The Tale of the Blood Diamond (25 page)

“I take it the meeting with Aton was unsettling?” one of the Zarkstormian warriors questioned, more than likely concerned about Xzion’s present condition.

Xzion didn’t look back at him. “Oh, believe me, there is
no
problem, Mitgz,” Xzion answered between crunchy, loud chews. He smiled big — a smile driven from him dancing on the boarder of insanity. “
Everything
will be
settled
once and for all…”

The thin flesh of the human was uncomfortable, itchy, and the scent, though familiar, Vex found repulsive no matter how many times he’d donned it. Regardless, he’d morphed into his covering and moved about the planet, Washington D.C. to be exact, the best he could. He’d perfected their walk, yet the uneven pavement at times gave him unwelcomed challenges, especially under the cloak of the evening sky and lack of natural light. He worked best in murky surroundings, but this was a new kind of blackness. One that would suddenly be swathed in light from a passing vehicle, or the quiet ripped away with a honking horn or the loud discourse of a drunken man staggering along the pebble covered path. He’d never been here before, yet he was quickly enmeshing himself into the human world and dare he admit it, enjoying himself. The sounds, the smells, the enchanting city-life as the weaklings and fearmongers wrestled with their own silly desires formed part of a fascinating show. The Yuledrakes had begun the plague of fear, and he was ready to feast.

He raised his arms in the air, declaring with that gesture that soon, all of this would in fact be his…a playground, a euphoria of pleasures designed for him and his people.

Tonight, he was on a special mission. Tonight, he was to settle in and prepare for beautiful tortures. A trial run, so to speak, but one that would be devastating to those he’d encounter, nevertheless. This was the third phase of the plan, after all, so he and many other Morphitians clamored about in their various disguises, walking the streets in their morphed costumes made of hominoid dermis and getting acquainted with the hospitable people of Baltimore, Maryland.  It was time to turn up the heat — tonight was going to be epically special, a beautiful disaster, a nightmare come true.

Despite all of this fun to be had, he was well aware that Jatorn was livid. Each hour, on the hour, the Yuledrakes were running into Zarkstormian Warriors and Intellects. The enemy blended in with the population making them more difficult to locate, and before long, bodies were strewn here, there and everywhere.
Yuledrake bodies.
Just as in years past, alien life forms were rather careful to not immediately stir up the delicate human eco-system until the plans were in full swing. This is how killing was done — yet no one suspected them. Regardless of this, the Yuledrakes had turned up the heat, but they were not the only chefs in the kitchen… No one knew exactly or could pinpoint where these Zarkstormians were coming from, but they’d had only one fatality, while the Yuledrakes had lost so many; the number was ever-changing to the point that the body count was no longer known.

“Jatorn and his arrogance.” Vex grinned and swiped a trickle of snot running from his new fangled nostril, and spoke softly as he worked his new mouth muscles. “He will keep sending his multitudes. And they will keep perishing. Better them than us…”

So here he stood, on the planet, ready to render his own brand of magical torture after much grunt work had been done. This was something the Zarkstormians couldn’t stop as easily, and in that, Vex had a sense of pride. His work was harder to corral. He didn’t bludgeon a human on a city street or even a dark, desolate, forgotten part of town just for the hell of it. No, he entered their homes and devoured them whole without having to touch one hair in their half-twitted heads. Back home, despite Jatorn’s lack of a blessing, work was being done to obtain a sample, then to find exactly what was in the coveted vaccine of the Zarkstormian people. Vex didn’t care how long it took, and he didn’t care about the Yuledrakes, either. He would allow them to continue to sacrifice themselves, and the Lyalts to go up against the Zarkstormians in physical battle, while Vex’s people drifted about, waiting and ready to reap the benefits.

“Oh, sweet superiority and greed, Jatorn.” Vex waited patiently at a stop sign until it blinked, and the WALK letters ushered him forward. “You learned little from your great grandfather. He knew the value of patience. This will be your undoing, naïve one. I want to thank you in advance for doing the grunt work, for the afterglow, we, the Morphitians, will savor.”

He stuffed his hands into his coat pocket, a material he found irritating yet tolerable. It was bitterly cold in this portion of the planet, and to do without such a contraption for warmth would have been foolhardy. He’d never felt temperatures like this before, but he warmed quickly from the news that the coordinates of Xzion’s whereabouts had been pinpointed. What he hated was that his people were too afraid to approach the structure. He was sick and tired of Xzion having the ability to scare those that invented fear!

The Morphitians were the Kings and Queens of anxiety, panic, cruelty, brutality and suffering. How dare Xzion’s mere name make their knees tremble. He did what he had to do, made the jaunt himself. He was old, but that wouldn’t stop him. He was going to live long enough to see his people reach their glory, to sink their teeth into the nightmares of officials and officers! He’d wanted to have a taste of a Zarkstormian dream for decades. Tonight may just be the night that spells were spun in his favor…

*
***

Aton moved in the blustery cold, his hair whipping to and fro. Jayme rolled a blanket over the shivering man’s shoulders as he moved from the underground bunker, back to the pod. Zachary’s little body was strapped in tight, and he held his baby blue teddy bear in his arms. Xzion knew he did it more for his mother, than for himself. He smiled brightly at everyone, as if he were going on some magical adventure. And in a sense, he was. Jayme’s tears had stopped abruptly, but he knew it was only temporary. Aton hollered over the howling wind that seemed to pick up speed at that very moment.

“Okay, he will be there in approximately eight hours. Immediately upon his arrival, your ring will light up, Jayme.”

She nodded in understanding.

“Xzion, I will be leaving in the morning to ensure that Zachary is safe and sound. Our foot soldiers are already in the streets, as you know, surveying the area. We’ve lost one soldier thus far, a Yuledrake killed him; however, everyone else is spoken for.  Reports are that they are everywhere, and the Morphitians are also here. Jayme, I understand, according to Xzion, that you will be preparing your police department for this evening. I presume you will keep the hysteria down to a workable level.”

“I’m well ahead of you, Aton. They’d institutionalize me if I told them the truth. I have a different plan. I have it under control.”

“Very well.” He smiled at her, and it seemed sincere, taking Jayme and Xzion off guard. “Your son is going to be safe, he is going to be okay, I promise you. We all guard him with our lives.”

Jayme’s eyes glossed and she patted Aton’s hand, no doubt thankful for the encouraging words. She dropped to her knees, placed her palms on the pod and kissed the tiny glass where she could see her son’s big, gleaming eyes. Xzion followed, the frozen ground crunching under his weight. He placed his palm against the glass too, as Jayme leaned her head on his shoulder, and he heard her crying softly against him. Wrapping his arm tightly around her, he continued to stare at their son, smiling at him.

Suddenly, he was yanked out of the moment. A distinct odor filled the air once more, this time a bit stronger than before. He looked around frantically, but nothing out of the ordinary was in sight. He swallowed heavily, paused and looked into the shrouded woods around their house, then jumped to his feet.

“Is something wrong, Xzion?” Aton asked from a short distance behind him.

He shook his head as he continued to preview the scene.

Nothing seemed out of place, but something sure smelled rotten. He looked over his shoulder at Aton, then back down at Jayme.

For Christ’s sake! I have to go through with it now, even if I don’t want to. I haven’t completely thought this out, but I have to complete this. This is a prime opportunity…

Xzion fell back to his knees and peered at his child. He took a deep breath.

“I love you, Zachary,” he began. “Everything is going to be okay.” He paused and cleared his throat as he looked into the wooded area, a snarl on his face that he had trouble erasing.

“Son, I’ll see you soon.”

The boy nodded and the two rose and stood back from the pod. One Intellect Soldier approached and opened the pod, entering it. He placed his helmet on and strapped himself inside of the contraption. Without another word, he started it up and they all watched as it gathered momentum, like a small plane, then jolted faster than lightning into the atmosphere, until it was no longer able to be seen.

“Oh my God!” Jayme screamed out, her tone a mix of sorrow and amazement.

“It’s fast. He’ll be there in no time.” Aton grinned up at the star-studded night.

“They have a room already prepared for him and he will be treated like Zarkstormian royalty, because he
is
.” And with that, Aton disappeared back into their home, closing the back door behind him.

****

Vex struggled to stay in disguise as his excitement reached a fever pitch. The night had once again proven to be his favorite mistress, not only because she helped feed bad dreams, but she cloaked all the things that went bump in the night and caused madness to brew whenever she cast her black cape over the skies. This time, she brought him an invaluable gift…a Zarkstormian pod had just flown into the air and if you blinked, you would have overlooked it. But he hadn’t, nor had he missed, in the near distance, the sight of Xzion bent low, the man’s hand grazing the damn thing. The choked up, sorrowful voice of the Warrior was music to Vex’s ears. The lyrics to his sad song were even better…

“…Son.”

“Magnificent! Xzion has a child! Who would believe such a thing? The boy is not the bastard offspring of the human woman, after all. That is
their
child… Though it seems impossible, it must be true!”

Vex could hardly contain himself. He now had a good to sell Jatorn, before it was all said and done. He’d found the second gift! Now, for certain, he’d make that fiend get on top of the antivirus, for Vex had a bargaining chip, a dog in the fight. With the Yuledrakes’ scientific intelligence and the Morphitians’ undercover prowess, he’d be unstoppable. Then, he could take over Zarkstorm, and finally have the creatures that tried to historically police the behaviors of others, in the palm of his hand.  He’d had a healthy respect for Zarkstorm for centuries, all of his people had, but their minds were a forecourt he needed so desperately to explore. No one believed they even had nightmares, but that was untrue; all living creatures did, and Vex wanted to be the cause of many for them…

He stepped backwards, let himself become swallowed into the recesses of the night, blending in with the trees that surrounded the vast, sprawling ranch-style home. He reached into the pocket of the itchy coat and pulled out his special phone, a small black box with exceptional coding.

“Jatorn, I understand you’ve having a bad day. Well, perhaps the news I have for you can be your living dream come true…”

*
***

Jayme sighed as her officers walked away and did as instructed, but not without looks of confusion and audible grumbles. It had been a grueling day. She stood there fighting her own emotions, trying to push the image of her only child being carted off into space out of her mind. That however proved to be impossible. She literally pinched herself, finding it hard to believe things had gone this far. She had no guarantee she’d ever see him again, only Aton’s word, and right now, she trusted no one, barely her own self.

Captain Jasper had given her a look of disbelief after she’d busted through the doors and corralled everyone in the quarters, demanding they leave the streets for a quick yet crucial meeting. Mayhem ensued, and she needed to explain the mess in some coherent way to get her officers to do what needed to be done…to not be afraid and face their fears. Jayme demanded ten minutes to give them something they needed, something for their very own survival.

She told them point blank: do not hesitate to shoot anyone that is attacking another. She had the backing of the government, but more importantly, she put faith in herself at least in this endeavor. Her theory, and she could barely swallow the lie herself despite it being more plausible than the truth, was that a dangerous cult was trying to gain dominance all over the world, and they were in Baltimore for political reasons. She assured that she had insider intelligence, although nothing she yelled was in protocol; matter of fact, her vigilante stance and everything she uttered was all wrong. Captain Jasper knew it, but her eyes pleaded with him, and her mouth soon followed. Moments before the meeting, she’d cornered him in his office, begged the man to please allow her some room to move, a chance to address what had taken the city by storm. He stated he had to call the Chief to get approval for such a ‘shoot and ask questions later’ plot, but in lieu of the ghastly murders in the city, hesitation hadn’t been anyone’s friend.