A BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED THIS!

OoOoO

Like a living canvas, Will was dappled with blood in an almost delicate manner. It was streaked over his glasses and stained his skin, the arterial spray creating a pattern as fragile as lace made from cobwebs and dust across the Omega's face and clothing. It starkly brought out the blue of Will's eyes, taming the grey of them back. It seemed almost a shame to wash such vibrant brushwork off, but Hannibal really couldn't stand the smell of another Alpha on his mate.

Things had gone awry at the Hobb's residence, more so than Hannibal could have even predicted. He had been expecting a confrontation, had even looked forward to some delicious violence, but not the brutal dispatch of both wife and daughter by the panicking Alpha. Misery certainly loved company, and desperation even more so. If Hobbs couldn't have his lovely daughter, then no one could, the deranged Alpha opening up his beloved Abigail's throat in the kitchen. Her death had set things in motion far beyond Hannibal's control.

Bullet after bullet had been fired into the cannibal's chest, Will barely even reacting from the gun's recoil as he strode forward like the living personification of righteous vengeance itself. There had been no hesitation on the Omega's part, his gender not hindering or dissuading him in the slightest from being a Fury. Will had entered that kitchen with the sole intention of killing Hobbs, the merciless slaughter of the cannibal's wife out of the front step ensuring it. The girl's death had kept it from being a merciful head shot. Will had wanted it to hurt, driving every bullet home through Hobbs's body to make it dance macabre and die slow enough to feel every exit wound.

It had been glorious to witness.

In those sacred seconds of movement, sound, and other people losing life, Hannibal stood in awe just a few mere feet away, committing every flying droplet of blood to memory like an insect in amber. He wanted to revisit that the glory and gore of this art at his leisure, write symphonies and sonnets worthy of it. In time, he would give them as a gift to Will so he could bask in his own rebirth, the moment he became the killer he was always meant to be.

The sight of Will standing over Hobbs as he wheezed out his last words in life was forever memorialized in the halls of Hannibal's mind palace. The stone cold look upon the Omega's face was carved in marble, his eyes wide and startling blue with all the softness leeched from them to be set in sharp sapphire. It wasn't everyday that someone became a god, or one got to bear witness to such deification. The ravenstag stood between them, tall and proud, and even the dying Hobbs heralded in the becoming with his dying breath.

"See."

Alas, but even the birth of new gods was limited by reality, time snapping back into step to bring all its annoying little interruptions and other lesser beings with their paltry concerns trailing behind it. From there on out, things degraded quickly. The backup that Will had called in swept through, too late to be of real use other than to bag and tag evidence, and call in some professional with a mop and a truckload of bleach to do some cleanup. The local authorities and the FBI tried their best to question Will to find him unresponsive, seemingly deaf and mute in any inquiry or demand. The Omega's scent told an entirely different story though, the smell of liquored up sweetness pouring out of Will's pores like his body had broken open its bounty. For once, Will's timing was absolutely perfect, Hannibal swooping in to extract his mate from the situation, biological needs allowing the couple to leave. No one in their right mind wanted an Omega to go into Heat at a murder scene.

Still in shock but well on his way, Will allowed himself to be shoved into the rental car, taken across town, and led through the lavish rooms Hannibal had acquired there for them. The Omega was hiding within himself, his entire being seemingly numb to any stimuli. He didn't even react as he was stripped down, Hannibal licking and nipping at newly exposed skin to clean other people's blood from it.

Peeking into their shared headspace didn't give Hannibal any additional insight about the Omega's state of mind. Will's fields and forest were frozen to an eerie standstill, everything covered in a light dusting of snow and glittering frost right up to the walls of Hannibal's palace.

Relieved of all his clothing piece by piece, Will stared at some point in the distance that he could only see, propped up by the wall at his back and the Alpha at his front. Life returned to Will in increments when Hannibal took him into his mouth, a hot wet tongue meeting his flaccid cock to curl around its limp girth. The Omega's flesh didn't stay soft for long, gaining vitality as fingers explored the slickness in between Will's inner thighs as the velvety texture of his balls were rolled and fondled. The delicate skin of Omega's rim was traced but not breached, tips of fingers just lazily circling to make his entrance pucker and drip in excess.

Wetness started to seep forth from there the more Hannibal worked his tongue over and up Will's length, the Alpha swirling his tongue around the mushroom tip to lap at its salty slit. Thrusting forward, Will reacted when he felt a finger enter him all the way up to the knuckle, made easy by all the lubrication trickling out of him. Even if he wasn't in the right headspace for this, his body was ravenous for touch, but not for the usual reasons. He needed to be grounded. At the moment, everything hidden but still well in movement was trying to fly off its rails.

The sky was falling. Will needed someone to believe him, that they were all in danger. The light of his day was going out and with its exit came the darkness in the company of monsters. The existence of night itself did not hold fear within it for Will. He simply didn't know if he had the strength anymore to fight off the hidden things that came with it, each more alluring than the last.

Or maybe he was just worried that he wanted to join them. Temptation held a certain terror about it, one that most overlooked. The wine of life was sweet, but people tended to forget that alcohol was poisonous.

Maybe this wasn't about escape. Maybe this wasn't even about survival. What Will needed and what he wanted were two entirely different things. Will knew he was seeking out something solid to sink his anchor in. He was a little boat being tossed across an ocean he'd never had any intention of navigating. He felt lost, needing acceptance as much as he needed salvation.

Grounding came in the form of a second finger working its way into him with such ease. Though it was shoved in his face on nearly a daily basis, Will tended to forget that he was made for this, to take and be taken. He tried not to think at all as a third finger was placed within him, twisting and turning as the tense muscles in his lower half unraveled and his opening produced another gush of wetness in anticipation for an Alpha's knot.

Biologically speaking, it was a wasted effort if one wanted anything produced by that sort of seeding, but that was the purpose of keeping a male Omega. Pure pleasure without any repercussions. This didn't feel like that though, it never did with Hannibal as Will stared down hazily at the Alpha pleasuring him, filling his passage with thick fingers and running a greedy tongue up his cock. This was hardly a frivolous affair, not with an Alpha kneeling before an Omega like a reverent to suck his cock when it should have been the other way around.

All this time, and Will still wasn't sure what Hannibal wanted from him. All he knew was that his skin felt too hot, too alive as his mate kept swallowing him down and his fingers worked him open. The silence between them was broken when Hannibal quit fucking around, driving his fingers in deep and clever, his tongue fluent with pleasure as it was with words. Will came too quickly from it, the head of his erection scraping Hannibal's throat raw even as the back of it was coated wet with milky white.

"Clean off." were the rough words spoken by the Alpha as Hannibal rose to his feet to loom without even really trying, his power creeping into the words deep enough to make it an order. Will couldn't find it in himself to really care as he was let go, the Omega falling to his knees without the support. His bones felt mercurial instead of solid, like magma was his skeleton's marrow now. He was shattering like pottery left too long in a kiln, and the heat was spilling into every part his body.

"No, you can't…" Will was so close to begging. He hated himself for it as he stared up at Hannibal who looked too tall, too terrifying in all his stark and terrible beauty. His protests were soothed into something softer, Hannibal cupping the sides of his face with hands that felt cool coated in his own slick on feverish skin.

"My dear Will, you are welcome to come find me if you are so inclined to do so." Hannibal intoned, already knowing full and well that Will would be driven to do so. The scent of peaches bursting their skins to drip their sweet essence out into the dirt like strange rain ensured that. An illusion of choice needed to be established though.

Will blinked and Hannibal was gone. After a confusing moment of looking around at the too empty space, he realized that he had lost time though Will had no idea for how long. His skin was chilled from the sweat that collected upon it, though everything else inside of him blazed and throbbed. His lower half seemed to have its own pulse, the walls of his passage flooding and spasming with a brutal need. Remembering the Alpha's commands though, Will made himself stand up or at least try to. His legs kept giving out, making the commonplace task difficult. He made due crawling into the shower stall, not even caring if the spray was too hot or too cold. At this point, he couldn't really tell.

The shower was a strange, slow torture. In its reprieve, Will found his truth.
Heat. He was in Heat, and his Alpha had left him. Will clenched his jaw, lingering scents of Hannibal's musk tainting the air doing their best to choke him out. It took everything in him climb out of the shower and towel off so that he wasn't still soaking wet, though his hair missed most of the treatment, curling in ringlets all around his head like a dark halo. His legs were too soon coated in slick as well, making it hard to walk normally though Will made himself to do, at least for now. He still had his lingering pride to contend with. He would meet his Alpha on his feet and stand toe to toe with Hannibal before his Heat made him fall completely to ruin.

Upon entering the bedroom, it nearly destroyed Will to find Hannibal still clothed, the Omega's steps faltering to a halt near yet still just out of reach from them both. "Strip." Will growled, letting his power whip out sharp as a lash. He rejoiced in seeing Hannibal flinch from it. Will didn't get to revel in his little victory long, the Alpha reacting in turn with his own.

"Undress me." Hannibal countered while he still could. He was made from flesh, not stone. He was being reminded of that fact with every passing second that carving itself into his skin the longer he kept himself from Will.

To his credit and Hannibal's disappointment, the Omega moved toward the bed instead of attacking him with a feverish want like before in the motel room. Hannibal could smell the slick oozing down Will's thighs to thickly cover his now clean skin, fresh and fragrant and smelling so wet. Hannibal's resolve spontaneous combusted and crumbled into ash as Will laid himself out on his back across the bed, his legs falling open to expose and present himself all in one motion. It was wanton and desperate and working on Hannibal who was beside the bed before he even realized he'd moved.

"Fuck me. Breed me. Devour me." Will said, looking at his Alpha with dark liquid eyes like pools of clear blue. He was loosing sense, his grip upon reality disintegrating. Their shared mindspace was bleeding itself out of their heads and into this reality, the hotel room gone and replaced with misty woods and the company of ravenstag. Will heard himself beg and demanded all in one breathe, and felt powerful for it as he watched Hannibal shudder in answer.

"Be careful what you wish for." Hannibal sighed the words out through his teeth, running his tongue over his lips.

"But I need you." Will didn't want to argue with Hannibal. He just wanted to give himself over to the Alpha, let Hannibal have his complete way with him. Now it seemed that Hannibal didn't want him. Panic was like a drop of cool liquid in the midst of his boil.

"Then show me. Show me how much you need me." Hannibal was trembling, the movements of his body fine enough to hide while still dressed and this far away. He needed to break Will down just a little bit further before he could completely give into him.

Letting his actions speak for him, Will didn't waste time with more words, the Omega flipping over onto his stomach to prop himself up on his hands and knees. His back dipped so that his butt popped up in the air, showing off how slick flowed over his heated skin to chill and tingle in the open air. Pride and dignity falling away like a strip tease, Will presented himself to the Alpha in the most perfect lordosis pose Hannibal had ever seen before or cared to notice.

Giving in because he couldn't help himself any longer, Hannibal let his control slip away from him. Placing a hand firmly on the small of Will's back, the other entering that sodden gash, and in direct response, causing Will to cry out as his hands scrabbled over the sheets seeking purchase. Pressing back, Will rocked into the intrusion. It felt strange and good and so real. It made Will feel alive.

"I'm sorry, Will. I thought we would have more time…" Hannibal said, removing his hands from Omega with great effort so that he could remove his clothing. Will didn't take it that way though. Hannibal found that he didn't get to finish that sentiment. Moving faster than either had thought possible, Will was upon Hannibal quicker than he could follow, going from accepting and complacent to rabid in between the space of seconds. Hannibal's mouth was claimed, torn to bleeding by careless, sharp teeth as Will worked him over roughly in a devouring kiss, the Omega wrapping his arms and legs around the Alpha to keep him close.

Will heard Hannibal's words like they were coming from high over head or from a burning bush for all he cared. Surreal and distant, touching him in places never reached before, never tried by others. He was in Heat, and that was all he knew. When his thoughts weren't saturated with the idea of Hannibal, Will was vaguely aware he was, the fervent tendrils of searing want a vivid reminder that gripped every nerve of his being.

There had been other Heats of course, but this time, there was an Alpha. An Alpha being pulling into Rut by him, smelling all spicy sweet like cinnamon and cedar binge drunk on musk and pheromones. It didn't matter anymore to Will that Hannibal had bought him. It didn't matter to him that something was off about Hannibal, had always been off about him, something terrible and dark. All that mattered was that Hannibal was there, his eyes black pools of ink ringed with red, a blood corona around a dark sun.

Some sort of wording took a foothold in Will's mind as he realized that Hannibal was apologizing for something. He was in a haze, but instead of sweet nothings, Hannibal was muttering regrets. Apologies meant withdrawal in Will's world, and ultimately loss. Panic, his old friend, set in as Will inferred that Hannibal was going to leave him like this, still all wet and wanting.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Will's mind and body chanted in unison as he moved, adrenalin giving him wings as he claimed the Alpha. He bit down on a thin bottom lip as his fingers curled to tear at skin with his nails. Hannibal was hard, leaking fragrant precum that coated Will's fingers, and from that, Will would have wept from relief alone. Feeling deranged, some part of Will rationalized that Hannibal still wanted him, at least on a biological level. At some point, Hannibal managed to get naked, the skin on skin contact like a drug Will was determined to overdose on, each point of contact between them like taking a hit. The Alpha was on his back with Will above him, straddling his waist to drip warm slick into the trail of graying curls on his belly, the leaking tip of Hannibal's erection grazing a sodden hole.

Any concept of further prep was discarded, Will aligning himself with cock like it was second nature to him, sinking down on an impressive length until Hannibal was hilted and trapped within him, the Alpha's Rut swollen balls pressed to the back of his ass. Will rolled his hips, ignoring pain as unfamiliar pressure grew inside of him, his body playing catch up with it all.

Sinking down as deep as he could, Hannibal was slotted and sealed into place, Will's body doing what it was made for as his passage clamped down on the intrusion to keep it there. Completion was a surreal sensation to experience as Will arched his back to gasp for air. Wet heat pooled within him, his Alpha's release sending him over the edge as Will came untouched, his own fluid staining Hannibal's belly starkly with white. The Alpha was too far gone to notice or care, Hannibal caught in his Rut, driven by his own nature to pin his hands to Will's hip and just fuck upward, his semen a welcome flood that pooled hot and very much there in Will. All he could do was hold onto Will for dear life and continue to thrust his hips upward into that carnal heat.

Will was amazed to find that he was the one recovering first, the Omega leaning in slowly to take careful licks at Hannibal's mouth as the Alpha panted, still caught in Rut and working his way out of it. Mouth slack and partly open, Hannibal's lips were coated in a slick sheen of red, still bleeding and teeth stained from Will's earlier attempts of affection. Will couldn't bring himself to feel bad about it as he lapped at the wounds with the tip of his tongue, the taste of iron oddly salty sweet. Heavy lidded eyes the same color of congealing crimson watched Will as he did so, the Alpha making no move to help or hinder Will. It was too late when Will realized he had been staring into dark suns for far too long, losing himself to them and the truths that lay in that dual eclipse.

Doors were being flung open in the palace of Hannibal's mind. For all the beauty and wonder Hannibal had within him, there was an ocean of blood being held at bay. It flooded hallways with strange currents, the sounds of other people's screams composing a surreal music that shattered Will's perceptions.

"No more secrets, beloved." Hannibal whispered. Will fell forward so that his head rested upon Hannibal's shoulder, the Omega drained to the point of exhaustion but still felt so alive as he was set on his side. Hannibal was licking at his marks, the wounds riddled along the column of his neck. Will couldn't remember when or how often Hannibal had bit him, but from the wetness he felt on his neck, he already had a new ruby choker of wounds round his throat. Both were sated momentarily, at least in body. Minds was an entirely different matter.

"Are you going to kill me?" Will broke the afterglow first. Pillow talk was for normal people. It was time for him to have a long talk with the Chesapeake Ripper.

Hannibal didn't seem to mind though. "No, my beloved, my Will. I am not. We both know I'm not." was all the Alpha said, his tone so neutral they could have been discussing what Hannibal was making for dinner. Will thought it kind of spoiled the surprise now that he knew the secret ingredient was people. "You are going to keep my secret and I yours."

"And what is my secret?" Will asked, despite not really wanting an answer. The Devil was owed his due and he had come to collect.

"That you like killing." Hannibal said as he pressed a gentle kiss to Will's forehead. It reminded him of a benediction, Hannibal both his priest and god. It was probably for the best, them having this conversation now while they were tied together. Will thought Hannibal was probably only showing restraint because he didn't want to be stuck with a corpse for the next twenty minutes or so, his knot locked bodily into the Omega. He may be a sadist and a cannibal, but Will knew the Chesapeake Ripper was not into necrophilia.

"I see you now. The scales have fallen off of my eyes. You always meant for me to find out, one way or another." Will said softly. Part of him wandered down darkened hallways to peek into revealed rooms full of corpses on display, each composition more beautiful than the last. Like an artist, Hannibal's methods and techniques had only improved over time and with practice.

"Yes. You are my mate, my other, the missing part to my being. I've waited so long for you, Will." Hannibal said, pressing soft adorations to Will's neck to run the flat of his tongue over the new and old marks there.

"Can monsters love?" Will asked warily as a cannibal nibbled affection into his flesh.

"No. Not in the same sense, but what we have is greater than love." Hannibal said, leaving off of Will's neck so that he could peer into his mate's eyes, half lidded liquids things that they were, full to their brim with inner conflict and unrealized potential. Will was looking upon his greatest creations with awe and a sense of wonder, yet still resisted him and himself. Hannibal didn't know which was the greater sin.

"But…" Will hesitated and it was his undoing, Hannibal rolling them so that he was above the Omega now. He pressed himself in further, shuddering as the tight inner movements of knot and passage drew out a chain of tiny orgasms from both, leaving the pair gasping in their wake. Will heard himself made soft rasping noises as more seed was placed in him. The Omega wondered absently if Hannibal was the type of Alpha that made his mate keep all the semen within him during Heat until his lower belly was taunt and descended from it, tender to the touch. It wouldn't surprise him if Hannibal was, the Alpha possessive enough for it.

"Shhh….let me in Will. Let me take you far away from this mundane existence. You could be so much greater than what you let people make you into." Hannibal rumbled above him, long fingers tangling themselves into curls to hold Will's head into place. Hannibal took his time looking at Will who found he was doing the same in return at his own leisure.

"I know what I am. I know who I am." Will told him evenly and could hear the inadequacy of that statement for himself. Hannibal remained unimpressed.

"No more lies Will. No more secrets. It is time for you to emerge from your chrysalis and leave it behind. It will never fit you again. You will never be what you were again." Hannibal said as he brought his face in close to brush their lips together. They could both feel the ebb and flow of Will's Heat, the pair in the eye of the storm at the moment.

"And what are my secrets?" Will making it more statement than question. Hannibal would never be so forthcoming, would make Will work for ever answer.

"That you liked killing Garrett Jacob Hobbs." Hannibal gave him the tip of an iceberg to lure Will in and let him wreck his boat on rest hidden underwater.

"I…I didn't…I…" Will stammered, recalling every shot fired, every drop of blood spilled.

"We both know that you did." Hannibal purred, his voice coming out husky and thick enough to make Will's passage suddenly tighten. Hannibal gasped aloud as his knot was pressed down upon.

"Killing him felt just." Will said with a sound conviction, not knowing if he needed to convince himself or Hannibal about that.

"And it will again. And again. And again." Hannibal teased, promising and threatening all in one breath.

"Don't make me." Will didn't plead, was proud of himself for not sounded entirely wrecked about it.

"Never. At your leisure, of course, but you will kill again now that you have a taste for it." Hannibal foretold, reading Will's future in his eyes. The orbs widened as Will's quick mind made more sense of this brave new world he was apart of now.

"Oh god….You've been feeding them to me. You've made me a cannibal." Will whispered. The disgust he expected to fill his throat like bile never came though, the Omega feeling usually calm about his new dinner preferences.

"You loved it. Every bite." Hannibal grinned, the expression more feral than repentant. Not that Will was expecting an apology.

"Was all the meat…?" Will made himself keep looking at the predator on top of him, bearing his weight and cock down upon him.

"Will, don't ask stupid questions you already know the answers to." Hannibal tutted, clicking his tongue for emphasis.

"Bastard." Will sighed, though there was no real emotion behind it.

"I see we still need to work on your foreplay." Hannibal said. He was momentarily distracted as they shifted, Will easing his legs around Hannibal so that he could lock his ankles together, keeping them there. As discontent as Will felt, he had no intention of letting Hannibal go anytime soon. "You make me feel and I make you calm. We complete one another, create balance for one another."

"Now who's lying? Just….don't." Will muttered, feeling suddenly exhausted beyond all measure. All he could do was cling to his mate and hope that his sanity kept afloat. "So what? Wind me up? Watch me go? You wanted me to kill Hobbs."

"No. Not necessarily, but it was a possible outcome." Hannibal admitted, rolling his shoulders in an elegant shrug. Will found himself appreciating the play of muscles it took to complete that gesture.

"But why?" Will began to question before the rest of his thinking caught up with him. "You were curious! You wanted to see what I would do! You wanted me to killer like you!"

"I had hope. You never disappoint." Hannibal said, looking far too pleased with himself. Will resisted the urge to head butt his mate for being such a pretentious ass. For better or worse, they were stuck with each other. Will couldn't bring himself to feel bad about that.

"You were supposed to be my paddle." Will lamented to no one in particular. The Omega's face was gently cupped in large hands, Hannibal holding Will still so that he could place tender kisses that lingered upon his forehead, cheeks, and then finally his lips.

I can be so much more than that, beloved. In time, I can be your everything. I will take away your fear and replace it with something far more fitting." Hannibal promised. He was delighted when Will kissed him back, pulling at his bottom lip to end the adoration with a nip.

You don't want anything in my life that's not you. We can't sustain this relationship, especially when I start killing. We are going to get caught." Will hated to be the voice of reason in this. This conversation was surreal enough as it was. His concerns only drew a wicked smile from Hannibal who noticed his mate not bothering to deny his true nature anymore.

"That is why you and I are going to leave here."

OoOoO

"You can't quit!"

That was Jack's way of greeting Will at his goodbye party, the little affair a surprise put together by Beverly, Zeller, and Price. "I believe I am. See? I got a party hat and a cake that says I did." Will said, pointing to the ridiculous paper monstrosity that Beverly had crowned him with earlier in the evening. It was garish enough to offend even Will's humble sensibilities.

"And I'm telling you that you can't! Not with the Ripper still out there and now this Copycat Killer." Jack practically roared, the agent drawing open ire from the other bar patrons. Will didn't bother answering or defending himself. There was no real need to anymore, the Omega smiling lazily back at Jack.

"It is in my professional and personal opinion that this line of work is not healthy for Will. The Hobbs incident has finalized that decision for me." Hannibal interjected like Will knew he would, looking totally out of place as he did so. The bar was a bit of a dive so the good doctor in his suit looked somewhat out of place here. He had come for Will though, and that was all that mattered. "Besides, it will be a little hard for him to do so. We are leaving for Europe first thing tomorrow morning.

"Europe!" was all Jack could manage out, shock robbing him of words. The group took that as their golden moment to leave while Jack still seemed at a total loss. Upon leaving the bar though, a guy slammed into Beverly, the agent caught from falling over in time by Will who glared at the boorish Alpha's back.

"Nice manners, asshole!" Zeller called after the guy to receive a middle finger in answer as the Alpha got into his car. Will looked over at Hannibal who looked back at him and smiled.

"A very rude man indeed." Will said who was already memorizing the license plate.

"What's to be done about that?" Hannibal mused, the Alpha keeping still as Will leaned in so that he could whisper something low and sweet to him.

"I think it's my turn to provide the meat."

OoOoO

THE END