Becoming The Alpha Queen

Chapter 1- TASTE OF COFFEE & CIGARETTES

The sound of the café door flying open caught the attention of everyone present, A short middle age man stood at the cafe door with two hefty men behind him. He was dressed in a black tuxedo and his grey hair was packed to the back in a ponytail. He scanned the café carefully until his brown eyes landed on her – A beautiful blonde sat on the café chair with her legs crossed on top of the table. She had a cigar between her lips and she grinned at the sight of him.

“Francis, you made it” there was a subtle calmness in her voice. She dropped her legs from the table adjusting herself properly on the café chair.

Francis frowned at the young lady’s disposition “Annette!” he yelled stomping up to her “You are playing with something you can’t handle missy” the sharp tone of his voice echoed around the café.

“Shhh! You are scaring them” Annette observed the café as people quietly slipped out obviously not wanting to be entangled with whatever this was. The manager of the café didn’t dare to come near, You’d have to be born under a rock if you didn’t know who Francis was – Francis Von Vio was a deadly man in Aket… he was one of the sub leaders of the rogue committee, a bloody group who dealt deadly with anyone who stood in their way yet this young girl couldn’t care less. Death was the one thing she wasn’t afraid of… she’d gone through a lot to be scared of something like that.

“I don’t know what’s gotten over you… maybe you’re possessed, I don’t care but if you keep messing around like this I’ll display your insides on the street” he slammed his hand on the table leaning towards Annette who still had a large smile plastered on her face.

“This is funny huh?” he pulled her up from where she sat and towards himself staring deadly at her.

“Careful now, it might not look it but this caused me my entire life savings” she noted staring at her chiffon which he’d clenched in his fist. “You are acting to rashly… I have the upper hand here” she grinned waving a flash drive in front of his face. His face turned sour at the sight of the drive and he immediately pushed her aside. He arranged the tuxedo he had on and stared blankly at her, moving a step forward, he took the sit in front of her.

“What do you want?” a bit of hostility could still be heard in his voice, this act came as a surprise to the café manager… what the hell did that young lady have in that flash drive that could tame this beast.

“Aww… you are calmer now” Annette jeered placing the flash drive casually into her pocket. She picked up a backpack that laid next to her and brought out some files, she passed it over to Francis. He stared at Annette for a while before picking up the file, his brows furrowed as he examined it.

“This b***h has really gone crazy” he muttered still observing the file.

“Crazy as in doesn’t exist or crazy as in it does?” she asked sounding much more desperate now… It’d been ten years since she started the search – ten good years and all she’d met was one dead end unto another.

Her mind flashed back to that faithful evening, she was thirteen then – her father had placed her in the kitchen cabinet but she saw it clearly a beast like creature had walked into the house and feasted on her parents, the police didn’t believe her report, they thought she was imagining things, even though they couldn’t come up with an explanation for the state of the couple’s body. But she knew exactly what she saw and was going to hunt down that beast no matter how long it took. She stared at Francis who was still observing the file, he was the closest link she’d gotten, everyone who got attacked by the rogue committee always reported seeing something extraordinary but as usual the police either thought they were drugged or traumatized. She believed there was more to the police assumption than pure nonchalance, something the rogue committee had to be behind…

Francis dropped the file on the table “What’s this?” Annette could tell he was putting up an act, his words weren’t as organized like before and the way his eyes moved, she found them really suspicious.

“Look” she threw the flash drive over to him “I don’t want anything special, I just want to join the rogue committee” She leaned back, arms folded as she studied his reaction.

Francis eyes darted at her “You what?” A bit of calm as well as confusion laid on his face.

“You all sound cool, of course I’d want to join” she leaned towards him like an excited child “Sorry about the flash incident I just wanted to get your attention” she pouted.

Francis was shocked at the sudden change in behavior 'this girl is really mad' he thought observing her, at this moment he wanted rip her apart, the b***h got him racing around town for the drive that sat before him, ‘a b***h but maybe useful' he thought

“What can you do?” he asked as his mood seemed to endlessly swing, he was back with the unperturbed stare, he was giving her the opportunity to make up for the stress - she’d work for him but it all depended on her response.

“I’m really good at gathering information” she replied pointing at the flash “You'd probably need me” Francis grabbed the flash from the table crushing it in his fist.

“Look missy, once you are in there is no backing out” he stated standing from where he sat, the two men that came with him all stared at Annette, she looked them over and stared back at Francis.

“Who said anything about backing out” her arms released from it’s initial position as she took out her cigar and puffed white circles in the air.

“I really hope you remain this confident” Francis said with an evil smirk before signaling his accomplices as he headed for the door, one of the men dropped a black business card on the table, and they began to take their leave.

“At the dock by 7, don’t be late” Francis pushed the café door open and stepped out dramatically.