Lucifer turned the silver drops in the vial, waiting for Edward to return. He wondered what he had detected about the new Lost man, Peter. He had the aura of the Kingdom on him. But that was impossible. No human could have that aura. Lucifer frowned, his thoughts chaotic.
Edward returned to Lucifer's Hall, appearing in his usual red smoke. The demon was scowling, his red eyes blazing with fury. Lucifer looked over at his right-hand demon, his brow arching with intrigue. "Edward, is everything alright?"
"Yes, sire. You had me take the new Lost man away and there were some…complications, is all." Edward refused to look up at Lucifer; his gaze focused downward as he glowered.
"Edward. Look at me."
The demon refused to look at Lucifer. Edward glared down at the fire near his feet. The demon was clearly frustrated, his paper-white skin slightly flushed with his rage.
"Edward."
The demon heaved a sigh, sucked in his cheeks, and met Lucifer's gaze. Edward crossed his arms, and his long fingers tapped on his arm. Lucifer put his hand on the demon's shoulder. "Edward, what happened? You seem enraged."
Edward pulled his shoulder back from Lucifer's grip and shrugged. "The Lost man began to put up a fight with me again, so I just sort of…I threw him in a fire, okay?"
Lucifer laughed heartily. "You are my right-hand demon. It is about time you started behaving as such. You have put up with far too much from the Lost for far too long. Now, come with me. I need your assistance to gather my blood for this vial."
Edward had performed this routine many times. Whenever Lucifer had questions about how a Lost person had died, he would slit the person's wrists and gather their essence in a vial. Peter, having been an annoyance, had his essence taken from his throat. The last moments of the Lost person's life would be shown when their essence was mixed with Lucifer's blood and poured into the fire. Lucifer had performed this ritual for Edward himself, which had proven that Edward had indeed been a thief only to feed his family, and this had earned Edward his promotion to a demon rather than remaining Lost. Edward took the vial containing Peter's essence from Lucifer and produced a dagger from his belt. Edward took Lucifer's hand and pierced two of Lucifer's fingertips, collecting the drops of blood that fell from the punctures.
Lucifer placed his bleeding fingers in his mouth. Edward swirled the vial, mixing Peter's silver essence with Lucifer's blood. "Are you alright, Sire?" Edward asked his master. He hated piercing Lucifer's fingers often but understood why his master requested it. It was hard to perform the puncture on oneself, and Lucifer meticulously ensured those who deserved second chances got them. Lucifer took his fingers from his mouth and wiped them on his pants.
"Yes, thank you Edward. The bleeding has ceased. It is for the greater good. I need to know why that Lost man had the aura of the Kingdom on him. It should be impossible. The angels are forbidden from interacting with the Human Realm. I was cast from the Kingdom for doing such a thing. And I know it was not a mistake, you very obviously detected the aura." Lucifer took the vial from Edward as he spoke, watching the silver essence turn a pearlescent red as his blood was mixed into it. "Before we watch his last moments, would you like to grab us both a drink, Edward?"
The demon nodded and disappeared in his cloud of red smoke. Edward soon reappeared with a bottle of red wine and two glasses in his pale white hands. Lucifer pulled a small, black bench from the wall toward the fire pit in his Hall, and Edward prepared the wine glasses. Lucifer smiled at his demon, took a glass of wine, and gestured for Edward to sit next to the fire with him. Edward bowed his head and sat at the fire's edge with his master.
Lucifer swirled the blood and essence mix one last time and poured it over the fire. The fire shimmered, and Lucifer sat beside Edward, both men sipping their wine as they waited for the essence to reveal Peter Jones' final moments.
The fire roared, and an image began to form. Edward and Lucifer leaned forward and watched the newest member of the UnderKingdom shove a young woman to the ground. They watched him hold the woman down by her tied hands and slice open the bodice of the woman's dress with his dagger. Edward shifted uncomfortably; this was unpleasant to watch, even for a demon. He tried to hide his discomfort behind his wine glass. Lucifer frowned. No wonder this man ended up in his UnderKingdom. But how did he die? His question was quickly answered when he watched a large blonde angel appear, yank the Lost man off of the young woman, and snap the Lost man's neck. The fire showed no more, as that was the end of the Lost Man's story.
Edward looked at his master, intrigued by what he had seen from Peter Jones' essence. "Sire? What are you thinking?"
Lucifer showed no emotion as his thoughts processed what the essence had delivered him. An angel that large and that strong could only be a Seraphim. Another like himself. One who broke the rules of the Kingdom to help humanity. His fingers traced the rim of the wine glass as he realized how Peter Jones came to his UnderKingdom.
Edward placed his hand on Lucifer's shoulder. He had never seen his master so lost in thought before. "My lord, is everything alright?"
Lucifer's face slowly contorted in a wicked smile. He turned to face his demon. "Oh yes, Edward. Everything is perfect. I think we finally found the ally we've been waiting centuries for. I believe I have a visit to the Human Realm to make."
The image of the large angel shimmered in the fire, Peter's corpse at his feet, and disappeared.