The Tale of the Blood Diamond (14 page)

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” the human screamed, relinquishing his hold on the once pleasant and familiar paternal frame. “Ahhhhhhhh!” he continued to scream, kicking and dragging his own body across the floor in a fit of pure panic. Vex laughed loud, then louder. Jatorn couldn’t help but to join in. There was a hideous monstrosity at Dennis’ feet and in a matter of seconds, Vex encased the man, devouring him until all that remained were the blood-spattered chains…

After it was over, Jatorn clapped his hands.

“Wonderful! Did you enjoy yourself?”

Vex trembled as he returned to his true form. He looked tired but exhilarated as he turned towards Jatorn.

“I did! He was fabulous. Fear is such a tasty meal. Thank you for inviting me to dinner…”

“You’re welcome.” Jatorn lifted his glass and waited for Vex to do the same. “Here is a toast to our merger, and all the good things to come.” The glasses clinked; the deal was cinched.  Plans were made. Earth had never had it so bad…

****

Xzion couldn’t believe what he was doing. He’d just dropped Zachary off at the babysitter and drifted downtown to circle around his wife like a crazed stalker. The woman was less in the street now, which hindered his observations, but he wanted to see her, get next to her. They were spending more time together, even under the circumstances and lack of spare time, but he still couldn’t get his fix. He felt as if he were riding around looking for something to inject into his veins or inhale up his nostril. He hated when he got like this, but he wasn’t sure what had driven it. He’d made love to her that morning. That could typically last him until she returned home, but he was thirsty, nevertheless. He checked the time and sighed woefully.

“That’s right, shit!” He smacked his dashboard and caught his angry image in the rear-view mirror. “She has a meeting at this time,” he said aloud, pulling away from the precinct. He was supposed to be working, anyhow. The evening previous, he’d ran more tests on his son and Aton informed him that Zachary had some blood cell types they could not yet identify. Xzion had also had his hands full with the secret he’d been keeping from his mate: there were more Yuledrakes on the planet. He could sense them, as if Yuledrake sensors were embedded deep within him, and the alarms were going off left and right now. He hated the thieving, conniving bastards. They blended right in, though he knew them when he saw them. It seemed that, on a daily basis, they were scoping him, while he returned the favor. Aton had informed him of an attempted attack on their planet which, though minor, it still registered. He safely assumed it was a Yuledrake breach. As he maneuvered down Edmonson Avenue, someone caught his consideration.

A youthful white haired man with dark eyes loomed against a black wrought iron gate wrapped around a protected and closed property, an old Hebrew orphanage. The morning was exceptionally cold yet beautiful. Golden rays reached across the area and almost bleached out the pale entity altogether, so that he appeared to be a fixture in the landscape. The man stood with his hands jammed into the pockets of a thick, dark green jacket. He stared back at Xzion, his expression grave. Xzion snatched the wheel of his hulking Hummer and parked haphazardly.

Sahee… 

He knew that man, and there was no reason for Sahee to simply be standing around, like a lost vagrant. Xzion slammed his car door and raced towards the Yuledrakian fiend. The creature grinned at him and didn’t flinch once Xzion got in his face, snatched his wooly, stiff collar firmly in his tight grip.

“I’m going to ask you
one
question, and you only get
one
chance to answer,” Xzion said smoothly. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Sahee turned away, looked casually at the boarded up building behind him then back at Xzion. “I was sent here to give you a message.”

“What is it?”

“We are taking Earth. Jatorn wants you to join us. He will make it worth your while. If you do not agree to it, he will kill that Earth woman and her bastard child you seem to be so infatuated with.” The man spoke so coldly, as if it were just typical banter on a Tuesday morning.

Xzion grinned, then laughed, noting the look of confusion on Sahee’s face at his reaction.

“You must be joking?” He released Sahee’s coat and stepped away, still laughing so hard, his stomach flipped. “You tell Jatorn that I will kill all of you in a day’s work, single-handedly, and still have time for a dinner break and a movie afterward. There is no way I’m hooking up with you disgusting pigs!”

Sahee’s face turned impossibly paler. “You’ve made your choice and it is a mistake. You cannot protect all of Earth, Xzion. We will be everywhere.”

Just then, another Yuledrake approached them, and then another. They walked casually down the street, as if approaching a bus stop. Xzion looked around. Putting his hands on his waist, he quickly scanned the damned street. His breathing increased as his right eye danced. One car strolled past, then another…

In a matter of seconds, like a burst of wind, he breezed away from Sahee, storming towards the other two Yuledrakes so fast they surely didn’t have time to take a second or third breath. Xzion’s right eye twitched and quickly did a 360 of the perimeter as he made a mad dash towards his targets. Sahee yelled out a guttural moan but it was far too late. Xzion raced between the slender bodies walking side-by-side, slicing through their flesh right at the hollow of their ribcages with the greatest of ease, as if they’d been made of butter. The two Yuledrakes continued to stand erect, but barely. Their eyes went dead in a flash as they perished on their feet. Before they hit the ground, Xzion grabbed them by their hair, allowed their lower bodies to fall by the wayside before whisking their yanked scalps back towards Sahee, who stood there with his mouth agape, his fangs partially exposed and clear fright in his smoked over darkened eyes. He could even smell the bastard’s fear, and it pleased him all the same.

“That took exactly seven seconds. Here.” He threw what was left of the bodies on the ground at Sahee’s feet. “Imagine what I could do with a whole hour…”

Xzion walked leisurely back to his car and got inside, prepared for Jatorn’s little gopher assistant to go running back to headquarters in a panic. He merged with traffic and went on about his way. As he drove a bit further, he opened his wrist.

“Aton, we have a problem,” he said breathlessly. “They are here in force. They have begun the take-over.” Just then, his cell phone rang. Before Aton could respond, he yelled out, “It’s Jayme…hold on.”

He approached a light and picked it up.

“Yeah, baby…” he said, trying to take the irritation out of his tone.  Too much shit was going on at once; he needed a second to wrap his head around it.

“Xzion, we just had a meeting.” Jayme sounded vexed. “In the past twenty-four hours, there have been over forty-two abductions in the East and West side of Baltimore alone. We’ve discovered five more dead bodies, killed in a similar fashion as the previous ones in the alley, one of which had no face, and there was a threat sent to the White House regarding the President. It is classified, but someone was already inside, Xzion. How they got past the secret service, I’m not sure because —”

“What did they leave?” Xzion interrupted her, getting right to the point.

“A hand gripping one diamond and some bloody coins, some currency we can’t identify… It was left in the Queen’s Sitting Room of the White House.”

“Jayme, let me call you back please.”

“I’ll be waiting.” She disconnected the call.

“Aton? Are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“I just killed two Yuledrakes. Sahee is also here. He had a message for me, and I gave him his answer, right in front of his eyes. This is serious; there is no turning back. Jatorn wants me to be his lackey.”

“Sahee is there?” Aton appeared to stumble over the previous announcement.

“Yes. They’ve started and Jayme just told me they are now abducting people. Little do the humans know, that is
worse
than the murders. They also broke into the White House and left a message: someone’s hand gripping a diamond and clutching their own currency, no doubt. Well, that’s not what she said, but she is putting two and two together based on the little bit I’ve told her. I hate keeping shit from her. I told her I’d be upfront.” He said the last part more for himself, than for Aton’s benefit.

“Xzion, I am fully aware of this
.
They are in Europe, Africa, and of course all over the United States. I am certain they had no immediate interest in the United States, but because
you
are there, they realized they first had to either get you to join forces with them, or annihilate you. Regardless, their reach is broad. They are in Asia as well. I have a meeting scheduled with America’s officials and the United Nations. You need to attend.”

Xzion’s stomach rumbled in anger. Years before he was born, a historical moment etched the history books. In 1967, the revered and kindhearted president of Zarkstorm, Nostro, had met with the United Nations as well. The meeting did not go well, and only a few years later, Nostro succumbed to over-heating and perished. Back then, the human military forces were already well aware of alien presence, but all they did was attempt to capture and torture his people for experimentation purposes, as they had done other forms of extra-terrestrial life.

America has a similar problem as the Yuledrakes…curiosity that leads to greed…

His cell rang again.
Jayme.

“Shit!” He picked it up. “Hold on, Aton… Baby, I’m —”

“Turn on the news when you get a chance,” she blurted. “The same shit is going on all over the country, Xzion. It’s like someone just woke up with a wild hair up their ass.” She said it calmly, but hysteria lurked beneath her tone. She disconnected so quickly, he could almost pretend it was only a dream based on her brief call, but he knew better. He sighed.

“I’m back, Aton. Just tell me when the meeting is, and I’ll be there.”

“Soon. We’ve pinpointed the location of the weapons by the way.”

“Tell me where they are, and I will disengage them, then destroy them.”

“You need help to do that, Xzion. You can’t be four places at one time.” Though he couldn’t see the man, he knew Aton was at his wit’s end with Xzion’s obstinacy.

“You’re fast, but not
that
fast. Hold on, Xzion, I’m getting another report…”

Xzion began to drive again. The traffic was getting thicker as people stopped to get coffee and illegally park in front of court buildings and the post office.

“Xzion, the army is ready. We’ve got four thousand and seventy-six soldiers at your disposal. The rest will stay here, to help protect Zarkstorm and neighboring planets. Now, be prepared to meet tomorrow morning.”

He turned on the radio to hear the breaking news, the same things Jayme had just calmly and collectively relayed to him. The world was being set on fire and the Yuledrakes were holding the damn matches. He seized the knob and turned the radio off, almost ripping it clean off in anger. His eyes danced around the roads and crazy anger and delirium merged inside of him.

They’re everywhere!

It seemed everywhere he glanced, he saw more and more Yuledrakes, as well as a few Morphitians, more than he was accustomed to noticing on any previous days.

“Fine.” He resigned himself, understanding that he now had to push his bullheadedness aside, and get the assistance that was essential to the operation. “What do you have in mind?”

“I thought you’d never ask…”

*
***

Xzion swiped at a tickling bead of sweat that meandered down the middle of his brow. He strained in his seat, certain that the prominent vein that throbbed during times of stress or gut-turning laughter had risen right front and center in the middle of his forehead. The last few hours had been filled with a desire for a murderous rampage and even though it wasn’t on the agenda, he had to do it. He’d pulled inside of a semi-desolate parking garage and simply waited. Like clockwork, Yuledrakes began to meander towards him, as if he were steel and they, magnets. He sneered; a happy grin cracked his stone face as he felt their presence before seeing them. He’d baited them; now it was time to reel in his catch of the day. Opening his car door and hopping out like a jackrabbit, his steps echoed on the concrete as he leisurely approached the pale, surrounding crowd. One made a move, but it was too late for anyone to back out of the deal. They threatened him, but he didn’t do well with threats, preferring promises instead.

Less than nine minutes later, fifty-two bloodied bodies lay haphazardly strewn across the damned area. Car alarms hooted and hollered, many smeared with the shiny, silver blood of the wretched bastards. He hadn’t received more than a strained muscle as his eye beam worked overtime, and the serrated slicer in his finger gutted the bastards, filleting them like perch. Xzion branded their heads, taking his sweet time as if he were roasting marshmallows with his son by a campfire. Sighing, he got back in his car and worked a crook out of his neck before rolling away.

The ‘XXX’ Killer was back and more dangerous than ever before…