1: Alea iacta est

"Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worse for them."

London, UK

Disgusting. Revolting. Her every fiber raged against this degrading parody of work lunch. Everything from the dim muggy excuse of a restaurant, to the non-existent table manners of the man sitting on the opposite side, made her crave to possess a gun. She felt as if she was observing a wild beast devouring its latest pray. The fork of the man butchered the pork stew as if to make sure it was dead enough to eat. Primitive, she thought. As repulsing as it was, Natalie Bishop had to endure this…meeting, no matter what. Patiently she waited for the man to finish his greasy meal, silently hoping that he would choke. To her misfortune, however, the man spoke up while still chewing a piece of the stew. Natalie could see the pulping meat roll in his mouth, bathing with saliva, before taking its destined path down his digestive tract. Fascinating perhaps he indeed was a homo erectus that had traveled from the past. That would explain his behavior. . .

"So, what do you think?" asked the man impatiently.

Natalie stared at him, unsure how to respond, as she was too busy trying to compose her unreadable mask and had not heard a word he said and therefore couldn't form an answer or give an opinion. Instead, she forced a polite smile, her eyes remaining passive and excused his earlier unimportant blabber to ask a question of her own.

"Have you decided if you'd accept the offer, Mr. Parker?" her pale golden irises captivated his, which Mr. Parker found entirely unsettling. Fidgeting nervously he put down the fork, wiped the remains of food from his mouth and without breaking eye contact nodded at Natalie.

"I … I would like to help." Cold sweat ran down his spine as he received a coy smile from the woman across him. He had made the right choice, hadn't he? If, yes, why was he having the odd feeling that perhaps he had just dug out his own grave? The woman, who was calmly sitting on the creaking table with him, presented the word mystery. Despite that this is the third time they meet; he still had no idea of what hid behind her entrancing eyes. His train of doubting thoughts, however, was broken as his gaze was once again focused on the now standing figure of the young woman.

"Well then, Mr. Parker, I would inform my superiors of your decision and contact you in the next few days, if that is alright with you?"Her voice, although composed, carried a sharp edge that made him want to crawl in his seat and become invincible. Her gaze shifted from him to her mobile phone and the message that had just popped out on the screen. Her eyebrows creased together thoughtfully… she had to cut this meeting short.

"It would seem that I have an unexpected business that needs my urgent attention, so I would have to bid you goodbye, Mr. Parker. In the mean time, you will be sent a later with instructions and description of what your job will be. I expect you to read everything carefully and remember once you're in…you can't back down…oh and one last thing the lunch is covered by us, so you can order whatever else you want . . . " With that, Natalie excused herself and calmly walked out of the restaurant leaving Johan Parker to his jumbled thoughts.

The fresh air outside the crowded restaurant filled Natalie's lungs and she smiled broadly, happy to be free of the smell and off-putting presence of Johan. She couldn't begin to comprehend why had she agreed in attending this lunch meeting, weren't there people with far less on their hands, that could arrange these sort of things? Her phone rang, halting her mental rant and Natalie picked up, without even sparing a second to see who was ringing.

"Hello?" spoke the golden eyed woman heading for her motorbike.

"Natalie Bishop?" the voice was unfamiliar and the slight tension that it carried made Natalie stop in her tracks.

"Yes, it's me…If I may ask with who I'm speaking?"said Natalie suspiciously, while looking around as if she would spot the person who was calling her.

"I am Dr. Alana Bloom."

Natalie's blood froze, her heart pounded like a running horse…cold beads of sweat formed on her temples. She knew this person or moreover, she knew who the doctor worked for. A person she had vowed to never willingly encounter again. Natalie's mind blanked out all coherent thought and before she could come back to her sense she had hung the phone.

New York, U S A

"… found her." Announced Alana Bloom handing the phone to Jack Crawford. The feminine doctor eyed him coolly and sat on the small velour-ish sofa, crossing her legs in sign of displeasure.

The FBI agent – Jack Crawford, was sitting behind his desk, a grim expression plastered on his features. They had found her and as glad as he was, he couldn't deny that trouble was ahead and the mental durability of those involved would be severely tested. His dark eyes moved to the female doctor sitting near him, her eyes blazing and demanding. The agent could feel her questions, objections and discontent towards the current situation, rushing to her fevered mind.

"I know what you're going to say, Bloom, but there is no other choice…"snapped Crawford, irked by her accusatory demeanor. "If… she refuses to comply, we'll use other methods to bring her here and that's final! Call the center, inform them of our plan and contact Will…"

"Are you insane, Jack?! Natalie will.. –"

"I said its final, Bloom…don't make me remove you from the case. The dice has been cast, Alana... are you with me or not?" Jack's tightened fist slammed hard atop the polished mahogany table, the sound echoing between the tall walls of the office. He didn't have time to waste on petulant behaviour of trusted comrades, nor spare sanity to lose, therefore if his agents weren't ready to obey and do their jobs, he would have no other choice, but to suspend them. Lord help him, but agent Crawford was facing one of his greatest nightmares and he was sure, deep in his consciousness that this was neither the beginning, nor the calm before the storm…he was already deep in the silt.

Jack stared at Alana expectantly, though he was sure what will be her answer and this was why a malicious smile pulled the corner of his mouth when she spoke with admirable determination.

"I am with you till the end…"

A/N: Hello to those who spared a couple of minutes to read the begging of the first chapter of my story "Scelus"
There are a few things I would like to state. English is my second language, so please excuse any mistakes, I am trying to post a flawless story as possible, though if there is a beta reader that would like to help me with this task, then by all means they can PM me.
Another thing, there will be a lot of Latin phrases as titles of the new chapters. The translation will be given somewhere among - the speech of a character or at the end of the chapter.
Last, but not least...yes this is a Hannibal/OC fanfic if you don't like stories that involve romance between the psychiatrist and someone else's made up character, please do not post rude comments, flames etc, you can just kindly skip.

Well, thank you for reading, this first chapter, which is more like setting the pieces on the board. Stay tuned for more. Reviews would be appreciated.