To say she had taken Azazel by surprise would be a massive understatement.

He was on his back, Aedan atop him, and it was clear what she wanted.

His brain. His flesh. She wanted to consume him.

And he knew that if she consumed his demon flesh... it would be nothing but bad for the BOTH of them.

"God DAMN it!" he cursed, as he held her back and stopped her from getting her teeth and nails close to him.

"She's too far gone." he growled, as he started to push back and attempted to overpower her physically.

"......" Azazel was silent as he witnessed this.

"What the...?" he wondered, as he checked her.

"Aedan?" he asked, though he got no answer.

"The hell did you do, Rylie...?" he mumbled, before getting to his feet and hefting Aedan onto his back.

"Need to bolt." he mumbled.

With that, he started to make his way back outside, with questions for Rylie when he got to her.

"Yeah." Azazel responded.

"I did." he said.

"Er... thanks." he told her.

"Question, though." he said. "What did you DO!?" he exclaimed.

"Seriously, what did you do to get this to happen?" he asked her.

"...and what was with that grin when I stepped out here?"

"....this is true." Azazel admitted.

"Listen, do you want to come back to the Unit with me?" he asked.

"Let my boss know what happened?" he said.

"You'd be safe for a while, at least." he told her. "Plus, they might be able to help with your bike being busted and all." he then added.

"How about it?"

Azazel nodded.

"Yep. I do." he told her.

"Just need to sneak you past the police, and we can get on our way." he said.

"Relax, I'll have a story for them." he then assured her.

"...should get them to the drug den, too." he mumbled further.

"God, this city's a mess." he then commented.

Azazel just sighed.

"Fair point." he replied.

With that, they made their way back to the police barrier, and Azazel... using his silver demon tongue... managed to convince the chief there that this was all because of the drug gang and the effects of what they were peddling. He also told them where they were, and how they had seemed to be trying to kill each other.

Once info was exchanged, they parted ways, and Azazel and Rylie made their way to his car, where he laid Aedan down in the back seat, and buckled her in appropriately, making sure there was a pillow and blanket there.

"All right, get it." he told Rylie.

"We've got a bit of a drive ahead of us."

Azazel got into the driver's seat, shut the door, and buckled in.

"Few hours." he told her.

"Enough time to catch up." he chuckled, pulling out of the parking spot, and driving away.

"And that is a massive relief." he then said, finally allowing himself to look worried.

"I don't want to lose her..." he told her.

"I... really wouldn't... take that well..." he mumbled further.

Azazel was silent for a moment, his eyes widening, before he sighed.

"Know what?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yes." he said.

"Yes, I believe I have." he confirmed.

"Aedan and I... well... we have a special understanding, I suppose." he told her.

"And I wouldn't want to lose that. It'd be worse than hell."

Azazel sighed again.

"Hope so..." he mumbled.

"Regardless, how have you been?" he asked.

"Last I saw you, you were in Europe." he told her.

"What are you doing on THIS continent?" he asked her.

"More general wanderlust, or something specific?"

"Well, California IS a nice place." Azazel admitted.

"And it's good to see you again." he told her.

"Seriously, I've been wondering how you were doing, what was up, and all that." he said further.

"Still keeping in touch with Gregory?" he asked.

"I mean, now that you're on the same continent that he works on, you must be speaking with him more, yeah?" he asked further.

"Just out of curiosity, of course." he then added.