Boris ran his tongue up Lev’s neck. It had a sandpapery feel like that of a cat’s. Then he took a breath, inhaling Lev deeply. “You taste and smell divine. I am disappointed it wasn’t me who had the privilege of turning you.” He flicked his tongue once more, dragging it farther up Lev’s throat, then licked his lips. “But that does not mean I cannot have a taste.”
Lev’s stomach did a flip-flop, and this time he did step backward, though he did his best to cover his distaste for the man. With a weak smile, he said, “Perhaps later.”
The large man’s expression turned serious. His smile faded and was replaced by a furrowed brow. “Why have you come?” His question was directed at Alexei who did a nervous little side step, his gaze trained firmly on the ground. A moment of silence passed as Alexei seemed to be thinking, then suddenly Boris, perhaps growing bored, let the question go.
The big Russian laughed. “What kind of host am I?” He was a changeable man. “Please, come inside. We will be much more comfortable.” He started slowly striding toward the front doors of his house. The trio eyed each other and reluctantly followed.
The house was huge, larger than anything Lev had ever seen. Their voices echoed in the cavernous rooms, even though they were filled to overflowing with furniture and an assortment of knick-knacks. Boris was the undead’s version of a hoarder, thought Lev.
They followed him into what he announced with a grand gesture was the great room. It was a large sunken living room surrounded by couches on all sides. A fireplace so massive a man could walk right into it without even ducking was the centerpiece, and in it a fire blazed.
Overflowing bookcases decorated the walls, and the large wooden coffee table in the middle of the arrangement of couches was cluttered with magazines, bottles, glasses, and piles of books. There were bags of potato chips on the floor and empty beer bottles lying on their sides on an area rug that had seen better days, making it look as if a raucous party had just ended. Lev wondered why a creature such as Boris, who needed nothing but blood to survive, would have food and drink around the house. Perhaps they were for the pleasure and entertainment of others, he thought…human others.
With one sweep of his thick forearm, Boris whisked everything from the table onto the floor. “Gerry?” he bellowed. A moment later, a skinny, young man with a large nose and close-set eyes entered. He gave a small bow.
“Clean this up and bring my guests a glass of, well, something suitable. You know what to do.” He looked at Carly, who sat squashed between Lev and Alexei on a worn sofa. “Anything for you, my dear? Or, are you finished with the annoying necessity of having to feed oneself?”
Lev had wondered the same thing but suspected that without a body, Carly would no longer need sustenance.
“Nothing for me,” she answered.
The hawk-nosed Gerry exited and was back quickly with three tumblers filled with a viscous red fluid. Lev noticed a fresh needle mark in the crook of Gerry’s arm as he took his glass. The blood was still warm.
“A negative. A rare vintage,” Gerry whispered, then made quick work of cleaning up before exiting.
“A toast?” Boris stood, and the two men did the same. “To the return of my Alexei. I have waited an eternity for you.” The large man drank, draining his glass in one gulp. Then he banged it down on the table as if he’d just downed a shot of vodka. “Nostrovia!”
Lev looked at his brother before doing the same. Alexei’s eyes were wide and darted quickly away from his. What had gone on between Boris and his brother?
The beast sat down again, on the couch opposite them. It groaned in protest at his bulk. With a sly smile, he patted the spot beside him while eyeing Alexei.
Alexei cleared his throat nervously, then slowly made his way over to sit beside Boris. Without hesitation, the big man threw a thick arm around Alexei, pulling him close.
“So, is someone going to tell me why it is that I have the pleasure of your company?” Boris asked good-naturedly.
Lev spoke, thinking it best to get right to the point. “We were hoping you could help us. By us, I mean Carly and I.”
Boris looked confused. “Whatever can I do? What is the matter?”
Lev filled Boris in on the details, explaining how he and Carly would have to part in just a few short days. The big man took it all in with what looked like genuine concern. Then when Lev was finished, he said, “I will help, but you will have to give to me something in return.” A devilish grin spread across purplish lips.
Alexei pulled away from Boris and got to his feet. “I’m not staying here with you if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“But I have missed you so much. You cannot imagine,” Boris cooed. “I searched high and low but could not find you, and now here you are, landing on my doorstep. Why else would you come if you did not want to see me?”
Alexei sighed and threw his brother a nasty look. “I’m here because I want to help Lev. We thought if anyone knew a way he and Carly could stay together, it would be you.”
Boris’s expression darkened. “How did you know where to find me?”
“It’s easy nowadays. With the Internet, you can find anyone.” Alexei smiled sheepishly.
“I do not like this Internet.” Boris brought his hands to his forehead and grimaced as if a sudden headache struck. “It makes my head spin.” Then his dark eyes narrowed and his brow knit. “If you knew where I was, why did you not come sooner?”
“Um, I think Alexei just didn’t want to bother you,” Lev spoke for his brother.
The big man sat back and nodded slowly as if contemplating Lev’s words, then, without warning, Boris was on his feet, his face a thundercloud. With one quick heave, he flipped the heavy wooden coffee table upside down as easily as if it were made of cardboard.
Then he touched Alexei, running a sausage finger down his chiseled face. “You are beautiful, Alexei. I have not seen a creature as handsome as you in all my years, but it hurts to know you knew where I was but did not bother to come to me until now, and it is only to ask a favor.” With a meaty hand, he pulled Alexei’s face to his and kissed him on the lips. “You will not get away this time. If you want me to help your brother, then you will have to stay here with me.”
Alexei stepped away, wiping at his mouth with the back of a hand, a grimace on his face. He stopped when he hit the first step that led up out of the great room and fell down hard.
Like a hog spotting a filled trough, a squeal of delight bubbled out of Boris just before he leapt onto Alexei. Distended fangs slid like a warm knife through butter into Alexei’s neck. Lev smelled the blood as strongly as if it was under his own nose. He could almost taste it. For a moment he stood paralyzed by the scent. It made his mouth water and his fangs fall into place.
“Help him!” Carly screamed at Lev.
He turned to her, letting out a hiss. She jumped away with a whimper to hide behind a pillar of piled-up junk, but it had been enough to pull Lev from his stupor. He gave his head a shake as if to clear the cobwebs, then jumped in to help his brother who was flailing helplessly beneath Boris’s bulk.
“Get off him.” Lev pulled at the large creature, but it was like tugging on a grizzly bear.
“No!” Carly screamed.
Lev’s head snapped in her direction. She’d emerged from her hiding place and was sitting on the floor with her hands over her face, fingers splayed so she could take a peek every now and then.
Alexei was being attacked, but Lev wanted desperately to comfort Carly. He could hear her muttering, “I have to leave. I have to get out of here. Oh dear God, help me.” What was left of his heart broke. Yet he had no choice but to try to help his brother.
With difficulty, he managed to pull his attention from Carly, wound up, and punched Boris on the side of the head with as much force as he could muster, but it did little more than annoy the man. Boris lifted his head long enough to hiss and throw a dirty look at Lev. Blood dripped thickly from his leathery lips and rolled in rivule
ts down his chin. How on earth would Alexei survive this?
Suddenly, a spinning circle of golden light appeared in the middle of Boris’s great room, stilling them. It hung in the air, growing larger with every revolution. Lev watched as Carly began to crawl toward it.
“No!” he cried and took a step, but Boris swatted him away as easily as a mosquito. Lev hit the corner of the coffee table with a crack and yelped in pain.
Boris stood and stared at the spinning ball of light, all interest in his meal lost.
Alexei scooted away, one shaky hand plastered over the puncture wounds in his neck.
Before Lev could get to his feet, Carly was beside the spinning circle. It had opened into a portal of some kind.
She reached out and touched the golden light with a fingertip, then, without hesitation, stepped into it. No sooner had she done so, than it began to close like the aperture of a camera. Lev saw tears as she turned to face him. Then he felt his own stain his cheeks. The portal grew smaller and smaller, until finally, it disappeared, taking Carly with it.
“What was that?” Boris said, staring at the spot where it had been. He sat down on the step beside Alexei, as if unaware of the brutality he’d just meted out.
Alexei moved carefully backward, crab-walking up the steps toward the door. Then as quickly as a lightning strike, he was gone, leaving Lev to fend for himself.
CHAPTER TEN
An hour later Lev walked through the door of his home; the pink residue of tears on his cheeks was a pale reminder of his torment. It had been easy to leave Boris’s dump of a mansion. The man had been too dumbfounded and sated enough not to bother with Lev.
Once home, he turned left into the parlor and threw himself onto the couch. Covering his face with his hands, he began to sob again.
Alexei was suddenly at his side as if whisked in by an unseen twister. “Does Boris know where we live?” he asked as he peeked through the curtains. “He didn’t follow you, did he?”
Lev sat up and snarled, “You self-absorbed asshole!”
Alexei shrugged. “Nothing to be done now, brother. Time will pass as it always does, and you will undoubtedly find another woman to love, which will end in yet another heartbreak. Why not abandon this madness now?” His tone was devoid of emotion—a flat line of words.
Lev shook his head in amazement. Why hadn’t he realized yet how uncaring his brother was? Why did this callousness continue to surprise him? He noticed Alexei’s wounds had healed—he was no worse for wear. Lev switched gears, wanting to jab back at Alexei and summon up unpleasant emotions in his brother. “Why are you so afraid of Boris?”
Alexei splayed long fingers over his chest and threw his brother a look of surprise. “If you don’t know the answer to that after what you’ve just witnessed, then you’re denser than I thought,” he said over his shoulder as he left the room.
Lev followed him, and as he did, he tried to tune into his brother’s thoughts but got nothing. Alexei was clever; he’d thrown up a mental wall. There was more to it than what his brother was letting on. Lev could feel it.
“You’re going to tell me. I won’t take no for an answer. You know you’re stronger than I am and always will be because you’re my maker, but I have some power over you now.” Lev raised a brow.
“You wouldn’t?” Alexei said, and Lev knew he’d read his mind. A sigh of discontent rattled from his brother’s throat. “If you tell Boris where to find me, he’ll…well, he’ll do something really awful to me. I was lucky to get away! How stupid I was to take you there. You, my only brother. See what I was willing to risk for you?”
Then, seemingly without reason, his demeanor softened and he said with a sigh, “It’s really my own fault. I should have taught you better. Taught you the ways of the creature I’ve turned you into.” He wagged a slender finger and shook his head. “But you were always the sensitive type. Always with your books and your poetry and your writing. I thought you’d be more like me by now. Perhaps it’s because you’ve never turned anyone. You haven’t, have you? Surely, you would have told me?”
Lev shook his head. “No, I haven’t and I never will.”
He thought back to when he’d almost turned Carly—holding her delicate wrist to his lips, his needle fangs drawing blood. But that was out of desperation, a need to keep her with him. He couldn’t even do it then. Shame came over him briefly at the thought of what he’d been tempted to do to his beloved Carly. There was something dark living within him, something that constantly tried to claw its way to the surface.
“I knew it,” Alexei said, grinning widely. “If you’d turned someone, you’d be changed. You’d be hardened and tougher like me and like Boris.” He whispered Boris’s name as if there was power in just speaking it.
“But I am like you. I feed like you,” Lev said. He didn’t understand his own motives in defending himself. He didn’t want to be like his brother, did he?
“You’ve never turned anyone and you’ve never killed, so that’s where we are different, brother. As your maker, you’re my responsibility, and as you well know, I’m not very responsible.” He laughed, and it soon morphed into a giggle. “Time you learned to be a true creature of the night, especially now.” Alexei placed a hand on Lev’s shoulder. It was a tender gesture, but this time Lev bristled at his brother’s touch.
“You will come with me tonight. We will feed together again for the first time in a very long time. You can either turn someone, or…” Alexei threw a hand in the air, pointer finger straightened as if he’d had an epiphany. “Perhaps you’re ready for a kill?” A devilish gleam shone in his eyes.
Lev shook his head. “You go. I’d rather be alone.” His words were hollow, and Alexei would see straight through them, but he was afraid, plain and simple. There was too much of the old Lev, the true Lev, still in him—enough to keep the darkness at bay for a while longer.
Alexei furrowed his brow and shook his head. “You wallow in your grief and pain. You live a life of self-pity. It’s time you left that behind. When you turn another or better still when you take a life, Lev, you gain power. You take a part of your prey. In fact, we take a piece of every person we kill and of every new creature we make. It’s how our kind builds strength and how…” He moved close enough to whisper into Lev’s ear, then continued, “It’s how we stop feeling. Weak human emotions disappear and oh, what a wonder that is, brother.” Alexei’s dark eyes were mesmerizing, and his smile grabbed at something deep inside Lev. “Do you want the pain to stop?”
Lev nodded slowly. Did he really? He thought so. This time with Carly, it was too much.
“Then come with me.” Lev stood, and Alexei clapped him on the shoulder. “Now we will finally be brothers in every sense of the word.” Alexei threw open the curtains to reveal a moonlit sky. “So much more is waiting for you. Much more than you’ve dreamed and I’m finally going to get to show you. Forgive me, Lev. I have not done my duty as your maker or as your brother.”
Lev followed Alexei out into the night.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lev rarely fed where he lived. At least his brother had taught him that much, even though Alexei didn’t follow the rule himself. There were times, he was ashamed to admit, he’d broken that rule. The consequences of getting caught wouldn’t be as dire for him as they would be for Alexei, since Lev had never completely drained a body, leaving a corpse to be found by a passerby.
Strangely, despite his other struggles with being a creature of the night, Lev did not find feeding difficult. It was a primal need that had to be filled and that’s how he rationalized it, not letting what was left of his conscience get in the way. Plus he knew if he didn’t feed often to keep himself sated, the darkness within would make its way to the surface. There was a kernel of good in that deed, he reminded himself, if for no other reason than to quell his conscience.
Finding prey was simple for Lev, he’d strike up a conversation, usually with someone young—man or woman, it didn’t matter. With t
he added charms his undead status bestowed on him, his victims would soon fall under his spell and then he’d lead them away, like a puppy on a leash. A dark alley was always a good place to take them. He’d feed quickly, sinking his fangs into a wrist instead of the more dangerous and tempting jugular. Blood came quick and furious from that perilous artery, and it took longer to heal.
Feeding was the only time Lev allowed the darkness a modicum of control, still, the true Lev, as he liked to call it, never strayed far. Like a sentinel, his true self stood guard. Though he couldn’t help wonder if Tony, Alexei’s friend, would have been his first kill if his brother hadn’t stopped him. In the past, Lev had always been careful, never letting himself get too thirsty. The episode with Tony had been a shameful lapse in judgment. Was he going to let all that go tonight? Was he finally going to purge what was left of the true Lev and, in turn, his pain?
Though Alexei was his maker and his brother, they’d only fed together once, right after Alexei had turned him, when he needed to be shown the ropes so to speak.
Lev remembered the experience well. His brother had whisked him away to a park miles from their home in Saint Petersburg. That first meal had been a young man barely out of his teens. Alexei, of course, had gone straight for the man’s jugular, then encouraged Lev to drink when his thirst had been quenched.
Darkness had been at the helm of Lev’s actions that evening, though the reins were still held by the true Lev. His nostrils had flared at the scent of the crimson fluid as it rushed through the boy’s veins. He’d inhaled it. He’d savored it.
Fear—distinct and palpable—had flavored it too, but he’d forced it away because it gnawed at what was left of his humanity. Lev had plucked up the boy’s arm and immediately sunk his teeth into his wrist and sucked.
Beautiful Monster-The Exchange Page 4
