Evermore (Devil's ʻĀnela) [ON HOLD]

XXVI

Tires screeched and Lani said, "Lucifer. The bleeding stopped. You don't have to drive like a maniac. Chloe's gonna shred you one if I get hurt or worse."

"You've forgotten you've been poisoned, Deputy, or has it already reached your brain? I'd rather get torn a new one by the detective and have you safe."

"Maybe it's just a nosebleed. I mean, I-I--How could the professor have injected me? I didn't get one of his flu shots."

"What about when you and the detective went after him?"

"Well, I don't know. I tackled him to the ground, we-we struggled for a bit, and, God, I guess if he injected me somehow, it would have to be just - Ugh." She lifted up her shirt to see a small puncture wound on the left side of her abdomen. "Oh my--"

Lucifer looked at her worriedly. "Everything's gonna be fine once we get to the hospital. Okay?"

"We can't go to the hospital."

"What?"

"Lucifer, going to the hospital didn't help any of the other victims. The only thing that's gonna save my life is finding the antidote. Otherwise I'm--"

"All right. All right, very well."

Tires screeched once again as he turned the car around.

PRECINCT

Ella walked into her lab in mismatched clothes. "No judgements, guys, okay? You said come right away, so I came right away. You're lucky I remembered to put on pants. So, what's up?"

"Well, um--" Dan stammered.

"Well, we're worried that someone else, um, out there might be poisoned."

"Oh, I doubt it," Ella said, as Chloe glanced to Lani. "I asked every hospital in the area to report anything even resembling a poison. So far, haven't heard a peep."

Lani tucked her hair behind her ear. "Well, just to be sure, let's, uh, let's go over what you found at the professor's lab, okay?"

"Check it out."

Lucifer pulled Lani to the side. "Uh, Deputy. We should tell her."

"No, we can't," Lani whispered. "She'll freak out. It'll get in the way of the investigation. I really don't think this is a good idea."

Ella glanced at them. "Are you guys done having your whisper fight? Uh, just make out already and get it over with. Yeesh." She changed the subject. "So I did find this syringe on the scene. It had a tiny bit of poison left in it, so, yeah, it theory, someone out there may have been dosed."

"Hmm," Lani hummed.

"Okay, but the other poisons had corresponding antidotes, yeah?" Lucifer asked.

"Did you find anything to match this one?" She glanced at Lucifer and he smiled.

"I did," Ella replied. "Problem is, dude destroyed whatever was inside." The cops' faces dropped. "Dick move, right? I mean, that's why I'm glad no one's reported to any hospitals, 'cause without the antidote, they'd end up just like the other victims. You know, first a bloody nose and then - fainting spells, followed by seizures--"

Lucifer cut her off. "We get the point."

"And then their guts slowly start boiling, like, literally boiling. It's so gross and nasty, and 24 hours later - bam, just like that, dead as a doornail."

"Got it," Chloe said. "Thank you. Yes."

"You've painted quite the picture, Miss Lopez," Lucifer told her.