Beautiful Monster-The Exchange Read Online Free Page B

go. “No,” Alexei said
finally. “We are nothing like him .”
    He contemplated his brother’s words. He was
nothing like Boris, but perhaps Alexei shared the same vicious nature as his
maker. Admittedly, Lev had his moments, like the one he’d just shamefully
demonstrated with Tony, but he’d never turned anyone and he’d never taken a
life.
    “I don’t ask for much. You think you’re the boss around
here. I stand back. I let you take the lead, but I love Carly and will do anything to stay with her. This time I will not back down.” Lev stamped a foot on the old
hardwood floor, making it creak and groan.
    “I am your maker,” Alexei growled and jabbed a finger
into Lev’s chest. “I am the boss! If you wanted to be with Carly so badly,
brother, then why didn’t you turn her?”
    Anger had Lev in rough hands. His lips peeled back
revealing fangs. “I didn’t ask to be like this. You did this to me! I
know the hell of this life. I would never inflict it on someone I love.”
    The sounds of Carly scrambling away to another room came
to him, along with the acrid scent of fear, but it wasn’t Carly’s fear; it was
Alexei’s.
    “I was out of my mind when I turned you, Lev. You know
that. I was freshly turned myself. I…I couldn’t help what I did.”
    “Not true!” Lev spat. “You always wanted me to fail.
Everything was okay as long as you were doing better than I was, then
and only then you’d wish me well, but as soon as I was happier than you, you
had to take that from me. I know you’re happy I’ll soon be losing another woman
I love, and Carly is the one I love most of all. I see it in your eyes and in
the way you smile at me.” Lev lashed out with a fist, sending Alexei’s head
crashing into the wall behind him. A picture rattled then fell, smashing on the
floor. “You will help me, or I’ll take something from you that you love.”
    Alexei recovered, shaking plaster dust from his hair.
“There is nothing I love.” His words came with a small sardonic laugh, making
Lev stand tall and throw his shoulders back.
    “You’re wrong, brother. There is something you love very
much.”
    Alexei’s wide mouth twitched into a tentative smile.
“What? The pretty boys I bring home? They’re nothing but playthings and food .
I don’t love them; I enjoy them. That’s all.”
    “I don’t mean them.”
    Alexei looked puzzled. “Then what?”
    “The only person who will put up with your bullshit, the
only person who can stand your company. Where I’m a man who enjoys solitude,
you cannot bear to be alone. You cannot exist without one thing, and that thing
is me.”
    Alexei giggled and threw his hands up in mock surrender.
“Oh my brother, you do think a lot of yourself. I can live without you, and if
I do get lonely, I can easily find others of our kind.”
    “Perhaps, but they won’t put up with you for as long as
I have. Admit it, Alexei; you need me. I am your brother—your only remaining
relative. Without me, you’d be lost.”
    A smirk curled Alexei’s lips. “What are you going to do,
run away? You want to leave anyway, with that girl.” He tossed a nod toward the
room Carly had disappeared into. “So why would I want to help you do that? You
said it yourself. I am…” He looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued,
“the gregarious type.”
    “If I can’t be with Carly, I will end my life. If that’s
even what this existence can be called. What kind of life do we have,
Alexei? This is no way to live.”
    Alexei’s smirk fell away. “You cannot kill yourself.”
    Though he said the words as if they were some kind of
immutable law, they rang hollow to Lev’s ears. “You’re not so clever, brother.
You wrote it in your own hand years ago, almost as if you didn’t want to forget
because there might come a day when you no longer wanted to exist. I
found your diary. I know our kind can be killed. Yes, I would cease to exist,
but that would be better than bearing the pain