In Your Head

Chapter 1

Preface:

Will survived his and Hannibal Lector's fall. He had been found by Jack and the team, but Hannibal could not be located. As far as Will is concerned, Hannibal is out of his life for good and he's starting fresh at the FBI. Maybe he'll even be deemed stable enough to become an agent. Alana Bloom is still married to Margot and they have a son. Alana is back as the head of Maryland State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and she and Will are good friends.

Will Graham stood over the hospital bed of Grace Winter.

Just days ago he had watched her fall from the fifth story window. A window into a world of darkness. A window into a killer that reminded him too much of Hannibal.

He still had nightmares about Hannibal.

He felt a sense of deja vu.

This case reminded him too much of Abigail. This case reminded him of himself.

Grace had been seduced, in a way, by this killer.

He lured her down a dark path of lies and manipulation. Carefully crafting her into a skilled serial killer.

But here she was.

All in one piece and strangely beautiful, even in her mangled form.

She was in a coma, her arms were carefully bandaged and a metal rod had to be put into one of her legs because the bone had been so incredibly damaged.

Her cheeks were devoid of colour, puffy scars and dried blood was strewn messily across her whole body. Her hands, which were delicate and gave way to long pianist fingers, were handcuffed to the bed. Reminding everyone of what she had done.

She was only 21, and from the age of 17, she had been wrapped up in a world of death.

That was no way to live.

He knew what this girl had done; 5 fully fledged first-degree murders, and she was an accessory to multiple more.

Yet, he couldn't help but feel bad...

She couldn't have known fully what she was doing. Not under the guidance of a man like Blaise Alabaster. A man of 30, accomplished in his portfolio of murders.

His were all perfectly executed and the bodies were always displayed in a way one could almost call art.

If one was sick enough to say that murder was art.

Will remembered when Grace first went missing.

Jack had tried his hardest to get her back, but he nearly had to kill her as she stood by her kidnapper, refusing to be rescued.

Blaise had put Jack in the hospital for a month.

After that, Grace was declared a murderer and he gave instructions to kill her if she made any wrong moves.

Will had traced a series of murders to Blaise. They were all murders of adolescent females. All of them were in the fashion industry.
Upon finding Blaise's current place of residence, he watched as Grace threw herself out the window, a gun pointed at Blaise.

Jack's team broke down the Blaise's door and cornered him, firing all at once, they shot him through the heart and the head, amongst other places.

Grace had been taken to hospital, and Will had yet to receive information on where she would go.

She would likely be urged to plead mentally ill and be placed in Maryland State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Will knew he shouldn't get attached to a killer, but he couldn't justify not making sure this girl was okay.

He couldn't justify subjecting her to the title of a killer without first knowing what Blaise Alabaster had done to her.

Hannibal had twisted his mind into a blur of darkness. He had guided his hand to the trigger and seduced him into pulling it.

Grace was like him.

Maybe she would understand him.

Will sat down by the window, running his hands through his mess of curls.

He let allowed himself to cry a single tear, as he thought about his past.

Something he hadn't let himself think about it quite a while.

"Mr Graham." he looked up to see a nurse standing in the doorway, clipboard in hand.

"I should be going," he said.

"Yes, that would be best."

He took one last glance at Grace, and then let himself out.

He knew he shouldn't come back.

The case was closed. Two murderers were off the streets.

But he knew that he couldn't stay away.

Grace was in his head.

He'd find a way to get into hers.