Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (29 page)

"Furthermore," she added,
"judging by the way she can comprehend and uncover plots we cannot
risk having her expose our plans. Therefore, whether it's willing
or not you must bring the last witch to us. The time is ripe to do
this. Her title and reputation ruined means should she disappear no
one will be the wiser. Most of all, no one will care and no one
will come looking for her."

"When should I bring her to
you?" Saul asked.

"Don't think for one moment
that just because the Sovereign's view of the last witch has
changed the deadline has as well. You still have until the end of
the summer so in one week's time you must bring her to
us."

Saul gulped. "What if I
can't?"

Morgan sighed. "Then we will
have to come up with a new plan to acquire now won't we? Either way
I can personally assure you that the last witch will be ours.
"

Saul sighed.

"But for now," Morgan added,
"you must go to the supplier tonight to deliver another package of
Rage. This batch will be more potent though."

Saul couldn't help but sigh.
"Another assassination?"

Morgan chuckled.
"Indeed."

Kaiser was still in New York
and was talking to Aradia over the phone. Since Saul had destroyed
her old one, Shayde had given her a new phone.

"Think of it as an early
birthday present," Shayde had reasoned, "very early."

So now here she was, walking
all alone to Saul's loft.

"I still think this is
nuts!" Kaiser argued.

"I can't risk having you
guys there," Aradia explained, "he might use one of you as
hostages. The fact that he can hit a woman proves that he is indeed
that cowardly."

Kaiser couldn't argue with
that.

"Besides," Aradia went on,
"I need to do this. I need to do this not just for the
investigation but for myself as well. For crying out loud Kaiser,
he hit me! Repeatedly! If I ever want to respect myself I have to
stand up to him."

"He might kill you, you
know," Kaiser didn't want to but he had to point that
out.

Aradia sighed heavily. "If I
don't call in a hour then that means I am getting my ass kicked
which also means 'help come quick he's going to kill
me!"

"I will never understand how
you can joke at times like these," Kaiser murmured.

Aradia chuckled and at that
very moment is when Saul chose to leave his loft. Aradia froze and
hid beside a building. She was indeed worried about him smelling
her which is why she had checked one of the books earlier from the
Coven library. One of them in particular showed her how to make an
amulet that could mask one's scent. The charm was temporary, like
twenty four hours temporary, but the book said it was very
effective.

Only one way to find
out,
Aradia thought to herself as she
watched Saul lock up the loft. He paused but only for a few seconds
before reeling out his motorcycle. He then got on, revved it up,
and sped away. Summoning a crystal ball in her hand, she gazed into
it and recognized where he was heading. She then dialed Shayde's
number and told her where to pick her up.

The Salem community center
had once been a great place for children of all ages to come and
play at. However, once the neighborhood got bad things started
taking a dramatic turn for the worse. Graffiti started showing up
all over the walls, equipment started getting wrecked, and so on.
Until finally the owner just padlocked the doors and put the center
on the market. Although it had been on sale before the real estate
market crashed no one had bought it. Therefore, it still belonged
to the original owner Ulrike Bauer who happened to be Kaiser's
cousin. Hence why Aradia had a copy of the key.

"I still think you should
let me come in with you," Shayde argued.

Aradia shook her head as
they pulled up besides the center. "If anything happened to you, I
could never forgive myself," Shayde muttered.

"Which is exactly why you
aren't coming in with me," Aradia stated, "you have already done so
much for me. I am very grateful, but I draw the line on you risking
your life."

"And besides," Aradia
muttered, "it's like I told Kaiser I need to do this for myself.
This guy hit me and abused me and I can't let him get away with
that. Not if I ever want to respect myself as a woman or as a
person again."

There was a hallowed silence
between them for a few seconds until Shayde said, "when I was
twelve I was forced to be a child bride to a man thirty years older
than me."

Aradia's widened.

"If that was not horrific
enough the next ten years of my life were just as bad. He beat me
almost every single day, starved me, and treated me like I was less
than dirt. Until one final day, he beat me up so bad that he almost
killed me. In fact at the time he actually thought he had killed
me. He brought me to a ditch by the side of the road and dumped me
like I was a sack of garbage. Only God knows how but I was still
alive."

"And that's when Whisper
found you?"

Shayde nodded. "She didn't
turn them then, she just took me home and nursed me back to health.
For the next few years or so, Whisper and I traveled together until
one day she proposed to me."

Aradia winced. She was happy
for Shayde but she still remembered the horrible experience with
Henry.

"I accepted and she turned
me. We have been together ever since." Although the story ended on
a happy note, Shayde even smiled for a bit, a solemn mood hung in
the background.

"But," she added, "I never
forgot what my ex-husband did to me all those years ago. I never
forgot what it was like to be a victim of abuse."

"What happened to him?"
Aradia couldn't help but inquire.

"Oh don't worry I got my
revenge," Shayde concluded with a wicked grin, "I tortured him for
hours but when I finally killed him..."

She sighed. "It's funny how
nothing is ever good as you thought it would be."

"What about your
relationship with Whisper?"

Shayde grinned. "That was
even better!"

Reluctantly, Shayde did
leave Aradia behind at the center who turned towards it. She stared
up at the building looming ominously over her like Castle
Dracula.
I wonder if Van Helsing ever felt
like this.

Her heart has heavy as a
brick, Aradia used the key she had gotten from Kaiser and let
herself in. The whole place was spooky dark and apprehension was
just one of the emotions Aradia felt. She swallowed as she kept to
the walls, trying hard to hide in the darkness. At first, she just
moved blindly forward until she heard voices. She then moved
towards their direction.

"About time you got here,"
someone snapped.

"Gimme a break Ricky, the
traffic was murder."

Aradia instantly recognized
Saul's voice and clenched her fist. She peered around the corner
and saw him. She also saw Kaiser's cousin exactly the way he had
described him. Black hair, short stature, and always sweating
profusely. What baffled her, however, was the fact that Ricky was
human.
I can't believe Kaiser didn't tell
me.

"Yeah well my customers are
going to break my legs if I don't deliver the product like now!"
Ricky snapped.

Saul snorted as he tossed
him a heavy black satchel.

Ricky checked the contents
and grinned as soon as she saw the pills.

"Hello down payment on a
speed boat," he murmured.

Saul chuckled.

Ricky snapped the satchel
shut and pulled a thick folder of papers to give to
Saul.

"Are you sure this all the
information you have?" Saul asked as he quickly filed through
them.

"No, I am sure that this is
all the information you will need."

Saul smirked while Ricky
chortled. He then picked up the satchel and threw the strap over
his shoulder.

Although there was nothing
keeping him there Ricky couldn't help but make idle conversation.
"So how goes everything?"

Saul merely
shrugged.

There was a dramatic pause
before Ricky said, "The plan is succeeding?"

"More than we thought," Saul
commented.

Ricky laughed at this. "No
problems or nothing?"

Saul fixed narrowed eyes on
him. "If you are worried about your cousin finding stuff out I can
assure you that that is no problem."

"Kaiser doesn't know
anything?" Ricky sounded pathetically hopeful.

"Oh hell no! He knows
plenty."

Ricky's face grew ghostly
pale. "What?"

Saul sighed. "Dude! Your
cousin is a drug dealer. If he wasn't clever, he would have been
shot years ago. Problem with being clever is that you notice
things. Things that are better left ignored."

Ricky looked as sick as a
dog. "Do you think he suspects..."

Saul shrugged.
"Probably."

Ricky's own shoulders sagged
heavily.

Saul noticed and patted him
on the back. "No worries though Ricky. Thanks to your description
and information we have been able to keep him out of the loop. He
neither sells nor buys Rage. He's perfectly safe."

Ricky sighed in
relief.

"Besides," Saul added, "it
doesn't matter if he knows or not. What's he going to do about it?
He can't report us or nothing especially not to the humans. The
good thing about not being a united species is there is no
universal government to fear. There's no F.B.I, or police force or
anything. There is nothing to stop us."

"Oh I wouldn't go that
far."

Saul's eyes widened as he
spun around. He dropped the folders the moment he saw Aradia who
calmly stepped out of the shadows.

Ricky also stood stock
still, completely frozen in fright.

For a while, the three all
just stared at each other.

Until Saul began, "now
Aradia this isn't..."

A quick cock of her head
made Saul fly to the right, and collide into the stone wall. Ricky
spun on his heel in attempt to get the hell out of there. Aradia
just snapped her fingers and thick ropes appeared out of nowhere.
They bound themselves like snakes around Ricky who fell to the
floor squirming.

Aradia began to walk towards
him but then saw Saul get up. He stared at Aradia before trying to
dash away. She thought about binding him with ropes too but Saul
would easily break them.

I guess I am going to have
take him down the old fashioned way.

Aradia then cracked her
knuckles before chasing after him.

Saul had reached the doors
when Aradia grabbed his jacket. She threw him backwards before
placing her own back to the door. She placed one hand on the lock
and in an instant heard the door click.

Saul lay flat on his back as
Aradia approached him. His expression had changed, it was hardened
and intimidating.

"Now Aradia," He began as he
got to his feet. "Let's just talk this out sugar."

Aradia raced forward and
punched him hard in the face. His back hit the stone wall again as
she gritted her teeth and said, "don't call me sugar!"

Saul's eyes became even more
lethal. He then lunged forward and wrapped his hands around her
throat.

"Dammit Aradia! I don't want
to hurt you but I will if I have to."

"It's not me you should be
worried about," Aradia managed to murmur before stomping on his
foot.

As soon as his grip
loosened, she thrust her knee straight into his shins. He faltered
and Aradia threw a round house kick which sent him
flying.

Aradia slowly walked towards
him and said, "all I want to know is why? Why did you do all this?
Why?"

"Why do you think?" Saul
snapped. "I was ordered to!"

Aradia's eyes widened.
"Somebody ordered you to seduce me, to trick me, to isolate me from
my friends and family and distract me while you sold Rage on the
street."

Saul couldn't help but
sneer. "Yeah."

Aradia lunged forward to
wrap her fingers around his neck. "I am going to kill you so help
me God!"

Saul head butted her and
then punched her away. She skidded on the basket ball court floor
rubbing her nose.

Now it was Saul's turn to
approach her. "I did you a favor Goddamnit! Yeah you got kicked out
of your home but so what? Your parents were only holding you back!
So were your friends especially that stupid boyfriend of yours
Dax."

Aradia stared up at
him.

Saul laughed. "Yeah I knew
about him. Who do you think hired his old girlfriend to come to
Salem and seduce him? Did you honestly believe it was mere
coincidence that she just happened to show up at that particular
time? Ha! I planned it. I planned it all. I knew the effect she
would have on him and I knew that you guys were having problems.
Fire plus gasoline equals..."