Bewerewolf

by SingingInTheRaiin

Will runs an animal shelter, and has never known much about the mysterious volunteer, Hannibal Lecter. But tonight he's going to learn more than he ever wanted to know. Will just hopes that he can get out of this in one piece. (one-shot)

Two days ago, Hannibal Lecter had been nothing more than the kind-hearted, mysterious gentleman who was basically Will's hero for always donating his time and money to the animal shelter Will owned. But now, Will wasn't sure of even that much.

As he'd finished cleaning everything up for the night, Will had discovered that Hannibal had left behind his keys when he'd taken off a little while earlier. While it was a bit odd that Hannibal hadn't noticed his missing keys when he'd gone to drive, Will assumed that a man like Hannibal was probably smart enough to have spares, or perhaps to just call for a ride home.

Will could have just held onto the keys and waited for Hannibal to be back in a couple of days, but Hannibal had no official hours since he had declined being put down on the volunteer list, which meant that he mostly just showed up whenever he felt like it. It could be anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks until he would come back, and if he didn't realize where he'd lost his keys, that could cause him some trouble.

Since Hannibal was always doing so much for Will, it was really the least he could do to return the keys to the man. So he did one last sweep of the place, managed to resist the urge to stay and cuddle with the dogs all night, and then left, making sure to lock the front door behind him.

It wasn't very late, only a little after six o'clock, but there were no other businesses in the immediate area, which meant that the parking lot never had random loiterers in it, which Will greatly appreciated. His own car was parked as close to the building as possible, and there was only one other car in the lot.

Will walked over to Hannibal's Bentley, and then sighed in disappointment when he saw that Hannibal was not anywhere around. Will wasn't stupid enough to just leave the keys taped to the outside of the car where anyone could find him. Well, he would just bring them back inside to leave them in the office. He knew himself well enough to know that if he brought the keys home with him, or even left them in his own car overnight, he would definitely forget about them, or worse, manage to lose them.

So he jogged back over to the front door of the shelter, and pulled out his own keys to unlock the door. As he stepped inside, he could hear a rustling noise from the dog room. Of course, when there were live animals, there was always bound to be movement and noise, but for some reason, in this case it gave him a bad feeling in his stomach.

Will narrowed his eyes, and looked around for a moment before snatching the stapler off of the front desk. He would open it up to use it like a staple gun, but was afraid that he might accidentally fire a staple at one of the animals. He slowly walked towards the dog room, and then reached out to grab the doorknob. He always kept the building in expert conditions, so he knew that nothing would squeak as he tried to figure out what was going on.

He turned the knob, and then pushed the door open just a tiny bit. The dim lights were on, and he could see that one of the pens were wide open, and his shoulders slumped down in relief. There was no intruder, it was just an escapee. Will knew which pen belonged to which dog, and he let out a soft laugh. "Gawain, you little troublemaker-" his words stopped abruptly as he stepped the rest of the way into the room, and instead of seeing one the newer dogs, he saw Hannibal standing there, next to an unfamiliar man who was completely naked.

Will blinked a couple of times, as if that would somehow change what he was seeing, and then he wasn't sure where to look. He had never been fond of eye contact, but he was afraid that looking anywhere below the eyes would make it look like he was ogling the stranger. Then it occurred to him that Hannibal and the other guy were the ones in the wrong here, trespassing and naked.

He held the stapler out threateningly. "What the hell is going on here?" He kept his voice even and soft to avoid scaring any of the dogs, but on the inside, he was full of turmoil. Had Hannibal been some kind of pervert from the start? Who the hell was the stranger? Will shuddered at the thought of anyone causing harm to his animals. And it was worse, because Will had been the one to let Hannibal in here in the first place.

Hannibal lazily held his arms up, with the stranger following suite a moment later, and if Will wasn't mistaken, the older man looked almost amused by the situation. Will could only feel disgust. "Will, please put that down. I promise you that I can provide an adequate explanation for this."

Will clenched his jaw. "Both of you stay right where you are while I call the police. You can explain everything to them." His eyes flicked over to the open pen for a moment before he looked back at the intruders. "Where's Gawain?" His biggest priority at the moment was making sure that all of the animals were okay.

The stranger let out a barking laugh. "You are precious," he said in a condescending voice before moving to walk towards Will.

Will scowled, and stood his ground, refusing the back away from the intruder. "Stay back."

The stranger glanced over at Hannibal. "Your call. What do you want to do here?"

"Neither of you are doing anything except staying where you are while I call the police," Will hissed at them.

Hannibal responded to the stranger as if Will hadn't even spoken. "People may notice if the shelter does not open up tomorrow."

The stranger shrugged. "You can run it. You're a familiar enough face around here that no one would question it, right?"

There was a churning feeling in Will's stomach, and he felt like everything was rapidly spiraling out of control. But he wasn't really backed into a corner. He wasn't sure how the two had gotten in, since Will had the only set of keys, but there was still a possible solution. All of the animal rooms could be locked from the outside, though Will generally didn't do that because he wanted to be able to get in quickly in case of an emergency. The only problem with making a run for it and locking the men in was that it would leave them with all of the vulnerable dogs, and he couldn't risk the animals like that.

He wouldn't really be able to claim self defense, since neither man had made a move to attack Will, but he had to protect the dogs. So while the naked man was still focusing on Hannibal, Will lunged forward to jam the stapler against the man's shoulder, pressing in hard enough to push a staple in.

The man let out a pained yelp, and leapt back. Will furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of smoke coming from the injured flesh. The man reached out to pry out the staple, which caused smoke to rise from his fingertips as well, and then he dropped it to the floor. The spot where he'd been hurt looks more like a small burn than some pinpricks. "What the hell?" Will muttered. Even an allergic reaction wouldn't involve skin being burned like that.

The stranger took in a few deep breaths, and then leapt towards Will, much faster than he could have expected from a normal person. The man tackled Will to the ground, knocking the stapler out of his hand. He pinned Will down with what looked like minimal effort, and then wrapped one hand tightly around Will's throat. Will reached up to try and pry the man's hand off of him, but he may as well have tried to bend solid steel.

Hannibal let out a soft sight. "Benjamin, do try to be careful. I would not like to see Will hurt more than necessary."

"The fucker used silver on me," the stranger growled. "He deserves a lot worse than this." Then he squeezed even tighter, and Will couldn't breath at all. He felt like his eyeballs were going to pop right out of his head. He tried to squirm around, too busy trying to stay alive to be bothered by the fact that there was a completely naked man right on top of him.

Hannibal let out a disappointed sounding sigh. "Language, Benjamin. We are gentlemen, are we not?" Then he crouched down so that he could look Will in the eyes. "I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Will." Though his words were apologetic, his voice and face didn't show even the smallest hint of emotion. A few more seconds of the strangling pressure against his throat, and Will was sure he was going to die as everything went black.

,,,

Will woke up slowly, and he felt sore all over, though his neck and head hurt the most. He reached up to gingerly prod at his neck, and winced as that only made things worse. He definitely had a bad bruise there. And his head was killing him, probably from the oxygen deprivation that had been used to knock him unconscious.

He slid his eyes open, and took a moment to adjust to the dimly lit room. He was lying in a bed in a fairly normal looking room, though when he tried to move to sit up, he was stopped by something tugging on his leg. Will shifted aside the blanket that had been tucked over him, and saw a padded cuff wrapped around his left ankle, connected to a chain that was attached to the wall. Will groaned, and slumped back down. He'd wanted to believe that everything had just been a bad dream, but if it was a nightmare, then he still hadn't woken up from it yet.

There wasn't much to do to entertain himself, and there were no windows in the room for Will to call for help from, and he wasn't stupid enough to start shouting without knowing if there was even anyone around. After a little while, his headache faded for the most part. Then Will scooted to the end of the bed to investigate the chain. It was solid iron, and there was no way he could break it.

The cuff itself looked like the kind used in mental hospitals in all of the movies. That would probably be the weakest point of the system, and if he could find a way to saw through it, then he could go from there to try and escape from here. The chain was too short for Will to even lower his left leg all the way to the ground, and he wondered if he was just supposed to wet the bed like a child, since he obviously couldn't go walking around to find a bathroom.

Will groaned, and then patted down his pockets to see if there was anything useful in them. Maybe his keys could be used to eventually tear through the cuff. But everything had been taken out of his pockets. He didn't even know where his shoes were. And even when he really stretched, he couldn't reach anything else in the room.

Without windows, or his watch, it was impossible to say for sure how much time had passed before the door to the room swung open, and a light switch was hit. The sudden bright light after at least a few hours in the barely illuminated room felt blinding to Will, and he squeezed his eyes shut. It was too late to prevent the headache from rushing back, though.

He didn't hear any footsteps, but someone had clearly walked over to him as they reached out to press something against his head. He jerked back, not wanting to be touched by any strangers. His eyes snapped open, and he found himself staring at a young woman perched on the edge of the bed, who looked to be around eighteen or nineteen. She had a curious expression on her face. "So you're Will, huh? My dad's always talking about you." She held up a wet towel so that Will could see what it was before she reached out to press it against his head again.

Will batted her hand away, not wanting to be soothed by anyone associated with his kidnappers. He felt a cold chill run down his back at the word 'kidnap'. It was terrifying to acknowledge that that was what had happened, but it was the truth. He had been kidnapped, and now he had no idea where he was, or what was going to happen to him. "Look, if you're an adult, and you are assisting with something illegal, like holding someone against their will, then you will be punished just as harshly as the men who took me. But if you call the police, and cooperate, then I'm sure they'd work something out for you."

The girl laughed. "Wow, you are adorable. Look, Will, I know that this isn't an ideal situation for you. It isn't for us, either. We're pretty private people who prefer to keep our business to ourselves. Unfortunately, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there's nothing that anyone can do about that." She stood up, and picked up the towel from where it had fallen to the floor. "My dad will be by to talk to you as soon as he gets back. I'm pretty sure Ben is in a lot of trouble for that," she nodded towards the giant bruise on his neck. "Anyways, I'm going to go now and grab you some food. I'm sure you must be hungry." Then she left the room, leaving the door open behind her and the bright light on.

Will scowled, and tried to figure out what the hell he was going to do to get out of this mess. He didn't even understand why Hannibal and that Ben guy had broken into the shelter, and he was worried about Gawain. Will closed his eyes as he tried to remember what the volunteer schedule looked like. Molly was supposed to work tomorrow. Would she notice anything was wrong? Hannibal seemed like the type of person who would be smart enough to clean up any evidence of his criminal activity, but if something had happened to Gawain, then it's not like the dog would just reappear.

But Will was always at the shelter, so he could only hope that Molly would be concerned by his absence. Then again, Hannibal had Will's phone, and could have easily found the schedule. It wouldn't be that hard to send a text to Molly to say that Will was calling out sick, or something along those lines.

The idea that no one would notice his absence immediately was frightening. Maybe he should have taken Alana's advice and made the effort to have more people in his life. People who would care and get worried if they didn't see him. He did have a lunch date with Alana planned for Friday, but that would still mean at least two days before anyone noticed he was missing. By then, who knows what state Will would be in.

Before he could continue worrying, the girl from before returned with a small tray. "Dad hates them, but it's times like these that he should be grateful to have bought them for me. I'm not sure I'd be able to trust you with any of the good china." She set the tray down on the open space next to Will. "Grilled cheese and tomato soup. I figured that you could use some comfort food."

Will's first instinct was to shove the food aside and let it clatter to the floor in a mess for the girl to clean up. But then he decided that if anyone had intended on drugging him, they could have done that while he was unconscious, and if they intended to poison him, they wouldn't have gone through all the effort of bringing him here, wherever here was. And there was the fact that he was pretty hungry, and the food smelled heavenly.

He sighed, but before he reached out to eat, he looked at the girl. "What's your name?"

The girl looked surprised for a moment, but then she smiled. "I'm Abigail Lecter." She backed away from him. "Just shout if you need anything. And don't get any childish ideas about trying to use that tray as a weapon. It's just regular stainless steel, so it wouldn't actually do anything except upset me."

Will frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Abigail raised one eyebrow. "Wait, you mean-?" She didn't finish her question. Instead, she just shrugged. "I'll let Dad explain everything to you once he gets back. He's always had a way with words that I never inherited. And he'll be able to demonstrate in the case that you don't believe him, which is pretty likely. Anyways, enjoy the food." Then she left again.

Even though it felt like his stomach was filled with knots, Will knew that he had to eat. If he wanted any chance at escaping, he would need to be at full strength. He forced himself to take a couple of bites of the grilled cheese, and his eyes widened in surprise at how good it tasted. Instead of the usual slices of wheat bread and kraft singles that Will used to make it at home, it tasted like something that could be served in a fancy restaurant. And the soup definitely had not been poured out of a can.

He ended up eating everything quicker than he would have thought he would, and felt that sleepy contentment that always came after eating a good meal. It usually only happened when he hung out with Alana, since he had no culinary skills of his own. And that was if he even remembered to eat. Taking care of his animals was a full time job that required all of his focus at any given moment.

Will ended up dozing off for a little bit. When he woke up again, he was startled by the fact that Hannibal was standing in the middle of the room, just staring down at him. "Were you watching me sleep?" Hannibal didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed. Will narrowed his eyes as he quickly sat up. "Let me go right now and I'll make sure the police know that you weren't the one who attacked me."

One corner of Hannibal's mouth quirked up in amusement. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline your most generous offer. There are much greater things at play here than you seem to understand. I'm sure that you must have many questions. Before you ask any of them, I will tell you the most important piece. You do not need to fear for the fate of your dog Gawain because he is here now. You already met him back at the shelter, where he went by the name Benjamin." Will furrowed his eyebrows, unable to comprehend just what it was that Hannibal was trying to tell him. Hannibal must've seen his confusion, because he continued with his explanation. "I'm sure that you have heard the term 'werewolf' at some point in your life. While we do not prefer that word, it is probably the easiest for you to understand."

Will definitely did not understand. Was Hannibal just messing with him, or was the man genuinely delusional? Either way, there was no excuse for kidnapping him, but at least if he was mentally unstable it would make a bit more sense about why this was happening. Hannibal just continued to smile as he reached up to begin unbuttoning his vest. Will's eyes widened in alarm. "What are you doing?"
"Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you. I have better control than Benjamin does, and I do prefer to keep you in one piece. Regrettably, this is the cost of a demonstration. You may avert your eyes if it makes you more comfortable."

Will was pretty sure that there was absolutely nothing that would make him feel more comfortable at the moment, except for maybe waking up in his own bed at home an realizing that none of this was real. For now, he figured that closing his eyes would be the best that he was going to get.

After another minute, Hannibal spoke again. "For you to truly believe, I will ask that you look at me, Will. This will only take a moment."

Will wanted to keep his eyes closed out of protest, but he was pretty sure that there was some kind of rule about hostages cooperating with their captors if they wanted to survive. He forced himself to pry his eyes open, and settled for staring at Hannibal's shoulder. As he stared, the shoulder quickly shifted to a darker color, grew fur, and then sank down closer to the floor, and Will stared with wide eyes. Where Hannibal had been standing a few seconds ago, there was now a German shepherd with sharp teeth and intelligent crimson eyes.

Will felt frozen in place. Had he really just seen that happen? Hannibal had been there one moment, and the dog was there the next. And Will had watched the whole thing happen, so he couldn't claim it was some kind of quick switch job when his eyes had been closed. So maybe it was possible that the whole werewolf thing was real. But he couldn't help the part of himself that immediately welled up with denial. People couldn't just turn into dogs, right?

And yet there Hannibal stood, looking up at Will, saying nothing. Did the dog have Hannibal's full intelligence, or was he just a regular dog for the duration of his transformation. He gulped once. "Uh, Hannibal?" The dog cocked its head. "Are all my dogs-?" He couldn't even finish the question because the idea of actually saying the words out loud seemed like it would make it all too real.

A few seconds later, and it was Hannibal standing there again. Well, he'd been there the whole time, but now he was standing there on two legs. Will quickly averted his eyes while Hannibal got dressed. "No, Will. There are no other animals in your shelter who are like me, or Benjamin."

Will gulped. He wasn't even sure what else to say. This whole situation seemed insane. "Hannibal, you can't keep me here forever. Just let me go home, and I promise that I won't tell anyone about you. Just stop coming to the shelter, and I won't try to seek you out, and everything will be okay."

Hannibal snorted. "I hardly think that anything regarding my secret could be dealt with so simply. And if you believe that I can't keep you here for as long as I'd like, then you are severely underestimating me."

Will took in a few shuddery breaths before responding. "Hannibal…" he trailed off as he tried to think of what exactly he could say to get himself out of this situation. "If you really plan on never letting me go, then you may as well just kill me now, because I would rather be dead than be held prisoner here for even a minute longer." His words were bold and certain sounding, even though it was a complete lie.

Unfortunately, that wry grin on Hannibal's face made it clear that he could see right through Will's bluff. "It would be a tragic waste of potential to rid the world of you now, Will. And I never said anything about keeping you a prisoner here."

Will furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "But you said- never mind that. Please just let me go, Hannibal. This isn't going to end well for you if you don't."

"You seem to be forgetting about a very plausible solution to all of this. I would not have to worry about you opening your mouth to the wrong people, and you would not have to suffer being my captive. Not that that is really such an awful fate for you."

Whatever it was that Hannibal was building himself up to say, Will knew that he wasn't going to like it. His instincts were screaming for him to just run away and never look back. If that was a possibility at the moment, then he'd go for it in a heartbeat. "Please…"

Hannibal continued to smile smugly at Will, the look of someone who knew that they'd already won the game. "Since the moment that I first laid my eyes on you, I couldn't stop thinking and wondering of how beautiful it would be to hunt with you. This will only hurt for a moment before you will be set free."

Then he transformed back into the German shepherd, though he was baring his teeth in an insidious manner, and Will couldn't help feeling terror. He scrambled back, but there was nowhere to go. He pressed himself up against the wall. "Hannibal, please just let me go." He fought to keep his voice calm to avoid provoking the creature.

Even as a dog, Hannibal managed to pull off a smug grin. Then he bounded towards Will, who squeezed his eyes shut. Hannibal didn't let out a single growl, but Will could feel the weight of the bed dip as the dog leapt up onto it, and then he could feel the hot breath fan across his neck. He let out a soft whimper, and then felt unimaginable pain as Hannibal sank his teeth into Will's neck.

,,,

When Will woke up, his first thought was that it really had all just been a bad dream, because he was in his own bed, in his own home, wearing nothing but the usual boxers and thin tee shirt that he slept in. But even though everything in his room looked the same as he remembered it, somehow it all seemed to be entirely different.

Everything looked sharper somehow, like he was seeing it in a higher definition than ever before. He felt like he could tell where everything in the house was just based on how strongly he could smell it. As he focused on the smelling aspect of things, he realized that he could easily identify the smell of cooking bacon, and he scrambled out of bed.

Will rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he froze out of shock. Hannibal was standing in front of the stove, wearing one of his usual fancy looking suits with an apron tied over it, stirring at several pans on the stove at once. Even though Will didn't say anything, Hannibal had clearly heard him hurry into the room. "Good morning, Will. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Will responded slowly. It took him a moment to realize that he actually felt more than fine. He felt better than he ever had before in his entire life. Like he could go out and run several marathons and then climb a few mountains, and still have plenty of energy left over. His chronic headache was nowhere to be found, and Will didn't feel his normal lethargy that he did after waking up from a long night of horrific dreams. He frowned to himself as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

Hannibal finally turned around, and he definitely had an amused look on his face. "I know that the first time can be difficult, so I thought that it would be best for me to wait around for you to wake up. I must admit, I am quite curious to see what type you are. Abigail and Ben have already placed bets about it."

Will wasn't even really sure of how to respond to something like that. "So all of that really did happen," he muttered to himself. "You're really a-"

"Werewolf?" Hannibal finished for him. "I did mention that that is not the term we prefer to use, but for the sake of simplicity, I will say that yes, I am really a werewolf. And now, so are you. I do hope that you weren't a vegetarian, Will. That could make your first hunt a bit uncomfortable."

Will had to sit down, but there were no chairs in the kitchen that didn't have a million things piled up on them, so he sank down onto the floor instead. Though it only made him feel nauseous on top of everything else, because it felt like he could smell all the germs that were down there. "I'm a- I'm a werewolf?" He looked up at Hannibal, desperately hoping to find some answers. "Why would you do that to me?"

Hannibal turned off the stove, and then walked over to kneel down in front of Will. He had an apologetic look on his face, but Will doubted that it was genuine. "I am sorry that it ended up this way, but it was in everyone's best interest. My pack is safe in the knowledge that you would not go to the police, because on the slim chance that they believe you, you would be turning yourself in as well. Meanwhile, you get to live in your home, and go about your life mostly the same as before."

"'Mostly'?" Will wasn't even really sure that he wanted to know the answer, but he couldn't stop himself from asking anyways.

Hannibal smiled, and reached over to gently pat the top of Will's knee in what was obviously meant to be a comforting gesture. "I'm sure you've already noticed your increased awareness of your surroundings. Our kind have heightened sense. You won't need your glasses anymore, though you may want to buy a false pair to keep up appearances. Other than that, there is the small matter of feeding the beast, so to speak. You are not actually two separate creatures, though the foreign hunger may make it feel that way until you get more used to it. You'll want to go hunting about once a month to stay sated. I would be happy to go with you."

It was pretty obvious what Hannibal meant when he said hunt, but Will needed to hear the exact words before he would believe it. "You mean like deer and rabbits and stuff?" he asked hopefully.

Hannibal smiled indulgently. "You are more than intelligent enough to understand what I mean, Will. Raw human flesh is the only thing that will make our particular brand of hunger go away. Of course, you are free to partake more often, which will ensure that there is never a time where your hunger gets to be too overwhelming, though it must be consumed in your other form to have its full effect."

Maybe it really would have been better if Hannibal had just killed Will. Then at least he wouldn't have to live with the idea of being a murderer and a cannibal. Or did it not count as cannibalism if he wasn't one hundred percent human anymore? Either way, Will wanted nothing to do with any of this mess.

Either Hannibal didn't notice Will's internal struggle, or he just didn't care, because he kept on talking. "Another benefit of your new life is that you will never have to worry about being harmed. Except, of course, in the case of that cliche silver. I've already taken the liberty of having Abigail collect every potential bit of silver from your home. If there's anything you are attached to and can't get rid of, then we can coat it in a layer of clear resin so that it won't harm you."

The thought of a stranger going through his house while he was sleeping seemed so invasive, and Will felt like that was almost as violating as Hannibal biting him and changing him had been.

Hannibal stood up, and then reached one hand down to help Will get back to his feet as well. Will ignored the offer, and got back up on his own. Hannibal didn't seem particularly bothered by the snub. "Breakfast is ready. I'm sure that you must be hungry, now that your metabolism is working at much more efficient speeds than before. And after you eat, we can figure out what your other form will look like. It's different for everyone, though it is always something or another from the canine family."

If it weren't for the fact that Will felt like he was starving, he definitely would have refused the eggs and bacon that Hannibal laid out on plate for him. As it was, though, the smell was far too tempting, and he grumpily devoured everything that was given to him. When he was done, not even bothering to feel self-conscious about the fact that he'd easily eaten three platefuls, Hannibal took Will's plate away to put it down in the sink.

Then he gave Will a curious look. "Would you like help turning for the first time? It can be difficult when you don't know what to do."

Will shook his head before he could even think about it. "I just want you to go away and leave me alone. Please."

There was clear amusement in the older man's eyes as he nodded once. "Very well. You have my number if you have any questions, or find yourself in need of assistance after all." Then he left, just like that. It seemed like proof that he really did think Will would be too scared to talk to anyone about any of this.

Well, if everything else that Hannibal had said was true, then maybe that part of it was as well. There was only one way to find out. He'd already seen the effects of silver, based on how badly that staple had hurt Ben back in the shelter. But he wondered if it was true that he couldn't get hurt by any other means. Will took a deep breath, and then, before he could talk himself out of it, pressed his hand down on the still hot stovetop.

He immediately yanked his hand away to avoid the angry burning feeling, and looked down to see dark red lines pressed against his palm. It hurt like a bitch, and Will rushed to the sink to get some cool water. But before he could actually stick his hand beneath the flow, he realized that the red lines were already fading away, and within a few more seconds, there was no pain, and no sign that he'd been injured at all.

So this was all real. Will was actually a werewolf. Maybe he should have accepted Hannibal's help to shift into his other form, but he couldn't find it within himself to accept anything from Hannibal. Not when that man was the one responsible for doing all of this to Will.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and thought about how awesome it would be to be a dog. Just like all of his precious animals in the shelter. Then he felt his stomach swooping, like he was on the downward dip of a roller coaster, and when he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a puddle of his own clothes, and everything around him suddenly looked way bigger than before.

He opened his mouth to let out a swear, but instead he heard a soft bark. It had actually worked. And it wasn't painful at all. Will glanced down, and could see brown paws, but couldn't make out anything else about himself. He quickly went back upstairs so that he could go into the bathroom and look at himself in the long mirror on the back of the door.

Will tilted his head as he took in his new appearance. He wasn't any kind of recognizable breed, but that was perfectly fine, because plenty of Will's dogs were mutts, and he had nothing against them. His paws were a light brown, and that color went halfway up each of his legs, where it changed to a golden color, making it look like he was wearing socks. Both of his ears and the top of his head had darker brown streaked through the fur. His tail was medium length, and had short blonde fur clinging to it. If he had encountered some random dog in the street that looked like this, Will definitely would have called it cute.

Then his stomach clenched tightly in a painful hunger, and he dreaded the solution to this. He couldn't just go around eating people. It wasn't right, and Will didn't want to be like Hannibal, and whoever else was in his weird little pack.

Maybe he didn't have to be, though. It only took a little thought to shift back into his human form, and he ignored the fact that he was completely naked as he began digging through the drawers of the bathroom vanity. The hunger was still there, gnawing at his insides, though it felt slightly muted compared to when he was a dog. He pulled out his razor, and took several deep breaths. Was he really going to do this? Yes. He had to. It was at least worth trying if it meant potentially saving innocent lives in the future.

Will took the razor to his arm and cut off an entire chunk of skin before he could change his mind. He threw the piece down onto the counter, and then watched in amazement as his arm knit itself back together until it was as good as new. And the piece that had been removed was still there.

Will grinned victoriously as he basked in the glory of finding a solution that Hannibal hadn't thought of. Of course, it was entirely possible that Hannibal had thought of it, and simply dismissed it, but Will was still proud of himself for figuring it out.

Since he could still feel the hunger, Will cut off a larger chunk, this time taking muscle with it. It caused a huge mess, blood spurting everywhere, and it hurt worse than anything Will could remember, but the pain only lasted for a minute before it was gone. Then Will shifted back into the dog form, and tried not to think about how disgusting this was as he gobbled up the pieces of himself that he'd cut off.

It wasn't enough to stop the hunger, so Will repeated the process several more times, not daring to take anything larger, like organs or entire limbs. Maybe they would grow back, but he didn't want to pass out in a pool of his own blood and vomit if he found himself unable to handle the pain or blood loss.

When he was done, Will fetched some clean clothes from his room, and then went back to the bathroom to shower and scrub all of the blood off of himself. Then he pulled out the bleach, and scrubbed at every speck of blood and fluid until there was no indication of the horribly bloody disaster that Will had caused. He put everything away, and paused to glance at himself in the mirror. Everything about him looked the same, except for the scar on his neck.

He reached up to prod at it, but it didn't hurt at all. It was faded, like it had happened years ago, but that didn't stop it from being an ugly mass of knotted skin. Hannibal had really done a number on him. It would only be fair to return the favor.

Will went back down to the kitchen, and picked up the landline phone. He wasn't sure where Hannibal had put his cell phone, but he knew Hannibal's number thanks to all the years of volunteer work the other man had done. Now Will wondered if all of that had been for the sole purpose of rescuing any werewolves who may have ended up there by accident.

Hannibal answered almost immediately, and Will couldn't help grinning at the way it made the man seem needy. "Hannibal. I think we need to talk. Come see me after I close up today." He hung up before Hannibal got the chance to answer. He couldn't resist laughing gleefully as he tried to picture the look on Hannibal's face at the moment.

After Will finished tidying everything up at home, he drove to the shelter. He was sure that he had Hannibal to thank for the fact that his car was just sitting in the driveway instead of being back at the shelter lot, but Will didn't plan on thanking Hannibal for anything.

He got to the shelter right on time, and went straight into the back rooms to check on all of the animals. They seemed to be perfectly fine, which was a relief. It's not like there'd be any reason to think Hannibal would try to hurt them, though. The man had been working here loyally for a very long time, and had always seemed fond of the animals. And he had sunk a lot of donation money into keeping the place afloat so that Will wouldn't have to get rid of any of the guests to make room for new ones. And even though Will had never known much about Hannibal, and still didn't, the two of them had always gotten along well. He could feel himself deflating a bit as he thought about all of the points in Hannibal's favor.

Maybe revenge wasn't the answer here. Hannibal was older and smarter and richer than Will. Not to mention that he had at least two people on his side, maybe more, where Will had no one that he'd be willing to drag into a fight. He wouldn't really be able to get anything out of revenge, except for maybe some temporary satisfaction.

Maybe there was another way to go about things. A way that would actually give him the ability to help save lives. He could tell just from the way Hannibal spoke that he clearly thought of himself as being above the human race. And it was entirely within the realm of possibility that he actually enjoyed the taste of human flesh. But it was at least worth a shot trying to get Hannibal to stop hurting people. And all of Hannibal's pack, too.

It was a slow day at the shelter, which was pretty par for the course. It felt even slower because Will was eager for the end of the day to finally arrive. As he locked up and looked around the empty lot, Will thought that he was supposed to feel frightened because of what had happened before. But now that he knew he was basically indestructible, it was hard to feel scared of any random people who might have bad intentions.

There were no cars in the lot besides Will's, but he could hear the steady heartbeat of another person closeby, which is why he wasn't startled when Hannibal seemed to appear out of nowhere. "What did you want to talk about?"

There was one thing that Will needed to know for sure before he could really choose which path to take. "Why have you helped me here at the shelter for so long? And be honest."

Hannibal tensed up, and Will wondered what could be so bad that it would make even Hannibal Lecter look nervous. "You would have been unhappy if the shelter closed due to lack of funding," Hannibal answered stiffly.

"Wait… you've been helping me all this time just to make me happy? But what about Ben?"

Hannibal sighed, and his shoulders seemed to slump down. "You have a beautiful smile when you're happy," Hannibal said softly. "As for Ben- he was caught by accident after sniffing around the wrong house for too long. He couldn't just turn human and make a run for it, because he knows that I have strict rules about keeping ourselves out of sight. It was sheer coincidence that he wound up at your shelter, and I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to help him get out."

Will nodded slowly. "Alright, I believe you. Now I'm going to tell you that if you want to make me happy, then you're not going to hurt anymore people."

Hannibal narrowed his eyes. "You would rather see me dead?"

"Not dead," Will hurried to say. "This is probably going to sound odd to say out loud, but I ate myself this morning and it worked to feed my hunger. Just cut off a few bits as a human, and then turned into a dog to eat it up. Since we heal so quickly, I don't see why it would ever become a problem." Hannibal still didn't look convinced. In fact, he had the look of someone who was ready to argue in their own favor for a while longer. Will was not looking forward to hearing some long lecture about why it was essential to harm innocent people. He lunged forward and mashed his lips against Hannibal, since it was a surefire way to keep the man quiet.

It was awkward at first, and Will started to pull back, ready for Hannibal to sock him in the face for assaulting him like that. But before he could pull away, Hannibal reached up to cup the sides of Will's face, and kept him close, adjusting so that the kiss felt more natural, and less awkward.

Will's eyes fluttered shut, and he hated to admit that it was one of the best kisses he's ever shared in his life. When he finally pulled away so that he could breath- though it didn't escape his notice that he was able to go much longer without breathing than he would've been able to a couple of days ago- he saw that Hannibal looked about as dazed as Will felt. "What was that for?"

'To make you shut up' sounded too rude to say to Hannibal, so Will just shrugged. "Motivation to do things my way?" he offered with uncertainty.

Hannibal laughed. "You are impossible. But I can't deny the effectiveness of your negotiating tactics. I'm willing to listen."

Will grinned. "Great. Because I have a lot of ideas." He looked around, but Hannibal's car didn't suddenly materialize. "How did you get here, anyways?"

"It always pays to keep spare clothes here." Hannibal reached up to begin pulling off his clothes, and folded them into a neat little pile, which he then tucked into a little wooden box by the side of the building that blended in well enough for Will to have never noticed it before. He felt a bit embarrassed, but then he peeled off his clothing as well, and put it into the box.

Both men shrank down into their dog forms a moment later, and then started scampering away from the building. Will could feel the excitement flowing through his veins, and he barked loudly to let Hannibal know how much fun this way. It didn't make up for the terror he'd gone through to get here, but it was a start.

Hannibal let out a deep growl in response, and then the race was on. If anyone else were to see them, they would think it was just a pair of dogs chasing after something. Only Will and Hannibal knew the truth; they were chasing each other.