by L. A. Jones
The game went on like that for just over an hour before the beastly transformation came. Aradia watched in fascination as the four males all seemed to seize up at once. She saw as their skin tightened and rippled, their backs spasmed, and they started to change.
They screamed out in pain as their bodies sprouted wolf hair. After just a few moments, she was no longer in a room with her friend, his brothers, and his father. Now she was in a room with four prowling, growling, ferocious werewolves.
“Well that was different,” Aradia spoke. Apparently she drew Roy’s attention, for he turned and swiped at the bars on her side of his cage. He could not reach his arm through the bars, of course, but he definitely tried, swiping and gnashing his teeth.
“My, what big teeth you have, Roy.”
She sat like that for about five minutes.
“I guess that’s that!” she said, rising up and unlocking the door to her cage using the one key.
“Guys, it’s been fun. Mr. Morales, here you go,” she said, sliding the key under the door to his cell. He pounced at the door, banging his head hard on it. “Oooh… well, at least you won’t remember that, right?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Is something wrong?” Dax asked Aradia as they drove his 335d into the city of Salem.
“No, what makes you think that?” Aradia responded.
“Since I picked you up you have been so quiet,” said Dax. “Normally you never shut up.”
He smiled after the statement, hoping to encourage a laugh from Aradia. She said nothing. She knew she was supposed to be acting normal to keep Dax off balance. In the back of her mind, though, she knew that this was probably the last time she would ever be with him.
Even given the deception, how could she be anything but sad?
“I just feel sick today, that's all,” Aradia replied.
“You should have said something,” Dax replied as he pulled into the mall’s parking garage. “We could have rescheduled if you are feeling under the weather.”
Aradia forced herself to look at him when she said, “I wanted to see you.”
She smiled up at Dax who replied very stoically as they walked towards the mall’s entrance. I guess I was wrong to think you and I had something special, Dax, Aradia thought to herself, so very wrong indeed.
So far, it had not been much of a date. All they had done was walk around the entire shopping mall in awkward silence. Aradia was giving Dax one final chance to come clean, hoping he would admit the truth about his motivations and declare that because of his feelings for her he could not keep lying.
He didn’t, though. Dax just walked along at her side, saying very little, looking everywhere besides directly at her.
When he finally did speak, it was to say, “I believe I should take you home.” They hadn’t even been out a full hour.
As they were exiting the shopping mall, Aradia noticed a group of scrawny, seedy guys following them. There were four of them, and they all wore dirty black clothing and beanie caps. They followed Aradia and Dax into the parking garage. In the closer quarters, Aradia noted they smelled heavily of weed and beer. She had to assume Dax had noticed them as well.
Really? Is it going to be every date I go on I get accosted by some group of no-gooders?
When they stopped in front of Dax’s car the scumbags closed in on them. Aradia decided confrontation was the only option left. Regardless of what else was going on with them, she trusted Dax would be good with the decision.
The two of them spun to face the group.
“Hey sweetie, what’s up?” one of the jerks asked her, completely ignoring Dax.
He smelled more foul then the rest of them put together, but worst of all was the way he looked at Aradia. He was leering at her with intense sexual hunger reflecting in his eyes.
“Don’t call me sweetie,” Dax replied dryly.
Aradia laughed aloud.
“Not talking to you,” he replied, still leering lecherously at Aradia.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“Look in the mirror and you will see," he joked, revealing his yellow teeth and making his friends all chuckle.
Dax remained impassive. Aradia fought back the urge to throw up all over the offensive man’s shoes.
“Look, um, dude,” Aradia said as politely as she could. “I don’t mean to be rude but my... uh... friend and I were on our way home. I’d really rather not have any trouble, so I would appreciate it if you just leave us alone.”
“Your boyfriend here must be pretty stupid,” the same one said with a nod towards Dax.
Dax stiffened while the guy’s friends all chuckled again.
“Excuse me?” said Aradia.
“I mean nobody but a stupid boyfriend would let a hot looking girl like you out in public,” he said with a fiendish grin.
He was so emaciated that when he smiled, he looked absolutely skeletal. “If you were mine, I would never let you leave my side.”
“There’s so much wrong with that statement,” Aradia murmured. “Look, if I even stand near you much longer, let alone by your side, I’m gonna need me some noseplugs.”
Dax burst out laughing, but the guy and his crew didn’t seem amused. They grew dangerously quiet.
Oh crap.
“Yeah, that was rude. Look, I’m sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I apologize," Aradia said quickly, trying to defuse the situation.
Strangely, the guy smiled at Aradia, looking pleased rather than angry.
“It’s alright, sweetie,” he said to a confused Aradia. “But if you really want to apologize, let’s kiss and make up.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Aradia said. “Leave us the hell alone, now, or we’re going to kick all four of your pathetic asses.”
They didn’t seem intimidated. They formed a loose semicircle around her and Dax.
“You know something, sweetie?” the speaker said. “You talk too damn much! C’mere with you!”
He lunged towards Aradia, but Dax had anticipated the attack. He stepped in front of her and with one solid shove, used the goon’s own momentum to propel him into a concrete support column. His body and face contacted the column with a sickening thud. Aradia winced, recalling the sound when she and Kasey had collided with the pavement.
“Go near her and die, you bloody sods!" Dax snapped angrily.
Although shocked by the turn of events, the attacker, who appeared to be the leader of the thugs, managed to stumble to his feet. The others waited for guidance. Aradia was relieved to see Dax had not killed him.
The leader’s expression changed from surprise to anger.
“Get ‘em!” he yelled to his crew, pointing at Dax accusingly.
These guys don’t know who they’re messing with, Aradia thought, actually pitying them. Or what they’re messing with.
The biggest guy of the group, who was just as thin and weak looking as the others, only taller, moved towards Dax. When he was two steps away Aradia moved between the two and socked the goon right the eye. He landed flat on his back, out cold.
The remaining two uninjured assailants came at her. Without hesitating, she kicked the first in his most sacred area. As he doubled over in pain, Aradia grabbed the back of his shirt and threw him to the ground in front of the other.
“We can do this all night if you want,” she taunted.
The fourth guy bolted from the garage.
Now all who were left upright were Aradia, Dax, and the leader-goon. He was bleeding from the forehead and looked like his nose was broken, but didn’t seem to care.
He reached into a pocket to pull out a switchblade. He grinned evilly as he saw Aradia falter.
For two intense moments, they just stared at each other until the guy lunged at her with the knife. Aradia, a bit intimidated by the knife, nevertheless caught the guy by the wrist. She then squeezed it intensely and summoned a bit of flame, just enough to burn him mildly. He dropped the knife, howling in agony. Aradia took no notic
e.
She lifted him and slammed him down on the hood of Dax’s car with such force that the glass in windshield actually cracked.
By now the guy was genuinely shaking with terror. “You don’t ever talk to a girl like that or try to force yourself on one again, you hear me?”
He nodded eagerly.
“I swear if I ever hear of anything like this again, I will find you.”
Then she let him go.
Dax had stood by watching Aradia, speechless.
He stood with his mouth agape, staring at Aradia who just turned to look at him, and said, “Still here, are you?”
“Is there a reason why I would not be?” asked Dax.
Aradia shrugged and said, “Most times when a guy sees a girl be strong and kicking ass, they take off for the hills.”
“Can't imagine why,” Dax muttered.
“That better be sarcasm,” Aradia spat in a venomous tone.
Before Dax could even answer, she made her way to the passenger seat of the car, opened it, and sat down.
“You still want me to take you home?” Dax asked.
Aradia shrugged with total indifference. At first, Dax just stood stunned, but seeing Aradia's expression he decided to let it go.
Nodding toward the cracked windshield, Aradia asked, “You have full coverage?”
“I always insure against the unexpected.”
Aradia shrugged and said, “Good. I’ll pay your copay or whatever for the repair.”
Dax was stunned by her attitude. He just replied, “That will not be necessary.”
As they were exiting the parking garage and getting onto the road, Dax finally looked to Aradia and asked, “What exactly are you, anyway?”
“You really want to know?” asked Aradia.
“Yes,” he replied.
Aradia slumped against the window and said, “Me too.”
Soon they reached her house, and Dax got out to open Aradia's door. She was already out of the car, though, and coldly brushed past him to get inside. Then she hesitated. She realized at this point that if she wanted to know what was going on, it was now or never.
“Aradia, what is wrong?” asked Dax.
She shook her head, then turned to look up at him, eyes moist.
Dax stepped closer and gazed at her.
“Has anyone ever told you how magnificently beautiful your eyes are?”
Boy! Is he pouring it on thick, Aradia thought to herself bitterly.
“I know I haven’t been really good to you lately, Aradia, but from this point on that’s going to change. I will start taking our relationship more seriously. I will always be there. From now on, Aradia, I will do anything for you. Anything at all.”
“You don’t have to do that, Dax,” Aradia replied, looking down at her feet.
“No, I don’t. I want to, love,” whispered Dax. He hadn’t used ‘love’ as a pet name for her since their first couple of dates.
Aradia said nothing. She just squeezed her eyes and decided that if she was ever going to do it she had to do it now.
“There is one thing you can do for me, Dax,” said Aradia, still looking at the ground.
“You need merely put it to words,” said Dax.
“The thing that you can do for me,” said Aradia as she brought her face up to meet his, “is hold still.”
With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips with her own.
At first, Dax’s eyes grew wide with surprise, but then as the kiss went on, he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, savoring it. Aradia, however, was getting a different experience from the kiss than Dax.
Slowly at first, then in a rush, she saw through his eyes the moment he had first seen her in Algebra. She saw and felt his raging jealously as he had watched Roy and her dancing at Jayce’s party. She saw him hiding in the woods, recording her use her powers on his phone. She heard Xan proposing a strategy of how to investigate Aradia from the source. The last memory was too much for Aradia. She lost her concentration, and the visions faded.
She ended the kiss. Angrily, she shoved Dax away. He stood confused and perplexed, dazed from the suddenness of the kiss. No sooner did he reach out for Aradia’s hand than she raised that same hand to slap him hard across the face. Stunned, Dax withdrew his arm. Aradia looked at him as ruthlessly as a boa ready to pounce on a bird with a broken wing.
“You know, Dax, I really did like you,” she sneered. “But I guess for some guys such as yourself that just isn’t enough!”
Shaking with anger and sadness, Aradia stomped into her house and slammed the door behind her. Dax stood on her porch and considered her words.
Aloud he spoke, “She knows.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The first thing Aradia did was throw herself on her bed and cry to herself for twenty minutes. Second, she called Rhonda, who did not answer. Third, she called Roy and told him everything. She had not intended to, and she knew sharing this would only add fuel to his fiery hatred of vampires, but at the moment she needed a friend more than she needed to soothe race relations.
He was surprisingly quiet through most of the conversation. She didn’t know what he was thinking. It didn’t even cross her mind to wonder. After venting her anger, she felt ever so slightly better. She thanked him for listening and got off the phone.
Afterwards, Aradia stomped about the house looking for her mother and father. In the kitchen she found a note on the fridge:
Dear Rai Rai,
Your father took me on a surprise date night. We’re going to the silent film festival. Might be back late. Lasagna in the fridge.
Love,
Mom & Dad
After crumpling the note in frustration, she decided to go to the basement freezer to get some ice cream. What she needed, besides an opportunity to run down Dax with his own BMW, was comfort food, and as far as she knew, no comfort food was better than Chunky Monkey. She made her way towards the freezer, too angry to sense her surroundings. Most especially, most unfortunately, she was too angry to notice the dark green eyes staring at her from the shadows, eyes which tracked her movements as she descended the stairs.
“There you are,” she said to her delicious prey as she pulled it from the back of the upright freezer. She swung the door shut and in the silver handle caught a most unsettling reflection.
At first, she thought it was only the reflection of the vacuum or some other basementy appliance, but then she started thinking, since when do vacuums creep ominously towards someone? Quickly, she spun around in terror to face whomever was in her house.
She immediately recognized Dereck from when she’d seen him at the courthouse, despite a few differences. Then he’d been dressed attractively in a casual suit, had been clean shaven, and had only seemed mildly menacing. Now he was stubbly and scraggly, carried a stinking wet cloth, and clearly came across as highly dangerous.
“Dereck?” Aradia whispered, jumping back out of his reach.
The man glared with unimaginable fury. “You have nerve, child, meddling in my plans.”
She backed away from him slowly. He matched her step for step. The only escape was the stairway, and fortunately she was between it and Dereck.
“Why? Why would you try to stop me?” Dereck demanded.
“Um, maybe because I think senseless murder is bad?”
She took another backwards step, being ever so careful not to stumble.
“Senseless!” he cried. He was hunched slightly and his eyes were wide. “Senseless! You silly, silly girl.”
Maybe it’s best not to antagonize him. “So killing Mr. Hitzig wasn’t senseless, I guess. You killed him to cover your tracks.” She took another step toward escape.
“I never killed anybody to protect myself,” Derek stated simply and proudly, “or for money or for any other reason so base. I only killed as my role required.”
“What about Mr. Hitzig?” she said. “You killed him because he was onto you about Stan
ley.”
Dereck smiled condescendingly, as if Aradia was a small child trying to convince him that the man in the red suit she’d met at the mall was really Santa. “I killed the lawyer because I needed another werewolf, and he came along at the right time. That’s all, sweet girl. What led you to me?”
Aradia groped for a believable answer, but found nothing. Instead, she said, “Does it really matter now?”
Surprisingly, this answer seemed to calm the killer. He shook his head and said, “You're right. It doesn’t.”
“What do you want?” Aradia asked.
“To kill you,” Dereck said bluntly.
“Yeah, I got that. Why?” asked Aradia. She was nearly at the staircase.
Dereck gave a short barking laugh and said, “You have no idea, do you? I already had my next sacrifice picked out. My next Vampire Murder.” He cut himself off and cackled maniacally. He could not keep from laughing after speaking “Vampire Murder.” He was frothing at the corner of his mouth.
“Your next sacrifice?” Aradia repeated. This guy is the biggest nutcase I’ve met yet…
“Mmmm,” he agreed. “But we spoke, he and I. He had such an interesting story to tell, I thought his time could wait.”
Oh God…
“Who was it?” she asked, terrified of the answer.
“Oh you know already, don’t you?” he asked. “I should really thank you for your role in things. You practically sent him to me.”
Kaiser!
“Did you…” she could not bring herself to ask it. She was no longer thinking about the stairs.
“His role in the Greatness has not yet come,” Dereck said. “He will be the fourth, if necessary.”
“You are a serious piece of work,” she muttered.
“And you are blind to the truth if you oppose me.”
“No, I just don't like seeing murderers go free!”
“History will regard me as a visionary, anointed for a higher purpose.”