Cliff's Descent

by Dianne Duvall

  “I’m sure someone else would’ve taken up the slack and helped you.”

  “But what if they didn’t? What if they couldn’t because they were injured?”

  “Oh honey.” Cynthia’s features softened. “Is that why you’ve been lifting weights? So if the network falls under attack again, you’ll be able to sling people over your shoulders in a fireman’s carry and get them to safety?”

  “Maybe?” Emma responded, thinking it sounded lame and hoping Cynthia wouldn’t worry she was suffering from PTSD or something. She wasn’t. At least she didn’t think so. She just wanted to be prepared.

  For anything.

  Rising, Cynthia circled the desk and wrapped her in a hug. “Well, now I feel bad.”

  Emma hugged her back with a smile. “Why?”

  “Because while you’ve been doing the whole heroic Let me build greater strength so I can save more lives in the future thing, I’ve been more like I’m going to eat all the junk food I want because who knows what tomorrow will bring.”

  She laughed.

  “It isn’t funny,” Cynthia protested as she released her and backed away. “I’ve gained like fifteen pounds since the mercenaries struck.”

  “Is Todd complaining?” He’d better not be. Emma would kick his ass if he so much as—

  Cynthia snorted. “Hell no. That man loves me. And my curves.”

  “He really does.” And Cynthia did indeed have lovely curves.

  Her eyes lit with excitement. “Which is why I’m here.”

  Because Todd loved her?

  Emma stared. “Oh crap. Did Todd propose?”

  Her friend laughed. “No. He just gave me some news that’s going to make you very happy.”

  Wariness rose. They weren’t going to try to set her up again, were they? Because the last double date Cynthia and Todd had dragged Emma on had been a disaster. The guy had been attractive and polite but had talked incessantly. He’d spent so much time bragging about his job and his bank account, his fancy car and ludicrously expensive watch, that the rest of them had barely gotten in a word or two. “What news?”

  So excited she practically jumped up and down, Cynthia blurted, “Vampire Cliff eats lunch in the cafeteria now!” Throwing her hands up in the air, she gave a delighted scream as if she had just found out she was going to have a one-on-one meeting with Dwayne Johnson.

  Cynthia loved Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock. Which made her devotion to Todd all the more adorable. While Dwayne Johnson could easily sweep a woman off her feet, Todd was more likely to trip her.

  Emma smiled, not quite sure why Cynthia found the news so exciting. “Good for him. I didn’t know they had a cafeteria down on sublevel 5.”

  “They don’t. They only have a break room.”

  “Oh.”

  Cynthia stood on the opposite side of the desk, watching her expectantly.

  “I don’t—”

  “He’s eating lunch in our cafeteria now.”

  Emma’s eyes widened. Her heart gave a little leap. Her pulse quickened. Excitement warred with disbelief, soon joined by nervousness.

  Cliff ate lunch in their cafeteria?

  Cynthia pointed at her with a knowing grin. “And that’s the reaction I was waiting for. If you were white, you’d totally be blushing right now. You have it so bad for him.”

  “No I don’t,” Emma hissed. “And would you keep your damn voice down? They can hear us down there!”

  Cynthia’s eyes widened. “Oh crap. I forgot. Sorry.”

  “Anyway, I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it. We work the day shift, and he’s a vampire. He probably eats lunch at midnight.”

  Shaking her head, Cynthia retook her seat and lowered her voice to a whisper. “No, he doesn’t. Most days he eats lunch the same time we do.” Some of the joy left her pretty face. “Todd said Cliff has been… struggling a little since the attack. Since he had his first… you know.”

  Psychotic break?

  Emma nibbled her lower lip as worry blossomed. Once the smoke had cleared and Mr. Reordon had gotten everyone settled in the new network headquarters building, then briefed them on the injuries and deaths among employee ranks, the first thing Emma had wanted to know was if the vampires had survived the blitz. If Cliff had survived.

  Mercenaries had already begun to infiltrate the building when Cliff had unburied her, gently tended her broken arm, and whisked her away to safety. And she’d spent much of the ensuing hours wondering if he had returned to sublevel 1 and confronted them. If he’d had help or if he’d fought them alone. If they had wounded him. Or killed him. There had been so many…

  It had never occurred to her that they might capture him. She had assumed they were there to nab an immortal. So her heart had gone out to him when she’d learned those bastards had captured him and tortured him to such an extent that he’d experienced his first psychotic break. And he had lost his friend Joe, too.

  “It’s okay,” Cynthia said softly, dragging her from her thoughts. “He’s doing okay.” Leaning forward, she whispered, “Todd said he’s been doing better since Mr. Reordon showed him footage of his actions the day of the mercenary attack. Apparently Cliff worried everyone was bullshitting him when they said he’d helped. He was afraid he’d hurt someone or something.”

  Poor guy.

  “So,” Cynthia said louder. “No more eating lunch at the picnic tables outside. You’re eating lunch in the cafeteria today.”

  A little zing of excitement shot through her. Whenever weather permitted, Emma ate lunch outside at the picnic tables around back. She liked the quiet, the fresh air, the wildflowers, and enjoyed getting in a little uninterrupted reading while she ate.

  She looked at the comfortable slacks and casual blouse she wore, then raised her hands and patted her hair.

  Cynthia grinned. “You look fine. Beautiful as always. Let’s go.”

  Nerves jangling, Emma rose and rounded her desk.

  Her friend glanced down, then winced. “Well, maybe wear some sexy pumps tomorrow.”

  Emma wiggled her toes inside her running shoes. “Nope. It’s this or nothing.” She’d done the whole attractive but uncomfortable savvy suit, high heels, and perfect makeup thing in the past but would do so no more. Anyone who didn’t like her the way she was could kiss her ass.

  Grabbing her cell phone, she followed Cynthia out into the hallway and closed her door. She didn’t bother locking it. No one would slip in to steal her purse or disturb anything while she was gone. If anyone did, the plethora of surveillance cameras would swiftly identify the culprit. And if any doubt remained, Reordon would simply summon a telepathic Immortal Guardian to ferret out the thief.

  So… yeah. No one so much as stole a pen around here.

  Her heart beat a little faster as they approached the cafeteria. And she discovered she was actually holding her breath as she passed through the wide doorway. Pausing just inside, she swept the large room with an eager gaze.

  Disappointment struck when she didn’t spy Cliff.

  Beside her, Cynthia made a hmmm sound. “Maybe he’s running late.”

  Or not. Cliff didn’t show the whole time they dined. Nor did he appear the next day or the day after that.

  “Well, now I feel like crap for getting your hopes up,” Cynthia said in the privacy of the soundproof women’s restroom as she washed her hands. “Sorry.”

  Emma smiled to hide her disappointment. “I’ll take it as a good sign. Maybe he’s sleeping better.”

  “Could be. Todd said Cliff seemed to relax quite a bit after viewing that footage Mr. Reordon showed him.”

  Emma hoped so. Just in case though, she found herself once more dining in the cafeteria the following week. Cynthia was spending her lunch break running errands, so Emma chose to sit at a small table in the corner where she could lose herself in a sci-fi romance novel while she ate.

  She had barely made a dent
in the spicy fried rice on her plate when a hush fell over the room.

  Pausing with the fork halfway to her mouth, she looked up.

  All eyes focused on the doorway.

  Several network guards garbed all in black and sporting semiautomatic rifles and tranq guns entered and took up positions around the room like Secret Service agents preceding the president of the United States. Her heart stopped, then began to pound when a familiar figure stepped into the doorway and paused.

  Cliff.

  Chapter Six

  He was even more handsome than Emma remembered, with broad shoulders, the beginnings of dreads, and perfect brown skin that even cover models would envy. It looked so smooth and soft where he didn’t have a five-o’clock shadow, begging to be touched.

  Uncertainty painted Cliff’s features as he glanced around. Giving his wide-eyed audience an abrupt nod, he directed his gaze straight ahead and crossed to the counter. Emma couldn’t help but stare like the others. The jeans he wore looked faded, comfortably worn, and clung to powerful thighs. A white T-shirt contrasted nicely with his skin and outlined a muscled chest and abs.

  “Cliff!” a booming voice greeted him, so loud in the silence that Emma jumped. Behind the counter, Mason grinned at him. “Good to see you again. What can I get you today?”

  Some of the tension in Cliff’s posture eased as he smiled in return.

  Damn, he was handsome.

  Whatever Cliff said next was spoken too low for her to hear from her position in the corner.

  “Yes, sir. Coming right up.” Mason left and returned with a tray heaped with so much food it practically hung over the edges.

  Emma stared.

  Cliff laughed, the deep rumble drawing a smile from her. “Thank you.” His smile, however, faltered as he turned to face the room. She thought his hands might’ve tightened a bit on the tray, too.

  As he strode forward, the thud of his boots seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet that had fallen.

  A quiet broken by furtive whispers.

  Cliff seated himself at an empty table and gave no indication he noticed when two men nearby rose and moved to a table farther away. Three more did the same.

  Emma glared at them. Pussies.

  Keeping his gaze on his tray, Cliff began to eat.

  Tension thrummed in the air.

  Lowering her fork to her plate, Emma added her phone to her tray, then rose and strode toward him. Her pulse picked up as she stopped a few paces away. “Hi.”

  Cliff glanced up, his pretty brown eyes reflecting surprise that anyone other than Mason had spoken to him. “Hi.”

  She motioned to the chair across from his. “Is this seat saved?” Cynthia had mentioned that Mr. Reordon had dined with Cliff the first couple of times he’d ventured up here.

  “No. You can take it.”

  She smiled. “Actually, I was wondering if I might join you.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Sure.” Rising, he motioned to the chair, then waited for her to settle in it before he retook his own seat.

  How sweet and gallant.

  Reaching across the table, she offered her hand. “I’m Emma.”

  A little frisson of awareness raced up her arm when he clasped it and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Cliff.”

  She even liked that about him. Sometimes when men shook her hand, their grip was annoyingly weak—as if they thought she might break if they clasped her hand as tightly as they would a man’s.

  But Cliff’s merely fed her attraction.

  Not even a flicker of recognition lit his eyes though.

  Picking up her fork, she consumed another mouthful, then motioned to his tray. “You appear to be a fan of the fried rice, too.”

  He chuckled as he tucked into the mound. “Yeah. The chefs here rock.”

  “They really do.”

  As he chewed, he studied her thoughtfully.

  Emma willed herself not to feel self-conscious beneath his piercing gaze but couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.

  He paused to drink some tea, his strong throat working with each swallow. And those brown eyes never left hers. “You do know I’m the Cliff right?” he asked as he set his glass down.

  She smiled, understanding now. “You mean Vampire Cliff?”

  He nodded.

  “Yes.”

  Relaxing, he gave her a tentative smile. “Just making sure.” He loaded up his fork. “They don’t really call me Vampire Cliff, do they?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  He looked comically pained to hear it.

  She fought a laugh. “Maybe they just don’t want to confuse you with Cliff in Accounting.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe so.”

  “With your exceptional hearing, I’m surprised you haven’t heard that.”

  He shrugged. “I usually sleep during the day, and the night shift tends to be more furtive in their comments about us because they know we’re awake and may be listening.”

  “True.” She sipped some tea. “When I worked the night shift, most vampire-related gossip was passed around in the soundproof restrooms.”

  He laughed, unoffended.

  A comfortable silence fell between them as they satisfied their hunger.

  Conversation resumed among the other employees as they finally got over the shock of having a vampire in their midst who wasn’t accompanied by Mr. Reordon. But most continued to dart looks their way.

  Emma glanced at the guards stationed around the room. When Todd grinned big and gave her a thumbs-up, she rolled her eyes.

  “I’m curious,” Cliff said.

  Returning her attention to him, she raised her eyebrows.

  “Why did you ask to sit with me?” He surveyed the room. “I think most people here are understandably leery.”

  Her hackles rose. “Well, they shouldn’t be,” she snapped, then cursed when her sharp tone drew another look of surprise from him. “Sorry. It’s just…” Relinquishing her anger, she smiled. “We’ve actually met before.”

  His brow furrowed. “We have?”

  She nodded. “The morning the mercenaries attacked. I was on sublevel 1 when they started bombing the place. The ceiling collapsed and buried me before I could evacuate with the others. I think it knocked me out for a minute. And when I came to… there you were, hauling away concrete and whatever else fell on top of me.”

  His chewing slowed.

  “My arm was broken.” She waggled the arm that bore not a single scar from the incident thanks to the healing touch of Seth, the powerful Immortal Guardian leader. “You bound it as carefully as you could, picked me up, then spirited me away to sublevel 5, where Dr. Lipton saw to my wound and ensured I made it safely through the tunnel.”

  He studied her. “That was you?”

  He remembered? A little thrill shot through her. “Yes.”

  “You were going back to help some of the others.”

  “Yes.” Sadly, both Wayne and Lloyd had perished when the ceiling had collapsed. She likely would have, too, if Cliff hadn’t responded so quickly. Giving in to impulse, she reached across the table once more and rested a hand on his forearm. “Thank you, Cliff, for saving me.”

  He glanced down at her hand on his arm. “You’re welcome.”

  Though she wanted to linger, she withdrew her touch.

  “I have no memory of that.” The words came soft and slow, as though he wasn’t sure he should admit it.

  “You don’t? I thought… You seemed to recognize me once I mentioned it.”

  His mien turned somber. “Most of what happened that night is a complete blank, so Reordon showed me the surveillance footage. I saw myself dig a woman—dig you—out of the wreckage. But I don’t remember doing it.”

  Emma wasn’t sure how to respond to that without mentioning the torture that had robbed him of those memories. And she didn’t want to bring him down. She wanted to see him smile ag
ain. “Well,” she said after a moment’s consideration, “I can see why Mason heaped your plate with carbohydrates. You must burn a lot of energy, because damn you’re fast.”

  He grinned. “Yes, I am.”

  Success! He looked so young and handsome when he smiled. “What’s that like? I mean, you moved so quickly that morning that everything around us was a blur. How do you keep from bumping into stuff when you run that fast?”

  His brown eyes sparkled with amusement. “I didn’t at first. There was a bit of a learning curve.”

  “I bet.”

  The rest of the conversation flowed smoothly as he shared some of his earliest fails as a fledgling vampire and she relayed her astonishment at learning the job she had applied for involved working for immortal beings. Needless to say, they laughed a lot. Emma found Cliff to be utterly charming and immensely likable.

  It seemed as though only minutes passed before he announced with reluctance, “I’d better go. The guards can’t have their lunch break until after they escort me back to sublevel 5, and I can hear their stomachs growling.”

  She stared. “You can? Over all this?” Dozens of conversations and the clatter of utensils filled the air.

  “Yes.”

  She glanced at the guards. “I have to admit, it was pretty cool the way they entered first and fanned out around the place… as if you were the president and they were your Secret Service detail.”

  He laughed. “I wish.”

  When she glanced down at her watch to check the time, her eyes widened. “Has it been an hour?”

  He nodded.

  No wonder the guards’ stomachs were rumbling. “I’d better go, too.”

  They bused their trays, then strolled over to the entrance together. There they paused as Todd and the other guards approached.

  “It was nice to meet you, Emma,” Cliff said with a faint smile.

  “Nice to meet you, too, Cliff.”

  Turning, he headed for the elevator as the heavily armed guards closed in around him.

  That had sounded a little too final for her liking.

  She would see him again. Wouldn’t she?

  Chapter Seven

  Cliff carefully restrained his pace to a casual stroll and kept his face impassive as Todd and the other guards escorted him to the cafeteria the following week. Would Emma be there, already sitting at what he had come to think of as their table?