Lost the signal, I said briefly. Whats wrong with the baby?
Im at the hospital. She couldnt breathe, and I called an ambulance. Theyve got her in the emergency room and they kicked me out, and I need you here for moral support. Im terrified, Rachel! Her voice was thick with tears.
Wheres Bob? I said, trying to be practical.
With me. You know how helpless men are. He just paces and looks grim, and I need someone to give me encouragement. I need my best friend. I need you . How soon can you make it?
Strange how we could become such good friends in so short a time. It had felt like an enduring bond, not an office friendship, almost as if Id known her in another life. But she had no more clue about my past than I did. Which hospital?
St. Uriels. Were in the emergency waiting room. Come now, Rachel! Please!
St. Uriels, I thought. Thats wrong, isnt it? Was Uriel a saint? But I made soothing noises anyway. Ill be right there, I said. And knew I lied.
I flipped the phone shut, mentally reviewing the contents of my desk. Nothing mucha copy of House Beautiful, the latest Laurell K. Hamilton, and the Bible, which was admittedly weird. I didnt understand why I had itmaybe Id been part of some fundamentalist cult before Id run away. God knew. I only knew I needed to have a Bible with me.
I would find another, as soon as I checked into a hotel. There was no need to go back. I traveled light, and left as little impression behind as I could. Theyd find no clues about me if they searched my desk. Particularly since I had no clues about myself.
My apartment was only slightly less secure. There were no letters, no signs of a personal life at all. I had a number of cheap Pre-Raphaelite prints on the wall, plus a large framed poster of a fog-shrouded section of the Northwest coast that spoke to me. I hated to leave it behind, but I needed to move fast. Id have to ditch the car in the next day or two, buy another. It would take Julie that long to realize Id gone missing. Shed be too busy hovering over baby Amanda, watching each struggling breath with anxious eyes.
But Amanda wouldnt die. Shed start to get better, as would all of the other newborns that I knew were filling the hospitals as I lingered. All I had to do was get far enough away and theyd recover. I knew it instinctively, though I didnt know why.
I pushed the elevator button, then paced the darkened hallway restlessly. Nothing happened, and I pushed it again, then pressed my ear to the door, listening for some sign that the cars were moving. Nothing but silence.
Shit, I said again. There was no help for itId have to take the stairs.
I didnt stop to think about it. The time had come to leave, as it always did, and thinking did no good. I had no idea how I knew these things, why I had to run. I only knew that I did.
It wasnt until the door to the stairs closed behind me that I remembered my watcher, and for a moment I freaked, grabbing the door handle. It was already locked, of course. I had no choice. If I was going to get out of town in time, I had to keep moving, so I started down the stairs.
In time for what? I had no clear idea. But baby Amanda wouldnt survive for long if I didnt move it.
I tripped on the next landing and went sprawling, slamming my shin against the railing. I struggled to my feet, and
froze. Someone was in the stairwell with me. I sensed him, closer than hed ever been before, and there was nothing, no one, between him and me. No buffer, no safety. Time was running out.
I had no weapon. I was an idiotyou could carry concealed weapons in this state, and a really small gun could blow a really big hole in whoever was following me. Or a knife, something sharp. Hell, hadnt I heard you could jab your keys into an attackers eyes?
I didnt know whether he was above me or below me, but the only doors that opened from the stairwell were the ones on the parking level. If I went up, Id be trapped.
I started down the next flight, moving as quietly as I could, listening for any matching footsteps. There were none. Whoever he was, he made no sound.
Maybe he was a figment of my paranoid imagination. I had no concrete reasons to do the things I did, acting on instinct alone. I could be crazy as a bedbug, imagining all this power. Why in the world should small, insignificant Rachel Fitzpatrick have anything to do with the well-being of a baby? Of a number of babies? Why did I have to keep changing my name, changing who I was? If someone was following me, why hadnt he caught up yet?
What would happen if I simply drove home and stayed there? Joined Julie at the hospital?
Amanda would die. I had no choice. I had to run.
AZAZEL MOVED DOWN THE STAIRS after the demon, silent, scarcely breathing. He could sense its panic, and he knew it was going to run again. He had taken longer to find it this timeit must be getting better at coming up with new identities. If the demon vanished once more, he had no idea how long it would take him to find it again. The longer it roamed the earth, the more destruction it could wreak.