by Jones, L. A.
"Oh Roy my love. My sweet. My one and only!" was her own response.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was hard, but Aradia was able to pick up Marietta from her therapist. The only good thing about the weather being so bad was the fact that nobody was able to notice Aradia as she scooped up Marietta, loaded her onto her back, and began to leap from tree to tree.
Marietta screamed in elation as she did this. "Faster, Aradia, faster! No higher! No! No! Jump that tree over there!"
Aradia finally shouted, "Hey if you want to switch places with me be my guest."
Melina didn't talk for the rest of the trip.
At least, until they got to their house. Using her power of telekinesis, Aradia was able to open her bedroom window in mid jump. Grabbing onto Marietta's legs firmly and turning on her side, Aradia slipped in. Almost skidding to a stop on her carpet, Aradia dropped Marietta onto her bed before rushing straight back to the window to shut it.
"Just because I can handle this weather better than anyone else doesn't mean it still doesn't cause me major discomfort," Aradia grumbled.
Marietta laughed.
Shaking her head and body to get the snow off, Aradia began taking off her winter wear. Marietta followed her lead.
Although she knew it was none of her business, Aradia couldn't help but ask, "So how was it?"
Marietta groaned heavily. "Stupid as usual."
"Why was it stupid?"
Marietta groaned again. "He started asking about my childhood, like he always does at every session, trying to "coax me out of my shell" as he put it."
Aradia tried to hide the chuckle under her breath.
Marietta gave no indication that she noticed. "He doesn't understand how hard it is to talk about what I have been through."
"So why don't you tell me?" Aradia said as she plopped down on the bed right next to Marietta.
Melina sighed and looked at her.
Maybe it was because of the growing bond between them, or the fact that after so many years of hiding her secrets and people wanting to know them that finally got her to talk.
"Melina and I were both born in Brooklyn to two selfish people who weren't even married. My dad was a jerk, my mom was stupid, and Melina and I were always on our own. Sometimes it got so bad, that we practically froze in the winter or starved for days. Our dad dealt many drugs, but often he spent all the money on more drugs or booze. Many a time, he would come home smelly and slurring. He would beat us too with a belt and Melina...I don't know what he did to her in the back room, but I never wanted to find out. It wasn't so incredibly bad though until he started to look at me."
Aradia's mouth dropped open while Marietta shuddered, her eyes still on the ground. "Melina tried to protect me, but he was so much bigger, stronger, and meaner. However, one day he had some friends over for dinner. We originally thought they were his poker buddies but they were really his fellow drug dealers. He owed them money and it turns out that they had a thing for young girls. I really wanted to die when he pulled me aside and told me to do whatever they told me to do. The biggest guy then grabbed my hand while dad held Melina back to stop her from saving me. I was told not to cry and I tried not to but it was hard. It was as the big guy drew me closer when he whispered in my ear, 'don't worry sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay.' I thought he was just saying that, but it turns out he was a cop. The next thing I knew cops started swarming into the apartment and arrested my mom and dad. We testified against them to make sure we would be free. Last time, I heard they are both doing ten to twenty and are forbidden to go anywhere near us. We figured any place would be better."
She chuckled bitterly. "Although the first two foster homes sucked, it was still better than what we had before. Still, it was cool when we moved here to Salem. It's funny, but living with you and your 'rents have actually made me feel happy about having a family."
Aradia smiled. "Even after finding out about me and the hidden race?"
Marietta laughed. "Even after all that. To tell you the truth that was what was really cool about moving here."
"Well for the record, I am glad you and Melina came here Mattie," said Aradia.
Dax paced his room nonstop while racking his brain trying to figure out what he should do. It was true Aradia was still mad at him, and frankly, he couldn't blame her. As much as he wanted to go over to her house and make it right, he had more important things to worry about. Like how could he restore balance to the weather of Salem without the Unicorn's horn? How could he prevent Jack from taking Aradia? How could he protect his home, his family, and the woman he loved at the same time? He researched the subjects of Unicorn's horns, vampire brides, and everything else in his father's private library until he was ready to pass out but he still couldn't find an answer. The only option that seemed possible was meeting Jack's demands.
"I would sooner die than do that!" Dax shouted aloud, and slammed his fist against the wall.
He sat on his coffin, buried his face in his hands, and shook his head in frustration. For a while, he was like this until his phone rang. He then picked it up and saw in a text message: I need to see you.
The weather was still howling outside when Dax and Aradia met at the club.
"Did you just recently find out about all this or have you always known?" Aradia asked.
Dax reluctantly sighed before answering. "I have always known. Well, more appropriately I have always suspected. Over the years, I was able to observe many things, which helped to lead me to my conclusions. Still, they may just be suspicions but I think they are very credible."
Aradia restrained the urge to hit him. "Then why didn't you say anything to anyone?"
He shrugged. "I had no proof. Furthermore, whom could I tell? You keep forgetting that unlike the human world we don't have police officers or the F.B.I in the hidden world."
"So this guy can get away with killing an entire race and nobody does anything about it?"
Dax sighed. "Many have us may live for a long time, but death is still very common to us. Injustice and murder are just part of the life we live."
"Doesn't that bother you?" Aradia asked through gritted teeth.
"I grew up in the sixteenth century Aradia, death was common back then too. Besides, when you live like that for over five hundred years, on your own, and with no friends and family you come to accept it even further."
Although Aradia was saddened by what Dax revealed about his past, her anger still lingered.
"Who is the Sovereign of all vampires?" Aradia finally asked.
Dax inhaled sharply. "He is the one who is deemed the most powerful of all the vampires in the world."
"What makes him so powerful? Does he posses magic or something?"
Dax laughed. "No. The irony is the hidden world and human world maybe different but the way we seize power are very similar. Case in point, the Sovereign is kind of like the supreme dictator of the vampire race. Only because he has more support or has done something to usurp the previous Sovereign. This is basically how it is done, the Sovereign rules until another seizes his throne."
"Who is the current one?"
Dax hesitated.
He then shrugged and said, "I have no idea."
Aradia held his gaze for a while longer, before exhaling slowly. "Well I am glad you told me the truth Dax, even though you should have told me sooner. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that we need to think of something to do to save Salem."
"I really don't think there is anything you can do besides the obvious I mean," Dax grumbled under his breath.
Aradia looked at him in shock. "Do you want me to do that?"
Dax's head turned sharply. He only hesitated for a few seconds before seizing Aradia in his arms. She gasped in surprise.
"Listen to me Aradia," He said as he wove his fingers in to her hair. "The only way Jack is ever going to take you away from me is if he pries you from my cold, dead, fingers!"
"No offense Dax, but techni
cally you are already cold and dead." Jacques laughed as immediately stepped from out of the shadows.
Dax placed Aradia behind him, deliberately shielding her.
Aradia stared at Jack in shock. "How did you get in here?"
He chuckled. "The funny thing about vampires is once we are invited in somewhere; we can come and go as we please."
Aradia still looked confused. "Who the hell would invite you in?"
Jack chuckled again. "Honey, I look like a teenage boy, and a handsome one at that, so you should never underestimate what a teenage girl is willing to do to get a date?"
"But don't worry," he added after seeing Aradia's concern. "I didn't eat her."
Aradia looked far from comforted.
Dax angrily demanded, "What do you want Jacques?"
Jack shrugged. "Tick-Tock Dax."
Dax scowled while Jack went on. "The deadline is nearing, and if you want to save your stupid city than I suggest..."
"Do me a favor Jacques," Dax interrupted, "And shove your suggestions up you're..."
"Need I remind you Dax, that in less than a week Salem will be considered the next candidate in the contest of 'what city will replace the North Pole?' In order to prevent this, you need the unicorn's horn, which I obviously have. Therefore, if you don't want your entire city to end up becoming a frozen wasteland I would try to be a little bit nicer to me."
Dax snorted bitterly. "I was nice to you once and look what that got me."
Aradia looked at him in confusion and then back to Jack. Suddenly, she remembered the conversation she had had with Dax two years ago, about his past.
"Oh my god!" Aradia cried out now pointing at Jack, accusingly. "You are Dax's best friend, the one that he turned into a vampire."
Jack just smiled.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Is he the guy you were worried about?" Aradia demanded.
Dax could only nod in reply.
Confusion was still on her face as she looked from him to Jack.
"But why?" she asked. "Why would he..."
"Because you're stupid little boyfriend here was always weak and I really don't like hanging with weak people. Hell the only reason I hung with him in the first place," Jack said contemptuously, "was because I felt sorry for him."
Dax's eyes were on the ground before he finally looked away.
Aradia's eyes narrowed as she glared at Jack. "Listen to me you piece of shit. Dax is twice the man you will never be. Hell I bet the real reason you diss him so much is because you obviously see that. "
Aradia's insults didn't seem to phase Jack one bit or stop him from pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.
After exhaling one long breath of smoke, he said, "Honey, he isn't a man he is a vampire. Furthermore, you weren't there when he killed an innocent woman's father and got her executed for the crime."
Aradia's eyes grew wide. "What?"
"After I turned Jack, things were alright," Dax started to explain. "Since we didn't have a family anymore we could do whatever we wanted with no fear of consequences."
"However," Dax now sighed heavily. "I started to suspect that after I turned him into a vampire, Jack had killed his father."
"My father was a bastard. If anyone deserved to die, it was him." This was the first time Aradia had heard Jack sound so bitter.
Dax angrily snapped, "It was still murder mate."
Jack scoffed. "Maybe to you, but to me it was justice. Payback for years of abuse."
Aradia's heart started to soften with sympathy but then Dax said, "It doesn't justify all the murders you committed afterwards. The things you did Jacques...the way you toyed with people before you killed them. You tortured them as if they were animals. Every human who met you would be begging you to kill them two days later!"
Her heart now hardened as Jack smiled.
Dax didn't seem to notice either of their reactions. "What was worse was the fact that you didn't care who you hurt. Women and children even babies, it made no difference to you."
"Still doesn't you know," Jack said as he exhaled another breath of smoke.
Aradia's eyes narrowed.
This Jack noticed and was what he chose to comment on. "I bet you really want to know what it was that ruined our 'friendship' don't you my lovely?"
"We were never really friends Jacques," Dax said scowling. "Even I know that."
"You mean you do now." Jacques replied quickly as a flash.
"What happened?" The words were out of Aradia's mouth before she could stop herself.
Jacques smiled. "After your boyfriend first turned me, things were okay. It took us quite some time, but once we learned how to master all our powers of mind control, hypnosis, shape shifting into a bat or wolf, and controlling mists and fog. Not to mention, our ability to scale walls and buildings like our ancestor the vampire bat. All of London became our playground, our place of sport..."
"And," he added in a dreadfully evil voice. "Our own personal feeding pen."
Aradia couldn't stop herself from gulping.
This seemed to encourage Jack as he went on. "It was hard though, I will admit that especially when we had to find out about our weaknesses and requirements."
"Requirements?" Aradia repeated.
"Needing coffins to sleep in with dirt from our native lands, and fresh blood every full moon," Jack clarified.
"Either way," he went on, "we survived and soon became the most fearsome vampire duo there ever was."
"All thanks to you of course," Dax added bitterly.
Jack chuckled. "Eventually lover boy here became restless and one night I caught him with some tavern wench."
Aradia tried her hardest to restrain her instinct to glare at Dax accusingly.
Jack merely laughed. "I told him that if he really wanted her, he should just take her. He finally agreed with me and one night we went to see the girl."
He snorted with what seemed to be feigned contempt. "He came very close to transforming her on that third night, but then her father came in."
Aradia gasped.
"He tried to attack Dax, but human versus vampire...well it's hardly a contest. Of course, Dax underestimating his strength killed the poor bloke. The girl freaked out, and started to run away. Dax, however, tried to make it right and even offered to change the girl, but she called him a monster."
"What did you do?" she asked Jack in a shaky voice.
He shrugged again. "We had been vampires long enough to know about the rules of the hidden race. Especially the number one rule: stay hidden. The girl was practically hysterical, screaming about 'blood sucking demons' and we couldn't risk having her talk."
"No one would have believed her..." Aradia began.
"Doesn't matter," Jack interrupted firmly. "We couldn't risk it."
"So what did you do?" Aradia repeated.
Jack opened his mouth, but Dax cut him off. "We framed her for her father's murder, got her thrown in the tower of London, where she was eventually hanged."
Aradia gasped. "You let an innocent woman be killed just to protect your secret?"
Dax could only nod sadly.
Aradia felt numb to everything around her.
Jack seemed to relish seeing the two of them in pain.
Nevertheless, he shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter though. What's done is done. All that does matter is what are you going to do to make this right?"
"What are we going to do?" Tristan asked a silent and almost dead sounding room.
As hard as it had been considering the weather, the hidden community had met once again for a council meeting.
"For God's sake Tristan, Jack has been able to stay under the radar for over five hundred years; you would think he would know how to avoid being captured." Dax complained sarcastically.
"Well then do you have any suggestions?" Tristan's father snapped at him.
Dax just looked away, discouraged.
Tristan, however, turned to stare at Aradia. "You have been
awfully quiet this evening."
Aradia kept her eyes on the ground, which seemed to sour Tristan's mood even further.
"You know," he sneered, "One would believe that the newly appointed Witch Queen would be more than willing to help her fellow hiddens especially when this is your entire fault!"
Aradia's head shot up. Dax didn't dare to look at her. Could it be that Tristan knew about their encounter with the Unicorn in the forest?
"I mean his one demand seems to be you, and if we don't want to all end up being frozen to death I don't see why we should not meet it."
Aradia's relief only lasted for a second before Tristan's words reached her.
Still neither of them replied and Aradia cast her eyes around the lodge to avoid staring at any of the occupants in particular. She did catch sight of Roy and Melina who were holding hands.
I guess they kissed and made up, Aradia thought to herself as she tried to restrain the urge to smile.
"I say we leave Salem," the shape-shifter leader finally thundered.
Mr. Dayton concurred with him. "After all, my family and I have been here for almost three years. My wife, foster daughters, and foster sons need to keep moving every four years in order to avoid detection. Hence, it is why we sent our daughters to New York after they 'graduated' from Salem High so to speak. Both of my sons are nearing their senior year so I was already making plans to leave for New York."
Dax's eyes grew wide, but before he could even argue, he was cut off by Roy's alpha. "Nice to see territory and home mean nothing to you vampire. Unlike you, my family cannot afford to just pack up our things and leave."
"That is your problem," Mr. Dayton muttered. "Not mine."
Roy's alpha shot from his seat, but thankfully, he did not attempt to attack Mr. Dayton.
He was spared by one of the other alpha-wolfs who almost immediately interjected. "So if leaving is not an option for and neither is finding Jack then what the hell do we do?"
The room once again grew silent.
It had remained that way for a whole hour until finally the meeting was adjourned with no verdict reached. Aradia had tried her hardest, but as she left with Dax's arm around her she couldn't help but feel the hostile stares stabbing into her like knives.