Beautiful Monster-The Exchange by Jeanne Bannon Page A

fell suddenly. The stagnant tone of a heart
that was no longer beating blared from the machine, stabbing sharply in his
ears, but the growing silence of blood no longer pulsing through veins and
arteries seemed louder. Hesitation had cost him. His compassion, as his brother
would say, was his one true downfall.
    Two
nurses and a doctor were in the room now, buzzing frantically around Carly. Lev
had disappeared through the pane of the window unseen and watched from outside
where the moonless sky hid him. His jacket flapped in a breeze that also
tousled his long black hair. It whipped and slapped against his cheeks.
    It
was said creatures like him could feel no pain. That they existed only as
predators—takers of life—but Lev’s world had just crumbled. If he had a beating
heart, it would be broken in two. Tears welled in his eyes, and he longed to
let them fall. No, more than that, he wanted to scream, wanted to rip his cold dead
heart from his chest and stomp on it.
    Lev
gathered himself as best he could, pinching the tears from his eyes and staring
up to the heavens, but there would be no help for him there. For Lev
Baranovsky, there was no God, only this perpetual hell he lived in. Love may
come for him again in time, though he wasn’t sure he wanted it to. Would he
ever get over losing his precious Carly? The vicious cycle of love and
heartbreak was enough to drive him mad.
    He
should go now. Carly was gone. There was nothing he could do. Even though his
brother would be at home, he needed the comfort of his own space to grieve.
    He
looked down at the ground two stories below, and when he peered back up for one
last glimpse of his beloved, his brows lifted and his dark eyes grew to the
size of poker chips.
    Carly
was dead, but she wasn’t gone.

CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    Confusion reigned as Lev fled back to the home he shared
with his brother, Alexei. He couldn’t have seen what he thought he did.
Carly’s was dead and lost to him forever, he told himself, but another, deeper
part of him wasn’t so convinced. He’d seen her. More to the point, he’d
seen two of her. One lay in the hospital bed; the other stood at the window, a
sad smile playing on her lips as she stared out at him.
    Alexei met him in the hallway as he entered. He leaned
his lanky frame against the wall, arms crossed. “Is she…?” He let his words
hang in the air, though that slow smile from earlier was back.
    Lev shook his head in disgust and pushed past his
brother through the double doors of the parlor, where he found refuge in the
softness of an old chair. The room was dimly lit. A soothing yellow glow
emanated from matching Tiffany lamps on antique end tables. There was something
about the parlor that always brought Lev comfort, perhaps because it was
Alexei’s least favorite part of the house.
    Alexei followed and took a seat on the couch in front of
a large picture window. He sneered up at the stained glass tableau that arched
across the top of the old glass depicting an image of St. Francis of Assisi, a
crucifix in one hand, the Bible cradled to his chest with the other, and a
white dove perched upon his shoulder. Alexei had threatened more times than Lev
could count to throw a rock through the ancient stained glass. It unsettled
him, but Lev didn’t mind it. Even the crucifix didn’t bother him as long as he
didn’t stare at it for too long.
    “Why do you do that?” Lev asked, finally addressing his
brother. Anger colored his voice. “You smile when I’m in pain. Do you enjoy
seeing me in agony?”
    Alexei’s smile blossomed. “Brother, this is not the
first and it certainly won’t be the last time someone you love dies. I smile
only because I wonder why you haven’t learned your lesson yet.” He sounded
almost jovial, like a giggle lived just beneath the surface of his words.
    Lev’s dark eyes narrowed to slits. “And what lesson is
that?”
    The giggle finally emerged and, Alexei covered his mouth
with a hand. “Why do