The Devil & The Draxon

3. Victim Two

"Nyx! Nyx, no!" Jinx says urgently. "Human's frown at the sight of blood, remember?!"

"Oh," Nyx pauses and looks himself over, hand on the doorknob. "Yes, I suppose they do."

"We'll need to fly out," the golden dragon says, sitting in his natural form by the balcony. "How strong is your power? We can't be seen."

"Nearly full power, and I feel fucking amazing," Nyx says. "I need to try my powers out soon, I want to see how rusty I've gotten."

There's a knock on the hotel door.

*Come on,* Jinx hisses urgently, alarmed.

*Wait, I have an idea,* Nyx says, a devilish smirk appearing on his lips.

The door opens, revealing a hotel maid. She steps into the room, the door falling shut as she freezes, seeing the draxon, dragon and dead body within. Before she can scream, Nyx stands in front of her, hand covering her mouth.

"Shh," he whispers, pulling her further inside. "You'll be alright, love. You won't even feel a thing."

His magic reaches out into her mind, spreading into all corners and taking over. The woman gives a muffled scream, squirming in his hold. Releasing her, Nyx laughs happily, clapping his hands together.

"Not bad, not bad at all," he says, examining the now-still woman. "She had a rather simple mind though. I guess I need to work on the painless part, but the screams sound so much sweeter. Scream for me again, dear."

The woman complies, letting out a shrill scream.

"Lovely," Nyx smiles. "Now dear, I have a job I need you to do for me, hmm?"

⚯

"Definitely a crime of passion," Ella says, looking over the torn body on the hotel bed. "So many slashes, I can't even count. Killed here though, not moved here like the guy from yesterday."

"I see," Lucifer says, peering over Ella's shoulder. "And what makes them think this body and the one from yesterday are connected?"

"See this mark here," Ella replies, gesturing to a small patch of clean skin on the victim. "Some kind of rune I think."

As Lucifer looks at the burn mark scarring the skin, his eyes narrow. "That's a dragon rune. Translates roughly to vengeance."

"Wow, Luce," Ella says, looking at the mark again. "I think you're right. How do you— wait, it's the whole method actor thing isn't it? Devil and draxon were lovers so you memorized the runes, right? I—"

"I've told you, I'm not a method actor," Lucifer says in annoyance, body tense at the mention of the draxon.

He glances around the room, looking from where Chloe is talking to the hotel maid who found the body, to where Dan is helping to look for evidence.

Something gold catches his eye near the balcony door. Walking over, Lucifer crouches down and picks up the gold dragon scale.

"Jinx," he whispers, recognizing who the scale belongs to. "And if he's here, then I bet Nyxeus really is free."

Lucifer stands, tucking the scale into a pocket. He turns to the body again, giving it a closer examination. He draws in a sharp breath, realizing the dead man is really a dead demon.

Not good, Lucifer thinks. A demon in Los Angeles. Not only that, but Nyxeus has broken free and if he's here with Jinx...

Piecing together who the jogger from yesterday really was, Lucifer tenses, a cold chill seeping into his body.