Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (22 page)

Soon everyone began to feast on the
gooey sweetness of marshmallow, and chocolate tinged with graham
cracker goodness. Looking at them from a distance and seeing how
much fun they were all having, Aradia never would have guessed that
at least three groups of these people were supposed to deadly
enemies.

"I am surprised that you actually
pulled this off," Dax whispered in Aradia's ear.

She snickered as she licked the
remaining chocolate off her fingers. "Yes well it's like I said I
am the last witch there is nothing I cannot do!"

Dax chuckled as his eyes fastened
on Aradia licking her fingers.

"Here," he finally said, "Use
this!"

He pulled out a napkin, and helped
Aradia to wipe her hands clean.

"Sorry," Aradia chuckled
sheepishly, "I guess I am kind of gross."

"I don't know, seeing your tongue
licking your hands...it was strangely erotic," Dax whispered
seductively.

Aradia hung her head,
embarrassed.

"Seeing you blush, that's erotic
too," he added.

Aradia raised her head to look Dax
in the eyes. It soon became like every other moment when their eyes
locked. The rest of the world faded away until it was only the two
of them left. Both of their breathing becoming heavier as their
faces slowly inched towards each other.

"It’s amazing what deceitful
opportunistic bastard's vampires can be," interrupted Tristan as he
appeared suddenly in front of the two.

Dax grunted while Aradia muttered,
"I used to think you being a fairy was highly illogical, but now I
am starting to notice the similarities."

Tristan scowled and said, "Yes well
the thing about fae women is at least they know when to shut
up!"

"A lesson you obviously never
learned!" Aradia snapped.

"I am not a fae woman Aradia,"
Tristan argued in a sarcastic tone.

"No, but you are a bloody little
bitch." Dax said grinning with satisfaction.

Tristan stared at him with his
mouth open in horror!

Aradia, however, smiled as she
added. "Oh I am sorry Tristan, would you like some lotion to put on
that burn!"

Tristan practically snarled at them
while Dax and Aradia burst out laughing.

"Yeah well," Tristan added, "We
will see whose laughing after I win the volleyball
tournament!"

"Oh I am sorry Tristan, but it's
getting dark and late. We all need to start heading home soon,"
said Aradia.

Tristan was stunned and said, "But
what about..."

"We will finish it some other
time,” Aradia concluded.

Tristan grew angry. "Now see here
it's bad enough you cheated me out of our date Aradia, but now you
renege on our deal! You have no right..."

"Good God man!" Dax interrupted, "I
already called you a bloody little bitch to your face there is no
need to give further proof of it!"

Tristan was shocked even
further.

After staring at them for a while,
however, he waved his hand at them both in a dismissive way.
Finally, he turned on his heel, and stalked off to his
car.

"Nice touch on the bloody little
bitch part Dax," Aradia complimented him.

Dax just shrugged. "It’s not like
it isn't true."

Aradia threw her head back heaving
out peels of laughter.

Chapter
Twelve

The beach trip had been a
remarkable success, and everyone had had fun including Aradia.
However, she was not so naive to think that one little party was
enough to promote amelioration between all of the hidden.
Therefore, she was not surprised that when she went to school the
following Monday, nothing had changed. The fae's still stuck
together in their little cliques, werewolves turned up their noses
up at the vampires, and the vampires gave all those who were not
the cold shoulder.

However, Aradia could not forget
that with a little good food, music, and fun all the races had been
able to put aside their hatred. She knew one party could not change
anything, but began to wonder if another one would. Therefore, from
that point on and as often as she could Aradia would throw a party
at the beach and invited everyone to it, both human and
hidden.

Sometimes people tried to sneak in
drugs and booze so Aradia decided along with Dax and Roy they would
patrol the parties every hour. Since Aradia always invited humans
like Rhonda, Calvin, Felix, and Everrett the other hiddens had to
hold back in order to avoid detection. More humans had began to
join them as well such as Jayce's crew. He had shown up after
hearing rumors of how great the parties were, and thought Aradia
owed him since he had invited her to his party. At first, there had
been some friction with them just showing up not being invited.
However, after Aradia had talked to Jayce and made him promised
that he and his friends would behave they had been allowed to stay.
So far, they had stuck to their promise, but Aradia still kept an
eye on them.

All in all the parties had been a
good idea.

"I have to say Rai of sunshine,"
Dax said as he joined Aradia as she surveyed the crowd. "That I
never expected you to pull this off, but once again you surprise
me!"

Aradia grinned at him.

"Yes well I am just full of
surprises,” said Aradia, "I am also full of blood, flesh, and
double x chromosomes."

"An excellent mixture if I do say
so myself," Dax grinned.

After they stopped laughing, Aradia
leaned against the rocks with Dax holding his arm over her head.
They were standing in a typical teen romance movie pose complete
with the besotted look between the two lovers.

The moment was interrupted,
however, as soon as they heard glass being smashed.

Dax looked up, and groaned. "I
thought I told them not to bring glass!"

"It's amazing how even when you
tell people things right to their face they still don't listen,"
Aradia remarked, "Just ask Prince Charles."

Dax looked back at her, extremely
confused. "What?"

Aradia sighed and asked, "What’s
the one thing you remember most about the British royal family? At
least the royal family during the modern times."

Dax opened his mouth to respond,
but Aradia cut him off. "The thing is when it really comes down to
it the most famous royal couples is perhaps Diana and Charles.
However, not because of the scandals (although that was part of it)
what people truly about remember most about them was how beautiful
Diana was. Although Charles gave speeches where ever they went the
public remembers nothing about them."

"Prince Charles gave speeches?" Dax
repeated sounding stunned.

"Case in point," Aradia said
nodding her head as if there was nothing more to say on the
matter.

Apparently, there was because Dax
added, "Yes well if anything their marriage provided an important
lesson to all couples."

"The media is not your friend, but
a giant evil blood sucking parasite that is basically the living
personification of Ridley Scott's Alien monster?" Aradia suggested
with a smile.

Dax, although stunned by her
comment, still managed to shake his head and say, "No. The moral is
if you have an opportunity to marry for love you should take it and
not for any other reason."

Aradia hung her head wondering if
Dax was trying to give her a subtle hint.

"But hey," he added with a casual
shrug, "Important positions come with great sacrifices. If anything
being a prince and princess are definitely important positions so
Diana and Charles should have expected to make
sacrifices."

Aradia shrugged and said, "Maybe
the reason why there have been so many coups in the past is because
often the royal marriages never involved love."

Dax nodded, but as he was about to
comment he heard more glass shattering.

He then muttered quickly, "Excuse
me," and rushed over towards the crowd.

Aradia sighed as he
left.

"You are really into that guy
huh?"

Aradia looked up to see where the
voice had just come from. Jumping down from the rock to land
confidently and smiling right by her side was the guy that Aradia
had bumped into at school.

"Hey Lamont, wassup?" Aradia asked
him.

Lamont grinned. "I am having a
great time at your party, but I am little surprised that you let
everyone be here."

"What do you mean?" Aradia
asked.

"You know everyone," said Lamont
gesturing with his hand to the mixed crowd.

Aradia then nodded with sarcastic
understanding. "Well this may sound too human of me, but I think
prejudice is stupid and wrong."

"Can't argue with that."

Aradia was stunned to hear Lamont
actually agree with her, and said so.

"Yeah well," Lamont admitted,
shrugging. "Maybe it takes a black man to notice this kind of
stuff, but quite frankly I do not enjoy being told I am not welcome
in certain places because of what I am."

"You mean a shape shifter?" Aradia
asked.

"Yeah how did you...,” Lamont
stopped himself and then shook his head. "This I ask the last witch
who probably knows everything."

"I do not," Aradia snapped, "Know
everything that is. I being the last witch however...it’s not like
I can deny it because according to everyone I ask, I smell too
different to come from any of the other races.”

"So basically random strangers tell
you that you smell weird?" Lamont said, raising an eyebrow. "That's
pretty classy of them."

"Yeah almost classy as me asking
random strangers how I smell," Aradia said, grinning.

Lamont laughed.

He then heard Everrett change the
song on the turntables to I Like It by Enrique Iglesias. "Oh hey I
love this song!"

He grabbed Aradia's hand, and began
dragging her to the spot near the bonfire where everyone was
dancing.

Aradia, however, hung back. "It's
okay I will watch."

He looked back at her and asked,
"You sure?"

She nodded, and watched Lamont as
he danced. He was an amazing dancer, and moved on the sand with
expertise. The light from the bonfire reflected off his sweat
making his dark brown skin shimmer, and highlight his fine
features. Aradia noticed that even with his shirt on Lamont had
amazing muscles, legs, chest, and arms. All this, in addition to
his smile, and amber round eyes, he looked too handsome to be
real.

At the end of the song, he
sauntered through the crowd, which parted for him. He then reached
into the cooler, got a soda, and went straight to Aradia. The
moment he handed her the soda, she felt everyone's eyes on her
filled with jealousy. She had never been the object of envy before,
and oddly enough it made her feel good. It is all thanks to Lamont,
Aradia thought to herself. She then hooked her arm through his, and
strolled off back to the rocks where the two of them sat down to
talk.

However, by that time Dax was done
taking care of the mess he had been called away from Aradia's side
for. He glanced over to look at Aradia, and then saw her laughing,
joking, and smiling with yet other guy. Dax sighed; he supposed he
should be used to seeing guys hitting on Aradia all the time
besides her being the last witch, she had sort of an interesting
animal magnetism that drew everyone to her. Especially men, Dax
chuckled with a sarcastic smile.

"You know if it were me I would put
Aradia on a leash to prevent her from humping any other guys," said
Tristan, "Because God knows how much of a bad habit it seems to be
for her."

Dax groaned as he turned to look at
Tristan who was staring at him while grinning wickedly.

"Oh bugger off Tristan, I am not in
the mood," Dax snapped.

"Of course you are not. I mean
seeing your woman with another man would kill anyone's mood I am
sure," Tristan interjected.

Dax looked at him venomously.
"Listen to me you sod. First of all, Aradia is not my woman so she
is allowed to talk to anyone she wishes. Second, how dare you
suggest I leash her like a bloody dog! In case you have not noticed
Aradia is not a dog or an animal she is a living hidden creature
like you and me. In my opinion, nothing that is alive has a right
to be owned by anyone!"

Tristan was awkwardly silent after
Dax said all this.

Finally, he said in a soft
sarcastic drawl, "My, my, aren't we in a nasty temper
today."

"You would be too if you were
talking to someone with your personality," Dax snapped and felt a
wave of satisfaction.

Tristan, however, did not look
satisfied and with one last dirty look, he turned on his heel and
stalked off. Dax chuckled, but as he looked back at Aradia talking
to the other guy, his happiness at making Tristan miserable did not
last. However, it seemed like fate was smiling on him for as he was
staring at them another beautiful woman rushed up to the guy Aradia
was talking to, and eagerly pulled him away. The guy gave one last
look at Aradia, and then went off with the woman. Aradia gave a
weak smile at their retreating backs, but as if she knew Dax was
looking at her, Aradia turned, and stared right at him with an
enticing grin. Now grinning in return, Dax made his way towards
her.