In the course of his very long existence that spanned well over two millennia, Hannibal could honestly say that he had never been hit by a semi-trailer truck before. He had managed to avoid that sort of thing so he was quite shocked when he felt the sensation of having an 18 wheeler slam bodily into him.
Well not him precisely, Hannibal knew that much right away considering he was currently writhing around in pain on the Persian rug in his office, and nowhere near any vehicle of mass transport. It took him only a moment to figure out that he was experiencing some sort of strange body echo from another. Needless to say, Hannibal was not pleased by this as he made himself dissociate from the pain running through his body, and focus on the strange connection that lay between himself and wendigo he had named Will.
They really should have discussed what was happening between them the last time they had met up, but Will had left after eating most of the food in Hannibal's refrigerator. That had been several nights ago, and Hannibal hadn't seen hide or hair of the wendigo since, though he still saw the ravenstag from time to time. It was probably safe to assume that meant Will was still seeing him as well.
If it wasn't obvious before, it sure as hell was confirmed now by the sudden infliction. They were bonded. Hannibal wasn't sure how deeply or how completely they were linked to one another, but if the vampire had to take a guess of it as he picked himself off of his office floor, it was pretty damn strong. Something had obviously happened to Will, and now Hannibal would have to go see what that something was and murder it with extreme prejudice. That was unless Will hadn't gotten to it first.
The journey from his office in Maryland to the woods of Virginia took less time than one would think, the vampire pushing his considerable abilities as he let his instincts and this new bond between them guide his quick feet. They took him back to a familiar crossroads, though instead of drunk's truck this time, there was a rather ruined semi truck with its front crumpled in. Nothing was there to give hint to what it had run into, but there was blood everywhere, lots of it.
Running his fingertips over the twisted metal, Hannibal brought a trace of crimson back to his mouth, tasting Will's essence upon them. It didn't take a whole lot of imagination to muster up an idea of what could have happened here. The screaming heard off in the distance was the only surprising part of this scenario. Apparently, Will was still playing with his food.
Taking off after the sound of terror, Hannibal moved through the woods easily enough, coming across what was left of the truck driver, the corpse smelling almost toxic to Hannibal from all the greasy diner food, bad coffee, and cheap cigarettes the man had lived off of. Will had done him a favor by ripping the truck driver apart since the vampire found himself loathe to touch him.
The noise of someone, two people at least, trying to avoid being eaten came from a clearing, a break in the woods that surrounded wide scrub fields and a little two story farm house that had seen better days. The wendigo's scent was everywhere about it so Hannibal knew it had to be the home Will mentioned before in passing. The numerous amount of upset dogs meandering about the dilapidated structure confirmed it, the pack going to hide under the house as Hannibal approached. He wasn't offended by their behavior. Dogs rarely tolerated the presence of the undead supernatural for long.
Going in through the back door of the kitchen, Hannibal let himself in by breaking the door handle, the aged metal coming off easily enough in his hand. Someone had attempted to lock it, the same someone who was trying to hide under the bed in the living room. Hannibal ignored the humans in favor of looking about the wendigo's habitat.
From what he could tell, Will had no sense for aesthetics if the room was any fair indication, its main contents a messy stained bed shoved over in one corner, an out of tune standing piano in another, and boat motor parts scattered everywhere. A collection of mismatched reading material kept each other company beside a desk filled with clutter. As far as Hannibal could tell from it, Will made fishing lures. Hannibal approved. One had to do something to pass the wealth of time that they were allotted by their conditions.
Shuffling under the bed reminded Hannibal that he wasn't alone and that he would have to address the humans hiding under the bed eventually. Sighing out air he didn't need, Hannibal crouched down to peek. He was met with the frightened eyes of two young women, a scantily clad blonde and brunette in dirty clothing. One was holding a knife and the other was biting her hand trying not to scream.
"Who are you?!" the blonde whispered, her voice shaking as she awkwardly held out the knife at him like the nicked piece of metal would actually be of any use to her.
"Obviously a concerned neighbor who noticed a disturbance and came to investigate." Hannibal said easily enough, as honest as anyone but not really. He just needed some information out of these sheep before dispatching them. They was desperate enough to believe him, his calm tone and demeanor a false source of stability.
"You have a car!?" the brunette asked as she climbed out from under the bed, still clutching her hands to her chest.
"Alas, not with me. I arrived on foot." Hannibal bit back a grin. It all being true up to a point
"Shit!" the blonde was not happy to hear that as she peered out into the dark through filthy windows. Hannibal gave her points for having the better survival instinct of the two. At least she had taken it upon herself to find a weapon, a totally ineffectual weapon but at least some sort of effort had been made.
"Can you tell me your names, and what occurred here?" Hannibal asked, more interesting in the room's contents that what was happening outside. He knew Will would turn up eventually, Hannibal moving over to the piano to find it made a terrible noise just like he excepted it would when played its keys.
"I'm….my name is Allison and that's Courtney. We shouldn't be here at all. We were just trying to hitch a ride." Allison babbled, sounding grateful for the outlet.
"W-we….hit something. Something….big. Joe…the driver, thought it was a deer at first. He got out….and…" Courtney was obviously having a more difficult time of keeping herself together. Hannibal decided to kill her first if she continued to be so annoying and useless.
"And?" Hannibal prompted. He hated this part, the panic, the shaking voice, these silly mortals wasting his time when there were far more interesting things moving about in the dark around them.
"It wasn't a deer." Courtney stated wide eyed with fear, the obvious staring right back at her.
"Well, clearly." Hannibal sighed.
"I-t ripped Joe apart! Like a piñata! A fucking meat piñata!" Courtney was starting to go back into hysterics so Hannibal casually snapped his fingers at her to keep her focused.
"None of that. Please focus. How did you two escape?" Hannibal told her, tsking his tongue at her for the foul language.
"We ran. Oh my god, we ran while Joe was being eaten alive. We found this place and then you showed up." Allison finished for them, a little slow on the uptake considering she and her friend were trying to hide in the home of the monster they were running from.
"Oh Will…" Hannibal murmured, not feeling too particularly impressed by anything here.
"Who's that?" Allison asked, once again getting life points for paying attention. It was almost a shame that she was going to die, and probably in a horrible manner.
"He owns this hovel." Hannibal said, giving a slight unimpressive shrug at their surroundings. Bonded or not, he was not going to stay here any longer than he had to.
"He's dead then." Courtney said with a mixture of despair and confidence.
"Oh, I truly doubt that." Hannibal chuckled softly. "He's the resourceful type. I'm sure he's around here somewhere."
"That…that thing out there.." Allison was doing her best to make sense of her existence at the moment in applaud worthy efforts. "We have to look for a gun or something, or a phone, or …."
"No. We won't be doing that." Hannibal said gently, shaking his head at them. The humans couldn't hear it, but he could. Something was moving through the house, having come in through the window upstairs.
"That…That thing out there is hunting us! All of us!" Allison yelled at Hannibal, gesturing outside with her knife still in hand.
"Yeah, you're on the menu too!" Courtney snapped, feeling some sort of safety in numbers enough to gain confidence.
"No. He's hunting you and I'm afraid, my dears, that you've run out of time." Hannibal corrected, breathing in the power that was beginning to fill every corner. Will's rage tasted almost sweet on his tongue, it hung so potently in the air now with his arrival.
"You said 'he'…Oh my god, you know what it is." Allison said in a trembling voice, backing away from the amused vampire. She was so busy focusing on him that the human failed to watch the movements of shadows behind her, the bulk of them solidifying into a towering creature that looked carved out of black marble and liquid pitch. It would seem that anger compounded with injury made the wendigo more feral in nature and appearance, its upright creature form warping with its raven stag form.
Instead of a humanlike face, a stag's head with wolf's jaw and jagged teeth loomed over Allison, the wendigo's body stretched out wide and wicked with sharp angled bone that had meat and black skin strained over its newly widened frame.
Courtney had just enough time to scream out an useless warning to her friend before Allison disappeared in fine blood mist made from her own bone and viscera, the wendigo disappearing back into the dark with its prize as quickly as it had come.
Hannibal found his arms suddenly quite full with quivering human, Courtney throwing herself at him as she tried to pull him out the door with her. She might as well could have been trying to drag a mountain behind her for all the give Hannibal allowed her.
"Please refrain from doing that. You are wrinkling my suit." Hannibal sighed, freeing his arm from her grasp easily enough. The dismissive motion sent Courtney falling onto her backside, giving her a front row view of what loomed over Hannibal. The vampire turned with a deep sigh when he noticed drips of warm drool beginning to stain his suit. The material was practically sprayed with the stuff when the wendigo roared him his face, embedding flecks of flesh and bone in the plaid material to go along with the spittle.
Exasperated by this turn of events, Hannibal reached out to smack the wendigo upside its antlered head. It didn't do much damage to the wendigo but it was enough to make the creature stop drenching him in its noise and past meals. Jaw clicking shut with an abrupt cracking sound similar to a gunshot, the wendigo tilted its head to the side to whine.
"Rude, Will. You've made quite a mess of this. What's to be done about that?" Hannibal admonished, studying the damage to his clothing. The jacket was stained beyond hope now but still whole, which was becoming an unusual state for it to be in while in Will's company. The wendigo's whining descended into grumbling, reminding Hannibal of a scolded yet unapologetic puppy.
"Can you change back?" Hannibal asked, doubting that Will could carry on a proper conversation in this state. The wendigo chose to hiss in answer, its head swinging to the forgotten human who seemed frozen to the floor with fear. Hannibal wondered if it was a reaction created by the wendigo's inherent nature.
Credit had to be given where it was due. Coutney did try, she really did, the human breaking out of her terror induced stupor to scramble on hands and knees toward the front door. She only managed to paint the floorboards in a wash of her own blood, the wendigo springing forward to land practically on top of her. She didn't last long after that.
"What a mess." Hannibal said though he left it up in the air whether he was referring to his suit or the state of the house in general. "I'm not staying here so you might as well come home with me. We have matter of great import to discuss."
The wendigo keened back him in answer, its maw quite full with Courtney. Hannibal made a face at the terrible display of manner.
OoOoO
If his smirk was any clear indication, it was a given that Will found Hannibal's sleeping arrangement humorous. Hannibal failed to see why the sight of king sized mattress would be a source of amusement.
"Come on now, Will. Did you really except me to sleep in coffin? Perhaps with a little earth or grave dirt thrown in for good measure?" Hannibal mused as he watched the wendigo gleefully roll around on his silk sheets.
"At the very least, I was hoping for a mausoleum. Maybe with a pair of weeping angels guarding its entrance and some obscure Latin phrasing posted over the door." Will grinned cheekily, unrepentant as he scent marked the bed by rubbing himself upon it. Being dead and lacking bodily functions, vampire really didn't smell like anything at all, their personal odor more influencing by their surroundings and what they had come in contact with. Hannibal usually smelled like whatever he was cooking at the time, expensive dry cleaning, and even more expensive cologne. It didn't smell bad to Will, just artificial. He took it upon himself to replace it with his own.
"Are you done acting like a beast and ruining my sheets?" Hannibal sighed as he watching Will grow still while on his belly, the wendigo spreading himself out like a selfish starfish to take up most of the mattress.
"Be nice to me or I'll tear up your sheets, which probably cost more than my house." Will's answer was muffled by the goose down pillows he had burrowed his head under. His threat was quite real, the wendigo transforming himself so that his antlers and claws appeared, all of which were quite sharp.
"Don't you even think about it. That's a waterbed I'll have you know." Hannibal growled, making no sudden movements that could be taken as a threat or startle the wendigo. It would be a hell of a mess to clean up if Will decided to be difficult.
"A waterbed? Why isn't it moving then?" Will asked in disbelief, changing back to his human form much to Hannibal's relief to test out the mattress. There was no answering telltale ripple in the mattress to hint at its true aquatic nature.
"It is waveless." Hannibal clarified as he watched the wendigo glare at the bed in open contempt.
"Then what the hell is the point of having it?" Will arched a brow at the vampire, who was beyond ridiculous in his mind.
"All of the comfort but none of the motion sickness." Hannibal said, shrugging out of his suit with practiced ease. He was pleased that it was still whole for once, stained into ruin but whole. The last couple hadn't survived their encounters with the wendigo.
"Vampire don't get motion sickness. At least not from waterbeds." Will pointed out, watching Hannibal strip with interest.
"How do you know that?" Hannibal asked, ignoring the attention his nudity got him.
"Because I'm a wendigo, not an idiot." Will snorted as he reached for the vampire, managing to snag Hannibal by his lean hips. Shoving down the nightwear far enough to reveal an enticing strip of pale skin, Will quickly leaned in to lick down its curvature and leave a bite mark on its indentation.
"Is there a difference?" Hannibal smirked as he was dragged into his own bed to be held down by the wendigo. His recent attempts at garbing himself proved futile as his nightwear went flying across the room to points unknown.
"I'm still in your bed. Your ridiculous, waveless waterbed." Will warned as he sucked bruises into Hannibal's skin that already began to fade before he was even done. Will laid the vampire out on his back to do this, the wendigo exploring the flavor of Hannibal's chest and the feel of his chest hair against his tongue.
"My deepest apologies then for the grave misunderstanding." Hannibal said straight faced enough anyone but Will might have believed him.
"That's better." Will hummed against Hannibal's nipple before biting down hard enough upon it to make the vampire's back arch off of the bed. "Hedonist."
"Beast." Hannibal glared to be smiled back at.
"Glutton."
"Pot, kettle, my dear Will."
OoOoO
TBC