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~~~***~~~
Five hours ago.
The ship was on fire; the flames reflected in the murky water that rippled against its hull and the dock. There would be no survivors save a woman and her daughter. The rest were drained and their bodies left to burn as small explosions started over the ship. The large explosion, signifying the gas line had finally succumb to the inevitable, lit the sky for miles and Hannibal gave a slightly hysterical laugh. It was almost over. There were only two more humans and a nest of vampires to go and then this part of his plan would be over.
"They will not wait long," his lover said, walking up behind him, hands massaging Hannibal's shoulders.
Hannibal shrugged. He didn't care. Let Danica wait. Let them all wait. He needed this moment for himself.
"Her maker was too fast with her siring and should never have tried with one so unstable," his lover said as if it was a reminder. There was no regret in his voice until his next statement. "I killed him too fast. He did not have a chance to pay for his crimes."
"I am surprised that Asher is as stable as he is," Hannibal commented. "Perhaps he will get a second chance to live. If I'm still feeling generous by the time this is over."
His lover let out a bark of laughter and Hannibal turned in the embrace and pulled the other man's head in for a kiss. Their tongues dueling before wrapping around one another.
"They can wait," his lover agreed, breaking the kiss before lowering them to the less than smooth rooftop floor. The roof wasn't the best place to do this but neither man cared as the sound of naked flesh upon naked flesh filled the air along with moans and sighs of pleasure that were just covered by the sirens from the arriving fire trucks.
Ten minutes later his lover's tongue was lapping at the wound Hannibal had caused earlier in the day to convince Blade he was the true enemy in their midst. The wound was closing but Hannibal didn't care; no more disguises.
Hannibal ran his hands down his lover's back and watched the demon--one of his lover's many forms--return to his very human appearance. The bone exoskeleton had always turned Hannibal on; the horns were excellent to hold onto during sex. "What I really want to do to you will just have to wait until this party is over," he said.
Then he glanced around the roof while grabbing for his clothes. "And Drake," Hannibal said, grabbing his lover by the hair and pulling him in for a kiss. "Have fun with Blade tonight."
"As you wish, my love."
Hannibal spared the still burning ship one last glance before following Drake from the roof.
~~~***~~~
Four years ago.
Hannibal had been watching as the vampires in city after city started to get too uppity, too power hungry. He almost wanted to say too big for their britches but that just didn't cover it. They had started to be seen in public. Started leaving their kills out to be found. It would not do. The vampire hunters were growing in strength but still failing to accurately do their job and that would not do either. Not at all. And Blade, that had been a mistake that Deacon Frost should have paid for long before he did. Vampire hybrids never lasted and always did more harm than good before they succumbed to their baser instincts and destroyed everything around them. It was something Frost should have suffered for doing but being killed by your own creation was a justice that Hannibal enjoyed the irony of.
It was time to clean house. It was time for him to come out of hiding and become their king again. It was time he set the plan that had been bouncing around in his head for the last hundred years into motion and take back what was his. He should have done this the century before last when Stoker wrote that book. Hannibal should never have told that man his made up story of romance and intrigue and creatures of the night, but Stoker's blood had been like a fine Irish whiskey and he liked to pay his debts. And so the story of Count Dracula had been seeded in the mind of a gothic novelist. There wasn't anything true about it. Well, mostly anyway.
He sighed and got up from his desk where he had been reading the reports from his most trusted guards and almost started to pace the bedroom when his thoughts were interrupted.
"What are you thinking about so hard, my love?" Drake asked softly from where he was reclining on their bed trying to read a book, but was obviously being kept from doing so by the soulbond they shared. Hannibal's thoughts distracting Drake from the printed words on the page.
Hannibal smiled and climbed onto the bed and straddled Drake's hips, taking the book from his lover's hands and tossing it towards the nightstand. "That I should have killed them before they got this far," he answered.
"The hunters or the vampires?" Drake asked, hands coming up to grasp Hannibal's waist, thumbs rubbing lightly over the skin.
"Both." Hannibal sighed but this time it was a sigh of comfort as he leaned in and licked a path from shoulder to neck to ear before moving to the underside of Drake's chin. Vampires had changed in the last thousand years and not all for the good. The new ones, the ones called vampire, had lost many of the abilities of the old ones but Hannibal thought for most of them that was probably for the best. To this day he wasn't sure exactly who had done what with the siring process to make this weaker strain of vampire that multiplied almost as fast as cockroaches, but his two prime suspects had now been dispatched from this Earth for crimes against their king and he couldn't ask them what steps they had skipped.
"Killing the one woman would not have stopped all that has happened," Drake replied, hands now roaming up and down Hannibal's back and bringing his attention back to the question at hand.
"True, but it would have stopped some," Hannibal said, but didn't move his gaze from Drake's neck before continuing. "It would have made me feel better."
Danica Talos had become the de facto leader of most of the vampires in this city twenty years ago and had been branching out ever since. Hannibal should have drained her dry and left her corpse to dust in the sun fifty plus years ago after she brutally turned ten other people including her own brother against their will. She wanted to rule the city; she wanted to rule all vampires. That was never going to happen.
Hannibal moved back to Drake's neck and lengthened his incisors to very sharp points, using them to scrape gently at the skin. Drake moved his head to the side and Hannibal bit, letting the warm blood pool for a second before he started to drink.
~~~***~~~
"You have a plan?" he stated before bringing Hannibal in for a kiss, tasting his own blood on Hannibal's lips. The kiss was long and drawn out and perfect but had to come to an end. "And I am not going to like it, am I?" he asked already knowing the answer.
Hannibal sighed. "No, my love, you are not."
Then this was not a conversation to have in bed; especially if sex was involved. Hannibal always got what he wanted when they were in bed. He grabbed Hannibal around the waist and used his greater strength to bring them both to their feet.
"I love when you do that," Hannibal grinned. It was knowing and seductive. It had lured many a person to their end; it had a way of luring him back into bed with his soulbond and saying yes to whatever it was Hannibal wanted. "Not staying in bed then, are we?" Hannibal asked with a small pout, hands resting on Drake's naked chest and eyes glowing with mischief.
"No," Drake answered, not falling for the look his lover was giving him. "Neither are you going to sit in my lap without clothes on. I know you too well."
"Thousands of years will do that."
Drake pulled on a robe and tossed another at Hannibal before going to sit on the couch in front of the fire place. Thousands of years did not mean that they could not still surprise the other; it just meant it was harder. He guessed that came from trying to court each other across a battlefield. It had worked. The son of La Magra and the first son of Lilith had brought a peace to the two peoples after their mothers--the queens of their respective people had left the earthly plane to rule elsewhere--leaving their offspring to rule. The peace had come at a great cost to all three populations but few humans even realized that.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw Hannibal toss the robe towards the edge of the bed and instead pull on a pair of well-worn jeans. His lover didn't sit but paced around in the sitting area in an aimless pattern. The jeans were molded to Hannibal's frame, the robe would have been better; less distracting.
"I think it's time they once again discover their king." Hannibal turned to look at him.
"I...," Drake started to say something but wasn't sure what it was he should be objecting to so he just waved Hannibal to continue. He agreed that it was time to handle the vampire issues. They had lost sight of who and what they were and a few of his own people had come to him with concerns. The noisier the vampires got the more likely his own people would be discovered and the human population as a whole was not ready for that to happen again.
Hannibal gave him a small smile before continuing. "I want to go undercover," Hannibal gave him a look. "Don't you dare mention all the cop shows I've been watching."
Drake grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it," he replied. Besides he would have mentioned all the books before he brought up television. And there was even Hannibal's brief time as a private detective in the 1970s. Hannibal gave him a look that clearly said that his lover knew exactly what he was thinking.
"I want to see exactly how much power Danica has actually acquired," Hannibal said. "We need to know how far her reach is so we can cut it all out. See if any of my kind have fallen in with the half-breed vampires. See who else is trying for power they cannot yield. Danica's little horde cannot be the only who have forgotten there are rules and a king who put them into place."
"And if they have?" Drake asked, not believing that any of the true vampires would tell a half-breed about their abilities--the least of which was being able to walk in the day, but some of them were very power hungry and wouldn't have a problem using their weaker cousins to suit their own needs. They would use them to come out to the humans and then take them out themselves to appear as the hero. A few of his people had done that over the millennia--it never boded well for anyone involved.
"They die," Hannibal said, not even stopping to think about it.
"And the others?" There was a chance that not every group of vampires was involved.
Hannibal shrugged. "Not enough information."
"If you are going to play human then what am..."
"When it's time, you're going to be the vampire king," Hannibal interrupted and Drake found his lap full as his lover pushed him back into the chair for a kiss. Any objections Drake had for the moment got tabled as Hannibal gave himself over, baring his neck and waiting for him to change form and take what he needed.
~~~***~~~
Drake paced back and forth. Hannibal was late and if he didn't appear soon Drake would risk their plan by charging into Danica's compound. It had been three months since he'd last seen his lover; his mate. Since he had last held Hannibal in his arms. Since he had last kissed his mate and since the last time they had made love. Drake hated this part of the plan. The bond between them let him know that Hannibal was alive but that wouldn't stop him from retrieving his lost lover.
They had easily set up things so that Danica would want Hannibal in her little parade of followers; would want him close to her. Hannibal had been forcefully grabbed kicking and screaming right off the street in front of a known group of hunters. Even though he'd struggled and screamed and tried to get away the hunters had made no move to help him.
Drake had watched everything from the shadows and his temper had flared. Only the soulbond he shared with Hannibal kept him from doing more damage than he had, but that group of hunters hadn't lasted the night. If they were not going to help someone who was being taken against their will then what good were they for anything but a meal?
The hunters were supposed to be protectors of the humans. It didn't matter if Hannibal was being taken by other humans or vampires, they should have helped. Their deaths probably wouldn't help Hannibal's plan but those hunters had been even more useless and slower than other groups they had observed and had not been worthy of the title of hunter of anything.
The sound of feet on the rooftop gravel but no sound of the stairwell door opening or closing told him Hannibal had arrived and was making noise so he could compose himself. The bond told him the same thing but that Hannibal was also amused. "You are late," Drake said, turning to look at his mate, his expressions still clear on where his thoughts had just been.
His expression turned to one of anger and he didn't stop the growl that came out upon seeing Hannibal's face scarred. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, his fingers raised over the deep grooves that ran down one side of Hannibal's face; knowing there were probably more he couldn't see.
Hannibal grabbed his hand. "Don't," Hannibal said. "It's hard enough to hold the damage," his body having wanted to heal the wound even as Danica was causing it. "I need to let it heal in the time Danica thinks it should. If you..."
Drake didn't care. He leaned in and ran his tongue across the grooves. Tasting Hannibal's blood and the acid Danica had used to cause the wounds. "I will snap her like a twig."
"Later, my love. She's a loon," Hannibal said, trying to back away from him so his lover could pace but Drake was having none of that and held onto Hannibal's hand as the other man talked. "As in not sane. I'm not sure she ever was. They're afraid of her and worse, her brother is afraid of her and for her at the same time. Their relationship is interesting and nothing like I expected it to be. The worst and best thing she ever did was turn Asher."
Drake really didn't care. He simply wanted the woman dead for causing harm to his mate. For making them be separated.
"I know you don't care," Hannibal grinned at him, that knowing smile of his, and leaned in to steal a kiss. "Screw it," he heard Hannibal say, just before his mate dropped to his knees. "Let her think I fed from someone without permission. It will both help and hurt my status."
Drake knew Hannibal was rambling and stopped it by grabbing Hannibal's head and directing it to where he wanted. It had been too long without his lover's touch and he was soon coming. It wouldn't stop him from taking Hannibal on the rooftop. From hearing his mate scream his name as he came.
Hours later, with Hannibal wrapped in his arms he listened to his mate's account of being inside one of the largest known vampire nests. It was not pretty. The corruption that Hannibal had feared was evident but he still didn't know how widespread it was and that was what troubled them both.
~~~***~~~
"The hunters are dysfunctional, unorganized idiots. No wonder they've failed miserably in containing or stopping Danica. Or for that matter, any vampire. It's pure dumb luck most of the time," Hannibal said, taking the towel from Drake and wrapping it round his waist. He'd barely gotten out of the bar before it had gone up when one of the hunter's had fired his gun toward the gas line that powered the bar's lighting system. It had sparked and flared which started a fire racing across the line and walls of the building. Several vampires had gone up in smoke and ash but several humans had been just as unlucky but hadn't had the benefit of burning and turning into ash. Hannibal could still hear their screams in his head and that pissed him off.
Drake put his hands on Hannibal's shoulders and soon Hannibal found himself relaxing as Drake's long fingers tried to massage away the last few hours. "We have what we need," Drake told him leaning into his back.
Hannibal sighed. They didn't have everything, not yet. "It's time for the next stage of the plan." Involve the hunters and get Danica to start looking for the vampire king. It was time to visit the other side of the equation and if the last few days had shown Hannibal anything it was that the human vampire hunters were inept. He wasn't sure if it was the leadership or their reliance on Blade.
In the almost two years Hannibal had been with the Talos nest he'd seen just about everything he abhorred about the strain of lesser vampires that had become so prevalent over the last millennia. Though, what had disappointed him more were the handful of his people--true vampires, that had been pulling the strings. He'd deal with them later; and painfully so. Right now though he needed to get saved by the hunters calling themselves the Nightstalkers.
~~~***~~~
"Try another," a voice called and Hannibal guessed the man was their leader.
"I'm not sure that's wise," a woman started to reply.
"Just do it, Sommerfield. We can always get more volunteers."
Hannibal took a good look at the man's face. He wanted to remember it because one day when the Nightstalkers' leader least expected it Hannibal was going to kill the man.
The antidote worked on the second vampire. The boy had never wanted to be part of Danica's nest; had been taken against his will and had always wanted to go home. He was getting his chance. At least that was what Hannibal hoped. It worked on the third volunteer; though they'd find out a month after they had released the man that the antidote hadn't fully taken, that the man had killed his neighbor and drank her blood. It hadn't made him a vampire again but it had gotten him arrested and sent to a psych hospital for life where he ranted and screamed about vampires and slayers and creatures of the night.
To the hunters, the antidote had worked on Hannibal too. They were calling it a success with a fifty percent chance of survival. Sommerfield wanted to work on the cure some more before using it again. She had used the drugs Abraham Whistler had created for Blade and the stop-gap cure he'd used on Karen Jenson. The Nightstalkers' leader, a David Framer, had ignored Sommerfield's requests.
It took Hannibal six months to gain the trust of the Nightstalkers; he'd done it mostly through Sommerfield and her daughter and then Abigail Whistler--the woman had a lot of pent up anger where her father was concerned and Hannibal had been able to use that to his advantage.
Hannibal truly liked Anna Sommerfield and her daughter Zoe. He liked how strong she was, how she didn't use being blind as a disadvantage but rather turned it into a strength. She was a good mother and a good doctor. Her research could be better but he blamed Framer for that; for not providing the necessary equipment and time. He adored Zoe. And he couldn't blame Sommerfield for working with the hunters, she'd lost her husband to vampires. Or so he had thought.
On the night that Framer led them on a raid that was destined to go bad from the beginning he learned that Framer had set up the Sommerfields. He'd been after the doctor. He wanted someone to take Abraham Whistler's place. The vampires were supposed to have killed both Anna's husband and daughter, but Zoe's play date had run over and the little girl had been spared.
Hannibal had recorded the entire conversation with Framer; he would need it later to convince Anna of some truths. Then he had drained Framer dry and left his body to be found by the hunters.
Several hours later he was in on the raid with Abby when the Nightstalkers found Framer's body. It had cemented his position with the hunters.
~~~***~~~
The corruption that Hannibal had feared had spread further and deeper than he had anticipated. Hunters selling out other hunters. Drake knew Hannibal was disappointed in Hedges. The man made beautiful weapons but he was a rat, or bottom feeder or whatever other name Hannibal had muttered in the last half hour as his lover ranted and paced; working out the anger he felt.
"You expected something like this," he reminded Hannibal.
Hannibal paused, growled and went back to pacing. Drake laughed as he loved seeing his lover as he was meant to be seen and not the simple human appearance that Hannibal preferred. He liked the amber eyes and the fangs. The normally slumped appearance replaced by that of a confident, strong leader. The muscles tensed enough that they could be seen under the skin. It was this man that he had fallen in love with across a battlefield.
"You are trying to distract me with thoughts of lust," Hannibal turned on him, glaring.
Drake reached out a hand and pulled Hannibal to him. "I always have thoughts of lust when it comes to you," he said, changing his appearance from human to demon knowing how much Hannibal liked the appearance that terrified so many others. How his mate liked to hold onto the horns on his shoulders and head. The way he liked how the rows of teeth felt as they bit into him.
Hannibal slid both his hands down Drake's bare chest before gliding them back up to the brand that marked Drake's skin no matter what his appearance was. The sign of the King of Demons.
"We should visit your people," Hannibal finally said. "When this is over."
Drake laughed. "No changing the subject, my love," he said, leaning down to run his tongue and teeth across the pulse point at Hannibal's neck. "They are fine and far less bothersome than your pest problem."
His lover laughed even as he felt the other man shiver and relax into the hold and tilt his head further to the side. "For this millennia at least," Hannibal gasped out in agreement as Drake continued to nuzzle his lover's neck.
He returned the laugh. That was very true, but Drake doubted his people would be disappointing their king again for a very long time. Plus, if things went the way he thought they would, then his people would be getting a very nice boon from the Vampire King.
"I need, I need," Hannibal started to say but whatever was on Hannibal's mind, Drake wiped it away for the next two hours by using his lover's own skills against him.
~~~***~~~
With his head resting on Drake's shoulder and a finger once again tracing the brand on his lover's chest Hannibal felt relaxed. The end of this charade was almost near and he still had a few decisions he needed to make. They had all been put into the wait and see column.
"What do you need, my love?" Drake asked, stilling his hand.
Hannibal kept the grin off his face but knew he wasn't fooling his mate. They had willingly bound themselves together--not only for their people but for themselves--and Hannibal would always be thankful for that because there were some moments where he cared less for the humans than his lover did but Drake was always there to remind him of who and what he was.
"I need to borrow Nisha. She is very good at getting information from people but for now I need her to keep an eye on Caulder." The scientist often got lost in the science and forgot to keep an eye on his surroundings. He couldn't risk sending two of his people into the same hunter base and Caulder really was the only one with the correct skill set for this particular job. He even had a current human history. Nisha could be in a room and most people wouldn't see her.
"And her daywalker?"
This time Hannibal did openly grin at the disgust that was evident in Drake's voice. Drake's youngest sibling had taken one of Hannibal's guards as a lover and not given him up. He knew from Doyle they were as much mates as he was with Drake but it was something neither demon liked to talk about.
"Where she goes, Doyle often goes and vice versa. Though, he will no doubt be very bored." Hannibal cringed slightly at that thought, a bored Doyle was a mischievous Doyle. But come to think of it he had the perfect job for Doyle--keeping an eye on Drake as their plans got closer to fruition.
Drake gave him a look, easily knowing what he was thinking. "Of all your guards, of all the daywalkers your mother created for you he is..."
"My friend and just as dangerous as your sister and it will make me feel better if you take him with you when the time comes. I do not wish you to be alone. And your guards cannot easily hide in plain sight."
His lover said nothing. Hannibal rolled over so he could straddle Drake's hips. "Soon my lover your people will walk in the open again." He leaned down to kiss Drake. "I think the vampires should learn of them first. Perhaps it’s also time our two people truly became one."
Drake grasped his hips, fingers turning into claws that grazed his skin as he moved them up and down Hannibal's side. "We will talk of this later and I will take Nisha's mate with me to keep him out of trouble."
Hannibal sighed and let Drake take control of their actions. It would be a while before he would be able to see and touch his lover again and he wanted to make the most of it.
~~~***~~~
"I trust your judgment," Hannibal told him, taking Drake's hand and kissing the palm. Danica was about to lose her support from around the globe. It would be subtle at first, building until she had no option but to seek out the slumbering king--an idea Hannibal had seeded while still with Danica.
"You know me better than any," Hannibal continued. "If you do not think I would want them alive, kill them. We'll deal with the rest later. Your brothers and sisters, and your people--the ones you trust to not go too far--can help. A one time chance for them to openly feed on vampire blood. They do not touch the other daywalkers. Those are for you," Hannibal finished, his fingers, comfortingly, tracing the brand on Drake's chest.
Drake wet his lips with his tongue. Daywalker blood, it was potent and like something he would hear a human compare to a fine wine. He would enjoy their blood but more so he would enjoy telling them that their King had known about their betrayal and that all they had was to be destroyed, just as they would be. That no amount of begging or apologizing would change their outcome. Their actions had sealed their fate the moment they had betrayed the wishes of their King.
"Your guards are not happy," Drake said, standing at the window and looking out at the city from the hotel room they were forced to use to once again meet in secret. "Even the quiet one. They have torn through several of the nests that are overseas with the help of my demons. They are saddened that so many have decided to betray their King. To betray you for false power. They are vetting the remaining daywalkers and have brought me the names without question. They do not want to burden you more," Drake finished.
The crystal glass in Hannibal's hand shattered. "I know," Hannibal said, dropping the remains of the glass in the garbage can before Drake took his mate's hand and brought it to his lips, lapping at the blood that remained from a wound that was already closed. "Doyle told me about Budapest. He let Nisha have her fill of Victor. I do not blame either of them for their actions. Victor deserved a worse fate than meeting his death at the lips of the very pretty Nisha."
"They drained him together," Drake commented, though he knew neither he nor Hannibal should have expected anything less from those two once they had discovered Victor's chosen path. "My sister still begs your forgiveness for draining a daywalker to death without your permission."
Hannibal waved him off. "Victor stopped being one of mine when he started trading in children. He became a monster that not even your people would have claimed. He deserved his fate. And of all your siblings, when it comes to vampire business, I trust Nisha as if she was one of my guard; and she deserved a little treat for all I've asked of her as of late."
Drake snorted. "Especially for having to deal with Doyle."
Hannibal gave him a dark look. "Just think what either of them would be like without the other."
His lover had a point and Drake conceded the argument with a nod, though he wondered how long Hannibal had been holding that comeback in reserve before finally using it this night. It had to be at least fifteen hundred years.
"This will be our last night together until this is almost at the end," Drake said, grabbing Hannibal around the waist and taking them to the bed. "Let's do things that we will both enjoy and remember."
~~~***~~~
This wasn't the first cell that Hannibal had one of his people insert themselves into, nor would it be the last. When it came to light, the human hunters were going to be shocked that there had been wolves in their pastures. Hannibal actually didn't care, his guard would be taking over the hunters, and the humans could either work with them or leave.
Hannibal quietly walked up to Caulder and resisted the urge to tap the other man on the shoulder and say boo. Caulder was one of his; one of the handful of people he had felt the pull to actually sire. "She come up with anything yet?" he asked when he was standing beside the other man, making Caulder jump slightly.
"I wish you would stop doing that."
He only grinned, while waiting for the other man to answer. Caulder had been complaining about that since Hannibal had turned him during the Civil War, but being able to move unseen and unheard had always been a gift Hannibal had possessed. Plus, he liked making people jumpy.
"Maybe," Caulder answered. "But not something that would kill us, just cure the newly sired of the weakened vampire strain. It will not affect a LaMagra Vampire," he clarified referring to daywalkers--to those either created by Hannibal, his mother or by another daywalker if done correctly.
"It does have a short window to work. Something better and stronger than what Whistler came up with." Whistler's cure had not been effective. The hunters believed it was but Hannibal knew better. They assumed there were no apparent side effects and it caused a complete return to human. By the time it had been put into permanent use by the hunters and Framer they had been satisfied that the cure worked on one in four that were injected. Even after his death the hunters were still using the cure and not monitoring the survivors. Most of the cured either found a way to be turned again because the craving had been just too great or they committed suicide because they felt like something of themselves was missing.
The fact that Hannibal had survived with apparently no lasting side effects was all the proof the hunters needed that the cure was successful. The important thing was that Hannibal had never been infected with the so called vampire virus to begin with and the antidote was nothing but a sugar pill to him. Hannibal had ordered his guards to watch the individuals that were released as being cured. Carlos, the member of his guard Drake always called the Quiet One had found a friend and mate in Colin, the young man that had been part of the trials along with Hannibal. He had been able to prevent Colin's suicide. The young man--having not wanted to attack and kill his family because he could not control the vampire urges that still coursed through his body--had decided to end his life. Colin had thought a bullet to the brain while sitting on a ledge of a very high building would insure that he would not get up after he splattered across the ground.
Hannibal wasn't too sure that it would have worked; there was a good chance Colin would have survived--maybe unable to walk but still alive facing the same issues. Carlos was taking his relationship and Colin's change to a daywalker slowly, but Colin was beginning to enjoy living without fear of hurting anyone again. Hannibal knew the growing relationship between the oldest of his guard and this twenty-first century young man would do them both good as they were what the other needed.
Hannibal shook his head to get rid of the thoughts of the ones they had not gotten to in time and turned back to listening to Caulder.
"Less side effects," Caulder continued, not noticing that his sire had seemed to be temporarily lost in his own thoughts. "Less damage to the person when caught within the first week. Less physical damage that is. There's not much we can do about the emotional and psychological beyond making sure they talk to someone and that's hard to do because who's going to believe them." Caulder looked up at him and pushed away from the microscope and lab table. "After that there's a fifty percent chance they'll relapse. Though the method of turning impacts both outcomes, and there seems to be some need on the victim's part to want to return to being human."
"Faith," Hannibal commented. It was more to do with faith in themselves than a higher power but however a person wanted to interpret that word Hannibal was okay with it; he didn't really need the scientific specifics as long as it worked. He was hoping the cure wouldn't be needed because when this little undercover gig of his was up he was laying down new laws about turning people. He was going back to the old days--the sire being responsible for the childe for the first ten years. More importantly if a person was turned against his or her will the sire would pay the ultimate price and Hannibal would let his mate's people deliver the punishment.
"Perhaps," Caulder said with a shrug that Hannibal interpreted as mostly agreeing with him on the faith bit.
Hannibal nodded. "Point her in the right direction," he said." I want all the good little boys and girls tucked back into their safe little human lives." He started to leave and then paused. "When it's time, you get her and the child out of there. Drake and I will take care of the rest. Set them up somewhere safe and put a guard on them. Carlos or Evan; Doyle has another assignment right now and watching the Sommerfields might be good for Carlos and Colin. Just someone good with kids who won't scare them but will keep everything else at bay."
"Yes, sire."
~~~***~~~
Blade was not stable. Hannibal was even more convinced of that now and that was all he had to say about the hybrid. Besides that, Frost really should have known better and if he could, Hannibal would bring Frost back just so he could kill him again himself. Frost was one daywalker that he was not going to miss and Hannibal guessed he had let Blade live because of Frost's error, but Blade was succumbing to one side of his nature and it wasn't the human part. Hybrids had a bad habit of becoming something close to what humans called demons in the form of a serial killer. Their nature becoming similar to that of some of Drake's kin but with more bloodlust and need to kill. They really didn't last long once the last of their humanity left them--once they stopped caring about the humans around them. At that point a hybrid couldn't be compared to Drake's kin at all because, contrary popular fiction, demons were not unloving creatures.
The last hybrid had been born in the nineteenth century and Whitechapel was still famous to this day for those murders. The reason no one had found Jack was because Hannibal had killed the Ripper himself. Though Hannibal had still never found out who was responsible for turning Jack's mother, but he'd had a taste of Jack's blood and the sire always left something of themselves in the childe. Hannibal would find him or her one day and there would be no mercy.
Hannibal had seen that same look in Blade's eyes as he held the baby he had rescued as he had in Jack's eyes right before the Ripper murdered his last victim. He would have words with Drake about that incident later--even if he knew Drake would have scrapped the whole plan had Blade made a move to harm the child. But Hannibal had seen the look and it was the last thing he needed to confirm Blade's fate.
Blade had looked at the child as if it was a tasty treat and only Abby's ranting about Drake and them missing their opportunity had snapped Blade out of it. The restraint wasn't going to last. He'd also seen that look on Blade's face a few days earlier, right before he and Abby had rescued the hybrid from the interrogation cell at the police station. Hannibal had hoped he had just been seeing things, but now he knew better. Hindsight was twenty-twenty of course. Plus, if Blade had been in his right mind then exiting the police station from a tenth story window in front of an audience would not have...then again, this was Blade, maybe he would have done the same thing no matter what.
What Hannibal knew was that if Blade stayed with Abby she would have no future because Blade would either get her killed or kill her himself; and this whole charade of him playing human had been about the future. Not that Danica had helped matters by setting Blade up in the first place, but it had helped to reveal a few politicians and dirty cops that needed to disappear. The whole familiar process was getting a revamp when this was all over as well. Some of the current familiars were just as bad as their so called vampire masters.
That had become very obvious with the feeding plant. The concept had sickened him. Warehouses full of not-so-dead humans who were kept alive solely for the purpose of being drained over and over. The thing was, he knew it wasn't an innovation of Danica's or even something Hannibal could see her being a part of--humans, for her, were either pets or only good for one meal that ended when the human had no more blood to give. Having to maintain the upkeep of a factory that housed hundreds of people sealed in a medical set-up with computers and medical personnel was definitely not her style. Hannibal was sure another nest had made arrangements or a bargain with Danica for use of a warehouse in her area and not told her what they wanted it for. Danica probably wouldn't have cared if the trade for the location was good. Honestly, it was a smart thing to do--to not keep the factory in your own territory, that way if things went bad the blame would land at someone else's feet. Something he was sure Danica was dealing with right now.
Hannibal was hoping none of his daywalkers had come up with and executed the idea. He was waiting to hear back from his guard if there were more of those warehouses and who was responsible. If it was another daywalker, the person was to be brought to him. If it was a vampire, then his guard was to clean house and pull as much information from the vampire before turning them to ash.
"Are you listening, King?" Blade said, waving his arm towards Hannibal before turning to Abby. "Are you sure this fool is a hunter? More like a waste."
Then Blade was in his face, almost as if he thought Hannibal was going to cower. Hannibal just barely avoided rolling his eyes and looked up from the medical bed to stare the hybrid in the eyes. He was trying to remember this would all be over with tomorrow; that he only had to deal with this for one more day.
"I'm listening," Hannibal said calmly. "But your last plan ended with a ten inch spike having to be pulled out of my shoulder and a baby nearly being eaten or tossed off a building to its death." The by you and not the King of Demons went unsaid but it was another close call. He was trying to keep himself in check and his shoulder was killing him. The gel foam that Abby had put into the wound was slowly being pushed out of the wound by his body and it itched and sort of smelled. He would have to change the bandages soon to hide what was happening which meant he needed Blade and Abby to be elsewhere.
"We know where they are," Blade said, puffing up his chest and talking through his teeth, lips trying to hide the fangs. "We strike as soon as the doctor woman has the dart ready."
Blade didn't wait for either him or Abby to say anything before storming out of the medical bay. Abby patted him on the leg. "Get better," she said and followed Blade out of the room.
Hannibal leaned back in the bed and smiled to himself. The next few hours should prove to be very enlightening, he thought, as he waited for Abby and Blade to leave the ship for their final daytime check on the Talos' building.
Drake would be arriving soon.
~~~***~~~
Hannibal was chained from the ceiling and shirtless, which he didn't think was really necessary but figured Danica had ordered it for some reason. He kept the wound on his shoulder from fully healing and the white gauze was soaked through with blood. He thought this whole thing was rather droll and old fashioned and he was bored and very tired of acting human. He could hear Danica yelling at Drake for not having brought the child in when he took Hannibal from the hunters' base. Danica might just get her neck snapped, so to speak, sooner rather than later if she kept that up. He could feel Drake's temper escalating through the bond and it was making him a little twitchy.
Then he heard what sounded like a body hitting the wall and Danica's voice stopped at about the same time. He wasn't sure if it had been Danica that had hit the wall or some other vampire, but Drake was feeling rather amused now at the fear it had created. Hannibal smiled to himself and relaxed into the chains as best he could. The show was about to begin.
He wasn't disappointed when the door to the cell was slammed open and Jarko, the Talos' henchman, entered followed by Danica's younger brother, Asher.
"Not liking the party out there, huh?" Hannibal asked. "How's the queen bitch? Too busy to see me herself?"
Jarko punched him in the midsection. The buffoon had always been more of a thug than brains, and too loyal to the wrong Talos sibling. How Jarko could not know that every time he had angered Danica it had been Asher who had stopped her from killing him, was an unknown to Hannibal. Hannibal had recognized this in his short time with Danica and yet Jarko had been with the siblings for almost twenty-five years. Hannibal was also sure that Asher knew that if he ever let his sister kill her favorite pet that he would have been next--whether he wanted to admit that fact or not.
"She wants to turn you again," Asher said quietly, looking Hannibal in the eyes but it was as if Asher's thoughts were elsewhere. The apprehension and uneasiness becoming clearer on Asher's face as the man continued, "After she breaks you."
"You should not be telling him our plans," Jarko barked, pushing Asher back away from Hannibal. "He's nothing. Danica will have everything she needs once she gets the king to understand how things work now. We have no real need for a king anyway; Danica just wants him on her arm to show off."
Asher grimaced. The expression saying that the younger brother didn't think things were going that well and didn't believe this plan of his sister's was going to work. "It does not matter, Jarko," Asher commented, "whether he knows the plans now or later. Our fates have become entwined even if they are not so well known."
Hannibal tilted his head slightly he had not seen this insightful, almost spiritual side of Asher when he had been with Danica's nest. "Not going well?" he asked.
Asher snorted softly and stepped further away from Jarko. "Things have not been going well for a very long time."
"You could have left?"
Asher gave him a pained look but quietly answered, "She's my sister."
Jarko growled and turned on Asher. "She's your sire!"
Asher ignored Jarko, his attention focused only on Hannibal. "Turning you again would just be another trial in how to lose patience and peace."
Hannibal couldn't help himself, he laughed. Jarko punched him twice even though Asher ordered him to stop.
"You are not my sire," Jarko said, turning on Asher striking the older vampire across the face with the back of his hand before taking another swing at Hannibal. "Danica said break him. She's my sire. I do as she says."
Asher wiped the blood from the cut while looking at the floor as if trying to find some type of inner peace. So softly that Jarko had obviously not been able to hear it, Asher said, "Thank La Magra for that." Looking up at him Asher asked, "You weren't broken before, were you?"
"She will be queen," Jarko continued, not realizing that there was another conversation going on in the room. "Then we can get rid of the other."
Hannibal looked at Asher and raised his eyebrow at Jarko's behavior. It was obvious that they were both trying to ignore the henchman. For all the bravado Asher had shown at the police station a few days ago Hannibal could now see that the other man was tired. That he was putting up a front and no one was noticing it; not even the man's sister. That given one more thing the other man would probably choose to watch a sun rise on a park bench or rooftop somewhere just for the moment of clarity and peace that came right before death.
"No," Hannibal said, answering Asher's question just as the cell door opened and Danica entered. Drake behind him and the sense that Drake could easily rip Danica's spinal cord from her back was foremost in his lover's mind.
Hannibal paid no attention to Danica and her mad ranting, not even when she forced the pointed heel of her shoe into his shoulder, causing him to bleed. He hissed but said nothing. He knew Danica had wanted to hear him scream and beg but the time for play acting had passed.
"The hunters will be here soon," he finally said, just to get her to stop her mad raving.
Danica leaned in close and smiled. It wasn't a pretty smile, nor did it give beauty to the face that was centimeters from his own. "You think their cure will work on you again?" she sneered, running a fingernail down Hannibal's face.
Hannibal felt a small line of blood begin running from the spot where one of her fingernail's had punctured his cheek. Drake's growl at that had him grinning even as he told her, "No, it won't work on me."
"You will be my little pet," Danica said, her tongue licking at the trail of blood before grabbing Hannibal's head and forcing it to the right. "I will enjoy having you beg at my feet."
"Danica!" Asher exclaimed, trying to pull her back.
"You are always getting in my way little brother," Danica belittled, looking over her shoulder at her brother before turning to Jarko and grinning sweetly. "Jarko!" she ordered.
Jarko grabbed Asher and wrapped his arms around the much slimmer vampire, preventing Asher from trying to stop Danica again. Asher struggled in the hold but Jarko did not let go. "Stop this, Danica!" Asher pleaded. "Please," and the last word sounded like he was begging for something he knew was never going to happen.
Throughout the whole thing no one paid Drake much attention until Jarko was flung across the room, landing in a heap much like a rag doll would. Jarko would be out of the melee for the next few minutes but things were finally beginning.
Danica turned on her heels and glared at Drake. "What is the meaning of this?" she bellowed. "The humans will have to deal with one of their own and we can use that against them. Slaughter them. I want Blade! I want them both begging at my feet!"
"Danica, please," Asher pleaded again as if he was trying to get her to remember who she was before she was turned. Hannibal was sure Asher knew it was a wasted effort but he gave the man props for continuing to hope his sister would come back to him.
"You've been trying to stop me for decades now! I knew I should have chained you to a roof and watched as you burned. You've been holding me back! You are nothing but another pawn to be toyed with." Asher's expression and demeanor just melted into shock, he wilted and stepped back, lost. The realization that his sister was truly lost and that he should have left when he could was clear on his face.
Hannibal recognized crazy and Danica had gone past that line into whatever was beyond insane. She wasn't stable; and maybe she never had been and was just able to hide it better when she'd been human. Before he could say or do anything Blade and Abby came crashing through the skylight window.
The room erupted into chaos.
~~~***~~~
He felt Asher try to pull away but not to run, only to try and look back into the room before turning to look at Drake. "King? But...no. Hannibal King. King. Oh god..."
Drake laughed. "He likes games and puzzles," he said, pushing Asher forward again. "And for some reason he likes you but he likes choice as well." This time Drake changed his form to his demon-self and used the shock of his transformation and his greater strength to forcibly move Asher forward as the vampire had stopped moving again.
He knew he was running out of time to save this one and leaned down to get the vampire's full attention. "He has given you a choice and running is not one of them. You either stay here and die with this nest, because no one left on this floor will be leaving this building alive unless he wants them to, or you go with Nisha and wait to see what your King has planned for you."
"Nisha?" Asher questioned and then seemed to jump out of his skin when a shadow shifted and moved to became a woman with long red hair and amber eyes. Most would have thought her nothing more than a pretty human until something shifted slightly under her skin; similar to how Drake's own body moved right before his change from human to that of his inner demon.
"Brother," she acknowledged and Drake smiled at his youngest sibling. "The few guards downstairs were quite delicious," she said, her tongue wetting her lips. She moved forward as if she was gliding across ice or through the air. "Who do we have here?" A sharp fingernail drifted mere centimeters away from Asher's face and Drake pulled the vampire back slightly.
"Nisha," Drake warned. "Hannibal wishes this one escorted to Caulder." Letting go of Asher's shoulder and turning to walk back to the fight that had just begun to rage. "In one piece," he called over his shoulder.
He heard Nisha's laughter and her, "Come along little vampire", but after that he paid neither of them any mind, trusting his sister to get the blond vampire where Hannibal wanted him. The fight that had erupted mere minutes ago was now in full swing; causing him to smile widely. He grabbed a hold of one of Danica's vampires that was trying to flee and with a now clawed hand ripped through the flesh and bone until only ash remained.
Danica's masked foot soldiers were trying to put up a fight against the two human hunters but they had not been trained for combat and relied on their vampire strength to take down a human opponent. Even with the sheer numbers they were falling to dust by human hands; not to mention his own. The ones Danica called her inner circle were running away. That would not do.
He moved to intercept them--even though he knew all the exits were blocked and they would not easily escape, but Blade dropped down from the balcony to crouch in front of him. The hybrid's breath was puffing out of his lungs with the action and his teeth had already begun to turn into fangs as the hybrid stood to face him.
"You're going to die tonight, Vampire King," Blade said, swinging his sword toward Drake's midsection.
Drake dodged out of the way, grabbed Blade by the throat and tossed him aside. Blade was back at him in seconds and the fight was on. He dodged and blocked while staying in his demon form until he had led them across the room to where his sword lay on the conference table. Then between one move and the next he was human and his sword was swinging up to take slice across Blade's side.
The hybrid hissed but moved and blocked. Drake was enjoying himself. Each time Blade thought he had him Drake would up the ante as he was still using less than half the force he would if he was training against Hannibal or one of his daywalkers.
Blade made a retreat up the stairs to put distance between them. Drake snorted and used his skills and abilities to simply bound to the top landing, blocking Blade's path. The hybrid dodged and then used the railing to toss himself over the side and away from Drake. Drake laughed and this time when he caught up with Blade he grabbed the hunter's sword and snapped it in half before tossing Blade back the way he came.
Drake turned, taking in the entire scene and saw the female hunter, Abby he remembered Hannibal calling her, up in the rafters lining up a shot with a bow and arrow. He waited, pretending to have not seen her while she aimed and let the arrow go. At the last second he stepped out of the way.
What Abby had not been able to see was Blade moving up behind him. When Drake stepped out of the way the arrow hit Blade in the neck. Both hunters screamed but for different reasons. Abby did so because she had hit her fellow hunter.
Blade's screaming though was for another reason. The antidote that Caulder and Sommerfield had developed was now coursing through the hybrid's body. From the samples of Blade's blood that Caulder had tested with the antidote, Drake knew there was only a one in ten chance that the hybrid would become human. There was a one in five chance that nothing would happen but by the sounds coming from Blade Drake guessed that the greater chance--the seven in ten where Blade became a vampire--was going to be the outcome.
The hybrid fell to his knees and lifted his head up and howled out in pain as his body's chemistry finished the change it had already started prior to the arrow hitting him. The sounds the hybrid made had everyone stopping what they were doing to watch as Blade began to writhe and convulse on the floor.
Drake stepped around the hybrid and then made a signal with his hand. Shadows in the darkness began moving forward and the vampires soon found their exits blocked. They were just as trapped as the hybrid on the floor. Those that struggled found themselves either a snack for the closest demon or ash on the floor until they surrendered.
He knew Hannibal had destroyed the vampire dogs as those were an abomination to all--daywalker, demon, and vampire--as he could no longer hear their yapping barks. When he turned to look for his mate he saw Hannibal all but drag a bruised Danica into the room before handing her over to Doyle. Danica struggled but stopped when Doyle's sword bit into her neck.
"I'm sorry she interrupted your fun," Hannibal said walking up to Drake, his head nodding toward Abby.
Drake chuckled and pulled Hannibal to him for a quick kiss.
"What the hell Hannibal?" Abby yelled from the landing
Which was quickly followed by Danica's, "What's the meaning of this?"
~~~***~~~
"Asher?" he asked, waiting to make sure the blond had been put where he wanted him.
"Caulder."
He turned to see Nisha standing next to Doyle and smiled at the beautiful demon that people tended to underestimate. He was sure she had been having fun tonight just by the way she smiled, but it also meant the upper floors had been cleared and Caulder was now there waiting, watching the events down below.
"Where is my brother?" Danica demanded.
Hannibal tilted his head slightly and looked questioningly at Danica. "So now he's your brother again and not a pawn to be toyed with?" he asked, tossing Danica's words back at her.
Danica stomped her foot and huffed but stopped when Doyle's sword drew blood. "He's whatever I want him to be. They all are." She used her hand to wave about the room. "They would be nothing without me."
"Delusions. I'll add that to the list," Hannibal commented more to himself than to the audience in the room.
"Hannibal!"
Hannibal turned to glare at Abby. "What?" he asked, knowing his eyes were glowing but his fangs were not showing. He was definitely tired of this whole charade.
Abby took a step back and nearly collided with Gerald, one of Drake's non-human looking demons, which had her jumping away from the outstretched hand that had only tried to keep her from tripping. At any other time he would have laughed at her reaction, this time he just waited patiently and gave Gerald a silent nod of apology for the human's action.
"What's going on?" Abby finally asked, her voice quiet and body tense since she didn't know where to stand that didn't put her back to either a vampire or a demon.
Hannibal glanced around the room again, getting a better read on all the vampires still present before his eyes once again landed on the still writhing form of Blade; at least the noises had mostly stopped. "Let's say I'm returning things to their proper order and taking back what's mine," he answered.
"I don't understand."
"You will," he said before calling to one of his guards, "Evan, let's close these shutters. I wouldn't want anyone to burst into flames earlier than planned."
"Ah, my Lord." He could hear the mirth in his dark-haired warrior's voice as the man moved over to the controls and the shutters began closing. Naughty vampires bursting into flames had become Evan's choice for disposing of them.
"Lord? Hannibal King is no royalty. He was just some weak ass human I had plucked off the side of the road because he was pretty."
Nisha leaned around to look at Danica. "Aren't you just sweet?" she said, her teeth becoming rows of tiny razor sharp points that had Danica flinching back to the sound of Nisha's laughter.
"No she's really not," Hannibal commented, eyes still on Blade. The hybrid had stilled. "You would not like how she tastes at all my beautiful Nisha."
Hannibal wasn't sure what to call the noise Danica made beside shrill but that didn't even do it justice. He waited until it was over before speaking again. "If you still wish a snack try the boy," Hannibal waved his hand toward a dark blond-haired boy that appeared to be in his early twenties. The boy cringed slightly but didn't move. Hannibal didn't remember the boy from his time in the nest and Danica seemed to not care that he'd just offered one of her people up as food.
"No, please," a voice called from the balcony and Asher appeared, looking worried as if he hadn't known the boy had been in the building. He saw Caulder trying to pull the vampire back but Asher wouldn't let go of the railing.
"Interesting," Drake said, walking past Hannibal towards the boy; Hannibal felt Drake's hand glide across his back as he passed and knew his lover had enjoyed the evening so far. Drake walked around the boy before leaning in towards the boy's throat.
"Please?" Asher asked again.
Hannibal saw Drake nod. So Asher had created a childe but it was more than just that. Drake straightened and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, nodding again. Ah, he said, understanding what Drake sensed. Family.
Danica looked between Asher and the boy and screamed. "You defied me! I told you no. You will be punished for defying me yet again little brother."
Asher didn't even look over at his sister, his eyes solely focused on the boy. "Yes," he said, back straight, now looking at Hannibal. "He was not supposed to be here. I sent him away to be safe." And didn't that say a lot about Asher's true feelings towards his sister. "He's my grandson," Asher admitted. "He was dying; what was I supposed to do?"
"Let it die," Danica said, not noticing he wasn't talking to her while she tried to pull away from Doyle until the sword at her neck once again drew blood. "It's all it's good for."
Hannibal nodded to Drake and his bondmate wrapped his arms around the boy before leaping to the landing of the stairs. The boy took a step away from Drake as soon as the arms around him were gone. He looked up at Asher before looking down at Hannibal. Hannibal could read the shock and uncertainty on the boy's face. He wasn't sure if it was because Asher was his grandfather or because of being moved by Drake.
"You got a name?" he asked.
"Connor," the boy answered. "Connor Quinn."
"Don't make me regret this, Connor Quinn."
The boy nodded his head even if he didn't know what was happening. Hannibal figured the boy must really be as young as he appeared. In this instance it was going to work in the boy's favor.
"Come boy," Caulder called, stretching his hand out and waving the boy forward. "It's going to get messy downstairs in a moment and we would not wish to be in the way. Asher, you too."
The boy was up the stairs and standing next to Asher before Caulder had finished. So that answered that question, Connor did know who Asher was. Once the three had disappeared from sight Hannibal turned back around and hummed. "Now where were we?" he asked. "Oh yes, waiting for Blade to stop playing possum."
Blade stood up, teeth and fangs bared and his eyes seemed hazy with madness. "I'm going to kill you, King."
Hannibal rolled his eyes; he couldn't help himself and that threat was getting old. Not even when Blade charged him did it change Hannibal's mind. He simply grabbed Blade by the neck and tossed him clear across the room as if the hybrid had been a paper doll.
Blade climbed to his feet and everyone could see the man was wobbly. His chest heaving as if the body still needed to breathe. The sweat that stained the hybrid's forehead was tinged red with blood.
"The last of Whistler's serum is working its way out of your body," Hannibal said. "You will need blood soon. Sommerfield warned you that she didn't know how your body would react."
Abby moved forward slightly, hands in fists at her side. "Would any of it have worked? Does this cure work?"
"There is a cure for some vampires, but it would not have worked on anyone in this room."
"This was a trap then? You're some sort of familiar. Did you know they killed Hedges, Zoe and everyone else on the ship. That it went up in flames. You betrayed us."
"The Sommerfields are fine and I killed Hedges," Hannibal answered, not getting a chance to continue before both Abby and Blade were running at him.
~~~***~~~
But Hannibal was never one for easy and in the blink of an eye he grabbed the sword Evan tossed his way, flipped it around and plunged it backwards with his left hand into the hybrid's body. Jerking the blade up slightly before shoving backwards with greater strength than he knew Hannibal had shown while pretending to be human. The force sent Blade stumbling backwards until he fell to floor, landing hard on his ass while his hands tried to find enough purchase to grasp the pommel of the sword.
With his right hand, Hannibal grabbed the female's raised hand that held a knife ready to be plunged into his chest. "We'll have none of that," he heard Hannibal say, and could see Hannibal squeezing the girl's wrist with just enough pressure to cause her to drop the knife without snapping her wrist. In Hannibal's place Drake knew he would have just twisted, not caring. This was why Hannibal was his heart, for even as deadly as Hannibal was, his mate still had more compassion for humans.
She tried to slap him and all Hannibal did was lift her off the ground slightly, give her a shake and then let her drop to the ground on her ass. "You are being an ass, Abby," Hannibal said. "Try not to get yourself killed before we get a chance to actually talk."
Drake laughed as did a few of the other demons and daywalkers. It was not the first time some female had tried to slap the King of Vampires and Drake had no doubt it wouldn't be the last either.
Hannibal glared at him but he could sense his mate's own amusement and ignored the glare and watched as Hannibal turned back to the female hunter. "As much as I liked Hedges, and don't get me wrong, he made beautiful guns that I will always cherish. The man was a rat. How do you think Danica found your dad? Hedges would have sold Zoe to get out alive. As a matter of fact that's exactly what he did," Hannibal looked over at Danica with that comment. "Isn't it, Danica?"
Danica sneered, but answered; most likely because she believed it would hurt the hunter and weaken her resolve. "The child's blood would have been delicious and the King," Danica looked at Drake and not Hannibal, "would have feasted on her tiny body."
Hannibal was right, Danica Talos was not sane. Stories said that demons feasted on children but the truth was children often did not fear his demons and treated them as imaginary playmates. Some of his demons had even protected generations of a family for that very reason alone. Feasting on a child's blood would be considered repulsive even by his demons who enjoyed tricking humans into doing foolish things.
A movement on the floor below where he stood had Drake off the landing and with his foot on Blade's chest as soon as the newly turned vampire pulled the knife from his boot. "I can crush you like an ant," he said, pushing a little harder than necessary with his foot before pulling the sword the rest of the way out of Blade's chest. "But Hannibal is still talking to the female."
"Why do you follow some human?" Danica demanded to know, elbowing Doyle to get away before screaming in pain when Nisha's claws dug into her side.
Doyle laughed and bent down to run his tongue across the blood that had been drawn by his sword. "You have not gotten it yet, have you?" he asked of Danica, his mouth now mere inches from her ear. "True vampires are daywalkers." He turned and looked at Nisha before speaking again. "And my King is right, my love, you would not enjoy the taste of this one."
Danica began struggling again but stopped when Nisha stepped in front of her in her full demon skin. Nisha lifted a clawed hand to Danica's face and gripped the vampire's chin. "I do not have to taste to hurt her."
Drake heard Hannibal laugh and then sigh. "You can play later, Nisha," his lover said and just like that Nisha was back in her human guise, with a nod in Hannibal's direction as she stepped away from Danica and returned to her own mate's side.
He looked back down at the man who was no longer a hybrid. "You are vampire now," he reminded Blade. "No longer hunter, but hunted by the humans."
"I'm going to kill you all!" Blade yelled, hands trying to dislodge Drake's foot.
Drake lifted his foot before leaning down and tossing Blade at one of Danica's vampires. The vampire fell to the ground under Blade's weight and was soon a dried husk as Blade fed from it. Blade tried to turn to attack but was stopped by two of his demons.
"And you have just proven my point," he said. "Thank you."
Blade growled like some type of animal. Drake ignored him in favor of taunting Danica. "Who told you where to find the Vampire King?"
"Our historians." Danica lifted her head, proudly as if happy to once again have the king's attention. "I found the stories," she said. "Your armor."
Drake looked over at Hannibal who gave a small shrug and he clearly heard she's off her rocker in his mate's voice in his head. He couldn't disagree with that sentiment.
"Who planted that seed in your head?" Drake asked, trying again.
This time it was not Danica who answered but another female vampire being held by both a demon and a daywalker. "Hannibal did. I remember," she said. "You thought him weak for believing in the old tales until he brought you the blood parchment."
"Shut your mouth, Libby," Danica sneered, but didn't deny what had been said, only adding, "You were created to be fodder for the humans and have apparently over stayed your welcome."
Libby flinched slightly, but then straightened as if she knew she was going to die this day and was going to do it on her own terms. "You did this to me," she said. "I never wanted this life but you made me and then with the hunger raging from days of no blood you put me in a room with my husband and children. You knew what I would do." There were tears stained red running down the woman's face now. "After that I had nowhere to go but into the sun and you wouldn't even let me do that."
"Fodder," Danica spit the word in the other vampire's direction. "My King," she said, looking at him; trying to look and sound respectful. "Kill them all and together we can start again."
Drake laughed. "Delusional child," he said, dropping the human guise again. "I am the King of Demons, not of Vampires, and you are naught but a snack to me and not a pleasant one at that."
Danica started screaming and ranting again. She struggled against Doyle's hold, ignoring the sword as she bellowed for Jarko.
~~~***~~~
"How dare you?" Danica started.
He put his finger in front of his lips and shushed her. His fangs showing and his eyes glowing with a clearly inhuman light that actually had Danica stepping back. "Sweetie, Jarko is a pile of ash in the cell. He has been since I dragged you out of there." Hannibal tilted his head and lifted his hand, with index and thumb in the form of a gun. "Didn't you hear the shooty noise, see the ash? Guess not, but that rat of yours really did know how to make beautiful guns."
When Danica started to protest again, Hannibal just grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. "Give it up," he told her, once Doyle had removed his sword and stepped back. "You lost. You got played. You're also insane and I really should have destroyed you when you were first turned." Hannibal tossed Danica into the wall. The wall cracked under the force and Danica slid to the ground in an undignified sprawl.
"I admit it, some of this is my fault. I thought you little weak ass night-needing vampires could actually follow simple rules, but obviously I was wrong." He turned to look over at Blade. "And Frost really should have known better than to create a hybrid. They always go insane in the end."
He looked over at the only human in the room and shook his head. "Not that the human hunters are much better at policing their own." Abby started to protest but stopped when he raised his fingers to his lips. "Using the homeless as bait and just watching as someone gets yanked right off the street. Not cool."
Hannibal walked over to Drake, resting his hand on the brand on Drake's chest before slowing walking around the room so he could look at all the vampires. "It's very simple here folks. Like Drake said, he is the King of Demons; not vampires." He waved his around the room. "If you haven't noticed them then I don't know where you've been for the last hour and that's really not my problem at the moment. He is Lilith's oldest child and he is my mate. Our people are one." It was the first time he had said that out loud but it wouldn't be the last.
He stopped in front of Libby. "Me," he said, looking the female vampire in the eyes--looking into her very being. "I am the son of La Magra. I am the Vampire King. You all belong to me." He kissed Libby on the forehead before stepping away from the still crying vampire.
"That's impossible!" Danica said, struggling to stand. "I turned you!"
Hannibal chuckled. "No, you really didn't," he said. "Sweetie, your teeth never got anywhere near me. I am your King. Plus, really good drugs and a little push and you would have believed I was Santa Claus that night."
He didn't even turn when he gave the next warning. He had both sensed the movement and received a clear picture of what the human was doing from Drake. "I really wouldn't do that, Abby," he said, knowing she had palmed a knife. "Right now I'm still feeling generous and you'll be walking out of this building."
"As a vampire?" Abby spit.
That did have Hannibal turning his head. "Hell no. I don't want you as a vampire, honey. My hunters don't even want you among them; and the few demons that hunt for me, well, you really don't want to know what they have to say about you. You'll leave this building as a happy little human, Abby. Go about your happy little human life and forget about vampires and demons. Have a family, go to school. Take a vacation."
"There will always be hunters, Hannibal."
"Yes," he agreed. "Daywalkers and the occasional promising human. The human hunting cells? I've been closing those down for the last year. Switching out humans for my people. You've already met Caulder."
Hannibal grabbed Danica before she could move against him. "Evan, the shutters. Just a couple inches, please."
The sound of the electronic shutters opening was quickly followed by the hissing sounds of several vampires that were standing to close to the cone of sunlight that now filtered into the room. Hannibal wrinkled his nose at the smell of burning skin. "I had this whole speech prepared," he said, easily lifting the struggling Danica off her feet by her throat. "But I'm hungry, tired, and you're insane." He moved to the area now lit fully by the sun. "I find you guilty of breaking the covenant I set forth. You are sentenced to death. I was just going to take your head, but the pain you are about to feel is a better price for all you have done."
Danica started calling for her brother; begging him to help her as she realized some form of the truths she had heard.
"I have not truly been your brother since the moment you sired me," Asher said softly from the shadows of the balcony. "I," he paused. "I wish you peace, Danica."
"I'll kill you," she screeched. "You're nothing! I'll kill," her words were cut off as she began to scream. Her body beginning to burn, the ash and fire spreading until when Hannibal let go there was nothing but ash falling to the floor.
Hannibal waved a hand through the air directly in front of him to disperse the rest of the ash before wiping his hands on his jeans. "Let's just skip to the next part," Hannibal said, turning around, his body washed in the light coming through the shutters and all the remaining vampires gave a small shudder as their King stopped hiding. "I find the rest of you guilty of bad judgment and breaking the covenant. You are sentenced to death."
None of the vampires had a chance to protest before the daywalkers and demons holding them bit into their necks, draining them. Their bodies were one by one tossed into the light and turned into ash. Having now halved his to do list, Hannibal decided to deal with Asher and his grandson tomorrow evening.
That just left Libby, Blade, and Abby to deal with down here and then this day would be over.
He walked over to Libby who looked a little confused as to why she was still alive. "I believe in choice and free will," he told her. "Danica took yours away and in the end you took it back. I'm going to give you, that chance to make a choice, Libby. You can either start a new life with a nest that will support and care for you, or you can take that walk you mentioned earlier and no one will stop you."
Hannibal waited patiently. This wasn't a decision that anyone could make for her and he would wait as long as she needed. Blade chose that moment to start struggling again and Hannibal didn't even have to ask. Drake simply belted the former hunter across the jaw and told him to wait his turn.
"I think I want to see my family again," Libby answered, softly. "Do you think they will forgive me?"
Hannibal took Libby's hand and walked with her to the area lit by the morning's sun. Her skin started to burn but she didn't scream out. "This won't hurt," he said, her hands in his as he kissed her forehead. "They forgive you," he added.
Libby's last words before she faded to ash were a soft, "Thank you, my King."
He stepped back but didn't turn around. God how he hated that.
"Hannibal?" Abby asked, "Why didn't she scream? They always scream."
Hannibal turned and looked at the human hunter. Her time was running out. She'd already been given a choice he just didn't know if she realized it or not. "Because I didn't want her to, Abby."
It was time. He walked over to Blade. "You should never have been. You will become a monster even among vampires if I let you live. It was always going to end this way for you." Hannibal grabbed Blade by his shirt and tossed him into the light, before Blade could even yell out a protest he was gone.
He turned to look at Abby who was staring at him. They were alone now; or at least it looked that way. His demons and daywalkers had slipped into the darkness, and even Drake had moved to the balcony.
"There's a door behind you, Abby," he said, looking the woman in the eyes. "Go through it, take the elevator down to the first floor. Leave your weapons in the elevator and take the envelope that's propped in the corner."
"And my other choice?"
Hannibal stepped closer and Abby actually took several steps back. "I think you already know what that is," he answered, part of him actually glad that she had sense to fear him enough that she needed to step back. "Life as an everyday human or death, choose wisely."
She spun on her heel and walked toward the door but paused with her hand on the handle. "One thing," she said. "Tell me, are the Sommerfields really okay?"
"They are the safest humans in the city," Hannibal answered. "They always will be."
Abby didn't say anything else and neither did Hannibal as he watched her get into the elevator. He looked up to where Drake stood and smiled. One more thing and they could go back to their home. Together.
"Evan," he called. "I want this place cleaned out, refurbed, all assets liquidated, and these floors sold by the end of the month. Asher should be able to help you with that, and make sure he and his grandson are at my home tomorrow evening." He looked around the room, into the shadows. "Everyone," he said. "Thank you for your assistance this day. We will call a conclave in a few days. Enjoy the quiet until then because the rest will be done quickly and not as drawn out now that I know the threads to follow. Oh, and Nisha, welcome to my guard. Keep Doyle out of trouble, will you?"
Hannibal didn’t even pay attention to Doyle's protest as he leapt onto the balcony to stand in front of Drake. "Let's go home," he said. "To our bed."
"As you wish, my King."
~~~***~~~
The vampire population had been cut in half. He expected a few more would lose their lives in the coming months just because of stupidity or because they truly believed that they could pull the wool over their King's eyes.
Hannibal had been saddened when he learned that there had been more than just the three daywalkers breaking the covenant--he had known about Victor and the two Drake had drained. So far eight more had been drained over the last five months, with Saralyn and her little vampire cult of followers still awaiting their punishment. He didn't even want to think about her crimes; the word monstrous didn't even cover it. Hannibal thought letting Gerald and his kin have their blood was not enough justice for what Saralyn had done, but it was all he could offer to the demons in payment for their loss. Thankfully, Gerald was not holding him or the other daywalkers responsible.
He remembered what Gerald had told him. "Sometimes people are just insane, my King. No one can predict, just clean up the mess and help the survivors. This you do."
"Gerald needs a better job," he commented, still in Drake's embrace. Still enjoying Drake's attentions.
Drake chuckled. "Gerald likes scaring the vampires and does not find it an insult. He would find most anything else boring."
"Let me know if that changes," he said, as Drake moved to the right side of his neck to give it the same attention he had the left.
Demons and daywalkers. One people with one King. The demons had always believed that he and Drake, as a soulbound pair, were one entity. His guard had also known this. So the union was working surprisingly well especially since Doyle and Nisha were not the only mixed mated pair. It also helped that the hunters were now also a mix of daywalkers and demons. And recently some teams had added a vampire or a human to the mix. It was working.
The human hunters by themselves were no more. It had been astonishingly easy to make that change over thanks to Caulder's position within the cells. This would continue to work as long as the vampire nests didn't pull anything stupid that would draw unnecessary attention from the humans around them.
Abigail Whistler was in college. She had taken the envelope that contained a nice check and gotten herself a real human life and a boyfriend. He knew she was still cautious and looking over her shoulder but she appeared to be relaxing. He had people watching her just to make sure.
The Sommerfields were with them in Europe. This would be their new home. Zoe had taken to young Colin and insisted that her Uncle Carlos read her bedtime stories. It was hard to say no to a six year old and Europe would be a fresh start for Hannibal's newest daywalker and his mate. Anna was enjoying the time to just be a mother and not having to worry about being attacked by vampires. Though she still talked to Caulder on a regular basis about medicine and whatever other topic they could come up with. Hannibal was almost positive they were courting each other and that neither of them had realized it yet.
There was a polite knock before the glass door to the balcony opened without waiting for a response. "Hannibal," Asher said, stepping outside. The blond vampire was still adjusting to the ability to be outside during sunrise and sunset. He was also able to stand in non-direct sunlight. Asher and Connor might not ever be able to go out in the middle of the day but they were not your normal run of the mill vampires any longer. They both had Drake to thank for that, though neither knew that. Blood from the King of Demons was very powerful, especially when mixed with a little of Hannibal's own blood.
"Nisha called," Asher said, eyes watching the sun dip further below the horizon. "It seems that Doyle blew up a nest in Australia."
Hannibal stepped away from Drake. "Please define, blew up, for me."
Asher didn't respond, instead he handed Hannibal a phone. Hannibal looked at the phone before putting it to his ear. "I thought you were going to keep him out of trouble?" He could hear Doyle in the background saying it was Nisha's fault and not his. "Don't make me separate you two."
"That would not be a good idea," Asher commented and that had Hannibal frowning especially when it was seconded by Drake.
"We found the one responsible for the feeding plants," Nisha told him. "We might have destroyed the plant with a little more show than needed as well as all those taking advantage of it. There was no other damage to the surrounding area. It was a daywalker and his little harem of vampire wives."
"Drain him enough so he causes you no problem and bring him to me. You can have the wives if they're still alive."
"As you command, my King."
Hannibal tossed the phone back to Asher. "Last problem solved," he said, grabbing Drake by the front of the shirt and kissing him deeply. He moved them to the stone barrier wall so that he could sit atop it with Drake between his legs. He was rather enjoying himself until Asher cleared his throat.
"Go away, Asher," he said, barely breaking the kiss. Asher didn't move, just cleared his throat again. "What?" Hannibal demanded, breaking the kiss and glaring at the blond man.
"Young Zoe is still up and about and was playing around the corner. The rest of us would like to remind you that you actually have a large suite with a rather large bed and a private balcony."
Hannibal lifted an eyebrow. "Why do I keep you around?" he asked.
"Because unsurprisingly I am more organized than you," Asher replied with a straight face.
Hannibal made a face. It was true. Asher had become a remarkably good personal assistant and seemed to really enjoy the job. Hannibal's office had never been so organized.
"Fine," he said, as Drake laughed softly into his neck. "We'll go upstairs. Let Evan know about the guest Nisha and Doyle are bringing in and then go do whatever it is you do when you're not harassing me."
Asher coughed slightly. That particular noise Hannibal knew was Asher trying not to snort or roll his eyes at something Hannibal had said or done. Instead the blond vampire just bowed his head and said, "As you wish, my King."
Drake laughed again. "He has settled quite nicely."
Hannibal snorted. "I know," he agreed, leaning his head into Drake's. "And I know I have said this many times before, but take me to bed, my love."
"I will never say no to that." Drake wrapped his arms around him.
Hannibal loved how this home had been designed with its staircasing of balconies and he loved Drake's strength because within seconds they were three stories up on their private balcony and a minute later they were both naked and on the bed.
Finally, everything was returning to order.
~end~