This Side of the Grave

I got my new cards at the same time the employee finished checking the man in, so we waited for the elevator together. He blinked a little at the drips of water that pooled at my feet when we stepped into the elevator, but said nothing.

"Tripped and fell in a big puddle," I whispered.

"Ah" was his equally quiet reply. At least he didn’t give me the same kind of stink eye that the fur-wearing, plumber-banging older woman had.

We’d gone up about ten floors when all of a sudden a booming noise preceded the elevator shuddering like we were caught in an earthquake. The man staggered and I grabbed him so he wouldn’t accidentally drop the little girl, who awoke with a cry. I had a split second of confusion before dread slid up my spine. Supernatural energy filled the air, coming from the top of the elevator, where moments ago, it sounded as if a boulder had dropped on us.

Except boulders didn’t drop from nice hotels onto elevators, and they also didn’t make ominous growling noises.

Oh shit, I thought, right before I heard the first cable snap.

"Get in the corner!" I ordered, shoving the man when he just stood there.

"What’s going on?" he shouted. His little girl began to wail. The elevator shuddered again, this time accompanied by a horrible whipping noise that sounded like another cable being ripped away. At the same time, pounding began on the roof of the car. I ignored that, plunging my hands into the seam in the elevator doors hard enough to bloody my fingers before shoving them apart. A slab of concrete and steel met my vision, no open spaces to escape through. The elevator was suspended between floors, but not for long, judging from the latest snapping sound.

"Oh God, what is that?" the man screamed.

Metal, plaster, and glass rained down on us as a hole appeared in the roof where none had been before. A ghoul’s face came into view, a savage smile lighting his features as he spotted me.

"Reaper," he hissed.

I pushed the man aside just in time to knock him away from the ghoul’s grasping hands as he lunged for me.

"Get down!" I yelled, trying to fight off the ghoul while standing under the hole he’d torn open. If the ghoul got inside, both father and daughter would be dead in seconds, and that’s only if they were lucky enough for the elevator not to drop before then.

Pain slashed across my arms and face, red immediately coloring my gaze. He’s got a knife. A silver knife, I realized, judging from the burn it left on my skin. I tried to avoid that flashing blade while still keeping the ghoul from dropping into the elevator. Another snapping noise and the car dropped a few feet before coming to an abrupt stop, metal groaning under the strain of a last brake kicking in to hold the elevator up.

But one good thing had come out of the elevator’s fall. Now, shiny steel doors took up part of the concrete and metal wall. The car had dropped halfway to the opening of a new floor.

"Pull those doors open and get out now!" I shouted, a crimson-filled glance revealing that the man was crouched in the same spot as before, clutching his daughter while gaping up at us.

He still couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away. Dammit, he was in shock, and it wouldn’t be long before either the ghoul got into the elevator or the strain of two supernaturals fighting proved too much for the last emergency brake. I braced my arms on the support railings lining the car, using them for leverage as I flipped upside down and then kicked the ghoul with everything I had. The railings broke, landing me on my ass with enough force to make the elevator shake dangerously again, but for the moment, the ghoul was gone from the hole in the roof.

I wrenched those doors open and yanked the sobbing little girl from her father’s arms, shoving her through the space. She landed on the adjoining floor with a cry that filled me with joy, because while she might be bruised, she was now also safe. Before I could shove her father through the same opening, however, a roar filled the air as the ghoul jumped through the hole in the roof and landed in the elevator with us.

The elevator shook hard enough that I felt sure it would drop. I didn’t have time to reach in my coat for my weapons, but ran headlong into the ghoul, knocking him away from the man.

Amidst the screeching of metal, the man’s screams, and the solid thumps of the ghoul and me crashing around the elevator locked in a death struggle, I heard something else. An enraged English snarl.

"Come here you bloody bastards!"

I had a split second of dizzying relief. Bones was here, so the father and I would make it out of this. If I wasn’t worried about keeping the ghoul away from the huddled man – a careless stomp or swipe from the flesh-eater would snap his neck like a twig – I could’ve gone for my weapons and evened the odds a little. But my relief vanished in the next instant as a loud cracking noise preceded the ground dropping beneath my feet.

Oh Jesus. The elevator was falling!

Everything around me shook with terrible vibrations as the velocity lifted us up a few inches before gravity had my feet back on the floor. The ghoul flashed me a hate-filled grin even as the man screamed so loudly it briefly drowned out the noises from the free-falling elevator.

The ghoul and I could survive the crash, though no doubt the ghoul would try his damnedest to make sure my survival didn’t last much beyond that. The father, however, would be dead in moments.

The ghoul lunged at me, ripping his silver knife through the air toward my heart. I didn’t raise my arms to block him, but moved to the left at the last second. That blade buried into my chest, spearing through my flesh with flames of anguish, but not piercing my heart. At the same time, I shoved the ghoul down and to the side, aiming for the flashes of light that appeared between the partially open elevator doors as we fell with even greater speed.

A crunching sound accompanied the ghoul’s entire body going limp as the rapidly passing floors and tight space acted as a crude guillotine. I didn’t waste a moment to savor my victory, but pulled the knife out of my chest and grabbed the man, tucking as much of his head into my bloody torso as I could. Then, still bent over him, I vaulted myself upward with all my strength.

White-hot agony slicing through my body made me barely register the crescendo of noise that followed. Dust, glass, and blood filled my gaze, making it almost impossible for me to see. Up was my primary thought, followed closely by Don’t him let go! Several hard objects slammed into me and I blinked furiously, trying to clear my gaze while keeping my grip on the man. Those bone-crunching jolts could be more ghouls trying to kill me, or parts of the elevator shaft I crashed into as I blindly propelled us away from the explosion of debris as the elevator smashed on impact below.