CHAPTER NINE

Aideen blinked at him for several moments before saying, "Do you realize that you just told me you were hired to kill me and that you're here to protect me in under five minutes?" She finally asked.

"I told you it would sound crazy," he replied. "I'm not sure I understand it either, but I feel it in my gut. I'm supposed to protect you."

"Look, you have me at a disadvantage. I don't even know your name," she said.

"I'm Evan," he replied. He paused. Had he just told her his real name? He was slipping.

"I like that name. It's sexy," she grinned. "It suits you. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Evan. I would love to tell you that you're crazy, but I think you're right. When I saw you on the waterfront, I felt a connection to you."

"I can't believe you saw me," he said in surprise. "No one sees me when I don't want to be seen."

"What can I say? I'm talented."

"Will you trust me to protect you?" Evan asked.

"Yes," Aideen replied without hesitating. "You saved my life today, and you risked your own to do it. That's more than enough to earn my trust."

"Your bodyguard wasn't there. I saw Cassandra following you around yesterday."

"You know her name?"

"She's famous, or infamous, depending on how you look at it. I knew her name before I ever came to Salem."

"She was taking care of an issue in the Common. I told her I'd be fine walking with Courtney, but then Court's boyfriend showed up and gave her a lift, and she very clearly wanted to be alone with him, so I decided to just walk on my own. I guess that was dumb of me."

"You're not dumb in any sense, Aideen," he said firmly.

"You barely know me," she pointed out.

"I've been watching you."

"That's both the creepiest and sexiest thing I've heard in a long time."

"Where were you heading?"

"School, technically. I don't always go to class, but I've been trying to make more of an effort since it's my senior year."

"I'll take you there," Evan decided.

"I'd rather stay here with you."

"Your friends will worry."

"That's what telepathy's for."

"School is important. You said you're a senior. You should enjoy your last year in high school."

"I'd enjoy it more if I could do some independent study... For example, I'd like to study the sexy young stranger who likes saving the lives of the people that he's supposed to kill."

"You're not very subtle," he said with a slight laugh.

"Subtle is boring."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Absolutely."

He grinned again. No one ever made him smile like that, but around Aideen, it came easily. "Okay, I guess nearly getting killed warrants skipping school. You can stay here until it's a bit safer."

"I may be here for a long time then."

"That might not be such a bad thing." He shook his head. "I'm not normally like this."

"It suits you."

"You don't know me," he reminded her.

"I know how to read people. Beneath your scary hit man persona, there's something more, and apparently, I bring it out in you. We should hang out more often, especially since you're determined to protect me."

"And if I tried to say no?"

"I'd get my way anyway," she replied mischievously.

He studied her for a moment before he said, "You know what? I suspect that you would."

~*~

Arnie was on his way to the one class he couldn't bring himself to skip when Aideen remembered to let him know that she was okay.

Where are you? He asked. I've been freaking out trying to find you.

Sorry, Aideen sent back. I'm shacking up with a sexy hit man who was supposed to kill me but now wants to protect me instead.

Baffled, Arnie only managed to send back, Huh?

Aideen laughed inside his mind and said, I'll explain it all later.

Arnie had trouble focusing after that, but when Miss Keller came into the class, she held his attention. The lesson wasn't overly interesting, but her musical voice almost commanded that he listen to her.

After class, he remained at his desk, staring at her. Why was she so familiar? He needed to figure out what drew him to her soon, or he'd go insane. He had to understand the connection he felt to her.

"Arnie? Are you okay?" She asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he replied, gathering his belongings and standing up.

She put a gentle hand on his shoulder and said, "You know, if you ever need to talk, I'm always available."

He smiled at her. "Thanks, Miss Keller. Most teachers don't care about me all that much." Silently, he added, Of course, most of them don't see me often enough to care.

"I'm sure they care more than you think," she replied sweetly.

Awkwardly, Arnie left the room. It was becoming clear to him that she felt the connection, too, but he wasn't sure how to approach her about it.

~*~

Ellyn Barnum sat in her bedroom looking over the Tarot spread before her. The spreads were becoming more ominous every day. It looked like a woman was in terrible danger, and if she lost her battle, the entire town would be destroyed. Yesterday, she'd made a psychic tea and had terrible dreams of death, destruction, and chaos. The dreams kept showing her a girl she didn't know. Wicca was so popular in town, there was a good chance the girl wasn't Christian, but if she was, she didn't belong to her father's congregation.

Annoyed with the apocalyptic spread, Ellyn decided to go for a walk to clear her mind. She automatically headed toward the waterfront and dazed out. She was startled when she bumped into someone.

"Sorry," she said quickly. She froze when she looked into the person's face. "You!"

"Excuse me?" The girl she'd bumped into asked. She was standing next to someone else that Ellyn didn't know who moved protectively in front of her at Ellyn's outburst.

"Okay, who are you and why do you hold the key to the end of the world?" Ellyn demanded.

The girl stared at her for a moment. "Hi," she said. "I'm Aideen. This is Evan. And you are?"

"Ellyn, the girl who keeps having bizarre dreams about you."

"Have we met?"

"No, but you're in my dreams constantly, and when you fall victim to some invisible danger, the world ends, and my tarot spreads all keep predicting Salem's inevitable doom, and when I drink psychic teas, the dreams just get worse. What the hell is going on? Who are you?"

"I just told you who I am."

"What did you dream?" Evan asked.

"I keep seeing her die, and then all I see is death and chaos. Oh, and zombies. Let's not forget about the zombies," Ellyn replied.

"Zombies? Interesting," Aideen said. "I am a necromancer, but I don't usually raise zombies. My friend Randy cries every time we run into one."

Ellyn sighed. "Maybe I didn't approach this very well," she admitted. "I just didn't expect to suddenly see the girl from my nightmares standing around in broad daylight."

"I know almost everyone in the supernatural community, but I don't know you. Why is that?" Aideen asked.

"I'm not part of the supernatural community. I'm a Christian."

"Um... Really? A Christian who brews psychic teas and does tarot spreads and has prophetic dreams?"

Evan shrugged. "A lot of the saints were prophets," he pointed out.

"I'm so not a saint," Ellyn replied. "I'm just me. I dabble in voodoo sometimes, but for the most part, I'm a practicing Christian."

"Well, Ellyn, you're clearly having these dreams for a reason," Aideen said. She scrawled her contact information down in a notebook and tore the page out for Ellyn. "If anything else comes up, call me. If I'm not available and it's an emergency, call the other number. That's Alex, a friend of mine. He usually knows where to find me, and he's generally a good person to turn to when things get really weird."

Ellyn took the paper and nodded. "Okay. You'll be hearing from me. I want to figure this out."

"So do I. Come on, Evan, let's go."

Ellyn watched them walk away. There are no coincidences, she thought. Maybe now this will all start to make sense.

~*~

Courtney looked exhausted when Aideen came home. She was curled up on the couch covered with a blanket and cuddling her favorite teddy bear.

"Are you okay, Sis?" Aideen asked in concern.

"I'm fine," Courtney replied.

"She's sick," Clarissa corrected her, joining them. "She passed out on Rafe earlier and he had to carry her home."

"I don't even have a cough or anything," Courtney protested.

"Your temperature's high and you're weak. This isn't up for debate, Courtney. You need rest."

"You're overreacting, Mom."

"Don't fight it, Court. If Mom's willing to let you stay in bed and rest all day, milk it for all it's worth," Aideen said with a grin.

"I feel fine now," Courtney insisted.

"She's probably just love sick," Aideen teased her.

"You're just jealous."

"Yeah, sure, Court, that's it. I'm jealous. Only I have my eyes on a tall, dark, handsome fellow, so you can keep your cherub angel."

"Who are you crushing on?" Courtney asked, suddenly reenergized at the subject of romance.

"He's new in town. His name's Evan," Aideen replied.

"How'd you meet him?"

"He was hired to kill me."

"What?!" Clarissa demanded.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you about that sooner? Yeah, apparently the witches and the vampires both put prices on my head. I feel so special."

"That isn't funny, Deenie," Clarissa said in horror.

"I'm not joking. Anyway, Evan decided he'd rather save my life than kill me, and he's insanely hot, so I'm not going to hold a little thing like his first two attempts on my life against him."

"I can't believe they'd take things this far... And did you just say his first two attempts?"

"Yeah, but he missed, which pisses him off because apparently, he's never missed a target before."

"You're awfully calm about this," Courtney said.

Aideen shrugged. "As I've said before, if I don't laugh, I'll cry and never leave the house again. Besides, Evan makes a pretty awesome bodyguard, and as I also said before, he's hot."

Clarissa and Courtney laughed, but no one was reassured. If the vampires and witches were hiring professional killers, they'd just considerably raised the stakes. They needed a resolution, and they needed one soon or Aideen might end up dead for good.

~*~

The night initially seemed peaceful. There hadn't been much activity to handle while Arnie was on slayer duty. He and Melissa had spent most of the night goofing around and making out. As he headed back to the Berlin house, however, he spotted trouble.

One of the sophomores from Bishop High School, Kitten McPherson, was leaning against a tree. Her long red hair was darker than usual, and Arnie realized she was bleeding from her head. He immediately stopped to check on her. Although everyone knew who Kit McPherson was, he didn't really know Kit personally. Still, he refused to just leave someone injured, especially a teenage girl.

"Are you alright, Kit?" He asked. "Who attacked you?"

"Just some idiot who didn't know who he was messing with," she replied. "Don't worry. I don't need a hero." She motioned toward the corpse that had fallen a few feet away.

There were no outward signs of physical damage on the body. "How did you do it?" Arnie asked, realizing that Kit must have used some kind of magick.

"You know, it was the strangest thing," Kit replied innocently. "He forgot that no means no, and all of a sudden, he just drowned!"

"On dry land?" Arnie asked skeptically.

"Isn't that strange?" Kit replied.

"You're hydrokinetic," Arnie realized.

"And you catch on so quickly!" She laughed.

Arnie began healing Kit's head injury. "I told you, I don't need a hero," she said again. "Of course, if you'd like to swoop me up in those big, strong arms of yours, I wouldn't object," she added flirtatiously.

"I've got a girlfriend," he said with a laugh. It felt strange to say the words aloud, but in a good way. He liked being able to claim Melissa as his girlfriend. It felt right. "So, this guy was just a random creep?" Arnie asked.

"He was just an idiot vampire who couldn't tell the difference between a witch and a warlock," Kit clarified.

"You're a warlock?" Arnie asked in surprise.

"Wow, Slayer, you didn't realize that?" Kit teased him. "It's a good thing you're hot."

"Oops, I just saved one of the bad guys... Cassandra is gonna be pissed," Arnie mumbled.

"I'm not one of the bad guys," Kit protested.

"You're a warlock."

"So's Arthur White, but you hang out with him."

"Arthur's different," Arnie replied. "Are you in the E.V.S?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure they'll invite me soon. For now, I have to settle for the Bishop High School Wiccan Club." She rolled her eyes.

"I thought you said that you're not a witch," Arnie said in confusion.

"A girl needs to have her extracurriculars," Kit replied with a laugh. "Let's just say that I'm undecided, but by birth, I'm a warlock, and I'm not part of the witches versus vampires war, so they need to leave me alone."

Arnie examined her head. "You're healed now. Let me walk you home."

"How chivalrous of you. No thanks. I'll be alright."

"Kit, you just got attacked," Arnie protested.

"And I won," Kit pointed out. "I can handle myself, Slayer. Go save someone who needs it." She paused and pulled out a piece of paper, writing something down before adding, "If you ever feel like cheating on your girlfriend, hit me up." She grinned at him with mischief in her eyes.

"That'll never happen," he replied with a laugh. "Get home safe, Kit, okay?" He was pretty sure that no one would survive messing with Kit McPherson, so he let her go and started heading toward the Berlin house again.

Arnie had a bad feeling as he approached the place he came closer to calling home than any of the other foster homes he'd lived in. Something was very wrong. He started to run toward the house as fast as his feet would carry him.

He smelled the problem before he saw it. His mind refused to believe what his heart already knew. When he arrived at the house, he could no longer deny what was happening. The Berlin house was engulfed in flames and the entire family was trapped inside.