As Above, So Below

Inessa picked up the vibrating phone, squinting her eyes to see who was calling her at 3am in the morning.

"What?" she groaned, rolling over to the other end of the enormous bed.

"We have got the man. What do you want to do?" A man spoke from the other end.

"Bring him in." she replied. She sat up, trying to shake the sleep off her. Last night was tiring. She had been lost in some paperwork and didn't go to sleep until very late.

Getting up, she walked towards the bathroom to take a refreshing shower. As the warm water rained down on her, she thought about the matter at hand.

For the past month, she has found in total four people trailing her, including the one found today. But no matter how she tortured them, they didn't utter a single word about whom they worked for. Useless rascals!

She had an inkling of who it could be, but until she had solid evidence, she couldn't really do anything. She just hoped the latest catch would open his mouth.

She walked out of the bathroom, bouncing over to her closet. Deciding upon a pair of black pants and a red button-down shirt, she donned the clothes on her body. The dim yellow light of the room giving her milky skin an ethereal glow.

She snatched a pair of heels and her mask before exiting the closet. Standing in front of her vanity, she applied some eyeliner and cherry red lipstick. She took out the box containing her contacts and inserted them in her eyes, to cover the most distinguishing feature of her.

An odd pair of eyes. One green and one blue. Her mom told her once that it was because she was blessed. But later on, as she grew up and visited a doctor, he told her it was simply a medical condition. But she had always hated her eyes; such a turnoff.

She put the lace face mask on her face and combed her hair to form a simple side braid. She looked magnificent, yet deadly. The coldness in her eyes shined through the contacts. The lace mask gave her a mysterious aura, and she twirled, checking herself out in the mirror.

Once satisfied, she took her gun from the bedside drawer and her phone, calling her best friend.

"Ness?" a voice grumbled from another end.

"Dmitri found the man. Get your ass down within twenty minutes." she ordered.

She heard a faint grumble that sounded very much like bitch before she cut the call, making her chuckle at his antics.

She climbed down the stairs, walking straight to her kitchen. She made herself some tea and sat on the stool, feeling refreshed with every sip.

Inessa Novikov was not your average girl. She was a leader. A queen; according to her field name. But it suited her perfectly, because she indeed was a queen. But not of a kingdom. No, she was the queen of the Russian mafia.

"Nessa, we are here." she heard a voice.

She turned around, but not before putting on her mask again.

"Dmitri. Did he say something?" she asked him.

Dmitri Orlov has been working with Inessa ever since Mauris brought her in. He knew all her deepest, darkest secrets. He was her confidante and a pillar, whom she could lean on whenever things got heavy. Dmitri, Inessa and Nikolai have been stuck hip-to-hip ever since they met each other.

Speaking of the man, a figure sluggishly entered the kitchen. The man was lithe and lean compared to Dmitri. Where Dmitri was more on the bulkier side, Nikolai was lean, but still well built.

Inessa's face scrunched when she looked at her best friend's attire. He wore a black zipped up hoodie paired with blue washed jeans. But the problem was not that. The problem was the huge yellow fedora hat, large pink-toned sunglasses and a blood red tie.

"What kind of fashion is that?" she asked with distaste.

"My kind. Now shut up, before I punch you for disturbing my beauty sleep." he said before starting up the coffeemaker. Dmitri chuckled.

"Anyway, no, he said nothing yet. But I have a strong feeling that this one would yield. Also, there was a problem." Dmitri said, uncertainty in his tone. After all, he knew; Inessa despised such problems, that is why they made most of their moves in the night.

"What problem?"

"A bystander."

"And you didn't terrify him?" she raised a perfectly plucked brow.

"He was already in a pretty terrible condition. Looked innocent, and before I could, he was out like a light." he trailed off, looking anywhere but at her. She gave an incredulous laugh and rolled her eyes.

All three of them were cold-blooded killers. But it was an unspoken rule between them and in her entire empire that no one killed someone innocent. She learned that from Mau. Being a mafia doesn't mean you can kill innocents too.

"Okay then, let's see the culprit and the problem." she said.

"You coming?" she asked Nikolai, who was almost dozing off on the kitchen counter. Hearing her, he opened her eyes, black eyes staring at the false brown ones.

"Let me have coffee first." he waved them off.

She shook her head and walked off with Dmitri towards their investigation room. The investigation room was situated right at the center of their mansion and was completely soundproof.

Her man lined up in the hallway leading towards the investigation room, giving her a nod when she passed them by. She gave them each a smile, though they could not see her. Nobody has ever seen her face, except for four people; Dmitri, Nikolai, Mauris and her princess.

She put her thumb on the fingerprint sensor before pushing the heavy steel door open. She entered the rustic style room, with stone flooring and a wooden ceiling. The lighting switched from dim to extreme bright to play with the culprits she kept here. After all, she liked to play a game of cat-and-mouse way too much.

Two people were tied on adjacent chairs. She looked at Dmitri for confirmation.

"The blue-haired one is the bystander and the other one is the culprit." he told her.

She moved towards the blue-haired man first. She pulled his head up, clenching his electric blue hair, registering the silkiness of those strands.

Observing the battered face, and the dried patches of blood on his clothes, looked like someone didn't go easy on him at all.

"Call Tommy and get him fixed up. We will interrogate him when he wakes up." she said. Dmitri nodded and placed a call to their personal doctor, ordering one of his man to take him away.

She moved towards the other man. She pulled his head up and slapped him a few times to wake him. But he didn't move a muscle.

"Tell Nikolai to bring a bucket of scalding water."

Dmitri made a call again, telling Nikolai what Inessa said. She leaned on the table beside the tied up man, observing him, while she waited for Nikolai to come. That brat never came on time.

After ten minutes, the door opened and entered the odd-looking man. Inessa took the bucket of water from him, once again scrunching her face in disgust at his style. She checked the temperature of the water and it was hot, just like she wanted.

She threw the bucket of water at the unconscious man. Loud screams echoed in the room as the heat registered with the unconscious man.

He looked up, eyes wildly looking around. When his eyes landed on the woman, he begged, "Please save me!".

Inessa's face formed an innocent smile, with a hint of worry as she played along with the man. For someone who didn't know Inessa she was an angel. With big doe eyes, and soft, curvy body she looked way too innocent.

"Oh gosh! What did you guys do to him?" she fake gasped.

"Mam, please save me! I didn't do anything. I was just following orders!" the man begged, big fat tears rolling down his wrinkled skin.

"What kind of orders? Do you mind telling me? I can only save you if you tell me the whole story." Inessa's voice dripped with false concern.

"I was ordered to follow the queen. He said if I can get a picture of the queen, they will reward me." the man cried.

"Were you successful?" she asked him.

"I am not sure. Each day, I started following her, but someway or other I always lost her. The only thing I am certain of is..." he trailed off, looking at the ground.

"Is... ?" Inessa prompted.

"She has brown eyes and fiery red hair." he said. Dmitri and Nikolai grinned at that. Inessa was too smart for her own good. The queen didn't have red hair or brown eyes, instead the queen had silky black hair and an odd pair of eyes. But no one knew that.

"Oh... and who was this man?" she asked him again.

"I don't know. He never told me his identity." the man replied, his body relaxing despite the burn that he felt. He felt safe with this woman.

"Try to remember, something, anything? His name? Any distinguishing feature?" the man looked at the innocent woman, and desperately tried to recall anything that could help her.

"No, nothing like th-" he stopped mid-sentence. His face lit up as he remembered the one thing that he always found odd about the person who hired him.

"What?" Inessa asked.

"He had a snake tattooed on his arm, and beside the mouth was an initial 'F'" he said, remembering the bizarre tattoo.

Inessa gave a blinding smile to the man, patting his head for his good work. After all, he just proved her suspicions true. This was the work of Ronan Colbert. That filthy asshole has been on her tails for years now, and this time she was in the mood to end it all.

"Keep him here for now. And treat him well. He is such a sweet man." she said walking away but not without winking at the tied-up man. Dmitri and Nikolai rolled their eyes at the mischievous behavior of their boss.

"Yes, Queen." Nikolai said, and all the color drained from the face of the tied-up man.

He knew he was fucked.