Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (24 page)

"I said," she repeated swinging
around on the branch to join him, and then pressing her back
against the trunk. "I wish we had some music to play while we did
this."

Dax said nothing. He just crouched
on his branch, looking at Aradia.

"What?" Aradia asked,
teasingly.

"I am sorry it's just," Dax said
slowly, "It's just when you talk your lips move..."

"Kind of necessary if you want to
talk," Aradia quipped smiling.

"And when your lips move I can't
help, but watch them in fascination," Dax continued without missing
a beat.

Aradia said nothing, and just sat
on the branch staring up at Dax as he edged towards her. Their
breathing became heavier until Dax finally claimed Aradia's lips
with his own. The two of them then sat still not daring to move,
only wanting to complete their mouth-to-mouth mating ritual. Dax
used his right hand to press Aradia against the tree, but as Aradia
leisurely wrapped her arms around his neck, she heard a distinct
creaking sound. A sound that became louder until Aradia realized
what it was. The branch that she and Dax were sitting on was
breaking!

No sooner did she realize this when
the branch really did break! Crying out, both Dax and Aradia fell
towards the ground. Aradia shrieked while Dax stayed calm. He
landed on his feet without so much as a stagger, and caught Aradia
in his arms.

"My god Dax," Aradia laughed
breathlessly, "I guess I really am falling for you!"

Dax groaned and said, "Aradia, if
you cannot say anything clever then please don't say anything at
all.”

Aradia laughed again as Dax set her
back on her feet. He let her lean herself heavily against him as
they embraced in the forest away from everything except each
other.

After a while, Aradia said, "You
know the weather is getting colder."

"I never notice when it gets cold,"
Dax joked.

Aradia laughed at his, but
nevertheless continued. "All I am saying is, I can't keep
scheduling these 'promote amelioration' parties on the beach once
it gets too cold."

"Promote amelioration," Dax
repeated disdainfully. "Aradia, I will never doubt that these
parties were pulled off amazingly but..."

"You still doubt me being able to
promote this amelioration amongst the hidden race thing don't you?"
Aradia finished for him.

She placed her hands on hips, and
glared at him in annoyance.

Dax shook his head. "I am sorry I
just can't..."

"Can't what?" Aradia
demanded.

“I can't see you being able to do
what you want to do," Dax stated firmly.

Aradia opened her mouth to respond,
but then shut it quickly. She realized convincing Dax otherwise
would take a lot of effort, and right now, she just did not want to
bother. So she sighed, and decided to change the
subject.

"Hey c'mon Dax," Aradia said
grabbing his hand. "Let's go see who can race to your house the
fastest!"

Dax hesitated, and cast his eyes to
look around the woods as if he was sensing something.

"What is it?" Aradia asked
him.

Looking around one last time, Dax
turned back to her and said, "Nothing."

He then smiled at her, indicating
his answer to Aradia's earlier request and took off running into
the woods. Aradia ran after him, shouting not fair at the top of
her lungs.

Chapter
Fifteen

A few silent eerie moments passed
until a slight rustling could be heard. Out of what appeared to be
thin dark air, three men emerged from the gray mist that began
accumulating in the forest.

Standing side by side, the biggest
one spoke first. "I could not really tell if she was the one or
even if he was. Something was masking their smell."

"There are rumors that a witch can
subconsciously mask their smell to other hiddens or even humans,"
the middle one said as he pulled out a switchblade and began
picking at his fingernails with it.

The last one looked more vicious
than the two with his long red hair in a ponytail. The dark look in
his eyes seemed to contain a type of hunger that could never be
filled.

He spoke as well. "The last witch
was definitely here though I could smell the scent off both of
them"

The biggest one with the bulging
muscles, black mustache, and shaved head scoffed and said, "I
suppose you would know this for a fact?"

The last one then looked at him
sarcastically until finally the biggest said, "Oh yeah I
forgot."

"Yes well let's not forget why we
are here," the medium one said who in contrast to the other two was
tall, skinny, with dirty blonde hair, and square
glasses.

The last one scoffed loudly. "As if
we could! The reason why we traveled all this way is to get first
dibs at the one thing that will help us acquire all the power we
could ever want in the hidden world."

"It's a damn good thing you kept in
contact with your old comrade Keon. He was able to give you the tip
off about the last witch living in Salem." The biggest one remarked
to the middle one, smirking.

"Yeah imagine the advantage we will
have once we make her ours," the last one agreed
eagerly.

The middle one nodded. "This is
true and if we want to establish ourselves as an authority of power
and not just amongst the vampires then we must have something that
will give us an advantage. Namely the blood of the last
witch"

"However," he added in a frustrated
drawl. "Keon wasn't able to tell me much. Other than the fact that
the rumor about the last witch was true. Therefore, we do not know
anything about the last witch like what their name is. What they
look like? Their family? Most importantly, we do not know if the
last witch is young, old, a teenager, or either a boy or a
girl."

"I hope it is a young teenage
girl," the big one interrupted.

"I actually hope it's one of them,"
the last one said indicating to the spot where Dax and Aradia once
stood.

The biggest raised his eyebrow.
"You're talking about the girl right?"

The last one whipped around and
snapped, "What do you think?"

The biggest one just shrugged
muttering, "With you I can never tell."

The last one advanced menacingly
towards the biggest, but the medium blocked his way. "C'mon, let's
just calm down and do this! The sooner we find out whom the last
witch is, the sooner we can take the first steps in to ruling the
world. So Dunc..." he motioned to the biggest, "You enroll us in
the high school in case the last witch is a teenager, and Korrigan
you go find us a place to crash."

"Not fair!" the last one protested
loudly. "Why does he get to check out the high school?"

"Because the last time you did, you
ended up killing the entire cheerleading squad!" Dunc
argued.

Korrigan looked at him sourly. "Hey
they were cheerleaders it's not like you can't replace
'em!"

"Either way Korrigan," the medium
one interrupted, "We have no time to argue so get
going!"

"Whatever you say Tavis," Korrigan
muttered.

However, it was as Korrigan was
making his way towards town that he decided to take a detour and
spy on Dax and Aradia. He could not really explain it, but he felt
drawn to Aradia. Hearing her laugh made him wonder what she sounded
like when she screamed. A crude smile crossed his lips as he
followed her intoxicating smell. It was not strong, but the smell
definitely was not like any other hidden woman he had ever smelled
before. It excited him in ways he could not describe and followed
as it wafted from where a big yellow manor stood.

Dax and Aradia were in Dax's room
where he was showing off his CD and book collection. Aradia,
however, was more interested at looking at the truth of the vampire
lore in Dax's bedroom: namely Dax's coffin, his blood filled mini-
fridge, and his wide collection of suntan lotion.

"Can you turn into a bat?" Aradia
finally asked him.

"Yeah," Dax said
nodding.

Aradia was amazed. "Can you do it
now?"

Dax shook his head. "I can only do
it at night."

"Why?" Aradia asked.

"Oh yeah, like I am an expert in
why vampires do the things we do!" Dax snapped slamming one of his
books back onto the shelf.

Aradia looked at him stunned and
asked, "What? What did I say?"

Dax wheeled around in annoyance.
"You keep forgetting that I never wanted to be a vampire, Aradia.
More importantly, my mother was killed by a vampire so I hardly
like to brag about being one of them!”

Aradia hung her head in
chastisement, but Dax put two fingers to her chin and raised her
up.

"Hey I am sorry Rai of sunshine, I
did not mean to snap," Dax apologized.

"It's okay," Aradia murmured. "I
should be more sensitive about these things."

Dax just grunted, and
nodded.

He then looked past her to see one
of his CD's misfiled. It was as he went towards it when Aradia
looked over his room once again.

"Dax," she observed, "There's no
bed!"

Dax glanced back at her, and then
went to the bathroom to pick up some towels. After he dropped them
in the laundry basket in the bathroom, he glanced down at his
hands, and decided to wash them.

It was as he was washing his hands
when he explained to Aradia, "I don't need a bed. I have a coffin
remember?"

"But then how do you have sex?"
Aradia asked awkwardly.

Dax's eyes grew wide, he instantly
shut off the water, and side stepped to look at Aradia in
disbelief. "What?"

"If you don't have a bed," Aradia
said slowly. "Then how do you have sex?"

Dax still stared at her in
disbelief, not daring to respond.

"I mean," Aradia, continued knowing
she should shut up, but could not stop herself. "Can vampires have
sex? If not, it's really no big deal."

"Whoa whoa wait a minute," Dax said
raising his hands in front of him. "We can have sex believe
me."

"If not it would explain why some
of you are mean," Aradia pondered.

Dax laughed. "No Aradia, we can
have sex..."

"You do it in your coffin?" Aradia
asked disbelievingly.

"Good heavens no! We just well..."
he stopped himself.

"What?" Aradia asked.

"Aradia," he began, "There are many
things I am willing to share with you, but my sex life is not one
of them!"

He walked past her yet again while
she added, "So you do have a sex life?"

Dax looked back at her and
muttered, "And they say boys are obsessed about sex."

He then noticed a book lying under
his work desk. He walked past Aradia, and bent down to retrieve
it.

"I am a virgin Dax," Aradia said as
he did this, "All virgin girls think about sex not all the time but
they do."

The thud that she heard was Dax
accidentally hitting his head on his desk drawer.

As he straightened up, Dax looked
back at her to say, "What?"

Aradia just shrugged as if she did
not want to say what she had just said again.

"You’re a virgin?" Dax asked while
moving slowly towards her.

"You make it sound like a bad
thing," Aradia muttered.

Dax just shook his head in
disbelief, running his fingers through his hair.

"Why would you..." he
began.

"I am not saying I am ashamed. I am
just curious that's all," Aradia responded sounding a bit
offended.

"You know what curiosity did to the
cat," Dax remarked.

Aradia groaned. "God, if I had a
dollar for every time I heard that phrase and made a joke about
it..."

"You would probably have enough to
buy a year's supply of condoms," Dax joked.

Aradia glared at him
venomously.

Seeing the look on her face, Dax
made apologize quickly. "I am sorry it's just this kind of talk is
sort of sudden..." He trailed off but then added in a panicked
voice, "Dear God, you don't want me to be your first do
you?"

"No, if you doubt your sexual
ability that much," Aradia muttered.

Now Dax looked offended as he said,
"Aradia, what's this all about?"

"I am sorry Dax," Aradia said, "I
didn't mean to have this conversation with you I just...well you
know how I talk and everything."

Dax eventually laughed and said,
"Look let's just save this conversation for another day
okay?”

Aradia smiled, and
nodded.

It was as the pair of them were
making their way through the forest hand in hand that Aradia
noticed something. Aradia thought it was probably just her
imagination, but she swore she could see a young man watching them.
He was tall, pale-skinned, with a straight, narrow, and pointed
face with long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing
black leather pants and matching jacket over a light blue buttoned
down shirt. However, it was not the fact that he was watching them
that scared Aradia; it was the look that he was giving her. It was
filled with intense hunger, perverse desire, and the crudeness she
saw in his smile warned her of the foul thoughts that probably
flowed through his mind like a river.