She looked up from her book to take a drink of the (ambrosia-laced, with her consent) pink lemonade, when she noticed a ring of demonic energy form in the ground, and saw Azazel crawl out of it.

He was panting heavily, and closed the portal, before flopping down onto his back... where she saw his clothing was torn badly... or, rather, it looked like it had been sliced.

And his back looked injured as well.

"Ah!" the demon exclaimed, shaking his head lightly.

"Of course." he then said, before looking at Erica.

"Gimme a second to deal." he told her.

"Good? No, not right now." Azazel admitted.

"I WILL be, as soon as I get in touch with an acquaintance or two on the surface here." he then said.

"..." he was silent for another moment, and then sighed heavily.

"I really... REALLY cannot go back down into Hell without Lilith knowing, it seems." he commented. "And if I'm not taking care of Cerby, she always, ALWAYS comes after me." he growled.

"Damn it, that whip hurts, too." he grumbled further.

"And I know I'm not even lucky to escape any more. She lets me go because she doesn't want to deal with the hassle of possibly annoying Liz." he sighed, before looking at Erica again.

"So! How've YOU been?" he asked.

"Only a handful of people can fix these injuries." Azazel responded. "Lilith herself, which is NOT happening... and one of her children, the Lilims." he told her further.

"And only two would be able to do so." he continued.

"Lil, and Vae." he said further, before taking out his cell phone and dropping it on the ground.

"Either one works, but Vae'll be a lot nicer about it." he informed her. "Lil may be easier to get ahold of, but... well, yeah, there you go." he finished, before flopping out a little.

"...can't escape my past..." he murmured.

"...info gathering." Azazel responded.

"And I had to go around and ask ALL my points of contact." he went on.

"Unfortunately, that put me in the contested area between Lilith and Morrigana." he continued. "Sadly, seemed like Lilith had control right now, so... she claimed me as her property for a bit." he lamented.

"Until she got bored, anyway." he sighed.

"I really don't like her."

"....sorry." Azazel responded.

"As for what she did, she used that special cat-o-nine-tails on me." he told her. And Vae knew the one. It inflicted massive pain, without doing extremely serious damage, and was meant to beat someone into absolute submissiveness.

It was considered one of Lilith's most feared and effective weapons.

"I'm all TOO familiar with it." he sighed.

"But thank you, I can feel her mana regressing and leaving." he then said.

"You're a lifesaver, Vae."

Once again, Azazel sighed.

"I know." he replied. "It's why I usually only go down there to tend to Cerby." he told her. "This was one of those rare occasions where I wander the Hell-scape... well... dangerously." he muttered.

"Also, had a feel that I'd be needed you or Lil's help, so I made sure I snatched some repayment while down there." he then said further, before digging into his pocket, and pulling out a shard of what looked like a red and black crystal.

It was unlike anything Erica had ever seen, but Vae knew it well. It was one that could increase the potency of a demon's abilities... and they could channel it. For Lil, it could have been her art or her hunting. For Vae, it could be her performing or her... 'performing'.

"It's aged, too." he told her.

"Meaning it's niiiiice and strong."

Azazel slowly got to his feet, and handed her the shard, the ore glowing almost ominously when it exchanged hands. But Erica looked at Azazel, and his smirk showed that it was nothing to worry about.

"Like I said, I knew enough to get some repayment in advance." he said.

"I know better than to ask for such help without at least having SOMETHING to offer in return." he reasoned.

"But. Again. Thanks, Vae." he restated.

"Hope you put that to some good use." he finished with a bit of a dark laugh. But it was to be expected... he might not have been evil, but he was still a demon, and his laugh sounded as such.

Azazel shook his head.

"No." he responded.

"That's all." he told her. "Say 'Hi' to everyone in the troupe for me." he said further.

"And let me know when your next show is." he added. "...well, clearly you're rehearsing for a show now, but I mean when one is... say, in the next 4-5 months or so." he clarified.

"Hopefully Aedan and I will be able to take it in by then." he reasoned quietly.

"...." Azazel was silent for a moment, looking at the point where Vae had left.

"If Aedan is even capable of going..." he lamented, his voice heavy, before he hung his head.

"And the worst part?" he then muttered, before turning towards Erica.

"I got nothing." he told her.

"Nada. Zip. Zilch." he reiterated, sounding more than a little frustrated.

"When Lilith forced my reasoning for being in Hell out of me, even SHE admitted she doesn't know anything about this sort of thing happening. And if she knew, she would have taunted me with the knowledge of her knowing." he continued.

"And the one thing I'll credit Lilith for... she doesn't lie about that sort of thing. Not usually, anyway..." he then said, thinking about it.

"Point is, nothing. Not a scrap of info."

"It's all right." Azazel responded.

"Pain is temporary." he said. "But yeah, whatever it is that's happening, the demon realm knows jack shit about it." he lamented, shaking his head slightly and sighing heavily.

"But. Anyway." he then mumbled.

"How have you been doing?" he asked.

"Any more incidents, or serious ones, at least?" he asked further.