Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 1 (38 page)

“So Stanley was the first victim because
he was a werewolf, Dereck knew him, and Dereck knew he wouldn’t be
a suspect in Stanley’s murder because of the investment
scheme.”

“Right,” Aradia agreed. “The police
would rule him out, then look everywhere but at him.”

“He turned a plan to finance his family
into a plan to avenge his family,” Ross noted. “Very
industrious.”

“Then Mr. Hitzig, another werewolf,
figured it out, or at least got suspicious. He was the first vic’s
lawyer, so it stands to reason he might have had concerns he wished
to discuss. Derek was looking to kill a werewolf, why not one who’s
sniffing around in his business.”

Ross said, “Hitzig basically handed
himself over.”

“Right. Then when Kaiser and I started
investigating, he figured Mr. Hitzig’s son would be the perfect
candidate for the third Vampire Murder.”

“I’d been wondering about that,” Ross
said. “Why didn’t Derick kill your friend when Kaiser went to him
wearing the wire?”

“Because Kaiser was brilliant,” Aradia
said. “He knowingly walked into a deathtrap because he figured he
could outplay the killer. He let Dereck implicate himself before he
ended the call to the police. You might have noticed Kaiser hung up
just as Dereck was starting to talk about hidden matters.”

“I did notice that,” Ross replied.

“To any human, it just sounded like more
crazy rambling. He was already impersonating a vampire in his
murders, after all.”

“So what happened after he hung up the
phone?”

“He pretended to beg for his life, and
offered Dereck a trade.”

“What kind of trade?”

“Kaiser told him there was a new, exotic
hidden in town who was dating a vampire and a friend of
werewolves.”

“He gave you up?” Ross asked, suddenly
furious.

“No, no,” Aradia said. “He just wanted
it to look that way. Think about it. I’d have been a great choice.
The werewolves would blame the Daytons, and the vampires would
blame the Moraleses.”

“But what was the plan?” Ross asked.

“Call me, warn me Dereck was coming so I
get out of the house, then call the police.”

Ross shook his head. “That’s an awful
plan. The police found Kaiser unconscious in the warehouse where
they traced his cell call.”

Aradia nodded. “Dereck planned to keep
killing. He bumped Kaiser to spot four in his lineup. Kaiser never
got the chance to warn me.”

“He could have gotten you killed.”

“Yeah, that part of his plan didn’t work
so well. Dad, don’t be mad. No harm, no foul.”

Ross fumed, but Aradia was insistent. He
drank some coffee and somehow managed to let it go.

“And Dereck’s ultimate goal?”

“To start a war,” Aradia replied. “It’s
a hidden kind of goal. He was angry at vampires for killing his
family, angry at werewolves for not protecting his family. He was
angry at everyone.”

“Aradia, well done,” her father said.
“You solved your first murder. Murders, actually. The shame is that
we can never tell anybody. But well done.”

“Thanks. Oh! I spoke to Dax. After I was
safe at the Dayton house, he came back here, to our house, to see
if he could find anything to implicate the attacker. Dax found the
rag Dereck carried.”

“What did he do with it?”

“He bagged it up in a zippy and gave it
to his father. Mr. Dayton just got the lab tests back on it. They
identified three different substances. Hold on a second, I wrote
them down.”

While she fished through her pockets,
Ross asked, “Sodium thiopental, mivacurium chloride, and
succinylcholine?”

Aradia finally found the scrap of paper
and checked over the list. “Um, yeah. I think. How’d you know that?
Wait! Don’t tell me. You found the same chemicals in Dereck’s
warehouse?”

“Well, the police did,” Ross replied.
“But yes.”

“That just about ties it up, then,”
Aradia said.

Ross squinted and studied his daughter.
“I know you, Rai. You’re still thinking something.”

“Well, there’s one thing that’s still
bugging me,” Aradia said.

“Hmm?”

“It’s something Dereck said to me and to
Kaiser. He said that history would regard him as a visionary,
anointed for a higher purpose.”

“Crazy talk, yeah,” her dad replied.
“There are people out there who… their minds don’t work like the
rest of us. Their minds are different. I’m so sorry I let you get
wrapped up in this all, Aradia.”

“No, Dad, that’s not what I meant. Yeah,
he was full-blown mad-ape crazy, but he wasn’t irrational.”

Her dad shook his head. “No, that kind
of psycho tends not to be. They see some things that aren’t there,
and don’t see other things that obviously are. They make wild
claims about the world, but their thought processes and actions
make sense once you understand their fundamental beliefs.”

“Right,” she said.

“What are you getting at, Aradia?”

“He called himself anointed, Dad. You
didn’t make him to be the religious type, did you?”

He shook his head.

“No, neither did I,” Aradia agreed. “So
if he was anointed, then he had to think somebody had anointed him,
and if he didn’t think it was a god…”

“Oh crap,” her dad said.

“Yeah,” Aradia replied. “I think
somebody killed his family to manipulate him into these murders.
His boss is still out there.”

Epilogue

“Did you acquire it?”
the Sovereign demanded.

Keon and Saul were on
their knees in his throne room, with Aradia's torn bloody jacket in
front of them.

“Yes, Sovereign,” said
Keon. “We have acquired the item that your Demoness needs to
determine if this girl is indeed the last witch.”

“How did you obtain
it?” the Sovereign asked, sounding curious.

Keon proceeded to
describe how Aradia had managed to solve the murders that took
place in Salem, how the murderer had confronted her, and how Aradia
had battled and defeated him.

Afterwards, the
Sovereign was silent until finally he muttered, “Incredible. How
else did you test her?”

“I released a werewolf on the night of a
full moon,” Keon replied. “The wolf is one who is very fond of
Aradia, a friend and would-be lover. I intended for their paths to
cross.”

“That was quite a risk,” the Sovereign
replied.

“A calculated one. If she were the last
witch, she’d survive the encounter. If not, she was irrelevant.
Needless to say, she survived.”

“How did you gain entry to the mortal
dwelling?”

Keon smiled crudely. “I have long since
had free entry to that particular household. One of it’s residents
and I share a history.”

“You summoned me,
Sovereign?” Morgan asked as she suddenly appeared.

“The Night Shadow clan
has provided the sample you need, but it is no longer
necessary.”

“Not necessary?” Morgan
repeated suspiciously. She had not yet told the Sovereign of what
she had recently felt.

“Why, Sovereign?” Keon
asked.

“Because I declare it,”
the Sovereign replied. “Unless you hold me accountable to yourself,
Keon?”

“Of course not,
Sovereign.”

“What would you have us
do with the witch?” Saul asked and received a jab from Keon's
elbow.

The Sovereign walked to
the window, and after exhaling a long deep breath, he finally said,
“Spread word about her living in Salem.”

“Why?” Saul asked once
more.

Apparently the
Sovereign was in a good mood, for he explained, “I’ll not waste any
more of my precious time or soldiers trying to deal with her. She’s
already annoyed me more than I can tolerate. When other hidden
creatures hear about her, there are many who will seek her
themselves for their own ends. She will be buried in the crush of
it.”

“But what if they
acquire her for their own ends?” Keon asked, “A witch’s blood is
the most potent and powerful substance in the world.”

“Exactly what will draw
others to her,” the Sovereign said, “but I doubt this girl will be
an easy captive.”

“But what if she cannot
defeat them? Whoever captures her will most likely drink her blood
and become very powerful!” Keon pressed.

Amazingly, the
Sovereign laughed and said, “As much as it concerns you, I suspect
she will not be an easy opponent, and if some foe does seem on the
verge of besting her, then I can intervene.”

“The more challenges
she faces,” the Sovereign continued, “the stronger she gets and the
more potent her blood becomes. And the more potent her
blood...”

The Sovereign slowly
licked his fangs as he finished, “The more delicious she will be
when I drain her dry!”

End of Book
One

Read Tales of
Aradia: The Last Witch Volume Two to find out what happens next.
Feel free to contact L.A. Jones on her google blog
http://lajonestheauthor.blogspot.com/
,
follow
her on Twitter @LAJonesauthor, and Like the series on Facebook at
the Tales of Aradia The Last Witch fan page.

Also feel free to check out the
editor’s blog or contact him through his website
www.harrisonbradlow.com
,
follow him on Twitter
@Harrison314, and Friend him on Facebook.

Both Harrison and LA like that kind of
stuff.