Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (3 page)

He let her go before she
could shove him away. It was as he turned his back when Aradia
remembered exactly where she had seen him before: at the house
where Henry McAlester had taken her!

"Hey!" she cried as she ran
after him. "Hey!"

Shoving people out of the
way as gently but as swiftly as she could, she tried to follow
Saul. Why had he been there? Why had he and his friends been
staring at her the weeks before? She had so many questions and
hoped he had the answers. However, as she reached out to grab his
shirt he ducked out the back. She followed him and tried not to
slip on the mud. Covering her bare arms to shield herself from the
cold, she quickly looked around to see if Saul was nearby. She knew
in order to sense everything around her she would have to put her
hand on the ground but such an option seemed disgusting. So Aradia
angrily stamped her foot and then turned around to march back into
the club.

Saul stood on the rooftop of
the very next building, even from all the way up here he could
smell the scent of her hair. He slowly licked his lips remembering
the taste of her mouth and savoring it's sweetness. He hadn't been
surprised when Aradia had followed him but he had been surprised
when she couldn't sense him. Witches were suppose to be able to
sense movements in the very air just by focusing their energy.
Seeing Aradia glancing at the ground however clarified
why.

"I guess there are downsides
to being the last of your kind," Saul concluded, "and that is not
knowing the extent of your own powers. She never had any teachers
or any clue to her past before so everything she knows is self
taught." A cruel smirk curled on his face, "and that will be the
perfect angle."

Melina and Roy were already
dancing and smiling. Melina, however, noticed Aradia stomping back
into the club. She hesitated and wondered if she should go over and
check on her.

"Whats the matter?" Roy
asked.

One glance at her
boyfriend's handsome face made Melina push aside her concern and
press her cheek into Roy's shirt.

Heart Stop by Alex Young
began to blare through the stereos and Aradia busied herself by
patrolling the club and making sure no fights broke out. It made
her happy that everything was so peaceful so far, but it was
frustrating how so many cute guys kept asking her to dance and she
had to keep saying no.

"I have a boyfriend," she
kept reminding herself. "I can't dance with other guys because I
have a boyfriend."

Her anger kept boiling as
she kept seeing other couples dancing and smiling at each other on
the floor. Rhonda and D sat at a table staring into each other's
eyes, Xan and Brenna were in the corner sitting on bean bags
talking, and Melina and Roy were dancing as well. Aradia balled her
fists as she tried to turn away.

She was stopped, however, by
an arm that suddenly thrust itself out to wrap around her
waist.

"Hey baby," Bane crooned,
"Are you alone?"

Aradia groaned.
I am starting to get the feeling that the universe
likes torturing me.

"No I am not alone Bane,"
Aradia practically snarled, "And you know it!"

"Then how come your
boyfriend isn't here with you?"

"He is..."Aradia started to
say but Bane cut her off, "oh please Aradia, if he was here I would
have been able to smell him a mile away."

Aradia cursed under her
breath. "I'm still not dancing with you,"

Bane pouted. "Why
not?"

"Because you are an
obnoxious bully, a creep, a thug, a coward, and I hate your guts!
Do you need more?" Aradia then tried to shove him away as hard as
she could.

Bane, however, pressed his
mouth to her ear and said, "Silly me for thinking that you would
want to punish your boyfriend for not showing up by dancing with a
guy you know he hates."

Aradia stopped.
"What?"

"It's like this," Bane began
as he circled Aradia. "It's no secret that you and prince charming
have been having trouble lately. Hell, even people in my circle
have been gossiping about your relationship crumbling."

"Your circle? You mean the
druggies, the drop-outs, the crooks, and
the-most-likely-to-end-up-on-America's-Wanted-List? They have been
criticizing my and Dax's relationship?"

Aradia smirked after her
statement.

Bane just shrugged
indifferently. "We aren't saints and we don't pretend to be. We all
know what we are and what people think of us."

Aradia raised an eyebrow
sarcastically. "Like you being a leader of a gang?"

He shrugged again. "Hate me
all you like baby, but it's thanks to me that the gangs here have
not gotten too out of control."

Now Aradia was intrigued.
"What do you mean?"

"Well gangs are not
necessarily just punk kids hanging out," Bane explained, "Real
gangs are people who get endorsements from drug dealers and gun
dealers as well. They get money while the crime lords get cannon
fodder. It is done in Texas, Chicago, and god knows where else.
It's thanks to those influences that things quickly
escalate."

"That's all very
fascinating," Aradia interrupted with sarcasm in her tone. "But
what does that have to do with you?"

"Who do you think keeps
those influences away?" Bane asked while looking her straight in
the eye. "Thanks to me and my crew we keep the drugs and weapons
dealers away from Salem so things don't get freaky. Hell either way
you look at it we are the reason Salem doesn't get caught in a gang
war."

Aradia stared at him in
disbelief.

Slowly though awareness
began to dawn in her eyes as she said, "Which of course keeps you
and your gang as the baddest dudes in Salem."

Bane smirked. "Nothing in
life is for free sweetie, not even charity or protection or
whatever the hell you call it."

"I call it self serving,"
Aradia stated flatly.

He shrugged.
"Whatever."

"Either way though," he
added before Aradia could speak, "it helps keep things less
complicated for you so who are you to complain?"

"What do you mean?" Aradia
inquired.

Bane rolled his eyes while
muttering, "No wonder Tristan calls you a ditz behind your
back."

"He what?"

Bane cut her off, "The fact
of the matter is we Hiddens may be strong Aradia but that doesn't
mean we don't have any weaknesses. Drugs and weapons can wound us
severally, however, it takes a larger quantity to do it
fatally."

Aradia made an attempt to
clarify. "You mean werewolves right?"

Bane shook his head. "No.
All weapons and drugs can hurt us from werewolves to vampires etc.
etc. especially now a days."

"What do you
mean?"

Bane sighed through his nose
heavily. After pausing for a few quiet seconds he leaned in closer
to Aradia and said, "I will tell you if you dance with
me."

Aradia snorted angrily and
turned around to walk away, but Bane quickly grabbed her
elbow.

"Think about it Aradia,
there's something majorly wrong going down," Bane whispered in her
ear. "And I am the only who knows about it."

"How do I know you aren't
lying?" Aradia snapped.

Bane chuckled. "Maybe I am
but I don't think you really want to take that big of a
chance."

"Oh you can think? I never
would have guessed," Aradia smirked.

She attempted to break away
once again until Bane said, "what if I have info on the latest
smackdowns?"

Aradia stopped. "what do you
mean?"

"Oh c'mon Aradia. There has
always been violence between the Hiddens and yet your parties have
been able to change the atmosphere. Now of all of sudden, fights
are breaking out let and right as random as firecrackers going off
in the middle of winter. Don't tell me you aren't suspicious of
it?"

I wish I
could
, Aradia thought to
herself.

It was true she had some
suspicions about the fights breaking out. In the beginning, there
had been the usual scuffle between all of them where blood had been
drawn and bones had been broken. However, as the weeks had gone by
the fights had started escalating.

There had been a huge throw
down in an alley and at first no one had done anything because they
figured it wouldn't escalate. However, it quickly did and crashes
so loud could be heard from three blocks away. Violence had erupted
that not even the anointed peace keepers of the separate races
couldn't break up the fight. Ironically, many of them ended up
getting involved in the fight. In desperation one of the peace
keepers had called Aradia. When she had arrived, she had been
shocked to see how blood soaked the alley was. Several faes,
werewolves, vampires, and shape shifters were going at each other
like rabid animals. Corpses were lining up all along the gutters.
After controlling her urge to throw up, Aradia quickly summoned all
her energy to cast a sleeping spell upon the ones involved in the
fight. In a few minutes they had all passed out and so had Aradia.
The moment she had awoken she had investigated the fight to see
what on earth had happened. However, the strangest thing was that
from the scene of the crime right down to the participants of the
fight she wasn't able to get much answers. In fact many of the
participants had claimed that they couldn't remember even starting
the fight! Needless to say, that made Aradia awful
suspicious.

"What is it that you know
that I don't?" Aradia finally asked Bane.

He shook a finger at her.
"Ah, ah, ah! Not until we dance."

A few awkward and tension
filled moments passed before she finally sighed.

"You better deliver Bane,"
she grumbled as she reluctantly took his hand.

He threw his head back and
laughed. "Oh don't worry baby. I always do."

She choked back an urge to
throw up and shuffled towards the dance floor. It was when Bane and
her finally reached the dance floor when Everett changed the song
to My First Kiss by 3OH!3 featuring Kei$ha.

"Whoa haven't heard this
song in a while," Bane remarked.

Aradia shrugged. "The
trouble with playing the top 40 is those songs get old quickly so
we like to put a little variety into the music we play."

"I am not complaining," Bane
said as he leaned in closer, "besides the songs lyrics give me
plenty of ideas."

Aradia gritted her teeth.
"Keep in mind Bane, all I have to do is think about it and I can
transport you all the way to Antarctica!"

Bane jumped back. "You're
bluffing..."

"No, I am not," Aradia
stated firmly.

The two of them stared at
each other, their eyes like sharpened flints until Aradia finally
said, "now are we going dance or what? Or do we just skip it and
you tell me what the hell is going on? Keep in mind the second
choice guarantees you a longer stay here in Salem."

Bane said nothing, but then
he sighed and chuckled softly. "You drive a hard bargain witch
girl."

After the song had ended,
Bane and Aradia had retreated to the back room.

"So?" she began.

Bane lit a cigarette and
said, "so what?"

Aradia scowled. "Don't screw
around with me Bane."

He smiled crudely while she
snapped, "you know what I mean! You said if I danced with you, you
would tell me why people have been acting so weird."

"What if I lied?" Bane
smirked.

Quick as a flash, her hand
shot out and she grabbed his throat. Bane's eyes flew open in
astonishment as Aradia hoisted him off the ground. His feet dangled
in the air as Aradia glared at him long and hard.

"Now you listen to me you
little prick. I am already having a very bad day so do yourself and
your health a huge favor and do not make it worse. You are going
tell me everything or so help me I am going to make sorry you were
ever born. Do I make myself clear?"

Bane was unable to speak but
that did not seem to matter to Aradia. She pulled his face closer
to hers and snarled, "Do I make myself clear?"

Somehow Bane managed to
feebly nod and Aradia promptly let him go. He gasped as soon as he
hit the floor. He slowly raised his head to stare up at Aradia who
looked down at him coldly.

"Well?" she demanded while
folding her arms.

Bane chuckled as he stood
up, rubbing his throat. "I am beginning to think some of our
culture is starting to rub off on you."

Aradia shrugged off his
comment. "Whatever. Now are you going to tell me why people have
been acting so crazy?"

Bane chuckled. "Well there
are rumors going around that the drug trade has been escalating in
Salem."

Aradia stared at him in
confusion. "You think drugs are the cause?"

Bane shrugged. "It would be
my guess. The trouble is what drugs are they and why would someone
be dealing them."