Hannibal bolted from the hotel room and began pacing outside. He had left the room the moment Zoe had fallen asleep. He ran his hand over his face and had no idea how on earth he was going to keep his promise to Zoe and keep them all alive. He stopped pacing when Blade walked out of the room and leaned against the wall of the motel watching him. Hannibal paced more knowing he needed to work off some of his anger before he even tried to speak to Blade. He stopped when he felt Shaughn's hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked at her and saw the tears in her eyes.
"I have no idea how we are going to keep that promise," Shaughn whispered softly nuzzling her face in Hannibal's shoulder.
"You won't be able to. That is why I never make promises," Blade said looking at around the parking lot.
"You hear that, angel, Blade doesn't make promises," Hannibal said lunging at Blade. Shaughn held him back and he watched as Blade walked away into the night.
Shaughn watched as Hannibal turned around and started cursing. She raked her hands through her hair and knew that Hannibal was feeling. She knew that he was fed up with running and Blade being no help whatsoever. Shaughn walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. She felt him relax with her arms around him and she rested her head in his back. She closed her eyes and remembered a time when she held him like this for hours in her bed when the shakes would take his body over.
"You shouldn't let Blade get to you," she told him softly.
"I know I shouldn't but the fucker just does. God, he is so smug and righteous sometimes. I really wish I could just beat the crap out of him," Hannibal said feeling Shaughn run her hands up and down his chest.
"Do you remember the last time I held you like this?"
Hannibal smiled knowing Shaughn was changing the subject. "Yeah, I do. It was the night before I told you I loved you. I was fighting off Summerfield and Abby had about had enough of me. You came back from a raid covered in ashes and some of your own blood and you just climbed in bed with me and wrapped your arms around me and held me tight. You told Abby to tell Summerfield to take her cure and shove it. That I had been pumped up enough with that crap."
"I wish I would have taken the time to talk to Summerfield. Maybe it would have helped Zoe if I had known her mom."
"Angel, you barely took the time to talk to me and I shared your bed at night."
Hannibal turned around and faced Shaughn. He saw her nod knowing that he was telling the truth. Shaughn had been all about the fight and she had fought and killed vampires until the wee hours of the morning. That had changed however, when he had told her he loved her. That night she had held him close during their lovemaking and after she had stopped being so involved in the fight against the vampires and she had become more involved in building a life with him. And then Whistler had pushed her and she had pushed back. Hannibal reached out and stroked her hair and wished that he could go back and change what had happened two years before.
"Let's not worry about this now. How about we go back in the room and just hold each other, like we use to?" Hannibal suggested kissing Shaughn softly.
"I would love that but Zoe is sleeping in our bed," Shaughn reminded him.
"Then we'll kick Blade out of his room. I mean does the guy sleep at all?"
Shaughn shook her head and kissed Hannibal. She knew that there was no point in hiding anymore. They needed to get back to the city and get another group together and start to fight. She needed to take her spot as leader of the Nightstalkers, even though she didn't want to. She felt Hannibal pull her closer and his hands run along her back. She pulled away and smiled at him.
"We need to pack up and head back to town," she said softly.
"Angel, we could still use-," Hannibal started.
"No. We need to go now. You know we do. Stop trying to protect me."
"Can't. Protecting you is my job."
"Really? Says who?"
"My heart that's who."
Hannibal saw Shaughn smile. He let her take his hand and pull him back into the room. He didn't want to go back into the city and face Danica's hell spawn but he knew that they had no choice. He sighed and really hoped that this time he wouldn't lose his angel for good.
A few hours went by and Hannibal and Shaughn managed to get everything packed up in the car. They were just waiting on Blade. Hannibal had taken to pacing the room while Shaughn had reread the file on Annicka. She closed it and looked up at Hannibal. He stood there just staring out the window.
"Something wrong?" she asked softly.
"Angel, you ever wish that you never knew about vampires?" he asked suddenly.
"I wish a lot of things, Hannibal."
"Tell me one of those wishes."
Shaughn smiled and knew that Hannibal was trying really hard to not think about what was going to happen when they went back to the city. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She rested her head against his chest and listened to his heart beat.
"I use to wish that I had met you in a different way. That I had been walking down the street and we just ran into each other and you asked me out for coffee. I wished so much that we could have been a normal couple living a normal life together," she explained.
Hannibal was silent for several moments, "I use to wish I had followed you and that we had never been apart," he told her.
Shaughn held Hannibal closer, "My wish right now is that we make it through this fight and that we can give Zoe a half normal life."
"Want to know what my wish is?"
"Sure, can't be any worse than mine. Unless you wished for cheeseburgers."
"I would never... All right, I would but I didn't wish for cheeseburgers."
"What did you wish for?"
Hannibal turned and looked down at Shaughn, "I wished that when this is over, we can find a little chapel, with a priest and make this legal. Hell, I'll even invite Blade along."
Shaughn looked at Hannibal and realized that he was being serious. She pulled away from him and looked away. She let him grab her hand and hold on tight. She turned back and looked at him. His brown eyes looked into her eyes and waited for her to say something.
"Did you just ask me to marry you?" she whispered.
"Yes, I did. What do you say, angel? You and me for life."
"King, we aren't even a couple now. We never really were a couple."
"Do you love me?"
"Dammit Hannibal-."
"Because I love you with everything that that bitch Danica didn't ripe away. When you found me, I was ready to give up the fight. I was ready to become one of them. You saved me from that, Shaughn. You saved me from being the next vampire you would kill. And then to make it a hundred times better, you taught me how to love. I don't care if all the time we ever had together was two weeks. You loved me more in those two weeks then anyone has in my entire life. That's why I want to marry you. I want to feel that love every moment of every day and have you beside me."
Shaughn felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She had never heard Hannibal sound so sincere. Hannibal was usually the one being sarcastic and cracking jokes. At that moment, however Hannibal was very serious. He wanted her to spend her life with him. She wiped her tears away and gave him a smile.
"I can't believe you said all that," she said softly.
"I mean every word, angel. What do you say? Will you marry me?"
Shaughn pulled Hannibal close to her and kissed him on the lips hard, "If we survive this fight then yes, I will marry you."
Hannibal yanked her in his arms and kissed her again. He heard the door to the room open but he didn't care. He just wanted that moment with Shaughn, Blade be damned. He turned when he heard Blade's fist connect with someone's face. He saw Blade standing there holding a guy but his shirt. The guy's face was bloody and Hannibal also saw blood seeping through the guy's grey shirt at his side. Hannibal looked up at Blade.
"What did you do?" Hannibal asked.
"I stopped this familiar from telling Annicka where we were. He was following us," Blade explained throwing the man on the floor.
"She is still going to know. She is going to find you and you'll be sorry," the man said laughing.
Shaughn pulled away from Hannibal and kneeled down in front of the man. She reached out and dug her thumb into the stab wound in his side. Her thumb sunk in the slit and blood seeped out around it. The man screamed like he was a little girl and started to cry. Shaughn wrapped her other hand around his neck when he started to squirm. She leaned in and looked deep in his eyes. She saw his fear and knew that now he would tell her exactly what she wanted to know.
"Where is Annicka?" she asked her voice soft but full of the promise of more pain if he dared lie to her. She hated causing pain but at the moment she knew that she had no choice. As a familiar, this lowlife would have no problem calling Annicka and telling her where Shaughn was which would lead to her, Hannibal and Zoe's death. She knew that now was not the time for her to have a conscious. She would have to be as ruthless as they would be to her.
"I don't know. She just contacts me on the phone," the man said whimpering as Shaughn applied pressure with her thumb. More blood seeped out of the cut and he felt a sharp pain rip across his stomach.
"Then who's your handler?" Shaughn pushed.
Hannibal went to stop her but Blade grabbed his arm and stopped him. Hannibal watched as Shaughn leaned in closer to the man. Hannibal hated that he was seeing that hard no feeling side of his angel again. He still remembered those first days he had spent with her and how she had been cold and hard with everyone around her. He had thought that that had been the only side to Shaughn. He watched as she stood up apparently getting the answer she wanted from the familiar. She kicked the guy for good measure and he curled up in a ball. She looked up and Hannibal looked into her eyes. They were cold and distant.
"We're heading to the city. A club called The Day-Walkers. You two know it?" she asked walking over to them.
"No. Blade?" Hannibal asked looking at Blade and wishing that the cold quiet hunter would have questioned the familiar on his own instead of bringing him back to the room. Then Hannibal would never have had to see that cold side of his angel again.
Blade looked at them, "It's an underground club in an old drainage sewer. Familiars hang out there waiting for their handlers to pick them up," he said.
"All right, well looks like we have a date with the place. When should we hit it?"
"Tomorrow night. We have all day to head back to base camp and get weapons," Hannibal said looking at Blade and Shaughn. He really didn't want either of them to say any sooner.
"No. The minute we hit base camp. We drop off Zoe and pick up weapons and hit the club. It'll be day time and less risk of running into a vampire," Shaughn said.
"If we're lucky they'll be some vampires sleeping there," Blade added.
"Yeah, if we're lucky," Hannibal muttered turning and leaving the room. He really wanted to strangle both Blade and Shaughn. He would however, have to settle for kicking some familiar ass. He was kind of alright with that; as long as no one got hurt.
