The surroundings are indistinct, blurry, but the figure at the center is clear and crisp.
XSWAT Officer Elizabeth Yasha stands three-quarters pose, her uniform torn and ripped. The odd thing is that the clothes look like they've been torn out, as if something inside tried to escape.
Her head turns towards the observer. She gives a slight smile, then moves to approach, her body and limbs moving in a sinuous rhythm that is almost hypnotic.
As she walks, shadows begin to pool at her feet, like a black mist, and coalesce into inky tentacles that sensuously entwine her legs and begin enveloping her body in a cocoon of shadow.
By now, her eyes have lost all semblance of humanity, shiny ebon orbs that regard the observer with ophidian interest.
Just before the shadows envelop her face, her smile split into a full grin, revealing rows of shark-like, pointed teeth....
Somewhere in the city of Angelus, the woman known in underworld circles as Butterfly Steel wakes from her nightmare, her heart pounding, her chest tight with pent-up breath that she finally releases in a half-sob.
Sweet dreams....