Desperate

Chapter 36

Elizabeth's POV:

Opened arms.

A smile.

Loving whispers.

The Darkness represented each as Elizabeth sunk further into it. All it wanted was her. It encouraged her to fall further, to hurry to its open arms. The cold black smile plastered on its lips should have sent shivers down her spine, but it didn't. It whispered sweet nothings to her as it pulled her down. All she had to do, was accept it.

Let it take her.

Accept it.

"Elizabeth, wake up!" a scream echoed around her, but she ignored it. She couldn't - no, she wouldn't go back. Not when she was finally feeling wanted.

"No," she whispered in response, letting that one word slip past her lips. She wanted to stay like this forever. The Darkness called her, needed her, and, most importantly, wanted her. How could she leave?

Her body suddenly jerked, and a yelp escaped her lips. She panted, feeling pain course through her veins. What the heck? What was-

Another jolt and she let out a short scream. The pain felt so familiar, yet so strange. She felt like she had felt that particular sting from somewhere, but she couldn't place it. "Stop!" she yelled, but she wasn't sure if she was heard because another sting came, and she screamed a little louder.

"Wake up!" a loud voice screamed, sounding almost desperate.

Elizabeth gasped, startled by the alarming tone, and her eyes shot open. Rushed pants escaped her lips as her wild gaze searched over her room, looking for the source of the voice. "It was a dream," she concluded then ran a hand down her face, grimacing when she felt a familiar sticky residue left on her cheeks. She sighed and sat up then hurried to the restroom and rinsed off her face. Why did this keep happening? Every night now she would wake up either crying or to the aftermath of it.

Turning off the faucet, she looked at her dim reflection, noting the circles under her eyes and the sickly pale color of her face. What happened to her? Ever since that night she blacked out, she changed for the worse. Her powers had been nonexistent, and, for some odd reason, she felt alone. Yes, she felt as if a piece of her was missing, but it also felt like someone was missing during all of it. Whoever her mysterious someone was, she couldn't remember.

Also, there was the kidnapping incident that happened over a week ago. That couldn't have been something she made up, right? No, of course not. It was real but why did her captors up and vanish without getting what they wanted? There were two men there. One of them she didn't recognize but the other, she believed she knew. Unfortunately, she couldn't place whoever that was. It was as if all memory of who they were natural from her mind, like what happened that night.

No, she wasn't crazy. At least, she didn't consider herself that. Her powers were real, weren't they? She didn't dream them up, did she? Or, her capture?

"No," she muttered and hugged herself. It was all real. It had to be. Nothing was wrong with her. Nothing. Whoever she felt was missing would return to her and wrap their arms around her and make her feel whole again. She would find her captors and bring herself justice. A small smile formed on her lips and another tear fell from her eye. Everything would go back to normal; she had to believe it. She had to hope for it.

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Vlad's POV:

Vlad didn't want to do it. He wanted to leave her alone to rest, but she wasn't breathing. She had succumbed to the Dark Abyss again, and it was slowly taking her life away from her. He only did what was desperate and would give him immediate results; he shocked her with his ghost stinger power.