(It's a good thing she has context for why that is scary, because that's the least threatening threat she's ever heard without context.)

"Oh, the threat of horror, the hope of crimson cries! 
"One thing at least is certain: that this life flies.
"One thing is certain, and the rest is lies:
"The flower that once has bloomed forever dies."

His deep voice echoes, like it's coming from everywhere at once. It's melodic, too, there's music to it; one can almost hear the musical instruments...

The effect of the poem is immediately felt: drowsiness, sleepiness, a quietening of emotions. Everything feels soft, dull, and tranquil, the sharp corners of the world filed off.

Elaine is unfortunately in the blast radius.

(... okay admittedly the poetry reading itself is kind of attractive, he has good diction and the choice of poem is pretty intimidating...)

Nope! Nope! Resist! Resist the sleepiness! Resist the pretty voice too! Focus on being irritated about everything, to resist the lull of sleep!!!!

She does manage to stay awake, but, well. It's still a fight.

"I believe they're mostly asleep. Now let me..." He then unceremoniously punches a hole into the door to open it from the inside.

The three men were seated at the table. Two are asleep, and the third looks dazed while he's trying to stand up, rubbing his eyes.

Oh, no he doesn't. James jumps inside to knock him out.

Elaine remains in the hallway behind him, attempting not to nod off watching the entrance in case any accomplices show up, or anyone manages to make a run for it to escape their mandatory poetry reading.

...there's something...

Is it a 'creepy voices whispering strange nouns to her again' something, or is it a 'could be someone awkwardly showing up at a bad time in this cramped hallway' something? Because these are the questions she must now ask, having become an Empyrean.

Her intuition suggests neither. It's danger, instead, coming from downstairs. And following the intuition, she can hear footsteps, and soon the owner of those footsteps is coming into view, wearing a suit and hugging a paper bag with bread.

(One of the sleeping men woke up when James was subduing the other one, so James is dealing with him and not looking in Elaine's direction right now.)

Ah. Damn. She's pretty sure it is an accomplice, and James is busy, but she really doesn't want to shoot someone if her nebulous mystical intuition is wrong. But, well. She did assign herself as lookout and backup, so she is going to be backup.

They're on the third floor, and if she hides behind the corner here, she can ambush him just as he finishes climbing the stairs.

So up he goes, blissfully unaware of the ambush in waiting.

"Stop," she says, in an authoritative voice. Surprise! There is a small unassuming woman pointing a gun at him. "Raise your hands, slowly, and otherwise don't move."

He drops the bag of bread and slowly raises his hands. "Ma'am, I'm sure this is a misunderstanding," he says, calmly.

"I certainly hope so. Kidnapping is the kind of felony that would get you breaking rocks in chains for the next decade, at least," she says, almost pleasantly.

"Ma'am, I don't know what you mean. I don't know anything about this kid."

"That's very interesting, because you see. I didn't say anything about a child being kidnapped."

He kicks the bag of bread up to try to block Elaine's vision at the same time as he tries to dodge the inevitable incoming shot to run away.

Just pretend he's a target at the shooting range -

Two shots, aimed at the center of mass. Her derringer is quiet, as guns go, but it's still an echoing sound in this cramped apartment hallway.

One shot misses, one hits him on the left shoulder. He stumbles but tries to keep running—

And then James practically teleports out of the room with unnatural speed and agility, vaults over Elaine, and lands directly on top of the man. "Good night."

"Calm is the morn without a sound,
"Calm as to suit a calmer grief,
"And only thro' the faded leaf
"The chestnut pattering to the ground."

Coupled with the gunshot wound, yeah, he's out.