Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (2 page)

After searching the house
from top to bottom, Aradia decided her next best bet to find her
kitty was the backyard. She went out the back door and repeated her
calling out of Glinda's name. All of sudden the song I Want To Hold
Your Hand by the Beatles pierced the air like a bolt of lightening.
Aradia dove her hand into her pocket, almost as a reflex, and
flipped open her phone. "Hey Dax! Wassup baby?"

A small groan was heard on
the other line. "I hate it when you call me that."

Aradia scowled.
"Sorry."

"It's alright."

There was a pause in the
conversation. "So what's going on?"

Dax cleared his throat.
"Listen about going to the club tonight..."

Aradia's face twisted into a
mask of anger. "You're bailing on me again aren't you?"

"Something came
up..."

"This is the third time this
month!"

"I know and I am
sorry..."

"Just what the hell have you
been doing all this time?" Aradia demanded.

"I will explain
later..."

"You're cheating on me
aren't you?"

For a few moments, Dax
didn't reply.

When he finally did, he
sputtered, "What? Why would you think that?"

"You have been avoiding me
lately, acting cold, and when you cancel our dates you never tell
me what you are doing. I mean what the hell am I suppose to think
Dax?"

She heard him gasping on the
other line.

He then stated angrily,
"maybe I wouldn't avoid you so much if we weren't fighting all the
bloody time."

To this, Aradia had no
response.

It was true ever since
summer break began there had been discord growing between Dax and
Aradia. One would believe that after saving the Unicorns it would
bring them closer together. Quite the contrary, ever since Aradia
had given herself up to Jack to get the Unicorn's horn back Dax had
refused to let her out of his sight. He blamed himself for not
being able to protect her. Therefore, he had decided to keep her
under close observation. At first, Aradia thought it was sweet but
after a week of Dax's possessiveness she had had enough and told
him off. Dax had exploded and stated that perhaps if she wasn't so
reckless all the time then maybe he wouldn't have to worry so much.
It had been their first real fight as a couple. Unfortunately, it
hadn't been their last as the summer went on.

What had really turned out
to be the hindrance to their relationship was the pubic pressure.
Since Aradia was the Witch Queen and Dax was her consort they were
expected to be seen everywhere. Wherever they went, other Hiddens
followed them around like paparazzi. It was hard enough for Aradia
and Dax to work out their problems but with people following them
the pressure seemed almost overwhelming. There were expectations
for their behavior like how much affection they should show each
other, how they should dress, and so much more. Dax couldn't stand
it, but Aradia knew it was to be expected.

The political changes were
also a cause of duress between them. Aradia wanted to change things
so much but in spite of her accomplishments, Dax had no more faith
in her than before. There was also arguments that even though he
was her consort he had no actual political power. Also the fact
that a vampire had been chosen to be her consort had given the rest
of the vampires of Salem the belief that they now held more power
over the rest of the Hiddens. If they had acted like overbearing
overlords before, now a days they acted like fanged Nazis. Several
fights had broken out, which sometimes grew so out of control
Aradia had to be called on to straighten everything up. Needless to
say all of this had put a strain on Aradia and Dax's relationship.
They had tried talking things out but that hadn't changed anything.
Aradia was reluctant to admit it but at this point, she feared she
had jumped into their relationship too soon.

Dax avoiding her was the
latest kink that had needed to be ironed out. Unfortunately, Aradia
had reason to fear that Dax might be cheating on her. Dax was an
extremely handsome vampire and apparently had a long list of
ex-girlfriends. Some of which still lived in Salem. Aradia had not
known this until she had found Dax flirting with another vampire at
the club. After scolding Dax who had stomped off in a huff, Aradia
had turned to confront Larista who had in turn taken great pleasure
in describing Dax's history. Aradia had not believed her, at first,
but after some investigating she had discovered that Larista hadn't
been lying. The fight that had followed had been the worst yet. Dax
and Aradia had hurled hundreds of loud unkind words at each other
that made the trees seem to shake. Aradia had shrieked that there
was fine line between keeping secrets and lying. Dax had accused
her of flirting with other guys and that she had no right to judge
him. She had called him a lying bastard and he had called her a
hypocritical skank. All this they had said to each others faces
just barely three feet away from their special swimming spot. Where
they had spent many times last year making out
passionately.

They had only started
talking to each other again two weeks ago and already there was
trouble rising.

"It's not my fault we are
fighting Dax..." Aradia began.

"No of course not," Dax
interrupted, "Nothing is ever your fault. You are Aradia the all
powerful Witch Queen. You never do anything wrong do
you?"

Aradia just gulped heavily
and tried to hide the bitterness in her voice, "Look you go do what
you want to do okay Dax? I don't really care. Oh and tell the woman
you are cheating on me with that she can have you with my
compliments and my sympathy!"

She then snapped the phone
shut, cutting off Dax's response. As if sensing her mistress's
distress, Glinda showed up from under the picnic table and began to
weave herself around Aradia's ankles. Aradia looked down at her cat
and started scratching her behind the ear.

"Take my advice Glinda,"
Aradia muttered, "don't ever fall in love, it is often a lot more
trouble then its worth."

Is Dax really cheating on me
though?
she couldn't stop herself from
speculating,
I don't have any proof but how
else do you explain his behavior? However, it's not like he is
going to tell me straight up.

She buried her face in her
hand and shook it from side to side.
I know
I shouldn't ignore this situation but I don't know if I can really
confront Dax about it. However, maybe I don't need to do anything.
The one thing being a D.A.'s daughter has taught me is when you
commit a crime whether it is murder or adultery sooner or later the
truth always comes out.

"So maybe all I need to do,"
Aradia muttered to herself, "is wait."

Aradia still went to the
club, regardless of her boyfriend being a no-show. It was after all
her club, and her idea to use it to promote tolerance. Most
especially, after last month's smack down with the vampires Aradia
was desperate to help prevent more violence from erupting in the
neighborhood. So after spending an hour on her hair and makeup,
Aradia appeared in the doorway dressed in a shimmery pink halter
top, black glittery shorts, fishnet stockings, and black wedges.
She then descended from the house and into Roy's truck.

"You look great," Melina
noted.

Aradia just nodded in
acknowledgement. Melina raised an eyebrow while Roy's brow
furrowed.

"Is something wrong?" Melina
asked.

Aradia shook her
head.

"Are you sure..."

"Look Melina, I don't want
to talk about it okay? Now let's go! We are already late!" Aradia
snapped.

The couple paused for a few
seconds before Roy finally turned on the engine. For a while, the
three drove in silence.

At least until Roy
unintentionally asked, "so is Dax meeting us at the
club?"

Aradia scowled. "No. Worse.
He's not coming."

Both Roy's and Melina's eyes
widened.

"Why?" Melina asked before
she could stop herself.

"Like I said before Lina, I
don't want to talk about it!"

The music was so loud that
Aradia could hear it all the way from the parking lot. She grimaced
as she stepped out of the car and her wedges squished on the wet
ground. It was like adding fuel to her already fiery mood. Melina
slowly reached out to help her but Aradia shrugged her off and
stomped onward. Melina warily hung back and looked at Roy. In his
eyes shone the same worry that she had in her own. They took each
others hands in comfort and slowly walked to the club.

The song Fyah by Kevin
Lyttle boomed from the loud speakers. The music with the red,
yellow, white lights flashing from the ceiling, and misty grey
smoke curling around the floor gave the club a romantic eastern
temple feeling. But all that was lost on Aradia whose anger did not
diminish in spite of all the other cute Hidden guys eyeing her. She
made her way to the bar, glaring at the ground and resisting the
temptation to push people away roughly. Her darkened mood lessened
as soon as she caught the familiar glimpse of pigtails.

Although Rhonda and the rest
of her crew at the club had all graduated from high school last
year the economy was still so bad that most of them had chosen not
to go out of state. Rhonda, Everett, D, Al, and Felix had all
enrolled into the local community college and had started taking
classes while living at home. Calvin, however, had enrolled in a
four year college. As a graduation gift, Calvin's parents had
bought him a car so he could easily travel to the college and back.
Still, Aradia was surprised to see him at the bar because she had
thought he would probably be too busy with his classes to visit.
Yet it was not Aradia's style to ask her friends unnecessary
questions so she just made her way to the bar and greeted
him.

Calvin was serving the
drinks but was shocked to see Aradia looking so grouchy. Usually
she never went anywhere without a smile on her face. One glance to
see that she was clearly alone was enough for him to deduce
why.

"C'mon Aradia," Calvin said
while giving her a playful punch on the arm. "Cheer up. I mean sure
your boyfriend isn't here but that doesn't mean you still can't
have a good time?"

Aradia just glared at
him.

"I actually agree with him
sugar," came a deep voice from right next to her.

Aradia looked up and saw a
tall, handsome, blonde boy with a dimple in his cheek dressed in
black staring at her hungrily.

Vampire
, Aradia automatically concluded. This in turn reminded her of
the vampire that was the source of her discontentment.

"Who asked you?" she
snapped.

Glancing away, she stared at
her reflection in the polished wooden surface of the bar. The
vampire said nothing, he merely tipped his head back and finished
his drink. After licking his lips, he looked back at
Aradia.

"Whoever he is, he is not
worth it," he whispered in her ear.

"Like I said who asked you?"
Aradia snarled.

Instead of being insulted,
the vampire merely smirked.

For a while, they just stood
gazing at each other. One in hostility, the other clearly not.
However, almost as fast as lightening the vampire let go of his
glass, slipped his arm around Aradia's waist, and dragged her
towards the dance floor. She knew she could easily burn this guy to
ashes but stopped herself considering the fact that there were
humans around. Gritting her teeth, she decided to grin and bear
it.

Saul wanted to pinch
himself. He couldn't believe he was right now dancing with Aradia,
the girl that been haunting his dreams since the day he first saw
her. He thought he would never have the chance to get her alone but
after hearing all the rumors of her and her boyfriend, Dax,
fighting it was as if all his prayers had been answered. Now all he
had to do was put his plan into action.

Aradia swayed along with the
rhythm of the music and tried to keep her body contact with him to
the bare minimum. She cringed a little whenever his hands touched
her, memories of her rape still flashing through her mind. It had
been over three years since it happened but still the memories
haunted her. However, it was as she tried to block the memories
when she started to feel a strange tingle of familiarity with the
vampire caressing her.

"Have we met before?" Aradia
finally asked him.

He chuckled and asked, "does
it matter?"

"To me it does," Aradia
snapped, "so have we met somewhere before?"

Saul lifted his head and
stared into Aradia's eyes. He sighed softly before capturing her
lips with his own. Aradia's eyes flew open in astonishment as she
struggled to break away.

Saul wouldn't let her go
until at last the kiss ended and he whispered in her ear, "we have
met before and we will meet again. Only the next time we will get
to know each other more intimately."