Disclaimer: I don't own Hannibal, The Vampire Diaries, or The Originals. The plot bunny was too good to ignore. Rather AU for all series.

The Most Dangerous Game

Chapter Two

Seeing Alana Bloom again so soon was not something Katherine had planned, but to straighten all this out, she knew she had to play the game. Alana had been one of Hannibal's colleagues and closest friends, and he had mentored her in the doctorate program at Johns Hopkins. Katherine pitied her in a withering sort of way, in that she hadn't been able to see through Hannibal's carefully crafted façade, particularly after the incident with Nicholas Boyle in Wisconsin. Had Katherine been there, she would have been able to compel Alana and Abigail to believe and repeat whatever story Hannibal had concocted, but Hannibal was clear on one thing: With his games, there were always his rules, and he wouldn't allow even Katherine to interfere.

"Katherine." Alana stepped into the hotel room, the expression on her face warm, trusting. "You could have let me know you were okay. You had us worried sick."

Katherine regarded her with a doleful expression. "I'm sorry," she told Alana as she finished applying her mascara. "I was scared you would have told him, scared he would have found me. He's very good at finding people."

Alana looked at Katherine with concern. "Did you know what he was doing? Was that why you left?"

Katherine capped the mascara tube. She exited the bathroom and reached for her purse, making a show of checking her Smartphone so she wouldn't have to look in Alana's inquisitive blue eyes. "I didn't know anything about his extracurricular activities, if that's what you're asking about. I left because he was suffocating me. Maybe he knew he was going to get caught soon, maybe he wanted to act like he was planning a life with someone and he was normal. I don't know. You're the psychiatrist."

Alana's brow creased as she let out a long-suffering sigh. "Maybe that's something we can talk more about later. I'm sure you're still processing the whole thing, too."

Katherine glanced up from her Smartphone, inclining her head. "I'm sorry," she told Alana. "I just found out about all of this, and like you said, it's hard to process. I was living in his house, sleeping in his bed, eating his food , all without knowing he was killing people and then feeding them to me. "

"You're sure you want to see him?" Alana asked her. "You don't have to if you don't want to. No one is expecting you to…"

"Yes," Katherine interrupted. "Yes, I want to see him."

Alana nodded. "Okay then. But I have to warn you he's not the man you're used to seeing. He's changed…a lot."

"We all have," Katherine replied, putting her phone away and shrugging on her peacoat. "I'm ready to go when you are."

Alana buttoned her coat and led Katherine out to the car. "We can get dinner afterward," she told Katherine. "If you want, we can talk about whatever happens there."

Katherine eyed Alana levelly as she climbed into the psychiatrist's Toyota. "Maybe," she said. "You'd be the best person to talk to about it."

Alana took that as a compliment, and she smiled. She and Katherine spent the entire ride to the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane in silence. Katherine stared out the window, trying to tune out the sound of the blood thrumming through Alana's veins.

She'd had blood from a bag this morning, but somehow, it wasn't as good as blood pulsing from the vein. But she couldn't feed from Alana. That would really be pathetic. She'd have to wait until tonight.

Dr. Frederick Chilton greeted them when they first stepped into the hospital, and as he led them to his office Katherine could feel his eyes on her as he appraised her just like he appraised all women.

She whirled to face him. "Stop staring at me," she ordered, her eyes meeting his. "Now, please."

The compulsion worked.

Chilton went on to talk about the precautions the hospital had taken for Katherine's visit with Hannibal, how she would be able to see him, yes, but only see him. No touching, no physical contact. Trust Chilton to cover his bases. Hannibal might kill someone, even with his own bare hands.

He was in one of the cells, behind bars, like an animal at the zoo, wearing the standard prison jumpsuit. He had lost some of his color from not being outside. He lifted his head from his drawing at the sound of her heels across the concrete floor, and he put his work aside when he saw it was her. "Katerina."

Her heart fluttered when she heard him say her name. She didn't think she would react like this.

She remembered things, the way his hands had felt on her hips, the taste of his blood, the smell of him, the way his eyes would darken when he was ready to make a kill.

Rebekah was right. Katherine should have turned him. He would have made a killer vampire.

"I didn't think you would come," he went on, rising from his chair and approaching the bars.

She took a seat in the chair that had been placed opposite his cell. "You didn't think I'd come? I would have come eventually, Hannibal. You know that."

He cocked his head, staring at her, taking in the ensemble she had chosen for today. "You're looking well. But that's only to be expected." He gestured to the chair in front of his cell. "Sit down."

It was just as though he were still in his own study in his own home, receiving her as a visitor, and wishing her to sit down so they could sip wine, catch up, and talk about old times.

You've drunk the entire bottle. That was very rude of you, Katerina.

I'm a vampire, Hannibal. I can be as rude as I want to.

"So how did it happen?" Katherine asked him, crossing one leg over the other and smoothing the skirt of her wrap dress. "How did Dr. Bloom get the idea to report me as a missing person?"

Hannibal's face remained impassive, but his eyes glinted with a speculative light. "I told her you had left in the middle of the night and that you were very distraught. She filed a missing person's report with the police when you wouldn't pick up your calls and her other attempts to contact you failed."

"Because I'd ditched that phone. Anyway, I wasn't really that interested in talking to her at that moment. I was more interested in getting out of Baltimore."

"Why, Katerina?"

"You know why, Hannibal."

He returned to his drawing. "You really think I would have pursued you?"

"I think you would have tried to find me and get me to come back to you. So I took precautions."

"But you came back." He paused his sketching and eyed her meaningfully.

"I had to come back. There was a little something that had to be cleared up. When I'm done, I'm leaving."

"Do you really think that Jack Crawford would let you leave Baltimore so easily now that you're back?" Hannibal asked her mockingly. "He'll do what he can to keep you here, Katerina, until all of the questions regarding this have been answered to his satisfaction."

"Have you been answering their questions?"

"I've answered some and have declined to answer others." A smirk cut across his face.

"So why not just answer all of his questions and make some kind of deal?"

"Do you think I would stoop to such a thing, especially when it involves Jack Crawford?"

"You're already locked up. Where's the fun in continuing to screw with him?"

He sighed. "Katerina, stop pretending to be naïve. You know perfectly well why I find it amusing."

Of course, the cat-and-mouse game, the thrill of sending Jack Crawford on a snipe hunt. Hannibal had done this more times than she could count during the course of their affair. Katherine had to admit she enjoyed cat-and-mouse games—she had certainly played more than enough of them in her time—but there was also a point at which they had to stop and some other, more direct move had to be made. Which was why she had proposed leaving. And why Hannibal had refused.

"What does your lawyer say?"

"He advised me that it wouldn't win my any sympathy from the judge or a jury. But he only can advise me. Whether or not I take his advice is at my discretion."

Katherine scoffed, leaning forward. "I can't believe this, Hannibal. This is pathetic."

"What are you calling pathetic, Katherine? Or rather, whom?"

"This whole situation. You ought to be playing ball with Jack Crawford and the police and whoever else…"

"Whomever else."

She rolled her eyes and saw Hannibal glare at her in reaction. "Whomever else just so you can come out of this intact." She stood up and approached the cell with careful steps. "I want you to come out of this intact."

He rose and came closer to her. They were just inches away from each other, separated by iron bars, but still he sniffed her. "You're wearing Amarige de Givenchy. Did you pick that out deliberately for today?"

"It's in my rotation," she replied quietly. "And it was always your favorite when we were…still together."

He reached through the bars and touched her hair. The guard jumped up immediately, but Katherine gave one look at the guard and ordered him to stay where he was. He complied.

"You've always proven yourself useful," Hannibal remarked. He leaned closer. "You won't betray any secrets, I hope?" he whispered .

"As long as you don't betray mine," she replied.

He nodded, smiling. "Tell me something, Katerina."

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"Did you love me?"

Katherine inclined her head. "Did you love me?"

"Katerina."

"I can't answer that question right now," she told him. She stepped away and turned to the guard. "I'm done here." Turning back toward Hannibal, she said, "I have to go."

"Will you be returning?" he asked her.

"Hannibal, you know I can't promise that." And she turned away from him to follow the guard back to Chilton's office.

"So how did it go?" Alana asked Katherine once they were in the car.

Katherine blinked. "It was okay."

"I told you he'd changed."

"He has. He makes no effort to hide who he really is now."

"I'm sorry if it upset you, Katherine."

"What do you have to be sorry about? I was the one who wanted to see him. I got my wish."

"Did he say anything important?"

Katherine shook her head. So now Alana Bloom was questioning her about Hannibal, too.

"Is there something you're looking for?" Katherine asked her harshly. "Do you want me to go see him again with a list of your questions? Because if you want me to, I will. It doesn't mean he'll answer them."

"But he might answer them," Alana countered. "Katherine, we've got two missing women who could possibly be alive. Hannibal knows where they are, and if you could get that out of him, we could find Abigail and Miriam Lass."

"You honestly think I could get that information for you?"

"We'd just want you to try. Katherine, we watched the footage. He touched you and he whispered something in your ear. What did he say?"

Katherine glanced away from Alana. "He told me he missed me and some of the things we used to do…when we were together. Romantically," she lied. "I told him prison shouldn't be a place for romance."

"Oh." Alana looked ahead. "How do you feel about Italian tonight? We're meeting someone else here, and they got a table for us already."

Katherine felt a twinge of reservation in her gut. "Who's meeting us?"

"You'll see," Alana said as she pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. They both got out of the car and Katherine followed her in. Alana seemed to be looking for someone, and she motioned for Katherine to follow when she found them.

That someone was Will Graham.

I don't know if Elena, Stefan, Damon, or anyone else from Mystic Falls will show up in this, but I can see Damon giving Will Graham a hard time. Reviews and constructive criticism, please and thanks?