by Jones, L. A.
"And how would you know?" Caiden snapped.
The smoker took another drag.
"Trust me," he said with a smirk. "I know."
"So how did it go?" Kolton asked as soon as his brother strolled in.
He and the rest of the clan were holed up in an abandoned department store. Willow, his concubine, was busy setting up his own personal chambers while the others were looking for their own spots to sleep.
"I do hope we can finally settle down here you know?" one of the vampires whispered as he hauled his coffin up onto the second floor. "I am getting tired of moving around."
The one he was talking to, a female brunette, just nodded while she threw some pillows down into her own.
"Personally, I was hoping for some place tropical," another member of the clan shouted from across the room.
Kolton heard the grumblings of his clan, but he pretended otherwise in order to give his brother his full and undivided attention. Kolton had had his doubts from the beginning about whether or not this was all legit. However, judging by the deal that the Sovereign had offered him and the fact that he and his clan were getting tired of moving from place to place, Kolton himself would have said that he would have been a fool to refuse. In order to do what the Sovereign requested though, Kolton would have to know more about the last witch. This was why he had hired Jack, a vampire who doubled as a private investigator and bounty hunter, to follow her and gather information. In spite of paying Jack an enormous amount of money to gather info on the Last Witch, Kolton still didn't trust him and so as good measure he told his brother, Caiden, to go with him and report back everything he had learned.
"It went well bro. It went very well," Caiden, answered.
Kolton looked past him to stare at Jack for confirmation who merely nodded.
"There is one problem though," Caiden couldn't help but point out.
Kolton raised an eyebrow.
"She has a boyfriend," Caiden said with a sigh.
The room grew deathly silent.
At least, not until Jack did. "If you ask me, I don't see why that should matter. The guy's a total wuss."
Kolton look at him sharply. "And how on earth would you know that?"
Jack inhaled sharply and shrugged. "I am just a good judge of character."
Kolton looked at him with deep suspicion, but said nothing.
Instead, he turned to Caiden and said, "He's got a good point though. Her already having a guy doesn't matter because in a few weeks she will be mine!"
Chapter Five
"Can you at least tell me where we are going?" Aradia asked.
Melina shook her head as she sat in the passenger seat of Roy's truck.
Aradia was sitting in the back, dressed in a brand new dark purple sparkling dress that her parents had bought for her as a birthday gift. A fake diamond choker sparkled from around her neck and Melina had loaned her a pair of elegant black boots. Aradia wore no make-up except for shiny raspberry flavored lip-gloss, but overall she looked good.
She cast her eyes around as they drove deep into the woods. Finally, her gaze fell upon Melina who was wearing her black braids woven with silver highlights in an elaborate up-do with a few strands dangling by her cheeks. She was wearing a gold shimmery halter top and knee length gray satin skirt with brown boots that came up to her ankles. Roy was dressed attractively as well except in a less lavish and manlier way. He wore khaki pants, a short-sleeved black shirt that clung to his upper torso becomingly, and shiny black shoes.
Aradia sighed as she leaned in between the two of them and said, "I think it's kind of unfair for you guys to know what's going on and for me not to."
Melina shrugged and said, "Yes well you know what they say sugar life is not fair."
Roy chuckled softly as he gave a sharp turn into the woods.
It was when they finally stopped the car and got out when Melina turned back to Aradia and asked, "But you know what else they say?"
Aradia shrugged.
Melina smiled. "They also say life is full of surprises."
Aradia looked puzzled as Melina seized her by the hand and led her into the woods. Roy followed, smiling as well. They stumbled into the woods as swiftly as they could, Melina giggling with nervousness. The moment they all stepped right into the clearing, lights as bright as the sun blazed from up above them.
Suddenly, a loud cry could be heard echoing throughout the whole woods. "Surprise!"
Dozens of Aradia's friends and casual acquaintances, hidden and human, then burst from out of the woods yelling and clapping. Aradia said nothing as she gazed around in shock and saw plastic, shimmering golden streamers and lights hanging from the tree branches illuminating the forest. A large, wooden, dance floor that shone like glass lay in the middle of the clearing with elegant white iron tables and chairs dotted along the sides like fallen snowflakes. There was even a bar with stools where tall different colored bottles could be seen on the shelf. A huge long banquet table laden with gifts could be seen from the side and Everrett stood waving at her from behind a DJ turntable that was mounted above the dance floor as high as a politician's podium. At first, Aradia didn't know what to make of it until she saw the plastic rainbow letters that were strung from the trees and dangling above Everett's head. They read HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARADIA!
Joyful tears then began to gather themselves in Aradia's eyes.
Choking them back as best as she could, Aradia said, "Oh thank you guys! Thank you! Thank you so much! I don't know what to say."
"How about 'let's party'?" Tristan suggested as he showed up at her side.
Too exalted to take notice of him, Aradia nodded her consent. Everrett then started playing On the Floor by Jennifer Lopez on his turntables and people made their way to the dance floor.
Aradia, however, was still too exalted to move.
She did manage to say, "How on earth did you plan all this?"
Melina shrugged as she pointed to Tristan. "Ask him. He's the one who pulled this whole thing off."
Aradia's once blissful face now became an expression of disbelief and suspicion as she turned around to stare at Tristan. He was sipping on a glass of champagne with a smug grin on his face.
She folded her arms and said, "Oh really?"
At first, Tristan just smiled while Aradia continued to stare at him.
After a few moments of her silent scrutiny, he finally said, "Jeez Aradia, can't a guy do something nice for you?"
"Yeah they can, but I don't think it's humanly possible for you to do so," Aradia retorted.
"I am not human you know?" Tristan pointed out.
"You know what I mean," she snapped.
He took one long sip from his glass, licked his lips, and then looked back at Aradia.
"It's like this baby, I may not be your consort, but people seeing how happy I make you shows that I am clearly in your favor."
He grinned even wider. "And right now being in favor with the Witch Queen is a very smart and advantageous thing to do."
Aradia's mouth dropped open. "You mean you arranged all this just to make people think you have my support?"
"Yeah," he replied in a heartbeat.
Aradia was stunned, but then smirked as an idea came to her. "What if I tell people that you don't have my support then hmm? What if I were to make an announcement right here and now about what a manipulative little prick you are."
Tristan's smile did not waver. "Right now? After all the trouble, I go through to throw you a party at my own personal expense. People won't think that's very classy. In fact, they will probably think you are nothing, but an ungrateful little bitch. Let's face it Aradia, if you want to change things in the hidden world you are going to need the people's support."
The smug grin on his face was so obviously triumphant that Aradia felt like smacking him. She restrained the urge to do so, but tried to make up for it by insulting him. Much to her dismay, however, she found herself struggling.
Until finally all she co
uld say was, "You are one hell of an evil puppet master, you know that don't you?"
"You make it sound as if that's something to be ashamed of," Tristan said with another grin and sip of his champagne.
"And besides," He added as he started to walk away. "I am the seelie fae crown prince and I am destined to be king one day. In another words, I am supposed to work things to my advantage."
He then strolled off without another a word and Aradia sighed heavily.
Melina then grumbled under her breath, "You know that dude makes the politicians in our government look bad."
"Yeah well," Aradia said shrugging. "Not all of our politicians are as good as we want them to be, but in comparison to him and his attitude...hell they are freaking Catholic saints!"
Chapter Six
It boggled Aradia's mind that so many people could come to her birthday party especially people she didn't know. Outside of the club, she had never seen so many hiddens and humans together acting happy. She didn't mind though, in fact, she was delighted to see them getting along. She was even more delighted when she saw Dax was here too, hanging by the edge of the dance floor talking to Xan. Quickly, she caught his eye, and waved at him. As soon as he waved back, Aradia tried to make her way towards him. Suddenly, her attention was called away by a bunch of girls shrieking. It took only one glance Aradia to realize why.
Intrigued by the noise of the party, the pixies of the forest had gathered at the tops of the trees to sit and watch the festivities. After a while, though many of them became tired of watching and began flying down from their perches. Fortunately, only the Hiddens were capable of seeing the magical pixies as they flitted around on their tiny and pastel colored hummingbird wings. Unfortunately, the humans could still feel them especially when the pixies seized several of the guests' hair with their tiny purple, blue, or pink fists and tugged. Aradia struggled trying to make up believable excuses to the guests. The boys were especially a problem when it came to explaining the glittering dust from the pixie wings that they kept finding in their hair. In fact, Aradia was wondering whether she should just tell everyone the truth and be done with it.
"That would be stupid," Melina said as soon as Aradia mentioned this to her. "And you know it."
After opening and closing her mouth awkwardly for a few minutes, Aradia finally turned away. However, once she started walking towards the dance floor, she noticed something wrong.
"Where's Roy?" Aradia asked Melina.
Melina's facial expression immediately turned sour and began sipping her drink through pursed lips. Eventually, she nodded towards a group of guys standing at the far end of the floor. Aradia followed her gaze and sure enough, there was Roy messing around with a bunch of his friends from school.
"Why he isn't he over here with you?" Aradia asked bluntly.
Melina shrugged.
"But I thought you two were going together?" Aradia remarked.
"Well you thought wrong," Melina snapped.
She then turned her head away while Aradia stared at her in confusion.
"What's going on?" Aradia couldn't help, but inquire further. "Has something happened between the two of you?"
"Apparently, he needs more time to think about starting a relationship with me," Melina snapped again but this time in a sarcastic tone.
Aradia's eyes grew wide in shock. "But why?"
Melina shrugged angrily.
Aradia reached out a hand to touch Melina's shoulder softly. However, as the two of them began to gaze at each other in comfort, Tristan appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed Aradia's hand.
"You know what?" He said, "I just realized something. Since I was the one who threw this party, I deserve a dance with the birthday girl."
He then proceeded to drag her towards her the dance floor. Aradia, almost instinctively, looked back to Melina, still trying to offer her visual comfort. Unfortunately, Melina had already turned away.
Annoyed, Aradia faced Tristan and snapped, "No you don't."
She tried to walk past him, but Tristan grabbed her arm.
He quickly put his mouth to her ear before she could struggle and started whispering nastily, "If you don't dance with me now Rai, so help me God I'll..."
"You'll what? Try to blackmail me again? As I recall that didn't work out too well the last time." Aradia grinned with satisfaction as she prepared to yank her arm out of his grasp.
"Who said anything about blackmail?" said Tristan. "I will, however, harass you for the rest of the night about trying to get a dance and considering how much I supposedly 'annoy' you I don't think you should go with that option."
"Supposedly?" Aradia repeated.
Nevertheless, she turned to face Tristan who smiled smugly at her. At that very moment, Aradia would give anything to wipe that smirk off his face.
Nonetheless, with a heave and a sigh she held out her arm reluctantly and said, "Shall we?"
His smirk was now even wider as he said, "I thought you'd never ask!"
Aradia groaned under her breath.
The moment Aradia took to the dance floor everyone turned to stare at her as usual. This time, however, she was unsure whether it was because of her or because she was dancing with Tristan. The song Everrett was currently playing was Give Me Everything by Pitbull and although it was one of Aradia's favorites, she moved woodenly to the beat with a scowl on her face. Tristan, however, looked in high spirits as he placed his hands on Aradia and moved around. Aradia gritted her teeth, silently willing the song to hurry up and end. Across the dance floor, Roy had departed from his friends. Now he had noticed the two of them dancing and immediately his mood turned foul.
His brother Al strolled over to stand beside him, still sipping his drink. "What's up Reynaldo?"
"Nothing Alejandro," He snapped.
He shoved his hands angrily in his pockets and leaned against a tree.
"I thought you were here with Melina," said Al.
"I wish people would stop saying that," Roy muttered irritably under his breath.
To this, Al had no response.
Roy, however, did. "At the start of the party, I told her I needed some space and some time to think about it."
"Why would you do that?" Al asked him.
"Because I need some space and some time to think about it," Roy snapped.
There was another pause.
"No other reason?" Al suggested cautiously with a nod towards Aradia.
Roy followed his gaze and exhaled slowly.
After another few moments of awkward silence Al finally said, "She's in love with Dax you know?"
"She doesn't know any better," Roy replied hastily.
Al looked up sharply. "Just what exactly are you planning to do Roy?"
Roy sighed again and shut his eyes.
As he did so images of Aradia smiling, running up to him with her arms wide open, saying "Roy-Boy!" flashed through his mind making him smile with pleasure.
Although his smile faded as soon as he opened his eyes, he was able to say in a firm voice, "I am planning to fight for her."
Although he should have expected such a response, Al still looked at him in shock. "But what about Dax?"
"What about him?" Roy snapped.
Al sighed as he placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "She might not be the one for you, you know?"
Roy looked at him angrily as he said, "But she is. She is the one for me. I know it!"
Al sighed, a bit more heavily this time.
"Roy..." he began.
"The thing about being a werewolf is that I am part human," Roy interjected, "Which makes controlling the animal inside me so much harder to cope with."
He sighed. "The wolf, however, is still part of me. It's who I am and who I always will be. The wolf's abilities, its urges, and its instincts are all mine."
"What's that got to do with anything?" asked Al.
"One of the wolves biggest instincts is to mate for life. They meet one special woman whom they know they
will spend the rest of their life with," Roy explained with his gaze still resting upon Aradia.
Al placed his hand against his face, and sighed extremely heavily.
"Are you saying you think Aradia might be your mate for life?" He finally asked.
Roy shook his head, much to his brother's surprise. "No I don't think she might be my mate for life. I know she is!"
Chapter Seven
"So are you having a good time?" Tristan asked Aradia as he spun her around.
Aradia merely nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Tristan's face grew irritable as he seized Aradia by her arms and held her tightly. She gasped as his fingers dug into her skin.
"I don't what the hell is your problem bitch," he snarled, "I mean I deliberately go out of my way to please you and..."
"I never asked you to do that Tristan," Aradia said calmly.
Her calmness soon changed as Tristan's fingers dug deeper.
By this time, Dax had noticed her distress and was already making his way towards them. He seized Tristan by the shoulders and then wrenched him away from Aradia. Tristan skidded back several feet away and slammed into the bar. Everyone had turned to watch the fight in anticipation even Everrett had stopped playing music. Aradia, however, looked at Dax and Tristan nervously.
Quickly, she stepped in between them and said, "Now now you guys please stop it. This is my birthday party so please don't fight. Please!"
Dax paused while Tristan looked at her disdainfully.
Soon he chuckled and said, "You better listen to your girlfriend Dax. It's much safer that way."
Dax angrily advanced towards him only to be stopped by Aradia as she planted herself in front of him, placed both hands on his chest, and said, "Stop it Dax, please!"
It was only until after Aradia reached out and touched his cheek that he finally glanced her way.
"Please," she said softly, "Please."
The look that shone from her eyes had changed from concern to tenderness as Dax reached up and took her hand as it rested upon his chin.