Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (14 page)

Roy gulped and asked, "So, you could, uh, poke around
in my head?"

"Probably," said Aradia.

Roy blanched, causing Aradia to giggle and say,
"Don’t worry, I am not doing it now. It’s really hard, and it’s not
something I’m very good at. I haven’t practiced much, at least,
mostly for privacy concerns. I only read minds when I need to, or
when I really, really want to and can’t stop myself."

"When you need to?" Roy repeated.

"Yeah like when I think I am being tricked, or
someone really does not like me, and Christmas time." Aradia
chuckled, but Roy remained pale.

"So," he began, "You can tell how I feel about
you?"

"Yes," Aradia stated. “But not from reading your
mind.”

Roy was confused and asked, "What do you mean?"

"First, if you like me, I would rather you just say
so," Aradia then smiled. “Second, you aren’t exactly keeping much
secret, here.”

Roy smiled back and for the moment, the two of them
stood together in their own enchanted romantic silence.

Roy spoke first, "Well, since the kiss you shared
with Dax was not real, I think that you need to have another one. A
real one. To see how great a real kiss can be."

He then grinned widely.

Aradia took a deep breath, then pushed him away
slightly and asked, "Roy, have you ever kissed anyone?"

Reluctantly, he shook his head.

"Well," Aradia began, "you are about to."

She then stood on her tiptoes, slipped her hands
around Roy's neck, and pulled him into a kiss. Roy responded
eagerly, wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulling her tight
against him. It was hard for Aradia to believe that this was Roy's
first kiss, especially when he thrust his tongue into her
mouth.

It was funny to her how people on TV seemed to enjoy
such a thing, because Aradia found it disgusting. Roy's kiss was
hot and tender, and she enjoyed the passion, but it started to feel
like she was being gagged. As the kiss progressed, it became less
and less like romance and more and more like trying to hold back a
wild animal during its mating season. It was all she could do to
stop herself from pushing Roy away using her full strength, which
she imagined would land him on the hood of his truck.

If it had gone much longer, she might have let
herself throw him. Finally, though, he broke the kiss, taking a
deep breath.

Aradia seized the brief opportunity by kissing him
lightly on the cheek and saying quickly, "Thanks Roy, I had a
wonderful time." She slipped into her house before he could
reply.

With her back pressed against the door, she waited to
hear Roy drive off. Eventually she heard his truck rumble to life,
followed several moments later by the squeal of his tires as he
sped off. Aradia worried about whether escaping as she’d done had
made him angry, but she didn’t regret it. She pressed her hand
against her forehead, ran forward, and slumped over the back of the
couch.

"Geez," she finally murmured, folded over, hanging on
the sofa. "Most girls deal with boys and their hormones... I’ve got
a werewolf and his hormones!"

“My…” Morgan intoned. Her voice seemed to come from
everywhere and nowhere, an echo with no source. It was a strange
sound, regardless of there being no one there to hear it.

Her orb glowed deeply, matching in depth her resolve
and concentration. Her green flesh was a stark contrast to the
metallic red of her staff. “A backwards ripple, catching up finally
with its opposite.” She opened her inner eye and the world melted
away. She was connected to reality, to magic itself. It was just
her, then just the question.

“Ah…” she said with great pleasure. “Finally. After
all these years. To finally unravel the workings of the spell…”

Her outer eyes shot open, and the orb reverted to its
normal murkiness.

“I’ve finally deciphered how they sent you forward,”
she said, dropping a tattered, bloody jacket to the ground.

After being debriefed about her date with her
parents, Aradia slowly made her way to her bedroom. She changed
into her nightclothes and crawled into bed. After her day she was
looking forward to a solid night’s sleep full of rest and free from
confusion.

She had no such luck, for as soon as consciousness
departed her, she was plagued by dreamy conflict. She was standing
on a beach, caressing and being caressed by a handsome werewolf. He
was in human form, but not completely. His face was subtly
elongated and his joints bent at angles which were just slightly
incorrect for a human. He held her and kissed her while waves
rolled and crashed and the hot sun blazed down. He growled
menacingly, frightening off creatures at the corners of her vision
and mind.

The blazing sun fell into the sea. Suddenly it was
dark, and though she could hear the human-werewolf’s howls, she
could no longer see it. Instead, glowing softly like gently
illuminated ivory, a vampire breezed into her view. The growls were
very faint now, and she realized the werewolf was no longer holding
her. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she could once again see
the ocean swell and crash. The vampire was around her now, holding
her gently in his cool arms, and they danced in the moonlight.
Lifting her chin with his fingers, he then kissed her softly and
tenderly, as if she were a doll and he was afraid she might
break.

She awoke physically rested, but more emotionally
conflicted than ever. She had to force herself just to smile at Roy
as he passed her in the hallway.

In second period Biology, Aradia was partnered with
Dax, as usual. She expected him to bombard her with questions and
randomly drop witty, acid-like comments about Roy. He surprised
her, though. Not only did he not mention the date, but his behavior
was just as casually polite as always. Aradia wasn’t sure what that
meant, and she flip-flopped between relieved and disappointed.

She wanted to take a look inside his mind, but she
knew the only chance she’d have at success would be catching him
off guard. Kissing him in the middle of class would probably do the
trick, but it might get her more attention than she really
wanted.

The bell rang, releasing them from Biology and
setting them loose on break. Loose for twenty minutes, at least.
She desperately wanted to talk to Dax, but she’d promised Rhonda
she would spend break telling her all about the first Roy-date from
the day prior. Aradia leaned toward her vampire lab partner and
said, "Meet me in the greenhouse during fifth period?"

"I can think of no finer way to spend Study Hall," he
smiled at her as he walked away.

If most vampires are as charming as Dax,
Aradia thought as she gazed after him,
then it’s no surprise
that so many romance novels feature them. They must not have any
shortage of romance. Or of food
.

"Jesus," Rhonda remarked as she leaned against the
locker next to Aradia's. She bit a chunk off of her string cheese
and glanced at the clock to see how much longer they had on their
break between classes. "Whatever did he do to you to make you look
so... so..."

"Tired?" Aradia suggested.

"I was going to say drugged out but tired sounds
nicer," Rhonda said and then laughed into her hand.

"Mmph,” Aradia grunted, growing even more
exasperated, “don't tell me I am bad influence on you, too."

"Okay," said Rhonda, "I won't tell you."

Aradia groaned like a humpback whale as she slammed
her locker shut.

"Okay, for real now," Rhonda exclaimed, surprised and
worried. "What’s your problem?"

"Oh, nothing," Aradia finally said, though it clearly
wasn’t nothing. From there she gave a moderately detailed account
of their date, including the unceremonious end. By the time she was
done, their break was winding down.

They made their way to their next class. The two
walked side by side, navigating the crowded hallways. Aradia
briefly considered using her powers to part the entire crowd like
Moses with the Red Sea.

“Aside from the last bit,” Rhonda said, “it sounds
like you had a pretty good time. Not a perfect date, maybe, but
pretty promising.”

Aradia groaned. "It's just funny. You’d think it
would be nice, right? For a girl to be the center of a love
triangle? All it really is, is one major headache!"

Rhonda nodded and said, "No wonder they use triangles
in math."

This time Aradia did chuckle aloud. Rhonda just
smiled, satisfied.

As they were walking past the music room, the door
swung open, nearly impacting Aradia. She wasn’t really paying
attention, but she still darted aside before making contact.

"Oh! Sorry about that," D said. He leaned over to
pick up his bass guitar which he’d dropped during the
near-miss.

Aradia shrugged and said, "It's alright. No harm, no
foul."

D just nodded. "Oh, hi Rhonda," he said softly.

"Hi D," she responded just as softly with a hint at
seduction in her tone.

“Alright, alright,” Aradia replied finally. She gave
them what she felt was a polite period of time to perform their
mating ritual before she got bored and was ready to go. “Snap out
of it.”

D smiled abashedly and said, “Later, Rhonda.”

“Mmm,” she replied distractedly, then turned and let
herself be dragged off by Aradia.

"No wonder you want Roy to be my boyfriend," Aradia
muttered. "Then you will have an excuse to see your would-be one
more often."

Rhonda chuckled darkly.

About twelve seconds later while rounding a corner,
Aradia collided with another boy. They both dropped their books
into a messy pile.

“Aradia, you must be having an extra clumsy day,”
Rhonda joked.

"Oh man, I am sorry," Aradia said to the other
student, kneeling to sort her stuff out.

"No, no it's my bad," the boy said as he handed her
one of her textbooks.

“Thanks,” she said, finally looking up and getting a
glimpse of his face. He was black, had very short, clipper length
hair, which was slightly longer on top, and was smiling. His teeth
were vividly white against his dark skin, his cheekbones were
prominent and strong, and he was very handsome. She couldn’t help
comparing him to the other boys in her life. He didn’t look unruly
like Roy or precisely controlled like Dax. He just seemed to be who
he was.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, voice soft and gentle
and slightly higher pitched than she might have expected.

"Hi," Aradia said nervously.

"Hey," he replied confidently.

They both rose and he held out his hand. "I’m
Lamont."

"Aradia."

As they shook, Aradia was surprised by how warm his
hand was. It was not hot like Roy's or cool like Dax’s. She felt
like Goldilocks. His hand was just right, soothing and
comforting.

“I know,” he replied. Still smiling, he went on,
“Which you probably get a lot?”

Aradia laughed sincerely. “You have no idea.”

"So," he said, letting go of her hand. She very
slowly pulled it back to her side. "What class do you have
next?"

"Algebra," Aradia replied.

Lamont’s face fell visibly. “I’m going the other way.
Biology next, with Ms. Flora.”

“Oh, I just came from there,” Aradia replied. “We did
a dissection today. It was fun.”

“It sounds fun.”

“You’d better hurry! Break’s almost over.”

“Good advice,” he replied cheerfully, making to rush
off. Turning over his shoulder, he called, "Maybe I’ll see you at
lunch."

"You better," Aradia joked.

Lamont smiled in amusement, and Aradia stared after
him as he left.

An arm shot out and grabbed Aradia’s in a vice grip.
At first she assumed it was Rhonda yanking her to their next
class.

“Geez, Rhon, what’s your…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, though, when she saw
it was not Rhonda, but rather Roy, holding her captive, and he
didn’t look happy.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded.

“What was what?”

“Ohhhhhkay,” Rhonda said. “Aradia, I’ll see you in
Algebra?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Aradia replied.

Roy snorted in frustration and released her arm.
Aradia wondered if it might bruise, even with her regenerative
power. Roy pointed after Lamont and said, “That guy? What the hell
was up with that?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aradia
stated plainly.

Roy’s face turned pink as blood rushed to it. “You
know, I’m getting really sick of this!”

“Roy, please calm down. What are you sick of?”

“I’m sick of you playing with me like a fool,” Roy
replied. “It’s like every time I turn around you’re flirting with
another guy. How much does it take for a guy to get you to flirt
with him, huh? Eye contact? Teeth? I know it’s not breathing,
because you’ll flirt with Dax.”

Aradia glanced around nervously at the onlookers they
were drawing. Fortunately, break would be over any second, and most
of their fellow students were already at their next class. Just the
same, she could only imagine the gossip that would come of Roy’s
outburst. She blushed in advance thinking about it. At the moment,
though, she had bigger concerns.

“Roy,” she whispered, quietly enough that she was
sure he was the only one who could hear, “there are humans around.
Please be more careful.”

“I swear, Aradia,” he replied, “the longer I know
you, the more I realize you can be such a skank.”

Aradia’s head shot up and she stared Roy in the eye.
Voice shaking and eyes blazing, she asked, “What did you just
say?”

“You heard me,” he replied. “You date Dax, you date
me, you flirt with anybody who will hand you a book. I bet you’ve
already got a date lined up with him this weekend. You’ve got game,
Aradia.”

“What game!” Aradia replied.