Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (24 page)

"So why come to us?" Whisper
demanded.

Aradia kept her head bowed.
Whether it was in humility or not, Whisper and Shayde couldn't
tell. "I had no choice. I had no money so even if I wanted to I
couldn't go home. I had to go somewhere. I had to get away from
him."

She then burst into tears
and buried her face in hands. Wincing slightly from the injuries on
her face.

Whisper groaned and got up
while Shayde took her spot on the couch. She quickly hugged Aradia
and started whispering, "shhhhh! It's okay sweetie. It's okay.
You're safe now. You're safe."

After devouring an entire
Benagli dish complete with curry Aradia fell into a deep sleep on
the couch.

"We can't let her leave
without nowhere to go," Shayde argued.

"Well what do you want us to
do?" Whisper demanded.

Shayde exhaled through her
nose. "I want to help her."

Whisper's eyes widened. "Are
you crazy? We can't do that!"

Shayde pointed to Aradia's
sleeping form. "Look at her face! Did you see what he did to her?
It's a miracle he didn't kill her! Saul is a hundred year old
vampire. I know he's strong but that gives him no right to hit such
a young girl. He has no right to treat her like this. He has no
right!"

"Shayde..." Whisper
began.

"We have to help her
Whisper! We have to keep her safe from Saul. We can't let her go
back to him. God only knows what he would do to her."

"But honey..." Whisper tried
to argue, "he's one of the Sovereign's soldiers."

"Exactly!" Shayde
stated.

Whisper raised her eyebrows
in confusion. "What do you mean 'exactly'?"

Shayde ran her fingers
through her hair and turned her head to stare at Aradia. After
staring at her for a few moments she turned back to look at
Whisper. "The Sovereign is basically the supreme dictator of all
the vampires in the world right?"

Whisper nodded.

"His predecessor took over a
thousand years to organize and unite the vampires. He was the one
who helped the vampires become their own virtual nation and
government."

Whisper shrugged casually
that clearly said, "yeah so?"

Shayde rolled her eyes.
"That vampire was able to turn a power hungry people into one
nation. It took him over a thousand years or maybe more. Yet in the
last century the current Sovereign was able to dethrone him and
install his own policies."

"The first," Shayde dropped
her voice dramatically, "being the exposure of the witches as
traitors to the hidden race. Mind you, none of us had actual proof
that the witches betrayed us not even to this day. However, it
cannot be ignored that they were the first hidden race exposed to
the humans but at the same time it's awfully
suspicious."

"What are you saying?"
Whisper's voice was barely over a whisper.

"There have been rumors
going around for over three hundred years that the witches were
innocent of treason and that the Sovereign used them to show
everyone the power of the vampires. By killing off all the witches,
it proved how deadly the vampires are to the other races. I mean if
one race could be slaughtered others could be as well. After the
witches were exterminated, no other hidden nation dare raise their
hand or even so much as a word against the vampires."

"Sure there have been a few
spats here and there," Shayde admitted with a shrug. "But nothing
too serious. They daren't because if the Sovereign felt threatened
god only knows what he would order the other vampires to
do."

"We are also his subjects
you know," Whisper pointed out and then folded her arms.

Shayde shrugged. "True. I
also cannot deny that if the Sovereign ordered us to do something
we would not do it."

"And that," Shayde added as
she turned back to look at Aradia, "is what concerns me a
little."

"What?"

Shayde rolled her eyes at
her bride's ignorance. "The Sovereign does not do anything unless
it's a calculated move. He is not the type to act recklessly," She
hissed, "he plans everything out. Most of all, he keeps order in
his household and in his army."

Whisper readjusted her
glasses. "What are you saying exactly?"

Shayde snorted. "He is not
the type of person to let his soldiers stand idly by. He would
specifically station them with specific assignments with specific
targets in mind."

"Oh I am sure he would allow
his soldiers to take women sometime," Whisper said sarcastically
and shrugged.

Shayde shook her head
fervently. "His predecessor would have but not this one even the
most lowly of his soldiers say that he is the biggest control freak
in the world. He masterminds everything. His platoon leaders are
not allowed to do anything without specific instructions from him.
Whether its moving to a new place or taking a new mate if it is a
vampire who serves the Sovereign then they must ask for his
permission. He knows everything about the vampire world including
the vampires who do not serve in his armies."

Whisper's eyes widened as if
her awareness had finally kicked in.

Shayde noticed.
"What?"

Whisper ran her fingers
through her hair. "About a week ago Eventide was bragging about
being asked to join the Sovereigns army."

Shayde gasped and covered
her mouth with her hands.

Whisper went on. "I asked
why weren't we asked to join? He laughed and said eventually I
would be. Right now Keon is asking all the male vampires in Salem
to join the Sovereign's army. He said that asking all of them would
take about a month or two. He then presumed that afterwards Keon
would move on to the females."

Shayde stared at the ground
in panic. "Is this true? I mean do you know if this actually
true?"

Whisper's shoulders sagged.
"I think it is because about a week ago I saw one of our mates,
Larista, sporting a new belt with a very weird symbol on it. It
looked like a rose. How do I know that it isn't just a fashion
statement you ask? The fact that I have seen every other vampire
wearing the same symbol one way or the other is a clue."

Shayde gasped again. "You
mean they are recruiting?"

Whisper nodded. "Most
likely."

Shayde's eyes grew wide and
frightened. "But that would mean that they are planning to wage a
war."

Whisper's expression now
matched Shayde's.

"Don't you see?" Shayde
hissed. "Why else would they want more soldiers? Why else would
they spreading a symbol around like a banner to a
cause?"

"More importantly," Shayde
added, "why would one of the Sovereign's top solider spend his time
wooing a high school girl? Time that he should be spending
recruiting more soldiers and formulating a plan."

"Unless of course," Whisper
concluded, finally following her bride's logic, "wooing the high
school girl is already part of their plan!"

Now the both of them stood
staring at the redheaded and badly bruised girl sleeping on their
couch. Completely oblivious to the conversation and the dangers
surrounding her.

"How are you feeling?" asked
Shayde.

Aradia looked up and saw
Shayde descending the staircase. She was dressed once again in a
knock outfit entirely consisting of the color black. She wore a
mini skirt, black boots that came around her ankles, a low cut
sleeveless shirt studded with rhinestones, and diamonds in her
ears.

"Much better thanks,"'Aradia
said with a smile.

Shayde returned the smile.
They just stared at each other until Shayde said, "Look um Whisper
and I have an errand to run in New York."

Aradia grew frightened.
"What? But what about me? You know I am not strong enough to defend
myself. I mean yeah I have been spending the last week eating and
sleeping here and my injuries have healed but..."

"So come with us," Whisper
said as she too descended from the staircase. She was pulling on a
cropped black sweatshirt over her head. Her belly button ring
jangled as she walked down the stairs. She wore black short shorts
and her black wedges clonked on the floor.

"What?" Aradia
said.

Whisper shrugged as she
straightened her glasses. "The way I see it Saul has been spending
the last two weeks tearing up all of Salem. The fact that he hasn't
found you yet probably means that he's getting desperate. He is
bound to come looking for you at our place."

"So," Shayde added with a
bit of sly smile. "You can travel with us while we scout out new
apartments in New York."

"And stay with us while the
moving crew moves all our stuff,"' Whisper finished her bride's
sentence and laid a hand on her shoulder.

Aradia looked relieved but
the her expression changed to confusion. "Why would you want to
move your stuff?"

Whisper rolled her eyes.
"Because all our stuff has your scent on it. If Saul comes here and
smells you...well I doubt he will be happy."

"If we move all our stuff,"
said Shayde, "then he can't smell you. For further precaution, we
have hired a clean up crew to hose down the area."

Aradia didn't respond but
only for a few minutes. "If you do all that," she pointed out
hesitantly, "won't Saul know that you have taken me?"

Shayde and Whisper both
sighed.

"Yeah," Whisper admitted
rather reluctantly, "but he is going to find out sooner or after.
At least this way we will be able to buy more time."

"Besides," Shayde added and
cocked her head, "do you really want to spend the rest of your life
running away from this guy?"

Aradia couldn't look her in
the eye.

Shayde nodded. "I thought
so."

Whisper stepped closer to
Aradia and put her hand on her shoulder. "You are not strong off to
take him on now Rai but you will be."

"And soon," Shayde
added..

"I am actually glad that we
are coming back to New York," Aradia said as she sat in the back of
their black Ford Escalade.

"Oh and why is that?" Shayde
inquired.

"Before we left I made some
appointments," Aradia clarified, "but because of Saul I wasn't able
to keep them."

Shayde merely
nodded.

"There is one thing that
worries me though," said Whisper.

"What's that?" Aradia
asked.

"Your family," Whisper
asked, "are they safe?"

Aradia grew quiet for a
moment. "The tournaments for the next Silver Moon pack alpha have
been progressing rapidly for the past few months so much so that
the Morales family has become way too injured to take care of each
other. My family has moved in to their house to help."

"How will that keep them
safe?" Whisper asked, sounding puzzled.

"They may be injured but the
Morales family can still transform..."

"And the bite of a werewolf
in a werewolf form can kill any other hidden most especially a
vampire," Shayde concluded.

"Exactly!" Aradia nodded
with satisfaction.

Whisper was still curious
though. "How do you know all this?"

Aradia didn't answer so
Shayde did. "I told her."

Whisper's head whipped
around. "You?"

Shayde nodded.
"Yep!"

"Well then how in the hell
did you find out?" Whisper demanded.

Shayde shrugged. "Eventide
told me which he heard through the local gossip. Aradia may be out
of the public view but that doesn't mean her family is.
Furthermore, her sister is dating a werewolf that in itself is
enough to get her scrutiny. How do I know that this Aradia's family
of which I speak? Well first of all their name is Preston which
truth be told is not a common name. Second, what other couple lives
in Salem whose father happens to be the district attorney and has
two African American foster children?"

Whisper snorted and then
returned her eyes to the road. "I would have appreciated the
explanation without the sarcasm."

Shayde just
smiled.

"How did they look?" Aradia
asked.

There was an awkward silence
in the car.

Shayde just sighed and said,
"I wouldn't know I didn't actually see them. Eventide did and I
doubt he would notice such things."

Aradia leaned back in her
seat. After a few more awkward and painful moments passed she
finally said, "I miss them."

"You got a lot of nerve
showing your face around here!" Kaiser snapped, "especially after
you ditched me!"

Aradia began to argue, "I
did not ditch you..."

Kaiser leaned against his
door and folded his arms."Oh yeah? Then what do you call standing
me up at our agreed meeting time eh? Bad manners?"