Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (6 page)

Aradia raised an eyebrow.
"How many relationships have no love in it?"

Brenna laughed softly with a
bit of bitterness in her tone. "You would be
surprised."'

"Aradia, we are running out
of food!" Al shouted over the loudness of the crowd.

It was now around nine
thirty on Saturday night and despite the darkness, the
ear-shattering music, and the endless chatter echoing throughout
the club Aradia saw Al speak. She then motioned for him to get the
others, and join her in the back. Moments later, the whole gang
(except for Everrett who was still DJ-ing) gathered in the cold,
drafty, storage spot where they kept the extra equipment. The place
was big, blue, and had a door that led out to the back parking
lot.

"So what's the problem?"
Aradia asked Al.

Al groaned, and repeated his
concern.

Aradia sighed deeply as she
ran her hand over her sweaty face and hoped she had not smeared her
make-up.

"Don't we have anything
extra?" She finally asked.

D shrugged while Al shook
his head and the others offered no answer as well.

"We could order a pizza,"
Brenna suggested.

Aradia smiled, but only
briefly. "I don't have any money."

Everybody also avoided
looking at Brenna indicating that his or her funds were low
too.

Brenna, however, laughed at
their hesitation.

"Don't worry I got money,"
she said.

"You are going have to order
hell of a lot of pizzas you know? Considering how many people are
here. Hell you might even have to spend more than two hundred
dollars!" Felix pointed out.

Brenna shrugged as if that
amount meant nothing to her.

"I got five hundred dollars
in my car," she explained nonchalantly.

Everyone turned to look at
her with his or her mouths wide open.

Finally, Aradia sputtered,
"Why on earth would you keep that much money in your
car?"

Brenna rolled her eyes and
said, "Oh yeah like I am really going to take that much cash into a
club?"

Not waiting for an answer,
Brenna pushed past them to get to the door leading out to the
parking lot. However, upon opening the door Brenna's look of
amusement suddenly turned into a look of pure horror!

"You!" she cried
out.

Aradia was shocked to hear
that tone from Brenna and pushed past the others to see whom it was
that Brenna was staring at.

He was a dark, heavily brown
tan-skinned man with long black hair, a black goatee on his pointed
chin, and high cheekbones. He also had the most malicious looking
smile Aradia had ever seen on anyone, but what were truly
frightening about him were his eyes. They were icy black, almost
like Dax's. However, unlike Dax's there was no warmth in his eyes
just pure coldness as if they were not really eyes but meteors
hurtling towards the Earth eager to destroy it. Brenna backed away
slowly as the man advanced into the room.

He slammed the door behind
him and chuckled. "Honey, I am home."

Brenna gulped.

A few moments of awkward
thick silent tension passed until Brenna finally managed to say in
a weak voice, "Holden, what are you doing here?"

He rolled his eyes and said
sarcastically, "Why do you think I am here Brenna?"

Aradia, unknowing of the
situation but hoping to ease the tension, chose this point to crack
a joke. "You're here to see the sights of Salem?"

Holden turned, and looked at
Aradia through narrowed eyes.

"The last witch I presume?"
he said, sneering.

Aradia did not even dignify
that with an answer.

Holden did not answer
either.

Instead, he turned back to
look at Brenna and said, "Honey did you really believe that rolling
with the last witch's crew would prevent me from taking you back?
Ha! Please. I maybe a bunch of things, but I am not that seriously
deluded."

Brenna said
nothing.

Take her back?
Aradia thought suspiciously,
what is he talking about?

Since no one else said
anything, Holden continued by asking, "So who is he?"

"What?" asked
Brenna.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh give
me a break Brenna, for three long years you bounce from one
relative to another in two months time all over the damn country,
but the moment you get to Salem you end up staying for more than a
year? Only reason you would do such a thing is because a guy. So
who is he? The least I can do is know what his name is before I rip
out his heart, and eat it in front of him!"

He then grinned viciously
while everyone stood stunned, not daring to breathe or move.
Holden, however, did not wait and began to move towards Brenna. He
was instantly blocked by Roy, Al, and D who stood protectively in
front of their cousin folding their arms with their feet
apart.

All of the brothers were
very formidable, but Holden looked at them as if he was facing down
a bunch of five-year olds. "Oh don't tell me she's doing all three
of you?" he joked crudely.

Roy took one threatening
step forwards, but Brenna quickly stepped in front of him. "They
are my cousins Holden, leave them alone!" she snapped.

Holden looked back at them,
and then nodded with sudden understanding. He then however asked,
"But if they are not the guys you have been shacking up with who
is?"

"What's going on
here?"

Everyone turned to the voice
that suddenly spoke from out of the darkness. Once they noticed it
was Xan, Brenna gasped. She then started waving her hands motioning
for Xan to get the hell out of here.

Xan did the exact opposite;
he made his way towards Brenna, and stepped in front of her. He was
now merely inches away from Holden, and glaring at him. Brenna
looked scared, and paler than a ghost did. For a while, no one said
anything until curiously Holden stepped a little closer to Xan, and
sniffed the air between them. Naturally, Xan recoiled but did not
waver in his intimidating position and expression. Holden's weird
actions, fortunately, lasted only for a second. Unfortunately, his
expression then turned from amusement to shocked
disgust.

"A vampire?" he said slowly.
"This is the guy you dumped me for Brenna? A vampire! My god! Have
you no shame? I mean it is bad enough you are lying flat on your
back for another guy, but for it to be a vampire. Dear lord! I
don't think I could be more insulted if I tried!"

"I would disagree with that
especially if you asked someone about your haircut," Xan muttered
loudly.

Another tension-filled
silence filled the room while Aradia looked over to Rhonda, Felix,
and Calvin. Quickly, she grabbed Rhonda's arm and whispered into
her ear to call the police. She then told Calvin to clear out the
club so when the cops showed up no one was arrested for illegally
occupying the club. As for Felix, she told him to go look out for
the cops, and warn them once they got here.

Her friends reluctantly
complied, and Aradia breathed a sigh of relief. She now had no
reason to fear exposure from the others. However, she also realized
that without the humans there was nothing to prevent Holden or any
of the other hiddens from engaging in a huge terrible violent
battle.

No one noticed them leave
though; everyone was still watching Holden and Xan.

Holden glared at Xan, and
Xan was looking at him with pure disdain.

"Just who the hell are you?"
Aradia finally demanded.

Holden stared at her. "You
mean you don't know?"

Aradia groaned. "If I did,
why would I ask in the first place?"

Holden looked at the entire
crowd, and then at Brenna who now stood at Xan's side.

"You mean you never told
them?" He asked Brenna accusingly.

"You make it sound as if
it's something to brag about," Brenna muttered under her breath
bitterly.

Holden glared at her, but
when he turned to look at the others again, he was
smiling.

After a few moments, he
finally said, "I am her mate."

Everyone's mouth dropped
open at the same time.

Xan looked from Brenna to
Holden and said, "What?

"You know? Her mate. Her
werewolf mate," Holden clarified while smirking evilly. "In other
words, I am her husband."

Xan head shot around to
stare at Brenna whose gaze shifted to the floor.

Holden shrugged and said,
"If you don't believe me ask Brenna. She'll show you her wedding
ring."

He then turned to her and
said, "Show 'em Brenna."

For the first time since
Holden had shown up, Brenna smiled.

She looked up at him and
said proudly, "I sold it Holden."

This time Holden's mouth
dropped open in shock.

"You what?" he
sputtered.

"You heard me. I sold it,"
Brenna said grinning.

Holden shook his head in
disbelief. "You sold a 24 carat white gold diamond wedding ring?
Are you out of your mind? It was worth five thousand
dollars!"

"Yeah well," said Brenna
folding her arms. "It didn't mean jack shit to me!"

Holden angrily advanced
towards her, but Xan stepped in front of her and pushed Holden
away. He pushed him so hard that Holden practically flew backwards.
When he slid down from the wall he collided with there was a huge
imprint of his body impact left on it!

Strolling over to him and
lifting him up by his shirt collar, Xan growled venomously into
Holden's face. "Look dude I don't care if your Brenna's husband or
even if your her parole officer! I want you out of here right
now!"

Not waiting for a reply, Xan
dragged Holden, threw him out the door, and slammed it in his face.
He then extended his claws, dug them into a huge piece of broken
electronic equipment, and dragged it in front of the
door.

For a few moments, Holden
pounded on the door.

When he finally ceased, he
still managed to shout loud enough for all to hear. "This isn't
over!"

They waited until they heard
a car drive away and presumed it was Holden. At first, they all
breathed a sigh of relief but then everyone turned to stare at
Brenna. Everyone looked at her expectantly, but when she finally
raised her head, she spun on her heel and ran off.

Aradia made a move to run
after her, but Xan stopped her and said, "I will handle
this."

Reluctantly, Aradia let Xan
go after Brenna while she turned back to look blankly at the
others.

It took a while, but Xan
finally found Brenna. She had somehow managed to find a way to get
into the main building, and hide in one of the empty apartments.
Once Xan walked in and noticed she was crying, he offered her a
tissue.

Sitting on the other side of
the column that Brenna was sitting against, Xan exhaled a slow
breath.

A few moments of silence
passed until Brenna spoke. "Well aren't you going ask me about
him?"

"I figured you would tell me
once you were ready," said Xan.

Brenna chuckled; amazed that
she could considering the circumstances.

Finally, she raised her
head, and laid the back of it against the column. "You know for all
the times we criticize the humans being part of their race does
have its perks."

"How so?" Xan
asked.

Brenna shrugged and said,
"They have laws, courts, but most of all they have
freedom."

Brenna now sighed before
continuing, "As for hidden societies...well let's just say there
are some definite downsides to living in a village where the people
are all werewolves."

Xan turned to look at her in
disbelief.

Brenna continued. "Yeah you
never have to worry about exposure or anything, but you are also
expected to follow the laws of the pack more strictly. Meaning
there is only one type of hierarchy where the Alpha wolf is king,
and tyrant and we obey his orders without any hesitation! So we
have no voting rights or anything, we just do what we are
told!"

She sighed, and rubbed her
hand over her face.

"That was the society I was
born and raised in, it was a secluded village where everyone were
werewolves. Although we had exposure to the outside world, we still
lived like animals in so many ways. We participated in hunts, we
had fights in our wolf forms to determine who our leaders were, we
had specific rankings of which we were born into, and could not
escape. Most especially, if we argued with our leaders we were
punished severely."

Brenna shuddered at the
memories.

"But for a while it wasn't
so bad until our Alpha's youngest son was born. He was trouble from
day one. He terrorized everyone and made anyone who defied him
lives pure hell. Worst of all, he had the strength to back up his
hostile attitude and whenever he challenged someone he always won.
No one stood up to him and no one dared. The day our Alpha died his
eldest son took over his place as the leader of the whole town and
although we all knew, it was inevitable we were still shocked when
the Alpha's youngest challenged his brother for the leadership.
Many were confident that the boy would finally be put in his place
by his brother, but I had grown up with him and I knew beating him
wouldn't be that easy."