The Fairyland Murders by J.A. Kazimer Read Free Book Online

didn’t move, just stared into my eyes as if weighing my soul. I’ll admit it freaked me out more than the hail of bullets had. Finally, she licked her lips and spoke. “Do you really want to know?”
    â€œI asked, didn’t I?” I flagged down the bartender and motioned for another round. “One thing you’ll learn about me, Izzy.” My voice lowered, turning my words into a threat. “I get what I want—answers, revenge, all of it. Nothing gets in my way.” Which sounded like an arrogant boast, but Izzy and I needed to start off on the right foot. I was the boss. She would do what I asked, when I asked.
    It was the only way to keep her safe.
    Her smile suggested my threat had missed its mark. “If I tell you, I want you to answer a question for me.” I nodded, my fingers crossed underneath the table. “My . . . fiancé dumped me two days after the Fairies came,” she said.
    â€œWhy?” I leaned forward, our faces close enough for me to smell the sweet scent of grapes on her breath. She aroused my curiosity as well as other parts of my anatomy, but to be fair, the reasons behind her failed relationship weren’t any of my concern. Fuck it. I hated being fair. “Well?” I pressed when she remained silent.
    â€œThe wings.” She gave a vague wave to her wings, hidden beneath the folds of my leather jacket. “They came as a . . . shock.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “What? He didn’t realize you had wings until a year ago? What was he? Blind? Stupid? A eunuch?” How the hell had her lover missed a pair of wings? Pink wings at that? If Izzy were my girl, I’d know every inch of her body by our second date. Our first date if she drank enough.
    â€œNone of the above.” She shook her head, sending a wave of curls dancing about her face. “How much do you know about Fairies?”
    â€œNot much.” Other than the fact that they were manipulative little bastards with surprisingly sharp teeth and Napoleonic complexes to boot. After our earlier adventure, I’d have to add murderous to the list. Who else but a fairy would want the next Tooth Fairy dead? Gnomes had enough of their own shit to worry about, the trolls had found God—or Buddha, to be precise—and Shadows weren’t the drive-by type. Stab-you-in-the-back type, sure, but apparently the hazy dudes found driving a wee bit too hard.
    The soon-to-be Tooth Fairy’s tone turned clinical. “A fairy doesn’t get her wings until she reaches maturity.” My gaze dipped to her breasts, concealed under my jacket. She looked plenty mature to me. She tugged the jacket tighter around her and glared at me. “I got mine at thirteen.”
    â€œSo? I got hair on my balls at twelve.” I grinned. “What’s that have to do with your impotent fiancé?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Imagine believing you’re a thirteen-year-old human girl and instead of boobs, you sprout pink wings.”
    â€œI see your point.”
    â€œI learned to hide them.” I opened my mouth to ask her how, but she raised her hand to stop me. “The thing is, for the most part I can control when my wings appear, unlike other fairies. I’ve kept them hidden from everyone for much of my life.” She shrugged, delicately lifting her shoulders in a way that sent a shock through me. “But sometimes, when I’m,” she frowned at me, “agitated, they can pop up without warning.”
    â€œOr aroused?” I suggested with a wink. “Like tonight, when you first saw me?”
    She laughed, drawing the eyes of every heterosexual male in the bar. “Don’t think for a minute you had any effect on my wings. Other than the obvious fairy-to-a-flame trick, that is.” Her smile dimmed. “Like what happened early when I realized you were following me, when the twins came to my brownstone the first time . . . I became