Chapter 1

"Clarice Starling, FBI!"

Clarice raised her hand above her head, waiting for them to come and collect her. Suddenly from the corner of her eye she noticed a small boat gliding across the lake. Fireworks erupted from across the bank.

"Daring, I'll give him that."

She smiled to herself, could she really have taken him in whilst she could still taste him on her lips? She should have been horrified, the horrors that his mouth had inflicted, instead of his personal mark of terror, he had caressed her lips with his own, he had drank her in. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her, since their meeting in Memphis she must have known he felt more for her than any other Special Agent who had the unfortunate task of trying to part some knowledge from him.

She wasn't exactly suitably dressed for a mission, she was completely aware of that fact, realising just how this must look to an outsider, she brought her arms down to her chest; covering herself with them. What would they say when they saw her? This was a scandal which would make the Drumgo case pale in comparison. She could almost see the faces of her counterparts back at the Bureau pale and horrified. The whispers behind her back, the vicious rumours circling about her relationship with the doctor. Why did he murder Krendler yet keep her alive?

Arms gripped her and before she knew it she was being led to a patrol car, a young officer looked her up and down his piggish little eyes looking anywhere but her face. She momentarily entertained the idea of telling him exactly what Dr Lecter would do with a letch like him before realising it really wouldn't help her case.

Soon she was driving away from the house, she didn't look back. She wondered to herself if she would ever see him again, realising what she was doing, she put it down to her own human and morbid curiosity, who wouldn't be he was a prime candidate to be curious about.

Her hands went to her eyes, she was exhausted the morphine was taking its toll on her body, her muscles ached, and fatigue had rooted itself. Then she felt herself drifting and it all went black.

Bright orange lights invaded her eyes, making them ache and throb. She had passed out in the patrol car and was now back at the Bureau the eyes of her contemporaries boring down onto her. She tried to move her arm but found that she was hooked up to a machines, her mind boggled at the amount of experiments she had probably been subject to whilst she was out.

"We found morphine in your system Ms Starling, your body has been through a lot of trauma, but he has obviously done a careful job of patching you up."

Eyebrows rose in the room and a cacophony of murmurs erupted.

"I'm surprised that you were capable of walking the amount that he had administered." Clarice nodded, her head burning with the effort.

"We're going to keep an eye on you for the rest of the night, and then you will be free to go."

A small laugh sounded from the corner of the room, relaying the thoughts of every other agent in the room. By tomorrow the media would be in a frenzy, there was no way that she would be free in any way shape or form.