A Shift

[Diego’s POV]

I shake the woman in my arms as her body radiates an intense heat and the black marks spread across her skin. She is still unconscious, but her mouth moves as if she is having a conversation with an invisible entity, and when her eyes finally open, they are bleary.

“Hana,” she whispers, blinking a few times. “Don’t…”

Frowning, I wait as she gets her bearings, and when her gaze comes to rest on me and widens in shock, I open my mouth.

“Since you seem to be awake,” I begin, trying to figure out what the fuck happened to make her like this. “What did you do, and why are you out of your cage?”

"I..." she begins while her eyes look around the room as if she is searching for something. “You were suffering, so I..."

“So you decided to break out of your cage and then collapse in the middle of the floor?” I snap.

“No!” She manages. “I helped.”

Helped? Who the fuck asked for her help? Feeling my annoyance flare, I remember the phantoms that haunted me in my dreams; they disappeare