“Don’t move.”

The voice wasn’t loud, but it hit Jason and Leah like a command carved into their bones.

The woman in front of them turned slowly, her movements deliberate, like each motion was calculated a thousand times before her body followed through. The air around her rippled with a faint shimmer, as if reality itself bent to accommodate her presence.

Her eyes weren’t eyes anymore. They burned with a pulsing blue glow, each heartbeat of light carrying a rhythm that felt alien, wrong. Behind that glow was nothing human. No warmth. No empathy. Just… absence.

Jason’s hand tensed around his sidearm. Leah felt the hairs on her arms rise....