Going by the snake tattoo around the guy’s neck, it had to be Matthias’s second in command.

And Isaac was standing over the guy with a puss full of what-the-fuck.

Rothe looked up and raised his weaponless hands. “He did it himself. He fucking did it . . . himself. Damn it. . . . How’s the father?”

Jim knelt beside the captain to double-check. Yup, Childe had been beaned on the head, likely with the butt of a gun, but he was already starting to moan as if he were coming around.

“He’ll be all right.” Jim rose up and headed down to Isaac and the other guy. As he got closer, the smell got worse—

He slowed and then stopped altogether. And rubbed his eyes.

A shimmering gray shadow covered the body of Matthias’s second in command from head to foot, moving around the arms and legs and blown-off head in the same way Jim’s spell shifted and covered the house they were all in. And the blood was all wrong—gray, not brilliant red.

Devina, Jim thought. She was either in the man or had taken him over.

“He just put it under his chin and pulled the trigger.” Isaac sank down onto his haunches and nodded to the gun that was in the corpse’s right hand. “He used my weapon to do it.”

“Get away from the body, Isaac.”

“Fuck that, I have to clean it up before—”

Jim wasn’t interested in arguing and grabbed hold of the guy, pulling him up and back a couple of feet. “You don’t know what it is.”

“The hell I don’t. He came to pick me up.”

Jim glared at Isaac. “Last I heard you were lamming it.”

“Change of priorities.”

Damn it, get abducted for twelve hours and the world goes to shit: Isaac turning himself in, dead demon in a civilian’s front hall, no one making sense anymore.

“I won’t let you go back in, Isaac. Or sacrifice yourself to keep someone else alive.” Because how much you want to bet that was what was going on here.

“Not your choice. And no offense, but I still can’t imagine why you give a shit.” The soldier took out one of XOps’ transistors, which had this time been disguised as a Life Alert. “Besides, it’s moot. I’ve already resummoned.”

That blinking light made Jim want to holler. So he did. “What the fuck are you doing? Matthias is going to kill you—”

“So.”

A patrician voice interjected. “I thought you were coming forward with information on Matthias.”

Jim glanced over his shoulder. Alistair Childe had gotten to his feet and was coming down to them, his hand on the wall like he needed help balancing.

“I thought that was the plan, Isaac. And, Jim, I thought you had died over in Caldwell. Three or four days ago.”