The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10

by Mackenzie Morris

  Vance ignored him. Wearing tattered silk pants with burns covering his bare shins and chest, he stormed towards the gunfire and yelling. He was on a warpath. Even the shards of broken glass poking into the soles of his bare feet, the thick smoke in the air, and the cold wind that sent shivers down his spine could not distract him from his mission.

  "Vance! My Prince, they will shoot you as soon as you reveal yourself. Maybe they moved Ben to another cell."

  "You were there. The cell in the lab was empty, but all of Ben's things were there. I swear, if they killed my husband, I will impale them all and roast them over that pyre as they scream. Then I will detonate all of those bombs myself."

  "Okay, I get it. You're angry. But you have to think this through."

  "No time to think, mate. I either find my husband, or I destroy Azimandia tonight."

  "Please!"

  Vance marched past the Azimandians brawling on either side of the main road across the Star-World. As he passed, the warbringers and korvishi men ceased their fighting, awe and confusion spread across their faces. They silently laid down their guns and wiped the blood from their arms then gathered in a growing procession behind Vance.

  Visht clung to his side as the much larger warbringers crowded around them. "Vance, they're following you."

  "Good." Vance held up his hand to stop the procession. He pointed across the square where Krisharn and Tirlmayn were in full leather armor, studying a map of Star-World Zero Alpha on a hovering orange hologram. "Everyone, stay here."

  "No! My Prince!"

  Vance pushed Visht out of the way as he walked towards Tirlmayn. "Father!"

  Tirlmayn turned around to glare at him.

  Vance held his hands above his head in a sign of surrender. He cautiously approached the makeshift command area with nervous sweat pouring down his cold body. Would they kill him? Shoot him on sight without asking questions? Would they arrest him then execute him and Visht for something a clone did? As soon as his toes hit the rough bricks of the courtyard, Vance fell to his knees and placed his hands on the back of his head. "I surrender. It was not me!"

  A group of armored warbringers raced out of the shadows behind the command area and surrounded Vance with laser rifles buzzing with power.

  He looked past the barrels in his face to plead with his father. "Warlord, the man who betrayed you was a clone. It was not me! I'm the real Prince Aveni. I would never betray my people. I ask for mercy!"

  Krisharn whispered to Tirlmayn before they both stepped forward, parting the warbringers. They stood menacingly in front of him with their hands on their muscular hips and anger flashing in their dark eyes.

  Tirlmayn grabbed Vance by his hair and forced his head back roughly. "Check his feet."

  Krisharn stepped behind Vance and rubbed the dirt from the soles of his feet. "No numbers. It's him, brother."

  "Guns down." Tirlmayn released Vance's hair. "Stand, my son. Tell us all where you have been. If that was not you back there, that means you have been missing for at least two days."

  "My clones, my bodyguards, they kidnapped me and held me chained up in the sewers. They wanted to take my place."

  The warlord touched some of the fresh burns on Vance's collar bones. "Did they do this to you?"

  "Yes. Father, I would never betray you. Are you going to kill me like you did my clone? They act like me, but I am not a traitor like them. Please show me mercy, father."

  Tirlmayn draped his arm across Vance's shoulders as he addressed the audience that had gathered. "The true Prince Aveni has returned to us. He has escaped from the impostors who held him prisoner and tortured him for days. I call for an immediate ceasefire. Your prince is still alive!"

  The citizens and soldiers raised their weapons and fists into the air as they shouted in their approval.

  "Spread word to the rebelling faction that their beloved prince has not been executed. The man who died was a filthy impostor. If they lay down their weapons and convene in this courtyard within the hour, I will grant them all a pardon. Attention, warbringers, I need every battalion to report to the training fields in one hour to be informed on the events of tonight. I need my generals in the war room immediately to discuss these rogue clones. I need someone to bring Benjamin Trainor to Prince Aveni's bedchambers."

  Vance couldn't stop from smiling. "He's alive?"

  "If those Biromian brutes haven't killed him. And Aveni?"

  "Yes, my warlord?"

  "We will sort this out, my son. The blame does not fall on your shoulders. I will have Visht escort you back to your bedchambers where medics will be waiting to attend to your injuries. I apologize, but I need you to be awake in two hours when I will visit you to speak in private about a special assignment. This night is not yet over. I am relieved you have not betrayed me again, Aveni. You are dismissed."

  * * *

  Vance winced as the medics scrubbed his burns with harsh soaps and sterile cloths. He dug his fingers into the cooling plasma below him that conformed seamlessly to his naked body. All embarrassment had vanished, replaced instead by exhaustion and the relief that his wounds were being cared for by professionals. He was too drained to care.

  Visht sat by his side, munching on the gourmet five course dinner the royal chefs had prepared for them. "My Prince, you should eat as well. It's very good. I can feed you if you need me to. The medics will be working on those burns for a while. You've got to be starving. I know I am."

  "No, Visht. Go ahead without me."

  "You haven't eaten in days!" The warbringer's eyes grew wide as he tried to shake some sense into his prince.

  "I don't think I could keep anything down right now. My nerves are all kinds of scrambled, mate."

  "Because of Benjamin?"

  "Yes. I need to know he's alive. Then if he is, I may be able to see him. I don't know what I'm going to say. I've been dreaming about this, what I would do and say to him, but now . . ."

  Visht dropped his half-eaten loaf of dark grain bread. "Vance, in the doorway. It's him."

  Vance pushed the gloved hands off of him and shoved the medics away. He sat up, wrapping a sheet around his waist and tying it in a knot before climbing out of the plasma bed. With a fluttering heart, Vance opened his eyes to see his husband standing silently in the doorway.

  The two men stared at each other with an ocean of questions, emotions, and memories surging between them. All the pain, the torment, the endless grief . . . it had worn them down like stones in the rapids. For nearly five minutes, they stayed there as if not ready to believe the other was real. Two apparitions, out of time, out of words, and out of their numbing emptiness. The quiet veil of uncertainty nearly choked them, but they only needed their eyes to speak.

  Vance took the first step across the burgundy rug. His legs threatened to collapse from their wavering. "Ben."

  Without another moment's hesitation, Ben ran to him. He wrapped his arms around Vance's waist and broke down in a fit of weeping with his face pressed against Vance's bare chest.

  Still in shock, Vance slowly took his husband's arms and buried his nose in Ben's curly hair. His scent was heaven. It was ecstasy. It was stronger, more deliciously intoxicating than any drug he had ever had flowing in his veins. It was the purest gulp of mountain air after suffocating in smoke, that first breath upon reaching the surface of a river after nearly drowning. It was the first ray of sunlight on the edge of a suicidal night that seemed as though it would never end. It was as if Vance's soul was reborn in that moment. His angel had reached down into the deepest pit of hell and delivered him to paradise. Vance gently held his angel at arm's length to wipe away the hot tears from his pink cheeks. "I thought I had lost you."

  "Oh, Vance!" Ben stood on his tiptoes and leaned in to kiss him.

  Vance spun him around and laid him down onto the bed so he could kiss him the way he wanted, the way he needed. Leaning over between Ben's legs, Vance pressed their bodies together and sighed as he tasted the sweetness of the soft
lips. Tangling his fingers in the tight soft curls, he held onto Ben with all his might, vowing to never let him go. He could have died happy, never wanting anything more out of life.

  Ben continued to do nothing but cry. His body was cloaked in pure white, the picture of an untouched innocent awaiting his execution or a devoted follower prepared for a baptism, not a man reunited with the love of his life. His fingers clutched the edge of the plasma bed as his rainbow-filled grey eyes glittered in his sorrow like wet prisms.

  "What's wrong?" Vance held onto his shoulders and smiled down at him, feeling both of their anxious hearts beating in unison. "Ben, we're together now. I can't stand to see you cry. Please don't cry, dearest."

  "It's you. It's really you."

  "Yes, it's me. I'm here." Vance stroked Ben's face. "We're together now. Me and you, forever."

  The deep voice from the hallway shattered their paradise. "Release your husband and talk with me. This is a gift from me to you, Aveni. Having a mate is a privilege, not a right. I gave him back to you. I can take him away."

  Vance gritted his teeth together then stood up to face the rough scarred face of his father. In the cool air from outside the room, he became acutely aware of his lack of clothing. He glanced around for some pants, but Tirlmayn's impatient growl stopped him. He instead fumbled with the sheet to make sure it was still tied securely around his hips. "I'm sorry, father."

  "Everyone out. I need to speak with Prince Aveni in private. Benjamin, you may stay if you remain silent and on your knees in my presence. You may be a prince to those rebels, but you will never be a true prince of Azimandia. You are nothing but a glorified concubine."

  Vance held his tongue as he was forced to watch his husband kneel like a dog at Tirlmayn's feet. Something told him this meeting was not going to end well for the two of them.

  After Visht and the medics had left, Tirlmayn stepped up to Vance and eyed him from head to toe. "Everything has been solved involving the events of earlier with the rogue clone. The fighting has ceased and the rebellious warbringers have been pardoned and have returned to the barracks to scrub them without food or sleep until all sixteen thousand bunks are cleaned. Slayven the rejected is still on the run, but be aware that he will be found and he will face justice.

  Vance hid his tightening fists behind his back.

  "As for your special mission, I need to know a few more things about you, Aveni. You have a very noticeable Australian accent. Can you hide it?"

  "With some practice, I should be able to."

  Krisharn ran a hand up his sweeping blue horns as he studied his son. "Do twenty push-ups."

  "Now?" Vance rubbed his neck. "Uh . . . I can't, warlord."

  "Jumping jacks? Pull-ups? Anything?"

  "Not really. I'm sorry, but physical fitness has never been my thing."

  "Can you fly a fighter plane?" Tirlmayn asked.

  "I've never tried. Why are you asking me all these things?"

  "Because you are about to go deep undercover as a gunner for the Elysian Flight Force. You will undergo a thorough physical alteration to change your features and make you unrecognizable. You will be given a new name and back story. You will be handed a forged dossier which will assign you automatically to be your target's flight partner. Everything is set up precisely to plant you for the assassination."

  Things were getting serious. "Assassination?"

  "Indeed. Your mission will be to befriend the target, bond with him in battle, then take him to the predetermined location where you will betray him and dispose of the body so no one will be able to recover it. And to ensure that you follow the plan and resist any urges to commit treason, I will be holding Benjamin as collateral. If you fail the mission, I will cut out your husband's heart and eat it. I will kill him without hesitation, Aveni."

  Vance glanced at Ben, who as still motionless on his knees in his long white cloak like a virginal sacrifice. He knew their reunion was too good to be true. "When do I leave?"

  "You will undergo your transformation later today. You head out on one of our fastest ships with warp speed in fourteen hours. I will allow you to have a few hours to rest and spend time with Benjamin in the meantime. Do not make me regret it."

  "You said I would be assassinating my flight partner. If I'm going undercover as a gunner, that means my flight partner will be a pilot. Who is my target?"

  Tirlmayn's fang-like teeth glinted harshly in the light as he grinned. "Flight Master Rav Tillman."

  * * *

  Benjamin Trainor took a slow breath as he reached out from below the blankets to feel for his husband, but his hand fell against the empty plasma, already cold. The orange scent of Vance's shampoo mingled with the remnants of the sangria in their glasses that rested on the bedside table and the still-smoking cigarette in the ashtray. "Vance, I don't want to get up yet. Come back to bed. Just a while longer, please. It's cold without you."

  "He's gone, Ben."

  He peered out from the blanket to see the teenage red-horned warbringer sitting in a wooden chair by the door with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Visht, right?"

  The Azimandian with the high-pitched voice gave an insincere smile. "That's me."

  "Where did Vance go? Is he coming back?"

  "No. He's gone. He left about an hour ago. With the speed of that ship, he's probably halfway to Elysia by now."

  Ben reached out to find his pink-rimmed glasses from the table and slid them on as he sat up to look around the strangely empty room. Two broken vases were still smashed against the wall by the bathroom, their pieces scattered across the carpet. A jagged hole adorned the wall beside the bed where the plaster had collapsed from the impact of a fist. Most of Vance's belongings were gone. "He didn't say goodbye."

  "He told me to tell you that goodbyes are too hard for him now. It was easier for him to leave while you slept so he didn't have to see you cry again."

  His heart sank. "I see."

  "I am serving you now. You are to take Vance's place, to be stand-in prince for him while he is away on this mission."

  Ben fumbled around on the plasma bed until he found his black boxers and pulled them on. He threw the covers back and shivered instantly in the cool air, but the feeling was oddly welcoming . . . sobering. "The mission he's on is suicide."

  "I know. I begged him to stay. I begged him to make the right call."

  "The right call is him going, but not with the outcome he wants. Do you know the details of his mission, Visht?"

  "He is to assassinate Rav Tillman." Visht set his cup down then came over to place his clawed fingertips against the new crescent-shaped bruise below Ben's right eye. "What is this?"

  "What do you think it is?"

  "I heard you two shouting and the crashing earlier, but figured Vance just liked things rough. That's not what happened, is it?"

  "No . . . no, it's not." Ben stood and pulled one of Vance's white tank tops over his head. "We had a fight."

  Visht picked a piece of tan plaster from the wall. "Is that what caused this hole and the shattered vases? Ben, did Vance hit you?"

  "It's not how it sounds. I . . ."

  "Don't you dare say you deserved it."

  "Not that. I wasn't going to say that." Ben stepped over the shards of glass as he walked into the bathroom and studied the bruise in the mirror. He frowned. "It's not that bad. Hardly noticeable."

  Visht joined him in the bathroom with his arms crossed on his leather armor, making it clear that he was not going anywhere until he got the answers he wanted. "Was he using again?"

  "No." Ben wet his hands then ran them through his bouncy curls. "No. He wouldn't. We only had some drinks. Not even enough to get drunk."

  "Then what could possess him to make him hit you?"

  "I hardly think it's any of your business."

  "I have been assigned as your servant and your bodyguard. If you are hurt, it becomes my business. Tell me."

  "Yes, Vance hit me. There. Happy?"

  "Not in t
he slightest. I had no idea he was abusive."

  "He's not abusive." Ben smeared a stripe of toothpaste onto Vance's toothbrush. "God, no. He has never been abusive to me in any way. He is the gentlest man in the universe when it comes to me."

  "That bruise doesn't do much to support your claim."

  Ben eyed the warbringer as he brushed his teeth.

  "I'll wait."

  After spitting in the sink and rinsing his mouth out, Ben pushed past Visht and went back into the bedroom where he curled back up on the bed and tried his best to ignore him.

  "I'm still here." Visht yanked the blankets off and stood over him menacingly. "Tell me why Vance hit you. What exactly happened? I thought you two loved each other."

  "We love each other more than we love life itself."

  "Then tell me what happened."

  Ben, despite just brushing his teeth, picked up a wineglass from the bedside table and finished off the sangria. "I told him to run. I begged him on my hands and knees to run once he landed on Elysia. He could leave, go off the grid with Rav and they could save themselves. You know what Vance is going to have to do, right? If he goes through with this mission, he has to make the ultimate decision. It's his husband or his best friend. Either way, he loses one of us. I'm his husband, but he's only known me for a little over a year. He's known Rav since they were children. They've been friends for twenty years. It's no secret how much he cares for . . . how much he loves Rav."

  "You would give up your life for those two friends to run off and hide for the rest of their lives?"

  "No, I would give up my life for Vance to be truly happy. He's gotten over me before, when he believed I was dead. He can do it again. But I know one thing for sure. Vance will never get over losing Rav. They're two halves of the same soul. I've seen the look in Vance's eyes when he speaks about Rav. They're not lovers, but their hearts are melded in ways I will never be able to be with Vance."

  "Let me guess." Visht sat next to him. "Vance didn't like hearing all that."

  "Not at all. But that's not why he hit me. I wanted to make him hate me so he would choose to not kill Rav. I attacked him first. I had him pinned down on the floor with his plasma-edged boomerang an inch from his neck. He defended himself by punching me. I thought it would work and he would try to end our marriage, but he saw straight through what I was doing. Vance is smarter than he looks. He shut me up by kissing me and we made love then we fell asleep. I've never been good at negotiating. Now he's gone to make the worst mistake of his life."