Chapter Text
Will had missed his appointment, this was the first time the Omega had not called ahead because of Jack pulling him into a case. He made his way to Quantico, expecting to find Will there first. They had been dealing with what seemed to be a surge of bodies, Jack pulling Will to every one so check if it was the Ripper.
What he arrived to was not Will in the classroom or his little cubicle in the teacher’s office space. He was making his way towards Jack’s office when his phone rang. He couldn’t explain the disappointment that it was Jack’s name on the screen instead of Will’s. He answered anyways, perhaps Jack knew where Will was. “Hello Jack…” He didn’t even get to finish speaking before he was being interrupted.
“I’m sorry for interrupting your evening Dr. Lecter. Do you know where Will is, no one has seen him all day, he missed his lectures and is not answering his phone.” Jack sounded angry, if he had not been talking to Hannibal then he would likely have been yelling like he did to everyone else. Particularly if he outranked them. “I will send someone to his home…”
Hannibal turned and made his way towards the exit, his pace quicker than usual even while not looking hurried. “Do not bother Jack, I will go to Will’s home and check on him.” Will had missed his lectures and was not answering his phone. Had he let the encephalitis boil Will’s brain for too long? “I will keep you informed on what I find Jack.”
“Please see that you do Hannibal. We need him.” Jack hung-up without proper farewells as usual.
Hannibal clicked his tongue as he pocketed his cellphone. Once in his vehicle he drove to Will’s, even taking the chance at driving over the speed limit. Only a little so as to not draw to much attention to himself. Pulling into Will’s drive way thirty-five minutes later he climbed out and looked around, his ears picking up the sound of the dogs barking and scratching at the door. He frowned, the dogs would usually bark, but they were better behaved and did not usually scratch at the door.
Hannibal tried looking through the windows, but the curtains had been drawn. He tried the door, the screen door squealing loudly. Locked. In case Will was home, he pulled out his phone and dialed the profiler’s number as he knocked loudly on the door. He could hear a song start,
‘Oh, my love, my darling
I’ve hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time…’
The song continued before it cut off as Will’s voicemail message played in his ear. He hung up and pocketed the device as he bent over to pick up the stainless-steel water bowl to get to the key that was taped underneath it. He unlocked the door and allowed the dogs to stream past him into the yard as he entered the house, taking note that there were only six dogs.
He frowned at the rumpled but empty bed, noticing Will’s cellphone on the table next to it. Looking around the room more he saw Will’s work satchel, his shoes (work, outdoor boots and sneakers) still next to the door where the profiler kicked them off at the end of the day. He further explored the rest of the house and Will was nowhere to be found. There were several puddles and dog feces on the hard wood floor, as disgusting as it was, he left those be for now.
Jack, the dog, whined around his food bowl while Buster attempted to dig in the empty water bowl. Both bathroom toilets had the seats up and less water in the bowl than was normal. The downstairs bathroom had Will’s snap-on veneers in their case on the counter. Hannibal turned to the dogs as he entered the kitchen. He had to take care of Will’s pack for him, a simple enough task. He opened the refrigerator and frowned at the contents.
There was a large batch of the dog food Will made, the profiler made batches twice a week on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Only making larger batches and freezing it if he knew he was going to be away for several days. Hannibal cleaned the dog’s bowls, gave them fresh water and portioned out their food like he had when he watched Will’s dogs for him previously. He did quick math and frowned at the amount of food left, it was Monday and the amount left meant the dogs had missed meals on Sunday and this morning. Hannibal called Jack as he made his way back out to the porch and the chill fall air, Winston followed him and laid down next to his feet.
“Jack, we have a problem. Will is missing. Looking around and the way the dogs acted he went missing between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.”
“I need you to not touch anything Dr. Lecter, I will have a forensics team out asap.” Just before the phone cut out Hannibal could hear Jack yelling, “KATZ, PRICE AND ZELLER…”
Hannibal frowned at his phone before turning back to the door and opening it, he got the leashes Will rarely used just in case and called for the dogs. “Alright every one, on to the porch to wait for Uncle Jack.” The now fed dogs were content to sit on the porch and wait with the man who usually brought them sausages.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jack and the forensics team showed up and were unsure what to do. There was no damage, the door had been locked when Hannibal arrived. The only indication anything had happened was the messes left by the dogs and Hannibal’s word about how much dog food should be missing from the large Tupperware in the fridge as well as Will’s car in the drive.
“If I may make a suggestion.” Hannibal interrupted Zeller’s mutterings about bullshit work and that Will just up and left of his own volition.
“I’m all ears Doctor Lecter.” Jack said turning to face the psychiatrist, trying to look at ease while standing taller and trying to appear larger than the Alpha.
“Will would not have just left his dogs uncared for, for two days. While the state of his home suggests clutter to the untrained eye, the neat manner in which his undershirts, socks and underwear is folded indicates a highly organized mind. Something happened that had Will locking his front door and not returning.” Hannibal paused for a moment, looking around the small group of people Will would call colleagues. “He has seven well trained dogs, why not put them to use?”
Zeller scoffed, “Are you suggesting those mutts could track Will?”
The alpha’s eyes cut sharply to the beta, making the scruffy crime scene investigator snap his mouth shut. He turned sharply and picked up the leashes, entering the house for a moment and returning with a bag with a pair of underwear and socks from the dirty clothes hamper. He clipped the leads to the dog’s collars and putting Jack and Winston together in one hand he held the other five out. Katz and Price gladly divided the remaining five between themselves as Hannibal turned to the two sitting patiently by his side.
Hannibal held the bag out to the pair to allow them to smell before he gave a clear order. “Find Will.” Both dogs immediately started sniffing the ground, it took only a few moments before the team was following after Hannibal and the dogs. They traveled to the nearest road and then down the center line for eight miles before the trail was lost on the side of the road. Even Hannibal had been able to very faintly smell Will and then it just vanished, though the smell of other men made the dogs growl, the alpha just catching his own before the betas he was surrounded by caught it.
“We have lost the trail, it is hard to tell, the smell being at least two days old, but Will was taken into a vehicle around here.” The dogs tugged at their leashes a little further into the brush, sniffing hard at the base of a scraggily bush. Hannibal squatted and breathed deep before pointing at the ground. “Will relieved himself here, along with another Alpha.” Hannibal straightened and took Jack and Winston to the SUV human beta Jack had been driving where the other dogs had been stowed after the third mile. “Good boys” Hannibal told the pair, giving their ears a rub before closing the door.
“Actually Brian, alpha noses have been documented to rank just under a dog in olfactometry, some alphas have been noted to rank higher. They definitely have a better sense of smell than us betas. Where do you think Will was heading, to have walked so far on his own before being noticed?” Price was currently searching the dried grass for any clues as were the other forensics investigators.
Katz let out a low whistle, “I’ve got something here. Rather large pool of blood. Might be Will’s?” She bent to pick something up with a gloved hand. “Holy shit, I’ve got a finger!”
Every one rushed over to look in the area, Hannibal noted the amount of blood on the ground and crouched, he placed a glove on and rubbed nitril covered fingers over the patch of darkened dirt before bringing them to his nose. “It’s not Will’s, it’s the other alpha’s. May I see the finger?” He was handed the digit in a plastic bag as he straightened, using a flashlight he examined the digit. “This was bitten and torn off by an irate omega. Most likely by Will.”
“What are you talking about Doctor Lecter, Will is a beta.” Jack looked at the rest of the team when Zeller scoffed, rather loudly. “What are you scoffing at Zeller?!”
“Will is an omega, much as I dislike him, even I could pick that up. It’s part of why he’s so twitchy when doing his job. It should honestly be left to the alphas and betas, much to disgusting of a job for their delicate nature.”
Katz laughed, loudly for several minutes. “Zeller, really? That’s what you think? Yeah, Will is an omega, but they’re not the delicate little flowers you and the media seem to think they are. Have you ever seen an omega’s real teeth?”
“What are you talking about real teeth, Will’s teeth look normal when he talks, except his canines are sharper.”
“Omegas wear veneers, because it’s considered rude to show off their shark teeth in polite society. They use snap-on veneers.” She pulled out her phone and typed quickly, pulling up an image search. “See?”
Zeller’s eyes widened at the pictures, omegas smiling with their natural teeth showing. “They look like Venom has taken over their mouths, how do they not bite their tongues off. Do alphas have teeth like that?”
“We do not Mr. Zeller, we are the hunters, the providers. An omega caring for pups must be able to defend their nest. They are by far the more vicious, stronger nails that grow faster and a potential bit force close to that of a hyena or gorilla depending on their pedigree.” Hannibal handed over the bag and stripped off the glove.
“It’s bullshit, but there are laws that allow omegas to get away with killing an alpha.” Jack growled.
Katz raised an eyebrow, “those laws are to protect an omega defending themselves from an alpha trying to force a mating.”
Price interrupted at that moment before the argument could get any more heated, “From the amount of blood and the large drag trail of it leading to the road, there had to be several people. I think Will got more than a finger trying to defend himself from his abductors.” He held up a bag with a large chunk of flesh with ragged edges. “I’m pretty sure this is the alpha’s mating gland.”
“It is possible, he survived, if his friends managed to stop the bleeding, perhaps look into nearby hospitals for an Alpha missing fingers and his mating gland. Hannibal took a quick look at the lump of flesh. “I almost feel sorry for the alpha’s omega, he was mated before this was removed.” The removal of the mating gland by another omega would have broken the bond, the backlash killed many lesser omegas. Going by the pair of veneers he had found in Will’s bathroom the profiler had to be a thoroughbred, meaning the alpha/omega gene had bred true for several generations. At a minimum his great, great grandparents had to be alpha/omega on both sides, each generation birthing children with secondary genders until Will.
Betas had central and lateral incisors followed by the cuspids then first and second premolars before the molars. Alphas had the central incisors while the lateral incisor and the cuspids formed their fangs before the premolars. Thoroughbred omegas had no premolars, the incisors, cuspids and both sets of premolars were very sharp and very strong fangs. Lesser omegas would have less fangs, having premolars instead. Hannibal had witnessed to several omegas with differing numbers of fangs, at the orphanage. One child even only had a central pair; earning them the nickname Nosferatu.
When they felt threatened omegas would latch on to their attackers, going for any easily accessible parts to latch on to if they couldn’t get to the mating gland. Once latched on there was no getting the omega off, if they did not immediately start shaking their heads side to side to tear at the flesh between their fangs, trying to pull them off without tranquilizing them first would result in the flesh being removed with the omega.
Someone had taken his omega.