Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 4

by Jones, L. A.

  Tales of Aradia The Last Witch

  Volume 4

  By L.A. Jones

  I dedicate this book to my Mama and Daddy, the two most precious people to me in the entire world. The greatest supporters I have ever had. It is because of their love that I have made it this far, and it is because of their love and the fact that they will always be there for me that I know I will go further. May I always make them proud to be their daughter just as I am proud that they are my parents.

  Copyright L.A. Jones 2010

  Published at Smashwords

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Chapter One

  The Sovereign paced heavily and loudly across the throne room. Although he had initially decided that, the best course of action was to ignore the last witch and her political changes; his feelings had definitely changed in the last three years. Most especially after hearing that the High Hidden Council of Salem had just given her a title; no longer was Aradia only known as the last witch. Now she was to be referred to and even addressed as: Aradia the Witch Queen. It was remarkable to him how a mere eighteen-year-old girl could have gained so much power in so little time.

  He knew that since Aradia was a pureblooded witch she would indeed age, but at a much slower pace. So waiting for her to die is definitely out of the question, the Sovereign mused to himself. In truth, the pureblooded witches life spans rivaled those of the vampires, who if careful could be up to a thousand years.

  Like my predecessor, the Sovereign thought, he had lived for over a two thousand years and yet had his regime toppled like a house of cards once I appeared.

  He stopped pacing and began to reminiscence of how he came to be the Sovereign of all the vampires. It had happened late one night when he was on his way home in London. It was down a dark alley, his carriage had been stopped, and a man had suddenly leapt into the carriage. It turned out that the man was someone whom he had unjustly sent to prison. Once there, the man had been turned into a vampire by one of the guards. Using his newfound power, he had escaped and gone after the Sovereign to avenge himself. What better punishment was there, the man had said, then to be turned into a creature of the night?

  Instead of feeling bitter or anger at this memory, a cruel smile lit up the Sovereign's face like an eerie candle. Ironically, the punishment had been blessing in disguise. After being turned into a vampire, the Sovereign had been able to achieve more power than he could have ever dreamed of!

  There had been a downside though, the Sovereign's begrudgingly concluded to himself.

  His smile changed to that of a deep frown of anger. Despite offering his wife eternal power and youth, she had refused him directly. His stupid son had then tried to save her, but he had always been young and weak. His wife had pleaded with him to spare their son's life, making it obvious to what the Sovereign had suspected all along that his wife had loved her son more than she loved him. In the end, the Sovereign had indeed spared his son but left him in such a way that the boy probably wished he was dead.

  The Sovereign shook his head, as if to banish the thoughts that currently plagued his mind. He was done with the past and now he had to think about the future. Aradia was proving to be more of a bother than he would have realized. When he had first heard of her, he had thought the best course of action was to ignore her. After all, what was the territory of Salem, MA when he quite practically owned the world? The politician in him, however, knew that such a thing like Aradia was like ignoring a parasite.

  At first, the Sovereign just chuckled softly at the unlikeliness of this. He stopped, however, as soon as he realized that it was also supposed to be unlikely for her to have survived the genocide of her people in the first place. He shook his head, and decided he should take no chances. He had to deal with her and quickly. However, he couldn't do it personally for although the vampires followed him without any question there were still those who didn't. Therefore, for the sake of appearances he had to keep his hands clean but then what could he do?

  He turned around and shouted, "Morgan!"

  A few seconds later she appeared in the Sovereign's throne room in a swirl of her usual black smoke.

  "You summoned me Sovereign?" she asked him while kneeling.

  He nodded. "Are there any vampire clans who are without a territory?"

  "Yes, Sovereign," was how Morgan replied.

  "And how many are upset with that?"

  "Surprisingly, not many," Morgan answered.

  The Sovereign frowned, but only for a moment. "Are any of those clans that are upset large?"

  "I beg your pardon Sovereign?"

  "Do any of those clans have more than ten vampires in it?" the Sovereign asked.

  "How many do you wish there to be?"

  "Twenty would be enough," he answered. "Are there any clans like that?"

  Morgan nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. There is a clan of young vampires whom for quite some time have longed to have their own territory."

  "How many are in it?" the Sovereign inquired.

  "Thirty, Sovereign," Morgan replied.

  The Sovereign let out a low whistle.

  He then strolled over to his desk, opened a cabinet, and poured some dark red liquid into a brandy glass.

  After he took a swig, he strolled back to Morgan who was still on her knees.

  "Do they have a leader?"

  Morgan nodded.

  "What is his name?" the Sovereign requested.

  "His name is Kolton," Morgan answered, "He has been a vampire since the late 60's. He was active in the anti-vietnam war movement and was even suspected of several terrorist attempts. His second in command is his own biological brother Caiden whom Kolton himself turned..."

  "Bloody hell woman!" The Sovereign interrupted, "I asked you for his name not his damned biography!"

  Morgan hung her head, but the Sovereign did not seem to notice.

  He walked back to his desk, swallowed his entire drink in one big gulp, and slammed down the glass. "Summon this boy to me at once. Tell him it's urgent. Tell him..."

  The Sovereign grew thoughtful. "Tell him it's time for his clan's wanderings to end and his thirst for power to be quenched!"

  Chapter Two

  Saul did not know what to do. He was fearful of his commander's temper. Should he find out that Saul had betrayed him in order to save Aradia, God only knew what Keon would do to him.

  Suddenly, Saul was hit by a brilliant inspiration. "Keon allow me to report all that has happened so far to the Sovereign."

  Keon's head shot up from the magazine he was reading. "He already knows."

  Saul's heart sank. "What?"

  "He already knows Saul," Keon snapped, "How do you think I know?"

  Saul exhaled a breath, one means of talking to the Sovereign had been officially shot down.

  Amazingly, Keon spared him from further attempts. "We should go tonight and see the Sovereign."

  Saul eye's widen in shock, not daring to believe his luck, but before Saul could even ask Keon explained why. "We need to speak with him and find out what's going to happen next!"

  There are many differences between a vampire in the form of a bat, and an actual vampire bat. The first was not only faster, but bigger and blacker as well. The guards were able to recognize the two once they reached one if the many castle balconies. In less than a minute both Saul and Keon were in the Sovereign's throne room.

  The Sovereign entered with a loud boom f
rom the double doors. As soon as they heard this, the two of them dropped to their knees, and drooped their heads in humility. The Sovereign then impatiently strode over to them.

  After creating some deep dramatic tension by tapping his foot on the marble floor he finally demanded, "Well? What are you doing here? What do you want?"

  Saul gulped while Keon answered, "Sovereign, we wish to know what you want us to do in regards to the last witch?"

  The Sovereign nodded with understanding, "You mean the Witch Queen now don't you?"

  Keon gritted his teeth. Although it had been his idea to have the High Hidden Council give Aradia the title in the first place as a deliberate attempt to provoke the Sovereign into killing the girl, he still hated the thought of that little nobody being in charge. Quite frankly, it was enough to make him want to kill something: her in particular!

  "Well?" Keon asked the Sovereign once he had made his voice steady. "What should we do?"

  The Sovereign shrugged. "You tell me. After all, you seem to be wanting to the last witch dead more than anyone. What with all the plots you have come up with such as the McAlester brothers and helping the werewolf ex-husband kidnap her."

  Keon's insides froze with fear, his first instinct was to look at Saul who started to shake his head anxiously.

  Luckily, the Sovereign intervened for him. "Oh don't worry Saul here did not betray you. There are other ways of finding things out when someone is plotting against me."

  "I was never plotting against you Sovereign," Keon protested.

  "Well maybe not against me personally, but definitely against my orders."

  Keon, at this point, broke down, and threw himself at the Sovereign's feet pleading for forgiveness. The Sovereign, however, kicked him away cruelly.

  He then waved his left hand dismissing Keon's further protests. "Now, now Keon it's just as well. Your plans were clever and effective and I must admit without your help the McAlester's and Holden's attempts would have been more prolonged and futile so at least thanks to you things were done quicker."

  "However," the Sovereign folded his arms. "You still disobeyed a direct order to leave the witch alone in addition to deliberately trying to deceive me."

  Keon tried to stop himself from trembling on his knees, but the Sovereign neither noticed nor gloated.

  Instead, he went on to say, "Now you know disobedience is unacceptable in my regime. In fact, obedience is the one thing I insist upon the most from all of my followers. Now I could punish you severely but..." he trailed off.

  A few moments of tense silence passed until the Sovereign spoke again. "The truth is of the matter is I have more important things to worry about."

  "However," he said to Keon, "Disobedience is still a crime and all crimes committed against me must be punished."

  The Sovereign then started to smile wickedly making Keon gulp in nervous anticipation.

  "Since you have made it obviously clear you don't much care for spying on the Last Witch your punishment will be to watch over her continuously from now that means from sunrise to sundown the only thing you will do is watch Aradia. However, you are not to touch nor interfere with her until I say you can do otherwise. Should you do so you will be killed without a moments hesitation."

  Saul smiled with his head still bowed, but as he glanced over to Keon he noticed that he had stopped trembling. He was now stiff as a board, and both of his fists were clenched tightly.

  "You are dismissed. Return to your posts immediately," the Sovereign commanded as he waved them away.

  By the time the two of them had exited the throne room Keon was positively shaking. Saul, although not wanting to upset Keon further, still doubled back and entered the throne room a second time.

  "I thought I dismissed you!" The Sovereign snapped.

  "Sovereign," said Saul dropping to his knees once again. "I wish to discuss something important with you."

  "Such as?"

  "The last witch," Saul gulped after saying this hoping the Sovereign's reaction would not be violent.

  The Sovereign looked at him and then shrugged, muttering under his breath, "Of course you wish to discuss her. Everyone wants to talk about her these days."

  "But very well," the Sovereign added, speaking more loudly and looking directly at Saul.

  He then walked to his throne and sat down and awaited Saul's response.

  Saul inhaled deeply, and nervously.

  "Sovereign," He began, "What if we were to get the last witch to join us?"

  The throne room became deathly silent for a few moments until the Sovereign burst out laughing. Saul disliked being laughed at, but he brazened it out.

  After a while, the Sovereign stopped laughing, brushed laughter tears from his eyes, and looked back at Saul.

  He then said, "Oh bloody hell you weren't serious were you?"

  Saul nodded and explained, "I think it would be much more productive to have the last witch join us instead of trying to kill her."

  The Sovereign chuckled. "Now why should she want to join us, me especially? The very vampire who ordered all her people to be executed?"

  "Begging your pardon Sovereign," said Saul, "But she does not know that you were the one who ordered her people destroyed."

  The Sovereign stopped laughing softly.

  "So what are you saying Saul?" the Sovereign inquired further, raising an eyebrow.

  Saul inhaled deeply. "I believe that the last witch wishes to become a positive influence on the hidden world. In order to do that it would make sense for her to join a very powerful political figure."

  "You mean me?" the Sovereign asked.

  Saul nodded.

  "But what makes you think I will listen to her 'suggestions' or changes eh?"

  Saul shook his head. "No Sovereign, you don't have to do anything for her at all."

  "But then why would she join us if she would get nothing in return?"the Sovereign questioned him.

  Saul smirked. "She would never have to know that she wouldn't be getting anything in return for as the Sovereign of the vampires it would be easy for you to manipulate her into believing anything."

  The Sovereign smiled at this.

  Encouraged, Saul added, "And imagine how much powerful you would be once people discover that you have the last witch on your side! You would truly be the most powerful and feared hidden leader of them all!"

  Saul paused for dramatic effect while the Sovereign sat contemplating.

  Until finally the Sovereign asked, "And what if she were to find out that she was being used eh? She would fight back you know and she is very powerful."

  Saul shrugged. "Yes Sovereign, but you see even if she were to find out the truth and try to escape it wouldn't matter. Despite her powers, even she could not possibly hope to escape a whole castle of vampires."

  "Plus," Saul added with a little bit of relish in his tone. "Even if she were to escape where would she go? If she chose us, her family and suitors would probably forsake her. Therefore, she would be stuck with us and us alone."

  The Sovereign appeared to be considering the idea.

  Finally he said, "Very well then Saul. Approach the last witch and try to convince her to join us."

  Saul nodded and rose eagerly to leave, but he stopped as soon as the Sovereign said, "However, you have until the next summer to convince her. If you have not done so by that time," the Sovereign shrugged before continuing. "Then I think it is pretty obvious that she is clearly a threat and must be dealt with accordingly. Do you understand this?"

  Saul once again nodded with enthusiasm. "Believe me Sovereign, I will get her to join us. This I swear to you!"

  He then turned, and strode out of the throne room.

  A few seconds passed until Morgan appeared again. "Shall I call off plans to contact the leader of the clan: Kolton?"

  The Sovereign shook his head causing Morgan to begin him in an extremely confused voice, "But you just..."

  "Although Aradia has no idea that I was re
sponsible for her people's genocide I still doubt she will join me," the Sovereign said shrugging. "However, if she does join us then fine, but if she does not than at least I will have a back up plan already in play."

  Chapter Three

  "You know Aradia, your birthday is coming up soon. Would you like anything in particular?" Her father asked her as he poured milk into his coffee.

  Aradia looked up from her cereal that only a few seconds ago she was munching on blissfully care-free. Now she was staring at her father, mother, and two foster sisters who had all paused in their breakfast activities and looking at her expectantly. Her mother had stopped dipping her tea bag in her mug, Melina had stopped cutting up her syrup and butter coated waffles, and Marietta had even stopped devouring her huge breakfast of waffles, eggs, bacon, and sausage links. Seeing how ridiculous Marietta looked with her mouth bulging with food made it hard for Aradia to resist the temptation to toy with her family.

  However, she just shrugged and said, "I don't know."

  Her father, Ross, sighed heavily, and said, "C'mon firecracker, its not every day you turn eighteen. You deserve something special."

  "How about a car?" Aradia said smiling.

  Ross, however, frowned and said, "Now you know you don't have a license."

  Automatically, Aradia's mood's turned foul while Melina looked over at Ross.

  After glancing at Aradia and back at Ross a couple of times, Melina finally asked, "Why don't you have a license?"

  Aradia grumbled. "I have been kind of busy lately so needless to say it has been hard to get driving lessons done."

  This was indeed true because ever since she had moved to Salem in her freshman year Aradia had been too busy to do much of anything. She had discovered that she was the last hidden witch in the whole world. The rest of her people had been killed three hundred years ago due to the widespread belief that the witches had betrayed the hidden race to the humans. Not to mention opening a secret nightclub to help promote tolerance amongst the segregated hidden race. Two years before, she had been captured by three power hunger depraved brothers bent on achieving on power. As for last year, she had helped Roy's cousin Brenna escape her tyrannical and abusive ex-husband.