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.