Cliff’s Descent by Dianne Duvall

Chapter Twenty-Four

Emma didn’t know how long she sat there, crumpled on the boardroom floor, sobbing her heart out, before murmuring voices carried to her from Mr. Reordon’s office through the open door.

Footsteps approached, alerting her that someone had entered.

“Oh shit,” Cynthia whispered.

Emma forced herself to look up as her friend hurried toward her.

Dropping to her knees, Cynthia wrapped her arms around Emma and drew her into a tight hug.

Emma sagged against her, crying so hard she couldn’t speak.

“It’s okay,” Cynthia whispered, rocking her and patting her back. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. You just cry it out, honey. I’m here for you.”

Kate appeared a moment later with a box of tissues and two bottles of water.

“Thank you,” Cynthia murmured.

Nodding, Kate set them down within reach and left.

“Here.” Yanking a few tissues from the box, Cynthia pressed them against the back of the hands Emma wept into.

Emma accepted them gratefully and wiped her running nose.

Keeping one arm around her, Cynthia grabbed a bottle of water, twisted the lid off behind Emma’s back, then offered it to her. “Take a sip.”

Leaning away a little, shoulders slumped, Emma did as bidden. Her choppy breathing didn’t make it easy. But her eyes, cheeks, and nose were hot from weeping, and the cold liquid felt good sliding down.

Cynthia opened the other bottle and wet a wad of tissues with it. Like a mother tending a child, she patted Emma’s heated skin and puffy eyes. “What can I do?” she asked gently.

More tears spilled over Emma’s lashes as she shook her head. “N-Nothing.” Her breath hitched. “He’s gone.”

Her friend’s eyes widened with dismay. “What?”

“Cliff’s g-gone.”

“Oh no. Oh honey.” She pulled Emma into another hug.

Emma blew her nose and wiped her eyes but couldn’t seem to stem the tide of tears as she gave Cynthia an abbreviated account of what had happened.

“But Cliff’s tough,” Cynthia said. “You know that. I’m sure he’ll kick ass, take names, then come back and give you all the—”

“No. He won’t,” Emma told her. “I saw it in his eyes. He isn’t coming back. This is how he wants to go. He’s going to die tonight.”

Saying it out loud just sparked another round of sobs.

Cynthia stayed with her, holding her, rocking her, and making soothing sounds.

What felt like hours passed before a throat cleared.

“Cyn?” a masculine voice said tentatively.

They looked over.

Todd stood in the doorway, his expression somber and uncertain. “Kate asked me to come. She thought you might want me to drive you and Emma home.”

Cynthia glanced at Emma. “Do you want to go home?” She dabbed her face with more cool tissues. “Or you could come to our place. Why don’t you do that? Why don’t you stay with us tonight? I promise Todd won’t snore.”

Todd nodded as if he were silently vowing not to snore.

“Home,” Emma said softly. “I want to go home.”

“You got it, honey. Whatever you want.” Cynthia rose, drawing Emma up with her. “Sweetie, would you get the tissues and the water, please?”

“Sure.” Todd hurried forward and grabbed the bottled water and box of tissues. “You want me to pick these up?” He motioned to the tear-soaked, snotty tissues that littered the floor around them. “I saw a wastebasket in Reordon’s office. It’ll just take a minute.”

Kate’s voice carried to them from the next room. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay.” He hovered behind them as they left the boardroom.

Kate stood beside Mr. Reordon’s desk. “Here.” She handed Cynthia her purse, then turned to Emma. “These are for you.” She held out a pair of scuffed running shoes. “I think we wear about the same size.”

“Thank you.” Emma sat on the sofa she and Cliff had occupied several times and slipped her bare feet into the sneakers, which fit comfortably enough. As soon as she stood, Cynthia wrapped an arm around her once more and Todd resumed his hovering.

“Don’t worry about work, Emma,” Kate said as they left the office. “You take as much time as you need. We’ve got your back.” Even she didn’t believe Cliff was coming back.

“Thank you.” Emma straightened her shoulders before they hit the lobby but still drew stares as Todd and Cynthia escorted her out of the building because she couldn’t calm her damn breathing.

Or maybe it was just the shattered look on her face or the grim expressions on the others’.

When they reached a dark SUV, Cynthia climbed in the back seat with Emma and gave Todd directions. Once they reached Emma’s home, Cynthia dug out her keys and used the spare Emma had given her to unlock the door.

The TV was still on.

So much had happened since Seth had popped in and told her they needed her at the network that Emma couldn’t believe so little time had passed.

“Wow,” Cynthia said, looking around. “This place looks fantastic.”

Emma hadn’t realized until then just how long it had been since she’d had Cynthia over for a girls’ night. “Cliff helped me fix it up.”

Cynthia and Todd both swung around to stare at her.

Ignoring them, Emma shuffled into her bedroom and dug out a pair of pajama pants and a loose tank top, adding panties and a bra in deference to Todd’s presence. “I’m going to take a shower,” she mumbled.

“Okay.” Cynthia whispered something to Todd, then joined Emma in the bathroom.

Emma found a faint smile. “You planning to join me?”

Cynthia laughed. “No. I just don’t want you to be alone.”

Emma didn’t either. “Thank you.”

“Anything you need, I’m here. Todd is, too. I hope you don’t mind, but I told him to order a couple of pizzas. He was wringing his hands and looking adorably anxious because he wants to help but has no idea what he should be doing right now.”

“He’s a good guy.”

Cynthia smiled. “Yeah, he is.”

Aside from cooling her puffy face, the shower did little to make Emma feel better. Her eyes continued to water like a leaky spigot. Every limb seemed heavier. She just felt utterly and completely exhausted. Too much to partake of the fragrant pizza Todd had ordered. “I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

“Okay.” Cynthia followed her into the bedroom. “You want me to sit with you?”

“Yes, please.” Emma curled up under the covers with her knees practically touching her chest, faced the wall, and closed her eyes.

Cynthia sat behind her on the bed and leaned back against the headboard, reaching over to rub Emma’s shoulder.

“Would you turn the TV on?” Emma asked after a minute. “It’s too quiet.”

“Sure. Anything in particular you feel like listening to?”

“I don’t care. I just need something to drown out my thoughts.”

“All righty. You got it.”

Soon tense music and explosions filled the bedroom as Cynthia chose what sounded like an action flick.

Emma closed her eyes, trying to visualize whatever took place on the screen.

But all she saw was Cliff’s face and the love and finality that had filled his glowing amber eyes as he’d cupped her face and said, “Thank you. For everything.”

Cliff blinked. Dark arboreal giants towered over him, their limbs forming a complex canopy. Stars winked down at him between the branches. Cool ground cushioned his back.

Flexing his fingers, he curled them around crisp brown leaves, pine needles, and soil.

Slowly he sat up and looked around.

Where was he?

Several moments’ thought failed to enlighten him.

The stars in the sky and darkness beyond the forest indicated it was nighttime. But nighttime where? He and Bastien usually hunted on college campuses.

Again he glanced around.

This was not a college campus.

And Bastien was nowhere in sight.

He rose, every limb oddly heavy.

His ears felt funny. Like someone had stuffed cotton in them or something.

Had he been tranqed?

He sniffed.

Trees. Soil. Decaying leaves. And smoke.

He glanced to the right. The smoke didn’t smell like the kind produced by burning wood in a fireplace or cooking over a charcoal grill. It reminded him instead of the smoke that had suffused the air the morning mercenaries had attacked network headquarters.

He faced that direction.

Was network headquarters through there? Had mercenaries attacked it again?

He waited for alarm to fill him at the prospect, but it didn’t. He felt oddly… detached.

Voices floated to him on the breeze, managing to penetrate the cotton in his ears. Using them as his guide, Cliff stumbled forward.

After a minute or two, the trees and foliage began to thin. Then he stepped out into a large clearing.

About fifty yards away, a group of men and woman garbed all in black clustered together on a cement slab.

He looked around. Why would a cement slab lie in the middle of a clearing with no other structures in sight?

Two figures raced toward him.

Bastien and Melanie. Both drew him into a hug.

“What happened?” he asked dully. “Did I have another break?” It would explain why the voices in his head had gone eerily silent and why he felt so out of it. “I don’t remember what happened. Where are we? How did I get here?”

Melanie shook her head. “You helped Seth save us.”

“I did?”

Bastien nodded.

Cliff could call forth no memory of that.

Melanie’s eyes bore a faint glow as she blinked back tears and rubbed his arm. “Are you okay?”

He glanced down. Moonlight provided enough illumination for him to see the numerous holes, tears, and burn marks that marred his clothing. Though blood streaked his arms, nothing hurt. How long had he been unconscious? “Yeah.” It must have been quite a while if his wounds had healed. “My ears feel funny.” And everything else just felt… off. Sluggish. His mind foggy or something.

Had they given him too much sedative?

Bastien and Melanie exchanged a concerned look.

Gently clasping Cliff’s chin, Melanie turned his head from one side to the other, then ran her hands along his limbs. Her brow furrowed. “I see blood, but I don’t see any wounds.”

Across the way, Seth frowned. “His wounds are all healed?”

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 expression 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 the 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.