Running from Melinda ~ A Blood Red Fan Fiction

5 Temporary Stay

“Even though Melinda is my sister, whatever your connections are with her won’t reach her. I never go back on my word.” His icy blue eyes met mine and for a moment, I was shocked at the sincerity in his voice despite the icy resemblance he had to Melinda. It put me off a bit.

“I can’t.” My voice quivered and my knees started to tremble. It was no surprise that I was tired: Hannah had taken a go at me, I’d just run through the entire forest behind All Hallows Manor to reach civilisation and now I was putting up my defences against Michael to avoid being found by Melinda. The desperation to find someone to confide in, to find someone who would protect me without any lies was too strong. I almost gave in. Almost.

“Jared,” Michael called to the boy entering the doorway and hopping down the three steps to the lower level.

No, it can’t be, I thought in horror, turning to find yet another familiar face in the room. My gaze was automatically drawn to the lightly tanned skin exposed on his neck up to his face, a light spray of freckles evident across his nose. Floppy strawberry blonde hair framed his angular face and his sharp green eyes met my own with a slightly suspicious look. This was no doubt, Melinda’s son, Jared Cross.

“Do you recognise her?” Michael gave me a pointed look which somehow gave Jared the impression that I was a threat.

He tilted his head to the side, scrutinizing my every move. “No. Why?”

“She fights like you.” I watched almost curiously as Jared stiffened. He had supposedly died the night of Blood Red, not too long ago. He was supposed to be a rotting corpse by now but here he was, alive and well and breathing right before me. Did Melinda know? How many things did she not know? How many more things did I not know?

“She works for Melinda then,” Jared said coldly, narrowing his eyes at me and crouched slightly into a fighting stance I knew all too well.

“You don’t want to fight me,” I spoke almost arrogantly. I knew everything about him apart from the fact that he was supposed to be dead: Melinda’s only son with Nathaniel Fleming before he’d been killed by one of her enemies a couple years back. He was four and a half years older than Scarlett and the only blood-related sibling she would ever have, aside from Violet whom Melinda rarely talked about. Ty was supposed to be the replacement for Jared too.

“And why not?” he jeered. “If you’ve been trained by Melinda then you’ll have no trouble fighting me.”

“You don’t understand the way I’ve been trained,” I said coolly, standing up straighter and lifted an eyebrow at him. He was in team A, certainly not up to Scarlett’s standards and Scarlett had been trained at the same level as me and team C. This would be a piece of cake.

“Children, don’t act like children.” Amusement coloured the old man’s tone as he walked towards me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I wondered if for a moment, I could run a faint current along my skin and electrocute him. Then I’d be free of Michael and all the other kids in this house not to mention I could escape an encounter with Melinda. “We want her to trust us. Obviously if she’s been trained by Melinda at some point and she’s now left the house, Melinda is targeting her. My sister never lets a student go very easily.”

“If she’s been with Melinda then how come I don’t recognise her at all?” Jared pointed out with a frown and straightened out of his stance. “Melinda rarely let’s anyone over the age of seven to join and I’ve been at the Manor for a long time.”

If I told them anything about the west wing and the other five just as strong and skilled as me, this would permanently secure my fate in Melinda’s books. It was enough that she wanted me dead. Then again, this was Michael. He worked for the Order, he was a dangerous man but he was a good person unlike Melinda. Could I really trust him?