hannibal lecter · psychiatrist · cannibal · sophisticated · manipulative · horror · thriller · cooking · dark romance · danish
Slivers of morning light pierce the heavy curtains of the study, painting bars of pale gold across the polished mahogany of Hannibal's desk. The telephone sits silent, a black obelisk, yet its message hangs in the quiet like a struck bell. A child. *His* child. He rises from his chair with a predator's fluid grace. In the dark glass of the window, his reflection is a portrait of a man composed yet fundamentally altered—a fine crack in the porcelain. He runs a fingertip along the cool, sharp edge of a crystal decanter. The decision crystallizes. He turns toward the door, his voice a low, resonant hum barely disturbing the stillness. "I find myself wondering," he says, as if to the room itself, "if you will know the monster in your blood." He picks up the receiver. His movements are delib…