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"Mom!" Bella breathed before nearly plowing Clarice over in a hug.
Clarice cupped the back of Bella's head. "Oh my God, baby. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. The blood is Will's." Bella stated before pulling back. "We need to get out of here."
"Get in." Clarice pointed into the truck. "We'll all have to squeeze in." She turned to Winnie, seeing the tears stains on the young girl's face before hugging her. The news was clear. "I'm sorry, Winnie." She kissed the teenager's temple before urging her inside, quickly climbing in behind her to prevent a reaction on the sidewalk.
Hannibal wrapped an arm around Bella, kissing her head. "I see my advice has been put to good use." He started up the truck when Clarice closed her door. "So, are we going to address the cannibal in the truck?"
Winnie's eyes widened as she looked over at the driver. "Holy shit! You're Hannibal Lecter." She looked between Clarice and Bella. "How? Why? How?"
"He's my dad, Winnie." Bella sighed. "I just found out last week, but our ties to him is why Graham is after us. At least, that's the last we thought." She looked around her friend to Clarice, eyebrows raised.
Clarice nodded. "We don't know how he would know yet, but yes. That is still our working theory. Your father found a hidden shrine dedicated to the three of us in Will's apartment. I already called Delia. They are sending agents over to the townhouse, and she's expecting the three of us for questioning. Was Will alive when you left him?"
Bella lifted her hand up to wipe his blood off of her face with her sleeve, but Hannibal pushed it back down. "Yes, but he's hurt pretty bad. I don't know the damage I did to his ear, but I stabbed nail clippers into his left eye. He won't be able to go far without getting attention."
"That's my girl." Hannibal whispered before turning back to drop Clarice and the girls off at her car. "I understand today has been traumatic for you, and this is more to take in. But, we need to trust you, Winnie. Can we trust you?"
"I'm sorry all of this happened, Winnie." Bella apologized. "I never saw this coming, and it's the last thing I wanted. But, I promise you. We will make sure Will pays for what he did to those girls, to your parents, to you. He won't get away with it."
Winnie squeezed Bella's hand into hers. "This is insane. I hope you know that. I mean, your dad is a serial killer wanted by the FBI. I don't know how this happened, and, to be completely honest, I'm a little sick thinking about how this all started in the first place." She sighed, but met Bella's eyes. "Your mom picked us up, and that's it. I won't say anything else about it." She looked around Bella to Hannibal. "Can I ask you for a favor though?"
Hannibal nodded once. "For keeping my secret and my little bird's, I will return the favor without question."
"Little bird?" Winnie smirked at Bella, nudging her shoulder. She looked back to Hannibal. "Can you at least finish off the Krendler you started eighteen years ago? He's kind of an asshole and won't leave these two alone."
Hannibal let a hint of a smile tug at his lips before he turned into the parking ramp where he met Clarice's car. "I believe I can fulfill that happily."
Bella was grateful when the nurse was through collecting evidence and allowed her to wipe the drying blood from her chin. The injuries she sustained hadn't even been noticed with the adrenaline running through her system until she was told to lay down for an examination. The doorknob left a large purple bruise just below her belly button, and the mirror left small pieces of glass lodged in her scalp. They had given her five stitches to help heal the multiple lacerations in her hairline, and Clarice was eager to hold an ice pack over it to ease the swelling.
"Here, hold the ice pack for a second." Clarice demanded before taking the wet wipe from her daughter. She ran the cloth down Bella's chin and down to the neckline of her shirt. It almost looked like Bella had a fountain of blood erupting from her mouth, and it used up the cloth before it was completely wiped away. "I know you probably feel like crap right now, but you did pretty well considering you were up against a serial killer." She snagged another wipe from the counter before going back to work.
"Thank you, I guess." Bella smiled lightly. "I've been attacked by two people this weekend, and my gut reaction has been to bite both of them. What does that say about me?"
Clarice tugged at the collar of Bella's shirt, pressing the wet wipe to the fabric to get out the blood stain as much as possible. "You're not the only one to defend themselves by biting another person, Bella. I've done it. We've both tasted blood. That doesn't automatically make us cannibals." She tossed the wipes into the trash before gazing back at her teenager. "Does that notion scare you? Being like your father."
Bella shrugged before removing the ice pack from her head. Clarice was quick to take it back and press it against her head again. "I'm already like him. I just don't know how to feel about possibly enjoying eating people. I've never been exactly pro-cannibal."
Clarice chuckled before kissing Bella's cheek. "You can find out in your own time. You are your own person. Your father and I can't change that. Unfortunately, you took after us and are way too stubborn."
Their conversation was interrupted when there was a knock on the door. Delia stepped inside with notes in hand. "How you feeling, Bella?"
"Like someone just tried to kill me." Bella huffed. She rolled her shoulder, grimacing at the ache that seemed to seep into her bones. "You probably think I'm crazy though because I told you Will Graham attacked me before killing Winnie's parents. Did you guys arrest him?"
"We didn't find him in the house." Delia stated. "What you told us, what Winnie told us, we know what happened. We are running blood at the scene. It looks like Graham got the nail clippers out, and he sacrificed his eye to do it. We'll have to test DNA to verify it's his, but I don't see who else it could be." She handed over a file to Clarice, and Bella took over holding the ice pack so Clarice could open it. "The blood found in Will's apartment came back as one of the victims for the Beer Can Killer. He might have been luring in some of his victims by taking them out for dates."
Clarice looked through the file, seeing pictures of Will's apartment taken before and after it was cleared out. "So, he's on the loose."
Delia rested her hands on her hips, her shoulders dropping as if the weight of her day was settling on them. "He could run."
"He won't." Clarice stated, a slight edge in her voice. "Jack Crawford trained him. He won't go anywhere until the job is done. In this case, Bella and I are the job." She pulled out the photo taken from inside Will's coat closet, seeing the fake mouse hole Hannibal was talking about. "Did he ever make a complaint to his landlord?"
Delia frowned looking at the photo. "No, why?"
Clarice pointed to the mouse hole. "The building is new enough and clean enough that mice shouldn't be a problem. If Will didn't call his landlord about a mouse, why is there a whole in his wall?"
"It could've been something he stored in there. I can talk with the landlord to see the inspection report Will filled out when he signed his lease." Delia speculated before slipping the picture back into the file. "I'd like to put the two of you in a hotel until we catch him. He's already broken down the door to your house-"
"Yeah, and being in your care still ended up with your agent and my friend's parents dying and me in the hospital." Bella snapped before hopping off of the exam table. "I was almost killed today by someone the FBI once employed and trusted. I want to go home and forget today even happened."
Delia bit her lip. "He knows where you live-"
Clarice held up her hands. "He also followed Bella and tried to take her hostage." She readjusted the ice pack on Bella's head. "Will Graham was willing to slaughter everyone in that house to get to her, but he never even pointed his gun at her. He doesn't want to just kill her. He wants her for something."
"Yes, to rape her." Delia spat. "Need I remind you of the poster that he stuck to your door with his own blood. The girls he takes that are Bella's age are mutilated with a knife that he shoves between their legs until it looks like their stomachs have exploded. He wants to carve up Bella's reproductive system like it's a piece of beef waiting for the butcher."
Bella felt the bile in the back of her throat as she bit back a gag. If she threw up, the doctor would most definitely keep her overnight for observation, and she wanted to be as far away from this place as possible. "It's not like I'm looking to reproduce right now." Her eyes widened at her own statement and she gripped Clarice's arm. "Mom, can I talk to you for a second?"
Clarice motioned for Delia to leave, ignoring the obvious disbelief on her friend's face. "We'd like the room, please." It took longer than it should've, but Delia eventually left the room before Clarice looked back to her daughter. "What's wrong?"
"Will's motive isn't to kill me." Bella breathed, nearly panting with her realization. "He wants to kill me, make you and Dad suffer, but it's not his main goal. Do you remember the nightmare I had a few nights ago?"
"Yes, you scared Hannibal and I to death." Clarice stated before pausing. "You said the killer wanted to end the Lecter line."
Bella nodded. "He wants to rid the world of the last of us before I can add anymore to it." She took a ragged breath, leaning back against the table. "Dad was the last survivor of his family, and you extended his family by having me. We're it."
Clarice ran a hand through her hair. "He's going to want to make a show of it too. He'll want the world to know that the bloodline is gone." She hugged Bella tightly, kissing the side of her head. "I'm not going to let that happen."
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