Soulless • Raphael Santiago [S.U]

Eight

Dancing past the point of no return.

L E T A

I was asleep. I was asleep, but even in my dreams I was worried.

Typical.

I was sitting on an old wooden bench that was creaking in a slightly alarming way, watching traffic pass by. It looked like I was in New York, because a bright yellow taxi screeched past me, beeping frantically.

I looked around, confused. Why was there a bench on the sidewalk?

Someone sat next to me, and the bench creaked and shook a little. 'Watch out,' I began, and then turned around to see Raphael. 'You know what, on reconsideration, don't watch out. Why are you in my dreams again? It's getting creepy.'

Raphael rolled his eyes. 'The last dream dissolved before I had time to properly explain everything. I decided to come back and try and make things a bit clearer for you.'

I sniffed and turned away. 'Please. You're Raphael, you couldn't explain things properly if your life depended on it. And you're not even alive, so that doesn't even work, does it?'

I felt like slapping him, which was a feeling I was starting to get accustomed to.

'Leta, please.' Raphael leant forwards, his dark eyes gleaming with some emotion I couldn't quite place.

'Hmm.' I sniffed. 'Nice aftershave. Let me guess- psychopathic vampire wasn't available, so you picked bloodsucking maniac?'

Raphael ignored me. He seemed to do that a lot. 'Leta, please just let me help you.'

'I don't need or want your help!' I distantly remembered this afternoon, where I'd spent about three hours freaking out and desperately wanting Raphael's- or anyone's- help, but I pushed that thought aside. 'I'm fine by myself!'

'You're turning into a darkling!' Raphael yelled, standing up- the bench shook- and glaring at me.

I didn't know what that was, but it sounded bad.

'What?' I asked, then stood up too. Embarrassingly, I only came up to the tip of Raphael's nose. 'What's a darkling?'

Raphael looked pleased that I was finally listening to him. 'Once a human has been fed vampire blood, they have to die for the transition to be complete. If they don't die, they start to become obsessed with the vampire who gave them the blood- me- and are drawn back to them. If you leave it alone long enough, the vampire blood's affects will eventually wear off, but...' He shook his head and sat down again.