Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (11 page)

He could not believe that
this scrawny little young witch could have such influence over her
community, and not use it. At least, not in the way he thought she
should use it. Although she was truly stronger and more powerful,
Aradia never took advantage over such a fact. She never picked
fights, and she never randomly tortured anyone.

In other words, she never
abused her power and position like the way Holden did. He resented
that enormously for as strong as he was, he did not have Aradia's
powers. In his mind, if he had but a fraction of her power he and
his pack could probably conquer the entire east coast. Now all he
could do was chase after his way-ward unfaithful wife. He was still
strong and tough and could beat anyone in both his human and wolf
form. However, that did him no good because he was still only one
man and no match against Aradia and her supporters. His good sense
told him that he should just forget about Brenna, and return home.
He had not been there in a year so God only knows how chaotic
things probably were now. However, he could not make himself do
such a thing, not because he loved Brenna, but because no woman
left him and lived to brag about it. Furthermore, if her getting
away from him would be not humiliating enough once word got out
that his own mate had left him for a vampire... Holden shuddered at
the thought. Most of all, his werewolf side would not allow him to
give up Brenna. As much as he thought like a human, his werewolf
instincts were still a part of him and his werewolf instinct was
still determined to reclaim his mate. After all, he concluded to
himself, we mate for life so its death do us part Brenna. Yours or
mine.

Suddenly, his cell phone
rang and Holden crushed the still burning cigarette in his hand. He
then threw the beer bottle flying over the cliff, dove into his
pocket, and flipped his phone open.

"Yeah?" he
responded.

His eyes grew wide as he
demanded who this was. However, after a few seconds his eyes soon
shrunk to normal size.

After five long minutes
where Holden said nothing, and listened to the voice on the line an
evil smile began to grow on his face.

It was cold on the streets
of Salem where Aradia now walked on her way to meet Jayce. At the
very last minute, he had called her, and asked her to get some
coffee with him. Wanting to get out of the house and away from
Melina's stares, Aradia jumped at the opportunity. She had then
grabbed her coat, slipped on her snow boots, and left. It was only
after a while did she realize that Melina had followed her. She did
not know what Melina wanted, but figured that this was an issue she
could deal with later.

The Cauldron Cafe was where
Jayce was waiting for her and in spite of its name it looked just
like any another typical café. It had dim brown yellow lighting,
soft music, and the smell of ground coffee beans floating in the
air. It also had a fake fireplace, a wooden magazine rack, several
tables, and chairs in addition to a few beanbags, old throw rugs,
and several baristas at the counter wearing matching uniforms.
However, what truly signified it as a cafe were the people who
could be seen sitting at the table drinking out of the Styrofoam
cups and eating off the dainty white china plates.

The bell to the door jangled
as soon as Aradia walked. While the humans gave her no notice, the
hiddens in the cafe turned to stare at her again but Aradia just
ignored them. She looked around, trying to spot Jayce.

"Hey Jay," she greeted
him.

Jayce smiled as he got up
and offered Aradia a seat.

For a while, the two of them
just talked. Since Aradia was a hidden, and Jayce was a human, she
could not tell him anything about the issues concerning the hidden
world. Ironically, that was one of the reasons she found Jayce so
appealing. It was because around him she could pretend that she was
normal. However, there was bitterness to this for whenever he spoke
of normal things like the prom, college, and the future Aradia had
really nothing to say about it.

"What do you mean you
haven't thought about whose going to be your date for the junior
prom?" Jayce asked sounding stunned.

Aradia shrugged and said, "I
have been pretty busy lately so my thoughts have been elsewhere
beside the stupid prom. Anyway, it is in April so it's still three
months away so I got plenty of time!"

Jayce reluctantly agreed
with that with a shrug of his own shoulders.

He still went on to say,
"Yeah well it's all Crystal has been talking about
lately..."

"Who?" Aradia
asked.

"My girlfriend," Jayce
explained.

Aradia stopped, and for two
long minutes, she stared at Jayce in stone cold silence. He
fidgeted a little, looking uncomfortable under her
scrutiny.

Finally, she said, "I
thought you two broke up."

Jayce laughed and said, "Are
you kidding? We have been dating each other since we were in middle
school!"

"Does she know about the
party?" Aradia asked with her voice sounding as cold as
steel.

"What party?"

"The one in my freshman year
where I caught you in bed with two other girls?" Aradia asked
bluntly.

Jayce said nothing, but
Aradia continued to stare at him.

"Look," he began to explain,
"I am not the only who has indiscretions in our relationship. Since
the day we first started dating, I knew that Crystal ran around
with other guys."

"You mean she cheats on
you?" Aradia tried to clarify.

Jayce inhaled a deep breath,
and nodded softly.

"I do love her you know," he
continued, "And I would be lying if I said I was okay with it
but..."

"Let me guess," said Aradia,
"You figured that if she was screwing around you could do the same
and she could not complain about it."

Jayce lowered his head
sheepishly.

"So began your relationship
with Crystal," Aradia concluded aloud, "To the outside world you
two are the perfect couple but on the inside you both cheat to
punish one another for being unfaithful."

Still Jayce said
nothing.

However, Aradia could not
help but ask, "If her cheating on you bothers you so much why don't
you leave her?"

Jayce's head shot up as he
stated firmly, "I love her. I would never leave her!"

"Does she love you?" Aradia
asked.

At first, Jayce said
nothing.

It was only after a while,
he did say, "Yeah. She does."

"If she does then why does
she cheat on you?"

Jayce gulped, but was ready
with his answer as if he had been asked it so many times he could
recite it by heart.

"She's insecure," he
explained, "She always needs to know that she is beautiful. She
knows I already think so, but that is not enough. She knows I would
think she was beautiful even if she had scars all over her face and
body!"

"So no matter what she does,
you will always love her?"

Jayce nodded.

"Why?"

"Because," Jayce concluded
with a shrug. "I am the only one who accepts her for everything she
is. Flaws, infidelities, and all."

Aradia left shortly
afterwards because after that conversation with Jayce things had
become very awkward between them and Aradia found no reason to
stick around.

"Truly," Aradia mumbled,
"Love is blind."

Ironically, the conversation
had helped to clarify what kind of relationship Aradia would have
with Jayce. It would have been normal with no fears or pressures
from the hidden community. However, Aradia now realized that no
matter what she did Jayce would never leave his girlfriend. In the
end, he would probably marry his girlfriend even if his heart
belonged to Aradia. In other words, to Jayce she would be nothing
more than 'the other woman.'

Now Aradia was content to
put up with many names since she had been teased from a very early
age. 'The last witch,' 'the most powerful hidden on earth,' and
'Lamont's girl' were no exceptions. However, 'the other woman' was
not a name or title she was willing to bear.

In the end, Aradia thought,
when you get involved with someone who is married or attached it
never ends well.

A part of her wanted to
argue that that was not always the case especially with Brenna, but
after Aradia thought about it, she realized it was. Although Brenna
had been forced into marriage and sure as hell did not love her
husband, getting involved with her was proving to be a lot of
trouble.

However, Aradia got the
feeling that Xan felt like it was worth it. Most of all, she felt
as if he truly loved Brenna. It was in his eyes whenever he looked
at her and in his voice whenever he spoke to her.

Kind of like the way I am,
Aradia deduced, with Dax. Her mind focused on Dax's name as images
flashed through her mind about everything they had done together
from dancing at the club, to cleaning the club, to discussing
hidden politics, and just plain old hanging out. Most of all, she
thought about how the way he made her feel.

Whenever he spoke to her he
always said the right thing, but he was always honest and sincere
and not afraid to be blunt with his opinion. He never tried to
control her, but always made sure she knew how he felt about
things. Most of all, whenever she needed support he was always
there. Then Aradia remembered the chemistry between them and a
red-hot blush crept into her face. When most of Aradia's female
friends talked about kissing, they described it as hot, and
passionate. However, whenever Dax kissed her Aradia did not feel
fire quite the contrary what she felt was a soft cooling sensation
as if she was being swept away in a soft ocean wave.

Without even asking her, he
always knew what she liked. Such as whenever he put his hand up her
shirt, he knew how she liked to be tickled on her stomach with the
tips of his fingernails. Whenever he tipped her head up, he knew
that she liked it when he placed both of his hands behind her head,
and cradled it. However, her favorite thing was when they were
kissing he would run his hands gently through her hair like a fine
tooth comb, never pulling it, but savoring its
silkiness.

Aradia sighed finally
realizing what she should have realized from the very beginning:
Dax was the only one for her. She was in love with him, and wanted
to be with him. The dates she had been on with the other boys had
been fun, but she had not felt anything from them. At least, not
what she felt whenever she was with Dax. Furthermore, when she was
with another guy, she always thought about Dax. She compared
everyone to him from their personalities to their looks; like it
was some sort of competition and Dax always came out victorious.
However, what it really came down to was the fact that the other
guys she could live without, but Aradia could not live without
Dax.

So Aradia decided that by
the time the junior prom rolled around she would make her choice
known finally.

It was as Aradia was making
that choice when she realized that Melina was still following
her.

She sighed and decided
enough was enough; she had to confront Melina.

Quickly looking around from
left to right, Aradia spotted a closed mechanics shop and decided
that that place was good as any. She made sure that Melina was
still following her by turning her head slightly, but only for a
second. Afterwards, she spotted the side door to the shop, tried
it, realized it was locked, but then using her strength managed to
break the lock right off.

I will have to fix that
before I leave, Aradia noted, no sense in making things right with
Melina at the expense of another's door.

She chuckled softly at her
own joke as she went inside. Melina followed shortly after, but
neither one of them suspected a mere few feet away someone with a
black ponytail was watching them.

He had a wicked grin on his
face as he quickly dialed a number in his phone, and spoke only a
few words into the receiver. "It is done."

Aradia sighed heavily as
soon as she heard Melina slam the door. Neither one of them spoke
not even when Aradia turned around to face her.

For a few seconds, the two
just stood facing each other awkwardly and silently.

Finally, Aradia placed her
hands on her hips and asked, "Well?"

Still Melina said nothing,
but thankfully, that did not last long. "Does Roy hate
me?"

"Huh?" Aradia asked,
sounding stunned.

Melina repeated her
question.

Aradia stood gaping at her
but then she swallowed hard and asked, "What do you
think?"

"I am asking you," Melina
snapped.

Aradia sighed before
answering her. "No."

"Why?"

Aradia was now even more
stunned. Nevertheless, she tried to answer Melina by saying,
"Considering he chased you into the woods, and almost ate you I
think it's perfectly reasonable that he does not hate you. To be
perfectly honest, I think he hates himself more."