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haze she had been in broke and she could move again. She stomped down on her attacker’s foot, catching him off-guard enough that he released her. She darted out of the way and dropped to the floor. Penelope glanced back up and saw the disbelief on her imprisoner’s face. The ball of golden light hit him right above the heart. He shrieked. The sound shivered her bones, and the blast that evaporated him rattled the house. She was hit with a spray of blood and the dense shrapnel of body parts. A cry of disgust left her lips. Penelope sat up, wiped off her face, and focused on the other man before her. The storm outside had not ceased but had gotten stronger from the sounds of the rain pelting the house, as though it was trying to pry the siding off. The man before her stood perfectly still in the shadows, where even the lightning was not illuminating his face.
    “What do you want?” Penelope asked. Her heart seemed to be beating louder than the rain on the windows.
    Her savior stepped toward her, stretching out his hand to her. The golden glow had lessened, but it still lit up his palm. He flexed his fingers, and the radiance danced over his fingertips. The small arcs crackled as they wound around his fingers like something from a Tesla coil. Was he going to use that again on her? “Why did that daemon wish to abduct you?”
    She did not take his hand and shook her head. “I don’t know. He just broke in and came at me, saying he was sent to procure me for someone. I don’t know who. Please don’t hurt me.”
    “I’m not here to hurt you. It seems I arrived in the nick of time to rescue you. However, with one daemon after you, there’ll surely be another to follow once the original one doesn’t return with you. The other one might not be so easy to dispatch.” He closed his hand, and the glow was extinguished.
    She stood up, but still refused his help. Another one of those things might come after me? “Why? I didn’t do anything. I’m nothing. I work in an insurance office, well, from home, but still. I’m not important.”
    “Someone must think you’re important. What did he say to you?”
    Penelope wracked her brain, trying to remember what the intruder had told her. It all seemed a bad blur, and pieces of it were already fading into the back of her brain while her mind tried to protect itself from the horrors she had been subjected to. “H-he said that I was strong and that he wanted me for his collection.”
    “Him? He barely had any power to squash a bug.”
    She shook her head. “No. I wasn’t for him, but for his employer, by the sound of it.”
    The other man rubbed his chin, obviously contemplating what she had said. “Well, that’s more like it. I guess I’ll have to stay to be sure nothing comes after you until we can figure out who is after you and why you are so valuable.”
     
    * * * *
    “What? No. You can’t stay here.”
    The rain outside continued to pound on the dwelling he inhabited with Penelope. Razziel had not expected to discover the daemon. It had been easy to destroy the creature who had taken her hostage, but he was now more concerned about who wanted to procure her. Such things were known to him in Heaven, but he had never experienced it. Razziel had hoped to come to the human woman and demand to know why he was feeling the way he was about her. It remained an enigma he needed to unravel. Seeing her shaken, scared, and dowsed in daemon remains, he knew this was not the time to ask her his unanswered questions. Instead, he must protect her because it was in his nature to watch out for humans, guarding them, but he was not a warrior. And he prayed any involvement with Penelope would not have him cast out and labeled as a Fallen.
    “Would you rather take your chances with another creature coming to get you or worse? Because I can most certainly leave.”
    She shook her head and sniffled, dragging her hand across her face. Even in the dim light he could see the blood on her