Beautiful Monster-The Exchange by Jeanne Bannon Page B

you keep falling in love?” He tucked long dark hair behind
his ears and crossed thin legs.
    Lev’s brow furrowed, and a grimace replaced his frown.
“Because I’m not like you.”
    “Another lesson! Wouldn’t it be easier to be like me?”
    Lev thought of his brother and his endless string of
lovers. Every week a new someone would be in his bed, usually a young, good-looking
man. Sometimes he’d turn them, sometimes feed, but mostly he’d kill. It
bewildered Lev as to why these humans were so willing to give themselves to
Alexei. Yes, his brother was handsome. Some might even say extremely so, but
he, Lev, was no slouch in the looks department either. They were so similar
with their dark hair and eyes, their tall, lean frames. The real differences
were in their characters; where Alexei craved variety and excitement, Lev
sought stability. Foolish, he knew, to search for something he could never
have.
    Carly was different from the other women he’d loved. The
others thought of him as a dalliance, a toy, a dangerous plaything, but Carly
had something he’d never seen—something precious. It was innocence, and it
compelled him to protect her.
    And there was something else. She treated him as if he
were normal. He loved that especially. But if he’d wanted to keep her in his
life, he would have had to steal from her those very things he loved most. If
he turned Carly, her innocence would be shattered. She’d become something not
quite human, a creature like him. Lev would never be able to forgive himself
for being so selfish. As much as he yearned for her to be by his side forever,
he knew it would change their love.
    The shock of what happened to Carly clung to him like a
guilty conscience. He’d thought they’d have more time. Much more. She was only
twenty-five! A human could live to be eighty or even older, but would he love
her when she was an old lady and he still a young man in his prime?
    Alexei broke into Lev’s thoughts. “Would you like to go
out?”
    For Alexei, going out signaled he was either hungry or
horny. Lev shook his head. “You go and leave me be.” He yearned for solitude,
but his brother was insensitive, not able to pick up on cues, or maybe it was
simply that he didn’t give a shit.
    Alexei was now at his side, one long-fingered hand on
Lev’s knee. “You need to get out, to take your mind off her. She was just a
silly human after all. Nothing to get depressed about.”
    Fury finally blossomed in Lev, and he flew to his feet.
He lunged for Alexei’s throat and wrapped a hand like a vise around his
brother’s neck. With momentum fueled by rage, he smashed Alexei up against the
wall. Books crashed from the floor-to-ceiling shelves, splatting on either side
of them like huge bugs.
    Alexei choked out a laugh and peeled Lev’s fingers from
his throat with little difficultly. “Perhaps it’s better if we stay in tonight.
The day will be breaking in a few hours anyway.” He swatted Lev aside as if he
were nothing more than a mosquito buzzing around his head.
    Lev turned to leave, the fight in him replaced by
sorrow. The high pitch of Alexei’s laughter followed him as he made his way to
the top step of the basement. Then a small voice rang out in his head, at first
distant and tinny. But there was no mistaking it was Carly’s. It can’t be, he
told himself. It can’t be!
    It came again, an eerie whisper. “There’s no such thing
as death.”
    He wheeled around and saw her. It was Carly, only
she was different. Translucent and ethereal, yet still his beautiful Carly, the
way he remembered her when he’d last seen her alive. The night of their last
date—a carriage ride through the park. They’d kissed their way through the
entire thing, missing all the sights without regret.
    Her hair was down, its soft curls cascading over pale
shoulders. Azure eyes held the innocence he loved. She wore a silky red gown as
if she were dressed for a fancy party. It clung exquisitely to her