I wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name
- from Alice Cooper's 'Poison'


POISON


Part Two


Hannibal Lecter stretched his shoulders back as he walked through the busy marketplace with his hands in his pockets.

The midday sun was burning hot.  His Panama hat kept the heat from his head and face and he was comfortable in white cotton shirt and loose linen slacks.

His meal last night had been quite satisfactory.  Revenge was indeed a dish best served cold.  With a delicious tomato Coulis.

The only problem with killing Chiltern was that his body would be quickly found.  Lecter hadn’t made any attempt to hide or disguise his work.  He’d already skipped from Lana’I to Maui and he planned to leave the islands today and fly to Italy.  He wanted his view.

But he was satisfied that he was relatively safe for the next few hours before his flight and he perused the fresh fruit on sale from one of the stalls.  He bought a mango and didn’t try to haggle down the price.

His freedom was as precious as he’d always dreamt it would be.  Smelling the rich scents in the fresh air he smiled to himself indulgently.

Something caught his eye and he stopped in his tracks.  Two stalls along a young man was chatting to the seller.  If the back of the sun-bleached head wasn’t familiar enough, he could hear the gentle lilt of a voice that had haunted him for years.

A single whispered word escaped him and he dropped the fruit to the ground.  “Will….”


“...just a couple of days, May.  I’m sure I’ll be back.” 

May handed Will the brown paper bag.  “We miss you!”  She smiled a wide smile and patted his hand.

As he stepped back from the stall, a firm hand grasped his wrist and a soft voice murmured into his ear, “Hello, Will.”

He froze, his deepest fear recognised.  For a missed heart beat he forgot how to breathe.  Then his pulse started to race, adrenaline pouring into his system.  His whole body tensed, ready to fight if he needed to.

“Did dearest Jack send you?”

Will swallowed, not sure he trusted himself to speak.  The hand on his wrist tightened, grinding his bones against muscle, burning his skin.  He opened his mouth and what came out was a pathetic whimper.

“Where are the dogs?”

“I don’t….”  He took a deep breath, trying to stave off the panic.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A pause… and then the grip on his wrist slackened.  “Where’s Crawford?”

“I have no idea.  I… I haven’t seen him in five years.”  The fingers around his arm loosened even further and the thumb started to trace a light pattern on the sensitive skin at his wrist.  When he was sure he could trust his voice, he asked, “When did you get out?”

Will felt the breath on the side of his throat, just below his ear.  “A couple of days ago.”

“You… came after me?”

Another hesitation.  “No.  I followed Chiltern here.”

“Is he dead?”  He knew the answer already.

“Yes.”

Will nodded his head a fraction.  “He probably deserved it.”  He could imagine the curl of Lecter’s lips.

“Yes.”

“And now… that you’ve found me?”

No answer.  And suddenly the hand vanished from his wrist.

He stayed rooted to the spot, unable to speak or move.  He could hear the blood rushing to his head like a tide immersing him.

And then nothing.  Silence.  As if the world had abandoned him there in his own space.

He turned.  Lecter was gone.

~

Will ran the short distance to the shore.  Through the marketplace, crossing what served as Maui’s main road, he rushed down the grass bank that led to the wooden boardwalks of the marina.

Around fifteen boats of varying sizes were moored there.  Will’s luxury yacht was on the end. 

He pounded along the boards until he reached the stern of the boat.  Dropping, he hurriedly untied the stern mooring rope as quickly as his shaking hands would allow.  Tossing it onto the deck he went back down to the bow and crouched to release The Free Spirit from its moorings.

His hands stilled on the thick knot.  He could feel his heart thumping hard against his ribcage but beneath the fear he could feel that base desire, the one that had drawn him to Lecter in the first place.  The ghost of Lecter’s touch was still on his wrist.  That same touch he remembered from before the horror.

Tears blossomed in his eyes and he let them fall.  He kept his hands on the rope.

As frightened as he was at that moment, suddenly he was alive again.

He’d run as fast and as far as he’d been able.  He’d believed himself safe with the ocean all around him.  No one could step out from the darkness, there was nowhere to come from.  He was hiding out in the wide open.

He just hadn’t been able to run from what was in his own mind.  He couldn’t escape the nightmares that still plagued him, worse now that Molly wasn’t at his side to hold him until he could go to sleep again.

But not all his dreams were of terror.  And those others were the really bad ones.

Tears turned to sobs.

He couldn’t run any further.

Leaving the rope tied Will put one foot up on the bow of the boat and ducked under the polished railing.  Padding across the light wood deck he threw open the hatch and jumped the four steps down into the galley.

Someone stepped out of the dim, cool light. 

Will opened his mouth to scream but a strong hand curved around the back of his neck and hard lips pressed against his own in a brutal parody of a kiss.

Will fought, pushing at Lecter’s chest with his hands, kicking out with one foot.  But one arm curled around his waist to hold him in place and at the same time the kiss gentled.  A questing tongue pressed against his lips as a whimper escaped his throat.

And then he gave in and opened his mouth, his own tongue sliding over Lecter’s.

Decision made, Will wrapped his arms around the neck of the shorter man and bunched his shoulders forward, needing to be closer.

Humming with delight, Lecter tilted his head and tasted deeper, skimming his tongue over Will’s palate, behind the white teeth.  Will’s fingers clawed at his back, one skinny leg wrapping around Lecter’s shin as if trying to climb him despite the height difference.

Stretching his fingers to push them up into the short hair at the base of Will’s scalp, Lecter tipped his head back, breaking the intimate contact.

Tears running over his cheeks, a soft sob broke loose from Will’s chest and he grabbed Lecter’s shoulders in an attempt to bring him back.

Lecter brought his hand around to brush his palm over the blond head.  “Ssh.  It’s all right.  I’m not going to hurt you.”

Catching his breath, swallowing back the fierce emotional response, Will stared at Lecter’s mouth, unable to meet the strange maroon eyes he’d gazed into so often in the past.

“Then don’t make me think.”  His voice almost cracked.  “Just fuck me.”

Lecter’s hesitation might have told Will there was more to it than that but instead of analysing it he covered the smiling mouth with his own and the other man acquiesced.

Moving forward a couple of steps Will directed them toward the cabin at the stern of the boat.  He kicked the sliding door open with his foot, stopping Lecter before they collided with the low mattress on the raised platform.

Breaking the kiss, Lecter turned Will in his arms and tipped the blond head back to rest on his shoulder.  The blue eyes were closed, lips moist and swollen.

“You’ve always been so beautiful,” he murmured softly, touching his lips briefly to the lobe of Will’s ear.  Glancing around, he smiled at the messy state the luxurious bed was in.  “And you’ve always had good taste.” 

With one hand he started to unbutton Will’s shirt.  “I loved that in you.  Loved that you always fitted into your surroundings.”  His fingers brushed over the bud of a nipple before tracing down over a circular patch of softly rippled skin.  “When we were in Baltimore you dressed immaculately, perfect black pants, those thick crème shirts….” 

Parting the two sides of the lightweight material he explored the expanse of chest and belly, tracing the sleek lines of Will’s ribs, finding the four other coin-sized scars where Dolarhyde’s bullets had slammed through this body that he worshipped.

“I imagined you in Florida in the same shirt as this.  Sky blue denim to match your eyes, beige shorts and bare feet.  You were wonderfully tanned when you came to see me at the asylum.  Like you are now.”

After spending so much time sailing around the hot Hawaiian islands Will’s skin was golden brown.

Lecter’s voice quieted, so that his words sounded like thoughts more than conversation.  “This yacht… it’s exquisite.  Did the court awarded damages pay for it?  Did what Dolarhyde do to you allow you to escape me at long last?”

“No,” came the answering response, low and not at all amused.  “You’re here.”

Chuckling, Lecter lowered one hand to unbutton and unzip the fly of Will’s white shorts while with the other he eased the shirt away from Will’s shoulders.  Turning his head he buried his lips in the hollow of the collarbone presented to him.

He played his fingertips through coarse dark pubic hair, brushing the root of the hardening penis but not touching it.

Trailing a path of delicate kisses up the long neck to the ear, he finally whispered, “Lie down on your back.”

Hesitating for only a moment Will stepped out of his shorts and underwear, kicked off his shoes and dropped to his knees on the mattress.  He pushed the dark duvet off onto the floor and lay down on the crumpled white sheet.

Lecter looked him over, drinking in the sight greedily.  Only the triangle of skin around Will’s groin was white, even the paler scar tissue looked healthier than it would have done had it not been so long exposed to the sun. 

As he undressed he didn’t once take his eyes from the glorious man awaiting him.  Steady blue eyes watched him right back, the gaze heavy with fear muted only by a fierce, almost desperate arousal.

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” Lecter murmured as he knelt down on the mattress beside Will.  “You know I didn’t find any sexual pleasure in killing and I seldom took anyone to my bed.  That morning you came to see me in the gym, I couldn’t work out then what was in your eyes.  They were shining with something I’d never seen there before.”

Will stared at him, pressing his palms into the sheet, glancing now and again at the long, thick cock jutting up from a soft nest of dark hairs.

“Fear, definitely.  You were so scared of me, of what I might do to you despite the chains and the men with guns.  You knew how fast I could be, knew they might not be in time to save you should I decide to strike….”

Moving with feline grace, Lecter stretched himself out over Will’s prone form, planted his hands either side of Will’s head and leaned down for a long, deep kiss.

Will’s hands came up to stroke down along the smooth sides of his lover’s torso and settle on his hips.

“But there was something else,” Lecter continued once he’d taken his tongue from the other man’s throat.  Hovering just over him, he smiled before shifting to nip gently at the front of Will’s throat.  “I thought about it for a long time and the realisation of what it had been took my breath away.”

Sucking momentarily on Will’s prominent Adam’s Apple, Lecter lathered the hollow of his throat with his lips and tongue before skipping down over the collarbone to lie with his mouth over one hard nipple.

“You still wanted me.  It was lust in your eyes that morning, barely visible behind the fright and the mask you wore to face me.  But it was there.”

Unable to deny it, Will dropped his head back and screwed his eyes shut as first teeth then firm lips sealed over the hard nub of dark flesh.

Very early on in their relationship Lecter had discovered Will’s love of nipple play.  He’d bought a small selection of clamps and slowly he’d stepped his lover up from the nipping of his teeth to the biting of tiny, fine metal jaws. 

Once, one particularly vicious night, he’d drawn blood from each nipple with the tip of a dagger’s blade and sucked at the red drops like a baby suckling its mother.

Aroused like this, Will loved the sharp pain and warm pleasure that came with what they did.

Lecter moved restlessly from one side to the other, alternatively torturing and comforting, until Will was clawing at his head and back, gasping almost continuously, periodically begging to be released from the conflicting sensations.

Eventually, Lecter took mercy and lifted off the sweating body.  “Turn over, Will,” he murmured softly.

Rolling away from his lover, Will moved until he was half lying on his side, half on his front.  He knew this position of old.  They’d experimented with so many but this one always gave the gentlest fuck he’d ever known.

Kissing along the curved path of Will’s spine, Lecter moved downwards, sliding one hand over a firm buttock, along a muscled thigh until he reached the delicate skin at the back of Will’s left knee.  Pushing it up, he effectively parted the buttocks and exposed Will’s tight anus to his focused gaze.

Smiling to himself, Lecter touched the small ring of muscle, pleased as Will quivered and instantly tried to move away.  Quickly turning himself around, Lecter put a stilling hand on Will’s hip before opening his ass further with his fingers and moving to kiss the anus.

Will groaned, low and long, as Lecter’s firm, wet tongue pushed inside him.  He felt the man’s mouth over his hole as the tongue was pushed deeper, as far inside as Lecter could get.  He wondered vaguely how many men enjoyed doing this as much as his eclectic lover had always done.  Will had never returned the favour, had only once ever actually penetrated Lecter with anything other than his finger.

As restlessly as the assault on his nipples, Lecter’s mouth shifted constantly between his cheeks, the tongue inside him exploring, searching out the sweet spot that would push him towards an orgasm that despite his sharp arousal seemed too far from reach.

Fingers dug into his thighs, not yet reaching for his cock.  He could feel the heat of Lecter’s body pressed against his back, the hot hard throbbing of the man’s own erection pressing somewhere in the region of his neck.

Suddenly, the firm tip of Lecter’s tongue stuck gold and Will yelled at the sharp pleasure that drove through him.  Having found it, Lecter punished that spot again and again, feeling Will’s body jerk each time until he was trembling, held in place by strong hands and an overwhelming need to feel this.

Finally withdrawing his tongue, kissing Will’s bottom sweetly, Lecter moved like a snake over his lover’s slim body until he was face to face with Will’s cock.

Rolling over slightly onto one hip, he instructed Will, “Open your mouth.”  He was obeyed and with ease he thrust his hips slowly forward, pressing his penis between welcoming lips and into the relaxed throat.  Groaning softly as Will began to suck him, he pushed deeper still until his balls were squeezed against Will’s chin.

“Good….  That’s good.”  He watched for a couple of minutes, pulling back only an inch or so before pressing forward again, rocking back and forth in a gentle rhythm before turning and taking Will’s cock into his own mouth.

He hollowed his cheeks, sucking firmly on the thick erection for a few seconds only to quickly release it again and move to Will’s balls.  He sucked on one at once, rolling the tender orbs around in his mouth, lathering the soft wrinkled skin with his tongue.

He could feel Will’s moans of pleasure around his own shaft and the sensations were just fine.

Alternating between cock and balls, Lecter concentrated on taking Will to the edge of his climax before a quick nip at the foreskin provided enough pain to stop him from falling.

But Will had a talented mouth and after a while Lecter felt his own orgasm closing in.  Reluctantly he extracted his penis, at the same time pushing Will’s knee up to allow him to push a blunt thumb up into his rectum.

Will cried out at the sudden, unexpected penetration but Lecter hushed him, turning and scooting up Will’s body, careful not to dislodge his thumb, to ease the pain with a long kiss. 

Lecter could taste himself in Will’s mouth and deepened the kiss to get more of it.  Will was only too happy to give, lifting his head when Lecter started to back away.

“Easy, my dear Will.”  Leaning up on one elbow, he still managed to stroke his free hand over the damp head of hair.

His other hand he turned back and forth, rotating the thumb inside his lover’s ass.

“It was a shock wasn’t it?  But now it’s not enough.”  Blue eyes begged him for more while Will’s tongue flicked out to wet dry lips.

Obligingly, Lecter withdrew his thumb for the moment and replaced it with his index finger.  He buried that as far up as it would go, bending it slightly, stroking Will’s prostate deliberately.

Will arched his back, rolling forward a little, lifting his leg to rest on top of his lover’s. 

“Still not enough, is it?” Lecter asked seriously.  Withdrawing, he shifted back and let Will lie flat on his stomach to open his thighs wide.  His head turned so that he could meet his lover’s deep red gaze.  Slowly, Lecter brought his hand to his mouth and sucked on each finger in turn, finishing with his thumb.

Then, pushing himself up, straightening his arm so that he could see what he was doing and still watch Will’s reactions, he found Will’s hole again and pressed two fingers passed the restrictive muscle.

He started to move them slowly back and forth, beginning to finger fuck, always pressing as deep as he could, never completely leaving Will’s body.

After a couple of slow thrusts, he added a third finger, his knuckles opening Will painfully wider.

“God….” 

The first actual word his lover had managed brought a fond smile to Lecter’s face and he bunched his little finger in with the other three.

Will was panting now, eyes closed, lips parted.  Lecter sat up carefully, not breaking the rhythm even when he withdrew his fingers almost all the way and the next time added his thumb to the mix.

Although he only went in to the base of his fingers, the cruel stretching of the sensitive anus elicited a scream from Will.  In the past Lecter had fisted him but it had been after literally hours of ass play and with more lubrication than just saliva.

Realising how much he might really have hurt his lover, Lecter leaned down and replaced fingers with his tongue.  He soothed the now tender hole until Will was moaning with pleasure once again and pushing his ass up to meet Lecter’s gentle thrusts.

It was easy now to slide up the sweat-soaked body and press his cock into Will’s ass.  Lecter rested with just the red tip inside his lover until he heard Will take a deep breath and release it.  Then he pushed all the way inside, ensuring the thick root was stretching Will’s anus unrelentingly.

“I have missed you,” he gasped into the hot neck just beneath his mouth as he lay there, not moving, for a very long time.  Stretching his arm out along Will’s he slid his fingers between those grasping at the sheet and felt them tighten to hold him there.

Not expecting his voiced sentiment to be returned, Lecter arched out from his lover’s ass and thrust back inside hard.

The action forced a grunt from Will’s chest and Lecter found he liked the sound.

He did it again and again, each time easing out a little bit further and thrusting back in as hard as the angle allowed.  Each time, the sound Will made was as arousing as the tight, slick heat around Lecter’s cock.

Eventually it wasn’t enough. 

Moving back to kneel between Will’s legs, leaving the hot channel completely for a few seconds, Lecter gripped Will’s hips and pulled him up onto all fours.

Once in position, Lecter thrust back inside, striking Will’s prostate as his went.  Will swore brightly and pushed back, taking their rhythm to another level; one that was hard and fast.

When he knew he couldn’t hold back any longer, Lecter reached between Will’s open thighs and grasped his painfully aching cock.  He dug his fingernails into its base, stopping the instantaneous orgasm, making Will scream with frustration.  But a few seconds later he wrapped the silky hard shaft in an iron tight grip and using the power of his cock up Will’s ass, forced it through his fist.

A couple more deep thrusts and Will was coming, jets of semen arching over the mattress, coating Lecter’s hand as he caught some and rubbed it over the erupting cock.

The sensations of Will’s orgasm triggered his own and Lecter howled as he came, buried deep inside his lover, stilling as he spilt himself, his cock pulsing again and again.

Exhausted, spent, they collapsed together onto the bed, Lecter’s bulk covering Will’s back, one of his thighs between Will’s.  Their rapidly beating hearts pounded in time with one another. 

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.  Then Lecter eased them both onto their sides and smiled when Will turned over and wrapped himself over his lover.  Their old position, whatever they’d done, however gentle or brutal it had been between them.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Lecter whispered softly.

And Will replied, “Which time?”

A minute later Lecter knew the other man had fallen into a sound sleep.  He wondered how long it had been since Will had slept in someone’s arms.

~

Will’s first breath was of coffee and sex.

Lecter was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in his light pants with his shirt on but open.  He was holding a mug of coffee – strong from what Will could smell.

“Thanks.”  Sitting up, finding the duvet wrapped around him, Will took the mug.  “I’ll… I’ll get up.”

Lecter nodded and rose, giving Will privacy to get dressed.


Ten minutes later he padded up on deck, out into the warm evening air.

Lecter was sitting out, ass on the railings, soaking up the sun and sipping his coffee.  He looked across and caught his breath. 

Will had showered.  His damp hair had been towel-dried and was sticking up at all angles until he combed his fingers through it self-consciously.

He wore a white cotton shirt over light blue denim shorts, his feet bare.

Lecter smiled affectionately.

“It’s a beautiful evening, Will.  Going to be a hot night.”

Will nodded.  “It’s always hot here.”  Crossing to lean on the opposite railing, he folded one arm around his chest and drank his coffee.  “How long have you been here?”

“I flew in to Lana’I yesterday.”  He paused.  “You haven’t asked me how I escaped.”

Shrugging, Will responded, “Does it matter?  You’re here.”

“It matters to some people.”

“People who will come after you.”

“Yes.”  Lecter sighed softly.  “Where are Molly and Josh?”

“She left me after Dolarhyde.”

“She left you?”  He was genuinely surprised.  “Why?”

“Because I told her to shoot him in the head.”

“Did she?”

“Yes.”

“And then she left you.  Were you still in the hospital?”

He hesitated for just a second.  “I was in a coma.”

“Do you think she still loves you?”

Will shrugged.  “I have no idea.  I don’t care.  I bought a boat with some of the money the court awarded me in damages.  I went back to the house in Florida to pick up a photograph of them and leave my journal for Molly to find.  Then I left.  I drove to Lauderdale, picked up the boat, bought clothes and supplies….”

“And left it all behind.”

“I tried.”

Lecter nodded.  “I’m sorry, Will.”

“No you’re not.”  But there was no accusation in his voice.  “You tried to kill them, giving Dolarhyde my home address when you knew I wasn’t there.”

“But he got to you anyway.  I underestimated him.  If you and Molly hadn’t killed him I’d be going to find him now.”

Will frowned, cocking his head to one side.  “For me?”

“For you.  Does that make you feel uncomfortable?”

Thinking for a moment, he shrugged lightly.  “I honestly don’t know.  You’re leaving aren’t you?”

Lecter nodded.  “My flight leaves in…” he checked his watch, “just over an hour.”

“Where will you go?”

“Italy.”

Blue eyes met maroon.  “Your view?”  Spoken with a smile.

“My view.”  Will hesitated, but he pushed off the metal and went to stand next to where Lecter was leaning.  “Going to tell them where I’ve gone, Will?”  He shook his head.  “I know you won’t.”

“Hannibal….  That night… what went before….”

“You don’t think I ever cared about you, do you?”

Will turned his head and gazed into the eyes of his lover.  “How am I supposed to know what to believe?”

“I didn’t make a habit of taking FBI agents to bed.”

“I know.  It’s… what you said when you attacked me.  ‘Every game must have its end.’”

Lecter shook his head minutely.  “The joys of an eidetic mind, ay, Will?  Yes, I cared for you.  I still care for you.  I know you won’t believe this but I think I might have loved you.”

Blinking away unexpected tears, Will glanced away for just a moment.   “You killed me.  Didn’t give me a chance to… to…”

“To what?  You were going to shoot me.”

“Arrest you.”

“Same thing.  You denied me my freedom.  As I denied you yours.”

Will found himself both touched and comforted.  Lecter could crawl around in his mind as easily as he could crawl around in Lecter’s.

For a short time they stood in a companionable silence drinking coffee like two ordinary holidaymakers.

“What are you doing out here, Will?”

“Running.”  He chuckled into his mug.  “Didn’t do me much good, did it?  Like Florida.  You still found me.”

“This time it was a coincidence.”

“You weren’t planning on finding me?”

“No.  I prefer knowing you’re alive.”  He threw Will an intimate, sideways smile.  “Put it down to old age.”

“You didn’t feel old a couple of hours ago.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Finishing his coffee, Lecter took the empty mug down into the galley.  When he reappeared, his shirt buttoned, Will hadn’t moved.

“Will I see you again?”

A few strides took Lecter to stand in front of his lover.  “Do you want to?”  When no answer was forthcoming, he closed the space between them.  Will met him in an open-mouthed kiss.  “Coincidences can happen at any time.  Take care, Will.”

He watched Lecter step down to the boardwalk, cross to the grassy bank and stroll up it without looking back. 

Tears collected in his eyes and escaped over his cheeks but he let them fall. 

He watched until the other man vanished from sight then he went to the stern of the boat, jumped down onto the boards and retied the mooring rope.

He wondered how long it would be before Crawford turned up.

~

Jack Crawford stepped off the Lear Jet and smiled when he saw Clarice Starling waiting for him on the tarmac.

“Any sign of him Agent Starling?” he shouted over the noise of the jet with the ghost of a smile in his voice.

“None, Sir,” she shouted back.

They jogged through the rickety shack that passed for the airport terminal and out onto the dusty road where an open-topped police jeep awaited them.

“Police scoured Lana’I after Chiltern’s body was found.  Apart from Chiltern, there was no sign of Lecter.”

The ride was bouncy.  Jack had to wonder if they’d ever considered suspension in their vehicles.  Or surfaces on their roads.

“How about Will?”

Clarice frowned.  “Will Graham, Sir?”

“I found his journal.  He was coming here.”

“You think Lecter would go after him?”

“Will was the one who caught him.  Lecter’s already tried to kill him twice.”

They arrived at Hawaii’s main police headquarters from where the biggest manhunt the islands had ever seen was being co-ordinated.

Clarice introduced Crawford to the locals and he explained the situation with Graham.

“We’ll take a helicopter, check out the marinas across the main islands.”

Crawford nodded, amazed at the speed and level of co-operation.

Within twenty minutes, they were in the air.  The sun was setting over the horizon.

~

Will lay atop the galley and stared at the stars.  Not until he’d moved to Florida had he realised how densely populated the night sky really was.

Now and then a plane passed over head.  He imagined Hannibal sitting in First Class on board one of them, sipping champagne and ignoring the latest in-flight movie, preferring instead to listen to the classical channel.

The cabin below him reeked of sex, of the two of them.  He wanted to keep it like that for a while so that he could lie in bed, close his eyes and remember his lover’s touch, the sound of those seductive tones speaking to him as if he were the most precious thing on earth.

After the trial Will had sat for twelve hours in Crawford’s office and read Lecter’s file from cover to cover, committing the names of his victims and the results of his attacks to memory.  He’d done it before, when he’d been investigating the Chesapeake Ripper.  But alone in Crawford’s office he’d looked at the harrowing pictures through different eyes, through the eyes of the killer’s unsuspecting lover.  Through the eyes of a victim.

The killer and the lover were two people to him and he knew it was dangerous to think that way.  He was certain now that Lecter wouldn’t hurt him again and he felt somehow empty.  Had he been waiting, expecting Lecter to seek him out at his earliest convenience?  Had he been running from what he wanted so desperately?  And now Lecter had come and gone, what was there left to wait for?  To run from?

There was nothing to be scared of anymore.  The bogeyman had a name and he wasn’t coming back.

Reaching up to the darkening sky, Will let the freedom wash over him.  “Thank you,” he whispered into the warm air.


It wasn’t long before the unmistakable racket of a helicopter shattered the peace of the islands.  He closed his eyes against the blinding searchlight and waved once upwards.


Five minutes later they’d landed and Jack Crawford was leading a small army of local law enforcement officers down the bank towards Will’s yacht.  With Crawford was a young lady Will didn’t recognise.

He slid down from the galley and padded bare foot across the deck to lean on the railing around the bow.

“Hey, Jack.”

“Will!”  The relief in the older man’s voice was evident and when he reached the boardwalk he reached for his protege.  Will went into the embrace willingly, returning it.  “I am so glad you’re okay,” Jack told him quietly.

“I’m fine, Jack.”  Pulling away slightly, he asked, “What’s with the cavalry?”

“Lecter’s escaped.”

‘Why are you always just a couple of hours too late?’  But Will kept the thought to himself.

They stepped aboard The Free Spirit. 

“Will, this is Agent Clarice Starling.”

He smiled, shook her hand politely and took them down into the galley, drawing the bedroom door closed.  He glanced around but there was no evidence that Lecter had ever been here.  He’d even washed and dried the mug he’d used, clearing fingerprints probably.  To be sure, Will made coffee, using Lecter’s mug as his own.

“How did he escape, Jack?”  Like he’d told Lecter, it didn’t matter.  But Jack would expect him to ask.

Crawford and Starling had made themselves comfortable on the seating around the long galley table. 

“He was being moved to better accommodation in return for information on a serial killer, Buffalo Bill.”

“Better accommodation?”  Will couldn’t believe it.  “What did he know, the guy’s name and address?”

Clarice spoke up as Will turned to spoon the coffee into the filter.  “He told us the killer murdered a patient of his.  He told a senator – the mother of the kidnapped girl – that the killer’s name was Louis Friend.”

Will stilled, thinking through the puzzle.  Then he chuckled.  “And they fell for it?”

Clarice glanced at Crawford, impressed despite herself.  She’d heard a lot about Will Graham.  The first time she’d spoke to Lecter he’d asked about ‘Jack Crawford’s first protégé’.  She’d only adopted an instant dislike of him after she’d found out that he’d quit the FBI.  There was nothing she hated more than a quitter.

He finished making the coffee and poured three mugs, handing them to his guests.  The local cops had all disappeared when they’d been assured that Lecter wasn’t here.

“He came here, to Hawaii.”

“Ah, so that’s the reason for the cavalry.”  Wryly, he moved to sit up on the work surface next to the sink.

“He followed Dr Chiltern here – remember him?”  Will nodded.  “He killed him last night, in a hotel room on Lana’I.”

Will didn’t react.  He really didn’t know what an appropriate response might have been.  Chiltern, as he recalled, was an asshole.  No one deserved Lecter’s wrath, but he couldn’t find it within him to extend Chiltern any of his limited sympathies.

“Have you seen him, Will?” Jack asked him suddenly, out of nowhere.  Clarice glanced at him, confused by the question.

“Have I seen who?”

“Lecter.”

Will stared at him in disbelief.  “You really think I’d still be sitting here if he’d paid me a visit?  I’d be floating face down in the water, Jack, if I was lucky.”

“I don’t think you would.”

“Sir?”  Whatever her initial dislike of Graham had been before she’d met him, she could read the fear in his very existence and wasn’t sure where accusing him of harbouring the man who’d done this to him was going to get them.  Nor where it was coming from.

Crawford ignored her.

“I went to the beach house, I found your journal, the one you left for Molly.”

Will’s eyes widened.  “And you read it?  Jesus, Jack, don’t you have better things to do with your time?  Don’t you have any morals?”

Crawford put his mug down and rose, stepping out around the table.  “Morals?  You were involved with that crazy fuck and you ask me if I have morals?!”

Clarice’s eyes widened.  Involved?  What did he mean by ‘involved’?

Gaze turning to ice, Will stared at the man he’d once considered a friend.  “Who are you to question my personal life, Jack?  You’ve done nothing but use me.”

“What do you think he did?”

“I’m not going to explain us to you.”

‘Us’?  Starling looked from her boss to the man she realised she knew absolutely nothing about.  “Us?”  She couldn’t help speaking it out loud.

Without taking his eyes from Will’s hard gaze, Crawford explained, “Will and Lecter were lovers, weren’t you, Will?  But then you discovered his grisly secret and he almost killed you.  No remorse.  No sentimentality.  The only person Lecter gives a shit about is himself.  He never felt anything for you, Will, you were deluding yourself and I think you still are.”

Will amazed himself and Clarice by not erupting in anger.  He sat, sipped his coffee, and recalled his afternoon spent in his lover’s arms.  Lecter had had no reason to lie to him when they’d been standing out on deck.  He could have killed him and frankly Will wouldn’t have really cared very much.

“Finished?”  Crawford didn’t flinch but held the icy stare.  “Lecter and I were lovers, before he tried to kill me.  Attempted homicide is never good for any relationship, even the strongest ones, Jack.  I don’t think he likes me very much any more.  On top of that, how would he ever know I’m here, aside from tonight’s light show?”

Sighing so loudly it was almost a growl, Crawford spun on his heel and took the steps up to the deck two at a time.  Will watched him go.

“How badly did he hurt you?”

He tilted his head to regard Agent Starling.  “He sliced into my abdomen and up through my Large Intestines.  I was in the hospital for five months, in an IC Unit for two.”

“Yet despite that, you went to see him on three occasions during the Dolarhyde case?”

Will nodded.  “Jack talked me into it the first time.  Lecter was behind bars, what harm could he do me?”

Clarice smiled a sad, knowing smile.  “Doesn’t make any difference, does it?  He still gets to you, gets inside your mind, makes you believe….”  She trailed off.  Will frowned, picking up on the almost wistful tone.  She’d spoken to Lecter at the asylum he suddenly realised.

“Did you spend much time with him?”

She shook her head.  “No.  I saw him three times at the asylum, once in Tennessee before he escaped.  He was lying to the rest of them about who Buffalo Bill really was but he was telling me the truth.”

“You caught the guy?”

She grinned, proud for a moment.  “Sure did.”  It soon faded.  “But Lecter killed two guards, three medics and a tourist to make his escape.”

Will looked away from here, feeling more tears blurring his eyes.

“You okay?”  She half-rose from her seat.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, it’s… it’s okay.”  He brushed the moisture from his eyes with the back of his hand.  “I cry a lot.  Slight chemical imbalance in my brain from the gunshot wounds Dolarhyde left me with.”

“You’ve had a tough time.”

“No tougher than most.”  It was a lie, but one he firmly believed in.

They sat in silence for a minute or so before Clarice murmured, “He has been here, hasn’t he?”

Will hesitated but nodded.  “How did you know?”

“Your reaction when we arrived.  No surprise, no shock, no fear.  You asked the right questions but only to go through the motions.  When did you see him?”

“This morning.  He saw me in the marketplace and followed me here.”  He watched her half-rise again and shook his head.  “He’s long gone.”

She nodded, accepting the inevitable.  A surprisingly high number of flights left the mainland of Hawaii in the course of a day.  Lecter had hours on them.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

“Did he tell you where he was going?”

“No.”

This time she wasn’t sure if he was lying.  But she didn’t want to ask.  She didn’t want to know.  She stood by her belief that he wouldn’t come after her.

“What will you do now?”

Will looked at her, studied her, for a time.  “I have no idea.”


As Jack stepped down off The Free Spirit in Clarice’s wake, he turned back.

“He’s poison, Will.”

“I think I’m immune.”


Clarice Starling and Jack Crawford left less than an hour after they’d arrived.  Local cops hadn’t found any other trace of Lecter although a cleaner at the airport thought she remembered him holding a door open for her.  She couldn’t remember when that had been, just that it had been today.

As they boarded the plane for Washington, Crawford told Clarice, “Will knows where Lecter’s gone.”

“If he does, he won’t tell us, Sir.”

“I should pull him in.”  Clarice looked across at him until he met her wry frown.  “I know, I won’t.”

~

two months later


Stepping into the cool of Lana’I’s main store, Will pushed his sunglasses up into his hair. 

“Morning, Lou.”

The big, dark man behind the counter looked up and grinned.  “Hey, Will.  Been a long time.”

“I needed the ocean for a while.”

“I can see that.”  Turning, Lou took an envelope from one of the shelves behind him.  “I’ve been keeping some mail for you.  It arrived last week.”

Will took it, knowing as soon as he saw the handwriting who it was from.  “Thanks.”

“Anything else I can do you for?”

“No.  Maybe later.  Thanks, Lou.”

Will walked the short distance back to the marina in a daze, staring down at the expensive off-white envelope in his hands.

Sitting in the galley of The Free Spirit, he sliced open the seal and pulled out a thick page of expensive A4.

This is such a beautiful place I feel a need to share it with someone.  We were always good together, my dearest Will, could we enjoy one another’s company once again? If you’re agreeable, walk along Via Portarossa at noon on the fifth day of any month and as long as I am still safe I will find you. That night, what went before, I loved you, Will.  I still do. Always yours, Hannibal Lecter

Smiling to himself, Will took the matches from beside the stove and lit one, holding the paper to the flame as long as he could until only ashes remained. 

Florence sounded very, very tempting.


fin
elfin

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