Tales of Aradia: The Last Witch

Prologue

"We have doing nothing wrong!" The cry echoed in Roman's ears as he kept his face stony still. He stood at the head of the room watching as his men performed their gruesome duties. Screams could be heard from both the people being crucified and the ones being hung. The women's blouses were soaking wet from sweat and tears. Their sobbing competed with the children's. The ones who were being hung, kicked their little feet in the air while their cries were muffled by the bags tied over their heads. Some of the people were dragged as weak as dolls to their places of death, a broken look in their eyes from seeing their loved ones killed and not wanting to continue.

One of them,however, managed to break free of her captor's hold and raced towards the door. Roman noticed and using his vampire speed that could rival lightening headed her off and slammed the double doors behind him. The woman stopped and fell to the ground. She tried pushing herself away but it did no good. Finally she demanded, "why are you doing this? We have done nothing wrong!" Roman scoffed, "yeah right you betrayed us. After more than a thousand years the humans now know about the hidden world. At least they now know about you and your people. How else would they know unless they were told by one of you? You have betrayed us all! You and your people know the law, we of the hidden race must remain hidden and those who break the law must be put to death along with their people." "How is killing us all helping to protect the rest of the hidden?" She demanded. Roman snickered as he reached out, grabbed the woman's neck, and broke it in a matter of seconds. "It's good measure," Roman snorted, "and besides..." he trailed off looking at the shrieking, crying people being nailed to the crosses or hung from the rafters, "it's fun!"

Suddenly, he was tapped on the shoulder by one of his soldiers. Irritated at the interruption he turned around to growl, "what?" Quaking a little, the solider nevertheless continued by saying, "I am sorry sir but after checking the records of the people in the coven I have discovered there appear to be two missing." This definitely aroused Roman's interest. "Who could possibly be missing?" he snapped. The solider gulped and nervously spat out, "a woman, the seer of the coven, and a baby." Another solider appeared at Roman's right and said, "so what? A mere woman and a child? They are not worth killing!" Roman whipped around and slapped the solider hard across the face. The solider fell to the floor with his lip bleeding and the look in his eyes murderous. "Didn't you hear what I told her?" Roman said as he pointed to the dead woman at his feet, "it's good measure." The other solider looking to curry Roman's favor offered to go dispose of them. Roman shook his head and said, "no I will deal with it myself!"

The white light that greeted Roman upon reaching the little cottage was so blinding that he almost fell backwards. Irregardless, he gathered his wits, continued to move towards the cottage, and with one swift kick Roman broke the door down. The sight that greeted him upon storming into the cottage was that of a shriveled old woman leaning limply against a chair. A cauldron was in front of her, around her were small lit candles, and a spell book lay at her feet. "The seer I presume?" He asked while chucking dryly. The woman did not even reply. Roman cast his eyes around the cottage before demanding, "where's the brat?" "She is safe," the seer replied weakly, "safe where you and yours cannot touch her. She will be safe until she realizes her destiny." "Her destiny?" Roman asked skeptically, "what is her destiny?" "To destroy you and your master!" The seer sneered at him in a weak but firm crackling voice. Roman grabbed the woman by the neck and hissed, "what? What are you talking about?" "It is done," the woman laughed weakly, "it is done. She is safe where you and yours can never touch her. Sent to where she will be happy until the time comes to avenge her people and destroy your master!" "You know what lady?" Roman snapped, "You talk too much!" and with that Roman extended his fangs and buried his face in her neck, ignoring her screams.

"Is it done?" a deep almost dead like voice said to Roman as he entered the dimly lit throne room. Roman eagerly dropped to his knees as he made his report, "yes master it is done. The witches are dead! Dead to the last child!" "Your lying," the voice spoke softly. The voice took form of a man wearing a long black cloak, shiny black shoes, and long darkened pants. He stood up, his footsteps making frightening clicking sounds as he slowly made his way towards Roman. Roman quaked as he defended himself, "no master I swear to you they are are all dead. From the head witch to the seer they all rot in their precious town hall hidden away in their secret coven." "What of the seer's child?" the master asked. Roman trembled before asking, "you know of it?" The master growled before saying, "well what of her? Is she dead too!" "But master," Roman protested, "you said we were to execute the witches on charges of treason what difference does one child make!"

"The difference in following my orders and disobeying them you fool! But I get the feeling you did not kill her! Therefore the seer's child still lives! " the master cried out stamping his foot in frustration. Roman shook his head before asking, "I do not understand master why does the death of one little girl mean so much to you?." "of course you don't understand," the master said turning away from Roman, "you are too stupid to understand anything."

Roman stiffened from the indignation at least until he heard the master chuckle softly. "You are not displeased master?" Roman asked now sounding confused about his master's sudden mood swing. "Of course I am," the master continued, "but there is nothing to be done about it. At least not now is it Morgan?" A woman enshrouded in another black cloak clutching a crystal ball on a staff appeared in a puff of dark smoke. Wrapping one gnarled green hand on the ball she spoke in a disembodied voice. "No master, the child is lost. Lost for now in the fold." "Do you really believe it's possible that a mere child of a slaughtered race will become my downfall?" the master spoke folding his arms. The woman hesitated before answering in a trembling voice, "I have read the signs, used the runes, conversed with the gods and goddesses of time and space..." "for God's sake answer my question!" he snapped. The woman hesitated again, gulped, and said in a soft weak voice, "yes." Roman and the woman prepared themselves for the explosion instead the master sighed and placed his hand against his face hidden in the hood of his cloak. Finally he broke the tension in the air by asking, "tell me something Morgan. Do your visions always come true?" The woman hesitated yet again but then answered, "the future is a very unpredictable thing. One different step can make a whole new path." "In other words you don't know?" the master snapped. Reluctantly, the woman nodded. The master sighed and said, "well for all of our sakes let's hope out of all the accurate predictions you have made for me, may this not be one of them!"

Chapter One

"You'd think they'd tell us before we drove for six hours," Ross Preston muttered under his breath, sounding extremely bitter. "Did you say something honey?" Ross turned to look at the speaker, his wife Liza. Small, and petite with mousy blond hair and a voice that was barely audible; 'little woman' was a perfect way to describe Liza Preston. Her small appearance and her gentle behavior made many people wonder why she had chosen to marry Ross, who in contrast, was a large, brown eyed curly haired, loud-mouthed, outspoken hard-ass of a man.

However, once people got to know the both of them it became more than obvious that Ross and Liza Preston were quite frankly the 'Batman and Robin' version of a married couple. Liza was a high school art teacher and Ross was a police officer and the two of them had talents and a fiery ambition to help change anyone's life. No matter how screwed up that person was, whether it be through drugs or the law, if Ross and Liza decided that this person needed to be changed they would help them do it! Ross was the father figure, who could inspire even the most hardened criminal to go straight. Liza was the comforting mother figure, who just by using her soft voice and a few choice words, could convince anyone that they could change. Their friends, families, even the people they helped wondered why Ross and Liza would bother helping so many people out when they almost always received nothing in return. Ironically, the answer to that was the same reason to why the two of them were married in the first place. As opposite as Ross and Liza's personalities were, what truly united them was the two of them wanting to make a difference. They were the type of people whom would not be able to go to sleep at night if they could not make a positive impact on someone's life. No one really knew if Ross and Liza were like this naturally or if it was a result of how they were brought up. Either way Ross and Liza Preston were definitely the kind of couple whom could influence a person's life and be happy about it. At this current moment, however, the only person they would be more than happy to influence would be that of their own child, which they had just been told in a clinic in Salem, MA they could not have.

"Oh I was just commenting on how truly unfair it is that doctors, no matter how questionable their choice of practice is, are able to make seventeen times the amount a cop is paid by choice. While in addition to a life of stress and sacrifice, the salary that a cop has to be content with is supplied by the kind of tax dollars that make the I.R.S burst out laughing!" Liza smiled at Ross's comment and said, "I'm disappointed too." Ross sighed and said, "we drive over six hours from Ohio to and back from Salem, MA where the best baby-making clinic is said to be located only to be told that we don't have a shot in hell of ever actually conceiving a baby of our own!" "They didn't say that!" Liza protested. Ross looked at her until Liza begrudgingly added, "well...maybe not in the same context but still.." "Liza...they said that judging by our bodies, our age, the kind of lives we lead, genes in addition to our family history the odds of us ever conceiving a baby with or without medical help are worse than the Redskins winning the Superbowl! I mean jeez! Why not just staple a huge sign on our heads that say 'these people would be sucky parents' and be done with it?!" Ross cried out angrily. Liza hung her head and Ross immediately regretted his harsh words. "Honey, I'm sorry..." he started. "Don't!" Liza cut him off, "you're right. They had absolutely no right to speak to us like the way they did and to even have the audacity to ask for more money to try experiments on me that might help conceive a child?! Please!" "I know," said Ross with a disgruntled sigh, "can you believe the nerve of those people?" Liza scoffed in agreement. An awkward silence passed between them until Liza asked Ross, "So what do we do now?" "Well..."Ross started, "we could always adopt." Liza stared at him and said, "You’re kidding right? Ross, haven't you seen the stuff on the news nor do you even remember what half of the criminals' you bring in backgrounds are? Almost every single one of those thugs are adopted and according to most of the news channels the children in the adoption or foster care system are treated no better than cattle therefore developing real sociopath tendencies which they are more likely to act upon in adulthood!" "That's only on FOX," Ross muttered. "That's not the point!" Liza shouted. "Well, what else do you want huh?!" Ross demanded angrily, "what exactly?! What?!" Liza didn't reply she just shrugged and turned to stare out her window and said, "I really don't know." Ross sighed as well and continued driving.

It was several minutes until Liza finally said, "Well there is one thing I do want." Ross heaved an exasperated sigh and asked, "And what would that be hmm?" "I want..." Liza started, "I want...I want...a sign!" "A sign?" Ross asked questioningly. "Yes! A sign!" Liza grinned with a sudden wave of cheerfulness, "a sign of what we should we do." Ross just looked at his wife, shrugged, and said "well you never really know Liza we might just get a sign. The real questions are where, when, and how on Earth will we be able to tell." "Well it’s like you said Ross," said Liza, "we never really know...at least until we get it."

Suddenly, a huge flash of light appeared from the area that was facing Liza's window! It was so blinding that both Ross and Liza were forced temporarily to cover their eyes but by doing so almost careened head-on with a truck driver! Ross gripped the steering wheel and turned as much as his strength would allow. Liza screamed in fright while Ross's pickup drove straight off the paved road and right into the forest. He slammed on the brakes as hard as he possibly could while the pickup skidded onto the rough dirt ground that was smeared with wet autumn leaves. Miraculously, the pickup managed to gain control of itself and Ross and Liza breathed a sigh of relief as it soon stopped. "You okay baby?" Ross asked Liza. "I wish you wouldn't call me that," Liza grumbled. "I'll take that as 'yes'" said Ross with a grin. Liza scowled at him for a quick second until turning her head and saying "what in the world was that thing?" "I don’t know," Ross said with a shrug. "You think we should check it out?" Liza asked. "No," Ross replied while Liza stared at her husband in disbelief, "I think I should check it out," and then nodded with sudden understanding. Ross reached into the glove compartment and then pulled out his gun. After loading it with the ammunition he kept in the beverage holder Ross opened his door, told his wife to stay in the car, and got out.As he slowly crept towards the direction to where the light had suddenly emerged, Ross wondered what it was that had had made the light they had seen. As a cop he had seen spotlights, flare guns, all kinds of things being used at riots or at the Fourth of July but he had never seen such a deep white piercing light. It seemed so strong and so fierce that it was almost as if a supernova had just occurred on the planet Earth. Now thinking of supernovas, Ross began to wonder if what had just happened was the cause of aliens but promptly muttered his breath, "Preston, if you want aliens to be the cause of crime move to New Mexico." Ross's chuckling managed to relax him a bit. At least until he heard a soft whimpering coming from inside a nearby cave. Ross's guard promptly came back up as he edged himself towards the opening with a menacing look. He pressed his back against the outer rim of the cave, bracing himself for whatever he may face, and suddenly jumped into the cave brandishing his gun from left to right saying, "freeze!" At first, Ross was perplexed because there seemed to be no one in the cave until he heard another soft whimper coming from the ground. He looked down and saw a little girl wrapped in brown linen, barely three years old all curled up trying to keep warm. Ross glanced upwards to make sure no one else was around and then looked down at the girl again in complete disbelief.

What on earth is she doing here? Ross asked himself as he crouched down to look at her. His first instinct was that this child had probably been abandoned like all those other unfortunate cases when a child comes along to someone who doesn't necessarily want it, decides to have it anyway, only to discover that having a child is not exactly like having your own personal obedient slave. So the freaks just leave their kids in some remote place to die like an owner shooting a dog just because it got too old, Ross thought sourly but noticed that the little girl looked surprisingly well-fed, well-nourished, and completely free of signs of abuse. Ross began to think as he watched the little girl slowly wake up, it’s like she just appeared out of nowhere. He then shook his head in disbelief.

Very carefully, Ross scooped the child up into his arms. I can't just leave her out here, he concluded, I'd be no different than the freaks I had just thought about and besides...Ross thought looking down at the little girl now clinging to him, Liza might like her because she is kind of cute. "Ohhhhh Ross she's so cute!" Liza exclaimed as she reached out to take the little girl from her husband. A far cry from her shocked expression that she had given Ross just five minutes ago as he came out of the forest carrying what seemed to be a small brown sack. Ross chuckled as he saw his wife's maternal instincts immediately kick in. "Where on earth did you find her?" asked Liza. "Believe it or not," Ross said, "I found her in a cave." "Excuse me?" Liza glanced up from the little girl to look at him in disbelief. "I'm not kidding," Ross said throwing up his hands to illustrate his seriousness, "she was just lying there all alone I called out to see if anyone else was around but nobody answered." "Do you think they might have left for just a little while to get some food or something?" Liza asked. "That thought did occur to me so I left my old wallet in there with my business card in it and no, I did not leave my credit cards or ID's in there." Liza promptly closed her mouth after Ross's assurance and smiled. She glanced down at the little girl who seemed to have fully woken up at this point."What do you supposed happened to her?" Liza asked Ross."You got me," Ross said before he joined his wife's side and proceeded to made funny faces at the little girl. "Hm-mm..." Liza looked up at Ross then down at the little girl and promptly decided, "We should take her home with us." "What?" Ross exclaimed. "Well, she is all alone and we were just talking about adopting." "Hello?" Ross said while clapping his hand to his forehead in disbelief, "I was talking about it, you were arguing against it." Liza scowled and said while glancing down at her, "but we can't just leave her here she's so...special." "What?" said Ross, "you mean cute right?" "No I mean yes I mean she is cute but there is something about her that just tells me she's special." As if to concur with Liza's statement the little girl smiled up at her. "Yeah well," Ross stretched out his arms and turned to walk back to the pickup, "something tells me that it won't matter if we do or do not want to take her home if I don't look at my pickup and check out the damage." Liza chuckled and followed Ross. He raised the hood of his pickup and grimaced. "Bad huh?" Liza asked while swaying the little girl from side-to-side. Ross nodded solemnly as he turned to look at both of them but at that point the little girl's eyes left Liza's face and turned to gaze at him.

Ross smiled and now filled with a sudden urge to make the kid laugh he said, "hey firecracker if you think you're so special why don't you fix my pickup for me?" he gestured towards the engine with his thumb. "Ross that's not funny," Liza said with a barely concealed smile. Ross, on the other hand, laughed out loud and turned to look back at the pickup. His mouth than dropped open in complete shock. "Ross? What is it?" Liza asked suddenly worried about her husband's sudden change in his expression. Ross didn't say anything he just gestured at the car. Liza peered at the engine and said, "It looks fine to me." "Yeah it does," Ross said slowly. "But I thought you said it was broken?" Liza asked confused. "It was broken..." said Ross again in a slow shocked tone. Liza shook her head. "I don't understand Ross." "Me neither. I mean maybe I was wrong but I could have sworn...," Ross said in disbelief. He rubbed his hand over his face sighed and said, "Oh well its fixed now so I supposed we should get going." Liza nodded in agreement. "Let me just double check everything and we'll be on our....owwww!" Ross suddenly leaped away from the pickup. "Ross! Ross! What is it?" Liza asked frantically. "It's my hand I cut it on one of the gears..." Ross explained. "Oh well that's easily fixable," said Liza with a sigh of relief, "I'll get the first aid kit and..." "Uh Liza..." Ross interrupted. "What?" asked Liza. She suddenly glanced down in the same direction Ross was looking at only to see the little girl reaching towards Ross's injured hand. However, while Ross's hand seemed to be bleeding the little girl's was glowing with bright white light. She slowly reached towards Ross, grabbed his hand and right before their eyes Ross and Liza watched his cut disappear so quickly and so cleanly that it seemed as if it had never been there in the first place. The both of them glanced down at her in sudden shock while she gazed up at them beaming like sunshine. Ross glanced down at his hand which was now completely healed and then at the girl whose own hand had stopped glowing and was now resting its thumb in the infant's mouth.

"It has begun," Morgan gasped out loud as she meditated in the throne room. Quickly, she summoned a crow to perch upon her finger. After whispering into it's ear, the crow flew off. A few tense seconds later, the master burst into the room. "What?" he snapped, "what is it?" Morgan inhaled deeply before speaking, "I have sensed that the child: the one who escaped the persecution of her people has appeared!"

The master scoffed, "the last witch? You mean to tell me the last witch lives?" Inhaling deeply again, Morgan said, "yes master I am afraid so." Now it was the master's turn to inhale deeply, "unbelievable. Over three hundred years go by without her appearing only to now..." He trailed off sighing, "well nothing to be done now. Morgan scry for the identity of the last witch so that I may arranged for her to be dealt with." Morgan merely gulped in response. "What's wrong?" The master demanded. "Master...I...as you know...I am not a witch merely a demon born with the sight therefore I cannot..."Morgan began while trembling. "What?" the master said his voice dangerously soft. "I cannot tell you who she is because I honestly don't know..."continued Morgan. The master sped towards her and gripped Morgan by the throat. Morgan gasped, her feet dangling in their air. "Please master," she pleaded weakly. He dug his nails into her throat making her whimper as she gasped. After a few minutes of this though, the master slowly let her go. He grumbled in frustration but after running his fingers through his blonde hair, he let out an exasperated breath. "Isn't there any way to locate her?" he finally asked. Morgan nodded weakly still clutching her neck. "How?" the master snapped. In a croaking weak voice, Morgan said, "should this girl ever use her powers in extremity then it will be easy to locate her..." "So if she uses her powers we can find her?" the master said in a sneering cheerfully voice. Reluctantly, Morgan said, "no master only if she uses her powers at her fullest extent we will be able to..." The master moved towards her again and Morgan cowered in fear. Inches away from her, the master stopped, sighed and said, "well until that time I guess I will have to post spies amongst all the clans in the world to keep an eye on the hidden population." "All around..."Morgan began. "Well since you don't know who she is then you obviously do not know where she is do you?" the master snapped at her. Morgan hung her head nodding. The master snorted and said, "so I have to make sure every place is covered. There's no telling where she will turn up. No telling at all."

Chapter Two

"Well now everything seems to be in order," the social services worker said with a flourish of papers. Ross and Liza were both grinning from ear to ear. Ross was holding Liza's hand while in the crook of her arm slept the little girl they had found in the woods and in the past few months had helped convince them that this was the little girl that they wanted to call theirs. If anyone who knew their secret would ask them Ross and Liza would reluctantly admit that not only what the girl had done with both the car and Ross's hand had not only shocked them but also made them a little scared of her. Especially after it was later revealed to them that the girl seemed to display other exceptional abilities as well such as making dead flowers grow in a vase, and charming every single one of the pets in the neighborhood including the nasty Doberman that was ironically named "Sweetie" by its owners while everyone else called it, "the dog from hell!"

However, after spending time with the little girl and showing her what and when was a good time and place to use her powers. Such as lighting a fire in the fireplace and not the front yard during the annual neighborhood summer block party. Speaking to her in a calm voice whenever she got upset and made the house shake furiously. By basically treating her like a normal infant Ross and Liza had discovered that the girl was not only a real sweetheart that made their hearts melt when she smiled but also just like any other child in need of some good guidance and unconditional love.

Unfortunately, children with supernatural abilities weren't exactly in high demand for adoption agencies and Ross and Liza were afraid that if they should give her up whomever took her in would take advantage of her. Most especially the couple realized that in spite of her tendency to make ice sculptures while she was in the bathtub the little girl really was just like any other kid whom just needed good parents. Just like Ross and Liza were two people who really wanted children. So with a phone call and three long months of legal and medical procedures concerning the little girl Ross and Liza had almost completed the process of making her theirs forever. At least until the social worker suddenly glanced up and said, "All we need is a name." "A name?" Ross and Liza both said at the same time. "Why, yes a name?" the social worker looked at them smiling, "don't tell me you haven't thought of a name for her?" "Oh sure we have plenty of names thought out," Ross furiously protested. That is if sweetheart', 'angel face', and 'princess' can actually be considered real names, he thought to himself. "Well since you've given it so much thought how about telling me so I can seal the deal?" the social worker remarked chuckling to herself as if adopting was rather a bargain sale than a life changing situation. Ross scowled and thought about exactly what he'd like to tell this woman when Liza suddenly interrupted and said, "Her name is Aradia." "What?" Ross and the social worker both exclaimed at the same time and then glared at each other. "Yes, her name is Aradia," Liza stated firmly. Ross leaned in towards his wife as the social worker wrote the name down and asked, "Where did you get that name Liza?" "What?" Liza asked.

"That name" Ross asked once again, "Aradia, where did you get it? Is it from a book or something?" "It's her name," Liza repeated. "Yes, yes, I know all that but my question is how do you know?" Ross asked looking at her with large curious eyes.

Liza shrugged uncomfortable under her husband’s scrutiny and said, "I don't know how, I just do." She than glanced down at the little girl smiling up at and repeated, "I just know that this girl's name is Aradia." Ross chuckled and said, "Just like you know that there is something special about her right?" Liza grinned looking up at her husband and said, "Yeah."

Chapter Three

"Rai!!!!! WAKE UP RAI!!!!!" the shrill voice of her mother pierced Aradia's (Rai) dreams like a hot knife through butter. It jolted her out of her slumber and made her think for the hundredth time how much she was looking forward to going to college in another state where her mother (especially her mother's voice) would be a thousand miles away and therefore unable to reach her. But for now she was still in her bed, in her new home in Salem, Massachusetts about to go to her new high school and fighting back the urge to say "to hell with it all" and stay in bed all day. Alas, it was not to be for as Aradia started to drift back to sleep her mother threw open her room door and said, "C’mon Aradia get up or you're going to miss the bus!" "No, I am not," Aradia grumbled. "Oh? and why not?" her mother asked with her hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised, and the puppy bathrobe she wore every morning looking as ridiculous as ever. "Because Dad's driving me," Aradia replied smirking.

Her mother's mouth clamped shut. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence passed, her mother turned on her heel and said, "ah well than I guess the big breakfast I made for you Belgian waffles, cheddar cheese omelets, orange juice, and homemade blueberry muffins will just have to go to your father then, who I may add has been known to clean his plate in addition to the table, while you get some more sleep."

Aradia shot up straight in her bed and said, "you fight dirty. You know that don't you?" "I prefer to think of it as being your mother," Aradia's mother replied with a smirk. Aradia gave her mother a mocked scowl. Her mother in return just smiled at her and slammed the door on her way back to the kitchen. Aradia then proceeded to go to her dresser to pick out her clothes. Technically, put on her clothes seeing as she already laid them out for the first day of school weeks ago. It might have sounded pathetic to most people but most people did not have to start their freshman year in a brand new school in a brand new state thousands away from their old home in Nebraska! And of all the places to move to it had to be "Witch Central". The very state where the Salem witch trials had occurred but ironically had hung and imprisoned no real witches at all. In spite of this or perhaps because of this Salem was the center of much tourism and mysticism.

But that did not matter to Aradia now; all that did matter to her was making a good first impression at her new school. Aradia examined her reflection, taking one last look at herself in the mirror, which was almost always the same. A plump but curvy, pale-skinned, freckled and round-faced teenage girl with long wavy red hair in addition to green eyes that her father swore could see right through people's souls.

At first, Aradia was pleased with what she saw but her smile promptly melted into a shocked look of horror after seeing a huge whitehead zit on her forehead. Her first thought was to shriek in terror and lock her bedroom door to prevent her parents from dragging her to school with the evil looking blemish on her face. In addition, to looking gross the zit could do something much worse: ruin her intended first impression at her brand new school! A school she was doomed to stay at for four long years with the same closed clique people teasing her and god knows what else they would do if they saw her looking like this. But then her mood suddenly lifted remembering the latest concoction she had made just yesterday from the herbs in the garden. One that she had created with the intent of clearing one's skin. However, once again her smile faded realizing she did not know where it was. But once again that smile of hers came back into view remembering her sure-fire strategy to find anything that was lost.

She held out her palm, closed her eyes, envisioned the small bottle she had put the potion in, and all of sudden a bright white light started to emerge from her outstretched hand like steam from a kettle. Aradia then promptly opened her eyes and with one last blinding flash of the white light the very bottle filled with the very potion she needed appeared in her hand. "Rai! Come on hurry up! I can't keep protecting your breakfast from your father forever you know!" her mother's loud voice disrupted the climactic moment Aradia had experienced when she 'summoned' the bottle into her hand. "I am coming Mama! And I appreciate the effort into trying to save my breakfast from the Daddy Disposal!"Aradia shouted back.

"I heard that!" this time a strong male voice responded to Aradia's instead of a soft female one, "and don't shout in the house!"

"Okay Daddy!"

"What did I just tell you?!"

Aradia smirked and turned to her mirror and began to smear the pale pink paste from inside the bottle on her chin. Suddenly realizing how long it would take for the zit to go away on its own even with the paste Aradia decided one more 'summoning' wouldn't hurt. Pressing her fingers hard onto the spot on where she just smeared the paste the white light was seen once again but only for a little bit as both the paste and zit quickly disappeared. "Okay, Okay! I am here no need to call the patrol captain of the Salem Police Department!" Aradia announced as she skipped down the stairs into the kitchen where her family was having breakfast. "Too late," her father murmured. "Oh yeah that's right," Aradia said in a voice that dripped with mocked innocence, "my Daddy IS the patrol captain of the S.P.D or at least the newest one of Salem." "Don't remind me," he grumbled, swigging down a huge gulp of orange juice. "What's your problem?" Aradia demanded angrily which is what she usually did when people didn't laugh at her attempts at humor. "Oh ignore him honey," her mother said as she laid down a huge plate of the pre-described breakfast she had promised Aradia. "Your father is just upset about being the newest cop on the block."Aradia's father (otherwise known as Ross Preston) scowled at his wife who just looked at him and said, "Well you are!" "Look Liza you can't really blame me for being grouchy about this whole situation. It’s bad enough that the last captain they had was dismissed from the department under a cloud of scandal ("and cocaine,"Aradia interjected and automatically receiving a warning look from her father) furthermore since we moved from Nebraska the other cops I will be working with are going think that I am just some glorified backwater cowboy whose only value will be making them look good!" "Which of course," Aradia replied, "is a lot of BS." Ross smiled in spite of himself.

Chapter Four

Besides Aradia's father predecessor being forced to retire after getting his hand caught in the cookie jar (otherwise known as the cocaine evidence bag) there was another reason why the Preston's had decided to leave their old home. Although her parents denied it Aradia knew that she was that very reason. She had unintentionally made the atmosphere in Nebraska so uncomfortable that leaving it seemed to be the only choice they had. When she was adopted she had lived in Ohio but upon Ross getting a new job offer in Nebraska they had decided to move. However, once they moved there and Aradia started first grade is when the trouble first started. It wasn't just her powers that made Aradia stand out (although they did play a big part in it) it was also the fact that she was smarter, stronger than all the kids in her old middle school combined, never got sick once in all the years she had lived there not even with a common cold, and somehow she knew what exactly what people were thinking before they even said anything. Almost as if she could read their minds. Needless to say, because of all this making friends had been hard for Aradia. She had been shunned, insulted by both her peers and their parents but worst of all she had been bullied. While most people (especially the teachers at her old school) had accepted this as a part of life Aradia could not. It was not like she really cared what the people who bullied her thought about her, but it was because of her powers that she was worried that one day she might lose her temper and strike out at someone. This would result with terrible consequences, which unfortunately is just what happened.

It had happened with a boy whom Aradia had hated ever since she moved to Nebraska. Since the day he first met her he had taken to calling her names and spreading horrible rumors about her as well. But it was on the day that he had decided to take a picture of her mother who was an art teacher at the school, photoshop her mother's head onto that of a playboy model's naked body and proceeded to pass thousands of copies out in the halls that Aradia finally lost it. In a fit of rage she had tackled the boy right in front of a window! However, she had underestimated her strength and forgot that they were on the fourth floor, and by doing so Aradia had managed to plunge both her and the boy straight through it! The two of them ended up falling on to the hard concrete parking lot. Aradia with her healing powers had been unhurt and so was the boy (who had fallen on top of Aradia) but after that episode her parents whom from the very start had suspected that leaving the school and state was in Aradia's best interest decided enough was enough. So after convincing the boy’s parents not to press charges, ironically with help from the boy himself who did not want everyone to know that he had gotten thrown out the window by a girl! The Preston’s accepted the first jobs that came their way, packed their things and never looked back. Aradia was not sorry to leave, but she was scared to start the whole process of social isolation all over again. But oh well, thought Aradia as she climbed into her father's patrol car, nothing to do about it now except move on and besides you never know I might find what I am looking for here. I might find the one thing I have wanted most in the world since day one here in Salem. I might find friends.

"Are you sure you're okay with my driving you to school in my patrol car?" Ross asked Aradia as they drove to her brand new school. "Of course it is Dad, I mean who wouldn't want to show up at their first day of school being dropped off by a cop car?" Aradia teased her father. His face fell, "so you aren't ok with this?" "I am joking, Daddy seriously lighten up," Aradia said and gave him a soft punch on the arm. "Sorry. I guess I am kind of nervous about this whole situation," Ross sighed. "Hey c'mon Daddy you'll be great I know you will." "Is this your desire-to-motivate-me or your unique all-knowing-self talking?" asked Ross his daughter cocking his head to the side with a nervous grin. Aradia frowned and said, "You know Daddy just because I am able to do the whole 'Medium' thing does not mean I can predict everything about the future." "I know honey, I am just teasing you" Ross said smiling. Aradia smiled in spite of herself and said, "The fact is Dad there are some things in life you need proof of but other things you can just tell without psychic flashes." "And us all being happy in our new home is one of those things?" asked Ross. Aradia grinned and said, "Damn right."

What Ross had meant was in addition, to Aradia's "summoning" power which is what she basically called the white light that she used to find lost objects, and heal wounds. Aradia had brief psychic flashes of the future and by touching an object she could relive the last hour of what had happened to that object like how a stolen wallet came to be found in another kid's gym locker which is actually how she discovered that power in the first place. She could also reach into people's minds something that she didn't really do too often because she considered it to be rude. She could also control all the ancient elements like fire, water, earth, air in addition to metal and wood; conjuring it out of nothing and twist or manipulate it into any shape or form to suit her needs.

Her parents had told her a long time ago at Aradia's insistence the story of how they found her. After hearing this story in addition to discovering her powers Aradia had pushed her parents away from her, and started acting out. But all the while she done this she had either tried to pretend her powers were nonexistent or exploit them. But by doing this she also almost gotten one of her very few friends killed!

This had been a slap in the face for Aradia. Luckily, her friend had lived with no permanent damage but Aradia had plunged herself into the darkness of depression. But thanks to Aradia's parents who had stayed by her side the entire time she had been able to recover. Ross and Liza had continued to love and support her the entire time she had been beating herself up about what had happened to her friend. Eventually, they had been able to convince her that what had happened was not her fault. Ironically, Aradia was glad that the accident had happened for it had not only taught her some responsibility with her powers but helped to repair Aradia's relationship with her parents. It had made Aradia realize that although her powers were what made her feel so isolated from everyone; there was really nothing she could do about it. No matter how much she wished it so, her powers never went away, and she could not turn her back on them. She had to use them properly and for the right reasons, which is what she did from that point on. She helped her father solve crimes of domestic dispute, fix valuable things like family vases after they had been smashed, heal people and so on so forth. Still despite finally accepting herself for everything she was, in the back of Aradia's mind she wanted to know why she was like this.

But for now Aradia's main focus was her first day of school, and with one last "good luck firecracker have a nice day!" from her father, Aradia started towards Salem High School. It looked very similar to almost every other school in America. It was built out of a mixture of brick, metal, plaster, and marble. The school's name was in bold red letters near the roof establishing not only its notability but its notoriety as well. It was big with blackened windows that made Aradia wonder if having windows that could only be looked out of and not into was a requirement for the schools in the United States. The school itself seemed pretty isolated but it was equipped with the usual football, and track field which promised large amounts of crowds on the campus on select days. According to Aradia's tour guide the high school had the usual facilities that came with every high school: a computer lab, classrooms, an assembly hall, gym, and a library. But the one thing that definitely set the school apart was the black logo of a witch riding on a broomstick with a crescent moon in the background that seemed to be on every part of the school like the hallway leading into the building, the cafeteria, lockers, and walls.

However, no matter what sort of logo the school had or how big it was; there was one thing about it that made the school the same as every other one in America: confusing room numbers with maze-like hallways that made newcomers not only hopelessly lost but also tempted to grab the biggest stick they could find and whack themselves unconscious. But in spite of its strong appeal the students knew that no teacher would accept such behavior as an excuse for missing class so still Aradia had to hold her map in her hands, scratch her head, and pray to God she would get to class on time. Luckily, her father's timing at dropping her off had been perfect for the students were just leaving from their homerooms with their class schedules and were already on their way to their first classes.

Aradia was too distracted to notice the student’s reactions to her. Indeed most of the students did not notice her for it was a very large school filled with tons of students. All with faces that could easily melt in the crowd but then there were other students in hallway that seemed to turn and stare at Aradia as if she was some visiting princess from a far away land. Aradia looked up from her map to see how some of the kids seemed fixated on her not with repulsion or revulsion but with fascination. Needless to say, Aradia started to feel a bit freaked. However, she had to admit seeing lots and lots of cute tall guys looking at her intensely were flattering. What was worrying to her was the fact that the girls seemed to be staring the very same way as the guys with wide intense eyes as if they were staring straight into the sun and seeing something that none of them had ever seen before. But what was truly weird was that there was only certain amount of the students who seemed to be staring at her. Some of the kids who appeared to be ordinary slammed their lockers and chatted with their friends without taking a moment's glance at Aradia but then right next to them there would be people whom seemed a bit too beautiful to be real and they would be staring at her intensely. Is it just me or is this school seriously weird? Aradia asked herself as she heard the bell ring and quickly scuttled down the hallway trying to avoid and forget the stares of the students.

"Who is that?" Saul whispered to his commander: Keon The two of them stood next to the lockers, both wearing black, standing aloof from the rest of the student body. Keon was leaning against the lockers and Saul was standing on his right. Keon shrugged and said, "I don't know. I have never seen her before." "She must be new," Saul continued on. "She smells like she is of the hidden race. I can tell even from all the way over here. But she doesn't like a vampire, or werewolf, or a even fae.." Keon said observing her. "Maybe she is shape shifter?" Saul suggested. Keon shook his head rejecting that theory. "Shape shifters can only change their outside form not their scent," he explained, "and she definitely does not smell like a shape shifter." "Smells pretty damn good though," Saul said with a crude smile. Keon glanced at Saul and chuckling softly he turned back to look at Aradia. Keon kept studying her as she glanced this way and that looking like a lost kid which technically she was. Finally Keon muttered, "maybe I should report this to the master." Saul looked at him quickly, "are you sure? She maybe something strange but I don't think it's necessary to notify the master yet. He might order her killed..." "Probably," Keon interrupted, "but who cares? We have a duty to perform to the master. He instructs us to report all strange activity the moment we see it." "Technically she only smells strange," Saul argued but Keon brushed his protests away. "It matters not Saul," Keon persisted, "we have a duty to the master. Tonight I will shift into my bat form and travel to the master's castle to report to him." Saul looked crestfallen, seeing him like this made Keon took pity on him so he added, "while I am gone I want you to keep an eye on her." In spite of those being his instructions it disturbed Keon a little seeing the way Saul's eyes lit up. "But remember," Keon pointed out, "you are not to touch her, look at her, anything without our master's instructions. Understand Saul?" Saul nodded eagerly all the while fastening his eyes upon Aradia and slowly licking his fangs with his tongue.

Thankfully, Aradia managed to find her first class without a hitch. She quickly found a chair in the back, and proceeded to pull out her school supplies and textbook. But it was as the teacher got up from her desk and introduced herself that Aradia began to look around that was when she noticed someone. A very handsome pale boy with long dark wavy brown hair curling down to his shoulders. He had a clean shaven pale face, and a very attractive muscular body. He was wearing a buttoned up purple shirt, light blue jeans, black boots, and had what seemed to be a real Rolex on his right wrist. My God he is so hot! Aradia thought, hell I didn't know boys could even be so hot looking ! In fact, he is so handsome that he almost seems too hot to be real. It's like he's some teenage girl fantasy come to life. Aradia snorted to that thought but then proceeded to take a second look at the boy. She noticed that his skin was way too smooth it had no scars, moles, freckles or anything not even one blemish on his arms or neck and face. His hair was perfectly in place with no stray hairs on his shirt, no weird streaks of color, gray or anything else. In fact his hair seemed so perfectly long and brown that it looked like a chocolate waterfall from Willy Wonka. He seemed way too perfect, too flawless. It's almost as if, Aradia paused and her breathing becoming much more heavier as she pondered the only remaining possibility of how the boy could be so hot, it's almost as if he's just like me!

Just then the boy turned his head to look directly at Aradia. She quickly diverted her eyes, and covered her face with her hand, looking embarrassed. But the boy seemed to be flattered by Aradia's attentions and smiled at her displaying a row of perfect pearl white teeth that Aradia had never seen before. He also gave her the chance to take a longer, harder look at his face, which she noticed was eerily flawless with no traces of pimples, or pimple scars, sweat, freckles, or anything whatsoever! How weird, Aradia thought, how very weird indeed. The boy raised his hand to give her a tiny wave, which Aradia eagerly responded to in kind. After class the boy hung around and said to Aradia, "you're new around here?" Aradia chuckled and replied, "Is it that obvious?" "No," the boy responded, "believe it or not you hide it remarkably well." "Wish I could say the same about my bad grades," said Aradia. The boy laughed and said, "I'm Tristan, but you can call me 'Tristan' what's your name?" "Aradia." He raised an eyebrow and said, "That’s an interesting name." "Yeah, so it suits me just fine don't it?" said Aradia. He laughed again and then said, "So what you got after this?" Aradia dug out her schedule and replied, "Gym and English 101 and then I have lunch." "Well being a freshman, and a new student you're liable to get lost you know." Aradia scowled and said, "Don’t remind me." "Actually, I rather escort you to your next class if you don't mind," said Tristan holding out his arm to Aradia. Aradia, who was totally taken back, nevertheless replied, "Why sure I'd love to!" However, the moment she grasped Tristan's arm she felt a swift cooling feeling rush over her body like an ocean wave. This is what would happen when one of her psychic flashes or "medium moments" which she liked to call them occurred. In her medium moment she saw Tristan leading her down the hall, a door opening, and him shoving her into the room that the door was concealing and since Aradia had full control over her moments she could move around and see exactly what room Tristan had shoved her into. The sign on the door read in bold black letters "boy’s locker room." Aradia, completely aghast, tore her hand off of Tristan's arm who just stood there gaping, "what? What is it Aradia?" Aradia glared maliciously at him and spat out, "you know? For someone whose apparently 'hot' you're actually one cold son of a bitch!" She then turned on her heel, and stalked off.

Chapter Five

By the time Aradia had changed for gym she was seeing red. What had happened earlier with Tristan was not just mean it was discouraging and frustrating. She thought that this school was going to be exactly like the previous one where she would be picked on, isolated, and alone. As cheesy as it sounded to her, Aradia knew that all she really wanted was a friend. A friend she could trust and talk to and would not treat her like she was crap. It had been the one thing she wanted but it seemed like it was going to be the one thing she could not have.

The race track for gym was where she first saw him. He was a tall, Latino boy, with a small black goatee flexing his muscles getting ready to run the track. Aradia stared at him in awe for just like Tristan he was unbelievably hot. He was muscular, with flawless tanned skin, a charming smile, and short black hair that sparkled in the sunlight from his perspiration. He had strong great looking arms, and as he was talking to some friends he laughed throwing his back head dramatically, which Aradia thought made him look extremely sexy. He walked up to the beginning of the track and as Aradia continued to stare she heard the PE teacher shout, "Preston get over here!" She jumped up, ran over and said, "Yes Sir Mr. Metz?" "Laps today," he barked, "get to the track with Roy." "Okay!" Aradia ran over to where the boy was standing and grinned sheepishly at him. He, in turn, just gave her a cold stare and Aradia figured that this was probably going to be more proof that she was never going to have friends of her own. However, once she and Roy took off running she realized that Roy was a really good runner, taking off like a shot and flying down the track like an eagle after its prey. However, as Roy sped down the track Aradia got the impression that he thought this was not going to be much of a challenge and she decided to prove him wrong. Aradia was really into running as well she was fast and she was good.

Roy was tearing up the track running as fast as he could but Aradia was right at his heels looking just as intense and as into it as he was. They raced on the track so intensely that everyone else in the class stopped what they were doing to stare at them. They were expecting one of them to slow down or get tired but neither one of them seemed to do so. Aradia was really enjoying herself, feeling the wind and sunshine hit her face, her mind going clear because of the adrenaline, the intensity of her foot bouncing from one to the other making her feel like she was flying. Roy stared over at her as she smiled taking in the enjoyment rather than the competitiveness in the race. He slowly started to grin for no one had ever given him a challenge. But now in front of his very eyes this weak-looking little redheaded girl was beginning to show him up!

The bell rang ending class and that is when Roy and Aradia finally did stop running. They both doubled up and started gasping for air. After a while Roy straightened up, stared at Aradia and said, "you're new around here?' Aradia groaned and muttered, "So I am told." Roy grinned, held out his hand and said, "I am Roy, which is short for Reynaldo." "Aradia," came the response and a hand to match it. They shook hands until Roy said, "you got a pretty firm grip for a girl." "Uh...thanks" said Aradia. "So..." Roy trailed off eager to start a conversation but not knowing how. "You're a pretty fast runner," Aradia remarked, "you on the track team?" "Nah. I am not that into competitive stuff." "Oh thank God for that," Aradia chuckled. They picked up their things and as they were walking back to their separate locker rooms Roy turned and said, "Which lunch do you have?" "First why?" Aradia asked raising an eyebrow."I got that lunch as well," said Roy grinning, "Maybe we'll see each other." "Hope so!" said Aradia. "Well see you" said Roy as he walked into the boy’s locker room. Aradia giggled and as she changed into her regular clothes she thought to herself, maybe moving here wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Chapter Six

As usual the class started off with an introduction to the curriculum and the teacher explaining what the class was going to be like. Aradia was happy when she got there not just because she loved English class but because she had just made a new friend: Roy. She was feeling quite empowered and turned to look at the girl next to her and was wondering if she should try making friends with her as well. "Rhonda!" came a loud voice from the front class and the girl turned to look at the teacher who then promptly asked her, "what chapter in Anne of Green Gables is entitled Rachel Lynde is Surprised?" Everyone turned to look at the poor girl who had just been called on. Aradia observed the girl freezing up and she realized that she (Rhonda) had no idea what the teacher was talking about. Aradia decided to be merciful, picked up her copy of the book, and flipped quick as a flash to the asked-for chapter. She then tapped lightly on the page to get the girl's attention. Rhonda did notice this but hesitated reluctant to trust someone she barely knew but upon realizing she had no choice she said, “Chapter 1." The teacher smiled and said, "Excellent" and turned to the board to write something down. Rhonda breathed a deep sigh of relief and whispered, "thank you." "No problem," Aradia replied. "Reading books like that have never been my strong suite I am more of Star Wars book series fan," Rhonda explained then blushed after realizing what she had just admitted. "Yes well to each his own I always say," replied Aradia, "and besides 100 years ago the only book around was the bible. Nowadays, I am just thankful to have options." Rhonda laughed, causing everyone to look at her and making her blush again. Aradia chuckled and tossed her head to look at the teacher but then came a knock at the door. The teacher grunted in annoyance as he went to open the door and in walked the most handsome boy Aradia had ever seen! More handsome than Tristan and Roy put together! He was tall, had wavy blonde hair, deeply pale skin that almost looked like snow, a gorgeous smile with a dimple in his cheek, and eyes that looked so brown that they were almost black. Aradia's mouth dropped open as she gazed at him adoringly taking in every bit of the sight of his strong looking body, high cheekbones, dark green polo shirt and light blue jeans with brown loafers. He sauntered into the class, and said "sorry I am late Mr. O'Dell. I was...sick this morning." Mr. O'Dell groaned, which Aradia noticed is what every teacher usually did whenever they heard an excuse. Nevertheless, he muttered, "Well at least you're here now. Now please go sit down." The boy nodded, walked to his seat and sat down. He did this in a only few seconds but in Aradia's mind it was in slow-motion like watching a runway model or the scenes from romance films where the woman falls in love at first sight. Aradia was completely entranced and stared at him utterly bewitched at how handsome he was. Strangely, as the boy took out his school supplies he started sniffing the air around him like there was a weird smell in the room, following the scent; he turned to look right at Aradia whose heart stopped. He looked at her and she froze. She neither acknowledged him, turned away or anything she just froze. The boy gave a little wave to her but when Aradia did not respond (or couldn't) he turned around to face the teacher. "Who is that?" Aradia asked Rhonda. "Who?" "The boy that just walked in" explained Aradia. "Oh him that's Beau Dayton. His dad is a hematologist and works at the hospital. I think he's a sophomore." "He's..."Aradia stammered, "magnificent." Rhonda grinned.

Chapter Seven

"So where are you from?” Rhonda asked as she and Aradia shuffled through the cafeteria line getting their food. "Nebraska," Aradia replied reaching for her wallet and placing her money in the cashier's hand. "Wow..." said Rhonda, "what's it like there?" "Boring, hence why we left," Aradia said chuckling. "We?" Rhonda inquired raising an eyebrow. "My parents and I," Aradia explained. "Oh," said Rhonda nodding. Rhonda and Aradia slowly made their way through the crowded lunch tables in the lunchroom that was so crowded and full of people talking and shoving it seemed more like a Metallica concert than a part of a school. Soon they got to a table a bit more isolated from the rest of them and Aradia automatically assumed that this was what was known in school-like TV dramas as "the loser table." She glanced over to Rhonda who was greeting the people already sitting at the table and struggled with herself over whether or not this was the direction she wanted to take with her social standing. Rhonda looked over and said with her braces sparkling, "so you going to sit down or what?" Aradia had never had friends before neither real ones nor fake ones and these days it was bad luck to have imaginary friends unless you wanted to end up in a psych ward. So with a shrug of her shoulders and a sigh she sat down next to Rhonda, concluding to herself any type of friend popular or no is better than no friends at all. Rhonda introduced everyone and as they discussed their experiences on their first day of school Aradia heard a familiar voice from behind her, "hey speedy 'sup?"Aradia grinned and turned to look at Roy, "hey there yourself." Roy glanced all around to look at the other people sitting at the table and then asked, "You want to come sit with me and my crew?"Aradia's enthusiasm at Roy's arrival vanished and said, "What’s that supposed to mean?" Roy said, "I am just saying..." and shrugged his shoulders like what he was thinking should be so obvious that it really did not need to be spoken out loud. Aradia started to scowl until Rhonda interrupted, "you know we'd understand if you'd want to sit with him instead of us."Aradia glanced all around at the others sitting at the table whom she just happily chatted with a few minutes ago turned around and said, "No thanks Roy I am perfectly happy sitting here." He glanced around one last time, shrugged his shoulders and said, "suit yourself." "That was pretty cool of you to do," said Frank, a bespectacled video gamer who was part of the crowd that was sitting at the table. "Ah no problem," said Aradia. Rhonda then said, "But it’s probably going to lower your chances to be popular at this school several notches." Aradia shrugged, "if I want to be popular I can audition on American Idol." Everyone burst out laughing but as they quieted down Frank started looking around curiously. "What's up Frank?" asked Billy, a greasy haired short blonde boy whose eyes appeared to be glued to a comic book. Frank shook his head and said, "Nothing." "No seriously Frank spill," Rhonda asked. "Its just that...everyone seems to be staring at us," said Frank. "Dude," interjected a black spiky haired boy named Calvin who had a large pile of books around him and was currently reading a particular huge one, "They always stare at us." Frank shook his head and said, "No its more than usual today its...weird." Aradia glanced over her shoulder and got a feeling of déjà vu because indeed Frank was right everyone was staring at them. Well almost everyone for like this morning in the hallway the people who seemed too beautiful or perfect to be real was staring at them intensely with the same mixture of fascination and animosity. It was like they were staring at something they had never seen before something beautiful but like with everything new or unusual they were feeling a bit apprehensive about why or how something so new or strange could even exist but most of all was it dangerous. Aradia shook off the feeling of uneasiness, turned to her friends, said, "Forget 'em it's no big deal." "Still," Frank continued, "it's weird how they are all staring at us." "Maybe they forgot to take their medication," Aradia grumbled. Frank's face and tone turned venomous as he said, "I take medication. Anti-depressants to be precise" Aradia, embarrassed about her previous statement yet determined to put an end to the conversation, replied "I never said that the medication they forgot to take was for depression." "What other type of medication is there?" asked Calvin. "Well there's medication that helps to improve your mind while there other medications help improve other parts of your body," said Aradia adding a wicked grin to drive the punch line home. After a brief silence everyone at the table burst out laughing and Aradia stretched her arms behind her head, completely satisfied.

The school day was long and tiring but Aradia felt good about it, nonetheless. She had made five new friends (one she hoped she was still friends with in spite of saying no to him). She liked her classes and teachers, and in spite of making one enemy namely Tristan, the student body was generally accepting of her, which in itself was a huge contrast to the school in Nebraska. Afterwards as Aradia waited outside the school office for her mother (who was being interviewed to be an art teacher for the school) she began to think that she was going to like it here in Salem. However, there was something in Salem that bothered her: the people who had been staring at her all day. The beautiful people with perfect hair, bodies, teeth, and the whole she-bang who stared at her intensely as if she was more beautiful than all of them put together. It wasn't just the fact they were beautiful that made them stand out. It was because they were abnormally beautiful. Most curious of all was that they all seemed to be enclosed together like some sort of secret cult. The people who stared at her were often seen together in a close circle isolated from the regular-looking people and were often seen to be whispering or using secret nudges to indicate some type of secret language they used that only existed among them. So not only did they seem to be a "perfect" race of people who stared at her weirdly but they also seemed to share some sort of deep dark secret.

Chapter Eight

"Morgan!" the master bellowed. "Morgan where are you?" In a puff of black smoke, she appeared kneeling at the master's feet. "You summoned me master?" The master looked down at her and said, "Keon of the Night Shadow clan has reported to me of an anomaly appearing in Salem, MA in the United States. I wish to know if what he saw was indeed the last witch." "As you wish master," Morgan said nodding. Keon appeared at his side and asked, "what must I do master?" "Ask Morgan" he snapped. Keon gulped wondering if what he was supposed to do was going to traumatize him for life. Morgan moved towards him while Keon readied himself. When she was merely inches away from him, she stopped, held out her long green arm, and gestured to a wall. "Do you see that mirror?" she asked in her usual raspy voice. Keon nodded. Morgan then told him, "go to that mirror and look into it." "Why?" the question was out of Keon's mouth before he could stop it. "It is a revealing mirror it reveals what you wish to show us so that we may see it for ourselves," Morgan explained. Keon nodded, walked to where the mirror hung,and looked into it. At first, all he saw was a tall bulky man with shoulder length black hair, with a square firm jaw, and had a sinister expression that seemed to be permanently etched on his face. Then he saw a young redheaded woman appear looking lost, wearing a jean jacket, a purple shirt, and flowery patterned boot cut jeans with sneakers. "Is this the girl you wish to show us?" the master asked Keon. Keon too intimidated to speak merely nodded. "Well Morgan?" the master then asked her. Morgan gulped which told the master plenty. He growled in frustration and said, "can you not sense anything from her?" "Oh yes master of course I can," Morgan said nodding enthusiastically. "And yet?" the master pressed. Morgan gulped and said, "well in order to tell who she really is I must have something that belongs to her. Something important but it must have her blood on it as well." "Well that sounds easy enough," the master thundered sarcastically. "Trust in me Master and the rest of my clan," Keon protested, "we shall retrieve what you need. I already have one of my troops Saul keeping an eye on her." The master nodded. "If you wish," Keon inquired further, "we can snatch her right now and bring her to you." The master paused to consider this but then he shook his head. "no," he explained to Keon, "by now the other hiddens have most assuredly noticed her and if I was to snatch her. Questions would be raised..." "You need not answer them Master," Keon insisted, "for as master of all the vampires your word is law!" "True," the master said acknowledging this, "but still one whisper of protest can incite even the most insignificant of rebellions. The vampires follow me with no doubt, but the other hiddens still have trouble accepting my rule. If I make any move that they find suspicious..," "You are above them master," said Keon. "Yes but no need to start a war to conquer the other hiddens until I am ready do so," the master concluded with a sinister smile. "In the mean time keep an eye on her and when it is opportune. Snatch something that meets Morgan's criteria but make sure no one notices you doing so understand?" the master instructed to Keon. Keon merely nodded and left the the throne room. The master lingered studying Aradia's reflection that remained in the mirror like a newly painted portrait. "It's hard to believe," the master said finally, "that this little thing is the survivor of her people. I mean look at her," he pointed straight at the mirror. "I have faced off far more powerful creatures especially witches more fearsome than that!" He chucked while lowering his arm. Gathering her courage Morgan said, "if I may be so bold master..." "What?" he snapped. "You should not underestimate her, for if there is one thing I sense it is that she is much stronger than you give her credit for," Morgan braced herself for what she thought would be the inevitable beating, surprisingly the master merely chuckled. He looked back at the mirror and said, "that little girl? Don't make me laugh," and with that the master turned on his heel and left.

"Hey did you hear?" Frank asked as he sat down at the table with excitement dripping from his voice. "You talking? Yeah I heard that," Aradia quipped. The others all laughed while Frank scowled and said, "No you guys. I am talking about the unsolved murder that happened in September. Remember? The guy who lived on top of his hardware store that was killed. No blood but two puncture wounds to the throat." "Oh yeah the "vampire murder" I read about it in the paper," said Billy. "Billy, you read everything," Calvin grumbled. "Who asked you?" snapped Billy. Calvin opened his mouth to argue but Frank cut him off by saying, "anyway," dropping his voice dramatically, "they are thinking about declaring that case a 'cold case file'." Aradia's ears perked up a bit while Rhonda asked Frank, "what is a cold case file?" "A case nobody can solve obviously," said Calvin with a sarcastic groan. "They got those?" asked Billy lifting his eyes temporarily from his comic book. Calvin snapped at him, “hate to break it to you Robin but there is no Batman, which means there is no such thing as world's greatest detective meaning hell yeah there are cases nobody can solve dingus!" There was an awkward silence around the table until finally Billy muttered under his breath, "a simple yes would have been enough dude!" "Anyway," Frank interrupted eager to prevent another fight between Billy and Calvin and wanting to continue his story, "they are thinking about sealing that case away or sending it to a cold case unit in another state." "So?" asked Rhonda."So," Frank argued, "the odds are they are never going to solve that case which means whoever killed that guy will get away with murder!" A dramatic silence entered the conversation while Frank continued, "And chances are that the person who did that guy in was someone in Salem." "You mean there might be a murderer walking amongst us?" asked Rhonda her voice shaking. Frank nodded and Calvin asked, "I don't see how that that's really such a big deal." "I do," said Aradia. The others had never heard Aradia sounding so serious before but Calvin being oblivious to such things just raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh you do you? Well by all means explain." "If someone got away with murder it will make them think that they can kill again," Aradia argued. "Now why would they want to go and do that?" asked Calvin. "Because they probably think by now that they can commit any crime especially murder and there will be nothing that anyone can do to stop them." said Aradia.

Sometimes Aradia liked to do her homework right after school. One of the best places she liked to go and do her homework was at the bleachers. So there she was seating at the top of the bleachers listening to the coach yelling and the football players grunting and heaving as they did their various torturous drills. Suddenly,nthe quarterback slipped, and fell down onto the ground with a horrifying loud sickening crack. Aradia gasped as everyone rushed to him. At first, Aradia just watched as the people swarmed around the kid but she grew alarmed as she started hearing the boy screaming and yelling. The boy then stood himself up, hobbled off to the bleachers and slammed his stuff down on to the ground. Aradia looked at the boy and thought to herself, what the hell?

Practice was pretty much over by then but when some of the other members of the team approached the injured quarterback, he snapped them away like an irritated crocodile. Soon the boys stopped trying, shrugged, and left him as they gathered their equipment. Aradia got curious and slowly started climbing down the bleachers toward him. He was currently burying his face in his hands and shaking it vigorously when Aradia asked him, "you okay?" The boy whipped around and snapped, "Who the hell are you?" Aradia, a bit taken back at his rudeness, nevertheless continued and said, "my name is Aradia and I am wondering if you are okay?" "Do I look okay to you?" he snapped again. "No, that's why I am asking," Aradia stated as-a-matter-of-factly. The boy was stunned into silence but nevertheless said, "It’s none of your damn business!" "Okay so what if I were to pay you a penny for your thoughts would that makes it my business?" Aradia smiled after what she thought was a funny joke. The boy was once again stunned into silence but after a few moments heaved a few sigh and asked," if I tell you will you get the hell out of here and leave me the hell alone?!" "No promises," said Aradia. Silent once again but only for a few moments the boy sighed and explained, "I just found out that I sprained my ankle and there is no way in hell will it heal in time for the homecoming game so not only will I not be able to play for the first and most important game of the entire football season but I won't able to play for my dad who can only ever make it to my homecoming games and none of the others!" He began to breathe heavily because the explanation had obviously been an emotional and heated one. Aradia just stared at him and said, "Bummer." The boy raised an eyebrow and asked, "who in the hell uses the word 'bummer' anymore?" Aradia shrugged and said, "But that's what it is isn't it? Your injury and your entire situation." The boy thought about it, finally sighed and nodded his head in agreement. Aradia sighed as well wondering what could be done. All of a sudden Aradia snapped her fingers and reached into her backpack and said, "Let me look at your ankle." The boy drew back utterly freaked until Aradia explained, “I think I might have something that will help." "I cannot use steroids you know?" the boy said sarcastically. Aradia groaned and said, "Well duh I know and it's not steroids that I plan to help you with." Now the boy's interest was definitely piqued and he asked, "What?" Aradia pulled out a small white container with a peach-looking cream contained inside. "You’re going to make me wear makeup?" the boy asked incredulously. "No! This isn't makeup this is cream it can heal sprained limbs," Aradia explained causing the boy to look at her skeptically, "it can I swear!" "Yeah right," said the boy, "look um...thanks for the...uh... 'Help' but I really need to go." "Oh c'mon Jayden what have you got to lose?" Aradia argued. The boy shrugged but after a few seconds his head shot up and demanded, "How’d you know my name was Jayden?" "Look!" Aradia argued, "just trust me!" "Trust you? Lady, I don't even know you!" "True," Aradia shrugged, "but you know where I go to school so if this turns out to be something that screws you over you will be able to know where I am and kick my ass!" "How do I know you go to Salem High?" "Look!" Aradia practically shouted tired of arguing with him, "I am trying to help you out of the goodness of my heart do not make me regret it okay? Now shut up and hold still." Before Jayden could argue she grabbed his ankle, peeled down the sock, tired not to retch from the smell of his sweaty smelly feet, and held his ankle steady as she applied the cream. However, to speed up the process she decided to use her "summoning" power to heal it faster. Two seconds later, the tips of her fingers began to glow with white light but Aradia careful to keep the power unnoticed kept the glow to look as dim as a firefly. Sure enough the ankle began to heal until it looked like it had never been injured especially not a few hours ago. Jayden yanked back his ankle and upon examination stared at Aradia in disbelief who quickly said, "Now I can't be sure it will help but stay off it and soak the ankle for a couple days I am sure you'll ready to rumble by homecoming game time." "Ready to rumble?" Jayden raised an eyebrow. "You know you're going to go blind if you keep doing that," Aradia quipped with a wicked grin. Jayden chuckled and said, "Well thanks anyway," and began to walk off the field towards the parking lot. Suddenly he stopped, turned back to look at her, and said, "look I appreciate you helping me and all but this does not make us friends or nothing. So next time we see each other do me a favor and do not say hi or anything." "Say hi to a football player," Aradia gasped clutching her heart for dramatic flair, "heaven forbid! I mean I mean you no disrespect or anything but I got a reputation as a being a "loser" at this school and being friends with you would totally ruin it! No offense or anything." Jayden chuckled while Aradia winked at him.

Aradia was right, Jayden's ankle healed and when the homecoming game rolled around everyone swore that by the way he played, it was hard to believe he had been injured at all. Aradia did not expect Jayden to acknowledge her help with his injury let alone say thank you but because the game had gone so well and because his ankle had been so much better after she tended to it he did something better. "Hey Aradia, I am having a party tomorrow would you like to come?" Jayden asked her as he walked straight to the "losers" table where Aradia sat every day. Stunned by this action especially in front of their peers Aradia was immediately suspicious.

She hardly ever used this power but wanting to know if this invitation was indeed legit she reached into Jayden's mind. Over the years she had practiced so not only could she read someone's thoughts but she could see memories of their past and their darkest secrets as well!

It had taken her years of practice but nowadays Aradia could control the power effortlessly and use it to perfection. Although, after a few seconds of searching Jayden's mind Aradia became sure the invitation was not a cruel joke. Nevertheless, Aradia asked him, "Are you serious?" "Well yeah," said Jayden sheepishly. "Um I guess I could go," said Aradia. Jayden turned to go but then Aradia said, "Can I invite my friends to go too?" Jayden winced and said, "No sorry it is private party only certain guests are allowed." Aradia face grew sour and opened her mouth to argue when Rhonda cut her off and said, "It’s alright Rai we understand you should go and have fun." Aradia looked at the others who all surprisingly nodded and said, "yeah Aradia you should go." Aradia exhaled deeply and said, "Ok Jayden I'll go." Jayden grinned, nodded and left. Aradia turned to look at the others and asked' "why would you want me to go to a party without you guys?" Calvin held up three fingers and began to tick off the reasons, "one we all know most of the people who hang at those parties and why in the hell would we want to get trapped in a secluded area with those jerks surrounding us like half starved, depraved wild animals. Two, do you honestly believe that that guy "Jayden" would ever have invited us to one of his parties? Three, we are your friends so if you have a wonderful opportunity knocking at your door like going to a popular guy's party no way in hell we would dream of ever holding you back." "Yeah and besides if you get in good with the popular crowd you can introduce us to them and then we can get to be part of their crowd," Rhonda said excitedly. Calvin just shook his head exasperated. "But you guys..." Aradia began to argue. "Seriously, Aradia go to the party," Billy stated, "Everybody says Jayden's parties are the best." "Or at least that's what they say on Facebook," said Frank. Aradia said nothing and considered searching her friend’s minds but decided against it.

Chapter Nine

The first thing Aradia did about the party was lie to her parents. She never liked doing it but she felt like she had no choice. She told them she was going over to Rhonda's to study. Rhonda was happy to comply and corroborate her story. So with a guilty conscience, and a backpack filled with party clothes instead of books, Aradia was dropped off at Rhonda's. "I still wish you were coming with me to this thing," Aradia grumbled as she squeezed into a pink shimmery halter top. "Oh c'mon Rai you'll be alright and I will bet you will have a wonderful time!" Rhonda said as she handed Aradia a black mini skirt. "Oh hell no!" Aradia cried out, “I am so not wearing a mini skirt to the party." "Why not?" Rhonda asked. "For one thing I don't know anyone there so the last thing I want to do is give the wrong impression, which wearing skanky clothes like that will definitely do for me. For another have you ever tried wearing those things? I have before and they are as uncomfortable as hell!" Aradia then slipped on some black jean shorts with glittery rhinestones on. "Really" said Rhonda, “then I wonder why so many girls wear them then?" "Isn't it obvious?" Aradia stated looking at Rhonda as she combed her hair, "some girls believe it is better to look good than feel good. Just ask the runway models or the women who marry rich men and end up becoming alcoholics." She reached for her slip on shoes but Rhonda headed her off by saying, "no way you are not wearing those old things! Here wear these!" and thrust a pair of fancy white flat party shoes at her. Aradia stared at the white strap shoes and looked at Rhonda skeptically. She counter attacked with a pleading puppy dog look that made Aradia say, "Ok ok! I'll wear 'em!" Aradia sat down and struggled to put on the shoes. After a few grunts she succeeded but once she looked in the mirror, Aradia pulled a face of disgust. "What?" Rhonda asked, “you look beautiful." "No," Aradia argued, “I look like a slut. Worse, I don't look like myself." "Isn't that the point?" Rhonda asked. Aradia sighed and said, "maybe, but it is also the saddest part of this entire situation."

The party started at nine and by that time Aradia with Rhonda's help had already snuck out of the house. It was not that far to Jayden's but still Aradia felt creeped out walking on the sidewalk next to the dark woods. She also got the weird feeling that there was someone or something in those woods and it was watching her. She did not know if it was one of her powers or just a gut feeling but Aradia felt for sure there was someone watching her, following her, hunting her. She heard the rustling of the trees and sounds of leaves crinkling on the ground. At first, she thought it was only the wind until she heard the breathing. The low deep almost growling-like breathing that seemed to be following her. Aradia whipped around and stared into the dark woods. Her eyes shifted around apprehensively trying to make sure that what she thought she heard was indeed just her imagination. Suddenly, Aradia heard some twigs snapping and shifted her eyes to where the sound came from. She began to edge closer to the cluster of bushes where she heard the sounds coming from. She edged towards it slowly, hearing the breathing getting louder and deeper sounding. As she reached towards the bushes with her heart pounding in her chest; a loud voice came up from behind her, "there you are Aradia I've been waiting for you! C'mon, I can't wait to introduce you to my friends,” and with that Jayden grabbed Aradia's hand and practically dragged her into his house. It was loud and noisy, a typical high school party that you saw on a teen TV show complete with beer, smoking, and... considering Aradia's father was a cop she decided not to really take notice of every activity that were going on at the house for fear she might get arrested on the charge of guilt by association. "You look nice by the way," Jayden said grinning as his gaze swept Aradia from head to toe. Aradia blushed which Jayden noticed. He draped his arm across her shoulders, "aw c'mon now Aradia you make it seem like you have never been paid a compliment before." "You know I am starting to believe that hookers made up that phrase” said Aradia. "Uh what?" asked Jayden perplexed. "You know the phrase 'paid a compliment' I think hookers made up that phrase and I'll tell you why: they invented that phrase as an encouragement to their customers and to make sure nobody ever stiffed them!" Jayden raised an eyebrow looking at Aradia who began to get nervous after realizing her joke might not have been funny as she had meant it to be. But not to worry for Jayden just threw his head back and laughed. "You know what I like about you Aradia?" "No, but I would like to," Aradia quipped. "You are funny and you make me laugh!" Jayden replied."Well," Aradia said while tossing her hair playfully, "that's kind of the point of being funny." "Yeah well I think it's kind of cool," said Jayden. He then added in a low whisper in Aradia's ear as he led her into the house, "and kind of sexy."Aradia shivered a little bit under Jayden's arm thinking once again that maybe coming here was not such a good idea.

Chapter Ten

Two hours into the party, Aradia was miserable. She was bored, lonely, hungry, and frustrated. It was funny to Aradia how the other kids at school always wanted to come to these kinds of parties when all there really was to do was drugs, get drunk, and end up making out or having sex with a complete stranger or strangers considering how wasted you were. This Aradia had discovered first hand when she stumbled into Jayden's room and saw him with two girls. Neither one of whom was the girlfriend that he had had since freshman year. All this Jayden had done right after he tried getting into Aradia's pants!

She crunched her empty soda can in frustration and stomped off towards the food table. Half of it had bowls of chips and almost empty pizza boxes. While the other half of the table seemed to have been puked on. Aradia grimaced as she reached into the chip bowl and prayed to God that at least the chips had been spared from the party-goers drunken rampage. After stuffing a whole handful into her mouth and chewing, she cast her eyes around the room and then saw the tiki bar by the pool. Ah well when in Rome....Aradia thought and made her way towards it. Once she got to the bar, however, she saw five drunk football players messing around and tossing themselves into the pool. She also saw one of them suddenly break away, double up, and start heaving his stomach into the pool. Before Aradia had a chance to order anything the bartender automatically handed her a cold beer. Jayden had mentioned earlier on to her that he had a bartender at his pool but Aradia doubted that that the bartender came with the pool. After seeing all the weird behavior that the drunk football guys had displayed, Aradia just stared at the beer in her hand, glanced at the drunk dorks on parade, and said, "Forget this. If I am going make a fool of myself I will go on a reality TV show where at least I will get paid for it!" "Wise choice," a lightly Spanish accented voice chirped behind her. Aradia spun around to see Roy smiling at her. "Roy hey," Aradia cried out happily, "How are you? What are you doing here?" Roy shrugged and said, "Trying to have a good time." Aradia laughed and asked, "Are you succeeding so far?" Roy cocked his head to the side, grinning sheepishly. "I am at a party that my brothers dragged me to, where I don't know anybody, not getting lucky or making out with any hot girl, and standing outside talking to a girl who hates me." "Say what?" Aradia's eyes flew open in a surprised expression. "I know it's pathetic isn't?" Roy chuckled. Aradia shook her head and said, "no what I meant was why do you think I hate you?" "You did not want to have lunch with me." "Roy," Aradia argued, "I was sitting with my friends." "Friends," Roy scoffed, "they are so not your friends. They are geeks, they are..." "Roy," Aradia interrupted, "I do not say bad things about your friends so please do not say bad things about mine besides they are good people. The guys are smart and sweet (a little icky I'll admit that) and Rhonda's cool (a bit nerdy too I will admit that as well) but all in all they are wonderful people so it's unfair to judge them. I mean that's what is wrong with America today they just don't ..." "Alright! Alright!" said Roy as he held up his hands admitting defeat, "Chill Oprah Winfrey! Chill!" Aradia grinned and tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear. She shrugged and said,"look let's just start over okay?" Roy smiled in response and said, "Fine by me." The two of them ended up hanging in the kitchen which was connected right next to Jayden's living room or dance floor since that's what it was now being used for. Roy grabbed an apple and began to chomp on it. Aradia, however, just got a glass of water. After taking a huge gulp and dropping the glass into the sink she turned and ended up bumping right into Beau. "Oh hi," Aradia said flustered. "Oh hello there," Beau responded. His voice was deep and bold and he talked with a British accent. But most of all he looked as handsome as Aradia had ever seen him wearing a dark gray shirt with a black leather jacket over it covering jeans and black boots. Aradia stared up at him completely mystified by his handsome presence. She couldn't believe how beautiful he was with his shiny golden way hair, strong rounded chin, full but hard looking lips, well formed cheekbones, and pale white skin. So pale, Aradia thought, that with his hair color and skin he looks just like an angel! All of a sudden a tanned skinned boy with a black crew cut, and a dark goatee appeared right next to Beau. As he draped his arm around the object of Aradia's affection. He asked, "Hey Beau what’s up?" Beau responded by saying, "hmm oh nothing I was just talking to statue girl here." From the moment she heard those words, Aradia's time on cloud nine seemed to be up. Her expression hardened as she snapped, "what do you mean by "statue girl’?" "Oh I am sorry," said Beau, "but when I first noticed you staring at me but not saying anything I thought of calling you 'stalker girl' but 'statue girl' seemed a bit more pleasant." "What is that supposed to mean anyway?" Aradia demanded. "Well," Beau explained, "since day one in our English class you have just stared at me non-stop without talking or even saying anything including your name so needless to say I had to identify you in some way seeing as how much you creep me out!"

"My name is Aradia!"

"Oh well in that case," Beau turned to look at the boy with his arm around his shoulders and said,"Xan my dear elder brother meet Aradia, the statue or stalker girl take your pick," and grinned maliciously. Aradia practically saw red, she could not believe that she had found this jerk attractive! All of sudden Roy showed up and said, "Hey Rai what's up?"He turned to look at Beau and Xan and strangely like a dog sensing a predator, his eyes narrowed to glare at them both venomously. Beau and Xan seemed to respond in kind. Still angered by Beau’s comment but wanting to prevent bloodshed Aradia shouted, "Oh I love this song. C'mon Roy let's go dance!" and with that she grabbed Roy's hand and made her way towards Jayden's living room/the dance floor. Xan chuckled and said, "I think she likes you." "Shut up Xan!" Beau snapped. "Whoa, what's your problem?" Xan said taking his arm off his brother's shoulders and holding his hands up in a don't-shoot-me gesture. "Nothing," Beau snapped again turning his head away from his brother but began to wish that he hadn't done such a thing because in doing so his gaze had shifted to look at Aradia on the dance floor with Roy. Aradia and Roy danced to the 90's song entitled Connected by the Stereo MC's and like on the first day of school everyone turned to stare at them or more specifically at Aradia. She wasn't Julia Stiles or J.Lo when it came to dancing but she knew enough to move and to not look stupid. Roy was awkward and shy because like many guys he couldn't dance but Aradia took his hands and looking in his eyes managed to guide him to a captivating but innocent dance. Although, Aradia was finally have a good time since the start of Jayden's party she could not help but notice that everyone was staring at her again. Well, not everyone just the "too perfectly freaky" people as Aradia referred to them seeing as all of them seemed to be too perfect with their appearances and abilities to be normal. But when she turned her head to the left she saw Beau staring at them. She decided to teach Beau a lesson ("don't insult the girls you stare at") and grinning wickedly at him began to dance more provocatively with Roy. She got closer to him, so close that her body got close enough to rub against his. Roy began to blush and Aradia threw her head back and laughed. It was funny the effect that Aradia's laugh had on the "too perfectly freaky" people. The boys all stiffened and seemed to become more like predators guarding their kill or territory from interlopers. The girls did not do that but they did seem to become lethal looking like mothers watching their babies, mothers who could be considered man-eating beasts. Needless to say, the atmosphere around both Aradia and Roy began to tense up and as soon as Roy noticed Aradia was getting uncomfortable he grabbed her hand and said, "Let’s get out of here." Aradia planted her feet firmly and said, "After this song." Roy looked back at her after a few moments and grinned sheepishly.

Soon the two of them were slow dancing with Roy's head turned down and his forehead pressed against Aradia's. "So are you having a good time?" Roy finally asked her. "Since I started hanging with you? yeah," said Aradia grinning broadly. Roy just chuckled. Beau still stood at the very spot where he had been since Roy and Aradia started dancing. His brother Xan was across the room flirting with Jayden's girlfriend but also perfectly perplexed about why his brother was acting so strangely. He had thought or perceived by his brother's comment that he did not like the "statue girl" or Aradia as she was now known. Yet there was Beau standing rooted to the very spot where she had first talked to him and staring intensely at Aradia. At first, Xan thought the reason why Beau was staring at Aradia was the scent that seemed to be coming from her. He had mentioned to the others and they had agreed with him that was part of the reason they appeared so entranced with her was her intoxicating smell. Xan had scolded them at the previous clan meeting for that. But Xan had to admit her smell was intoxicating like a mixture of flowers, perfume, and drugs! it wasn't just her smell that attracted his attention in addition to the others. He could recognize any presence in the entire room, his brother's, Jayden's, Roy's (much to Xan's annoyance), but not Aradia's and that he had to admit was very interesting. "So Rai, how you've been liking Salem so far?" Roy asked her."I have been liking it so far," said Aradia, "but the one thing I got say to about Salem though the boys here are sure better than the boys in Nebraska!"

Chapter Eleven

Keon found Saul drinking a beer and watching Aradia dance with Roy. "Please tell me your watching the girl," Keon said. "What's it look like?" Saul asked sarcastically. Keon thought of a thousand things to say to that but shook his head after thinking better of it. "Anyway," said Keon as he leaned against the wall right next to Saul, "I reported our findings to our master." Saul's ears perked up a bit. "And?" he prompted. "He wants us to get a sample from her," said Keon who went onto to describe the requirements. "Why in the hell would he need that?" Saul asked about to drain the last of his beer. "Well," Keon went on grinning, "according to the master's demon seer Morgan. That," He tipped his head in Aradia's direction. "Scrawny, smelly little girl might be a witch!" Saul spat his beer out and after coughing and gasping for breath he finally managed to croak, "what?" "You heard me," was all Keon said. Saul looked from Keon to Aradia and then back to Keon. "Your kidding? A witch? A hidden witch? But that's impossible! Their kind was wiped out years ago!" Saul protested. "Apparently they missed one,"said Keon sarcastically. Saul stared at Aradia harder. "But how?" "They don't know," Keon said as he leaned against the door, "the master and Morgan that is. Either way it matters not what does matter is obeying our master's orders which is to acquire an item of hers to prove her idenity." Saul still stared silently at Aradia looking awestruck until finally he said, "but if she is truly a witch. Then wouldn't that mean that she's..." "The last of her kind?," Keon finished for him, "yeah."

Suddenly, Aradia clutched her forehead in instantaneous pain, which usually meant that what she was seeing was not something pleasant. Images flashed through Aradia's head of cops showing up, people scrambling to get away, screaming, yelling, and drunken teens either taking off into the night or getting handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car. "Hey Aradia are you alright?" asked Roy. Aradia opened her eyes to see Roy staring at her with concern in his eyes. "Yeah Roy I am alright," said Aradia, "now I know this is going to sound random but does your dad know you are at this party?" Roy stared at her and said, "of course not!" "Would he be ticked if he knew you were here?" "Mad?" Roy laughed, " he would probably put me on dishwasher duty at our diner for a month!" "okay in that case where is your car parked?" asked Aradia. Roy raised an eyebrow.

"If you brought your own car I suggest you get to it like right now!"

"Why?"

"Because in about 20 seconds cops are going be at Jayden's door and I get the feeling that you don't want to be here when they start arresting people!" Roy just stared at her looking utterly amused and said, "now Aradia how on earth could you possibly know that there are going to be cops here?" All of sudden the door to Jayden's house swung open in a loud boom and dozens of blue uniformed cops with the Salem Police Department logo swarmed into the house! "See?!" Aradia cried. Roy stood stunned but then gathering his wits grabbed Aradia's hand and said, "c'mon Rai we got to get out of here!" She hung back and said, " you go! Find your brothers and get home! It will be quicker for you without me tagging along." Roy looked back at her and asked, "but what about you?" Aradia just smiled and said, " I will find a way now go!" She pushed Roy as gently as she could towards the door. He hung back at little but then took off. The truth was Aradia did not want to get caught with Roy and his brothers besides it looking bad (three guys with one girl) her father would probably raise hell with Roy's parents so Aradia decided that if she got caught it was better if she was caught on her own. That way at least she would have to face the music by herself and not drag anyone else in to it.

She quickly turned and shoving as hard as she could made it out the back door into Jayden's backyard. She ran as fast as she could and met up with Tristan down the block who just gave her another dirty look. But they still ran together down the street into the city of Salem. They both stopped after a while of running to rest and panting heavily took in huge gulps of air. Tristan eventually raised his head and opened his mouth to say something when Aradia clutched her forehead. Again she got a vision and again it was one with pain she raised her head to look down the two streets Aradia and Tristan were standing in the middle of. Now at this point Aradia knew from her visions that a cop car was coming and which way was the best way to avoid it. She gave one last hard look at Tristan debating what she should do: tell him which way to go or let him get caught. But after a few seconds Aradia sighed, heaved her shoulders, and regretted for probably the hundredth time what a good person she was. "Okay Tristan," said Aradia, "this is how it is we are going to be. We will split up and you are going to go this way" she pointed to the left, "and I am going this way" she then pointed to the opposite direction.Tristan scoffed, "you can't tell me what to do." Aradia grabbed the front of his shirt, brought his face to meet hers, and growled, "wanna bet?" Tristan struggled to free himself but with one solid look into Aradia's eyes he nodded and took off in the direction she told him to go. Aradia then turned, heaved a sigh, and ran the opposite way. She ran only a few meters and sighed heavily one last time preparing herself for the inevitable. However, it was as she was waiting that out of the corner of her eye she saw something strange. A young boy and girl, were pressed against a wall on one of the buildings. The girls head was tipped in such a way that seemed like the boy was giving her a hickey but after a few seconds the boy raised his head. Aradia's eyes narrowed and even though it was dark, very late, dimly light by street lights Aradia had a clear view of the boy's face more specifically his mouth. There was blood dripping from his lips and down his chin but most mysterious of all was what the blood was dripping from: where his canine teeth were supposed to be were two long pointed fangs! Fangs! Aradia thought, like a vampire! But she snorted thinking that such a thing was impossible but then she remembered the stories she had heard or read about vampires; besides having fangs they were amazingly beautiful, super strong, and pale skinned but most of all they were supposed to be perfect! Perfect like the kids at school! Aradia deduced. But, she continued thinking, does that mean that all the "perfectly freaky" people, the ones who have been giving such weird looks since day one are all vampires? Unfortunately, Aradia did not get the chance to think that question through for at that very moment the cop car showed, and two officers emerged, shouting "Freeze!" Aradia threw her hands up and stood very still as the cops moved towards her. "What's your name kid?" One of them asked after checking her for weapons. "Aradia," she responded in a polite tone.

"Were you at Jayden Chapman's party?"

"Yes" The officers stopped and looked at her, puzzled. They knew she had been at the loud noisy party for which the neighbors had called them for. But in their experience with confronting teenage party-goers they were expecting Aradia to at the very least deny she was there. Aradia shrugged, "what? It's not like you don't already know I was there." One of them shrugged and said, "well yeah but we were not expecting you to confirm it." "What he means is," the other officer interrupted, "our experience is that most teenagers are not as honest as we wish them to be." "Yeah well," Aradia shrugged, "I am not like most teenagers." "But," she added, "Before we go anyway there is a woman over there that needs help." "What woman?" one of the officers asked. Aradia tipped her head in the intended direction, seeing as her hands were now handcuffed and she could not point, and said, "That woman over there the one with the man who is trying to..." But much to Aradia's shock and disappointment the man or rather the vampire and the woman she saw were both gone. "But I thought..." she trailed off when she saw the two officers looking at her skeptically. She then shrugged and said, "Never mind."

As she got into the back of the police car she decided to chalk up what she saw (or what she thought she saw) as her imagination. Still while they were on their way to the station Aradia could not help but ask, "hey can I ask you guys something?"

"Yes, you need a high school diploma to be a cop! You can't just drop out and do some extra training!" the cop of the left shouted. Aradia raised her eyes, stunned and said, "um what?" "Sorry little lady," the one at the wheel said, "My partner has got some... issues." "I do not!" the cop in question shouted. "Issues?" said Aradia, "dude he's got a whole freaking magazine subscription!" The cop at the wheel laughed while the other did not. Aradia just smiled but as they rounded one corner she said, "But hey like I was saying can I ask you guy's a question?"One just shrugged while the other said, "sure kid shoot no pun intended." "Do you believe in vampires?" asked Aradia. Both of the cops turned to look at her, extremely skeptical. After a while, they looked away until finally one of them answered, "no. why? Do you?" Aradia didn't respond but after a few minutes of quiet pondering she muttered, "I don't want to." She turned to look through the window and caught a glance of Tristan with his perfect body, perfect good looks, perfect...everything. He was staring at her in disbelief as she was driven away in the back of a cop car. She then added to her statement by saying, " but I am starting to think that I don't have a choice."

Chapter Twelve

Aradia sat at the interrogation table across from her father who just stared at her with his hands clasped in front of him. She hung her head guiltily not daring to look at him. Eventually, she heard the scraping of the chair legs meaning her father was standing up. "Well," Ross heaved a huge breath and releasing it through his nose, "Aradia I have to say that this out of all the goddamn stupid boneheaded things you have ever done this is has got to be one of the biggest!" "It’s not one of the worst," Aradia muttered. "No, one of the worst was when you almost got one of your best friends killed!" Aradia's head shot up and said, "Daddy that is a low blow!" "Oh? And how low should it have been huh? Do you have any idea what the hell you have done?!" Ross's voice this time had risen from a sensible tone to an undeniable and horrifying roar. Although he did not raise his fists or pound the table his voice was raised so bloody high that Aradia could not help but feel like crawling under the table and hiding. But she knew she could not do that so she just hung her head and allowed her father to continue his ranting. "It was not just the lying and going to a party that got us worried Aradia! Since you had lied about where you were something could have happened to you and we would have never realized or known where you are. If you had gotten drunk at that party someone could have raped you, gotten you pregnant or infected with HIV hell even killed you! They could have buried you in a shallow grave and we would have never known! Don't you watch the news?! This sort of stuff happens all the damn time!" Ross paused and heaved a breath, "besides did you ever consider what the alcohol could have done to you and your...abilities" he added in a hushed tone. Aradia gulped, she had definitely not thought of that. She usually had good control over her powers but that was because when she used them she had total concentration. If she was drunk, however, she could not have possibly been able to concentrate and god only knows what would have happened then! "I am sorry Daddy," Aradia said sounding like a puppy that had just been kicked, "I really am sorry." "Yes well," Ross snapped, "being sorry isn't going to save you from your punishment is it?" "Of course not," she grumbled. Ross held up his fingers and ticked off the punishments one by one, "first, no more sleepovers at Rhonda's place until your mother and I feel like we can trust you again (which I will admit to you will probably not be in years.) Two, from now on you will help your mother after school until she is ready to drive you both home so no more hanging around the football fields or library. No, from on you will help your mother clean her classroom, organize her papers, scrape gum off the chairs etc. etc. Three, on the weekends you will hang out at my office to help me organize my stuff from noon to the time I drive you home. Four, you will clean the house from top to bottom for the next whole weekend (but only that particular one sweetheart I am not that cruel to make clean the house every weekend) and five..." "Thank God," Aradia interrupted in a muttered breath but got a strict look from her father in return. She lowered her eyes in repentance as her father continued with the last punishment, "from now on if you want to go to an illegal party at least tell your mother and I where you will be."Aradia looked up, extremely perplexed and said, "What do you mean?" "Honey," Ross thread his fingers his hair and sighed again, "you are a teenager going to a party is expected. Hell if anything your mom and I are proud that you have managed to make friends at all in this town. The last place we were in...we were lucky if your teachers even spoke to us!" Aradia still looked puzzled, "so wait? You are happy I went to a party?" "Proud actually," Ross said with a smile."So why then are you punishing me?" asked Aradia completely befuddled by this conversation. "Because firecracker you lied to us and what's worse you did not take into consideration what drugs and drink might do to you specifically. Honey whether you like it or not, you are not like other people you have special conditions annoying or strange as they may be they are still part of you and you have to take them into consideration. Furthermore, you got arrested! I happen to be the Salem Patrol Captain and what do you think it would look like if I just let a person who was arrested go because that person happens to be my little girl." "So you're punishing me to save your reputation,” Aradia said bitterly. "No honey I am punishing because you did something wrong and whether or not I want to punish you it makes no difference because I am a cop I have to treat everyone the same way even though seeing my baby in handcuffs made me want to run over the two losers who brought you in with a lawnmower!" Aradia cracked a smile and said, "So is everything ok now?" "Well no charges have been filed if that is what you mean'" her father said chuckling. "So can we go home now?" Aradia grinned innocently and as wide as she could after she asked this. Ross just stared at her, shrugged, and said "okay."

Aradia got up and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. As she and her father walked out she turned to him and said, "If it makes you feel any better Daddy I had a horrible time at the party." "Seriously?" her father asked. Aradia remembered the boredom, the smoke filled rooms, the teenagers doing drugs smoking a joint or crack pipes and saying all kinds of stupid shit once the high kicked in, the endless rooms filled with three or more people having drunken depraved sex, the loud booming random music, the horrid food, the crowded house and the shoving of people everywhere. "Yeah Daddy," Aradia nodded, "seriously." Still, Aradia thought as she also remembered the dancing she did with Roy, I did have a little fun.

Chapter Thirteen

"So how goes the punishment parade?" Roy asked Aradia. She sipped her drink, and stared at him. He sat across from her with one arm propped against the window and the other arm draped on the top of the head cushion of the booth. The two of them were sitting in a corner booth near the side window at the diner Roy's parents owned. The Werewolf Haven Diner or the Haven Diner as it was more commonly referred to, was one of the single most popular teen-hang outs at Salem High. It was located on Witch Lane (which of course made it the butt of many a cruel joke) right in the middle of the city, three blocks away from Salem High. So the diner was close enough to still cater to the high school students yet it was far enough to not turn into animal house.

"It depends. How should it be going?" Aradia responded taking a bite out her cheeseburger. The diner served mostly Guatemalan food since Roy's family was originally from Guatemala but they did serve other things as well like burgers, and fries. Aradia was thankful for that, for burgers were what she basically lived off of and got scolded for viciously by her mother 24/7. "What do you mean?" asked Roy. "For the love for God Roy I am being punished you don't expect me to be having fun do you?" Aradia responded raising an eyebrow sarcastically. Roy hung his head a little sheepishly but then drew himself up defensively, "well excuse me for worrying about you. Next time I will know better!" This time it was Aradia who was humbled. She hung her head embarrassed but after a few minutes raised her eyes to look at Roy and said, "Sorry Roy I guess I am just a little upset about how all this turned out."

Roy shrugged and said, “I can understand that." After swigging down the last bit of her soda, Aradia asked, "So did your parents nail you and your brothers for the party?" "No, thanks to you we were able to avoid being arrested by the cops and managed to sneak into our bedrooms without them knowing a thing, “said Roy grinning with satisfaction of the memory. "Glad I could help," said Aradia. "There is one small thing though, “asked Roy. "Hmm?" Aradia said or more like murmured with her mouth full of the last of her fries. Roy leaned forward and after looking quickly to the left and right stared Aradia right in the eye and asked, "How on earth did you manage to know beforehand that the cops were going to show?" Aradia began to choke and after Roy finished slapping her hard on the back returned to his seat to await her explanation. Aradia was torn because she did not know what to tell Roy. If she lied he'd probably know like if she said she had heard the sirens Roy would say, "You could hear police sirens three feet from the door amidst the loud music and the chatter of everyone there?" If she said nothing he would never let it go and probably try to find the answer on his own. But on the other hand if she told the truth there would be no way in hell he'd believe her or worse if he did and told someone...Well, Aradia thought, there was probably a reason why Superman never told any of his childhood friends what he could really do.

Completely torn by ethics and a desperate need to survive, Aradia looked nervously at Roy who was eagerly awaiting her answer. Finally, she said, "Does it really matter now?" "What?" Roy asked her. "I said does it really matter now? I mean I knew the cops would show up, they did, I warned you, you and your brothers got out, and I got busted! So really does it matter how I knew?" Aradia demanded. Roy said nothing, which made Aradia feel frustrated. In an angry huff she stood up, turned, and with one last statement, "well if it bothers you so much that I can't explain everything I do to you then maybe I should save you the trouble of wondering by just leaving you alone!" and then began to leave. Roy quickly stood up and grasped her hand. "Hey now, Aradia I am sorry I didn't mean to be rude. I don't want you to think that I am ungrateful because I am grateful that you helped me and my brothers stay out of trouble," Roy said while giving a gentle tug on her hand to make her look at him, "I was just curious that's all." "Yeah well remember what curiosity did to the cat," Aradia muttered with her eyes lowered. Roy dropped his voice along with his head in order to meet her eyes with his own. Using two fingers from the hand that was not holding Aradia's, he tilted her chin to make her look at him and said, "Yeah well I am not a cat now am I?" "Well now," said Aradia with a playful tilt of her head, "I wouldn't say that." Roy just stared at her puzzled while Aradia rushed on to finish the punch line, "in my opinion Roy out of all the boys I have met you’re the baddest cat around!"

Roy laughed and Aradia smiled. They sat back down at their booth unknowingly with Roy still clutching Aradia's hand. For a while neither of them said anything they just stared at each other, smiling at least until the door to the diner open and in walked Beau Dayton. Today he was wearing a dark green polo shirt with completely clean and stainless khaki pants. He was a basic preppie from the polo shirt to the loafers and the squeaky clean appearance meaning no zits on his face, blonde hair glistening and perfectly combed, no foul odors hanging around him, not even the slightest food stain on his chin! Since the party Aradia had decided that he seemed like the type of guy she wanted nothing to do with but from the moment he walked into the diner Aradia yanked her hand from Roy's grasp and stared at Beau with complete fascination. Ever since the encounter they had had at the party Aradia's attitude had changed towards Beau. Yet she could not stop looking at him completely mystified. The reason why I am staring at him all the time is probably because he's handsome, Aradia thought to herself, but still a part of her felt that there was something much more deeper involved when it came to her and Beau.

Beau stopped by the counter, bought a cola (a.k.a a coca-cola) bottle, paid the cashier, and turned to walk out towards the door but when he saw Aradia he froze, and his eyes met hers. She fully expected him to pull a face or something else that would be just as insulting but instead he just stood there, looking right at her. For a brief few minutes Aradia felt the world melt away. There was only her and Beau left. She could not explain but Aradia felt this tug toward him, drawing her to him like a moth to a flame. Whether it was attraction or intrigue that drew her to him Aradia did not really know. Beau just stared at her for a few more minutes and then spun on his heel, and walked out of the diner. Aradia stared after him, still entranced until Roy gave a gruff annoyed cough under his breath. "So..." Roy began with his voice dripping with disdain and sarcasm, "it appears you developed a thing for one of the 'copper tone boys.'" "The who?" Aradia asked. "Is one of the greatest rock bands ever? I know this well," Roy quipped with a smile. "No, no," Aradia responded with a few shakes of her head, "what I meant was...” "I know what you meant!" This time Roy responded with a scowl and not a smile. "Well what did you mean?" Aradia snapped. Roy sighed and with a shrug of his shoulders explained, "We call Beau and them the 'Coppertone boys' because he and his kind always reek of sunscreen." "His kind?" Aradia repeated.

Looking as flustered as she had when Roy first questioned her, he doubled back by saying, "I mean friends him and his friends not his kind. Slip of a tongue, Rai my bad." Aradia just nodded but after a few moments asked, "why do they reek of sunscreen?" Roy then said, "Well you see some of his friends have real problems with the sun like if they walk out in the sunshine with no sunscreen they get horribly burned. Hence why most of them practically bathe themselves in sunscreen every day before or after school. Hell they bathe in that stuff so often me and my friends can smell them twenty miles away." "Your sense of smell is that good?" asked Aradia.

Roy shook his head and said, "You know what I mean Rai." Aradia said nothing although she had not mentioned what she had seen, the boy and girl in the alleyway, before she was arrested to anyone she could not shake off the feeling that what she had seen had not been a figment of her imagination. In the back of her mind it sort of all made sense, the "too perfectly" looking people, the vampire murder her father had started investigating in his spare time (still unsolved), and from what Roy had just told her about Beau and his "kind" needing sunscreen it all started to make sense of what was really going on in Salem. The logical side of her mind wanted to argue that such a thing was impossible. However, the more logical side of her mind would counteract by stating that girls who can do the things that Aradia could do were supposed to be impossible as well.

"Well I would love to stay and chat with you Roy but I got to get going."Aradia grabbed her backpack that was hanging on the back of her chair. She started making her way to the door when Roy called out, “hang on I will ask my brothers to give you a ride." Aradia shook her head in response and said, " I got to stop by the forest before I get home I need to gather some herbs for biology class. This week we're studying plants and I had seen a particular type of plant on my way to school that I thought would be perfect for a future project!" "The forest? Tonight?" Roy's face, before bright and cheerful, now suddenly became ashen gray and frightened as he added, "but there is a full moon tonight!" Aradia turned to look at Roy with an expression that clearly said you-got-to-be-kidding. "Yeah I know but that's when the plant reaches its full bloom, by the light of the full moon. Sounds kind of mystical I know but hey I guess Walt Disney had to get his ideas from some facts."

"But Aradia..,"Roy started, "you can't go into the forest at night."

"Why not?"

"Well," Roy paused searching for an answer that would satisfy her enough to make her call off the need to get the plant, “going into the woods at night with a full moon is dangerous because the full moon is...is...when the weirdoes come out!" Aradia raised an eyebrow and said, "Roy what are you really afraid of? A werewolf might get me?" There was no mistaking it now, Roy had gone completely white. The look he gave Aradia was as if he had suddenly turned into five year old seeing a live-action reenactment of Bambi's mother getting shot! Aradia noticed the change in Roy's demeanor but realized that when it came to choosing between getting a good grade and making friends feel better... one of her favorite sayings was "friends may come and go but the grades you get in high school really do last forever!"

"Well anyway thanks for the concern Roy I will keep it in my mind."

"So you're not going?" he asked hopefully. "Of course I am still going," Roy's face fell as Aradia uttered these words, "I need the plant for this project which is due next Thursday and it counts as 40% for my grade and no offense Roy but my GPA far out ranks your fears of the woods at night." Roy looked like as if he was about to cry. Aradia ran back from the door, hugged him and whispered in his ear, “don’t worry Roy I will be okay I am a lot tougher than I look."

By the time Aradia had found the plant it was already past nine pm, and now everything had gone completely dark. However, while most girls would be freaking out and feel hopelessly lost in this kind of situation Aradia did not. In addition to her "summoning" power, mind reading, and her visions Aradia could also control the elements like earth, wind, fire, air, light, dark, metal and wood. She could create these elements out of thin air like a cool breeze or a fireball but most of all she could bend the elements to her will as well. She could stop a house fire in a matter of seconds, make a steel door bend itself in such a way that she could squeeze easily through it and so on and so forth. Since she could control the elements of dark, light, and earth she could see easily in a pitch black night as clearly as she could see things in the middle of the day. She could also summon a ball of light to float everywhere, helping her to keep an eye on predators, and because she could control earth all she had to do was place her hand on the ground and she would automatically see the quickest way back home.This explained Aradia's assurance of her being in the woods at night and feeling completely safe. Aradia had to admit that as the night fell she was kind of enjoying the isolation. While she lived in Nebraska, she had lived in a place where there was hardly any big trees or rocks blocking people's views so Aradia could not practice her powers without fear of anyone seeing her.

Although, her powers had caused her nothing but grief since she was old enough to be aware of them, she had to admit being able to do the things that she could do was amazingly cool! Aradia felt incredible satisfaction and pleasure whenever she watched TV, she saw people with superpowers and knew that she had them as well! It never occurred to her, however, to do the hero gig because she thought if you do not have a badge or are not a certified officer of the law and you were beating up bad guys you were a vigilante. It did not matter if you knew the person was bad and they deserved it: inflicting punishment or judgment on someone without proper qualifications was vigilantism, which both Aradia and her father frowned upon. After all, Aradia concluded to herself, what was the point of having laws if no one followed them? Still, Aradia thought on, with the powers that I have been given there must be something special I am supposed to do with them right?

But for now Aradia left the question of the future use of her powers hang because right now she had to get home. She was almost there too, for her house was only a block away from her father's work place: the police station. Further proof that she was near home was by the tops of some of the boulders on her left she saw the lights from the police station. However, all of sudden she stopped trudging along because like the time near the bush before Jayden's party she heard something breathing and felt something watching her. Aradia froze, and debated with herself if she should just ignore it like the last time and continue on home. However, Aradia had never being the one to leave things unresolved so she decided to find out once and for all what the hell was going on. Starting with finding out what the mysterious breathing creature was. She stayed perfectly still, shifting on the balls of her feet, letting her senses feel the earth and everything moving around her. Sensing from the breeze to the animals trying to determine what and where exactly everything was. She was able to identify the crickets and where they were, what type of rocks were around and where they were as well, and she was even to tell where the wind was blowing and where it was from. Unfortunately, she could not identify what the breathing creature was. The reason for that Aradia determined was because she had never seen this type of animal before. But she thought that was impossible because she had seen and learned from books at school about bears, crickets, bugs, bats practically every creature even tigers. Thanks to those books Aradia could easily sense these creatures but since she could not sense this one it meant that this creature was not like regular animals. But at least she was able to determine what direction the creature was located. Figuring that this was probably a person she did not know (she could not sense people she was not familiar with) she turned around to demand answers for why they were following her. However, the moment Aradia turned around to face what she thought was a human, she instead came face to face with a wolf! Not just any wolf this one was larger than any wolf she had ever seen in her life. The wolf was huge and it seemed to have weird material hanging in tatters all around it's body. Aradia was petrified and knew that if she moved the giant wolf would probably kill her before she even got a chance to shout for help! So for five long minutes the two of them stood in complete silence until Aradia noticed the wolf beginning to crouch in such a manner that he looked like he was about to take off in a long spirited run. Or, Aradia thought warily, pounce on his prey. The wolf began to crouch lower and Aradia heard it's breathing becoming slower. After two agonizing silent seconds the wolf pounced! His jaw want straight towards Aradia's arm but with her lightening quick reflexes (yet another of her powers) she managed to spin on her right and with her left leg kick the wolf hard towards the tree. The wolf narrowly missed chomping into Aradia's arm and although it slammed full force into the tree it shook the force of hitting the tree off after a mere few seconds and turned to face Aradia once again. But much to Aradia's horror and amazement instead of attacking again the wolf stood on its hind legs flexing its front legs as if they were not legs but arms. Aradia was dumbfounded because it was one thing to find a huge wolf but a wolf that could stand on its hind legs effortlessly was completely unheard of. She did not have time to dwell on this for predictably the wolf attacked her again.

This time it succeeded in biting Aradia but it was her hand and not her arm to which it's teeth sunk right through. Aradia howled in pain, using her other hand she tried to beat the wolf's face in an effort to make it let go but as she hit its face something incredible happened. The wolf turned to look at her, and Aradia managed to look straight into the wolf's eyes. She stared long and hard into them not just surprised because they did not seem like really wolves eyes but shocked as well because she felt as if she knew this wolf from somewhere. Hoping to God she wasn't doing anything stupid or something that would cost her life, she grabbed the wolf by its muzzle, wrenched it's teeth off her hand, and stared into its eyes once more. Only this time Aradia used her mind reading power to search the wolf's mind. After a few seconds of reaching into the very depths of its conciseness, Aradia's mouth fell open in disbelief. "Roy!" she practically shrieked,"is that you?!" Although when Aradia read someone or something's mind she was rarely ever wrong, she still could not believe that this giant wolf who was trying to eat her was really of one her new friends!

The wolf wrestled away from her grasp, and bore it's teeth growling viciously. Aradia felt around quickly for a tree branch. Once again the wolf stood on its hind legs ready to attack its prey. After using her power to sense a good thick tree branch that was fully capable of being able to accomplish what she was about to do, Aradia pressed her back against a tree and slowly inched herself up to look Roy straight in the eye. If she was hoping that looking at him would make him stand down or remember who she was, Aradia was sorely disappointed. Roy (the wolf) lunged itself right at Aradia who raised the branch and knocked Roy out cold. She heaved a couple of breaths after the agonizing and traumatizing event. At first, she contemplated just running home but then Aradia realized that she could not possibly just leave Roy out here all alone. She also realized that once Roy turned back human for he was bound to do so eventually Aradia could finally get the answers she was looking for. So with a heave and sigh, Aradia grabbed Roy by his ankles and proceeded to drag Roy through the forest. All the way to the police station where she locked him in one of the jail cells. After finding a chair, Aradia propped herself against the wall and waited for Roy to wake up.

Chapter Fourteen

It wasn't till very early the next morning that Roy finally did wake up. Aradia had already been wide awake by that time. Aradia stared at him as he started to grunt and move in the usual waking manner. It was so hard for her to believe that the guy now lying on the floor of her father's jail had been a werewolf last night. Looking back now, however, she supposed it did make some sense. It explained his keen sense of smell, his ability to keep up with Aradia at running (which was no easy thing to do) but most of all his strange warning to her at his family diner to stay out of the woods. Aradia looked and studied Roy's form thinking back on the stories she had read about werewolves. Most of the legends were true like them looking just like wolves except bigger, them being able to shift to wolf form during the full moon, but the one legend that did not seem to be true was when the werewolf turned back into a human he would be completely naked. Roy still had his clothes on, tattered but still on his person. His jeans had holes on his kneecaps and were ripped along the seams. No doubt a result from when Roy shifted. In addition, his shirt had humongous holes on his front and back and on his shoulders too. So all in all he was fully clothed but still could be considered in a state of undress.

After rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Roy slowly stood up. He stopped, however, as he started to realize where he was. "Why am I in jail?" He was probably just thinking out loud and fully expecting to have no one else there to answer him. So needless to say he was surprised when Aradia did. "Would you rather be at the animal shelter?" She asked. He jumped and spun around to face her. The two of them stood perfectly still, looking at each other. The awkward silence between them so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Until finally Aradia asked, "so are you going to tell me what the hell you are or do I have to bother by asking the question out loud?" Roy just continued to stare at her until finally he asked, "What do you mean?" Aradia rolled her eyes and said, "C’mon Roy I know what you are or at least I think I know what you are." "What do you mean?" Roy repeated. Aradia heaved an exasperated sigh and said, "I know you are a werewolf Roy." Roy stared at her and burst out laughing. After a few minutes of loud highly amused laughing where Aradia kept her face stony straight he lifted his head to look at her once again. At first, he was shocked that his laughing had not discouraged her and her theory. Instead she looked like she had anticipated him doing exactly this when she confronted him. "Aradia," Roy began holding up his hand, "look I do not know what drug you are currently hopped up on but I am sure once it's worn off you really going to laugh about this." "Roy I saw you," Aradia stated. "Saw what?" Roy asked. "I saw you transform back into a human, I saw you as a wolf, I read your mind when you were in your wolf form, and I know that you are indeed a werewolf!" Roy opened his mouth to argue you again but then clamped it shut after her words reached him, “what do you mean you read my mind?" Aradia had considered not telling Roy about her own powers but upon realizing that after all the freaky stuff that had happened like seeing her best friend turn from an animal to a human that it was better to take the gloves off and be perfectly honest with each other. Or at least Aradia would try to be honest with Roy. "I said I read your mind that's how I knew you were the wolf that attacked me." "Attacked you?" Roy repeated but all of a sudden his face turned as white as a sheet of printer paper. Aradia expected him to deny it even more furiously but quite the contrary Roy ran to the bars and grabbed hold of them. "My God Aradia I am so sorry. I swear to God I did not mean to turn you but don't worry I won't abandon you. I will help you adjust to your new powers and introduce to the others of the pack. We will protect you and teach you our ways. You will be fine I swear!" "Roy...Roy...Roy...dang it Roy would shut the bloody hell up?" Aradia kept trying to say in the middle of Roy's ranting. Roy looked insulted like a policeman who had taken a bullet for a kid who instead of thanking him for saving his life, actually bit him! "Well sorry Aradia," Roy responded his voice dripping with bitter sarcasm, "I was just trying to let you know that now you are a werewolf I will help you get used to it but if it bothers you so much me helping you that perhaps I won't bother and just let some random hunter take a crack shot at you...!" "But Roy I am not going to turn into a werewolf," Aradia stated in a matter of fact voice. Roy's look of insult now turned into a look of pity and said, "I am sorry Aradia but despite what you may have read in books and stuff it really only takes one bite that can turn you." Aradia sighed and asked, "How long does it take for the bite to heal?" Roy shrugged and said,"about two weeks. Why?" Aradia responded by asking, "Do you remember where you bit me?" At least Roy had the decency to blush, “I do not know. On your hand I think. I don't always remember what I do when I transform." "So," Aradia said pushing herself off the chair, walking right up to the bars, and pulling off her jacket, "by your calculations the bite should not be healed by now right?" Roy nodded solemnly. "And," Aradia continued, "If I need proof that I am turning into a werewolf the bite should still look horrible and not be healed by now?" Roy nodded again. "Well Roy feast your eyes on this (no pun intended)" and with that Aradia thrust her injured hand right through the bars, two inches from his face. Or at least according to Roy it should have been injured but now the flesh and the blood that had completely coated Aradia's swollen hand from where Roy's teeth had made contact in his wolf form was not only gone but looked so well healed that it almost appeared the hand itself had never been used a day in Aradia's life. It looked creamy pale just like the rest of her skin; her hand was its normal size with no swelling whatsoever, no calluses, no dirty fingernails, no bitten nails, nothing on her hand at all. What did remain that was proof that the Roy had indeed bitten her was a faint trace of teeth imprints making purple little dots across the back of her hand towards her fingers. Roy just stood looking at Aradia's hand completely bewildered. "But how..." he finally managed to sputter, "I mean I am sure I bit you..." "You did," said Aradia. "But it can't possibly be healed by now..." "Well," Aradia interjected, "I did say I read your mind and figured out who you were in your wolf form, and I managed to knock you out while you were still in your wolf form, drag you through the forest, lock you into my father's jail...no offense Roy but after everything that has already happened I do not think my hand healing is that big of a deal." Roy stood with his mouth agape. He was completely stunned Aradia, however, coolly walked back to her chair and asked, “so are you going to tell me what the hell is going on or...am I going to have think something extremely violent and uncomfortable to do to you to make you talk?" At first, Roy still remained silent but after a few seconds smirked at Aradia's joke and said, "ok I will tell you but on one condition." "Name it," Aradia responded eager to finally get answers. "I will tell you about me and everything if you tell me what you are." "You mean you'll show me yours if I show you mine?" Aradia said raising an eyebrow and crossing her legs seductively. Roy snorted and said, "Yeah something like that." "Ok," said Aradia. Roy was perplexed for he had expected her to be a bit more hesitant with her secrets and told her so. Aradia just shrugged and said, "Roy if there is one thing I have learned in all my years is that it's better to tell the truth especially to your friends and I mean we are friends aren't we?" Roy looked Aradia square in the eye and said, "Rai not only did you stop me from killing anyone, but you personally put me some place safe where not only everyone would be safe including me, but you also stayed by my side the entire night." His eyes grew tender and intimately locked with hers. Aradia,however, just shrugged casually and said, "Hell the real reason I did all that was because I was worried about you going crazy, killing some random person, and I stayed by your side because if you broke out of jail you might wreck my dad's office." Roy, crestfallen, asked, “really?" "No" said Aradia. He then grinned from ear to ear until Aradia finally asked again, "So are we friends or what?" Roy grinned even wider and said, "Definitely." They smiled at each other for a while. Until Aradia broke the silence but asking, "So you going tell me why my best friend is a werewolf or what?" Roy sat down cross legged and said, "ok." It took approximately three hours for Roy to explain everything to her. He explained how he was indeed a werewolf but he was not the only one. All four of his brothers were werwolves too and so was his father and mother or at least he thought his mother was a werewolf. He really did not know because she had run off right after his youngest brother was born. There were other werewolf packs in Salem besides his as well. His pack included his brothers, father, cousins, aunt, and uncles; they were known as the SilverMoon pack.

There weren't just werewolves living in Salem either. Aradia at that time had explained what she had seen the night she was arrested. According to Roy, there were vampires, fairies (Aradia snorted when he said that), shape shifters, gargoyles, unicorns, elves, gnomes, mermaids and plenty of others as well. Not just here in Salem either they were living all over the world. Aradia asked why she had not noticed before or at least why no one knew about them. Roy's face had gotten serious the moment she made that remark and asked quite randomly if she knew what the generic name for his people was. Aradia did not know and so he explained while humans were basically called the human race his race of people (besides being called werewolves) were known as the hidden race. They were called that because one of the most important laws that they all followed was that all hiddens had to remain hidden from the human world.

Aradia had been stunned, she had asked if Roy knew any other members of the hidden and he said that of course he did. He remarked in a sarcastic tone that Beau, Aradia's crush, was a vampire and Tristan was a fae (fairy). Aradia at that time snorted thinking how ironic that a jerk like Tristan could be a fairy and yet strangely appropriate. What Aradia had found truly interesting was according to Roy he was not allowed to associate with other members of the hidden race. "Why?" asked Aradia. "Because I am werewolf and I cannot jeopardize my pack by associating with those who are not. I would risk exposing my pack to danger!" Roy answered. Aradia grew silent but after a while she remarked, "So basically you are not allowed to hang with other hiddens because they are different." "Yeah," said Roy but upon reflecting on Aradia's words quickly added, "No...No...wait that's not why." "Then why?" asked Aradia. "Well um," Roy hesitated, "the fact is with other werewolves you share a kindred spirit. You are of the same people. You understand one another but with people who are not werewolves they don't understand anything about you. They live differently than we do they obey different laws and sometimes disrespect our way of life by calling us 'animals' or 'mutts' or..." "Seems to me Roy that while we of the human race have gotten rid of segregation. Your people still practice it." Roy snorted disdainfully and said; "we so do not!" Aradia was tired of arguing but made a mental note that this was defiantly an issue she would have to confront again. She got up and said, "Okay whatever you say." "I am serious!" Roy snapped. "Okay," Aradia repeated. Roy opened his mouth to further his argument but Aradia shot him a warning look that made him clamp his jaw shut. "Its been quite some time," said Aradia holding her hand up to protect her eyes from the blazing sun as she looked up at the window. "I supposed we should get going before nightfall and you have another...you know," and with that Aradia got up from her chair to get the key from her dad's desk. "It does not work that way," said Roy. "Oh?" asked Aradia as she got back, "how does it work then?" "I can change into a wolf whenever I want to and I am generally in control of my wolf abilities." "So your saying last night you wanted to bite me?" asked Aradia accusingly. "No," said Roy shaking his head furiously, "I generally have control of the werewolf in me but whenever the moon is full we not only lose control but our wolf selves take over completely. Normally I chain myself or strap myself to my bed whenever that happens." "But what about last night?" asked Aradia? Roy shrugged and said, "I must have gotten loose." "Hmm, I guess that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase who let the dogs out?" Aradia grinned after making that joke. Roy, however, gave her a dirty look, Aradia more offended than embarrassed that one of her jokes had not been amusing had said "I would not be so judgmental of my jokes if I were you Roy." "Why?" asked Roy. "Because then I would be tempted to remind you that werewolves who frown on others should keep in mind the biggest joke of all is the fact that they get 'times of the month'" Roy's jaw dropped open, completely aghast, which made Aradia grin wickedly as she rushed out towards the exit of the police station. Roy ran after her and before they reached the door he held his hand against it and said, "Hey remember your promise" "What?" asked Aradia. Roy rolled his eyes and said, "you know? I tell you what I am and you tell me what you are." "I can't do that" Aradia said without missing a beat. Roy's expression turned furious, "but we agreed that...” "What I mean is Roy," Aradia interrupted before Roy's temper exploded, “is that I can't tell you what I am because I don't know." "What do you mean you don't know?" asked Roy. "Exactly what I said I don't know what I am" said Aradia. Roy stared at her trying to determine whether or not she was telling the truth. Aradia knew that she could use her powers and make him believe what she wanted him to believe but she was determined to be worthy of Roy's trust and so she just looked him right square in the eye and let him judge for himself. After a while, Roy took a deep breath and said, "Dear God you really don't know what you are do you?" Aradia just shook her head. Roy heaved a sigh and soon took his hand off the door to let Aradia go but as they walked towards the exit he grabbed her arm and said, "So you aren't going to tell anyone about me are you?" Aradia looked back at him, heaved a sigh, and said, "for one thing Roy you are my friend I would never betray your trust but further more if I was tell anyone that you are werewolf do you honestly think that anyone would believe me?" Roy was silent for a minute, then he chuckled, and said, "No I guess not."

Chapter Fifteen

Contrary to what most people would believe nothing really changed for Aradia after Roy's revelation. But some things did such as although the humans still knew nothing about her or them the hiddens would talk to Aradia more often instead of just giving her intense stares. "Well you're certainly the talk of the town," Tristan remarked as he, Roy, his brothers, and Aradia sat together at the diner. Roy's brothers were both seventeen and juniors at their high school. Al, short for Alejandro, was Roy's eldest brother and D, which was short for Diego was Al's fraternal twin. Al had tanned skin, a wide sexy grin, brown almost black penetrating eyes, black curly hair, and a black goatee. He was muscular and bulky but most of all he was dashing, charming, suave, and extremely flirtatious. D, however, may have been Al's twin but he was nothing like Al. He did look a lot like him though with the skin and hair but where Al was always smiling and outgoing, D was withdrawn and quiet. Where Al liked flirting and partying, D was more comfortable sitting by himself, and practicing on his bass guitar. However, there was one thing that was different between the two of them Al loved girls but D did not, at least not in the way where he wanted to be near them all the time. D was straight but he was very shy. Al, however, had no such conflicts. Nevertheless, despite the constant threat of girls coming between them Al and D's relationship always remained the same: close. They did everything together whether it was academic, sports, or even women. The two of them, however, had a rocky relationship with Roy at best. It was typical for brothers though. Al would tease Roy relentlessly and D would just hang back watching but there were times when the three of them could sit together in a non-antagonizing way at their family's diner. This was because not only did the diner belong to Roy's family and most of their relatives worked there but their father did as well and if there was one thing that Roy's father could not stand it was seeing his sons fight. So whenever they were at the diner Al, D, and Roy tried their best to behave.

One more reason why Aradia, Roy, and his brothers could sit together in peace was the fact that the Haven diner was neutral territory. Its owner may have been a werewolf but still the place they ran was after all a business and in America it was unlawful for any business establishment to turn other people away. So while the diner was often full of tension when some other hiddens came in, everyone was still able to sit or eat together peacefully. Hence why now Aradia, Roy, Al and D were able to sit together with Tristan in a mutual but very awkward peaceful way. Aradia told herself that it should not bother her that whenever there were different hiddens around, they all acted very hostile to each other. They would cast dirty looks and pull intimidating faces. Some even started fights without a moment’s hesitation. It should not bother her but it did. She hated how whenever she was talking to Roy the moment a different hidden came in to the diner he would clamp up tighter than a drum and cast that person an extremely dirty look the entire time they were there. Only when that hidden left would his personality would snap back to normal and he would be happy and fun loving again. Aradia knew she was not supposed to compare the human race to the hidden race but after living in a society where tolerance was favored it was hard to adjust to another society where it was not.

"Before you were just the new girl with the weird smell but now you're the weird girl that knows about us, can do enough freaky things that can make you be considered one of us, and yet no one can determine what type of hidden you are. Yep, everyone has definitely been talking about you," Tristan leaned forward towards Aradia. Aradia looked up from the homework she was doing to give Tristan a disdainful look. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" asked Aradia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Actually it's meant to insult you," Tristan retorted with a wicked grin. Al raised an eyebrow to give Tristan a very dirty look, "you know Tristan it's interesting how you say so many things when it's obvious that nobody values your opinion." Tristan scowled at him while Al decided to add to his insult by saying, "No wait a minute that's not true." Tristan smiled, "I am sure the rats scurrying around the docks value your opinion very much," only to scowl again. Aradia grinned, sensing an opportunity and said, "of course the rats value his opinion Al he is after all one of them." It was enough, Tristan stood up and casting one last dirty look at all four of them turned on his heel to leave. However, he was determined to have the last laugh so before he even took two steps away from the table, he turned back to look at them, crossed his arms and said, "I think you got the Salem docks mixed up with your family's diner Al when it's pretty obvious which place the rats would prefer to be."

D shot up from his seat, started move around the table in such a way and with such fierceness that it seemed like he was determined to go after Tristan and kill him. Al sensing his brother's distress shot from his seat as well but only to put his hand on D's chest to prevent him from accomplishing that goal. Roy, however, just sat there at the end of the table his back pressed against the wall and his arm draped around Aradia's shoulders. One might think that Roy did not care about what had just happened between his brothers and Tristan but Aradia noticed the way his expression changed the very moment Tristan had sat down and started talking. Aradia wondered, if the conversation had bothered him so much why hadn't he done anything about it? After searching his mind (which she did feel a little guilty about) Aradia realized that the reason Roy had not moved was because he did not want to remove his arm from Aradia's shoulders and getting up would have required that. She cast a long look at Roy's sullen face as he stared at Al and D. She started thinking about a question that had been plaguing her since he had revealed his secret to her. Why was Roy behaving this way towards her? He was always having his arm around her shoulders, holding her hand, smiling at her in the hallway, and basically not being able to take his eyes off of her. It was a very interesting question that had been bothering for some time now but the question that was bothering her more was: what did it mean?

Roy soon noticed Aradia staring at him and turned his head to look at her, smiling. She smiled back innocently not really meaning anything but something encouraged Roy to bring his face closer to hers. At first, Aradia kept her distance but as his face got closer to hers and the air seemed to become more hot and heavy between their faces, Aradia started to wonder what was going on. As Roy's face got closer it become more obvious leaving Aradia to debate what she should do in the next five seconds. But as his face was practically three inches away from hers Roy suddenly turned his face away from her to stare at something. It was then Aradia realized that Al and D were still there and watching the two of them. She turned to look at them as well. Al had a cocky grin on his face and was looking completely amused by the whole situation. D on the other hand just stood there watching them with his usual impassive bored expression. "Oh please continue don't mind us," Al said holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture. Aradia snapped at him with Roy's arm still remaining around her shoulders, "if you want this kind of action Al go rent a porn film." D looked confused and said, "I did not know you could rent porn firms." "You can't you idiot," said Roy. D responded by saying, "but then why did your girlfriend suggest that?" looking more confused than ever. Roy groaned and buried his face in his right hand. "C'mon D," said Al clapping his brother on the shoulder, "let's leave the two little love birds alone and go find ourselves some real women to fool around with." "Ok," D said cheerfully. "This ought to be good," Roy muttered to their retreating backs. "Why?" Aradia asked him. "Because in case you have not noticed by now Al is usually the ladies’ man while D would not recognize a woman if she walked right up and flashed him!" Aradia chuckled and said, “actually I do think he would recognize a woman if she did that." "Don't be so sure," Roy said. They both burst out laughing. Afterwards Roy started staring at Aradia again and said,"sooo...now that my brothers are gone we're all alone. You know what that means right?" "It means we're all alone?" Aradia asked still chuckling. "No," said Roy and then reaching out to cup her chin, “no that's not what it means at all." "Uh...Roy what are you doing?" Aradia asked him as he started to inch his face towards her. He didn't respond but he did start slowly bringing his face towards her's. Aradia felt the strange feeling of Déjà vu in addition to anxiety. She had no idea what to do. If she pushed Roy away he'd be hurt if she went along with what he obviously wanted to do she might give him the wrong impression. But as Roy got closer to her and she started to feel the heat from even his lips she started to wonder if what would happen would really be wrong at all?

Suddenly the bell to the diner entrance door jangled and Aradia jerked her face towards the sound only to have her eyes meet Beau Dayton’s. He stopped as he noticed Aradia sitting with Roy, close together by the window, just the two of them, and Roy's arm around her shoulders. Beau stood frozen staring at Aradia who met his gaze as fiercely and intense as his. In spite of this though Aradia did not shrug off Roy's shoulders. Everything just seemed to freeze leaving Beau and Aradia entranced with one another. Most of the times when this happened Beau would just stare back at Aradia looking either indifferent or angered but this time he did something different. He looked right back at Aradia, smiled, and winked at her. Aradia gulped and color rushed to her face making her wonder if with her red hair and flushed face: did her head now look like a giant strawberry? If Beau noticed, he did nothing to show it he just picked up his coca-cola bottle that he bought almost every day and left the diner without another word or glance. At this time Roy had taken his arm from Aradia's shoulder, and began sulking. Aradia did not notice at least at first until she looked at Roy and saw the look on his face. "What's up Roy?" she asked. Roy said nothing.

She playfully punched his arm and said, "C'mon what is with the sad face?" Roy grunted. "What are you a pig?" said Aradia laughing a bit. She had meant it as a joke but Roy did not see it that way. He looked at her fiercely and said, "No I am not a pig and neither am I twilight fan!" "What?" Aradia asked completely confused. "You know a twilight fan. A person who is into the concept of a beautiful, nice, perfectly decent girl falling in love with a vampire!" "You think I am beautiful?" Aradia asked playfully. "Aradia!" cried Roy. "What?" asked Aradia? "You know what I am talking about!" said Roy giving her the most serious look she had ever seen on anyone even her father. Aradia's face grew stony. Roy tired to maintain his tough guy attitude but it was obvious that once he saw Aradia's face change he started to tremble.

"Roy I do not know what your deal is but there appears to be a lot of things you do not understand." Roy opened his mouth to argue but Aradia cut him off, "so allow me to explain things to you so you can understand. One, in spite of everything that has happened between us neither I or you have indicated that there is anything between us at all so until we do we should not act otherwise. Two, since we are not together it is none of your damn business who I date or do not date let alone find attractive."

"So you do find him attractive," Roy muttered but Aradia continued like she had not heard him. "Three, the fact is I do want I want, when I want to, anytime anywhere whether it is staring at a vampire boy or dancing in the forest showing off everyone of my powers in such a way that it makes the mind freak guy on A&E look like a birthday magician! I can do just that and you cannot do a damn thing about it!" Aradia stood up, shoved her books into her backpack, slammed her hand on the table, said, "So there!" and stomped out of the diner.

Chapter Sixteen

Roy had not run after her and for that Aradia was grateful. She had to admit she did like Roy and not just as a friend. However, even though Aradia had never had a boyfriend before she knew that you can't be with someone if you were constantly thinking about somebody else. Roy may be sweet, kind, funny, good looking and fun but still no matter what Roy did, Aradia could not stop thinking about Beau. Aradia groaned in frustration dropping her books to the ground. She was now in the Salem woods completely alone and isolated. While most people would think that was scary Aradia relished these times. When she was alone she was not criticized, did not have to hide her powers or opinions basically when she was alone she could do whatever she wanted. She took a deep breath inhaling the fresh clean air scented with many different fragrances like pine, wildflowers, dirt, pollen, and animals. As she exhaled she started to remember what she said to Roy and when she got to the part where she remembered about showing off her powers she started thinking. It always made her feel better whenever she released her magic without holding back. Her magic was mostly her energy and like all energy if you bottle it up it makes you feel more stressed. Or made you explode Aradia thought to herself. Since she was all alone and needed to do some venting she decided to hell with it I am going to do exactly what I said to Roy. I am going to show off all my powers right here and now! She looked around in all directions and tried to sense, using the very magic she was talking about, if there really was no one for miles around.

Eventually, she felt satisfied enough with her isolation, hid her bags and books safely behind a tree, grabbed her iPod Touch and looked through her music library. If I am going to show off I must as well have music, Aradia thought as she searched for the perfect song. Finally she found what she was looking for: Avril Lavigne's song One of Those Girls. She held her iPod touch to her belt and after holding her hand over it and concentrating for a few minutes she manage to fuse it to her belt. Afterwards, she pumped up the volume and got going. Mouthing along to the words of the song, Aradia started to dance. She did a few back flips but as she landed she used her power to crack some of the tree trunks. As she went along to the lyrics she made jets of fire shoot from her hand, the ground shift, and the wind move so swiftly and fast that it seemed to look like silk. She waved her hands in circles to make small voids of darkness. At the end of her fingertips she made balls of light appear. At the part of the lyrics where Avril Lavigne mentioned being high Aradia saw a huge tree and grinning with the idea that had just popped into her head she ran towards it. Semi jumping and semi levitating Aradia rose to the top of the tree grabbing onto the very end of it and when the song got to the word die Aradia turned around, held out her arms and fell backwards from the tree. As she reached the bottom she flipped and landed on her feet as swift and as satisfied as a cat. She turned clearly not done. Looking around she spotted a lake and raced towards it. At first, she appeared to be in the process of diving into the lake fully clothed in the middle of October but once she got to the water she actually ran right onto the lake! Every step she took, the water underneath her feet turned into thick ice and yet without skates Aradia managed to maintain her balance. She even managed to keep her shoes from getting wet. As the song got to a soft speaking part Aradia stopped. She still stood on the ice but waving her arms in a rhythmic motion she made the water around her rise and swirl in such a magical way that it would have made people who were watching think of the transformation of the swan into a princess in Swan Lake. Using only her hands and moving her arms, the water obeyed her every motion but as the song sped up the water turned into fire as she raced back towards the land. As the song began to end Aradia really began to let loose. She broke entire trees with just one touch from her hand, sliding her feet she made the ground around move like an ocean wave crashing into the beach; she shot bolts of light and darkness into the sky like fireworks. But for the finale and wanting to make it as grandiose as possible Aradia raised her hand into the air, summoned a bolt of lightning into her grasp, and finally she raised both her hands into the air and shot the lightning back into the sky with a loud crack and boom! Invigorated from her workout Aradia went back to get her stuff. She was feeling energized, happy, and cheerful never realizing that only a few feet away stood a boy holding a mini video camera. A boy with wavy blonde hair and a completely mystified look on his face. "Well now," he murmured to himself as he watched Aradia trot off happily towards the road talking to her mother on her cell phone, "this just got a whole lot more interesting."

Chapter Seventeen

That night Beau showed the video of Aradia to his father. Needless to say, when Dr. Dayton saw a perfectly ordinary looking girl shooting fire out of her hands and dancing on water he was amazed. "Are you sure this is legit?" he finally asked his son. Beau grunted and said, “dad do you honestly believe that I would make a phony tape like this to show you as a prank." His father straightened up and looked at him, "is that a trick question?" he asked sarcastically. Beau let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Look Dad if you think this is all bull then please say so. Otherwise let me be on my bloody way and I will know next time not to bother you when I make videos of girls doing weird stuff in the forest." He turned in the motion of stalking off but his father clasped him on his shoulder and said, “sorry son I just can't believe that what I am seeing is real." Beau smiled and turned to look back at the tape, "neither could I." "You really have no idea what this girl is?" his father asked. Beau shook his head and said, "No. Nobody does I doubt even her friends know what she is either." "How about her family?" Beau shrugged his shoulders and said, "My guess is they know about her powers but what she is probably not."

"Hmmm," is how Beau’s father answered him. Dr. Dayton took out the DVD that Beau had recorded the video on, out of the DVD player. After balancing it in between his fingers for a little, his father finally sighed and said, "I guess I better check this out. I think I will be able to tell what she is if I get a sample of her blood but the odds are she and her parents are too weary to have her be taken to the hospital. Dr. Dayton then paused. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, "I got it! I will hire some people to keep an eye on her so if she ever gets into an accident and loses blood I will have them gather samples until I have enough to test!" Beau grinned, satisfied with his father's planning, but as he turned to walk up the stairs to his room a voice came out from behind them and said, "I do hope you don't think that that is the end of it." He whipped around to stare at his brother Xan. "What do you mean Xan?" Xan shrugged and said, "Well sure Dad is going to use his position at the hospital as a hematologist to find out about this chick but her blood is not going to explain everything about her." Beau just stared at his brother blankly until Xan let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Beau have you ever heard the expression 'news straight from the horse's mouth'?" Beau nodded, "Yeah I have and quite frankly I think it’s a bloody stupid one." Xan waved his hand brushing his brother's comment away, "that is not my point." "Then what is?" Beau snapped. "My point is the only way if really wanted to find out about this girl you are going have to get a better source." "Oh yeah?" Beau scoffed, "what would be better than her blood?" "Her" Xan responded with a wicked grin. Beau’s mouth fell open. He stood still a while gaping until he finally managed to sputter, "What is that supposed to mean?" Xan shrugged and said, "All I am saying is if you really want to know what this girl is all about then you should just ask her." Beau scoffed loudly and said, "Yeah I will walk right up to her and ask a few questions like what the hell is she and how can she do the things she does and she will answer me truthfully." "Not if she gives you the information voluntarily." Beau raised an eyebrow at his brother who added, "All I am saying is if you spend some time with her she's bound to tell you all kinds of interesting things about herself." Beau was still perplexed until Xan groaned, frustrated with his brother's slowness, finally spat out what he was trying to say, "look hang out with this girl a little bit, get to know her, start earning her trust and my guess is within a few days at the most she will probably tell you exactly what she is and more." Now understanding exactly what Xan was suggesting, Beau pulled a face and said, "Are you suggesting that I try to trick her?" Xan shrugged and said, "It's not trickery if she tells you stuff willingly." "But I would still be pretending," Beau argued but Xan cut him off by saying, "no you would not be pretending. You would be getting to know the girl more intimately to see if she is potential girlfriend material and if not tell her straight out that you don't feel nothing with her and that will be the end of it." Beau scowled and said sarcastically, "gee Xan you make seducing girls sound so easy." "It is once you get the hang of it," said Xan smiling. Beau just groaned in response and stomped up to his room. He was insulted that his brother Xan would even suggest such a thing: seducing a girl just to get her to spill her secrets. Still he had to admit that the idea did indeed have merit and as he slammed the door to his room and leaned against it the idea of hanging out with the girl did have some appeal. He remembered the night of Jayden’s party when he watched Aradia dance with Roy. He remembered watching her long red hair swirling down her shoulders shining as brightly as gold, her smile as wide and as charming as an angel's, and her body so pink and well formed and correctly proportioned in every place. But most of all he remembered hearing the music and seeing her body sway with the beat and wanting her so badly. He would be the first to admit that he was not innocent so to speak. He had had lots of women since he had become a vampire but the thing of it is though out of all the women he had been with in his long life Aradia definitely fascinated him in a way no one else ever had. Beau wanted to believe it was just her incredible magic and not knowing what she was that were the only things that attracted him to her but looking back on how he had watched Aradia as she had danced he knew that there was definitely more to it than that.

Chapter Eighteen

Aradia sat in her biology class looking through a microscope, trying to determine what the hell it was she was supposed to be doing. Although she loved making potions and could do incredible things with her powers Aradia had to admit she was a very poor student. In a time where most students got A's and B's Aradia considered herself lucky if she even passed a class. So needless to say biology class was a nightmare and now more than usual since Calvin from her lunch table, her usual lab partner, had been forced to bail out on her today because of the flu. She got distracted as she heard the door slam and looked up to see who it was. She then frowned upon seeing that it was Beau. He handed a note to the teacher who just nodded and waved his hand indicating that Beau was welcome to sit himself. He then strolled down the aisle glancing this way and that looking for an empty seat. Aradia returned to her work knowing that he would probably sit in the back like he usually did but as Beau slowly came up to Aradia's table and saw there was no sitting next to her he smiled at her in a way he had never smiled at her before. "Is this seat taken?" he asked, grinning handsomely. Aradia looked up at him, giving him a look of pure disdain. "As a matter of fact it is taken," Aradia snapped. Beau still smiled and sauntered to the seat he was asking about, a stool right next to Aradia and said, "you're quite right Aradia it is taken: by me that is." Aradia's expression did not change but a faint smile of amusement began to curl upon her lips. "So," Beau asked weaving his hands together and stretching them out until the bones cracked, “what are we supposed to do?" Aradia shrugged and said, "Damned if I know." Beau looked at her, making her hastily add to her previous statement, “I am lousy student okay?" Beau shrugged and said, "hey nobody is perfect." "You got that right," Aradia muttered. Beau grabbed the microscope and after peering into the lens he said, "now I see." "What?" Aradia asked frantically grabbing the microscope back and peering into it again. "We are studying the biology of planets and so we are given slides of plant cells to identify and this particular slide at is a slide of the cell of a Lily’s stem." "Oh!" Aradia nodded eagerly finally understanding. She started looking through the lens and writing notes down, not noticing Beau hovering over her. Suddenly, she began to hear what sounded like someone smelling something. She stiffened and began to focus on what exactly was going on. She then realized Beau’s head was over hers and he was actually smelling her hair! She whipped her head around angrily to face him colliding nose to nose with his face. Aradia froze, completely shocked about being this close to Beau and this time they were indeed close. His forehead was pressed against hers, his deep jet black eyes were staring into hers, the tip of his nose touched hers and a deeply wicked but satisfied grin was on his face. At first, all Aradia could do was breathe heavily but then she remembered how much this guy had been irritating her ever since she started school. Determined to salvage her dignity she tore her face away from him and muttered, "geez Beau the least you could do is buy me dinner or chocolates before you try to get into my pants." Beau chuckled and said, "no wonder Tristan and Roy are completely besotted with you. You are positively charming." Aradia grinned and looked up at him, for a few delicious minutes the two of them just sat together staring into each other's eyes. After a few seconds Beau finally broke the hot and heavy silence between them by saying, "but speaking of dinner would you like to have it? With me that is?"Aradia shrugged casually and said, "I'll think about it." "Okay," Beau responded grinning wickedly still. Soon the bell rang and as Aradia got up to get her books she dropped her pen but as she bent down to get it Beau dove towards it instead, picked it up and slowly raised it towards her outstretched hand. He took his slow and careful time to rub the pen up against her pants leg as he handed it to her. As she took the pen Beau said softly and in a seductive tone, "my Aradia what long and beautiful legs you have." Aradia swore she could feel her heart stopping. She chuckled nervously and as she held the pen in her hand, Beau took her wrist and raised her up slowly. The two of them were completely alone in the class room standing mere inches away from each other. Beau standing over her, gazing into her eyes, and Aradia was staring up at him completely entranced. He still had his hand on her wrist and was now rubbing his thumb over it slowly. Aradia felt tingles all up and down her spine."Now," Beau said, his voice sounding as soft and silky as a designer scarf, "have you thought about it yet?" "Yeah," Aradia said slowly. "So you will have dinner with me?" asked Beau leaning in closer still. Aradia took a deep breath and finally said, "Make it a movie."

It took them a while but in the end they did finally find a good movie or at least that's what they thought. It was an action film (Aradia was into that and everyone knew that those are the only type of movies guys will be willing to see with a girl on a first date) and judging from the previews Aradia thought it would be good. Boy was she wrong! The bad acting was horrid enough but the stupid dialogue, the horrible plot, and the over the top bloody violence... it was enough to make Aradia want to walk right back to the cashier and not just demand her money back but rob the movie theater while she was at it. Beau kept his face impassive but Aradia could tell he was doing his best not to throw his soda at the screen. They still sat through the movie watching and sharing a bucket of popcorn. Aradia had to admit although the movie was terrible it was worth it just to feel Beau’s fingertips constantly brush against hers. Thankfully the movie ended soon but it was while the people were shuffling out (way too fast and eagerly to indicate that even they liked the movie) Aradia decided to finally voice her opinions. "That!" Aradia said in a loud voice that prevented any argument, "has got to be without a doubt the biggest load of cinematic pig crap I have ever seen in my life!" People stopped and stared at her in complete awkward silence Beau, however, looked completely amused, chuckling he rose from his seat, looked to the crowd and said, "it's not like it isn't true." He then reached out his hand to help Aradia from her seat. Smiling she took it and hand in hand they walked towards the exit. They were out the door of the movie theater and into the cool of the night when all of sudden a loud angry voice came out from behind them, "hey!" Aradia let go of Beau’s hand and spun around to face the speaker terrified that it was Roy who she had not told about her date with Beau. But thankfully it was not Roy who was confronting them but unthankfully the speaker belonged to someone advancing towards them was one of a group of werewolves all looking threatening and mad as hell. Beau turned to look at them and said, "yes can I help you?" The speaker who coincidentally was the shortest of the group stood in front of Beau looking at him with murder in his eyes. Ironically, that was the thing he wanted to talk about, "I don't know why one of your people went after my dad killing him but just because the humans don't know shit about us don't meant that one of you aren't going to pay for it!" Beau looked at him and said, "I don't know what you are talking about." "Like hell you don't!" he snapped. "You are talking about the vampire murder?" Aradia asked. The werewolf crew whipped around to look at her wearily but Beau immediately intervened for her by saying, "it's ok she knows about us." "Is she a vampire too?" one of the biggest werewolves of the group asked while studying Aradia more carefully. Beau didn't answer but someone else in the werewolf crew did, "no she is definitely not a vampire." "How can you tell?" one of the werewolves asked. The one who answered shrugged and said, "because she doesn't smell like one of them." The very same werewolf then analyzed Aradia a lot more carefully and added, "come to think of it she does not smell like anything. Anything we know that is." "What do you mean?" the curious werewolf seemed to be full of questions tonight. The werewolf that seemed to have all the answers shrugged and said, "I don't know." "Anyway," the short werewolf interrupted them angered by the change of direction in the conversation, “the fact is we know one of your kind did it and unless they confess to the crime we are going to make every vampire's life in Salem hell!" Beau scoffed and rolled his eyes, "is that supposed to intimidate me?" The werewolf began to advance towards Beau when Aradia planted herself firmly in between them placing both hands on their chests keeping them separate."Now c'mon you guys chill out ok?"she pleaded with them. The werewolf angrily shoved Aradia's hand away and then moved in such a motion that it seemed like he was about to knock her down onto the pavement. Beau sensing this, readied himself to attack when Aradia grabbed the wolf's arm and twisted so swiftly and viciously, that he was on the ground in two seconds. His friends leapt back in shock, surprised that she could possibly be this strong. Aradia, however, noticed nothing and grabbed the back of the werewolf's head, pulled his hair so not only would he be in pain if he struggled but that his ear would be right next to her mouth. "Now listen here you thug!" Aradia whispered angrily in the werewolf's ear, "I wish I could say I understand what you are going through but the truth is I don't so I won't insult you by saying I do. However, I do realize the magnitude in how you want to find the guy who killed your dad and make him pay." "But," she said yanking his hair back even further making him grunt in pain, “that is still no excuse for vigilante justice. The reason we have laws is to follow them understand?" the werewolf nodded feebly while Aradia added, "and besides did it ever occur to you that what if you went after the wrong guy and got him killed. You would basically be killing an innocent man and letting your father's killer go free!" With that last statement Aradia let go of him. The werewolf's face reddened as he got up to glare at Aradia murderously."C'mon Aradia let's go," Beau said so casually that it seemed like what had just happened had not. He then threw his arm around Aradia's shoulders and steered her down the street. Aradia was quiet for most of the walk home, which Beau thought was completely out of character for her. Normally, Beau would leave such matters alone but seeing Aradia so quiet and thoughtful when she was normally outgoing and bubbly made him anxious to find out what was bothering her. "What's up Rai?" he finally asked her. Aradia shrugged off Beau’s shoulders walked two steps in front of him her eyes on the ground deep in thought. She then turned to look at Beau and after a few quiet moments finally said, "you or anyone you know did not do it." "Do what?"Beau asked, completely perplexed. "Kill that guy," Aradia responded instantly. Beau’s mouth dropped open, "what?" "That guy we just talked to and his friends and probably anyone in Salem thinks that a vampire killed that poor man but that's not true. A vampire did not kill that guy." Beau just looked at her utterly bewildered. Normally if someone said those things he would scoff at it and do everything in his power to dissuade them for thinking such a thing. Everything including kicking their ass but as he looked at Aradia staring at him looking so determined he felt something no woman had ever made him feel before: intrigued. "So if it wasn't one of us than who did it?" Beau asked Aradia. Aradia shrugged and said, "I don't know." "So," Beau argued, "you can't say for sure that it was not a vampire." "Yes I can, “said Aradia. Beau chuckled dryly and asked, "how?" "Well," started Aradia as she moved closer to him, "I don't know how you feel about this but after getting to know you I finally realize what most vampires are like." "Oh?" Beau asked raising his eyebrow and looking at Aradia with an amused but extremely sexy face. "Yeah. Vampires are smart, slick, confidant, clever, egotistical," Aradia teased making Beau pull a face, "but most of all they are not stupid and I don't know about you but if I was a vampire and I had fed on someone I would never be stupid enough to leave a body with two puncture wounds lying about. The real point of committing a crime is getting away with it and I doubt a vampire would get away with such a thing if he did it like that.""True," Beau agreed while shoving his right hand into his pocket, "but maybe it was a fledgling.""A what?" "A baby vampire," Beau explained. Aradia nodded understanding but then argued, "but according to my father there was no other way to get in the apartment except through the front door and I don't know about you but at 11 0'clock at night I doubt the murder victim would have opened his door to a baby vampire." "He would if she was a woman," Beau muttered and receiving a nasty glare from Aradia. "But the murder victim was a werewolf and I may be new to the hidden ways but I do know that werewolves do not invite vampires in male or female," Aradia then crossed her arms and looked him right in the eye daring him to challenge her. Beau chuckled amused by Aradia's thinking but still he had to admit what she had said made sense. For the moment the two of them just stood looking at each other in silence forgetting their conversation about murder and being completely entranced with one another yet again. Aradia leaned in closer raising her head to look up at him. It almost seemed like she was going to kiss him but at that moment Beau remembered the real reason he had asked her out. He turned his face quickly away from hers. Aradia looked at him shocked and asked bewildered, "what is the matter?" Beau sighed, looked at her out of the corner of his eye and said, “its nothing." He then took her hand, lead her to his car, got in and drove her home.

Chapter Nineteen

"I hear you've been hanging out with Beau lately," Roy remarked as Aradia sat down at lunch in the school cafeteria. They (Aradia's friends and Roy's brothers) had now moved to a better table near the lunch line door. What made it better was what that it was not only cleaner, but the legs did not tilt but most of all Aradia's friends could sit closer to the school populace instead of feeling isolated sitting at a table near the door to the parking lot. They could sit there near the other students without being bothered either thanks to Roy and his brothers who now considered themselves Aradia's bodyguards following her everywhere and protecting her along with her friends. Why they thought Aradia needed bodyguards she did not really know but she had to admit that lately a lot of dangerous things had been happening to her.

One time while racing at the track after sipping from her water bottle that she always took to gym class, she had been overcome by dizziness and fallen onto the track lane while running completely scrapping her knee raw and bloody. Another time, someone had bumped her in art class while she was holding a pair of scissors in the process of cutting a canvas, missing it, and thus making a thick bloody cut appear across her palm. Such accidents like this had been happening all last week! Aradia had been forced to bandage her numerous cuts so heavily to not only help them heal but to much sure that no one would notice the cuts healing so quickly! Either way it made Roy and his brothers take it upon themselves to "guard" her so to speak. But on the plus side, after being treated so much in one week the school nurse and her had become good friends and whenever she wanted she got free candy from the nurse's candy dish.

But Aradia did not know if guarding her was meant to clarify Roy's feelings towards her. She did feel touched by Roy's concern for her safety though, however, she still felt that it did not mean that her and Roy were anything more than friends. It was this thought that kept her from responding to Roy's question about Beau. On the one hand she wanted to snap at Roy that it was none of his business but on the other hand the way she felt about Beau after the way he treated her on their last date she almost wanted to spill her guts in order to get Roy to beat the crap out of Beau.

It was true she and Beau had been hanging out together a lot lately but it was always casual. In fact whenever she tried to be more intimate with him whether it was trying to kiss him or even something as minimal as putting her hand on his shoulder, he would start acting cold and awkward around her and hastily take her home. "It is nothing Roy," Aradia said while taking a bite of her sandwich. Roy just looked at her in stony silence. He slid into the chair right next to her, propped his chin onto his hand, and continued to look at her. Most times Aradia would snap at him for staring at her but right now she could sympathize with how he was currently feeling but still after a few minutes of silent scrutiny she could not take it anymore and got up from her chair. "Where are you going?" asked Roy grabbing on to her hand. Aradia snatched it away and snapped at him, "I am going to get a salad at the salad bar is that okay with you?" She stomped off to the destination she had just mentioned faltering only a little after she heard Rhonda whisper to D, "I thought Aradia hated salads." Aradia groaned as she got to the salad bar looking at the various ingredients it exposed like cold hard powdery yoked eyes, grape tomatoes, lettuce, and various colored salad dressings. Intent on making it seem like she really wanted to do what she had said to Roy, she grabbed a Styrofoam bowl to scoop up some of the things she liked. All the while she was doing this she was thinking about Beau, Roy, and the unsolved murder that had not only been plaguing her conscience but creating tension amongst the hidden community as well. The wolves were always acting hostile to the vampires and vice versa but now because of the murder the hostile feelings in addition to the random attacks that been occurring almost everywhere in Salem was making the situation a hell of a lot worse. She had even complained about this to Tristan who, in addition to revealing himself to being the expert in hidden gossip and politics, had explained to Aradia that gang-like fights between the hidden races were not uncommon in fact because of the law of always remaining hidden from the human world, people being randomly killed and getting away with it was a way of life. Most of all, the only way such a conflict could be resolved was if the culprit was found and put to death. Until that happened the violence would continue and in fact it was not so uncommon for whole clans or packs to kill everyone just so long as they left the humans alone. Aradia did not know what bothered her more; the fact that such things were considered acceptable in the hidden world or the fact that although she had promised to help her father look into this; all she had been able to think about lately were boys specifically Beau and Roy. She did not know whether it was the guilt or the incredibility of the whole situation that made her feel more upset. As if right on cue who should show up at her side but Beau who surprised her by saying, "I would figured you for an apple fan rather than a tomato." "Huh?" Aradia asked so surprised she dropped the Macintosh apple she was holding. Beau using his lightening reflexes yet cleverness so no one could suspect what his abilities really were, kicked the apple right into his hand and held it out to her smiling. Aradia just stared at the apple and said, "I thought it was Eve who offered Adam the apple." Beau smiled and replied, "Yeah she did but look how unpleasant that turned out so I think it's better to switch roles." Aradia hesitantly took the apple staring at it trying to see if the apple was still worth eating seeing as it had hit someone's shoe. "Yeah well," she finally said plopping the apple onto her tray, "I think it's better to be honest or at least be clear about your motives before you start fooling around with someone." Beau’s smile vanished, "what do you mean?" Aradia threw him a sarcastic look and said, "Beau I like you but I am getting the feeling that the reason you are hanging out with me is not because you like me back." Beau tried eagerly to defuse the situation by saying, "you like me?" Aradia was not easily put off and went on to say, “I want you to be honest with me Beau. What exactly do you want from me?" Beau did not reply. After a few minutes of awkward and tense silence Beau finally sighed and said, "Do you really want to know what I want from you?" "Yeah," Aradia replied. "Well," said Beau grinning wickedly as if he had decided on something devious. "The thing is what I really want from you Aradia" he whispered seductively to her as he leaned towards her, "is to know all of your secrets." Aradia stared at him, mouth gaping open completely entranced with him, "you really want to know all my secrets Beau?" "Yes," Beau replied eagerly but careful to maintain his seductive tone."Well," Aradia lowered her voice and leaned in towards him practically bringing her face right next to his chest, tilting her head to look up at him looking as innocent and naive as a lamb, "I do not have many secrets but I do have one that I guard with my life." "What is it?" Brendan asked his voice low but positively tingling with excitement. "My biggest secret is...," Aradia paused for dramatic effect causing Beau to lean in closer. She then rushed on to say, "that I think you have a staring problem." Beau's jaw dropped open while Aradia grinned, extremely satisfied, then turned on her heel and sauntered back to her table.

"What did Dracula want with you?" Roy asked Aradia as she sat down his voice crackling with disdain and grouchiness. "Nothing important," Aradia muttered. "Sure looked important," Roy muttered back and receiving a warning look from Aradia in response. Aradia picked up the apple that Beau had given her staring at it her mind began to wander. If there was one thing that the conversation with Beau had done it was make her realize how truly trivial the whole situation was with Beau and Roy. It really did not matter about how either of them felt about her in the end, Aradia concluded to herself for she had no time to sit around trying to figure them out. There were more important things to worry about like the unsolved murder. It was weighing heavily on her mind for it had been over three months and they still had not caught a suspect or anything. In fact, according to her father the odds of solving a murder this odd were like a million to one. It wasn't the fact that the poor victim would never be avenged that bothered Aradia the most; it was the sad truth that if this person had gotten away with murder chances are he would kill again. After all he had not been punished for his first crime so what was to stop him for committing another? The thought of another unsolved murder shook Aradia to the core because although most people liked to believe that such things could never happen the truth of the matter is they could and they would. So Aradia decided right then and there as she sat with her friends at their lunch table, she would postpone her troubles with boys and focus all her attention on solving the unsolved murder. The moment she got home she would ask her father to take her to the crime scene and she would use her powers to find out who did this and stop whoever it was once and for all. "You are going to eat that?" Roy asked derailing Aradia's train of thought. She realized that the entire time she had been thinking she had been staring at the apple that had touched Beau's shoe. Blushing slightly she hurriedly put the apple down and said, "No." Surprisingly Roy scowled, "why? Because Beau gave it you?" "Huh?" asked Aradia. "I saw Beau give you that apple, you putting it on your tray, so chances are you are not going to eat it because of that right?!" Aradia shook her head furiously, "no Roy that's not it all!" "Yeah right! The whole reason you’re not eating that apple is because Beau touched it and since you obviously have a thing for him you have taken on the belief that everything he touches is sacred!" Aradia practically saw red but then with a sudden burst of wicked inspiration she held out the apple to him, "why don't you eat it Roy?" "What?" asked Roy completely perplexed. "No seriously here you can have this apple and eat it right in front of me," said Aradia who couldn't help but smile. Roy hesitated until Aradia said, "Unless of course you think Beau's touch is so poisonous that you're too scared to touch it?" "Give me that," Roy snapped snatching the apple from Aradia's hands and munching it greedily. Aradia could not stop smiling. "What’s so funny?" Frank asked Aradia. "Nothing Frank," she responded stretching her hands above her head and folding them behind her head, with a smug and satisfied grin on her face.

Chapter Twenty

True to her decisions, the moment Aradia got home she asked her father to take her to the crime scene. Most fathers would either scoff or explain in a parent-to-child way that it was too dangerous. Ross Preston, however, did neither he told her it would be tricky but he thinks they could do it. Ross and Aradia had a level of trust between them. She could tell him everything and had been taught his sense of justice and relentless determination to right the wrongs and punish those who did horrible things. This was one of the reasons he let her participate in his cases. He trusted her judgment and although she was adopted her belief in helping people and keeping the peace was so much like his own that it was hard to believe that they were not genetically related.

It wasn't until two weeks later that Ross finally did manage to get himself and Aradia to the crime scene. It had been cleared of investigation equipment and the crime scene tape had vanished as well. It was still considered private property so they had to be very careful when they broke in. Her father grabbed his flashlight and with it in one hand and his daughter's hand in the other he lead her up the stairs. Once they got into the apartment Aradia took a look around and was surprised to see that considering what had happened the apartment was relatively clean. It had been cleaned out of special items like wall decorations or pictures, but the furniture remained and they in addition to the carpets and everything else were completely spotless. "They are planning on renovating this place at the very least," Aradia's father explained. "They want to renovate a place where a guy got killed?" Aradia asked sounding awed by that fact. Ross chuckled darkly and said, "Yeah but the victim's family wants to sell the whole place including the hardware store." "Who could blame them?"Aradia asked her father as she tiptoed into the apartment as softly as possible.

"True but the store has been in the victim's family for years. It must be hard for them to just want to sell it to anyone," Ross said switching on the flashlight. "Yeah well," Aradia said with a shrug, "the victim was also part of their family for years too." Ross became silence at this but after staring at his daughter for a few seconds he used his flashlight to find the light switch to the apartment and flip it on. "They have not cut the power yet and yes I know that with the lights are on people are bound to start rushing up here so firecracker I highly urge to be through but quick," Ross said to Aradia and before she could even argue he walked off to the windows to stare down at the street to make sure no one had seen them.

Aradia shrugged and looked around the place. It was obviously a bachelor pad with its lack of elaborate ornaments on the wall or floor like paintings or uniquely designed carpets. But Aradia had remembered the boy (werewolf) at the movie theater calling the murder victim his father but with the way it looked the father must have been a divorced parent raising his son on his own. Hit by a sudden inspiration Aradia decided to investigate the son's room first. Slowly making her way across the hall he saw a white door with four holes on it indicating that had had once had a plaque or sign on it. This was usually a decoration on a kid's room so Aradia figured this must have been the son's room. She turned the knob and looked around, the whole place had been picked clean no posters, no clothes, no electronics, or anything even the bed was gone. Aradia took a deep breath and decided that now was a good time as any. After taking a few deep breaths, Aradia closed her eyes and cleared her mind completely.

It had taken her a long time to figure out how she could summon her psychic ability which was to basically see what had happened both in the past and future. But now a days and especially for this special occasion, Aradia could just stand in a room and see what had happened in it as far as three years ago. She didn't even have to touch an object that belonged to the room. The catch was her powers required a lot of her energy so indeed she could do a lot of amazing things with her powers but for every power she had to use her energy and if she had to use a lot of her power that meant she had to use a lot of her energy. In other words, whenever Aradia used her powers it took a lot out of her.

Once she had to use her summoning power to douse a house on fire with water but the moment the house had ceased to stop burning Aradia had passed out and slept for two weeks straight. But after years of practice Aradia knew how to properly proportion her power so it did not drain her as much and yet she could use still her powers satisfactorily. After a few minutes of her breathing exercise and closing her eyes she stood in the middle of the room spread her arms out and feet apart and readied herself. It only took a second for it to happen. Aradia opened her eyes and in a blurry blue yellowish haze Aradia found herself on the night of the murder. The first thing she heard was the shouting of a boy and a man. She went to the door of the boy's room and peered out. She automatically recognized the faces of the boy from the movie theater and the face of the father from the crime scene photos. They were arguing viciously she could not hear the words for the power she had only worked with surroundings she could see the events, read whatever was around them, move in the visions but she could not hear the words going on or anything else. After what seemed to be a very heated and long word battle the boy said something to the father making the father's face turn from an angered expression to that of an expression of a wounded animal. The boy, however, noticed nothing he just turned on his heel grabbed his coat from the sofa and stormed out of the apartment. The father still looked at the ground gloomily but all of sudden raised his head and his expression brightened. He ran to the door and threw it open. Aradia moved from the room towards to where the father was. She got close enough to see the father's expression change yet again to that of a deflated one. Nevertheless, the father attempted to smile and extended his arm indicating to the person at the door that he was welcome. Aradia at first felt gratified because she had been right about her hunch that the victim knew the killer. As the person at the door (the killer) walked in Aradia tried to get a look at his face but the moment the man came in the atmosphere in the room changed. The father and the killer started arguing about what Aradia could not tell. The father kept shaking his head while the killer seemed to be pleading with him but after a while it became obvious that whatever they were fighting over the father had made up his mind and there was nothing that the killer could do about it. Aradia tensed up sensing that this was the part where the killer finally became the killer. Indeed the man who had been arguing with the father had at this point pulled out a switchblade, the father's face went ghostly pale, and the killer advanced and slashed the father across the stomach! The father stumbled but after a few moments he regained his balance and Aradia saw his face grow tense. She realized the father was about to transform into his werewolf form. Amazingly, the killer seemed to be aware of this for he dived towards the father and started stabbing him repeatedly. The killer was relentless as the father fell onto the ground writhing in agony from the stabs. Aradia grasped her hand to her mouth as if to stifle her screams even though she knew the killer could not hear her. What shocked her was the viciousness of the killer slashing the father away. The way he moved his hand and the knife; he seemed more like he was a painter with a brush rather than a bloodthirsty psycho committing a horrible crime. Thankfully it was over but Aradia could not help but feel the faint hot pricks of tears in her eyes. She saw the killer falter after the father finally stopped moving. His hand which was holding the switchblade shook viciously he seemed terrified even though he had just viciously committed a heinous crime without a second thought. He hastily grabbed a towel from the bathroom, wiped the switchblade, and stuck it back into his pocket. For a few tense minutes he just stood over the body looking down on it but suddenly he raised his head as if struck by a great idea. The killer raced out of the room towards Aradia who eagerly looked at his face but as he got closer she felt as if she herself had been stabbed as well. Even though the killer was running towards her his face was totally blank. Blank as in no eyes, ears, mouth no nothing his face looked like a complete blank canvas! Aradia jumped back as the killer ran past her, at first she just stood rooted to the spot completely shocked and bewildered about what she had just seen. Aradia could not understand it, her power had never failed her before. It always showed her the culprit of each crime flawlessly so why should this time be any different. But then Aradia started to think back on her previous visions she had indeed found the culprits but each time the culprit had either been someone she knew or she had seen him before. In this occurrence, however, she obviously did not know who the killer was so neither her mind or her power could show her what he looked like. She groaned, frustrated as hell, thinking that this had all been for nothing but then the killer rushed back into the apartment. Stunned, Aradia watched as the killer was not alone for as he ran back into the apartment he was dragging a small puny ghostly pale man who looked like he was not only struggling to keep himself on balance but to not drop dead on the floor! The killer threw the man onto the floor on top of the body. Most would think, including Aradia, that if such a thing happened to them they would be extremely freaked but once the man realized what he was on top of, his mouth spilt into a bright cheerful grin like a child being given a gift on Christmas day. Aradia was shocked at first but then understood as fangs grew from the man's mouth. He grabbed the father's throat and began to drain him heavily. The killer just stood by watching like he was waiting for something. It wasn't until the vampire seemed to be done with the poor father that the killer finally reacted. He grabbed a huge broom lying on the floor, snapped the top off of it as easily as a twig, and plunged it straight into the vampire's heart. The vampire faltered and then burst into a pile of dust. At least partly what they show on Buffy is true, Aradia thought as the killer threw down the stick and walked casually out of the apartment. So coldly that it was almost as if nothing that the previous scene had described had even happened.

At this point, Aradia woke up back in her bed in her own house. Aradia rushed out of her room to find her father. He was sitting in the kitchen with her mother looking at her as if they had been expecting her for some time. Aradia explained everything her vision had showed her. Her father, although he admitted that he was frustrated that they still did not know who the killer was nevertheless thanked Aradia for everything. "But Daddy," she argued, "we still don't know anything." Her mother, Liza, shook her head and said, "Not so Aradia. We know plenty." "But," Aradia sputtered, "We still don't know who the killer is." "True," said Ross, "but we now know that the reason the murder victim was murdered was because of a conflict or argument so obviously he must be involved in something, plus the victim knew his killer for why else would he let him in? What the murder weapon was, and furthermore that the killer was a werewolf!" (Aradia had told her parents what Roy had told her so now they knew about the hidden race) "Does that really make a difference?" Aradia asked both her parents. "What do you think?" Liza replied. Aradia thought about it and she began to realize that it did indeed make a difference. It not only could exonerate the vampires of the crime, but it also could discourage the current violent conflicts that were happening between the werewolves and vampires. "So I can tell Roy the truth and everyone will stop fighting," Aradia thought out loud excitedly. Ross shook his head and said, "It’s not that simple." "Huh?" Aradia asked, "why not?" "Because Rai-Rai," said Liza, "your father still does not have a suspect or anything." "And until I arrest someone we can't prove anything," Ross said agreeing with his wife. Aradia groaned and ran back up to her room. She threw herself onto her bed tired and frustrated that everything she had done so far had still not accomplished her goal. She knew her parents meant well but it drove her nuts that they did not realize the magnitude of the hatred between the hidden races and how likely it was to explode into war! Well it's not going to happen Aradia determined to herself as she lay in bed that night, if my parents or anyone else won't find out who killed that poor man, I will!

Chapter Twenty-One

"I am afraid Xan," Beau stated as he raced into the living room where his brother was now lounging on the couch reading a magazine. Xan looked at his brother scornfully and said, "You know most men would know better than to admit to such a thing out loud." Beau rolled his eyes and said, "What I mean is I am afraid that this 'approaching Aradia directly to get answers' technique is just not working right." Xan raised an eyebrow, "why?" he asked. Beau groaned, "It just isn't Xan I don't want to do this anymore." Xan slammed the magazine down and stood up to face Beau. "Is it because you're afraid to get too close to her?" asked Xan. Beau did not reply. Xan raised his eyebrow again scornfully but before he could say anything Beau ran out of the room and straight to his bedroom. Beau's room looked like any other guy's room except there were a few modifications. His room only had one window leading out to a balcony. The double doors leading out to the balcony were covered with thick boards of black wood that seemed to be nailed on and in such a way that they could never be classified as shutters. But most of all what was different about Beau's room was instead of a bed there lay a large black coffin with velvet cushions. Beau threw himself into his coffin so easily and so comfortably that it was hard to believe that he did not think that what he was laying in was a coffin and not a bed. Rolling onto his back he grabbed his headphones from his bedside table and jammed them onto his head completely covering his ears. After pumping up the volume Beau folded his hands behind his head but as he was closing his eyes a face began to haunt him. Not just any face, it was Aradia's. She was throwing her head back laughing, flipping her long red hair behind her head whenever someone called her name, her blue green hazel eyes sparkling in every light she stood in, her little rosy lips moving as quick as light whenever she talked, her pale skin shimmering in the sun, in addition to her shrill voice cracking several clever jokes followed by roars of laughter. As much as he didn't want it to: a smug crude smile crept onto his face as he continued to think about her not just her face but also her slender body, her funny quirky Pollyanna like personality, even the small little smiles she threw at people whenever she cracked an inside joke. He pulled his right arm from behind his head and grabbed a fist full of dirt that lay on the bottom of his coffin. He held his fist in front on his face and squeezing the contents in his fist listening to the crunching sound of the dirt he looked back onto the times he spent hanging with Aradia. Besides going to the movies, they had gone to coffee shops and sat and talked for hours. They had had walks on the beach (even though it was already October and freezing), discussing everything from politics to what kinds of shampoo they each preferred. Beau had to admit Aradia was not like any other woman he had ever met, not just because they did not know what she was, but because she was so honest, not judgmental, caring, considerate, perceptive, insightful and sweet. The more time he spent with her the more he admitted that he was developing feelings for her. He did not know if he was falling in love with her because he had never fallen in love with anyone before and therefore could not recognize the feelings. Whatever he was feeling for Aradia he knew that it was bound to get deeper and more complicated if he kept seeing her and that was going to make things difficult.

The first step Aradia took into helping to identify the killer was talking to the victim’s son. That in itself had been hard since she did not know his name and therefore could not look up his new address. She could not bring Roy or his brothers with her whenever she interviewed someone at least she couldn't if she did not want violence to occur. Violence where either they would beat the answers out of the person Aradia was interviewing or if they were confronting a different member of the hidden race…what would probably happen would be something that would make the bombing in Birmingham, Alabama look like a picnic. After a while, however, of observing, watching, and asking around Aradia finally found the werewolf in question. He was sitting in the park smoking a cigarette, looking just as gloomy or as miserable as he had been the night he confronted Beau and Aradia. He had noticed her before she approached him or to be more accurate he had smelled her. His nose had twitched like a hound's on the scent of a rabbit and his head had swiftly turned around to look at Aradia. He scowled and she hung back afraid to approach him. After a few moments he just shrugged and turned away, probably thinking that she was not worthy of his attention. Aradia breathed deeply hoping she was going to able to do this and walked straight up to the werewolf to tap on his shoulder. He looked at her and said, "What do you want?" "To find your father's murderer," Aradia answered him bluntly. He stared at her awe-struck either by her question or her boldness but either way he ended up snapping at her, "it's none of your business!" Aradia retaliated by saying, "so your saying you are okay with your father's murderer walking around freely?" This time he just ignored her instead of looking at her. Aradia did not like being ignored and she was frustrated that she wanted to help him for nothing and he was not trying to cooperate. She snatched the cigarette from his lips and threw it onto the ground, stamping it with her heel, and said, "Look Tad the fact I am trying to help you solve your dad's murder. I know you did not ask me to but that does not matter. I am going to find your father's killer and you are going to help me! Do you understand?!" The werewolf (Tad) was again struck dumb. He opened and shut his mouth a couple times struggling to find the words. Until at last he said, "How do you know my name is Tad?" Aradia groaned and said, "Look are you going to help me solve this case by telling me what you know or do I have to beat it out of you!" This caused Tad to smile smugly. He stood up to look down at her and said, "You think you can?" "Try me!" Aradia snapped. She fixed Tad with the most vicious and intimidating look she had, folding her arms across her chest, and looking at him straight into the eye. At first Tad was just amused but then after a few seconds of Aradia looking at him like the way she was he felt his knees buckle until finally he sat on the edge of the picnic table with his face buried in his hands. "Okay okay what do you want to know?" he asked Aradia who replied with just a single word, "everything!"

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tad told her her about the fight, his troubles with his dad, his dad's friends, Tad's mother (his dad's ex wife) his dad's enemies, his dad's problems, and Tad's problems as well. "My dad and I never really had much of a stable relationship. I didn't with either of my folks even when they were together. I got into trouble almost every single day for fighting, stealing, and even selling drugs." "Do you think one of the people from your drug dealing was responsible?" Tad shook his head, "most of the drugs I dealt were weed nothing too serious or worth serious money. Or at least serious enough to make people come after my 'rents." "Not that I am complaining or anything in fact I applaud you for making the decision but why didn't you deal serious drugs?" asked Aradia. Tad shrugged grumbling, "my dad caught me." "Oh," said Aradia sounding out the word long and hard to emphasize her understanding. "One of the reasons why I got booted from my mom's house and into staying with my dad," Tad explained."Why did you deal in the first place?" asked Aradia. Tad's expression hardened and said, "money why else?" "But I thought you said..," "Hey whether it's tons or a little it does not matter. Money is money get it?" Tad snapped. Aradia nodded, indicating that that part of the conversation was done with. "What were you fighting about before you left?" Aradia asked."I got into a fight into school," said Tad.

Aradia sighed and asked, "Was your father having any business problems?" Tad shook his head while Aradia groaned thinking that establishing a motive was going to be impossible until Tad's expression changed from gloomy to that of awareness. "But now that you mention it, he was having some fights with his business partner." "Business partner?" Aradia repeated, "I thought your father owned the store." "He did until he mismanaged a few finances last year and got turned down for a loan at the bank. Property prices are going up and although the Salem bank is dragging it's his heels as best as it can they all know that eventually in order to keep their own business afloat they are going to have to foreclose." "But what has that got to do with your Dad's shop?" asked Aradia. "Well, lots of business have been going under lately so the bank in order to make a profit are willing to buy the stores from the owners in order to sell the spaces and inventory to potential buyers." "Isn’t that dirty?" Aradia asked. Tad shook his head and said, " nuh-huh. On the contrary it helps square off the business owner's debts while helping the bank still get the money it needs." "So what has that got to do with your Dad?" Aradia repeated. "Well for a while my dad was struggling but thanks to one of my mom's old friends, Derek who offered him enough money to make up the debt in exchange for him becoming a partner in my dad's shop." "The thing of it is though," Tad added bitterly, "Derek never showed any interest in the shop or in the books or nothing. I never did trust or like that guy always a bit too shady for my taste. If there is one thing being a thief has taught me is when and how to spot another." "So you think this guy was a crook?" Aradia asked. "That would be my guess." Aradia nodded after Tad's statement, satisfaction and understanding spreading over her expression on her face like a sunburn. "So your guess is Derek was stealing money from your Dad?" "I thought so but I checked the books recently with my dad's lawyer and it seriously looks like nothing has been taken," said Tad making Aradia's jaw drop in surprise. "You mean he didn't steal any money?" "Not that we know of," said Tad sliding slowly off and then leaning against the picnic table. Aradia had felt so close to establishing a motive. She stomped her foot in frustration and then asked in a grumbling tone, "So you don't think that this guy had a motive for killing your dad?" Tad shook his head making Aradia feel like whacking herself in the head with a brick! Aradia thanked Tad and turned to leave but as she did so, she said to him, "see you at school?" "Probably not," Tad replied. Aradia stopped and spun around to face him, "what are you talking about?" Before Tad could answer Aradia's tone became sympathetic as she said, "Are you dropping out of school? You seriously should not do that..." Tad shook his head furiously and said, "no, no, I am not dropping out even though I want to but my mom would sooner send me to Iraq then have me drop out of school. I am moving back to New York with my mother." "Oh," said Aradia. "I mean it might be pricey," Tad continued more to himself than Aradia, "but thanks to Derek and the insurance money my mom and I will probably be able to..." "Insurance money?" Aradia asked incredulously and fighting back the urge to kick herself for not thinking about this sooner, "what insurance money?" "The insurance money on my Dad's store," Tad said while flipping out another cigarette and lighting it, "see there is a clause in my dad's store that when Derek sells it me and my mom get half of the sale money." "I never heard of anything like that," Aradia said bewildered. "Yeah well no offense but you are not an insurance salesmen," Tad said smiling smugly."Oh and I supposed Derek is right?" "As matter of fact," Tad snapped, "he is! He was even the one who took out the insurance policy on my Dad's store and helped my dad fill out the papers."

Chapter Twenty-Three

Aradia could not get to the bank fast enough. Thanks to her powers, she was able to make it there in plenty of time before the bank closed. After using her powers to race through the woods quick as a lightning bolt, mess up the picture on the bank video cameras she was able to not only find the records section but also get there without being identified. She whipped through the records carefully looking for Tad's father or Derek's name. Finally she came upon a file with Derek's name and after sifting through numerous papers she found the insurance policy. After reading it she finally understood exactly who, what, where, and why Tad's father had been murdered and could prove it too. All she had to do was make an anonymous call to the cops about the records in the bank and the police would have no choice but to look for it. It did not matter how exactly the murder had occurred (like the killer bringing in the vampire to suck the victim's blood) what did matter was finding the motive and if Aradia was guessing right so far chances were that Derek still had the murder weapon with him and that would seal his fate! And so Aradia walked from the bank three blocks to a pay phone and after dialing her father's office number at the police station she asked for her call to be transferred to the homicide division

"What are you so happy about?" Roy asked Aradia. She looked up to see Roy hovering over her. She was reading a gossip magazine and crouching in her favorite booth next to the window with her knees propped against the table a half eaten burger on her on plate accompanied with a half empty glass of cola. Roy was just standing looking at Aradia wearing his usual clothes of jeans, sneakers, and button up shirts with a leather jacket. At first, Aradia debated whether she should tell Roy about what she had just done but in the end decided against it but what she did say next did not help to improve the situation, "oh I was just thinking about my date with Beau this weekend." Automatically Aradia blushed, realizing what she had just said. Roy just scowled. Before Aradia could apologize Roy plopped into the seat across from her and said, "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 because you cannot trust him." "Why because he is a vampire?" Aradia demanded angrily. "No, because his father has been secretly investigating your blood at the hospital to determine what you are." Aradia's mouth dropped open, "what?"

"I went to the hospital today," Roy explained, "to pick up some medication for my father when a nurse walked by carrying a tray of blood samples. I recognized the smell of your blood instantly but when we were discussing our abilities you told me that you have never gotten sick before and you have never had blood drawn for fear it might expose you. So of course I was wondering what the hell was a sample of your blood doing in the hospital? I followed the nurse and when she brought it to Dr. Dayton I hid behind the door as he ran some tests on it. He was comparing it to other hidden DNA trying to find a match." Aradia said nothing. She just sat there completely stunned not knowing what to say or to believe. At first, she wanted to deny it furiously but as she thought it about, it explained so many things. The strange accidents that happened at school where she had gotten a lot of bloody cuts and gone to the nurse whom everyone knew was an old friend of Dr. Dayton. It also explained how no matter what she did on their dates Beau had always held back not daring to kiss or even touch her. In addition to all that, the way her personality was Aradia would often randomly talked about intimate details of her life to everyone she met. So Beau coaxing secrets out of her should not have been very hard. Hell all he would have to do is listen to her talk for an hour and he would know everything from her favorite candy to her childhood fear of her toys coming to life and dancing around her bed! Gripping her fists so hard she could hear her knuckles crack Roy looked at her and said, "I am sorry Rai but I figured you had a right to know." "You're damn right I did," said Aradia. "So you're going to cancel your date with Beau right?" "Quite the contrary," said Aradia, "I am going to use the date as an opportunity to find out exactly what this is all about." "How are you going to do that? Ask him?" Roy asked her sarcastically. "No," said Aradia. "Then how?" he persisted. Aradia thought about it until a wicked smile played upon her lips. However, upon deciding on this course of action Aradia instantly became depressed because once she found out what Beau was really up to, her hope of them being a couple would be doomed.

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Is something the matter?" Beau asked Aradia as they drove his BMW into the city of Salem and parked at the parking garage in the mall. "No, what makes you think that?" Aradia responded as she got out of the car. "Its just...ever since I picked you up from your house you have been so quiet," said Beau, "normally you never shut up." He smiled after that statement, hoping to encourage a laugh from her. Aradia said nothing. She knew she was supposed to be acting normal to keep Beau off balance and to not suspect anything but knowing in the back of her mind that this was probably going to be the last time she would ever be with Beau… How could she act anything except sad? "I just feel sick today that's all," Aradia replied looking down on the ground and not wanting to look at him. Beau perplexed asked her, "then why did you want to still go out today if you were feeling under the weather?" Aradia forced herself to look at him when she said, "I wanted to see you." Aradia smiled up at Beau who just coughed into his hand nervously and continued walking towards the mall. Aradia sighed heavily. I guess I was wrong to think you were something special Beau, Aradia thought to herself, so very wrong indeed.

So far it had not been much of a date at all. Aradia had not really spoken to Beau at all who in turn had been pretty cold to her the entire time. All they had done was walk around in awkward silence. The entire time Aradia was silently willing Beau to admit the truth on his own and his reasons would not be the ones she thought. However, from the beginning of their date Beau had done nothing but walk beside her looking at everywhere else but at her as if looking at her would cause him some fatal injury. But when Aradia saw Rhonda that was when Beau and Aradia finally split up so to speak. After telling her it was okay and promising her that he would drive her home, Beau had let Aradia go off with Rhonda. The two of them had gone clothes shopping and were currently trying on several dresses. Rhonda was trying on a tiger striped colored dress with an orchid design and Aradia was thanking God that she was there to save Rhonda from being a victim of a fashion disaster. After holding up a purple a-line shaped dress that she had picked out for her for Rhonda's scrutiny, Rhonda finally asked Aradia the million dollar question. "So," Rhonda asked squeezing herself out of the tiger gown, "why are you shopping with me when you could be out on a date with Beau Dayton?" Aradia groaned and slumped down in one of the dressing room lounge's chairs and snapped "I have my reasons okay?" "Which would be?" Rhonda persisted. Aradia groaned once again and after a few minutes of Rhonda's intense silent studying type of stare she finally spat out, "I just found out that Beau does not really like me." "What?" Rhonda asked her disbelievingly. "You heard me," Aradia replied venomously. "I mean why he does not like you?" asked Rhonda. Aradia just shrugged, debating with herself the very same question. "I don't know Rhonda," she replied, "I just don't know." "How can you be sure he does not like you?" Rhonda asked sitting in a chair opposite of her."Roy told me he overheard Beau badmouthing me," Aradia answered her as close to the truth as she dared. "Roy?" Rhonda repeated while raising an eyebrow and then asking, "isn't that the other guy who has the hots for you?" Aradia scoffed and said, "You can hardly call him hot for me." "Either way Aradia," Rhonda persisted, "how can you be sure if he is telling you the truth?" "I'm not," said Aradia, "but I have a way finding out whether or not what Roy said is true." "You going to confront Beau?" Rhonda asked innocently. Aradia smirked slightly and said, "Something like that." "So why don't you do it now?" Rhonda asked Aradia who replied bitterly, "Because even if I am prepared for battle, it does not mean I am ready to go to war."

It took them a couple of hours but finally Rhonda and Aradia finished their shopping. Aradia had stayed with Rhonda until Rhonda's mother had picked her up. At the time she had been asked if she wanted a ride home. Aradia had been tempted but remembering her promise to Beau and realizing she couldn't put off confronting him forever. Aradia had declined Rhonda's mother's offer and headed to the parking garage her arms heavy with her purchases. However, the moment she stepped into the garage she felt a sudden wave of trepidation. She did not know whether it was her powers or women's intuition that told her something was up either way she was right. The moment she had walked out of the exit of the shopping center a group of scrawny sketchy looking guys wearing dirty black clothing and beanie caps smelling heavily of weed and drink had followed her. Aradia spun around to face the leader of the group who stood in the middle and in front of the group. She didn't know how old he was, maybe he was her age, but by judging how heavily he smelled of drugs and how they were known to speed the aging process like lightening Aradia could not really tell. "Hey sweetie what's up?" he said leering at her. "What do you want?" Aradia demanded. "Look in the mirror and you will see," he cracked making his friends all chuckle dryly. Aradia fought back the urge to throw up all over her shoes. "Look um sir," Aradia said politely realizing the situation was already tense and not wanting it add to it, "I don't mean to be rude but I am waiting for my boyfriend to pick me up and I don't think he would appreciate you hanging around me." "You're boyfriend must be pretty stupid," said the guy making his friends chuckle once again. "Excuse me?" said Aradia."I mean nobody but a stupid boyfriend would let a hot looking girl like you out of his sight," he said with a wolfish grin, "if you were mine I would never let you leave my side." "Yeah well thank god I am not your girlfriend," Aradia murmured, "or else I would probably smell as bad as you do!" The guy and his crew grew deathly silent. Oh crap Aradia thought. "Hey look I am sorry I didn't mean to say that. I apologize," Aradia said quickly trying to defuse the situation. Strangely, the guy smiled at Aradia looking pleased rather than be angry. "It’s alright sweetie," he said to a confused Aradia, "but if you really want to apologize I suggest we kiss and make-up." Aradia's face grew stony and decided enough was enough, "on second thought," she snapped, "I am not sorry at all!" Ironically, the guy and his crew seemed to have had enough as well. The ones in the back who were bigger and bulkier moved towards her while the leader said, "you know something sweetie you talk too damn much!" He lunged at Aradia who dropped her shopping bags. She then heard a car screeching towards them; pulling a near 360 degree turn a silver BMW screeched to a halt right next to Aradia and out of the drivers' side sprang Beau Dayton. His face and features so distorted with anger that he could have frightened a mass murderer into confessing to every crime he committed just by staring him down. Beau strode angrily to the guy and shoved him away from Aradia. “Go near her and die! You bloody sod!" Beau shouted. The guy faltered back more than a dozen steps, no doubt shocked by Beau's strength. He recovered his balance though and his expression grew from surprise to anger. At this point it was obvious that the guy was done playing games. "Get 'em!" he cried pointing at Beau with his finger and arm accusingly. The biggest guy of the group moved towards Beau but it wasn't until he was two steps away from him when Aradia stepped in between them and socked the goon right the eye! He flew back landing flat on his back only a few feet from the mall exit, clutching his eye, and shrieking in pain. At first, the others all just stood shocked but then another one of them move towards Aradia who quick as a flash kicked him in his most sacred area! As he doubled up in pain Aradia grabbed the back of his shirt, turned him around, and threw him straight towards his buddy, whom he promptly fell on top of. All that remained were the three other guys that included their leader. One at a time they each lunged towards Aradia who merely grabbed one of them, twisted his arm behind his back and kicked the other on her right side in a gymnast karate like style! Both of them were then thrown just like their buddies to land with them as well in the same spot and fashion. Then there was just Aradia and the guy-leader-goon who by now was trembling in fear. He quickly shook it off, however, and then reached into his pocket to pull out a switchblade knife. He grinned evilly as he saw Aradia falter. For two intense moments they just stared at each other until the guy lunged at her with the knife. Aradia a bit intimidated by the knife, nevertheless, caught the guy by the wrist. She squeezed his wrist intensely causing him to let go of it. She then grabbed hold off his arm and flipped him completely over, causing him to land right on the hood of Beau's car! She slammed him down in such a hard and intense way that the glass on every window of the car completely shattered! By now the guy was genuinely shaking with terror Aradia, however, just grabbed him by the shirt collar and threw him to the pile to join his friends. It took them awhile but soon all of the goon squad managed to pick themselves up and ran off as quick as lightening.

Beau had been standing by his car the entire time, completely speechless. He stood with his mouth agape, staring at Aradia who just turned to look at him, and said, "So still here are you?" "Huh?" said Beau. Aradia shrugged and said, "most times when a guy sees a girl be strong and kicking ass like that they usually take off for the hills." "Can't imagine why," Beau muttered. "That better be sarcasm," Aradia spat in a venomous tone. Before Beau could ever answer she made her way to the passenger seat of the car, opened the door, and sat down."You still want me to take you home?" Beau asked incredulously. Aradia shrugged with total indifference. At first, Beau just stood stunned but seeing Aradia's expression becoming more and more annoyed he decided it was best not to press it. But as he went for the driver's seat he asked, "what about the glass?"Aradia shrugged, "you got auto insurance right?" Beau was stunned by her words but nevertheless he brushed off the glass on his car seat and started the car up. But as they were exiting the parking garage and getting onto the road, Beau looked to Aradia and finally asked her, "What are you anyway?" "You really want to know?" asked Aradia. "Yes," he replied. Aradia slumped against the window and said, "me too."

Chapter Twenty-Five

Beau glanced at Aradia thinking to himself how is it when I think this girl cannot possible amaze me more she always does. He smirked a little but then remembered his purpose for hanging out with her. Well, what had been his original purpose because he had to admit that he once he got to know Aradia he found her absolutely fascinating. She was smart, cute, clever, witty, pretty, and strong (in more ways than the one as he had just seen) and so he was re-thinking about what exactly he thought he should do. His original purpose was to investigate her but he decided who she was or for that matter what she was not really important. All he did know was for all her amazing powers at least Aradia was a good person who used them as wisely as possible despite the maximum of their strength. Beau concluded that that was all that truly mattered. So he decided that from this night on he was going to tell Xan and his father to forget about investigating her and he was going to court her properly and maybe one day tell her the truth about his original intentions. He did not know if he was in love with Aradia but he knew he was infatuated and thought that maybe she was worth getting to know, not for her powers or anything else, but for who she is. After all, Beau thought to himself, all the experts said that's its not what a person does or can do but what's inside that truly counts and Beau had to say so far he had seen what was inside of Aradia so to speak and he had liked what he saw. Soon they reached Aradia's house and Beau got out first to open Aradia's door. She coldly brushed past him to get to her door but then hesitated. She realized at this point that if she wanted to know what was going on, it was now or never. "Aradia, is something wrong?" asked Beau. Aradia shook her head and then turned to look at him.

Beau stepped closer to her and stared down into her eyes. "Has anyone ever told you how absolutely beautiful your eyes are?" Boy! Is he pouring it on thick, Aradia thought bitterly. "I know I haven't been really good to you lately Aradia but from this point on that's going to change. I will start thinking about taking our relationship more seriously. I will protect you, care about you and always be there. From now on, Aradia I will do anything for you. Anything at all" "You don't have to do that Beau," Aradia said looking down at her feet, willing herself to have the strength she would need for what she was planning to do. "But I want to, love" whispered Beau using the pet name he had given her on their first couple of dates. Aradia said nothing, squeezed her eyes, and decided that if she was ever going to do it she had to do it now. "There is one thing you can do for me Beau," said Aradia still looking at the ground. "Anything you like," said Beau. "The thing that you can do for me Beau," said Aradia, bringing her face up to meet his, "is hold still!" and with that she threw her arms around his neck and captured his lips with hers.

At first, Beau's eyes grew wide with shock but then as the kiss went on he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer savoring every minute of it. Aradia, however, was getting a different experience from the kiss than Beau. By catching him off guard and establishing physical contact she could reach into his mind. She dug around in his memories carefully to make sure he did not become aware of it or feel any pain. She saw Beau seeing her for the first time (more accurately smelling her); she smelled the smell that he got from her: the smell of a spring wind filled with the scent of flowers as powerful and as intense as an ocean wave. She saw and felt Beau's raging jealously as he watched Roy and her dancing at Jayden’s party. She saw him hiding amongst the forest seeing her use her powers. All this leading to Xan purposing a strategy of how to get to know about who Aradia really was and that was all the proof Aradia needed. Angrily, she shoved Beau away who was a bit dazed from the kiss. At first he looked shock from her reaction but still, he smiled at her and moved closer intent on getting another kiss. But no sooner did he reach Aradia, when she slapped him hard across his face! Stunned, Beau's hand flew to his cheek as Aradia looked at him as deadly and as ruthless as a cobra ready to pounce on a mouse with a broken leg. "You know Beau I really did like you," she said sneering, "but I guess for some guys like you it's not enough!" Shaking with anger or perhaps sadness, Aradia then turned on her heel, stomped into her house, and slammed the door right in his face! For a while Beau just stood on her porch stunned until he started to think about Aradia's words. Awareness then began to dawn on his face. "Oh dear God," he lamented out loud, "She totally knows!"

Chapter Twenty-Six

The first thing Aradia did the moment she ran into the house (besides crying on her bed for an hour) was call Roy and tell him everything. She had not meant to and she knew by doing this, it was adding fuel to the fire but she had been used by a boy she liked so she thought she had every right to be angry! After finishing her conversation with Roy, who surprisingly had been quiet through most of it, Aradia had stomped about the house looking for her mother and father. As she got to the kitchen she saw a note that indicated her parents were out. After crumbling the note in frustration she decided to go to the basement to get ice cream from the freezer. At this point what she needed besides an opportunity to run down Brendan with his own BMW was comfort food and as far as she knew no comfort food was better than ice cream. She made her way towards the freezer too angry to sense her surroundings but most especially not being able to realize or see the two dark green eyes staring at her from behind the basement door.

But the moment she got to the freezer and started digging into the ice cream carton with only a table spoon, she started to feel something amiss. After swallowing a mouthful of the ice cream and pulling out the spoon she looked around her but saw nothing. However, as she turned back to her comfort food buffet she noticed a reflection in the back of the spoon! At first she thought it was only the reflection of the vacuum or something but then she started thinking: since when do vacuums move menacingly towards someone? Quickly she spun around to face whoever was in her house. She saw a tall clean shaven dark haired man wearing jeans and a polo shirt looking at her with either intense intrigue or intense hatred. "Derek I presume?" Aradia whispered. The man nodded angrily and cried out, "So it was you! You are the one who figured all out!" "No, you think?" Aradia asked sarcastically. "How?" Derek demanded. Aradia groped around her for a likely believable answer but found nothing. So instead she said, "Does it really matter now?" Surprisingly Derek shook his head and said, "You're right it doesn't." "What do you want?" Aradia demanded."To kill you," Derek said bluntly."Huh? Why?" asked Aradia. Derek gave a short barking laugh and said, "Because like your father you don't know when to keep your nose out of things." "No, I just don't like seeing murderers go free!" Derek gave Aradia a look of pure hatred, "what the hell do you know? I never wanted to kill him..." "Then why did you?" Aradia cried out. "Because he just didn't understand..," "Understand what?" asked Aradia. "He didn't understand that his store was worthless. He didn't understand that it's better to get what you can when you can by any means necessary!" "You mean it’s better to steal than make an honest living?" Aradia said sarcastically. "Call it what you will but the fact is I didn't want to kill him but he didn't realize that some things are better burned than kept around!" "You mean like his store the one that has been in his family for over five generations! The one you were trying to persuade him to burn down so you could get the insurance money. When he refused you then realized you could make more money by killing him, paying off his ex-wife and kid with his life insurance, and then burning the store once they were gone and keeping all off that money for yourself!" Aradia spat out in one huge breath. "My, my, my! Aren't you the clever little bitch?"Derek sneered at her. "I tried convincing him to help me burn it but he wouldn’t listen." "You knew he would never agree!" Aradia argued furiously,"you just used that to get inside of his apartment to kill him!" Derek smiled evilly after Aradia's statement. "You got me all figured out don't you baby?" "Don't call me baby!"Aradia snapped. "It doesn't matter what I call you because all you are now is dead meat!" He grinned wickedly flexing his hands which rapidly turned into hideous hairy paws. His teeth grew larger, his eyes darker, and (if such a thing were possible) he got bigger! His face grew into a wolf's snout with fierce, intimidating, frightening teeth protruding from his mouth like knives . His eyes turned into piercing yellow ones glaring murderously at her. In five seconds at the very least Derek had transformed into a horrifying werewolf monster! Aradia stayed perfectly still either from fear or shock, she did not know. But Derek did not wait for her decision, she lunged right at her with his claws extended ready to tear her to shreds.

Aradia seized the ice cream carton she had been eating out of and slammed it against Derek's face. He sputtered as Aradia slid herself onto the counter and kicked him with both of her legs right into the old moth eaten couch in front of the spare TV. It slowed him down but only for a few seconds. Aradia knew her parents would be home soon and she couldn't put them in danger so using the opportunity she got when he fell back on the couch, Aradia dashed up the stairs and ran out the back door. Derek raced after her now in his full monstrous werewolf form. As she ran Aradia tried hard to figure out what she was supposed to do. She could not keep running but she didn't know if she could really take him on. She had never fought anyone before except Roy and all she had really done is subdue him! It was as she was thinking this that Derek lunged on top of her pinning her down. His werewolf snout mouth was open and he was growling and drooling down at her. His breath was so foul that it caused Aradia to call out, "if you were planning to eat me the least you could have done is brush your teeth!" "What do you mean 'were'?" Derek growled. She crouched down on both of her knees and extended them right into his chest. He flew several feet upwards from the sheer force of it. Aradia rolled on the ground away from him. He landed on his feet, stood on his back haunches, and the two of them circled each other facing off. After a few seconds of circling each other Derek lunged at Aradia sinking his teeth into her jacket. She quickly ripped it off and threw it on his face. Derek spat out the jacket and readied himself for another attack. All of sudden his ears perked up and he turned to look at something. After a few seconds he turned back to look at Aradia and growled, "Until another time baby!" and dashed off into the woods.

Aradia stood there feeling her arm bleed from where his teeth had scratched her. She cursed herself for not thinking of using her powers to beat him. Then she heard a noise rustling in the woods realizing that that must have been what scared Derek away Aradia willed herself to not only heal faster but to be ready for another attack. As Aradia readied herself to fight, out of the darkness stepped a shadowy figure."Aradia oh my god Aradia! Are you okay?" The voice that asked her this sounded so very familiar. Suddenly the figure stepped closer. As he got closer she could see him more clearly and tell that it was Beau. He stood shocked at the sight of her, and asked, "bloody hell! What happened to you?" Aradia said nothing but as she continued to stand there, clutching her bleeding arm her mind still in disarray after being attacked, she managed to croak out in a whispering voice, "Beau...help...me!" Her strength at that point completely gave away and she collapsed into Beau's arms. Beau scooped her up, ignoring the irresistible smell of her blood on her arm, and leaning her head against his shoulder ran straight to his car!

It took them ten minutes to get to Beau's manor. When Xan answered the door and saw Aradia bleeding and lying limply in Beau's arms he chuckled and said, "Wow Beau I didn't know you did home deliveries!" "Just get Dad!" Beau snapped as he shot past him and into the living room where he laid her on the couch. He then ran to the kitchen, got a bowl of water, and bandages and raced back to her bedside. He dipped a clean cloth into the bowl, held out her arm and proceeded to scrub the dried blood off of her. However, as he scrubbed he saw the teeth marks on her arm heal rapidly. No werewolf victim's wounds healed that quickly until after they were turned or for that matter no mere girl could hold off a werewolf at all. Once again he thought to himself how incredible! Truly when I think that this girl could not surprise me more...His thoughts trailed away as he reached out his hand to stroke Aradia's cheek softly careful not to wake her.

Dr. Dayton cleared his throat and motioned with his head to indicate to his son that he wanted him to leave. Beau hesitated but after one last glance to Aradia's sleeping form, and brushing some of her hair out of her eye, he slowly got up to leave. "She'll be alright won't she?" he asked his father who nodded and said, "probably." Beau then grinned and walked out of the room. It was as he walked to the front of the house that the doorbell rang. He then walked to the front door, opened it up and said, "You rang?" His humor quickly changed, however, once he saw who it was. Roy stood outside glaring at Beau ruthlessly, "where is she?" he demanded."Who?" asked Beau. "Don’t give me that! She's here! I know she is! I followed her smell. I smelled her blood in the woods and followed!" Not waiting for a reply Roy pushed Beau out of the way and stormed into the house. "Hey you can't come in here!" Beau shouted angrily. "Sure I can I am a werewolf remember? I don't need to be invited in!" Roy gloated. Beau held out his hand to pull Roy back but he shrugged it off. He stormed into the living room following her scent and saw Aradia sleeping on the couch. He rushed to her side kneeling like a prince from a fairy tale about to kiss his princess. Beau advanced to make sure no such thing occurred but his father spoke behind him, stopping him in his tracks, "she's already healed. Tired as hell but I am guessing after a short nap she'll be alright." "Good," said Beau. His father just nodded but Beau noticed his solemn looking face and although a part of him said he was better off not knowing he couldn't help but ask, "What’s up Dad?" His father exhaled a huge breath and said, "I got the test results back. I know what Aradia is." Beau smiled and said, “that’s wonderful!" "Yeah," his father said nodding still looking solemn, "there's just one little thing." "What?" asked Beau? "If she is who I think she is... well the fact is Beau then Aradia is already supposed to be have been dead for over three hundred years !" Aradia slowly opened her eyes and breathed in a familiar scent of a greasy spoon diner and a pine filled forest. She opened one eye and murmured, "hey Roy-Boy." Roy smiled and said, "Hey Rai-Rai how are you feeling?" "Like I have been attacked." She had meant it as a joke but soon realized her error once she saw Roy's face grow dark. He stood up ready for confrontation when Aradia grabbed his hand and said, "No Roy, Beau did not hurt me." "I know," said Roy. "You do?" asked Aradia."Yeah it was shown all over the seven clock news. Derek, Tad's father's lawyer, has been arrested for his murder." "Seriously?" Aradia asked trying to sound surprised."Yeah, someone gave the cops anonymous tip to investigate him and boy when they dug they really hit something solid about him!" Aradia smiled and said, "I am glad it's all been sorted out." "I'll bet," said Beau as he stood behind them.

They both spun around to see Beau and his father staring at her as intensely as ever. Roy stood up planting himself in between Beau and Aradia. "Its okay Roy-Boy," Aradia said tugging on his shirt to make him sit again which he did reluctantly. At first, none of them said anything until Beau's father blurted out, "we know what you are," "What? You do?" Aradia cried out hastily sitting up in her eagerness and then grunting in pain. Dr. Dayton nodded in response. Although, Roy was happy for Aradia he still glared at both of them, not trusting the look on Dr. Dayton's face. "Well?" Aradia demanded, "What am I?" "You mean besides impatient?" Beau muttered his breath and receiving a venomous look from Roy. Dr. Dayton cleared his throat and said, "Well the fact is Aradia we have not had anyone around here like you before." "Isn’t that obvious?" Roy pointed out sarcastically . Aradia, ignored him and stared at Dr. Dayton enraptured by the thought that she would finally have the answers she was looking for. "Yeah so?" she asked. "Well after comparing your blood we have definitely identified you as one of the hidden race not human. But comparing to other sample of the hidden races you have had no match to them either." "So you don't know what she is?" Roy spat venomously. Dr. Dayton shook his head and said "as a matter of fact I do." Roy raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Luckily," Dr Dayton continued, "from my long life as a hematologist I have gathered samples from other members of the hidden races." "But I thought you said..," Roy started. "As it is, I have gathered samples from not just living members of the hidden race but also from those who have long since been dead and upon comparing your DNA to some of the others I found a match."

Aradia waited eagerly. Dr. Dayton breathed deeply and said, "according to the tests Aradia you are a witch." Roy's mouth dropped open and so did Beau's. Aradia on the other hand looked disappointed. "That's all? I am witch?" Aradia asked stunned, "so what? Everywhere in Salem there are witches." Roy shook his head and said, "no, Aradia those people are members of the human race so they are known as pagans or witches by the humans.""So hidden witches are different than human witches?" Aradia asked him. Roy nodded and said, "Very!" Aradia opened her mouth to say something but then she heard her cell phone. Not believing that she had kept it in her cell phone holder the entire time she had been attacked Aradia, nevertheless, dug her hand into the holder and flipped it out. "Hello?" Aradia answered."Hey baby what's up?" a voice said on the line. Aradia's face blanched realizing who it was. She glanced at the others quickly and without even bothering to give them an excuse she walked over to the bathroom next to kitchen, locked the door, and asked, "What do you want?" "Your head on a platter for starters," Derek said. "Yeah well besides that?" Aradia snapped. Derek chuckled and said, "You know the old abandoned manor in the woods near the top of Warlock Hill overlooking the old Salem village?" "Yeah why?" "Good, because in fifteen minutes you are going to meet me there alone and unarmed!"Aradia scoffed and asked him, "Now why in the hell would I want to do something as stupid as that?" "Because if I can't kill you, I will kill your parents instead." Aradia's mouth dropped open and after a few seconds of gasping for air she finally managed to sputter, "you're...you're bluffing!" "Am I? Keep in my mind I do know where you live and if I showed up at your house before I can show up again and even if you got there at lightening speed you'd be too late!" Derek chuckled again. Aradia's heart stopped, yet she was still able to find the strength to ask, "if I do this you will leave my parents alone?" "You have my word," he responded. "How do I know you won't break your word?" Aradia snapped. "Are you really willing to take that big of a chance?" he answered casually and hung up the phone. Aradia breathed heavily as she snapped her phone shut. She suspected that this was a trap but if her parents lives danger she knew she had no choice but to give herself up to him!

A knock came at the door and Aradia jumped. Gathering her wits and composure she asked, "Who is it?" "It's Roy are you okay in there?" came the voice responsible for the knock. Aradia heaved a huge breath and said, "Yeah, I will be out in a minute." Aradia unlocked the door and said, "What’s up Roy?" "Rai-Rai are you okay?" Roy asked her, his face filled with concern. "Yeah, I am fine," she replied and pushed past him not wanting to look him in the eye. She went back to the living room where Beau and Dr. Dayton still were. Dr. Dayton opened his mouth to continue his explanation of what he thought she was when Aradia interrupted and said, "Look I am sorry but I have to go." "What?" asked Beau, "why?" "Look I just got to go okay!" Aradia moved towards the front door but Roy held up his hand to stop her. "Rai-Rai what's going on?" "Look I am sorry Roy but I can't explain I have to go now!" Roy stepped right in front of the door determined to stop her but Aradia looked him right in the eye and said, "Get out of my way Roy!" "No Aradia!" "Either you get out of my way willingly or I will make you wish you did!" Roy chuckled while Beau just hung his head with his head clasped to his forehead anticipating what was about to happen next. Aradia took a huge deep breath, grabbed Roy by both of his arms and heaved him right in the air. Stunned, Roy struggled to free himself from Aradia's grasp. She looked at him sadly and said, "You should have listened to me," and threw him down the hallway into the living room where he landed on the couch which such force it caused the sofa to flip onto its back with Roy on it! Beau and his father just stood there stunned. Aradia seized the opportunity and ran out of the house.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

As Aradia hurried out to the meeting place she concluded that out of all the stupid ideas she had to have had over the years going to meet a murderer in a abandoned manor completely isolated and miles away from town in the middle of the night had to be the biggest. But if what Derek had had said to her over the phone about willing to kill her parent instead of her...she decided that she didn't really have much of a choice. It didn’t take her long to find the manor but once she got there hesitation was only one of the emotions she felt as she stared up at the dark and crumbling manor house looming over her. Aradia sighed and thought to herself, can this situation get any more frightening? As if God or more likely the Devil had heard her rhetorical question cold rain drops started to drip out of the air. "Of course," Aradia said out loud with a shrug of her shoulders. She pushed the double doors open, braced herself for what was going to happen, and let herself into the house.

The house reeked of decay and little mice scampered around the floors like shoppers at a shopping mall. It was dark and chilly causing Aradia to get shivers up her spine but considering what she was about to face she thought maybe the cold really had nothing to do with it. "You alone?" a loud voice boomed from out of nowhere. Aradia whipped around to look at the entire room and saw Derek at the top of a long dark winding staircase. "What do you think?" asked Aradia. Derek merely shrugged as he descended the staircase while Aradia gathered her courage and asked, "so? I have kept my end of the bargain will you keep yours?" "No duh!" said Derek rolling his eyes. "Then my parents are safe!" said Aradia sounding thankful despite the severity of the situation. "Yeah they might be," said Derek shifting into his werewolf form again, "but you sure as hell are not!" Using speed as quick and as powerful as a tornado Derek jumped towards Aradia, and pinned her against the wall. He gripped his paw-like hands around her throat and started to squeeze. Aradia's feet dangled above the ground but still somehow she managed to say in gasping breaths, "Never occurred to you did it? How I was able to solve the case? "Huh? What the hell are you talking about?" Derek demanded. In spite of Derek crushing her windpipe so strongly that her face was beginning to turn blue, Aradia managed to smile and say, "You know the only bad thing about you not taking my parents hostage is without them around I don't have to hold back!" Derek's face became a mask of confusion only to change to pain when Aradia kneaded him in his gut and head-butted him. As he faltered, she used a round house kick and managed to throw him onto his back several feet away. Realizing the advantage to following through with her threat Aradia decided not to hold back and clasping her hands together in a praying like motion managed to make a huge whip of fire emerge from own two hands! At first, Derek was freaked but then he scoffed and said, "oh yeah like I am really going to fall a trick like that? Making a fake whip that seems like it's on fire." "Seems?" Aradia repeated cracking the fire whip which extended itself to Derek's shirt making him screech in pain and clutching the remains of his smoldering shirt. "Wow! So I guess it’s only partially true. Its fire not smoking that can kill you!" Aradia chuckled cracking the whip again but this time at his heels. Derek tried to run towards the exit. Aradia, however, had other ideas. "Oh no you don't!"she shouted stamping her foot on the floor, which made a huge wall of concrete appear in front of the door completely blocking Derek's escape. Derek looked back at Aradia as he ran, to make sure she would not follow. He was so hell bent on getting away he noticed nothing of what Aradia had done. But as he neared to what he thought was the door, he careened face first into the wall! Aradia smiled as she said to herself, "now this it when it gets good!"

It had been almost impossible for Beau and Roy to find out where Aradia was but once they saw jets of what appeared to be fire emerging from little clumps of forests, accompanied by loud booms it definitely narrowed the search. They raced into the forest and burst through the doors of the house to see Aradia and Derek battling on the second floor. Derek tried dodging the fireballs Aradia threw at him and in return she tried to dodge him whenever he lunged at her for an attack. "I am going to rip you to shreds and feed what is left of you to the pigeons!" he shrieked. Aradia sighed as she swung around a huge pillar and said, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but so far you have yet to hurt me! And between you and me I don't think you ever will!"

Derek roared as he slashed his claws at her while Aradia ducked every blow he tried to bestow upon her. "Hold still dammit!" He cried. "Now what fun would that be?" Aradia joked. He furiously slashed as quickly as he could while Aradia tried to dodge the blow again. Aradia didn't know whether it was her patronizing of him or her taunting that finally made him snap either way by the time Derek made that blow he was determined to draw blood. Therefore his hand managed to not only make contact with the side of Aradia's stomach but slash it so thickly and deeply with his claws that he had to literally yank them out of her! Aradia howled in pain as Derek yanked his hand back grinning wickedly, licking her blood from his hand as it dripped down his arm. Aradia faltered and dropped to her knees as the pain kicked in severely. Roy and Beau moved closer as if to jump onto the second floor in one fell swoop to tackle him but Derek was too fast. He opened his jaws as if to swallow Aradia's head whole. Aradia, however, caught his jaws with both her hands spun around on her knees and flipped him forward. He managed to pick himself up, turned to look at Aradia and spat out, "what the hell are you, you crazy bitch?" At this, Aradia smirked while creating a ball of fire in her hand. "I'll give you a hint," she said, "you're one letter off!" and with that she threw the fireball straight at him! It sent Derek flying backwards shrieking through the balcony window and out onto the ground! Aradia raced out to peer over the balcony and to stare down at Derek's now still human form. Saying it more to herself than his corpse Aradia shouted, "rule number one of battling a good guy (or to be more precise a good girl) never stand in front of a glass window!" Roy at this point was tired of waiting and leapt up to the balcony where she was. He peered over the balcony as well and asked, "Is he dead?" "Hang on," said Aradia, "I'll check." Roy reached out as if to stop her from doing such a thing but it was far from what Aradia was planning to do. Once again she created a ball of fire in her hand and threw it down onto Derek who soon became nothing but a pile of ash and bones. Aradia nodded and said, "Yeah he's dead!" Roy just stared at her in disbelief.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Now then," Aradia said to Dr. Dayton as soon as all three of them, Beau, Roy and Aradia, got to back to the Dayton manor. "Why is me being a witch such a big deal?" By now Aradia's parents had shown up at the manor and were sitting with Dr. Dayton and his wife. Dr. Dayton opened his mouth but Ross cut him off, "first things first where's Derek?" Beau tossed him a trash bag. Ross wrinkled his nose as he caught it, “what did you do to him?" Roy shrugged while Beau just chuckled and said, "We let Aradia show him what happens to people when they piss her off. Poor bloke never had a chance!" Aradia smiled at him causing Roy to growl softly. Ross interrupted again by saying, "but what on earth are we supposed to do with him?" "Isn’t it obvious?" Beau asked, "We bury him." "But Beau," Aradia argued, "what about his family they deserve to know that Tad's father's killer got justice!" Beau did not reply while Roy did by saying, "can't we just submit the bones to the morgue or something?" "You mean like donate it like used books at the library?" Beau asked sarcastically. Roy stepped towards Beau menacingly but Aradia stepped in between them and said to her father, "Dad here's what you are going to do: Roy you take back the bones and dump them some place, as soon as you do call my Dad to tell him where they are, Dad you take some officers and go look in the woods to find the bones, the coroner will identify it as Derek and...You will conclude that on the way to torch Tad's father's place he accidentally set himself on fire, and died!" They all looked at her speechless as she added, "hey if you got a better idea I am all ears." To this they all just shrugged and proceeded to follow the orders Aradia had given them.

It took Ross and Roy a couple of hours to do what Aradia had told them to do but finally when Ross arrived back at the manor they were ready to begin. "Well it's like I said to you before," said Dr. Dayton, “and have already explained to your parents. I think that your powers, abilities, and everything are sure-fire signs that you are a witch!" "Cool!" said Aradia. No one else seemed to think so because the room remained ghostly quiet. "Is being a witch of the hidden race a bad thing?" Aradia asked. "No," said Dr. Dayton, "quite the contrary it is an amazing thing really." "So what's the problem?" asked Aradia. Dr. Dayton heaved a deep mournful sigh. This is never a good sign, Aradia thought to herself. "The problem is Aradia," said Dr. Dayton, "no one has seen a hidden witch in over three hundred years! In fact, it is common knowledge that all the witches were killed off centuries ago!" "Killed off?" Aradia repeated, "What do you mean?" "Remember the Salem Witch trials? Well even though the humans were hanging innocent people the hidden race was going through some persecution of their own. For over centuries we the members of the hidden race have remained exactly that hidden but all of sudden people knew about us or more specifically one of our type of people namely the witches. The hidden races at the time believed the witches had betrayed them and so..."at this point Dr. Dayton paused and took a huge breath, "they hunted down and killed every single one of them!" "Every..."Aradia started in disbelief. She then shook her head and said, "No surely not everyone. After all the Nazis tried this in WWII and they failed." "Yes well," Dr. Dayton said clearing his throat, "I mean no disrespect to the human race," nodding in her parents direction, "but we of the hidden race well when we decide to do something like kill every single living being of a particular hidden people we do it very efficiently." He emphasized the word ‘very’ in a deep tone to indicate to Aradia how serious he was. Aradia on the other hand did not want to believe it. After all there had been genocides in the past before and they had all failed to exterminate a people but the way Dr. Dayton looked her straight in the eye and said this gave Aradia a horrible feeling that he was right."But if what you say is true," Aradia sputtered, "then wouldn't that make me..," Dr. Dayton sighed again, "Yes, Aradia it would mean that not only are you a witch but you are also the last of your kind. You, Aradia are the last witch."