Bloodlust: A Hannibal AU

Chapter 10

Trixie did as she was told and followed Jack to a rental car in the parking lot. Hannibal stood by the door, then opened it for her. She nodded to him and entered. Will was already seated in the front. He turned to look at her, obviously nervous. As the door shut, she leaned toward him.

"If you don't feel comfortable, we can leave whenever you want. Don't hurt yourself for this case, Will." Will went to respond, but was interrupted by Jack and Hannibal as they entered the car.

"Beatrice," Hannibal began as he slipped into the back seat. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mostly, thank you. You?" She spied Will as he looked at his lap and smirked.

"I had a pleasant dream." He smiled to himself. "Do you remember your dreams, Beatrice?"

"Not all of them, but some of them."

"What is the most recent you can recall?" Hannibal placed his hands neatly on his lap. Beatrice looked out the window.

"I'd rather not be psychoanalized this afternoon, Dr. Lecter."

"Just making conversation." An awkward silence fell among them, but soon Jack spoke up.

"I'm sure you are all aware of the Headless Horseman of Appalachia by now. This case has been going on for months, and the bureau was finally called in on it. That's where Beatrice comes in. She's got dossiers on every victim and everyone they knew that could be a suspect. Problem is, none of them have any person of interest in common, right?"

"Yes, Sir." Trixie piped up. She was proud of the files she created in the past two weeks. "The commonality between them seems to be the legend of the Headless Horseman, which is odd because that comes out of New York. Massachusetts is mostly known for witches and ghosts, not undead Hessian soldiers."

"Seems you've gained quite the knowledge of myths and legends from this case, Beatrice." Hannibal shifted closer to the woman beside him.

"No, that's all knowledge I've had prior to the case. I'm a bit of a legend buff, you could say."

"Hence why I knew she'd be perfect to have as my second in command. We're on our way to autopsy the latest victim, a young man who, forgive my pun, lost his head. He also was found with strange markings etched into his body, some kinds of symbols." Jack let out an annoyed sigh. "Problem is, these people are a little superstitious, so they refuse to photograph any of the symbols. Our plan is to match the symbols with that of the previous victims, of which there has been at least four. All of which have been found somewhere along the Appalachian Trail. This is the first near Holyoke, Massachusetts." Jack ceased his debriefing as he pulled the rental car into a parking spot at the small police station. As Beatrice exited the car, she turned to watch Will. He was shaken and nervous, but looked determined. She admired his courage and wanted to comfort him again. Hannibal appeared behind her and leaned into her personal bubble. She pretended not to notice him smelling her perfume. Hurriedly, she followed Jack and Will into the station.

It was dated, with orange-tinted wood walls and a burgundy carpeted floor. Inside, there was a small desk with a sweet-looking secretary with blonde hair tied high in a bun. Her glasses were so near the tip of her nose, it looked as if they would slip off her face at any moment. Beatrice spied the golden crucifix around her throat. Looking up, the secretary, whose name tag read Maple, perked up and set down her crossword puzzle. "Are you the FBI?" She asked in a high pitched voice. Jack was the first to bring out his badge and ID. The girl smiled broadly and grabbed hold of the telephone. "Sheriff, they're here."

"Send them in," called a scratchy voice from the other end of the phone. She pointed them to an office at the end of the hall. Sitting at the other end of the desk was the Sheriff. "Afternoon, Agents." He said as he stood. He was tall, broadly built, older, with a graying mustache and freshly dyed brown hair covered by a large brim hat. "I'm Sheriff James Harper. I'm glad the bureau got involved with this one, because it's something else." He sighed woefully. "It's tough to see a girl...mutilated like that." He spied Beatrice and took off his hat. "Forgive me, ma'am."

"I've seen worse, I'm sure." Beatrice crossed her arms in front of her chest. She tried not to think of her old partner in that warehouse, the blood. There was so much blood. Hannibal turned to watch her inquisitively. Will seemed almost amused by Trixie's standoffishness. The Sheriff placed the hat over his heart.

"I didn't mean anything by that, ma'am. We don't usually get any violent crimes like that up in this area. It's mainly Mrs. Wilson's cat getting loose again, or the Johnsons having another row. Never anything this...messy."

"Excuse me, Sheriff," Jack interrupted. "Did you say a girl? I understood we were here to see a male body."

"They didn't tell you?"

"Tell us what?"

"There was another one last night."

---

The fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The rain had turned to a mist as the agents descended a steep hill to a taped off crime scene. By the side of the road, just before the hill, is an abandoned car. Beatrice hugged into her coat to keep warm as a large gust of wind blew her hair across her face. At the base of the hill was the heavily mutilated body of a young woman. Blood coated the grass around her. It reminded her of the Black Dalhia murder with the level of violence done to her.

The corpse was covered in various symbols, some she recognized immediately as protection totems from different religious sects. The one across her bare chest, however, was foreign. It didn't match anything she had seen in the photos of the previous victims. As she was about to step closer, Jack held onto her arm to keep her back.

Will stepped forward slowly. He circled the body, then crouched by her feet. He breathed in deeply, closed his eyes, and silence fell over the area. Finally, he stood. "This is my design." But as the words fell from his mouth like a bleeding wound, he became faint and stumbled. He whimpered and grasped onto his head before the world around him faded to black. Beatrice ran up and held onto Will. She led him away from the scene and up the hill to their rental. Jack appeared at Will's side and helped Trixie to stand him up. Will's head lulled to the side before his eyes opened and searched immediately for Trixie. He called out her name, and she assured him she was there. Together, Jack and Trixie brought Will up the hill to their rental. Will thumped down in the passenger seat.

Beatrice turned back toward the crime scene. Jack had a hand on his hip and a tellingly guilty look on his face. Hannibal was climbing his way up to the car. Will grabbed onto Trixie's wrist and tried to speak, but couldn't.

"You can rest in the car for now. I'll be back in a moment. Hannibal is coming over, he'll stay with you." She said.

"I don't want him, I want you to stay." He grasped at her arm, a tear forming in his eye.

"I can't stay right now, I have to go with Jack. I'll be close." Hannibal finished ascending the hill and was stood behind Beatrice. He placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezed comfortingly.

"I'll check him out. You go." Trixie tried to hide the beets forming on her cheeks. She hurried to Jack's side as he descended the hill again.

"I shouldn't have let him come." Jack grumbled. "He said he was fine, I didn't know."

"He wants to help, Jack. That's how he is. He can't help people in a normal way. This is the only way he knows how. Even if it hurts him, he wants to help."

Jack stopped at the corpse's feet. "We have work to do."