CHAPTER FIVE

The next afternoon, Melissa met Arnie at the waterfront. Pickering Wharf was beautiful during the day, and Melissa was excited to see Arnie again.

"Let's make some memories we can actually remember here, Arnie," she said with a grin. She took his hand and led him down the path that was full of pebbles. With water on either side of them, it was windy but peaceful. As Melissa's hair floated in the breeze, she continued walking toward the edge of the path.

Arnie's hair was long enough to move in the breeze, too. Melissa smiled and said, "You need to tell me what conditioner you use, Arnie. Your hair is glorious!"

Arnie laughed and replied "Who needs conditioner when you can just shapeshift your hair into place?"

Melissa started laughing, too. "You have a point! No bad hair days for the Melissa!"

"You'd be beautiful even if you were bald, Missa," he replied.

She blushed slightly. "Missa?" She asked.

"I thought it was a cute nickname... Do you mind?" Arnie asked a little awkwardly.

He's adorable, Melissa decided. "I don't mind at all," she replied.

They continued down the path, holding hands until they reached the lighthouse at the end. "I always liked this place," Melissa said. "It's a shame the inside is closed to the public."

Arnie smirked and asked, "Is it?" He immediately started to pick the lock. The door opened easily.

"Gasp!" Melissa cried, dramatically placing her right hand over her chest. "Have I fallen for a villain?"

"Sometimes, heroes need to know how to pick locks, too," Arnie replied. He ignored the more intimate part of her question. Maybe it was too soon to declare she was falling for him, but Melissa was already swooning and couldn't really hide it.

Ease up on the declaration of feelings, Melissa, she scolded herself. It's only been a couple of days. Don't scare the poor guy off.

Arnie took her hand again and led her into the lighthouse. It was a very small lighthouse, only standing about twenty feet tall and twelve by twelve feet wide, but Melissa was still excited to finally see the inside of it.

"I know it's a little bit underwhelming," Arnie said apologetically.

"Are you kidding?" Melissa asked. "It's amazing, Arnie."

He smiled at her enthusiasm. "It's protected by the Salem Witches," he informed her.

"Really?" Melissa asked in surprise.

"Yeah, they blessed it a while back. It's a sanctuary against evil. If you're ever in serious danger, this is a great place to hide."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"There are a lot of secret sanctuaries around Salem."

"Will you show them to me?"

"All of them?" Arnie asked with a laugh.

"Sure! Why not? A girl's got to know how to protect herself, right?" And it means we'll get to spend even more time together, she added silently.

"Well, I can't argue with that," Arnie decided. "For now, let's just enjoy this one."

Melissa smiled as Arnie wrapped his arms around her. She snuggled against him and let herself feel the magick flowing through the lighthouse. They stayed like that for a bit before emerging and walking back toward one of the benches that provided an incredible view of the water.

They sat down on the bench and began kissing. Melissa was thrilled by that development. Kissing Arnie was officially her new favorite thing in the world. After a few intense moments, they broke the kiss.

"I could stay like this forever," Melissa said as she rested her head on Arnie's shoulder. The sky was full of color as the sun began to set. She'd seen many beautiful sunsets in Salem over the years, but this one felt special somehow.

"I wish I could do that, but duty calls," Arnie replied sadly.

"Can I come along?" Melissa asked hopefully.

"Cassandra would murder me if I brought you out patrolling without training you first," Arnie replied apologetically. "Once Alex looks into whether or not we can train you, we'll talk. For now, let me walk you home."

Home was the last place Melissa wanted to go, but she nodded and stood up anyway. "Alright," she said. "I'll lead the way." She took his hand and started walking back to her house, savoring every moment she could with Arnie before she had to return to a place that was anything but a sanctuary.

~*~

Aideen was getting nervous. It was a quiet night in Salem. Too quiet. She was with Cassandra and Arnie, patrolling the hot spots and searching for the slightest sign of trouble or general chaos, but there was none.

The streets were empty. There was a stillness in the air that wasn't natural. Aideen's chest felt tight with anxiety. By all appearances, everything was perfectly fine, but appearances were often deceiving.

"Something's not right," Cassandra said suddenly.

"That's what I was just thinking," Aideen replied.

"I don't see anything," Arnie said, looking through the darkness for whatever the girls might have picked up on.

"That's the problem, Arnie," Aideen said. "It's way too quiet."

"Maybe the bad guys took a night off?" He asked hopefully. "I mean they're unionized, right? Don't they get holidays? Sick pay? Overtime?"

"Arnie, shut up and be serious for once," Cassandra said sharply.

"Well, what do you think it is, Miss Cranky Pants?" He asked. Few slayers had the nerve to speak to Cassandra that way, but Arnie couldn't help himself sometimes.

Cassandra ignored his sarcasm and explained the problem. "We've checked the waterfront, the cemeteries, the museums, and the parks... we didn't find a single warlock, demon, vampire, corrupt slayer, or even a stray devil worshipper. The bad guys have to be somewhere."

Suddenly, a scream burst from Arnie's mouth, and it was too high-pitched to be his own.

"Arnie?" Aideen called cautiously. This certainly wasn't the first time he'd gotten pulled to someone else. His visions sometimes triggered his empathy and trapped him in someone else's trauma.

"Why are they after me?" Arnie's body asked, but the voice and tone sounded as though they belonged to a girl. "What do they want? I don't understand... No! Don't hurt her!"

"What the hell is happening to him?" Cassandra asked.

"He got pulled somewhere," Aideen said. "Someone is in serious trouble."

"Let go of me! Oh God... Help!" Arnie's body shrieked.

"Pull him back and ask him who it is," Cassandra said.

"That's easier said than done, Cass. He's in deep. Look, he's bleeding," Aideen said in concern. Several cuts began appearing on Arnie's arms.

Cassandra cursed. "Alright, what do we do?" She asked.

"I'm going to try to go in after him and pull him back, but if I can't do it, get Spencer and Alex."

"Done," Cassandra agreed.

"Cassandra?" Aideen began.

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"Anchor me. If I get lost where he is, there's no guarantee you'll get either of us back. You are literally the least empathic person I know. You'll make an excellent anchor."

"Alright," Cassandra agreed. "I can do that." She held Aideen's left hand, while Aideen placed her right hand on the center of Arnie's forehead, right over his third eye. Within moments, Aideen fell unconscious beside Arnie. Cassandra did not let go of her hand.

Aideen was pulled into Arnie's mind. She sensed him struggling to free himself from the vision, but he wasn't having much luck.

"Arn," Aideen called. He didn't appear to hear her. "Arnie!" She tried again.

Arnie was still screaming and twitching as he experienced the attack. Aideen grabbed onto him and finally saw what he was seeing.

"Crap," Aideen mumbled. "Arnie, come back to me," she said. "We have to help them, and we can't do it from here."

Arnie still didn't respond. "Arnold!" Aideen finally snapped.

He cringed, but the use of his legal name annoyed him enough to snap him out of his entranced state. His eyes began to focus, and he finally seemed to see her. "Deenie..." He mumbled as he struggled to regain control of his mind. "Deenie, we need to hurry!"

"I know. Come on," she replied. She held onto him tightly and focused on releasing them both from the vision.

From Cassandra's point of view, nothing appeared to happen for a couple of minutes. Arnie continued shrieking, and more cuts appeared on various parts of his flesh. None were very deep, but it was still concerning.

The injuries looked like tiny claw marks. Cassandra was beginning to worry that she wouldn't get Arnie and Aideen back when Aideen's right hand began to move. Although she was still unconscious, she grabbed onto Arnie's left hand, and moments later, Aideen gasped and opened her eyes. A couple of seconds after that, so did Arnie.

"What the hell happened?" Cassandra demanded, letting go of Aideen's hand.

"It's Beth and Jade," Arnie said. "They're being attacked. Somehow, I got pulled to Beth."

Cassandra cursed again. "Okay, where are they?"

"They're in Gallows Hill Park. They got there right after we left."

"Are you okay to work?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Arnie promised.

"Then let's go save them." Cassandra helped Arnie stand up. Aideen had already gotten up on her own. Together, they headed toward Gallows Hill Park. They weren't far, but it still took them a couple of minutes to reach their destination.

When they arrived, Beth was shrieking at the top of her lungs as a dozen warlocks pinned her down and shot spells at her. Jade lay unconscious and bleeding a few feet away. Her injuries looked pretty serious, but not fatal.

When Beth saw Arnie, Aideen, and Cassandra, her eyes filled with hope. "Help us!" She screamed. "Please!"

The three slayers attacked the warlocks. Arnie pulled out his dagger and whispered an incantation before using it to stab one of the younger ones. The kid was probably about his age. The warlock stumbled backward. He didn't bleed because the incantation was not meant to cause physical harm, but he instantly fell into a deep sleep.

Cassandra was using some of her favorite Martial Arts moves on three of the warlocks. Every time they shot a spell at her, they missed because she was too quick for them. She brought her knee up into the stomach of one of the warlocks, instinctively elbowed the one that came up behind her in the groin, and slammed her palm into the nose of the third, which pushed the bridge of his nose into his brain and killed him instantly. Down to two, Cassandra used her silver sword to decapitate the one she'd elbowed in the groin. The other one ran away as fast as he could.

Cassandra normally wouldn't have let someone get away, but Arnie screamed in agony as one of the warlocks hit him with a torture spell that threw him into a seizure, and she couldn't leave him like that.

"Arnie!" Aideen screamed. She and Cassandra reached him at the same time. His convulsions were severe, and Cassandra was barely able to keep his head from repeatedly slamming against the ground as she managed to turn him on his side.

Only two warlocks remained. They were heading toward Beth, who stood defenseless and terrified. She was a sitting duck, and if they didn't act, she'd be dead in seconds.

"Get Beth the hell out of here," Cassandra said firmly. "I'll take care of Arnie and Jade."

"Okay," Aideen said reluctantly. She clearly didn't want to leave Arnie's side, but she knew how to take an order from a higher-ranked slayer when she needed to. This wasn't one of the times she was going to protest just for the sake of arguing, especially since Beth and Jade were probably about to die.

Aideen ran toward Beth, who was shrieking again. The two remaining warlocks, a man and a woman, had her pinned down and were chanting over her. She appeared to be in a great deal of pain.

"Beth, run!" Aideen said, kicking the female warlock away from Beth, which successfully distracted the male. "I'll get Jade out of here!"

Beth didn't have to be told twice. Even though she was hurt, she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She hadn't run far, however, when she had a bad feeling. She looked back at Aideen, just in time to see the male warlock raising a sword.

"Aideen!" Beth shouted. "Look out!"

Her warning came seconds too late. The blade of the sword came down and Aideen was decapitated.