Killing its host would seriously wound it, but it wasn’t done yet. It would be stunned momentarily, disoriented, probably expecting its Chosen to return to life like he’d done before. Marcus had been its main source of power, its anchor to Earth. When he didn’t come back to life, the Nachtmar would become desperate. The alp by itself had grown strong, but it would need to find someone else to bond to if it wanted to remain here. And why wouldn’t it? Earth was an all-you-can-eat buffet of fear.

Our mental journey to Topaz must have only taken a few seconds of real time, because I caught Mosh and Holly in the hall. They were pushing their way through the thick fog, heading for the tunnels. “Not that way,” I shouted. “Out the front. We need to find Task Force Unicorn.”

“Oh, come on, Z!” Holly got the still-stunned Mosh turned around. “First help the dead guy and now find the bad guy? Any other horrific assholes you want to hang out with?”

“The dead guy’s gone. Now we just have to worry about the ancient nightmare monster. Piece of cake.” We made our way in the direction of what I thought was the front. At first I thought the fog was dissipating, because it was certainly taking up less space, but when I looked closer it appeared to be coagulating, becoming thicker, slimy. It was soaking my boots and freezing my toes. It was alive, and seemed to be leaking through the floor, or gathering on the vents, searching for a downward path.

“It’s collecting,” Holly said. “There’s tunnels under here.”

“I cut off the main battery. I think it’s gathering its remaining strength in one place.”

“Why? Shit. Never mind. It can’t possibly be good.”

I hobbled along behind Mosh and Holly. Luckily Mosh was beginning to snap out of it. We came to a heavy, locked door, and in Pitt family fashion, Mosh simply roared and kicked it open. We were on the casino floor.

“Turn right,” Holly pointed.

These places were so damn confusing. “How—”

“I lost a thousand bucks here last night…Look out!”

A man crashed through a glass wall to our right. I flinched away from the stinging glass as he landed flat on his back with a splash in the flowing nightmare goo.

I didn’t get a good look at what had tossed him, partially because of the bad light, partially because it was made out of nightmare fuel and was rapidly disintegrating, and partially because it had started out looking like an eight-foot-tall bipedal porcupine with six arms. It was so close that I just angled Abomination and fired from the hip. Two quick shots and the creature ruptured like a water balloon. I was splattered with slime, but most of it just oozed away with the rest.

Mosh moved to help the fallen man. “Are you okay?”