About three months had passed since Anders and Hannibal had admitted who they really were to one another, and things had been going surprisingly well. In public Hannibal was his medical mentor and future father-in-law, in private they'd complemented one another's work while Hannibal had taught him better flaying techniques – a serial killer wasn't born fully formed after all. It was Anders' relationship with Abigail he most cherished though. From the moment he'd first laid eyes on her he'd known she was special, she was his omega and he her alpha. Just as Abigail had wanted, they'd spent time together getting to know who the other was at their core.

"Did you enjoy the performance?" He asked with genuine curiosity as he drove them away from the theatre. "I'm afraid it didn't occur to me that the opera is more Doctor Lecter's idea of entertainment than that of his family."

That assessment wasn't exactly wrong, she'd wanted to see King Lear but held no great love for the theatre.

"I actually enjoyed it. Madam Butterfly was really rather heartbreaking and yet so hopeful. She reminds me of Dad in a way. He had such hope even when things looked hopeless, fortunately it paid off for him because he found Papa."

Anders was tempted to ask exactly what that meant, he knew something terrible had happened in her and Will's past but felt it the wrong time to ask. Instead of tipping into the rudeness he knew the Lecters couldn't abide, Anders moved the subject along.

"In a few months there is a performance of Macbeth, I wonder if you'd like to accompany me?

As Anders drove the pair discussed Shakespeare at length and all she'd learned from her classes. While no great expert, Abigail had excelled at her schooling and would read just about anything simply because she'd been denied for so very long. While Will had discovered a love of fishing and dogs, Abigail hadn't quite settled on any one thing yet, so she was more than happy to let Anders show her what the world had to offer.

"Hannibal has raised a very intelligent daughter."

"He's not really my father." She didn't know why she'd mentioned that. Abigail had no intention of telling him about the house, yet at least, and blood didn't make family.

"I know," Anders confessed. "You don't smell like him. Well, you do, but not in the way an alpha's pup normally does and you're too old to be Will's."

Her scent would always give her away. Omegas and alphas always possessed a whiff of their parents in their scents no matter their age, but Abigail's wouldn't ever match up to those of her fathers'. Claude, Veronique and Sebastian wouldn't ever be doubted, but Abigail needed a document to prove she was their daughter.

"I'd never stopped to think that Will and I aren't actually all that different in age."

"None of that matters, Abigail. He and Hannibal are your fathers now and they obviously love you tremendously." Anders sighed then as he turned a corner. "A lot of people don't get that."

Oh, Abigail was all too aware of that fact. "You sound as though you speak from experience, Anders."

Another sigh. "I do. I'm an only child and my parents died when I was six in a car crash. A man pulled out in front of us from nowhere. I can still remember him insisting it was my mother's fault, that omegas shouldn't have been allowed to drive, they couldn't be trusted nor did they have the competency. He blamed my mother for what he'd done, he blamed the woman he killed simply because she was an omega."

Suddenly Anders' intense urge to punish those who mistreated omegas all made sense. In some way, each time he punished one of his victims, he avenged the deaths of his parents."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you, but it was a long time ago. The only other family I had was my aunt and she didn't really know what to do with me, so I found myself at boarding school until Johns Hopkins. Loves kids, does my aunt, but she loves being able to pass them back to their parents most of all."

Yes, that was something Abigail had noticed. Missus Komeda always asked about the twins and Sebastian but hadn't struck her or anyone else as mother material.

Silence settled then for several minutes, a calm quietude rather than something of tension. It wasn't until stopping at a light that Anders finally broke the silence between them.

"Abigail, might I ask you something a little personal?" She nodded that he could and let out an affirming hum. "Are you willing to accept me as your mate even though I'm a serial killer because it is what you honestly want, or because Doctor Lecter thought us a good match?"

"… Both, I suppose. I've experienced the acts of monsters and so-called good people and I don't wish to again. In my life serial killers are the only ones I've found trustworthy. The Chesapeake Ripper is my father, a man who took me in when he didn't have to and killed those who hurt me and Will. The Tooth Fairy is insane but he has gone out of his way to help people I care about. Now there's you. You don't care that I'm not like normal omegas, just willing to accept me for who I am."

"I love you because you're not like other omegas." He loved her? He had actually just said that? "Also, did you just say Tooth Fairy? Don't tell me he's some kind of cousin in this murder family of yours."

That had Abigail smile. "Not a cousin, no. I'm not sure what D is exactly, but he is exceptionally fond of my Papa and will do just about anything he asks."

Dolarhyde had mostly spent his time at the House since they'd burnt down the Madison-May and Marcus had escaped them. He'd gone right back to guarding omegas but this time without the sexual slavery aspect and threats. Having a routine, medication and Reba in his life had done wonders for his mental state.

"The Tooth Fairy is part of your father's pack?"

"That's never been needed. Papa can pull on his leash whenever he pleases. Papa won't say it out loud, but D is more of a pet than part of the pack."

Anders didn't quite believe what he'd just heard. The Chesapeake Ripper had full control over the Tooth Fairy, that sounded ridiculous but Hannibal was a master manipulator and shouldn't have been underestimated. The three most prolific serial killers in modern memory and they were basically all part of the same family; murder family indeed.

"You call him D?"

"His real name is kind of a mouthful." Abigail shrugged. "Let's talk about something else."

Just as Hannibal couldn't deny Will, Anders couldn't bring himself to deny Abigail.

~X~

Will had been in the living room reading for maybe an hour. The twins and Sebastian were asleep, Hannibal had some errands to run before coming home and Abigail was with Anders, so Will had the whole house to himself. Outside the night sky had taken on an inky appearance with a blanket of clouds blocking the stars, but Will didn't care, he had a warm fire and comfy chair to indulge in. What did truly bother him was Freddie Lounds and her terrible writing. Hannibal was an avid reader of her work for his own unique reasons, but Will detested her. The woman printed nothing but assumptions and lies – mostly about his beloved Hannibal – yet never seemed to face any real consequences for it. The latest article went on about the Flag Killer striking again and leaving this victim inside his own hardware store, while that portion was true, the part about him working with the Chesapeake Ripper because the liver was apparently missing couldn't have been further from the truth.

It was that moment Hannibal entered the room having finished his errands, he flashed his sweet omega a smile then bent to kiss him.

"Everything all right, brangusis? You seem disgruntled."

"I'm fine, Hannibal. Freddie Lounds is printing garbage again, that's all." He tossed his tablet aside and stood to embrace his mate properly. "Claude kept asking for you, wanted you to read his and Roni's bedtime story. I told him you'd read the story tomorrow."

"Regrettably it is her own website, she can print what she wants. She will never know the truth, Will. I won't let anything happen to us or Anders because it would destroy Abigail." The two men separated then and Hannibal seated himself only to pull Will down into his lap. "Speaking of Abigail, how was she before she left with Anders?"

"Quietly excited seems like a good description. She really likes him, Hannibal, just doesn't let the world know it. I'm glad for her, with her being so young when she entered the House, I thought – I thought -"

"That she'd never know love or a bond." Hannibal finished for him only for Will to nod. "Abigail is brave and will never stop surprising us.

They heard the front door open then and Abigail invite Anders inside, so the mates went to greet them only for Hannibal to be presented with a small cooler. He popped it open revealing a fresh human liver.

"I wanted to say thank you for all the advice you've been giving me as of late. My professors are impressed with my improvements." Frankly, Anders' professors were astounded by him, one day he'd be a surgeon to rival even Hannibal. "I hope this will suffice."

"Liver, how thoughtful, Anders. Thank you. I have the perfect Chianti to pair with this."

Anders smiled brightly, pleased his gift had been accepted. He'd been dubious to begin with, but had come to enjoy the thought of being part of Abigail's murder family.

~X~

The evening air had a soft breeze to it that carried a refreshing coldness through the air, which all adored because that week had been unusually hot for the time of the year. Marcus glanced around the airport as parents barked orders at their kids and everybody else silently wished they'd just shut up. He'd spent quite some time recovering in Albuquerque before he'd begun rebuilding his money and network of people; he'd made damn sure to vet them first as well. Dolarhyde had seemed so loyal to him that the betrayal had not only caught him off guard but left Marcus with a permanent limp. He lit a cigarette as soon as he got outside and breathed in that wonderful smoke, wouldn't be as good as the one he had after tracking down the fuckers who'd stolen his property, killed his men and burnt the Madison-May down though. Francis Dolarhyde was the only name he knew for sure unfortunately and he'd gone to ground, had moved out of his place and just sort of vanished. That beta had worked for Jack before his empire had fallen and do-gooders had bought the place. It was the alpha in the fancy suit Marcus wanted dead the most though, Dolarhyde might have shot him, but it was the older alpha who'd orchestrated, he'd been the one giving the orders. Cutting off the head seemed like the wisest course of action if he wanted to reclaim his hold over Maryland's omega trafficking.

Cordell wasn't too far behind him, would be on the next plane, and then they'd begin. Stealing Cordell out from underneath Mason and Jack when he had was probably the most fortuitous thing he'd done in Maryland over the last five years. Having someone with decent medical skill and little to no moral compass was harder to come across than one would expect. Marcus glanced down to his cane; his running days were over, but everyone knew the tale of The Tortoise and the Hare.