Bram Stoker's HANNIBAL

Chapter 52: Till From Her Light Veil the Moon Shone Through

Chapter 52: Till From Her Light Veil the Moon Shone Through

Will paced the suite in Lenore's brothel, glancing every now and again at the clock over the mantle. He'd thought Hannibal was only minutes away, and had already undressed to his underwear. Now he was wandering up and down the length of the room, waiting impatiently for the count to arrive. Hadn't Hannibal once said to him it was in no way fashionable to be late?

A crinkling sound. Will started when he heard it, then glanced at the door. Someone had shoved a slip of paper beneath, bearing a few words. Hannibal's handwriting.

Look under the pillow.

Will peeked out the door, but saw nothing, just an empty hall leading to the back staircase. With a half-annoyed sigh, he tossed the paper in the fireplace and did as he was told. Beneath, he found the blindfold, and a few lengths of soft, light cordage coiled neatly. Will felt his pulse tick higher. All right, then. Hannibal had asked him if he'd wanted to play a game today.

Will put on the blindfold and sat on the bed next to the coils of rope, waiting as patiently as he could. In the dulcet blackness, he let his other senses flourish, and reached out first with his hearing, and then with the mental pulse, combing along his consciousness for his connection to Hannibal's mind.

He'd nearly found it when there were hands on him. Someone grabbed him, flipping him onto his stomach and pinning him to the bed with his arms behind his back.

"Hannibal?" As if he didn't know those hands, the way they felt on his body, that unmistakable scent.

"Expecting someone else?" Hannibal's voice was gritty, predatory, but all encased in satin. Within a moment he'd tied Will's wrists and arms, looping the provided rope several times and securing it tightly with brutal strength, even as Will tried to nudge off the blindfold against the pillow beneath him.

"What are you doing?"

"When I asked what you wanted next time we were together, you said 'surprise me.'" Hannibal, already half-undressed by the feel of it, flipped Will on his back, straining his tightly-bound arms. There was a rending sound in the dark as Will grunted and then struggled to breathe. The strength of Hannibal's thighs was unimaginable, the way he used them to pin Will's elbows directly to his ribs. An instant desire flooded him even in his half-panic befuddlement. The tearing noise, it turned out, was a pillowcase, and Hannibal stuffed a wad of cloth in his mouth before using a strip of fabric to secure it there.

"I've been informed that we can easily be heard in the room below, where some of the professionals are currently sleeping," Hannibal explained. "They apparently are at rest until half-past two."

"Sounds like they keep your hours," Will tried to say, but it came out as unintelligible, muffled mumbling.

Hannibal bent over Will and pressed his lips against the gag for a long moment. "Perhaps I'll miss kissing you." His words were strained with desire but laden with good humor as well. "But why do that when I can eat you instead?"

Will chuckled, then gasped into the damp cloth in his mouth as Hannibal delivered a stinging bite to the meat of his shoulder. Will's sound was muffled by the gag as his mind grappled with the situation that had unfolded so quickly. Well, he'd asked to be surprised. Part of him was curious where his limits were. Their limits.

Hannibal hummed, an adoring little sound, but in the same moment snagged Will's hair and yanked it, hard, angling his head back to expose his throat. "I've missed you," he growled into the meat of Will's neck before licking a wet line from the hollow of his throat, over the rise of his Adam's apple, and under his chin. "I love this city, but I do find our arrangement's limitations frustrating. And these poor citizens, living their lives in puritanical denial of their sexuality — what a waste." He gave Will's hair another excruciating tug and snapped at the place below his collarbone, the favored spot, adding to its perpetual bruises. Will's cry of agonized delight was again stopped by the gag.