I've Sold Sin to Saints for Centuries

Open positions, so to speak, are a pain in the ass.

Do you have any idea how many applicants there are for an opening in crossroads deals?

And then there's the interview process, and following up on references, looking into histories, and seeing what other demons you'll piss off if you recruit from their steno pools. You can't just give any old demon a pair of red eyes and send them off to a crossroads. No, no. There's training and job-shadowing and a handbook to memorize.

All metaphorically speaking, of course, but the point is that replacing Verity is a bloody nightmare.

Not that he liked Verity; no one liked Verity. And not that he trusted her; you'd have to be an idiot to trust her.

But he could rely on her -- she did what she was told, she filed detailed reports about all sorts of interesting things, and she was damned good at her job, if annoyingly smug about that fact. And, yes, all right, he's quite sure she did all that far more out of a desire to cover her own ass than out of any loyalty to him, but that doesn't change the fact that she did it.

And then Sam Winchester went and shot her, and now Crowley not only has to deal with replacing her, he has to deal with this iron she had in the fire with Abby Fischer, or whatever she's calling herself now, because Lilith thinks it's a grand idea.

And when Lilith wants something, well, Lilith gets it.

That's another thing. Lilith has never hesitated to ignore the chain of command and deal with her subordinates' subordinates herself, if she were so inclined. (Lilith has never hesitated to ignore anything if she were so inclined.) If she wanted to talk to Verity -- or anyone else -- directly, she would and did. It isn't really anything to worry about, sometimes the boss likes to be hands on. But recently, well, she and Verity had one too many closed door meetings for Crowley to be completely sanguine about them.

Crowley would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that Verity was up to something. And he has no friggin' idea if it died with her or not.

So, in conclusion . . . giant pain the ass.

If Verity weren't dead, he'd kill her himself.