Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

18: Refuge

The first couple blocks went well. I was sort of half jogging and trying not to fall down, and the crowds generally were parting for me. I had attracted plenty of attention, but most of the effort people made were a couple camera clicks. I cringed- there was no way I was going to be able to hide my presence anymore.

Someone, however, had called the cops. Or else they had already been here- as I came into the central square of Hell, demons in black started to follow me. Their hands rested on their guns. They wore shades.

I sped up my jog. Only one place to head at this point- The Few's headquarters, the great Caspar building. At my redirection, the police were visibly confused. Any off business involving The Few was fairly routine, but they still weren't sure if I was working for them or planning some sort of elaborate terrorist attack involving two very small children.

I saw two hellhounds emerge from the trailing police, and I sensed my breath quickening. Hellhounds were the worst. It took a lot of bullets to down an angel- a requirement, of course, that I already met- but hellhounds were giant dog-beasts. It was hard to survive being ripped limb from limb.

I made it through the front doors in a hurry, and the smartly dressed doormen who tried to stop me didn't follow me for long. I ran into the first elevator I saw and jammed the 'close' button as fast as I could- I desperately needed a moment to relax, and a suspiciously long elevator ride had always been an ideal place to breath.

The screams of the children droned on my ears. The blood of my wounds left me tasting salt. And I was suddenly quite aware I had left my blade back at the apartment battleground.

Well, it didn't really matter if they knew for certain an angel had caused those deaths. It wouldn't have taken long to figure it out, especially since I was evidently about to make myself known to The Few right now.

Why was I doing this again? Not the whole 'abducting children' thing- I understood that. I understood Michael, of course. But I did not understand myself, and I really didn't understand why I walked right into The Few's meeting room and collapsed on the table.

The room was empty, actually, and much to my relief. But I was sort of disappointed. Some sort of conscious drive in my mind was telling me to seek them out- I decided to chalk that urge up to Moll, of course, as these were her children. They were to be Michael's, now, but I did feel some pity for the strange woman and her lost half-spawn. She probably missed them.

I dully wondered, as I squirmed on top of the grey plastic that coated the meeting table, where The Few even were. Most of their job was meetings. They ran everything, after all. There were an awful lot of meetings involved in that.

They used to frequent the lower levels of Hell, where the indentured humans and new demons did the most boring of work, but then there had been the great massacre. I vaguely remembered a film TC had tried to show me on it once. It was boring, and about demons, so I had fallen asleep. All I knew was that a bunch of people had died in their old meeting room, so they moved up here.

Probably, I'd had to guess, they all had offices in this great building. What else could be filling all these floors? I stored the children under the table and closed the door on them. I noted you could still hear their cries in the hallway, but only if you were near the door. Oh well. I'd come back for them soon.

This wasn't a safe place to be wandering around in blood-stained clothes. But the answer to a few of my more minor problems presented itself quite quickly- on one wall, there was a map, and I learned Stacy's office was on this floor and nearby.

To make matters better, he was in. It didn't look like he was doing much work- indeed, he was reading a light looking book at a clean seeming desk- but at least he was here.