmm.... companionship. To try a more normal life like yours, Alexander."
After a few seconds, Alex looked at the detective sternly and asked:
"Did you hit my father so hard on his coconut that there is a trace of intelligence to be seen now? In that case, thank you, thank you, thank you..."
Lucifer replied sarcastically:
"Very amusing, son... But no, the detective didn't have to hit me on my.... mmm... coconut. I made a bloody stupid mistake today that resulted in three very negative consequences."
Alex took a seat on the barstool next to Ella and said:
"I can't wait to hear the revelation you got..."
The Devil sighed deeply:
"I was so mad at Rennie for stealing the container with my wings. After he shot Cutter, I didn't care if he killed that man or not. I just went after him. As a result, I made my first big, unforgivable mistake. I left the detective hanging again, this time in the dark in a remote location without any backup nearby. I wanted to punish Rennie for what he had done. When he was on the roof, I gave him a picture of Hell and his fate after his death through the fire in my eyes. That must have been enough to scare him enough that he chose to jump to his death rather than face me any longer. That was mistake number two. The third mistake is the consequence of the second mistake. He is dead, and we are not one step closer to that cursed container. So who knows when it, or rather its contents, will show up and what misery it will cause?"
Alexander asked:
"And what is the great revelation anyway? So far what I've heard is business as usual."
The Devil replied,
"That the way I live and do things could have endangered the detective and that is inexcusable. You are the big thinker in the family Alexander and you always put others first. I seemingly unconsciously do the opposite. It's time for me to think a little more, let others come first and then think of myself."
"Praise the Lord cause he has seen the light, Hallelujah..."
"Maybe yes, but that won't get us any closer to solving this rather big problem. Rennie is dead..."
Alex accepted his drink, took a big sip and then said:
"That last one is indeed a big problem. You know what would help?"
The Devil looked at him questioningly, and Alexander snapped at him:
"That the detective would have hit you on your coconut!"
Ella asked, amused:
"What do you mean, Alex?"
He looked at her, smiled, and said:
"It's not like we don't know anyone who can't be found in Hell just about every day, holds the second highest rank in Hell, and therefore can have a chat with every soul in that Hell."
It seemed like a light went on in the Devil's head as he said softly:
"Bloody Hell..."
Alexander chugged the rest of his drink and stood up. A snap of his fingers and he was dressed again in his black battle gear with the red dragon on his chest and the katana on his back. He pointed at his father and said gravely:
"If I have to deal with an hour-long lecture, including a PowerPoint from Morax, because he has once again stumbled upon some futility that could improve the efficiency of this or that by a fraction, it's going to cost you, Devil. I swear that I'm going to let Wodan make his nest from your Italian leather!"
Before the Devil could respond to this threat, Alexander had disappeared from the penthouse. Both women were staring at it wide-eyed. Chloe said:
"I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to get used to seeing people just appear or disappear out of nowhere. But that trick with the finger snapping would be damned easy in the morning to get myself ready to go to work or get Trixie to get ready for school on time for once."
The eternally curious Ella asked:
"Who are Wodan and Morax, and why should Wodan be allowed to make a nest of your couch?"
The Devil sighed:
"Forget about about snapping your fingers. There are only two who can do that, and they are Father and Alexander. The rest of us simple lowly Angels and Demons don't have that power."
Both women got big eyes at that comment, and Chloe asked:
"Is your son that powerful? That only God and he can do certain things?"
Lucifer shook his head softly:
"You have no idea... Hell is normally a horrible place, eternally semi-dark and with ash always falling from the sky. It's a terrible place; the atmosphere is suffocating, and it's just depressing. That is until Alex had grown into his powers and I tied him to the thrones in Hell. Those where the first part of them, his full powers are going to come in about 3 weeks at his birthday. He did that clipping of his and spoke the same words that Father would have spoken at my creation, "Let there be light..." and boom. Suddenly there was a kind of sunlight and a night sky with stars in Hell. Dis, that's the city where the palace is and where a lot of the Demons live. Those have day and night as we know it here. The circles, not so much. The first circle is very close to it, but the deeper you descend, the more it goes back to the original concept. Eternal ashes? No more. In the extensive fields around the city, we now even have farms, if you can believe it. The palace used to look like a monstrosity from a very bad horor movie, he made it into some small version of versaille because he liked it so very much as a young boy when Celine took him on a vacation to Europe. The garden and the large pond is full with all kind of critters that little bugger created so he would have some kind of petting zoo. Alexander changed Father's creation in to the image he himself had of Hell instead of the image God had of Hell. Not even Father can undo this, and the two of them have already had a bunch of discussions about this that can get quite heated, believe me..."
Ella and Chloe sat looking at the Devil with wide eyes until Ella asked:
"Who is Wodan, and why is he going to have your couch made into a nest if he has to listen to a lecture from that Morax?"
Lucifer let his head hang for a moment and sighed very deeply:
"Morax is one of his generals, the head of the archives. If you should ever see him, do not be alarmed, for the fellow has six arms. It makes his job easier and faster, he claims himself. Well, Morax can be quite a bit hyper-precise and meticulous, always looking for ways to make Hell more effective. Since Alexander taught him to use computers and tablets, he has developed a fondness for PowerPoint. This much to the displeasure of Alex, who is constantly harassed by Morax whenever he seems to have discovered something. Wodan, that's an entirely different story..."
The Devil knocked back the rest of his glass of whiskey and immediately topped it off before narrating:
"There is such a thing as Hell-hounds; normally they are monstrosities run away from a nightmare. As it turns out, if you give them a name and a purpose in their existence, they change their appearance. Alexander as a child once saw a small puppy in a litter being harassed by its litter-mates. He took pity on the little monster and took it with him. He named him Wodan. The thing turned before our eyes into what could pass for a dog as we know it here on Earth. Pitch black, about the size of a wolf, but much more powerful. If it wants, it can make Hellfire appear in its eyes. Since then, the two have been pretty much inseparable. It wouldn't surprise me if he brings him along when he gets back. The problem is that that lice bag doesn't give a damn that I am still officially the king of Hell and seems to enjoy it if he can pester me. I therefore hope that Morax behaves himself a little, or I may soon order a new sofa set..."
Ella heard the story of how a young Alex had taken pity on a poor little puppy, and Chloe and Lucifer just saw her eyes light up. It was not lost on either of them how Alexander and Ella had looked at each other.
Alex appeared in the throne room of Hell and waited. His arrival was always noticed by his friend, and he would not be long in coming. Who also did not wait was Wodan, who, like a whirlwind, rushed into the throne room, heading straight for him and jumping into his arms. The Antichrist could only just grasp him, so eager was the Hell-hound. As he caressed the dog, he said:
"Wodan, you are no longer a puppy; you have really grown too big and heavy to pull that kind of crap."
The dog emitted a few noises, as if it didn't agree at all, and the Antichrist found himself, for the umpteenth time, wondering if he would probably have two arms full of wolf until the end of his days. The first to appear in the throne room were Bearus and Belios. Bearus said:
"Wodan is a better alarm system than any to warn that you are in the building, My Lord. He knocked some poor souls off their feet on his way to the throne room."
Something that brought a smile to Alexander's face. He could absolutely imagine the chaos that a Wodan running at full speed would leave in his wake. A few seconds later, Dromos came running into the throne room. For once, not caring much about protocol:
"Damn it, Alex, can't you drop in at a more normal hour? I had a nice evening with Lamia..."
The Antichrist smiled broadly at his friend:
"When are you finally going to be a gentledemon and turn poor Lamia into an honest Demones?"
Dromos' brow shot into wrinkles. He looked at the two generals and asked:
"Did you hit him too hard on the head? Surely he knows we are talking about Lamia here, yes? If I dared to ask her to officially bond with me, she would probably kill me."
Alexander shot into a laugh; it was always a pleasure to poke his best friend a little, especially when it came to this ones great love, who clearly wore the pants in the household. He said:
"Well, all three of you are here anyway, so we might as well go to my office for a moment. I've come to clean up Dad's misery as usual."
At the same time, he heard the three demons groan, and Wodan emitted his Muttly chuckle. Sounding tired, Belios said:
"What now?"
"As you know a few years ago that idiot had nothing better to do than to have his wings cut off and keep them in a container. Well, you can guess three times whether this little plan had a happy ending."
Bearus growled:
"What do you need, boss?"
"A soul has arrived, a guy from LA who committed suicide and has two murders that I know of to his credit. He will probably be screaming in his little cell because he got to see Lucifer's eyes. Can you please get him out of his cell and into my office? I need to have a chat with that prick."
Bearus growled, turned, and disappeared, while the rest went into Alexander's office to wait.
A few minutes later, the office door opened, and the soul of an extremely flustered Rennie was roughly dragged by the collar by Bearus and thrown down in front of Alex's desk. The Antichrist's office didn't look too different from a lot of offices like those found on Earth where a CEO of a very large corporation would be at ease. Alex sat behind a large glass writing desk in an extremely comfortable office chair watching the scene before him. The biker was clearly more than terrified. Alex asked in a soft voice:
"Do you know where you are, Rennie?"
The man replied, almost stuttering:
"In Hell..."
Alexander looked at Dromos and Wodan, who had made themselves comfortable on his sofa as usual, and said mockingly:
"He's smarter than he looks. Let's see how smart he really is, shall we..."
"Right, Rennie, and why do you think you're in Hell?"
"Because I've done bad things in my life..."
"And what things might those be?"
"Hurting people, killing people, lying, stealing, not believing in God, not going to church."
"Hmmm, you can forget those last two, Rennie. I know with certainty that God doesn't care whether people believe in Him, and He cares even less whether they go to Mass or not. The Ten Commandments, that's another matter, and of those you've broken just about all, haven't you, little Rennie? But let's stick to the main ones: why you're here in my office now. You've killed people, and you didn't show a shred of remorse. And you stole things simply because you wanted them and you were too lazy or too stupid to obtain those things by legal means. But you're also here because you stole something from a very special person and then couldn't think of anything better than to commit suicide..."
for a moment it seemed like Alexander was thinking and said as a back thought:
"Hmmm.... maybe you would have been better off going to Mass after all Rennie, there they could have taught you that suicide is a one-way ticket to Hell. But that's not the point, it's about that theft. Do you know what you stole?"
The man grew even paler and stammered:
"A container and in that container were wings in a secret compartment.... The wings of an Angel."
"Quite right Rennie and do you happen to know which Angel?"
"I don't know his name but I have seen his face and he made fire appear in his eyes."
"That Angel used to be known by another name, Samael, today you know him better by the name Lucifer. You stole from the Devil Rennie. As for that fire, did it look something like this?"
He made the Hellfire appear in full intensity in his own eyes. Rennie set to screaming at the sight of it and wanted to crawl away from the desk. Something that immediately landed him a hefty blow to the head from a not friendly looking Bearus. Alex extinguished the fire in his eyes. A mischievous smile appeared around his mouth.
"The Devil has been retired in LA for a few years Rennie I took over the joint from him because I'm his son. Believe me when I say the Devil didn't enjoy certain souls being tortured here in Hell. Now except if you are Hitler then you deserve to be taken for a ride from time to time."
With that last sentence he heard the three demons in the office giggle and Dromos said softly from the sofa:
"Meow..."
This conjured a wide smile on the Antichrist's lips. For a moment he forgot about Rennie when he said,
"How much time has passed in his little cell now? A century or so? Maybe Belios should just manifest a platform in his cell where we can enjoy lunch while having a helicopter view of what's going on in his infinite maze while those sweet kitties are trying to catch him by surprise."
Dromos replied:
"That seems like a time well spent especially when he gets close to Celi. That one has gotten him good a few times already."
"Can't imagine what that jerk must have felt when a tiger nibbled on him hihihi"
"Oh well, it's more than that boss. Celi seems to have found a special way to play with him. Sometimes she leaves him for times as if she doesn't care in the least. Then when he thinks he can sneak past her because she won't do anything anyway, well then she pounces and believe me she takes her time picking him apart."
Those words from Dromos made Alexander look dubious. He thought for a moment and then said,
"When we get this resolved I want to talk to you about that Dromos, urgently, that is, before I return to Earth!"
He looked back down to a terrified biker.
"What I wanted to say Rennie that the Devil doesn't enjoy it. Me, I'm a different story. It's one of my favorite hobbies. We have a kind of game set up here in Hell. Do you know the game of Ladders?"
This one nodded uncomprehendingly.
"Okay what you need to know about Hell is the following; It is divided into nine circles. So souls on level one are only one step away from a life in Paradise in Heaven. You are in level five, murder, suicide and stealing a Divine piece like the wings of an Archangel take care of that. However, it means that beneath your little cell are hidden levels 6,7,8 and 9. Level 9 contains the very worst souls, think Hitler, Stalin, Mao, serial killers, child murderers and more of that ilk. If level 5 is already as bad as you think it is, what do you think your existence in level nine will be like?"
"No, no please don't..."
"Oh, I wasn't planning to send you to level 9 at all Rennie, but I will get back to that in a moment. The game of ladders here in Hell means that if you naughty little souls act like good little boys and girls you can step up on the ladder to a level higher, the higher you get the closer to Paradise. However, if you are a naughty little soul then you go down a level. There are only three personalities in this Universe who can dump a soul into any level of their choice; that is my grandfather God, my father Lucifer and myself. Does that little brain of yours understand so far?"
The biker nodded vehemently. Alex nodded:
"Good, I have a few questions for you and if like a good little boy, you tell the truth and nothing but the truth that you may step up the little ladder. Lie, try to lie or don't tell me the full truth and then I will instruct the demons to start digging a deep pit which is then going to be level 10 especially and only for you!"
"Everything, I tell everything, I swear..."
"Good but don't forget my words Rennie because I swear you will be one of a kind in Hell and what your share will be, even most Demons will be nauseated by it!"
Half an hour later Alexander was sure he had every detail, every bit of information Rennie had in his head was squeezed out it.
When Belios and Bearus had left with the Biker's soul, he suddenly became deathly serious and looked at Dromos. He asked: "What did you mean Celi has developed her own system off playing with Hitler?"
"What I said boss, sometimes she pretends she doesn't see him and she doesn't give a damn about him and when she seems to sense that he thinks she will leave him alone she strikes. A few of the others have something like that too, but they are not tigers so their games are not so obvious."
The Antichrist slapped the table with the flat of his hand and cursed inwardly. Dromos didn't understand what was going on and asked,
"What is it Alex? It's just games they're playing with him, isn't it?"
"Celi and the rest are tangible holograms Dromos, that's the problem. Holograms don't come up with new things from within themselves. That requires thinking and creativity, and that in itself indicates a kind of self-awareness. That's the damn problem!"
He stood up from behind the glass table and said,
"Wodan I want to introduce you to someone. Please don't break Dad's couch. Dromos come along too, we unfortunately need to have a word about this. But first lets go reassure that idiot up there."
Dromos only nodded, and Wodan did not know how quickly to come and stand beside his master. With a snap of his fingers, the trio suddenly found themselves back in Lucifer's Penthouse.
The first thing they heard was Ella's voice: "Wow, I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to that either suddenly seeing people appear from nowhere whether it's Angels, Demons or the Antichrist it's weird..."
With a small laugh, Dromos replied:
"Tell me about it.... The boss snaps his fingers and the next moment a living breathing human is talking to me, just weird."
Alex walked over to the house bar and plopped down on a barstool:
"If you two are weirded out, plenty of room."
Lucifer went behind the bar and started making a mix for his son. It wasn't long before he was joined by Chloe and Dromos. Ella, however, had caught sight of Wodan and flew toward him. She began petting him and in no time she had him by on her side. The great Hell-hound simply turned on his back, showing his full belly as a sign of complete trust. Which in turn was rewarded with a stroking of his belly and chest that was very pleasing to him. The Devil saw from Alexander's face that something had not gone right in Hell. He asked: "You have Wodan with you, does this mean that my couch is going to have to suffer as revenge for a lecture from Morax?"
The Antichrist said,
"Your Italian leather is perfectly safe dad. I'm lucky I didn't run into Morax today. No, I think I discovered another little problem."
"Something wrong with my wings?"
"No, strangely enough those are perfectly safe too. Rennie has neatly confessed everything so also the name of his client. One Carmen Grant. Seems this gentleman runs some kind of auction house, totally illegal of course where he not only sells all kinds of illegal material. He also seems to have made a name for himself that he can get his hands on what people would call sacred objects and relics. You know the first milk tooth of from Saint whoever the fuck or a piece of the real cross; things like that, absolutely fake ofcourse. Your wings will be the ultimate piece at the next auction."
Lucifer ran red and said:
"Then we have to go after that Carmen Grant, get my wings back before it's too late and punish him for what he did!"
Ella and Wodan had retreated to the Devil's sofa and seemed to be getting along. Alexander looked bored at Lucifer and said,
"Let's see what a real detective thinks of that shall we Mr. Civil Consultant who has a hand in abandoning his partner. Or did you think this last one wouldn't come up? That both the detective and myself suddenly had a spontaneous case of amnesia?"
He looked at Chloe who was already looking thoughtful and suddenly asked:
"How does this Carmen Grant know that Lucifer's wings were in that particular container in a secret compartment?"
Alex looked at the Devil and pointed at the detective:
"See what happens when you use your brain idiot Devil? So tell me who, outside our select few, knows that you had your wings cut off by Maze and that Maze stored them for you?"
Lucifer thought about it, got a resentful expression on his face and practically hissed:
"Amenadiel!"
The Antichrist knocked back his glass, pointed to that glass so the Devil would refill it and said:
"Yep, your little brother dear is back in town and making trouble."
The Devil said,
"All the more reason to get them back as soon as possible!"
Alexander said dryly:
"No!"
Turned around on his barstool to see what was happening on the couch and had to smile when he saw Ella busy with what had to pass for a dangerous Hell-hound. He was acting more like a puppy in seventh Heaven under the attention he was getting from Ella than the dangerous soul hunter he was. Behind him he heard:
"What do you mean no?"
He replied,
"Remember when I said your wings are perfectly safe? Well it seems that Mr. Grant had enough with one glance at your wings to end up a stone's throw from the cuckoo's nest let's say. The last thing Rennie did at the behest of Mr. Grant was to contact a master forger. Your wings will never show up at that auction Dad. Grant, oh yes and that's not his real name. He's had so many over the course of his con man existence that I doubt he even knows his real name anymore. No, he wants to keep your wings to himself and preferably do nothing but stare at them for hours. Detective Decker would you please explain to your puppy in training what would happen if I retrieve the wings right now?"
Chloe smiled at that description and nodded, thought for a moment and said at:
"You would never know why Amenadiel gave that Grant the stash of Lucifer's wings. Amenadiel would realize his plan failed, leave town or worse switch to something we have no idea about at all. You need him. But I think not only to find out the answer behind those questions but also to make something clear to your grandfather."
With a jerk, the Antichrist turned around again, looked his father tightly in the eye and said:
"You see what happens when you are a good Devil and listen to your detective from time to time. You can learn something, I know it something completely new to you dad learn things, but the wonders are not yet out of the world shall we say."
From the bench Ella's voice sounded:
"So what are you up to Alexander?"
"To do that which I was born for of course, being the Antichrist!"
There was silence in the Penthouse for a few seconds until Dromos said,
"It's nice to meet the detective and Miss Ella, Alex, but can we come back to Celi for a moment? You know Lamia..."
Alexander groaned and dropped his head onto the bar with a clear thump. Ella had come to stand next to him with Wodan at her heels and asked:
"Who is Celi?"
Keeping his head on the bar, Alexander replied softly:
"A tiger, or better a tangible hologram of a tiger."
lucifer asked:
"Is that the little problem you discovered in Hell?"
The Antichrist raised his head and said,
"I may have underestimated the magnitude of the problem a bit when I called it 'little' dad."
"Okay, what's going on?"
"Remember that prank I pulled on Hitler as a kid?"
Lucifer got a very wide smile on his lips and said,
"While I am absolutely not in favor of torturing souls, this is one I can still really appreciate."
Ella looked thoughtful and asked,
"What does a tiger have to do with Hitler and why would that be a problem Alex?"
He looked at her, drew a deep breath and said,
"Okay, it's like this. When I was young, I think about eleven, Aunt Lalia, that's the Archangel of Knowledge who manages the Hall of Knowledge in Heaven, sent me a history book written by a Demon. When you work with dictators on a daily basis as a Demon, you find out quite a bit about their habits. What seems to have been the case; Hitler had an extreme phobia of cats. I found nothing better to do than to instantly go to hell and ask Bearus to make a new cell for Hitler. That cell is actually an infinite maze. The rest I thought I could do myself. I manifested a lot of tangible holograms of all kinds of cats. From ordinary domestic cats to a tiger, made them wear the Star of David around their necks as the Jews were required to wear by the Nazis and kicked Hitler into that cell to, well, play with his new cell mates."
The image that came to Ella's mind about a young Alex pulling that kind of prank made her giggle and that giggling made a whole fleet of butterflies in Alexander's belly flare up at the same time. Ella said,
"No one said torture can't be fun that way. Then what's the problem."
"It could happen that in my juvenile innocence and ignorance I created something that, mmm, let's say later would go on to create its own consciousness..."
The Devil looked at his son with wide eyes and asked as if he had not heard correctly the first time:
"You would have done what now?"
Alex rubbed through his curls and said as if he were extremely tired:
"Celi and a few others are showing signs of being self-conscious Dad. At least I suspect so now. Dormos told me Celi has come up with her own little game she's playing with Hitler."
Lucifer set his glass down carefully, looked deep into his son's eyes and said softly:
"You need to get to the bottom of it Alexander! NOW!"
"Geez, thank you for that piece of invaluable information Dad! as if I didn't know!"
The Antichrist looked at Dromos and said,
"Eloch, we need Eloch. We all know he's the best when it comes to working with animals. He can even establish a telepathic bond with them. At least the real ones. Get Hitler out of his cell and throw him back in his old one. For my part, run the loop of the Nuremberg trails and give him a Demon who can imitate Hannibal Lecter as company for the time. I want Eloch to make a full analysis of Celi, the others who have the same characteristics but also all the animals I made for the palace garden and the forest area around it. Let him try to establish a telepathic link with them. If he succeeds, well then we will have our answer..."
Dromos nodded and said,
"Suppose he succeeds what then?"
Alexander looked at him and said rather briefly:
"Seems pretty obvious doesn't it? Then they are no longer tangible holograms but conscious beings whether their bodies are holograms or not. We are responsible for every conscious being and its well-being. We are going to have Eloch determine if we have fallen short and if so what they need extra and give them that!"
"Okay, I'll speak to Eloch immediately and put him to work."
"Thank you Dromi..."
With that, Alexander snapped his fingers and the Demon had disappeared again towards Hell.
The Devil stood there while watching Alex with a stern face when he noticed Alex simply asked:
"What?"
"If, let's assume for a moment that your suspicion is correct, if Celi and the others have gained a consciousness then it's no wonder Father has no idea what to do with you or is even terrified of you..."