Into The Light (Immortal Hearts Book 1)

by Katherine Hastings

  “No apology needed. Being a social butterfly and catering to my need to talk wasn’t part of the bargain.”

  He looked worried, nervous. Like Jimmy Higgins the day he’d asked me to prom and then promptly threw up on my new shoes.

  “Allow me to make it up to you?”

  “There’s really no need...”

  “Please.” His eyes pleaded with me.

  “Okay.”

  He drew a deep breath through his nose, exhaling his relief quickly. “Good. Meet me back down here in three hours. Wear pants.”

  Wear pants? What the...?

  He didn’t wait for an answer. He flashed out of the room before I could blink. It still made me gasp every time I saw him move that way.

  DONNING A PAIR OF DOLCE & Gabbana skinny jeans that had been calling to me, I left my room three hours later and headed for the den. Not sure what he had in mind, I had also tossed on a plain white tank top and a pair of Frye boots. Cute, comfortable and ready for anything.

  Aiden stood in the den with his back turned toward me. The first thing I noticed were the shiny black riding boots pulled over tight, white riding breeches. My eyes moved up to his ass. Those breeches weren’t hiding a thing and there would be no complaints from me.

  Pure ass perfection.

  He held the little horse carving I had picked up before. It looked even smaller as he turned it over in his large, muscular hands.

  “That one’s my favorite,” I said, announcing my presence.

  Turning around, his gaze raked my body. Seeing him in full formal riding gear and a crisp white polo, I questioned my outfit choice.

  “Mine, too.” His gaze met mine.

  “I’m sorry. I think I should go change. You said to wear pants, but I missed the part about formal.”

  “No. Please. You look perfect.”

  He smiled at me. A warmth slid behind it, like an open hearth on a cold, winter day. The icy shell around him fractured even more.

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind changing,” I said while I looked him up and down. The front of those pants didn’t hide anything either. Again... no complaints from me.

  Damn. That thing needs its own zip code.

  “I’m positive. You’re perfect.”

  It didn’t go unnoticed that he’d said, ‘you’re perfect’ this time. I tried not to read too much into it.

  He’s a vampire, Emilia. This is going nowhere. No. More. Bad. Boys.

  My promise to myself after Jeff had been no more tortured artists and no more bad boys. A brooding vampire who sculpted beautiful wooden pieces of art was about as bad as it got when referring to my rules.

  Do. Not. Fall. For. Him.

  Not that he would want me anyway. He may be warming up to me, but he certainly wasn’t going to be falling in love with me. Billionaire vampires like Aiden didn’t fall for simple girls from Milwaukee.

  “I have a surprise for you. Follow me.”

  He set down the little horse carving and walked past me out of the room. I couldn’t help but stare at the muscular lines that came and went on his ass with every step. The breeches hid nothing, and I was certain I could chip a tooth on that thing.

  I followed him out through the house and down through the garden to the horse stable below. I stuttered to a stop when I came over the hill and saw them. White twinkle lights draped between the trees glowed against the black sky. My mouth fell open as I saw row after row of twinkle lights crisscrossing the sky, twisting from tree to tree and continuing into the woods farther than I could see.

  “Oh, my god,” I sputtered out. The beauty of it gripped me and held me tight.

  Aiden didn’t respond. He turned the corner to the barn. Mark stood in front of the stone entrance to the barn aisle holding a white horse in one hand and a black in the other. He grinned so wide I worried his teeth might fall out.

  “What... what is this?”

  “Allow me to take you for a ride?” Aiden asked, turning now to look at the astonishment I struggled to conceal.

  “Yeah... yes. Yes, of course,” I mumbled back. In addition to the twinkle lights, candles in white bags flickered in pairs, creating a path that wound under the lights down a trail into the forest. All of it together created a romantic atmosphere, causing the surrounding air to light up in a warm, golden glow. “What is all this? How did this get here?”

  Mark huffed an exhausted breath. “Helicopter ride, cleaned out stores, and one—”

  Aiden stopped Mark with a look. Mark cleared his throat and straightened up like those soldiers who stood in front of Buckingham Palace.

  “You told Mark you missed riding. Since you don’t have my night vision and I can’t ride in the sunlight, I thought this might be a good compromise. Mark got the supplies, I hung them up.”

  He hung them up? Himself?

  “You did all this? For me?” It felt like someone had shoved a sock in my mouth. All my saliva dissipated at the thought of him out here stringing lights and lighting candles... for me.

  “One of the perks of vampirism is my speed, as you’ve seen. This would have taken Mark weeks. No sense in missing out on this beautiful night waiting for Mark to break his neck climbing trees all week.”

  Aiden’s newfound smirk turned into something that resembled a full-blown smile.

  “The white mare is yours. Her name is Belmira. She’s a Lusitano. Born and bred in Portugal, I had her shipped here two years ago. Beautiful, isn’t she?”

  Beautiful didn’t cover it. Gleaming white with a mane curled down past her broad chest, her forelock was so thick it covered her face, one I could imagine was elegant and refined. A long, thick tail glimmered in the candlelight. The summer camp horses I rode every year at Camp Mondocky were nothing compared to the mare pawing before me.

  “This is Alfonso, my mount. He’s been with me for eight years, haven’t you boy?” He stroked the black gelding’s neck. “Shall we?”

  My head nodded but my arid mouth refused to talk. Aiden took Belmira from Mark and led her over to me. Before I could slide my foot in the stirrup, Aiden lifted me as if I weighed nothing, and in the blink of an eye I sat in the saddle.

  The quick movement caused me to gasp. My stomach dropped like I had plummeted down the arc of a roller coaster. It settled back to its usual resting place as I centered myself in the saddle.

  “Thank you,” I sputtered. Aiden nodded and flashed to the top of Alfonso. The fact it didn’t startle the gelding was a testament to the time they had spent together.

  “Have fun!” Mark’s eyes twinkled like the little white lights suspended above.

  Biting my lower lip, I glanced back at him as Belmira stepped in line behind Aiden and Alfonso. She followed them between the glowing lights on the ground. Mark waved and then crossed his arms and watched us disappear into the woods. A knot formed in my stomach when he disappeared from sight. He had become my security blanket, and I already felt insecure alone in the woods with Aiden without him.

  Belmira followed them through no cue of mine and we wound beneath the lights down the worn wooded trail. The surrounding silence felt as heavy as the cool, summer air only broken by the snapping of twigs as the horses made their way deeper into the woods. I struggled for something to say, which was odd because rambling in the face of awkward silence was my usual go-to. Another trait I inherited from my mother. I fought the urge to go off on a tangent.

  “Do you ride a lot?” I asked, keeping it short.

  “Almost every night. It is one of my favorite activities. I can see in the dark and Alfonso is very surefooted.”

  “You can see in the dark? Like night goggles?”

  Aiden chuckled. “I’ve never tried them so I can’t attest to the comparison, but yes, I can see as clearly in the dark as I can in the light.”

  “What other special abilities do you have?”

  “Well, mind reading is not one of them, so you’re safe there,” he joked, and it set me at ease.

  “Seriously, what else
can you do?”

  He rode in silence for a moment as the horses continued down the trail. “I can hear exceptionally well.”

  “Like how?”

  “It’s hard to explain. I can focus my hearing at different levels and distances. I don’t hear everything all the time, but when I choose, I can hear the smallest things hundreds of yards away.”

  “So everything isn’t loud all the time?”

  “No, nothing like that. Everything sounds normal right now but if I want, I can listen to see what Mark is doing back at the barn.”

  Aiden’s posture stiffened as he tipped his ear in the direction we had come from. A moment passed before a smile crept across his face.

  “What is it?” His expression piqued my curiosity.

  “He’s walking back to the house and singing.”

  “Singing?” I laughed. “What is he singing?”

  “I’m not sure what the song is.”

  “You can’t leave me hanging. What does it sound like?”

  Aiden frowned for a moment and tipped his head toward the sound. I waited for him to respond.

  He cleared his throat then began to sing in a stunted, awkward tone.

  As I listened to the familiar words I’d sung in front of the mirror while shaking my ass on more than one occasion, I choked down my laughter. “Bootylicious? He’s singing Bootylicious?” The amusement I’d suppressed exploded out and nearly caused me to tumble off Belmira. Aiden joined in and our laughter combined and echoed through the woods. “Bravo by the way. An excellent rendition of Beyoncé.”

  “Why thank you.” He waved his hand and took an informal bow.

  “So, you can move quickly, you’re strong, you hear really well... and you can sing. What else can you do?”

  “That’s about the extent of it.”

  “Well, that and the eternal life part, I guess. That’s pretty cool.”

  “Pretty cool? Just pretty cool?” He turned around to look back at me, his scowl questioning my statement.

  “Yeah. Pretty cool. I don’t think I would want to live for eternity in the dark. But it’s cool if you’re into that sort of thing.”

  My statement caused his eyes to widen. “Doesn’t everyone want immortality?”

  “Not me. No thanks. Not at the expense of sunlight and food. I really love sunlight and food.”

  He stared while waiting for more of an explanation.

  With a shrug, I continued. “You’ve been alive for how many years? Hundreds? And honestly, what do you really do? You live alone in a huge house, you come out at night, drink blood and wander around on your horse. Besides Mark it doesn’t seem like you have any other friends or companionship. I guess, no offense, I just don’t understand the attraction. I would rather live one short, really full life, than an eternity of being alone in the dark.”

  Shock and pain flashed on his face and I realized I had insulted him.

  “I didn’t mean that to come off so cruel. I’m sure immortality is great, and you enjoy your life. It’s just... not for me. I want to be human. I want to experience everything.”

  Aiden turned forward and rode for a few moments in silence. “I wasn’t always alone,” he said, his voice quiet, pained. “I was married once.”

  “You were married? To who? When?” My questions poured out.

  The path opened into a huge field. All the twinkle lights disappeared as we stepped into the darkness. My eyes adjusted and found Aiden again. He rode along the edge of the field and Belmira followed close behind.

  “Her name was Isobel. We met in 1514,” he said, and sadness weighted his words. “I used to pay prostitutes for their services but feed on them instead, erasing any memories of the feeding before I left. I walked into a brothel one night and there was a beautiful woman with hair and eyes as dark as a raven. That night I fed on her. She was fearless, and when I drank her blood, it almost excited her. It was the first time that had ever happened. My first time drinking fear-free blood. After feeding on Isobel she looked elated. Intoxicated. It intrigued me. Instead of erasing her memory, I lay in bed and spoke to her. She was filled with questions about me. My life. My condition.”

  I nodded along even though he had turned forward and couldn’t see me. The thought of Aiden in the bed of another woman caused a twinge of jealousy, but pain for his loss quickly replaced it. You could hear how much he cared for her in the tenor of his voice.

  “I told her everything. We talked all night and before I knew it, the sun was peaking up. There was no time to get home, so she hid me in her closet. I thought about erasing her but every time I looked into her eyes to do it, something stopped me. So, I went into the closet convinced she would whip it open an hour later with a horde of angry villagers prepared to burn me in the sun. But the door didn’t open until darkness fell. There she was, eager to spend more time with me. She didn’t look at me like I was a monster. She looked at me like I was a human again.”

  Aiden paused for a moment, his mind reliving that moment again, no doubt.

  “She offered her neck to me that night. And once again I drank fear-free blood. Again, we laughed and talked into the night and when the sun came up, I went back into her closet. The next night a customer demanded her as his lady for the evening. Jealousy tore me up when she told me I would have to go. I asked her to come with me, to join me in my life. I had money, means, and the world at my feet. She hesitated but for a second and then smiled and said, ‘Let’s go.’ I took her away that night, and we never looked back.”

  Aiden’s voice faded off. I rode behind him in stunned silence. “What happened?”

  “A week after we met, I proposed and we married in Venice. We traveled and laughed. We saw the world. Life was wonderful having her at my side. Things were good for many years. I offered her the gift, but like you, she declined. She loved being human. She got older, more beautiful in my eyes. Lines formed on her face and her black hair became streaked with grey. Some years later she got tired easily and her breathing became ragged. I could feel her slipping away. I begged her to take the gift, and she agreed, but she wanted just one more day as a human. She wanted to breathe the warm air, eat her favorite foods, and dance one last time in the sunlight. She died that night in my arms.” His voice cracked and trailed off.

  My breath caught in my throat. The vision of Aiden holding his beloved in his arms while her life slipped away tore at my heart.

  “I thought she was sleeping until I heard her heart stop. I tried to feed her my blood, but it was too late. I’ve never forgiven myself for not forcing the gift upon her. She should still be here. She died of what I think now, with more knowledge, was cancer. A waste of a life.”

  “It was the life she wanted, Aiden. A full life with you. You were right not to force immortality on her. Being human was what she wanted. I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t even imagine.”

  “I made a pact with myself never to feel that again. To honor her memory by never loving another. You think I am lonely and cold, and you are not wrong. I live in a prison of my grief and loss and I deserve to be here.”

  “Aiden...” My chest clenched tight as he revealed this other side of himself, the reason for the distance and the darkness. It was a broken heart that had formed the layer of ice I had seen slowly melting away. “You can’t believe that. You can’t believe this woman who loved you, who valued life and choice so much, would wish you to suffer in eternal grief and darkness. I don’t know her, but from just the small amount you have told me, it sounds as if she would want you to live. To really live and to experience the most this life has to offer... well, what eternity has to offer.”

  I held my breath, scared for a moment that he would respond with anger that I had overstepped, but his silence gave away his inner reflection.

  “Perhaps,” he said, though the word lacked the weight of conviction.

  “You should honor her life by living yours to the fullest, Aiden. I know if it was me that is what I would want. If you can’t l
ive the human life she wanted, then live the best vampire life you can live.”

  “I could live a human life if I wanted.”

  We were outside, but it felt like the oxygen got sucked right out of the air. “What?”

  “It’s possible, not that I would ever choose it, but I could become human again, or so I’m told.”

  “How?”

  “A century ago I heard a story about a vampire of the original clan that was tortured and deprived of blood. The process was said to be excruciating and took a month of starvation, however it ended with him human again.”

  “Human?”

  “Yes. Human. Able to walk in the sun, eat food, live a normal life. Human.”

  “What happened? How long did he live?”

  “About a week. They cut his head off when they realized starving an original vampire of blood doesn’t kill him.”

  “Oh,” I said, my face crinkling in disgust. “No one else has tried?”

  Aiden snorted. “Of course not. Why would a vampire choose to become a human?”

  His reaction sent a wave of warm anger though my cheeks.

  “What the hell is so wrong with being human?”

  Aiden laughed, a full and hearty belly laugh. “Where do I even begin?”

  “Try me.”

  “Mortals are fragile, slow, clumsy, defenseless, and most importantly... killable. No thank you. I’ll stick to my immortality.”

  My mouth twisted and my eyes narrowed. Despite my lack of superpowers, I liked being human. “So, you’re saying that my existence is worthless?”

  “That’s not what I meant.” His tone softened.

  “It’s what you implied,” I growled.

  “Isobel chose to stay human. She died. I chose to be immortal. I’m still alive. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.”

  “She may have passed away, but who lived the better life? You or her?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “What do you say we go for a gallop? These two haven’t been out for a run together.” He changed the subject.

  “I haven’t ridden since I was sixteen. I’m afraid my skills aren’t quite up to a full-speed gallop. In the dark.”