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"You're so beautiful," Hannibal said, as he had Will about to drive a stake through his heart, looking into his eyes.
A vampire struggling against a monster hunter, fighting for his life, and yet he stopped to talk about his beauty. Will couldn't deny or belittle Count Lecter's hypnotic power, that would be a mistake, but it did him little good to be aware of that power if he couldn't fight it. That compliment had really distracted him. Hannibal managed to break free and push him against the wall, making the stake roll on the floor.
Will saw the light at that instant. It was all over. So many years hunting all kinds of monsters, avenging the death of innocents, but this monster was the one who would finally finish him off. A part of him always knew this would be his end; a horrible death at the hands of a ruthless being. But once again, the vampire surprised him, for it was not biting his neck, nor was it tearing at his flesh, just caressing his cheek as it held him against the stone wall, pressing their bodies together.
"I knew your intention was to kill me from the first moment you walked through the door," Hannibal said softly. "It was so obvious you were lying when you claimed to be a simple lost stranger and yet, I couldn't resist. Your beauty is incomparable."
Will looked at him in horror and confusion, clenching his jaw, frowning, pushing with all his might at the man's arms and chest. It was in vain, he only ended up more tired than he already was.
"You are strong and brave, but also so delicate..."
"Shut up, shut up!" Will spat. "Kill me or let me go at once."
"My beloved William, how to do either of those things?"
He could barely react to those words when Hannibal was already kissing him. Stealing a kiss, more like. At first, Will resisted. He pressed his lips together and tried to turn his face away. But he eventually gave in to the taste of the creature taking his face. Then, in an instant of lucidity, Will pushed the count away and threw himself to the ground, meeting his stake. He held it pointed at the monster to act as a shield between them.
"I will not submit to you, not that" the hunter growled. "I will not be a slave like those women you turned into concubines, don't you dare come near me!"
Hannibal looked at him quizzically then smiled in disbelief.
"Enslave? Concubines?" he repeated as if it were ridiculous. "How wrong you are, my dear. If there are any slaves here, it is I, and of the women you speak, I never obtained any favors. They came to me, I only gave them what they desired, and in return they keep me company in my solitude."
Will didn't believe him, it was obvious. Hannibal remained aloof as he had asked and now the hunter was deciding between running away and finishing what he had started, but it was taking too long to find an answer.
"Tell me, how many days have I been here?" he asked finally. It was impossible to know for sure being under the vampire's hypnotic spell, having been in his house. He could have slept for several days in a row without being aware of it, it could have been less than he thought. In any case, it bought him time while he plotted a plan.
"You've been here almost two months," Hannibal replied. "But what does time matter to an immortal? Forgive me if I misunderstood. I stopped counting the hours a long time ago and I live only at night."
"You've already bitten me, haven't you?" Will asked, horrified at the thought, approaching violently, gripping the stake tightly. "How many times? How many times have you done it?" he asked screaming, desperate, bringing his free hand to his neck in search of marks.
"Twice. While you were sleeping. Once, just once more, William, and we'll be together forever," he said, sounding almost pleading.
"Yours against my will!" the hunter shouted, threatening him again.
"Put down that stake, it's of no use to you. If I wished to kill you, I would have done it by now," Hannibal ordered. "And if I did not desire your consent, you would already be mine."
"My consent?!" Will laughed. "How much hypocrisy in that false nobility. You want my consent after drinking my blood twice already."
"Do you really think we are so different?" Hannibal said, approaching calmly. So calm that Will was intimidated, for he almost seemed to want to stab himself with the stake. "Do you think I'm a monster who kills innocent beings for pleasure? I do not feed on anyone who does not deserve it, just as you do not use your weapons against pure souls."
There came a point where the vampire had the point of the stake against his chest, right in the center. Will was going to drive it in, he just needed to push it against him, but he couldn't move. Hannibal was holding him with his eyes, he didn't even need to touch him.
"Stop it" he demanded, distraught that he couldn't even control his own body. "What have you done to me? Stop it..."
Trying to fight that mind control, Will ended up fainting in the vampire's arms. Hannibal laid him down on the bed, resting his cold hands on the boy's warm forehead, pushing aside his curly locks to get a good look at his face, opening his shirt to uncover his chest so he could breathe. After a short time, the young hunter opened his eyes, still a bit lost, not knowing where he was. He only knew that those cold, pale hands were caressing him.
"Why?" Will mused, stirring awkwardly and slowly. "Why didn't you kill me the day I arrived, why do you want to turn me into this thing?"
Hannibal held him against the bed, one hand on his hips and the other, stroking his hair.
"Because we were already together in another life and I never thought I would see you again. My beloved William, I hope I can make you remember that you once owned my heart and I never got it back." He slid his fingers down Will's neck gently. "I'll take my own life if not."
"Wait-"
His pleas were silenced by a gasp of air he took in as he was bitten. The vampire dug his fangs into the young man's neck, drinking from his blood for the third time and marking him forever. But Will felt pleasure and not just pain. His moans were erotic, his skin bristled and his legs trembled. He thought he had never felt another man's body on his, but he could have sworn he had already experienced that, perhaps in a dream, perhaps in another life. The touch was familiar, the kisses were familiar. He had crossed the threshold of hell and come back to life. His body was still not his, it was Hannibal's, Hannibal's alone.
"Hannibal" He moaned, but it was as if someone else was speaking for him.
He was so thirsty, and only he could quench it. Without being aware of it, Will had quenched the monster, had put it under him and was drinking from its neck. His eyes were white and his mouth was bloodied as Count Lecter gasped, badly wounded in the neck. After so many centuries, at last someone was biting him again.
"William," he sobbed.
The boy looked down, breathing through his mouth, not hiding his sharp new fangs.
"I remember you" Will replied, holding his face. "Desperate man... I remember your wooing me to my balcony, I remember your letters and your kisses. So desperate you died for me, didn't you? And now you wanted me so, cursed as you are. But in this life I have been happy too, don't weep for me."
"William..." said Hannibal, but not another word came out of his mouth because Will began to tear off his clothes, there, sitting astride his lap.
"Take me, take me as you always wished. This is your chance now that I am weak because I may kill you at dawn."
Hannibal wrapped his arms around him as Will lunged to devour his mouth, giving him a taste of his own blood. He was trembling, he had waited so long for him that now he was seized by ecstasy, by passion. They were beasts in torn clothes, moaning on the bed, full of scratches and bites, their skin torn to shreds. Hannibal grunted at the tightness that imprisoned him, Will rode him more violently despite the pangs, torturing them both. It hurt, it hurt horrors and it was wonderful.