Lazarus led the way through the maze of corridors and hallways, the feeling lingering in his mind and body. He wanted to flee and burn down the casino. Yet nothing assaulted them, there no dead bodies or the scent of rotting corpses. All he heard was the soft hum of air conditioning keeping the building cool. They walked the length of the bottom floor of the hotel and saw the sign announcing the location of the casino and the front desk.

Moving down the carpeted hallway, they both heard the sounds of the slot machines and something else he couldn't describe. He didn't like the sound.

Grace said, "What is that?"

"I don't know."

He led the way. They walked into a bright room with slot machines and tables and they stopped as soon as they saw the scene before them. He wanted to run and never see this again, but the eeriness was imprinted on his mind.

The people they saw were clearly dead. They sat on the chairs and dealer tables. And they were covered with thin nebulous strands almost liked spider webs, but the strands glowed and the corpses were opened like ripe fruit gone bad.

Grace said, "What can do this?"

Her voice sounded too loud to his ears. They heard the sound again. It was like scrabbling legs, and then they saw it. A creature hung on the ceiling. It was a once a man but had long insectoid legs coming out of its body and a large abdomen like a spider. For a split second, Lazarus felt such horror that he almost laughed. He thought, This is what a spider man should look like. They heard the silk web blowing in the wind.

Grace grabbed his arm and they started to move toward the exit. Then the creature spoke, "Ah, don't leave me. I’m lonely."

Lazarus didn't want to stop but the man-creature moved fast and blocked the exit. Grace held up her arm.

She said, "Don't come any closer. We have magic."

The man-creature stared at them with multifaceted eyes. Lazarus wanted to scream but he stifled his fear.

He said, "Yes, she is right. Don't come any closer. You killed these people here."

"I can’t help what I am."

They heard the insectile scrabbling noise again and he realized it was not the man-creature before them making the noises. Looking around them he saw hundreds of spiders about the size of his palms running toward them. With a sickening feeling he knew how the people died, and understood why the corpses looked like overripe opened fruit.

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"Stop. We have magic."

"Hahaha, you don't have power. I have the real power."

The spiders started to scramble toward them. Lazarus conjured a circle of fire around them. He didn't will the magic into existence. He just thought it and the magic happened. The flames crackled, destroying and burning the spiders. He smelt the scent of burnt tar. The man-creature screamed and came at them.

Grace held up her hand and the ground erupted above the man-creature. He scrambled backwards away from them and Grace missed.

Lazarus moved to the exit, the circle of flames keeping the spiders at bay. He wanted to destroy this casino and everything in it.

The man-creature hissed. "You cannot be a vessel to my children. You are tainted."

They exited through the glass doors and out into the heat of the sun, where the smell from the worm carcass assailed his nostrils.

Lazarus grabbed Grace's hand and they flew upwards. When they were safely away from Whisky Pete's casino, he let out a sigh of relief. They scent of the dead worm was still in the air and he almost gagged.

Lazarus flew them across the street to Buffalo Bill’s, past the parking lot with the many cars, and stopped at the front doors of the entrance. People stood in the sun watching them. He descended toward Matthew and Lawrence. As soon as their feet touched the ground Lawrence sprinted across and hugged Grace. She looked surprised but hugged him back.

Bob stood with the handful of people. He still wore his suit and tie in the stifling heat. He said, "Wow, I saw what you did to that worm. You saved us." Bob walked closer to Lazarus and clapped his hand on his back.

Lazarus didn't know what to say. He merely nodded, then said, "Let's go inside. It's too hot to stand out here."

Bob said, "Sure, the smell is bad."

Lawrence was babbling something to Grace about how they saw them fighting the worm and it was the greatest thing he had ever seen, better than the movies and better than any sports event his father loved to watch.

The coolness of Buffalo Bill’s made Lazarus relax. He said, "Can I get some water? We have to discuss some things."

Bob said, "Sure." He nodded to somebody and the girl left. Lazarus sat at the nearest chair he could find. It was a slot machine with the lights still on. He barely looked at it because weariness enveloped him and all he wanted to do was sleep. On the screen was the number four and he thought it meant something, but he was not sure.

They crowded around them. Lazarus recounted what Grace and he had seen at Whisky Pete's casino. Bob nodded, surprise in his eyes when Lazarus spoke about the spider creature.

"You all have to leave soon. He will try to come over here," he said.

Matthew said, "We should go back there and kill that thing."

"No, we aren’t murderers. We have to be better than that. We have power, more than most people, and we have a responsibility to do the right thing."

Matthew shook his head and walked away a bit.

Bob said, "If what you say is true we should leave in a few hours."

Lazarus nodded. "Yes." He looked over to Whisky Pete's casino. "We should post guards until we get out."

Bob nodded and followed his gaze. "Yes, that’s a good idea. We decided that we are going to Utah. You are more than welcome to go with us."

"Well, I have to talk to Grace and Matthew. We have to decide what we are going to do. Bob, do you have a private place to talk?"

"Yes, my office."

He looked at Grace and then at Lawrence and Sammy. He had an idea, but he needed to talk to Grace about that.