Beautiful Monster-The Exchange by Jeanne Bannon

CHAPTER ONE
     
     
    There is a high road to Heaven which few
people travel; Hell hath no door, but many manage to burrow their way in.
    Chinese
proverb
     
     
     
    Lev
moved swiftly through the hallways, darting in and out and around what, to him,
were slowly moving nurses and orderlies—those unfortunates working the midnight
shift. Faster than any human eye was capable of detecting, he made it to
Carly’s room in a flash. In fact, he made it there just in time, nostrils
plucking the acrid scents from the air better than any dog’s.
    He
sat on the bed beside her in the dimly lit room and noticed, thankfully, she
had no roommate. The bed beside Carly was recently vacated. The scent of death
still lingered heavily and sadly.
    Taking
her delicate hand in his, Lev noticed a monitor clipped on an index finger. It
seemed it measured her pulse and heartbeat. He noticed too that her heart was
beating slowly, though he didn’t need a monitor for that. He heard its throb,
and it made him think of a dying battery.
    However,
relief settled on him as he realized he was the first to arrive after the
accident that had left her comatose. Carly’s family was nowhere near yet. It
would take hours for them to get here from the other coast. He had time, plenty
of it. Stealthily, Lev glanced into the hallway from his perch in the darkened
hospital room. The occasional nurse strode past, but it was late, or perhaps
the better term was early. In the wee hours of the morning, there would be
fewer staff than during the day.
    With
a sigh, he took Carly in. Her blonde hair was matted and dirty, even though it
looked as if someone had tried to clean her up, perhaps finger combing her
thick mane and tucking it behind her head. Her face was still perfect. Not a
single scratch had sullied her beauty.
    A
knot twisted in his belly. Why hadn’t he known? He could have saved her if only
he’d known. But even Lev couldn’t know everything. It was his brother, Alexei,
who’d given him the news moments ago.
    “Brother,”
he’d said, “there’s been an accident. Go now to the hospital or you’ll never
see your precious Carly again.”
    He
hadn’t asked the how, the why, the when. Alexei had dropped his mental
barriers. Lev felt them fall like a drawbridge. His brother had let him in. It
was easier than speaking—Lev was able to glean whatever information he needed
in an instant. But with the simple facts of Carly’s accident came the
realization his brother was happy for the turmoil. A hint of a smile had curled
Alexei’s full lips, and his eyes were bright. Lev was not surprised.
    He
pulled his thoughts from Alexei and looked down at his beloved’s hand in his.
The pallor of it matched his own. He listened to the slow rush of blood through
her veins, willing it to grow stronger.
    Moving
close, he whispered, “I can save you.” He brought her dainty wrist to his lips.
She smelled like death already—like the musk of freshly turned earth. It was
now or never. His fangs pricked at her delicate skin, drawing a bead of
crimson. It tasted of iron and copper and of her. Carly’s very essence was in
that droplet.
    He
stopped himself, knowing she wouldn’t want him to go through with it. They’d
talked about it many times, about the possibility of him turning her, so they
could be together, not for just the blink of an eye that was a human lifetime
but for eternity. She would be furious if he turned her, and he wouldn’t blame
her. Lev knew the pain and sorrow of being changed into a monster against one’s
will.
    But at least she would still exist. We could still be together. He shook off that small, but oh so inviting thought. No, he would
not make a monster of her .
    With
a flick of his tongue, he licked the droplet away. A shudder of pleasure shot
through him, and as he pushed her wrist to his mouth, like a child ready to
bite into a ripe peach, the monitor blared a warning. He dropped her arm. Panic
filled him. Carly’s pulse rose and