Cliff's Descent

by Dianne Duvall

  “Emma!” Cynthia cried.

  Grabbing the edge of her desk, Emma pulled herself up onto her knees and peered over it. Cynthia still sat in the chair, expression terrified.

  Darkness swallowed them.

  Dimmer reserve lighting flared to life.

  An alarm began to blare. Wonk! Wonk! Wonk!

  “Code red! Code red!” Mr. Reordon shouted over the building’s intercom system.

  “Oh shit.” Emma scrambled to her feet. During the drills, Mr. Reordon always said he would only issue that order if the network fell under attack.

  Cynthia stared at her, frozen in fear.

  Emma hurried around the desk and grabbed her friend’s arm. “We have to go. Now!” Yanking Cynthia up, she propelled her out into the hallway.

  More explosions rocked the building. Screams and shouts filled the voids between. A crush of bodies flooded the corridor as employees stumbled out of their offices and headed for the elevator and stairwell at the far end.

  “Go with the others!” Emma shouted over the noise that now included rapid gunfire as well. She gave Cynthia a push in the right direction, then turned away.

  Cynthia grabbed her hand. “What are you doing? You have to come with us!”

  Emma shook her head. “I have to get Sadie!” The elderly woman treated everyone under the age of sixty as if they were her grandchildren. She even baked them cookies. And though her mind and wit were sharp, her body was frail.

  Understanding dawned in Cynthia’s expression. “I’ll come with you!”

  “No. We’ll catch up. You go! Check on Jasmine and Chloe on the way!” Both women were hugely pregnant.

  Eyes widening, Cynthia gave a jerky nod. “I’ll get them out! Be safe!”

  “You, too! And take the stairs, not the elevator!” Though she was sure the elevator must have some kind of emergency brake, Emma thought it best not to take any chances.

  Cynthia disappeared from view as the flood of employees carried her away.

  Emma squeezed over to the wall, then forced her way against the tide until she reached Sadie’s office. Someone bumped into her, sending her stumbling inside.

  Debris cluttered the office, which appeared empty.

  Good. She must have already evacuated. But just in case… “Sadie!”

  A head adorned with a gray chignon dusted with bits of Sheetrock popped up behind the desk. “Emma?”

  Swearing, Emma hurried toward her, staggering as the building shook again. “What are you doing? Mr. Reordon issued a code red. You’re supposed to evacuate!” She helped the woman to her feet.

  “I forgot.” Looking frazzled, Sadie shook her head at herself. “In my day, when you heard an alarm like that, you were supposed to duck and cover.”

  Emma didn’t think duck and cover was going to help with this. It sounded as if someone was dropping freaking bunker-busting bombs on them. “We have to get down to sublevel 5.” Nerves jangling over the slow pace they had to maintain, she ushered Sadie over to the door.

  Maybe she should just hoist the woman onto her back and try to piggyback her?

  When they reached the hallway, Sadie turned left instead of right.

  “No. It’s this way!”

  Sadie shook her head. “We have to get Wayne and Lloyd!”

  Crap. She’d forgotten they had offices down here. Both men were as old and frail as Sadie. “I’ll get them!” she shouted over the booms. “You head for the stairs!” Once she found Wayne and Lloyd, Emma would have to haul ass to help Sadie down the stairs, a task that might actually necessitate that piggyback ride.

  She glanced around frantically. “Miles!”

  The portly blond looked around, squinting his eyes.

  Emma pushed her way over to him. “Miles!”

  “Emma?”

  “What happened to your glasses?”

  “I don’t know! Somebody knocked them off!”

  She had intended to ask him to help Sadie navigate the stairs. But Miles was so nearsighted she worried he might take a tumble himself.

  After urging him along with the others, she shouldered her way farther back and sighed with relief when she saw Lloyd and Wayne shuffling along with the rest of the crowd.

  “Where’s Sadie?” Lloyd called.

  “Up there!” Emma stood on her toes and pointed to the dusty chignon bobbing ahead. A blur of motion at the far end of the hallway caught her attention. As she pushed Lloyd and Wayne ahead of her, she caught a glimpse of glowing blue eyes.

  Oh shit. Had Vampire Joe escaped?

  She lost sight of him.

  Then glowing amber eyes appeared.

  Was that Bastien, coming after Joe? She couldn’t see clearly for all the dust and smoke and bodies ahead of her.

  Someone stumbled into Emma.

  Dropping her heels to the floor, she turned around.

  Light and sound exploded above her. A roar filled the hallway. Screams erupted. Pain struck as something fell on Emma’s head and back, so heavy it forced her to the ground. Agony shot through her arm. Dust filled her mouth and nose.

  Darkness.

  Chapter Three

  Cliff ground his teeth in his apartment. He should be out there. He should be helping. But no way would Reordon allow it with so many civilians in the vampires’ paths.

  The French immortals fought the mercenaries aboveground. Bastien started summoning reinforcements while Melanie helped the injured.

  “Cliff,” Bastien said.

  “I’m here,” he called. “How bad is it, because it sounds fucking cataclysmic.”

  “It’s bad.”

  “Dr. Lipton’s okay?”

  “For now. Cliff, you up for a fight?”

  “Hell yes, man. Let me out and I’ll help you kick some serious ass.” From the sounds of it, they were critically outnumbered. There were a hell of a lot of mercenaries topside.

  “Me, too,” Joe added. “I’m a little out of it from the drug, but I can hold my own against humans.”

  Cliff’s pulse picked up as he paced, dodging the debris that cluttered his formerly pristine apartment, eager to get out there and do something. He wished for the thousandth time that his kitchen were outfitted with a nice set of knives, but the network balked at providing the vampires with sharp implements.

  Bastien engaged in a quick argument with Melanie that he ultimately lost when she refused to evacuate with the others. Cliff wasn’t surprised. Melanie was the kind of person who always placed the needs of others above her own. As a doctor, she wouldn’t leave until every wound had been tended. And Linda had already evacuated so she could tend the wounded on the other end of… whatever means they were using to evacuate people. Reordon had always been hush-hush about that during the drills, as if he didn’t want the vampires to know.

  Speaking of Reordon… Chris joined the crush of people out in the hallway.

  “Étienne and Lisette are up on the ground,” Bastien shouted to the human. “David will be here any minute. Richart is fetching Roland, Sarah, Marcus, and Ami.”

  “Why the hell is he bringing Ami here?” Reordon yelled back.

  “We have a plan! I’ll fill you in later! Right now you need to let the vampires out to play!”

  “Now I know you’re crazy!”

  “They want to help! And we need all the help we can get! It’s going to take all of us immortals to handle the human firepower. We need the vamps to keep the damned building from collapsing until the rest of you can evacuate! Let them out! I’ll take full responsibility!”

  “Which doesn’t mean shit! Because once Seth hears you put Ami in danger, he’s going to kill you!”

  Cliff sure as hell hoped not. But Seth did love Ami like a daughter. Even the vampires knew that.

  “What other choice do we have?” Bastien countered.

  “You’d better be right!” The volume of Chris’s threat increased as he neared Cliff’s door, passing Stuart’s.
“You’re dead, motherfucker!”

  “He didn’t know they were tracking him!” Bastien yelled.

  “You won’t kill me if I help, right?” Stuart asked. “You aren’t going to let those guys capture me again, are you? I mean, I can help, right?”

  “Yes,” Bastien answered while someone swiped a card and entered the security code outside Cliff’s door. “Help the humans get their wounded to the tunnel.”

  Cliff stood just inside his door. After a clunk, it swung open to reveal Bastien and Chris Reordon. Behind them, dozens of men and women adorned with soot, powdery bits of rubble, and bleeding wounds limped toward the far end of the hallway. Cliff stepped out and glanced in that direction.

  A hole had been blown into the wall, revealing a long tunnel through which the wounded filed.

  He met Bastien’s gaze. “I can help up on the ground.”

  Bastien shook his head. “I don’t want to risk your being tranqed.”

  Reordon moved on to unlock Joe’s door.

  Joe stepped into the hallway, eyes glowing a vibrant blue.

  “Help with the evacuation,” Bastien said, face grim. And a feeling of nostalgia rolled over Cliff. It felt so much like old times—when Bastien would issue orders and Cliff and the rest of his vampire army would follow them—that he might’ve smiled if circumstances weren’t so damn dire. “Check the upper floors. See if anyone is trapped. Get everyone out you can.”

  Nodding, Cliff and Joe took off down the hallway, zipping past humans in a blur. A never-ending river of employees flowed forth from the stairwell. So they forced the doors of the elevator open.

  The bodies of four men lay crumpled on the floor, explaining the screams he’d heard earlier. The damn elevator cable had snapped and whatever explosion had caused it must have taken out half the ceiling as well as whatever safety mechanism was supposed to prevent the thing from free-falling to sublevel 5.

  “Shit,” Joe muttered.

  Nodding, Cliff leaped up through the hole. The mercenaries had wrought so much damage to the building that he could see stars twinkling in the sky far above him.

  That sky was beginning to lighten with the approach of dawn, so he and Joe would have to work fast to keep from frying.

  The two of them catapulted up from floor to floor until they reached sublevel 1.

  Cliff stared. It looked like a damned war zone. Huge pieces of concrete and rubble formed jagged hills as employees coated in dust and blood limped toward the stairwell with expressions of panic, pain, and shock. Those in front stopped and stared when they saw Cliff and Joe. Most stumbled backward when Joe approached them, his blue eyes identifying him as a vampire, not an Immortal Guardian.

  “It’s okay!” Cliff called. “We’re here to help.”

  That appeared to do little in the way of assuaging their fear as Joe shot forward, tossed a man over his shoulder, and zipped back toward the elevator shaft.

  Cliff would’ve taken another minute to calm their fear, but more crap fell from the ceiling with every blast. Dashing forward, he lifted a woman into his arms. Her shrieks pierced his sensitive ears, sparking a grimace as he raced for the elevator shaft.

  “Hold on!” he ordered.

  Her arms locked around his neck as he stepped off.

  A longer shriek nearly deafened him as they plummeted toward the elevator at the bottom. Shortly after he had transformed, Cliff had delighted in testing his new strength and endurance by jumping off higher and higher buildings, enjoying the rush without suffering injuries. So he had no difficulty landing smoothly on the part of the elevator roof that was still intact while protecting his cargo from the jolt.

  “Almost there,” he told her as he dropped through the hole in the ceiling.

  Joe and Stuart zipped past them, going the opposite direction and disappearing up the shaft. The woman’s cries dwindled to whimpers as Cliff swept through the throng to deposit her at the entrance to the escape tunnel.

  He returned to the elevator shaft and leapfrogged up the other floors to reach sublevel 1 again.

  The other vampires raced by, already on their way down with more injured.

  Sublevel 1 had taken a big hit in the short time he’d been gone. Part of the ceiling had buckled. Sheetrock continued fall like rain from the rest of it. At the far end of the corridor, through the chaos and dust and dim lighting, he saw a sister with a crown braid herding several others toward him, no doubt intending for them to use the stairs. But Cliff doubted the elderly woman in the front would be able to navigate them easily. She looked so skinny and frail a breeze could probably tip her over. And she moved with short, stiff steps.

  Cliff started toward her.

  Light and fire burst into life as the building shook with another explosion.

  More of the ceiling collapsed. Furniture and debris from the ground floor fell with a rumble atop the evacuating men and women. Something heavy struck Cliff’s back with enough force to make him stagger.

  Shaking it off, he lunged forward and began to yank office furniture from the top of the pile, then jagged flooring, insulation, and Sheetrock until he found the old woman tucked beneath a tilted stretch of granite that had probably topped a desk.

  Blinking against the dust, she peered up at him.

  “It’s okay,” Cliff told her, hoping she would think him an Immortal Guardian and not be afraid. Unlike Joe and Stuart, Cliff had brown eyes that glowed amber. “I’m here to help. Are you hurt?”

  She tried to answer but coughed instead when dust entered her lungs.

  He quickly went to work unburying her. “Are you okay?”

  She managed a thumbs-up.

  As soon as he could, Cliff reached down and gingerly helped her up out of the pile.

  “Thank you,” she wheezed. “Where’s Emma? You have to find her.”

  “I’m going to carry you down to sublevel 5 first.”

  “I can walk,” she said gamely.

  “I can walk faster.”

  “But—”

  “I’ll come back for Emma. I promise.” Lifting her frail body into his arms, he swept her down to the mouth of the evacuation tunnel.

  An Immortal Guardian he recognized as Marcus and a petite redhead stood beside it. Was she Ami?

  As soon as he saw Cliff racing toward them, Marcus stepped in front of the woman and raised his weapons.

  Shit. He wouldn’t attack Cliff, thinking he’d escaped, would he?

  Melanie finished tending an injured man nearby and hustled over to place a hand on Marcus’s arm. “Wait.”

  He scowled at her. “Is that—?”

  Cliff skidded to a halt.

  Melanie addressed the woman. “Ma’am? Are you hurt?”

  The woman shook her head. “The ceiling collapsed. I was trapped and couldn’t move until this young man freed me. I told him I could walk, but—”

  Cliff lowered the woman to her feet. “I said I could walk faster.”

  The woman nodded, her expression slack with amazement. “He could.”

  Cliff took a step back and sent Marcus a cautious glance. Then, after nodding to Melanie, he shot back toward the elevators and returned to sublevel 1. Stuart and Joe had already dug two men out from under the wreckage. They had also uncovered the bodies of three who didn’t make it.

  Cliff looked around for the woman he’d seen helping the others and saw no sign of her. Swearing, he tore through the wreckage in search of her. An explosion took out more of the ceiling. Rubble rained down on the other side of the pile he dug through. “Come on,” he whispered. “Where are you?”

  A moan reached his ears, followed by a cough.

  Leaping toward it, he grabbed slabs of concrete and flooring and tossed them aside, reducing the pile until he found her.

  Dust coated her like ash, powdering her braid and turning her smooth brown skin a grayish white. She blinked up at him. Her forehead glistened with blood that oozed from a gash on one side
.

  “It’s okay,” he told her. “I’m here to help. Don’t be afraid.”

  Her chin dipped in a brief nod.

  Another explosion hit what was left of the ground floor.

  Cliff swiftly leaned over to shield her as flaming bits rained down around them.

  As soon as it stopped, he knelt beside her.

  “Y-Your eyes are glowing.”

  “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. I just want to help. Are you injured?” He swept his hands over her in a quick, impersonal search for injuries, concerned by the splotches of blood that marred her clothing.

  “Th-there’s a woman,” she said. “Sadie. Sh-She’s old. She can’t make it down the stairs.”

  “I already got her to safety. Are you Emma?”

  Surprise lit her dark brown eyes as she nodded.

  “I think your arm is broken, Emma. I need to bind it.” Tearing a strip of cloth from his T-shirt, he wrapped it around a deep gash on her arm. Then he tore another and—preternaturally fast—fashioned a sling.

  She moaned.

  “Sorry,” he said, knowing every movement caused her pain.

  Nodding, she gritted her teeth. Her lips pressed tightly together as he lifted her into his arms, spawning even more pain.

  “I’m sorry,” he said again as he dashed over to the elevator shaft.

  She looped her free arm around his neck and looked over his shoulder. Her hold tightened.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll keep you safe.”

  “Mercenaries,” she whispered in his ear, her warm breath sending a shiver through him.

  Mercenaries? Behind him?

  Well, shit. He couldn’t fight them and protect Emma at the same time.

  It took mere seconds to jump down to sublevel 1 and ferry her to the tunnel opening.

  Melanie hurried over to him.

  “Her arm is broken and bleeding.” Cliff carefully lowered the woman to her feet. “And she has a gash on her head.”

  As soon as Melanie nodded to him, Cliff returned to sublevel 1.