Night in the laboratory was suffocatingly quiet.
The overhead lights hummed in long, sterile corridors, casting their pale glow on walls that seemed to stretch forever. Jane moved through them with her badge pressed against her chest, boots clicking in rhythm, the sound sharp in the emptiness.
Other scientists had gone hours ago. The only ones left were security guards at their checkpoints and Jane, alone in the chamber with the thing that didn't belong to this age.
Her.
Levi.
The capsule loomed like a tomb in the center of the room. Frost clung to its edges, mist pooling across the floor. The machines sang their monotonous lullaby—steady beeps, soft pulses of light, the whisper of cooling systems.
But tonight felt different. Jane could sense it the moment she walked in. The air was thick, heavier, pressing down against her lungs as if the chamber itself had been holding its breath for centuries and had only just remembered how to exhale.
Jane set her satchel on the console and muttered, "Alright, let's see what secrets you've got tonight."
Her fingers brushed the controls, pulling up vitals. The numbers were wrong—subtle, but wrong. The heart rate was climbing, slowly but unmistakably. The energy output graph wavered, unstable like a storm gathering on the horizon.
She bit her lip, trying to calm her nerves. Don't overthink it. It could just be interference. Or equipment failure.
And then she heard it.
Soft. Barely audible. A whisper like wind scraping across stone.
Jane froze, staring at the capsule. For a moment she thought she imagined it—nerves playing tricks—but then she saw it: Levi's lips, parting ever so slightly.
Her voice was hoarse, unused, but it carried. "...Cold."
Jane's clipboard slipped from her fingers, clattering against the floor. She stumbled forward until she stood just inches from the glass. "You—you can speak?"
Levi's eyelids twitched, heavy with the weight of centuries. For the first time, Jane saw a shimmer of golden eyes through the mist. They fixed on her, unblinking.
"Where… am I?"
The voice was quiet, broken, yet it threaded straight through Jane's chest.
Her throat went dry. The cameras in the corners blinked steadily, recording everything, but her instincts screamed not to alert the scientists. Not yet. She leaned closer, lowering her voice until it was almost a secret.
"You're… safe. For now. This is—" she hesitated, the words catching in her throat, "—a laboratory."
Levi's gaze sharpened. Her breath fogged faintly against the inside of the glass. "I feel... chains. I smell steel." Her words came slowly, but there was an edge beneath them.
Jane's fingers curled into fists. "They're not chains. It's… preservation. They're keeping you alive."
The corners of Levi's mouth twitched, as though amused by the idea. "Alive. Yes. Sleeping, but not gone."
A strange heat flushed through Jane's veins. She wanted to ask a hundred things—about who Levi really was, about the stories whispered by witches—but her tongue stuck. She settled on, "How long have you been asleep?"
Levi's eyes narrowed slightly. "I do not count the dust of years. Time does not matter in silence." Her gaze lingered on Jane. "But you are different. Your blood hums with fire."
Jane stiffened. "You can… sense that?"
"A witch," Levi murmured, certainty in her tone. "Half of the shadow, half of the light. But... I sense something within you."
The console gave a soft warning beep. Jane nearly jumped out of her skin before muting it quickly, heart pounding. If the readings spiked too much, the system upstairs would alert the senior staff.
When she turned back, Levi hadn't looked away.
"You hide me," Levi said, her voice soft but steady. Not a question. A statement.
Jane swallowed hard. "If they knew you were awake, they'd hurt you."
Silence fell again. The mist curled lazily around Levi's body, coiling like smoke around a flame. She studied Jane for a long, unnerving moment before her lips curved faintly. Not quite a smile, but close enough to send a ripple down Jane's spine.
"A witch with secrets," Levi whispered. "Dangerous."
Jane pressed her hand against the glass, just for a second, as if to anchor herself. "Then maybe I'm not so different from you."
For a heartbeat, something flickered across Levi's face. Interest? Amusement? It vanished just as quickly, leaving only the unreadable mask of her golden eyes.
Then the floor trembled beneath Jane's feet.
She staggered back, eyes darting toward the ceiling. The lights flickered, then dimmed, leaving the chamber washed in red as sirens wailed to life.
A metallic voice cut through the alarm: "Warning. Unauthorized breach detected. All personnel evacuate immediately."
The sound of boots thundered in the hall. Jane heard the security guards shouting, their voices sharp and panicked.
"Sector C compromised!"
"Get reinforcements—move, move!"
"Don't let them through that door!"
A deep, echoing boom rattled the walls, followed by a scream abruptly cut short.
Jane's blood ran cold. These weren't drills.
Levi tilted her head, golden eyes gleaming in the crimson light. Her voice was stronger now, steadier. "The world has not forgotten me."
Jane's hands shook as she fumbled for the emergency console. "What's happening?" she whispered, her words drowned out by another explosion from somewhere above.
Levi did not answer. But the mist inside the capsule began to swirl violently, like a storm awakening inside glass.
The Demon Queen's gaze locked on Jane's, burning. And Jane realized, with chilling certainty, that whatever was breaking into the lab was coming for her.
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