The feeling hit Lizzie suddenly. Darkness that flooded her with a tantalizing amount of power. It swept through her, making everything buzz and she lost her grip on the steering wheel.
She didn't know what was happening, except that it had to do with Josie.
Then, she jerked as the cop car swerved, but she barely even noticed as the black magic seemed to overcome her.
Then, the car crashed. Lizzie barely felt as her head slammed against the driver's window and a tree branch flew through the windshield, slamming straight through her ribcage.
She choked on her own blood before she lost consciousness.
When Lizzie came to all she felt was pain. She slowly peeled her eyes open, flinching at the blinding light.
Her mouth tasted bitter and her stomach was in agony. She also noted an unusual buzz that seemed to vibrate underneath her skin. A darkness.
Once she got her eyes focused, she was finally able to see where she was. She was in a very broken car that had become one with a tree.
Well shit. That was the first clear thought she could finally put together. Her eyes went to the branch that was in the windshield and slowly she was able to follow it down to where it rested in her stomach.
Ow. That looked painful and felt it.
Lizzie swallowed slowly, her throat felt like sandpaper. She shakily wrapped her hands around the branch and pulled.
A painful gasp escaped her as it came free. However, rather than starting to bleed out, the wound seemed to settle and even heal slightly before eyes, the pain disappearing with it.
She tried to think back to what happened, trying to understand, when her ears caught a slight moan behind her.
Lizzie turned her head and froze seeing the desiccated Sebastian laying unmoving in the back of the cop car. All her memories came back to her in that instant.
She remembered dancing with Sebastian, them talking, him spiking her drink with vampire blood, then her siphoning him, and driving back to find the other.
Only for her to be hit overwhelmed by an addicting and overpowering magic that filled her with rage and euphoria.
And it had come from her bond with Josie.
At that realization, she moved into action, trying to unbuckle her seat belt, only to find it stuck. Anger and fear filled her and somehow she found herself with the buckle in hands, except it was still in the seat belt buckle.
She had ripped it from its place as if she was ripping paper and Lizzie realized the most obvious thing that she had somehow missed. Or maybe not missed, but certainly ignored.
She had an entire branch go through her abdomen yet she was alive. Unless she wasn't. She had vampire blood in her system before the crash.
It took 24 hours for it to leave a person's system. It hadn't been 24 hours. Lizzie felt like the air had been knocked from her lungs.
She shifted, looking towards the smashed door and kicked. It flew off. And that was all the evidence that she needed.
Stumbling out, she leaned heavily on the car. Her hands were shaking but not grief or pain but rather rage.
She felt the darkness that had made its home underneath her skin, flare up as if to add kindle to the flames of her rage, and the concrete cracked beneath her feet.
Lizzie looked down to stare at the cracks. She felt both powerful and weak - a strange combination. The magic in her system made her feel like anything was possible, but her injuries made her feel the opposite.
Whatever this magic was came from her bond with Josie, and with how dark it was, there was only one thing it could be.
The sand clock had been broken and Josie had been caught in its storm. Lizzie rage simmered off as it was replaced by fear.
She couldn't feel her sister anymore. Their bond was shattered. Broken by her death and turned into the undead.
Lizzie wasn't certain what made her more afraid of the possibility that the sand clock had killed her twin or the fact that she would have to live without Josie as a constant.
Even though she could tell if Josie was okay, her hope was that the bond had allowed the magic to be spread between the twins, which would give her a better chance of survival.
The magic itself also scared her. It was terrifyingly dark. It fed her already off the walls emotions, but it also gave her a strange sense of control.
Almost like controlled chaos and that scared her because she found that she didn't hate. She didn't hate the darkness or the dark power.
And it wasn't like most magic that she siphoned. Rather than slowly slip away and disappear without usage, she could feel it sinking its claws into her being.
She had a feeling that this wasn't magic that she could easily separate from and she didn't know if she wanted to.
Glancing toward Sebastian, she felt her anger flood back. This was all his fault. That was the only thing she could feel.
Her hand flung out and his body was torn from the car. Lizzie limped over to him. She had liked him, could have even loved him, but now she felt nothing. All that was left was hatred.
His heart ripped from his chest, flying into her hand.
She stared at it. He wasn't dead. Not permanently. Not with him being bound to the prison world and its capabilities.
Lizzie dropped the heart and stared down at the body, her eyes landing on something. A bit of red peaked out of his jacket and it wasn't coming from the whole in his chest.
She knelt down and grabbed the red thing. It was a blood bag. Lizzie had to force down her anger again as more evidence of his twisted plan showed itself to her.
He really was never planning to give her a choice. Bastard.
Lizzie stared down at the blood bag and already knew what she was going to do. There was never really a choice, was there? She didn't want to die.
Opening the bag, she put it to her lips. She let out a breath and sucked. The sweet taste that was similar to honey, but also not, filled her mouth.
Then, a stinging pain flared as fangs broke free. It hurt for a moment before it was gone, but the strangeness of it didn't less. Within seconds after that, the blood bag was empty and Lizzie felt amazing.
She felt strong. All her wounds healed with a speed that shocked her and she could feel the humming of the black magic settling and melding with her vampire side.
She stood up and looked around her. Then, back down at Sebastian. He lit on fire and Lizzie smirked at his burning form.
Then, she sped away. Although, she didn't get very far before she ran into a tree. Lizzie groaned, rubbing her head.
Damn it, that looked easier whenever her mom did it. She shook off the potential concussion she had given herself and tried again.
She ran a few feet. Then, stopped. She did it a few more times after that. Making sure her new eyesight was working in unison with her coordination and new powers.
Lizzie couldn't stop the smile from forming on her lips. That was kind of fun. Maybe she could get used to this.
Looking down at the dress she was still wearing, she realized that she needed a clothing change, preferably something not covered in her own blood.
Lizzie took off at vampire speed again and ran until she reached Mystic Falls again. Once she was there, she quickly grabbed some clothes from a random store and broke into a hotel.
After a quick shower, she changed and looked at herself in the mirror.
She looked different. Her hair which had been paler before had darkened. Her hair was no longer pale blonde, but instead a dirty blonde.
Her skin was paler and her eyes darker. She looked the healthiest she had ever been, but underneath her skin, invisible to most eyes, she could see the dark magic shimmering beneath her skin.
It was a new her. So, it was a good thing she chose a look to match it. With black jeans, a dark red shirt, and a black leather jacket. She looked hot but dangerous.
And a part of herself found that she preferred this.
Now, she needed to find the rest of her family. Still standing before the mirror, Lizzie reached out with her magic to sense where the others were. Her magic flowed with ease and she found them instantly.
And had she not been in front of the mirror, she wouldn't have noticed her eyes flashing black.
Well, that was new.
Staring into her eyes, she found it strange. A part of her wondered how she could even see out of them but she knew it was just magic being magic.
And magic rarely ever made sense.
She blinked and her blue eyes were back. Interesting. Would that happen every time she used magic or just when she tapped into the black magic. It would definitely make her more intimidating, so a plus for sure.
Then, Lizzie left the hotel and sped to where she had felt the other lingering. When she arrived, she found Josie, who was already looking at her as if she had known she would be there before she had even gotten there.
The twins stared at each other and Lizzie noted the differences. Josie's hair was dark, her skin pale, and if she had to guess, her eyes were darker as well. Just as with herself, she could see the black magic beneath her skin.
But she didn't just see it, she could feel it too. It was strange because while the twins no longer had their gemini bond, the black magic now bonded them together.
It wasn't quite the same but it was there. An understanding in a way. An awareness that both shared.
"Hello, Lizzie," Josie greeted. "New look?"
Lizzie smirked. "I think I should be asking the same to you."
"What? Do you like it?" Josie said, raising an eyebrow.
"Do you even have to ask?" Lizzie countered.
"Then, you know my answer as well," Josie said, smiling - there was an edge to it, but it fit her in a way.
Lizzie walked right up to her and pulled her into a hug, Josie responded instantly. There was a steadiness and almost relief in the hug.
And she could feel the black magic reacting to each other. It was comforting.
"How'd you become a vampire?" Josie asked, curiously once they separated.
"Sebastian spiked my drink with his blood, so I desiccated him and was on the way here when the black magic flooded my system. The car crashed and now here I am," Lizzie explained, easily. "How'd the sand clock end up broken?"
Josie nodded. "I broke it."
Lizzie frowned. "Why? Not that I'm mad about the result, but that was what we were trying to prevent from happening."
"I know," Josie said, shaking her head. "And I don't know."
"What?" Lizzie stared at her, seeing and feeling the honestly coming from her. "Are parts of your memory missing?"
"That's my best bet," Josie said.
"At least that explains why I feel like there is something missing from my own brain. We need to get our memories back and find out what happened," Lizzie said, already working on a plan. "Think that spell that gave us our memories of Hope back would work."
Josie's eyes lit up. "It would."
Lizzie smirked and offered her hands. "Shall we."
"Let's." Josie took them.
The two shared a look and somehow Lizzie just knew the spell, despite never using it and having only heard it once.
"Harae-tamai Kioku. Yomigaerashi-tamae."
A wave of black magic flew out of them and there was no doubt that it would reach the rest of the people in the prison world. Then, it hit the both of them and they collapsed.
When Lizzie came to, her memories were clear again. The person that she had forgotten was Kai Parker. Looking at her newly awakened sister, she raised an eyebrow in question.
Josie rubbed her head. "Our uncle tricked me and escaped through Malivore. I had to break the sand clock so we had a way to escape."
"Well, that explains the memory issue and the why," Lizzie said, sighing. "So, now what?"
"We escape. Then, we get revenge," was her only reply.
"Sounds like a plan," Lizzie said, smirking.