Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3

by Jones, L. A.

  She then said grinning wickedly, "If I told you I would be spoiling a big surprise and why would I want to go and do that?"

  Dax laughed softly. "You are such a tease."

  "You know it!" Aradia said throwing her head back with a laugh.

  It was not until the next month when the meeting finally took place on Wednesday. Aradia waited until after it was done to speak with the leaders alone. She told Dax to wait for her outside, and then approached them as they sat back down at the table.

  "What?" Tristan's father snapped.

  Aradia ignored his rudeness and said, "I wish to address the issue of my choosing a consort."

  "Oh for the love of God!" Tristan's father thundered, "Enough with the 'choosing of a consort' issue! It is all everyone has been talking about for the last year! It's all my son has been saying and..."

  "Excuse me your highness, but may I please finish?" Aradia interrupted in a calm but very intimidating voice.

  The council was silenced until Tristan's father begrudgingly nodded.

  Aradia than inhaled and said, "First of all, I wish to let you know that I do not mean to undermine your authority in the hidden community. When your people first started coming to me I..."

  "You took over our decisions and made us look like fools in front of all our people!" The shape shifter leader snapped, slamming his fist on the table.

  Stunned by this, Aradia nevertheless gathered her courage and sighed before defending herself. "But I always referred them to you. In fact, quite often all I did was providing them with arguments for their issues to help with your final judgment."

  "What's your point?" The vampire leader snapped. Apparently, he too was irritated at Aradia's quick rise to power.

  Aradia gulped, but was determined to press on. "Look my point is this I do not wish to undermine your authority or challenge any of you but most of all I do not wish to incite war amongst the hidden community."

  "So what do you suggest?" One of the alpha wolves asked.

  Aradia sighed willing herself to have the strength to do what she was planning. "I propose exiling me from the Hidden community. You can still allow me to live in Salem, but you can ban me from the High Hidden Council meetings and everything else involving the hidden community."

  Everyone at the table stared at her with their mouths open in astonishment.

  Aradia sighed before continuing again, "And if you truly think it is truly necessary then I will leave Salem."

  "Either way," she said trying to finish her proposal. "I just want you to know that all I ever wanted was to make the hidden community of Salem better so with that in mind I leave you to your decision."

  Aradia then turned to leave but before she even took one step one of the alpha wolves shouted out, "Wait!"

  Aradia turned back to face him, and the others did as well.

  Roy's alpha spoke.

  At first, he looked uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the others, but he continued regardless. "I was told how you helped my niece Brenna deal with Holden and I just want to know why?"

  Aradia was perplexed. "What do you mean?"

  "Why did you help her and ask for nothing in return?" He asked, "Is it because she is the cousin of one of your suitors?"

  Aradia shook her head furiously protesting that that was definitely not it.

  "Then why?" he asked.

  Aradia sighed. "I maybe young and inexperienced in the ways of the hidden, but I do know right from wrong and helping your niece get away from a man who was vilely debasing her was definitely the right thing to do."

  "Believe it or not," Aradia finalized with a shrug. "That's all I care about. Not power, not influence, nor anything else except doing what is right."

  For a while, no one said anything. The High Hidden Council just stared at her while she returned their steely gaze.

  Finally, the alpha that sat in the middle spoke, "To tell you the truth we have been discussing this matter thoroughly. Whether you wish it so or not Aradia, you will always be in a position of power and we have to admit while you could be uniting our own people against us you have graciously respected the laws of our people and our own positions."

  Aradia looked around at the other leaders, and could not help but notice the bitter look in all their expressions.

  Nevertheless, the middle alpha continued, "And after the incident involving Brenna where you unselfishly helped a different member of the hidden race with no expectation of reward it is clear to us that you are no political threat."

  "However, we cannot ignore how influential you still are and with that in mind," he trailed off as if what he needed to say was very physically painful.

  Luckily, the vampire leader finished up for him. "With that in mind we wish to grant you your own title and position on the High Hidden Council of Salem."

  Aradia's mouth dropped open. "Huh?"

  "You heard me," the vampire leader snapped, his bad attitude and irritable temper suggesting that apparently the decision was not popular with any of them.

  "I don't what to say," Aradia stammered.

  "Well that's a first," Tristan's dad grumbled.

  Ignoring his comment, Aradia decided to press for details. "If I were to accept this position what would I able to do?"

  All members of the council fidgeted uncomfortably before finally the shape-shifter coughed and explained. "Well you would have power much like ours that is to propose laws, support laws, or change them. Anything really. Our ways maybe different from the humans but one thing remains universal: majority rules."

  "Okay that sounds fair," Aradia, said nodding but then her face grew thoughtful. "What would my title be?"

  They all fidgeted until the shape-shifter once again went on to explain. "Well it was a hard decision, but after carefully gathered reports we are under the impression that you do not like being referred to as 'the last witch' am I right?"

  "You would too if you were the last of your kind," Aradia muttered.

  "I will take that as a yes," said the shape shifter, "So after careful consideration we have decided that, should you chose to accept it, we wish to grant you the title of 'Aradia the Witch Queen.'"

  Aradia's jaw dropped.

  "Witch Queen?" Aradia stuttered, "But why? I am not of royal blood or anything."

  "Obviously," Tristan's father muttered.

  "Our reasoning is since you are the last of your kind you already have special ranking so it makes perfect sense to regard you as royalty," The shape shifter said finishing up.

  "And besides," Tristan's father added bitterly. "You try making up a flattering respectable title on such short notice. It is not as easy as it sounds."

  Aradia was still stunned.

  She stood quietly for a few more minutes until finally she asked, "Can I have some time to think about this?"

  As if the experience of giving her such a title was not painful, the thought of prolonging such an effort made the entire council look as if they were being tortured. Regardless, they all agreed to give Aradia time to think about it.

  She smiled as she said, "Thank you so much! But don't worry I will make the decision way before I chose a consort."

  "You know," Tristan's father added while Aradia began to walk to the door. "We were kind of hoping that that you being granted a title and position would make you forget about this whole consort business."

  Aradia snorted as she said over her shoulder, "Believe me sire, it is never that easy."

  She then walked out the door to tell Dax everything that had happened.

  Chapter Nineteen

  "I can't believe we just did that!" Tristan's father cried out.

  "What are you complaining about? I was the one who was forced to suffer the indignity of telling that little bitch about the so called 'honor' we are bestowing upon her," The shape shifter complained while folding his arms as swift as a switchblade.

  "The worst part is," The vampire leader interjected, "We have to make good on our offer or our peo
ple will see us as liars."

  "So?" One of the alpha wolves spat out.

  The vampire groaned before explaining. "So our people will lose faith in us and not support us in our actions. In other words, they won't do what we tell them to do!"

  The alpha nodded with sudden understanding.

  The middle alpha wolf, however, still bore a countenance of irritability. "But," he said, "If we actually give her power and influence over the hidden of Salem we will basically be relinquishing some of our own. Power that she has basically been able to achieve in only three years time while we have slaved for over God only knows how many years to acquire!"

  "I know! I know!" The shape-shifter shouted, "But what can we do?"

  The table fell silent until Roy's alpha spoke, "You know her having influence might not be such a bad thing. After all, she did help to protect my niece."

  "Yes well," Tristan's father sneered, "Who asked you?"

  Roy's alpha scowled and then opened his mouth to argue.

  The vampire leader decided to end the argument by slamming both hands on the table and shouting, "Look! What's done is done. We have proposed a deal to Aradia the last witch. It is up to her now how things turn out."

  "So basically," Tristan's father said as he rose to leave. "Our fate now rests in the hands of a seventeen year old girl. Swell!"

  Nodding grimly to King Rian's words, the council shuffled out of the lodge except the vampire leader who hung back.

  He waited until the others had clearly left before saying aloud, "They are gone, my lord."

  Keon jumped down from the rafters where he had hidden and watched.

  The vampires' leader nodded as he turned to face him. "I have done as you have commanded,"

  Keon nodded as well before saying, "Although it pains me to do so having the last witch being granted power is the only sure-fire way into provoking the Sovereign to realizing what a threat she is."

  "And," he added, "What a pain in the ass she is as well."

  "It was hard you know convincing the others to give her a title and position especially making sure none of them realize I was manipulating all of them to agree to it," the vampire leader grumbled.

  "Yes well," Keon shrugged, "Nothing in life is ever easy is it?"

  The vampire merely grumbled and for a while neither one of them spoke.

  Until finally the vampire leader dared to ask Keon, "Are you sure doing this will help motivate the Sovereign into killing the girl?"

  Keon nodded and said, "You kidding? A mere child, a survivor of a slaughtered race, that was raised by the humans being elected to a position of power in the amount of time it takes to snap your fingers? He will be furious! Best of all, if we play our cards right we can both get big promotions out of alerting the Sovereign of what a threat the last witch is."

  "What if she rallies an army behind her?" The vampire leader inquired.

  "So what?" Keon said shrugging, "Everyone fears the Sovereign of all vampires! The fact that he is the youngest Sovereign of them all to ascend to such a position in itself is reason enough for everyone else to fear him! Most of all, do not forget that Salem is just one city in a world where the Sovereign rules all! If she were to rally an army it would be nothing in comparison to what the Sovereign could muster in mere seconds."

  "What if she discovers our plans?" the vampire leader dared to ask.

  "Then we finally decide to stop beating around the bush and kill her!" Keon snapped.

  "The Sovereign may be pissed that I acted on my own," He also admitted reluctantly, "But if I bring him back the severed head and blood of the last witch that will definitely exonerate me!"

  "Why not just kill her now?"

  "Because," Keon argued, "I want the privilege of killing the last witch to be reserved strictly for the Sovereign. It is an act that would be most sweet, and who better to savor such sweetness than the Sovereign of all vampires himself?"

  Chapter Twenty

  "So what do you think I should I do?" Aradia asked as she spun around in a purple prom dress with white rhinestone flower designs.

  She was shopping with Melina who sat across from her in a lounge chair twirling one of her long black braids.

  The two of them had come to an uneasy truce ever since the attack at the mechanic's shop. Now instead of following and staring at Aradia all the time as if she was some kind of circus freak, Melina actually hung out with her from time to time. This is what had led the two of them to go to the department store at the mall to shop for prom dresses and discuss Aradia's latest crisis.

  It had been one month since the High Hidden council of Salem had proposed giving Aradia a title, and she was still puzzled over what she should do. She had been ready to resolve the issue of choosing a consort, but the title thing had definitely made things a lot more difficult. Unfortunately, Dax had been no help because he had told her that he could not possibly tell her what to do. His argument had been that this was her choice, and he could not make it for her. However, Aradia got the feeling that the real reason for Dax not wanting to get involved was the politics. After all, his hated father had been a courtier in the royal court of England in the 16th century.

  Median just shrugged as she crossed her dark jean covered legs and stared at Aradia who groaned and said, "You know Melina the least you could do is pretend to listen to me when I am pouring my heart out to you."

  Melina chuckled and said, "Sorry it's just that I have never dealt with this type of situation before."

  "What situation?" Aradia asked while pulling up her hair.

  "The situation of becoming a queen and choosing a consort and trying not to ignite a war," said Melina.

  Aradia chuckled and said, "It is not easy being a monster now is it?"

  Melina hung her head sheepishly for a few seconds before saying, "Look Aradia about what I said before..."

  "It doesn't matter Melina," Aradia cut her off. "The fact is no matter what anyone thinks I will always be what I am. I will never change or at least I will never change my identity. No matter what I do I will always be Aradia Preston the last witch."

  Melina just looked at her silently in awe.

  However, when she spoke again she corrected Aradia by saying, "You mean witch queen am I right?"

  Aradia's smile turned depressive. "I don't know if I want to accept that title Lina. I mean it is not just a name they will be calling me by I will have actual responsibilities, an actual position on the council, and be required to actually get involved."

  "Don't you already?" Melina asked raising an eyebrow, "Get involved that is?"

  Aradia shrugged reluctantly as a nonverbal way of agreeing with her.

  Then she said, "But its all unofficial Melina I just help people when they ask me to."

  "What's the difference?" Melina asked.

  "If it's official and I get involved in anything and I do something wrong then really bad things can happen and..."

  "In other words, if you don't have official power then you don't have to worry about being blamed if you make a bad decision," Melina stated flatly.

  "No," Aradia began but after a few minutes under Melina's scrutiny, she reluctantly admitted, "Yes."

  "Why are you afraid?" Melina asked.

  "Because," said Aradia, "In the hidden world there is no law or order or anything that makes a difference except brute strength. As powerful as I am, I cannot think or act like that?"

  "Well then," Melina said with a shrug. "If that is the case and you get involved in the hidden political world then you will have the ability to change all that."

  "Do you think I can?" Aradia asked.

  Melina smiled and said, "Aradia honey, living with you and your family this past year has taught me many things. Things like not only are there good people in this world who do indeed help others just because it is the right thing to do, but also monsters are not exactly the way we think they are. Most of all, what I have learned Aradia is that you can do absolutely anything."


  "You really believe that?" Aradia said sounding sarcastic.

  "You unhesitatingly threw me out of harm's way when those werewolves attacked us in spite of the way I treated you, trusted me enough to get you help, but most of all you deliberately helped a werewolf escape from her evil tyrannical abusive husband. All this you did in barely one-year's time and for absolutely nothing. No money, not power, not allegiance, not anything! Everything you did was because it was the right thing to do. As far as I am concerned Aradia not only is there nothing you cannot do, but you are the most incredible person that ever lived."

  "And," Melina added, "If I found out that you were to become part of the group that helped to govern me not only would I feel safer than ever before but I would be willing to follow you to hell and back!"

  In all the time Aradia had known her she never heard Melina speak to her like that; like she was important, like she was someone, but most of all like she was someone whom she respected.

  Fighting back the tears in her eyes, Aradia wrapped her arms around Melina and said "Thanks Lina. Thank you so very much."

  Melina eagerly returned the hug while saying, "Your welcome Aradia. Your welcome...sis."

  "So do you have a date to the prom?" Rhonda asked Aradia as she sat down at their lunch table.

  She was wearing her usual dirty blonde hair in two braids; paint splattered overalls, and oversized shirt, with her glasses, and braces sparkling. However, what sparkled most about her was her smile that practically reached from ear to ear. Although Aradia was glad that Rhonda was no longer angry with her she could not help, but feel that Rhonda had a secret motive in asking her this.

  "Why? do you?" Aradia asked.

  Rhonda giggled. "D asked me just yesterday!"

  "Oh I am so happy for you!" Aradia cried out because indeed she was.

  She had seen the smoldering looks between the two of them, but she had not been aware that anything was really going on.

  "Yeah and I have already picked out my dress and everything!" Rhonda said in a bit of a squeal and then went on to describe it in extreme detail.