About half an hour before the young blond man appeared in Lucifer's penthouse, Ella Lopez was visited by an old friend in her small apartment. Ella dropped the book she was reading for distraction. She needed a distraction because neither Daniel nor she could reach Chloe or Lucifer, and the wheels in her head began to spin a little madly. Ready to throw the book into a corner and head toward Lux. She looked up and spoke softly:
"Rae-Rae?"
"Hello Ella, we need to talk urgently I'm afraid."
Ella had not seen her friend, whom she thought was a ghost, for several years. She had also never heard her speak so seriously or formally. Looking more intently at Rae-Rae's face, she suddenly saw the signs of severe fatigue and stress. Something ghosts shouldn't have thought Ella.
"You're not a ghost I guess."
"Absolutely correct. May I sit down please?"
All Ella could do was nod.
"But before I do, I want to show you something."
She rolled her shoulders and suddenly a pair of beautiful light brown wings with an unearthly glow appeared. With wide eyes, Ella exclaimed enthusiastically:
"You are an Angel!"
The other nodded, let her wings disappear again and plopped down in the seat opposite Ella. Her enthusiasm disappeared rather quickly and was replaced by a bit of suspicion:
"But, but why did you lie to me when I was little?"
"A very long story very short, I panicked. Your name appeared on my list. When I appeared at that car accident you turned out to be a false alarm, it happens sometimes. No administrative service is without error, Heaven's is even more so and it is getting worse by the day. The problem was that you could see me and normally that should not be possible. While I am doing my job living people should not be able to see me. I panicked and said the first thing that came to mind. At first I thought it was because of your young age. Children are much more open to the supernatural than adults and with age you wouldn't be able to see me anymore. I knew I should have stayed away from you but something kept drawing me to you. I became accustomed to you, enjoyed our friendship, didn't want to lose it, and over time didn't dare confess the truth to you for fear of losing you. If I tell you what I am then you will understand why people would rather not have me around, let alone make friends with me, why I was afraid to tell the truth. I am Azrael, the Angel of Death."
Ella took a sharp breath. Looked anxiously at the once ghost now Angel and asked fearfully:
"Isn't it a false alarm now? Did you come to pick me up now?"
The Angel smiled wearily:
"I wished it was that simple Ella. The following words will be harsh and sound unbelievable but unfortunately it is the truth. We need your help or in the next 72 hours, give or take a few hours, at least a few million times it will not be a false alarm."
Ella blinked her eyes a few times. Looked at the Angel not understanding:
"A few million dead? Why, what's going on? Is the big one coming to LA?"
"Nop"
Said Azrael as she let the P plop.
"But then what?"
Asked Ella in despair but she also raised an admonishing finger at her next words:
"Oh and forget that we will NOT talk about the rest! It's just that a few million lives are momentarily more important than our little problem at the moment."
Rae-Rae nodded understandingly and said:
"Perfectly understood Els. When this shit is over we can talk as much as you want and you can hit me with your zapato as often as you want too."
Ella nodded gravely, completely switched to her more serious self from the LAPD lab:
"Okay then what happened?"
"Oh, someone really pissed off the Big Guy as you call him and he has now gone on the warpath!"
Ella pondered these words for a moment and then a 1000 watt spotlight seemed to ignite in her head. Her eyes got big as saucers:
"If you are a real Angel as you have proven then Lucifer is the real Devil, Amenadiel is also an Angel and Maze is a Demon. It's true, it's all true!"
Instinctively her hand flew to her necklace with her trusty crucifix. Ella's brain was working at the speed of light and she had to calm herself down to ask normal questions:
"Wait, wait. Lucifer is really the Devil but he never lies! Is that right?"
Azrael had sat back in the seat and said again with a plopping P:
"Yep"
"If Lucifer never lies then the stories he tells about how God has treated him and how God thinks about mankind are all true?"
"Yep, and knowing Lu he has already discovered your little chain there within the first few seconds of your meeting. So as not to hurt your faith in God or hurt you he will have told you a considerably watered down version of his history with Father. You are just too much light Ella. Lu would never want to expose you to the gruesome details and thus your faith in God."
"Mierda!"
In a jerk, the necklace was gone from her neck and thrown in a corner somewhere:
"I don't even want to believe in a God like that!"
"And maybe humanity shouldn't have to anymore either, very soon."
Said Rae-Rae more to herself than to Ella.
"Say that again!"
Yelled Ella almost. Azrael looked at Ella, then rubbed her eyes and sighed:
"Tired, I'm just way too tired after thousands of years of being the only Angel of Death. Well the genie is now involuntarily out of the bottle anyway. Do you perhaps have something strong to drink here? Tequila that you're such a favorite of or something?"
Ella nodded and quickly went to get the bottle and two glasses. Azrael knocked back the first two well-filled glasses as if they were just water. Ella looked at her and thought:
"Yep, this is indeed a sister of Lucifer."
After the second glass, Rae-Rae said:
"Ella you must understand that it is not my place to explain this fully. Where we need to go later you will get all the information you need and much more. Things you're going to hope you've never heard. I know I have not been a good friend in the past and lied to you. I only ask that you trust me for a moment now, so that I can take you to the meeting. There someone is waiting in very high excitement to meet you and explain everything to you."
Ella nodded and asked:
"So how do we get there?"
A mischievous smile appeared around the Angel's mouth and she merely said:
"Angel-Uber..."
A lot further down LA, around the same time Ella was getting a visit from Azrael, the doorbell rang at the condo of a very nervous Daniel. He yanked the door open hoping to see Chloe and Lucifer standing at the door. Not understanding, he looked at the duo standing at the door who couldn't have been more different from each other. A somewhat chubby man with a beaming warm smile, curly almost white hair, all dressed in light beige. Attire that would not look out of place for a dandy at the end of the nineteenth century. The other was dressed completely in black that could be a second skin, looking like a slightly too old rocker, had wild black hair with red highlights and wore sunglasses while it was already dark outside. Confused, Daniel asked:
" Can I help you?"
The blond held his hands in front of his stomach and began speaking in an English accent that sounded suspiciously like Lucifer's:
"Ach mister, euch inspector, euch detective Espinoza my name is Fell, A.Z Fell to be exact and this is my partner Mr. Crowley. It may be rather strange for you but we have come from London to give you a message and to accompany you to a meeting."
Daniel looked at the two not understanding and wanted to open his mouth to ask an equally confusing question but did not get that far.
"Have said it Angel, these are Americans, not so quick witted and have no idea what your out of fashion long-windedness should be. Here let me."
Crowley snapped his fingers and suddenly all three of them were in the living room area of Daniel's apartment.
"How... how... how..."
Was all he could utter.
"Come on Daniel stay tuned!"
Said Crowley more annoyed than amused. Being the Demon that he was, he would have found this absolutely amusing if they hadn't been under time pressure and if the boss wasn't waiting in a huge pissed off mood. Daniel shook his head a few times as if trying to shake off a hallucination. Crowley said briefly:
"No you are not hallucinating Daniel. In short I am a Demon and this bastard here is an Angel."
At that moment Beatrice ran into the room, a ball of energy on two legs.
"If you are an Angel are you then a brother of Lucifer? And if you are a Demon are you then you a brother of Maze?"
Aziraphael smiled at the girl and said:
"It is true Beatrice, Lucifer and I are brothers but he is much older than me and he is an Archangel while I have a much lower rank. So Lucifer was usually busy with the other Archangels and the older Angels. But the few times we spoke in the Silver City he gave me and the other younger Angels his full attention and the warmth of the Lightbringer."
Crowley chuckled:
"No I am not a brother of Mazikeen. Sort of an uncle you might say and pretty pissed at her right now!"
That was the moment Daniels brain decided to get back to business:
"Okay, Lucifer the real Devil, yep I can relate to that. I suspected that for a long time. Too many little things weren't right about him or what he did or could do. Not to mention the fact that I watched him get shot while he was not wearing a bullet proof vest and then standing up again like nothing had happened. That Amenadiel and Mazikeen in turn must be an Angel and Demon makes sense. But what does that have to do with the events of this evening and more specifically with us? And how many of you are actually on Earth right now?"
Azi replied with his eternal smile:
"Well it has been very, very quiet on Earth for a very long time. It was mostly Crowley and me and we were left alone by Heaven and Hell. So we could live a quiet life. Of course from time to time Lucifer came to take a vacation which caused Amenadiel to come down to take him back to Hell and then it was usually quiet again for a few decades."
Crowley's voice was considerably less friendly:
"Things pretty much started getting out of hand when Lucifer more or less decided to hang his crown on the hook and come here to LA for an indefinite vacation. The first few years all go thick and fast for him and Mazikeen and then Amenadiel and your ex show up in Lucifer's life almost simultaneously. Result; Heaven, Hell and Earth are being rocked. Tonight was the culmination of all their foolishness. It has to end so the boss is here to bring order. Everyone from Lucifer's bizarre little club is already there."
Daniel looked at the two with wide eyes:
"The boss? God is here in LA?"
Crowley laughed:
"Not not God Daniel, but you'll find out soon enough why he's the boss."
Aziraphael said seriously:
"It is of extreme importance that you are there Daniel otherwise he would never have sent us."
Daniel thought for a moment and nodded. It was time he and Beatrice were informed of all this supernatural stuff going on right under his nose.
"Go change your clothes monkey, apparently we are seeing mom tonight after all."