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

"What is it?" Hesper
asked.

He shook his head, but
before he could return to kissing her he swung his head around. His
eyes then met Aradia's.

"Oh god," he whispered.
"Aradia! I can explain."

She didn't even wait, she
just spun around and marched away. Dax tried to run after her but
with a tilt of her head Aradia managed to move several couches and
tables in his way. He tried to jump over them but there was no way
in hell he could possibly clear them all in time to catch
her.

"Aradia!" he called out,
"Aradia!"

Tears blurred her vision as
she stomped outside. Her anger and her energy reaching its peak
made things explode as she walked by them. Car alarms began to
sound off as she passed, and then the cars themselves burst in to
flames. Fire hydrants also began to combust and shoot off gusts of
water. Aradia hardly noticed the destruction her powers were
causing because as far as she was concerned her world had already
been destroyed.

The days that followed were
nothing short of torture. Since she had snuck out of her house she
couldn't tell her parents what was bothering her. She had to bottle
up her anger once again. It also didn't help that Melina wasn't
talking to her. Melina had stated that since Aradia had abandoned
her at the party she deserved nothing more than the cold shoulder.
The fiasco with Bane was enough to make her feel like she couldn't
trust anybody. She was completely alone. Whenever she walked in the
school hallways she had to do her best to restrain her urges to
make everyone around her spontaneously combust. Dax had tried
calling several times but she ignored him.

One day, however, she went
to the woods to gather some fleawort seed for a prophesying potion
and that is when he finally managed to corner her. He stood behind
her as still as one of the trees but he knew Aradia could sense
him.

"What do you want?" she
snapped.

"I want to
explain..."

"Why you were cheating on
me?" Aradia cried, "Why I caught you with another woman? Why you
lying to me has become such a natural habit for you?"

"Aradia..." Dax
began.

"Shut up Dax! Just shut up!"
Faint hot tears started to prick the corners of her eyes, but she
refused though to let him see her cry. She didn't know if it was
that subtle, but she turned and quickly blotted her eyes with the
back of her sleeve.

Dax slowly shook his head.
"Aradia, I am sorry. It wasn't suppose to be like that. It wasn't
suppose to lead to anything."

"What the hell is that
suppose to mean?"

Dax sighed and kept his eyes
on the ground. "Please just let me explain..."

"Fine! Go ahead but I can
promise you it won't change anything."

Dax sighed again. He then
slowly circled her, shaking his head sadly. "I hadn't seen Hesper
in centuries. I was surprised to say the least when she turned
up."

"Is she an old girlfriend?"
Aradia sneered.

Dax ran his fingers through
his hair. "Yeah."

Aradia scoffed and rolled
her eyes. "Why did the two of you break up?"

"She left me for another
vampire..."

"So what? You were kissing
her out of gratitude?"

"No!" Dax shouted.
"No!"

He sighed once again
heavily. "After Jack and I went our separate ways, I was very
lonely and it wasn't until five years later when I met
Felton..."

"Felton?" Aradia
interrupted.

"Mr. Dayton," Dax clarified
before going on. "Anyway, it wasn't until five years when I met
him. Having been betrayed and used by my best friend after being
turned into a monster...I don't think you could ever understand how
horrible I felt."

"Boo hoo sucks for you,"
Aradia couldn't stop herself from muttering.

Dax didn't even hear her, he
was too lost in his unpleasant memories. "I felt vulnerable and
alone. I needed someone to love me..."

"And along came Hesper,"
Aradia bitterly concluded.

Dax nodded slowly. "She was
so beautiful, and so confident. I had never met anyone like her
before and her hair.. It reminded me of my mother's."

Aradia clenched her fists
and resisted the urge to strangle him.

"It was the only thing she
had in common with my mother though. Everything else...she was
selfish, cruel, and mean. She used me and lied to me numerous
times."

"So you were basically the
tortured partner," Aradia concluded, "and when she showed up you
went back."

Dax couldn't look at her. "I
am sorry Aradia. I really am sorry."

A moment of pure painful
silence passed as Aradia still stood with her back to Dax. Slowly,
however, she turned to face him. He smiled a little with a shimmer
of hope in his eyes.

It was quickly extinguished
though as soon as Aradia said, "I told you before it wouldn't
change anything."

She inhaled a deep and angry
breath and exhaled through her nose. "You have betrayed me for the
last time Davignon Dayton. It is over! Do you hear me? It is over
between us for now and forever! You are no longer my consort! You
are no longer my boyfriend! You are no longer anything to me! I
never want to see you again! Never!"

Aradia then quickly turned
away from him with the intent of storming away.

Dax, however, rushed forward
to grab her arm. "Aradia, wait I..."

Almost instinctively, Aradia
snatched her arm from his grasp and raised her fist. She then
quickly and swiftly clocked him! Dax flew back and collided into a
tree. His hand immediately went to his eye while Aradia looked at
him with pure contempt.

"If you ever touch me
again," Aradia spat, "I will kill you!"

"Dax!" Tristan shouted
gleefully, "You just broke the heart of the last witch, what are
you going to do next?"

Dax shrugged Tristan's grasp
off his shoulders and continued to walk down the cobblestone path.
Tristan hung back, smiling, and then spun on his heel to walk back
towards the group. Melina, Roy, D, Rhonda, Al, Calvin, Everett, and
Felix awaited him at Rita's custard palace. Melina sat in Roy's
lap, Rhonda did the same with D, Calvin had his right leg propped
up onto his left, Everett had concern practically written all over
his face, while Felix had yet another comic book in his
grasp.

"Well?" Everett asked
Tristan as soon as he sat down who just shook his head. Melina
seemed the only one who noticed Tristan's malicious little smirk.
Obviously, he was enjoying the situation although Melina could not
determine which one gave him more pleasure. The one where Aradia
was in pain or Dax being so miserable.

"I feel so sorry for
Aradia," Everett said as he slumped back in his chair. "I mean can
you believe it? Having your boyfriend cheat on you? In front of
everyone? It's terrible."

"Yeah it's almost as
terrible as having your friends gossip about it," Calvin
sneered.

Everett just scowled.
Melina, however, stayed silent. She knew she had been spending a
lot of time with Roy, but she had not meant to neglect Aradia. She
had been hearing little bits of rumors about Aradia and Dax's
relationship going sour but she had never taken them seriously. At
least not until now.

"I actually think Aradia and
Dax splitting up is a good thing," Calvin declared.

Everyone turned to look at
him.

"Why?" Melina
asked.

Calvin shrugged. "I know
it's not my place to say but I always thought Aradia was too good
for a guy like Dax. He's always acting so damn high and mighty,
treating Aradia like some piece of arm candy when she is really far
more intelligent than he gives her credit for."

"Besides," he leaned forward
to whisper, "I don't know if any of you have noticed but I think
Aradia is really special."

Melina, Roy, Rhonda, D, and
Al and Tristan quickly averted their eyes.

"You know I have noticed
that before," Rhonda said, "the way she seems to know things before
anyone else does, how strong she is, and the potions she concocts
on the side..."

"Jesus people this is Salem
we are talking about here!" Felix snapped but not taking his eyes
from his comic book, "every where you go you will find people
conducting seances, making potions, reading tarot cards, and god
knows what else. This is witch central we are living in you know.
You should be used to seeing weird things. I sure as hell am and I
don't think Aradia is anything special. She's just doing what
everybody else in Salem has been doing for years."

Calvin, however, was still
not finished with his opinion. "I just think that Aradia is better
off without that guy. Although I have to say I doubt she will stay
single for long."

This definitely got Melina's
attention. "What do you mean? What are you talking
about?"

Calvin smiled slyly. "Well I
didn't want to say anything before but seeing as Aradia and Dax are
through I see no harm in it."

Everyone was practically on
the edge of their seat as they stared at Calvin in anticipation who
just sighed dramatically. "Last week," he began, "I saw Aradia at
the club with another guy. A blonde wearing black who was obviously
into Aradia. After a few words exchanged, he and Aradia danced and
the next thing I know they were involved in a hot make out
session."

Rhonda gasped. "No
way!"

Calvin nodded.

Melina just raised an
eyebrow. "Who was the guy?"

"Excuse me?" asked
Calvin,

"Who was the guy?" Melina
inquired. "I mean when one of your friends is kissing some guy one
would think you would know his name."

Calvin shifted uncomfortably
in his seat and then shrugged. "I didn't really catch his
name."

"Yeah well," Tristan said as
he stretched his arms above his head. "One thing for sure though,
Aradia is going to be in the market for a new guy." He then titled
his head back with a dreamy but sly look in his eye.

Try as she might, Aradia
couldn't find the fleawort seeds for her potion anywhere else in
the forest. She had to go back to that spot where she had Dax had
broken up and get them before the winter. Her heart as heavy as the
earth she stepped on, Aradia squatted around and began to pluck out
the plants. Carefully, she brought out a pair of embroidery
scissors and began snipping off the seed heads. In the back of her
mind, she hoped Dax wouldn't show. Unfortunately, thinking of Dax
triggered a whole slew of memories of the day they first met, their
first kiss, and their first date. It didn't help that the moment
Aradia had finished putting the seeds in a small paper bag she
lifted her tear heavy eyes and saw the pool where they had almost
made love. It was as if her own mind had turned against her because
like a tidal wave it brought back a rush of memories. Aradia began
to remember Dax's smile, his hair, even his laughter. The image of
him throwing his head back and laughing seemed to dance before her
very eyes like flames.

Aradia's fists clenched as
finally all the emotions she had kept bottled up exploded. She
threw the bag away. She then threw her head back and screamed a
horrible blood curdling scream at the top of her lungs. She then
pounded her fists into the ground. Raising her eyes up like an
animal eager for the hunt, she ran forward and started kicking
things around. She raised her left leg and kicked a tree so hard
that it fell to the ground in an instant. This didn't seem faze to
Aradia, she just went on releasing every bit of her anger. She
threw fire balls at trees, burning them to a crisp. Conjuring orbs
of lightning, shooting them too at trees and incinerating them like
giant match sticks. Kicking hard into the ground make it shift and
slamming her fists into rocks making them crack in two. All the way
she did this, she was screaming curses at Dax, her family, her
school, at being the last of her kind, at everything and at
everyone. It went on for over an hour before Aradia's energy
finally left her. Her knees buckled as she tried to steady herself,
but then her foot tripped over a stone. Aradia then collapsed face
first onto the cold dirt ground. Her first instinct was to get up
but she was so tired. Her arms lay limply at her sides and she
turned her head slightly. Her eyes began to droop and the next
thing she knew Aradia was asleep.

When she awoke night had
fallen and Aradia felt chilled to the bone. She was shivering so
much that her teeth were chattering. Rubbing her arms, Aradia got
up on onto her knees.

"I know I should go home,"
Aradia muttered to herself, "but I don't want to. The thing is
though if I can't go home then where can I go."

A loud clapping suddenly
erupted from behind her, Aradia spun around and saw
Saul.

"You?!" She spat, "what do
you want?"

He shrugged. "Oh nothing
really except to congratulate you on such magnificent use of your
powers."