Les Femmes Noires One-Shot Contest.

Title: The Redeemer

Pen Name: Aphinity

Characters: Bella, Edward.

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Steph.

The club he had chosen was out in the middle of nowhere, smack bang in the centre of an old industrial estate and surrounded by a maze of dilapidated buildings and abandoned factories. I could see why he would choose this place.

The bouncer didn't bother asking to see my ID. Instead, he made some lewd comment and stared at my chest as I walked past him and entered the club.

Inside, the noxious stench of dirty human bodies hung heavy in the air. I descended the stairs and crossed the crowded room until I reached the far corner.

I stood there, in the corner, hidden half in shadows, not hiding, just waiting.

I could afford to be patient. I knew he would come.

***

The music changed. I looked up and saw him, descending the stairs to the strains of Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People. Quite fitting really. He was staggeringly beautiful, of course, they always are, but this one was in a class of his own. I had never seen one quite so beautiful before in all my years. He moved gracefully, with the arrogant confidence of one used to doing whatever he wanted, without question or restraint. His eyes scanned the room purposely, with the skilled precision of a predator searching out his prey. He looked almost bored by how easy the hunt would be. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was temporarily swallowed by the crowd, but I did not need to see him, I could feel his presence from across the room.

Slowly, I made my way through the heaving crowd of intoxicated bodies, happily oblivious to the predator in their midst. I could feel the sin on them as I passed, but that was not why I was here. I was here for him. I pulled off my hooded jacket, letting it fall to floor as I shook out my hair and let my intoxicating scent permeate the room. I didn't have to wait long. I started to dance, letting my hips sway to the pulsing music, and soon he was in front of me, like a moth to a flame, hungrily devouring my body with his eyes, totally unable to resist the sirens call of my blood.

Without saying a word, I took a step towards him and turned, pressing my warm body against his cold, hard, frame. His hands were on my hips as we moved together to the pounding rhythm, perfectly in synch. He lowered his face to my shoulder, his lips kissing a trail up to my jaw, lingering on the throbbing pulse at my neck, where just a thin layer of fragile skin stood in the way of what he wanted so desperately. He was acting with restraint, trying to appear human. Clearly, he didn't want to give himself away in front of a whole club full of witnesses, but I knew the sweetness of my blood must be pushing his tentative hold on control.

I turned around in his arms and looked up into that beautiful face.

"Do you want to go someplace where we can be alone?" My words were barely audible above the deafening roar of the music, but I knew he would hear me.

"It's like you read my mind." His lips had already curved into a wicked smile, not bothering to conceal his delight over how quickly and easily I had agreed to leave with him.

He took my hand and led me up the stairs of the club, past the burly bouncers, and out into the clear, moonlit, night.

Once we were outside, I dropped his hand and turned to face him, a mischievous smile on my lips.

"If you want me, you're going to have to catch me first." I spun around and started running towards the run-down abandon buildings in front of me.

When I reached the building, I squeezed through the loose boards covering the door, and then went through a door on my right leading to, what used to be, a workshop. There was an old workbench near the middle of the room, a few metal shelves still on the wall, and various abandoned paints and tools, all under a thick layer of dust. It was obvious that no-one had been here for years. That's why I had chosen this place. It was perfect.

I heard him moving aside the wood as he entered the building, still keeping to a human pace as he kept up his charade.

A less arrogant creature might have been suspicious that everything he wanted was falling into his lap so easily, but not this one. His arrogance would be his undoing.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." His words were practically a song in his musical voice. It was a shame the effect was wasted on me.

I stayed silent and still, letting him come to me, knowing he could see me just as easily as I could see him through the pitch-blackness. Not until he was standing before me, did he finally drop his act.

"Silly little human. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to go off with strangers?"

I pretended to be frozen in fear.

He grabbed my hair and yanked my head to the side, exposing my neck. He breathed in deeply, taking one last breath of my exquisite scent, before lowering his mouth to my neck and biting down hard.

I felt his teeth as they broke through my delicate flesh, his lips forming a seal on my neck as he sucked my warm blood into his mouth. I heard a growl of pleasure as he eagerly swallowed it down.

Suddenly he stopped, lifting his mouth from my neck and hastily backing away. He stumbled backwards a few paces, and then fell over onto the floor.

I walked over to him, a small smile on my face as I looked down at him and met his confused eyes. I could see him trying to move, concentrating all his strength, with the effort of it.

"Is something wrong?" I asked innocently.

"What?…How?…What?" He was so shocked he couldn't find the words to form a coherent sentence.

"Three very good questions."

He watched as I sank down and sat on his stomach, looking down into his eyes.

"My blood is inside you now, a part of you, and you are mine to control."

"How did you do this?" I could see the fear flickering in his eyes.

"I am your ideal prey; everything about me draws you in. My face, my body, my intoxicating scent. The steady thud of my heart in its ancient rhythm, promising a taste of heaven as it calls to you. But, it is merely an illusion of weakness. It was I who was hunting you all along."

"But how…"

"My blood is your poison. It incapacitated you as it ebbed though your cold, dead, body, making you weak. You lay here beneath me now, helpless as a child. Mine, to do with as I choose."

"What the fuck are you?"

He was angry now. The powerful deadly predator, caged by a mere girl. I could see how much he hated it.

"I am justice, I am providence, I am sweet merciful death. I have come to free you, Edward, to end this reign of death and destruction and release your soul back to heaven."

He looked at me incredulously, but didn't comment, so I continued.

"I am Gods glory, his right hand, his warrior on this mortal plane, sent to do his will on this earth, sent to rid this world of your kind, abominations in his eyes."

"You're fucking insane."

"I did not expect you to understand. You are young and driven by your lust for blood and death, blinding you from seeking out the truth of who you are. Your kind was never meant to exist on this plane. The father of your race was pure demon, evil beyond all imagining with an insatiable thirst for destruction. Before we could finish him, he found a way to live on using the bodies of mortals as his vessels, spreading like a plague through the human race. I was created to stop this plague, fashioned in the image of man, to walk amongst them and search out those who are cursed by the demons venom, and cleanse their souls in the burning fire.

As he listened to my words, I saw the fear back in his eyes again.

"You're here to finish me." It wasn't a question.

"Don't be afraid Edward. The man you were, died long ago. He was murdered before he had a chance to live. The demon venom is all that has kept this corpse walking and talking for so long, granting it the illusion of eternal life, forcing it to spread the infection to others by creating a desire to feed, so strong that none could ignore it."

I got up and moved backwards until I was standing at his feet, then I lifted my hand and his body rose up in front of me, his feet dangling in the air, a clear foot off the floor.

"Any last words, Edward? Would you like to repent your sins before you burn in your funeral pyre?"

"Here's some last words for you. Fuck. You. Bitch." He glared at me angrily, defiant to the end.

I shook my head, sadly. "So be it." I raised my other hand and held my palm over his chest.

"Abbas, permissum vestri purgatio incendia solvo suus letalis animus."

(Father, let your cleansing fire release his mortal soul.)

As the last word left my lips, his body burst into flames and a thick acrid smoke filled the room. I waited and watched as he burned, until there was nothing left but a pile of ash on the dirty floor.

I made my way out of the building, and headed back to the club. My bike was still parked where I left it, in the clubs car park. I climbed on, shrugging into my leather jacket as I started up my bike.

I pulled out onto the highway and headed east. I could already sense another vampire close by. This was my purpose, the reason for my existence. Find all of those who have been infected, hunt them down, and eradicate them. I didn't need food or sleep, had no care for night or day, or the ways of the world. I wasn't mortal, I would never age or die, but instead, spend eternity hunting them down until the last vampire was gone from the earth forever.