Tales of Aradia: The Last Witch

by Magnum Opus

  Suddenly, Aradia clutched her forehead in instantaneous pain, which usually meant that what she was seeing was not something pleasant. Images flashed through Aradia's head of cops showing up, people scrambling to get away, screaming, yelling, and drunken teens either taking off into the night or getting handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car. "Hey Aradia are you alright?" asked Roy. Aradia opened her eyes to see Roy staring at her with concern in his eyes. "Yeah Roy I am alright," said Aradia, "now I know this is going to sound random but does your dad know you are at this party?" Roy stared at her and said, "of course not!" "Would he be ticked if he knew you were here?" "Mad?" Roy laughed, " he would probably put me on dishwasher duty at our diner for a month!" "okay in that case where is your car parked?" asked Aradia. Roy raised an eyebrow.

  "If you brought your own car I suggest you get to it like right now!"

  "Why?"

  "Because in about 20 seconds cops are going be at Jayden's door and I get the feeling that you don't want to be here when they start arresting people!" Roy just stared at her looking utterly amused and said, "now Aradia how on earth could you possibly know that there are going to be cops here?" All of sudden the door to Jayden's house swung open in a loud boom and dozens of blue uniformed cops with the Salem Police Department logo swarmed into the house! "See?!" Aradia cried. Roy stood stunned but then gathering his wits grabbed Aradia's hand and said, "c'mon Rai we got to get out of here!" She hung back and said, " you go! Find your brothers and get home! It will be quicker for you without me tagging along." Roy looked back at her and asked, "but what about you?" Aradia just smiled and said, " I will find a way now go!" She pushed Roy as gently as she could towards the door. He hung back at little but then took off. The truth was Aradia did not want to get caught with Roy and his brothers besides it looking bad (three guys with one girl) her father would probably raise hell with Roy's parents so Aradia decided that if she got caught it was better if she was caught on her own. That way at least she would have to face the music by herself and not drag anyone else in to it.

  She quickly turned and shoving as hard as she could made it out the back door into Jayden's backyard. She ran as fast as she could and met up with Tristan down the block who just gave her another dirty look. But they still ran together down the street into the city of Salem. They both stopped after a while of running to rest and panting heavily took in huge gulps of air. Tristan eventually raised his head and opened his mouth to say something when Aradia clutched her forehead. Again she got a vision and again it was one with pain she raised her head to look down the two streets Aradia and Tristan were standing in the middle of. Now at this point Aradia knew from her visions that a cop car was coming and which way was the best way to avoid it. She gave one last hard look at Tristan debating what she should do: tell him which way to go or let him get caught. But after a few seconds Aradia sighed, heaved her shoulders, and regretted for probably the hundredth time what a good person she was. "Okay Tristan," said Aradia, "this is how it is we are going to be. We will split up and you are going to go this way" she pointed to the left, "and I am going this way" she then pointed to the opposite direction.Tristan scoffed, "you can't tell me what to do." Aradia grabbed the front of his shirt, brought his face to meet hers, and growled, "wanna bet?" Tristan struggled to free himself but with one solid look into Aradia's eyes he nodded and took off in the direction she told him to go. Aradia then turned, heaved a sigh, and ran the opposite way. She ran only a few meters and sighed heavily one last time preparing herself for the inevitable. However, it was as she was waiting that out of the corner of her eye she saw something strange. A young boy and girl, were pressed against a wall on one of the buildings. The girls head was tipped in such a way that seemed like the boy was giving her a hickey but after a few seconds the boy raised his head. Aradia's eyes narrowed and even though it was dark, very late, dimly light by street lights Aradia had a clear view of the boy's face more specifically his mouth. There was blood dripping from his lips and down his chin but most mysterious of all was what the blood was dripping from: where his canine teeth were supposed to be were two long pointed fangs! Fangs! Aradia thought, like a vampire! But she snorted thinking that such a thing was impossible but then she remembered the stories she had heard or read about vampires; besides having fangs they were amazingly beautiful, super strong, and pale skinned but most of all they were supposed to be perfect! Perfect like the kids at school! Aradia deduced. But, she continued thinking, does that mean that all the "perfectly freaky" people, the ones who have been giving such weird looks since day one are all vampires? Unfortunately, Aradia did not get the chance to think that question through for at that very moment the cop car showed, and two officers emerged, shouting "Freeze!" Aradia threw her hands up and stood very still as the cops moved towards her. "What's your name kid?" One of them asked after checking her for weapons. "Aradia," she responded in a polite tone.

  "Were you at Jayden Chapman's party?"

  "Yes" The officers stopped and looked at her, puzzled. They knew she had been at the loud noisy party for which the neighbors had called them for. But in their experience with confronting teenage party-goers they were expecting Aradia to at the very least deny she was there. Aradia shrugged, "what? It's not like you don't already know I was there." One of them shrugged and said, "well yeah but we were not expecting you to confirm it." "What he means is," the other officer interrupted, "our experience is that most teenagers are not as honest as we wish them to be." "Yeah well," Aradia shrugged, "I am not like most teenagers." "But," she added, "Before we go anyway there is a woman over there that needs help." "What woman?" one of the officers asked. Aradia tipped her head in the intended direction, seeing as her hands were now handcuffed and she could not point, and said, "That woman over there the one with the man who is trying to..." But much to Aradia's shock and disappointment the man or rather the vampire and the woman she saw were both gone. "But I thought..." she trailed off when she saw the two officers looking at her skeptically. She then shrugged and said, "Never mind."

  As she got into the back of the police car she decided to chalk up what she saw (or what she thought she saw) as her imagination. Still while they were on their way to the station Aradia could not help but ask, "hey can I ask you guys something?"

  "Yes, you need a high school diploma to be a cop! You can't just drop out and do some extra training!" the cop of the left shouted. Aradia raised her eyes, stunned and said, "um what?" "Sorry little lady," the one at the wheel said, "My partner has got some... issues." "I do not!" the cop in question shouted. "Issues?" said Aradia, "dude he's got a whole freaking magazine subscription!" The cop at the wheel laughed while the other did not. Aradia just smiled but as they rounded one corner she said, "But hey like I was saying can I ask you guy's a question?"One just shrugged while the other said, "sure kid shoot no pun intended." "Do you believe in vampires?" asked Aradia. Both of the cops turned to look at her, extremely skeptical. After a while, they looked away until finally one of them answered, "no. why? Do you?" Aradia didn't respond but after a few minutes of quiet pondering she muttered, "I don't want to." She turned to look through the window and caught a glance of Tristan with his perfect body, perfect good looks, perfect...everything. He was staring at her in disbelief as she was driven away in the back of a cop car. She then added to her statement by saying, " but I am starting to think that I don't have a choice."

  Chapter Twelve

  Aradia sat at the interrogation table across from her father who just stared at her with his hands clasped in front of him. She hung her head guiltily not daring to look at him. Eventually, she heard the scraping of the chair legs meaning her father was standing up. "Well," Ross heaved a huge breath and releasing it through his nose, "Aradia I have to say that this out of all the goddamn stupid boneheaded things you have ever done this is has got to be one of the biggest!" "It’s not one of the worst," Aradia muttered. "No, one of the worst was when you almost got one of your best friends killed!" Ara
dia's head shot up and said, "Daddy that is a low blow!" "Oh? And how low should it have been huh? Do you have any idea what the hell you have done?!" Ross's voice this time had risen from a sensible tone to an undeniable and horrifying roar. Although he did not raise his fists or pound the table his voice was raised so bloody high that Aradia could not help but feel like crawling under the table and hiding. But she knew she could not do that so she just hung her head and allowed her father to continue his ranting. "It was not just the lying and going to a party that got us worried Aradia! Since you had lied about where you were something could have happened to you and we would have never realized or known where you are. If you had gotten drunk at that party someone could have raped you, gotten you pregnant or infected with HIV hell even killed you! They could have buried you in a shallow grave and we would have never known! Don't you watch the news?! This sort of stuff happens all the damn time!" Ross paused and heaved a breath, "besides did you ever consider what the alcohol could have done to you and your...abilities" he added in a hushed tone. Aradia gulped, she had definitely not thought of that. She usually had good control over her powers but that was because when she used them she had total concentration. If she was drunk, however, she could not have possibly been able to concentrate and god only knows what would have happened then! "I am sorry Daddy," Aradia said sounding like a puppy that had just been kicked, "I really am sorry." "Yes well," Ross snapped, "being sorry isn't going to save you from your punishment is it?" "Of course not," she grumbled. Ross held up his fingers and ticked off the punishments one by one, "first, no more sleepovers at Rhonda's place until your mother and I feel like we can trust you again (which I will admit to you will probably not be in years.) Two, from now on you will help your mother after school until she is ready to drive you both home so no more hanging around the football fields or library. No, from on you will help your mother clean her classroom, organize her papers, scrape gum off the chairs etc. etc. Three, on the weekends you will hang out at my office to help me organize my stuff from noon to the time I drive you home. Four, you will clean the house from top to bottom for the next whole weekend (but only that particular one sweetheart I am not that cruel to make clean the house every weekend) and five..." "Thank God," Aradia interrupted in a muttered breath but got a strict look from her father in return. She lowered her eyes in repentance as her father continued with the last punishment, "from now on if you want to go to an illegal party at least tell your mother and I where you will be."Aradia looked up, extremely perplexed and said, "What do you mean?" "Honey," Ross thread his fingers his hair and sighed again, "you are a teenager going to a party is expected. Hell if anything your mom and I are proud that you have managed to make friends at all in this town. The last place we were in...we were lucky if your teachers even spoke to us!" Aradia still looked puzzled, "so wait? You are happy I went to a party?" "Proud actually," Ross said with a smile."So why then are you punishing me?" asked Aradia completely befuddled by this conversation. "Because firecracker you lied to us and what's worse you did not take into consideration what drugs and drink might do to you specifically. Honey whether you like it or not, you are not like other people you have special conditions annoying or strange as they may be they are still part of you and you have to take them into consideration. Furthermore, you got arrested! I happen to be the Salem Patrol Captain and what do you think it would look like if I just let a person who was arrested go because that person happens to be my little girl." "So you're punishing me to save your reputation,” Aradia said bitterly. "No honey I am punishing because you did something wrong and whether or not I want to punish you it makes no difference because I am a cop I have to treat everyone the same way even though seeing my baby in handcuffs made me want to run over the two losers who brought you in with a lawnmower!" Aradia cracked a smile and said, "So is everything ok now?" "Well no charges have been filed if that is what you mean'" her father said chuckling. "So can we go home now?" Aradia grinned innocently and as wide as she could after she asked this. Ross just stared at her, shrugged, and said "okay."

  Aradia got up and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. As she and her father walked out she turned to him and said, "If it makes you feel any better Daddy I had a horrible time at the party." "Seriously?" her father asked. Aradia remembered the boredom, the smoke filled rooms, the teenagers doing drugs smoking a joint or crack pipes and saying all kinds of stupid shit once the high kicked in, the endless rooms filled with three or more people having drunken depraved sex, the loud booming random music, the horrid food, the crowded house and the shoving of people everywhere. "Yeah Daddy," Aradia nodded, "seriously." Still, Aradia thought as she also remembered the dancing she did with Roy, I did have a little fun.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "So how goes the punishment parade?" Roy asked Aradia. She sipped her drink, and stared at him. He sat across from her with one arm propped against the window and the other arm draped on the top of the head cushion of the booth. The two of them were sitting in a corner booth near the side window at the diner Roy's parents owned. The Werewolf Haven Diner or the Haven Diner as it was more commonly referred to, was one of the single most popular teen-hang outs at Salem High. It was located on Witch Lane (which of course made it the butt of many a cruel joke) right in the middle of the city, three blocks away from Salem High. So the diner was close enough to still cater to the high school students yet it was far enough to not turn into animal house.

  "It depends. How should it be going?" Aradia responded taking a bite out her cheeseburger. The diner served mostly Guatemalan food since Roy's family was originally from Guatemala but they did serve other things as well like burgers, and fries. Aradia was thankful for that, for burgers were what she basically lived off of and got scolded for viciously by her mother 24/7. "What do you mean?" asked Roy. "For the love for God Roy I am being punished you don't expect me to be having fun do you?" Aradia responded raising an eyebrow sarcastically. Roy hung his head a little sheepishly but then drew himself up defensively, "well excuse me for worrying about you. Next time I will know better!" This time it was Aradia who was humbled. She hung her head embarrassed but after a few minutes raised her eyes to look at Roy and said, "Sorry Roy I guess I am just a little upset about how all this turned out."

  Roy shrugged and said, “I can understand that." After swigging down the last bit of her soda, Aradia asked, "So did your parents nail you and your brothers for the party?" "No, thanks to you we were able to avoid being arrested by the cops and managed to sneak into our bedrooms without them knowing a thing, “said Roy grinning with satisfaction of the memory. "Glad I could help," said Aradia. "There is one small thing though, “asked Roy. "Hmm?" Aradia said or more like murmured with her mouth full of the last of her fries. Roy leaned forward and after looking quickly to the left and right stared Aradia right in the eye and asked, "How on earth did you manage to know beforehand that the cops were going to show?" Aradia began to choke and after Roy finished slapping her hard on the back returned to his seat to await her explanation. Aradia was torn because she did not know what to tell Roy. If she lied he'd probably know like if she said she had heard the sirens Roy would say, "You could hear police sirens three feet from the door amidst the loud music and the chatter of everyone there?" If she said nothing he would never let it go and probably try to find the answer on his own. But on the other hand if she told the truth there would be no way in hell he'd believe her or worse if he did and told someone...Well, Aradia thought, there was probably a reason why Superman never told any of his childhood friends what he could really do.

  Completely torn by ethics and a desperate need to survive, Aradia looked nervously at Roy who was eagerly awaiting her answer. Finally, she said, "Does it really matter now?" "What?" Roy asked her. "I said does it really matter now? I mean I knew the cops would show up, they did, I warned you, you and your brothers got out, and I got busted! So really does it matter how I knew?" Aradia demanded. Roy said nothing, which made Aradia feel frustrat
ed. In an angry huff she stood up, turned, and with one last statement, "well if it bothers you so much that I can't explain everything I do to you then maybe I should save you the trouble of wondering by just leaving you alone!" and then began to leave. Roy quickly stood up and grasped her hand. "Hey now, Aradia I am sorry I didn't mean to be rude. I don't want you to think that I am ungrateful because I am grateful that you helped me and my brothers stay out of trouble," Roy said while giving a gentle tug on her hand to make her look at him, "I was just curious that's all." "Yeah well remember what curiosity did to the cat," Aradia muttered with her eyes lowered. Roy dropped his voice along with his head in order to meet her eyes with his own. Using two fingers from the hand that was not holding Aradia's, he tilted her chin to make her look at him and said, "Yeah well I am not a cat now am I?" "Well now," said Aradia with a playful tilt of her head, "I wouldn't say that." Roy just stared at her puzzled while Aradia rushed on to finish the punch line, "in my opinion Roy out of all the boys I have met you’re the baddest cat around!"

  Roy laughed and Aradia smiled. They sat back down at their booth unknowingly with Roy still clutching Aradia's hand. For a while neither of them said anything they just stared at each other, smiling at least until the door to the diner open and in walked Beau Dayton. Today he was wearing a dark green polo shirt with completely clean and stainless khaki pants. He was a basic preppie from the polo shirt to the loafers and the squeaky clean appearance meaning no zits on his face, blonde hair glistening and perfectly combed, no foul odors hanging around him, not even the slightest food stain on his chin! Since the party Aradia had decided that he seemed like the type of guy she wanted nothing to do with but from the moment he walked into the diner Aradia yanked her hand from Roy's grasp and stared at Beau with complete fascination. Ever since the encounter they had had at the party Aradia's attitude had changed towards Beau. Yet she could not stop looking at him completely mystified. The reason why I am staring at him all the time is probably because he's handsome, Aradia thought to herself, but still a part of her felt that there was something much more deeper involved when it came to her and Beau.