by Jones, L. A.
"I came here..." Aradia paused, "because I need your help."
Agrippa rolled his eyes and muttered, "I knew it! Typical human nature. Only wanting to associate with you when they want something."
Aradia stiffened but before she could say anything Agrippa held up his hand. "The answer is no! I don't help humans just because I saved your life doesn't change that."
He then turned to leave and would have hopped off the building until Aradia said, "but I am not human!"
All the gargoyles stared at her in shock even Agrippa turned back to look at her.
"What?" said Agrippa, "what do you..."
"I am not human," Aradia repeated, "I am a witch. A hidden witch!"
The gargoyles' eyes widened. One of them, not Agrippa, chuckled boldly. "Is this some sort of jest? All the hidden witches are dead! They were killed over three hundred years ago."
"I know," Aradia said solemnly, "I know that they are all dead. Well except for me, I am the last one. I am Aradia the absolute last witch!"
Agrippa now look genuinely intrigued. He straightened up and walked right up to Aradia. He towered over her with an intimidating glint in his eye.
"Explain!" This is what he demanded and this is what Aradia did.
For the next two hours, Aradia explained everything right from her parents finding her to finding the chronicle of her people along with their dead bodies. Undisputed proof that she was indeed the last witch on Earth.
"My god," the brown gargoyle muttered, "you really are a witch."
Aradia nodded solemnly. "Yeah and I am the last one."
Shayde and Whisper also listened intensely to Aradia's story. It explained to them fully why Saul and perhaps the Sovereign were interested in her. It also made them feel more sympathetic to her then ever before.
"I still can't believe it," Agrippa murmured, "I still can't believe that you are actually alive. I mean if there really was a hidden witch left alive why don't more people know?"
"Well being the last of my kind is not something I brag about," Aradia muttered.
A melancholy descended upon the group as Aradia stared at the ground.
The silence was finally broken when the white gargoyle remarked, "the thing I don't understand is why would you bother werewolves at all?"
Aradia smiled a little. "The thing about being the last of your kind is that you soon find that your loyalty is never to one particular group of hiddens. Sometimes I help the vampires, other times I help the shape-shifters, fae, but this time I am helping the werewolves."
"Why?" asked Agrippa.
"Because something majorly weird is going down. A new drug becomes more popular than LSD or weed and is distributed all over the country. Nobody knows what it's made from and furthermore it seems to be the source of all the latest violent conflicts concerning the hiddens. What's worse, the drug was used to poison one of the Alphas in my hometown. None of this can be a coincidence."
"It's not," Whisper remarked.
Everyone turned to look at her just as she explained, "lately all over Salem and even here in New York the Sovereign has been recruiting more soldiers to his armies. Half of the people we know have already sworn their loyalty to him and been shipped off to training camps."
The gargoyles stayed extremely quiet. Agrippa placed a finger to his lips, he looked like he was deep in thought.
The brown gargoyle sighed and said, "they are right though it can't be a coincidence. Why just the other day we said that we had noticed fights breaking out more often more the hiddens. Vicious fights not like the old ones where the opponents would either win or get tired and move on. No these latest ones have become more senseless. It's like they don't even care of they die they launch into attack instantly and hold nothing back."
"This is true," the grey skinned gargoyle admitted, "fights have always been common among the hidden race but these recent ones have been ridiculous. I have heard that half of the New York Demon clan has already died and more than a half of the Night Wind werewolf pack have died as well. The seelie faes of New York have gone missing too. After the prime minister was found slashed they retreated into their own realms. That was over six months ago and no one has heard from them since. They have clubs and businesses all over the city but no own has checked in on them. I find that very odd, I mean you think if you would own a successful business you would at least send someone to check up on it."
"Unless of course," Agrippa muttered, "you were afraid to go there for fear that somebody might kill you."
"You couldn't send a servant there," the brown one said, "for fear of somebody nabbing them and torturing information out of them."
"And you would only be that scared if you had someone pretty powerful after you," The grey one concluded.
Agrippa slammed his hand into his palm. "That settles it! Something fiendish is afoot!"
"Exactly!" Aradia said as she sprang to her feet. "Which is why I needed your help."
Agrippa, however, seemed to less enthusiastic about it. He slowly stood up. "Why should we help you? The affairs of vampires are none of our concern..."
"Look!" Whisper practically shouted, "do you really believe that the Sovereign isn't planning something that will bring the whole world to its knees? The man is the biggest control freak on this planet. He makes Adolf Hitler look like Martin Luther King Jr. A bad analogy I know but the most accurate I can think of. Obedience is the one thing he craves from all his subjects. Yes, his subjects are the vampires but do you honestly believe he would be satisfied with just that? No! He would branch out and start conquering other people."
"Which is exactly what he is doing!" the grey one declared.
Everyone turned to stare at him while he said, "don't you see? The fights, the drugs, the getting rid of leaders? He is planning a subversion and you only do that when your planning on conquering something from the inside out."
Agrippa sighed heavily and turned away for a moment. After rubbing his deformed face with his clawed hand, he looked back at Aradia, Shayde, and Whisper. They stared at him with hopeful expectations.
He sighed agin before asking, "what do you need us to do?"
Out of all the smiles from the group, Aradia's was the biggest.
Chapter Thirty-One
"I am curious about one thing," Aradia inquired.
"Hmm?" Agrippa glanced over.
He was the one who carried her in his arms as they soared towards the building. It was the one across from the factory that Kaiser had previously taken her to. The brown gargoyle carried Shayde while the white one carried Whisper. The grey one carried the flank, looking left and right to make sure they were being followed.
Or noticed, Aradia realized, it wouldn't bode well for the humans to notice the gargoyles and start shrieking.
She chuckled before Agrippa jerked upwards. Aradia gasped and threw her arms around Agrippa's neck. He stiffened but said nothing. He just nodded to the other gargoyles who nodded in reply. Spreading their wings further, the gargoyles glided down to stand on top of the building. Slowly, Agrippa set Aradia down on her feet. She smiled at him in spite of his grim expression. Shayde and Whisper practically sprang from the other gargoyles arms as soon as they landed on the rooftop.
"Are we being followed?" Agrippa demanded of the grey gargoyle who shook his head.
Agrippa nodded in satisfaction.
"Excuse me Agrippa?" Aradia asked.
"Yes?"
"Like I just said, I m curious about one thing."
Agrippa rolled his eyes. "And that is?"
Aradia exhaled a breath. "Well I know what your name is but I don't know theirs."
She pointed at the other gargoyles to indicate what she meant. The others stared at her, shocked that she even wanted to know.
Agrippa chuckled at their expressions. "Well why don't you ask them yourselves?"
Aradia then turned to the other gargoyles who sounded off. The brown one said his name was Cato, the white was Aurelius, and the grey was
named Cicero.
"All Roman philosophers," Aradia noted with a soft chuckle.
The gargoyles exchanged quick glances with each other as if Aradia had stumbled upon a closely guarded secret. She noticed but before she could say anything she heard a noise from behind her.
It was Kaiser climbing up the fire escape ladder that led straight to the roof. He climbed with no trouble but the moment he saw the gargoyles he stiffened. His eyes grew wide and Aradia could see by the way his mouth was widening that he was about to cry out. Aradia quickly ran towards him and clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Hush!" Aradia hissed as she looked behind him to make sure no one had heard. The guard vampires, with their super sonic hearing, at the factory didn't seem fazed one bit. They were too busy standing guard at the factory.
"Thank God for that," Aradia muttered. She kept her hand over Kaiser's mouth as she pulled him away. He struggled, however, once he realized she was bringing him closer to the gargoyles.
"What are they?" He demanded as soon as Aradia took her hand away.
She sighed and explained in addition to pointing out all the gargoyles and saying their names. In spite of the introductions, Kaiser still quavered.
Aradia rolled her eyes and said, "so what do you have for me?"
Kaiser said while never taking his eyes off the gargoyles, "it is as you believed. There is an office in there located to the north side of the building. Its filled with papers and stuff."
"How do you know this?" Agrippa asked.
Kaiser squeaked at the revelation that this thing could actually talk. Aradia stopped herself from chuckling but followed Agrippa's lead. "Well? How do you know?"
Kaiser gulped. "I followed the cleaning crew and over heard them gossiping about it."
"Did they saw what those documents are about?" Aradia asked.
This time Kaiser broke his scared expression. He stared at her with a sarcastic expression that said are you kidding?
Aradia let a slow exasperated breath. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
Agrippa looked at Aradia and then back to the roof of the factory. After a few moments, he nodded and said, "I see."
Aradia glanced at him, curious.
"I see what you want from me and my guild."
She then cast her eyes down, a little guiltily.
Agrippa, however, just sighed deeply. He then glanced back at his fellow gargoyles who stared at him awaiting instructions.
He snorted a little before looking back at Aradia. She stared at him, looking at him rather hopefully.
He then smiled and scooped her up in his arms. "Its a good thing you are cute."
Aradia smiled awkwardly before Agrippa spread his wings. He nodded to the other gargoyles who followed suit. They then raced off the building and jumped off. They then glided towards the factory roof.
Shayde, Whisper, and Kaiser hung back and stared at them. Shayde and Whisper held hands as Shayde asked Kaiser, "do you think they will be okay?"
Kaiser shrugged. "One can only hope!"
Agrippa quickly found a cloud bank and with one jerk of his head the gargoyles followed him. Aradia was fearful that they would fly straight into it but she neednt have worried. Instead the gargoyles flew above the cloud bank which was large enough to cloak him and his guild. This was how they snuck to the factory rooftop without being noticed. Once they reached it, they landed as gently as possible. Sure enough there was a heavily locked door on the rooftop standing out conspicuously like a huge zit on a super model's face.
"How do we get in?" Cato asked.
Agrippa rolled his eyes before stomping straight to the door and raising his huge leg high in the air. Aradia realized what he was about to do and quickly stopped him.
"There might be an alarm," Aradia explained.
She then turned around and stared at the locked door. It had two looks and a padlock on the doorknob. The door also looked reinforced, so maybe it was a good thing Agrippa didn't break it down because it might have caused him to break his own leg. Luckily the padlock was on her side and after two weeks of proper eating, sleeping, and no drugs her powers had started coming back to her. Aradia held the lock in her hand and narrowed her eyes. She sensed the locking mechanism in the padlock and triggered it. She then pulled off the padlock and chain and set in on the ground. She stumbled a big dealing with the energy leaving her. Agrippa caught her and said, "what's wrong?"
Aradia shook her head. "I will explain later."
Agrippa looked dissatisfied but didn't say anything. He then looked back at the door and noticed its hinges. He let go of Aradia as she got her bearings and seized the top hinge on the door. With a massive grunt, he pulled off the heavy peg and then the other.
Aradia smiled as Agrippa pulled the door open. She stopped, however, as soon as she saw him starting to follow her inside.
"No Agrippa, you can't come with me."
Agrippa was stunned. "Why not?"
Aradia tried to phrase it as best as she could. "If you come in with me, you will be noticed. What's the whole pointing of sneaking in when someone could notice us?"
"She has a point," Cato reluctantly agreed.
Agrippa glared at Cato before turning back to Aradia. He sighed heavily and said, "half an hour. If your not out in half an hour than I am coming after you understand?"
Aradia nodded but before she went in, Agrippa grabbed her arm. "Be careful," is what he whispered just as he let go.
Aradia glanced one final time before she walked down the ominous staircase into the dark hall of the factory.
After using her crystal ball power, Aradia was able to deduce exactly where the office was and how to get there. It wasn't easy though because in addition to the guards outside there were guards patrolling inside usually two of them at a time. Nevertheless, Aradia was determined to get to there. Pacing herself, and placing a hand on the wall she was able to determine what halls were being currently patrolled. This was how she avoided the sentries, and get to the office. Luckily, the door did was not padlocked from the inside so Aradia could unlock it. The moment she snuck in, she looked around fervently.
Her heart sank, however, when she saw all the files lying around. Apparently these people don't believe in organization or even computers.
Then again having all this stuff on computers would make it more difficult, Aradia realized. She thought about going through every file one by one but that would take too long. Then she brightened and resisted the urge to smack herself in the head. Duh! My summoning power!
She held out her hand but then she remembered that the summoning often expunged a lot of bright white light. If such a thing occurred and someone saw it...
Anxiously she checked her watch and saw that she only had twenty minutes left. Aradia sighed heavily before deciding. To hell with it!
She then held out both her hands and closed her eyes. I need to find documents that will explain and prove what is going on. I need to find documents that will show what's in the drug Rage. I need to find solid and legitimate proof why Roy's uncle was murdered.
Those words are what she chanted inside her head over and over again as her hands began to glow. White light then steamed up from both her palms. Aradia kept her eyes closed even though she heard the flutter of papers around her. She still kept her eyes closed when she felt papers and files float into her hands. When the spell seemed fulfilled is when the light exploded like a supernova. Aradia then clutched the papers close to her, hoping to God they really were the ones she was looking for.
She sighed heavily as she steadied herself against the wall. After a few deep breaths, she tucked the files under her arm. She then went straight to the door and opened it. She would have walked right out of the office if there hadn't been someone standing right in front of her. Specifically, a vampire guard dressed in black with an odd Tudor rose symbol on his shirt.
For a few awkward seconds, they just stared at each other until finally the vampire seemed to realize she wasn't su
ppose to be in there.
"Hey," he began but wasn't able to finish his sentence due to Aradia punching him hard in the face. Just enough to knock him out, and then she dragged him back into the office. She then placed her hand on the door and sensed the locking mechanism. After locking it is when she dashed down the hall.
Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap! Aradia thought to herself as she raced up the stairs. This time she wasn't being so subtle so needless say one of the sentries spotted her.
"Hey!" he shouted after her. "What are you doing in here?"
Instead of reply, Aradia summoned a small fireball. May not be as big as I used to make him but hey beggars can't be choosers. At least beggars who want to get the hell out of here!
She didn't stop running as she threw the fireball at the guard pursuing her. She didn't pause when she heard his shrieks of burning pain. She just kept on running until she finally came to the stairs leading to the roof. She pushed the broken door aside with a loud boom.
"Hey are you alright?" Agrippa asked.
Aradia waved his questions away. "No time! We got to get out of here! Like now!"
As if it were to illustrate their need to leave quickly a loud shrill alarm started to erupt from inside the building.
Agrippa didn't waste another moment before seizing Aradia in his arms and running towards the edge. He took off and soared through the air. By then however the vampires were bellowing out orders and shooting at them.
Agrippa tried to soar as high as he could into the sky and clutched Aradia close to his chest. She winced as a few bullets hit Agrippa in the arm and legs. Amazingly, he only faltered a little even when his wing was shot. He still kept himself up in the air and soared out of sight.
"There they are!" Aurelius shouted as he pointed with one of his long claws. Shayde, Whisper, and the other gargoyles stood on top of the roof of their new apartment building. Kaiser was there too and his anxiousness around the gargoyles seemed to have faded. It returned however as soon as Aradia and Agrippa were seen flying towards them.