When Wicked Craves by J. K. Beck Page A

become lax about touch. Not now, not ever.
    “Why do we need a plane?” she asked. “If we can travel like this, what’s the point?”
    “Your body wouldn’t take it,” he said matter-of-factly. “Are you ready?”
    But before she could say that she most certainly was
not
ready—not after hearing that traveling by mist lacked the National Transportation Safety Board seal of approval—he dissolved. And Petra, of course, dissolved with him.

CHAPTER 11
    As soon as he gave himself up to the mist, with Petra twined safely around him, Nick allowed himself to relax and his mind to return to the past, to Ferrante and his studies and the hopes and dreams he’d nurtured before the change. For years, he had pondered the mysteries of the universe, exploring and studying the elements not because he sought gold or wealth, but because he wanted to unlock the key to existence.
    His studies had grounded him to the earth, and pushed him to the stars, contemplating the length and breadth of infinity. Once upon a time, such activities had been the focus of his life. Searching the heavens with his mentors. Charting the movement of the stars across the sky. Looking for something bigger than the ephemeral shell of man, a shell that began to return to dust at the very moment of birth.
    He hadn’t found the answer as much as it had found him. And the dark kiss had made him not only immortal but like a god. Who else could live for millennia? Could move through the world as mist or animal? Could turn the will of lesser beings to their own?
    Even in a shadow world filled with creatures who existed only in the nightmares of humans, vampires reigned supreme. And yet the universe still sought balance—yin and yang. For every benefit, there was a price.
    Nick had paid dearly. And so, to his deep regret, had his friends.
    So many years had passed, and now he must seek out Ferrante again.
    He felt a stirring within, a combination of anticipation and fear. Ferrante would have every justification to put a stake through Nicholas’s heart. But there was no other choice: They needed answers. They needed a cure. And Marco Ferrante was their first, best option.
    The girl was soft in Nick’s arms as they materialized in her kitchen, the beat of her heart against his chest bringing him back to life, back to the world, and firing the familiar desire to touch, to lose himself in a woman’s embrace.
    In front of him, she pushed away. Understandable, but definitely not the response Nick was used to.
    “Contact,” she said.
    “Of course.”
    She looked around at the room. “How did we get inside?”
    “Mist,” he said. “I can’t travel through walls, but stove vents work nicely.”
    “So all that bullshit about vampires needing an invitation …?”
    “Bedtime stories to keep humans feeling safe. But you’ve been walking in this world long enough. You didn’t know that?”
    “Kiril put protections on all the doors and windows.” She glanced ruefully at the polished hood above the old-fashioned stove. “Never even occurred to me.”
    “Only need a crack,” he said, looking around as well. No frills, but cozy and well stocked. A well-used room,with the aroma of garlic and basil lingering in the air along with the soft, sweet scent of the girl herself. “You spend a great deal of time here.”
    She glanced at him. “So?”
    “Merely an observation.”
    “I don’t like restaurants,” she said, then pushed through the room toward a darkened hallway. He caught the scent of magic, then glimpsed the interior of a dark room filled with books and crystals. “The magic office,” she said, following his gaze. “For our shadow clients.”
    “So this room is only for show?”
    “Kiril practices magic in there, and he likes to write at the desk. I don’t spend a lot of time in it, though.”
    “Don’t you practice?”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “Why? You have power. You just told us about it at the warehouse. Hell, I saw it when we