Read When Wicked Craves for Free Online Page B

something was definitely going down. “Okay,” he finally said. “All right. But what’s the third?”
    “Who,”
Tiberius said. “The proper question is, ‘Who is the third?’ ”
    “Over time, the stories have changed,” Dirque said. “They speak now only of the two brothers, fathers to the therians and vampires, the para-daemons and the wraiths. Fathers to us all.”
    “But there was another,” Tiberius added. “A third brother. The most powerful of all. And the other two killed him, stealing his power before burying him in theearth. It is the third from whom humans draw their power when they dabble in the black arts.”
    “You’re saying witches are part of the shadow world?”
    “We are saying the third brother will rise again,” Dirque said. “I’m saying that the girl can draw him forth. And when she does, he will seek revenge from those who destroyed him.”
    “The Alliance,” Tariq said, finally understanding. “Every member of the Alliance is descended from the first two brothers.”
    “So the stories go,” Dirque said. “But have no fear, nephew. As you said, it is only mythology.”
    Tariq paced the room, not sure what to think about this revelation.
    “For years, the Alliance has sought to prevent the Oracle’s words from coming to pass,” Tiberius said. “We have sought out those whose touch brings the change. We destroyed their lines, and we thought the job had been finished.”
    “We didn’t know about the girl,” Dirque said. “As long as she walks, the threat of the end of the Alliance walks with her.”
    Despite the absurdity, fear slid through Tariq, as insidious as a snake. But it was a fear tempered by ambition. And by the possibility of revenge as well. He lifted his head and looked the vampire straight in the eyes. “Montegue’s chummy with Lucius Dragos, am I wrong?”
    He knew Luke well. Actually, he’d tried to kill the bloodsucker in Munich almost six centuries ago, and that hadn’t exactly gone off as planned. He’d paidthe price back then at Luke’s fists, and had continued to pay the price over time, bending over and taking it whenever Luke needed a favor. Frankly, he was getting damn tired of it, but Luke was not a man you wanted to cross.
    “Is that relevant?” Tiberius asked.
    “Might be,” Tariq said. “Luke’s mate works at Division. Montegue must have had help on the inside. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find out that Sara Constantine’s knee-deep in this shit. Hell, she may even know exactly where Montegue’s taken the girl.” He smiled, thinking that maybe, for the first time, he had Lucius Dragos by the balls.
    “You do what you need to do,” his uncle said, as Tiberius stood tall and silent, frustration rolling off him in waves. “Use whatever resources you need, conscript whatever personnel you want. But you find Petra Lang,” Dirque continued. “You find her, and you end this.”

CHAPTER 5
    Her middle came back first, then her lungs, and she gasped in air, suddenly starved for oxygen. Her arms and legs came next, and although she was aware that she was being put back together, it didn’t seem strange. Probably because she’d never actually felt like she was apart.
    She had no idea how much time had passed, and the small, windowless room gave her no additional information.
    In front of her, Nicholas pulled off his hood, wincing as the movement irritated the knife wound in his chest.
    “You’re bleeding. Do you need … you know … to feed?” As a private investigator in the shadow world, she’d worked with vampires for years, but that didn’t mean she understood the various ins and outs of their nature. All she knew for sure was that he wouldn’t try to feed off of her—wouldn’t pull her close and press his lips to her neck. Not unless he wanted to become the monster.
    He didn’t even glance down at his wound. “I’ll live. How are you doing? The mist can be disorienting for a human.”
    The mist.
She