Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (16 page)

"However, we cannot ignore
how influential you still are and with that in mind," he trailed
off as if what he needed to say was very physically
painful.

Luckily, the vampire leader
finished up for him. "With that in mind we wish to grant you your
own title and position on the High Hidden Council of
Salem."

Aradia's mouth dropped open.
"Huh?"

"You heard me," the vampire
leader snapped, his bad attitude and irritable temper suggesting
that apparently the decision was not popular with any of
them.

"I don't what to say,"
Aradia stammered.

"Well that's a first,"
Tristan's dad grumbled.

Ignoring his comment, Aradia
decided to press for details. "If I were to accept this position
what would I able to do?"

All members of the council
fidgeted uncomfortably before finally the shape-shifter coughed and
explained. "Well you would have power much like ours that is to
propose laws, support laws, or change them. Anything really. Our
ways maybe different from the humans but one thing remains
universal: majority rules."

"Okay that sounds fair,"
Aradia, said nodding but then her face grew thoughtful. "What would
my title be?"

They all fidgeted until the
shape-shifter once again went on to explain. "Well it was a hard
decision, but after carefully gathered reports we are under the
impression that you do not like being referred to as 'the last
witch' am I right?"

"You would too if you were
the last of your kind," Aradia muttered.

"I will take that as a yes,"
said the shape shifter, "So after careful consideration we have
decided that, should you chose to accept it, we wish to grant you
the title of 'Aradia the Witch Queen.'"

Aradia's jaw
dropped.

"Witch Queen?" Aradia
stuttered, "But why? I am not of royal blood or
anything."

"Obviously," Tristan's
father muttered.

"Our reasoning is since you
are the last of your kind you already have special ranking so it
makes perfect sense to regard you as royalty," The shape shifter
said finishing up.

"And besides," Tristan's
father added bitterly. "You try making up a flattering respectable
title on such short notice. It is not as easy as it
sounds."

Aradia was still
stunned.

She stood quietly for a few
more minutes until finally she asked, "Can I have some time to
think about this?"

As if the experience of
giving her such a title was not painful, the thought of prolonging
such an effort made the entire council look as if they were being
tortured. Regardless, they all agreed to give Aradia time to think
about it.

She smiled as she said,
"Thank you so much! But don't worry I will make the decision way
before I chose a consort."

"You know," Tristan's father
added while Aradia began to walk to the door. "We were kind of
hoping that that you being granted a title and position would make
you forget about this whole consort business."

Aradia snorted as she said
over her shoulder, "Believe me sire, it is never that
easy."

She then walked out the door
to tell Dax everything that had happened.

"I can't believe we just did
that!" Tristan's father cried out.

"What are you complaining
about? I was the one who was forced to suffer the indignity of
telling that little bitch about the so called 'honor' we are
bestowing upon her," The shape shifter complained while folding his
arms as swift as a switchblade.

"The worst part is," The
vampire leader interjected, "We have to make good on our offer or
our people will see us as liars."

"So?" One of the alpha
wolves spat out.

The vampire groaned before
explaining. "So our people will lose faith in us and not support us
in our actions. In other words, they won't do what we tell them to
do!"

The alpha nodded with sudden
understanding.

The middle alpha wolf,
however, still bore a countenance of irritability. "But," he said,
"If we actually give her power and influence over the hidden of
Salem we will basically be relinquishing some of our own. Power
that she has basically been able to achieve in only three years
time while we have slaved for over God only knows how many years to
acquire!"

"I know! I know!" The
shape-shifter shouted, "But what can we do?"

The table fell silent until
Roy's alpha spoke, "You know her having influence might not be such
a bad thing. After all, she did help to protect my
niece."

"Yes well," Tristan's father
sneered, "Who asked you?"

Roy's alpha scowled and then
opened his mouth to argue.

The vampire leader decided
to end the argument by slamming both hands on the table and
shouting, "Look! What's done is done. We have proposed a deal to
Aradia the last witch. It is up to her now how things turn
out."

"So basically," Tristan's
father said as he rose to leave. "Our fate now rests in the hands
of a seventeen year old girl. Swell!"

Nodding grimly to King
Rian's words, the council shuffled out of the lodge except the
vampire leader who hung back.

He waited until the others
had clearly left before saying aloud, "They are gone, my
lord."

Keon jumped down from the
rafters where he had hidden and watched.

The vampires' leader nodded
as he turned to face him. "I have done as you have
commanded,"

Keon nodded as well before
saying, "Although it pains me to do so having the last witch being
granted power is the only sure-fire way into provoking the
Sovereign to realizing what a threat she is."

"And," he added, "What a
pain in the ass she is as well."

"It was hard you know
convincing the others to give her a title and position especially
making sure none of them realize I was manipulating all of them to
agree to it," the vampire leader grumbled.

"Yes well," Keon shrugged,
"Nothing in life is ever easy is it?"

The vampire merely grumbled
and for a while neither one of them spoke.

Until finally the vampire
leader dared to ask Keon, "Are you sure doing this will help
motivate the Sovereign into killing the girl?"

Keon nodded and said, "You
kidding? A mere child, a survivor of a slaughtered race, that was
raised by the humans being elected to a position of power in the
amount of time it takes to snap your fingers? He will be furious!
Best of all, if we play our cards right we can both get big
promotions out of alerting the Sovereign of what a threat the last
witch is."

"What if she rallies an army
behind her?" The vampire leader inquired.

"So what?" Keon said
shrugging, "Everyone fears the Sovereign of all vampires! The fact
that he is the youngest Sovereign of them all to ascend to such a
position in itself is reason enough for everyone else to fear him!
Most of all, do not forget that Salem is just one city in a world
where the Sovereign rules all! If she were to rally an army it
would be nothing in comparison to what the Sovereign could muster
in mere seconds."

"What if she discovers our
plans?" the vampire leader dared to ask.

"Then we finally decide to
stop beating around the bush and kill her!" Keon
snapped.

"The Sovereign may be pissed
that I acted on my own," He also admitted reluctantly, "But if I
bring him back the severed head and blood of the last witch that
will definitely exonerate me!"

"Why not just kill her
now?"

"Because," Keon argued, "I
want the privilege of killing the last witch to be reserved
strictly for the Sovereign. It is an act that would be most sweet,
and who better to savor such sweetness than the Sovereign of all
vampires himself?"

"So what do you think I
should I do?" Aradia asked as she spun around in a purple prom
dress with white rhinestone flower designs.

She was shopping with Melina
who sat across from her in a lounge chair twirling one of her long
black braids.

The two of them had come to
an uneasy truce ever since the attack at the mechanic's shop. Now
instead of following and staring at Aradia all the time as if she
was some kind of circus freak, Melina actually hung out with her
from time to time. This is what had led the two of them to go to
the department store at the mall to shop for prom dresses and
discuss Aradia's latest crisis.

It had been one month since
the High Hidden council of Salem had proposed giving Aradia a
title, and she was still puzzled over what she should do. She had
been ready to resolve the issue of choosing a consort, but the
title thing had definitely made things a lot more difficult.
Unfortunately, Dax had been no help because he had told her that he
could not possibly tell her what to do. His argument had been that
this was her choice, and he could not make it for her. However,
Aradia got the feeling that the real reason for Dax not wanting to
get involved was the politics. After all, his hated father had been
a courtier in the royal court of England in the 16th
century.

Median just shrugged as she
crossed her dark jean covered legs and stared at Aradia who groaned
and said, "You know Melina the least you could do is pretend to
listen to me when I am pouring my heart out to you."

Melina chuckled and said,
"Sorry it's just that I have never dealt with this type of
situation before."

"What situation?" Aradia
asked while pulling up her hair.

"The situation of becoming a
queen and choosing a consort and trying not to ignite a war," said
Melina.

Aradia chuckled and said,
"It is not easy being a monster now is it?"

Melina hung her head
sheepishly for a few seconds before saying, "Look Aradia about what
I said before..."

"It doesn't matter Melina,"
Aradia cut her off. "The fact is no matter what anyone thinks I
will always be what I am. I will never change or at least I will
never change my identity. No matter what I do I will always be
Aradia Preston the last witch."

Melina just looked at her
silently in awe.

However, when she spoke
again she corrected Aradia by saying, "You mean witch queen am I
right?"

Aradia's smile turned
depressive. "I don't know if I want to accept that title Lina. I
mean it is not just a name they will be calling me by I will have
actual responsibilities, an actual position on the council, and be
required to actually get involved."

"Don't you already?" Melina
asked raising an eyebrow, "Get involved that is?"

Aradia shrugged reluctantly
as a nonverbal way of agreeing with her.

Then she said, "But its all
unofficial Melina I just help people when they ask me
to."

"What's the difference?"
Melina asked.

"If it's official and I get
involved in anything and I do something wrong then really bad
things can happen and..."

"In other words, if you
don't have official power then you don't have to worry about being
blamed if you make a bad decision," Melina stated
flatly.

"No," Aradia began but after
a few minutes under Melina's scrutiny, she reluctantly admitted,
"Yes."

"Why are you afraid?" Melina
asked.

"Because," said Aradia, "In
the hidden world there is no law or order or anything that makes a
difference except brute strength. As powerful as I am, I cannot
think or act like that?"

"Well then," Melina said
with a shrug. "If that is the case and you get involved in the
hidden political world then you will have the ability to change all
that."

"Do you think I can?" Aradia
asked.

Melina smiled and said,
"Aradia honey, living with you and your family this past year has
taught me many things. Things like not only are there good people
in this world who do indeed help others just because it is the
right thing to do, but also monsters are not exactly the way we
think they are. Most of all, what I have learned Aradia is that you
can do absolutely anything."

"You really believe that?"
Aradia said sounding sarcastic.

"You unhesitatingly threw me
out of harm's way when those werewolves attacked us in spite of the
way I treated you, trusted me enough to get you help, but most of
all you deliberately helped a werewolf escape from her evil
tyrannical abusive husband. All this you did in barely one-year's
time and for absolutely nothing. No money, not power, not
allegiance, not anything! Everything you did was because it was the
right thing to do. As far as I am concerned Aradia not only is
there nothing you cannot do, but you are the most incredible person
that ever lived."

"And," Melina added, "If I
found out that you were to become part of the group that helped to
govern me not only would I feel safer than ever before but I would
be willing to follow you to hell and back!"