(A/N: Sorry for the long delay in posting this, got a lil' sidetracked.
Anyways, as always, thank you to everyone that has reviewed! Okay, onto the
story!)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story except for the characters that I've made up myself.
Give Me Darkness, Give Me Light..
Chapter 2: Predator and Prey
Clarice rubbed her temples in frustration. "This is getting nowhere," she muttered under her breath.
Jadis wearily agreed. "I know. We've been looking over this for hours and have come up with just about nothing!" She shook her head in exhaustion and laid back onto the couch to sooth her back, which was now aching due to Jadis being bent over reading and looking over the small table in front of her all day.
The quickly disappearing sun seemed to almost taunt the two worn out FBI agents. Other than a quick meal at around lunch time, the women had been wracking their brains almost all day to find something, anything, which could help them track down the person behind the persona of the killer known as Chimera. Through all their theories, arguments, discussions and hunches, all the duo could come up with was that Chimera had a thing for seeing and causing pain and that he must live in a fairly secluded place outside the city, due to Clarice's observation that if he lived near others then someone else must have heard the victim's screams while he tortured them to death. Apart from that, anything else that they could think up about him was already known to the police and FBI, nothing new.
Clarice sighed and sat back down onto her chair in front of the mess of papers and photos that was the table top. "Okay, let's start from the top, again," she more or less growled. "Who was the first victim?"
Jadis picked up one of the many papers from the table and read. "Francis Parker, age 45, a tourist from Chicago, a grade seven teacher, has a wife of 23 years, one son and two daughters, last seen on Saturday night leaving his motel room alone. His body was found in a dumpster behind the local McDonalds about 6 hours after his disappearance by a group of kids who were wandering the street. Wallet and all of its contents was still with the body, including all the money and identification."
Clarice shook her head. "He obviously isn't after money." She mused quietly, deep in thought.
"Maybe he's just doing it for fame," Jadis suggested. "He just might want to be on the evening news and on the front page of the newspaper to cause fear."
"Possibly," the other agent shrugged. "Or it could be some sick fetish to torture people like this. Maybe even revenge, he may have known all these people when they were still alive, and now he's after everyone that has caused him pain. To make them suffer like they had caused him to."
Jadis looked up at Clarice. "But you don't think that is why he's doing it, don't you?"
Clarice hesitated before responding. "I honestly don't know what to think at this point Munroe. I just have this feeling that we're missing something, something very important. A missing piece of the puzzle.." She trailed off, her eyes scanning the table before resting on another piece of paper. She picked it up and read it over. It was the details about the third victim.
"Christina Smith, 55 years old, a bank manager from New York, a husband and two sons, was last seen walking home from the mall, found dumped on the sidewalk about a day later. Again, nothing missing." She read out loud.
Jadis looked up again. "That one was the farthest away. He's obviously not restricting himself to just this area. But he must live in this area, or at least very near it. Also, look at the ages of these people, all either middle aged or senior."
Clarice nodded. "Yeah, that's why I don't think that the victims are completely random. Why would a person go all the way to New York just to kill someone for no reason?" The hotel room was starting to wear and tear on her. She set the paper back onto the mess and got up.
"Where are you going?" Jadis asked.
"I just need some fresh air," Clarice responded as she reached for her coat. "If I stay locked in here any longer then I'm going to have a mental breakdown. I won't be long, but if you need me then I'll have my cell phone turned on."
Jadis nodded. "Alright, I'll stay here and try to sort out this mess then. If I think of anything I'll let you know."
Clarice gave the younger agent a quick nod and went out the door.
********************
In the dark alley beside the hotel, he stood alone, just waiting to pounce on his newfound prey. He knew that it would be only pure luck that she would decide to come out of the comfort of the warm inviting hotel and into the dark forbidden streets at this late at night, but lady luck had been very gracious to him as of late.
The mid-autumn wind picked up slightly, causing the dark figure to pull his black coat closer to himself. A small shiver went through his body as the cold gust passed. The empty street before him seemed to grow darker and darker with every passing moment, and he savored every moment of it, grateful for the cover the growing darkness gave him. As the air got colder, almost to the point of freezing, he held his ground, like a predator stalking his prey, anticipating the taste of the meal with a cold and anxious desire.
Much like the predator, he had been tracking his prey ever since she had made her first appearance at the site of his fourth victim. That had given him quite the ego boost, to know that the FBI were now out to get him as well, let alone putting the famous Special Agent Clarice Starling on the case. Although he had imagined various scenarios about how to capture her, something had always told him that possibility was far out of his reach. But now, she was so close.
The only thing better than Starling would be to have the man himself in his grasps, the man who had, whether he knew it or not, caused him so much pain and suffering, who had destroyed his dreams and future. At the back of his mind he toyed with the thought that, possibly through Starling, he could get to the person he wanted the most, him...
His train of thought was suddenly broken by the sound of footsteps coming his way down the street towards his hiding place. He knew by instinct that it was her. With an indication of a grin, he pulled down his dark mask and slipped back further into the shadows, and waited...
**************************
The cool air nipped at Clarice's form as she stepped into the silent and empty street outside. Taking a deep, grateful breath, she closed her eyes and leaned against the brick wall. The darkness was soothing to her throbbing head, and the openness was welcoming after spending the majority of her day inside a small hotel room surrounded with pictures of mutilated bodies and endless piles of papers describing the lives that were lead by the people behind the corpses. Right now she wanted to keep her mind off such matters and just enjoy her time in the refreshing air.
Deciding that her legs deserved some work, seeing as she hadn't been able to go for a good jog in almost a week, Clarice pushed herself away from the wall and started to make her way down the sidewalk.
She had barely taken even two steps when her instincts suddenly kicked in. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end and an involuntary tremor slightly wracked her body before she instinctively tensed up. Her hand went to the .45 that was just about always resting in the holster underneath her coat. The feel of the icy metal of her trusty gun underneath the skin of her hand never failed to give Clarice a feeling of determination and mild confidence. Gun poised and breath steadied, she quietly moved down the street, her ears taking in every little bump and crack.
There was an alley between the hotel and the next building, and Clarice was intently scanning what little she could see of it as she made her way towards it as silently as she possibly could. She could feel her heart beat faster and harder as she approached. Her fingers gripped the gun tighter and the wind seemed to get colder by the second.
Clarice could now see down the alley, or at least what the darkness would let her see. Nothing except a dumpster and an abandoned lawn chair met her eyes. She started to make her way down when a suddenly movement at the corner of her eye caused Clarice to turn around.
A small grey creature bounded across the street and back into the waiting darkness. Clarice's mind quickly identified it as a cat, and a rather scruffy looking one at that. Clarice shook her head, as if to clear her mind of the thought and get it to focus on the task at hand.
She had barely even taken the time to register those thoughts when another sound alerted Clarice's ears. Before she even had the chance to react, for in a flash she found herself pinned against the wall of the hotel, with a strong gloved hand firmly grasped over her mouth and the other with a sturdy hold on the gun, wrenching it from her hands. She tried to struggle against the other person's grip, only to find that it was nearly impossible to move considering that the man's girth was now pressing against her own, making her practically immobile.
She could now just barely make out a leering masked face with icy steel gray eyes piercing into Clarice's own orbs of blue. She could smell a tinge of what smelled like beer on his hot repulsive breath as he spoke to her. "Now Agent Starling," his deep intense voice growled, "we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Come with me quietly and you won't get hurt yet. If you decide to make a fuss, then I'm going to have to be a lil' more persuasive, and trust me, you don't want that. Got it?"
Clarice somehow managed to move her head slightly up and down despite the incredible hold he had on her head. 'If only he loosens me for a second, then I might be able to..' Clarice rapidly considered in her head.
As if in reaction to her thoughts, a loud beeping sound coming from her jacket alerted both individuals back from their thoughts and into reality. The sudden ringing of her cell phone was enough for her capture to relinquish his iron hold on Clarice just long enough for her to tackle the man down to the ground and try to gain enough distance to get to her cell phone without worrying about him overtaking her again, but close enough to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't try anything. Unfortunately though her gun was thrown to the ground and was now hidden from her sight, but Clarice tried not to dwell on it for the time being.
Her victory, however, was short lived. In her scramble to put distance between them, the man had grabbed a hold of her left ankle and caused her to tumble hard into the ground below her. The cell phone flew from her hand, and she found Chimera looming over her winded and pained body.
*******************
Jadis threw down her cell phone onto the couch and in less than five minutes was out the door, pistol in hand. She had begun to worry when Clarice didn't return after a half hour, and now that Clarice wasn't answering her phone was more than enough to convince Jadis to go after her friend.
The cool, refreshing outdoor air, under any other circumstances would have felt like a hug from an old friend. But at the immediate moment, it was more like an accomplice of the enemy, engulfing anyone foolish enough to step outside into its waiting claws. Jadis shivered slightly before stepping out into the darkness.
She kept her steps light as she silently made her way down the empty street. Her ears suddenly picked up a sound, ringing. A sense of severe dread stabbed her straight into her heart as she swiftly made her way to the source.
In seconds the dark alley loomed in front of her. Jadis could hear the telltale ringing of Clarice's cell, which was now lying on to cold ground in front of her, but no Clarice.
Near the end of the alley, a quick flash of movement prompted Jadis to force herself onward. Breaking into a run, she could now just barely make out two struggling forms, one of which was a very visibly agitated woman. The other figure seemed to have a firm grip on the woman's mouth and waist. Only when she got a few steps closer did Jadis see the white van that the man was trying desperately to maneuver the woman into.
"Starling!" Jadis screamed in a mixture of relief, fear and fury.
The man had spotted Jadis approaching and, seeing no other way, bashed Clarice's head against the van just hard enough to knock her out cold. Now in a rush, he none-too-gently threw her limp body into the back and scrambled to get behind the wheel.
Jadis was running at top speed now, her lungs felt like they were on fire. She ignored the stabbing pain in her chest and ran on. A protruding metal beam grazed her right arm as she sped by. She desperately tried to pay no mind to the warm blood that was now oozing from her wound and kept her focus on the now retreating van.
At the last minute, just before the vehicle was gone from her sight, Jadis aimed at the muddy tires and fired, hoping to at least flatten a tire or two. She couldn't read the license plate, and she would never know if her shots had hit their mark.
Jadis finally stopped dead in her tracks and stared down the empty street. Rage surged through her as the feeling of failure came over her full force. She groped for her phone, only to remember that it was still in the hotel room. No cell to phone for help, no useful information to track him down, and no Clarice.
"Fuck!!" Jadis took out her anger on a nearby trash can, her foot leaving a deep indent on the once smooth surface.
She felt so helpless, so weak. Jadis took one last look down the concrete path that had just moments before swallowed Clarice, and shoved her gun back into its holster. She knew that she should get back to her hotel and call for back up, but she didn't want that. All Jadis wanted was to go after them herself.
Finally surrendering herself to what she should do as opposed to what she wanted to do, Jadis turned around and started to head back to the room and her phone. She didn't even see the looming figure standing in her way until she had ran into it head on. Falling onto the cold hard ground, Jadis took a couple seconds to get over her immediate shock before a voice shook her to full attention.
"My apologies, Miss. Munroe," a raspy, metallic male voice greeted her ears. "Here, allow me to assist you back to your feet."
As a gloved hand reached out to Jadis, she could help but think that she had heard that voice before, just never quite this way. Not thinking too much of it, she grasped his offered hand and was swiftly hoisted back upright.
Jadis took this opportunity to look over the stranger. Looking up into his face, her green eyes suddenly became wide and her feet took a few involuntary steps backward. She would have run away at top speed if she had not been captured by the man's piercing maroon eyes.
Only two words entered Jadis' head as she suddenly realized that she is now getting much more than she had bargained for.
'Oh shit..'
At that moment Jadis didn't know what scared her more, the thought that Clarice was more than likely abducted by the psychotic killer Chimera, or the reality that right there in front of Jadis stood the cannibalistic madman, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
(A/N: *massages aching fingers* Whoa, turned out longer than I thought! Anyways, hopefully I'll be a lil' quicker with putting up new chapters than I was with this one, so look for chapter 4 in a few days! Hope you've enjoyed it so far!)
-SP
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story except for the characters that I've made up myself.
Give Me Darkness, Give Me Light..
Chapter 2: Predator and Prey
Clarice rubbed her temples in frustration. "This is getting nowhere," she muttered under her breath.
Jadis wearily agreed. "I know. We've been looking over this for hours and have come up with just about nothing!" She shook her head in exhaustion and laid back onto the couch to sooth her back, which was now aching due to Jadis being bent over reading and looking over the small table in front of her all day.
The quickly disappearing sun seemed to almost taunt the two worn out FBI agents. Other than a quick meal at around lunch time, the women had been wracking their brains almost all day to find something, anything, which could help them track down the person behind the persona of the killer known as Chimera. Through all their theories, arguments, discussions and hunches, all the duo could come up with was that Chimera had a thing for seeing and causing pain and that he must live in a fairly secluded place outside the city, due to Clarice's observation that if he lived near others then someone else must have heard the victim's screams while he tortured them to death. Apart from that, anything else that they could think up about him was already known to the police and FBI, nothing new.
Clarice sighed and sat back down onto her chair in front of the mess of papers and photos that was the table top. "Okay, let's start from the top, again," she more or less growled. "Who was the first victim?"
Jadis picked up one of the many papers from the table and read. "Francis Parker, age 45, a tourist from Chicago, a grade seven teacher, has a wife of 23 years, one son and two daughters, last seen on Saturday night leaving his motel room alone. His body was found in a dumpster behind the local McDonalds about 6 hours after his disappearance by a group of kids who were wandering the street. Wallet and all of its contents was still with the body, including all the money and identification."
Clarice shook her head. "He obviously isn't after money." She mused quietly, deep in thought.
"Maybe he's just doing it for fame," Jadis suggested. "He just might want to be on the evening news and on the front page of the newspaper to cause fear."
"Possibly," the other agent shrugged. "Or it could be some sick fetish to torture people like this. Maybe even revenge, he may have known all these people when they were still alive, and now he's after everyone that has caused him pain. To make them suffer like they had caused him to."
Jadis looked up at Clarice. "But you don't think that is why he's doing it, don't you?"
Clarice hesitated before responding. "I honestly don't know what to think at this point Munroe. I just have this feeling that we're missing something, something very important. A missing piece of the puzzle.." She trailed off, her eyes scanning the table before resting on another piece of paper. She picked it up and read it over. It was the details about the third victim.
"Christina Smith, 55 years old, a bank manager from New York, a husband and two sons, was last seen walking home from the mall, found dumped on the sidewalk about a day later. Again, nothing missing." She read out loud.
Jadis looked up again. "That one was the farthest away. He's obviously not restricting himself to just this area. But he must live in this area, or at least very near it. Also, look at the ages of these people, all either middle aged or senior."
Clarice nodded. "Yeah, that's why I don't think that the victims are completely random. Why would a person go all the way to New York just to kill someone for no reason?" The hotel room was starting to wear and tear on her. She set the paper back onto the mess and got up.
"Where are you going?" Jadis asked.
"I just need some fresh air," Clarice responded as she reached for her coat. "If I stay locked in here any longer then I'm going to have a mental breakdown. I won't be long, but if you need me then I'll have my cell phone turned on."
Jadis nodded. "Alright, I'll stay here and try to sort out this mess then. If I think of anything I'll let you know."
Clarice gave the younger agent a quick nod and went out the door.
********************
In the dark alley beside the hotel, he stood alone, just waiting to pounce on his newfound prey. He knew that it would be only pure luck that she would decide to come out of the comfort of the warm inviting hotel and into the dark forbidden streets at this late at night, but lady luck had been very gracious to him as of late.
The mid-autumn wind picked up slightly, causing the dark figure to pull his black coat closer to himself. A small shiver went through his body as the cold gust passed. The empty street before him seemed to grow darker and darker with every passing moment, and he savored every moment of it, grateful for the cover the growing darkness gave him. As the air got colder, almost to the point of freezing, he held his ground, like a predator stalking his prey, anticipating the taste of the meal with a cold and anxious desire.
Much like the predator, he had been tracking his prey ever since she had made her first appearance at the site of his fourth victim. That had given him quite the ego boost, to know that the FBI were now out to get him as well, let alone putting the famous Special Agent Clarice Starling on the case. Although he had imagined various scenarios about how to capture her, something had always told him that possibility was far out of his reach. But now, she was so close.
The only thing better than Starling would be to have the man himself in his grasps, the man who had, whether he knew it or not, caused him so much pain and suffering, who had destroyed his dreams and future. At the back of his mind he toyed with the thought that, possibly through Starling, he could get to the person he wanted the most, him...
His train of thought was suddenly broken by the sound of footsteps coming his way down the street towards his hiding place. He knew by instinct that it was her. With an indication of a grin, he pulled down his dark mask and slipped back further into the shadows, and waited...
**************************
The cool air nipped at Clarice's form as she stepped into the silent and empty street outside. Taking a deep, grateful breath, she closed her eyes and leaned against the brick wall. The darkness was soothing to her throbbing head, and the openness was welcoming after spending the majority of her day inside a small hotel room surrounded with pictures of mutilated bodies and endless piles of papers describing the lives that were lead by the people behind the corpses. Right now she wanted to keep her mind off such matters and just enjoy her time in the refreshing air.
Deciding that her legs deserved some work, seeing as she hadn't been able to go for a good jog in almost a week, Clarice pushed herself away from the wall and started to make her way down the sidewalk.
She had barely taken even two steps when her instincts suddenly kicked in. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end and an involuntary tremor slightly wracked her body before she instinctively tensed up. Her hand went to the .45 that was just about always resting in the holster underneath her coat. The feel of the icy metal of her trusty gun underneath the skin of her hand never failed to give Clarice a feeling of determination and mild confidence. Gun poised and breath steadied, she quietly moved down the street, her ears taking in every little bump and crack.
There was an alley between the hotel and the next building, and Clarice was intently scanning what little she could see of it as she made her way towards it as silently as she possibly could. She could feel her heart beat faster and harder as she approached. Her fingers gripped the gun tighter and the wind seemed to get colder by the second.
Clarice could now see down the alley, or at least what the darkness would let her see. Nothing except a dumpster and an abandoned lawn chair met her eyes. She started to make her way down when a suddenly movement at the corner of her eye caused Clarice to turn around.
A small grey creature bounded across the street and back into the waiting darkness. Clarice's mind quickly identified it as a cat, and a rather scruffy looking one at that. Clarice shook her head, as if to clear her mind of the thought and get it to focus on the task at hand.
She had barely even taken the time to register those thoughts when another sound alerted Clarice's ears. Before she even had the chance to react, for in a flash she found herself pinned against the wall of the hotel, with a strong gloved hand firmly grasped over her mouth and the other with a sturdy hold on the gun, wrenching it from her hands. She tried to struggle against the other person's grip, only to find that it was nearly impossible to move considering that the man's girth was now pressing against her own, making her practically immobile.
She could now just barely make out a leering masked face with icy steel gray eyes piercing into Clarice's own orbs of blue. She could smell a tinge of what smelled like beer on his hot repulsive breath as he spoke to her. "Now Agent Starling," his deep intense voice growled, "we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Come with me quietly and you won't get hurt yet. If you decide to make a fuss, then I'm going to have to be a lil' more persuasive, and trust me, you don't want that. Got it?"
Clarice somehow managed to move her head slightly up and down despite the incredible hold he had on her head. 'If only he loosens me for a second, then I might be able to..' Clarice rapidly considered in her head.
As if in reaction to her thoughts, a loud beeping sound coming from her jacket alerted both individuals back from their thoughts and into reality. The sudden ringing of her cell phone was enough for her capture to relinquish his iron hold on Clarice just long enough for her to tackle the man down to the ground and try to gain enough distance to get to her cell phone without worrying about him overtaking her again, but close enough to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't try anything. Unfortunately though her gun was thrown to the ground and was now hidden from her sight, but Clarice tried not to dwell on it for the time being.
Her victory, however, was short lived. In her scramble to put distance between them, the man had grabbed a hold of her left ankle and caused her to tumble hard into the ground below her. The cell phone flew from her hand, and she found Chimera looming over her winded and pained body.
*******************
Jadis threw down her cell phone onto the couch and in less than five minutes was out the door, pistol in hand. She had begun to worry when Clarice didn't return after a half hour, and now that Clarice wasn't answering her phone was more than enough to convince Jadis to go after her friend.
The cool, refreshing outdoor air, under any other circumstances would have felt like a hug from an old friend. But at the immediate moment, it was more like an accomplice of the enemy, engulfing anyone foolish enough to step outside into its waiting claws. Jadis shivered slightly before stepping out into the darkness.
She kept her steps light as she silently made her way down the empty street. Her ears suddenly picked up a sound, ringing. A sense of severe dread stabbed her straight into her heart as she swiftly made her way to the source.
In seconds the dark alley loomed in front of her. Jadis could hear the telltale ringing of Clarice's cell, which was now lying on to cold ground in front of her, but no Clarice.
Near the end of the alley, a quick flash of movement prompted Jadis to force herself onward. Breaking into a run, she could now just barely make out two struggling forms, one of which was a very visibly agitated woman. The other figure seemed to have a firm grip on the woman's mouth and waist. Only when she got a few steps closer did Jadis see the white van that the man was trying desperately to maneuver the woman into.
"Starling!" Jadis screamed in a mixture of relief, fear and fury.
The man had spotted Jadis approaching and, seeing no other way, bashed Clarice's head against the van just hard enough to knock her out cold. Now in a rush, he none-too-gently threw her limp body into the back and scrambled to get behind the wheel.
Jadis was running at top speed now, her lungs felt like they were on fire. She ignored the stabbing pain in her chest and ran on. A protruding metal beam grazed her right arm as she sped by. She desperately tried to pay no mind to the warm blood that was now oozing from her wound and kept her focus on the now retreating van.
At the last minute, just before the vehicle was gone from her sight, Jadis aimed at the muddy tires and fired, hoping to at least flatten a tire or two. She couldn't read the license plate, and she would never know if her shots had hit their mark.
Jadis finally stopped dead in her tracks and stared down the empty street. Rage surged through her as the feeling of failure came over her full force. She groped for her phone, only to remember that it was still in the hotel room. No cell to phone for help, no useful information to track him down, and no Clarice.
"Fuck!!" Jadis took out her anger on a nearby trash can, her foot leaving a deep indent on the once smooth surface.
She felt so helpless, so weak. Jadis took one last look down the concrete path that had just moments before swallowed Clarice, and shoved her gun back into its holster. She knew that she should get back to her hotel and call for back up, but she didn't want that. All Jadis wanted was to go after them herself.
Finally surrendering herself to what she should do as opposed to what she wanted to do, Jadis turned around and started to head back to the room and her phone. She didn't even see the looming figure standing in her way until she had ran into it head on. Falling onto the cold hard ground, Jadis took a couple seconds to get over her immediate shock before a voice shook her to full attention.
"My apologies, Miss. Munroe," a raspy, metallic male voice greeted her ears. "Here, allow me to assist you back to your feet."
As a gloved hand reached out to Jadis, she could help but think that she had heard that voice before, just never quite this way. Not thinking too much of it, she grasped his offered hand and was swiftly hoisted back upright.
Jadis took this opportunity to look over the stranger. Looking up into his face, her green eyes suddenly became wide and her feet took a few involuntary steps backward. She would have run away at top speed if she had not been captured by the man's piercing maroon eyes.
Only two words entered Jadis' head as she suddenly realized that she is now getting much more than she had bargained for.
'Oh shit..'
At that moment Jadis didn't know what scared her more, the thought that Clarice was more than likely abducted by the psychotic killer Chimera, or the reality that right there in front of Jadis stood the cannibalistic madman, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
(A/N: *massages aching fingers* Whoa, turned out longer than I thought! Anyways, hopefully I'll be a lil' quicker with putting up new chapters than I was with this one, so look for chapter 4 in a few days! Hope you've enjoyed it so far!)
-SP