No matter how many years I lived I would never get used to the stench of this city, it burned my nostrils with every breath I was forced to take.

I hated this place and yet ironically I needed it, it allowed me to feed the monster within me and dispose of society's most disgusting individuals at the same time.

I hoped when the end came that this might count in my favour.

I had once observed a half starved dog wandering in the dark alleyways; it was covered in sores, maggots eating at the rotten flesh as it scavenged around for food.

I decided I was going to end its miserable life. Surely death was better than this, but when I approached it the dog whimpered and whined, sensing in me a much more dangerous predator than itself. It seemed it would rather hang on to it's futile existence than accept the relatively pain free alternative I was offering.

This goddamned city was just like that dog, starving, been eaten alive by it's own corruptness but struggling to survive despite the hopelessness. If ever a place was damned by god than this was surely it.

I lived in a cesspit of death, disease and corruption; the only beacon of light in the dark despair of my existence was her, I hardly ever let myself even think her name.

I had first come in contact with her, seven years before; I was following the perverted predator who was stalking her on her way home, waiting for an opportunity to subject her to his depraved desires. I could hear every one of his sick, twisted thoughts, of all the things he planned to do to her; I would enjoy taking his life when the time came.

I only realised that her thoughts were blank to me when I tried to read her mind to see if she had any idea of the danger she was in. I tried to probe her thoughts but was greeted by complete and utter silence, a first for me, it worried me slightly but I was equally intrigued by that fact.

It was this distraction I blamed for my nearly being too late to save her. She had reached a deserted part of town and the piece of filth had taken the opportunity to attack.

He was hurting her, I knew he must be because I could see in his thoughts how much pressure he was exerting on her arm, but my clever girl refused to beg like the dead man was telling her to. She knew as soon as he got what he wanted it would be over for her, he enjoyed the begging and pleading more than anything else, it made him feel like a god.

He liked to tell them he would let them live if they did as they were told, but my smart, beautiful girl saw through his lies.

There was no way I was going to be able to attack him without her seeing me, part of me thrilled at that thought, part of me wanted her to see me, but I knew when she saw the monster behind the beautiful façade I wore she would run screaming into the night.

I did not want to see that look of terror she had on her face at this moment to be directed at me but it was inevitable if she was going to live.

I pounced before he even knew what was happening, tearing his neck and draining him within minutes. My girl had scrambled away as soon as I had brought him down, scurrying to crouch further down the street, watching but not running.

When I had finished I turned to look at her, she had a perfect heart shaped face, her skin creamy and pale, brown wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders but it was her eyes that drew me the most, they were big, brown and shone with an innocence and purity I had rarely witnessed in my long life. It was at that moment that she reached up and brushed her hair away from her face, it caused the air to stir around her wafting her scent towards me.

Oh god, her scent, it was like nothing I had ever encountered, it was floral and unbearably sweet, despite the fact I had just fed venom pooled in my mouth.

I had to get away from here, I turned as quickly as I could and raced off down the dark street, a blur to human eyes. I just caught her faint call of 'come back' as I disappeared into the night.

I knew I had to stay away from her but the selfish, self-gratifying monster that I was wouldn't let me.

I would follow her scent whenever I crossed it, her blood called to me like a siren song. I was always careful to kind my distance as I watched her, my sweet angel.

I found out she was alone in the world; her father had died shortly after her seventeenth birthday.

Charlie Swan, a decent, hard working police officer, one of the very few men serving on the police force who didn't accept bribes to look the other way while prominent figures in this city indulged their vices. Unfortunately this honesty led to his premature death.

I listened beneath her window as she cried most nights, praying for her father's soul and begging his forgiveness because of what she was forced to do to make ends meet.

I hated seeing my beautiful angel dancing at that seedy hole. All those men watching her and the images that went through their minds made it hard for me to control my rage at times.

The guys that were there to protect the girls made sure no one ever touched her, they understood how special she was, they cared for her. She was still the same pure girl I had saved all this years ago.

I spent as much time as I could near her, I never wanted anything to happen to her.

Over time I became more accustomed to her scent, I hated myself for it but I would climb in her window at night and watch her sleep. Polluting her world with my presence was a terrible sin I knew but I couldn't deny my need to be close to her.

I watched my amazing girl through the night, sometimes she would talk in her sleep, calling for Charlie or her long gone mother, almost every night just before dawn she would say the same thing 'come back.'

Did she dream of me? I couldn't be sure. If I could dream I would dream only of her, my Bella.

I cringed to myself, I tried never to say or think her name, I wasn't worthy to, I didn't deserve to.

I got up and looked at my face in the mirror of the bathroom in the dingy bed-sit I called home. I could have afforded better but why bother, I spent most of time trawling the streets and of course I never slept.

The face that looked back was beautiful I suppose, perfect bone structure, pale skin full lips, dishevelled bronze hair, the women seemed to like that. My eyes were dark; I was going to need to feed before I went to see her tonight.

I don't remember much of my human life, I don't know fear as a vampire, since I was the most dangerous predator out there the emotion was redundant. I don't remember love, receiving it or giving it. I sometimes wondered if the things I felt for my girl were love but I was too selfish to love, if I really loved her I would remove my presence from her life.

I was changed when I was seventeen and dying from Spanish influenza, apparently my mother begged my doctor to save me, would she have done that if she had known the man she was begging to save my life was a vampire?

Carlisle was definitely unique among our kind, didn't feed from humans, even managed to practice as a doctor, after four hundred or so years of been around humans he claimed to hardly notice the scent of their blood anymore. He tried to persuade me to stay with him and his family and share their diet of animal blood but I didn't want to stay, they were a happy family and I felt my brooding thoughts and lack of contentment were blight on their existence.

So I took myself away and came here. A cesspit where someone like me belonged.

A/N I have revised this story and am reposting it – hope you enjoy it and leave some reviews.