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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 rivulets 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