Hell was no fun any more. Granted, Lazar supposed Hell had never supposed to be fun to begin with, but it had been fun for him. He was a demon, created by Lucifer, made for the purpose of tormenting souls. He considered himself quite good at it.

Now there was a new ruler. Now there was Aleister, King of Hell, and he seemed set on killing the fun. He was too human, in Lazar's opinion. Looking to create order where there should be chaos. It had the stench of humanity all over it.

Lazar was ambitious. He'd have always had aspirations. He had had aspirations for years, which was why he had so many pieces in place. Which was why he had been juicing up, steadily growing in power. Aleister's ascension was not why he wanted to take over, yet it had certainly motivated him further.

Especially because Aleister, for all his faults, was undeniably shrewd. Lazar knew he was wondering how a demon like him could have become as strong as he was now. He didn't want him poking around. Not him, not his pet hunters and not anyone else associated with that fat spider in his web.

There was no out-scheming Aleister. But he could defeat him outright, if he grew powerful enough. He needed more.

And so he ended up outside Raphael's cell, pushing the door open and stepping back. "Come out. I won't ask twice." He didn't like being kept waiting.

"Someone has been very naughty." Not Raphael, obviously. Lazar just liked keeping him on edge.