Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (7 page)

Brenna paused, but only for
a few seconds. "He defeated his eldest brother in barely under an
hour. However, instead of banishing him as was the traditional way
he killed him in front of everyone. His own brother! Brutally! We
were all shocked, but we ignored it because he was now in charge
and none of us thought to defy him. We all believed that things
were not going to get worse, but boy did they ever! He ruled our
whole town with an iron fist! He took what he wanted from all of us
no matter what it was food, property, women, drugs, anything! It
was all his and whatever treatment he dished out we took it. Over
the years, many tried to challenge him for his position, but every
time he beat and killed them. He and his friends would patrol the
town like a gang, and in all honesty, that is what they were. We
thought it could not get worse until one day he announced he was
going to choose a bride. Ironically, or more like expectedly,
hundreds of woman spent the following months making themselves up
and throwing themselves at his feet. All of them that is except for
me."

Brenna sighed again, inhaled
a slow breath, and exhaled it just as slowly.

"I may have grown up with
him, born in the same year as him, and was basically the same age
as he was but I never really liked him or even found him
attractive. In my opinion, he was nothing more than a petty tyrant
was. Therefore, while other women pranced around him like trained
ponies I avoided him like the plague. However, it did no good
because on the very day of the deadline he called a town meeting
and in front of everyone he announced that he had chosen me as his
bride!"

Xan looked at Brenna in
disbelief, but she did not even turn her head to face
him.

"I don't think you can
imagine how frightened I was," She continued. "I wanted to say no,
but I knew that if I did not only would I be killed, but my whole
family would be killed along with me! So with a heavy heart and my
eyes full of tears, I married that evil, twisted, sadistic,
tyrannical son-of-a-bitch."

"Did you consummate your
marriage?" Xan asked.

Brenna sighed before
replying. "It depends if you think rape can be considered
consummation."

Xan shifted his gaze to the
ground but alas, Brenna was not done.

"If I thought the wedding
night was hell, the following months were worse. He openly cheated
on me, beat me whenever I displeased him even in public, and forced
me to wear ridiculous skanky clothes, cook his meals, clean his
house, and do his laundry. Hell, I was basically his slave more
than his wife."

"So what did he do?" Xan
interrupted.

Brenna whipped around and
thundered, "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Yeah I did. I do not deny
that that must have been horrible, but after enduring all that, you
have said...I mean the guy must have done something pretty damn
awful to you to make you finally leave him. So what was
it?"

Brenna turned away and
sighed.

"In spite of him cheating on
me with almost every single woman in the village, he still found
time to force himself on me on a regular basis. However, he never
bought condoms and he didn't let me take the pill so it should have
been no surprise that eventually I would get pregnant."

Xan looked up slowly and
asked cautiously, "Did you?"

Brenna hesitated

Eventually, she nodded, and
said, "Yeah."

Xan swore he could feel his
insides freeze, but unfortunately Brenna's story did not end
there.

"At first I wasn't sure, but
after three pregnancy tests and a trip to the doctors...well
needless to say I had no doubts left. However, even though I didn't
want the baby and especially not the man who gave it to me I still
resolved to have it. Most of all, I resolved to tell
him."

Brenna sighed yet
again.

"So one night I pulled him
aside and told him. I do not know what I was expecting him to do,
but I was definitely not expecting him to sucker-punch me in the
gut. I collapsed on the floor with the air completely knocked out
of me. I laid there gasping for air, and he just stood over me,
watching me in pain. He then said, 'maybe next time you will ask my
permission before you decide to get pregnant'."

Xan stared at her with his
mouth open, completely stunned.

Brenna just
sighed.

They were both silent until
Xan asked, "Did you lose the baby?"

Brenna chuckled darkly. "Are
you kidding?"

"Oh my god," Xan said
softly, "How far along were you?"

Brenna sighed and said,
"According to the doctors who treated me: five months."

Xan gasped.

Brenna then turned away and
said, "I told my family, and they agreed with me that I couldn't
stay with him anymore. I had to leave. So one night while he was
out with one of his mistresses, my parents packed me up, and got me
out of there. The next few years consisted of traveling from one
relative to another and trying to avoid being found by
Holden."

"Holden?" Xan gasped and
then saying hoarsely, "You mean he really is..."

"My husband. My mate for
life. The bane of my very existence. The one thing that frightens
me more than anything in the world?" said Brenna looking extremely
gloomy. "Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Keon asked
trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

The scrawny freckled
brown-haired vampire merely nodded his confirmation.

Keon turned away with a
smile growing on his face.

"So the werewolf Brenna has
a husband who is itching to get her back eh?" he finally
remarked.

He then chuckled and said,
"Well far be it from me not to interfere on behalf of true
love."

"What do you mean?" Saul
asked sitting up in his coffin.

Keon grinned as he turned to
look at him.

"I have found a great way to
rid ourselves of that annoying last witch finally," said
Keon.

Saul stopped himself from
gulping and asked, "What? How?"

"Ever heard of the concept
of prisoner exchange?" Keon said smirking.

"I really can't believe it!
Brenna has a husband and she is only sixteen!" Ginevra said as she
slapped a hand to her head in total shock.

"Well according to Brenna,
she was twelve when she married him," said Xan.

Everyone had now gathered at
the club to discuss this latest development. Roy was there with his
elder brothers, Dax as well with his and Xan's foster sisters.
Amazingly, Tristan and Titania were there too. Aradia stood facing
them, still trying to wrap her mind around the latest
crisis.
Just what I
needed
, she thought selfishly for a
moment
, more
stress
.

Aradia shook her head to
banish such thoughts and then cleared her throat. "Look everyone, I
know how shocking this is but the fact is Brenna needs our help so
from now on in addition to taking care of the club, we will have to
guard her as well."

Tristan snorted. "Guard a
werewolf? Why the hell should we do that?"

Aradia stared at him in
disbelief. "But when I was kidnapped by Henry McAlester you all
came to save me..."

Tristan interrupted, "That
was only because you are the last witch and are therefore are a
very valuable piece of property and there was no way in hell we
could let another vampire snatch you away."

Aradia rolled her eyes in
disbelief.

Nevertheless, she continued
in her intention to motivate everyone to protect Brenna. "Look
everybody Brenna needs our help. Do you know what her ex-husband
used to do to her? He would beat her, cheat on her, rape her,
and..."

"What's your point?" Tristan
interrupted once again.

Titania, who was sitting on
his right, laughed softly into her hand.

Aradia scowled, and decided
to put her foot down.

"Look Tristan," she snapped,
"The fact is Brenna maybe a werewolf and not one of your people or
your concern, but she is still a woman in danger. She needs help
and I am going to help protect her and everyone here, including
you, is going to do the same."

Before Tristan had chance to
interrupt Aradia rushed on, "How do I know you are going to do
that? Well by protecting Brenna, I will be placing myself in
imminent danger and since I am considered such a valuable political
tool, you will all do what you can to protect me from harm. This in
turn will help protect Brenna."

There was a moment of
silence where everyone stared at her in amazement.

Aradia smiled despite her
nervousness because she hoped that in spite of her being forceful
her friends would still be willing to help her.

Dax chuckled and looked down
at the ground. "Never thought I'd be helping a werewolf get away
from her ex."

"But," he added while
looking up to face Aradia. "There is always a first time for
everything."

Aradia's smile grew wider,
and more sincere.

"You all already know what I
am going to do," said Xan while folding his arms.

Her smile became even more
sincere, and bigger.

Ginevra and Domitilla then
said, "Hey if Xan and Dax are doing this than we are
in."

"Brenna's our cousin so our
answer is obvious," said Al while Roy and D nodded in
agreement.

Everyone turned to Tristan
and Titania who just sat looking back at them
uncomfortably.

Finally, Tristan sighed and
said, "Like we really have a choice."

Aradia shook her head. "You
do Tristan. You can say no if you want to. You don't have to help
us."

Tristan bitterly smirked at
her. "Yeah right."

The following two weeks if
Brenna's family could not watch her, Aradia would personally
arrange for a shape-shifter, vampire, or fae warrior to do it
instead. There were murmurings of discontentment at first, but
Aradia had managed to deal with that as well. She had talked to
their leaders and convinced them to see how beneficial it would be
to protect Brenna. Of course, it did not hurt that before
approaching the leaders, Aradia would approach their wives
first.

Many of the hidden community
were also stunned by her actions, and the fact that that she cared
so much. Brenna may have been a relative of one of her suitors, but
everyone believed that it was really no concern of Aradia's if
something befell her. Aradia, however, saw it very differently.
After hearing about the years of abuse and the forced miscarriage
of her child; Aradia felt compelled, as a woman, to give Brenna the
support she needed.

There were some calculated
moves in Aradia's intentions such as using Brenna's situation as an
example to explain to the High Hidden council of Salem how the laws
needed to be changed. She also used it as a legitimate excuse to
cancel all of her future social plans. Most especially, her actions
helped to set Aradia up in a positive light to the hidden
populace.

Before this, many had
regarded her as a probable power-hungry creature capable of
enslaving the entire hidden community of Salem. Now, however, they
had proof that that was truly not the case. So what if Aradia was
the only survivor of a slaughtered race, and considered the most
powerful hidden in the entire world? All that seemed to matter to
her was to help others, regardless of their race and
power.

Furthermore, by handling
this issue firsthand she was now considered the most popular and
influential hidden in Salem. Wherever she went, thousands of people
flocked or catered to her like flowers toward the sun's rays. She
received gifts, compliments, and favors from every hidden in the
city. Most of all, because of Aradia's rising influence in the
hidden community whenever several different hiddens wanted to
resolve matters amongst themselves they went straight to Aradia,
instead of their own leader's, who for the first time in her life
felt like she actually had the power to make a
difference.

However, this did not sit
well with everyone especially Keon who watched Aradia eating her
lunch in the cafeteria through narrowed angry eyes. She was sitting
with her usual crew of both human and hidden friends, eating and
laughing happily. The only differences was now more hiddens had
joined the table, and were acting like the ancient hatred that had
existed between their people for centuries had never existed in the
first place. They all talked, joked, and laughed together acting
more like humans than hidden.

Keon always looked angry,
but seeing people cater to this shrill voiced, scrawny witch, more
than they did to his Sovereign had distorted his angered expression
into that of a snake eager to devour its prey. Clenching his fist
where a piece of paper now lay, Keon gritted his teeth and fought
back the urge to pounce on Aradia and show everyone just how weak
she truly was. He hated all the changes Salem was going through.
Before Aradia came to Salem, Keon could do whatever he wanted with
no fear of the consequences, but now thanks to Aradia all that had
changed.