Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (17 page)

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.

For the next hour, Rhonda
obsessively talked about her plans for the prom from the clothes
that even D would wear, to the name and type of restaurant they
would go to afterwards. Aradia had to admit it that it was very
boring, but she was happy just to have her best gal pal talk to her
again. However, as Rhonda started to describe the appetizer she was
thinking about ordering at the restaurant Aradia felt a tap on her
shoulder.

She turned her head, and
scowled once she realized it was Tristan.

"What do you want?" she
snapped.

Ignoring her rudeness and
obvious displeasure, Tristan went on to say, "The council is having
a meeting this week. My dad just wanted to let you know that they
expect you to be there."

"Why should I?"

"If you don't attend, it
could be considered an act of treason," Tristan said
smiling

Aradia scowled deeper while
muttering, "I will be there."

"Damn right you will,"
Tristan said still smiling as he turned on his heel and stalked
off.

Aradia stared at his
retreating back angrily before turning back to Rhonda who stared at
her curiously.

"What was that all about?"
Rhonda asked.

Aradia shook her head and
said, "Nothing. It was nothing."

She then forced a smile to
her face.

She was so eager to divert
Rhonda's attention that she took a deep breath, and asked, "So tell
me about the shoes you are planning to wear?"

This helped to launch Rhonda
into yet another long description that lasted until the lunch bell
rang.

The meeting came quicker
than Aradia would have liked it to and without even asking or
setting foot through the door of the lodge Aradia knew what they
were going to ask her.

However, to honor their
people's right to know or perhaps just to put Aradia on the spot
the council repeated the offer they had made to Aradia in front of
everyone in the entire lodge. The whole crowd grew ghastly quiet;
some even had their jaws drop right open as they stared in
disbelief, both at their leaders and at Aradia.

For a few long but tense
filled moments, no one said anything until finally the vampire
leader asked, "Well have you made your decision?"

Aradia inhaled deeply,
glanced down at the ground, and cast one small last look at Dax who
was sitting with his family behind the vampire leader.

She then finally raised her
head. "If it pleases the council and the whole hidden community I
accept the title and position of Witch Queen on the High Hidden
council of Salem."

Although all the members of
the council looked like her decision did not please them, but they
agreed.

"Is there anything else I
must do?" Aradia asked.

The shape shifter answered
her by explaining that in order to official recognize her as a
Queen, and member of the council there had to be a coronation
ceremony.

"When will that be?" asked
Aradia barely being able to contain the excitement in her
voice.

A coronation ceremony, she
thought, for me!

The shape-shifter shrugged
uncomfortably before saying, "By the next waxing moon, I
suppose."

"Okay," said Aradia still
not being able to believe that this was actually
happening.

For more tense moments, no
one said a word.

Everyone felt awkward except
Aradia who felt exalted.

The shape-shifter cleared
his voice and said, "Well unfortunately that's all that we felt we
needed to discuss and since we have resolved it we now declare this
meeting adjourned."

Quickly, everyone started to
sit up when suddenly Aradia called out, "Wait!"

Everyone stopped to stare at
Aradia who now looked awkward and nervous as she said, "About the
coronation ceremony..."

"Yes?" the shape-shifter
began uneasily.

"The thing is um...what
should I do? Is there anything I should say at the ceremony that
is?" Aradia asked.

The shape-shifter grunted
and shrugged. "No. Just show up and be ready that's
all."

"Okay but one more thing,"
said Aradia.

"What?" he
snapped.

Aradia gulped as if to
gather up enough courage to ask, "What should I wear?"

A few people in the crowd
laughed under their breath. The shape-shifter, however, just looked
at Aradia and raised an eyebrow. Finally, he gave her an answer.
"Wear clothes."

After everyone in the lodge
had, left Keon finally stepped out from behind the shadows of the
wooden columns. The vampire leader knew he had been there since the
beginning of the meeting, and was just thankful no one had sensed
or smelled him. He did not worry about explaining Keon's presence
to the others, but what he did worry about was how many people he
would have had to kill to keep Keon hidden.

However, since no one had
discovered him the vampire leader had had nothing to fear and had
been awaiting him long after the others had left just to say, "And
so it is done my lord Keon. The witch has accepted the
position."

"I figured she would," Keon
muttered, "The little bitch is so wrapped up in her own importance
that she doesn't even realize what declaring herself as a brand new
leader will make her look like to the other hidden leaders around
the world."

"What will it make her look
like?" The vampire leader could not help but ask.

"An enemy! Which I can
honestly say is what she is. She is an enemy to be feared and
squashed like a bug! Her new changes and ways of tolerance and
'laws'...My God it makes me sick to my stomach! Hell if I wanted to
abide by the same laws and notions that humans do, I would have
stayed human in the first damn place!" Keon stamped his foot in
rage almost cracking a hole in the wooden floor.

"Calm yourself my lord!" the
vampire leader protested, "If giving that witch this title will
make people see what a threat she is than all we must do is wait a
little while longer. Soon she will be out of our hair and dead in
the ground!"

"And I can't tell you how
much I am looking forward to that!" Keon snapped with an evil
sneer.

"No! That will not do. It is
too over the top. No. Not that one either it's too plain," Aradia
said rejecting another outfit that her mother held up.

Liza just dropped her arms
where she held the outfits, looking completely
exasperated.

"Look Aradia it is not like
you are being crowned at Westminster abbey. You don't need to worry
so much about what you wear!" She cried out as she collapsed on one
of the chairs in Aradia's room.

Aradia shook her head and
said, "Mom I don't think you realize how important this
is..."

"Honey I do..."

"No you don't!" Aradia
snapped.

"Yeah I do Aradia I am your
mother! I understand everything about you! So I understand that the
reason you are freaking out is not because of the
clothes!"

To this, Aradia said
nothing.

She just backed up against
the wall of her room and slid down trying to hold her back
tears.

"I don't know if I can do
this Mama," she groaned, "I don't think I can do this! I am not a
politician. I am not a cop and I am sure as hell not a queen! I
cannot do this! I cannot. I can't"

"Yes you can. You can do
this Aradia," her mother said as she joined her by her side next to
the wall.

"How can say that?" Aradia
spat out.

"Because you are the only
who can Rai! If you do not care or try to do anything, no one will.
You think I haven't felt the effect of what your influence has done
for Salem?"

"Mom no offense but you are
a human," said Aradia, "What do you know about the hidden
world?"

"Other than what you have
told me nothing but what I do know is that ever since you started
making a difference there have been less murders, less violence,
and less fear" said Liza.

"When you first told me
about the hidden race and everything else," Liza continued, "I
won't deny I felt frightened but upon finding out that you were
getting involved in the way it was being run I can honestly I felt
safer walking alone at night."

"Which I don't normally do
or on a regular basis," Liza added hastily to erase Aradia's look
of worry. "But my point is this you have made a difference in the
hidden community Aradia, and you should keep doing so because you
are the only one who realizes that things need to
change."

"In other words Rai Red
Rose," Liza finished up by using her own personal pet name for her
daughter. "You are the only one who can walk the walk, talk the
talk, and realize it is important to do so."

Aradia laughed softly as she
lifted her head to look at her mother.

"My god Mama," She finally
said, "You are so good at this you should get a medal!"

Liza shrugged sheepishly and
said, "Well I don't know about a medal but having a daughter like
you I think is a great award to my mothering skills."

"But enough about that," she
added before Aradia could say anything. "We need to pick out your
outfit for your coronation!"

Aradia looked confused as
she said, "I thought you said my coronation is no big
deal!"

"It isn't," said Liza before
she added a sly smile, "But it doesn't mean you can't look good for
it."

Aradia laughed.

Dax could honestly say he
had never been more nervous in his life. It was not as it was his
coronation or even the first one he had ever been to, but it still
made him nervous as hell. He never would have figured that the
woman he was in love with would be crowned The Witch Queen, but
then again he never figured he would be in love with a witch
either. He had truly believed that over three hundred years ago
they had all been viciously killed. His mouth turned grim as he
began to dwell on these thoughts.

He was up in his room
picking out his clothes and getting ready for Aradia's coronation.
There were no mirrors in his room or bathroom because since he was
a vampire he had no reflection. However, thanks to the fact that no
matter what happened to him, he always looked the same he never had
to worry about combing his hair or anything else. There is a reason
why we are called the undead, Dax thought grimly. We never age, our
hair never falls out of place, and we stay the same like corpses.
It was a disgusting way to look at it Dax knew, but alas he could
not help but have depressive thoughts. He had always been like that
since he was a child being raised by his mother and his father;
being coddled and yet severally disciplined at the same time. His
life had been one big therapist's nightmare complete with father
issues, insecurity, and an overzealous Oedipus complex.

Now suddenly overwrought
with depression, Dax clasped a hand to his face and began to
massage his temples. Even he admitted that the love he shared for
his mother seemed a bit unhealthy, but she had been the only person
who had ever loved him amongst a crowd of people who merely
tolerated or purely hated him such as his former best mate Jack and
his father; the two people who had betrayed and disappointed him
the most. His father most especially. His entire life (at least the
human part) had been very bittersweet. At times, it was full of
privilege where he got everything he ever wanted but other times
his father ignored him, either insulted, or beat him whenever he
was displeased. Therefore, it was no surprise to him why he was the
way he was and why he had loved his mother so much.