The demon snapped Castor's head up at the soft sound of knocking, and his eyes went blank momentarily as he sifted through the deluge of data from his host's memories, filtering them through until he found what he was looking for.
People might be in love with their technology, their computers and mainframes, but there was no greater database than the human brain for organizing information. In an instant, the demon had the entire history of Cortez's interactions with the priest at its command, and it felt a thrill go through him as he digested it at near-superliminal speeds. An exorcist.
The demon didn't fear them. Not many did, although it wondered if Astaroth felt quite the same way if the rumors of what had happened to it were true. But the presence of one in the town presented another risk vector it hadn't anticipated running into quite so early on.
It arranged Castor's features into a tired, friendly smile, and its body language began to shift slowly, almost imperceptibly. Along with their inventiveness and curiosity, one of the other great afflictions of humanity was empathy, and its kind had long been practised in exploiting that. Castor and the exorcist had been passing acquaintances before, and so the groundwork had been laid already, it just need to slouch a little, impress upon the man its vulnerability, try to play on some sympathies. At least until it could get away.
"Liam," it said, forcing hoarseness into its voice. "It's good to be back."
It exaggerated his motions, then, deliberately fumbling as it used its free hand to push up from the bed, leaning heavily on the cane, before appearing to give up and sit back down.
"You'll forgive me if I don't get up," it said, giving a wan smile and holding up Castor's bandaged hands. "Seems I'm not quite back to fighting strength yet.
The last thing it wanted to do was encourage direct contact with an exorcist. It had no idea of the man's abilities, but he knew enough not to take unnecessary risks if it could avoid it.
"Please," it motioned with the cane to the chair opposite, that until a few moments ago had been occupied by the priest. "Take a seat, brother. It's good to see another Knight after all these nurses and orderlies."