Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (5 page)

Keon forced his face back into a smile. "No need." He
held up his hands as a gesture of peace.

Tavis just nodded.

Keon cocked his head and was about to leave. However,
before he left Tavis alone forever, he had to ask, "how did you
manage to fake those documents and so well that they would fool
Morgan?"

"Who said they were fake?"

Keon spun back around.

Tavis smiled. "The funny thing about sadists is that
they are careless. They honestly believe their victims are alway
too scared to fight back or at least attempt to outsmart them."

"Plus," he added, "in all the time I served under him
he never did keep a clean desk or organize his papers."

Keon threw his head back and laughed. "Something
tells me that a few centuries you will be more sadistic than
he."

"So where to Tavis?" Jaxon asked him as he readjusted
his shoulder strap.

Tavis looked sharply back at him. "You mean you want
to come with me?"

Jaxon nodded as if it should be obvious.

"And what about him?" Tavis flicked a thumb towards
Henry was up in a nearby tree staring at a bird's nest.

Jaxon shrugged. "Well he is coming too right. He
needs us. I mean hell Tavis, you helped us get our freedom so that
kind of bonds us to you. We are like brothers now."

Brothers,
Tavis turned the idea over in his
head. He liked the thought of that. "We would have to give you new
names though."

Jaxon raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Tavis explained, "because your old names represent
your old life so your new ones should represent your new one."

Jaxon nodded, looking extremely pleased.

They stopped trekking up the mountain and Tavis
leaned against a tree. "So what's new name going to be?"

Jaxon stood still for a few seconds before
announcing, "Dunc! I have always liked the name Dunc."

Tavis nodded his approval.

Jaxon looked Tavis's shoulder and shouted, "Hey
Henry, get your ass over here."

Henry waited until the mother bird flew towards the
bird's nest. As she dive-bombed towards him, intent on protecting
her babies, Henry reached out and caught her in mid air. He
clutched the struggling bird hand and leapt back down to the
ground. He kept staring at the bird as he walked back to the
others.

Jaxon repeated Tavis's question and explanation. "So
what's it going to be little brother? What's your new name?"

Henry still stared at the bird until the bird locked
gazes with him. Her own black eyes meeting his. He smiled before
chomping off her head. He crushed the rest of her body as he
chewed.

Tavis and Jaxon didn't look fazed as they awaited his
answer.

He swallowed and spat out a feather.

"Well?" Tavis snapped.

"Korrigan," Henry finally said, "call me Korrigan
from now on."

He then turned back around and smiled gleefully as he
saw another bird. "Ooh a bluejay. My favorite!"

Tavis and Dunc laughed as he chased after it.

As they started trudging again was when Dunc asked,
"what about last names?"

"Well since we are now brothers, why not call
ourselves the McAlester brothers?" Tavis suggested.

Dunc stood still to consider it. "The McAlester
brothers eh? Huh! I like it."

Sic Semper Tyanris
, Tavis thought to himself
as he flicked out his switchblade. It was a dainty thing with a
pearl handle and a very shiny blade. He had this thing since the
sixties and it was his most treasured possession. Ironic that what
he treasured was something that he had bought during his years as a
vampire.
Maybe not too ironic considering my life as a human
wasn't that great.
He readjusted his glasses as he sat up and
batted away strands of his dirty blonde hair. He thought back to
his time as the Sovereign's "solider" so to speak; still picking
his fingers with his beloved blade. He gritted his teeth
remembering the yoke he had been placed under.
Which is really a
bit of an understatement considering how I was treated. The solider
drills, the discipline, and the punishments. I couldn't even take a
piss without the Sovereign's permission.

He gritted his teeth and his grip on the blade
tightened.
It is amazing how I was finally able to get out. If
you could call it that. Blackmailing Keon wasn't an easy thing to
do but I had accomplished it. I had killed two birds with one stone
by getting him to agree to fake my own death. One) it helped me
achieve my freedom and two) it made sure that Keon would help keep
me out of the Sovereign's reach. There was only one downside to it
and that was the fact that Keon knows I am still alive
.
Furthermore, he was able to track Tavis's movements so whenever he
went Keon still found him. His pocket vibrated and Tavis closed the
switchblade to plunge his free hand into his jeans.
Speak of the
devil,
he pulled out his Android phone and saw that he had
received an email,
what does that bastard want now?

He read the lengthy email with great reluctance.
However, by the time he had finished his narrowed eyes had widened
dramatically.

Tavis burst into the hotel room while brandishing his
phone. "Hey bros! Heads up."

The room was a step up from the dirty bench he had
just been laying on but not that much. The place reeked of booze,
the wall paper was peeling, and carpet was stained. The bed sheets
were frayed and the pillows even had patches on them.

Dunc was flipping through a Hustler magazine with his
headphones on. He wore a Grateful Dead t-shirt, long black ripped
jeans, and blue striped Vans. Tavis could hear a bit of Dunc's
music and the shower running.

He then sighed and yanked the headphones off of
Dunc.

"Hey! What the hell?!" Dunc sat up and tried to
wrench the headphones back. "What is your problem man?"

Tavis yanked the headphones away further. "Yo!
Korrigan! Get out here already."

"I am in the shower!"

"I don't care," Tavis bellowed, "get out here
now."

They both heard a loud sigh and a silvery squeak
which was soon followed by a loud banging of the bathroom door.
From out of the steamy room emerged a muscular guy with a white
towel wrapped around his waist. He was drying his hair with another
when he muttered, "what?"

Tavis grinned broadly. "I got great news."

"Yeah?" Dunc inquired.

"Yeah," Tavis stated, "we are going to Salem."

Korrigan dropped the towel. "Wait what? Salem? As in
Salem, MA?"

Tavis nodded.

Dunc, however, just shrugged. "Why do we need to go
to that crappy place?"

Tavis handed him his cell. "This is why."

Dunc rolled his eyes before reading the email. His
reaction then became like that of Tavis's. "Is this for real?" He
cried before jumping to his feet.

Tavis just nodded while Dunc gasped in disbelief.

"How can you be so sure?" He finally asked.

Tavis shrugged, reluctantly. "This is why we are
going to Salem. We need to make sure that what Keon says is
true."

"Keon?" Korrigan spat, "your old slave driver? Oh I
am sorry I guess the proper term is commander."

Tavis brushed aside the sarcasm. "It doesn't matter.
Yes, Keon and I had our...differences in the past but he knows he
can't boss me around anymore."

Korrigan crossed his arms. "So what? This new info is
a sign of good will or something?"

Tavis couldn't help but chuckle. "No but even after
forty years he still knows my goals in life."

"You mean," Dunc said while cracking his knuckles,
"establishing ourselves as our own power."

Tavis shrugged. "More or less."

Korrigan's arms were still crossed. "So what? We
follow this piece of info and actually believe that your foe wants
to help us?"

Tavis exhaled a breath through his nose. "In all
honesty Korrigan, I don't think we have a choice?"

"What do you mean?"

"See for yourself little bro!" Dunc tossed the phone
to Korrigan.

He barely managed to catch it with his wet fingers.
Tavis twitched as the water drops from Korrigan's hair dropped onto
his phone's screen.

Korrigan practically gasped after reading the last
line. "Are you serious?"

"We don't know Korrigan," Dunc said as he got up and
went to his side. He peered over his wet shoulder at the
touchscreen. "There is a chance that this is just a hoax..."

"However," Tavis interrupted, "do we really want to
take that chance? If its real...well." He shrugged.

"If its real," Dunc added as he leaned in and
whispered into Korrigan's ear, "then you won't be alone anymore.
You will finally have found someone as freaky as you!"

Korrigan dropped the phone and slammed his fist into
Dunc's face. As soon as Dunc hit the wall, Korrigan gripped his
throat. Several seconds later, there was a smell of burning
flesh.

"Hey!" Tavis ran forward and laid a hand on
Korrigan's shoulder. "None of that."

Korrigan dropped his hand and Dunc fell to the floor.
He gingerly touched his wound while looking up at Korrigan's
smoking hand.

"C'mon Henry," Tavis whispered, "think about it. Yes,
we have no reason to trust Keon but really do we have a choice? We
have a chance to not only seize one of the greatest weapons of all
time but to also finally show you that you are not the last."

He dropped his voice to a whisper, "who knows? You
might even get a bride out of it."

This was enough to make Korrigan clench his fist.
Amazingly, the smoke stopped emerging his hand as soon as he did.
He then brushed Tavis's hand aside and went to the bathroom but not
before muttering, "my name is not Henry, not anymore, it is
Korrigan."

Tavis looked at Dunc through narrow eyes. "Must you
always antagonize him?"

Dunc chuckled as he stood up. "I have known him
longer so I think I am entitled."

Tavis couldn't argue against this.

And still continues to this day,
Tavis thought
to himself,
yet now we have a brand new quest to compete. The
quest to rid the world of our tyrant and make ourselves the new
power to control the world of the Vampires. Sic Semper Tyanris!
Thus always to tyrants.

Chapter Two

“They hunted down and killed every last witch,” Mr.
Dayton’s words echoed throughout the air.

“He means genocide,” Ross said. “Genocide,
genocide.”

Aradia shrunk and the air grew thick, hot, and
stifling.

“Every…” Aradia stated in disbelief.

“Or so they thought,” Mr. Dayton concluded, his words
vague and far off. The air was soup now, hot and thick, like clam
chowder, and she was drowning. The room was gone and she was at the
bottom of the sea, alone, but still the conversation burned through
her.

There was no one there, but all eyes rested on
Aradia.

“They couldn’t!” she resisted. “The Nazis tried this
and failed.”

“The hidden race tried it and did not fail,” Mr.
Dayton replied, “but for one survivor.”

“That would make me…” she sputtered.

“Yes, Aradia,” his words danced around her like a
colorful rope. “You are alone. You are the last of your kind. You
are the last witch.”

“I’m not the last!” Aradia shot forward, banging her
face into the bus seat in front of her. The student sitting there,
a chubby boy a year older than she was, turned and shot her a nasty
glare.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, wiping the drool from her chin.
He didn’t reply and turned forward again. Aradia found it ironic
that she couldn’t sleep at night, but couldn’t stay awake during
the day. It was all backwards.

"It's not true. I am not the last. I am not alone,
I'm not..." Aradia whispered to herself repeatedly for the
remainder of the bus ride. Her human bus mates ignored her, and her
hidden bus mates gave her space. No matter how she tried to focus
on her mantra, her mind was plagued by questions.

It had been nearly two weeks since she had learned
the truth about her legacy. At first, she’d done well. Surprisingly
well. Her mother had been concerned, actually, because of how
easily she seemed to take the revelation. However, with the
excitement of the tribunal, the ongoing investigation, and general
aftermath of the Vampire Murders, it had been easy to bury her
feelings.

Then the adrenaline began to fade and Aradia’s mood
had fallen hard. For the last several days, she’d been in a funk so
deep she didn’t see any way out. Despite the enormous outpouring of
concern from her friends and strangers alike, for she was now
something of a celebrity, she had remained quiet and withdrawn
throughout the last several days. She seemed almost comatose in her
classes, ate by herself, and quickly became the last student picked
for dodgeball in gym.

During a free period she was inspired by a sudden
idea, and for the first time in three days, she felt like she might
have some recourse. She rushed to the library, found an empty
workstation with a computer, and Googled “Salem Witch Trials.”
About a quarter of a second later, she had 916,000 results.

This
, Aradia hoped almost feebly,
might
give me the answers I need
.

“So, you hear Aradia and Dax haven’t even spoken
since the big showdown with the Vampire Murderer?” Saul asked. He
leaned casually against a light post outside the school library.
Through the window he had a somewhat obstructed, but workable view
of Aradia at her workstation.

“No I haven’t?” Keon replied, pacing like a caged
tiger. “And I prefer to keep it that way.”

Saul sighed. “Our assignment is to observe the last
witch. You are never going to excel if you don't fully commit.
Listening to the gossip about her will help.”