Eliot didn't let on that he was gritting his teeth, or that he was holding himself still to avoid flinching with the blows. He just kept his gaze steady, unwavering except with seeming disinterest.

"Why would I wanna take over?" he glanced from Sam's back to the Devil with the snake. It figures that he would favor a snake. "So far you've been appealin' to my humanity, but I wouldn't be in Hell if I had any. You wouldn't want me. So I don't see what's in it for me besides doin' somethin' I really don't wanna."

Once upon a time Eliot had been that sort of man, he may even mean those words if he said them back then, but now they were no more than a really risky bluff. Or he could try to keep the Devil's attention on him and give Sam a reprieve. "And maybe he ain't the one I've got no respect for."