Sitting in the drawing room that Hannibal used as his new office in the mansion, Sere sketched various things in her notebook. At the moment she was just sketching a face, filling in each feature slowly but surely. Each emotion present was in the flick of the graphite upon the thick paper. The room was fairly dark, with the blinding light flooding in from the large windows Sere sat at the window ledge seats with the light pouring in on the smudged hands working quickly then slowly over the shading of the face.
Sere tied her hair into a French twist to keep it out of the way. Few strands remained on her forehead and temples but she hardly minded. She was comfortable sitting there for hours sketching and thinking. She could get use to this kind of free time. Hannibal walked in with a manila colored file in his hands, immediately looking to the dark silhouette of Sere's busy figure, drawing away. Sere's eye acknowledged his existence, and then returned to her hobby, "Hello Hannibal."
"Good afternoon Sere. What are you sketching?" He placed his file on his desk and then strolled curiously over to her.
"Just a face." Sere replied, as he sat close next to her. Peering over her shoulder he watched her skillfully place details upon the face. Sere even tilted the sketchpad towards him so he could see better, and the corners of his mouth crept up. "You've only seen him once."
"I know, but I remember everything in detail. Excruciating detail…" Sere replied. Finishing her sketch, it revealed Will Graham's face, looking to the left side of the paper; it was a three-quarter profile of Will's calm face.
"You like him don't you?" Hannibal stated with a sharp grin looking at Sere's neck, tracing each of her features with his eyes.
"Obviously. He's intelligent, attractive, empathetic, resourceful, moral, and unpredictable. What more could a girl dream for?" Sere dreamily said. Hannibal replied, "I think he'd like you too. Who wouldn't?"
"Flattery gets you nowhere Hannibal. If you wish to eat me already, just say so. Just be careful, because while you may be devouring me, I most assuredly will devour you as I lay dying." Sere raised a challenging eyebrow to Hannibal, which made him chuckle.
"You're just a treat aren't you?" Hannibal joked. They both laughed at his pun, "Well, I think I'd be more bitter than sweet to be perfectly honest." She darkly interjected.
Hannibal looked at her wanting to know the mystery behind the words. "Please explain."
"What do I get out of it?" Sere bargained.
"I'll tell you a story for every story you tell me, fair enough?" Hannibal proposed. Only Sere was given this honest opportunity with the world's most dangerous serial killer, something doctors, lawyers, and cops would kill for. "Very well, you start then."
"What do you want to know?" Hannibal was curious at what she wanted to know since she knew so much already.
"Tell me," Sere looked at him dead in the eyes, her eyes changing again from bright brown to dark coal, "When you were about to die with the noose around your neck, being held by that psychotic orderly. What went through your mind?"
Hannibal paused with a fairly blank expression, calculating, processing why she would ask that of him. "My thoughts were a cacophony of noise clashing around in my own head. Threads came and went. My life flashed in bits, but I was processing what the orderly was saying. I prayed that Will and Jack would find me in time. I had no doubt they'd find me, but when was the question. I thought to myself perhaps it was divine justice in some sense. I was going to go home."
Sere wasn't satisfied, she leaned in closer, smelling Hannibal's aftershave, "Hannibal, I like details, not summaries. I'm not exactly a Saint, but you can trust me." She smiled a devilish smile, which even Hannibal couldn't refuse.
"What do you mean?" Hannibal asked.
"We are not animals; we respect the lives we consume. As taboo as it is, it doesn't make it immoral when the law of surviving the jungle reigns. You don't regret eating people like you imply you felt badly for other sins God could judge you on, what would they be?"
"You've seemingly given this a bit of thought Sere. Tell me, what goes on in that mind of yours?" Hannibal traced his fingertips across her temple, brushing back strand of her hair behind her ears delicately. "Nothing to different from you, I suppose." Sere stated.
Hannibal continued, "They say in the seven circles of Hell, the lowest is the stomach pit of the devil and it is only reserved only for the best liars and manipulators. Like lawyers." Hannibal smiled at the joke, and Sere only moved one corner of her mouth up, but intently looked at him, "Betrayers are the ultimate sinners. I've hurt people, I will not deny that, but I have betrayed few, and I do feel some small semblance of remorse. I thought I was going to pay for that with my life that day, before moving on somewhere. Does that answer your question better, bella?"
"That's much better mein liebschen." Sere whispered teasingly close to Hannibal's face. Drawing back she began, "It's is interesting how some people may define you based on what you said. Feeling remorse, knowing you indulge into abnormal behaviors, yet the rest may be a mystery. You're like the child's game of 20 questions…animal, vegetable, mineral, or other…or for you more like a powerful god, devil, man, or carnivore? Hmm…I'd probably fit in the latter category." Sere mused in defining their natures, and then continued, "What would you like to know about me Hannibal?"
This mysterious woman, much like her mother, was an enticing enigma he wanted to pry open and study as one would with oysters for pearls. Hannibal replied, "Tell me about the accident." He figured if she could ask about his most vulnerable, he could ask the same of her.
Something changed. For the first time in the months that Sere had stayed there in the shadows of the home, she looked wounded. Hannibal was caught off guard, and put his arm around her, "You don't have to tell me."
"No, I promised. Just…even Bedelia doesn't know." Sere said. Hannibal cocked his head to the side at the change of formality. With an inhale, Sere placed her head in the curve of Hannibal's neck, which he rested his left cheek on the crown of her head.
"It started with her attacker…" Sere began. Hannibal stopped short; not realizing it affected her too. At the time he thought she was away at school, because he may be a serial killing cannibal, but even Hannibal had standards. Hurting young children and teens were the one boundary he never liked crossing because of Misha…with Abby he never killed her. But he did what was necessary, but it was him, just him. To think that the recklessly dangerous patient actually did something, somehow bothered Hannibal and he didn't even know what Sere's story was yet. Perhaps it was because Hannibal knew Bedelia and Sere for so long he felt more attachment to them than even Will, Alana, Abby, and Jack-and he liked them though he knew them more recently.
"I came home early for summer. This time I was able to get all my things done before coming home. It had just been a year since Bedelia moved her business from down the street to our home. That summer is when you referred him over to us. For the next month he did bi-weekly appointments, and so he got to know us pretty well. Sometimes his sessions would be in the late evening so he'd have dinner with us…it was abnormal, not because of the blurred professionalism, but it was like I could read how he wasn't there even for a client. The other patients were mainly older married couples, or even just couples with autistic children. He was a unique patient, unlike many Bedelia treated. One day after dinner, Bedelia had wine, but something didn't seem right about that night. I think when he brought the wine in that day he drugged it. She went to bed saying that he could see himself out. The crime itself was simple. Elegant. The circumstances were just right, I was his victim. The perfect design of his…" Sere seemed to glance into the far corner of the room as if she was sleep walking.
Hannibal watched curiously, "Sere you still here?"
"It was painful at first then it blurred into numbness. I think that's when something in my brain decided I was going to kill him." Sere glanced at Hannibal, "You too were a normal man once Hannibal, with fairly normal circumstances of lifestyle, goals, morals, dreams, and everything…until Misha was fed to you. That's when the hunger began and never filled…I was the same all those years ago. I had never known true enjoyment of a task until after he was dead." Sere stopped, to go and walk to the fire place. Hannibal remained seated as the ever gentlemen, and pondered, "But Bedelia killed him after he attacked her. You weren't even home."
He wondered if she'd take the implant of his perception or if she would reveal something much dire. "So you think Hannibal. You may be intelligent, but there are things even you miss." Sere said taking an iron prod to shift the fireplace logs. The fireplace wasn't even lit. "Tell me what I missed then Sere."
"The man was a psychotic sadistic rapist, do you think after the first incident he wouldn't try again?" Sere asked rhetorically, "No, fortunately, it never happened again, because the next session he came over he tried to attack Bedelia in her office. I was in the kitchen, getting a bottle of water. I heard her screaming. I ran over and broke down the door, and obviously his advances were denied so he tried choking her, but Bedelia was fighting back. I took the letter opener from her desk and stabbed him as I tried stepping between them. Bedelia backed off, horrified by what I did next. Because after he fell to the ground dead, I kept stabbing his bleeding corpse. She passed out. Though I will say I surprised myself with what I did next because I rather liked taking his miserable life. I simply, put the opener in her hands, and dragged her closer to the blood pool and then removed any evidence that I was there. And the last person I saw was you entering the house as I left. I ran away to an old cabin that belong to my uncle, and stayed there until school began again for me."
Hannibal sat there, "I don't understand why you did that, at least not completely. I know you felt empowered killing him, but why blame your mother? That seems fairly cold towards a woman who raised you."
"Oh please stop the Freudian techniques, Hannibal we are both passed that. I did that not to blame but to empower her when she woke." Sere said bluntly.
Hannibal was actually impressed that this young girl thought ahead like that. If anyone didn't know her well, they'd try and figure her moral alignment, but Hannibal knew that like him, she was an enigma that would toy with people on the path to never figuring her out. "Well then, you seem to have put thought into this. Did you rationalize it that way or not?"
"If you're asking about me enjoying killing him, make no mistake I did. But I did plan to spare mother some pain. I didn't want to completely break her mind yet. So the plan of clearing evidence was on purpose before I told you the story." Sere said looking to him directly. Hannibal smiled briefly, "Seems like I found someone a little bit like myself."
"Just a little? I'm disappointed in your lack of connection to our backgrounds Hannibal." Sere said. Hannibal then proceeded to ask, "Have you killed people since?"
"Hannibal for that answer, you have to tell me another story." She replied, strolling over to pick up her drawing pad, and then walked off across the large office that mimicked his old one.
Hannibal just watched her leave and as he watched, he did see connections between her and himself. He remembered when he was her age what he had already done, and he knew what he was going to do, which wasn't pretty. Hannibal wondered what this dangerous girl was going to do next?
Bedelia hurried away before Sere came to the door. She had a feeling, but never knew the depth of how their attacker changed their lives. Bedelia at least knew the reason for Sere's insanity, and this reassured Bedelia that she was the least crazy of the three. At the same time she couldn't help but wonder why Sere became impersonal during her own narrative, but Bedelia's conclusion was frightening. Given the night before and the discourse that just occurred, lead Bedelia to believe that Sere was going to kill her and then let Hannibal eat her. It was frightening, but Bedelia had her own means of survival. In the end they were all dead, but the real question was who would be the last standing?