Page 75 of Into The Light

I’m human.

“Mark!” I shouted up at the video camera. “Mark!”

Moments later I heard Mark’s voice over the intercom. “Aiden? Are you okay?”

“It worked, Mark!” I shouted my excitement up into the little camera in the corner. “I’m human!”

“Are you sure?” he asked, the doubt thick in his voice. “How do I know you’re not lying just to get out and tear us apart?”

I laughed and pointed to the water bottle on the floor. “I drank water! If I was still a vampire, I couldn’t do that.”

“Do it again so I can see it for myself.”

I chuckled and nodded, pleased he took his job of keeping Emilia safe from me seriously. Popping off the cap I hoisted the bottle in a cheers to the camera and tipped it back, guzzling every last drop of the clear liquid before crushing the remnants and tossing it onto the floor. I opened my mouth and showed him that it was gone.

“Interesting,” he said.

“And look, no fangs!” I tried to make them pop again and failed.

“You could be pretending,” he argued. I couldn’t see him, but I could picture his face pulled tight with skepticism.

“Mark, I promise I’m a human. I’m safe. You can open the door.”

There was nothing but silence and I called out to him again. “Mark?”

Pacing the room, I waited for him to come back on the intercom. The minutes ticked by and my stomach growled. The rumble inside startled me and I looked down at it and listened again to the grumbling my newfound hunger caused. I wanted food, but it had been so long since I’d tasted it, I wasn’t even sure what flavors begged to touch my tongue. I just knew I needed to eat.

The lock clicked, and I turned to the door. It cracked open, and I waited for Mark and Emilia to come in. It sat there unmoving, so I went to it and pressed it open. The darkness of the basement was a stark contrast to the lights in the room I had been under for the better part of a month. Blinking, I stepped out into the musty air and searched the room.

“Hello?” I called, and then my eyes adjusted, and I saw Mark across the room with an old wooden-handled axe in his hand. I stifled my chuckle while he shifted back and forth, ready for my incoming assault. He tightened his grip on the handle and watched me with wide eyes.

“Aiden!” I heard Emilia’s voice and she raced down the stairs.

Mark huffed. “Damn it, woman! It’s not safe! Get back upstairs!”

“He won’t hurt me,” she said, and I saw her smile when she stepped into the dim light of the lamp swinging overhead. Mark stepped in front of her and blocked her from my sight.

“Stay behind me, Emilia. We can’t be sure.” Mark lifted the axe in preparation for what he apparently thought would be my attack. “If he comes at us, just run up the stairs. I’ll try to stop him, but if I fail, the sunlight will. Just go into the light, Emilia. And I mean the sunlight... not the ethereal one that means you died because Aiden killed you.”

“Mark, I’m fine.” I laughed. “I promise.”

Her face peered out from behind him, and my heart raced at the sight of her. “Emilia,” I breathed, stepping toward her. My arms ached to wrap around her.

“Be careful. It could be a trick,” Mark whispered to her. “Don’t make me decapitate you, Aiden!” he shouted at me and hoisted his axe higher.

“Aiden,” she said, pushing out from behind him and bolting across the distance between us. She launched into my arms and I encircled her waist, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. I felt her hands on my face and her lips colliding with mine while I inhaled her sweet smell. My body lit up in a way I had never experienced while we melted together, our needs and desires exploding into one.

“Oh, my God, you’re okay!” she said between desperate kisses.

“I’m okay,” I answered and slid my hand behind her head, pulling her lips in for a kiss so powerful that it brought me a flash of pain. It was a good pain, but the first time I’d felt pain in as long as I could remember. It felt good and made me feel... alive.

“Well, it looks like I won’t be needing this,” Mark said, and I heard the axe drop to the ground. “I’ll just give you two a minute.”

My lips were too busy devouring hers to answer him. Her skin felt softer than I remembered, and her tongue tasted sweeter. Every inch of my body blazed from her touch. It wasn’t just her absence creating this feeling... it was being human. So many years as a vampire and I hadn’t even realized how dull my senses were to her touch. Little electric sparks shocked everywhere her desperate fingers clawed, and I sighed my ecstasy. Every second of agony had been worth it to feel her touch and return to her arms.

“I missed you so much,” I said as her kisses peppered my face.

“I missed you, too. That was so awful to watch, Aiden. I almost opened the door. I would rather have you kill me than to suffer that way another second.”