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 again. “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.”