Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 1

by L. A. Jones

  “Yeah, afloat,” Kaiser replied. “Surviving. Struggling just to stay alive isn’t living. That’s what I mean.”

  Beats the alternative. She kept that sentiment to herself, given the circumstances.

  “What about Mr. Stanley’s business partner, a guy named Dereck?”

  “Caradoc?” Kaiser replied. “What about him?”

  “What do you know about him?”

  “Stanley was my dad’s client for a while. I first heard the name maybe four or five years ago. A business owner always needs a lawyer, I guess. My dad talked about him a lot. He mismanaged a few finances last year. My dad thought his only choice was to sell the place. The land was worth good money, and there were interested buyers. If he didn’t sell, the bank would foreclose.”

  “But what has that got to do with Mr. Caradoc?” asked Aradia.

  “Well, lots of businesses have been going under lately. Banks don’t want to foreclose. They don’t make money like that. They want businesses to keep paying interest. In order to make a long term profit, some banks are willing to forgive a certain amount of debt if the owner can show a real plan to pay the rest of it over time.”

  “Isn’t that kind of shady?” Aradia asked.

  Kaiser shook his head. “Shady how? On the contrary, it helps square off the business owners’ debts while helping the bank still get the money it needs. When banks do well, they can lend more money, which entrepreneurs can use to spur on the economy. Healthy banks are crucial for a healthy economy.”

  Not as dumb as he acts, Aradia noted. I’ll remember that.

  “Where does Dereck come in?” Aradia repeated.

  “Well, I don’t know the details, but this Caradoc guy, he offered Stanley enough money to make the shop look better on paper. It was enough to convince the bank not to foreclose, right away at least. In exchange he became a partner.”

  “I met him once,” Kaiser continued. “Dereck. Didn’t like him.”

  “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing in particular. Just my overall impression. If there is one thing being a criminal taught me, it’s how to spot another.”

  Aradia felt a tingle down her spine. That was exactly how she’d felt just glimpsing him in the hallway. “You think the guy’s a crook?” Aradia asked.

  “I don’t know. That would be my guess.”

  Aradia nodded with satisfaction. She knew her father disagreed, but her money was on Dereck as the culprit, or at least an involved party.

  "Do you think Dereck was stealing money from Mr. Stanley?”

  He smiled. “How the hell would I know?”

  Aradia grew thoughtful. “I know this is kind of touchy, but you probably could get access to your dad’s computer and books.”

  They agreed on a meeting time and place. Kaiser would do the research Aradia requested and meet with her again on Tuesday. That would give him time to find what it was for which he was looking. She was disappointed, but agreed to wait, figuring it would be two of the longest days of her life.

  He still didn’t want her to know where he lived, so they agreed to meet at the public library on Essex Street. The library was a renovated Civil War era brick mansion originally owned by a wealthy sea merchant. Aradia was pretty excited when Kaiser proposed it as a meeting place. She’d been meaning to check it out anyway, but hadn’t found the time.

  “I won’t tell the other guys you have a library card,” she quipped when he hurried up to join her on Tuesday afternoon.

  “I checked my dad’s home computer,” he replied, ignoring her comment. “There wasn’t anything on it. The police took his office one and his laptop. They didn’t know about these, though.”

  He emptied his backpack and a half dozen or so ledgers tumbled out, earning him a stern look from a nearby librarian.

  “My dad was old school. He probably kept computer records, but everything you want to know is in these.”

  “Let’s look at Stanley’s finances,” she said.

  He was a step ahead of her and had already bookmarked the appropriate page in one of the books. “I’m thinking your hunch is wrong. Every penny of Stanley’s is accounted for.”

  Aradia’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You mean Dereck didn't steal any money?”

  “Not that my dad knew of, at least," said Kaiser. He guided her through the figures as proof.

  Aradia stomped her foot in frustration.

  “It makes so much sense. Dereck kills Mr. Stanley. Your dad, Stanley’s lawyer, catches on because money’s missing. So Dereck kills your dad to cover his tracks.”

  “Yeah, sure, it makes perfect sense,” Kaiser replied frustratedly. “But it’s not what happened.”

  “Now you sound just like my dad,” she grumbled. “So you don't think that this guy had a motive for killing your dad?”

  “Nothing in the books, at least,” he said, making Aradia feel like whacking herself in the head with a brick.

  They went through the rest of the ledgers meticulously, hoping to find some kind of clue, whether related to Dereck or not. Nothing jumped out at either of them.

  “Ugh, this is not working,” she said finally.

  “No,” he agreed. “No it’s not.”

  “Alright,” she said, “I need to do some thinking. How should I contact you?”

  He seemed hesitant.

  “Oh come on! Even after all this you don’t trust me?”

  “Especially after all this, I don’t trust anybody.” Reluctantly, though, he had to agree that if they were going to solve this together, they needed a means of getting in touch.

  “Give me your cell number,” he commanded.

  She complied. His fingers flew over the keypad as he typed it in.

  “You called me a bunch recently, didn’t you?” he asked.

  “Guilty as charged.”

  “I won’t bother asking how you got my number. You’re in my phone now. I’ll answer when you call, or at least return your messages.”

  She nodded as she stood to leave. “Fair enough.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “What are you so happy about?” Roy asked Aradia.

  She looked up to see Roy hovering over her. She was reading Jane Eyre and crouching in her favorite booth at the SilverMoon. The booth was in a nook toward the back of the main room, adjacent to the window. She had her knees propped against the table. A half-eaten burger lay on her plate accompanied by a half-empty glass of cola. Roy stood looking at Aradia, wearing his usual type of outfit: jeans, sneakers, and a Beatles t-shirt.

  At first, Aradia had debated whether she should tell Roy about what she had seen and learned over the last few days, but ultimately decided against it. Her parents had been right that revealing what she knew, at this point at least, would not fix the problem, and she worried she’d only make things worse.

  However, what she did say next still did not improve the situation. “Oh, I was just thinking about my date with Dax this weekend.”

  Automatically, Aradia blushed. Roy looked like she’d just kicked him. Before Aradia had a chance to apologize, Roy plopped into the seat across from her and asked, “Are you his girlfriend now?”

  “No Roy, I am not,” said Aradia.

  Far from comforted, Roy went on to ask, “Do you want to be?”

  Aradia shrugged.

  Roy heaved a huge sigh and said, “Rai Rai, I know you like him, but the truth is you can't get serious about him. You can’t trust him.”

  “Why, because he is a vampire?” Aradia demanded angrily.

  In fact, she had to agree with his assessment. Dax was definitely keeping secrets from her. Still, when she reached that conclusion, it was based on facts and reasonable interpretation of events. When Roy said so, she suspected it was mostly just his irrational hatred.

  “No,” Roy replied firmly, surprising her. “No, you can’t trust him because his father has been secretly investigating you. He has samples of your blood at the hospital. Aradia, they’re trying to determin
e what you are.”

  Aradia's mouth dropped open. “What?”

  “I went to the hospital today,” Roy explained, “to pick up some medication for my aunt when a nurse walked by carrying a tray of blood samples. I recognized the smell of your blood instantly. When we were discussing our abilities, though, you told me that you don’t really get sick, and you’ve never had blood drawn for fear it might expose you. So of course, when I smelled it, I wondered what the hell was a sample of your blood doing at the hospital?”

  “Okay,” she followed along. “How do you know it’s mine?”

  “I told you, I’d recognize the smell anywhere.”

  “No, I mean, aren’t blood vials sealed shut? I know about your special senses, but isn’t that extreme?”

  “I have a very good sense of smell,” Roy replied confidently, “even for a werewolf. Listen, I followed the nurse and watched as she brought it to Mr. Dayton. I don’t think anyone saw me. I hid behind the door as he had a friend, the head hematologist, Dr. Kreukspiel or Kryzpaniel or something, run tests on it. He was comparing it to other hidden DNA trying to find a match.”

  Aradia said nothing for a few seconds. She didn’t know what to say or believe. Roy would not make this up. And yet, even with her suspicions about Dax’s secrets, she’d mostly just figured it was some weird vampire thing, like he’d been married to her great-grandmother. This?

  She wanted to deny it furiously, but as she thought it over further, it tied up a lot of loose ends.

  “All the strange accidents at school!” she exclaimed. Roy’s eyes widened and he nodded. “I’ve gotten so many bloody cuts the last few weeks.”

  “How would they get the blood, though?”

  “I went to the school nurse every time.”

  Roy raised an eyebrow.

  “For appearances. I didn’t want it to look like I just expected to heal magically.”

  “Ah,” Roy replied. “Clever.”

  “Apparently not,” she replied. “Okay, so the nurse gathers my blood. Is she a vampire?”

  Roy shook his head. “No, she’s human, but vampires can have human allies. Especially Mr. Dayton. He’s very progressive, as vampires go.”

  “It also explains why Dax has been holding back from me.”

  Roy squirmed unhappily.

  “Roy!” Aradia chastised him. “Look, I know you don’t like hearing about this, but if you’re really my friend I need you right now.”

  This time he blushed. “You’re right, Rai Rai. I’m sorry. Okay, uh, go on.”

  She didn’t need to go into vivid detail with him, of course. “Okay, so we’ve been dating a little while now, right? Dax has always held back, though. He hasn’t even kissed me when I tried.”

  Roy wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that they had not kissed, or saddened that she’d tried. He decided to go with a little of both.

  “He’s hardly even touched me, really. I think I have more contact with you than him.”

  Roy replied, “I’m not sure I didn’t want to hear this, actually.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Look, are vampires really all sex-crazed like on TV?”

  “Not really,” Roy replied. “But they’re not priests.”

  “That’s good to know, but I wouldn’t expect them to have sex with young boys.”

  Roy laughed and said, “Now who’s not taking this seriously?”

  “Touché,” she acknowledged.

  “Okay, so you’re thinking he was after information on you all along?”

  She didn’t want to say it, but she had to. “The way my personality is, Roy? I’ll blab about intimate details of my life to almost anyone. I’d be an easy target for Dax to coax secrets out of me.”

  Roy squinted and shook his head slowly. “You don’t have much of a filter sometimes, I’ll give you that. But you’re really good at protecting your secret.”

  “You think?”

  “Yeah. So I only knew you for a few days and I already knew everything from your favorite candy bar to your childhood fear of your toys coming to life and dancing around your bed. I didn’t know anything about what you were, though.”

  “I don’t really know much about what I am,” she countered.

  “I didn’t even know that, then. I mean, look at the nurse thing. You’ve kept your secret hidden for so long, I doubt the first vampire to run along could just sweet talk you into divulging that kind of information.”

  She ran over every conversation she’d ever had with Dax as well as she could. “He’s a subtle bastard,” she muttered.

  He nodded. “He’s old, Rai. Vampires are master manipulators.”

  She clenched her fists so hard that she could hear her knuckles crack. Roy looked at her and said, “I’m sorry, Rai.”

  “Are you?” she replied. “Are you sorry really? Aren’t you relieved I won’t be seeing Dax anymore?”

  “I am,” he admitted, “but I still don’t want to see you hurt. I figured you had a right to know.”

  “You're damn right I did.”

  “So you’re canceling your date with Dax, then.”

  “Quite the contrary,” said Aradia. “Dax wanted to date me for information. I’ll do the same. I’ll use the date as an opportunity to find out how much he knows and what his plans are.”

  “How are you going to do that? Ask him?” Roy proposed sarcastically.

  “No,” said Aradia.

  “Then how?” he persisted.

  Aradia thought about it until a wicked smile played upon her lips. “I’ll handle that.”

  Roy made a conscious decision to open his fists and calm down. “Okay,” he said. “That’s tomorrow night, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Just don’t forget we have a date of our own tonight.”

  She grinned. “How could I forget? First full moon of my first lunar cycle as a werewolf.”

  “Aradia, this is serious,” he replied. “You could very well turn tonight.”

  She understood his concern, but she didn’t share it. Her arm had healed completely after a few days, and she wasn’t seeing any of the early onset werewolf symptoms Roy had described. She hadn’t had any strange visions or cravings for raw or undercooked meat, and her senses were just as human-level as they’d ever been.

  Still, she agreed it was better to be safe than sorry. The last thing she’d want to do was turn into an out of control werewolf.

  “I’ll be over tonight well before sundown,” she promised. “Okay, back to the other thing. Can vampires read minds or control people or any of that stuff?”

  “Nah,” Roy shook his head. “Not really. That’s been way played up in pop culture. Some vampires have special mental powers, but that’s rare, and I think it’s mostly in the really old vampires.”

  “Good,” Aradia nodded.

  She was already beginning to formulate a plan. She smiled at the concept of turning the tables on Dax and his father, but she was still depressed. She realized that almost regardless of what she learned, she and Dax as a couple were doomed.

  “Is anyone else coming?” Aradia asked.

  She was locked in a cell in the Morales’ basement. Funny, just a couple months ago, this would have seemed like a really bad situation. Also imprisoned were Roy in the next cell, D in the next cell down from him, and across the walkway, Al and Mr. Morales.

  There were about a dozen more cells unfilled.

  “Not tonight,” Mr. Morales replied. “My brother and his family have decided not to spend full moons in Salem for a while, in light of what happened with Reynaldo.”

  Roy hung his head at his father’s words. “It was not your fault, Roy,” his dad added.

  “And as long as I don’t turn tonight, no harm no foul!” Aradia said, trying to cheer her friend.

  D had stripped to his funny werewolf undies precisely at sundown and posed a bit before neatly folding his clothes. At first Aradia assumed the posing was for her benefit, but considering the size o
f his ego, he probably did it all the time.

  Roy and the others waited a bit. Aradia had no intention of disrobing. Instead she’d worn old, loose fitting clothes she didn’t care much about, and brought a change of clothes which she set just outside her cage.

  “So… What next?” Aradia asked.

  “Now we wait for the transformation,” Mr. Morales replied.

  “Oh, of course, sir,” she replied, “but we could have hours for that, right?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “So what do we do now? You know, to pass time.”

  “Usually we sit in pensive silence,” D replied.

  Al nodded. “More or less, yeah.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Aradia replied, “you all might not have noticed, but I’m not so good with silence. Come on! Let’s play a game or something.”

  Roy proposed, “Charades?”

  “Again,” Aradia repeated, “not so good with silence. What about the famous name game?”

  She received blank stares.

  “Oh this’ll be great! I’ll teach you. It’s more of a car game normally, but I think it’s perfect. I’ll say a famous name. It can be anyone, real or fictional, living or dead. It just has to have a first and last name, and you can’t make it up. Then the next person takes the first letter of my person’s last name and says a new name. We go around in a circle until you all turn. So if I say Stephen Moyer, Roy, you might say Miley Cyrus.”

  “I would never say Miley Cyrus.”

  “Oh, hush.”

  Roy said, “Marlon Brando.”

  Next was D. “Bigby Aarons.”

  “Who?” Aradia asked.

  “Alpha of a big pack in New Hampshire. I spent a summer up there. Cool guy.”

  Aradia replied, “Oh, okay. Mr. Morales, that’s an A to you.”

  Mr. Morales replied, “Abraham van Helsing.”

  Al asked, “Is that a V or an H?”

  “Definitely V,” Aradia replied confidently.

  “Okay…” Al thought for a moment. “V, from V for Vendetta.”

  “No go,” Aradia said, “needs a last name.”

  “Oh, right. Victoria Beckham.”

  “Nice one,” D complimented his brother, with whom he exchanged an air fist pound.