Alex and Pamela Dawes arrive at Il Bastone in shock after the ritual at Black Elm. They argue faintly over whether Dean Sandow sabotaged the rite and whether anything of Daniel Arlington might have survived; Dawes insists the creature consumed Darlington’s soul, noting only a demon could survive. They try to settle in for the night when an angry male voice at the door compels Dawes to open it despite Alex’s warning.

Blake Keely forces his way in, throws Dawes against the banister, and pursues Alex through the halls as she uses headphones and house music to dampen his voice-based compulsion. In the armory, Blake overpowers Alex, removes the headphones, and subjects her to commands that immobilize and silence her. He accuses Alex of ruining his life and assaults her, pressing a boot into her ribs and brandishing a knife, while the house rattles with anxiety.

Dean Sandow arrives and tries to intervene, but Blake compels him too and hands him the knife, ordering Sandow to stab Alex in the heart. Desperate, Alex silently appeals to the house and whistles for Lethe’s jackals. The spirit hounds burst in and attack, knocking Sandow off her and mauling both men; one bites into Alex before Sandow utters counter-words that drive the jackals back, leaving Sandow with a shattered femur and heavy bleeding and Blake injured but still mobile.

Blake crawls back to Alex, continues to beat her, and prepares to kill her. Dawes regains consciousness, strikes Blake with a marble bust of Hiram Bingham III, and crushes his skull, killing him. The jackals retreat out the open door as sirens or a distant howl sounds, leaving Alex and Dawes amid the wreckage, with Sandow gravely wounded and Blake dead.