Running from Melinda ~ A Blood Red Fan Fiction

9 Double Trouble

Waking up to the smell of bacon had to be the first. I rubbed my eyes and sighed, trying to be rid off the grogginess when the wafting odour of breakfast slowly tempted me out of bed. Yes, it had to be the first time I’d ever woken up peacefully in some time without the thought of harsh training awaiting me.

“All right I’ve got a list of contacts which you can choose from if you ever need a place to stay,” Constantine announced and handed me a plate of waffles and bacon. Strange combo. I’d never had something as deliciously cooked as this . . . did she charm it? “And no, I didn’t charm it.”

I shot her an irritated look. “You read minds too?”

“No but I can read your face.” She smiled smugly, sitting down across from me and chugged down a cup of coffee in one gulp. “I have connections in Norway, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Korea, Spain – you name it. They also know Michael too.”

“How many people are you trying to send me too?” I shot back dryly and poked at the bacon before taking one bite and swallowed it cleanly. “And how are you so sure they’d help me?”

“Anybody who went against Melinda is . . . well valuable, you know? Not many people know how she works except for Michael and even he’s sworn to secrecy about some things. So we need a better source.”

“How do you – never mind.” I guessed that with my current situation and her knowing Melinda’s haunting in my dreams, she figured I’d done something to piss that woman off.

“And if you help Michael, you help the Order and they run a hell of a lot of things around here. It’s best you stay an asset, not a liability.”

“Right,” I said slowly, annoyed that I was objectified without my knowing. But it was slightly reassuring in the least to know that I had some people to run to, even if they were strangers. Michael’s helped me out this far so I may as well see how much longer this will last for. “How long do you think I’ll be staying here?”

“Depends on how long you want to stay here really,” she replied with a nonchalant shrug. “But I want you to stay as long as you want. It’s nice to have some civility around here.”

“So why not move?” I pointed out. “You seem fit enough for a better apartment than this place.”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve already set myself here deeply. All my herbs, my plants, my things and books made homes here. I don’t want to leave – not yet anyways.”

“Right,” I said slowly, finishing my bacon and half a waffle. “Okay so can I see the list?”

“Oh sure!” In a blink of an eye and a twitch of her fingers, an A4 sheet of paper materialised on the coffee table with a slightly golden rim before fading away into nothing. “They also have phone numbers on them in case you feel like warning them that you’re coming.”

“This is quite a few people,” I murmured, scanning the list of names, their addresses and contact numbers splayed out on the page. But for contacts that were supposed to be across the world, there was only a page’s worth of people. “What’s the point?” A feeling of regret and frustration plummeted into my stomach. “Melinda’s going to find me real soon and she’ll send them to kill me. I’ll die soon if I don’t start running. I’m putting you in danger too.” Not that I really cared much for Constantine but the fact that she’d willingly taken me in while I tried to figure myself out was enough to make me grateful towards her. I truly doubted that anybody who feared Melinda – very many people, that is – would help me hide from her in their homes.

“I’d do anything for Michael, you know. If he wants something, needs something, I’ll always be the one to volunteer first no matter the costs.” The sudden soft tone of her voice caught me off guard as I glanced up at her.