She’s a Runner

by B Amari

  “Oh balls,” Andreas sighed. “If he won’t say it I will. He wanted to kill you Minx. You really should give eliminating him a second thought. That’s what a smart business woman would do, eliminate the threat.”

  “I. DON’T. CARE. WE are NOT killing HIM.” Yet. And that was final.

  Chapter 13

  Okay, so this wasn’t quite going as well as I thought. I’d failed to keep Silas from throwing the first punch, and failed to stop Andreas from drawing first blood when he stuck a steak knife in the man’s hand.

  “Okay, both of you, back the fuck up. I won’t get any answers with you two nimrods at the helm. Give me some space. I think you’ve made your points now.” I demanded. I raised my arm and pointed towards the lounge to the side of the bar area. “Now.” I repeated to show them I was serious.

  Giving them no more of my time, I turned back to Calix. “Sorry about that, men and asserting their dominance, eh? It’s shite for us women too, ya know, so I can sympathize. Now if you want to avoid their brutish methods, you’ll be a good boy and talk to me okay? I’ll keep them at bay as long as you keep answering my questions.”

  Calix looked up to me with his good eye. “Sure, why not?” he agreed, albeit half sarcastically.

  “First things first. Who are you? I took your wallet, I see your fake ID says Calix Griffon, is that your real name? And don't bother trying to say it’s not fake, I’ve been in this business for a long time. Plus I did a background on you, and you don't exist after your birth cert. That is also something I know quite a boatload about, so just be honest okay?”

  Calix nodded. “That’s my name. Or, at least the one I was given when I was a babe.”

  I turned and raised my chin towards Silas and Andreas, gloating. Answers were easier to get with honey than warm piss. Andreas hurmpfffed at my preening, but I just turned back to my captive.

  “So why didn’t my contact find anything on you. Said you were a ghost. Average people don’t get that kind of protection.”

  “I don’t know okay? I was abandoned as a newborn and a member of the council in the Guild took me in, and raised me. If I’m a ghost, it’s because of them.”

  “Okay Calix Griffon, now for question number two. Who are these men that you were with?”

  Caix coughed, and I saw a string of blood fly through his lips with the spittle he couldn’t contain with his sleeve. I felt kinda bad for the fellow, but at the same time I really didn’t. I was reminded how I felt when this man's brethren had their knife at my soft belly, ready to gut me from navel to nose hairs.

  “They call themselves the Guild of God-Hunters,” he replied.

  Ha! And they were hunting me! Oh boy, how wrong they were, if only they knew. I wanted to laugh but it seemed a tad inappropriate during an interrogation, and I really wasn’t that great at the evil cackle that would be appropriate in this situation.

  Silas surged forward from behind me, but didn’t push passed my spot. “Why are they after Medoe? What do they want with her?” His voice was laced with steel. His protectiveness was endearing, and annoying. I was handling this just fine. I would have gotten to that question soon.

  “I don’t know all the details, this was my first mission. I’m the lowest rung on the ladder, kill me if you have to but I only have just so much information, and they’ll only send more.”

  I felt Silas as he tensed. I stuck my arm out in front of him, anticipating his charge forward towards Calix. “What can you tell us about why they’re after me?” I directed to the captive man, completely ignoring the wall of muscle that ran into my elbow the moment I stuck it out.

  Calix had the audacity to look ashamed before he spoke. “All I know is that you’re of the bloodline that they swore to protect the world from. I wasn’t deemed worthy of the details. I swear, I’m new to all of this, my parents didn't even tell me about the Guild until last year, and I’ve been in combat training ever since.”

  Silas laughed, an evil laugh that kind of made me jealous. “Well they did a fucking crap job teaching you combat, youngun.”

  I turned to him. “You, back with Andreas. You’re not helping here.” Silas didn’t leave but he did shut up, so I took that one as a win.

  “What bloodline?” I asked Calix, my focus on his poor damaged face again. The pity and guilt was bubbling up inside me fighting to get out. I didn’t want to be a monster, but this was just one choice down the road of worse choices until I became what I hated most about myself.

  However, I kinda had to do this didn’t I, in order to get the answers I needed. My life was - kind of - on the line. Fuck, I hated internal struggles.

  “All they told me about you was that you descended some evil from the past, and I was trained to believe that you were all evil, that you were trying to take back the earth from us normal humans. I didn’t believe it then, and after meeting you I believe it less now. Those two,” Calix chucked his chin towards the boys. “They are more monsters than you.”

  I turned to the boys. “Do you have anymore sets of cuffs?” I looked down to our captive to see him wince but I knew this was the only way I was going to get what I needed. Not from Calix but from Silas and Andreas. “I need two more sets.”

  Andreas bound off to the nightside table and retrieved what I needed. I shook my head, of course he had cuffs in the bedside table. I knelt back down to Calix with the cuffs. “I'm kinda sorry about this, but it’s necessary.”

  I locked one set around the metal pole of the bar, and locked his wrists together again, so he was doubly restrained. Then I went to work on his ankles. I didn’t secure them to anything, it would be impossible to use his feet this way regardless.

  I turned back to my two shadows. “Now I need to speak to him alone.” I braced myself for the backlash.

  Both men scrambled over one another to get to me, and be heard first but I held up my hand. “I don’t want to hear it. He’s properly beaten down, and well secured. Just… hold up in the elevator or something okay? My life, my captive, my problem, and my questions. If I want privacy to ask him things I feel sensitive about I have the right. If I need you for any reason, I swear, I will call out for you.”

  Neither Andreas nor Silas moved. A groan escaped the captive and I turned around to find his eyes rolled back in his head.

  “Oh just great. If he isn’t able to answer my questions then I’m going to blame you two brutes. Forget the elevator. Go to the pharmacy, he needs medical attention or he’s going to bleed out. Get me a suture kit and some bandages okay?”

  I marched behind the bar and scooped out a couple of ice cubes. Returning to my captive I pulled the band of his pants away from his body, and dropped the cubes where they would have the most shocking - and hopefully conscious-inducing effect.

  I shot a scathing look at the boys. “Bandages, stitches, now!” I wasn’t messing around. I was really getting sick of being ignored. “When I say now, I mean NOW!”

  That got them going. I don’t think it was because, like me, they cared about this human life, but more because they could tell I was about to rip out throats. Maybe my period was coming. Either way, they didn’t wan to fuck with me right now, and neither would the captive.

  When I heard the doors to the elevator close behind the asshats, I gave Calix a quick slap to his cheek. The sting flushed the butt of my palm, but it did what I needed it to do. Calix woke with a start and started squirming. “What’s this?” His voice was really high pitched. “Some form of torture? I was answering your questions! Oh god my dick! It's so cold.”

  “Sorry,” I started. “I needed you to wake up so we could talk before chucklehead one and two get back. Not my fault you go commando.”

  The uncomfortable squirming made me want to laugh, but I had to focus. “I know you were holding back before. I get it, you didn't want to voice the truth out loud because those two would think you were bonkers-bananas when they heard what you really wanted to say. But I’m not going to think you’re crazy, okay? My life is one b
ig mess of stories no one else would believe.”

  Calix looked away, focusing on a spot on the floor, that more than likely didn’t even have a spec of dirt to zero in on.

  “Listen. I’m sorry about the extra restraints, but they wouldn’t have left if I didn't do something.” I paused. “I know I’m cursed; monstrous inside. There is something wrong with me, and some may call me a monster. And if that’s not crazy enough for you, there’s a lot more. But what I need from you is anything you might know about that curse. I know little to nothing about it, about myself. I could really use your help. I promise I won't let them kill you.”

  I knew it was the wrong moment to be thinking of anything except answers, but with Calix’s head turned the way it was, I got a really good look at the closely shaved hair on his head. If you’d ever had a male friend shave his head then you knew the urge to rub it’s weird, bristly, softness was next to impossible to ignore.

  I was getting that urge now. I started to reach out to rub his head but drew my hand back. What the fuck Medoe, answers!

  Calix looked up from the floor. “I wasn’t given the details. I didn’t lie. But I’m not dumb either. I can put the clues together. The blackfile that said they suspected you had left at least six bodies in your wake from the time you were 18 until now, but I didn’t see more than that. Team leaders keeps them pretty close to the vest. The men who geared up with me last night all wore protective contacts, which they only do for threats that can access the mind. That's why I was wincing away with my eyes closed when you approached me. They didn’t give me any. There are only a few threats that have been confirmed to still live with that ability. Put all that together with what little legend and mythology training I’ve had, and I would say you had gorgon blood. But Medoe, I can’t know for sure. Like I said this was my first mission. I don’t want to tell you something that’s not true.”

  “Wait a second.” I sat back on my haunches to think. My eyes randomly landed on the large wet spot - that would be melted ice - that was growing down Calix’s left leg. Oops. “Okay, first, what’s a blackfile? Also, if you knew what my curse could do to someone, you must know why it didn't affect you...Or Silas, and Andreas. And lastly what is a gorgon?”

  A weak laugh fell from Calix lips. “My mother would have really liked you. She’s an investigative analyst. Or, well I suppose she wouldn’t, because of what you are.” Calix looked conflicted but he continued. “The blackfile is the folder that a team receives before a mission detailing the target, their history, and their abilities. Gorgons are mythical greek and roman creatures. I suppose the most famous of them was Medusa.”

  Calix gave me a moment to soak that information in. As soon as it reached my brain I threw it in a box and locked it. I would get stuck on information like that, and I’d get no more answers. “And the fact the curse isn’t effecting random people?”

  “Well I wasn’t entirely sure how you could be in the company of two malecompanions, until you kissed me. Now I’m pretty sure I understand. It’s another reason I think you may have gorgon blood. There were two ancient orders of men and women who were sworn to protect those that the gods cursed and threw away. They were given the… ability… to withstand a certain curse so that they could protect, and procreate with those they were sworn to protect, in the name of their slain mother, and great grandmother. Now this is all just research I’ve done on my own time, I don’t even know if there is any truth to it because it wasn’t in the Guilds library. But, if I’m right than your men are descendants of one of those orders and you do indeed have goron blood in your veins. The Order of Ladon, or the Order of Chrysaor.”

  “So for my curse not to have affected you last night, than you must also be one of these… descendants?”

  “You’re taking this surprisingly well?” Calix said suspiciously.

  “Well, when you’ve lived the life I have, any answer is better than not knowing. Even if it’s some cracked out mythological theory. A theory that says I’m some… some.. thing,” I explained.

  A picture of a woman with a shit ton of snakes coming from her head flashed behind my eyes, but surprisingly right after it faded another came to view. The painting in the apartment above Silas’s. The woman being pulled in two directions.

  I shook the image from my mind. It made no sense. I had to focus.

  “So your people, you know, maybe, know a way to reverse my curse? Or, help the people that are under it?” I asked hopefully.

  Calix looked to the floor again and shook his head.

  “Oh.”

  Just then, the elevator door chimed and Silas’ large body bust through the door followed immediately by Andreas. Silas dropped a plastic pharmacy bag beside me, and crouched down to my level on the floor.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve been a jerk. I keep being a jerk. This is your show. Forgive me?”

  “Again?” I asked jokingly. I nodded. Of course I could forgive him, I just couldn’t put up with it all the time. I would acknowledge that this was new, and rocky territory for all of us, and it would take some adjustment time, but that excuse would only hold so long.

  Silas laughed. Andreas hovered over his back. I was waiting for Andreas to say something similar, but when I looked to him he was glaring at Calix.

  Without taking his eyes off the captive, his deep voice filled my ears. “Sure, it’s your show, but Medoe, you can’t ask us to leave like that again.” My eyes could have been playing tricks on me but it looked like Andreas was vibrating. His hands were balled into tight fists, and that damn jaw was defined and solid. “We deserve to be a part of this conversation.” His words sounded so final.

  Silas touched my chin with his finger, drawing my attention back to him. “We have the right because our lives are on the line now too, do you understand?”

  With an annoyed sigh I agreed. They were right. Just like Jacques had predicted in the cafe. “You do, and you have the right to the whole truth. But it’s going to sound crazy okay, so before you try to cuff me next to Calix on account of insanity, just be open minded okay?” I requested. Why was I saying ‘okay’ so much. I sounded like a highschooler. Damn nerves.

  Andreas strode to the breakfast nook and snatched up two of the stools. He brought them back over to where Calix was restrained and set them down for himself and Silas. “Fine,” he said. “The truth.”

  I told them that those deaths - or what I prefer to refer to as the frozen - from my childhood were my fault, and it was something I’ve been running from for a long time. I explained that whenever I was intimate with someone the statue thing happened turning the man into the frozen. I told them how as I got older it didn't even take attraction on my part anymore, if a man so much as looked at me with lust, and I met their gaze, they met the same fate as the frozen.

  Both men scoffed at me in disbelief. I didn’t know how I could prove it short of stripping naked in front of some randoms on the street, and I wasn’t willing to have ‘death as a means of explanation’ on my resume.

  I was ready for outrage, anger that I could have put them in danger so many times just by looking at them, or maybe complete disbelief, and a trip to get a free toaster, but this? Just a scoffing sound, like I made a joke? I wasn’t sure how to respond.

  I gaped at them, deserving more than an indignant sound after I poured my secrets all over the floor.

  “It’s true,” Calix coughed.

  I was flattered he was coming to my aid, but he really shouldn’t have. His opinion was going to mean less to these two than dirt on their shoes.

  He wasn’t looking so good. I dug through the bag that Silas had brought, and found the tools I needed to clean up the wound in his hand where Andreas had stabbed him. He had had to go and use a steak knife, a jagged ass steak knife. The fucking fucker. Maximum serrated damage.

  I went to work, muscle memory kicking in. I never was able to take myself to a hospital, too stubborn and scared. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to close a wound, or do medical th
ings with no medical training. Thank you search engines.

  Calix winced hard when I started the sewing, but he continued on. “There were two groups of bloodlines immune to the gorgon curse. Legend says the Houses of Ladon and Chrysoar, they produced many greek and roman children, and grew their reach to other cultures in the world, mixing their blood with the blood of others; hiding itself within a host. Carrying... on the tradition... of their forefathers. Protecting. A lot of us... still carry their blood, but…”

  Calix trailed off and my head whipped up to look at him. His eyes had rolled back in his head again. He was passed out. Oh well, I got what answers I could process for the moment, and his being unconscious would make my job playing a nurse that much less painful for him.

  Andreas and Silas were trading skeptical glances. I could almost hear the wheels turning, their logic trying to find some connection between what I was telling them and reality. I would let them stew, I had to focus on the task at hand. Ignoring the obvious negativity behind me, I set to disinfecting Calix’s hand a second time, and wrapping it up.

  Chapter 14

  Andreas and Silas stood over the bright screen of Andreas’ computer, bickering. I’d let them go at each other all morning, but it was starting to get a little tiring. “Seriously you guys, can we go grab a snack or something? I’m craving some root beer popsicles too, and you guys have kept me cooped up here long enough. Adventure to the ice cream store.”

  I jump from my seat, and pumped my fist into the air like a superhero. I wasn’t sure where the burst of silly came from, but I was embracing it. I needed a little positivity right now.

  Andreas turned first, a warm smile cooling the chill of his face. He and Silas had come to some agreement to tolerate one another, I was assuming for my benefit, but they were still incredibly stoney to one another. “Princess wants ice cream?”

  “Ugh, don't call me princess.” I whined. “And yes, she does, she does very much want some ice cream. She also wants to stop having to hear you two bicker over mythology you found on the internet, and what it all means.”