Kael just grinned sharper, the scythe humming fire-bright in his hands. The ruined depot shook with every flicker of its cyan pulse, like the weapon itself was eager.
From the shadowed ribs of the collapsed tram depot, something stepped out.
Not shambled. Not staggered. Stepped.
The light caught her first—the shape of her body wrong in a way that made the stomach knot, yet terrifyingly beautiful. Her limbs were too long, bones jutting like blades, yet each movement flowed smooth, deliberate. Her face looked almost human from one angle, ruined from another, shifting when the eye tried to hold steady. A nightmare carved from flesh and bone that still wanted to be whole.
Elias made a noise that was closer to a squeak than a scream. He stumbled back, hammer clattering. "No. No no no. That’
