Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (25 page)

"Dax, do you see him?" Aradia said
tugging on Dax's jacket.

Dax looked around. Although he gave
no indication that he seen anyone, he did not dismiss Aradia's
observation. Instead, he scooped Aradia into his arms, leapt into
the sky, and out of sight.

Chapter
Sixteen

"Well this certainly sucks!" Aradia
spat out bitterly. "I mean I go through all this trouble to try to
promote amelioration, and they don't even give me a
chance!"

After all, she concluded to
herself, she had committed no crimes by throwing the parties but
apparently none of the other hidden leaders saw it that way. After
learning about the nature of her parties, the alpha wolves of Roy's
pack and all the others in Salem had forbidden him and any of the
other werewolves to go to any more. Ironically, the vampire clan
leaders followed the werewolves’ example by forbidding all the
vampires of Salem to go as well. Tristan's father: the current
seelie fae king followed both of their leads too. All this Tristan
had explained to Aradia with a bit too much relish in his words.
Either way, Aradia was practically seeing red by the time she went
to the SilverMoon diner. After stuffing her face full of burgers
and fries, Aradia's bad mood did not lift. A few seconds passed
before Aradia looked around to all the faces staring at her. Some
with anxiety, and one with casual indifference.

"Told you it wouldn’t work love,”
Dax said calmly while flipping a page in his book.

“Oh bite me Dax," Aradia
snapped.

He looked at her with a sexually
intrigued look, which was interrupted once Roy said, "Oh c'mon it
was not a total loss. I mean like you said Rai-Rai you got the ball
rolling about other hiddens being okay with each other. Maybe
that's enough."

"You think so?" Aradia asked
sarcastically.

She then spied a vampire she knew
from her math class at the counter and said, "See that girl over
there? She told me she thinks you're hot!"

Roy spun around eagerly, but once
he saw the girl he turned back to Aradia in disgust.

"Oh gross a vampire," he said,
"Please!"

Aradia then gave him a sarcastic
look until it finally occurred to Roy that he had been set up for
that.

He sighed and said, "Okay so maybe
things have not changed dramatically but..."

"But nothing Roy," Aradia stated
firmly, "The point is if I am going to change anything the parties
are going to have to continue!"

"Oh yeah?" said Al, "And how are
you planning to do that?"

Aradia looked up at him, and saw a
flyer posted on the SilverMoon diner bulletin board.

"What?" Al demanded.

He then peered over her shoulder to
see what she was clutching, only to dismiss it with a wave of his
hand. "It’s just a flyer for our monthly battle of the
bands."

"Battle of the bands?" Aradia
repeated.

"It's just some stupid ritual or
tradition the werewolves have every month," Dax explained to her
already sounding irritated at Aradia's refusal to give
up.

Aradia then raised her eyes from
the flier and widened like petals from a flower about to
bloom.

"You want to what?” Dax cried
out.

Aradia and Dax had stayed after
hours while Roy and his brothers cleaned up in the darkened diner.
By that time, Aradia had already worked out her plan to
perfection.

"I said I want to open up a secret
night club to keep the parties going to help promote amelioration
amongst the hidden," Aradia said smiling.

Dax and Roy just stared at her,
completely stunned.

Al in contrast remarked
sarcastically, “Oh? You do? Do you? How do you plan to open a night
club with no money hmm? Rob banks?"

D snorted and amazingly Aradia did
as well.

She said, "No Al, even better I
plan to find an abandoned or vacant space with lots of room and use
it for free! Since Dax's father works for the zoning board, I can
find out first hand when and where certain places have been closed
and can be used. "

They all stared at her as she
rushed on. "I will have Everrett be the DJ which he will do for
free as well if I ask him real nice, with my powers I can clean the
place up no problem, and as for school work I will do my projects
and stuff early. In case I sleep through anything my friends in
class will hook me up with the stuff I missed."

"What about food?" Al said, "You
can't have places to party without food!"

"The food will be free!"

"Oh and how do you plan to do
that?" Al folded his arms.

"You are going to make it for me,"
said Aradia.

After a long stunned silence, Al,
D, and Roy burst out laughing.

"Like hell!" Al finally said, "We
are not going to make food for your illegal raves for
free!"

"Who said for free?" Aradia
teased.

The brothers all suddenly stopped
laughing while Aradia rushed on. "Think about it Al, D, Roy.
Nightclubs attract women like flies to sugar especially beautiful
women so Al you will have plenty of action. As for you D, Rhonda is
going to be there, and all you and Al have to do is just show up
with food. The rest of the night you can do whatever you
want."

The twins stood still, thinking
about it while Roy said, "What about me?"

"Please Roy, will you help me?"
Aradia asked pouting her lips, and looking as innocent as Bambi.
"It's really important to me you know."

Roy didn't even pause. "Okay, I
will do it."

Aradia had to suppress a triumphant
grin, but then she turned to Dax. "What about you?"

Dax glanced at her from his casual
pose leaning against the door.

He sighed and said, "Hey you
already how I feel about all this."

Aradia's face fell.

"But then again you also know if
this is something that you want to do, I will help you without any
hesitation,"

She brightened as soon as Dax said
this.

"One request though," Al said
holding up his hand. "Can this wait until after the battle of the
bands?"

Dax groaned. "Why? Everyone knows
it's rigged so it's hardly a battle or even a contest. I mean every
year your father holds it at your diner, with your food, and your
equipment and you, his sons, always perform last and therefore
always win! Proving without a doubt the battle of the bands is
rigged!"

Al and D began to advance towards
Dax, but Aradia stopped them by waving her hands and saying, "Yeah,
yeah it can wait until then."

Al nodded and said, "Good. You are
going to be there though right?"

Aradia had been caught off guard,
but she too nodded her consent.

"Great," said Al smiling, "Wait
until you hear Roy sing. He's incredible! And on his guitar as
well!"

"Huh?" Aradia stared past him
towards Roy. "Roy-boy, I did not know you were in a
band."

Roy just shrugged
sheepishly.

As she climbed into his car on the
night of the battle of the bands, Dax glanced over to see what
Aradia was wearing. He then let out a low whistle.

She had parted her long red hair to
the side so it would fall on her face like a runway models. She
wore black leggings with black slouchy boots, a short-sleeved shirt
with an exotic design, and on top of all this, she wore a tan fake
fur lined coat. She wore simplistic make-up, and a fake diamond
choker sparkled from her neck.

"It's funny," Dax remarked. "But
you never look this good on our dates."

Aradia shook her head. "It's not a
date, Dax. Roy is doing a show in front of lots of people including
our peers and I owe it to him to look good."

Dax merely grunted.

As they drove, neither one of them
spoke, until finally Dax asked, "So will I be picking you up or is
Roy driving you home?"

"Roy's driving me," Aradia
responded without missing a beat.

After one quick glance, he noticed
something in her expression. "You don't look too happy about
it."

Aradia said nothing.

"It's just" she finally managed to
say, "The thing about Roy is he's a bit... too much in touch with
his animal side.”

"Meaning?" Dax implied.

"Well, when we are together like
hugging and stuff. He just can't seem to keep his hands off me,"
Aradia explained.

Dax stared at her, and asked
rhetorically. "Should I be hearing this?"

Aradia sighed and said, "It's
nothing Dax. It is just...well...I can only hope that Roy really
does understand the basic concept of the word: no. Which basically
means knock it off or so help me, I will rip off your fingernails
one by one. Best friend or not!"

It was as they were parking when
Dax turned to grasp Aradia's hand. "Has he ever hurt
you?"

He forced Aradia to look at him,
but she could not and tried to hang her head. Dax gripped the
steering wheel, and almost instantly, Aradia could hear the
crunching of plastic.

"Hey, hey," Aradia said placing
both of her hands on the sides of his face, and looking him square
in the eye. "Calm down Dax. You of all people know I can take care
of myself and don't worry if things get messy I know what to do and
who to depend on."

Dax sighed wearily as he took both
of her hands in his. "I know how you like your independence Aradia,
and I like being able to give it to you. The sad truth is though,
you are going to have to either get wise to how dangerous the world
is or at least let me help you fight your battles."

Aradia sighed, and hugged
Dax.

"You are awesome you know that
don't you?" she finally murmured.

Although Aradia was enjoying being
in his arms, she knew that unless she tore herself away from him
quickly, she would never be able to leave Dax's side. However, as
she began to get out she noticed Dax's seat beat was still
fastened.

"Aren't you coming?" Aradia
asked.

Dax chuckled dryly. "I can’t.
Remember? I am vampire and the battle of the bands is strictly a
'werewolf only' event. In other words, I am not allowed
in."

Aradia gritted her teeth. Once
again, intolerance, and prejudice reared its ugly head in the
hidden world and continued to interfere with her life. With one
last lingering peck on his cheek, she got out of the car, and
started walking to the back of the diner. Aradia only paused and
turned only for a second to gaze at Dax as he drove away,
longingly.

Round tables had been set up, and
concert equipment from lighting to speakers were seen everywhere.
There was a stage where a band was currently finishing its song. A
few playful jokesters heckled the band, and booed them as they
winded down. However, Aradia paid them no mind, and as soon as she
saw an empty table in the middle, she plopped down it's
chair.

She felt like her timing must have
been perfect because no sooner had she sat down when the announcer
came on stage who after cracking a few jokes introduced Roy's band
known hilariously as the Werewolves. Aradia then saw Roy, Al, and D
incredibly even Johnny and Robbie who played the tambourine and
electric keyboard come up on to the stage. After taking a few
moments of adjusting the equipment, Roy stepped up to the mike with
his guitar in his hand, D on his bass guitar, and Al on his
drums.

Roy quickly scanned the crowd, as
soon as he caught Aradia's eye he smiled and began to strum on his
guitar. The first song they did was a rendition of Found Out About
You by Gin Blossoms. Aradia was amazed to see how they followed the
song, and tune to perfection even little Johnny and Robbie. As Roy
began to sing, Aradia felt entranced the entire time he stared at
her. Although the song was about a woman cheating, the way Roy
sang, and looked at Aradia even the way he formed his lips when he
annunciated words like "you" made Aradia sigh with desire. She
smiled, and looked up at him dreamily. After a few other songs, Roy
showed off his guitar skills and Al did fancy tricks while he
played on his drums. Then they finally walked off the stage amidst
the cheering and clapping crowd.

Aradia jumped, and clapped louder
than the other as Roy got off the stage to wipe his face with a
cloth.

She then ran up to him and hugged
him. "You were great Roy-boy!"

He snickered as he grabbed hold of
her waist with one arm. "Thanks Rai-Rai."

"Sorry I could not be here in the
beginning," Aradia said letting go of him. "I had to finish up some
homework."

Roy shrugged. "At least you were
here in time to see me."

Aradia scoffed, and flourished her
disdain with a wave of her hand. "I would never miss
that!"

Roy had promised to take her home
after the battle of the bands, but first he would have to clean up
with his brothers. So after three more bands performed the event
ended, Aradia waited outside leaning against his truck. It was then
when she realized someone was staring at her. She turned her head,
and recognized him as the guy from the woods. He was still staring
at her with the same crude, and crazy smile.