<strong></strong><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">-----JOINED POST-----</span><br/><strong>--Erato and Belphegor tagged Zaeroses--</strong></div><br/><br/><strong>“Why did you take his blindfold off?”</strong>Erato asked without greeting. They were past courtesy, that much was sure.<br/><br/>Seeing the furious Erato enter made Belphegor raise her brows in wonder, barely raising her head from the book.<br/><strong>"Well, look what the hellhound dragged in! And why shouldn't I take his blindfold off? Are you afraid he might not like what we've done with the place? I agree it's a bit...gory,"</strong>Belphegor said looking around.<strong>"...but what would you expect of Hell?"</strong>she ended with a tone of amused amazement.<br/><br/>Erato's lips twitched in a scornful gesture, revealing her white fangs.<strong>"Why are you here Belphegor? There is no one left here to inspect. As you might have noticed, this layer is empty now."</strong>The purple skinned demoness gripped her whip, ignoring Zaeroses presence. She refrained from looking him in the eyes.<br/><br/><strong>"I wouldn't say empty, lov' "</strong>Belphegor replied in a playful, faux-Cockney accent. She turned to her left, pushing her head backwards, and shifting her gaze to Zaeroses.<strong>"Besides, there's you vermin inhabiting this layer."</strong>She didn't bother to hide her resentment towards the denizens of the second layer. Reverting to her state of contempt she decided to reply properly to Erato's question.<strong>"Whether there is more work for me to carry out here, or not, isn't your decision, or mine. I do the Demon Lord's bidding and he wills me here, you over-sized grape."</strong>She ended, raising her voice and stabbing at Erato's skin color.<br/><br/><strong>"The Demon Lord, yes..."</strong>a name which Erato preferred to remain somewhere in the back of her mind. She feared for her Queen and their unofficial freedom. Perhaps it was unwise to challenge the Demon Lord's lackey so Erato's disdain dwindled slightly.<br/><strong>"What does he know about being here?"</strong>Erato asked patiently, relaxing her muscles and changing her posture. It was less intimidating now as her natural aggressiveness began to fade under strict control.<br/><strong>"Who brought you here, angel?"</strong>she quickly spat at Zaeroses, afraid of what he might answer.<br/><br/>Apparently Erato did know fear, or at least faked it very well. But at the sound of the question addressed to her, Belphegor couldn't help but ponder and narrow her eyes. Should she tell her the truth, lie or avoid the question altogether? She decided on something else entirely.<strong>"He told me more than enough. You needn't question him further, I believe that authority belongs to me."</strong>She berated Erato with a muted scowl, while jamming a powerful hex down Zaroses' throat to prevent him from speaking the truth.<br/><br/>For one second, one second alone, Erato's features changed from stoic calmness to alarm. Then her eyes shifted from the Celestial to Belphegor, hard, cold and proud.<strong>"In that case what should we do with him? He can't possibly stay here any longer and I'm not sending him back. If your master begs to differ, he can keep him as a pet, maybe raise a whole line of mutts with the both of you."</strong>This time she didn't refrain from revealing her disgust, albeit the fact that Erato herself was following her mistress like a stray dog. While Belphegor had no choice on the matter to begin with and was forced to serve her master almost to the point of reaching religious fervor, Erato served the queen wholeheartedly to begin with. This made Belphegor inferior in her point of view and she did nothing to hide it.<br/><br/>Belphegor registered every change in Erato's expression, every last detail captured to the millimeter and recorded to the nanosecond. Still, she didn't act on the change she thought she saw in Erato's expression. She'd mull it over and over for some time before pointing fingers. Regardless, Erato's reaction was very suspicious.<strong>"Ain't that funny, the mangy mutt's got some bite. Listen, fleabag, the angel stays in my custody until the Demon Lord decides otherwise. If your queen wants to play with him she may ask for the Lord's permission."</strong>Belphegor ended triumphantly. Erato's slander really didn't faze her, she knew there was only one man, if you could call him that, that was allowed to touch or see Belphegor's naked body.<br/>Furthermore, the Demon Lord wouldn't use Belphegor as a breeder, he knew just how broken her soul was, just enough to make her the perfect anomaly. Even with angelic help she was sterile.<br/><br/>The hooved demoness thought carefully what words to use next. She was the Queen's Ambassador and she was also very conscious of her title. She knew she had stepped out of line. Showing her clawed hands to Belphegor in an appeasing manner, Erato decided to change course. "Fair enough. It was uncouth of me. Might I ask permission to bring him to the Queen before you take full custody?" Erato knew that Belphegor wasn't one to stubbornly do something which wasn't in her interest.<strong>"The Queen hasn't seen you for quite awhile as well."</strong><br/><br/>The fact that Erato dialed down her fiery nature and admitted her fault made Belphegor level her own comments.<strong>"Alright. She may see him, but I insist I bring him to her myself."</strong>She turned her attention to Zaeroses.<strong>"It'll make a nice quill."</strong>she justified herself while violently plucking a feather from the angel's plumage, planning to use it for voodoo if push would come to shove. Next, she searched in her book and babbled a few words in an ancient language. From the closest shadow slithered out an inky, black slime familiar. At Belphegor's command it slid under Zaeroses and coiled itself around him a few times, but waited for her next command to lock Zaeroses in an impossible to break hold. With a snap of her fingers, the locks around his wrists and ankles flung open and the familiar locked itself in place.<br/><br/>Urging the angel to the door, Belphegor couldn't help but make one last jab at Erato, before heading out the door.<strong>"You're a lousy ambassador, did you know that?"</strong>