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“Good Morning, Hannibal. Your coffee is on your desk,” I say as he enters the room. As usual he looks immaculate in a dark blue three piece suit, his hair combed meticulously and his black leather shoes shining softly in the light of the new day.
“Thank you, Paula.” He replies, sweeping past to the door of his office.
“Your first appointment is in half an hour and here is your mail.” I continue, rising to hand him the neat pile of envelopes. He turns and takes it from me, holding my hand briefly. Our eyes meet and he treats me to a predators smile before leaving.
Even weeks after our arrangements changed my heart still stops when he looks at me like that.
Everything is a test, he’s forever watching me and waiting for my reaction. I don’t know if there’s a prize at the end but I know the penalty for failure.
His first appointment comes and goes and so the day goes as normal untill Hannibal’s special project arrives. He looks lost, eyes haunted as he enters the waiting room. A mop of blonde hair and neat glasses frame his face as he takes everything in.
I introduce myself and offer him a seat as he’s a little early.
He barely speaks to me, his leg shaking even as he sits seemingly at peace. He flinches when the door to the office opens.
“Ah, Mr Graham. Good to see you, do come in.” Hannibal greets his new patient courteously and they shake hands. “You may go home now, Miss Grace. I will see you tomorrow.” He speaks to me and I thank him. He drinks in my response, my posture and expression. Always looking for some loose thread to pull at. I give him nothing and he closes the door.
I pack my things and head home. My apartment is much the same save for a dent in the door where he roughly pushed me against it.
I’ve taken to absent mindedly brushing that spot with my fingertips, an affectation he would find amusing no doubt.
I change to more comfortable clothes and have dinner, reading an old novel I have read many times before. I don’t realise I’ve drifted off on my sofa until there is a knock at my door.
I rub my eyes and go to answer it.
I’ve barely opened the door and he’s on me, pushing it closed and shoving me against it to run open mouthed kisses over my neck.
“Hannibal!” I gasp his name and he silences me with his lips. He tosses his suit jacket aside and his tie follows quickly.
I’ve never seen him so frantic. He pulls me from the door and bends me over the arm of my sofa, reaching around to cup my core while nipping at my throat.
“I need you. Now.” He growls in my ear and I won’t deny I am quickly ready for him.
A rustle of fabric later and he’s pressed against my entrance. He grips my hips like a vice as he enters slowly, groaning at the feeling.
He’s not taken me from behind before, it seems he has no interest in watching my face today.
“Touch yourself.” He orders and I snake a hand down to circle my clit as he roughly thrusts into me. “Cum for me, darling.”
I do as he asks, clenching around him and he follows suit not long after, sagging over me and kissing the back of my neck tenderly.
He stands and picks me up, heading to the bathroom. For a killer he’s very keen on aftercare.
He draws a bath and has me step into it, leaning against the end as I lie in the warm water so he can wash my hair.
“I apologise for my abruptness.” He says as he massages my scalp. “My baser nature overcame me.”
“No harm done.” I reply and he chuckles. “May I ask what spurred you on?” He hums at my question. Deciding how, or even if, he would answer me.
“I believe it was my discussion with Mr Graham. He is a rare breed. Insightful yet so caught up in the emotions of what he deduses that it hurts him.” He explained, running his nails gently over my scalp. “It will be fascinating to see how he responds to my treatment.”
“So you came over to, excuse the profanity, fuck me senceless?” I chuckled. “Thats a strange reaction if you don’t mind me saying.”
He leaned close to my ear wrapping his hand around my exposed throat and pressing lightly on my jugular.
“Purhaps you just bring out the beast in me.” He purred and I shuddered.
There are easy and hard parts of every test but there are rules. Always show your working, never miss a question and remember exam etiquette. You are being watched after all.
I rarely take a day off but one was forced upon me not long afterwards. There was a serial killer at large known as the ‘Minnisota Shrike’ and Hannibal was needed to help Graham. I suspected there was more to it of course but I knew better than to pry.
I relaxed as best I could, catching up on the last few assignments for my degree. I had already handed in my dissertation (Hannibal insisted on reading it first, he called it ‘passable’, high praise from him.) but needed only to finish three more shorter papers. I finished them by the evening and sent them in. Trusting that I did not need my lovers approval.
I stretched languidly and considered opening a bottle of wine when my phone rang. It was Hannibals tone.
“Good evening, Dr Lecter.” I answered and I heard the buzz of activity around him.
“Good evening, Miss Grace. I’m afraid my stay here has been extended due to an unfortunate incident. Would you be so kind as to reschedule my appointments for the remainder of the week?” His voice was just as crisp as ever, I could hear sirens and medical personell in the background.
“Of course, can I be of any further assistance?”
“That will be all, I will keep you updated.” He ended the call and I looked up at the ceiling, my eyes dawdling around as my mind chewed on what I had heard.
First I opened my laptop and did as he had requested. Shifting appointments and sending apologies where necessary.
Next I poured myself a glass of white wine.
Finally I turned on the television.
It didn’t take long to find it. Footage of a house shown from above while a reporter droned on about a man suspected to be the shrike who murdered his wife and assaulted his daughter before being shot by police.
The footage was from hours ago and periodically switched to a ground crew who were trying to get as much information as they could. There he was, stood by a hunched over Will Graham. I sipped my wine and contemplated the situation in a way that Hannibal might approve of.
What did I know? Hannibal went to Minnisota to help with the investigation around serial killings. During that time the serial killer was found and chose to attempt to murder his family before being shot. Hannibal and Mr Graham were definately on the scene after the fact.
What did I suspect? Hannibal had a hand in this somehow. He may have set this up to toy with Graham. Trauma was his favorite aperitif after all.
You may ask if I lost sleep over this. I did not.
I visited Hannibal’s home each day to tend to his plants and collect his mail, it seemed wrong to be in the house alone and I found myself unwilling to go to the more illicit areas. He’d trained me well it seemed.
A lab rat who knows they’re in a maze is no less a lab rat.
On the friday I was to go on a date with the amusing yet thrilling Frederick Chilton. Hannibal insisted I continue the farce of our dating despite our intimacy.
It was becoming rather a chore. Had I a choice I would have let him down easily but chained as I was I did my best to enjoy it.
I had concocted the ruse that my former boyfriend, Robert, had forced himself on me and as such I was causious about returning to a physical relationship. It worked and Fredrick was ever the gentleman.
I felt terrible to use such a lie but as Robert was dead and gone it was simpler.
That evening he took me to the theatre where we watched a rather droll play and then had a few drinks afterwards. I allowed him some intimacy, hand holding, embraces and even a few stolen kisses. I blushed on cue when he kissed me goodnight then went upstairs to shower and scrub away his touch.
I was awoken that night by lips on my throat. Teeth dragging across my flesh and hands wrapping around me. I knew him my his smell and touch. By the spiced air of his breath and the callous on his index finger that persisted from his days as a surgeon.
He curled against me and slipped his hand between my thighs.
I gasped as he pleasured me slowly. He was already naked, I marveled that he had undressed without me waking but it was senseless to dwell on such things.
When he was sure I was ready he lifted my leg back over his hip and pushed into me. He did not relent in circling my clit. He was slow, languid and relentless as he took me.
I gasped his name as I climaxed the first time and he bit into my shoulder before thrusting harder a half dozen times before returning to his unhurried pase.
By the time he finally reched his own end I was a panting mess, begging him to end my torment. When he slipped from my body he rolled me onto my back and kissed me passionately, his eyes obsidian in the dark of my room.
He was gone when morning arrived.
I didn’t hear from him over the weekend but on Monday our routine returned with little change. Will Graham was to be a regular patient of Hannibal's and was to be allowed to make appointments whenever he felt the need.
Soon another killer emerged. This one with a rather interesting obsession with mushrooms. Graham of course wished to talk to Hannibal about it and I was once again dismissed. This time though there was no animalistic visit from Hannibal.
I was confused to find I was somewhat annoyed at this. I dismissed it as a leftover attachment from when Hannibal chose to torment me into striking him.
Another new patient emerged. A rather nosy red-haired woman who I suspected was there for gossip rather than her health.
She arrived far too early and seemed to do everything in her power to try and force me to leave the room. I’m sorry to say she succeeded when she feined illness and asked for water. Hannibal loathed water coolers so I was forced to go to the sink to get her a drink.
After her appointment Hannibal called me into his office, she had been his last appointment of the day.
“Miss Grace, I must say I am disappointed in you.” He was seated behind his desk and I stood in front of it in my pencil skirt and blouse.
“May I ask why?” I asked and he placed a small recording device on the desk. I closed my eyes and swore inwardly.
Failure is to be punished. The severity of the punishment depends on the blunder. There is forgiveness to be had but such failings will not be forgotten.
“She was a reporter.” I said as I opened my eyes. He nodded, regarding me cooly.
“As you say, from that rather disgusting website.”
“I was a fool. There is no excuse.” I said and he nodded. “I apologise for what it is worth.”
“Which is little.” I winced at his reply. “If you are unable to do your job you are of no use to me. You must keep your guard up at all times.”
“Hannibal, I-” I began and he stood suddenly.
“You will address me correctly.” His eyes were bright and his tone sharper than any blade.
“Dr Lecter. I can only say that this will not happen again. I will be vigilant.” I did my best not to stammer and to meet his gaze.
“You are dismissed for the evening, Miss Grace.”
I turned and left quickly. It wasn’t until I got home that the anger burst.
I threw a plate across the room and the way it smashed was so satisfying I did it twice more.
I was furious at that blasted reporter, at myself and most of all at Dr Lecter.
Any fool could see this was not my fault.
I had no doubt he frightened the red-headed hag into deleting whatever she recorded and she wouldn’t show her face again but she may have ruined my life, perhaps even ended it.
I knew well enough that I was walking a knife’s edge, whether this was enough to make me lose my balance I didn’t know.
The glass seemed to have been reformed between us. The routine returned as did the aloof and professional attitude from my employer. I knew I was being tested, he was watching to see if I would retaliate.
He was correct of course. It is human nature when wronged to dispense some form of justice opon the one who wronged you.
I waited until my nerves had settled and my fury had solidified. So I watched him carefully. Despite the distance he put between us I could see the shape of his machinations.
I knew when he left the state, when he saw his own therapist and of course every aspect of his social life.
I considered him from every angle.
I could give him to the police but that would mean my own downfall.
I could try to kill him myself but I doubted I could pull it off, at least not in any way that would satisfy me.
I could interfere with his games but that would just end in my death.
I needed something more visceral, primal and just a little dangerous.
When you finish a test early, pass or fail, there is a time to reflect. To regard your teacher and judge them. Your success reflects on them after all.
My inspiration arrived when Frederick stopped by to see me one lunchtime. Dr Lecter came to greet him and I caught the slightest hint of his displeasure when his colleague kissed my hand. Anyone else might have missed it.
I experimented slightly, flirting innocently with Frederick, in the same way as I would on a date but not in my employers presence.
The tightness of his jaw confirmed it. It seemed I did bring out the beast in him, and the beast was territorial.
My plan was simple, dangerous of course but it would certainly make my point.
I set up a date with Fredrick for Saturday. He was delighted to meet at my apartment for lunch.
He arrived early and chatted to me while I cooked. I flirted with him shamelessly and he looked rather excited at my change in deameanor.
After lunch we sat on my sofa and talked, I allowed him to touch me and kiss me more intimately than before.
I let him screw me there on the sofa, I let him believe I was in ecstasy when I was simply waiting for him to be done.
It was quick at least.
He was needed at the Sanitorium that evening but he promised to call me in the morning. He kissed me goodbye and left with a spring in his step.
The desire to scrub myself raw was intense but I held back.
I picked up my phone and called him.
“Miss Grace? What can I do for you?” He sounded terse but I doubted I’d interrupted anything. He had the opera in a few hours and he liked to prepare for such by reading the score to himself in silence.
“I’m very sorry to disturb you, Dr Lecter, but I’m afraid I’ve done something rather foolish. I’ve left my laptop in my desk at your house and I need it to submit my assignments. They are due by monday morning so it cannot wait.”
“A moment.” I heard him walk away from the phone and return. “I have it here.”
“Thank goodness. Would it be alright if I came and got it? It would only take a moment.” I made sure to sound professional, detached but firm.
“Very well, as long as you are here within the hour. I will leave it on your desk.”
“Thank you, Dr Lecter. I will be there very soon.”
I hung up the phone and headed straight out.
I let myself in and sure enough my laptop was on my desk.
“Miss Grace?” He called from the drawing room and I forced back my smile.
“Yes, Dr Lecter. I’ve got my laptop. I’ll be going now, I hope you enjoy the opera.” I call and I hear footsteps. When I turn he’s in the doorway, he’s as casual as he ever looks in slacks and a light shirt.
He opens his mouth to speak when his nostrils flare. My heart stops as I meet his eyes, it feels like sparks are flying through them.
He stalks forward and I’m forced to retreat from him.
“What have you done?” He asks and I fein innocence.
“I don’t know what you mean. I’ve got my laptop, if you’ll excuse me I’ll head home.”
He shakes his head tutting at me.
“Oh Paula, What have you done?”
I open the door to his office and dart through it, slamming it in his face and throwing the deadbolt.
I run through to the rear of the office. There was a door that led to the back door but also back into the house. I flung open the back door then hid myself back in his office. I heard him come and look, heard him leave to look for me.
The moment I could I flew back into the main house and towards the main door, my heart thumping in my chest.
Before I could get there I heard him return, I whipped around to the stairs but only managed a couple of steps when his hand whipped out to grasp my ankle and I fell forwards onto the steps. I knocked my head lightly as I landed so was somewhat dizzy as he flipped me over and crouched over me, his hand on the step next to my head to brace himself.
In his free hand was a scalpel like blade, slightly hooked and razor sharp. I knew it well as it was the reason I had a thin white scar on my throat.
“Looks like the game is over.” I said and he sneered at me.
“You let that pissant touch you.” He stated and I smiled, pulling open my shirt to show a mark from Fredrick on my chest. “You fucked him.” Hearing the word in his clipped accent was somehow arousing, he didn’t swear but for a few choice phrases in italian.
“I did.”
“Why?” He snarled.
“You’re the Doctor. You figure it out.” I replied and he lifted his hand from the step to wrap around my throat. I was ready for this but it was no less terrifying.
“Get up, whore.” He ordered and I did as he said. He pulled me off the stairs and dragged me to the dining room. He shoved me into the table and I tottered back, falling onto it and knocking the centrepeice onto the floor where it smashed. He pushed me against the carefully polished wood by my neck and regarded me.
“You have outlived your usefulness, Miss Grace.” He said through gritted teeth and I relaxed, I didn’t fight him which didn’t surprise him.
What did surprise him was the gun I pressed against his stomach, the gun I’d hidden and he’d been so distracted he’d overlooked.
“Back off.” I breathe and he releases me. Stepping back and raising his hands. I sit up slowly, keeping the gun trained on him. “Drop it.” I order and he raises an eyebrow. “We both know I don’t know how to shoot so I could hit you anywhere. Drop it.”
He releases the blade which clatters to the floor.
A good teacher nurtures their students. Celebrating every small advance. A bad teacher will scold even the best student and even if they succeed the student will resent them.
“What do you plan to do now?” He asks, he’s relaxed even how, watching me carefully.
“In honesty I don’t have a plan now. I assumed I’d be dead by now but it seems I was wrong.” I reply. “I think we’ve come to the end, Dr Lecter.”
“The end?” He quirks his eyebrow again.
“Yes, consider this my resignation.”
“And you think you can just leave?”
“Yes. I’m going to leave, drive home and pack my things. I’m going to go somewhere and you aren’t going to come after me.” I smile.
“And what makes you think I won’t?”
“Because you won’t need to. I won’t tell a soul what I know and neither will you. You’ll know where I am, hell I might even send you a postcard, but you won’t come after me.”
“Oh?”
“Because you like the idea that I’ll be there. That there’s someone out there who knows you like red wine more than white. Who knows you hate to be interrupted and who knows what you keep in your basement.” He smiled at that. I had him. I saw him and he liked it.
He couldn’t mold me like he did others but I saw through him and he liked it.
“Now. Shall we part peacefully or do I need to shoot one of your kneecaps?”
“I think, purhaps it would be better to leave as friends.” He lowered his arms and I tucked the gun back into my pocket. “Where will you go?”
“London perhaps, or maybe Paris.” I say as I get down from the table. “I have enough saved to start again almost anywhere.”
He reaches out to touch my face and I let him.
“May I?” He asks and I nod. He leans in and touches his lips to mine, a chaste kiss. He inhales deeply afterwards. “I do so hate that smell.”
“So remove it.” I challange and he steps closer, tilting my face up to meet his.
“You do so bring out the beast in me.” He smiles and he claims my lips again, all control has left him now.
His kiss is all tongue and teeth, he forces me back onto the table and tears open my shirt, the buttons bouncing to odd corners. He buries his head in my breasts, pushing my bra up and out of his way.
He pushes my skirt up around my hips, the gun clattering to the floor as he opens my legs to rut against me.
I force open his shirt and grip his back, my nails leaving red lines over his skin as he leaves his own mark on my breast to eclipse the one I taunted him with.
“I’m going to take you in such a way no other man will suffice.” He purrs in my ear before biting down on my pulse. I buck my hips up to meet him and he stands up, with a sly look on his face. He slowly kneels and presses rough kisses to my thigh.
He pushed aside my underwear and took me into his mouth like a starving man. As ever he knew just what to do to push me to my limits. He wrung three orgasams from me before relenting and stepping back, looking down at me as if etching the sight into his memory. He slowly unbuckled his belt and unbuttons his slacks, pulling them down to allow his cock to spring free.
He grips my thighs and drags me towards him and I gasp in shock as he fills me. He begins thrusting immediately and I can do nothing but cry out as the the table rocks with the force of his thrusts.
I’m close to snapping when he drags me upright and chashes his lips to mine as we climax together. He grips my thigh so hard his nails pierce me and I leave bloody lines over his back with my own.
“I will miss you.” He pants in my ear and all I can do is kiss his cheek in response.
The test is passed, the student praised and so the teacher and pupil part ways.
He gives me one of his shirts as he has ruined mine, and takes a moment to clean the half moon shaped cuts on my legs.
With a final kiss he lets me go. As a parting gift I give him the gun and reveal it was empty. I’ll remember his laugh for the rest of my life.
While he sits in his favored seat at the opera (middle of the row, ten rows back) I am on a flight to a new life.
Someday, perhaps, he will replace me. Though I doubt he will ever be satisfied with them.
I wonder then, what happens now?