Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Willow could only look at her bloodied hands feeling how the metallic and toxic smell of blood seeped into her nose, she didn't understand what was happening, everything in her mind was confusing, the images were spinning in her head while a suffocating heat covered her body in an overwhelming way, she tried to breathe but she realized that it was impossible, her lungs were not cooperating with her. She scratched her throat, beat her chest with her fists and crawled on the floor feeling the burning in her lungs that screamed for some oxygen but she couldn't do it, she couldn't do it anymore. Her eyes wandered desperately all over the place looking for someone who could help her but there was no one, she was lying in the snow of the forest sweating from the abnormal heat of her body and with her lungs about to explode. She tried to crawl in the snow, she tried to escape from the forest that was going to swallow her in a few seconds but every second felt eternal, a painful death like suffocating that was eternal, no matter how long she had been suffocating the ordeal did not stop. 

A loud noise in her right ear returned the oxygen to her lungs and the cold to her body, she opened her eyes expecting to see the thick trees and the snow of the forest but she only saw the cracked wooden roof of her house and recognized the loud noise, it was her alarm clock. So, it had all been a dream, or rather a nightmare and one of the worst she had in a long time. 

She felt her body relax completely against the bed that was now her refuge and her prison of nightmares, the alarm clock was still ringing but she didn't care, she just concentrated on feeling the oxygen going in and out of her lungs. Her body was wet with sweat, her mouth was dry and her throat hurt, she slowly got up from her bed stretching her muscles that had been tense thanks to her nightmare and with a sigh she went to take a bath. 

It was 8 AM when she finished getting dressed, she had to start her class in a couple of hours but she had to hurry to get to the FBI, if her luck was bad maybe today Jack would have a new case and Adam would have to replace her in her class, again. She prayed to whatever God was up there that she could at least finish her class before Jack took her away to the dark world of assassins. 

[...] 

Her little heels clacked against the wood of her classroom as her pale legs moved the long plaid skirt she was wearing, she was in the middle of a rather lengthy explanation of how a man could rip out another man's vocal cords until she saw Jack enter, this time he wasn't coming alone, he was accompanied by an elegant blonde Alpha woman. Willow felt her stomach slowly turn into a knot as she felt Jack's piercing alpha gaze on her that clearly said 'It's time to end the class' but she refused to do so, this was her space, her territory not his, so she tried to ignore them and continued explaining while scrolling through her slides. 

Apparently Jack didn't like it at all that a little omega like her wouldn't do what he wanted so he did what he did best, yell. 

"CLASS DISMISSED!" 

Willow flinched at the loud scream her long nails dug into her palms, a quick image of Jack's blood flashed through her head but she dismissed it as soon as it came, she shouldn't think that way, it wasn't right, no... it... was right.

"Couldn't you have waited until my class was over?" The omega asked putting on her glasses before looking at the two alphas who had approached her. "I was just short." 

"There are more important things than your class, Willow." Jack spat, crossing his arms. "We got a new case." 

"Obviously." Replied Willow rolling her eyes as she began to put her things away, she looked at the homework she had prepared for today longingly, she had put a lot of work into it. 

"I'm going to ignore that." Jack said through his teeth with an annoyed look in his eyes before his eyes softened as he looked at the blonde Alpha beside him. "I wanted to introduce you to someone who is going to be helping us on today's case, this is Dr. Annabelle Lecter." 

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Graham." Dr. Lecter extended her hand and Willow reciprocated the greeting before quickly withdrawing her hand. 

"It's a pleasure." The omega murmured feeling uncomfortable as the alpha's reddish brown eyes looked up at her. She slung her bag over her shoulder and held out her hand to Jack who passed her the file. 

As she opened it she saw pictures and pictures of girls who were similar to each other, same secondary gender, same hair, same eyes, same skin tone, almost the same age. The pattern was right there, he wondered how Jack hadn't figured it out yet. Mistress? No, that wasn't it. Was he in love? No, it wasn't that either. Mother? No. Daughter?... Bingo. 

"Another one disappeared but turned up, dead but we have the body, why?"

Murmured Willow to herself looking closely at the pictures of the beta girls who were now most likely dead, "He can't kill her, he wants to but he can't." 

"Who can't he kill?" Dr. Lecter asked with a curious look in her eyes, she had never seen a creature more fascinating as the omega in front of her. Her deer blue eyes looked at her with a look she couldn't decipher, she simply wanted to know what was going on in that strange and fascinating mind. 

"His golden ticket."

Chapter Text

Pristine

"He's a middle-aged man, maybe widowed or divorced." Willow said as she walked through Jack's office, her little heels clicking against the floor tiles. "The daughter is his golden ticket, he loves her so much he doesn't want her to leave his side. does he want to kill her? Yes, but he won't, that's why we have all those girls missing." 

She couldn't describe exactly what kind of look Dr. Lecter was giving her but it felt strange, it was like a throbbing in the pit of her stomach that came and went, no one had ever looked at her that way and she didn't know if she wanted them to. 

"Do you think the golden ticket or the girls or, even Elise Nichols were abused in any way by this man?" Jack asked looking with folded arms at Willow who wasn't looking at him. "The analysis of Elise Nichols' body reported no semen or saliva."

"God, no. He would never do that to them, he loves them, well, he loves one of them; he loves her so much he wouldn't be able to hurt her even if he wanted to, not his golden ticket. It's not sexual love, it's a strange and twisted family love." Replied the omega as she began to feel a growing headache, she carefully sat down next to Dr. Lecter who had been quiet only watching with curious and fascinated eyes the whole conversation. 

"I have a question." Said the blonde alpha in a tone that emphasized her exotic foreign accent. "None of the missing ladies were found, but Miss Nichols was found dead in her bed, why do you think that happened, Miss Graham?" 

Willow heard the question but didn't look up from the report with the analysis of Elise Nichols' body. Velvet stab wounds, asphyxiation marks on her neck and broken ribs, her liver was removed but returned to her body, she had liver cancer. The omega did not think about it, she simply answered the first thing that came to her mind. 

"Because he couldn't eat it." As soon as she uttered those words Willow's blue eyes lifted and she looked at the two alphas in the office who were staring at her both with different looks in their eyes, Jack with a shocked look and Annabelle with a Fascinated? look.

"Elise had liver cancer, he tried to heal the wounds he caused her with the velvet antler, but he couldn't..." Willow tried to find the right word as she stood up from the chair feeling her hands start to sweat. "Honor her, that is. He returned her to her room as an apology, if he can't eat her, if he can't honor her he killed her in vain. Elise's body had two holes in her abdomen, this man pierced her with antlers after killing her, I don't understand why. Maybe they all died like that, quickly, then they were pierced and then eaten until there was nothing left of them". 

The omega let out all the air she was holding in feeling her body relax once she finished speaking, her head hurt, she rubbed her eyes while taking off her glasses. She just wanted to go home and curl up with his dogs in a warm nest, maybe eat junk food and watch stupid movies or read a book, she didn't care she just wanted to go home. 

"We can take a break, we made a breakthrough." Said Jack, Willow wanted to correct him and say that she had made that breakthrough, alone. "I'm going to go to the lab and see if they found anything else we can use." 

And with that Jack left the office leaving Willow and Annabelle alone who now had a smile adorning her beautiful face. The next thing the alpha said took the omega by surprise.

"I'm sorry Jack dragged you out of your class in that discourteous manner and I must admit I enjoyed what little I heard." The blonde alpha rose from her chair as she straightened the jacket of her burgundy suit and approached with measured steps towards the omega who had not taken her eyes off her little heels. "I wish I could have listened to the whole class, your psychological analysis was quite fascinating." 

Willow couldn't take it anymore and simply blurted out the question that had been haunting her since she saw her enter her classroom with Jack at her side. 

"Why are you here, Dr. Lecter? Because Jack certainly didn't bring you here to enjoy my class." Willow spat looking up and directing her gaze into the alpha's eyes, it felt strange staring at her and she had trouble holding her gaze, there was something in Annabelle's eyes that was creepy and it bothered her that she didn't know exactly what it was.

"Uncle Jack just brought me in to do a little analysis on you, you have to believe me when I say I'm embarrassed that we ambushed you like that, it was never my intention." Annabelle sighed as her gaze roamed over Willow's soft curls that decorated her face and neck splendidly, her hands itching to want to stroke and comb it. 

Annabelle in her long years of life had never met a creature as fascinating as Willow was, her mind was a dark and beautiful place that she wanted to crack with her own hands. Her bright blue eyes that had been hidden under a pair of glasses and now she could see them clearly, were such a beautiful pristine blue. This clever little omega, full of demons, was hers. There was no way to prove it, she just knew it. It was her omega.

Chapter Text

Willow didn't know exactly what was going on, she simply saw shadows pass by the sides of her bed as she listened to the gasps coming out of her mouth, her heart pounding with fear and confusion. Her eyes traveled around the room looking for her dogs that were always watching over her but this time they were nowhere to be seen, it was then that she realized that she was not in her bed and definitely not at home. 

It was the forest, again, covered with snow and she could distinguish that the shadows running behind the trees seemed to escape from something, before she could react she felt a presence next to her and when she looked up, she saw it. A creature of a bluish black color, with large antlers on its head, black eyes, prominent ribs, large hands with sharp claws and a pair of hooves, but what stood out the most was its smell; the creature had the metallic smell of blood mixed with saffron? It was sweet and bitter at the same time, Willow had to admit she liked that smell.

The creature crouched down next to her and brought its face close to hers, they were so close that she could feel its breath hit her face but neither moved, they just looked at each other. She could have sworn for a moment that the creature's eyes had changed from black to red, she didn't know why that look felt familiar, she could feel the back of her mind screaming at her, "Look at him! Don't you see?" but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was she was supposed to see. 

Willow was starting to feel drowsy, her eyelids felt heavy and it was getting harder and harder to keep them open, the last thing she felt before she surrendered to sleep was the creature's claws caressing her cheek. For some reason that simple little act warmed her heart in a way she could explain. 

[···]

"Willow?" Annabelle had arrived at the omega's house only to find her standing at the entrance to the forest in front of her house in pajamas consisting of an oversized t-shirt and underwear, she approached the young woman when she didn't respond and noticed her lost look, her blue eyes were glazed over and Annabelle realized Willow was sleepwalking.

The alpha could feel the excitement start to grow inside her and she let out a small smile, she was so lucky, a cute and disoriented mind that she herself could easily manipulate if she moved her cards right, she could turn her into the perfect mate for her, maybe she could make her so devoted to her that she would be capable of murder if she could; she had read cases like that, where Alphas would ask their Omega mates for things completely inappropriate to the moral eye and they would do it because they wanted the approval and love of their dominant mate. Annabelle had a golden opportunity in front of her and she wasn't going to waste it, Willow should understand why she was going to break it and put it back together to her liking, in time she would even be able to thank her for doing that to her. 

She noticed that the omega had started walking towards her house this time, Willow's pale body was shivering from the cold as she entered and walked towards her bed where she lay down closing her eyes, the alpha approached and covered her with the blankets, she turned on the fireplace and greeted Willow's seven dogs who were very friendly, maybe too much for Annabelle's taste. Finally, she headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast which was already running late.

Willow opened her eyes feeling the muscles in her body ache as if she had run a marathon, she stared at her ceiling for a while trying to process what it was she had dreamt but she couldn't remember anything besides that strange creature and why it looked so familiar. She swore her heart stopped for a second when she turned her head and saw the creature feeding her dogs, she blinked rapidly and the creature had transformed into Annabelle. 

She...

Annabelle...

Willow was never wrong when she spotted a killer, Cassie Boyle, who had been killed as the Minnesota Shrike would be but it wasn't him, it was a copycat. They did it perfectly so she could finish the Shrike puzzle, coincidentally Annabelle had been with her for the rest of the day, after the kitchen show of an alpha named Garret Jacob Hobbs aka The Minnesota Shrike, who ended up dead with nine shots from her gun, along with his wife who he had murdered and seriously wounded his daughter, her day had ended in the hospital visiting Abigail Hobbs. Someone... She had warned Garret, it had all happened too fast and too nervously, desperate situations call for desperate measures.

Willow knew Annabelle had something, she knew she saw something in the alpha's red eyes and apparently she was right. That something... It was something really bloody and dark, that she wanted to know; everyone had eaten her act of traumatized and disturbed by first murder but she didn't feel scared, not even a little disturbed by what she had done, she could admit to herself that it had felt really good to kill him, did she want to do it again? She didn't know it yet but that feeling in her chest, how her heart was beating fast and how her body relaxed as she pulled the trigger nine times, her body had shuddered when she saw Garret's body fall, then she turned her gaze to Annabelle and for a moment, just for a moment she felt the urge to bite that beautiful, elegant alpha who was covered in the blood of a cannibal killer's daughter. Her crotch throbbed from just remembering how Annabelle had been surrounded by blood. 

"You're awake now." Willow shook her head before turning her gaze to the blonde alpha who was smiling softly at her, now that the blindfold had fallen off she could see her, really see her and she was beautiful.