Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (20 page)

"So needless to say," Tristan added
while putting his arm around her and dropping his voice to a sexy
whisper, "Whoever bags you as their consort a.k.a their girlfriend
will probably have the greatest advantage over the hidden world. He
will have access to something no one else will. Namely
you!"

After a few moments of stunned
silence, Aradia managed to sputter furiously, "You make me sound
like some kind of a trophy!"

"Well technically, you are a
political tool," Tristan responded smiling.

Aradia began to go red in the face
from rage. Dax sensing danger rushed over, grasped Aradia's hand
with his own, and pulled her towards the crowd.

"Thanks," Aradia
muttered.

"No problem," said Dax.

"Dax, can I ask you something?"
Aradia stopped to look at Dax with utter seriousness reflecting
from her eyes.

"Is what he said true? Am I really
the most powerful hidden on Earth?" She asked.

Dax sighed, and looked back at
Aradia. "I am sorry love, but yeah as far as anyone knows you truly
are the most powerful hidden."

"But why?" asked Aradia, completely
baffled.

"Well Tristan already explained
most of the reasons, but the thing of it is Aradia the things you
can do and are capable of," He then paused, and took a heavy
breath. "Surely ever since you battled Derek you have gotten a
sense of how powerful you are?"

"But you and Roy are just as strong
as me!" Aradia argued.

"Maybe, but you have powers that
none of us do. Why do you think I was scared of you when we first
met? When I saw you do all those things in the woods, I had no idea
what to make of you. Although I now know what you are, it still
does not change the fact of how powerful you are."

"And truth to be told," Dax added
softly. "I am still a bit intimidated by you, and now that others
know about you I bet they are too."

Aradia just gaped at him for she
was too stunned to speak. Although, she wanted to deny it furiously
she supposed it did make sense. Most especially, it explained
Tristan's interest in her. It was bad enough that Aradia had found
out only recently that she was the last of her kind, but now
knowing that because she was the last of her kind others were now
scared of her; it was like adding salt to an already open festering
wound. However, as distraught as Aradia was she could not afford to
think about it right now. She was throwing a party to promote
amelioration, and if it was going to work, she was going to have to
act like she was happy. Dax hugged her slightly to give her some
extra comfort, and she hugged him back.

"This is something I need to think
about in the future though," Aradia muttered.

"Without a doubt," agreed
Dax.

"But now," Aradia said raising her
head to look at Dax and then turning to look at the
partygoers.

It was after scoping out the crowd
when she finished her sentence. "It’s party time!"

Chapter Ten

"This isn't going well," Dax said
to Aradia as they observed the crowd.

All of the faes sat together on a
picnic table, the werewolves hung around where the food was, and
the vampires sat together in the shade. As for the the humans, they
were too busy setting up the barbecue equipment to notice the
hiddens occasionally looking over their shoulders and throwing
dirty looks.

"It seems promoting amelioration is
going to be harder than you thought Aradia," Dax noted.

Aradia sighed and shrugged her
shoulders. "Yeah well nothing in life is ever easy Dax. Look what
the civil rights people went through trying to introduce change in
the human world. I never doubted for one second that it wouldn't be
just as hard in the hidden world."

"Didn't all the civil rights
leaders get shot?" Dax remarked.

Aradia ignored him, and looked
around frantically to find something to change the atmosphere of
the party.

Suddenly she spotted it and then
said to him, "Yeah most of the leaders of the civil rights in
general got shot in addition to our own, but hey it's not like the
civil rights people did not achieve their goal in the
end."

"To introduce the concept of gun
control?" Dax quipped.

Aradia restrained her urge to laugh
and shook her head. "No, changing the way people treated each other
and if they can do it I know we can."

"And how do you plan to do that?"
Dax asked.

"Easy," Aradia smiled as she dashed
towards the solution. "By playing a sport!"

Once Aradia had spotted the
volleyball net down near the sand dunes, she determined that this
was going to be the icebreaker for the party. When she got there,
however, she was a bit disappointed. It was ragged with holes in
the net, and was held up by rusty poles. However, Aradia decided as
long as she was subtle about it she could use her powers to fix it
up.

It is interesting, Aradia thought
as she placed her hand on one of the poles, how everyone else makes
such a big deal of my powers, and I do not. Maybe, Aradia added to
her own train thought that is because I am the one who has them. I
have been this way with my powers since the beginning, but it’s
still new to everyone that I even exist.

In the beginning, Aradia had wanted
to deny Dax and Tristan's reasoning, but slowly she began to see
the logic behind it.

However, she shook her head firmly
reminding herself that that was an issue to be addressed later and
using the summoning power as quickly and as efficiently as possible
so nobody would notice. Aradia made the volleyball net brand new,
and standing tall ready for action. She used the power one last
time to summon a volleyball into her hands, and then turned back to
the crowd. She paced herself, but she still managed to get to the
three separated crowds smiling and looking good. Aradia looked at
all of them who just regarded her in uneasy
anticipation.

"What is she going to do now?" a
fae whispered in Tristan's ear.

He shrugged. "Who can ever
tell?"

Aradia suddenly thrust the
volleyball up for all to see. "Who wants to play
volleyball?"

If there was any reaction at all it
was a few people who chuckled, amazed at Aradia’s latest crazy
scheme.

She, however, groaned in
frustration. "C’mon guys, this is the beach. Everyone knows when
you go to the beach you play volleyball!"

"Says who?" Brenna (one of Roy's
many cousins) asked.

Aradia shrugged and said, "It’s an
honored tradition to play volleyball at the beach. Hell it is more
than a tradition it is a law!"

"Honey, I think you need to lay off
the law and order reruns," Titania muttered causing Tristan to
laugh aloud.

Aradia was frustrated and angry,
but determined to accomplish her goal. "I guess it is easy for you
to laugh about playing volleyball Tristan."

"Huh?" he said raising an
eyebrow.

Aradia sensed an opportunity. "Well
everybody knows how much fae..."

She stopped as soon as she noticed
Rhonda cracking open a soda.

"I mean," Aradia corrected herself,
"Everybody knows how much...rich guys really suck at volleyball
compared to Latinos and Brit's."

Roy looked up and smiled at Aradia
while Dax just groaned, embarrassed.

Tristan, shocked at first, shrugged
off Aradia's comments. "That is a load of crap Aradia, and you know
it."

"Actually," Aradia replied
instantaneously, "I don't."

Tristan stared at her, completely
stunned. He then got up from the picnic table, and began to saunter
over to Aradia. Dax and Roy showed up on both of her sides to glare
at him.

"What is this? A secret meeting of
the Twilight fan club?” Tristan muttered.

Roy just glared at Tristan while
Dax took his cue from Aradia. "Actually I agree with Aradia,
Tristan. It is obvious how much you suck at volleyball."

Tristan scoffed. "You have never
seen me play!"

"Of course, I haven't because you
have never played it, and if you have never played volleyball then
it is obvious that you suck at it." Dax smiled at Tristan's shocked
expression.

"You know if you keep doing that
your face is going to stick," Roy quipped.

Tristan then glared at them
both.

After a few tense seconds, he
grabbed the ball, and asked, "Name the stakes?"

"Stakes?" Aradia
repeated.

"If I am going to play a game, I
would like to know I am winning something," said
Tristan.

"Ever heard of sportsmanship?" Roy
argued.

"Ever heard shut the hell up!"
Tristan snapped.

Aradia immediately recognized the
rising anger in Roy's eyes, and stepped in between them.

She then said quickly, "I got it! I
know what to play for!"

"Yeah?" Tristan said as he looked
down at her disdainfully.

Aradia gulped and said, "Whoever
wins gets a kiss!"

"From who?" Tristan asked, sounding
eager for the first time.

"Me," Aradia whispered staring at
the ground, feeling too ashamed to look up.

Tristan grinned wickedly while Roy
and Dax stared at her in horror.

"I'm in," Tristan said.

Roy and Dax glanced at each other,
but only for a second until Dax said, "Deal."

Roy sighed, looked at Aradia one
last time, and said, "Fine."

"Alright then," said Tristan.
"Let's do this!"

The boys determined that it was
going to be hard to play a volleyball game with only three people
so they decided for all their kind to play against one another. The
humans, however, were not allowed to play, but according to Calvin
it was all right because none of them actually liked playing
volleyball anyway. After flipping a coin, they decided that all the
fae would play against the werewolves first. Whoever won that round
would play the remaining team and whose team won that game won
everything. Including a kiss from me, Aradia thought with a
shudder. Since there were more werewolves than fae, they narrowed
down the teams. Roy and his brothers Al and D were then started to
play against Tristan and two members of his crew.

Anxious to distract the rest of
them and herself at the same time, Aradia asked the ones not
playing in the volleyball game to help her cook. Soon the air was
thick with grunts, and heaves from the volleyball game and the
scents of the barbecue being prepared. Calvin flipped the burgers,
and one of Roy's cousins grilled the meat for the tacos. Felix was
reading another comic book at the picnic table while Rhonda and
Aradia happily chattered away setting it. However, Rhonda would
often look away to stare dreamily at D.

"Isn't he hot?" Rhonda asked
practically drooling as she watched the sun shine down his D's
sweaty tan back.

As if he could sense her watching
him, D turned his head to look at Rhonda and smiled.

"Is that a trick question?" Aradia
teased.

Rhonda was too busy sighing to even
hear her and so Aradia walked over to see Everrett, laughing softly
to herself.

"What are you doing?" she asked him
as he fiddled around with a bunch of electronic
equipment.

"Rigging up a sound system," he
replied instantaneously.

At first, Aradia nodded with
understanding but then her expression changed to confusion once
more. "Why?"

Everrett looked up at her with
either shock, sarcasm, or pity.

"Because Aradia," he stated. "What
is a party without music?"

Aradia then laughed, and turned on
her heel to go back to the picnic table. Suddenly, she turned to
whisper something in Everrett's ear who laughed aloud as she walked
away. Roy had been watching and grew jealous as he saw how happy
Everrett became after Aradia whispered into his ear. God, he
thought for what was probably the hundredth time, she is such a
flirt! Hell all a guy has to do is smile at her for Aradia to turn
it on. I know she can't help it, and is such a nice person, and
everyone seems to love her especially my family. The thing is, I
rather she be satisfied with just being loved by me and me alone.
However, Roy concluded to himself, I get the feeling that that
would not be enough for her.

His thoughts were so grim and
distracting that he did not even hear his brother Al as he shouted,
"Heads up Roy!"

He turned as quickly as he could,
but it made no difference. The volleyball careened into his head
with such a force that he fell back onto the sand with a loud
thud.

"Roy-boy!" Aradia screamed in panic
as she ran to him, and pulled his head onto her lap. “Roy, Roy,
Roy! Say something!"

Roy had been hit hard, and his head
was throbbing something fierce. However, as the spiraling darkness
began to break apart he started smelling something intoxicating
familiar.