Crave - 29. Epilogue

Epilogue

Merrick looked around the room at the faces of his new team. “That’s everything for now. Dismissed!” As one, the group rose and left the room, the buzz of conversation following them. Merrick smiled and grabbed his comm pad.

“That went well,” an amused voice said from the door. Jenson was leaning against the wall, smiling at him.

“It did.” Merrick grinned at his lover. “Hollis prepared them well, so the transition should go smoothly.”

“I think the only issue you’re going to have is Audra.” The vampire shook his head in mock sympathy.

“Don’t I know it,” he agreed, chuckling. As Audra’s new head of security, it was going to be a difficult task to keep the ship’s captain safe, but he was looking forward to the challenge. The last two years working for his father had been, in a word, dull. The elder Weir found he quite liked being at home with his wife, and a member of the Anglian council. Consequently, they stayed planet bound, except for the occasional visit to Earth. The security team had little to do. The vampire compound was very secure, and, excluding accompanying the Weirs into the city, they spent most of their time staring at monitors or patrolling the grounds while Merrick’s mother gardened.

He wasn’t particularly surprised when an apologetic Landin approached him a year ago, saying he’d been offered a place on the Starjumper as a linguistic specialist. When asked where he heard of this position, the furiously blushing Anphilian admitted he and Tei Barnaby were still in regular contact with one another. Merrick knew Landin was an excellent linguist and computer specialist, so the position would be perfect for him. After assuring the other man he wasn’t disappointed, he happily fired the young officer and wished him well on his journey.

Although Landin’s departure didn’t surprise him, Kalen’s decision to stay, did. While updating Leia Harndi on the results of the flauros investigation, Merrick confided that he didn’t think his sergeant’s skill was being used to its full potential. The agent immediately offered Kalen a job with the Inter-Planetary Criminal Investigation Agency. She said they were always looking for good people to fill their ranks. His second in command turned down the assignment. It turned out Kalen loved living on Anglia, and had been dating a beautiful instructor from the local academy for several months. Through her, he’d started teaching hand to hand combat on his days off. In short, he was happy.

Jenson didn’t travel much for the first year after they returned from Alectera, but Merrick knew his vampire loved the stars. The older man never said anything, but he could tell Jenson missed being on a ship… missed the adventure. He didn’t press the issue since Jenson was involved in the investigation of his former employee, Amelie Savarin. The nurse claimed she’d loved Kel like her own child, and was acting in his best interests by having Jenson ‘removed’ as his caregiver. She felt the treatments her employer had ordered were barbaric, and the young male should have been allowed to live his life quietly, without being subject to experimentation. Unfortunately, other than her belief that Jorrah had been banished from Anglia for questioning his son’s ‘treatments’, she wasn’t privy to the dying man’s plans. In the end, Jenson, who still felt lingering guilt for causing the situation in the first place, agreed she be given a lesser sentence as well as psychological counselling.

By their second year together, with Merrick’s encouragement, Jenson started accepting longer missions. Audra was pleased because, as Jenson’s preferred captain, this meant she was also able to leave the sector more often. It was difficult to be apart for a month or two at a time, but the vampire was doing what he loved. Their reunions were always hot, and everyone knew to leave them alone for the first few days. The situation wasn’t ideal, but they found a way to make it work for them. Selling Jenson’s country property and moving into a home together on the compound helped.

Then a month ago, Merrick received an intriguing offer from Audra. Her security chief had given notice of his intention to leave the ship. Apparently, his wife had given birth to their first child, and he wanted to be closer to home. The renewed travel with Envoy Shey meant he was away from his family longer than he preferred. Audra could have promoted someone on staff, but said she trusted Merrick. She also pointed out that he’d already worked with, and had the respect of, most of the crew because of the Alect-3 mission. Merrick suspected that her brother being aboard was a significant factor for the captain, but chose not to call her on it.

Merrick had been torn. When he told his father about the offer, the older man had been thrilled for him. Apparently, he wasn’t as good as he thought at hiding how much he missed his vampire. “You have to do it,” the man had told him. “You love star travel as much as Jenson does. I know you miss it. I’ve seen you at night, sitting outside, looking at the sky. Your mother and I dragged you around the galaxy since you were born, so it was inevitable you were either going to love it or hate it. I think we both know what you want to do. Don’t worry about us. You’ve trained Kalen well. Our adventure is over, Son. Go have yours.”

Now, a little over two years after his first mission with Jenson, he was back on Audra’s ship as the security chief. The crew took the decision remarkably well, and a few had even come to him to personally to offer their congratulations. Ironically, their current assignment was to escort Envoy Shey to Alect-3. A settlement had finally been established six months prior, and Jenson was going to check in on them. When he’d heard they were going to be in the sector, Maser Luda invited them to visit. Merrick had been relieved when, after being in a coma several weeks, Senator Elsan had finally awoken. The doctors discovered their leader’s mate had been given a form of neuro-blocker, for which there was no known treatment. All they could do was be patient, monitor his life-signs, and wait for the drug to clear his system. As expected, there had been an inquest after the incident, and Merrick had been asked to provide a copy of the intelligence his team had gathered. Although the results of the probe were never disclosed, a third of the Counseury had eventually been replaced.

As Merrick approached, he noticed his lover’s hungry gaze drop to his throat, and felt a shiver of excitement up his spine. The vampire fed from him often, but each time was still as intense at the first. They had spoken about turning Merrick, but he could hear the reluctance in the older man’s voice every time the subject came up. After what happened with Kel, he wasn’t surprised. Merrick wasn’t in a hurry. He had Jenson, and now he had this ship. Everything else could wait.

“We should celebrate,” Jenson said as he pulled Merrick into his arms and nuzzled his throat.

“What did you have in mind?” Merrick tilted his head back. He loved the feeling of his lover’s fangs on his skin. He heard the door-lock engage, and smiled. He was going to love this job.

THE END

Well that's the end of my first complete story.  I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it.  I want to thank everyone who've read the story, and have supported me on this journey.  I especially want to thank my editor, beta reader, and dear friend, Gary, for all of his time, patience and wise advice.  
For those of you wondering... yes I do plan on a sequel... eventually.