Disclaimer: Star Trek and all associated characters are not mine.
Chapter 7/7 – All Things End
The temple had a dungeon, not that Nyota Uhura was surprised. She just did not expect to see its interior less than a week after arriving on Arellus. Seated on a raised platform made from the same stone as the rest of her cell, she felt empty inside. Dank air circulated in the small space and a faint light spilled in from the hallway, providing illumination.
"You made one of them bleed before the people," said Ranu in a most conversational tone.
The chief priest, stood a few feet from her, almost touching the bars of the cell door. His ceremonial robes, which had been immaculate, now had specks of blood and other things. She had wakened to find him with her a few minutes ago.
"Is Spock alive?" It was not her first time asking.
"He is, just barely."
Finally, her question answered. When she had asked earlier, Ranu had ignored her. Instead, he launched into a brief narration of what happened after she blacked out. It turns out Spock was not as weakened as she had thought him to be. A misconception also made by Teth'lal and Karia seduced into complacency because of pride and their feeding. He had managed to remove his hands from their grasp and administered a nerve pinch to Karia. At least Uhura knew it was a nerve pinch. Ranu did not.
"What do you want from me?"
"I am simply offering you a moment of kindness."
Uhura smiled and it had nothing to do with mirth. She pulled the robe he had brought her closer about her person. A light chill, a combination of her physical surroundings and the ruthlessness of the man before her, had settled over her skin. "A moment kindness, yes, but we both know that is not why you're here. Why are you making idle conversation with the person who blasphemed against your gods?"
His eyes darkened to silver storms, the benign pleasantness fell away from him. The real face of Ranu looked out at her. It wasn't very nice.
"Do you know I have served them for three thousand years? I came to them a faithful young servant, wanting nothing more than to please his gods. I trained for years in order to become a priest and when they demanded my blood or body, I submitted. One day, they received a visitor, a woman who was a god like them. However, unlike Karia and Teth'lal she was warm and kind. I loved her and she cared for me in her own way. When she offered me immortality, I gladly accepted even though I knew it would be an offence. You see, my gods are territorial about who among their subjects can receive the gift.
"They found us out while she was in the midst of transforming me. I watched helpless as they killed her and then completed my turning. Newly made, I asked their forgiveness and threw myself into service. Yet, I never felt the connection to them that others have. Later, I came to see it as a blessing because it meant they could not influence my every act."
Uhura frowned as Ranu's words faded. "So, this is about revenge?"
"More than that, I want them gone from my planet."
The puzzle began to make sense to Uhura. "You used us to discredit them, to create doubt in your people. You kept us ignorant of the one thing that would make us act out at the most crucial of times. I'm betting you're much better versed on the Federation and Starfleet than they are."
"If they show weakness in the face of a mere mortal then are they truly gods? This is the question Arellans are beginning to ask. In the last few hours, riots have broken out. It was only a matter of fanning the flames."
"What if we had failed?"
"You would have met your fate, and I would have devised another tactic."
"Bravo. The seeds of dissension have been sown. What else do you want from us?"
Ranu smiled and this time it was genuine. "I'll take you to Spock."
**SUSUSU**
A silent tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. Renu had brought Uhura to the small guarded room where Spock lay on a narrow bed. She traced a finger along his cool forehead, missing the normal warmth of his skin. He was so still, his heartbeat almost non-existent. For the first time since having met him, she equated Spock with fragility.
"He does not have much time left," Ranu said, coming to stand beside her.
"There has to be a doctor somewhere on this forsaken planet that can help him."
"It's too late. I brought you here to make peace."
Peace! She felt anything but peaceful. She wanted Spock alive and healthy. She wanted off Arellus. She had spent much of the night filled with boiling anger. An idea struck her. One so awful, she could scarcely believe she was about to voice it. "You can fix this, Ranu. All you have to do is convert him into the very thing you are."
A comical expression stole across his face. "I am not from Karia and Teth'lal's home planet, Nyota."
"Please don't insult my intelligence. You've wanted them gone for a long time, I am sure you figured out the process and how to replicate it if need be."
"Nothing escapes you, does it?"
"I've had great teachers my whole life," she replied, "Spock included."
Ranu was quiet for so long that she thought he would refuse. "I will require blood and a mental connection to him."
"You can take blood from me."
**SUSU**
Half-hour later, Uhura inhaled deeply and tried to chase away the spots that floated before her eyes. When she volunteered her blood, she never expected to have Ranu take so much that she would become lightheaded. It was only after she had beaten a weak hand at his chest that he had relented. Then he explained to her that a life or multiple small donations were normally required. Lucky for her, he had fed before visiting her dungeon cell.
"He's unresponsive to my mental call," Ranu stated, dropping his hand from where it rested on Spock's forehead.
They could not fail. She would not loose Spock this way. "Can I be linked into your connection?"
"Yes."
"Then I want in. I am certain, he'll respond to me if he can."
Ranu returned his fingers to Spock's forehead and pressed the fingers of his other hand to hers. Uhura closed her eyes and relaxed. Instantly she found herself transported into a dark cold void, consisting of a single pinprick of light.
"This is his mind."
Uhura almost jumped out of her skin at Ranu's voice in her ear. "It's so desolate."
"That's because he is almost gone. We must hurry."
"What should I do?"
"Call to the light."
She called, she cried and she shouted, but it seemed to drift further away.
"Think of your times with him, especially the happy moments."
She did. She recalled of the first time she saw him, tall, proud and handsome in front of her classroom. She thought of the instant attraction she had felt for him. She remembered that he always made time for her when an assignment was difficult. She recalled their slow friendship and the accidental touch that lead to something deeper. In a rush of memory their first kiss, first lover's argument, first makeup sex, first declaration of commitment, all these moments and more flooded the darkness. Slow, achingly slow, the light grew.
"Spock, do you wish to live?" Ranu demanded.
"Nyota?" Spock's voice breathed into the infinite space.
"Yes baby, please come back to me."
"I do not understand."
"It does not matter, just be willing to come back."
"Do you wish to live, Spock?" Ranu asked once more.
"Yes...I choose to live."
"Excellent. Nyota stay with him. Spock when my wrist touches your lips, you must drink."
**SUSUSU**
Of course, complications ensued. Spock did drink when Ranu's bleeding wrist touched his lips. However, his mind had melded with Uhura's in a connection more intimate than the link Ranu had initiated. Therefore, when it came time for her to step back, she could not. Spock would not let her go. She felt and tasted as he did while the cool liquid slipped pass his lips and down his throat. He held on to her like a drowning man with a newly discovered lifejacket.
"Spock, let go," She ordered.
Ranu tried to separate their minds and he failed. His raw telepathy was stronger than Spock's ability; however, he did not understand the Vulcan mind-meld.
Uhura started to shiver as Spock's body temperature plummeted and so too did hers. The cold grew and grew becoming burning ice. "SPOCK!"
She grew numb with him. Her body froze with him, ice encasing him/them. She/they grew tired. She/they wanted to sleep. "Spock...please..."
He never answered her. She could feel his every muted emotion. He was not happy, yet he would live for her. But he would also ensure she was with him, for however long his transformed self allowed him life. If she could have wept, Uhura would have done so at that very second.
Cool metallic liquid now smeared across her lips. Her mouth was pried open and more of the liquid trickled in. She knew what Ranu was doing. She accepted it. Spock accepted it more readily than she did.
"Nyota." Spock finally said and released his hold on her mind.
**SUSU**
The curtain of blackness peeled back and Uhura opened her eyes. She was stretched out beside Spock on the small bed he had been placed on. He was awake and his arms encircled her.
"Welcome to immortality," Ranu greeted. He had changed his priestly robes for something casual.
"Where are Karia and Teth'lal?" Spock asked, sitting up while managing to keep her close.
Ranu looked at them with a slight frown. "Are you two always like this?"
"Yes," they both replied at the same time and he laughed.
"They fled during the day. No amount of living lust, telepathy and telekinesis can withstand an inflamed army."
"Especially if that army was made to understand the true nature of their enemy," Spock added.
"That and a little mental manipulation of the right people have worked wonders for me."
Uhura lifted her head a bit from Spock's shoulders and looked around. Something smelt wonderful. "What's to become of the two of us?"
"You'll be free to leave after you have satisfied your first hungers, also called the sacred hunger because it signals a thorough crossover into the world of immortality."
"I do not feel the need for nourishment."
"Just as Karia and Teth'lal suppressed Elbez's lust, I am suppressing your appetites and senses. It can be dangerous to the newly created and others around them if precautions are not taken." Ranu stepped away and went to the door. He opened it and Narit appeared.
Uhura smiled, happy to see that the young woman had survived the first wave of upheaval sweeping her planet. "It is good to see you, Narit."
Spock nodded, his body tensing next to Uhura's. His gaze riveted on Narit.
"Spock and Nyota, my control is already slipping. I must set you free. You'll feed and satiate your new desires. Narit and I will be here to aid you. Afterwards, I'll advise you on how to survive when you leave here."
Before either she or Spock could respond to the former chief priest, Uhura felt as if a wet blanket had been ripped off her suddenly raw skin. Desire more vicious than anything Karia and Teth'lal had thrown her way swamped her vastly improved senses. She was hungry, so very hungry. She hungered for blood. She hungered for sexual union. She hungered for life and all its myriad pleasures. It was maddening, tempestuous and scalding.
A low aggressive growl reached her ears and the strong arms increased their intensity around her waist. She looked into Spock's face, finding her every craving reflected in the taut lines of his features and the fathomless dark of his eyes. Holding his gaze, the scent that had teased her, flooded her mind. Both she and Spock turned and looked at Narit. The woman's mortal blood was what smelt so wonderful.
"We are damned," Spock whispered. His hands threaded their way into Uhura's hair and he pulled her closer for an ardent kiss.
As she surrendered to him and their all-consuming desires, she had to agree with Spock's assessment. Nevertheless, she preferred damnation with him than virtuousness alone.
Epilogue
Spock manoeuvred the small craft they had received from Ranu. He adjusted their heading and sent out a subspace message to the nearby Deep Space IV station, requesting permission to dock. At the back of his mind, Nyota shone brightly, forever a part of him.
After the volatile hunger had abated and sanity had returned to him, Spock had proposed to Nyota. Right there in that small room, Ranu and Narit witnessing his nervous question. With the brightest of smiles, she accepted his proposal. He had created their marriage bond immediately, not wanting to waste any more time. The next day they had a quiet wedding ceremony officiated by the former chief priest.
He locked in the station's coordinates and allowed the computer to take over piloting. He meant to get up; however, slender fingers reached across from the chair beside his and grasped his hand.
"We have not fully discussed how we will proceed once we reach the station."
"There are options?"
"Yes there are, k'diwa. We must decide if we are to contact Starfleet and our family immediately or go after a certain Orion captain."
Spock gazed at Nyota. Her hair hung loose, her skin glowed with vibrant health. She was the most pleasing thing he had ever seen. A small smile curved her lips and he saw the lengthening of her incisors.
That was all the answer he needed.
Comments are much appreciated.
McCoy's fate I leave to your imagination, unless I'm inspired to write a sequel.
