Show your face,
And finish what you started.

L E T A

Furiously, I banged my hand against the wall. 'For God's sake, Raphael!' I yelled. 'You can't just go all creepy weirdo on my ass, start to change me into a vampire and then just leave me in here! Get back here, idiot!'

That's when I heard the screaming.

Horrible wailing sounds echoed all through the room, hitting the walls and vibrating through my entire body. It sounded unearthly, not like any sound a human could make- more like the screeching of a banshee or siren from the legends that my mum loved.

I pressed myself against the wall, feeling my heart beating right down to my toes, and tried to take deep breaths. Calm down, Leta. Just calm down.

The door flew open, and an unfamiliar vampire with blue hair marched inside. Her face was pointed, all sharp angles, with shining dark eyes that glinted with intelligence and a dark fury that was barely contained. 'You're coming with me,' she snarled. 'There's a situation. Follow me, or I'll drag you there myself.'

I blinked. 'What?'

'Why do they want you to be a vampire?' The blue haired girl snapped. 'Standards are slipping here, I tell you. Come with me, Letita, or I'll knock you out and drag you there. Understood?'

My mind raced. What was going on?

'Before you think of doing anything,' the vampire snarled, 'I may have orders not to kill you, but I am a vampire and you are not, so I will willingly drink your blood or knock you out if you don't do what I say.'

For a second, I didn't move.

'Now!' the vampire shouted, and I scrambled to the door, feeling my heart start to pound. 'What's going on?' I asked.

My palms were sweating. Knowing the vampire could probably smell them, I wiped them hastily on my trousers and repeated my question. 'What's going on?'

The vampire snarled at me. 'Raphael sent me,' she said. 'And you trust Raphael, don't you? So stop asking questions and shut up.'

I spluttered. 'What? He kidnapped me! Why on earth would I trust him?'

'Funny.' She bared her teeth at me, and I gulped at the long pale fangs. 'I can hear your heart. Did you know that your heartbeat is uneven when you lie?'

I licked my dry lips and held my hands behind my back to hide the fact they were shaking like mad. 'No, I didn't know that.'

'Can you guess what happened when you spoke just now?' The vampire asked, smiling.

'You know, I'm scared shitless,' I said angrily. 'So ex-fucking-cuse me if my heartbeat's a little dodgy right now, you little vampire bitch.'

'Call me a bitch one more time and I'll tear your throat out with my teeth, Raphael's protection or no,' the vampire scowled. 'You will address me as Lily, or better still, not at all. Now move.'

I moved.

Lily pulled me after her, away from the screaming. I sighed in relief, and then opened my mouth to ask Lily a question.

'Talk and I'll knock you out,' Lily snapped. 'You have to stay silent, do you hear me?'

'What-' I began, and Lily turned around so fast she was just a blur. I saw her face change from a human's face to a vampire's- her teeth turned into fangs and her eyes took on a strange, almost evil look.

'Did you think I was bluffing when I told you that I'd knock you out?' She jeered, getting her face very close to mine. 'Here's a little fact for you, little fledgling.'

I suddenly felt as if Lily was a cat, swift and lethal, and I was a mouse, small and defenceless.

The cat struck, and my head hit the wall behind me with a sickening thud.

'I don't bluff,' Lily hissed, and then I felt her pulling me over her shoulder. Then I felt nothing at all.

****

I was standing, alone, in a huge empty room. The floor was golden, etched with designs and letters that I couldn't read.

I frowned, staring at it and trying to make out words or even single designs, but then my attention was caught by the other things in the room.

Long golden pillars stretched to the ceiling, which was high and curved into a dome, with one huge painting drawn onto it. I stared, craning my neck, and made out a man, pushing what looked like a huge boulder up a hill. Next to that, there was a gigantic dog with three heads, snarling at a figure in a black cloak... Then there was a man standing on a boat, pushing it along the river, which was filled with... Objects. Books, a silver cross on a chain, a few rings, even words lying in the river like fish.

At the top of the dome, there were twelve figures, all dressed in white dresses, one holding a thunderbolt, one a huge shield, another a stick with two snakes curled around it. The people all had one hand raised into the middle, and at the point their fingers touched, a chandelier hung, large and golden with small diamonds shining on it like droplets of water.

'Beautiful, isn't it?' A voice said, and I started, turning around. Raphael approached me, wearing a dark suit and smiling.

'Yes,' I said slowly. I realised music was playing softly. A slow and calm waltz. I recognised it from my two months of violin lessons when I'd decided I wanted to be a musician. 'Beautiful.'

Suddenly, I realised I was wearing a dress- a pretty dress, but still a dress. I didn't wear dresses. And I couldn't remember the last time I'd shaved my legs.

The dress was beautiful, though. Pale pink silk, billowing gently around my surprisingly hairless ankles. It was sleeveless, with thin straps, and my hair- my hair was done up in a complicated (and heavy) style. Where was I? What was going on?

'Dance with me?' Raphael asked, holding out a hand. I accepted it, and we started to waltz slowly.

'I don't know how to waltz,' I said.

'You don't need to know how to waltz,' Raphael replied. 'You just need a good partner.'

'Where are we?' I asked, staring up at the ceiling again. I noticed another picture around the edge of the dome; a boy with a shield, facing a woman with snakes for hair.

'It's a ballroom,' Raphael told me. 'Can you guess where?'

'Greece,' I breathed. 'There are the Greek gods, and then there's- there's Medusa, and the River Styx, leading to the Underworld... And then the dog is Cebereus, the guardian of the Underworld. And the man with the rock, that's Sisyphus, doomed to forever push the rock up the hill, and never to reach the top.'

'Very good.' Raphael smiled. 'Somebody knows their history. Now, do you know why we're here?'

'Lily knocked me out,' I remembered, and I pushed him away from me, realising I had been dancing the steps effortlessly without even knowing what I was doing. 'I'm still knocked out, aren't I? This isn't real!'

'Of course this isn't real,' Raphael said, and the music reached a crescendo, changing from calm piano to clashing drums and cymbals, with frantic violins and fast high notes. The volume of the music increased and increased until I could practically feel it pounding in my bones. 'But I have little time to talk to you, and Lily hit you a little harder than she intended. You won't wake up for a while, and when you do, I will be gone.'

I started to feel furious. Maybe it was the music making me feel that way, but I wanted to scream at Raphael, I wanted to shout that that was his fault, that me being hurt was his fault.

'Don't argue,' Raphael said quickly, noticing my expression. 'I don't have much time. I'm inside your head, Leta, but everything I say, you need to listen to. You're changing. You're turning into a vampire.'

'I don't want to be a vampire!' I yelled. 'I want to be human! This is all your fault!'

'You're a perfect candidate for vampirism,' Raphael told me. He had to raise his voice to be heard.

'This is my life,' I shouted furiously. 'And I deserve a choice! You don't get to make my decisions for me, Raphael!'

'When you're ready,' Raphael said, 'Come to the Hotel Dumort. You'll know where it is, don't worry.'

The edges of the ballroom were starting to fade. The violins screeched, and the drums started to sound like falling rocks and not drums at all.

'I don't understand,' I cried, and the rocks really did start to fall. The ballroom was collapsing, bits of ceiling falling down, but somehow missing me and Raphael. Medusa's head landed between me and him, and I yelled louder. 'I don't understand anything, Raphael!'

'I know,' he called. 'I know, and I'm sorry. I needed more time with you, but you have to come and find me, you have to find me!'

The violins rose and rose and rose, and I couldn't hear anything but the music. The world was spinning around and around and around, and then I looked up and one of the gods painted on the ceiling was falling towards me.

I opened my mouth to scream, but suddenly I was falling too, and then I wasn't doing anything at all.

'Leta?' I heard Clary say, and then I opened my eyes and returned to reality.

A/N- wow damn, confusing as hell. Sorry guys.

I've been watching too much vampire diaries. Basically, in this book, vampires can get into human's heads if the vampire is old enough, and create a kind of dream thingy.

Also I have a confession to make. I stopped watching Shadowhunters a while ago. I'm only on the episode after Alec proposed to Lydia whoops

So this book may start to become weird and different from the tv show because I won't be following the tv show plot line. If you don't like it, don't read it.

That being said, I might start watching again to write a bit of Leta's story. Her story will be very separate from the tv show, she won't be involved with any main characters apart from Raphael and maybe some little appearances from Clary and Simon, but that won't really be them visiting as part of the tv show plot.

Also Camille might turn up for a bit, I don't know.

So yeah, I don't know anything about what happens after the Lydia and Alec proposal. So if anything super important happens you think will affect this fanfic (e.g Raphael dying, Clary dying, Simon dying, anyone dying) please let me know.

Okay, bye!

xxx Jade