HEAVEN

Clarice enjoyed the remainder of her breakfast in the peaceful solitude of their bedroom. She listened for Hannibal but was aware that her effort would be of little use. She would often attempt to discern his movements but no matter how intently she listened, she never had auditory evidence of his pending arrival. Knowing he was barefoot, she was now certain not to have prior warning. It seemed to her as if he could just materialize in a room.

Music began to play throughout the home. Clarice could often judge her husband's mood based on the selection of music he chose to play through the intercom system.

Lilting through the speakers were the sweet violins of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

He's happy.

Just as Clarice moved to lift the tray from her lap, Hannibal appeared.

"Please allow me to get that for you, Clarice."

He reached for the tray and moved it to a table next to Clarice's favorite reading chair beside the window. Hannibal moved quickly to her side as Clarice pulled the bedcovers back to allow him entrance.

As soon as Hannibal slipped out of his robe and moved to get into bed, Clarice wagged a finger at him stopping him in his tracks. He raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You're not going to need those boxers, H."

Hannibal unabashedly stepped out of the undergarment and sidled into bed. He reached for Clarice and held her as she rested her head on his chest.

"Did you enjoy your breakfast, my Love?"

"It was wonderful. Thank you for being so thoughtful."

"It was my pleasure." Hannibal spoke softly, rolling onto his side so that he and Clarice were facing one another. Smiling, he ran his index finger down the bridge of her nose and across her lips.

"You are absolutely stunning, Clarice."

"You're not so bad to look at yourself, H."

He leaned to her and kissed her softly. "It is kind of you to say so, Clarice but there are mirrors in this house and while I am a vain man, I have no illusions."

Looking over her shoulder at the broken mirror on the bureau she laughed. "Well, I don't know about your illusions but there's one less mirror, anyway."

"As you slept I discarded the broken glass for safety's sake but did not want to remove the entire mirror frame as I am certain the noise would have disturbed you. I shall attend to it before day's end."

"I was just playing around. We'll get to it later."

"Clarice, it pains me to know that I frightened you. Please understand that it was not my intention. My animalistic instincts have served me well, but turning them on and off is not a switch I can easily flip in your presence. One normally requires privacy for that sort of thing. That being said, please keep in mind that while I will never seriously harm you, if ever you are in my presence again while I am in that state, it would be better if you were not aggressive. Instinct is a very primal thing and while I am fully aware of what is happening around me, I am acting as a predator, not as your husband and as such I have very limited control emotionally. I also experience a dramatic surge of adrenalin and as such have heightened strength and have very limited restraint. I worry that I may accidentally injure you in an attempt to restrain myself. I don't wish you to fear me but please...be ever mindful my Love."

Clarice absentmindedly floated her palm across his chest, brushing gently over the slightly greying hair. She spoke softly, not wanting Hannibal to think she had any remaining trepidation. "I'm sorry, H. I didn't understand your process…it was my fault. Actually, I was only just a little afraid at first but when I looked into your eyes… I knew I was safe. That being said, I hadn't expected that level of aggression. You are a very powerful and formidable man. It was a really intense experience, but one that I am glad to have shared with you. It was difficult to watch you suffer through that."

"It has long been a struggle of mine."

Clarice reached for his face and stroked his cheek. "Well, now you don't have to struggle alone."

Hannibal slipped a hand under Clarice and pulled her fully alongside his body. He reached up and gently passed his hands over her shoulders and arms. He next moved his touch to her torso, spanning his fingertips over her ribs and abdomen, curiously avoiding her breasts.

"Hannibal?"

"Yes, Clarice?" He questioned, concentrating on her responses as his touch moved over her hips to the small of her back, up along her spine and across her shoulder.

"Are you being romantic or are you checking me for bruises?"

"Is there a reason it cannot be both?"

"No, I guess not…so have I passed your inspection, Doctor?"

"Yes Clarice. You are perfection."

She leaned over him and provocatively brushed her left breast across his lips.

Hannibal moved quickly to capture it, teasing gently with his teeth against the tip of flesh, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closely to him.

She allowed her head to dip down, her hair brushing along his cheek. She could hear the deep purring sound rising from the back of his throat as he attended to her breast.

"You sound like a lion H, but you're really just a big pussycat."

He growled against her flesh, a raw, husky, deep, sensuous sound, the vibration of it undulating against her skin.

"Quit it that tickles!" She shifted against his body, trying to pull slightly away from him.

He gripped her body and passed his tongue over the areola, and swirled tiny circles around the flesh before latching firmly to her breast.

Clarice was giggling, the contact sending shivers up her spine.

"H! I said stop! Christ that really tickles!"

Again, she tried to pull back but he gripped his wrists and locked her in his embrace.

As Hannibal would not release his hold on her, Clarice dropped closer to him, laughing so hard her body was shaking. She could feel the shifting of his parted lips drawing up against her breast as they very slowly pulled upward into what she could only imagine was a very devilish smile.

Still he refused her efforts to wean him.

"You do know that tickling is a form of torture?"

"Uh huh." He affirmed.

"You don't want to stop?"

"Uuummmuuuh." It was the only negative response Hannibal could manage without releasing his hold on her breast.

"Oh yeah, wise guy…well, I gave you fair warning…two can play at that game!"

Unconcerned with hiding his physical responses to her, Hannibal became what Clarice believed was an easy target. Though her movement was slightly restricted by his physical attachment to her she repositioned her body so that she was directly over Hannibal's arousal. Clarice straddled his hips and very slowly began to rock over him, grinding back and forth along his length.

"Mmmmmmmm." Feeling as though every nerve ending in his body was being electrified, Hannibal grabbed her hips and encouraged the movement. Not to be out done in the area of self –control, he refused his body's instinct to seek entrance and controlled his breathing to prolong this pleasure.

Clarice considered his response a challenge. "I'm going to keep doing this until you beg me to stop."

"Uuummmuuuh!" He mumbled.

As Clarice rocked back and forth, Hannibal continued to generously attend to the breast she offered, alternating his tongue and teeth as he mercilessly teased at the now hyper sensitive pearl of flesh. It wasn't long before his attention to her breast and her own erotic actions brought her to the edge of her ecstasy. Her heart began to race as the flesh, slick from the friction, dramatically escalated her arousal.

Hannibal could smell the pheromones swirling around them. He reached with an index finger for the pulse point at her hip. Feeling the rapidly rising pulse, he knew her heart was racing as her increased respirations were becoming shallow, and uneven.

She is near her end.

His pride in being able to satisfy her being such that it is, Hannibal sought to push Clarice a little further. He flattened the heels of his palms on her pubic bone and turned his thumbs downward, seeking the sensitive peak of flesh at her apex. He slipped his thumbs between the folds of her body; the three quick inhalations from Clarice the only confirmation Hannibal needed that he found what he was seeking. Slowly, he added pressure and rolled his thumbs over each other, twirling them in tiny circles over the slippery orb of swollen flesh. Her breath became ragged as her body shuddered from want.

"Oh my god, H, please…now!"

Hannibal released her breast, shifted his body and eased into her, slowly so as not to cause discomfort. He held his breath and waited with longing as he did each and every time he entered her.

Do not disappoint me, my Love.

She did not. Hannibal watched with rapt attention as the scene he so desired began to play itself out. Clarice's head tilted back, ever so slightly, her lips parted, almost imperceptibly, and…from her lips escaped the sound in the world that Hannibal ached for and coveted most… a slow, deep inhalation followed by the long, sweet, airy whisper of a sigh she released each and every time he filled her body with his own.

Upon hearing it, Hannibal Lecter's heart soared.

Clarice paused for a moment to enjoy the feel of his body joined within hers…a moment passed and still, she did not move. Hannibal tilted his head, questioning without speaking. She hooked her legs around his hips reached for his shoulders and rolled, turning them both over while they remained joined within. Hannibal was now on top of her. She smiled and whispered.

"Take me."

Hannibal lifted her left leg and bending it at the knee, placed his right arm under it, lifting slightly to allow him more penetration. He leaned up on his left elbow to keep the full weight of his body from her petite frame. He began to move his hips slowly at first, Hannibal's body rising and falling rhythmically using Clarice's own respirations as his metronome. It wouldn't be long before her body demanded more and being ever the gentleman, Hannibal obliged, penetrating deeper within and increasing the speed and the intensity of each thrust.

Clarice lifted her head just slightly. Hannibal read the request and without a word, covered her mouth with his. His kisses were gentle, and tender, his lips softly touching upon hers. Clarice slipped her tongue along the inside of his mouth and ran them across his teeth. He opened his mouth just a slight bit more and captured her bottom lip, sucking on it gently.

Clarice urged him on by increasing the speed of her hips meeting hers. Her breath was quickening.

Of course Hannibal noticed. "Now, my Love?"

A breathy, "Yes, H.", was all she could manage.

Hannibal shifted the angle of his hips, adding to her stimulation. He increased the speed of his movements, and lengthened the stroke, driving deeper within and without. Clarice grabbed for his head, her mouth now hungry, biting, clashing her teeth against his, nipping at his lips and cheeks. As an incisor scraped along the flesh of his chin, Hannibal could smell his own blood.

Quickly approaching the point of his own pleasure he began to drive his body against hers, the now forceful impact causing the headboard of the large bed to strike against the wall.

"Yes… Hannibal… Harder."

He rose up and, taking each of her legs and dropping them bent over his shoulders he reached for the headboard and gripped it tightly. Hannibal arched his strong back and drove his hips into her repeatedly, the sweat from his exertion pouring from his face.

Their gaze locked together, the lovers now lost within themselves and within each other as they silently encouraged one another's passion.

Smelling the arousal in the air and sensing that Clarice balanced just on the edge of climax, Hannibal released the headboard, lowered his head to her breasts, and teased at the peaked flesh, biting gently but holding firmly. He reached for her shoulders, drove deeply within and bit down clamping on the small tip of flesh and holding it between his razor sharp teeth.

Clarice screamed both from the intense sweetness of the pain and from the quaking of her own release. Her body shuddered and trembled as she reached her arms across his back and dug into his flesh.

Again, Hannibal could smell blood.

The sights and sounds of Clarice's release along with the pulsing contractions of her body's orgasm clenching his member drove Hannibal to his own rapture as he entered her repeatedly with a rapid-fire succession of quick, shortened thrusts.

Her own passion now subsiding, Clarice turned her attentions to Hannibal as she grasped his buttocks and pulled him to her tightly. His back arched and every muscle in his body tensed simultaneously then, suddenly, a rolling temblor moved through his muscles, shaking him to his core as he poured the heat of his passion into her body, shuddering with the seismic thunder of his tremulous release. His body in full spasm, he held her tightly, his breath uneven, waiting for the rocking waves of aftershocks to pass. Breathless, he remained on top of her, resting quietly with his face tucked alongside her neck.

He whispered in her ear, the breath subtle across her skin. "Clarice, I love you."

Her response, "I know, Hannibal..I love you too."

He squeezed so tightly that it seemed to her as if trying Hannibal were trying to absorb her being within his own.

They remained quiet in each other's arms for several minutes neither wanting to disturb the peaceful serenity of their bed. This was the place they shared their love, and their laughter. This was the place they slept quietly and held each other. This was the only place in the world where Hannibal ever felt safe. This was the only place in the world where Clarice's dreams were silent.

This was their Heaven. It was about to end.