Darkness. Darkness so bleak that I couldn't see anything, everything clouded my vision. Black thoughts. Bad thoughts. Memories so bad, so… Tash, no! But I was already walking forwards through the mist, batting the darkness away until I saw a receding corridor of kaleidoscope colours, hidden behind this curtain of dark. Tash, stop – you're… you're killing me!

I pressed on. I didn't know where I was or what I was doing but I had a feeling… an impulse to just brighten things up in this dingy excuse for a… GET OUT!

But this time I didn't leave. Not immediately anyway. I strode up until the corridor was only a few inches from my face, until I could feel the rainbow wash over me and tease me – telling me to make sure that it spread, telling me to help it banish the darkness forever.

And that was what I did. I started grabbing the darkness and flinging it into the light, where it turned a dark shade of purple and disappeared in a rush of steam. It was fun and I kept feeding it in as if it were coal into a fire. And each cloud of fog was a memory, a thought. A bad thought.

And I didn't leave until the place was nice and alive with colour. I clapped my hands and grinned. This'll do nicely, until I was pushed out and I found I was being cradled in Jude's arms and he was raining kisses up and down my neck. I felt so safe in his arms… so comfortable.

His warm breath against my throat made me shiver and the next minute I felt a different kind of kiss at my neck. A kiss that sent a warm liquid trickle down and gather about my head like water. Jude was drawing blood – he was biting me. And I was waiting for the burst of pain that didn't come.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and my vision cleared. I wasn't in the park. I was at home, in bed, lying stiff in my sheets. Because someone was by my bed and they were biting me like Jude had been doing in my dream.

I let out a squeal and tried to scream but no sound would come out. I started kicking, writhing in my bed, and hitting out at the person who was fussing about my neck. My actions spoke for themselves. The person stood up and hissed. I could see their face as the amber light from the street lamp outside washed in through my window.

Jude. Jude was here, in my room. And his mouth… his chin… the entire lower half of his mouth was coated in red – as if he'd dipped his jaw in cranberry juice. My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to scream, but his hand had already clamped over my mouth.

It made no difference. I could hear Robinson clumping about in the other room. "Natasha? Are you having a nightmare?" he called. I tried biting down on Jude's wrist but when I did, he didn't even look at me. I didn't draw blood. In fact, the little dents my teeth made disappeared almost immediately.

"Tasha?"

You had a nightmare… came the purring voice in my head, going against anything I'd ever believed. Because it wasn't my voice or Robinson's. It was Jude's. But his lips didn't move. Clever trick, I thought for the second time that night.

Jude withdrew his hand and I my eyes gleamed as I stared at him, menacingly. "Robinson, someone's…" my throat constricted and I couldn't continue, I felt as if someone had trapped my neck in a vice. "I'm being attack-"

Jude glared at me, his eyes no longer their usual timid grey, a violent black. The same colour as the clouds in his mind. Because I had been in his mind. I knew it now.

"I'm being attacked by someone in my dreams," I finally gasped out. I glared at Jude who smiled back and then, without a word, crouched down and started sliding beneath my bed. I felt sick. Sick and worried.

My bed sheets were wet and I could see in the orangey-yellow light that they were a dark, scarlet red. Red with blood.

My brother appeared at my door. Like me, he had brown hair and violet eyes, except his hair was almost blonde whereas mine was almost black. My eyes were a dark purple whereas his were almost blue. He was in his early twenties and had taken care of me ever since our parents died in a car accident when I was ten. I knew I was old enough to leave home but he was good company and was a decent housekeeper.

He looked at me and smiled. He couldn't see my sheets or my face. Just my figure. "Tash, you're eighteen – you shouldn't be having nightmares,"

I nodded and rolled over to make out I was trying to sleep. For some reason, I didn't want to give away Jude's position. I was also happily aware that as I turned, the mattress must have hit him in the face. I wasn't happy for long though, because my face was now directly resting in the pool of blood both on my pillow and linen. I could smell and taste the rank copper it stank of.

Robinson sighed. "Was it about Mum and Dad again?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe. I managed a smile. "No, about some jerk who hit on me in the club," my voice was high-pitched and sweet.

Robinson laughed. "I hope you got him good, sis." He replied and I wasn't entirely sure whether he meant in reality or in my dreams. "Night, Tash." He shut the door and trudged back to his room.

"Some jerk who hit on you? If I remember, you were the one who came up to me." Jude's voice was muffled from under the bed. But now that Robinson was gone, I was back to being terrified. I should've told Robbie about him… now he's just gonna launch for my neck again…

But Jude didn't. He crawled out from underneath and looked me straight in the eyes. I saw that his mouth was now clean and that he'd wiped the blood away. I couldn't meet his gaze without hiding further under the covers. I turned away.

He did look genuinely sorry and stole a glance at my neck .He scowled and looked down at his feet. "Tash, I'm sorry." He told me. I didn't look at him, and I wrapped my left hand around the puncture wounds in my neck. I had a feeling that that was why he'd taken me to the park earlier – but he'd never got to do it. And it was the reason why Quinn checked my neck. I'd finally worked Jude out after only knowing him for a few hours. He was a vampire. A ruthless, dirty, cocky little…

"You're right," Jude admitted. I glared at him, shying away. "Huh?" I stammered, even though I knew what he meant. Our eyes locked again and he muttered, "I am a vampire," Before it hadn't sunken in but because he was admitting it –

my world span out of control and I didn't think that I'd ever come to terms with life again. I was one of those people who thought humans were the top predators and nothing would ever change that. And being bitten by a vampire and talking to one wasn't exactly on my list of 'to-do'.

"Tash, I'm sorry – I don't know why-" he broke off. Slowly, he sat down on my bed and strangely – I let him. "I don't know why I just did that, Tash." He looked up at me and for an instant, I imagined there were tears in his eyes. Or was that what it was – my imagination? Because what I'd thought about vampires, what I'd always thought, were that they were killers. Cold blooded killers.

I began to feel dizzy and I sat back against my pillows, smiling stupidly. I was nothing to the world anymore, I was floating. Dots swam in my vision and I opened my mouth happily. The ultimate high. I felt as if I was slipping away and drifting up to the clouds…

"Tash? Tash?" Jude was gawping at me and trying to shake me awake but I didn't listen. I was losing myself in this little paradise.

"There's a boy I know, he's the one I dream of. Looks into my eyes, take me to the clouds above…" I sang, feeling sleepy and light-headed.

"Oh God, Tash!" Jude was grabbing hold of me, roughly shaking me now. I continued to sing, feeling so peaceful, so at one with the world. Slipping away… just slipping away… Take me to the clouds above.

Jude started cursing and I heard a tearing sound. I guessed that it was my sheets. A second later I felt someone dabbing at my neck, holding the makeshift tissue there, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Bleeding? What bleeding? I was so high I couldn't care.

And then I felt Jude on top of me and he was shaking me. It disturbed my peace but my body was so light that I couldn't gather any strength to do anything about it. I couldn't see anything except this bright, bright light.

Jude crawled up so his head was parallel with my headrest. The bottom of his neck was just by my mouth and automatically I reached up and started kissing him there. And then my lips stumbled across a wound, a small cut.

Blood trickled steadily from it and I pressed my lips to it. I started to drink without hesitation or persuasion and melted. It had no real taste, nothing I could put my finger on… it made my mouth water like… like…

A list of tastes popped into mind. Passion fruit. Vanilla. Chocolate. Mango. Strawberries. Apples. Ginger. Cinnamon. Coconut. Turkish Delight. Cheesecake.

And I found I could change the blood to taste however I wanted it. This was far more fun and pleasurable than drifting off to sleep and falling into the clouds. The pink haze was back and so was the corridor of rainbows. Jude was back.

And this tasted so nice… it kept me warm, made me tremble with happiness. And as the blood flowed down my throat, I could feel again. The numbness and the light-headedness wore off gradually.

Tasha… I was no longer afraid. Of anything. Of Jude. Of the dark. Jude… I realised I could do it too. We were exchanging blood but it didn't seem like that. It seemed as if it were a lifeline. A helping hand.

I love you, Jude. I told him.And that was the honest-to-God truth. I'd only known this guy for a few hours, I didn't know anything about him but I loved him. It was why I never called Robbie in the room. It was why I took that walk with him, why I kissed him, why I was doing this with him now. I couldn't explain how I felt but it had something to do with that word I'd heard earlier. Soulmates. Soulmates. Soulmates. Are we soulmates?

Tasha, I- Jude began but I cut him off, furiously. Don't try and deny it, Jude. You know that… Okay, it was a long shot. I didn't know if he felt the same way and I was going to be completely embarrassed if he didn't, but…

You're right. Sigh. Why hide it any longer? And as I stopped drinking his blood and I pulled away I felt him lunge for my neck. I let out a gasp of surprise. If we love each other we have to make it complete.

What are you talking about? I demanded, curious as to how our minds were still connected like this. I could feel Jude's dark humour and deadly seriousness absorb my mind, breaking upon it like waves on the shore. My head was taking a battering. I'm going to turn you into a vampire.

I couldn't prevent it, no matter how much I thought I loved him and wanted to keep him secret from Robbie. I screamed in objection. Jude hauled himself off and covered his ears, face pink with pain. I screamed louder than I had in my whole life and I knew it was only a matter of seconds. When – not if – Robinson was going to appear.

But instead of my brother charging in through my bedroom door, a dark figure flung himself through my window. I collapsed before I could react. Whether it was exhaustion or telepathic influence, I never knew. Because I wasn't in my room when I woke up, and Jude wasn't with me either.