Rude (Choose Your Own Adventure)

Chapter 30

'I'm sorry,' you say to Dr DuMaurier. 'I don't really want to be involved. But I can say that Hannibal's likely to be...distracted for the next couple of hours, if I have anything to do with it.'

'You don't know what you're doing,' she warns you. 'Hannibal is more dangerous than you can imagine.'

You remember Hannibal's lips on yours; how he tastes of wine and heat. How he has made you crave him more than you've ever craved another man.

Down deep, you know that Bedelia is telling the truth, or at least part of the truth. Hannibal is dangerous.

But you can't seem to bring yourself to care. Maybe, that's exactly why you crave him so much.

You slip out of the room and go back to Hannibal's bedroom. He's waiting for you, lying on the bed, the top buttons of his shirt open but the rest of his clothes intact. You think about removing them, layer by tailored layer, to reveal the man beneath, and despite what you've just seen in the guest bedroom, your mouth starts to water.

'Join me?' he says, and you lie beside him on the bed.

He reaches for you, inhaling deeply, as if you are a fine wine and he is enjoying your bouquet.

Then he pauses.

'You have opened a door that should have remained closed,' he says quietly. 'I can smell her perfume on your hands.'

'Smell whose perfume?' you say, but before you can finish the question, Hannibal's tie is wound tightly around your neck, cutting off your air supply.

'I am sorry this evening did not turn out as we planned,' he says. 'But death is even more intimate than sex.'

As he strangles you, Hannibal places a single, regretful kiss on your lips.

THE END...why not have another try?