Ninth Orb

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  Naturally, no one paid that any attention. If they were hostile, why bring only one ship? Why move so openly without any attempt to hide the fact that they were heading straight for Earth?

  Despite the doomsdayers, and the Christian soldiers who seemed to think the aliens had come with the sole purpose of fucking up their religious beliefs in the ‘creation’, the majority of the people gathered had come just to watch the show of a life time.

  Real, live, aliens!

  Mai could hardly believe it herself. She didn’t think she’d ever been so excited in her life. This was the sort of story everybody dreamed of being able to tell their grandkids.

  Not that she had any--or any kids for that matter--or even a frigging boyfriend if it came to that.

  She did hope they were cute and not something butt ugly and completely undesirable because the pickings on Earth sure as hell were getting slim.

  As she watched, the people at the far edge turned, falling silent, their faces tipped toward the sky. Their actions created a domino effect until at last everyone was looking. In the sky, a large, oblong ship floated lazily, silently, into view. Its surface was dull and metallic, covered in pockmarks as if it had seen a lot of wear and tear. On the nose of the ship were strange, blue runes, lit from within.

  Mai watched as the ship floated over her head, toward the center of the throng where a wide open space had been carefully set aside for their landing and maintained with grim determination by the military. Feeling the briefest sense of displacement at the dreamlike quality of the scene as a whole, Mai startled at the sudden shouting that originated in the ranks of the Doomsdayers. The mood of the throng shifted palpably from awe and she was buffeted with a cacophony of sounds.

  The ship, now centered over the clearing, set down with slow dignity, settling in a small cloud of dust kicked up by the engines. Jumping to his feet, the president shambled ape-like to the microphone at the center of the stage. Looking down carefully to ensure his feet were on the large X he’d been told to stand on, he fidgeted as he waited for the ship to open, making ineffectual hushing sounds at the crowd.

  Apparently too impatient to deliver his ‘historical welcome’ to actually wait for the appearance of the aliens, the president leaned over the mike “Welcome friends.” Minutes slipped by and he stood twitching nervously as he awaited their reply. After a moment, when nothing happened, he turned to the crowd and plastered a lopsided grin across his face. “Please, uh, everyone quiet down a lil’ You’re scarin’ our space visitors, I, uh, think.”

  No one paid him any attention, continuing to murmur and gesture toward the craft. Abruptly, the door to the ship hissed open and a ramp extended to the ground like a great slivery tongue. From the dark, yawning hole emerged the sound of tramping feet. With bated breath, the crowd watched as a figure emerged from the dim interior and then another and another. Marching with almost military precision, the group made their way down the ramp.

  As the closest of the throng finally caught sight of the aliens, who had come to Earth from outside the solar system, Mai heard shouts of disbelief and anger. She understood why as soon as the first came into her own view and she saw black, red-lined capes plucked by a slight breeze, gliding up the steps of the dais toward the politicians.

  As the leader reached the top of the dais and stopped, she saw he was tall--easily a head taller than the ‘great man’ who’d come to greet the alien race. Long, dark hair flowed unfettered around his shoulders. His skin was pale--very pale--but the pigmentation was all too familiar--not blue or green or anything anyone on Earth had come to associate with aliens, but white people color--or maybe pale Asian. It was a little hard to be certain from such a distance.

  “They’re human!” Mai gasped in surprise, feeling an abrupt surge of euphoria as it occurred to her that her wish had been granted. Men!

  “Humanoid,” one of the Trekies said irritably over his shoulder.

  Looks human to me, Mai thought, wondering as the others who’d first seen them apparently had if they’d all been the victims of some wild practical joke.

  If they weren’t human, they were sure as hell close enough to suit her! Two of everything they were supposed to have, from what she could see, gorgeous build, beautiful black hair--Hallelujah, thank you god! Men! If they’re gay I’ll kill myself!

  She didn’t see any women. Was that a bad sign or a good sign? She wondered.

  As six others came into view, she saw that each of them wore their long black hair bound at the nape of the neck. They were dressed identically in fitted black pants with black jackets trimmed with gold and ruffled white shirts. Each seemed to have attained the flawlessly pale skin she, with her honeyed complexion, had never been able to achieve even with cosmetics. Although from what she could see they were all handsome, the leader was by far the most handsome of all, having a quality about him she could not put her finger on, but that set him apart from the rest. They carried themselves with a grace of movement, a smoothness Mai had only read about in books.

  For all their beauty, though, something seemed a bit off--something about them made her uneasy. She couldn’t decide if it was the fact that they were aliens, if something really was peculiar about them, or if it was all in her head.

  It dawned on her as the president erupted into his carefully prepared speech.

  Emotion. They were surrounded by a tremendous, noisy crowd of alien beings and they were completely cool, calm, collected--emotionless about the whole situation.

  “I would like ta, uh, welcome you. On behalf of myself and, uh, the world, to the United States of Amer’ca, the greatest country in the world.”

  At that comment, Mai looked sharply at the other politicians, at the men who had traveled half the globe to represent their countries, not surprised to see they were rigid with anger. So much for diplomacy.

  The man had no tact. There was just no getting around it.

  “It’s so great,” he extended his hand woodenly to their leader, who stared at it blankly several moments before taking it, “to meet people with, uh, who share our, the Amer’can people’s, love for freedom and liberty. People, we have no doubt, willing to fight for freedom anywhere in the universe. I bet you boys have done some fighting of your own, so you understand that the war for freedom has to be fought, uh, even in space. Like you, we will continue to fight for the, uh, freedom and the liberty of the Amer’can people.”

  Mai frowned. She couldn't tell if that was how the speech was written, or if he'd simply forgotten his lines, but with that, he shook the alien’s hand harder, giving a signal to the other politicians who, up to that point, had been sitting quietly awaiting their turn to greet the visitors. They sprang toward the aliens, bumping each other out of the way, shaking hands and posing for the flashing cameras. Several of the scientists, obviously embarrassed, covered their faces with their hands. The others seemed to be ignoring the politicians, pointing and whispering excitedly to each other.

  Disappointment settled in Mai’s gut. After all she’d been through to get here to get the chance to see the aliens, and she could see that dumb bastard was going to turn it into a media event, featuring him, so he could politicize! Next he was going to start rhapsodizing about all of his accomplishments--which were mostly in his frigging mind.

  Well, I guess this is a historic moment for them, anyway. Guess I may as well get out of here before the crowd. For all the excitement it offered, this could have easily been a typical, boring press conference. I should have stayed home and watched the damned thing on CSPAN. At least I would have been comfortable.

  Even as she turned to go, a sudden movement on the dais caught her eye and Mai stopped, her gaze riveted on what was transpiring on the stage. As one, the aliens pulled their respective greeters toward themselves, as if to hug them. Instead, to Mai’s stunned disbelief, they leaned down and nuzzled the politicians’ necks.

  Ew, gross!

  Damn it to hell! Aren’t there any damned men anywhere that still l
ike girls!

  As stunned as she was, the crowd fell deathly quiet and then erupted into screams of panic and horror. Gun shots rang out and several soldiers fell dead, struck down by friendly fire as their comrades, scrambling to load live ammo, shot at the aliens. Thoroughly confused, Mai finally realized why as the alien leader released the president and the president’s body flopped lifeless to the floor.

  He turned to face his attackers then, drawing a long sword he had had concealed beneath his cape. He held his sword high, uttering a battle cry before falling upon the soldiers. His men drew swords as well and charged after him.

  In Mai’s mind, time seemed to slow down as she watched, completely dumb-founded. She felt as though she were watching a movie, not standing in a crowd of stampeding people.

  Vampires? Real vampires? She thought disbelievingly.

  Caught between horror and an odd fascination, she fought against a human tide, craning her neck to see what was happening.

  Who stands a better chance at a time like this? She wondered. The men with their machine guns, or the seven vampires?

  People nearest the barricade pressed back, trying to flee, while those behind either stood still or tried to press forward for a better look. The soldiers, apparently thrown into total panic by the abrupt attack fired at several people in the crowd who made it over the blockade.

  Mai was finally swept away, shoved on all sides, knowing that to lose her balance was to die. Brought back to reality by her own danger, she looked around for something to climb on, some way to escape the crush of the crowd. Spotting a traffic pole, she worked furiously toward it, gaining precious little ground, but at last reached her goal. It still took an effort to climb, but she had incentive. Do or die. Shimmying up the pole, Mai sat on its outstretched arm.

  Well, this is fucking great, she thought shakily when she’d managed to balance herself above the stampeding herd. Somehow this was not what she’d pictured in her mind as happening when aliens finally chose to visit Earth.

  I don’t know why. I mean, what the hell did I expect? ‘We come in peace?’ I should have stayed home. What am I supposed to do now?

  Getting down was hardly an option. Although within a few minutes most of the people had passed her, she realized there was no way she could get through the swarm farther down the street and she didn’t really feel up to trying.

  Vampires. Irrationally, the word sent a thrill up her spine. As a die hard Goth, she’d always fantasized about meeting one. I just never thought about it turning out like this.

  Somehow the reality seemed less real than the movies she’d seen, which was really bizarre when one thought about it.

  Dismissing her thoughts, she looked around the landing site. The space between her perch and the barricades was almost devoid of humans now, except for a few left lying on the ground who hadn’t managed to avoid the stampede she supposed, still alive, strangely enough, but barely, a fact she could tell by their slight movement.

  It was actually quite surprising how quickly people could clear an area when the need arose.

  It struck her suddenly that the soldiers were no longer shooting. She squinted, looking hard in their direction, but the only movement she saw came from the vampires themselves. All dead? That didn’t seem possible. She decided they must have grabbed the scientists and politicians that had survived the attack and retreated.

  A vampire stood as she watched, turning toward her--looking directly at her it seemed, though Mai thought it might have been her imagination. It was dark after all. Still, Mai’s breath caught. A thrill that was part fear and part expectation ran through her as he sauntered toward her, passing through a newly made gap in the blockade and down the deserted street. He came to a halt underneath her, his golden eyes still intent on her own. Drawn to him like a moth to flame, Mai slid down the pole, tilting her face up to look at him.

  She’d been right. He was handsome. He was unbelievably handsome, so gorgeous her mind went perfectly blank.

  “Hi.” Hi? Can’t you do better than that? Her mind screamed. Something intelligent? Something poetic? Sexy? Anything at all! This is what you’ve dreamt of your whole life and all you can say to the first actual vampire you’ve ever even heard of is ‘hi?’

  The vampire lifted a hand as though to touch her, and she closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side to reveal her artery. This is it. It’s finally happening. She shivered in anticipation. Will it hurt? Or will it be like pure ecstasy, the way they always describe it in books? She felt his gaze as he stood silently, studying her.

  To her surprised dismay, he grabbed her breast and squeezed it experimentally, for all the world like he was testing a fruit for ripeness.

  “You’ll do.” With that, he grabbed her, slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed back toward his ship.

  Taking me some place private to ravish me? It was too much to hope that he’d fallen instantly in love with her on sight and realized the rest of eternity would be worse than hell without her. Still, could it possibly be a completely bad thing that he had swept her off her feet and was carrying her away like a heroine in a vampire novel? Her heart beat rapidly in her chest and heat crawled slowly through her body at the thought of what he might do.

  This is it! She thought as he carried her up the ramp, as they entered the dark cavern of the ship. He shouted something over his shoulder to his men, who were quick to run in after him, carrying their own burdens. The ramp slid up and the door hissed closed, plunging them in darkness. All told, by Mai’s mental calculations, the vampires had only been on Earth for ten minutes before picking up and leaving.

  It would have been a great time to look around at the ship’s interior. If she’d been able to see in pitch blackness.

  “Where are we going?” She heard a grunt, but could not tell if it had come from the vampire that held her, or one of the others. Mai had just decided to try again when one of her fellow captors, to her right, started screaming shrilly. This went on several minutes, the woman’s captor laughing, with no one else seeming to care.

  “Shut up already! If he was going to eat you, he’d have done it already.” I think. It made sense, didn’t it?

  “Who’s there?” the woman’s voice bordered on hysteria. Mai contemplated being silent, but decided that would probably set the fool off again and she had no interest in listening to that.

  “My name’s Mai.”

  “Mai? I’m scared! I don’t belong here. I don’t deserve this! It’s not fair! Let me go! Let go of me you monster--” Mai heard a thud and the woman become suddenly quiet. She was actually a little glad. As though she’s the most important person here or something! I have friends who would gladly take her place. They would have likely fought tooth and nail to take her place. And mine. Were they watching everything on TV? Did they see the vampires? She felt more than a little smug, having done everything she could to convince them to come with her. I bet there’re kicking themselves now. She knew deep down that she should feel sorry for the woman, but it was hard to care about an insane voice in the darkness, and she could tell that fear had driven the woman mad. Or maybe I’m the mad one for not being scared? It was not something she wanted to think about.

  Mai was startled out of her thoughts by a sudden hiss. Before she could even wonder at its meaning, she was thrown through the air. She had time for one tiny squeak of dismay before she landed with a bounce in a heap on a bed.

  “Ow! Damn it! You made me bite my tongue!”

  Mai gingerly sat up, unable to keep her balance in the dark.

  “Stay where you are.” The voice was deep and masculine, sending a shiver through her spine.

  “Can’t you--”

  A hiss told her it was already too late to ask for a light. What now? It did not seem to fit that prisoners on vampire ships would get their own bed room, so this had to be his bed, right? Assuming that they were wrong about vampires sleeping in coffins? Were they really coffins, or space pods? That would ma
ke a lot of sense.... More importantly, he wouldn’t bring her into his own room unless he had ... plans ... would he?

  So, he had to go do some captain stuff. When he gets back, he’ll seduce me. He’s just the type that hates to be interrupted, that’s all. It made sense of a kind. Satisfied she had solved the mystery of his disappearance, Mai made up her mind to beat him to the punch. She carefully pulled off her clothes, folding them and dropping them over the side of the bed. That done, she crawled around until she found what she assumed to be a pillow, and lay down. Carefully draping her hair around herself and splaying it across the pillow for a nice effect, she posed and awaited his return. She lay in that same awkward position for what seemed to be hours, knowing that if she moved, he would choose that exact moment to come back in. It was little wonder she dozed off.

  DARK CARNIVAL

  By

  Nicole Ash

  © copyright by Nicole Ash, January 2013

  Cover Art by Eliza Black, January 2013

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  Chapter One

  Laughter filled Celeste’s head, but the annoyance she felt at the moment was her own and failed to reflect the merriment of her familiar. ‘Yipp! Where are you? You’re supposed to be gathering that Fairy Wart for me!’

  In hindsight, she supposed she had this coming to her. She should never have expected Yipp to do anything he was asked to do. Damn. It would have made everything so much easier, too. Fairy Wart wasn’t as difficult to find as the Dragon’s Bane and Red Caps, but finding anything in a forest this size was time consuming and there were so many other things she had planned to do with her day. Now, I’ll be lucky if I make it out of here before supper time!