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had smacked her and felt the stickiness of blood on her fingertips. A flicker of lightning tried to light up the room, but all she could see was the darkness that surrounded the man before her.
    “Enough whimpering. If you don’t shut up and behave, then I’m going to do a lot worse than slap you. Do you understand?” He growled.
    Penelope nodded and tried not to let her fear show, but she knew from her touching him that he was getting a kick out of this. It was what he thrived off of. The terror of his victims flashed into her mind. The more worked up they got, the stronger he became. The sense hit her violently before a wall came down and she was shoved from his mind.
    “You’re tricky. I felt you in here.” He tapped his temple. “You’re good. I didn’t feel you at first. Very slick, but alas, you’ll learn to obey. Now come here.” He yanked her from the closet so that she slammed into his chest.
    Once Penelope was against him she was engulfed with his stench, a combination of rancid meat and old, moldy socks. It made her gag, but she held on to the contents of her stomach. A clap of powerful thunder split the sky. Penelope tried to break away from her captor, but his hold on her was firm. He snickered and ran a thin tongue along her cheek. She cringed again, and a whimper came out so that she felt a rush of excitement from him. If only she knew how to use her abilities for her protection, but that was something she had never explored. Instead, she reinforced the walls around her psyche and prayed that she would not wind up dead. Another burst of illumination brightened the room. For a second, Penelope could not believe her eyes because over the intruder’s shoulder she witnessed a dark silhouette of a man appear out of nowhere. One flash of lightning later and he was there, when just a second ago the space had been occupied by a houseplant. Outside, the downpour bombarded the house and she could hear the neighbor’s flag clattering against the flagpole. It made the scene around her all the more menacing. The one behind her abductor could have been his accomplice.
    “Let her go!” the other man demanded.
    Her captor gripped her harder and chuckled. He spun Penelope around at the same time, adjusting his grip so that his claws sliced into her neck. His clutches were so tight that he barely left her any room to breathe. It hurt to suck in a quick breath. She tried to focus on staying conscious, but she wanted to know more about the man who had just appeared. It seemed he was there to help her, but Penelope did not know that for sure.
    “I said, let her go.”
    “No one invited you to the party.”
    “No invitation was required. I don’t think the girl wishes your company. Now release her, or I’ll send you back to the hell you crawled out of.”
    Her snatcher kissed the side of her cheek. She cringed away from him as far as she could, but she could only move so much within his strong arms.
    “Please help me,” she whispered, praying that the newcomer was indeed there to rescue her.
    “He can’t help you, sweetheart. He just got blown off course. Isn’t that right?”
    The stranger remained still, but in the darkness she saw a golden flow emanating from his hands. They were formed into fists and it seemed he was squeezing the light between his fingers, but it was growing brighter by the second. She had never seen anything like it, and the light gave her a renewed sense of hope.
    “You were warned, daemon. Now suffer the consequences.”
    The stranger threw a ball of light at the two of them. Penelope thought that whatever it was might save her, but watching the orb coming right at her, her hope cooled and turned into dread. Deep down she knew this glow was going to extinguish her and the thing that held her. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt. Maybe when she was dead, she would not have to feel others’ emotions anymore. There would be a welcome relief in that. When the glowing orb came at her, the fear