Elizabeth was absentmindedly cleaning when someone knocked on the suite door. She walked over to the door, looking in the porthole and sighed.
"Hannibal," she greeted tensely as she opened the door.
"May I come inside?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"You know why. Should I even ask how you found me?"
"Last name rearranged."
"Ah," she drawled out. "You kissed my friend and I saw it, Hannibal. I left you alone for a half hour or so and you moved on already."
"She kissed me first and I did not kiss Alana back. I pushed her away after she kissed me. I went after you and I've been trying to track you down since. You're a hard woman to find," he explained.
"It's only been a couple of days, Hannibal," Elizabeth reminded him as she turned away, walking back inside of the room where she sat down on the sofa.
Hannibal closed the door and sat next to her cautiously. "I'm sorry for the events that have occurred. I miss you. I feel as if it has been weeks since I've seen you. I need you, Elizabeth. Do not leave me…please."
Elizabeth put her face in her hands and sighed. "I can't get that image of you two out of my head. I have to think about especially with our child. I have to do what's best of them. I will always put them first before anything…including you."
"And what about Will?"
"Even Will." She snapped softly. "Our child should be our first choice above everything. I want to give them everything that they deserve."
Hannibal smiled at her. "I know. I feel the same. I want you both by my side of every single day."
"What?"
"Marry me."
"What?" She repeated softly, gulping nervously.
"Marry me."
Elizabeth laughed hysterically and asked, "Are you serious?"
"Very in fact," he said stiffly and pulled out a little black box, placing it on the coffee table.
Elizabeth shot up on her feet and paced back and forth in front of him. "Why? Why now?"
"The time is right. You are pregnant with our child and I want him to have a stable environment," he answered.
"We can't get married," she informed him.
He shrugged. "Why not?"
She looked at him like he was crazy and slowly told him, "Because I don't want to marry you just because it's the best thing for our son. I want you to marry me because you love me and you want to."
"I do want to…because of our son."
"No, Hannibal. I can't marry you because I want to marry someone who actually wants to marry me because they love me and want to be with me forever and all that. We shouldn't get married because it's convenient," Elizabeth replied. "No matter how much the ring you got me is beautiful…show me the ring-no, don't show me it! I'll probably say yes to marry you and throw everything that I believe in right now out the window."
Hannibal chuckled. "Are you saying that the ring would be manipulating you into marriage?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Yes, it definitely will."
Hannibal stood up and kissed her passionately.
"Am I forgiven yet?"
"Buy me shiny things first then we can revisit and revise this later." Elizabeth said to him. "Besides…I'm really horny right now and I feel like I'm going crazy right now because of the way you smell."
Hannibal suddenly picked her up in his arms causing her to gasp in surprise as she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I can fix that."
"So you're okay with us not getting married?"
"I am, Elizabeth. I am a very patient man and I can wait a long time."
Hannibal placed her on the bed and hovered over her. Elizabeth smiled up at him and started to unbutton his vest. Hannibal squeezed her breasts then suddenly ripped open her top, gazing down at her breasts which were bigger because of the pregnancy. He quickly unhooked her bra and trailed his lips around her nipples lightly grazing them to tease her.
He pulled off her bra and shirt, tossing it onto the ground. Elizabeth moaned softly when he nipped at her skin a couple of times before biting her thigh with his bare teeth. Hannibal turned her on her stomach and planted kisses on each of her shoulder blades then her back. He started to pull her yoga pants down her pale legs along with her panties. Hannibal stood up and pulled off the rest of his clothes. Elizabeth turned her head and gave him a bright smile after seeing him bare and naked.
He bent down and nipped again at her butt cheeks, squeezing them in each of his hands. Hannibal roughly turned her on her back once again and kissed her lips passionately. His hands were all over her body as her own hands were slowly trailing his muscles. Elizabeth moaned when Hannibal opened her legs and led his cock inside of her, filling her completely.
"Hannibal," she moaned lowly, closing her eyes in pleasure.
"Open your eyes," he commanded and she obeyed. "Now don't close them."
Elizabeth nodded and gripped his biceps as he kept thrusting in and out of her. She cupped his face and locked her lips onto his as he quickened his pace inside of her. She bit his bottom lip and tugged on it a little bit before releasing it and smirking as her nails scratched down his back, drawing blood. Hannibal growled and returned her smirk as he wrapped his fingers around her wrists and held them on either side of her head.
Elizabeth moaned loudly as he pounded into her roughly causing the bed to shake against the wall.
She heard him murmur, "So tight…so beautiful…"
He gripped the sheets beside her head as she arched her back in bliss when she climaxed, tightening around him. Hannibal stilled inside of her, releasing himself inside of her with a loud groan, griping her thighs. They both breathed heavily as Hannibal rolled off of her and onto his back.
Sweat coated their bodies and Hannibal turned on his side, stroking her wet hair that breathed hotness from their latest activity. Elizabeth smiled at him and asked, "Did I hurt you, Dr. Lecter?"
Hannibal nuzzled his nose into her hair, shaking his head. "Hardly. I'll heal."
"I seem to be getting darker within each day," she said softly. "I wonder if it's a bad thing."
"They won't figure out that it was you who killed that boy."
"How?"
"Don't worry…I have a plan that will ensure our family. For good."
"Oh so your attempt at marriage with me was Plan A, huh?"
"I have a Plan B…and a C….and a D…and if those fail, well, you know how the alphabet goes."
"Should I be scared, Hannibal?"
"I can't quite figure out what frightens you, Elizabeth. You never gave anything away to me."
Elizabeth gave him a charming smile. "Good."
Elizabeth strode into the FBI building with her head down as to avoid anyone suspecting her since she was not supposed to there until tomorrow, but she really wanted to get a day heard start of the pile of work that was probably on her desk.
She snuck into her office and riffled through the files on her desk when someone knocked on her door causing her to jump in fright.
"I'm sorry, Agent Graham. I didn't mean to scare you," a woman said with a southern accent.
"No, it's not you. It's the nerves. I'm not supposed to be here until tomorrow, but I'm a workaholic," Elizabeth joked. "I've never seen you here before. What is your name?"
"I'm Clarice Starling. I'm a junior at the University of Virginia," she replied, smiling a little bit as they shook hands nervously.
"Hello, Miss Starling. What are majoring?"
"In psychology and criminology."
"Oh, I majored the same when I was your age," Elizabeth informed her. "May I ask why you're here?"
"I wanted to meet you. You're a legend in criminology, you know?"
Elizabeth shrugged. "I'm not that famous. I barely did anything honestly. I did my job and cached the killer."
"I read on the news about what happened to Meredith Hopkins and that it could probably be The Bayard Butcher and I know that this is crazy, but I got something in the mail just two days ago…" Clarice explained, sitting down.
Elizabeth noticed the slight fear in her eyes. She noticed how pretty she was too. She looked like someone that he would've gone after, Elizabeth thought. Another reason to add to the possibility that he could be alive.
"Show me, Clarice."
With shaky yet somehow firm hands she reached into her bag and took out an envelope. Elizabeth sat in the chair next to her and took the envelope, opening it. She pulled out a letter and it read in angry red letters,
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Welcome to the game, Clarice
-THE BUTCHER
Elizabeth's jaw hardened as she looked up into the young face of Clarice Starling. She reminds him of me, Elizabeth thought sadly. He will repeat the same thing with me except now he's probably somehow changed his entire identity now. He's going after her…but why? Maybe he sees her as a threat, but she's not even looking for him like I was. She wasn't involved so what made her involved.
"Did you know Roger?"
"Yes. I knew him when we were children. His name was Charles Harmon though. I recognized him from a photo and the fact that he called me before he did this."
"You interacted with him? Why didn't call the police after finding this?"
"Because the police couldn't find him, but you did."
"Clarice, I didn't find Roger-I mean Charles. He manipulated me into falling in love with him and I put the puzzle pieces together too late. I got lucky in my opinion," Elizabeth explained, giving her a little smile. "You need to ignore him though. He'll back off."
"Why do I get the feeling that you're not telling me everything?" Clarice boldly asked. "Ma'am."
"You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. Intelligent. Pretty. Clever. Bold. Also compassionate. Hold on to your compassion, Clarice Starling especially when dealing with killers because you may lose it."
"Did you lose your compassion?"
"The truth?" Clarice nodded. "Yes, I did. The world is cruel and dark. These days I am surrounded by darkness and the only light I have in my life is my unborn baby. I don't know what he wants from you, Clarice especially after such a long time. You must call me every night so that I know that you're okay. He knows that I will feel very guilty if you died because of me."
"He likes to play games. Always have. He has deep resent for women possibly because of his mother. He made that very clear with Meredith Hopkins's murder."
"The poem he wrote you was a verse from the same poem that he whispered in my ear three days ago. The Tyger by William Blake. He called me his Sweet Lamb. I don't know what kind of he's playing with the both of us."
"Neither do I. You were his last victim. You got away so I could see why he is so fixated on you, but me…I don't know."
"And that's why you came to me," she realized. "Because you think that I could answer the infamous question as to why?"
"Yes, I believe that you can."
Elizabeth smiled at her. "Your optimism is very refreshing, Clarice Starling."
"I would imagine so especially after what you've been through." Clarice stood up, continuing, "Well, it was nice to finally meet you, Elizabeth Graham. You've really been an inspiration to me and so many others actually. Thank you for your time and for helping me."
"Of course. Please keep this matter between us, Clarice and call me every night or so to keep me informed."
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much." Clarice responded before turning around and walking out of her office.
Elizabeth sighed and shoved the letter into her purse as she carried all the folders she could in her arms. Hannibal was watching Clarice walking away from them and he asked Elizabeth, "Who was that?"
"Oh just a student is all, Hannibal. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger and wanted to be in the FBI."
"Is that so?" he mused and turned his eyes away towards her.
"Yup. Before everything I was very optimistic and thought that I could somehow still be that way being surrounded by darkness…"
"But?"
"But I can't help that my eyes are now starting to see things for what they truly are. It is like before that I was blind and now I am not. I could see nothing, but darkness and then there was light," Elizabeth explained. "It's the hormones, Hannibal…they're making me crazy."
Hannibal nodded. "Perhaps."
They kissed each other passionately as Hannibal's hand slipped into her purse, grabbing the letter and placing it discreetly into his coat pocket as his tongue danced with hers.
"Shouldn't you be resting right now?" Jack asked.
They pulled away from each other and Elizabeth smiled bashfully. "Well, I was, but I really needed to catch up on my work since you decided to let me off for a week."
"You were in critical condition and the doctor advised it."
Elizabeth sighed heavily. "Yeah, yeah."
Jack let a little smile onto his face as he asked, "Well, since you're here. I might as well use you. Can you come with me?"
"Yeah, sure." Elizabeth replied and kissed Hannibal goodbye as she walked with Jack. "What is it, Jack?"
"We found Miriam Lass and I hope that you could talk to her. She admires you."
"Really?" she asked surprised. "That's the second person today that seems to admire me so much."
"You sound shocked."
"I am because I didn't do anything."
Jack looked at her and replied, "You have and you will do great things someday."
Elizabeth snorted. "Not while two serial killers are on the loose, Jack and we have no way of catching them."
TBC…
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES! I am almost to a 100 REVIEWS! I hoped you liked how I will input Clarice in this story and how The Butcher is now interested, but also Hannibal although they will never meet this early sadly. I hoped you liked this chapter.
REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until next time…
