It came as no surprise to the wendigo now named as Will to find himself being lead through the richer suburbs of Baltimore. Will followed Hannibal to a house big enough to be called a mansion, the pair keeping to the rooftops to escape notice from the living.
The wendigo also wasn't surprised to learn that Hannibal had a hidden entrance built into the top of his home. Most humans tended not to look up or down, and their vision was extremely poor at night, especially when compared to a supernatural's own. Even if a person had noticed that something was amiss, Will and Hannibal with body thrown over shoulder were moving too fast to be seen clearly, the pair alighting upon rooftops as softly as spirits joyriding the wind.
Upon entering, Will had to crouch down to avoid scraping the hell out of Hannibal's ceilings with his antlers. A gentle snow of plaster dusted Will whenever he forgot, the proof of his inattention standing out starkly against his inky skin. Grimacing, the wendigo brushed off his shoulders. To his dismay, more than just plaster came off of his skin, little bits of the dead drunk and general ick going along with it.
"Perhaps you would like to bathe." Hannibal suggested without really doing so. It was definitely an order if Will had ever heard one. Smirking at the vampire who would have looked calm to anyone else, Will stalked over to the bathroom shone to him by his irritated host. Before entering, the wendigo purposely raised his head up just enough to graze the plaster, making it shed itself over Hannibal. Will wondered if the vampire knew he ground his teeth when he was annoyed.
"I have robes that might fit you." Hannibal said, more to himself as he took in the wendigo's angular, irregular figure of sharp bone and wiry hard muscle, the creature standing out harshly against all the white marble.
"Just set out what you want me to wear. Whatever you choose, I assure you it will fit." Will smiled, the expression all sharp teeth. It did the trick though, the expression telling Hannibal that the wendigo knew something the vampire did not.
"Very well. Please make yourself at home then. Join me when you are done. I'll be in the kitchen." Hannibal nodded, giving his guest some privacy after he selected something quickly from his closets. It was an older suit of his, though still a lovely creation of blue fabric. He had no idea what the wendigo had in mind, but the dark and light blues would contrast nicely with Will's pitch black skin even if his body would tear the fabric apart whenever he moved.
Waiting until the clothing had been delivered to him and his host properly occupied, Will began his cleanse, the moist noise of bones breaking and popping out of place filling the small space to echo off of tiled walls.
OoOoO
The drunk was easy enough to butcher considering most of his blood had already been drained, his skeleton shattered, and his torso torn nearly in half down the middle. The chest cavity was a little barren from Will eating most of the organs before Hannibal had decided to introduce himself. The few that remained were ruined, much to the vampire's displeasure. Hannibal loved liver and sweetbreads, but would have to make do without either tonight. He could be versatile though. One could not live on viscera alone.
Deciding to make both ribs and roast, Hannibal seasoned the meat as he tenderized it. Muscles like this really should be aged and allowed to have the natural enzymatic processes break down the meat, tenderizing it, but Hannibal knew enough tricks to make their meal tender and juicy.
The sounds of footsteps caught Hannibal's attention though, making the vampire grow still. Their presence was to be expected. What made him give pause to listen in on them was that the noise of it sounded wrong. Footsteps made of flesh instead of hooves padded toward his kitchen.
Spreading his awareness out far enough to hear his neighbors breathing in their sleep, Hannibal didn't sense any other being in his home other than Will. Curious, Hannibal looked up from his work to see just what was going to come through his kitchen door.
To his surprise, a young man who looked to be in his thirties entered his kitchen like he was meant to be there. He was casually wearing the blue suit Hannibal had set out for the wendigo with the suit's jacket missing and the dress sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Roughly his own height, the man had dark brown hair, still wet and curling into ringlets from his shower, smelling of Hannibal's products all mildly sweet and spice. He also had a face that Michelangelo would have gladly sent years painting on a ceiling, his eyes a stormy blue grey that were edged with sea foam green.
"So do I pass?" the thing that looked human but wasn't asked. The pretender was clearly amused by Hannibal's reaction or more accurately, his lack there of. It made the vampire realize that he had gone the type of still that only his kind could achieve, forgetting to make the movements of life to fool a living audience.
"I wasn't aware you could shift." Hannibal said slowly to buy himself some time to recover. The wendigo in its true form had been interesting, but this new development was just as intriguing. He hadn't been expecting such attractive company. If he had to admit a fault, Hannibal would have to say that he had a weakness for pretty things, and Will was all that and much more now.
"I can. I just choose not to unless I have to. It's easier to stay like that, what I truly am. This…this body is just a human veil, a person suit if you will, to hide myself in." Will shrugged, the gesture looking out of use on his person. "You can afford to fake being normal. I can't risk it."
"Person suit? We're all monsters here, dear Will. It's nothing to be ashamed of. This is our version of normal." Hannibal pointed out, his gaze lingering over Will's new form. It was very pleasing to the eye, from the five o'clock shadow that graced Will's graceful jaw line to the bare toes that peeking out from under pants leg that were just a little too long now for the monster turned man borrowing them.
"May I ask you something personal?" Will said, wandering over in slow steps to lean up against the counter. Feigning casual quite badly, he studied the drunk's head sitting in the corner of the island to avoid looking over at Hannibal. The vampire wondered if the avoidance of eye contact was a wendigo trait or just all Will.
"You may. I can't promise you that I will answer it though." Hannibal said, his tone thoughtful as he studied his strange company. "If I do, I will reserve the right to ask you something in return. Quid Pro Quo."
"Did you choose to become a vampire?" Will glanced over quickly to meet Hannibal's eyes for a moment before retreating once again in favor of the head. Hannibal was planning on chilling it, perhaps serving the brain for later as dessert with a light dusting of confectioner sugar.
"It has been a long time since that fateful day, more so than others…." Hannibal began.
"That's not an answer." Will pointed out, intruded with an impatient huff upon the vampire's revelry. "Never mind…Forget I asked."
"Hush. Please don't interrupt me and allow me some showmanship." Hannibal tutted, returning to the meat to work it over once more before popping it into the over. He would roast it slowly on a low heat so it would be tender but still retain some bloody quality.
"I chose. I wanted revenge." Hannibal summed up simply for Will to appease the wendigo. He watched with interest as Will absorbed the information.
"Revenge can be a messy business. Was it worth the sacrifice?" Will asked after a long moment.
"It was merited. They deserved it for what they did to her. To my sister." Hannibal allowed the truth to leave his lips, though her name didn't make it past his tongue. It was still guarded, still protected, the only kind that he could offer to his dear Mischa even after all these centuries.
"Any regrets?" Will ventured, watching as Hannibal began to clean up his kitchen.
"The only regret I have if that I can't kill them again, but this time with all the knowledge and experience that I have now at my disposal." Hannibal said lightly, finishing up his tasks to regard the wendigo with a level look. "I believe you owe me an answer now."
"What's the question?" Will smiled crookedly, his face wary.
"Did you chose? Through the years, I have learned enough about your kind to know that wendigos are not born. They are created." Hannibal said, throwing Will's own question back at him with more than just a little curiosity. "So, did you create yourself?"
"Yes and no." Will answered, his lips losing what little mirth they had.
"That's not an answer. Not a real one anyway." Hannibal said, unimpressed. "It has been my observation that cannibalism is a decision one does not make lightly. That's how it begins, isn't it? Becoming a wendigo means having to eat quite a few people."
"I was fed….people… I never ate anyone intentionally." Will corrected, distaste engrained into his handsome features at the thought. "My…my lover…someone I trusted fed them to me without my knowledge. She betrayed me. Used me…"
"How so?" Hannibal asked intrigued. It was rare to come across such a story.
"My lover was a witch. She wanted immortality. Unfortunately for her, for us both, she translated the spell wrong." Will sighed, looking tired and drawn as he recalled the few parts of his past that he could remember with sort of clarity. The wendigo had a feeling that he would never be able to forget her, Molly Graham, not matter how he lived. "Long story short- I became a wendigo and she became my first victim. Imagine her surprise."
"I am. It's delightful." Hannibal smiled slow and wicked, his fangs showing from it.
Will ran his hands through his dark curls, suddenly looking very tired, lost, and far younger than he should. "Though I should, I'm too much of a coward to kill myself. I am too scared to die now, for all the things I've done, for all that I've lost. So I try only to kill people who truly deserve to die as much as I do. Rapist, pedophiles, murderers…"
"Drunks who hit dogs for their own amusement." Hannibal pointed out intrigued by Will's admission.
"I like dogs." Will glowered back at him.
"I've noticed." Hannibal said. "So you live out in the woods of Wolf Trap?"
"Yes. I have a little house there and fix boat motors. I take care of strays when I find them. It's not much of a life, but it keeps me busy." Will shrugged, toying with the head. Pulling off some cheek meat that was hanging in strips, Will nibbled on the tender fatty meat. The man had been a professional drinker, practically marinated in cheap booze so his flesh held a certain sweetness to it.
Hannibal took Will's head away from him to put in the freezer for later. "Stop that. You'll ruin your appetite." he tsked.
"Shows how much you know about wendigos." Will snorted, looking around the kitchen for more potential snacks.
"Your existence sounds lonely." Hannibal observed, studying the pouting wendigo.
"It is, but not any more so than this place." Will sighed, giving up his hunt. He doubted his host would let him raid his kitchen.
"Oh?" Hannibal challenged, trying not to sound miffed. He had many other homes all over the world, but he considered his Baltimore residence one of the finest having designed it himself from foundation to weather vane.
"I mean it's lovely, but so is the Taj Mahal." Will said, his tone light and teasing. The sweet nature of it pleased Hannibal even if the words uttered by it grated on his nerves.
"Did you just really compare my home to a mausoleum?" Hannibal narrowed him eyes, but kept the majority of his displeasure off of his face. He did anyway until he remembered that his mask didn't work on the wendigo. Will's widening grin was proof enough of that.
"It's a lovely mausoleum." Will told him with false sincerity, giving no distinction between the two.
"A little cliché, Will, given what I am." Hannibal sniffed, somewhat at a loss. It would be rude to try and kill a dinner guest, especially before the first course was served.
"I live out in the woods and eat people. What did you except? Poetry?" Will chortled, his blue grey eyes dancing with amusement.
That brought Hannibal up short, realizing several things. First and foremost, he wasn't being mocked, at least not in the way of his kind. This was companionable teasing, the type he had observed often enough in others yet have never really experienced for himself. There was no judgment of possessions or comparison of wealth and art collections. He hadn't recognized it for what it was, so used to the politics of vampire that were always in play. More so in Hannibal's case since he was reviled by his own kind, but left to his own devices because a few had use for him. That and he was powerful enough to wipe out the whole lot of them with very little effort on his part.
"Touché" Hannibal conceded, tipping his head as he gave credit where credit was due. It wasn't often he met anyone who dared to poke at him, or make him reconsider his actions. To celebrate, Hannibal poured some fine dark red wine from his private stock, the decanted Château Lafite Rothschild's bottle so old its label had been yellowed from over five decades of careful storage and flaking off.
"So what do you do? Out in the world to fit in?" Will asked, feeling this new ease between them settle into place as he accepted a glass of what looked like blood from the vampire. Will was only slightly disappointed to find that it was just wine.
"I am a psychiatrist." Hannibal answered, which made Will choke on his drink. The wendigo gulped down his glass to help clear his throat.
"I fail to see what is so amusing about that." Hannibal said, giving Will a hard look for abusing the wine like that as he took a delicate sniff and sip of his own.
"What's not funny about that?" Will chuckled, setting his glass aside for now since apparently he was a danger to himself with it. "Doesn't sunlight, you know….'poof'?"
"Not at my considerable age. I'm still sensitive to it, but I find a well fitted three piece suit, sunglasses, and a hat does the trick well enough to avoid going 'poof'." Hannibal said dryly. The effects of sunlight on younger vampires could not be described so cleanly. 'Poof' didn't really cover skin melting off, muscle corroding at an alarming rate, and bones dissolving before the internal organs exploded.
"Good on you." Will said, looking around again as he started to pace. "Are we eating soon?"
"You can't rush perfection, or cuisine. Besides, you already ate most of the man's organs" Hannibal reminded in the tone of 'you selfish bastard'.
"I sorry. I didn't realize I would be sharing." Will offered by way of apology, glancing over at the vampire in amusement.
"Please keep that in mind for next time." Hannibal said, only realizing what he said after he heard it. The implication of his offer was staggering if Will took it seriously. That was highly unlikely given the wendigo's solitary nature and antisocial behavior, but in the short time he had known him, Will had proven himself to be very unique.
"So we…you and I…we are going to do this again?" Will said slowly, watching the vampire with guarded eyes. Hannibal had surprised him with the offer. Being friendly with a vampire held many risks to it, most of which Will had spent the majority of his existence avoiding. Wendigos were as neutral as they were shunned, not getting involving in any sort of supernatural's social structures or politics.
"I don't see why not unless you are adverse to my company." Hannibal said, politely offering the wendigo an out. Even if this dinner turned out to be the only time they met, Hannibal planned on enjoying this experience to its fullest.
"No. No, not at all." Will murmured, his eyes going half lidded as he openly studied Hannibal. The gaze lingered well beyond the boundaries of casual observation, gliding easily into more erotic areas as the wendigo found the look mirrored by the vampire. "I'm not adverse to it at all."
"How fortunate. I feel the same way." Hannibal said just as softly as he set his own wine glass aside. Something told him that he could be needing both of his hands very soon. This line of conversation had taken a sudden turn, though he wasn't complaining about its destination or the speed it was picking up trying to get to it.
"It could get messy though." Will warned, licking his lips as he looked pained about warning Hannibal off. The vampire barely kept himself from laughing, instead choosing to grin wide enough to show off his enlarged canines.
"Manners and etiquette can be brushed up on, relearned…trained." Hannibal teased as he put stress on the last word to see Will shiver in response to it. "What can I help you with?"
"I'm hungry…I'm always hungry. In more ways than one." Will said, letting the vampire come close to him. He watched Hannibal's nostrils flare, the predator obviously scenting him. Will might have been offended if he weren't so turned on by it.
"Well then, I believe I can accommodate you." Hannibal leaning in close, near enough that his lips grazed Will's own when he spoke. He had the wendigo's scent coating the back of his throat, the taste of petrichor and ozone the most prevalent on his tongue. Will was truly a wild thing so he smelled like storm, lightening, and spilled blood on earth.
Will hissed softly in answer, the sound of it lingering through his teeth. "Be careful. I just might take you up on it."
Licking his lips slowly, Hannibal closed the distance between them to press his mouth to Will's own, the kiss light, chaste, and terribly wrong given what they were. Wendigo and vampire exchanged a kiss with eyes wide open, stormy blue phasing to silvery sapphire meeting maroon turned blood ruby.
"Please do."