Blinding Light (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 2) by Alicia Deters Page B

heal. I remembered I just wanted it to end. But then, something else took hold. I yearned for something I couldn’t name.”
    He listened attentively and nodded for me to keep going.
    “I… I heard his heartbeat and smelled him when he came near. I tried to stop him, but he wanted to help me. That’s when my fangs made their debut appearance, and I knew. I knew what I would do and couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t want to at that point. I wanted to drain him. I wanted to kill him. And I did,” I sobbed and couldn’t speak anymore.
    He held me tightly while the tremors racked me. “Lucy, how do you know you killed him? Did you see him die in front of you?”
    My gaze shot to his, gaging whether or not he was serious. I knew what I did. There was no way he could have lived. I took a lot of blood. “I didn’t need to see it happen. I was too far gone into the transformation, but when I saw him after I… after I bit him, he was so pale, and his breathing was shunted. There’s no way.”
    “Yes, there is a way. Because he is alive.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    “I do. Lucy, I know he’s fine because you would know if he died with absolute certainty. You remember that you’re different, right?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Well, you would be able to feel if he perished. You were born of the Light, Lucy. Light is energy and connects all things. Other vampires aren’t connected because they are Dark, and when you’re in the dark, you’re just stumbling around aimlessly.”
    He wasn’t making much sense, but something in his voice rang true. “You felt his emotions, didn’t you?” When I nodded, he continued. “Well, by drinking his blood, you made a connection with him. His energy passed to you, so a part of him is in you.”
    Well, that sounded weird and kind of creepy. “So does that mean I’m going to feel what he feels all the time?” I thought of the other guy from the supermarket. Was I going to feel him too? I could barely handle my own emotional baggage. I didn’t need to manage anyone else’s.
    “No. Connections made with humans are much weaker because their… life force, if you will, is much more fragile. Nothing like a vampire’s. You will only be aware of it when they pass.”
    That made sense. Sort of. I was willing to accept anything these days. Relief washed through me knowing the man was still alive. But then, something else occurred to me.
    “So that’s how you do it? From my blood. When you… saved my mom. That explains this freaky connection and how you can always read my mind.”
    He chuckled. “I can’t actually read your mind. Can you read mine?”
    “No, thank God. I’m not sure I want to spend time in that big head. I’d get lost.”
    “Very funny. We can feel what the other feels and, sometimes, are so attuned to the other we can even sense where the other is.”
    “Huh. So that’s how you always seemed to show up out of nowhere when I was in trouble. You don’t think that information was important enough to share say, I don’t know, like a few months ago?”
    He flashed a wicked grin. I wanted to slap him. “Not without telling you the whole sordid story and risk you killing me. And let’s face it. You would be devastated if I was gone.”
    “Hmm, I think your ego would save you. It’s so big it’s impenetrable.”
    “I don’t think I have an ego. I really don’t know where you’re getting that from.”
    “And I don’t think I have anger issues.”
    He smiled wider but wisely kept his mouth shut.
    “Wait a second,” I said. “If you can always feel what I’m feeling, why doesn’t it always work the other way around? Why does it only come every once in a while?”
    “Because I can hide my emotions better than you can,” he said innocently, which earned him a pink pillow in the face. And it was definitely no girly hit.
    “You are going to show me how to block them. Soon,” I demanded.
    He laughed. “Well, all it takes is a level of