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all right?” I sat up, taking a second to count my remaining toes. Still nine left. Could have been worse. The next Tooth Fairy struggled to sit up beside me, her shredded dress now embedded with grease stains, her wings dimpled from gunfire.
    Whether or not she realized it, she’d saved my life.
    Or rather her pink translucent wings had. They’d knocked me out of the path of danger and then acted like a bulletproof vest when the slugs showered us.
    I owed her my life, for as much as it was worth.
    Which at the moment, the twins’ retainer aside, was about fifty-four dollars and a collection of vintage Playfairy magazines.
    A wrinkle marred her forehead and quickly spread to her mouth. “Am I all right!” Her fingers curled into a fist, the same fist she slammed into my jacketed arm. “How do you think I am? Somebody just shot me.”
    I winced, more from her piercing shrieks than the power of her punch. But I rubbed my arm anyway. It was best not to annoy an already angry woman, especially one with bulletproof wings. “About that . . .” I paused, tilting my head to study her. “Any idea why?”
    Using a bullet-riddled light pole for leverage, she pushed herself up and brushed at her knees. “Well, let’s see.” She jabbed her finger in my direction. “My life was perfect until a year ago.”
    â€œPerfect, huh?”
    â€œIt was!” She tapped her foot against the concrete in a quick rat-a-tat. “I had a . . . loving fiancé, a great job, and a kitten with a popular Tumblr page.”
    â€œSounds lame.”
    She snorted. “You wish. I had it all. Then two sawed-off fairies burst into my life, going on and on about how I’m the next frigging Tooth Fairy.”
    I shrugged. We all had our burdens to bear; at least hers didn’t come with what amounted to jumper cables for hands.
    But she was far from finished. “Suddenly, my perfect life is gone. I’ve been in hiding for weeks from the fairies, who won’t take no for an answer, running for my life from a serial killer who is stalking my every move, and to top it off, tonight I’m actually being menaced by a blue-haired lightning rod.”
    I took offense at the lightning-rod crack. “Tinker Bell, if I was menacing you—”
    She waggled her finger an inch from my face, ignoring my comment. “Yes, genius, I’m thinking that all this,” she gestured to the bullet-fragmented concrete, “might somehow be related.”
    â€œHold on.” I raised my hand. “You don’t want to be the Tooth Fairy?” From what little I understood of fairy politics, being the Tooth Fairy was a valued honor with many perks. It was almost like doing the Hokey Pokey naked with a group of cheerleaders. Which, in all honesty, wasn’t the dream come true one might imagine.
    â€œAre you nuts?” She stabbed her finger at me again, barely missing frying herself in the process. “What about me says I have a thing for pearly whites?”
    â€œWell—”
    â€œI can’t be the Tooth Fairy,” she cut me off, crossing her arms over her chest. Her tattered habit slipped an inch. The swell of her breasts rose from the shredded fabric as her shoulders slumped.
    Being a gentleman, I only ogled her cleavage for a minute before answering. “You’ve got the wings for it.”
    But she was right. She wasn’t Tooth Fairy material. For one thing, she was far too tall: five feet in her bare feet, if I had to guess. Yet not a bit gangly, as Clayton had said. Nor was she the least bit ugly.
    The photo I’d stolen from her apartment didn’t do her justice, though. Standing there, her body heaving with anger, she was stunning, like a volcano on the verge of complete and total destruction. Her fiery red hair swirled around her face, showing off a sprinkle of freckles across her nose.
    My body warmed in a completely different and