Cliff's Descent

by Dianne Duvall

  Melanie nodded. “There isn’t a scratch on him.”

  Then he had been wounded.

  He hadn’t chased someone into the forest and drained him, had he?

  If so, he hoped like hell it was one of the bad guys… whoever the bad guys were. He still had no idea what had happened.

  The sound of a vehicle approaching distracted him.

  A Humvee sped into view, kicking up dust on the dirt road. Tires locking, it drifted to a halt inches from the concrete slab upon which Seth and the rest of the Immortal Guardians stood.

  Chris Reordon stumbled out, eyes wide, hair mussed. He took a few steps toward the others, stopped, turned in a circle, then met Seth’s gaze. “Okay. I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to cover this up.”

  Everyone but Cliff burst into laughter.

  Chris strode over to Seth and wrapped him in a bear hug. “Glad to see you made it.”

  Seth clapped him on the back. “Glad to see you did, too. Did the other Immortal Guardians and network soldiers all make it out safely?”

  “Yeah. They’re guarding the prisoners we took a couple of miles away. I didn’t know what to expect after that big-ass explosion, so I told them to keep their distance and watch the flock while I came to see what had happened.”

  Cliff stared. Prisoners? Explosion? He didn’t remember any of that.

  “There was an explosion?” a tall woman hovering close to Seth asked.

  “Well, yeah,” Chris said as if he couldn’t believe she’d asked. “I don’t know how you could’ve missed it. Honestly, I expected all of you to be toast when I came back. It was that fucking big. And loud. And bright as hell. It stopped just short of creating a mushroom cloud.”

  What?

  Again Cliff glanced around. Maybe that explained it. His difficulty remembering. His ears feeling weird. The confusion riding him. Maybe he had been caught in the blast.

  He glanced down.

  And maybe he wasn’t the only one. Maybe he found one of the bad guys—he really hoped it was a bad guy—in the forest and drained him, then passed out on his way back to…

  He looked around.

  Wherever the hell they were.

  “Don’t worry about the cleanup,” Seth told Reordon. “Have Henderson get his crew back to network headquarters here in Texas and…”

  Cliff missed whatever the Immortal Guardians leader said after that.

  They were in Texas? Why? He drew a complete blank when he tried again to remember, something that always filled him with anxiety after having a psychotic break.

  Chris nodded. “I’m on it.”

  Seth caught his arm as Chris turned away. “Would you take Cliff with you and have Dr. Machen examine him once you’re home?”

  “Sure.” Chris gestured to Cliff as he strode toward his vehicle. “Hop in.”

  The odd lethargy lingering, Cliff followed him and stepped up into the Humvee.

  “You okay?” Chris asked as he wheeled the vehicle around.

  “Yeah,” Cliff said slowly. “I think so.”

  “Okay. Let’s get you back to network headquarters.”

  * * *

  “Emma?”

  Emma frowned, cursing the tentative female voice that drew her back to consciousness. That way lay pain and despair and grief so deep she feared she might drown in it. She didn’t want to go there.

  “Emma?” A hand touched her shoulder and gave it a light shake. “I’m sorry to wake you, but Kate from Mr. Reordon’s office is calling.”

  She could hear it now, the dinky incoming-call alert her phone issued. “Let it go to voice mail,” she mumbled. If she didn’t answer it, she wouldn’t have to hear Kate confirm Cliff’s death and could pretend there was still some tiny smidgeon of hope that he might have survived whatever the hell had happened at the military base he’d helped the Immortal Guardians blitz.

  “Are you sure?” Cynthia asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “What if she calls again?”

  “Ignore it.” Emma would return her call tomorrow.

  “Okay.” Cynthia patted her shoulder. “Can I get you anything before you go back to sleep?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Okay.”

  Fortunately, oblivion claimed Emma before more tears could fall.

  “Emma?” Cynthia said, jostling her shoulder again.

  She jerked awake. Damn it! “What?” she growled, squeezing her lids closed. Why wouldn’t they just let her sleep? If she slept, she didn’t have to think about—

  “I’m sorry to wake you again, but Kate has called three times in the past hour and now she’s at your front door.”

  Emma’s eyes flew open. “What?”

  “She’s here. At the door. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the doorbell ring.”

  She hadn’t heard the doorbell ring because she had been blissfully ensconced in sleep.

  Why would Kate come here?

  Emma would ask how the woman knew where she lived, but working so closely with Mr. Reordon, Kate probably knew everything he did. And Chris Reordon knew freaking everything. He’d even known Emma and Cliff were seeing each other.

  Pain sliced through her at the thought of Cliff.

  Throwing back the covers, she rolled out of bed and stomped up the hallway to the living room.

  Todd stood across the room, one arm on the open door, the other on the doorjamb, barring Kate entrance.

  As Emma approached, he lowered his arm and stepped aside.

  Kate stood on the porch, bathed in the warm light that spilled out of the pretty fixture Cliff had installed. Her face lit with relief when she saw Emma. “He’s alive,” she blurted.

  Emma stopped short and sucked in a breath. “What?”

  “Cliff’s alive,” Kate repeated. “I’m sorry to bother you at home. But you weren’t answering your phone and I thought you should know that he made it, that Cliff survived the battle.”

  All breath whooshed out of Emma’s lungs as she staggered a step.

  Todd hastily reached out and grabbed her elbow to brace her.

  Shock rendered her speechless. Cliff was alive? How could that be? He’d looked so determined to end it, his face so full of despair when he’d said, I can’t be like this anymore, Emma. She had been sure when he left that she would never see him again.

  “Where…?” It was all she could manage to force out.

  “He’s at network headquarters. Mr. Reordon and a couple of Immortal Guardians brought him back about an hour ago.”

  Emma’s heart began to pound in her chest.

  Cynthia stepped up to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Is he okay?”

  Kate nodded. “We believe so, yes. He’s quiet and seems a little dazed the way he often does after a break—”

  “He had a break?” Emma asked. That would be three in one day!

  “No. Mattheus—one of the immortals—said Cliff did exactly what Seth asked him to do. He led them through the base and got them all past the fail-safes unscathed.” She bit her lip. “He was injured quite badly while doing it. But his wounds had already healed by the time the dust cleared. Mattheus got him out of the base before the explosion.”

  There was an explosion?

  “But he lost track of him in the chaos that followed. The general belief is that Cliff stumbled into the forest, came across one of the fleeing mercenaries, and drained him.” She shrugged. “Since those mercenaries were helping Gershom and trying to kill the Immortal Guardians and network special-ops soldiers, everyone’s fine with that.”

  More tears filled Emma’s eyes. “So he’s really okay?”

  Kate smiled. “He’s really okay. Although I should mention that he has no memory of the battle.”

  Emma frowned. Why would he have no memory of the battle if he hadn’t had a psychotic break? “Can I see him?”

  Kate shook her head, her smile slipping into an exp
ression of regret. “I’m afraid not. There’s just too much going on at network headquarters right now. It’s locked down in case Gershom had a plan B waiting in the wings. I wouldn’t have been allowed out myself if I didn’t have the highest clearance. And I doubt even I could get you back in with me. We’re still working on making sure everyone is accounted for and…” She waved a hand as if to cut herself off. “Well, I won’t go into all that. Cliff is sleeping deeply right now anyway. Mattheus said Cliff was hit with darts he was pretty sure were loaded with the tranquilizer. So he’ll probably sleep for quite a while. Dr. Machen is keeping an eye on him.” She glanced at her watch. “I actually need to head back there. Mr. Reordon is probably wondering where the hell I am. I just wanted you to know that Cliff is still with us.”

  Emma drew the woman into a quick hug before she could leave. “Thank you.”

  Kate smiled. “If it were me, I would’ve wanted to know.” Turning away, she headed down the steps. “Oh, and don’t worry about coming in to work tomorrow,” she said over her shoulder as she crossed to a shiny gray Tesla parked behind Todd’s SUV. “You’ve really been through the wringer tonight. So just get some rest. If you don’t see Cliff tomorrow night, don’t panic. If he received a heavier than usual dose of the tranquilizer, it may take him longer to sleep it off and recover. Higher doses tend to leave him pretty out of it after he wakes up. So no news is good news.”

  “Thank you,” Emma called again.

  Once Kate ducked into the car and drove away, Todd closed the door.

  Silence fell.

  Emma looked at Cynthia as more damn tears slipped over her lashes. “He’s okay.”

  Cynthia drew her into a hug. “I’m so glad.”

  Todd wrapped them both in a bear hug and sighed. “Me, too.”

  Emma emitted a watery chuckle.

  It felt like the weight of the world had just been lifted from her shoulders. Or some of it anyway. She had no idea what state of mind Cliff would be in when he awoke. Would he feel better once he heard that he’d helped Seth and saved lives? Would that alleviate some of the remorse he felt over harming the immortal woman?

  That had to count for something, didn’t it?

  Would it be enough to compel him to keep fighting? Or would he still…?

  Mentally, she shook her head. She couldn’t think about that. Not yet.

  Tonight she just needed to revel in the knowledge that she hadn’t lost him and bask in the little spark of hope that ignited.

  Her stomach growled.

  “Was that you or was that me?” Cynthia asked against Emma’s hair.

  “I think it was me,” Todd said, his big arms still banded around both of them.

  Cynthia snorted. “How can you possibly be hungry? You ate a whole pizza by yourself.”

  “I can’t help it. I eat when I’m stressed.”

  Emma smiled. “Actually, it was me.” Usually she’d be sitting down to dinner with Cliff right about now.

  Cynthia squirmed but couldn’t break free. “Sweetie,” she protested.

  “Oh. Right.” Abandoning his hold, Todd straightened.

  Cynthia did, too, and studied Emma’s face. “Even though Todd pigged out while you were sleeping—”

  “I can’t help it,” he huffed.

  “—there’s still some pizza left. If I warm it up, do you think you could eat some?”

  Emma nodded. “I think so.”

  “Excellent.”

  Within minutes, the three of them were slouched on the sofa, eating what was left of the pizza. Emma doubted she’d eat more than a slice. She was too wiped out from everything. But Cynthia and Todd went to town.

  Cynthia shook her head as she scrolled through the photos on Emma’s phone. “I can’t believe you had this beautiful, heartwarming, heartbreaking romance going on all this time and didn’t tell me.”

  Emma shrugged. “We didn’t tell anyone.”

  “Not even Bastien?” Todd asked around a mouthful of pizza. “I thought Cliff told Bastien everything.”

  “Not even Bastien,” Emma confirmed. Bastien had discovered it on his own. “We were afraid if anyone found out, they’d rescind Cliff’s hunting privileges… or at least stop allowing him to roam around on his own afterward.”

  A hint of hurt entered Cynthia’s expression. “I wouldn’t have told anyone.”

  “I know you wouldn’t have told anyone intentionally,” Emma agreed. “But you do sometimes forget the vampires down on sublevel 5 can hear everything we say. And I couldn’t risk you letting anything slip while we were chatting in my office.”

  Todd nodded. “You are pretty bad about that.”

  Cynthia frowned at him. “How do you know? You don’t have preternatural hearing.”

  “I know. But the vampires do. And they tend to razz me about some of the things they hear you tell Emma about us.”

  “They do?” Cynthia’s eyes widened with dismay. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He shrugged. “Honestly? Because those guys could use a few laughs.” He winked. “And it’s easy to shake it off when I get to come home to you.”

  She grinned. “You are so freaking awesome.”

  “I know,” he retorted with a grin. “I keep telling the vampires that, but they don’t believe me.”

  Cynthia’s look turned sly. “Now I feel like I should mess with them. Maybe next time we’re in Emma’s office, I’ll tell her you did something in bed—something so unbelievably mind-blowing… and arousing… like multiple orgasms arousing—that no other man could possibly satisfy me again.”

  He stared at her, eyes wide, then grinned big. “Yes! Do it. They’ll go crazy wondering what the hell I did.”

  Cynthia laughed.

  Emma smiled as they continued to banter and tease each other, occasionally trying to draw her into the conversation and cheer her up. But all the while, she silently counted the minutes, the hours, and wondered how long she would have to wait to see Cliff again.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Something was wrong.

  Cliff sat on his sofa, one knee bobbing up and down.

  Something was very wrong.

  He glanced around his apartment. On the surface, it appeared the same as it had last week. Last month. Last year. But it wasn’t. Everything looked a little too perfect. Too new. And the faint scent of fresh paint lingered in the air.

  When he’d asked Melanie about it, she’d broken the news that he’d had not one but two psychotic breaks, back to back. Jared had refuted that, claiming he’d only had one break and that the second time he had merely flown into a rage. But that was just mincing words.

  Cliff apparently trashed his apartment so badly that Reordon had to replace every piece of furniture in it and one of the doors. Cliff was pretty sure Reordon replaced the refrigerator and the doors on his kitchen cabinets, too. But Reordon hadn’t complained. He had even upgraded the TV and gaming systems, all while Cliff slept like the dead.

  Rising, he crossed to the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets. A graham cracker box stared back at him. He took it down, opened the top, and looked inside. Two sleeves of crackers huddled within, just as they should. When he dumped them out, a cell phone slid after them. Cliff caught it with a spark of hope. But like everything else in his apartment, it looked too shiny and new. When he turned it on, Emma’s face didn’t appear on the lock screen. A generic beach scene did. And every app he opened was newly installed and bore none of the information or progress that should have been stored in them. There were no e-books, movies, or TV shows. No music. And the only photo on the device was the one he’d seen on Emma’s employee ID badge.

  He must have broken the other phone. Knowing Reordon, he’d probably had his tech team try to retrieve the photos and other information off the old one. If anyone could do it, they could.

  Cliff stared at the new phone in his hands. He must have decimated the old one for them to have failed.
>
  After stuffing the crackers back in the box, he tucked the phone in his pocket and began to pace.

  Even that was different. His feet felt weighted, as if his shoes bore concrete soles. His limbs felt heavy. His mind was… quiet. Too quiet. The only voices that filled it were those that carried to him from the other occupants of sublevel 5.

  Was this the calm before the storm?

  “Knock, knock,” Melanie called.

  Cliff glanced toward his open doorway. Melanie and Bastien had thought he’d feel more comfortable resting in his apartment than he would in the infirmary, so they’d let him sleep in here and just kept the door open so they wouldn’t have to keep typing in the code every time they wanted to check on him.

  Melanie entered. “How are you feeling?”

  “Okay.” He shrugged. “Tired. Out of it.”

  Nodding, she approached him. “That’s probably your body still working the last of the sedative out of your system.”

  Sounded logical. But doubt assailed him.

  “What about your ears? Are they bothering you? Back at the base you said it felt like they were full of cotton.”

  He touched one ear. “Yeah. They still feel funny. Everything sounds muffled or something.”

  Her look turned clinical. Drawing an otoscope from the pocket of her physician’s coat, she motioned for him to lean down. “Let me give them another look.”

  Cliff ducked down so she could peer into his ears.

  “I don’t see anything,” she murmured. “Is anything else bothering you?”

  “Not really.”

  She pressed a palm to his forehead, then touched her fingers to his neck. “No nausea? Swelling of the throat? Fever? You feel a little warm to me.”

  The questions struck him as odd. “I’m okay.” Once vampires transformed, they didn’t get sick. Ever.

  Tucking her hands in the pockets of her coat, she studied him. “What about the voices?”

  “They’re quiet today.”

  Her eyebrows flew up. “Well, that’s good. Mattheus said you were badly wounded in an explosion.” She frowned. “One of those damn fail-safes. Maybe it scared the voices away for a bit.”

  “Maybe.”

  Silence settled upon them, becoming awkward as she shifted her weight and just stared up at him, her brow furrowed. Hesitance crept into her expression.