Your breath caught before you even realized you’d taken one.

The nightmare had been brutal – a haze of blood, fear, and impossible odds – but waking into reality was no easier. Your body jolted upright, drenched in sweat and essence haze, senses reeling. You half-expected to see the sterile white walls of a containment unit and a row of armed personnel ready to deal with a potential abomination.

Instead, you saw her.

Seated lazily in the chair next to your cot, arms raised in a cat-like stretch, was a woman too striking to belong in the gray blandness of a police medical station. Short raven-black hair fell in tousled waves, framing her face with the casual imperfection of someone too beautiful to care. Her dark blue uniform jacket had been discarded and now hung limply over the chair, leaving her in a form-fitting black tank top and matching skin-tight slacks. The fabric clung to her like it had no other purpose but to highlight the sinew and grace of a killer in repose. And her boots – tall, black, gleaming – clicked lightly as she uncrossed her legs.

Jet.

Titled Soul Reaper. Ascended. Government executioner. And vastly overqualified for babysitting a rookie Sleeper.

The air around her had weight. Not fear, exactly, but presence. A chilling shift in atmosphere, as if even the walls braced themselves under the pressure of her will. The kind of aura that didn’t boast its power. It didn’t need to. It simply was.

You tried not to stare, but her tank top was fighting a losing battle with her generous curves as she stretched again, fingers brushing the ceiling. She caught your gaze mid-glance.

A sly grin curled across her lips.

“What are you staring at?” she asked, voice low and velvet-smooth with a tinge of dry amusement. “Don’t tell me you woke up just to ogle your babysitter.”

Her pale blue eyes – cold, amused, and faintly dangerous – swept over you as if sizing up a new puzzle. There was no fear in her posture. She hadn’t expected you to turn into a nightmare creature. If you had, she’d have dealt with it by now, likely without breaking a sweat.