Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (18 page)

However, because of Aradia
everything had changed. No one not even his mother treated him the
way she did as if he was something special, like he was amazing,
but most of all like she needed him. The way she seemed to melt in
his hands whenever he held her made him laugh softly because even
though he had had lovers in the past no woman had been as in awe of
him as Aradia.

I think my mother would have
liked her, Dax thought smiling, which in his mind truly defined his
feelings for her. Nevertheless, as he heard the grandfather clock
strike the hour loud enough for him to hear even up in his room,
his thoughts turned dark again. Aradia had thought that the reason
why he specifically wanted to stay out of the limelight was the
politics involved.

Unfortunately, this was only
partially true. Sure, the mere sound of the word politics reminded
him of his father, and that in itself made him want to hurl himself
out the window. However, as he often said to Aradia nothing is ever
that simple or easy.

Although he had no proof of
it, he was very sure that the one who had helped to motivate the
hidden community into killing off all the witches had had more
incentives to do so than just charges of treason. What was worse
Dax had not necessarily been truthful to Aradia when he had said
that he had never met a witch before.
Come to think of it
, Dax thought
to himself,
there had been a cute little
blonde witch I got to know really well in
Devonshire...

However, his mood turned
sour again once he realized no matter what the truth really was
Aradia was still under the impression that he had not been around
when the witches had been killed. Unfortunately, this was simply
not true for he had been around and could honestly say he should
have done something to stop it.

Worst of all, Dax had the
feeling that he knew the person who ordered the witches to be
killed.

No one else knew though so
he was confident nobody would tell Aradia. However, there was one
thing that gave Dax cause to worry. He of all people knew Aradia
was clever, probably clever enough to figure it out for
herself.

Groaning, Dax sat on his
coffin with his face in his hands. He knew he should tell Aradia
the truth, but the last time he had been brutally honest with her
it had not ended well. Twice, he had disappointed her and he was
worried that if he did so again Aradia would probably leave him.
For good! And Dax would rather die than let that happen! He loved
Aradia as he had loved no other, and he could not possibly live the
rest of his immortal life without her. But then what could he do?
He promised never to lie to her and technically, he was not
but...

Suddenly, Xan interrupted
his gloomy thoughts as he called from downstairs. "Dax, would you
hurry up! We are going to be late!"

Dax instinctively shot up
from his seat, and deciding in a second that what he was wearing
was good, he headed downstairs. His mind still plagued with
uncertainties.

Aradia could honestly say
she had never felt more nervous in her entire life; not even when
she performed in her first play and all she had done that time was
say three lines! However, according to the shape-shifter's wife who
had coached her into what to say and do for the ceremony she did
not have to say much in this either. All she had to do was walk to
the council table in front of everyone, kneel in front of the
council members, and have them place their hands on her head one at
time symbolizing their acceptance of her into the fold. She would
then rise, walk, and finally sit in a specially made chair for her
at the council table.

"I don't know if I can
really do this!" Aradia gasped clutching her coat around
her.

"Well it's too late now,"
Melina, whispered to her.

Marietta said nothing for
she was too much in awe of the people in the lodge whom she now
knew to be real werewolves, vampires, fae's and shape-shifters.
Ross and Liza were in awe too. Although they had known about it
longer than the girls had, they still could not believe that they
were here.

Neither could the
leaders.

"I can't believe she brought
humans with her!" One of the alpha wolves snarled
disdainfully.

The second alpha nodded and
said, "This is a meeting of the High Hidden Council of Salem and
they are clearly not hidden!"

"Apparently her reasoning is
they are her family and at such an important event she wants her
family near her," said the shape shifter.

"Aw that's so sweet," The
vampire leader said, "It makes me want to puke!"

"I think it's
understandable," said Roy's alpha, "Family is important after
all."

"But they aren't her
family," The vampire leader argued, "She is the last of her kind.
The last witch. She has no family. She has no one! She is
alone!"

"She sure doesn't look it,"
Roy's alpha remarked as he watched Aradia hug her parents, and
sisters.

"I am so glad you guys
came!" Aradia cried out.

"I got to admit it's a
surprise that they even let us in!" said Melina who suddenly caught
Roy's eye.

The two of them then just
stared at one another until ultimately Roy looked away.

"Hey you guys are my family
so it's perfectly understandable that they let you in," Aradia said
as she drew apart from them and let her arms fall to her
sides.

"I am surprised you even
invited us," Ross could not help but say earning him a mean look
from his wife.

Aradia, however, just
laughed. "Like I said you are my family."

She then turned to face the
crowd. Although it was a mixture of people sitting and standing,
everyone was talking and in their usual place.

"Well here it goes!" Aradia
said inhaling and exhaling a calming breath while turning back
around to face her family. "Dax and his family saved you seats so
you can go sit with them..."

"Sit amongst the vampires
that want to drink our blood and suck out our souls?" Ross
interrupted, "I don't think so."

Aradia threw him a sarcastic
look. "Daddy, they won't suck out your soul."

"How about drinking our
blood?" Ross asked raising an eyebrow.

Aradia paused before
repeating. "Daddy, they won't suck out your soul."

Ross shook his head, cast
his eyes around the crowd, and said, "We'll be sitting with Roy's
family."

"But..." Aradia started but
one look from her father told her it would be useless to
argue.

Melina, however, looked
ecstatic as she quickly looked around and spotted Roy's family.
Hurrying to find seats, she rushed over and explained the situation
to Roy's dad who nodded his consent. However, the moment she
scooted over to sit next to Roy she was dismayed to see him edge
away.

Aradia was too busy to
notice though. "So how do I look?"

Her parents both nodded with
approval before walking over to where Roy's family sat, and taking
their seats.

Aradia breathed deeply. Dax
sensing her nervousness, decided to get up from his own seat, and
make his way towards her.

"Hey love," he greeted
her.

"Hey Dax," she
said.

"Are you okay?" he asked
with a bit of sarcasm in his tone.

Aradia just shrugged, not
trusting herself to speak. She now looked towards where the council
all stood expectantly.

She sighed and said once
more, "I don't think I can do this."

Dax chuckled as he stood
behind her, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Rai love, you can do this,"
he whispered in her ear, "I believe in you."

He then slowly turned her to
face him and whispered, "I have always believed in you."

Aradia looked up at him, and
smiled. Finally, she gave him one last quick hug and then turned to
face the crowd, which had now gone deathly quiet.

Taking yet another deep
breath, Aradia shed off her coat to reveal the dress she had
decided to wear to her coronation. It was long, black, and clung to
her figure becomingly. It was trimmed in rhinestones at the neck
and base. It had puffed up short sleeves, and a long slit on the
left side of her dress. Some of the men in the crowd caught their
breath, and gasped in amazement.

Aradia took no notice, and
slowly began to walk towards the council who awaited her. Although
she had walked to the table a hundred times before, she still felt
like it was taking forever. Nevertheless, she still walked on
looking straight ahead until finally she had reached the table and
the leaders. Doing it as gracefully, and as elegantly as she could,
Aradia kneeled in front of them. For a few awkward seconds none of
them did anything until finally the vampire leader moved forward,
and placed his hand on Aradia's head

"I, Tobias of the Night
Shadow clan, the elected leader of all the vampire clans in all of
Salem hereby grant my consent to give to you Aradia Preston, the
title of Witch Queen and position of an official member on the High
Hidden council of Salem."

Using their own names and
naming their own different positions the other council members
stepped forward, placed their hands on her head, and repeated what
Tobias had just said. Afterwards and one at a time they took their
hands away as Aradia stood up. Slowly, the council members parted
to reveal a beautiful handcrafted chair. As if she were an actual
Queen of a real nation being lead to her throne, Aradia walked to
the chair and sat down.

Once again, everyone was
silent until the council members said in unison. "Welcome to the
High Hidden council of Salem, and congratulations on ascending to a
position of leadership Witch Queen Aradia. Long may you live, and
reign."

It was only until Dax stood
up and started clapping that everyone also stood and clapped.
Aradia felt her heart swell with pride. The other leaders hung back
in the shadows silently. Everyone was so caught up in Aradia's
moment of glory that no one noticed Tobias slink into the darkness
muttering to Keon who suddenly appeared on his right. "Long may she
reign and slowly may she die! And soon!"

"Amen to that!" Keon snapped
under his breath.

Soon it was the night of the
junior prom and after spending the entire day getting her hair and
makeup done, Aradia stared at herself in the mirror. She was
wearing a dark red ball gown with a rose design on the hem, and a
black laced bodice. The jewelry she wore consisted of a fake
diamond bib necklace, long dangling fake diamond earrings, and a
large elaborate fake red ruby and diamond crown.

"You look like a princess,"
Marietta said from the doorway.

Aradia turned to look at
her, smiling.

"Like a Witch Queen," Aradia
corrected.

Marietta laughed.

The prom was being held at a
hotel in the city of Salem and dozens of black and white stretch
limos were already pulling up in front of it. Being led out of them
like glamorous celebrities on the red carpet were several junior
girls of Salem High dressed in fabulous gowns who were on the arms
of junior boys dressed in tuxedos. Laughing, giggling, and chatting
excitedly everyone made his or her way to the ballroom where the
prom was actually located. There was a banquet table with chocolate
fountain. There were photographers standing outside of the ballroom
taking prom couple photos, a DJ was spinning tunes while Everrett
looked at him a bit enviously. White clothed covered tables lined
half of the room and the dance floor was already packed with moving
couples.

Aradia had decided to be
fashionably late, and show up an hour after the dance started.
However, when she got there she was still nervous as hell.
Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and entered the ballroom. She
was amazed at the magnitude of the noise in the ballroom. Hey Baby
Drop it to the Floor by Pitbull was blaring through the speakers
while the teens either talked or laughed. Aradia was thankful,
however, that at least it was not dark. In her experience, high
school dances were usually held with the lights off and Aradia
hated that even though she could see just as clearly in either the
dark or light. Ironically, it is because she could see things
clearly in either light or darkness that she often had trouble. She
would be able to see things that no one else could see and that
would raise questions blah blah blah... Most of all she wanted
everyone to see her clearly, when she made her choice for her
consort. Surprisingly, everyone Aradia knew was there both hidden
and human. Everrett, Felix, Calvin, Rhonda who was dancing with D,
Tristan and Titania, Ginevra, Domitilla, Xan and Brenna and so on
so forth. Aradia was glad for this, for it would make letting
people know about her choice in consort easier.

As Aradia walked towards the
dance floor, the DJ began playing Black Magic Woman by Santana. She
laughing softly at the irony of this and quickly scanned the area
for all her choices but was shocked when she realized Dax wasn't
here! Trying to restrain herself from panicking, Aradia began to
search around the room, but a whole hour passed of her not finding
him! It soon became all Aradia could do from collapsing, and crying
in disappointment.