It was the scent of smoke that drew him back. After finding himself coated up to his elbows in another's blood, Will had resolved never to return to the wendigo's forest. Not after what he had done, let himself do…

…but something was burning. No, Will realized as he delicately sniffed the air, not burning. Cooking. Something was cooking over a fire, and the smell of it was making Will's stomach growl in echoes, the growing space within him feeling so hollow. As he made his way back to the sleeping woods filled with too many closed eyes, Will briefly wondered if he was cursed, if meat itself carried a spell within it. He shouldn't have started, but now that he had, Will found he couldn't stop.

Meat was murder, and he was becoming a killer.

The scent led him back to the now familiar space of the clearing he frequented, the wendigo sitting out in the open, illuminated in shades of gold by the fire's flames he cooked over. Meat that could have been from anything by now was being seasoned and grilled in tender strips, fat dripping off of it to fragrantly sizzle and crackle.

Biting his bottom lip to keep from whimpering, Will's hunger only seemed to get worse. The faun's natural diet of grapes and grass tasted like ash now to him, and the fish Will caught were barely enough to get him by, little losses of aquatic life sacrificed to his new appetite. The fairies avoided him altogether now, having finally figured it out that he was becoming something other. To his credit, his herd had yet to find out though his continued absences were starting to raise some questions with Jack and Freddie.

"I know you're there, little faun." were the words that made Will skitter back, until he realized that the wendigo hadn't moved from his fire.

"Why don't you join me? It's rude to stare." Hannibal said, finally deigning to look up. He found Will easily enough in the dark despite all the faun's hiding and attempted subterfuge.

Heart pounding and his breathing coming out rapid and shallow, Will edged forward to the boundaries of the clearing. He looked up with wide eyes to find himself being calmly regarded by Hannibal who chose not to comment about the distance still between them though his eyes clearly measured it.

"Why do you keep coming here? Why do you spy on me? Why do you feel the need to taste my kills?" Hannibal asked in rapid succession, letting the faun know that he had not only been seen but observed. "I can think of far less painful ways to die than risking my ire."

"May I have some?" Will swallowed hard, his throat clicking. He was aware that the wendigo was toying with him, asking questions he already knew the answers to. Will also realized that he was in grave danger, but he was so famished. "Please?"

Risking another look at the wendigo, Will found Hannibal studying him with an indeterminable look, his nod slight and easy to miss if he hadn't been looking.

"I thought fauns didn't eat meat." Hannibal pointed out with a soft smile, watching as Will came closer to him. Inborn instinct was making the faun's legs shake and his knees knock together with every hoof step, but compulsion was driving Will forward. It was charming watch the war within, what desire would win out over the other.

"They don't." Will admitted sadly, his shame snuffing out his new need enough to bring him to an abrupt halt. He should leave now, while he still could. There was still enough distance between them that Will was confident that he could escape.

"Ah. I see. You've come alone because you are unique. How interesting." Hannibal said, taking off the last of the meat from the fire. Hiding his displeasure of the faun's stop, Hannibal purposely put it on a leaf beside him, rounding out the tender grilled pile.

"You're alone too." Will said defensively, his embarrassment and shame making him snappish as the faun stomped his hooves into the dirt.

"I am…" Hannibal allowed it, though he frowned a warning at Will's rude outburst. The faun was too entertaining to dispose of. Allowances could be made for now. Will could always be taught manners and proper etiquette later. "I will remain so unless you choose to sit down."

"But you'll eat me." Will pointed out, shifting nervously from hoof to hoof. From the looks of it, he was preparing to take off again. Hannibal was going to have none of that nonsense though.

"We have a goblin for that, my dear Will. Come. Sit." Hannibal said in a gentle tone, gesturing to the former messenger. It was lovely when Jareth sent his food. Like he cared about some silly girl wandering about the Labyrinth. If she was foolish enough to lose something to the Goblin King and then want it back, she deserved her fate in Hannibal's opinion. It didn't have anything to do with him anyway unless she chose to enter his woods.

"This is the last time I will ask." Hannibal intoned when the faun hesitated in answer. He watched as Will shivered in response to his calm beckoning, and even more so in growing interest as the faun tiptoed forward on light hoof. The smaller creature settled itself down as close to the meat as it could manage while still trying to keep the furthest distance possible from Hannibal.

Fauns were quick, but wendigos had reach and patience. Timing as well, as Will was soon to learn. Waiting until Will reached for the meat, Hannibal grabbed the faun up easily enough, hauling the stunned creature over to him and into his lap. It was a simple matter to trap Will there in between his longer legs.

To his credit and Hannibal's pleasure, Will fought him, struck out the best he could with small fists, butting head, and cloven hoof to no real effect. It was cute he tried though, flailing about in panic to only succeed in getting even closer to Hannibal. The wendigo simply wrapped his agile arms around the faun's torso to grip at his hips, effectively stilling any escape attempt.

Unlike some in the past in the same position of fate, Will had enough sense to know when he had been beaten, the faun growing lax in Hannibal's hold. The wendigo enjoyed the sensation of feeling Will breathe heavily against him, the smaller creature coated in a slick sheen of fear sweat. He smelled desperate and delicious to Hannibal who leaned in to scent chocolate curls. A slight shake of shoulders and consistent heaving on the faun's part told Hannibal that Will was crying, the wendigo rubbing his cheek up against the other's face to feel the moist salt of sorrow.

"Shhhh…" Hannibal soothed as he petted dark curls, settling his nose against their satin to breathe in deeply. Delightful and delicious. As much as he liked meat properly seasoned though, the faun's tears were beginning to bother him.

Scenting Will caused the faun to try an escape again, his smaller body writhing against Hannibal uselessly in one last desperate attempt to escape the wendigo. The movements only served to show Hannibal just how well they fit together, especially when Will's backside nestled itself into Hannibal's crotch.

Tilting Will's head up and to the side so that he could view his tragic profile, Hannibal watched as the faun refused to look at him, tears spilling down his face to stain it. The wendigo gave into its nature just enough, unable to resist the urge to lick the liquid salt off of smooth cheeks. The faun shuddered with a whimper, his lithe body trembling against the wendigo's solid own.

"Shhhh…" Hannibal hushed again, shifting Will in his lap to make them more comfortable. Keeping one arm firmly in place like an iron bar across Will's waist to press the faun's back to his chest, Hannibal freed a hand to reach over and gather up some of the meat. Waiting until Will grew still again, Hannibal placed a small piece of it to Will's lips. Eyes closed, the faun resisted, until Hannibal pressed it past the tight entrance onto his tongue.

To his delight, Will caught on quickly enough, taking what he was offered once it was tasted. At first hesitantly with wide, white ringed eyes before his greed kicked in completely, Hannibal delighted in how that quick tongue cleaned his fingers of any trace of meat, and soft lips wrapped around the tips of talons in caresses that were starting to melt the wendigo's core into something molten and unfamiliar. The feel of blunt teeth nipping at him for being too slow kindled sparks of strange pleasure within Hannibal, the sensation of it strange but welcome.

Relaxing his hold upon the smaller creature in small increments paced in time to every piece of meat Will took on his own, Hannibal soon enough found the faun relaxed and pliant in his lap, Will resting against him on his own. The little one's trembling had ceased as well, the faun's scent losing its sharp odor of distress. Instead, Will sat sated and full, humming in pleasure.

Leisurely stroking his prize, Hannibal ran his taloned hand along Will's sides, over plains of toned muscle, and through the warm fur that covered goat legs. To Hannibal's surprise, the wendigo was handled back, the faun touching what he could reach, and sinking his clawless fingers into a feathered pelt.

"It's so soft." Will murmured in surprise, marveling at how pleasantly strange the wendigo's fur felt to him. He had expected it be coarse, but much of the wendigo's covering was either soft or silky, the faun turning enough in place to feel Hannibal's chest hair, curling his fingers in it. Feeling eyes upon him, Will risked glancing up to find the wendigo watching him, yet making no move to cease his explorations.

Moving experimentally, Will found that he was permitted to turn around fully, the faun kneeling before the wendigo though Hannibal kept him caged with his limbs. Peeking up at Hannibal's face to find it as unreadable as ever, Will kept touching, letting his fingers glide over lithe muscles, well shaped shoulders, and up the column of a graceful neck. Leaning in, his lips joined in the journey, the faun discovering a strong jaw line and chin with his mouth, his fingertips tracing the outline of a thin lipped mouth before traveling up a long straight nose nicked with scars.

All the while, Hannibal tightened his grip upon him until the seams of their chests met and grew flush, Will having to leave off his exploration to brace his hands upon Hannibal's shoulders to keep himself level with the taller creature.

Finally feeling full for once in what seemed like a long time, Will sighed in contentment as his early dawn gaze of soft blue with waking bits of grey met eyes the shade of blood kissed earth. Resting his weight up against the wendigo's solid frame, the faun reached his hands up to cup Hannibal's face as Will closed the gap between them. Pressing his lips to the wendigo's own, the faun breathed out as the Hannibal breathed in out of shock, parting his lips to gasp. Will took the opening, thrusting his tongue through the gap to lick his way into Hannibal's mouth. Slow at first in thick teasing motions before touching the wendigo's tongue with his own, Will engaged it to twist and roll. Enjoying the flavor of smoke, meat, and something that was all wendigo he found there, Will's hands left off Hannibal's face to ran upward, clutching at locks of silvery ashen hair before his curious fingers felt along the base of black antlers.

Will wasn't too sure what happened next, the faun suddenly finding himself on the ground, his seat of wendigo seeming to disappear right out from under him.

"H-Hannibal?" the faun asked empty space curiously. Nothing answered him back though a few trees opened their eyes to regard him with curious stares. The flora wasn't used to seeing other beings…alive…much less repeat visitors. A waking forest was never a good thing to be in for long, Will having enough sense to leave before the trees got too interested about his presence there. Sparing a disappointed look back at the forest as he ran to the safety of the meadow, Will wondered what had happened to the wendigo, where he had gone when things had just started to get interesting.

Hiding in cool shadow and well hidden by it, Hannibal watched Will glide off over hill and dale with the ease of his kind, fauns naturally light and swift of hoof. Talons touched his lips and face which still tingled from where Will had made contact with his mouth, tongue, and fingers, searing an impression of self upon the wendigo. Reaching lower between his legs, Hannibal found his sex ripe and ready from the attention, a stirring of flesh that had not happened before with another.

It was startling in its occurrence, enough so that Hannibal had felt a need to withdrawn completely to regain some sort of control. The faun was doing terrible things to his willpower, Hannibal wanting to take everything from Will, all except for his life. The thought of the faun being dead at all made Hannibal keen, the low rumbling sound of it making the trees glare at him in brief waking.

Focusing instead on the thought of Will's skin upon his own, Hannibal gripped his meat in hand, rippling his fingers in time along its length to the memory of Will sucking on his tongue and harmlessly nipping at his lips with blunt teeth. Will had been so soft and supple in his arms, lovely in his open desire, fauns easily giving themselves over to pleasure of any kind.

Want pooling in his gut with an intensity close to the curse of his constant hunger, Hannibal came with a growl, feeling bereft in his pleasure without Will there as he emptied himself out into his hand.

The faun would return though. Of that, Hannibal was certain, and when he did, Will would find that the forest was his new home, whether he wanted it to be or not.

OoOoO

TBC