Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (35 page)

Korrigan cocked his head. "For one
thing look at her!"

He pointed at the
photos.

Saul had barely time to answer
before Korrigan added, "Besides she's spirited, smart, clever,
powerful, plus when she screams it is amazing!"

"Screams?" Saul asked him, "What do
you mean?"

"My philosophy is women are like
horses," Korrigan explained, "All are very spirited, and seem
untamable, but once you have broken them riding them is so much
more fun. In my opinion, Aradia is no different. Hell, she is the
perfect example. She's like a young spirited unbroken mustang
waiting and wanting to be tamed"

Korrigan sighed dreamily while Saul
just stood, stunned.

After a few moments, he managed to
ask, "I beg your pardon? What do you mean women are like
horses?"

"Oh sure it's hard to tame them
that at first, and I doubt Aradia will be any easier. God knows,
how sometimes you have to be harsh or even brutal to them. In the
end, however, it is all for the best so I know in the end no matter
what I do to her Aradia will understand and appreciate
it!"

"But what if she doesn't want to be
tamed?” Saul argued.

Korrigan smiled at Saul. "Don't
worry she will in time! At least after she's been with
me."

That is it, Saul thought as he spun
around and stormed out of Henry's room. He had had doubts about
this plan from the very beginning, talking to Korrigan had helped
to resolve them. He had finally made up his mind, and what he was
going to do.

Dax could not believe his luck.
After an entire month of ignoring him, Aradia had finally agreed to
see him. Why she wanted it to be in one of the old bankrupted
furniture stores he did not know, but at this point he was happy
just to see her again. Besides, he thought as he chuckled to
himself, a furniture store sells beds and couches right?

Moreover, he wanted to tell Aradia
that he was sorry for what he had said to her. He did care about
her, and wanted to be with her. In addition, if she would have him
he would be glad to be her consort, her boyfriend, and everything
she could ever want. Unfortunately, all that would have to wait
because now he had something else to deal with such as the vampire
who had been following him.

Dax turned the corner, knowing the
other vampire would follow him. He then walked into the nearest
empty building, leapt, and hid in the darkness of the rafters of
the building.. It was as the vampire stood in the open, and Dax saw
his shiny blonde hair when he pounced. Strangely, the vampire did
not even attempt to fight back or anything.

Dax slammed him against the brick
wall and snapped, "What do you want?"

The vampire looked at him and said,
"I want to warn you."

"Come again?" Dax said.

"You must listen because I can only
say this once: it is not what it seems."

"I beg your pardon?” Dax asked him,
confused.

"I am sorry, but that is all I can
tell you. I must go now," and with that the vampire broke free from
his grip and disappeared.

Aradia had had a bad week. She had
failed her math quiz, gotten yelled at by a teacher in front of
everyone, been teased by Bane and his goons, taunted by Tristan,
and lost her homework that she had spent the last three days on.
Needless to say, by the time she got home after school on Friday,
she had plenty of reasons to feel poorly. The fact that her parents
were not home to pamper, and comfort her made it worse. Her dad was
not going to come home until much later because of a case he was
working on. Her mother had had to stay after at the school as well
to set up for the annual art show.

So there was Aradia sitting at home
alone, feeling heartbroken, and depressed. It did not take her
long, however, to decide upon a course of action. She changed into
an oversized shirt, and teddy bear pajama bottoms. She then went to
the freezer, got ice cream, sat down on the couch, and got the
remote. The moment she turned on the TV she a couple embracing.
They stood on a sunny beach, the boy lovingly holding the girl
while she pressed her head against his chest.

"Say it again," the girl
moaned.

"I love you with all my heart and
soul."

"Ah shut up!" Aradia shouted and
changed the channel.

By the time Dax got to the meeting
place, he was still confused over the vampire's warning. He paused
once he concluded to himself that it did not matter now. He was
here and Aradia was waiting for him.

He then pushed open the door, and
walked inside.

"Rai? Aradia? Where are you?" he
called out.

He walked into the darkened,
emptied out, dusty store, becoming more and more confused by the
minute.

What the hell is going on? Dax
thought.

Suddenly, he bumped into
something.

He looked around, and saw that it
was Roy!

"You!" they both
shouted.

"What the hell are you doing here?"
Roy demanded.

"I should ask you the same thing,"
Dax responded.

"Hey you guys!" They both turned,
and saw Lamont walking in.

"You!" they both cried out
again.

Lamont shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah
it's me. Have you seen Aradia around here? She sent me a text to
meet her here."

"A text?" Dax repeated.

"Yeah," said Lamont.

No one said anything until out of
the darkness, a familiar obnoxious voice was heard. "It seems to me
gentleman that have we become victims of a plot."

All three of them turned and said,
"Tristan!"

"Is there an echo in here?" he
joked.

"You mean you tricked us?" Roy
shouted, clenching his fists.

"No you idiot I got the same text,"
Tristan argued while brandishing his phone.

"But if you didn't then..." Dax
started but stopped when he recognized a familiar odious smell
wafting above them.

Suddenly he shouted at the top of
his lungs, "It's a trap!"

After devouring the entire carton
of ice cream, Aradia had fallen asleep on couch. She was now
feeling more comfortable than she had ever felt before. At least
until she heard the doorbell ring. She tried her best to ignore it,
but it did no good. The ringing continued like a determined and
demented bee.

"Sounds like somebody has got a
death wish," Aradia grumbled, shoving herself off the
couch.

Grumbling, muttering, and still
feeling half-asleep Aradia walked to the door.

She opened it and asked in a daze,
"Who is it?"

Once she saw who it was however,
Aradia was shocked awake.

Korrigan McAlester stood there as
innocent as a love struck schoolboy with a large bouquet of red
roses.

"Hi there," he said
sweetly.

For a moment, Aradia just stood in
complete and utter shock. At least until the seriousness of the
situation struck her.

"Oh shit," she muttered under her
breath and slammed the door in his face.

Quickly, Aradia locked the door and
fastened the bolt.

This did not seem to faze
Korrigan.

He just said sweetly from outside
the door, "Open up. C'mon Aradia, it is all right. I am not going
to hurt you. I’m just here to pick you up.”

Aradia backed away from the door,
shaking.

"Say what?" she whispered
nervously.

From out of nowhere, the McAlester
brothers attacked with two other vampires. The two new ones took on
Tristan, and Lamont. Dunc once again took on Roy, and Tavis
extended his claws and raced towards Dax. Roy narrowly avoided
Jaxon's attack but as Roy tried to flip away Dunc grabbed his arm,
and attempted to pin him down. Roy kicked, and leapt over him. Roy
then shed off his jacket, and shifted into his werewolf form. Tavis
once again drew his switchblade, and tried to stab Dax who lazily
grabbed his wrist and kicked him away. Tristan elbowed the vampire
that had grabbed hold of him, spun around, and proceeded to blast
him with a huge ray of yellow light. Lamont shifted into the form
of a crocodile, grabbed the vampire's ankle, and swung him away. As
the battle raged on, the boys scattered as their individual enemies
attacked them with everything they had.

"So this was your plan?" Dax
shouted at Tavis as he leaped away to dodge his attack. "To lure
all of Aradia's suitors away to an isolated place to kill them all
at once?"

"I do hope one of the reasons
Aradia is into you is because of your perceptiveness," Tavis
shouted back at him, laughing, and throwing the switchblade at
Dax.

Dax smirked and batted away the
switchblade like a paper airplane. However, as soon as he did this
he cringed. He then grabbed his hand, and was shocked at the sudden
burst of pain that was gripping him.

"That was a silver blade?" Dax
snapped at Tavis in astonishment.

Tavis chuckled. "It was also
blessed by a priest! And holy objects can burn or permanently scar
us so I bet your hand is feeling pretty shitty by now."

"Why you pompous ass!" Dax
snapped.

"Speaking of which, I still need to
finish kicking yours!" Tavis cackled.

Dax dodged him, and ducked behind a
column.

Well, Dax thought grimly, at least
Aradia is safe.

"Open up dammit!" Korrigan shouted
as he pounded on the door so hard and so forceful the hinges began
to creak. It gave the impression that with a few more pounds of
Henry's fists they could pop right off.

Aradia trembled on the staircase as
Korrigan pounded and shouted. She glanced from left to right,
trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. If she ran
outside, he would probably find her! If she ran towards town, he
would not hesitate to attack innocent people to get at her. She
could not stay in her house for long though. Aradia's whole being
shook, but with one last pound her front door fell on to the floor.
There stood Korrigan looking angrier than a swarm of
hornets!

"Why?" he growled, "Why didn't you
open the damn door when I asked you to? Huh why?"

Aradia gulped while he fixed his
deadly gaze on her. "I waited so long and I came all this way just
to see you Aradia! The least you could do is show a little bit of
gratitude!"

"They are stalling!" Roy shouted to
Dax while dodging another of Jaxon's attacks.

"What?" Dax shouted back to
Roy.

However, he could not stay and
listen to Roy's explanation for at that very instant he had to turn
away to avoid Maurice. Hr then grabbed him and threw him onto the
ground.

Dax stood over Tavis with a puzzled
expression. "Are you really stalling? Are you really holding back?
Why? What on earth for?"

"That's for me to know," Tavis
remarked sneeringly. "And for you to die now!"

He then lunged at Dax, and pinned
him onto the ground. Tavis wrapped his hands around Dax's throat
while he stared up at him, completely confused. His confusion
didn't stop from kicking Tavis off though and for a few tense
seconds the two of them just stood circling each other dangerously.
As Dax looked at Maurice, the strange warning the stalker vampire
had given him began to circulate in his mind.

"Son of a bitch!" Dax cried
out.

He quickly cast his eyes around,
and saw Maurice's switchblade. He then dive-bombed towards it,
grabbed the knife, and threw it at Tavis who did not even hesitate.
He grabbed the knife's handle, inches away from his face. Once he
flipped it around in his hand, however, he saw Dax racing towards
the exit!

"Hey!" Tristan shouted after him.
"Where in the hell do you think you are going?"

Dax did not stop nor did he look
back. "C'mon! Don't you blokes get it? This was not a setup! It was
a diversion! They are after Aradia!"

Roy froze, Lamont gasped, and
Tristan muttered, "Dammit!"

"Like I said," Tavis said smirking,
"I hope your knack for being perceptive is why Aradia is into you.
It's not like it really matters thought because now you will never
see her again!"

"But don't worry," Dunc shouted as
he jumped up to the window. "Our little brother Korrigan will take
very good care of her!"

The two of them then jumped out of
the sky window of the department store, cackling evilly. Roy,
Lamont, and Tristan stared after them, extremely distraught. As for
Dax, instead of using the front door he crashed right through the
department's front glass window! Racing up the street, he prayed to
God that he would not be too late.

"Hey now, don't be afraid little
red riding hood," Korrigan said in a soothingly. "I promise not to
eat you."

He slowly reached for her, but
Aradia slapped his hand away.

"Get away from me!" She
shouted.