Tales of Aradia: The Last Witch

by Magnum Opus

  There weren't just werewolves living in Salem either. Aradia at that time had explained what she had seen the night she was arrested. According to Roy, there were vampires, fairies (Aradia snorted when he said that), shape shifters, gargoyles, unicorns, elves, gnomes, mermaids and plenty of others as well. Not just here in Salem either they were living all over the world. Aradia asked why she had not noticed before or at least why no one knew about them. Roy's face had gotten serious the moment she made that remark and asked quite randomly if she knew what the generic name for his people was. Aradia did not know and so he explained while humans were basically called the human race his race of people (besides being called werewolves) were known as the hidden race. They were called that because one of the most important laws that they all followed was that all hiddens had to remain hidden from the human world.

  Aradia had been stunned, she had asked if Roy knew any other members of the hidden and he said that of course he did. He remarked in a sarcastic tone that Beau, Aradia's crush, was a vampire and Tristan was a fae (fairy). Aradia at that time snorted thinking how ironic that a jerk like Tristan could be a fairy and yet strangely appropriate. What Aradia had found truly interesting was according to Roy he was not allowed to associate with other members of the hidden race. "Why?" asked Aradia. "Because I am werewolf and I cannot jeopardize my pack by associating with those who are not. I would risk exposing my pack to danger!" Roy answered. Aradia grew silent but after a while she remarked, "So basically you are not allowed to hang with other hiddens because they are different." "Yeah," said Roy but upon reflecting on Aradia's words quickly added, "No...No...wait that's not why." "Then why?" asked Aradia. "Well um," Roy hesitated, "the fact is with other werewolves you share a kindred spirit. You are of the same people. You understand one another but with people who are not werewolves they don't understand anything about you. They live differently than we do they obey different laws and sometimes disrespect our way of life by calling us 'animals' or 'mutts' or..." "Seems to me Roy that while we of the human race have gotten rid of segregation. Your people still practice it." Roy snorted disdainfully and said; "we so do not!" Aradia was tired of arguing but made a mental note that this was defiantly an issue she would have to confront again. She got up and said, "Okay whatever you say." "I am serious!" Roy snapped. "Okay," Aradia repeated. Roy opened his mouth to further his argument but Aradia shot him a warning look that made him clamp his jaw shut. "Its been quite some time," said Aradia holding her hand up to protect her eyes from the blazing sun as she looked up at the window. "I supposed we should get going before nightfall and you have another...you know," and with that Aradia got up from her chair to get the key from her dad's desk. "It does not work that way," said Roy. "Oh?" asked Aradia as she got back, "how does it work then?" "I can change into a wolf whenever I want to and I am generally in control of my wolf abilities." "So your saying last night you wanted to bite me?" asked Aradia accusingly. "No," said Roy shaking his head furiously, "I generally have control of the werewolf in me but whenever the moon is full we not only lose control but our wolf selves take over completely. Normally I chain myself or strap myself to my bed whenever that happens." "But what about last night?" asked Aradia? Roy shrugged and said, "I must have gotten loose." "Hmm, I guess that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase who let the dogs out?" Aradia grinned after making that joke. Roy, however, gave her a dirty look, Aradia more offended than embarrassed that one of her jokes had not been amusing had said "I would not be so judgmental of my jokes if I were you Roy." "Why?" asked Roy. "Because then I would be tempted to remind you that werewolves who frown on others should keep in mind the biggest joke of all is the fact that they get 'times of the month'" Roy's jaw dropped open, completely aghast, which made Aradia grin wickedly as she rushed out towards the exit of the police station. Roy ran after her and before they reached the door he held his hand against it and said, "Hey remember your promise" "What?" asked Aradia. Roy rolled his eyes and said, "you know? I tell you what I am and you tell me what you are." "I can't do that" Aradia said without missing a beat. Roy's expression turned furious, "but we agreed that...” "What I mean is Roy," Aradia interrupted before Roy's temper exploded, “is that I can't tell you what I am because I don't know." "What do you mean you don't know?" asked Roy. "Exactly what I said I don't know what I am" said Aradia. Roy stared at her trying to determine whether or not she was telling the truth. Aradia knew that she could use her powers and make him believe what she wanted him to believe but she was determined to be worthy of Roy's trust and so she just looked him right square in the eye and let him judge for himself. After a while, Roy took a deep breath and said, "Dear God you really don't know what you are do you?" Aradia just shook her head. Roy heaved a sigh and soon took his hand off the door to let Aradia go but as they walked towards the exit he grabbed her arm and said, "So you aren't going to tell anyone about me are you?" Aradia looked back at him, heaved a sigh, and said, "for one thing Roy you are my friend I would never betray your trust but further more if I was tell anyone that you are werewolf do you honestly think that anyone would believe me?" Roy was silent for a minute, then he chuckled, and said, "No I guess not."

  Chapter Fifteen

  Contrary to what most people would believe nothing really changed for Aradia after Roy's revelation. But some things did such as although the humans still knew nothing about her or them the hiddens would talk to Aradia more often instead of just giving her intense stares. "Well you're certainly the talk of the town," Tristan remarked as he, Roy, his brothers, and Aradia sat together at the diner. Roy's brothers were both seventeen and juniors at their high school. Al, short for Alejandro, was Roy's eldest brother and D, which was short for Diego was Al's fraternal twin. Al had tanned skin, a wide sexy grin, brown almost black penetrating eyes, black curly hair, and a black goatee. He was muscular and bulky but most of all he was dashing, charming, suave, and extremely flirtatious. D, however, may have been Al's twin but he was nothing like Al. He did look a lot like him though with the skin and hair but where Al was always smiling and outgoing, D was withdrawn and quiet. Where Al liked flirting and partying, D was more comfortable sitting by himself, and practicing on his bass guitar. However, there was one thing that was different between the two of them Al loved girls but D did not, at least not in the way where he wanted to be near them all the time. D was straight but he was very shy. Al, however, had no such conflicts. Nevertheless, despite the constant threat of girls coming between them Al and D's relationship always remained the same: close. They did everything together whether it was academic, sports, or even women. The two of them, however, had a rocky relationship with Roy at best. It was typical for brothers though. Al would tease Roy relentlessly and D would just hang back watching but there were times when the three of them could sit together in a non-antagonizing way at their family's diner. This was because not only did the diner belong to Roy's family and most of their relatives worked there but their father did as well and if there was one thing that Roy's father could not stand it was seeing his sons fight. So whenever they were at the diner Al, D, and Roy tried their best to behave.

  One more reason why Aradia, Roy, and his brothers could sit together in peace was the fact that the Haven diner was neutral territory. Its owner may have been a werewolf but still the place they ran was after all a business and in America it was unlawful for any business establishment to turn other people away. So while the diner was often full of tension when some other hiddens came in, everyone was still able to sit or eat together peacefully. Hence why now Aradia, Roy, Al and D were able to sit together with Tristan in a mutual but very awkward peaceful way. Aradia told herself that it should not bother her that whenever there were different hiddens around, they all acted very hostile to each other. They would cast dirty looks and pull intimidating faces. Some even started fights without a moment’s hesitation. It should not bother her but it did. She hated how whenever she was talking to Roy the moment a different hidden came in to the diner he woul
d clamp up tighter than a drum and cast that person an extremely dirty look the entire time they were there. Only when that hidden left would his personality would snap back to normal and he would be happy and fun loving again. Aradia knew she was not supposed to compare the human race to the hidden race but after living in a society where tolerance was favored it was hard to adjust to another society where it was not.

  "Before you were just the new girl with the weird smell but now you're the weird girl that knows about us, can do enough freaky things that can make you be considered one of us, and yet no one can determine what type of hidden you are. Yep, everyone has definitely been talking about you," Tristan leaned forward towards Aradia. Aradia looked up from the homework she was doing to give Tristan a disdainful look. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" asked Aradia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Actually it's meant to insult you," Tristan retorted with a wicked grin. Al raised an eyebrow to give Tristan a very dirty look, "you know Tristan it's interesting how you say so many things when it's obvious that nobody values your opinion." Tristan scowled at him while Al decided to add to his insult by saying, "No wait a minute that's not true." Tristan smiled, "I am sure the rats scurrying around the docks value your opinion very much," only to scowl again. Aradia grinned, sensing an opportunity and said, "of course the rats value his opinion Al he is after all one of them." It was enough, Tristan stood up and casting one last dirty look at all four of them turned on his heel to leave. However, he was determined to have the last laugh so before he even took two steps away from the table, he turned back to look at them, crossed his arms and said, "I think you got the Salem docks mixed up with your family's diner Al when it's pretty obvious which place the rats would prefer to be."

  D shot up from his seat, started move around the table in such a way and with such fierceness that it seemed like he was determined to go after Tristan and kill him. Al sensing his brother's distress shot from his seat as well but only to put his hand on D's chest to prevent him from accomplishing that goal. Roy, however, just sat there at the end of the table his back pressed against the wall and his arm draped around Aradia's shoulders. One might think that Roy did not care about what had just happened between his brothers and Tristan but Aradia noticed the way his expression changed the very moment Tristan had sat down and started talking. Aradia wondered, if the conversation had bothered him so much why hadn't he done anything about it? After searching his mind (which she did feel a little guilty about) Aradia realized that the reason Roy had not moved was because he did not want to remove his arm from Aradia's shoulders and getting up would have required that. She cast a long look at Roy's sullen face as he stared at Al and D. She started thinking about a question that had been plaguing her since he had revealed his secret to her. Why was Roy behaving this way towards her? He was always having his arm around her shoulders, holding her hand, smiling at her in the hallway, and basically not being able to take his eyes off of her. It was a very interesting question that had been bothering for some time now but the question that was bothering her more was: what did it mean?

  Roy soon noticed Aradia staring at him and turned his head to look at her, smiling. She smiled back innocently not really meaning anything but something encouraged Roy to bring his face closer to hers. At first, Aradia kept her distance but as his face got closer to hers and the air seemed to become more hot and heavy between their faces, Aradia started to wonder what was going on. As Roy's face got closer it become more obvious leaving Aradia to debate what she should do in the next five seconds. But as his face was practically three inches away from hers Roy suddenly turned his face away from her to stare at something. It was then Aradia realized that Al and D were still there and watching the two of them. She turned to look at them as well. Al had a cocky grin on his face and was looking completely amused by the whole situation. D on the other hand just stood there watching them with his usual impassive bored expression. "Oh please continue don't mind us," Al said holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture. Aradia snapped at him with Roy's arm still remaining around her shoulders, "if you want this kind of action Al go rent a porn film." D looked confused and said, "I did not know you could rent porn firms." "You can't you idiot," said Roy. D responded by saying, "but then why did your girlfriend suggest that?" looking more confused than ever. Roy groaned and buried his face in his right hand. "C'mon D," said Al clapping his brother on the shoulder, "let's leave the two little love birds alone and go find ourselves some real women to fool around with." "Ok," D said cheerfully. "This ought to be good," Roy muttered to their retreating backs. "Why?" Aradia asked him. "Because in case you have not noticed by now Al is usually the ladies’ man while D would not recognize a woman if she walked right up and flashed him!" Aradia chuckled and said, “actually I do think he would recognize a woman if she did that." "Don't be so sure," Roy said. They both burst out laughing. Afterwards Roy started staring at Aradia again and said,"sooo...now that my brothers are gone we're all alone. You know what that means right?" "It means we're all alone?" Aradia asked still chuckling. "No," said Roy and then reaching out to cup her chin, “no that's not what it means at all." "Uh...Roy what are you doing?" Aradia asked him as he started to inch his face towards her. He didn't respond but he did start slowly bringing his face towards her's. Aradia felt the strange feeling of Déjà vu in addition to anxiety. She had no idea what to do. If she pushed Roy away he'd be hurt if she went along with what he obviously wanted to do she might give him the wrong impression. But as Roy got closer to her and she started to feel the heat from even his lips she started to wonder if what would happen would really be wrong at all?

  Suddenly the bell to the diner entrance door jangled and Aradia jerked her face towards the sound only to have her eyes meet Beau Dayton’s. He stopped as he noticed Aradia sitting with Roy, close together by the window, just the two of them, and Roy's arm around her shoulders. Beau stood frozen staring at Aradia who met his gaze as fiercely and intense as his. In spite of this though Aradia did not shrug off Roy's shoulders. Everything just seemed to freeze leaving Beau and Aradia entranced with one another. Most of the times when this happened Beau would just stare back at Aradia looking either indifferent or angered but this time he did something different. He looked right back at Aradia, smiled, and winked at her. Aradia gulped and color rushed to her face making her wonder if with her red hair and flushed face: did her head now look like a giant strawberry? If Beau noticed, he did nothing to show it he just picked up his coca-cola bottle that he bought almost every day and left the diner without another word or glance. At this time Roy had taken his arm from Aradia's shoulder, and began sulking. Aradia did not notice at least at first until she looked at Roy and saw the look on his face. "What's up Roy?" she asked. Roy said nothing.