Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (27 page)

"I say we track the bastard down,
cut off his balls, and then force him to swallow 'Em!" Roy
thundered and slamming his fist on the table.

Aradia did not respond to that. It
was only the five of them Dax, Roy, Al, D, and Aradia sitting at
the SilverMoon diner after hours when Aradia had told them
everything about Korrigan McAlester, and his attempts to assault
her.

Dax enthusiastically agreed with
Roy, which Aradia noticed. It is funny, she thought to herself,
this is the first time I have ever seen them agree on
anything.

Although, she wanted to hunt down
Korrigan too, she pushed the thought aside.

"Look Roy, it does not matter!"
Aradia interrupted. "We have more important things to worry
about!"

Dax scoffed. "Such as?"

"Like starting the club!" Aradia
answered.

He stared at Aradia in disbelief
before sputtering, "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious Dax, and you know
it!" Aradia snapped.

They all looked at her,
shocked.

"Aradia," Al started, "You were
almost assaulted in the last couple of nights! How can you think of
even going through with your crazy plan to open a club to promote
amelioration amongst the hidden?"

"Easy," Aradia snapped at him
placing her hands on her hips and glaring fiercely. "It is because
I am determined to see this through! In addition to other things,
amelioration needs to be promoted in the hidden world. Most of all,
I am not going to let some crazy stalker ruin my life. If I bury my
head in the sand because of what he tried to do to me then I will
be giving him the satisfaction and I would sooner die!"

She took several deep breaths after
saying all this.

The brothers and Dax just looked at
her silently until Al said, "Its times like these when it's hard
not to believe in reincarnation when it seems like the spirit of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seems to have been reborn in you
Rai."

That is when they all, including
Dax, laughed.

Aradia interrupted and said, "Look
you going to help me do this or not?"

The question silenced all of them
like a bullhorn.

Ultimately, it was Dax who broke it
by asking, "What do you think?"

Aradia smiled widely. ""I think
that I need to show you what I picked to be the place for the
club!"

"Well I got to hand it to you
Rai-Rai," said Roy as he surveyed the room. "That you sure know how
to spot them."

"Not really," said Aradia, "It took
me four different visits or 'break in's to be precise until I found
this place."

Al and D checked out the stage,
chuckling after hearing Aradia's joke.

Dax was behind the bar and asked,
"So beer and drugs still a no-no?"

"What do you think?" Aradia asked
him sarcastically.

"I think," Dax said while climbing
over the bar. "That we need to stop thinking so much or else we
will stop learning how to have fun."

"If you call getting arrested for
possession, being plastered, or wasted, killed while driving drunk,
or worse getting slapped with records on your work resume that will
last longer and be more humiliating than a branded scarlet letter
fun!" Aradia snapped with her voice dripping with disdain. "Then
yeah we do!"

She stomped off to check the back
to see if there was a kitchen. Apparently, Dax was the only one
brave enough to follow her.

"Okay what is it?" Dax asked
her.

Aradia said nothing as she checked
the fridge, and looked under the tables for bugs and rats. Dax
sighed, and repeated his question.

This time Aradia answered him, "I
am sorry I am so edgy. It's just lately..."

"Lately, you were almost raped by
some psycho in your own room," Dax finished for her.

Aradia stopped, and turned to Dax
who without any hesitation swept her into his arms. At first, she
struggled in Dax's arms. What Korrigan did to her was still fresh
in her mind, but Dax held fast and after he gave her a comforting
squeeze tears finally began to pour from her eyes. Dax sighed as if
this was what he had been expecting.

"God, I was so scared," Aradia
croaked, "I thought he was going to...to..."

"Hush baby. Hush!" Dax whispered in
her ear as he kissed her hair.

Aradia cried and cried. She
expected Dax to eventually tire of her weeping, but he did no such
thing. He kept stroking her hair gently, whispering in her ear, and
comforting and soothing her. Soon her tears stopped flowing, and
with one last press against his shoulder, Aradia raised her head to
look at him.

"Do you feel better now?" Dax asked
softly.

"Uh huh," Aradia whispered
awkwardly.

The two of them once again stood
still, entranced with each other. Dax had his arms around her, and
her arms around him with their lips only a few inches away from
each other. As Dax slowly tried to close the distance between them,
the door to the kitchen burst open, and there stood Roy.

He looked as if he expected to see
the sight that greeted his eyes, but was still hoping it would not
be.

"Oh sorry. Am I interrupting
anything?" Roy asked in a bitter sarcastic tone.

"Obviously," Dax
retorted.

Aradia ignored Dax and asked,
"What’s up Roy?"

"I have been checking with my
brothers and we have all been wondering when you want to have the
first party," Roy asked Aradia.

"How quickly can your brothers make
the food?" Aradia asked.

Roy shrugged, turned to shout the
question to his brothers, and then turned back to Aradia to answer
her question. "They could ready by this weekend."

"Then this weekend is when it's
going to be!" Aradia decided.

Chapter
Eighteen

They all felt like spies planning a
covert operation, complete with secret plans hidden in their
binders, and hushed whispers in their classes. They snuck in flyers
for the club's first night on the bulletin boards all over the
school, and spreading word of it from mouth to mouth. However,
Aradia had to admit what was the hardest thing about this entire
operation was the cleaning, and prepping of the club.

"You think having powers would make
this easier," Aradia grumbled as she conjured water in a bucket in
order to clean the floor.

"Nothing in life is ever easy
sweetie. You should know that!" Titania sarcastically pointed out
to Aradia as she sat on one of the bar stools, watching her as she
cleaned.

Aradia groaned again as she
summoned several mops.

Aradia knew that it was just as
well that Rhonda was too busy to help her. Whenever she was around,
Aradia had to hide her powers. Therefore, Aradia had asked Ginevra
and Domitilla to keep her company but they too had bailed.
Strangely, the only who had wanted to or at least shown up to help
prep the club was Tristan's fiancée Titania. At the time, Aradia
had enthusiastically accepted her help, but the enthusiasm was
gradually wearing itself down once it was revealed that all Titania
wanted to do was sit and criticize her.

"Are you going to help me or what?”
Aradia finally asked.

"Or what?" Titania answered
her.

Aradia just stared at her,
incredulously.

"If you weren't planning on helping
me then why are you here?" she asked.

Titania shrugged. "I had nothing
better to do."

"Huh! No wonder you and Tristan are
engaged," Aradia snapped, "You are just as inconsiderate as he
is."

"Thank you," Titania sneered
sarcastically at her.

Aradia groaned as she waved her
hand directing the mops to begin cleaning the floor. Narrowly
avoiding the waltzing cleaning mops, Aradia made her way to sit on
a bar stool right next to Titania. Titania shuddered, distressed
with Aradia's sudden nearness.

Aradia, however, wanted to make
conversation. "So how long have you and Tristan been
engaged?"

Titania shrugged. "A hundred and
fifty years. Why?"

Aradia stared at her,
flabbergasted. "A hundred and fifty...why so long? When do you plan
to get married anyway?"

"Whenever Tristan feels like it I
guess," was Titania's casual reply.

Aradia was too stunned to
speak.

After a few moments of awkward
silence, Aradia finally asked Titania what she had wanted to ask
her since she first met her. "Why are you marrying him?"

Titania shrugged yet again, but
after a look at her nails, a faint smug smile came upon her lips.
"Because out of all the women in the entire seelie fae court he
chose me to be his bride, and eventually I will be his queen! Hell
an offer like that is hard to walk away from let alone turn down.
No matter how long I have to wait for it to finally happen. One
day, I will be Tristan's wife and the queen of the entire Seelie
fae court."

"How many women are in the seelie
fae court?" Aradia asked.

"Too many," Titania stated as she
pulled out a nail file out of her new handbag.

Aradia noticed it and asked, "Is
that a new coach bag?"

Titania smiled more brightly than
Aradia had ever seen her smile before. "Yes, isn't it
lovely?"

"How much did it cost?" Aradia
asked feigning interest.

"Nine hundred dollars," Titania
answered without missing a beat.

Aradia's mouth dropped open.
"What?"

"At least I think it did," Titania
corrected herself. "Tristan bought it for me so I don't really
know."

"Why on earth would he buy you a
nine hundred dollar handbag?" Aradia demanded.

Titania smiled slyly. "Let’s just
say there's something to be said for a guilty
conscience."

"Please explain," Aradia
pressed.

"Apparently, he slept with some
chick in his science class. I found out about it and raised a
little hell. He felt bad so he bought me a gift. Namely this!"
Titania gloated as she brandished the bag in front of Aradia's
face.

Aradia tried hard to wrap her mind
around the concept that Titania had just explained to her. "So
wait? He cheats on you, you find out, and yet you are happy because
he buys you a present!"

"Exactly," Titania said
nodding.

"But didn't you make him promise to
never do that again?" Aradia demanded.

"To never buy me presents?" Titania
asked sounding shocked.

"No, no," Aradia said clarifying,
"I mean cheat on you. Will he ever cheat on you again?"

"Of course he will," Titania said
looking strangely indifferent.

"So you are ok with him cheating?"
Aradia pressed not liking this situation even more.

"Sort of," Titania admitted with a
shrug. "I mean it would be nice if he could stay faithful to me,
but alas he cannot. However, as long as both he and the girls he
amuses himself continue to acknowledge that no matter what, I am
his future wife and Queen and I am staying his future wife and
queen, he can do whatever the hell he wants."

"Do you love him?" Aradia inquired,
trying to keep the shock out of her voice.

"No," Titania said in a tone that
bore no argument. "I don't love him, not one bit, but hey he's the
crown prince of the seelie fae court. There is no way in hell, I
can do better than that."

"So wait you're marrying him for
his title?" Aradia tried to restrain the urge to grab Titania by
the shoulders and shake some sense into her.

Titania laughed softly. "No. I am
not just marrying him for his title. I am also marrying him for his
money, and the position, and privilege that come with being the
crown prince's wife! Most of all, I am marrying him because I am
the only one who he has ever proposed to and that in itself is
enough to make marriage to him worth anything."

"What about love?" Aradia pressed
her further.

"Love is overrated." Titania
argued. "It never really lasts but being a queen...that lasts
longer and is way more rewarding."

Aradia did not have the stomach to
ask anything further.

Unfortunately, Titania continued to
speak. "And besides there are advantages to not being in love with
my husband."

Despite her better judgment, Aradia
asked, "Such as?"

"If I don't love him, it is easier
for me to deal with him cheating on me. In addition to his other
character flaws, but most of all if he becoming king doesn't work
out it will be much easier for me to walk away."

"You mean if he doesn't become king
you'll abandon him?" Aradia asked sounding even more
stunned.

"I guess so." She finished filing
her nails, and then examined her handiwork.

Aradia was suddenly filled with a
urge to escape. She then excused herself, and went to the bathroom.
After she was done splashing water on her face, Aradia took a deep
breath, and stared into her reflection. That is the girlfriend of
the guy who wants to 'bag me' so to speak, Aradia thought bitterly.
Worst of all, she continued thinking, he does not really want me
for me. It is only because I am the last witch that he...Aradia's
thoughts trailed away and she started remembering what Korrigan had
said to her. About the two of them being able to make more of their
kind. It would solve so many problems, Aradia pointed out to
herself, I would not be alone. Most especially, I would not be such
a big deal anymore. People like Tristan would leave me alone, and
all I would have to do is get pregnant by Korrigan. Aradia focused
on that last thought, that is all I would have to do but can I
really do that?