A/N : Still not mine, I'm afraid. I really hope you guys like this. I have no idea if the drugs mentioned below are real. I found them on an old Poirot novel of my mom's so please don't hate me for them
Alana Bloom was driving on her own for the first time in exactly a year. It wasn't the most tiring year in her life or the most exciting one but it was the year she had understood who she truly was.
6 surgeries to set her damaged internal organs and fractured spinal cord in their rightful places, 1 month she spent in a coma dreaming of a life she had left behind many many many years ago, 3 months of strict bed rest as if she was pregnant woman in her last trimester and 8 months of physical therapy were necessary to put her body in order. Her mind though was a whole different story.
Hannibal may have been actively guiding Will down a dark path but it was she who had been utterly changed.
The darkness had knocked on her door and she had let it immerse her. The first act she'd done with it was to keep still after she woke up from her brief coma and exact her revenge on the pathetic piece of shit sharing her hospital room.
Abigail Hobbs who had once again lived a knife to the throat (seriously how many times can that bitch cheat death?) was in a coma as well. Deadly calm Alana had slipped her hand in one of the visiting doctor's pocket and had retrieved a vial of Marcain without anyone noticing her. That night, she had gritted her teeth to hold off the pain and had hobbled to Abigail's bed. Using one of the disposable syringes that a careless nurse had left in the room she emptied the 50cc of the narcotic drug into a vein in Abigail's mangled little throat.
The first smile in the new life of Alana Bloom had come when the heart monitor of the Lure had flattened to never beat again. By the time the doctors and nurses had reached their room and were fussing over the carcass she had disposed the vial, the syringe and the surgical gloves in an air vent in the room and was sleeping deeply and peacefully.
The second act was not as in and out. She had began it slowly and naturally.
She had introduced Will (whose gutting injury wasn't nearly as life threatening as it appeared at first) to her roommate at the center she was moved for her physical therapy. She watched as will and her roommate got to know each other, used each other to move on from their previous partners (Molly's husband died in the car crash that had almost left her paralyzed) and fell in love in the process. That was Will's reward for moving on. His curse was that he trusted Alana enough to agree to start weekly therapy sessions with her.
It was Jack's idea actually. He knew all four, oops all three, needed therapy to get over and move on from what they had lived. He hadn't trusted Alana at first but he didn't have any other choices so he had to suck it up and deal with it. Will had agreed to the idea thinking they were both hating themselves for joining and believing Hannibal. Alana herself had agreed for the same reason she had refused to be Will's therapy 18 months earlier.
Will was her friend. And his sanity was hers to mold to fit her needs. That was Hannibal's mistake in handling Will. He tried to break him, when altering him was the best course of action. Proof? Hannibal was hiding somewhere in the world with that robotic therapist of his and she was here killing at her leisure with Will seeing her daily and having no idea.
And that was the last thing on her mental checklist.
Ever since realizing what Hannibal's secret ingredient in all the meals they shared in so many years was, she found herself craving it. No other food could satiate her as well as human meat could. Just like all other beer faded in comparison to her personal preserve...
The 'deer' she had began cooking once a week for the dinner following the group therapy between her, Jack and Will had been coveted by both men and had been served at the gathering following Bella's funeral and catered to Will's wedding at the groom's insistence. Alana had accepted with a wide smile and had jumped to his arms. There was nothing better than being asked to be fed human, even if they didn't know it although how Will could miss it was beyond her. Apparently his IQ was lowered by frequent orgasms!
Hannibal had taught his class once that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar and she had always been his best student.
With Will out of her way and holed up in Florida fixing motorboats and Jack obsessed with Hannibal to the point that no one paid any attention to his ramblings, she was free to rule in the Chesapeake. Luckily 'deer' was something that never would get extinct.
"Looks like someone is having fun"
Bedelia's voice reached Hannibal as he walked out of the pool finishing his morning exercises. The woman, while helpful in some ways, was also utterly annoying. Her fixation with celebrity magazines was grating and he was sad to discover that her icy disposition was present only in Virginia. The moment they had landed in France she had changed and was now working on his last nerve.
He had to dispose her. He only had to decide what to do with her bones. Luckily Bedelia had no relatives that would look for her and she had made the mistake to tell him all of her secret places one night after too many cocktails.
"Look Hannibal"
She had drunkenly laughed and shoved her iPad under his nose. Hannibal took a deep breath to calm his nerves and settle better in the chair under the umbrella and only then he looked at the screen.
And let out a breath he had no idea he had been holding.
The images were full of color. The people in them gloriously alive. The headlines were talking about a wedding and the largest photo consisted of a white clad man with gloriously blue eyes holding an equally white clad woman who had thrown her arms at the sky, her long hair pulled back away from her face and her smile as grand as the hole in Hannibal's chest.
They weren't dead. Will wasn't dead. Alana wasn't dead. Jack wasn't dead. They were... married.
His heart, the organ in his chest that had cried over the unintended loss for a year, now dropped to his stomach.
"It seems to me that they moved on just fine Hannibal"
Bedelia's normally cool voice was full of snide. She had been a pain ever since he had refused to let her share his bed again when he had uttered the wrong name at a very crucial moment (she had decided to taste him while he was asleep, for when he was awake all he thought was Alana broken on his porch) was now laughing at his expense.
Filled with rage and hate Hannibal rose from his chair, placed the iPad on it and grabbing Bedelia by the gold tresses he tossed her in the pool and held her under until she went limp. Then he carried her body in the kitchen. He had a long trip back home to claim what was rightfully his and he needed snacks for the road.
Alana arrived at her villa a little after 1 am. She had chosen to drive from Florida instead of flying in order to spend more time with her car. She knew it was childish considering her medical costs but she had wanted a classic Porsche even since she was little girl and so she indulged. She had to remind herself to get the papers for the car done on Monday 'cause it was in someone else's name for now.
As she parked the car she was immediately seized by dread. Something was wrong.
Taking a breath to settle herself she unlocked the front door and stopped just inside the foyer. The alarm system by the door gave a soft warning beep. She frowned. The system was installed by Zeller and it was the best money could buy. Punching in the code she watched the little light turn green and then red again ensuring the house's protection.
However someone had messed with it for the entrance of the villa was flower laden. Roses specifically. The hall's floor was paved with large red, pink yellow and white petals. Vases of all shapes and sizes filled with roses were resting in tables, on the floor and in floral columns.
The fragrance and colors amazed her. Their beauty stole her breath away. She was a romantic soul at for a moment she forgot everything and wanted to be in the arms of the only man that could pull it all of.
Just for a moment.
Crossing with some difficulty through the maze formed by the flowers Alana arrived at the entrance of the corridor. There under the arch was the last vase, filled with long stemmed, beautifully pink, old English roses, her favorites, on the glass coffee table.
Alana stretched out a hand and lifted the small, crimson envelope. Inside it was a card, written with a unique handwriting that Alana knew very well.
Alana, my love,
I hurt you and that was the last thing I intended to do. I had forgotten Abigail was in the house and that she never liked you very much. Forgive me, please.
Always yours,
Hannibal.
PS The yellow trail leads to Oz.
Alana looked on the floor and noticed the yellow petals that go up the stairs. She was sure they lead to the bedroom. Kneeling she picked the first and like Dorothy, started down the road to Oz.
She was off to see the Wizard.
Arriving at the bedroom door she wasn't surprised to see Hannibal lying on her bed, nude. He held the last rose and was using it to touch his body slowly and seductively.
"Hello my dear"
His voice was as deep and sensual and accented as she remembered it. Alana allowed a small smile to reach her lips. It was time for the performance of a lifetime.
"Hannibal"
Their eyes connected. Maroon and crystal blue engaged in a silent war. Then slowly with the grace of a cat Alana approached the bed letting Hannibal see the yellow rose she held and in response he lowered his bent leg letting her see how turned on he was as he offered her the rose he held.
Alana took his hand so that they held the roses together and allowed him to pull her on to his lap so that she was straddling him.
"Not that I'm complaining but you made a mistake in letting me live Hannibal"
Hannibal hid a wince as her softly spoken words reached him. He meant the words in his letter. He truly had forgotten how much Abigail despised Alana and how jealous the teenager was. He was furious when he realized she had pushed Alana out of the window. He had paid her back by slicing her throat. He had been pleased to read on The Tattler that she had died from a medical mistake although he preferred to be the one that killed her.
His wince allowed him to miss what happened next. He never saw the gun that came his way, butt first and struck him across the forehead.
Alana leaned in and took his pulse. Good. He was alive, simply knocked out. Whistling she got off of him and pulled a silk scarf from her dresser. Tying it around his right wrist she made sure the gun was safely in his palm. Closing her eyes she pulled on the scarf and cried out when the bullet hit her shoulder.
Making no effort to hide her tears she crawled off the bed and took her cordless phone from its place next to the night stand.
"Jack? He's here. He... He shot me. Help me Jack"
Letting out a scream she hung up and smiled at Hannibal who was jolted awake from the gunshot and her scream.
"Now we're even"
She told him coldly.
Hannibal's eyes widened as he took in the gun in his hand, the silk scarf around it and the other end of it held firmly in Alana's grasp. The bloodied phone was on the floor. A wound on her shoulder was bleeding profusely but her tone and her eyes were icy cold.
Hunger stirring deeply inside him, despite the healthy meals he had, he shot off the bed, the gun falling on the floor and the scarf grasped between their hands and crushed his lips to Alana's. Her response was equally animalistic and he pushed her against the wall kissing the life out of her until he felt dizzy.
Pulling back he licked at the blood of her wound and moaned at her taste. Seeing the fire in her eyes he licked her wound one more time and offered it to her. He groaned again as she tasted herself on his tongue as they had so many times before with different bodily fluids.
"How much time do we have?"
"Knowing Jack, he's burning rubber as we speak"
"We better get your wound cleaned and dressed then if we want to avoid him"
Alana smirked at him
"It's not that serious. I don't love you enough to kill myself for you Hannibal"
Hannibal growled at her. He loved her and she loved him enough. He had all the time in the world to get her to be his once again and he could finally be himself with her, just as he had planned on doing a year ago to the day.
5 minutes later Alana's wound was dressed and they were in her Porsche speeding away. On the back seat was a cooler with some leftovers she had in her fridge and wasn't willing to leave behind. When Hannibal tasted a cold cutlet, his eyebrows went to hibernate in his hair.
"Deer"
She had replied with a seductive flutter of long lashes. In response he had pulled her close for a kiss.
He knew there was a reason he had never invited her to Jack's last supper after all.
The End