Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (7 page)

Why would a vampire have
this much food?
Aradia thought to
herself.
Domitilla had once told me that
the vampires don't really need to eat and they can only taste a bit
of the food they try so really he doesn't need all this stuff.
Unless...
Aradia's thoughts trailed off and
her expression soured.
Unless he was
expecting guests. Guests that need food such as me.

After finding a frying pan,
she carefully selected two eggs from the fridge door. Cracking the
eggs and frying them in the pan, Aradia speculated.
Come to think of it, it was awfully convenient of
him to be there when I burned down the forest. He also seemed to
know a lot about my powers. He claims he is a historian but I
dunno. It seems far too convenient and besides I have already
learned that vampires can not be trusted.

Aradia sat and munched her
breakfast bitterly. She knew she shouldn't but she couldn't stop
herself from turning bitter whenever she thought of Dax. Aradia
swallowed a large piece of egg as if it could help her swallow her
bitterness. Glancing at the blinking clock on the microwave, Aradia
thought that she should probably head home. However, something kept
her from getting out of her seat.

If he helped me fix that
forest then that means he does know about the extent of my powers.
He claims he is a historian and knows about my people. More
importantly, he was the vampire that I saw when I had been
kidnapped by Henry McAlester.
Aradia gulped
her orange juice and licked the froth off her lips.
So he might be my enemy and I need to find out
why. I need to find out the answers no matter how much pain it
causes me.

Eventually, night fell and
Saul rose from his gray coffin hidden underneath the stairs. He was
startled to see Aradia was to still there. Strangely though he
didn't say anything about it. He just smiled

"Want a drink?" He
asked.

Aradia shrugged which he
took as a yes. He made his way to the kitchen, trying to hide a
smirk. He then found a corkscrew in one of the drawers and took out
a wine bottle in one of the lower cabinets. Uncorking the wine, he
never stopped looking at Aradia and smiling. He poured two glasses
and then walked over to her.

"I really appreciate this,"
Aradia began as she sat down on one of the couches.

"Shhh," Saul whispered as he
handed Aradia a wine glass.

Aradia took it
unintentionally but stopped short of bringing the red liquid to her
mouth.

"What's wrong?" Saul
asked.

Aradia bit her lip and said,
"um do you have water or anything?"

She braced herself in case
Saul flew off the handle but instead he just shrugged, took the
wine glass, and walked back to the kitchen. A few seconds passed
and Saul was back holding out a glass of water. Aradia peered into
it and hesitated. This guy had helped her, but she still had no
idea who he really was.

"What's your name?" Was not
the biggest question on her mind but it was the first that came out
of her mouth.

"Saul" he replied with a
rakish grin.

"Well Saul," Aradia said,
"would you mind answering a few questions?"

He shrugged and Aradia
didn't know whether that was an agreement or a refusal but she
didn't care.

She put her glass down and
demanded, "were you really the guy I saw at the
mansion?"

"Yes," Saul stated
bluntly.

Aradia's mouth dropped open
in shock.

She then shook her head and
asked, "why didn't you help me?"

"Who says I
didn't?"

This definitely got Aradia's
attention. "What?"

Saul sighed deeply and then
sat down next to her. "I guess Dax never told you huh?"

The mention of Dax froze
Aradia up. After taking a deep controlling breath she said, "tell
me what?"

"That I was the one who told
him to where to find you," Saul stated.

"As a historian," Saul
began, "my travels have taken me all over the world. However, upon
hearing rumors about a hidden witch living in Salem....well
needless to say my curiosity overwhelmed me and I wanted to see
you. So I traveled all the way to America to observe you but the
moment I got here I had heard unsavory things about
you."

"Such as?" Aradia
inquired.

"Such as people wanting to
acquire you in their pursuit of power. People such as the McAlester
brothers."

"Why didn't you warn me?"
Aradia demanded as she shot to her feet.

Saul sighed and stood
up.

He stared down at Aradia and
said, "I tried but I couldn't get a chance alone with you.
Furthermore, I had no proof and let's face it would you really
believe a random guy if he walked right up to you and said someone
was trying to kill you? Especially if he has no concrete
proof?"

Aradia couldn't say anything
so Saul continued, "So I followed them around and tried to get
people to help me. However, no one was willing to help me stop them
so I had to figure out a plan on my own. I tried to warn Dax about
the trap he was walking into but unfortunately I wasn't able to
stick around and see if my warning had been effective."

"How on Earth did you figure
out where Henry had taken me?" asked Aradia.

"I didn't," Saul said
surprisingly. "You see by being a historian I have to be able to
make nice with several of the vampire leaders such as the leaders
of Salem, New York, and others. On that particular night, I had
been invited to a blood feast by the leader of the Philadelphia
clans..."

"What's a blood feast?"
Aradja asked.

Saul heaved a heavy breath
as if what he was about to say was going to be very emotionally
painful. "It's a sort of party...for vampires...who enjoy sharing a
human."

"Sharing a human..." Aradia
murmured.

"Yeah," Saul said in a very
dragged out and uneasy way. "I, the leader, and one of his
concubines decided to procure a young man hanging around a
bar."

"A guy?" Aradia's voice was
wavering.

Saul chuckled a bit. "Don't
worry I am not gay or anything."

"Then why did you pick a
guy?"

"I didn't," he stated, "the
leader's concubine did. She went in, she chose him, and then
brought him back to the car where we..."

There was an awkward pause
between the two of them that lasted several minutes.

Until finally Aradia asked,
"Did you kill him?"

Saul just exhaled a deep
breath and turned away. Aradia gasped and clutched a hand to her
mouth.

"Why?" she finally managed
to croak, "why on earth would you..."

"Look," Saul stated boldly
as he swung back around to face her, "you know how in the real
world nothing is black or white. Well in the hidden world it is
kill something or be thought of as weak and weakness is what gets
you killed. I know how different the human world is in comparison
to the hidden world but one thing stays the same: they all want to
live. Therefore, in order to live especially in the hidden world
they have to do things they regret."

"God knows," he added under
his breath, "that's what I have had to do for the past hundred
years."

Aradia just shook her head
softly, speechless.

Saul sighed heavily before
talking again, "anyway that's beside the point. I went with the
leader and his concubine. I didn't know you were being held there.
I had hoped that the McAlesters hadn't been able to capture
you."

He paused and ran his
fingers through his hair. "So needless to say I wasn't happy when I
saw you there. I couldn't do anything with Henry McAlester there or
the other vampires. I mean seriously, they would kill us before we
got halfway to the door. There was nothing I could do for you there
at least not alone. So I did the next best thing, I went to get
help. I found Dax and told him where to find you and the rest you
know is history."

A horrible pause passed
between them before Aradia spoke again.

"He raped me," Aradia spat
sneeringly and with a ferocious look in her eyes, "did you know
that? While you left to get help that bastard took me to his room
and he raped me!"

Saul struggled to speak but
Aradia didn't wait for a response. "You could have helped me. You
could have stopped him. Instead you left and I got raped! Do you
have any idea what that was like? I still have nightmares. I
remember his awful touch and shudder. I still wake up screaming in
the middle of the night for Christ's sake. Do you have any idea
what's that like? I mean for christ's sake do you have any idea how
horrible that experience was for me?! Did you even
care?!"

"I am sorry..." Saul
began.

"You're sorry? You're sorry!
Oh well why didn't you say so earlier" Aradia sarcastically. She
tried to turn and stomp away from him and out into the streets, but
Saul sensed this. He worried that if Aradia ran off now he would
have to spend more time trying to win her over and having more time
was not an option. Thinking fast, his arms shot out to grab Aradia
and held her close.

"Hey!" Aradia shrieked.
"What the hell are you doing?"

"I have thought of that
night too you know," Saul muttered, sounding breathless and ragged,
"I have thought of how much I wanted to rip that guy to shreds for
daring to touch you. I have thought of ripping his heart out and
watching crumble to dust. I have thought about chaining him to a
rock and having the sun fry him while he is still alive. I have
thought of everything but most of all I thought about what a coward
I was."

Saul forced tears to come
out of his eyes that dripped slowly onto Aradia's hands. "I am so
sorry Aradia for not helping you. It's true I went to tell your
friends where to find you but I should have stayed to protect you.
I should have..."

He stopped and shook his
head, burying his nose in her hair and trying to suppress a shudder
of desire. He kept the solemnness in his voice when he spoke again,
"I am so very sorry Aradia. I am so very sorry."

He then sighed deeply,
shaking his head yet again. Aradia knew she shouldn't but she
couldn't stop herself from feeling sympathetic for Saul. She then
closed her eyes, ignoring her better judgement, and clutched his
shoulders. Saul was glad he was taller than Aradia because that
made it easier to hide his smirk of triumph.

"Young lady! Where the hell
have you been?!" Ross stood in front of Aradia, blocking the way to
the stairs.

He had been angry before but
Aradia had never seen him like this. His face was flaming red and
eyes were bloodshot. Her mother, however, was just sitting at the
kitchen table. She was wearing the puppy bathrobe that she had
owned for years. She was clutching a mug but still staring at her
daughter. Aradia's eyes silently pleaded for help but her mother
just avoided her gaze.

Typical
, Aradia thought bitterly.

"Hey!" Ross's roar commanded
her attention. "I am talking to you!"

"yes daddy," Aradia said
meekly.

"Where were you?! Your
mother and I have been worried sick. You have been missing for two
whole days. I had the police scouring the whole damn town for you.
Why didn't you call? Where in God's name were you?"

Aradia put her hands in her
pockets and looked down at the ground.

"Well?!" Ross demanded,
"where were you?"

"I was at a friend's house,"
Aradia muttered.

"What friend?!" he bellowed,
"I called all your friends Rhonda, Roy, Everett, and Calvin. Hell,
I even called Dax for Christ's sake."

Aradia couldn't help but add
sneeringly, "you do realize we broke up right?"

"I didn't! At least not
until I called his house and Dax told me everything."

Aradia felt like she
swallowed a whole tray full of ice cubes that were now slithering
towards her stomach. "Everything?"

"Everything! From the party,
to you seeing him with Hesper, to you running off into the
woods."

Aradia clenched her
fists.
My God Dax, just when I thought I
couldn't hate you more.

"Of course, I was furious
with him for cheating on you but when I found out that you had been
at a party in the bad side of town and destroyed people's
property...well needless to say my anger didn't last that long at
least not with him."

"Destroyed people's
property..." as far as Aradia knew the only thing she had destroyed
was the forest and thanks to Saul she had righted that
wrong.

"I know I have no proof but
for Christ's sake Aradia, how else would you explain three cars
spontaneously combusting on the same street and at the same damn
time?"