by Jones, L. A.
Saul, on the other hand, just shrugged casually. "What of it?"
Aradia hesitated but only for a minute. Perhaps if she had taken a few more minutes to consider the consequences, the results of her decision would not have been so cataclysmic.
But she didn't and followed Saul down the steps away from Salem High. Uneasiness churned in her stomach, which turned in to a full frontal tidal wave the moment she saw Saul's ride. It was a solid black Suzuki GSK-R750 with one helmet sitting comfortable on the seat.
"You have a motorcycle," Aradia sputtered.
Saul nodded as he got on and held out the helmet to Aradia who shifted uncomfortably on the balls of her feet. Saul chuckled and softly shook his head.
Aradia tried to find a answer that would hide her fear but all she could come up with was, "I have never ridden a motorcycle before."
"Well there is a first time for everything you know," Saul insisted.
Aradia still did not budge. At least until Saul walked over to her still clutching the helmet in his hands. When he was only a few inches away from her, he leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "never forget Aradia, who you really are."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
He sighed, making Aradia suppress a giggle, since he was still standing very close to her ear. He didn't seem to notice as he went on to say, "you are the last of your kind. You are the last witch. You wield all kinds of legendary power. You hold political power, you hold everything in the palm of your hand. You could conquer the entire world if you wished it but only if you know how."
"And I," he dropped his voice dramatically, "I can teach you how."
"But first," he shoved the helmet into Aradia's hands, "you need to learn..."
"How to ride a motorcycle?" Aradia quipped.
Saul laughed and said, "no. You need to learn how to take risks."
He hopped back onto his motorcycle and kicked it into gear.
"So," Saul yelled, barely audible over the sound of the bike, "you willing to learn that or what?"
A few moments passed until Aradia hung her head. She then exhaled a long breath through her nose and without any further hesitation she plopped the helmet onto her head, strapped it on, and jumped onto the back. She wrapped her arms around Saul's waist who just threw his head back and laughed.
"But wait," Aradia couldn't help but add as he revved up the bike, "don't you need a helmet?"
"No." Saul stated firmly.
"But isn't that dangerous?"
Saul looked over his shoulder and straightened up. Although Aradia's head was completely shielded from him he still brought his nose right up to hers and said, "what can I say babe? I like to live dangerously."
Aradia rolled her eyes. "My god that is such a cliche..."
She was cut off as Saul started the bike and she had to quickly wrap her arms around his waist to avoid falling off.
Chapter Eleven
Melina was still steaming over the way Aradia had treated her. I tried to be nice to her and what does she do? She yells at me for Christ's sake! She was so angry that she felt she needed to distract herself quickly or else risk throwing a temper tantrum in class. As if on cue, she heard the sound of motorcycle and eagerly turned her head in its directions. She then saw a blonde guy on a black bike speeding out of the parking lot. Melina squinted her eyes and noticed the passenger's long strands of red hair. They were flowing from the helmet and flapping in the wind like flames from a fire.
"So Ms. Preston in regards to the homework, what do you think is the answer to question five?"
"Holy shit!" Melina gasped, "that's Aradia!"
Everyone in the class burst out laughing bringing back Melina's attention.
The teacher sighed, took off his glasses, and began massaging his temples. "No Ms. Preston, I am afraid that's not it."
There was further laughter from the class but Melina hardly heard them. She was too worried about what she had seen and more importantly what it meant.
The moment class ended, Melina ducked into the bathroom and texted Roy.
Melina knew she was risking a lot by texting Roy during school but she felt she had to tell somebody. And besides, she thought, the sooner I tell him, the sooner I can get help and find out what the hell is going on.
She knew Aradia was handling the break-up with Dax very badly but there were several things happening that gave Melina the impression that something major was going down. The fact that Aradia completely changed her wardrobe to match that of a gothic chick, had been missing for days, and was now ditching school were just the first ominous warnings.
Aradia had never been on a motorcycle before and she could honestly say she was loving the experience. She loved the rush she was getting as they sped down the road. She loved the feeling of danger as she clung onto Saul's waist. She knew that she shouldn't but Aradia couldn't help but feel attracted to Saul. He was a vampire so Aradia did feel trepidation but Saul seemed different than Dax. It was true that they were both blonde, spoke with British accents, and seemed very mysterious. Dax, however, seemed more like a hesitant child who was always afraid to make a choice. While Saul seemed more like the type of a man who saw what he wanted and went after it. No matter what the cost. Aradia liked being independent but at the same time it felt good to have else calling the shots for once.
Her mind kept wandering until Saul suddenly veered off the road.
"Hey!" Aradia shrieked, "what the hell are you doing?"
Saul didn't respond. Instead he just revved up the bike more and sped through the woods. Aradia clung even harder to Saul, in fear of falling off and being killed. She was glad that vampires couldn't breathe or else Aradia would have crushed Saul's lungs. Aradia was hoping that Saul wasn't driving through the woods just to freak her out. Her fears were soon put to rest as soon as he stopped the bike. He put the kickstand up and quickly got off. Aradia was still a bit shaken so she remained on the bike. Saul noticed and without a so much as a by your leave seized her by the hips and lifted her off the bike.
"Hey," Aradia cried out, "let me go!"
Saul shrugged and set her on her feet. Aradia shoved him away, and then unstrapped her helmet. When she took it off is when she recognized where they were.
Looming over them was the opening to the cave where Aradia's coven used to dwell.
"What the hell are we doing here?" Aradia demanded.
"You wanted to know more about your people didn't you?" Saul reminded her.
Aradia's disappointment was overwhelming. I should have known, Aradia thought, I should have known that you can never trust a vampire.
She threw the helmet onto the ground in frustration. As she began to stomp away, Saul's hand yanked out to grab Aradia's arm.
"hey where are you going?"
"home," Aradia stated flatly. Although explaining to my parents why I ditched school will be hell...
"but I thought..."
"Look," Aradia snapped as she spun around to face him, "if you are going to show me my coven's dead bodies I can assure that I already have."
"I know."
Aradia stopped. "what do you mean you know?"
Saul sighed and said, "I know that you have seen them and if you stay a little while I will explain."
Aradia crossed her arms and exhaled a frustrated breath through her nose.
A moment passed before she said, "no promises."
Saul look satisfied and said, "rumors about you have been circulating for years. Ever since you took down that guy Dereck. In fact, I have been following you since your sophomore year."
Aradia gasped and Saul hurried on with his explanation. "When I saw you and your parents enter that cave I followed you. After you and your parents left, I stayed behind and buried your people's bodies. I figured it was the least I could do for them."
"you buried them?" Aradia sounded skeptical. "all of them?"
"Yes," Saul stated sinc
erely.
Aradia still didn't look convinced so Saul added, "if you open the secret cave door then I will be able to show you."
Aradia sighed and stared at the ground. She then spun on her heel and walked straight into the cave. Saul obediently followed her and kept his head down so he could hide his smirk.
Aradia shuddered with trepidation as she walked through the long mouth of the cave. It may have been four years but the memories of seeing her people hanging lifelessly still haunted her. The emotions she had felt upon reading the book, the chronicle of her people, also felt raw. The despair, the sadness, and the the shock. Most of all, Aradia remembered the devastation she had felt upon finding out that she was indeed the last witch. Hell, Aradia thought bitterly, I still feel devastated about it. I mean you see this kind of stuff on TV but it's a whole different ball game when it's you. People say they understand but I don't think they do. They could never understand how lonely and horrible it feels to be the last of your kind. You have no one to talk to, you have no one who understands how you feel, but most of all you have no one to teach you about your abilities. This explains why I am here ditching school with a complete stranger.
Aradia hesitated as she thought about all this but nevertheless held out her hand and placed it on the wall.
It took her a while to gather her courage and walk in. She knew that the gruesome sight was in the town hall but seeing the abandoned homes were just as depressing. The thought of innocent people being dragged from their homes and killed cut through Aradia's mind like shattered glass. However, she didn't want to seem weak to Saul so she kept her eyes on the ground and her expression as straight as she could. She didn't notice Saul slipping beside her and taking her hand. Aradia raised her head shocked, but Saul didn't bat an eye lash. He just led her to another clearing off to the left of the town hall.
I didn't realize this place was so large, Aradia thought. Unconsciously and unintentionally, she gripped Saul's hand a bit tighter. They got to a field that seemed isolated from the rest of the village. One look was all it took to figure out why. Tombstones stuck out from the ground like stone mushrooms. Aradia knew she shouldn't but she was surprised to see so many. Moreover, she was surprised to see how they were arranged. Instead of being sloppily erected, as a hasty way to make amends, the tombstones stood straight and tall. Names, birth dates, and so on were inscribed on each and every tombstone as if they were professionally done.
"Did you do this?" Aradia asked.
Saul nodded and folded his arms.
"How..." Aradia began.
Saul interrupted and said, "vampire speed is truly an amazing thing. What takes most people months, we can accomplish in mere days. Tasks such as burying people and setting up their tombstones."
Aradia slowly wandered around the grave sites. Sometimes stopping to place her hand lovingly on one of the tombstones.
"How did you know their names?" Aradia asked, trying to hide the suspicious tone in her voice.
Saul shrugged and said, "I got their names out of the ledger."
"What ledger?"
"The one in the library."
Aradia stopped. "library?"
Chapter Twelve
The doors creaked loudly as Saul pushed them open. He boldly walked in but Aradia hung back hesitantly. Saul then groaned, grabbed Aradia's hand, and dragged her inside. She resisted the urge to dig her heels into the wooden floor. Saul stopped in the middle of the floor before letting go of her hand. He then dashed off and pulled out a box of matches. As fast as a hurricane, he lit a match and sped around the room lighting all the lamps. Just like a sunrise over the horizon, light began to dawn all over the room and as it did Aradia's eyes began to grow wider.
My god, Aradia speculated, I wonder if this is how Belle felt in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
On every wall of the huge towering room there stood shelves of thousand upon thousands of books. All thick and heavy with faint traces of writing on the spines. In between the shelves stood ladders that seemed to tower straight to the top. Three different marble podiums stood in front of three different bookshelves.
"What is all this?" Aradia said in an almost breathy gasp.
"It's a collection," Saul explained as he leaned against a shelf, "a collection of every piece of your coven's history since the day it was first founded."
Aradia was stunned. I knew there was one chronicle and that I took it but I didn't imagine that...
"This library," Saul went on to explain, "includes details about ceremonies, rituals, people born to this coven and so much more!"
Aradia looked around, her eyes wide, and her expression as greedy as kid in a candy store. "Which one should I start with?"
Saul grinned and raced to the top of one of the bookshelves. Gripping onto the side of the book shelf with his claws, he slid his other finger along the spines of the books and then smiled. "This one," he concluded.
He then seized the black book by the spine, jumped to the ground, and held it out for Aradia to see.
Cautiously, she took the book in her own two hands and read the title aloud. "The History of the Hidden Witches."
She quickly looked around and saw one of the pedestals. She took the book and laid it out, the ancient pages shimmering like flickering candle light. Aradia took a deep breath, hoping it would slow down her racing heart.
"Chapter One," she began, her voice tingling with excitement.
Saul and Aradia stayed in the library for three whole hours. Occasionally, Aradia would get hungry and Saul would race out to bring her food and drinks. This was how Saul got Aradia to try beer for the first time. He had bought himself a beer and Aradia a soda but she been curious to see what alcohol actually tasted like. After a couple of swigs, she knew and could honestly say she liked it. Most especially, the fact that she could drink way more than the average woman and not get drunk. At least that's what Saul had told her.
Aradia hated to admit it but Saul was starting to grow on her. He was handsome, dashing, and sweet. His showing her this library seemed to prove how incredible he really was. The only discomforting thing was Saul reminded her of Dax. It wasn't just his accent, his blonde hair, and charm were similar to her ex too. There were dramatic differences though such as their clothing. Dax dressed in button down shirts, black jackets, and khaki pants while Saul on the other hand always dressed in black. He wore black shoes, black socks, black shirts, and black pants. It didn't matter what the material was, if it was black he wore it.
However, while Dax had never encouraged Aradia to do anything dangerous Saul wasn't like that at all. He kept going on and on about how incredible her powers truly were and the possibilities of what she could do with them. Before Aradia had felt cautionary about her powers but the way he went on about them made her feel somewhat giddy.
"This is incredible," Aradia said after closing another book. This one was a deep green color with brown parchment pages. "Its about all the ceremonies the witches used to perform when they were still around. Ceremonies and rituals such as hand-fasting, wishing for a good harvest, even child-birthing too!"
"Funny," Saul said, "I thought you would have liked the first book best of all."
"Oh I do," Aradia insisted, "I mean finding out about where the witches came from was so totally cool!"
Saul laughed softly. "I thought you might like that."
"It's amazing," said Aradia, "who would have thought that all the witches are descendants of the Roman goddess Diana? That her daughter was the first witch and my namesake. She was the one who gathered all the disciples and created the first coven. She taught them all that they knew about witchcraft and everything."
"Furthermore," Aradia added, "that my own coven were her direct descendants and have traveled all over the world teaching everyone what they knew. Salem was just their latest stop."
"Yeah," Saul admitted, "who knew that the witches were once partly human?"
Aradia's face grew a bit solemn. "Technically, they weren't reall
y humans to begin with. They were born into the human race but had very special gifts like psychometry, telekinesis, and more. These were the people whom my ancestors sought out and trained to be witches. Hence why their powers evolved and why they were able to do the things that they could do."
"Or the things you can do," Saul pointed out.
"I wonder what the difference is between human and hidden witches anyway?" Aradia asked randomly.
Saul sighed before explaining, "human witches are more commonly known as pagans. Pagans are very much Catholics and Jews in their ways. Their so called 'spells' are their prayers and they perform them such as Catholics would say a rosary. They dress in certain robes and use candles on certain nights like Jews do on Shabbat. They don't have any real power so to speak. Hidden witches on the other hand do have powers but they don't need to say spells to do things. Just by focusing and using their energy, a hidden witch is capable of anything."
"Such as?" Aradia asked, sounding intrigued.
Saul shrugged. "Things such as reading people's minds, creating fire in their hands, messing with technology, unlocking locks, and there is so much more."
Aradia was in awe. "You talk as if you know all about it."
"I do," Saul insisted.
Aradia grinned in gleeful anticipation.
What Saul neglected to mention was that the reason why he knew all about the witches powers was because he heard stories from several of the vampires who had killed them. Rome was only one of a long line of witch hunters who had survived the previous coup. He was also one of the ones who loved to brag about it. Why the Sovereign spared him, Saul didn't really know but at the moment he didn't really care. He was this close to Aradia and he could see in her eyes that he was beginning to gain her trust.
Who knows? he thought to himself, I may have it already.