Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (32 page)

She nodded as he ran, and jumped
out the window. He landed softly on the ground, turned to wink at
her, and dashed around the side of the house. Aradia sighed, as she
watched him leave.

"Hey firecracker," her father said
as he opened the door. "Dinner is ready."

"Okay," Aradia said still looking
longingly out the window.

Her father paused, and looked
around her room.

"Was someone in here with you?" he
finally asked, "I thought I heard voices."

"So what's for dinner?" Aradia said
spinning around, grabbing her father's arm, and dragging him out of
her room.

It was as Aradia ate dinner with
her parents that both Ross and Liza finally asked about the
meeting.

"What exactly are you planning to
do?" Ross asked.

"Just show my face, get the lowdown
of the land, and basically see what's going on," Aradia explained
without missing a beat.

Ross just stared at her
skeptically.

"Honey," Liza began, "Are you sure
you want to go? You don't have to..."

"Yeah I do Mom," Aradia stated, "I
am a hidden now and as a member of the hidden community I have to
know what is going on."

"And besides," she added, "Everyone
knows I am the last witch and everyone already thinks I am the most
powerful hidden and if I don't show up to the places where their
leaders meet...well what kind of message do you think I will be
sending out to them?"

To this, her parents said
nothing.

After a few moments of tense
silence, Ross finally spoke. "You know Aradia, being the last witch
doesn't necessarily mean anything. If you chose to, you can turn
your back on such a title, and go on living a normal
life."

"I am not saying you should," Ross
said holding up his hands to silence her arguments. “But keep in
mind that if you choose to make a big deal about being the last
witch there will be no going back. You will not be able to undo
anything and your life from that point on will be very complicated.
However, if you decide that that is not what you want then it will
be possible for you to live your life normally (so to speak) from
that point on."

"Define normal?" Aradia
demanded.

"Normal as in finishing high
school, going off to college, and maybe one day having a family of
your own. After all, it is said in the book you told us about that
if you have kids they will have no powers so it's not like it will
be a constant worry in your life," Ross explained in a calm
tone.

"All I am saying is you must think
about it and consider what direction you want to take in your life.
More importantly, what role do you want to have? A political figure
whose decisions will probably have lives hanging in the balance or
an ordinary citizen who is allowed to live their life in
anonymity."

Ross did not wait for a reply he
merely picked up his dishes, and walked to the kitchen to set them
in the sink. At first, Aradia just sat silently but as she opened
her mouth to say something, her phone went off. It was Dax; he had
sent her a text message that said I am outside.

The meeting was to take place deep
in an isolated lodge in the woods so it was quite a long drive for
Dax and Aradia. The entire time Aradia had repeated to Dax what her
father had said to her.

"I think your dad has a good point.
Is being involved in the hidden world what you truly want?" said
Dax.

Aradia opened her mouth to argue,
but Dax cut her off. "Think about it Aradia. Why do you think we
are called the hidden race? It is because our ways are different
from the humans. We believe in different things, and have different
ways of solving our problems. Is that what you want to get involved
in? Keep in mind love, you are only sixteen. Do you really want to
have this much responsibility? Where either your decisions can have
people applaud you or have you killed! There is only universal law
that all hiddens follow: only the strongest survive and who is ever
strong must do whatever it takes to keep being that strong. Is that
the kind of world you want to get involved with? Is it?"

Aradia did not respond she merely
turned to look out the window of Dax's car, and stare at her own
dark reflection.

By the time, they reached the lodge
where the meeting was being held most of the hidden were already
there. Roy's family was inside, but Roy was not. He was waiting
outside, leaning against a tree, and constantly checking his watch.
He smiled as soon as he saw Aradia, but then frowned as soon as he
saw that she was with Dax. Completely oblivious or just plain
ignoring the animosity growing between Dax and Roy Aradia walked
right up to Roy and hugged him.

"Hey Roy boy!" she said.

Roy hugged her back while Dax stood
uneasily to the side.

Amazingly, Dax was saved from the
risk of confrontation when Tristan showed up. However, as soon as
he saw Aradia hugging Roy, he chuckled, and patted Dax's shoulder.
"It's like I keep telling you Dax, a leash!"

He then threw his head back, and
laughed. Aradia heard Tristan's comment, and turned to glare at him
with narrowed angry eyes. Roy began growling, and extending his
claws.

Dax, however, just looked at
Tristan and said very casually, "I really hope you are left handed
Tristan, because if you don't take it off my shoulder in the next
five minutes. The chances are that will be the only hand you will
ever use again."

Predictably, Tristan backed off. He
then went to where Titania was waiting for him, looking like a
million dollars in a slinky gold and black dress. As soon as he
slipped his arm around her waist, he led her into the
lodge.

"Cheeky little bugger!" Dax
muttered under his breath as Aradia laughed.

She then stepped away from
Roy.

Hating herself for probably the
hundredth time for being such a player, Aradia motioned for both of
the guys to walk beside her. "Shall we?"

Ironically, the two enemies and
rivals both smiled weakly and took their places on opposites sides
of Aradia. Therefore, with Dax on her right and Roy on her left,
Aradia strolled into the lodge.

As soon as Aradia entered all the
conversation stopped, and the room became deathly quiet. Everyone's
eyes turned to stare at her with feelings that Aradia was beginning
to not only recognize, but get used to as well. The hidden elders
sat at an elaborately carved wooden round table in the center of
the lodge with their people seating separately behind them. The
werewolves including Roy's family sat behind three men. One was an
old yet strong looking burly man in a plaid shirt under dark jean
overalls with threads of silver in both his brown beard and hair.
Another was a young blonde professional looking man with a sharp
chin, pointed nose, pale skin, and freckles. He wore glasses, a
gray suit, and looked like he was barely out of college. The last
Aradia automatically recognized with his tan skin, black goatee,
and Latino appearance.

Probably Roy's dad's eldest
brother, Aradia deduced, and his family's alpha. All three looked
at her, but most especially Roy's uncle who seemed to be staring
past her as well.

No prizes for who he is looking at,
Aradia thought.

Aradia then turned her head and
focused on the other leaders sitting at the table. In contrast to
the werewolves, they seemed to be more individualistic. The
vampires all sat behind one vampire. The shape-shifters all sat
behind one shape-shifter, and so did the fae who sat behind a guy
Aradia easily recognized as Tristan's father.

Speaking of the devil, Aradia
thought, I wonder where he is.

She cast her eyes around at the
rest of the fae crowd, and tried to suppress a giggle when she
finally spotted him.

Tristan may have bragged constantly
about being the crown prince, but he was seated in the front row
center seat with all the other common subjects behind his father.
He mouthed silently at Aradia, "bite me witch," as soon he noticed
her smirking at him

Aradia laughed in the back of her
throat.

None of the leaders moved as soon
as they saw Aradia. They remained seated looking at her with
narrowed eyes. Aradia casually approached the table, taking deep
breaths to insure she neither panicked nor passed out. When she
finally reached the table, however, she realized something she had
no place to sit! A few awkward and very uncomfortable moments of
silence passed with both Dax, and Roy standing uneasily beside
her.

Finally, the vampire whom Aradia
figured was the head of all the vampire clans in Salem asked her,
"Well?"

"Well what?" the words were out of
Aradia's mouth before she could stop herself.

The whole crowd gasped while Aradia
stoically held fast to her bravado.

The vampire, however, seemed
undaunted by Aradia's response. "Aren’t you going to sit
down?"

Aradia smiled awkwardly as the
three of them continued to stand uneasily facing the elders.
Suddenly a male werewolf stood up, picked up his chair from amongst
the crowd, strode boldly to where Aradia stood and set the chair
down.

Aradia recognized him as Phil,
Lupe's husband.

"Thanks," she whispered.

He merely grunted, and walked
away.

Aradia was about to sit down when
she remembered Dax and Roy. She supposed that once she sat down
they would go sit with their people, but Aradia thought that that
would be rude. She was also not sure of the reception that each of
them would receive. She placed her hand on the chair, and made two
new ones grow right from the ground like newly grown trees. This
time no one gasped, but the uneasy tension that was already felt in
the room definitely rose. She sat down, and motioned for Dax and
Roy to do the same. After they looked at Aradia's confident smiling
face, they both sat down.

Aradia gazed around at the other
leaders, still smiling cheerfully. The vampire had silver hair, a
strong well-defined face, with high cheekbones, and long pointed
chin and nose. The shape-shifter leader was a redheaded man with a
thick beard, and wore glasses that resembled the ones that people
wore in the eighties. Tristan’s father was like an exact duplicate
of Tristan except he was older, bigger, bulkier, and much more
pompous looking. On his right hand, there was a large golden
circular ring with a crown in the middle of a forest, elaborately
decorated with colored stones.

That must be Tristan's family
crest, Aradia concluded, no doubt all the proof they think they
need to prove their royal heritage.

Tristan's father spoke first. "We
are so glad you could join us."

"Oh are you now?" Aradia
asked.

The tension once again raised
several notches in the room. I wonder if this is how President
Obama feels whenever he has to make the state of the union address,
Aradia thought grimly.

"Yes as matter a fact we are,"
Tristan's father continued, "Because you see we wish to address the
issue of your parties?"

"You mean you are angry that you
weren't invited?" Aradia quipped but not without fighting the
temptation to kick herself.

Tristan's father chuckled dryly.
"My son said you had a strange sense of humor."

Thankfully, Aradia chose not to say
anything.

"Anyway," the vampire picked up
where Tristan's father left off. "We wish to discuss with you these
promoting amelioration parties you have been throwing?"

"Okay," Aradia responded without
missing a beat.

They were all silent once again, at
least until the vampire spoke. "So what exactly are these parties
about?"

"Promoting amelioration,” Aradia
answered simply.

"Why would you want to promote
amelioration?" the vampire inquired.

"Because," she began, "There seems
to be prejudice amongst the hidden race. The werewolves will not
speak to the vampires, vice versa, and so on and so forth. I
thought it would be better if I helped changed that."

"Why?” the vampire pressed further,
sounding highly amused.

Aradia took a deep breath whether
to steady herself or for dramatic emphasis, no one could really
tell.

"I just don't like it when people
hate each other because they are different," she answered him
firmly.

The silence that now surrounded the
table seemed to become one with the atmosphere itself.

This time it was the shape-shifter
who broke it. "Look regardless of what you do or do not like. We
wish for you to stop your strange attempts at promoting
amelioration. So will you do that?"

"No sir I will not," Aradia stated
firmly.

Yet another dramatic intense
silence filled the room.

"What do you mean no?" the
shape-shifter asked in a voice that seemed to be quivering in
anger.

"Look it up in the dictionary and
you will see what I mean," Aradia snapped.