Chapter 34
Snake
“I hope Sugar hit the homing device on his bracelet.” Snake tried to open the GPS locator software, but nothing happened. “Bollocks! Of course, the bloody thing would freeze up now.” He pounded the keys.
Gunner leaned over Seven’s shoulder and pointed to something on the black screen. “See that narrow green line?”
“It’s like the one we saw back in Yasmin,” Seven said. “Right before we were hacked.”
Snake jumped when Meridian’s face popped up on the screen. Today’s mask resembled Komodo’s face. Even his eerie contact lenses appeared reptilian.
“Hello, vampire,” Meridian said. “Miss me?”
“I don’t have time to fuck around with you right now. Go be a pain in the ass somewhere else.” Snake flashed his fangs.
“What’s the matter, old man? Lose a loved one?” Meridian yanked someone up by his hair—his blond hair.
“Sugar!” Gunner shouted.
Meridian cackled. “I tricked your ex-lover Ormond into picking him up for me. You’re all so easy to manipulate.”
Snake’s rage pushed him toward berserker mode. “You motherfucking sack of pus-filled dicks! I will rip into your throat and drink you dry!”
Meridian howled with laughter. “Poor, predictable Snake. Do you want your little lollipop back, safe and sound?” He ran his tongue over Sugar’s cheek. “All you have to do is hand over the Guitar Slayer.”
“The only thing I’ll hand over is your own head on a plate,” Snake snarled.
“Give me Horatio Slice, or the slut chokes to death on my cock!”
“Don’t listen to him, Snake. He doesn’t have the balls to kill anyone,” Sugar said.
“No one asked you, bitch!” Meridian pushed Sugar out of Snake’s sight. “I’m giving you one hour to bring Horatio Slice to my front door, vampire. One. Hour.”
Snake kicked over his chair when Meridian’s face faded from view. “I will gouge out his eyes and cut off his balls. Then I’ll tie him to a stake in Middleton and let the liver birds finish him off.”
“Enough of this bullshit, Snake,” Horatio said. “Hand me over and get Sugar back.”
Seven tapped the monitor and then his ear. “Out now,” he whispered.
Snake closed the cockpit door behind him and followed the rest into the living room, where Iggy, Dagger, and the rest of the crew waited in stunned silence.
“Ormond doesn’t have Sugar,” Snake said. “Meridian does.”
“Meridian!” Suki paled. “How could he have, I mean, I was right there.” He burst into tears. “I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight.”
“It’s not your fault, Suki.” Seven stared at his laptop. “I opened the tracking software. Sugar is definitely in Clairidia.”
Snake’s eyes burned. Sugar was an orange dot on a screen—in the hands of a maniac. He stared at the monitor, desperation biting deep. “Who has an idea?”
“I do,” Horatio said. “Make a portal and drop me off at Meridian’s front door. I’m the dude from the prophecy, right, Iggy?”
“Right. Maybe something magical will happen,” Iggy said.
“What’s this about a prophecy?” Suki asked.
“Long story that I’ll fill you all in on later, Suki. What’s the status on the engine?” Snake asked Seven.
Seven looked grim. “Not even close. We’ll need to go on foot.”
“And do what, exactly?” Suki asked. “The castle is crawling with hundreds of guards. We’re severely outnumbered.”
“What other choice do we have?” Snake roared over everyone’s shouts.
A loud whistle silenced the room.
“Hi,” Dagger said. “King Red took Sugar? No problem. I save.” He waved his hand, and a portal appeared.
“Wait!” Horatio shouted. “You can’t go to Clairidia alone. Take me.”
“It is okay, Horeeto. I will be right back.”
“It’s dangerous. We need a plan,” Snake said.
“I have a plan. I will go to castle, get Sugar, and come back here. Good plan.” Dagger nodded and made another portal.
Snake gripped Dagger’s wrist. “But the guards…”
Dagger slipped out of Snake’s grip and vanished into thin air. He reappeared on the other side of the room. “Can’t catch me.”
“Can you take a few of us with you through the portal?” Gunner asked.
Dagger ranted in Vixenese, and Saki stepped forward to translate. “He says some jobs are meant to be done alone. He also wants me to remind you that he’s snuck inside the castle before, and he can do it again.”
“But they caught you, Dagger,” Snake said.
Once again, Saki translated. “Only because he tried to sneak into Meridian’s room, which is magic-proof, so he became visible.
” Saki held up an index finger. “What if he brings the whammy glove? If I remember the lore correctly, it’s not vulnerable to guarding spells or titanium.
It will guarantee he stays invisible this time. ”
“Brilliant, Saki,” Snake said.
“I hate this idea, little buddy. Wish I could go with you.” In a flash, Dagger had Horatio face down on the floor with his arms pinned behind his back. “Okay. I get it. You’ll be fine,” he muttered into the rug.
“Don’t you dare get killed.” Snake buckled the pouch containing the whammy glove around Dagger’s waist and explained how to use it. “You get your sweet little ass back here ASAP and fix my damn ship.”
Dagger saluted. “Okay, boss.”
“I superimposed the castle’s blueprint over the GPS map. Sugar is in the northwest portion,” Seven said. “Give me a minute, and I’ll tell you the exact room.”
“No need.” Dagger hopped on top of the coffee table and made a portal. “I find Sugar with my nose. He smells like cake and prettiness.”
In a blink, Dagger was gone. Snake sank onto the couch, feeling slightly better when Gunner sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders.
“He’s going to be okay,” Gunner said.
“The boy is, what, ninety pounds soaking wet?” Snake leaned against Gunner. “I sent him to face Meridian alone. What the fuck was I thinking?”
Horatio growled. “I told you to send me!”
“Guys, Dagger can take care of himself,” Suki said. “He walked out of the most feared prison in the universe, for fuck’s sake.”
“Not before they beat him, Suki. Next time, they’ll do worse,” Snake said. “I shouldn’t have let him go alone.”
“Could you have stopped him?” Gunner asked.
Snake sighed. “Probably not.”
“If he’s not back in half an hour, we storm the castle. Right?” Gunner asked.
“Right. Let’s arm up, just in case,” Horatio said.
Snake shook his head. “I’m not moving from this spot. If he’s not back in fifteen minutes, I’m heading to Clairidia myself.”