Alex Retibeck

Alex Retibeck is a fictional character in the Ananse Series. She is the main antagonist character in Ananse, and a secondary antagonist in His Seed Goes Astray and Illusion of the Madu.

History
Alexandra Onnais Retibeck is the second oldest child of Old Man Retibeck and Zelda House, a 41-year-old high school math teacher who committed suicide due to post-postpartum depression when Alex was just three days old.

In high school, Alex was given a mission: to destroy the son of Pastor Gabriel. Alex was told to seduce Tayron and then scream rape. Her plan was thwarted by Wilma Todd, a junior who attended Pastor’s church. Alex made the mistake of falling in love with Tayron when she was supposed to pretend to like him.

She was frowned upon by the Retibeck clan for being emotionally weak, a flaw that followed her to college, graduate school and into the business world. As Chief Executive Officer of Retibeck Industries, Alex heads a multimillion dollar company left to her by her father, which is run by Retibeck’s only successor, a corporate lawyer only known as “Esquire”. Alex’s sexual orientation is still in question; there were rumors of Alex being in a relationship with a female law student in grad school, but her tastes seemingly fall to men. Alex openly admits that she watches smut pornography and hints that she enjoys the comfort of a women as well as men. There was also a rumor that Alex was once attracted to her brother, Halim.

Ananse
Alex sees Tayron as unfinished business and, in some cases, a challenge for her sexual prowess. She still has her orders, although she fails to act on them in a timely manner. Alex still wants to destroy Tayron and she does this by giving him everything he thinks he needs to survive.

Alex approaches Tayron about being part of a DNA human study that will expose him to dangerous chemicals, but for a five digit compensation he won’t be able to refuse. Alex is a staunch capitalist and believes strongly in free market and corporate anarchy.

Only when her own position is threatened does she call on the government for assistance, but the whistle-blowers are fed up with her reckless spending and deregulatory business ventures. Alex has been investigated by FEMA several times for animal cruelty during the test phrases in many genetic studies. Alex once crushed a pit bull in a trash compactor after the chemically induced rabid animal got away from the technicians and came after her.

Alex is a sympathizer and a tormentor; she puts the test subject in place, makes him feel safe and tells him, “This won’t hurt a bit”, but when she sticks the ice pick in and wiggles it around, she asks her victim, “What’s it feel like? Does it hurt?” Alex wants to see Tayron go down in flames, even if it means pretending to be on his side. Alex sees the Gabriel family as “trash” and she, the Retibecks and the other capitalists are merely garbage incinerators.