Page 73 of Into The Light

He reached forward and touched my face, lowering down for a soft kiss before propping himself back up again. “I want to be human with you, Emilia. I want to experience everything you experience. To hold your hand in the sun and rush into the ocean. Taste all the foods that draw those cute noises out of you. Let you feel warm when my arms wrap around you. And die when you die, a full and incredible life started and ended together. I won’t go on without you and I don’t want to miss a moment of your life while I’m locked up in a light-tight room. I want this, Emilia. I want to be human again.”

My heart pounded so fast I could hear it drumming in my ears. “Are you sure, Aiden? You’d give up eternity for me?”

“There is no eternity without you.” He sighed. “Not one I want to be part of, anyway.”

“Aiden, this is a huge decision.”

“It’s time, Emilia. I’ve lived for over six hundred years... more than enough lifetimes that I never should have experienced. And you’re right. What is the point of living forever if I’m trapped in a world of darkness and solitude? This isn’t a life worth hanging on to. It’s time for me to live... to really live. And now that I know I can be human I’m not watching another woman I love fade away without me. You fade; I fade. We do this together. But until then I intend to savor every second on this Earth at your side.”

“Aiden,” I whispered and leaned up, pressing my lips into his. “I can’t believe you would do this for me.”

“I’m doing this for you, and for us... and for me. I want this, Emilia. It’s so clear to me now. You’ve reminded me how incredible it is to be truly alive. The only question left is... will you still love me when I’m just a human? When I no longer have my powers, my strength, my speed, and my ability to make your ex-husband humiliate himself in front of the masses? Will you still love me when I’m just a man who loves you more than life itself?”

A smile pulled up my lips, and I nodded. I grabbed his face and pressed my lips hard into his. “Yes,” I whispered between kisses. “I will love you always.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll start the transition before the sun comes up,” he said and flipped me onto my back. His smooth skin glistened in the moonlight while he towered over me. “But I want to taste you one last time before I go.”

A nod tipped my head, and I raised my chin, offering him my neck. He settled between my legs and slid inside me while his fangs pierced my skin. I gasped at the intensity of the feelings and savored every second he was in me while we connected over and over again beneath the full moon until the sun demanded his return. I locked the way he made me feel into my memory while the euphoria washed over me in waves. The next time I saw him, he would be human.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Aiden

“You’re joking!” Mark shouted, storming around the room. “You can’t be serious, Aiden! Just like that? You’re going to be human?”

Emilia sat on my lap in the living room in her torn dress. The sun neared its rise, and each second I argued with Mark wasted the time I needed to prepare for my transition.

“You can’t just turn human! You can’t give it all up, Aiden!”

“I’m not giving anything up, Mark. I’m gaining everything.” I squeezed Emilia around the waist. “I’m ready to live. To really live.”

He stopped and placed a hand on his cocked hip. “Do you even know how this works? Have you done any research? Is it safe?”

“It’s not like I can Google it, Mark.”

“He’s right,” Emilia said, turning to me. “Are you sure this is safe? Is it really just as simple as not drinking blood for a few weeks? Has anyone ever done this successfully?”

“Yes, remember? That vampire turned human after an extended fast,” I said, exasperated after going in circles with Mark for the better part of a half hour.

Mark tossed his hands up in the air. “Yeah, but then what? They decapitated him just a few days later so do we really know if this works? Has anyone else done it?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of.”

“So, you’re going to starve yourself to death... or to life, or whatever, and then we’re just going to cross our fingers that you get to live happily ever after?”

“That’s the plan,” I said with a shrug.

Emilia tipped up my face and stared at me with worried eyes. “Maybe he’s right, Aiden. I think we should wait. Let’s take a breath and you can call some of your vampire friends and see if anyone has any other information on this. There must be someone.”

I stifled a chuckle. “No other vampire would ever choose to be human, so I’m pretty certain I’m going to be the Guinea pig.”

She brushed her fingers through my hair. “Let’s just wait a few days, Aiden. There’s no rush. Maybe call your family first and talk to them about it.”

“I don’t want to wait!” I struggled to keep my voice down. Now that I’d made this decision, I couldn’t wait another second to start my new life. It would take weeks of excruciating pain to achieve my goal, and the longer I sat here arguing with them, the longer it would be before I could get started. I wanted her. I wanted life. I wanted to taste food and feel the sun on my face again. I wanted this and no amount of arguing would change my mind now. It was worth the risk. She was worth the risk. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”

“We’re just worried about you, Aiden,” Mark said, taking a seat across from me. “If you don’t make it, I don’t know what I’ll do. You’ve kind of grown on me.”

I smiled and nodded. “I’m touched, Mark, and you’ve grown on me, too. But I will be all right. I can feel it. It’s calling me and I don’t want to wait. Calling my family will only drive them straight to our door to rip me out of the room and prevent my change. They can’t know until it’s over and it’s too late. In less than five minutes the sun will come up and I need to be locked in the light-tight, vampire-proof holding cell. And you’re not going to let me out until I am human again.”