Wow.
"Hannibal, I can't take this," Elizabeth pleaded as she sat cross legged on the couch in his living room. "This is too much."
Hannibal chuckled. "Nothing is ever too much for you, my dear. I want you to have it."
Elizabeth stared down at the small necklace with a sliver chain and a red rose on it with a small diamond in the middle of the rose. She smiled down at it and shook her head. "What is this, Hannibal?"
"It's a gift. We've been together for a month now," Hannibal said, his voice proud.
"We have been dating," she corrected him. "Is this your way of saying that it is our anniversary?"
"It would appear so."
"And they say that the men are always so forgetful of these types of things," she joked as Hannibal moved a stray curl out of her hair and behind her ear.
"I'm not most men," Hannibal reminded her. "Now let me put it on."
Elizabeth nodded and turned around as Hannibal's arms reached around her to clasp the necklace around her neck. He kissed her neck and whispered, "I care about you, Elizabeth."
"Already," she mused and craned her neck to look behind her and at him. "And here I thought you hated me for what I had said to you out of fear. Do you forgive me, Hannibal?"
Hannibal kissed her lips and placed his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to his chest. She soon felt her back hit the cushions softly as he kissed her passionately. She liked his weight on top of her and the way his body felt against her own.
"I can't seem to stay away from you," he admitted. "And it drives me insane."
She knitted her brows in confusion. "Why?"
"Because," he started with a sad smile. "I will never truly have you although I like fantasize about the idea."
"Why not?"
"Curiosity killed the cat did it not?"
She smiled and cupped his cheek. "Maybe I am, but I am also very cunning."
Hannibal laughed and then asked, "Did you know that a mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it?"
"Ah," she drawled out. "But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it in my opinion."
"And yet you ask why I like you so much. Your mouth is what will get you into trouble."
"One day."
"And I'll be anxiously waiting to tell you that I told you so."
"Great," she replied sarcastically. "I'll be waiting to slap you then."
"I happen to like violent women on some occasions," he said as he stroked the curves of her body before kissing her collarbone.
"I know that it must be hard for you to keep this all a secret, but I just want you to know that it isn't because I'm ashamed or something and don't want everyone to know that we're together, but because of the ripper. He hasn't done anything for a while and it's just making everyone on edge lately," she told him.
Hannibal nodded. "I understand perfectly. The man is cunning and unpredictable. We don't know when he will strike since he's killed more people than we're used to."
"Exactly," she said in exasperation. "He only kills in triads, but now...he's killing more than one, but for what? What has changed all of the sudden?"
"I can see that you've been spending a lot of time on this." Hannibal mused.
She sighed heavily and confessed, "He's inside of my mind, playing games inside of my dreams. A faceless tall figure with an impressive and expensive suit on stands behind me as I'm tied to a chair and he makes me watch as he-"
She stopped talking suddenly, sitting up and curling her legs underneath her, her hands in her lap. Hannibal sat up as well and grabbed her hand, his fingers gently stroking hers.
"Tell me," he commanded softly.
"He is always silent in my dreams. Never talking in them. He makes me watch as he kills Will."
"How does he kill him?"
"H-He didn't exactly kill him in front of me, but made me watch as Will is barely hanging on for his life. He was hung above me, his blood dripping onto my face. Will's eyes are staring right into my own; he has fish hooks in his back so that he can hang from above on the ceiling. He looked so dead."
"Fish hooks?" Hannibal questioned.
She nodded. "Yeah. His arms, hands, legs-all over his backside had hooks."
"Did he do anything else?"
"He, um, he wore black leather gloves and put his hands on my shoulders and then he stroked my hair like I was his pet…"
"Maybe you are his student," Hannibal suggested. "He wants you to learn from your mistakes in my opinion."
"David," she whispered in realization. "He knows about what David did to me. The flowers-he's warning me of men like David probably. Hey, do you know what a white rose means?"
"No, but aren't red roses supposed to mean love," Hannibal easily lied.
"Yeah. Hold on, I'm going to look it up."
Elizabeth stood up and quickly called Jack on her phone as she walked into another room. Hannibal then stood up and walked over to a cabinet which he kept medicine in. He opened it, sighing silently as he took out a bottle, shuffling two pills out onto his palm. After closing the cabinet, he causally walked back over to the couch, dropping the pills into the glass of red wine. Hannibal's lips twitched as the white pills started to dissolve in the wine, eventually disappearing completely just as Elizabeth walked back into the room.
She sighed as he asked, "So, what does it mean?"
"That 'I am worthy of you'…or purity and innocence. A new beginning," Elizabeth said grimly. "I think the ripper might have a crush on me."
"He would be an idiot not to," he replied smiling. "More wine?"
"Not to sound like an alcoholic, but hell yes please," she pleaded.
Hannibal chuckled and handed her the wine glass, watching as she blindly drank from it. She smiled at him despite everything that she had gone through these couple of months. He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it.
"You're too sweet, Hannibal."
"May I ask you what happened with Roger Kane?"
"I don't want to talk about it," she said softly.
"But you need to talk about this sooner or-"
"I said no, Hannibal," she interrupted him sternly. "It's late. I have to get up early in the morning. Thank you for the gift. Goodbye, Hannibal."
Elizabeth walked out of the house, feeling his eyes burning into her back. She walked back to her home, feeling an eerie wave wash over body as she saw a shadow move quickly into the darkness. Elizabeth reached into her bag and cocked her gun as quietly as possible as she unlocked her door, her gun at her side. She walked inside, slowly, each step quite and calculative.
She heard footsteps in her bathroom and her heart began to pound as she walked closer, raising the gun and preparing to fire when suddenly the door slams open and Meredith screams in fright at the sight of her gun.
"Mer!" She yelled in anger, putting her gun away. "What…what the hell are you doing here? God, I could've killed you."
"But you didn't," she said as a matter-of-fact.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah whatever. What are you doing here?"
Meredith walked over to her and hugged her, laughing, "God, I missed your crazy ass, Lizzie!"
Elizabeth laughed and returned the hug. "I thought that I might never see you again, Mer."
Meredith shrugged. "Yeah, sorry for not calling you. I've been in Paris since you left."
"Ah," she drawled out. "A new beau?"
"Yes," Meredith gushed happily. "His name is Francis De'Laurie. He's so handsome, Lizzie and strong too. He's like a stallion in the bed I swear!"
"So I'm guessing that you like the French penis," Elizabeth mused as they walked into the kitchen for wine.
Meredith chuckled as she drank her wine. "Oh, yes, definitely. He can go on for hours and he does this thing with his tongue-"
"Ew, okay, stop," Elizabeth shouted at her. "I love you, but that's disgusting."
"Fine. So I hear that the ripper is terrorizing you and courting you…I'm sorry for what happened to David."
"It's alright. He's getting too close though. He seems to know every bit of my life, Meredith."
"Everything? Even how when you're drunk, you can't stop giggling?"
"That happens to everyone, but he knows my favorite flowers which I have never ever mentioned before at any time. There are no such pictures of my flowers so I wonder how he could've possibly known about them. He's been following me, I just know it. I can feel it crawl up my spine every time. He has a close eye on me and the people that I care about. Now that you're here, I fear that he will go after you. He seemed angry at David for hurting me. Hannibal thinks that it's because he wants me to see my mistakes and reevaluate my choice of men."
"From what I've seen from that Lounds girl's blog and the crime scene photos, it really looks like he's trying to impress you. Win your favor and I do hope you know that a white rose means marriage."
Elizabeth froze and her knees almost gave out. "W-What? You're insane."
"Okay, well, that was extreme of me. Alright, alright, it could mean that 'I'm thinking of you'…oh."
Elizabeth's jaw hardened. "Yeah like that's any better. He took the necklace Dad gave me, remember? The one with the moon pendent."
"I'm sorry. I know how much that necklace really meant to you, Lizzie. Perhaps you'll find it someday," Meredith assured her.
"I just hope that it's somehow not used against me," Elizabeth admitted worriedly.
Hannibal lied in bed late at night, the moonlight beaming through his window and onto the necklace in his hand. The silver moon pendent shined brightly hanging in front of him. If he closed his eyes and ignored the metal scent of it then he could be able to catch her scent. Elizabeth smelled of roses and lavender, one of the sweetest smells he couldn't resist not smelling every time she was near by.
He was completely captivated by this one woman yet she was special and trouble for him.
They were so much alike and she didn't even know it yet. Hannibal had planned out his every single move for Elizabeth right this very moment. He knew what he wanted to do with her…having her is and will never be enough.
She will be my protégé, Hannibal mused thoughtfully with a smirk. Now that would be a sight to see no doubt…an honorable pure woman turned into darkness because of me and willing enough to do anything for me.
TBC…
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES! I hoped you liked this chapter.
REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until next time…