by Jones, L. A.
"I saw you and realized you are just as lonely as I am. Think about it Aradia! We are the last of our kind! We deserve to be together. We must be together!"
Aradia was stunned for she had never seen anyone like this. Looking into Henry's eyes, she saw his feelings of despair and isolation. She knew he was crazy, but she felt so sorry for him. She had felt lonely for a long time, but she could see that he had felt it longer!
"Don't you understand? Nothing good can come from not being with people of your own kind! To each it's own am I right? Just as vampires deserve to be with other vampires, we witches only deserve to be with other witches! Therefore, you and I deserve to be together forever! Can't you see that?"
Separate but equal, Aradia thought to herself bitterly.
She tore her face out of his grasp. "No! Forget it! Forget it! I won't go with you! Never!"
"Goddammit!" Korrigan shouted at the top of his lungs, and backhanded her against the wall.
Aradia was instantly knocked her out cold while Korrigan stood up screaming, "For Christ's Sake! Why can't I make you understand?"
Seeing his poor wounded Aradia laying limply on the stairs, however, made his anger quickly drain away.
"I feel so sorry for you my beloved," Korrigan cooed to her.
He dropped the now ruined bouquet onto the floor, picked Aradia up, and threw her over his shoulder.
He kept talking to her as he hauled her out of her house, and walked down to his car. "All these horrible things have happened to you. All of sudden you have enormous responsibilities in addition to being alone. You poor, poor little thing."
He sighed before speaking again in a tender whisper. "But it is alright now my love. I will take care of everything. I will protect you from now on, don't you worry about it."
He then patted her bottom, and tossed her into his car.
"Rai!" Dax screamed as soon as he got to her house. "Rai! Rai! Aradia! Where are you?"
He dashed up the stairs of the walkway only to pause once he saw the front door lying completely broken off its hinges.
"Oh dear god!" he whispered painfully, "Oh please god no!"
He ran in, and searched the whole house.
"Aradia! Where are you?" He yelled every second that he did not find her. He was hopeful, at first, for none of her clothes or things had been taken and the house and furniture were still intact. Surely if Aradia had been attacked she would have put one hell of a fight, Dax concluded to himself. Slowly, however, that hope began to crumble when he found no trace of her.
Finally, he found the rose petals on the staircase lying as invisible, and yet as ominous as drops of blood. Dax dropped to his knees, clutched the rose petals in his hands, and pressed them to his nose. He breathed in their scent, and recognized Aradia. For one brief minute, he was blissfully happy, but then the sharp smell of a familiar foul odor hit his senses as well.
Dax now felt the juices of the petals slowly drain into his hands as he clenched his fists.
He then threw his head back in a fit of agony and cried out, "Aradia!"
Chapter Thirty
Aradia did not know how long she had been out, but what she did know was her head hurt like hell! As her eyes began drift open, she started to remember what had happened to her. She then quickly tried to struggle only to discover that she had been bound thickly with ropes. Aradia opened her eyes fully, her head still aching, and observed her surroundings. She was tied to a red felt chair, in a glamorous manor, next to a long brown dining table, and currently being stared at by a strange dark haired vampire.
"My," he said smiling, "Don't you smell nice."
"Wish I could return the compliment," Aradia muttered bitterly.
He scowled at her.
Korrigan jumped up from where he was finishing tying her legs to the chair, and waved him away. "Get away from her she is mine!"
The other vampire stumbled back in annoyance.
Korrigan then knelt by Aradia's side and cooed, "Ignore him sweet thing. He's just the concubine of the head of all the vampire clans here in Pennsylvania. Hell in all honesty, he is more like the goddamn house keeper than a concubine, he cannot do anything to you."
"Concubine..." Aradia said slowly.
She then turned and observed his fancy clothes, his slicked back hair, and his heavily perfumed scent. "I see."
The vampire glared at her darkly and said, "Saucy little bitch aren't you?"
"Look who's talking," Aradia snapped.
To her surprise, he chuckled as if he thought her impertinence was cute.
He then bent down to stare right into her eyes and playfully whispered, "Who’s a pretty, sexy, sweet, saucy little girl? Huh? Who?"
"Who needs a breath mint? Huh? You do!" Aradia snapped.
Korrigan laughed. "Told you she was sassy!"
Aradia turned her head intending to yell at him when all of sudden she heard a door open. Someone is coming, Aradia realized once she recognized the sound of shoes. She eagerly turned her head hoping to God that it was Dax and Roy coming to rescue her. It was an old, heavily wrinkled, and silver haired vampire that walked in followed by two others. One was a gorgeous brunette female, and the other a blonde male.
Aradia stared at the blonde through narrowed eyes, and almost instantly she shouted. "I recognize you!"
Saul had hoped that his warning to Dax had not been in vain. Alas, once he walked into the house, and saw Aradia strapped to a chair he knew otherwise. In response to Aradia's outburst, he tried to look casual by rubbing the remaining blood off his lips. Korrigan instantly stood up, and glared menacingly at Saul.
"What does she mean?" he demanded.
Saul stared at Aradia, her eyes filled with her silent pleas.
After a few tense seconds, he shook his head and said, "No idea."
He then turned on his heel to walk up the winding staircase.
Aradia stared after him, not believing her bad luck. She did not know why he and his dark haired ponytailed friend had been staring at her in school, but reflecting upon the gravity of her situation she had had hoped that it was because he was a secret ally. Seeing him walk away, leaving her to an impending doom quickly helped to dash such hopes.
Now what am I going to do? Aradia thought as she saw Korrigan leering at her.
The older vampire wrinkled his nose and pointed at her. "What's this?"
Korrigan stood between her, and the older looking vampire. "Don't you remember what my brothers discussed with you? About offering us sanctuary?"
The older looking vampire nodded.
"Still does not explain her though," he argued.
Korrigan sighed. "This woman is the last witch and my brothers and I have acquired her. We have worked very hard to liberate her from the clutches of the hidden in Salem so now she belongs to us, and wants to be with me!"
"The fact that she's strapped to the chair should indicate how grateful she is to be 'liberated' so to speak," the concubine vampire said snickering.
Korrigan whipped around and said, "She's mine understand? All we need is a couple of nights here to wait for my brothers. Okay?"
The older vampire stared past him to Aradia who feebly hoped that even he did not know her he would help her.
The older vampire merely shrugged. "Whatever."
He then threaded his arm around the woman's waist, and led her into the back room.
Aradia felt her heart drop into the bowels of her stomach.
Korrigan turned to the concubine vampire and asked, "So can we help ourselves to one of the guest’s rooms?"
The concubine vampire glanced at Aradia, and then back to Korrigan.
A few seconds later, he snickered and grabbed an apple from the bowl in the middle of the dining table.
As he walked past Korrigan, and munching the apple greedily, he whispered into Henry's ear. "Try not to damage anything while the two of you are consummating your love."
"Including her." He added with one more glance at Aradia.
"Isn't she great?" he shouted to the other vampires watching.
Acting like her struggling, biting, screaming obscenities did not faze him one bit; Korrigan carried Aradia up the stairs. He then found the nearest bedroom, and slammed the door.
Saul had watched from his bedroom across the hall the entire time Aradia had struggled in Korrigan's arms.
He had ignored her screams of, "Dax, help me! Roy, Mom, Dad, anybody! Save me!"
He now heard the scraping, and moving of furniture accompanied by various smashes and crashes of objects. Saul then slammed the door loudly. After spotting a window, he raced to it, pushed open the window, and transformed into his bat form.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aradia's parents had contacted the human police, the Amber alert, America's most wanted, and everyone in the whole town of Salem. Yet they were still beside themselves with worry because they had found no clues, or anything that could indicate where Aradia had been taken.
Her father, although it was obvious that he wanted to break down and cry, helped with the investigation as best as he could. He talked to everyone Aradia knew, human and hidden, trying to gather information.
Her mother, who also been giving the impression of fighting back the urge to sob and yell out for her child like no tomorrow, had took to the streets showing around Aradia's picture. They asked around to see if anyone had seen the McAlester brothers or if anyone knew where the McAlester brothers lived. They did eventually find the McAlester's lair, and had gotten access to their school papers but even those had turned out to be dead ends. The lair had been cleaned out, leaving nothing behind, and the school papers had turned out to be forged. Aradia's parents, however, did not give up.
The entire time everyone had been searching or worrying Dax had been sitting alone in the woods right under the tree where the branch where he and Aradia had kissed on had broken. Roy criticized him before he went to the woods for not helping and said it was further proof that Dax did not give a damn about Aradia. Dax hardly heard him for he was too filled with self-loathing to even care.
As the hours ticked by, Dax buried his face in his hands and shook his head.
"How?" he finally muttered through gritted teeth. "How could have I been so stupid? Of course, it was trap! Of course, they lured us away so they could capture Aradia! How could I have not seen that! How? How?"
"Does it matter now?" asked a voice from behind him.
Dax instantly recognized it, and slammed him into a tree.
"You!" he growled, "I should have known you were in on it!"
"Hello?" the blonde vampire managed to croak despite Dax's arm pressing against his throat. "How could I have been on it? I tried to warn you remember?"
To this, Dax had to agree and reluctantly let him go.
He tried to hold back his shuddering sobs until all he could mutter was in a pain-filled voice. "But Aradia...Aradia!"
"She's safe," Saul said to Dax sounding as nonchalant as a priest announcing the morning mass.
Dax's head shot up. "What?"
"Well," Saul admitted reluctantly with a shrug. "She is not entirely safe, but she is alive and unharmed for the moment."
"Where?" Dax practically shrieked as he pinned Saul against the tree again!
"In Pennsylvania, in the head of the entire vampire clan leader's house," Saul replied quickly.
Dax looked ecstatic, but then his common sense kicked in. "How do I know you are not lying to me?"
"You don't, but can you really take that chance?" Saul snapped.
After taking his hands off Saul, Dax quickly asked, "Anything else I should know?"
"Yeah," Saul said to him, "Hurry!"
Korrigan, after finishing tying the last knot on the bedpost, stood up and looked down at Aradia. She was now dressed in light pink and black lingerie dress and staring up at him fearfully.
"Do you like the dress?" Korrigan asked.
Aradia glanced down at herself, and then up at him.
"Let me put it this way," she finally said, "I have worn socks that were less tacky than this shit!"
Korrigan ignored her comment, and crawled onto the bed. "Whenever I close my eyes, I see you. I can feel your warm flesh pressed against my own cold one."
He then ran his hands down her arms that were also bounded by thick ropes to the bed's headboard.
"I feel you pressed against me, your body perfectly fitting mine, and your heart..." he trailed off and laid his head against her chest making Aradia squirm uncomfortably.
Korrigan did not notice this either.
He merely sighed and said, "I can hear your heartbeat moving rhythmically like music."
"God! Where do you get this crap? Off the back of a trashy romance novel?" Aradia snapped at him.
Korrigan looked up at her, and laid his chin deliberately in the middle of her cleavage. Aradia expected him to be pissed at her insult, but amazingly, he just sighed. "God, you have the most beautiful mouth."
I would have preferred him being angry, Aradia thought.
When his lips were two inches away from hers, a beeping sound was heard.
"What's that?” Korrigan asked.
"My cell phone," Aradia said, "I must have put it in my pajama bottoms when I was home."
Korrigan stood and then saw her clothes in a pile.
Aradia exhale at the sudden relief of Henry's weight off her.
He picked up the phone, and said, "You have a text message! It says Aradia love are you alright?"
Korrigan now looked confused, but more so after he saw the sender's name. "Who's Dax?"
Aradia's frightened expression changed to disbelief.
He stalks me this long, she thought bitterly, and he does not even know that I am involved with someone.
Well not anymore, Aradia added sadly.
Almost immediately, Korrigan leapt upon her, grabbed her neck, and dug his claws into her throat.
"If I find out you have been cheating on me," he snarled, "I will rip your throat out I swear to God!"
Aradia thought fast. "Dax's my...my...science partner! We were supposed to work on a project together today!"
"Oh," Korrigan released his death grip on Aradia's neck who then started to gasp out long desperate breaths.
Korrigan tapped the phone lightly against his chin. "So what do you want me to tell him?"
"Huh?" Aradia asked.
"You know to let him know you are alright," Korrigan explained.
But I am not alright you twit, Aradia thought angrily, I am being held against my will by a madman whose going to do God knows what to me.
Surprisingly, Korrigan did not react or give any impression that he read her mind. His expression stayed blank, and awaited her instructions.
"Tell him," Aradia said to Korrigan. "That I don't feel so good so I can't make it tonight, but not to worry we can meet again some other day to discuss finishing our project and everything will be alright."
Korrigan nodded happily, and quickly tapped the message into her cell phone.
He then turned, and threw it right out the window!
"No more interruptions," he said clapping and rubbing his hands.
Aradia gulped and stared at the newly broken window thinking tragically to herself, my phone.
"Now," Korrigan said smiling dangerously as he advanced towards her, "Where were we?"
It took only Dax ten minutes to round up everyone at Aradia's nightclub. The reaction to the latest news of Aradia's welfare was very mixed.
"Thank God," Roy whooped, "She's alright!"
"Poor Aradia," G
inevra cried out, "She must be being held captive by one those awful McAlester brothers!"
"How can you trust this guy?" Lamont demanded, "For all we know, he could be leading us into another trap!"
"Figures vampires would beat us to claiming the last witch," Tristan grumbled while Titania nodded.
Suddenly, Dax's cell phone went off.
As he dove into his pocket, he heard someone mutter, "How disrespectful is he? Leaving his phone on while his girlfriend is missing?"
Dax shrugged off the insult, and read the text. His jaw dropped when he saw it was from Aradia!
"If we trace where this message came from, we can find where she is exactly!" Dax exclaimed as he brandished the phone victoriously.
The whole place went eerily silent.
"I guess old age really does make one wiser," Tristan remarked.
Ross then grabbed the phone, and said he would get the trace done in a matter of minutes. His wife following at his heels, he then walked out of the club.
"So what do we do now?” Roy demanded of Dax.
"First," Dax stated, "We find the two other McAlester brothers. We have to make sure that not only will they not be able to help their brother, but that once we save Aradia they will never trouble her again! Then we will rescue Aradia! Is that okay with everyone?"
No one objected to Dax's plan so he eagerly turned on his heel, motioned for everyone to follow
"It's nice to know you are finally stepping up to the plate," Roy stated after shifting into his werewolf form.
Dax neither heard nor replied to Roy's comment. Only one thought occupied his mind: finding Aradia and saving her.
Aradia sniffled tearfully as she stared down at her plate. If her hunger was not enough to make her cry, the indignation of sitting at a table surrounded by male vampires when she was still wearing the skanky lingerie sure as hell was. Not to mention the horrid memories of her recent rape lingered in her mind like polluted water! Yet somehow, Aradia managed to prevent herself from sobbing.