Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 1

by L.A. Jones

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Is something wrong?” Dax asked Aradia as they drove his 335d into the city of Salem.

  “No, what makes you think that?” Aradia responded.

  “Since I picked you up you have been so quiet,” said Dax. “Normally you never shut up.”

  He smiled after the statement, hoping to encourage a laugh from Aradia. She said nothing. She knew she was supposed to be acting normal to keep Dax off balance. In the back of her mind, though, she knew that this was probably the last time she would ever be with him.

  Even given the deception, how could she be anything but sad?

  “I just feel sick today, that's all,” Aradia replied.

  “You should have said something,” Dax replied as he pulled into the mall’s parking garage. “We could have rescheduled if you are feeling under the weather.”

  Aradia forced herself to look at him when she said, “I wanted to see you.”

  She smiled up at Dax who replied very stoically as they walked towards the mall’s entrance. I guess I was wrong to think you and I had something special, Dax, Aradia thought to herself, so very wrong indeed.

  So far, it had not been much of a date. All they had done was walk around the entire shopping mall in awkward silence. Aradia was giving Dax one final chance to come clean, hoping he would admit the truth about his motivations and declare that because of his feelings for her he could not keep lying.

  He didn’t, though. Dax just walked along at her side, saying very little, looking everywhere besides directly at her.

  When he finally did speak, it was to say, “I believe I should take you home.” They hadn’t even been out a full hour.

  As they were exiting the shopping mall, Aradia noticed a group of scrawny, seedy guys following them. There were four of them, and they all wore dirty black clothing and beanie caps. They followed Aradia and Dax into the parking garage. In the closer quarters, Aradia noted they smelled heavily of weed and beer. She had to assume Dax had noticed them as well.

  Really? Is it going to be every date I go on I get accosted by some group of no-gooders?

  When they stopped in front of Dax’s car the scumbags closed in on them. Aradia decided confrontation was the only option left. Regardless of what else was going on with them, she trusted Dax would be good with the decision.

  The two of them spun to face the group.

  “Hey sweetie, what’s up?” one of the jerks asked her, completely ignoring Dax.

  He smelled more foul then the rest of them put together, but worst of all was the way he looked at Aradia. He was leering at her with intense sexual hunger reflecting in his eyes.

  “Don’t call me sweetie,” Dax replied dryly.

  Aradia laughed aloud.

  “Not talking to you,” he replied, still leering lecherously at Aradia.

  “What do you want?” she demanded.

  “Look in the mirror and you will see," he joked, revealing his yellow teeth and making his friends all chuckle.

  Dax remained impassive. Aradia fought back the urge to throw up all over the offensive man’s shoes.

  “Look, um, dude,” Aradia said as politely as she could. “I don’t mean to be rude but my... uh... friend and I were on our way home. I’d really rather not have any trouble, so I would appreciate it if you just leave us alone.”

  “Your boyfriend here must be pretty stupid,” the same one said with a nod towards Dax.

  Dax stiffened while the guy’s friends all chuckled again.

  “Excuse me?” said Aradia.

  “I mean nobody but a stupid boyfriend would let a hot looking girl like you out in public,” he said with a fiendish grin.

  He was so emaciated that when he smiled, he looked absolutely skeletal. “If you were mine, I would never let you leave my side.”

  “There’s so much wrong with that statement,” Aradia murmured. “Look, if I even stand near you much longer, let alone by your side, I’m gonna need me some noseplugs.”

  Dax burst out laughing, but the guy and his crew didn’t seem amused. They grew dangerously quiet.

  Oh crap.

  “Yeah, that was rude. Look, I’m sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I apologize," Aradia said quickly, trying to defuse the situation.

  Strangely, the guy smiled at Aradia, looking pleased rather than angry.

  “It’s alright, sweetie,” he said to a confused Aradia. “But if you really want to apologize, let’s kiss and make up.”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Aradia said. “Leave us the hell alone, now, or we’re going to kick all four of your pathetic asses.”

  They didn’t seem intimidated. They formed a loose semicircle around her and Dax.

  “You know something, sweetie?” the speaker said. “You talk too damn much! C’mere with you!”

  He lunged towards Aradia, but Dax had anticipated the attack. He stepped in front of her and with one solid shove, used the goon’s own momentum to propel him into a concrete support column. His body and face contacted the column with a sickening thud. Aradia winced, recalling the sound when she and Kasey had collided with the pavement.

  “Go near her and die, you bloody sods!" Dax snapped angrily.

  Although shocked by the turn of events, the attacker, who appeared to be the leader of the thugs, managed to stumble to his feet. The others waited for guidance. Aradia was relieved to see Dax had not killed him.

  The leader’s expression changed from surprise to anger.

  “Get ‘em!” he yelled to his crew, pointing at Dax accusingly.

  These guys don’t know who they’re messing with, Aradia thought, actually pitying them. Or what they’re messing with.

  The biggest guy of the group, who was just as thin and weak looking as the others, only taller, moved towards Dax. When he was two steps away Aradia moved between the two and socked the goon right the eye. He landed flat on his back, out cold.

  The remaining two uninjured assailants came at her. Without hesitating, she kicked the first in his most sacred area. As he doubled over in pain, Aradia grabbed the back of his shirt and threw him to the ground in front of the other.

  “We can do this all night if you want,” she taunted.

  The fourth guy bolted from the garage.

  Now all who were left upright were Aradia, Dax, and the leader-goon. He was bleeding from the forehead and looked like his nose was broken, but didn’t seem to care.

  He reached into a pocket to pull out a switchblade. He grinned evilly as he saw Aradia falter.

  For two intense moments, they just stared at each other until the guy lunged at her with the knife. Aradia, a bit intimidated by the knife, nevertheless caught the guy by the wrist. She then squeezed it intensely and summoned a bit of flame, just enough to burn him mildly. He dropped the knife, howling in agony. Aradia took no notice.

  She lifted him and slammed him down on the hood of Dax’s car with such force that the glass in windshield actually cracked.

  By now the guy was genuinely shaking with terror. “You don’t ever talk to a girl like that or try to force yourself on one again, you hear me?”

  He nodded eagerly.

  “I swear if I ever hear of anything like this again, I will find you.”

  Then she let him go.

  Dax had stood by watching Aradia, speechless.

  He stood with his mouth agape, staring at Aradia who just turned to look at him, and said, “Still here, are you?”

  “Is there a reason why I would not be?” asked Dax.

  Aradia shrugged and said, “Most times when a guy sees a girl be strong and kicking ass, they take off for the hills.”

  “Can't imagine why,” Dax muttered.

  “That better be sarcasm,” Aradia spat in a venomous tone.

  Before Dax could even answer, she made her way to the passenger seat of the car, opened it, and sat down.

  “You still want me to take you home?” Dax asked.

  Aradia shrugged with total indiffer
ence. At first, Dax just stood stunned, but seeing Aradia's expression he decided to let it go.

  Nodding toward the cracked windshield, Aradia asked, “You have full coverage?”

  “I always insure against the unexpected.”

  Aradia shrugged and said, “Good. I’ll pay your copay or whatever for the repair.”

  Dax was stunned by her attitude. He just replied, “That will not be necessary.”

  As they were exiting the parking garage and getting onto the road, Dax finally looked to Aradia and asked, “What exactly are you, anyway?”

  “You really want to know?” asked Aradia.

  “Yes,” he replied.

  Aradia slumped against the window and said, “Me too.”

  Soon they reached her house, and Dax got out to open Aradia's door. She was already out of the car, though, and coldly brushed past him to get inside. Then she hesitated. She realized at this point that if she wanted to know what was going on, it was now or never.

  “Aradia, what is wrong?” asked Dax.

  She shook her head, then turned to look up at him, eyes moist.

  Dax stepped closer and gazed at her.

  “Has anyone ever told you how magnificently beautiful your eyes are?”

  Boy! Is he pouring it on thick, Aradia thought to herself bitterly.

  “I know I haven’t been really good to you lately, Aradia, but from this point on that’s going to change. I will start taking our relationship more seriously. I will always be there. From now on, Aradia, I will do anything for you. Anything at all.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Dax,” Aradia replied, looking down at her feet.

  “No, I don’t. I want to, love,” whispered Dax. He hadn’t used ‘love’ as a pet name for her since their first couple of dates.

  Aradia said nothing. She just squeezed her eyes and decided that if she was ever going to do it she had to do it now.

  “There is one thing you can do for me, Dax,” said Aradia, still looking at the ground.

  “You need merely put it to words,” said Dax.

  “The thing that you can do for me,” said Aradia as she brought her face up to meet his, “is hold still.”

  With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips with her own.

  At first, Dax’s eyes grew wide with surprise, but then as the kiss went on, he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, savoring it. Aradia, however, was getting a different experience from the kiss than Dax.

  Slowly at first, then in a rush, she saw through his eyes the moment he had first seen her in Algebra. She saw and felt his raging jealously as he had watched Roy and her dancing at Jayce’s party. She saw him hiding in the woods, recording her use her powers on his phone. She heard Xan proposing a strategy of how to investigate Aradia from the source. The last memory was too much for Aradia. She lost her concentration, and the visions faded.

  She ended the kiss. Angrily, she shoved Dax away. He stood confused and perplexed, dazed from the suddenness of the kiss. No sooner did he reach out for Aradia’s hand than she raised that same hand to slap him hard across the face. Stunned, Dax withdrew his arm. Aradia looked at him as ruthlessly as a boa ready to pounce on a bird with a broken wing.

  “You know, Dax, I really did like you,” she sneered. “But I guess for some guys such as yourself that just isn’t enough!”

  Shaking with anger and sadness, Aradia stomped into her house and slammed the door behind her. Dax stood on her porch and considered her words.

  Aloud he spoke, “She knows.”