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

. . . agitated.”
    â€œI know the feeling.”
    She nodded. “Basically, I lost it, and my fiancé had his first encounter with four feet of wingspan.”
    That didn’t sound so bad to me. “And?”
    â€œHe freaked.” She gave a bitter chuckle. “You should’ve seen the look on his face. It was a mixture of horror and disgust.”
    â€œSo he dumped you for that?” I took a long pull of my mead. “Hell, I electrocuted my last date and we’re still friendly. What a loser.”
    â€œWe had other problems.” She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “None of it matters now. Once the fairies came my life ended, and now I’m stuck with the likes of you.”
    â€œLook on the bright side.” I stopped, running my hands up and down the neck of the mead bottle.
    Her eyebrow rose half an inch. “What’s that?”
    â€œI’ll let you know when I think of it.” I grinned and she laughed, relaxing slightly. We ordered another round and discussed our next move. She couldn’t return to the rectory or the seedy flophouse. Both were compromised now.
    Which left us with one option.
    An option Isabella vehemently refused.
    â€œI can take care of myself,” she said for the tenth time in the last five minutes. “I don’t need or want your protection.”
    I let out a loud snort. “I don’t give a flying fairy what you want. You are staying with me until we sort this mess out. Starting with the twins.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYes,” I said, adding a growl for good measure.
    â€œFine,” she finally conceded.
    For a second I thought I caught the tiniest glint of satisfaction in her gaze, but she quickly covered it with her go-to glare when talking tome.

CHAPTER 10
    B efore we left the bar I slipped off to the head. After relieving myself for what seemed like an hour, I washed my hands, causing blue electrical sparks to shoot in every direction, slipped my leather gloves on, and left the restroom.
    I paused outside the door. Izzy stood by the front door of the bar, and she wasn’t alone. A thick black haze circled her like predators to their prey.
    Shit.
    Four Shadows moved closer to her until they obscured her from my sight. I pushed forward to get a better view. Izzy didn’t look frightened, but the glow in her eye gave me pause. She appeared enraged, far more so than the situation demanded. Something bad was about to happen. I could feel it like the tingle of energy before an electrical storm.
    Just what I needed, I thought, a pissed-off fairy and a group of drunken manifestations. I debated an array of nonviolent actions.
    But what was the fun in that?
    My path of least resistance was altered when the Shadow closest to Isabella slipped his hand around her throat and licked the fairy dust from the back of her neck. A thin trail of saliva glistened in the weak bar light.
    My temper ignited, sending a rush of electrical flux across my flesh. “Get your tongue off of her,” I said, pushing through the crowd of phantoms and slamming my fist into Licker Boy’s face.
    Under normal circumstances busting my knuckles on some idiot’s skull held little appeal. For one thing, it damn well hurt. Not this time, though. My fist oozed into his skull. I had to admit it gave me the willies. It was like touching death. But that didn’t stop me. I followed the punch with a kick to the back of his jellylike knee.
    Had the guy not been hopped up on fairy dust the fight would’ve ended there. But dustheads have a surprisingly sick strength and delusions of invincibility. Licker Boy, no exception to the dusthead rule, staggered under my attack but quickly gained his footing.
    Much to my dismay, and my well-being.
    â€œBig mistake, Little Blue Boy.” He wiped a trail of blood from his busted lip.
    Wouldn’t be my first one, I thought, assessing the situation. It was four against one.