This is a sequel to Cooking Up a Storm, so if you have not read that first, you should.

Will didn't appreciate being bundled into the backseat of Jack's black SUV, and he didn't appreciate being woken at 4 am by armed FBI agents. "Jack… I've been on your team for a year now, and you didn't think to call before you came crashing into my house?" Will Said to the man in the drivers seat. Will himself, was squashed between the two agents that had pulled him out of bed. Jack started the car and pulled out from Will's drive. "Hannibal Lecter has escaped." Was all Jack said in reply.

Will sucked in a breath and held it for a moment, before releasing it in a long sigh. "Well… I said it would happen eventually. Wild animals are not meant to be caged afterall." Will felt oddly calm about the whole situation, or maybe he just hadn't woken up enough yet to feel the shock and impending panic. "Was bringing armed agents, and having them squash me in this car really necessary?" He asked, wriggling between the two men that were a lot larger than he was. "I couldn't risk it, Lecter is bound to know where you live, even if you have moved home three times in the past four years."

It was true, Hannibal had always found out where Will was living, sending him letters that he almost never read. "You and I both have guns, he wouldn't even try to come near me knowing that." Will noticed the look Jack gave him in his mirror, it was an unsure look, as if he didn't trust even Will. He felt a prickle of anger but swallowed it down and said no more all the way to the bureau, in which Jack shoved him into a spare office. He toyed with the idea of just walking out and holding up in some coffee shop, he really couldn't stand being on what he presumed was house arrest; only he wasn't in his own home, and he was in a glass office open for people to peer in at him like some sort of zoo animal.

Sipping on the coffee that had been given to him, he winced at its cheap taste. Ever since Hannibal, he had been buying himself proper beans to make his coffee, it was the only expense he allowed himself to indulge in. Sighing he slouched in the office chair, watching as the agent's outside rushed around, it seemed like the whole department was being used in this case, Lecter was a dangerous man. Will snorted and got up to walk around the room, watching people closely, but making sure he didn't seem too interested. They could either bring him in on this or he was going to leave and hide out for a bit, he didn't want to be kept under protection, he could look after his damned self. Looking at Jack through the office window, he sent him a text, demanding that he be brought in on this. He watched as the older man read it, and looked up at Will, shaking his head.

Will frowned and opened the office door, walking straight out into the hustle and bustle of the department. "Will, get back in that damned room!" Jack bellowed across the room, people turning to look between the two. "No, I'm not staying in one room all day. As long as I'm inside the headquarters, Lecter won't get me." He argued back, edging his way toward an exit. "I'm going to go and find some proper coffee, and chill out with the lab crew. Is that a problem Jack?" Crawford looked at him, still looking pissed off and displeased that his agent was answering back. "Fine, but someone is going with you."

Will didn't argue, and allowed the agent named Miriam to accompany him to the canteen, he knew he could at least find some semi-decent coffee there. "Do you think Lecter is going to try and find you sir?" Will looked at her briefly before looking back at the coffee that he was stirring three sugars into. He wasn't used to being called sir, but she was a newbie and almost in the same league as him. "Will is fine… And most probably." He really wasn't worried, Hannibal wouldn't kill him straight away and he doubted the man would sink so low as to torture him. "Is it true you both had an extremely close relationship? I remember the newspapers at the time were referring to you as murder husbands and calling you the devil's mistress."

'Jesus, she's an inquisitive one' Will though to himself as they walk from the canteen toward the general direction of the labs. "Gossip and speculations, Agent Lass." He said. "And I would suggest you never trust gossip, it is not useful and it is not very becoming of someone to talk shit about another." He gave her a small smile, and pressed the button for the elevator. "Hannibal Lecter and I were good friends, I was also his PA for a year. It is a time that I chose to forget, and I finished my education and joined the FBI instead." He stepped to the side, allowing her into the lift first. "Rather than the fact that I caught him, and that I shot him in the hip. Hannibal will be more annoyed by the fact that I haven't gone to see him, or answered any of his letters for four years." He watched as Miriam followed his every word, seeming interested in what he was saying. Of course he had lied to her, he and Hannibal really had been closer than just friends, but the newspapers at the time were only guessing.

"You were the talk among us trainees when you joined the FBI, not because you had gone through less training, but because many people wanted to work with you when they had graduated the academy." Will felt a little awkward at that comment, he didn't view himself as someone that could be an influence to young people. "So it really is an honour to be working with you, sir." She finished, smiling at him.

Will smiled a little back, he wanted to claw his way out of this elevator and get away from this woman. He really hated Jack right now, did he want him to commit murder again? Clearing his throat, will removed the images of Matthew Brown from his mind. It was still his and Hannibal's secret, and no one needed to know. When they had reached the floor of the labs, Wills phone started to ring. "Jack…" He said when he answered. "Will, I have a job for you and agent Lass. The child murders that have been happening as of late, we think we have a link. I would like you to follow up on it for me." Will handed his coffee to Miriam and pulled a pen from his pocket, ready to write an address on his hand.

The drive had been long, and he had played folk and country music at a volume loud enough to deter Agent Lass from speaking to him. When they got closer to their location however, he turned it down. "The recent murders have been of young girls and boys in their mid-teens, around the ages of 14-16." He started to explain to her, though she probably already knew of the case. " Jack has asked us to visit the Verger estate, a few of these bodies have been found just past the estate, and he would like us to question the household." Miriam was nodding, looking through the case notes that Will had grabbed before they left. "If you could, I'd like you to speak to Miss Verger, and maybe some of the workers. I will speak to her brother, I've heard he's a tricky person to deal with."

It took them another 10 minutes before they arrived at the Vergers mansion. Will looked up at it as he closed his car door, it was a handsome building, he could imagine Hannibal living in a place like this. As they reached the bottom of the steps leading up to the main entrance, the doors opened. "Mr Verger is expecting you." Will ascended the steps, Lass close to his heels. The man who stood at the doors, looked like he must have been the butler. "We didn't tell him we were coming, are you sure you're not mixing us up with his expected guests?" Will said, standing in front of the man.

"You are Will Graham are you not? Mr Verger will see you in his office." Will narrowed his eyes and followed the man inside anyway. "Your partner must stay here." The butler said once they were all inside the extremely large entrance hall. "That's not going to happen." Will said, he was starting to get annoyed. "Mr Verger will speak with only you." The other man said, not changing tone nor expression. Will turned to look at Miriam, who shrugged back at him. "It's fine sir, I will wait here. This is important for our case." Will really didn't trust leaving her here, he had been taught to stay with his partner at all times. Sighing he motioned for the butler to show him the way.

"Ahhh the devil's mistress himself!" Will was tempted to walk right back out of the room, this man had pissed him off already. "This is great, so great." Will looked at the man who was seated on a large desk, as if he had been posing this way, waiting for Will's arrival. "Please, take a seat, make yourself at home." The man, whose hair Will was staring at, waved his arms a little and walked over to a small seating area, consisting of two arm chairs and a sofa. Will followed and sat on the sofa, he was feeling awkward and annoyed. "Mr Verger, I have come to ask you a few questions concerning the recent murders surrounding your esta-" Will was cut off however as the other started talking. "Terrible terrible news, those poor children." Mason Verger jigged the leg that was crossed over his other one, he was like an overexcited child that couldn't stay still. "Tell me, Agent Graham, is it true Lecter is on the loose again?"

Will opened his mouth and then closed it, that news should not have been released yet. Not until the report that was scheduled at lunch. "Mr Verger… I do not know where you are getting any of your information, but I am not at any liberty to tell you a thing nor answer any questions you have that do not involve the case I am here to talk about." Will was leaning forward now, looking the other man in the eyes. "Now, could you tell me if you had met any of these children before. Were they known to come to this area or did they help on your farm at all?"

Mason leant forward, smiling as he looked at Will. "Now I know why Lecter liked fucking you so much. You're a feisty one." Will raised one of his eyebrows "that I am, now could you answer the question, please." Mason continued to smile "no I did not know any of the children, I had not heard of them and I had not seen them around here before. I bet you taste good, that's why he kept you alive, good enough to savour over and over." Mason Verger licked his lips slightly and looked Will up and down. He was wearing a white shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black trousers and black shoes. Nothing smart but at the same time, not his checkered shirts which made him feel slightly vulnerable. "Oh I'm sure I do, but you'll never get a taste." Will answered, smirking back at the other man. He felt like his words held a flirting feel to them, but he was far from wanting to flirt with this man. "Though I'm sure I'm not your type, Mr Verger. I heard you like them… Young." He pressed on, his voice dipping now with slight disgust and warning. He wasn't stupid, Mason Verger was high on his suspect list.

Mason Verger's smile widened "oh no, no, no...Are you accusing me of something Agent Graham? That simply won't do." The man got to his feet, tutting and shaking his head. "Let me show you something, Agent Graham." The man strutted toward the door of his office, not waiting for Will, who had to scramble to his feet and quickly follow the other man before he got lost in this large house. They walked through to a back entrance which lead to the large courtyard where some stables stood, Will noticed Miriam speaking to a woman just outside of them, he hadn't even noticed she wasn't in the entrance hall when they walked through it. "I'm about to show you the Verger livelihood, Agent Graham. This is what papa built our great company upon." Mason lead Will to a large building, from the outside he could already hear the mass amount of squealing. Mason opened the door for him to enter first.

What he saw made him feel a little sick, the pigs were packed into one area; which being an animal lover, he disagreed with. "These are special piggies." Mason started to speak, standing next to Will, his hand in his pockets and a large smile on his face. "My own little experiment. Did you know pigs are carnivorous animals, Agent Graham?" Will didn't answer, just started at the animals, some of which were squealing at him through the bars of their confinement. "I am not the killer you are looking for." Mason said, he sounded serious for a moment and leaned in to whisper something into Will's ear.

Will made a slightly disgusted face and looked at Mason with cold eyes. "Aren't you just pretty, pretty when you stare like that." Mason said and walked out of the building.

Jack had booked Will into a hotel, all on the bureaus expenses of course so he didn't have to pay for a thing. Though if he was honest, he couldn't relax with two agents outside of his door. He really did feel like he was on room arrest. What was worse, he was on the fifth floor, so he couldn't even escape out of the window. He decided to take advantage of the mini bar and drank a few bottles of beer before laying his head down for the night, in an attempt to get some sleep. He played Mason Verger's words over in his head, the open and ready admittance he had whispered into Will's ear. He wondered why he hadn't told Jack all of what Mason had said to him, he was covering for a man that quite frankly, disgusted him. But it wasn't the first time he had covered for a man, or for himself even. His head filled with memories of his kill of Matthew Brown, and of his nights spent with Hannibal, the way the man had made him feel.

His breath hitched as he started to touch himself at the thought. The man still had a hold on him, mind and body. A knock on his room door disturbed his thoughts, shaking him from the pleasure that he was allowing himself. He laid looking at the door for a moment before another knock came. Cursing under his breath, Will grabbed the bathrobe that the Hotel supplied and tried to cover the erection he was now sporting, as best he could. As soon as he opened the door, a force hit him so hard that he doubled over, unable to recover before he felt a sharp scratch against his neck and a hand gripping his hair.

The last thing he saw before blacking out, was the pool of blood soaked into the hotel corridors tacky carpet, and the two agents on the floor. Shit, why was it always him?