“Aiden, it’s not your decision. I’m changing with you. All you need to do is survive and I’ll be there waiting for you. You and me... for eternity.”
Tears burned behind my eyes. I swallowed hard. “No, Emilia. You deserve it all. And you deserve a happy life... a human life. I would rather see you happy without me, then live this dark life with me. I need to let you go.”
“Well I won’t let you go,” she sobbed. “You don’t get a say. You go; I go.”
Her lips collided with mine and I felt all the joy, love, and life she brought me explode around me. I savored her touch, her taste, and the feeling of her love washing over me. Giving up my darkness had all been worth it for her love, even if it was just for a fraction of my life. Even if it meant I died tonight. But I couldn’t ask her to sacrifice everything for me.
Our lips drifted apart, and I reached up and touched her face. “I love you, Emilia.” I turned to Lothaire. “No matter what happens, I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything, brother.” He grabbed my hand.
“You’ll leave her a human and compel her to forget me. To forget everything.”
“What!” Emilia shrieked. “No!”
“Please, Lothaire. Make her forget me. Make sure she’s safe and protected and never wants for a thing. See to it she lives a long, happy human life.”
His lips pressed together, and I saw the tears building behind his eyes as he started nodding. “You have my word, brother.”
“No!” Emilia sobbed. “You can’t! I won’t let you! I love you, Aiden!”
“I love you more than anything in the world, Emilia. Enough to let you go.”
She collapsed at my side and pressed her head into my chest. I slid an arm around her back and pressed my lips to her head.
Annella and Thorne stepped to my side, and I gave them both a pained smile. “It’s time.”
“I’ll see you soon, friend.” Thorne gave me a confident nod.
“Please come back to us, Aiden,” Annella said, fighting back tears.
The death that came next would either be the end of me or a new beginning. I would either watch Emilia thriving from afar, or I would watch her from above. No matter what, I would watch over her. Even if heaven didn’t exist for someone like me, death couldn’t keep me away... not even the deepest grave could keep me from crawling out back to her side, even if just to check on her and ensure her safety and happiness.
I took one last breath filled with Emilia’s sweet smell. “I’m ready, Lothaire.” Closing my eyes, I waited for his blood to pass my lips.
“Wait!” Catrain’s voice shook through the room. “Please wait.”
My eyes fluttered open, and I saw her staring at us with tears in her eyes. She turned to Liùsaidh and spoke. “They have a soul tie, Liùsaidh. You see it as I can see it. I know you can. And because of this I know you can save them. Please, for me... your daughter, I beg you to save them.”
The silence settled over the room and Emilia pulled her head from my chest. Her swollen red eyes locked with mine.
“I see it,” Liùsaidh said, her accent thick, but her English clear.
“She speaks English?” Thorne stepped forward.
“Yes, but she does not want to speak directly to you. She thinks you a blight on humanity... a mistake to be fixed and unworthy of her words,” Catrain answered.
Thorne looked right at her. “Please, Liùsaidh. I know our people have bad blood with yours. But Aiden is a good man. Save them.”
“Mother, I know you see in them what I see with my gift. They are special, true soulmates. It is a bond that should never be broken and a bond that can anchor them. You have the power to save them.”
Liùsaidh’s eyes roved over Emilia and I, her face stern and unyielding.
“You should not be here.” She glowered at me and spoke in even better English than Catrain. “Your people betrayed us and then took our gift and turned it into evil. A blight on humanity we have regretted for over six hundred years. None of you should be here.”
“Please,” Emilia sobbed. “Please save him.”
Liùsaidh drummed her fingers together and looked between us with a contemplative gaze.
“I have searched inside you both and my daughter is not wrong. You are true soul mates. You’re connected together. And he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness for your life. It is a noble man who would give up his own desires for that of another... for that of the one he loves.”
“Then save him,” Emilia breathed. “Please.”
“There is only one way to save him,” Liùsaidh answered.
I felt my heart clench at her words... there was hope.
She turned her stare to Emilia. “And it is dependent on you.”
“Anything,” Emilia begged. “I will do anything for him.”
“The gift placed upon them that gave them immortality was bound by a powerful magic.” Liùsaidh started. “When the gift was removed due to their betrayal, they discovered that feeding on others and absorbing their life force could sustain them. Without feeding on blood, Aiden cannot survive. The magic within him has gone.”
“But you can save him?” Lothaire stepped forward.
Liùsaidh lowered her head in a nod. “I can.”
“And will you save him?” Annella asked, her eyes soft and pleading. “Will you save my brother?”
Liùsaidh looked to Emilia and I held my breath while I awaited my fate.
Our fate.
She gave another slow nod. “Yes. I will try to save him. His actions tonight show me he is a good man. Not a soulless monster like so many of your kind. But whether I save him is up to her.” She lifted a crooked finger to Emilia. “You are already bonded by your special soul tie, two halves that make a whole. Because of this I can tie his life-force to yours, and as long as your heart beats, so will his.”
“Yes, do it, please!” Emilia begged.
“Wait.” I struggled for breath. “Will she be a vampire? Will she have to feed on blood and stay out of the sunlight? I don’t want that for her.”
“No,” Liùsaidh responded. “You will live a human life, though the magic I will imbue you with that bonds you will return your original powers and grant you a long life, much like the original gift we granted your people. And because you are bonded, your powers will become her powers. But since your own heart is too far gone to be saved, it will beat with her heart. Since she is human, you too will be human.”
I felt the world around me pick up and spin, and an unbearable weight lifted from my chest. Emilia looked down at me with teary eyes and touched my cheek, a shaky smile spreading across her face.
“Do you agree to this?” Liùsaidh asked Emilia.
She held my eyes and nodded. Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I do. With all my heart, I agree.”
“Aiden? Do you agree?”
“With all that’s left of mine, I do.”
“Then you must know... you will live an eternal life, but like in the original curse, beheading will still take your life. In the event her heart stops, so will yours. If she dies, you will die as well. Do you agree to this?”
I nodded, reaching up to touch her cheek. “I would die anyway.”
Liùsaidh pressed her hands together and bowed her head. “Then let it be done.”
Emilia leaned down and kissed me. Liùsaidh chanted in her language and I felt our worlds colliding, our hearts joining as one while the magic moved through us. I felt her in my bloodstream, pulsing through my veins while our hearts pounded in rhythm. The pain in my body dissipated as her love flowed through me, bringing me back me to life. An explosion of energy moved between us and I felt my powers surging back through me. It overwhelmed me, and I reached up and clung to her until I collapsed in her arms, the darkness sweeping me away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Emilia
I SAT UP WITH A START. Energy surged through me like I’d slammed a gallon of coffee. My body pulsed and tingled, my
heart pounding in my chest while I took a sharp breath. Looking around, I realized I was in a small wooden bed in a hut. Memories of Aiden, of the Picts, and of the ritual all raced into my mind. I searched it like I did sometimes when trying to recollect a dream. Was this a dream? I felt disoriented and dizzy trying to sort through the images in my mind. The last thing I remember was kissing Aiden when I felt an explosion, and everything went dark.
Did he survive?
“Hello, beautiful.”
I whipped around to see Aiden sitting it a chair across the room. Though darkness enveloped the room and no light illuminated him, I saw him as clearly as if he’d been standing in the sunlight though the colors seemed muted. His head rested on his hand, and he wore that sweet smile I’d missed so much these last few days. Though my new night vision shocked me, I didn’t have time to process it because something far more important pushed to the front of my brain.
He’s alive!
“Aiden!” I pulled back the covers and jumped up to run to him. My muscles twitched and suddenly I flew across the room into his arms. The jolt from my speed sucked the air from my lungs. I collapsed in his lap with bulging eyes while I examined my legs.
“Careful, love. It takes a little getting used to.” He laughed.
“I... did I? Holy shit,” I said, turning to him.
“You’ve got my powers now... and I’ve got your heart.” He smiled.
“Holy shit,” I repeated.
“Let’s be shocked about your powers later. For now, all I want is this.”
Before I could breathe, his mouth collided with mine. I melted into his kiss, my body igniting beneath his touch. Everything inside me burst to life, new sensations flooded through me and crackled beneath my skin. There was no beginning and no end, no time before him and no life beyond him. It wasn’t him and me, it was us. Only us. Weightless yet falling, I tumbled over the edge with him.
He whooshed us into the bed and left me breathless beneath him. Giving me no time to recover he tore at my clothes, and I ripped off his. We devoured each other with hungry mouths, hands desperately clawing at one another. With a flash I flipped him onto his back, straddling him with a smile.
“Well, that was new,” he said with a smirk.
Impressed with my own strength, I waggled my eyebrows and pressed my lips to his. His pleasurable moan encouraged me on. Pinning his hands over his head I slid down the length of him and paused to savor the feeling of him filling me again. He sucked in a deep inhale before breathing out the sigh that I drew into my lungs. Our breaths mingled into one as I rocked against him, our passions climbing as we clung to each other. I felt my heart racing, and only then realized it was his heart racing too. Together they pounded as one while our bodies connected and soared to unimaginable heights. We crashed over the edge together, his hands grabbing my face and his lips colliding with mine as we floated back down, our hearts slowing to a steady drum.
I collapsed in his arms and pressed my head to his chest. Feeling him wrapped around me soothed away all the fear and pain that had nearly broken me. It was over, and he was mine. Knowing I was so close to losing him only deepened the love for him I didn’t think could grow any stronger.
“I love you, Emilia,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“And I love you.”
“Good, because it seems as if you’re stuck with me for eternity after all.”
“I think I can get used to that.” I smiled and pushed into his arms a little deeper. “Although, I’m still pissed you almost had me erased.” I scowled.
“Only because I love you that much.”
“You’re lucky I’m in too good of a mood to hold a grudge,” I teased.
“I’ve got all eternity to make it up to you.”
I rolled over and brushed my lips against his. “You’d better.”
“I’ll start with trying to find you some coffee. I doubt they have any, but I know you can’t start your day without it.”
“Oh yes, coffee...” I pursed my lips and moaned.
Aiden stood and pulled his pants up. I leaned on my elbow and took in the view grateful I got an eternity to admire that impeccable body. “Where is everyone else?”
“Well, apparently the ritual knocked us both out. I woke up when Lothaire and Thorne were carrying us in here,” he said. “You’ve been out for an hour. Lothaire and Annella are waiting for us outside.”
“And Thorne?”
“He’s still here and trying to convince Catrain he isn’t the devil. I think he’s a bit smitten with her.” He smirked. “He’s always had a thing for bad girls.”
Shaking my head, I laughed. “Oh, boy.”
“Leave it to Thorne to fall for the Pict witch sworn to hate us.” He laughed and shook his head.
“How very Romeo and Juliet of him. I hope it works out.”
“He deserves to find someone, too.”
I nodded. “I like her. She’s a badass, and if it weren’t for Catrain things would be a lot different right now. I’d be a mind-erased human and you’d either be a vampire or dead. So, she gets two thumbs up from me.”
I grinned, but the reality of how close we’d come to losing it all slammed back into me like a semi-truck. Catrain would have my gratitude every single day of my life... no matter how many centuries stretched before me.
“Speaking of Catrain,” Aiden said, tipping his head. “I think we should go out and thank her and let everyone know we both came out of this alive. They need to get back to safety before sunup, so I need to get them on their way.”
“Good point,” I said and stood up. I pulled on my pants and my clothes with speed that startled me. “I’m gonna have to practice moving like a human again before I go back into the world. That. Is. Crazy.”
“I’m happy to take them off of you often so you can practice putting them back on.” His sly smile pulled up one side of his lips.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
We exchanged a smile and headed to the door together. When he pulled it open Lothaire and Annella paced just outside. I blushed a little thinking they must have heard our exuberant reunion.
“Are you okay? Are you two hurt?” Annella asked when she saw us and flitted to my side.
“I think we’re all right,” I answered.
“Thank God!” She threw her arms around my neck. “We were so worried!” She moved to Aiden and jumped on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”
“I’m sorry, Annella. But thank you for fighting for me. Thank you for being such a good sister.”
“I missed you, Aiden. Promise you won’t be a stranger anymore?”
“I promise. No more runaway Aiden. We’ll visit you often.”
“Good.” She smiled and kissed his cheek.
Aiden’s eyes moved to Lothaire, who stood back with his arms crossed tight over his expansive chest. That scowl he wore still sent a shiver down my spine and I was glad not to be the recipient of it this time. The two brothers remained locked in a stare.
“Lothaire,” Aiden started, but he didn’t have a chance to finish. Lothaire appeared in front of him and pulled him into a strong embrace. Aiden stiffened for a moment before returning the gesture and wrapping his arms around his brother.
“I thought you were dead,” Lothaire said, struggling to steady his voice. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“I’m alive because of you. You didn’t give up on me. Thank you, brother.”
Lothaire clapped him on the back and straightened up. “Well? Was it worth it? Are you human?”
“Can’t you smell it?” Annella laughed. “He’s human all right!”
“I hope it’s everything you want,” Lothaire said and let his glance fall to me.
“It is, and it will be.” Aiden reached over and took my hand. “I can never thank you all enough. You saved me.”
“What about me?” Thorne’s voice came from behind us. We turned to see him walk
ing up with Catrain. “I’m the one who figured out that the Picts were here and could save you. Don’t I get a hug?” He flashed his mischievous grin.
“What would I do without you?” Aiden said, returning the smile and pulling him in for a brief hug.
“Apparently desiccate and die. At least that was your plan, wasn’t it?”
“Something like that.” Aiden shrugged.
“Thank you, Catrain,” I said, stepping forward. “Thank you for saving us. We owe you everything.” Even though she didn’t look welcoming to warm gestures, I tossed my arms around her neck and squeezed her tight.
When I stepped back, her hardened face softened, and she tipped her head in a nod. “It was my mother who saved you.”
“But she wouldn’t have if you hadn’t convinced her,” Aiden added. “Thank you. You saved us.”
“I saw it on beach. Your connection,” Catrain said. “I have some of my mother’s magic and I saw it. Like a tether tied between you. An unbreakable bond binding you together.”
“Is that why I could feel her and find her when she was in trouble?” Aiden asked, his voice softer.
“Yes,” Catrain answered with conviction. “You will always feel her and sense her. And she can feel and sense you. Now even more since your immortal hearts beat as one.”
“Well, that explains that,” Aiden said, giving me a soft smile. “You were pulling me.”
“I guess I was. And knowing now we can sense each other there’ll be no sneaking off to the bar with Mark and leaving me behind. I’ll find you.” I waggled my brows. “Seems like you’re really stuck with me now.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The adoration in his gaze brought on that familiar flip-flop in my stomach.
Lothaire broke our stare. “Some of us here are still vampires and can’t be in the sun, and we don’t have much time before it comes up. It will take us at least fifteen minutes to get back to the safety of the house.”
“Fifteen minutes?” I opened my eyes wide. “It was over an hour on horseback here and a twenty-minute helicopter ride before that. You’re that fast?”
Into The Light (Immortal Hearts Book 1) Page 29