The Eyes of a Lamb

Instinct

Clarice moved out the doorway of Dr. Lecter's office, her hand immediately moving to the end of her nose to keep her from sniffing as the tension tears started to come. It had been a long time since she had seen that type of murder. The poses were different, but that same gruesome torture of having their eyes plucked out of their skulls was all too familiar.

She had known he had gotten out, known that for a while, the FBI was trying to track him, but for a long time Clarice thought Jame Gumb was long gone in some far off country. But as it turned out, he was much closer to her than she would ever want.

Clarice found herself outside, her lips taking in the sweet summer air even though the humidity was killing her skin. She looked across the street and saw her fathers old muscle car, the one that had been given to her as an inheritance after his untimely death. It stood jet black in the sunlight, the windows down since it lacked any function of an air conditioner, and Clarice couldn't afford one if she tried. It also seemed wrong to her to try and fix anything that had been broken when her father owned it, like she was trying to change what little she had left of him. Sure if a tire popped she would replace it, but anything that she had known since childhood was to be kept intact, even the horrible fabric of the seats or the unsettling rattle somewhere under hood that never seemed to bother anything.

Clarice found herself remembering the hot summer days where she would stay with the neighbors until she heard the roar of his car coming down the road. She would drop whatever she was doing to run outside, her bare feet rolling across the grass as she nearly flew to her house. He would get out of the car, handsome in his police uniform and wait until she was just right around the corner before popping up and scooping her in his arms.

It was a wonderful life before Jame Gumb and the horrible pit he had made in her mind.

As Clarice drove on through the city and into the suburbs of town, she felt better as the fresh air blew in through the windows. She prayed it wasn't Jame, but the signs were all too clear. All the girls were around the same age, just enough difference to even throw off Will Graham, and their looks and schools and even demeanor were all different.

But that was the point wasn't it?

Clarice finally made it home, her white house small compared to all the other family homes with lights on and people no doubt occupying them. Tonight was a night for wine, that was for sure.

She climbed out of the old muscle car and felt her keys jingling in her hand as her senses fired up all around her. She didn't like walking alone, probably for good reasons, but it was still daylight out and she knew that daylight meant she was safe.

Clarice opened the door and Barney came roaring in from the kitchen, his big flabby lips smacking together as his paws clapped against the wood floors.

"Hi Barney!" Clarice said with a happy smile as the big basset hound came waddling into her.

Barney had been her present to herself when she had bought the house. He had been nothing but this big pudgy thing with long ears and droopy eyes, but Clarice had loved him since the moment she saw him. It helped that he loved being over weight and lounging around the house most of the time, since Clarice felt she had no time to walk him but did occasionally rough play with him to keep him on his toes.

Barney was her companion, her little ball of sunshine that no matter what the day brought he was always there making sure she knew how wonderful she was to him.

"Come on boy" Clarice said giving him a smooch on the nose "Let's eat some dinner."

Barney happily waddled after her, his ears flopping against his face as he lovingly followed his mistress.

Clarice ate healthy that night, her favorite salad freshly tossed while Barney got scraps of turkey meat and dog food. She had a glass of wine and watched bad TV on the couch, trying to get her mind off of the murder, and the little girls, trying to forget her own experience, and trying her best to not think about those girls and where they were at that moment.

Clarice closed her eyes as Barney whined beside her as his puppy dog eyes looked up at her with worry.

"Come here boy" Clarice said clapping her hands as Barney woofed and got on the couch with her, snuggling close because he knew she needed it. Instinct was something Barney and Clarice shared, instinct on what was going on through peoples heads, how they felt, what they were thinking and what they were planning on thinking. She had that gift since she was little, but her nightmare of a childhood had just enhanced it to the point where every day life was hard for Clarice.

"Jame Gumb" she said as her mind wandered "You bastard..."

She remembered his face staring down at in the darkness, his dead eyes looking at her as if she were nothing but an insect. He hadn't liked it that she was stronger than the others, hadn't like that no matter what he offered her she still refused him. That was why she had gotten away, because she had never given into his temptations, never given in to him.

Barney whined against and licked sloppily at her hand. Clarice smiled and scratched the top of his head and through his ears.

"I know boy" she said to Barney "I should just stop, or me and you will never get to sleep tonight. Tomorrow is a new day and we are going to catch that son of a bitch."

Barney gave a gently woof to confirm Clarice's thoughts and she settled into the couch knowing she could stop this before it happened all over again.

Clarice decided she should get to bed after a few hours of watching nothing but melodramatic house wives and depressing news as she let out Barney for a couple minutes to change into her pajamas. She was glad she wasn't on this case alone, Will Graham despite what he thought was at the top of his field in criminal instinct, and Dr. Lecter seemed very in tuned to what was going on as well.

Clarice felt her body slow as she thought about the doctor, his intense but beautiful eyes staring at her like she was glass, that jaw line relaxing and tensing without him knowing it as his sandy hair seemed swept back like an old school gentleman.

He was handsome, and charming from what Clarice could tell, but there was also something there, something hidden behind his eyes that Clarice just knew was something deeper than what the doctor was showing everyone.

It had scared her a bit, the way he had looked at her, the way his hand had held hers like Satan tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit, his gentle touch simply leading her without her giving a second thought. She had felt at ease around Will Graham, like he was nothing but a nightlight as darkness surrounded them, with Hannibal drifting around in that darkness watching him, and watching her.

As Clarice lay in bed with Barney snoring soundly at the end of her feet Clarice let her mind wander, only to let it fall back not on Jame Gumb, but on Hannibal Lecter.

She didn't know if that should please her that she wasn't thinking about her almost killer, or that she should be scared that something frightened her more than him.

Hannibal sat at his table alone, a simply meal cooked up from a man that had not had the decency to lend his seat to a very pregnant woman and had told her that it was her own fault for getting pregnant in the first place.

He sliced the sauteed liver with his knife, dipping it in creamed dip before taking a bite and then a sip of wine. His thoughts wanted to drift to the man, wanted to remember the way he had screamed as Hannibal's skilled hand tore through his skin. But the angelic face of Clarice Starling would always appear, those blue eyes staring down at what Hannibal had done only to look back up at him without fear, only a sadness for him.

Hannibal felt his hand set the glass of wine down, his fingers curling in and out as he stared down at his food, trying to convince himself he should not waste such a fine meal, especially after all the blood that he had spilled over it. Clarice Starling taunted him though, the way she had moved like air through his office, the way that Will Graham had immediately became flustered over her, and the way she spoke as she looked through the evidence with knowing care.

It had drawn his attention in quite quickly.

Hannibal decided he should keep close to this girl, this Furie that tortured his peaceful mind, but not so close that he could not come back from his true nature.

His true instinct.