"Cena…"
The sound barely left Iyisha's mouth.
The thing holding her stared.
Its torn jaw shifted. Blood ran from the side of its mouth and down its neck. Its fingers tightened around her ribs again, and Iyisha's breath caught as its face lowered closer. Its mouth opened wider.
It was going to eat her.
Iyisha saw it in the black pull of its eyes, in the hunger moving through a body that no longer knew what to do with her name. She grabbed its wrist with both hands and pushed the pressure in her head again, harder than before.
"Cena!"
Pain split behind her eyes.
Warmth ran from her nose.
The world tilted, but she kept looking at the tattoo. Two doves. One under the wing of the other. One protecting it.
"Cena, stop!"
The hand around her locked.
Then it stopped closing.
