by Jones, L. A.
He shoved his hands in his trunk pockets, and then leaned against the large gray rock. Yet another trait Aradia loved about him was the ability to know what she was thinking which made her wonder...
"Dax, can you read my mind?" Aradia asked him.
He chuckled. "No, I just know you so well."
Aradia raised an eyebrow as if she doubted he was telling her the truth.
Dax shook his head and said, "Seriously I cannot read your mind. It's true that as a vampire one of my abilities is to control minds but I cannot control or read yours."
"I wonder why that is?" Aradia asked more to herself than him.
Dax answered her regardless. "It's because Rai, you are the last hidden witch and if there is one type of creature I have no experience with when it comes to my mind control power it's a hidden witch. When I was turned your people were already gone, and I had never dealt with any of them. I could never practice and vampires can only control a creatures's mind if they have practiced. It took me about twenty years, but I was able to get practice with my mind control power on humans. However, I never got practice or experience in controlling a witch's mind neither did I learn how to recognize them either."
He then paused, began to look thoughtful, and added, "Come to think of it, I don't know if vampires or anyone for that matter could ever control or read a witch's mind."
"Why do you suppose that is?" Aradia asked him.
“I don't know love," Dax answered.
The two of them were silent until Aradia finally asked, "What else do you suppose I can do?"
"What do you mean?" asked Dax.
“Well being the last witch I already know I can do a lot of incredible things," said Aradia. "But like my mind being unreadable to all other hiddens and uncontrollable to vampires it makes me wonder what else I am capable of?"
Dax shrugged. "Well Aradia, love I guess you'll never know until you try something that no one else ever has."
Aradia thought for a moment, but she then heard Roy shout something at Phil and remembered that Roy had told her that Phil was the uncle who had accidentally attacked his wife. Aradia also remembered his poor wife's face, hideously disfigured and scarred.
Chapter Thirteen
"Hello Aradia, how are you today?” Lupe said as she opened the door to reveal a smiling Aradia.
"I am alright Lupe, but I was hoping to come in and ask you a question," asked Aradia.
Lupe hesitated, but then stepped back and let Aradia into the house.
"So," Lupe said, "What do you want to ask me?"
"A couple questions really," said Aradia.
"Okay," Lupe said sighing, "What questions do you want to ask me?"
"First, do you have any pictures of the way you looked before the accident?" Aradia requested.
Lupe stiffened. "Yes why?"
Aradia sensed the tension in Lupe, but went on with her plan regardless. "Has your husband told you what I am?"
Lupe nodded.
"Well," Aradia said slowly and trying to sound sensitive, "I would like to try a little experiment on you."
Lupe could not help but ask, "What kind of experiment?"
After Aradia acquired a picture of the way Lupe looked before her husband had attacked her, which was ironically her wedding picture. Aradia then sat Lupe down in the bathroom, and locked the door. After taking a few deep breaths, Aradia looked Lupe right in the eye.
Lupe gulped. "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"
Aradia did not want to lie, but she knew she had to make Lupe feel better so she compromised with her conscience by nodding. Aradia took one last look at the photo, whispered a little prayer under her breath for God's grace and luck, and placed her hand on Lupe's face. After one blinding flash of white light, Aradia opened her eyes. Her first thought was that she was relieved she had not fainted. She then lifted her face to look at Lupe's. It took one glance for her to gasp aloud.
"What?" Lupe cried out, "What is it? What's wrong?"
Aradia did not answer; she merely stepped aside so that Lupe could see her reflection in the mirror. Lupe's mouth dropped open as she slowly made her way towards it. Cautiously, Lupe placed one hand on the mirror to see if what she was seeing was real. After a few seconds, Lupe slowly opened her mouth, and screamed.
It was as Phil was getting a drink of water at the construction site he worked at that he noticed his wife's car pull up. Ever since the accident, Lupe never went anywhere yet there was her car in the middle of the day. What was more amazing was when she stepped out of the car wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, and her eyes on the ground.
Phil slowly walked towards her. "Baby, what's wrong?"
When she was barely a foot away from him, Lupe suddenly raised her head and ripped off her glasses and cap. Phil then gasped and leapt back. His wife's face that he had attacked, and mutilated beyond recognition no longer bore any scars or marks of injury at all. Looking as youthful and as beautiful as she had on their wedding day, Lupe stood facing her husband and smiling.
"How? How?" He finally gasped, "How did this happen?"
Lupe shrugged and said, "A miracle."
Phil was dumbstruck.
After a while of awkward silence, Lupe frowned. "You mean you aren't happy about me being normal again?"
"Happy? Happy?!" Phil cried out, "Honey, you have no idea how long I have prayed for this! It's a miracle, a true God given miracle!"
He then rushed forward, took his wife in his arms, and twirled her around in the air screaming happily. Roy, who was bringing his uncles and cousins food from the diner, ran over to see what was going on. After seeing Lupe's face, he and the rest of the workers all started hollering in joy.
However, it was only Roy who noticed Aradia quietly slipping out of Lupe's car. He stopped cheering, and looked back at Lupe. He then gasped loudly and ran to leap over Lupe's Ford Explorer as easy as a track star would leap over a vault. Once he cleared that, he grabbed Aradia's arm.
"Hey," he practically shouted in disbelief. "Aradia did you...did you...Lupe's face...did you do that?"
"If you are trying to say thank you Roy," Aradia said sheepishly, "then you're welcome."
Roy grinned in blissful elation, swept Aradia into his arms, and twirled her in to the air.
If Aradia had not been a marvel in Salem before she sure was now. Of course, some humans had all kinds of questions of what happened to Lupe's face. Lupe either avoided answering those questions or ignored them all together, and after a while, the questions stopped. Amongst the hidden, however, the truth spread like a blanket over a child.
Although most hiddens had amazing swift healing powers there were some injuries that not even their own special type of healers could help. Facial wounds were a good example because they never healed. No one knew why, but no medical science either hidden or human could help heal the person once his or her face was injured. These poor people would then have to have to walk around for the rest of their very long lives with these hideous injuries. However, with only one use of her "summoning" power Aradia had changed all that.
After the shock had worn off, more hiddens started approaching her asking her to help heal them as well. However, as appreciative as the hidden community of Salem was now towards her; this latest development also stirred up feelings of anxiety amongst them. They had been unsure what to make of Aradia before, but when Lupe walked around in broad daylight everyone was able to see solid proof of what she could really do. Therefore, whenever Aradia walked through the halls of her school people still turned to stare at her, but now they would either look at her with nervous anticipation or growl like an animal backed into a corner.
Chapter Fourteen
"Did you hear about what happened to that werewolf Lupe?" Saul asked Keon who merely grunted in response.
They were both hanging out in what they preferred to call their bachelor pad. However, if one were to see their coffins, the dimly lit lamps, and various stolen objects that littered about the
place the best word used to describe it would be lair.
"No I haven't," Keon snapped, "And I prefer to keep it that way!"
Saul sighed. "You are never going to excel at our assignment of watching the last witch if you don't listen to the gossip about her."
"Yes well," Keon muttered as if he flipped a page in the magazine he was reading. "Our assignment is not going to last for long, I can assure you of that."
Saul immediately looked worried.
"What do you mean?" He asked Keon.
Keon chuckled darkly. "The thing is all we are supposed to do is watch her right? However, if somebody finds out about her and wants to use her as a tool for power…”
He then paused and shrugged. "Well it is not like we are suppose to protect her or anything. Am I right?"
Saul just gulped.
"What did you do Keon?" he finally dared to ask.
Keon's grin became wider and more sinister. "Let's just say there is a definitely an upside to working for the Sovereign as long as I have."
"What upside is that?" Saul inquired further.
"The opportunity to meet psychos with a taste for wanting power and who are willing doing anything in order to acquire it."
Aradia sighed bitterly. "To think in Arizona, I would complain about either being harassed or ignored."
Dax smiled wryly. "Well you know that all the celebrities say once they achieve their longed for fame it's never what they thought it would be."
Aradia just grunted in response and the two of them walked side by side towards the lunchroom. They pushed the double doors open with a loud crash and all the hiddens turned to look at them. They took a few steps towards their usual lunch spot where Rhonda, Roy, and the others awaited them both. However, once they got to the middle of the cafeteria Aradia felt the feeling of fear towards her so grow thick and unbearable that after only a couple of minutes, she could not take it anymore. She then turned on her heel, and walked out into the parking lot with Dax following her. She was too quick though, and as soon as he got out Aradia was already gone. As he sniffed the air, he sensed where she was.
"You better hope to God nobody thinks you're a jumper," Dax said as he joined her on the school roof.
Aradia, who was sitting near an air duct, looked over at him and gave him a dry chuckle. "I am sorry I bailed, it is just..."
"Hey," Dax interrupted, "You make it sound as if I could not sense the tension in the room too."
He then shuddered. "My god, it smelled like the boys locker room after the homecoming game."
Aradia chuckled. "That bad huh?"
Dax nodded and chuckled as well. For a while, the two of them just sat looking into each other's eyes.
"Hey," Aradia suggested slowly. "What say you we ditch for the rest of the day, and go...amuse ourselves?"
"In the middle of the school day?” Dax asked incredulously. "What about your classes?"
"I have turned in all my things early," Aradia answered in a heartbeat. "And I made friends with all the smart kids in my classes who would be more than willing to let me borrow their notes. Plus, I am on good terms with my teachers so one little unexcused absence won't hurt."
"In other words," Dax added grinning. "You are covered."
"Like an ideal Obama health care plan!" Aradia quipped.
"I wish we had some music to play!" Aradia shouted over to Dax after she leapt from one tall tree to another.
"What?" Dax shouted back.
Aradia tried to shout again, but Dax still could not hear her. He was far away in another tree, and so with a grunt and a sigh Aradia leapt over to where Dax was. She then dug her fingernails into the wood and climbed her way to the branch he was sitting on.
"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 fin
ally 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."
