Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (8 page)

Oh crap!
Aradia thought with a wince,
I had
completely forgotten about that.

Two hours had passed with
her father shouting at her in the living room. Only then was Aradia
finally allowed to go to her room, her entire being heavy as if
weighed down by grief. She then sat down on her bed and hung her
head, balancing it with both of her hands. She had tried to listen
the entire time her father had been yelling but she couldn't help
it. Her thoughts had kept going back to what Saul had told her.
Before dropping her off at her house in his black convertible, he
had told her that as a way to make up for the injustice he had done
to her he was willing to teach her everything he knew about her
past. At least the past concerning her people. According to Saul,
he knew and even had proof about every bit of the witches' past.
The fact that he had been able to help her re-grow the forest in a
manner of seconds had shown Aradia that he indeed knew something.
However, she still wasn't sure that she trusted him but ever since
she had been little Aradia had always wanted to know about her
past. The fact that she now knew she was a witch didn't change
that. Ironically, it gave her more questions and an even deeper
desire to know more. When she had first discovered her old coven,
she had wanted to investigate further but organizing the club and
other priorities had distracted her.

Like my love
life
, Aradia chuckled grimly.

Although she couldn't
remember most of them, Ross's words still rang in her ears so much
so that it made her eager to distract herself. The only way she
could think of was thinking of Saul. Saul with his blonde hair, his
handsome face, and attractive body. Most of all, she remembered his
promises of telling her the truth. Aradia knew she had more
important things to worry about but the thought of finally getting
answers was like waving a donut in front of a swimsuit
model.

Aradia sighed heavily and
rubbed her left hand over her face. When she opened her eyes again,
a fierce determination was glimmering from her eyes.

Chapter Ten

"Hey Aradia," Melina
murmured timidly as she approached her.

Aradia glanced at Melina
before slamming her locker door shut. "What? What do you
want?"

Melina exhaled a long breath
through her nose. "Look, I know I haven't really been there for you
lately. I guess I got too caught up with Roy and everything which
is no excuse I know but..." she paused but only to sigh, "well
anyway I have heard you have been having some problems so if you
need someone to talk to Rai..."

Melina now lifted her head
to smile as encouragingly as she could at Aradia. Aradia's
expression, however, was still sharp as a flint. Her smile weakened
a little but Melina was nevertheless determined to extend her hand
of friendship. "I know we have had our rough spots but we are
technically a family. Families stick together you know so if you
ever need someone than I am here for you."

Last night, Melina had heard
Ross yell at Aradia and she couldn't help but feel bad for her. In
spite of her jealousies, Melina did feel a bit of kinship to
Aradia. Hence why she was talking to her today and why she was
hoping that she would be able to help her.

A warm affectionate pause
passed while Melina waited for Aradia's answer.

Aradia, however, didn't even
hesitate with her own answer. She glared straight at Melina, and
snapped, "bug off bitch! I don't need your pity."

She then spun on her right
heel and stalked off.

It was while Aradia was
stomping along one of the hallways when her cell went off. Flipping
it open, she stared down at the screen which read in bright letters
"look out the window." Puzzled and yet curious, Aradia obeyed and
was shocked to see Saul standing in front of the school. He was
still dressed in all black; smiling and waving at her from the
steps. Aradia's first instinct was to dial his number and ask what
he was doing here but the school had a strict policy against using
phones in school. If someone saw her, her father would have even
more reasons to yell at her. She stared down at him through the
window panes and with a reluctant shrug of her shoulders she
decided to go down and confront him.

Besides,
she concluded,
I have been meaning to
talk to him anyway,

"What are you doing here?"
She demanded as soon as she reached the parking lot.

Saul shrugged. "I came here
to see you."

Aradia, touched but still
skeptical at his motives, pressed on by asking, "what
for?"

"I was worried about
you."

Aradia didn't say
anything.

"And," Saul added, "I was
wondering if you wanted to take me up on my offer?"

"Offer?" Aradia
repeated.

"Yeah, you know about my
helping you find out more about your people." Saul let the
statement dangle between them like a carrot.

Aradia fought her conflicted
emotions as best as she could. However, her desire for the truth
seemed to be waging a battle like never before.

"What about school?" This
was Aradia's weak attempt to suppress her desire once
more.

Saul, on the other hand,
just shrugged casually. "What of it?"

Aradia hesitated but only
for a minute. Perhaps if she had taken a few more minutes to
consider the consequences, the results of her decision would not
have been so cataclysmic.

But she didn't and followed
Saul down the steps away from Salem High. Uneasiness churned in her
stomach, which turned in to a full frontal tidal wave the moment
she saw Saul's ride. It was a solid black Suzuki GSK-R750 with one
helmet sitting comfortable on the seat.

"You have a motorcycle,"
Aradia sputtered.

Saul nodded as he got on and
held out the helmet to Aradia who shifted uncomfortably on the
balls of her feet. Saul chuckled and softly shook his
head.

Aradia tried to find a
answer that would hide her fear but all she could come up with was,
"I have never ridden a motorcycle before."

"Well there is a first time
for everything you know," Saul insisted.

Aradia still did not budge.
At least until Saul walked over to her still clutching the helmet
in his hands. When he was only a few inches away from her, he
leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "never forget Aradia, who you
really are."

"What do you mean?" She
asked.

He sighed, making Aradia
suppress a giggle, since he was still standing very close to her
ear. He didn't seem to notice as he went on to say, "you are the
last of your kind. You are the last witch. You wield all kinds of
legendary power. You hold political power, you hold everything in
the palm of your hand. You could conquer the entire world if you
wished it but only if you know how."

"And I," he dropped his
voice dramatically, "I can teach you how."

"But first," he shoved the
helmet into Aradia's hands, "you need to learn..."

"How to ride a motorcycle?"
Aradia quipped.

Saul laughed and said, "no.
You need to learn how to take risks."

He hopped back onto his
motorcycle and kicked it into gear.

"So," Saul yelled, barely
audible over the sound of the bike, "you willing to learn that or
what?"

A few moments passed until
Aradia hung her head. She then exhaled a long breath through her
nose and without any further hesitation she plopped the helmet onto
her head, strapped it on, and jumped onto the back. She wrapped her
arms around Saul's waist who just threw his head back and
laughed.

"But wait," Aradia couldn't
help but add as he revved up the bike, "don't you need a
helmet?"

"No." Saul stated
firmly.

"But isn't that
dangerous?"

Saul looked over his
shoulder and straightened up. Although Aradia's head was completely
shielded from him he still brought his nose right up to hers and
said, "what can I say babe? I like to live dangerously."

Aradia rolled her eyes. "My
god that is such a cliche..."

She was cut off as Saul
started the bike and she had to quickly wrap her arms around his
waist to avoid falling off.

Melina was still steaming
over the way Aradia had treated her.
I
tried to be nice to her and what does she do? She yells at me for
Christ's sake!
She was so angry that she
felt she needed to distract herself quickly or else risk throwing a
temper tantrum in class. As if on cue, she heard the sound of
motorcycle and eagerly turned her head in its directions. She then
saw a blonde guy on a black bike speeding out of the parking lot.
Melina squinted her eyes and noticed the passenger's long strands
of red hair. They were flowing from the helmet and flapping in the
wind like flames from a fire.

"So Ms. Preston in regards
to the homework, what do you think is the answer to question
five?"

"Holy shit!" Melina gasped,
"that's Aradia!"

Everyone in the class burst
out laughing bringing back Melina's attention.

The teacher sighed, took off
his glasses, and began massaging his temples. "No Ms. Preston, I am
afraid that's not it."

There was further laughter
from the class but Melina hardly heard them. She was too worried
about what she had seen and more importantly what it
meant.

The moment class ended,
Melina ducked into the bathroom and texted Roy.

was
what her message read

Melina knew she was risking
a lot by texting Roy during school but she felt she had to tell
somebody.
And besides
, she thought,
the sooner I tell him,
the sooner I can get help and find out what the hell is going
on.

She knew Aradia was handling
the break-up with Dax very badly but there were several things
happening that gave Melina the impression that something major was
going down. The fact that Aradia completely changed her wardrobe to
match that of a gothic chick, had been missing for days, and was
now ditching school were just the first ominous
warnings.

Aradia had never been on a
motorcycle before and she could honestly say she was loving the
experience. She loved the rush she was getting as they sped down
the road. She loved the feeling of danger as she clung onto Saul's
waist. She knew that she shouldn't but Aradia couldn't help but
feel attracted to Saul. He was a vampire so Aradia did feel
trepidation but Saul seemed different than Dax. It was true that
they were both blonde, spoke with British accents, and seemed very
mysterious. Dax, however, seemed more like a hesitant child who was
always afraid to make a choice. While Saul seemed more like the
type of a man who saw what he wanted and went after it. No matter
what the cost. Aradia liked being independent but at the same time
it felt good to have else calling the shots for once.

Her mind kept wandering
until Saul suddenly veered off the road.

"Hey!" Aradia shrieked,
"what the hell are you doing?"

Saul didn't respond. Instead
he just revved up the bike more and sped through the woods. Aradia
clung even harder to Saul, in fear of falling off and being killed.
She was glad that vampires couldn't breathe or else Aradia would
have crushed Saul's lungs. Aradia was hoping that Saul wasn't
driving through the woods just to freak her out. Her fears were
soon put to rest as soon as he stopped the bike. He put the
kickstand up and quickly got off. Aradia was still a bit shaken so
she remained on the bike. Saul noticed and without a so much as a
by your leave seized her by the hips and lifted her off the
bike.

"Hey," Aradia cried out,
"let me go!"

Saul shrugged and set her on
her feet. Aradia shoved him away, and then unstrapped her helmet.
When she took it off is when she recognized where they
were.

Looming over them was the
opening to the cave where Aradia's coven used to dwell.

"What the hell are we doing
here?" Aradia demanded.

"You wanted to know more
about your people didn't you?" Saul reminded her.

Aradia's disappointment was
overwhelming.
I should have known,
Aradia thought,
I should
have known that you can never trust a vampire.

She threw the helmet onto
the ground in frustration. As she began to stomp away, Saul's hand
yanked out to grab Aradia's arm.

"hey where are you
going?"

"home," Aradia stated
flatly.
Although explaining to my parents
why I ditched school will be hell...

"but I
thought..."

"Look," Aradia snapped as
she spun around to face him, "if you are going to show me my
coven's dead bodies I can assure that I already have."