Page 97 of Into The Light

“Well? What else would make you mope around like your dog just died? You’ve barely said a word to me since that night. Are you mad at me? I mean, the bitch deserved to die, I get that, but it’s still murder and I’m not going to apologize for asking you to not kill a messed up chic in front of me.”

He shook his head and a softness flickered inside his eyes. “I’m not mad at you, Emilia. How could you think that? Of course, I’d have preferred to kill her and remove any chance of a future threat against you, but I’m not mad you asked me to spare her life. You’re a good person and I understand your aversion to violent death. So no, I’m not angry with you. I don’t think I could ever be angry with you.”

A small smile lifted his lips for a moment. Seeing that smile, even just a small one, sent a shiver of relief through my body. My Aiden was still in there.

“Well, I’m glad you’re not mad at me for stopping you, but I need you to tell me what’s going on.”

His smile faded, and he turned his attention back to the spot in the sea he had been fixated on.

“Aiden.” I grabbed his hand and pulled it into mine. “We’re in this life together. You and me against the world. We’re supposed to be partners. I can’t be your partner if you won’t talk to me. I can’t fix it if you won’t tell me what’s wrong. You need to talk to me, Aiden. That’s how relationships work.”

I watched the breath fill his chest, and he held it there for a few seconds before blowing it back out. “I lost my powers.”

“What?” I stumbled over the word.

He nodded and finally turned his attention back to me. The truth of his admission weighed heavy in his eyes.

“The day with the shark. It started then. When I punched it my powers seemed to run out. It’s why I had to swim to you, and it took forever.”

I was so scared that day it hadn’t even registered that he didn’t flash to my side like he could have. He was right... he had swum. He was fast for a swimmer, a human one, but he didn’t appear at my side like Aiden would have knowing danger loomed close by.

“But you had powers when you found me with Leeya.”

Shaking his head, I saw the sadness swirl inside his eyes. “They were gone... all of them. Then when I woke up and found you missing, the fear and anger I felt triggered them again, but only in small bursts. And it triggered something else... I could see you.”

“You could see me?” My eyebrows crept toward my hairline.

“Only for a few seconds, and like a clip from a fuzzy movie, but yes. I saw you. I saw the chair, the room. I saw your eyes. And the fear...” His voice drifted off. “But I couldn’t find you.”

A sheen coated his eyes, and I realized now just how awful that must have been for him.

“I had no idea,” I whispered.

“I was powerless to find you, and knowing you were hurt and scared—”

“But you did.” I squeezed his hand. “You did find me.”

He pursed his lips and shrugged.

While I tried to process his words, I struggled to make sense of everything. “If you had no powers, how did you find me?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Hell, I still don’t believe it.”

“I’m holding the hand of a man born over six hundred years ago. One who, until recently, was a vampire. Try me.” I winked.

“I felt you. Not like with my powers or anything... I just felt you. You were like gravity pulling me toward you and I just followed my feet. And then there you were.”

Though I knew we had a connection, something special and rare, knowing he could feel my presence even at a distance stole the air from my lungs. “You felt me? How?”

“I don’t know how else to explain it,” he said, his voice soft and unsure. “It’s like we’re connected, and I just felt you pulling me. Like you had tied a string to my heart and reeled me to you.”

“And that wasn’t one of your powers before?”

He shook his head. “I’ve never even heard of it as a vampire power before. I don’t think it was a vampire power... I think it was just the power of my love for you.”

My heart swelled with the admission. “That’s incredible, Aiden.”

“It certainly was. I still can’t quite process it.”