Chapter Twenty-Seven
“This Mr. Dayton, he seems like a good fellow,” Ross said to his unconscious daughter. He carefully held Aradia’s battered hand while he spoke. “He’s not a doctor, but he seems to know more about hidden biology than human doctors would. And I never really liked doctors anyway. What I’m saying, honey…”
“What your father’s saying,” Liza took over, “is we love you, and we’re here for you, and we know you’ll wake up. Please wake up, baby.”
Mr. Dayton had done everything he could. When the Prestons arrived, he and Dax had left the room to give the parents some time alone with their daughter. Roy stayed in the room, but he took a seat out of the way so as not to intrude upon the Prestons.
Mr. Dayton was confident she would wake up and have a full recovery, but he couldn’t say anything with certainty. The Prestons had never seen Aradia hurt before.
“Liza,” Ross said, tenderly placing Aradia’s hand back at her side, “I haven’t felt this way since–”
“Since the adoption,” she cut him off, finishing his sentence.
He nodded. “That was the only time I’d ever felt uncertain that we’d be able to take care of and raise our little girl. Even after the house fire, then more recently, when she’d sleep for days… that was just part of the territory, you know?”
“I do,” she agreed.
“When we finally signed those papers, that was when I knew for sure that she was our little girl, and that we could protect her…” He trailed off, remembering that day which had set all their lives down this path.
“Well now, everything seems to be in order,” the Social Services worker, an amicable and slightly overweight older woman by the name of Cheryl, had said with a flourish of papers. Ross and Liza had both been grinning from ear to ear, while in the crook of Liza’s arm slept the little girl they had found in the woods.
“All we need is a name.”
“A name?” the new parents had repeated in unison.
“Why yes, a name,” Cheryl had replied, smiling. Tone changing slightly, she’d said, “Don't tell me you haven't thought of a name for her?”
“Oh, sure, we have a whole list,” Ross protested. If ‘sweetheart,’ ‘angel face,’ and 'firecracker’ can be considered names, he thought.
“Well, since you’ve given it so much thought, how about telling me your favorite so I can seal the deal?” she had proposed, chuckling at the implication that adoption was rather a bargain sale than a life-changing decision.
Ross was struggling for a stall tactic, when Liza suddenly announced, “Her name is Aradia.”
“Hmm?” Ross had replied. Cheryl didn’t say anything, but the way her eyes widened showed she’d been expecting something more traditional.
“Yes, her name is Aradia,” Liza had stated firmly.
“Is that one ‘R’ or two?” came from Cheryl.
“Just one.”
Ross had leaned close to his wife as the social worker wrote the name down and asked, “Where did you get that name? Is it from a book or something?”
“It’s her name,” Liza had repeated.
“Is that an ‘E-A’ at the end?”
“‘I-A,’” Liza had replied without missing a beat.
“I’m fine that it’s her name, but… why is it her name?” Ross had asked, looking at her with large curious eyes.
“I just think it’s… really her name, you know?” Liza had shrugged, uncomfortable under her husband’s scrutiny. In truth she had felt the same curiosity that he did, but she hadn’t felt at all comfortable exploring it. Instead she just whispered, “Remember when I told you to check the axle again?”
He nodded.
“I didn’t know how I knew to check it again, but I was right. I don't know how I know now either.”
Their baby opened her eyes halfway and smiled up at them. “I just know that this little girl’s name is Aradia.”
Ross hadn’t been quite satisfied, but he knew when to back off. He never actually did get much of an explanation. At the time, he’d just smiled and added, “You were also right about her being special.”
Liza had grinned back, looking up at her husband, and said, “Yeah.”
Cheryl had cleared her throat. “And for a middle name?”
“You know,” Ross said to his wife as he reached out to stroke his poor, injured daughter’s flame-red hair. It contrasted sharply with the Dayton manor’s décor, which consisted almost entirely of black, white, and grey. “You were right about her name.”
“Of course I was,” Liza replied. “I’m always right. You still haven’t figured that out yet.”
Ross smiled weakly, but that smile grew much larger when he saw Aradia’s eyelids fluttering. It was the first movement they’d seen from her since their arrival. Noting the commotion, Roy hurried over to their side.
As Aradia began to regain consciousness the first thing she noticed was the familiar scent of a greasy spoon diner and a pine filled forest hovering about her.
She slowly opened one eye and murmured, “Hey, Roy-Boy.”
Roy smiled as he replied, “Hey Rai Rai. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was attacked.” She had meant it as a joke, but realized maybe it was too soon for that kind of humor when she saw Roy’s face grow dark.
His skin began to tighten for a transformation. Aradia grabbed his hand and said, “No, Roy. Dax did not hurt me. He saved me.”
“I know,” said Roy.
“You do?” asked Aradia.
“We do,” Ross Preston replied.
“Dad!” Aradia said, realizing her parents were in the room also. She shot bolt upright then winced in severe pain at the motion.
“Oh, Rai dear,” Liza said, seeing her daughter hurting. She rushed to inspect her injuries. “It looks like you didn’t reopen any of your wounds.”
“Hi, Mom,” Aradia replied, smiling.
“Hi, honey,” Liza said, returning the smile.
“But why…” she tried, “how…”
“I came back,” Dax answered, seeming to understand the question. He had returned to the living room immediately when he heard the conversation. “To apologize. Aradia, I am so sorry. I should have been truthful with you from the start. When I found the door wide open, I investigated. Fortunately you had previously invited me in. I found obvious signs of a struggle. I scented you and a werewolf. I followed the trail and found you in the woods.”
“You saved my life,” Aradia replied. “He was going to kill me when you arrived.”
“Thank you,” Ross said to Dax.
“It was pretty much the same story for me,” Roy said. Aradia could tell he was angry Dax had been the one to save the day, not him. “After we talked, I thought you might need some company. I came by, followed the scent. But all I found was a puddle of blood. I lost the scent when it led back to the road, but I recognized Dax’s odor.”
“Impressive,” Dax said. “Vampires are nearly impossible to detect.”
“I have a good sense of smell,” Roy replied. “Anyway, I came here and found you.”
“And we came straight away when Roy’s father called us,” Ross said. “He relayed a message that you’d been hurt and you were here.”
Aradia nodded. It made sense.
“Okay. So, what do you know about what happened? Before all that stuff you just told me, I mean,” Aradia asked, directing the question at the group in general.
Her father took point. “It was all over the seven o’clock news. You were right. Dereck Caradoc, Mr. Stanley’s business partner, is being sought on murder charges.”
“Really,” Aradia replied.
“Yeah,” Roy confirmed. “And I was wrong about Kaiser. He gave the police the hard evidence they needed.”
Aradia’s interest piqued. “Oh?”
“Yeah. He confronted Dereck directly, wearing a wire.”
“No kidding,” Aradia said. More to herself than anyone, she added, “Not as dumb as
he acts.”
“It wasn’t a real wire,” Roy clarified. “But he called 911 before barging in on Dereck. The police heard the conversation. Dereck admitted to both Vampire Murders. He rambled about some other really crazy stuff. They’ve only released clips so far, so who knows what else he said.”
That dialogue sounded fairly familiar to Aradia. “I have a pretty good idea,” she replied.
Changing topics, she said, “So, Dad, you were wrong about Dereck, and I was right. And Roy, you were wrong about Kaiser, and I was right? More or less accurate?”
The two guys nodded bashfully.
“Hmm,” Aradia replied. “Weird!”
“So Kaiser and Dereck…” Roy said. “I take it you had something to do with that?”
Aradia smiled. “I’m just glad it’s all getting sorted out.”
“I bet,” said Xan as he and Mr. Dayton joined them.
Roy stood up, planting himself between Aradia and the growing group of vampires.
“It’s okay, Roy-Boy,” Aradia said, tugging on his shirt to make him sit again.
“That’s right,” Xan agreed. “Down, boy. Good dog.”
Roy rose again, angrily, but Aradia tugged even harder on his shirt. Very reluctantly he sat.
“Xan, leave us,” Mr. Dayton directed his son.
“What?”
“Need I repeat myself?” Mr. Dayton asked without turning to look at his son. Xan did not reply again, but instead left the room in a huff.
“I apologize for that treatment,” Mr. Dayton said to Roy. Roy, not sure what to make of the exchange, merely nodded.
After that, none of them said anything until Dax’s father finally blurted out. “We know what you are.”
“What? You do?” Aradia cried out, hastily sitting up again in her eagerness and, again, grunting in pain. Mr. Dayton nodded in response.
“How is that possible?” Ross asked suspiciously.
“Let’s hear the man out,” said Liza.
Roy didn’t speak, but he was closer to Mr. Preston’s mindset. He did not trust the look on Mr. Dayton's face.
“Well?” Aradia demanded. “What am I?”
“Impatient,” Dax muttered under his breath.
Mr. Dayton cleared his throat and said, “The truth, Ms. Preston, is that for quite some time, we have not had anyone around here like you.”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Roy pointed out sarcastically.
Aradia ignored him and stared at Mr. Dayton. She was enraptured by the thought that she would finally have the answers she was looking for.
“Right,” she replied. “So where did I come from?”
“After analyzing your blood, my associates and I have definitively identified you as one of the hidden race.”
“Her blood?” Ross asked furiously.
Aradia touched his arm. “Later, Dad. Mr. Dayton, didn’t we already know I was a hidden?”
“Not necessarily,” he replied. “You can do things, yes, but you could have been a human aberration. A second evolution of the hidden line, so to speak.”
“But I’m not?”
“No, and we were confident of that from early on. You share genetic markers which are common to virtually all hiddens, but are absent from the human line. That was where our initial successes ended. Comparing your blood to samples of all documented hidden races, we found no matches to any of them.”
“So you don’t know what she is?” Roy spat venomously.
Mr. Dayton shook his head and said, “We thought not, at first. But as a matter of fact, I now do.”
Roy raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“Fortunately,” Mr. Dayton continued, “the head of the hematology department at NSMC, Dr. Krostenial, is an old friend of mine in the most literal sense. He has lived more than four thousand years. For four millennia, he has been an enthusiast and advocate of medical science. For our task, there exists no greater resource. He has gathered and preserved blood and tissue samples from other members of the hidden races throughout his years.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dayton, I thought you said you made those comparisons, but found no match?” Liza asked.
“As it is, he has in his possession samples from not just extant hidden races, but also from those which have long been extinct. It was only upon comparing your DNA to those lost races that he found a match.”
Aradia waited eagerly.
Mr. Dayton said, “According to our analysis, Aradia, you are a witch.”
Roy's mouth dropped open, as did Dax’s.
Aradia, on the other hand, looked disappointed.
“That’s all? I’m a witch?” Aradia asked, stunned. “So what? We’re in Salem. There are witches everywhere.”
Roy shook his head and said, “No, Aradia, those people are members of the human race. They are known as pagans or witches by the humans, but that’s not what Mr. Dayton is saying about you.”
“So hidden witches are different than human witches?” Aradia asked.
Roy nodded. Dax said, “Yes, Aradia. Quite. The human witches Roy mentioned are practitioners of Wicca, a sort of belief system which arose around witches of the hidden race. The witches as a people, your people, were something quite different.”
“Were…” Aradia said. This conversation was so overwhelming, so unexpected, it was taking some time to sink in. She heard Mr. Dayton’s words again: which have gone extinct…
Aradia opened her mouth to speak, but then she heard her cell phone ring.
Ross looked at Liza. “Oh!” she recalled, and fished for Aradia’s phone in her purse. She explained, “We were home when we got the call from Mr. Morales. I… thought you might want your phone.”
By the time Mrs. Preston gave the phone to Aradia, it was no longer ringing. Aradia looked at it and didn’t recognize the number. Almost immediately it started ringing again. She didn’t want to interrupt this conversation, but she worried it might be important. Aradia flipped open her phone and said, “Hello?”
“Hey baby, what’s up?”
Aradia’s face blanched.
She glanced at the others quickly, and without even bothering to give them an excuse, she walked over to the bathroom adjacent to the kitchen.
She locked the door and asked, “What do you want?”
“Your head on a platter. For starters,” Dereck replied.
“Yeah, well, besides that?” Aradia snapped.
Dereck 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?”
“In twenty minutes, you are going to meet me there, alone and unarmed.”
Aradia scoffed and replied, “Sure. I’d be happy to. Wait, no, hold on a sec, I think we watched a video on this at school once… oh yeah, I’m not supposed to commit suicide. Why in the hell would I volitionally meet you again?”
Maybe I’ll just call the cops, Aradia thought, give them an anonymous tip on where the Vampire Murderer is.
“Because if you don’t, I will kill both your parents.”
Aradia's mouth dropped open in shock and fear.
After a few seconds of gasping for air, she finally managed to sputter, “You’re... you’re bluffing!”
“Am I? Keep in mind I attacked you at your house. I know where you live. I know where your parents work. You can’t protect them all the time, and the police will never find me. Eventually I’ll get my opportunity. So ask yourself, is it going to be you or them?” Dereck asked. “If it has any bearing on your decision, I’ll take no pleasure in their deaths.”
Aradia's heart seemed to stop. She found 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 it?” Aradia snapped.
“Why would I? Everything I’ve done has been for a reason. You and the Hitzig boy ruined my original plan. The only reason remaining for me to kill anyone is to e
ntice you to meet me. Do this tonight and your parents will be safe. Don’t, and they’re dead. Even if you don’t believe me, are you willing to take that kind of a chance?”
She said nothing. For a few moments there was silence.
“Oh, one more thing. At the first sign of red and blue, I’m out of there and the deal’s off,” he added casually before he hung up the phone.
Aradia breathed heavily as she snapped her phone shut. This was obviously a trap. No, it wasn’t a trap, because a trap implied the victim didn’t know about it. She would be intentionally walking into an ambush, practically sacrificing herself. But if her parents were in danger, she knew she had no choice but to give herself up.
A knock came at the door and Aradia jumped in surprise.
Gathering her wits and composure, she said, “Um, occupied.”
“It’s Roy. Are you okay?”
Aradia inhaled deeply and replied, “Yeah, I will be out in a minute.”
She unlocked the door and said, “What’s up, Roy?”
“Rai Rai, are you okay?” His face was filled with concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied and pushed past him, not looking him in the eye.
She returned to the living room where Dax, Mr. Dayton, and her parents still were seated, chatting. That’s just a weird sight.
Mr. Dayton opened his mouth to continue his explanation of what he thought she was, but Aradia preempted him, saying, “Look, I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”
“What?” asked Dax. “Why?”
“Look, I just got to, okay!” Aradia moved towards the front door but Roy had moved to stop her.
“Rai Rai, be honest now, what’s going on? I can help. We can help.”
“Look, I’m sorry, Roy, but I can’t explain. I have to go now!”
“It’s fine, candy cane,” her father said. “We’ll take you home.”
“No,” Aradia replied. “No, you stay here. All of you. For a little while.”
She turned back to Roy, who still stood between her and the door determined to stop her. Aradia looked him right in the eye and said, “Get out of my way, Roy!”
“No, Aradia! Not like this.”
“Either you get out of my way willingly or I will make you wish you did!”
Dax clasped his hand to his forehead anticipating what would come next. Without a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed Roy by both of his arms and hoisted him right in the air. Stunned, Roy struggled to free himself from Aradia’s grasp.
She winced at the effort. Holding him up wasn’t a problem, but her arms and back were a mess.
“I’m really sorry about this,” she said, looking at him sadly. “You should have listened to me.”
She then threw him back into the Dayton's living room. He landed safely on the couch, but with such force that it caused the entire sofa to flip onto its back, Roy and all.
“Aradia,” Dax spoke. She turned to him. “‘She who fights monsters must see to it that she herself does not become a monster. When you gaze for long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also at you.’”
She hesitated a moment, considering the words. She hesitated only a moment, though.
“Don’t follow me,” she said to her parents and the Daytons. She ran out of the house.