“As you wish, sir,” he said, closing the door behind me.
My gaze quickly searched the room for any shadowy signs of life. In the corner at the back of the room stood a familiar Shadow. The Shadow from the bar, the one who’d licked Izzy’s neck. I started forward, but the library doors opened again before I could confront him.
I spun to face the latest threat, not too surprised to see Damien standing in the doorway, looking as douchey as ever. He wore a turtleneck sweater even though with the fire in the fireplace the temperature hovered around eighty degrees.
“You have the pea?” he asked, nodding to the box in my hands.
“I want to see Izzy first,” I demanded. “Once she’s safe I’ll give it to you.”
He laughed. “Nice try, Mr. Reynolds. But I’m the one in . . .” he shot me a slimy smile, “in charge, if you will.”
“Funny,” I said in a tone indicating just what I thought of his attempt at humor. Considering Izzy’s, my own, and the entire fairy population’s lives were at stake, I found very little humor in the situation. “Where’s Izzy?”
“She’s quite a woman, isn’t she?” Damien took a few steps into the room. Behind him, two more Shadows rolled a cart inside. It was covered with a tarp, which sent the blue hairs on the back of my neck dancing with electricity. I had a feeling I knew exactly what lay beneath it.
My jaw clenched. “If you’ve hurt her . . .”
Damien shook his head. “And why would I do that? Izzy and I go way back.” He paused, his gaze hard on my face. “We were engaged once. Did you know that?” His grin grew. “By the look on your face, I’m guessing she forgot to mention that little tidbit.”
CHAPTER 54
No way in hell. Izzy would never fall for a Damien, let alone for a Shadow. Their hate for each other was written in her DNA. “You’re lying,” I said, but a part of me knew that he spoke the truth. I thought of the first night I’d met Izzy. She’d said she’d kept her fairy side from her fiancé. Had he kept his shadowy side from her too? Or was this the work of the Fairy Council, an attempt at trying to mend the rift between the two factions by sacrificing Izzy? I wouldn’t put it past the little buggers.
Damien laughed without humor. “I hate to admit it but Isabella broke off our engagement a little over a year ago.” He shrugged. “She claimed her father didn’t approve of the match.”
Jack the Tooth Ripper had begun his murderous campaign, starting with Izzy’s own father, around the same time. Had Izzy’s breaking off the engagement twisted Damien enough that he’d exact revenge on anyone with a pair of wings? Or was his murderous floss spree less about revenge and more about greed? After all, Damien didn’t strike me as the sentimental type of guy. I had no doubt he would kill Izzy, former lover or not, without the slightest hesitation unless I gave him what he wanted. “Life’s a bitch,” I said. “Can we get on with this?”
One of his light-colored eyebrows rose. “Eagar to die, Mr. Reynolds?” When I didn’t comment he smiled brighter. “As I was saying, Isabella means a lot to me.”
“I could tell by the way you held her at knifepoint. So much love.”
He chuckled. “My point is,” he paused, “I would’ve never hurt Isabella. I loved her. Took care of her. Kept her safe. Unlike yourself. . .” He gestured to the two Shadows behind him. They lifted the tarp off the rolling cart, exposing a glass bottle that stood about five feet tall and the color of pea pods. It was narrow at the top, with a wide base. Condensation obscured the object inside, but I knew what or rather who was inside.
I wanted to rush forward, to save Izzy from her glass confines, but I couldn’t. Not yet. So I stood there watching as Damien tapped the bottle. “Are you still breathing, Isabella? Your new boyfriend wants to say hello.”
Izzy, who lay sprawled on the bottom of the bottle, lifted her head. Her eyes met mine, and what I saw there nearly undid me. It wasn’t pain but cold, desolate acceptance of her fate. She was dying, and by the sheen of sweat on her face, would expire very soon. All the life and fight the pink-winged fairy once had was gone, stolen by a lack of dentin and a glass bottle.
“As you can see, Isabella is a bit under the weather,” Damien said with a chuckle. “I believe fairies call it dentin sick? A nasty business. But you know fairies. They are weak. Easily manipulated, like their boy toys.”
“Let her go.”
“No,” he said.
“Let her go. And I’ll give you the pea.”
He laughed again, this time with greater emphasis. “You will give me the pea either way, Mr. Reynolds.”
The Shadow, who stood in the darkness behind me, the one from the bar, took a few steps closer to me. The hairs on the back of my neck swirled to life as my body began to hum.
“No,” Izzy said from her glass enclosure. “Don’t give it to them, Blue. They’ll kill you once they have it.”
I glanced at Izzy and her sweaty, pale face and then back to Damien. This was it. I opened the wooden box in my hands.
Damien smiled with satisfaction bordering on full-on gloating. “That’s a good Blue boy.”
“No!” That one word exhausted her, for her head lolled back and she slumped farther down in the bottle.
Fear bubbled deeper inside me. Izzy needed dentin in the next few minutes or she would die. I ran my tongue over my teeth, considering.
I pulled the blackened pea from the box, holding it up to the light, as if inspecting it. “You want this?” I asked Damien.
His satisfied smile dropped a few notches.
“Come get it.” I opened my mouth wide, swallowing the magic pea in a single gulp.
CHAPTER 55
The pea cleared my pharynx on the journey down my esophagus at the same time Damien and his shadowy counterparts started forward. I glanced down at the wooden box in my hand and then threw it as hard as I could at the glass bottle that held Izzy. It smashed into the glass, which vibrated from the attack.
A crack started at the bottom of the bottle, growing larger and larger, and then the bottle shattered into millions of pieces. I turned to avoid the brunt of the flying glass, but sharp edges tore into my flesh. Thankfully, Damien and his friends took the full force of the shrapnel. It mowed them down, stopping their forward assault. Maybe we would survive this after all, I thought until I caught sight of Izzy.
She lay on the ground just behind Damien. At first I thought she was dead, but then I caught a small flutter of her wings. The relief I felt made me dizzy.
Izzy was still alive.
Now I had to keep us both that way.
Easier said than done, I thought, as Damien and his followers gained their feet.
Time for plan B.
The only problem was I didn’t have one.
CHAPTER 56
“Easy, guys,” I said, backing up a step. I needed more time. Just a few more minutes. “Let’s talk about this.”
Damien wiped a stream of blood pouring from a wound on his forehead. “That was a stupid thing to do, Mr. Reynolds. I considered letting Isabella live long enough to watch you die, but now I will kill her first as you watch.” He smiled with pure evil. “And you will go to your death knowing her blood is on your hands.”
“Now, now,” I said. “Let’s not get all ‘whose blood is on whose hands’ just yet. . . .”
The alarm on my cell phone beeped once, telling me it was time to end this charade.
“Or better yet . . . now seems like as good a time as any,” I said, rushing him. Once I was less than a foot away, my right arm swung back, and with every ounce of energy in my body, I slammed my fist into his smiling face.
Blood and shattered teeth exploded from his pulverized lips, showering the dentin-starved fairy just behind us. My satisfaction lasted a few seconds, just enough time for Damien to return the favor, jamming his surprisingly solid fist into my ribs with enough force to knock me off my feet. I stumbled back, catching myself as the pea threated to make a return visit.
I raised my fists,
ready to go a few rounds with Damien and his legion of Shadows. But I was too late.
Or rather just on time for once.
Before Damien and his legion of bad guys had time to pulverize me, the library exploded with a cloud of white powder. I swallowed a lungful, nearly hitting the floor as my head swam. A swirl of colors flashed across my vision. I blinked a few times, trying to focus, while my blood sang the fairy-dust “Hallelujah Chorus.”
A loud bang sounded from the doorway and then wooden doors flew inward with the speed of a locomotive. A really short one, as what seemed like thousands of angry fairies with teeth-coated weapons swarmed the room, Penelopee at their helm. Just like we’d planned, only I’d never expected the fairies to actually come through.
Penelopee was merely supposed to find Clayton and Peyton to try to convince them to help save Izzy, not to mention stopping me from handing Damien the key to their ultimate destruction. Which explained why they were here now, armed to the canine teeth.
Damien took one look at the mass of fairies invading his fortress and ran for it. But he was quickly swarmed by the winged warriors. I threw my body over Izzy’s to protect her from the tiny feet, tucking her underneath me as chaos in the smallest form swirled around us. Cries and grunts filled the air as Shadow and fairy went head-to-head. By the number of fairies in the library, I assumed all of Fairyland was close at hand, fighting for their freedom.
When the toxic cloud from the fairy-dust grenade cleared, Damien had vanished, leaving behind only a pile of fairies and no bad guy.
He’d somehow managed to escape in the chaos filling the library. But not for long, if the bloodlust in the fairies’ eyes was an indication of what was to come. War was on the horizon, and Damien had better watch his shadowy back.
I slowly sat up, finally, for once, happy to see Clayton and Peyton. They had saved the day.
My good opinion of the brothers faded when Clayton pointed a very sharp molar in my direction. “You have something that belongs to us?”
“So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” I moved off Izzy, shaking my head with affected disgust, not terribly surprised to find myself on the wrong end of a tooth.
Jonas stepped from behind Clayton, holding an equally sharpened tooth. “I did warn you, Blue.”
I grinned, slowly gaining my feet. Both fairies backed up two steps. My smile widened. “Right. I believe you said something to the effect of,” my gaze fell on the pink-winged fairy on the floor at my feet, “fairies will do anything to get the pea.” I paused as the full implications of my words struck me. “Anything.”
Up to and including attempted murder of yours truly. I pictured the first night Izzy and I had met and the hail of bullets, which, at the time, I believed were aimed at Izzy.
Izzy raised her head, bits of Damien’s shattered teeth embedded in her wings. She slowly stood, brushing off bits of molar and blood. She stared at me for a long moment, not speaking, and then she hauled off and punched me in the nose.
“What was that for?” I asked, rubbing my already swollen nostrils. Thankfully, the fairy-dust bomb was still rushing through my blood, easing the pain of her attack. But I had a feeling I already knew the answer.
Her face burned with anger. “What were you thinking? I’ve risked everything to keep you alive, went against my own people to save your hide, and here you are, offering the pea to Damien. . . .” She turned on her heel, nearly slapping me in the face with her wing. “I never should’ve believed in you.”
Anger raced through me. I grabbed her arm and spun her back toward me. “Don’t you walk away from me, Izzy. You owe me some answers.”
“I owe you?” She laughed without humor. “You’re kidding, right? I’m the only reason you’re still alive.”
“Only because your friends there,” I motioned to Jonas and his toothy crew, “decided killing me was a better idea than the possibility I would find the pea and betray the fairies.” I frowned as the implications of the last week hit me. Izzy never was in danger from some green-winged fairy, at least not until she stupidly became the Tooth Fairy. I was. “The Council put a hit out on me, didn’t they?” Which explained the drive-by. So why had Izzy protected me? I asked her as much.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over. You can go back to sleeping with your clients,” she nodded to Penelopee, “with my blessing.”
I took a step toward Izzy, my body burning with anger and electrical current at her words. Some might’ve considered it a menacing step. Clayton and Jonas apparently did, for both of them smacked me in the back of the knees with their molar wands. I fell forward, catching myself before face-planting. The fairies moved in for the kill.
“Stop,” Izzy yelled, her tone brooking no argument.
The fairies froze, holding their tooth-sharp weapons over their heads. They glanced from Izzy to me and then back again, as if begging to smack me just one more time. She shook her head. They lowered their molars.
“Good dogs,” I said with a chuckle.
“Blue,” Izzy snapped, “please don’t make Jonas want to kill you anymore than he does already.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Just Jonas? You don’t want me dead too, Clayton?”
“I’m thinking Jonas might have a point.” Clayton tucked his small arms over his chest.
“I can’t believe that you used me,” I said to Izzy, “that you acted like you were in danger so you could keep tabs on me. To see if I would find Mervin’s magic pea.”
Clayton grinned. “The bug in your cell phone helped.”
Not to be outdone, Peyton stepped forward. “The tracking device we placed in your boot worked too.”
“Is that so?” I flicked a bolt of electricity straight at the twins. They jumped back just in time, leaving a nice-sized hole in Damien’s hardwood floor. I turned my attention to Izzy.
My eyes blazed, growing bug-zapper blue. Unable to stop her wings, Izzy stepped toward me, caught in my electric gaze, much like I’d been trapped in her lies. A part of me wanted to zap her, to cause her as much pain as she’d inflicted on me.
But I wasn’t that kind of guy, so instead, I clamped down on the voltage, swallowing the electricity until my internal organs quivered.
Every word she’d ever said was a lie, a way to get me to do her bidding. And I’d fallen for every single one. I held her gaze for a moment, then I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out the necklace I’d mistakenly received at the jail, the necklace her father had given her. She reached for the gold chain, which I dropped into her open palm. “Have a nice life, Isabella.”
“We aren’t done, Blue.” She fingered the gold chain, her eyes going from it to me. “Not yet.”
“I know,” I whispered, heading for the door. Izzy’s betrayal would haunt me for a very long time.
The fairies filling the room parted like the Red Sea as I stormed past, the bitter taste of lies as well as the hundred-year-old pea I’d swallowed in the back of my throat.
CHAPTER 57
I yawned and then winced as every bone in my body screamed in protest. I was now truly Blue, as bruises in an array of bluish colors covered my ribs. Damien had gotten in a nice punch. Not good enough, since I was still alive and he didn’t have his magic pea. I was fairly sure it was only a matter of time until our paths crossed again.
The thought of him walking around a free man set my teeth on edge. How the hell had the fairies let him escape? In all fairness, vanishing in a puff of smoke was a pretty good excuse.
My anger at Damien soon transferred to the pink-winged fairy responsible for the entire mess. She’d lied to me from the moment we’d met, claiming Jack the Tooth Ripper was after her, when, in truth, she was after the pea.
Since I’d swallowed said pea, I needed to watch my back or else I might find a sharpened toothbrush through my spine.
An hour later, as I settled onto a fluffy, feather hotel bed that cost more than I’d made in the last ten years, I let out a loud sigh
.
Penelopee, who had insisted we spend the night at the upscale hotel rather than return to my apartment, sat on the bed a few feet away, smiling.
“Penelopee,” I said, reaching out but dropping my hands before I accidentally fried her and subsequently burned down the entire hotel. “You sure saved the day. Thank you.”
She blinked at me. “Once I got over the smell of cabbage radiating from Clayton, it was a pretty easy favor. And both the twins were happy to help.”
I bet. After all, if the pea got into Damien’s hands, all was lost for the winged devils. Damn Izzy. Why did she have to lie to me? But I knew the answer. I wouldn’t have stopped searching for the pea, no matter what. Just like I wouldn’t have given up my quest to catch Jack the Tooth Ripper. Blue Reynolds solved the case, against all odds.
Penelopee slowly stood, heading for the well-stocked minibar. Glass clinked and she soon returned with two highball glasses filled with ice and amber liquor. The liquor was appreciated; the ice not so much. I took a glass from her hand.
“I can’t believe how Isabella lied to you, used you, and nearly got you killed tonight,” the princess was saying, “and for what?”
“To save the fairies, I suppose.”
She scoffed. “Tonight wasn’t just about the pea. Not entirely.”
“Then what else?”
Her tongue darted from her lips, wetting the soft flesh. “Isabella was looking for payback too.”
“Payback? From whom?” As I asked the question, I knew the answer. Damien. He’d lied tonight. Izzy hadn’t broken their engagement. He had. She’d told me as much our first night together. Damien had dumped her because of her wings.
Penelopee took a long drink from her glass. “I’ve been in her glass slippers. I know what it feels like to want revenge on the person responsible for hurting you.” She paused, her eyes searching my face. “I never got it, and to this day his betrayal is like a scab that won’t heal.”
The Fairyland Murders Page 19