Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (23 page)

Saul's head shot up as he
gripped the edges of the box. "Please! Please Morgan! I beg you do
not tell him." In a frantic attempt to save his skin he blurted,
"if you don't tell him I will do you a favor. We can work something
out I swear."

"That all depends," Morgan
said in her uneven and strangely disembodied voice. "Are you making
progress with the witch or aren't you?"

"I have succeeded in getting
her to trust me, I have isolated her from her friends and family,
and Tobias just informed me that Aradia's title and position has
been taken away!"

"Does she know of this?"
Morgan inquired.

Saul gulped. "Well
no..."

He braced himself in case he
angered her.

Morgan, however, merely
shrugged and said, "she is bound to find out eventually. My visions
of her are getting blurry that is what truly concerns
me."

"Oh that might be because of
the drug," Saul reasoned.

"What?"

"The drug Rage," he
clarified, "Aradia has been taking it. It's making her more
vulnerable and more dependent on me which fits in perfectly with
our plan."

Morgan didn't say anything
while Saul hurried on to say, "but don't worry I haven't been
neglecting my duties. I paid off Hesper like we agreed and dropped
off the drugs to the supplier."

"How is that going by the
way?" asked Morgan.

Saul couldn't help but grin.
"Marvelous! The Alpha died just as we predicted so that leaves the
rest of the leaders of the wolf packs of Salem in the Sovereign's
pocket. The majority of both their packs has rallied to the
Sovereign's cause. The vampires are a certainty so theres no doubt
that when we finally make our move they will be at our side. Keon
told me that Brannon has agreed to our terms as well."

"How could he not?" Morgan
muttered, "when all his people have already been turned to the
Sovereign's side how could he do anything else but agree with
them?"

Saul smirked. Morgan's face
was still hidden by her hood so he couldn't see if she was smirking
as well.

"Either way," Morgan went
on, talking to no one in particular. "The Silver Moon pack is the
one pack in Salem that is unaware of the deals being offered by the
Sovereign. Such a shame that Adrain refused our offer and neglected
to tell his family."

"Well," Morgan admitted
rather slyly, "shame for him but not really for us."

Saul couldn't help but
chortle at that.

"According to Keon the
tournaments are progressing rapidly," said Morgan, "the Silver Moon
pack is becoming weaker by every passing day."

"How fitting that in their
efforts to chose a new leader they will be making themselves more
vulnerable to our attacks." Saul chuckled.

Morgan didn't laugh but
said, "they won't expect the other packs turning against them
that's for sure. However, by then they will be too weak to fight
and more than willing to negotiate with us."

"Not that it really
matters," Saul inquired.

Morgan didn't encourage the
intimate tone. "Not in the slightest. When the time comes, the
Silver Moon pack of Salem will join us or be
exterminated."

"Either way we win," Saul
concluded.

"We always do," said
Morgan.

A long pause passed between
them before Morgan spoke. "So the progress with the
witch?"

Saul awkwardly rubbed the
back of his neck. "Like I said I have gained her
trust..."

Morgan waved away the rest
of his justification. "It matters not just so long as the girl
joins us in the end. Remember you have only three months time until
the deadline. The Sovereign's plan is already set in motion but if
we were to have the last witch on our side victory would be an
absolute certainty. You have until the end of this very summer to
have her join us Saul. If not, she will be killed by your hand or
another. The war we are about to wage is something we have been
planing for over eight hundred years. Failure at this point is
neither an option nor a possibility. The allegiance of the last
witch is not absolutely vital but it would make things easier. It
doesn't matter though because with or without her the war will be
waged according to schedule."

"We won't fail Morgan," Saul
said.

"Oh believe me we won't,"
Morgan stated firmly before closing her own box thus ending the
transmission.

Saul stared at the box
before closing it. He threaded his fingers together and laid his
head against them. He knew the deadline was approaching and he
could not afford to make such slow progress. He had to get Aradia
to join the Sovereign's side! He had thought that by sleeping with
her he would have gained her trust and earned her loyalty
completely. Alas, that had not happened because she was still doing
whatever she wanted ignoring everyone else's instructions but her
own. This could not be allowed! Obedience of all his subjects was
expected in the Sovereign's regime and despite her special
abilities Aradia could not be any exception. Time was running out,
he had to make Aradia join them!

He had tried the wooing
tactic but that was taking too long. Now he was going to have to do
something more. He shot out off his seat and slammed his fist into
his palm.
If kindness will not make her
join us then I guess aggression will have to do. I have already
isolated her from her friends and family but there is still the
possibility she might go back to them. However, if I scare her
enough into believing that leaving me would cost her her life then
she will have no choice but to stay. If I use intimidation, I will
able to break her spirit completely. She will not be defiant at all
and more than willing to follow orders. Thus making her mine
forever and the Sovereign' s willing puppet.

She didn't know how but
eventually Aradia was able to find the hotel where they were
staying.
Must be luck I
guess
, She thought as she took out her key
card but she had barely opened the door before Saul seized her
forearm and yanked her inside. He threw her to the floor and
slammed the door behind him.

"Saul?" Aradia said feebly.
"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?
What's wrong?! I will tell you what is wrong Aradia. I go out of my
way to take you on a nice vacation and to a concert to see a band
you love and what do you do? You ditched me dammit! You ditched
me!"

"No I..." Aradia tried to
say.

"Silence!" Saul shouted
before seizing her by the throat.

Aradia's feet dangled above
the ground.

"Saul please!" She tried to
gasp.

Saul gripped her throat
tighter. "You will not speak unless I tell you to, you will not go
anywhere without asking me, you will not do anything without my
permission."

He then threw her onto the
bed.

Aradia massaged her throat.
"Saul, you can't treat me like this..."

"Oh yeah?" Saul demanded,
"you live off my money, you live in my home, and you eat the food I
buy."

"If you don't want me,"
Aradia said through gritted teeth. "I will be more than willing to
go."

Saul threw his head back and
laughed. "Oh really? And where would you go huh? Do you honestly
believe that your parents would take you in? You punched your
father for Christ's sake, and you ditched school. Hell, you have
probably been kicked out of school by now! Do you honestly believe
you can just go back to Salem and undo all the damage you have
done? Do you honestly believe your friends and family would take
you back? Do you?"

Aradia didn't say anything.
She just kept massaging her throat and stared at the
ground.

Saul, however, just
smiled.

The fight at the hotel had
been just the beginning Saul had started hitting her even before
they got back to Salem. At first, it was just little things like
being pushed around and slapped but inevitably the abuse escalated.
It didn't matter what she did or said if it made Saul angry he
would hit her. Whether she was just accepting change from a waiter
on Saul's instructions or just reading one of his books Saul would
explode with anger. He would then proceed to spend the next hour
smacking Aradia around.

She had seen this stuff on
TV, but Aradia still couldn't believe this was happening to
her.
Abusive relationships happen to other
people not to me.
This was what she kept
repeating to herself in her mind. She wanted to deny that Saul and
her's relationship was an abusive one but she couldn't. What she
also couldn't do was fight back. The partying, the drugs, the booze
had taken their toll on her health. If her health was not a hundred
percent then neither was her energy and no energy meant no power.
This left her completely vulnerable to Saul's frequent
beatings.

Two agonizing weeks had gone
by with Saul limiting Aradia's freedom more and more. Sometimes he
would even boldly padlock the fridge and hang the key around his
neck so she couldn't eat anything without his permission. He would
also lock the loft door so during the daytime Aradia couldn't even
leave. He made it so that she was basically a starving prisoner at
the mercy of his will.

By the end of the month,
Aradia was desperate to escape somehow. She wanted to run back to
her home but she didn't know if they would help her. She didn't
know whether they still cared about her or if they hated her. With
her former friends not an option, Aradia tried to go for the next
best thing. She knew it was risky to talk to the friends she and
Saul had made but what choice did she have?

"Aradia?" Shayde declared in
astonishment. "What are you doing here?"

Aradia didn't say anything.
She just lifted her head and pulled off her hood. Shayde gasped the
moment she saw Aradia's face. Her left eye was eclipsed with a
shiner, her lip was cut, three bruises were on her cheek, and dried
blood was on her nose. Shayde saw all this in addition to the
slightly concealed bruises on her neck.

"What's going on?" Whisper
shouted as she hastily pulled on a robe and her glasses. She then
went to stand beside Shayde at the door. She also gasped the moment
she saw Aradia.

For one long moment the
three women just stared at each other.

Aradia opened her mouth to
say something when Whisper cut her off. "Come inside
quickly."

Aradia hesitated, they were
after all Saul's friends and for all she knew Saul could be in
there waiting for her.

Shayde stepped outside and
put her hands on Aradia's arms.

She looked her straight in
the eye and said, "it's alright. You are safe here."

At this point, Aradia's
resistance and strength left her and she collapsed weeping into
Shayde's arms.

"How did you get away?"
Whisper asked as she put an ice cube on Aradia's lips.

She couldn't pull away
immediately but once Whisper took the ice cube away Aradia was able
to answer. "Saul did a pretty good job of nailing and sealing up
every possible exit in the loft. He kept beating me up so much that
there was no way I would have the strength to get out on my own.
Since he hasn't been feeding me lately my injuries haven't been
able to heal themselves."

"So what did you do?" Shayde
asked as she brought over the hot steaming tea.

Aradia inhaled and exhaled a
long breath. "Luckily, in spite of the malnutrition and abuse my
brain was still working fine. I knew that there was no way I would
be able to sneak out on my own."

"So what did you do?" Shayde
repeated. She sat on the table staring at Aradia
fixated.

Aradia chuckled and then
groaned from instant pain. Nevertheless, she continued with her
story. "I knew there was no way to sneak out on my own so if I
wanted to escape there was only one thing to do."

"What?" asked
Shayde.

"I had to make him let me
go."

Shayde's mouth dropped
open.

Whisper also looked stunned.
"How did you manage to accomplish that?"

Aradia exhaled a breath
through her nose. "I hid in his closet so the smell from his
clothes would disguise my scent. He came out of his coffin
expecting to find me. When he couldn't, he panicked and stormed out
of the loft leaving the door wide open."

"How did you find us?"
Shayde asked.

Aradia shrugged. "You told
me your address and I looked it up on Thorne's phone."

"How did you get a hold of
Thorne's phone?"

Aradia hung her head. "I
stole it."

Whisper and Shayde narrowed
their eyes.

Aradia lifted her head up
almost automatically and said, "but I swear I had no choice! I
didn't want to steal his phone but I had no choice. My phone got
broken and Saul would never let me use his!"

She hung her head again. "I
had to get away. I had no choice. I had to get away from
him."