A fun little one-shot featuring, upon their request, my take on one of Lewamusprime2016 oc's. Not really plot driven, but I had a fun time writing it!

She was laying somewhere wet. That thought was the first thing to enter Alex's mind as her eyes flickered open. How long had she been laying there? The dampness had soaked through her clothes, leaving her chilled to the bone, and Alex shivered. A while, apparently. With a groan, she planted her hands against the ground, wincing at how the wet dirt squelched between her fingers as she heaved herself up onto her trembling feet. She was in a forest, surrounded by thick, towering red pines. The ground she had been laying on, she noted with a grimace, was little more than a shallow puddle clogged with dirt and fallen needles. "Gross." The spoken word rasped in her throat, but even it seemed too loud for the silent woods. She shook out her wings to chase away the damp chill, eyes turning upwards towards the sky; judging by the sun, it had been hours — perhaps even a full day — since Rowena had cast her away.

Rowena. The name sat on her tongue, sharp and sour, and Alex tried to spit onto the ground, but her parched lips produced no moisture. Her legs trembled underneath her, and she leaned up against the nearest tree, her tattered wings scratching against the red, flaky bark. It wasn't just her legs that shook, she noted bleakly. Her whole body felt as weak as a newborn lamb; even her grace was weighed down with exhaustion. Her strength faltered, and she dropped down into a crouch in the dirt, one hand planted against the soft pine litter to keep her steady as she closed her eyes. That spell that Rowena had used ...

Alex pried a stick out from the mud, and she began to scratch the sigil into the dirt, frowning at the unnatural twists and curves. It was unlike anything she had seen before, baring only the faintest resemblance to the angel banishing sigil she had become acquainted with. The adjoining circles gave the appearance of a tilted figure eight, its exterior decorated with a variety of small, evenly spaced runes.

With a sigh, Alex tossed away the stick and picked herself up off of the ground, using the tree as a momentary crutch as the forest seemed to spin. The land off to her right sloped steeply upwards, its peak disappearing into the canopy above. Heading up means a better look at your surroundings, a small voice nagged, and Alex's shoulders slumped. That hill looked like a long way up. If only Lucifer ...

"Lucifer?" She spoke the name out loud, eyes turned up towards the cloudless sky as a sudden jolt of adrenaline coursed through her veins: how had she forgotten? She scrubbed at her head, digging deep into the fog that obscured her memories. "Are you — are you okay?"

No answer came, and Alex closed her eyes as she felt for his grace. It took a moment — she wasn't sure if it had been Rowena's spell or that power behind Lucifer's grace as it had surged through her system that left her own grace numb and floundering — but she was able to breathe a sigh of relief to find his presence within her. It didn't move as she prodded it, and the hooks that it had used to latch itself to her felt stretched thin; wherever Lucifer was, it was far, far away.

A crow cried its warning call somewhere over her head, ripping Alex free from her thoughts, and her eyes turned back up the hill. A climb like that would be exhausting, but if it could give her some sense of where she was ... With a sigh, Alex started up the slope, her wings dragging behind her. The trees grew straight and tall, seemingly untouched by human hands, and the higher she climbed, the denser the forest got.

She wasn't sure how long she had been walking for when she reached a clearing. No more than an hour, surely, but her feet already hurt, and the cold weight of weariness in her bones only added to her body's aches. She paused beside a dying tree to look out at the land behind her, and her shoulders sunk at the expanse of wilderness that lay as far as her eyes could see. She was in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

The sun had reached the peak of its climb, and Alex narrowed her eyes against its glare as she turned to her left. Nothing but hills and trees —

There. A brick chimney was barely visible through the pines, and Alex's gaze passed over it before her head swiveled back. That was a cabin. She couldn't see much beyond the chimney — it could be abandoned and dilapidated for all that she could tell — but a house meant a road. And all roads would eventually lead to civilization.

Alex's wings tremored, and she slumped against the tree as she sized up the distance between her and the cabin. It was a mile, at least twice the distance she had already come, but at least the journey was downhill. Even still, she took a few moments to rest against the log before she pushed herself back to her weary feet. It was a long way down.

The going was slow. Alex kept a steady pace, focusing on distant trees to make sure she didn't stray from the straight path she had set. As the minutes ticked by and she began to fear that she had missed her mark altogether, only then did she finally catch sight of a break in the trees twenty feet to her left. It wasn't wide, but the packed dirt and faint tire treads made it clear that this path was touched by human hands. Alex scrambled through a patch of undergrowth, forcing through the thorns that caught on her jeans as she fought her eagerness to get to the road. The cabin had to be just ahead; she could see its wooden exterior through the trees.

Alex followed the road towards it, slipping back into the safety of the forest as she drew near. From the outside, the cabin appeared dark and silent, and Alex drew her wings in close. Her grace sat stubbornly inside of her, too weak to reach out and investigate, and the young angel hesitated on the tree line, eyes narrowed as she studied the darkened window. The two-storied structure was small — no more than three or four rooms at most — and a set of slanted doors sat along a concrete base, a heavy chain locking the entrance to the basement.

The front door, on the other hand, showed no signs of impediment. A truck sat a few feet off, parked in the shadows of the looming shadows of the trees. Despite the rust that sat along the peeling paint, the vehicle's tires shone, their tread deep and black. The faint odor of gasoline clung to the air around it, and Alex drew in a deep breath. Stale, but not old. Someone had to be nearby.

Alex circled the premises, peering at the yellow-paned windows, but the blinds were drawn in each room, keeping out her prying eyes. With a frown, she returned to the front, her wings flicking in displeasure. Apart from the car, there were no signs of life, no sounds from inside the cabin walls, and a quick glance upwards showed that the sun was still high. Perhaps the inhabitant had gone into the woods and hadn't yet returned.

She crossed the clearing and knocked on the door. No answer. The young angel hesitated and, with a shrug, she tried the doorknob.

Unlocked. The door swung open, leaving Alex peering into the darkness. There wasn't much: a wooden table sat towards the far end, where a kitchenette had been assembled. A second door stood just to her left, pulled tightly shut, and just beyond it lay what appeared to be an open room. Living room, perhaps? "Hello?" Alex leaned inwards, ears pricked. "Anyone home?"

No answer. With another shrug, Alex stepped inside, gently closing the door behind her. Waiting in here, at a table and out of the beating sun, felt like a better option than camping outside. She —

The air froze around her, seizing her limbs and locking her into place. A squeak left Alex's lips as her momentum was cut abruptly short, and her head whipped around as she searched for whatever ailed her. The cold, foreign tinge against her grace told her it was magic, through and through, but it took several seconds of scouring the dark to find the drawings located on either wall, trapping her in between. "Dammit!"

There was a rustling above her. Alex's eyes darted to the staircase as the garbled sound turned into footsteps. She grit her teeth, trying to force her grace to move, but fighting the spell felt like fighting against a retaining wall, and she gave up within seconds. The footfalls paused, just out of sight, and then the stranger stepped forward.

Alex blinked. The man was young and thin, with brown eyes that looked young enough to belong to a child; they sat in stark contrast to the narrow face and the faint shadow of stubble along his jaw. "Are you one of them?" The stranger's voice rasped, rough from disuse, and Alex's wings prickled.

"No!" she spat. "You — them?" She whipped her head around, taking in the dark room as she forced composure back into her tone. "What do you mean by 'them'? Who's 'them'? Who are you?"

"You're not ... an angel?" The stranger took a step closer, eyes narrowing. "I thought ..."

He trailed off, and the cabin fell into silence. Alex frowned and, when he didn't continue his thought, she spoke. "I ... I am," she admitted. "For the most part, I mean. You ... aren't. Why are you hiding from the angels?" Prophet? that voice in the back of her head guessed, but she pushed it away. "What's your name?"

"I ... don't know." The stranger's fists clench reflexively, once, twice, then stilled. "They're after me — I know they are." His eyes snapped onto the sigils, drawn carefully in white chalk. "Those — they're supposed to trap you, I think. I ... don't remember."

"Okay." Alex's gaze followed his, and she quickly turned her attention away, afraid that the stranger might see the interest in her eyes. "Uh, what — what exactly do you remember, then?"

The man's face furrowed. "My mother," he finally said. "I remember her face. And I remember a man with her."

"Your dad."

He shook his head. "No. No, not that. They were siblings, perhaps. They had the same eyes. My mother's eyes." Again, the stranger fell silent. "This was his," he finally said. "This house. I remember him taking me up here. He taught me how to hunt."

"Well, it's a nice spot for a vacation. Full of wildlife." Alex watched his head tilt, and she fought the urge to purse her lips. "Listen, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not even supposed to be on this side of the — are we even in America?" She didn't wait for a response. "My friend and I — we got separated because a witch got the jump on us. I'm just trying to get back to him."

The stranger's head tipped, and Alex lifted her chin to keep from shying away from his piercing stare. "You're telling the truth."

"Yeah."

"That wasn't a question." He crossed over to the wall, and Alex breathed a sigh of relief as he smudged one of the chalk-drawn runes and the pressure surrounding her limbs subsided. "I can tell when people are lying. I don't know how I know," he added after a moment, "I just do. Can you ..."

"Oh. Sorry." Alex stepped forward, and the man produced a stick of chalk from his pocket to replace the sigil he had erased. "My name's Alex, by the way."

"Call me Zack." Zack moved past her and, with a glance back towards the door, Alex followed.

"Is that your real name, or ..."

"I don't know." For a moment, Zack's face went blank, his eyes dark with concentration. "I woke up in a field somewhere south of Milwaukee about a year ago. That's the first thing that I remember since ... since I lost all of my memories. I think I scared the poor farmer half to death, seeing me walk out of his corn." Zack stopped beside the wooden table and picked up a worn paperback. "He had this in the back of his truck. One of the characters in it was named Zack and it felt ... right, somehow."

The Secret Life of — The title was faded, barely visible, and Alex caught only a glimpse of it before the book was dropped back onto the table. "Alright, Zack it is then." Her eyes turned around the small kitchen, and they caught on a torn drawing pinned to the wall. The charcoal sketch was slightly smudged, the edges crinkled, but Alex pulled it off the wall with a frown. Despite the rushed, chaotic strokes, the image was clear. "Wendigo." Alex turned to find Zack still standing beside the table, his eyes watching her every movement. "You don't hunt deer, do you?"

A scream ripped through her head, guttural and teeming with rage, and its impact against her skull almost sent Alex to her knees. Hands grabbed her, holding her steady before her head could crash into the counter, and it took Alex a moment to plant her hands against the edge of it and push herself upright. "Are you alright?" Zack's voice sounded quiet, distant, and Alex blinked in rapid succession, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"I'm okay." She scrubbed at her ears, grimacing at how her mind seemed to vibrate in the aftermath. "You couldn't hear —" Zack shook his head, and Alex did the same. "Makes sense. We, uh — we're gonna have company real soon."

Zack's eyes narrowed, distrusting, and they momentarily flickered towards the cabin door. "What was it you heard?" He stooped, picking something off of the wooden floorboards, and Alex shifted to the side with an apologetic grimace; the sketch had fallen from her hands.

"My friend." She smoothed down her shirt as she straightened up, pretending to dust off her sleeves to hide her own embarrassment. "He, uh ... I think he's pretty pissed." She felt Lucifer's grace swell within her, and she fought it back, refusing to let it sweep her grace away along with it. Zack said something, but she didn't catch the words. There was a crash above their heads, the wooden rafters creaking under the impact, and both sets of eyes turned upwards.

Lucifer's grace swelled again, and this time, Zack visibly shuddered. "Your friend is an angel, too."

"Yeah, he is —"

The door was thrown open, the cabin walls shuddering with the impact. Lucifer's shape filled the doorway, and as he stepped into the room, his crimson wings rose upwards, stretching from wall to wall. Two steps further had him pausing, and his dark eyes burned orange. Zack's trap. Alex winced, ready to spring forward to help, but before she could move, the sigils exploded in a burst of yellow flames. "Sanskrit." The light in the archangel's eyes faded, and he stepped forward. "You spelled 'entrapment' wrong."

His gaze turned past Alex onto Zack, and Alex rushed forward as his face hardened, his grace coiling like a snake ready to strike. She placed her hand on his chest, fingers curling reflexively to pull his attention down onto her. "I see you found a new shirt."

"Stole it." Lucifer's voice rumbled through his chest, nearly a growl, and his wings rose higher. Now that she was closer, Alex could see the dampness that clung to his skin, seeping into his clothes. His hair hung in long, wet strands, and Alex's hand released its grasp to reach up and pluck pine needles out from behind his ear. Lucifer's gaze followed hers, and in the dim light, she could see the holes of decay in his skin. "Rowena's spell seems to have affected my motor skills," he muttered, plucking the pine from her hands. "And it's all I can do to keep this vessel from falling apart."

He swiped his hands through his hair, brushing it back behind his ears, and the flora fell, discarded, to the floor. "Well, it's not looking horrible," Alex said, taking a step back to look him up and down. "How long do you think it'll last?"

"As long as I can make it." Lucifer's eyes turned past her, and Alex returned her hand to his chest as she felt him tense. "I'm gone for four hours and you've already made a new friend, I see."

"Apparently. That's, uh that's Zack." Alex glanced back towards the man with a small, quizzical frown. "He's the one who put up the trap. Not me." She stepped aside, one hand still on Lucifer's chest lest the archangel's anger urge him to lash out.

Her hand was brushed aside with a huff. "Obviously. I didn't expect you to know those runes. The real question is, how does he know?"

He stepped forward, pulling up short when Alex once again jumped forward to put herself between the two. The corner of his lips curled in a faint smile, but annoyance prickled along the edges of his grace. "He doesn't know how he knows," she insisted, and she curled her wings forward to wrap around Lucifer's sides. "Just don't hurt him."

The irritation vanished, swallowed up by a wall of apathetic serenity. "Hurt him?" Lucifer repeated; the corners of his eyes crinkled as he spoke, as if hurt by her accusation. "Is that what you think of me? That I just go around killing random kids?" He ushered Alex aside, and Alex circled around him to stand at his left.

Zack still stood beside the table, the sketch of the wendigo still gripped tightly in his hands. His face, however, had remained devoid of expression even in spite of Lucifer's anger. "You must be Alex's friend." He set the paper down on the table, taking a moment to smooth down the edges before he stepped forward, hand extended. "I'm Zack."

"Lucifer." Lucifer looked down at the gesture with a disdainful sneer. "Yes, the one, the only." He looked Zack up and down, adding, "You're a little young to be using sanskrit, don't you think?" Even for a witch, that's pretty heavy spellwork."

A hint of accusation hung in his words, but Zack merely blinked. "Maybe. I don't know what it means. I just ... picked up the chalk and the next thing I know, I had drawn that." His outstretched hand fell back to his side. "All I know is that it's supposed to work on, uh, on angels," he finished, his gaze turning to the walls where his handiwork had been destroyed by Lucifer's grace. He muttered out something that sounded like an apology before he stepped away, digging around in his pocket for a piece of chalk.

Alex watched him crouch down beside the charred section of wall, only turning her head away once he had set to work. "He thinks Heaven is after him, apparently," she murmured, wingtips flicking as Lucifer grunted. "I don't know if it's amnesia or delusion or a combination of both —" She cut herself off with a quick shake of her head. "Either way," she added, lifting her voice above a whisper, "I'm lucky I stumbled onto this cabin. Who knows where I would have ended up if I hadn't found it."

Lucifer's eyes had slid past her as she spoke, and it took the clearing of her throat to prompt him to speak. "Probably for the best," he agreed. "We won't be going anywhere fast, not in this vessel." His wings rose up before they fell back to his side. "It's not strong enough to handle flight — let along with you in tow," he said with a frown. "Maybe your friend Leonard Shelby can drive us into town."

"That's not my name." Zack straightened up, head cocked ever so slightly as he regarded the two angels. "At least," he added after a moment, "I don't think it is." He returned to the table and set the chalk down, eyes turning onto the picture. "The nearest town is twenty miles east of here. I can drive you there tomorrow." He picked up the sketch and started towards the stairs, leaving Alex and Lucifer standing alone.

"Seems like a nice guy." Lucifer strolled forward, and Alex rolled her eyes. "Definitely doesn't seem off at all." He pawed through the kitchen, peering into the drawers and cabinet before he gave up with a huff. "How'd you find him again?"

"Random chance." Alex glanced off towards the stairs. "And give the kid a break, okay? I get the feeling he hasn't had much human interaction in the past year. He doesn't remember much of anything before then," she expounded when Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Who knows what happened to him."

For several seconds, Lucifer was silent, his teeth chewing on his bottom lip. "Let's take a walk," he suggested, nodding towards the front door. He didn't wait for a response before he crossed the room, and Alex had little choice but to follow. The trap hadn't been reactivated, and she easily passed through it and out the door.

Lucifer had retreated off to the tree line, and Alex glanced back towards the darkened cabin. "What's going on?" she asked. "I know he's a little off, but ..."

"He's not human." Lucifer crossed his arms, back straightened as he drew himself to his full height. "How do you always manage to find people like this? You're like a magnet for freaks."

Alex's wings twitched, but she pushed aside the insult to instead ask, "Not human?" Her curled her wings forward with a small frown. "How do you know? He's not — he's not an angel or a demon, or anything else that I recognize."

"He's a nephilim — I think." Lucifer's dark eyes darted past her, only returning when Alex mouthed the words 'I think?' with a tilted head. "I haven't met many," he said, and his crimson wings swept across the spongy dirt. "Most were created and destroyed during my time in the Cage. And this one ... " — he nodded back towards the cabin — "he's young."

Alex shoved her hands deep in her pockets. "Well, I guess that explains why Heaven's after him. I'm surprised they let one be born in the first place. Cas says the angels see nephilim as an, uh, an abomination."

"They are. But, mistakes happen." Lucifer stepped into the trees, and Alex followed close at his heels. "Heaven's been rather ... unheavenly since Michael took the swan dive." Alex scoffed, and Lucifer's feathers flicked against her side, the long primaries scraping the outer arch of her wings. "Don't roll your eyes," he warned. "What about that friend of yours that I pulled out of Heaven's prison? Don't tell me he wouldn't be the type to do this."

"Balthazar?" Alex scrunched her face, and in her confusion, she almost stumbled over a fallen branch. "Okay, maybe he ... maybe he would," she admitted, straightening up with a shake of her wings, "but I stayed with this guy for almost a year, so trust me; if there's one thing he's set on avoiding, it's paying child support."

"I wasn't accusing him." Lucifer's voice sharpened, and Alex squared her jaw at the short tone. "But when you see a mouse, there's always a hundred more nearby. Besides," he added after a second of pause, "your friend is a commonplace angel. Whoever fathered this nephilim was stronger. A seraphim at least." Lucifer glanced over his shoulder, back towards where the cabin was still visible through the trees. "Maybe someone got tired of waiting for their turn."

Alex followed his gaze. "You know, that's something I never got," she said after a moment. "I understand priorities based on rank, but the whole 'waiting' thing? It feels like it's just inviting problems like this."

"As opposed to what? Having angels come down and scoop up a couple thousand women — and an equal number of vessels? If they're lucky, they only burn through a hundred and the humans are none the wiser. If they're not, well ... then they're not." Lucifer's voice grew flat, and Alex stopped beside a dead tree, her arms crossed. "Why don't they just swoop down and take what they want? Or why don't they just reveal themselves to the whole world and just put Hell out of business?" He glanced to his left, then his right, before he pulled up short and turned around with a frown, his crimson wings glittering in the dying sunlight. "They're playing by the rules of an antiquated game, okay? Tell them to try something new, and all you get is blank stares and 'because God said so.' As if Dad actually had some foolproof plan for all of this."

Alex pursed her lips, and Lucifer's eyes narrowed, mistaking her silence for disagreement. His frozen grace rose up against hers, and it was all Alex could do to keep it from sweeping over her. "Look." She managed to get the word out through gritted teeth, and the glacier vanished. "They're just doing the best that they can the only way they know how." She scuffed the dirt with a toe, but she kept her chin up. "Just ... we don't need to be having this conversation right now. Our problem is back there —" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder before nodding up towards the sky, "— not up there." She stepped aside as Lucifer pushed past her, barely avoiding his wings that flittered in frustration. Her mouth parted, ready to snap, but a second thought had her shutting her jaw with a click; whatever Lucifer's problem with her was, whatever issue had started during their interaction with Crowley, now wasn't the time to confront it. Not with how his grace was roiling against hers already. She shoved her frustration down into the pit of her stomach and, with a sigh, turned back towards the cabin.

...

The night at the cabin in the woods was long and dark, the wooden walls doing little to keep out the midnight's cold. At some point, Alex managed to drift off to sleep in a brown armchair, her legs tucked into her chest and her wings curled around her. When she awoke, the faint, watery sunlight of the early morning was fighting its way through the dusty window panes. A coldness sat in her chest, pulsing in a slow, careless rhythm, and Alex rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she looked around the room. Lucifer was in the shadows, seated in a wooden chair. His legs were stretched out, crossed at the ankles, and a finger traced his lips as he stared at the wall. He didn't move when Alex stirred, but his grace stilled within her. "Your friend is still upstairs. He's been up all night." The finger fell away. "What's your plan?"

"Have him take us into town, I guess." Alex grimaced as she rose to her feet, and she took a moment to stretch out her limbs. Her wings trembled under the strain as she lifted them towards the ceiling; Lucifer's eyes flickered over to her, looking her up and down, and Alex quickly wrapped herself in her feathers. "I'll go talk to him and see when we can leave."

Lucifer's gaze followed her as she crossed the room, two pinpricks of ice burning into her skin, and her feathers ruffled at the chill. It seemed to linger even as she stepped out of sight, not vanquished until she started up the wooden stairs. "Zack?" Alex kept her voice soft until she reached the upper landing, blinking twice to adjust her eyes to the dark attic. The single room wasn't large, with a slanted roof that tapered off to a point against the left wall. A bed sat there, the headboard jammed up against the slats. Light came from a single window, illuminating the crowded wooden table where Zack sat, tucked among the books and loose papers. He looked up as Alex arrived, and his eyes seemed to glow in the sunlight. For a moment, the two simply stared; upon realizing that he didn't intend to speak, Alex cleared her throat. "Lucifer said you didn't sleep."

"I tend not to." Zack's eyes dropped back onto his work, and Alex followed his gaze, taking in the mess of notes. They were tacked to the walls, a messy, colorful array. "Especially with strangers about, no offense meant."

"None taken. So you're a hunter, huh?" Alex wandered closer to the walls, reaching out to trace the bottom edge of a paper torn from a newspaper. Bear Attack North of Abbotsford: Two Dead, One Missing. "You're ... you're working a case right now?" She turned back to Zack, wings flittering. "I thought you just lived here."

"I do. My ... hobby has me traveling, when I dare, but this just happens to be close to home." Zack's chair creaked as he straightened. "The wilderness up here is largely uninhabited. It isn't the first time something like this has wandered past my cabin."

"You know, I don't think I've ever actually hunted a wendigo before. They're definitely some tough sons of bitches."

Zack's head tipped, and his lips parted slightly, but it was a second before he spoke. "I should have guessed you were a ... you called them hunters. I should have guessed you were a hunter too. I can sense the hardness of your soul." His eyes drifted towards the stairs, darkening with contemplation. "You keep interesting company."

Alex followed his gaze, resisting the urge to pluck at Lucifer's grace. "He's not so bad once you get to know him — even with strangers, he's normally a little more charming than this." She reached up to rub at the back of her neck. "It's been a rough twenty four hours for him and his ego. Let's just say he's ... working through some things."

"He's lost." Zack's eyes grew softer, more distant, as he spoke. "Like he doesn't know who he is anymore." His gaze sharpened, turning onto Alex with an intensity that took her aback. "I can feel it resonating against my own lack of identity, like it's winding a taut wire within my chest." The intensity died. "He believes he's lost his purpose."

Alex lifted her eyebrows. "Wow. You're, uh, you're really in tune with other people, huh? Does that work on everyone?"

"So far. It's earned me more than one free meal." With a sigh, Zack rose to his feet, and the chair legs scratched against the floor. "It's one of the few things that my ... incident didn't erase from memory. You came up here to ask about going into town. We can leave once the sun is fully up, if you wish. I just need to make a list of supplies." Zack crossed over to the far wall, and Alex stepped aside to make room for him, frowning to hear him muttering under his breath: the short, choppy words make it sound like a checklist.

Alex edged down the stairs, already forgotten by the nephilim, and she retreated to the bottom with a shake of her head. Lucifer was no longer in his chair, and it took Alex a moment to find him. There. Leaning up against the wall, eyes turned out one of the dusty windows. "How much did you hear?"

Enough. The archangel didn't so much as glance her way as he dragged his finger across the grimy panes, drawing small loops and swirls. His crimson wings were folded at his side, thick and full, and Alex drew her own battered wings in tighter. You trust him?

"I have to. He's put a lot of trust in us."

A lot, Lucifer conceded before his tone grew darker. For a man claiming to run from angels, he seemed rather willing to let us stay. He turned away from the window, his eyes glinting, and Alex lifted her chin.

Her lips parted, ready to speak, but after a moment, she pressed them together in a frown. Maybe. But if it's anything, it's innocence, not malintent. "He's just a kid, Luce," she added out loud. "We should be helping him, not doubting him."

Lucifer scoffed. "You ... you humans and your need to help those who don't need it. You're so ..." He pointed towards her, fingers waggling as he looked for the right words. "So nosy."

"And here I thought angels were supposed to be the ones with compassion," Alex shot back. "What did you do, leave your empathy in hell?"

The corner of Lucifer's lip curled upwards, and Alex's wings flittered. He was amused with her. "Compassion isn't one of my virtues." He pushed himself from the wall, and Alex's wings pressed in even closer as he stopped mere inches from her. "If the weak can't survive on their own, your help only prolongs the inevitable." The humor died from his eyes, and there was a moment of silence as he studied her, his expression growing darker with each passing second before he stepped away. When he spoke again, his voice was sharp. "We should get moving soon. Before Rowena gets away."

"Rowena won't get far." Alex crossed her arms as she turned onto him. "You're still weak, and I still feel like I've been hit by a truck." Lucifer's grin momentarily returned, and Alex jaw ticked at the quiet, You would know that feeling, wouldn't you? For a moment, an image flashed through her mind, a blackened, snowy road, followed by a flash of white. "Listen," she said, forcing the picture from her mind, "if we stick around for another day or two, we can help Zack with this wendigo thing. I've never actually seen one, let along gotten to hunt one." Her mouth paused, on the cusp of saying more, but the creak of the floorboards by the stairs stopped her from speaking. Zack appeared a moment later, a canvas bag slung over his shoulder. "Ready?" Alex asked, and Lucifer's feathers flittered in irritation. Zack nodded, and Lucifer unfolded his wings, pausing only long enough to mutter a disparaging word under his breath before he was gone, a faint, I'll meet you there passing through her mind. Alex flicked her grace, but she wiped the displeasure from her face as she stepped forward. "Great. Lead the way."

The rusted black truck blended in with the assortment of pickups and SUVs that lined the wide street that cut through the center of Ginew. Alex leaned her cheek against the window, her eyes scanning the sidewalks for a pair of crimson wings. The ride into town had been quiet; whatever conversations had been started had quickly died, and eventually both had accepted the long ride ahead. "You can take the highway south towards the border." Zack broke the silence, stirring Alex from her thoughts. "There should be a bus that comes through here." The engine cut off as he parked between two silver trucks, and his head tilted. "Your friend's nearby."

Alex slid out the door, reaching down to feel along Lucifer's grace. He was right; the archangel couldn't be more than a block away. She circled around to stand on the sidewalk, searching for his direction: left. Her feet carried her along the shops, ducking among the pedestrians, and it took several steps before she realized that Zack was close on her heels. She hesitated at a crosswalk. "So, what's your plan for this wendigo?"

"There's a series of caves that were once carved from the local river. Wendigos like caves, right?" He didn't wait for an answer before he continued on. "Those hikers — the ones who were killed — were camping up near the ravine." They turned the corner, and Zack's shoulder crashed into hers as Alex pulled up short.

Lucifer was seated on a bench — more like sprawled, Alex noted bleakly. His face was paler than usual, and Alex's grace stiffened at the sight. The laxness in his muscles disappeared, and Lucifer straightened as his eyes turned onto hers; their forced brightness only further lent to his facade. "Took you long enough," he muttered; the words were inaudible from where Alex stood, but they resonated along his grace until they echoed in her mind.

You look horrible, she sent back as she moved forward, shoulders tensed to keep her wings from folding forward in concern. "What the hell was that? You said your vessel wasn't strong enough to fly!"

"That wasn't a lie." Lucifer's hands planted against the bench seat, but he made no attempt to rise. "Seemed better than a ride in a cramped car."

"You ..." Alex felt heat rise to her cheeks, a rush of anger, and she dug her teeth into her tongue to keep the obscenities in. The curl of Lucifer's lips revealed his amusement, and Alex clenched her fists as she imagined cuffing him across the head.

That wiped the smile from Lucifer's face, and Alex dismissed the thought with a shake of her head. Lucifer's eyes flickered over her shoulder, resting on Zack before they turned back to Alex. "I'm fine. Which way back home?"

"The highway will take you down through the Dakotas," Zack said, and Alex couldn't help but glance southwards. "I'd take you further, but the Red River is to the west."

"Right. Your wendigo." Lucifer finally stood, and his knee crumpled beneath his weight. He stumbled, and if it hadn't been for the hand that found Alex's shoulder, he would have fallen. The surprise of the unsteadiness had him grunting, a punched-out sound that was quickly followed by him clearing his throat as he regained his composure.

Zack's eyes darted over to Alex, his face darkening. "My wendigo," he repeated. "Are you sure you're okay?" His concern was waved away, and the man's expression faded back into neutrality. "I should get going. It always takes some time for me to convince the shopkeeper to let me buy shotgun shells without a license."

He turned to go, leaving Lucifer to shake his head with a muttered, "nephilims," under his breath. He shifted back to lean against the bench, but Alex barely noticed. Shotgun shells? "Zack? Wait!" She jumped after the man. "Have you ever actually killed one before?"

The outburst received a few looks from those around her, but it was enough to give Zack pause. "No," he admitted as he stopped at the street corner, his head tipped back to look at Alex. "Why do you ask?"

"Because a shotgun won't do shit." Alex caught up to him and fell in at his side. "I'm pretty sure fire is one of the only ways to kill one." Her grace twitched against her angel blade, but she stilled it with a shake of her head. "You can't go after a wendigo all by yourself, not on your first time."

"I'll be fine. I have an aptitude for this, apparently." Zack's eyes flashed past her, a look that lasted barely a moment, but it was enough to leave Alex frowning. She lifted her wings, stretching one backwards until she found what she knew was there. Her feathers brushed a chest, cold and solid, and she drew them back as Lucifer's grace rose within her.

His hand found her shoulder and, through his stance was casual, Alex could feel the weight with which he leaned against her. "That doesn't make me feel better about it," she said; her voice cracked under Lucifer's weight. "So I guess that means I'm tagging along." Lucifer's nails dug into her shoulder, and Alex forced a toothy grin as she brushed him away. "Just point me to where you need me to go."

This is a horrible idea. Lucifer fell into step at Alex's side, unsteady yet unsupported, as Zack wordlessly waved them after him. We have bigger priorities than this.

Alex snorted, rolling her eyes as they crossed the street. You're too weak to do anything at the moment, she retorted. You should just lay low and tag along, and fingers crossed we'll be on our way before nightfall. Please, she added after a moment's pause. Just trust me on this. The flick of Lucifer's wings was ambivalent, and Alex suppressed a single sigh. "Hey, Zack," she said aloud. "We're going to head in there" — she pointed off towards the bar across the street — "and see what we can learn about these missing hikers while you finish up with your shopping, okay?"

Zack hesitated, and he took several seconds to follow her gesture, but eventually he gave a nod. "Alright. I'll come find you when I'm done."

He disappeared down the street without another word, and Lucifer's hand returned to her shoulder as he leaned against her. "Well, good work on ditching Wingless. Now what?"

"I told you what." Alex shrugged his hand away, catching it before it fell to his side as she tugged him across the street. "Come on. I thought you'd be into this kind of thing. Asking around, solving mysteries. Detective Lucifer on the case. Maybe this is the career change that you always wanted."

Lucifer's response was lost beneath the clatter of the bar, almost half full despite the time of day. The wide front windows let the sun in, illuminating the bright, cheery interior. The front tables were full, a mix of flannel and canvas, the air beer and sun-worn leather. Alex curled one wing around Lucifer, ushering him towards the wooden bar. "Hey." She waved the bartender over with a small smile. "Just a mule, please." She dug around her for her wallet, counting out the loose bills before she tossed it onto the bar. "You been in this town long?"

"Almost twenty years." The bartender shot her a lazy grin as he mixed her drink, a grin that started to fade as Lucifer came to stand at her side. "I haven't seen the two of you before — small town. You just passing through?" His gaze lingered on Lucifer, and he added, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

He slid the drink down towards her, and Alex nodded. "We're heading west." She took a sip and grunted appreciatively before adding, "We just heard the news about those hikers. Horrible." She shook her head, eyes downcast in what hopefully appeared to be momentary sympathy. "You guys normally get bears?"

"This is Canada." The bartender glanced her way, blue eyes sparkling in a grin that was quick to fade. "We haven't had any issue with bears as long as I can remember. Just black bears, mostly, but they don't cause much trouble outside of raiding campsites when people forget to hide their trash."

"What about the hikers?" Lucifer suddenly asked, and Alex lifted her eyebrows as the archangel twisted to lean up against the bar, elbow planted on the polished wooden slab. "Were they just passing?"

The man shook his head. "Local, I'm afraid. They were supposed to be backpacking up the river — we didn't even know they were still nearby until Adrian found the bodies. First them, and now Jim and Lucy are missing —"

"Another couple's gone missing?"

Despite the urgency in Alex's interruption, the bartender chuckled. "Not exactly a couple, I'm afraid. Lucy's a blue tick hound. Closest thing old Jimmy ever got to a wife, I suppose. Sheriff found his truck up west by the river, up by Coral's Outlook. It's a lovely little spot and usually, I'd recommend it to tourists, but now ..."

"Must be a hungry bear."

The bartender studied Lucifer with a faint frown. "You know, I just can't shake the feeling that I know you from somewhere. You've never been in anything, have you?"

"Just one of those faces." The words were followed by a wink, and then Lucifer was on his feet. "I'll see if anyone else knows anything." He tapped Alex on her shoulder before he walked away, leaving Alex to shake her head and reach for her drink.

The bartender watched him go with a small scoff. "You guys detectives or something?"

"Journalists. Bear attacks are something of an interest for the both of us." Alex reached over the bar to extend her hand. "I'm Alex, by the way."

"Bram, Well, Abraham, but nobody in this town calls me that anymore." Bram shook her hand with a small laugh, and he reached down to pour himself a drink. "Well, if you want to learn more, I'd suggest you head down to the police station. Sheriff Gates is leading the investigation himself, I believe. Local folk here aren't going to know much past what's been in the papers and whatever rumors have been floating around."

"Every rumor has its root in a grain of truth." Alex took another long sip of her mule. "So, tell me. What rumors have you heard?"

"In a town like this? Everything from government conspiracy to monsters in the woods." Bram mimicked her, tipping back his glass of whiskey. "Personally," he added, leaning forward and dropping his voice, "if there was something living out there in those woods, I wouldn't be surprised. They say the dark roads can play tricks on one's mind, but ..."

He trailed off with a shake of his head, and Alex slid off of her stool. "You know, I think you're right." She picked up her drink, glancing over her shoulder to where Lucifer was leaning against one of the high top tables, crimson wings draped across his back as he spoke with one of the bar's patrons. "Thanks for the drink." She crossed the bar, stepping into Lucifer's open wing. What have you learned, Sherlock?

" — lived there with his uncle for the past five or so years before they disappeared," one of the men was saying. "About a year ago he showed back up in town all by himself. Whatever he's doing, it's the same thing as before. He only comes down for supplies."

Zack? Alex's head snapped over to Lucifer, her frown hidden behind the lip of her drink. We're supposed to be learning about the murders, not him.

"And have you talked with him?" Lucifer silenced her with a flick of his wings, the feathers brushing against her calf. "What's he like? I imagine he's done some strange things. Maybe some things that people can't explain."

The two men exchanged small frowns. "You could say that," the second one said. "I mean, Mrs. Kimbel's dog was pretty weird. Nearly gave Clay a heart attack when it crawled out of its grave two days later, healthy as a horse."

"Or three winters ago when Dewdney's Peak caught fire," the other added. "Must have been the middle of January and the whole top went up in flames. Burned bright for almost two days before it just disappeared. That was strange." He shook his head, fingers playing with the label on his beer as he forced a laugh. "But the kid seems nice enough. Quiet, but polite." He exchanged a look with his companion, his face darkening as he thought. "Some people around here don't think too highly of him. Some used to say that he killed his uncle and buried him up at the cabin, but" — he shook his head — "he's not capable of that. Not Zack."

Alex set her drink down on the table beside Lucifer. "You know him then." She felt Lucifer's wings withdraw, making room for her, and she shifted closer.

"Knew his uncle," the man corrected. "We were fishing buddies. I didn't know he even had a nephew until Zack showed up five years ago, but ..." He shrugged. "Like I said, he's a good kid."

"I'm sure he is." Alex turned away, letting her eyes drift across the rest of the bar. Above her head, the speakers had begun a new song; a familiar song, thanks to Sam. Alex blinked, freezing her grace to stop it from displaying her alarm. 'Born Fallen' by Ladyheart. Vince's band. "Nice talking to you," she told the men before she stalked away, wings flicking to motion Lucifer after her. She felt the archangel stay behind, loitering just long enough to prove his stubbornness before he followed. The guitars dropped to a hum, and a voice rose to greet them, soft but painfully unique. A murmur had risen from the people behind them, glances cast in their direction, and Alex all but pulled Lucifer out the door and into the safety of the street.

An hour later, Alex found herself skirting down a narrow rocky path, eyes darting between the loose stones underfoot and the blackened hole in the cliff that marked the entrance to the caves Zack had spoken of. The bluffs themselves weren't far from the dirt road that wound through the southern half of the forest preserve, but the descent down towards the river was treacherous. The riverbank itself was thin and muddy, and Alex clung close to the stone wall, wings pinned tightly against her back as Lucifer's insults rattled around inside of her head. She didn't look back, but she could feel him behind her, picking his way through the grime and muttering under his breath. Zack was in the lead, pushing forward through the mud as if simply didn't exist. Every minute or so he would pause, head tipping up before he pushed on forward. What is he doing? she heard Lucifer mutter. Ask him what he's doing.

His grace pushed against hers, urging her forward, and Alex slapped it away. "Uh, Zack ... what are you doing —"

"The wendigo went this way." Zack paused at a gaping hole in the cliff face, and Alex rolled her eyes; this wasn't the first time she had spoken to him on their trip down, and each time, he had given no indication that he had ever heard her. "We enter here."

"Yeah, whatever you say." Alex's grace dropped her angel blade into her hand, and she peered past Zack into the darkness. A glance back at Lucifer showed that the archangel's eyes were out over the brown water, his wings twitching impatiently, and she reached out to smack him in the shoulder. "At least act like you're going to help," she hissed, voice low as Zack stepped into the cave. "Didn't you bring anything?"

Lucifer looked down at her drawn weapon, and his lips curled. "I don't have anything." His hands went out in a flourish. "Not on this vessel." His wings arched up, and he brushed past Alex as he entered the cave, leaving Alex to scowl after him.

The cave was dark, the walls damp and the floor slick, and Alex carefully picked her way across the mud until the floor began to gently slope upwards. She let her wings stretch out, brushing against the walls to get a feel for the space around her. Only once the light from the sun had faded did she bring her grace upwards to take a look at the cave. Network of caves, she corrected, her heart dropping. It was a network of caves. They were standing in an open space, the ceiling maybe five feet above her head, and tunnels branched off in every direction, some tall and sloping up, others little more than cracks in the rocks that would barely be passable even if she were down on her knees. "So ... which way?"

Zack had his head tipped back again, eyes closed. "Left." He pointed towards a narrow passageway to their left. "Can you smell that? They were here recently."

Alex exchanged a look with Lucifer before she reluctantly sniffed at the air. The cave smelled like must and mud and rotting fish, and she drew in one last, deep breath before she shook her head. "I don't smell anything." She shot one more look over Lucifer, adding, Can nephilim ... smell monsters? Is that normal?

"Beats me." Lucifer's eyes drifted down towards the mud in which they stood, and his grace roiled. "Well?" he snapped. "What are you waiting for, Memento? Take the lead." His wings momentarily surrounded her, a show of black and crimson, and Alex's breath hitched at the rush of ice as his grace curled around her, a brief, overwhelming touch that was gone as soon as it had come.

When his wings unravelled, Zack was standing at the edge of one of the cracks, head tipped as he peered into the darkness. He glanced back at the two angels before he stepped inside, and in that brief second, his eyes seemed to ignite. And then he was gone, slipping in between the rocks. Alex glanced over at Lucifer to find that his eyes were on her, impatience darkening his features. She paused, waiting for him to speak, but when nothing came, she set off after Zack.

There was barely enough room for her to shuffle sideways, and Alex grunted out her surprise as she planted her hands against the damp stone to help pull her along. The passageway opened up ten feet later, widening enough for her to walk without fear of bumping her shoulders. Despite the silence, she didn't have to glance back to make sure Lucifer was following; the displeasure that chilled the air around her was enough. Zack was nowhere in sight, but Alex hung back long enough to make sure Lucifer had caught up before she continued on.

The cave twisted and turned; Alex wasn't sure how long they walked, but it had to be at least a hundred feet before the walls opened up into a cavern. The first thing that she noticed was the smell of death, metallic and rotten, and she swept her eyes across the room, grace drawn up until they glowed. A corpse lay at Zack's feet — at least, what little was left of a corpse. Beneath the shreds of dark cloth was bones, marred with clumps of decaying flesh. Her feet stopped her in the entranceway, only moving her forward one more step when Lucifer's wings nudged at her back.

"It must be nearby." Zack's voice, though soft, echoed off of the dripping walls, and he turned to look back at the two angels.

Alex heard Lucifer scoff, and she added, "At this point, I'm sure it knows we're here —"

A snarl cut through the air, seemingly coming from every direction all at once, and a black shape exploded from a tunnel behind Zack. A blur of motion sent him flying across the room, the back of his skull cracking against the sharpened stone wall. He slumped to the ground, and Alex threw herself forward.

Her blade flashed through the air, twisting as she ducked beneath a swipe of claws as she leapt for the thin, bony torso. The wendigo shifted, and Alex shrieked as hot knives tore through her shoulder. She twisted, recoiling to barely avoid the claws piercing her neck. The action sent her to the ground, rolling across the rocky floor. The angel blade left her hand, skittering out of her grasp, and it took the angel a moment to catch her breath. She could feel blood trickling from her wounds, her grace rising to stem the flow, and she pushed herself to her feet as the wendigo's jaws parted in a snarl, blackened eyes glowing in the dark.

"Luce!" Alex's shout had the wendigo's head swinging around towards her. Lucifer's grace swelled, and then the wendigo was simply ... gone. Alex flinched, throwing her hands up over her head as bits of flesh shot everywhere, leaving a mist of blood hanging in the damp air. The archangel stood across from her, wings folded casually against his back; his clothes, already black, didn't show the blood, but it stained his pale face.

He dragged his fingers across his cheek, staring down at blood with a curious frown, and Alex heaved herself to her knees. "Please don't lick that." The archangel's tongue darted out, swiping across his lower lip as he grinned, but his hand did fall back to his side as he crossed the cave. Alex struggled up, almost knocked off balance as Lucifer's hands suddenly pulled her upright, seating her on her feet. "I'm fine." She brushed off his support even as she tugged her tattered clothes tighter around her; a quick glance down showed that the claws had somehow missed her jacket, tearing instead just through the thin fabric of her shirt. She turned her eyes up from the wound, searching the darkness for Zack. "Shit."

She picked her way across the cave floor, slick with water and blood, until she reached the nephilim's unmoving form. Blood matted his hair, but even as she crouched down at his side, she could see that his chest was rising and falling. A hand on his shoulder had him stirring, and after a moment he lifted his head, blinking to adjust his eyes to the surrounding darkness. The blood had already stopped flowing, and she placed her hands on either side of his temple to find solid bone: an impact like that should have shattered his skull. She ran her fingers across his scalp, pausing at the sight of a raised scar on his temple, rounded and no thicker than a pencil. Her fingers shifted, brushing across a similar bump on the other side, and Zack grunted in surprise as Alex brushed back the shaggy hair that hid his forehead. A third.

She rocked back onto her heels before she pushed herself to her feet. She had seen wound patterns like that before, like a crown of thorns, put in an angel's head by needles. Her legs carried her a step backwards, back into Lucifer's chest, as Zack struggled to his feet. "He, uh, he's fine." The words stuck to the roof of her mouth, and she licked at her lips as she stepped away from the archangel.

The hitch to her voice went seemingly unnoticed by the nephilim. Zack's eyes turned around the cave, taking in the blood and bits of blackened flesh that littered the ground. "Did you get both of them?"

Both of them? Alex spun around, grace rising to her eyes as a second wendigo stepped into the cave. It towered over them, its head almost brushing the uneven ceiling, and its jaw unhinged in a roar. The skin was grey, stretched thin over bones and sinews, and its sunken eyes were black with malice. Alex's eyes slipped past it, to where her angel blade still lay, abandoned, on the ground. "Two?" She circled around to stand at Lucifer's side. "They're supposed to be solitary!"

Lucifer's wing extended, motioning her back a step until she was behind him, but before he could turn back to the beast, Zack stepped forward, brushing the dust and mud off of his jacket. "I'll take care of this one." The air crackled around him, and this time, his eyes definitely ignited with an unnatural light. "You said fire was effective, correct? Ignis!"

The cave exploded into yellow light as fire spilled from Zack's palm, and the wendigo barely had time to shriek before it crumpled to the ground in a pile of ash. "Shit." Alex's grace stilled, surprised, and she couldn't help but stare at the remains of what had, moments before, been two beasts. "You know, you, uh, really should have led with 'I can shoot fire from my hand.' "

Zack didn't respond, his fingers feeling at the back of his skull. "That hurt." When he pulled his fingers away, they were red, flaky with drying blood. His eyes flicked up onto Alex; they had lost their glow, but the intensity remained. "I didn't know how to do that until right now."

"Huh. Maybe you knocked a tube back into place." Alex reached out to tug on Lucifer's sleeve, nodding off towards the tunnel from which they had come. "We should get going before the sun starts to set. I want to be back in the states before nightfall." She picked her way across the cave, mindful of the gore that littered her path. "Luckily clean-up isn't something we need to worry about."

"Wait. What about him?" Zack pointed towards the human corpse, and Alex paused on the edge of the wall. "We should take him back so his family can bury him."

Lucifer followed Alex, brushing his wings against hers as he started towards the tunnel, and Alex frowned. "The cops can retrieve him." She flicked her grace out after Lucifer, intent on not losing him in the darkness. "Wait a week, maybe two. Enough for the wildlife to pick over what we're leaving." A look back at Zack's pensive frown had her adding, "Or call them as soon as we get back to town. It's your turf, which makes it your call." She rubbed at her shoulder, grimacing at the still-raw skin where the wendigo's claws had torn through. Lucifer had already disappeared from her sight, and she jerked a thumb back over her shoulder. "I should, uh — I should catch up with him." With that, she flicked her wings and set off into the dark.

If Alex had thought the drive to the caves had been quiet, the drive back into town was dead silent. It wasn't the mood that had changed; the usual post-hunt gloom was nowhere to be found, but the tension in the single bench seat of the rusted truck was as tangible as ever. Alex shifted uncomfortably, sandwiched between two solid, stoic figures. Zack's mind was elsewhere, and every once and awhile, the air around him would crackle before falling still. On her other side, Lucifer was as rigid as a rock, eyes out the window, and Alex curled her shoulders in as she studied her hands. Blood still speckled the beds of her nails, and she scraped the drops away with a shake of her head. The truck's mirrors had served to scrub away the blood from her face, but her jacket was still stained. Her shirt had suffered a worse fate, now torn beyond repair.

As the town rolled into view, Alex tugged her jacket tighter to hide the ripped fabric. Her thigh pressed further against Lucifer's, and after a moment, his fingers moved, shifting from his lap to brush against her jeans. Was that what you wanted?

Alex glanced up at the archangel from the corner of her eye, taking a moment to search for a note of scorn. It's not as much fun when you just get to obliterate them, she finally replied, shoulders slumping forward. I didn't even get to kill one. Next time, she added, and once again her eyes flickered to the side.

There won't be a next time. There was something hiding in his tone, a troubled note, and Alex shifted her gaze to Zack; he drove on, unaware of the passing conversation. Not while I'm alive.

There it was again. Before Alex could parcel it out, the truck jolted to a stop, and the engine died. "We're here." Zack stepped out onto the sidewalk, and Lucifer followed, crimson wings folding out into the air as he exited the cramped cab. Alex nudged him aside so she could jump out as well. The sun was past its apex, already edging towards the western sky, but the air was still warm and damp. "You'll find the bus station the next block down. It can take you to where you need to go."

The air crackled as Zack spoke, and Alex turned, reaching out to catch him before he left. "Hey, thanks for letting us tag along." She was met with a blank stare, and after a moment, she stepped forward. "Are you sure you'll be okay on your own? If you need anything we could —"

A flick of Lucifer's wing had her falling silent, and Zack shook his head. "You two should go. You're a beacon for any passing angels, and I don't need them finding me. Not yet." His eyes turned up and down the street, and Zack took a moment to sigh. "I need to take some time away from this town, I think. To discover what I am — who I am," he corrected. "The answers are out there." He reached into his pocket and dug out the keys to his truck. "We're all here for a reason. We just need to find out what that reason is."

The words were spoken over Alex's shoulder, his eyes on Lucifer, and then he was gone, sauntering back around to his side of the rusted truck. Alex watched until he was out of sight; only then did she turn back to look at Lucifer. The archangel's face was unreadable, and it took Alex a moment of courage to shake him from his thoughts. "Hey, Luce ... can we talk?"

Cold eyes dropped down onto her, and Alex shifted under the silent scrutiny. She felt his grace against hers, twitching ever so slightly as he thought. "About?" he finally asked. Alex stepped away, crooking a wing as she started down the street, and he followed with a frown. "If this is about that kid —"

"It's not." They stopped in front of a coffee shop, and Alex took a seat at one of the metal outdoor tables. "It's ... you've been acting weird. To — to me."

"To you." Lucifer's teeth flashed, and he slung an arm over the back of his chair as he settled down across from her. The grin looked forced, and despite the attempt at humor, his eyes had darkened. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Alex snapped. "You talk down to me, you look at me like — like —"

"Like?" Lucifer shifted, his tongue teasing at his upper teeth as he studied her. Alex dropped her attention to her lap as she pushed her grace up against his, wings curling forward to brush against his legs, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Lucifer's gaze flicker with — fear? Alex pulled away, her wings drawing in close. What could possibly frighten him? The anxiety vanished, and ice skated across her grace, a soothing stroke that sent a rush of warmth up Alex's spine. "Like how I realized that Crowley can and will use you to get to me? Like how for the first time I have an exploitable weakness that I can't seem to shake off?" His grace crashed into hers, and his grin twisted into a scowl. "And now that I'm outside of Castiel, it's impossible to worm my way back into that head of yours. Not with his grace bound so tightly to yours. I'm barely holding on."

Alex curled her lip as Lucifer's grace pulled away, but she forced the expression back into neutrality. "You don't have to worry about me," she muttered. "Crowley wouldn't hurt me."

Lucifer scoffed. "I'm sure whatever good times the two of you have shared isn't going to stop him from carving a piece out to you. Getting to me — it's personal now."

Alex slumped in her chair, nudging at the remnants of a plastic fork that sat under their table. "So ... what's your plan then? We can't hide forever." She felt Lucifer's grace rise up within her, brushing across the knot that held Castiel at bay. His face darkened, and Alex watched as his crimson wings irritably flicked. "What's your long term plan anyways? We're not going with the apocalypse again, right?"

"Nothing wrong with the classics." A quick flash of petulance darted across his face. "Obviously first I'll track down Rowena, but after I rip her face off of her skull ... I don't know. I guess I'll have to see just what this vessel can do."

"You could take some time to find another one," Alex muttered; Lucifer frowned, and she quickly cleared her throat. "All I'm saying is —"

"Alex?" A voice, sharp with surprise, had Alex freezing. Jody Mills stood in the darkened doorway of the coffee shop, a lidded white cup in one hand and a wrapped pastry in the other. The tan uniform of the Sioux Falls Police Department was gone, replaced with dark jeans and a canvas jacket. Her short brown hair was hidden beneath a dark baseball cap, but the shadows couldn't hide the bright eyes set into a stern, narrow face. "What are you doing here?"

Alex felt heat flush through her cheeks, and she forced it down as she rose to her feet. "I, uh, I could ask you the same thing," she got out, shifting to try and hide Lucifer from the woman's line of sight. "We're a little out of your jurisdiction, aren't we?"

The sheriff chuckled. "I'm not in town for business. Who's your friend?" Her eyes slid past Alex to rest on Lucifer, and the young angel reluctantly stepped aside.

Lucifer's wings flicked as he rose to his feet, but his face held nothing but a cocky smile. "Vince Vincente." He extended a hand even as Alex winced, barely stifling a groan. His grace rose within her, a silent question, and she shoved her hands deep into her pockets. You can't just go around saying that, she snapped. Someone's going to recognize —

"Vince Vincente?" Jody's eyes widened, and Alex ground her teeth as her gaze swung between the two of them. "No. No way." A grin broke out across her face, and she took two steps forward to narrow the gap. "You know, I was a huge fan when I was younger. Huge. Uh, Jody Mills." She extended a hand before her eyes turned down onto Alex. "How do you know Vince Vincente?"

"I just ... bumped into him a little while ago while getting coffee." Alex glanced up at Lucifer, offering up half a shrug as she did so. "We just started talking, I guess. Sam's a fan," she supplied after a second. "That's how I knew who he was."

"Ah." The answer seemed to satisfy Jody's curiosity, and for a moment, her face seemed to darken. She regarded Alex for a second, scouring her face for any sign of what could be wrong, but the angel kept her face blank. "Hey," the sheriff finally said, the grin returning to her face as she turned back to Lucifer, "is there any chance I can get a picture with you?"

Surprise flitted across Lucifer's face, and Alex felt his eyes on the back of her head. "Sure thing." He stepped aside to let Jody put her coffee down on the table, and Alex took the opportunity to shrug. Is this normal? she heard him ask.

Welcome to the life of a celebrity. Alex tore her eyes away as Jody held out her phone, and the young angel retreated a few steps to frame the photo. Lucifer's surprise had faded to pleased amusement; it thrummed through his grace, a constant, rusty purr. The last thing you need is an ego boost that comes with it, she thought, adding, "Smile," aloud.

Lucifer's cocky grin was all too real, and Alex rolled her eyes as she returned the phone to Jody Mills. "Vince — can I call you Vince?" Jody's stumble only deepened Lucifer's smile, and the sheriff must have taken that for acquiescence, for she continued on. "I just have to say, I'm a huge fan. Chaos Theory was my favorite album, but Courage of Fools had some of the best songs."

"Personally, I'm a fan of Deconstruction," Alex added; that was the name of one of Vincente's albums, right? Judging by the look on Jody's face, it was, but not one of the fan favorites. She glanced over at Lucifer, eyebrows raised. We should get going, she reminded.

Ah. Lucifer cleared his throat, and he clapped his hands together. "Well ... Jody, you said?" He waited for Mills to nod before he did the same. "It was nice to meet you, Jody, but we best be on our way."

He turned to go, but Jody's word stopped him. "We?" The sheriff looked between Alex and Lucifer, a small frown growing across her face. "The two of you ..."

"No." Alex cleared her throat, and her feet carried her one step away from the devil. "No, we're not ... " She paused, tongue poised against her top teeth as she racked her brain for a lie. "He's head back to LA, and I had just mentioned that I was on my way stateside, but we're not traveling together." She shoved her hands into her pockets. "You never said why you were in town." You should go, she added to Lucifer. I'll catch up when I can.

She flicked a wing when Lucifer hesitated, ignoring the chastising, bossy, that rang through her head. He left, sauntering down the road with little more than an angered flick and a, Don't go far. Jody had paused to watch him go, but once he had disappeared from sight, her attention returned to Alex. "We're in town for a funeral," she explained. "There was this hunter — Asa Fox. He and I were ... friends, in a way." A faint blush passed through her cheeks, gone so quickly Alex wasn't sure if she imagined it.

"Asa Fox." The name tasted familiar on her tongue, and the young angel frowned. "I swear I've heard that name before." She dug around in her mind — he must have been someone that Bobby had mentioned. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Jody merely grunted, and she reached past Alex to retrieve her drink. "It's okay. I ... he was a hunter. We both know how that ends." She took a step towards the sidewalk, pausing to motion Alex after her. "You're welcome to come pay your respects, if you want. The wake's tonight, and they're burning the body tomorrow. Unless you had a ride back to the states," she added after a moment, nodding towards the tall, thin frame of Lucifer's vessel.

Alex glanced over her shoulder to hide a frown. He had only made it halfway down the street before the small crowd had converged, a clamor of questions and phones, and she tore her gaze away with a small shake of her head. She couldn't leave with him, not without arousing Jody's suspicion. "I don't." Alex stepped forward, praying that her reluctance hadn't crept into her voice. I'll be a few minutes. Maybe I can slip away.

Take your time. Lucifer's attention still hadn't wandered from the crowd around him, and Alex shook her head.

"Yeah, uh, lead the way." She fell in beside Jody Mills, letting the sheriff lead her away from Lucifer. They started towards the street corner, weaving their way through the sidewalk's morning traffic. "So, you drove all the way from Sioux Falls, huh?"

"Not exactly." Jody's vague answer left Alex with a small frown, and she narrowed her eyes as they rounded the corner, watching the sheriff from the corner of her eye. So intent was she that she didn't immediately see the black car that lay parked against the sidewalk. Not until the doors flew open. Two figures emerged, and Alex's wings flared out before they drew in close.

Winchesters.