Candy struggled against the duct tape around her wrists. All it did was cause her to flop around on her bed. Her head ached from where Teddy’d hit her when she screamed. Screaming with the duct tape over her mouth now didn’t do any real good. No one would hear her. Her eyes snapped open when he came back in the room. Her chest heaved when Teddy tossed the dog crate on the floor at her feet. She could see Bitsy was rattled but not really hurt.

“That mutt is going right after you do.” Her mouth would have dropped open if it could. “Don’t look at me like that. If I wanted you to have a dog I would have gotten you one, and it wouldn’t be some squeaky little rat either. Now remember what I said about you being quiet. Make any noise, try to get away and I’ll kill that rat right in front of you. Got it?”

She managed to shake her head yes, but more than agreeing it was a way to fight off her stomach revolting.

“Good. I’m gonna take the tape off. I mean it, one word and I’ll kill the damned thing.” He tore the tape off her mouth and fire raced across her face. She tried to stifle the scream that erupted from her and finally managed to bury her face in her shoulder to stop the sound and the tears that came to her eyes.

After a minute she could control her breathing enough to speak. “Teddy.” He looked at her with venom in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ted, why are you doing this?”

“Why am I doing this?” His look turned soft which chilled her even more than his anger. “This was all for you. It’s always been for you. You and me, we’re special. We’re the invisible people. Well, I am, you’ve turned into a whore willing to sleep with the crippled demon. You didn’t understand that being around him made you glow, meant people could see you.”

Her heart beat slammed in her chest and she was having trouble not hyperventilating but she couldn’t get what he said to make sense. She swallowed and tried to get her mouth to work before she managed to whisper. “I don’t understand.”

Teddy knelt in front of her, his hands on both her knees. “Candace, everything I’ve done. It was all so we could be together. They wouldn’t listen to me when I said you were meant to be mine but I knew. When they told me I should get help, be normal. They didn’t get it. I was so much more than normal. I wanted to do something heroic to get you to notice me. And now I have. But I was wrong. You weren’t the one. Now you have to be punished so you don’t lead other men astray.”

The man was insane. She knew you couldn’t see someone’s mental illness but at times like this it certainly showed.

Candy forced herself to smile. “What did you do? Why do you think I need to be punished, Teddy?”

“I used my superpowers. You and I were going to rule the world with them. I saw how people overlooked you, how you never looked anyone in the eye when you were in that place. But you had to go waste them on that half man. I saw what you did with him in this bed. Don’t pretend you didn’t. You made me angry and made me— do things, bad things. That is why you need to be punished but first you need to be purified.”

Sweat prickled her skin and she shook with the chill that raced through her. He’d watched them. He’d seen something she thought was so loving and twisted it into something hateful and disgusting. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His smile made her stomach cramp. His eyes looked dead, soulless.

“Yes, you do, you slut. You were mine. At first I thought you were having him over to make me jealous like in the movies but then…” He shook with anger or revulsion. “Then you brought him in here, let him feast on you, took him inside your body. I would have treated you like you were sacred! He treated you like a common whore! And afterwards, you glowed. I could see the light shining out of you. You were supposed to stay broken. You were so beautiful when you were broken.”

He tried to touch her cheek and she flinched away from him, earning herself a quick slap. “Stupid bitch, if I want to touch you, I will. You have no say, no power now. You gave it all away to him. I tried to let you know I was coming for you. The smashed windows in the garage were supposed to be your clue. But instead of waiting for me, you had him stay here. So I had to make a statement.”

“What did you do?” She didn’t think she wanted the answer but she couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“Nothing too horrible, until you didn’t recognize me when you were at the demon’s. Then I had to make someone you cared about pay. I didn’t mean to kill him but he was old so it wasn’t like he was any big deal anyway.”

She blinked, and blinked again.

“You, you killed Mr. Lombardi?”

“That makes it sound like it was my fault. It was your fault, you made me set the fire. He just died. It was all your fault!” She recoiled from his touch. He was back to being angry but she had her answer. Dear God, the man had been behind all the problems in the neighborhood. She couldn’t stop the thought from winging around in her head but that didn’t make it make any more sense. His words pulled her back from the shock of what he’d done. “Mmm, something sure smells good. See, that is one of the reasons I told my mother you’d make me such a wonderful wife.” The abrupt change in him left her even more confused. “You were always thinking of little ways to please me.” Oh God! Axel would be here any minute. He wouldn’t be expecting to walk into an ambush. When the doorbell rang tears formed in her eyes.

“Would that be the cripple? No, I watched you throw him out last night. I don’t think he’ll be back. I was willing to tolerate you spending some time with him at first, when I thought you were waiting for me. But when I realized what the two of you were actually doing, I’d have to take care of both of you.”

In other circumstances she might have laughed but she wasn’t a fool to bait a mad man. The doorbell rang again.

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

“”Whoever is there will give up and go away. I don’t want to interrupt our conversation. I always liked talking to you. You knew just how a woman should act, quiet, respectful, eyes down unless I spoke to you. I liked that you were always waiting for me.” It was a good thing she was scared out of her mind or she’d tell him she wasn’t ever waiting for him and was just too depressed to make eye contact. Whoever was at the door had started banging and Bitsy was adding to the noise with his barking. Her head was killing her from getting whacked and the noise. And like that the banging stopped.

“See I told you they’d leave. But just to be sure though, I’m going to check. But first,” Teddy knelt in front of her and wrapped duct tape tight around her ankles so she couldn’t walk. If her head wasn’t so fuzzy she might have kicked him or hit him over the head with her taped together hands. Then he stood and tore off a shorter piece leaning toward her.

“Oh! No! I promise I won’t scream. Please!”

Her begging didn’t make any difference and he slapped the tape over her mouth. She sat waiting for him to start yelling, for a fight to break out, something but no sound came from the front of the house. She heard him go to the kitchen and the plate scrape against the counter. A minute later he was walking back to the bedroom.

“Just so you know, I like currant or lemon ones, better. The ginger ones are okay though. Maybe I’ll keep you around for a little bit to make what I like.” She sagged with relief that no one had gotten hurt, except there went her chance to get help. For now she would just have to do whatever she needed to appease him so she nodded back at him. Jameson had said he had cameras all over the house. She was never so glad the man had no idea of boundaries and was paranoid at baseline. She had pulled the two cameras from in here but maybe Jameson had seen Teddy come in, or go to the door? She could hope except that as far as baselines went, he was pretty honorable too, so when she let him know his intrusions were unwanted he probably turned the stupid cameras off.

“You are planning something.”

Her eyes went wide at Teddy’s accusation. She shook her head no but that didn’t seem to make him happy. Her head snapped back with his slap before she had even realized he was going to hit her. Pain bloomed over her cheek and made tears come to her eyes.

“See what you made me do! I don’t want to hurt you, not yet, but I will if I have to.” He was still holding the plate of scones she’d made. The image of him slapping her while holding the plate of baked goods suddenly seemed the funniest thing she had ever seen. She struggled to keep the laughter from leaking out around her gag but the harder she tried the more there seemed to be. It was shock. She was sure of it but that didn’t seem to make any difference. She laughed anyway.

He hit her again. This time with a closed fist. “I don’t like when people laugh at me!” Though she barely heard him with the ringing in her head. She grunted behind the duct tape. He hauled her up on her feet. “I’ll make you respect me.” She wobbled and fell towards him, without the use of her arms she crashed into his chest. He caught her before she face-planted but his arms wrapped around her and she thought she’d be sick.

“See, you do like me. I like you too, and I don’t want to do these things but you make me. You need to stop making me angry.” He smoothed his hand over her hair and she flinched. “Easy, I’m not going to hit you again, as long as you’re good. Don’t cry, Candace. You’ll see. You chose him but you should have chosen me. You’ll see how powerful I am.” She blinked trying to stop the tears in case that set him off again. As he kept petting her hair, she could see the sheen of sweat covering his skin, the individual hairs of his stubble poking through his skin. She could smell the adrenaline stink to his sweat. Her stomach threatened to revolt but she swallowed down the bile. This was such a far cry from how Jameson made her feel. The next moment she was tossed back to the bed. “Will you shut up!” She started to roll away from him when she realized he was going after her dog.

She didn’t stop to consider the consequences and kicked her bound feet out catching him in the knee. Teddy roared in pain. “You bitch!” He lunged for her, forgetting about the dog at least for the moment. He grabbed her upper arms and shook her like a rag doll. Her shoulders burned, his strength surprising. He let go of her and then backhanded her across the face as she fell back to the bed. “See, you made me hurt you again! Just do what I tell you!”

He was staring down at her though she had trouble seeing him clearly. He kept going double before her eyes. Her left eye was swelling shut. She could taste the blood where her teeth had cut the inside of her cheek when he’d slapped her. He must have hit her hard enough to give her a concussion. The whole thing was starting feel unreal to her. She licked at the cut in her lip as she thought about what to do next. Feeling the ragged edge of the cut brought her back to reality. She didn’t have many choices. No one was coming to save her.

Her anger filled her chest with hot breath. She didn’t work this hard to stay alive to have some lunatic take it all away. She had never been hit by anyone and the shock of it had numbed her at first. Now she was good and angry. Her hands and ankles were bound but she could still kick at him and with the way he was leaning over her he had left himself vulnerable.

She had listened to Jameson training some of the newer guys in fighting technique. Mostly she had stood around watching the man himself. He’d laugh at her if she had ever called him graceful to his face. Thinking about him now hurt more than her injuries. She owed him an apology, not that she would have put up with his crap either but at least he’d done what he did out of love and not some screwed up obsession.

His lessons in not telegraphing their moves had stuck in her head and came in handy now. Before she lost her nerve she slammed both feet into her attacker’s groin. Teddy reeled away from her screaming and swearing. She tried to position herself for her next kick when she stopped. Teddy jumped up and pulled a gun from the back of his waistband.

“You fucking bitch, that’s the thanks I get? I was willing to give you everything, do anything for you. Even after you took in that cripple. I figured it was the same as you feeding those stupid stray cats. That damn orange tabby had to go. He was always begging for kindness. I saw you sitting on the demon’s lap but I knew you were just trying to get my attention. You were letting me know you were ready for me to come for you. Now it is time you learn what happens to people who make me angry. You need to learn just how much power I have.” Candy sucked in a breath. She was so focused on the gun in his hand she was having trouble making sense of Teddy’s words. He hauled her to her feet. “Candace, I didn’t want to use this yet! I wanted us to be together first. You are nothing but a demon whore now. If you could do those things with him, what difference would it make if I used you too. I was going to make you clean! And then I could kill you. You would be consecrated after I was done with you, after I carved the evil out of you.” With those words he pushed her towards the bathroom. With her feet taped together she fell headlong into the small space. She managed to use her hands enough to avoid breaking the mirror with her face. Unfortunately, with the adrenaline racing through her system she pushed too hard and ended up careening backwards. With her hands taped in front of her she had no way to stop her fall. Pain burst through her head and the last thing she saw was Teddy slamming the door.