This is a plot bunny that's been hopping around in my head for a while so I decided to set it free. This story is dedicated to my awesome beta and wonderful friend, xfang-girlx.
Serafina Bethesda, her name means angel of mercy. In a way, she supposed she was one. Working as an anesthesiologist at the biggest hospital in Los Angeles, she spared people from the pain of surgery by separating them from consciousness. For a while, she held their life in her hands. It was her job to bring them closer to death than sleep before returning them to their usual state of consciousness. One wrong calculation, one milligram over or under the correct dosage of an IV anesthetic or the incorrect ratio of oxygen to the gaseous anesthetic, could mean death or at the best possible scenario, the patient being brain-dead or paralyzed. She held the power of life and death in her hands, and she loved it.
"Sera? Are you about ready?" the head surgical nurse inquired, breaking her out of her insane reverie.
"Let me run one last check of everything," she replied, thankful that her mask shielded the sight of her mad grin. Pushing buttons in rapid succession, she put her monitors and equipment through a quick series of tests to make sure everything was operating correctly. She punched in the patient's vital statistics one last time to triple check the dosage of the intravenous paralytic. This man, being a three hundred pound body builder, was getting an IV injection in addition to the gas. A hernia due to weight lifting was being repaired. Poor bastard. If he only knew how much she hated men, he would never go under the knife. At least not in her operating room.
The irritating squeak of the wheels on the gurney being wheeled into the operating room screeched through the immaculate silence and echoed off of the disinfected metal surfaces. The man looked terrified despite being given a tranquilizer. He looked all around at the masked faces surrounding him. He flinched when a nurse slipped the bulky monitor onto his finger while another placed electrodes on his chest for the ECG monitoring.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine," Sera assured him in her seductive phone sex operator voice. She heard his audible sigh of relief and smiled her lunatic smile. Holding up the bottle of paralytic and the scary hypodermic needle, she jammed it into the rubber top of the bottle. She wanted to cackle with glee at his sudden and loud inhalation of air. After injecting the syringe full of air into the bottle, she drew up the medication taking great care to get the exact milligrams necessary.
"He's out," the doctor muttered, glaring at the resident anesthesiologist. "Why do you do that? You're such a bitch."
"I am what I am, Doc," she murmured, totally amused at this point. She inserted the needle into the injection port of the IV. Placing the mask over the man's nose and mouth, she began to count. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
~...~
Rue Ryuzaki sat in the corner of the noisy club that stank of sweat, stale cigarette smoke, old liquor, and pure sex. He did not belong here. However, it was a superb hunting ground. He was a hunter by nature; people were his chosen prey. These idiots had no idea that a killer was among them and tonight could be their last night on earth. His face split into an ear to ear grin of unadulterated madness. If only they knew...
Rue's eyes scanned the crowd, seeing the plethora of letters and numbers appearing over each person's head. He could see their names and the day they were destined to die. He had received this special gift at birth. This gift worked to his advantage, assisting him with choosing his victims. They were going to die anyway. He just had a little fun with them before their appointed time. The death god eyes he had been blessed with helped him locate his next victim immediately; a young man in his early twenties with short blond hair. Just as he was about to rise from his seat, he saw the woman who would change his life. Looking above her head, he saw nothing - no name, no date of death. What the hell? He plopped back down into his seat to study her closely. She was lovely; somewhere in her early thirties he would guess with lustrous brown hair that curled far down her back and was pulled back on one side with a clip that resembled a lotus flower. She wore a strapless dress of dark purple, the color of passion, that hugged her body and barely covered her ass. Nice. He had never been sexually attracted to a woman really. Or a man for that matter. The only time he experienced orgasmic bliss was when he was killing someone. Upon hearing his victim breathe their last breath, he would fall into a panting, trembling heap covered in their blood and basking in his insanity while enjoying a sensation akin to sexual gratification. Examining her more closely in the flashes of the strobe light of the club, he could see her dark eyes that held a cold, calculating expression. She was like him; she was a huntress on the prowl and it showed in her eyes as she held the young man in her sight without wavering. How very interesting.
Rue hunkered down on the chair, drawing his knees up to his chest and chewing on his thumb as he watched the cougar move in on the helpless, clueless prey of choice. His stomach clenched with excitement as she pulled the young man into her arms, fitting her body close to his. Another emotion rose within him as well; one he had never felt before. It made his stomach hurt, and he felt angry. Jealousy? Perhaps. She had stolen his prey after all. He continued watching as she slid her arms around the man's neck, gyrating her body against his as she whispered in his ear. Seeing the blonde nod and take her by the hand to lead her from the dance floor, he knew she had him in her deadly clutches.
"Shit," he growled, pushing himself off of his chair so violently it fell backwards. The sound was lost in the roar of the club. He followed them out to the parking lot. Staying close but ducking behind cars to remain undetected, he tailed them all the way to her car. Once again that odd mixture of sickness and anger hit him when he watched her kiss the man, the hungry, ravenous kiss of a true predator.
"Ow!" the blonde gasped, touching his lip gingerly after jerking away from her.
"It was only a little nip," she cooed, removing his fingers from his lip. She licked the blood that trickled from his lower lip. "There. All better?"
"Almost," he murmured, grabbing her by the hair to crush her lips against his.
Rue watched with growing interest as the woman seized a handful of the young man's hair, savagely jerking his head back. He covered his mouth to keep from emitting a sound when she slapped him soundly across the cheek.
"Don't forget who's in charge here," she snarled in his face, his eyes wide with shock and a bit of fear.
"Y-yes, m-ma'am," he stuttered in reply.
"Good. Let's go."
~...~
Rue once again found himself tagging along behind her but this time in a car. He pursued her all the way out to a lone rode off the main road that led back into a forest. Parking just off the highway to keep his car hidden, he walked down the dirt road to the only house located there. The house was a sprawling two-story log cabin. By the time he reached it, there was one light on upstairs. Jumping to catch the bottom of the terrace off of the room that was lit, he pulled himself up to easily haul his lithe thin body over the wooden banister. There was no curtain covering the sliding glass door so he was easily able to see the two people inside. It was a bedroom that appeared to have been set up specifically for a rendezvous like this. There was a bed, a night table, a lamp, and a dresser. Large sheets of plastic covered everything, even the walls. He saw that the young man had been tied to the basic brass bed, his arms and legs secured at each corner. The woman was sitting on top of him wearing nothing but a strapless black bra and matching panties. She was teasing her victim, rubbing her hands over his smooth hairless chest while kissing and nipping him hard enough to make him cry out. She laid down on top of the blonde, kissing him with violent intensity. His eyes followed the movement of her hand as she reached between the mattresses. His breath caught in his throat when she pulled out the hunting knife with a serrated edge on one side and a smooth edge on the other. He could only imagine how sharp that instrument was considering it was designed to cut through hair, hide, and bone.
"Wait...what the hell," the young man gasped seeing her raise the knife above her head when she was sitting up straight. "No...why are you doing this? You can't. Don't do this. Please!"
Without a word, she drove the knife downward, sinking it into his chest down to the hilt. Blood spattered over her body when she withdrew it. Rue found the contrast of the crimson red blood against her pale porcelain skin intriguing and stimulating. He pressed his palms and nose to the glass to watch her plunge the knife into the yowling, trapped quarry beneath her over and over. When his rapid breathing caused the glass to fog up, he had to back away a bit. Blood sprayed, covering the walls and her body until finally it was done. The young man exhaled for the last time ever. Rue studied her as her whole body shook, her eyes glazed with obvious satisfaction. His eyes followed the path of her hands as she smoothed the rich red fluid over her body as if it were the finest of moisturizer. Then she began to laugh. It was the laughter reserved for the truly, unapologetically, and lethally insane. He had never been in love before. But he was pretty sure this was it.
Rue saw her reluctantly remove herself from her victim. She disappeared from the room to return minutes later, clean and wet from a shower dressed in torn up jeans and a red t-shirt. His eyes surveyed her every movement as she began pulling down the plastic, wrapping it around the dead body of the blonde. This was obviously not her first time. Once the bloodied plastic and the dead body was secured, she pulled a flat-bed cart from the closet which she rolled the body onto.
"Amazing," he breathed while she calmly wheeled the body from the room. She had this thing down to an exact science. Moments later, she came back wearing gloves holding a bottle of cleaner and white towels. She was incredible to observe as she meticulously cleaned every inch of the room. When that task was completed, she left the room again, turning off the light this time. He was nearly in a panic to find where she had gone. Hearing the loud motor of a lift engage, he followed the sound to the back of the house. Peeking around the corner, he saw her push out the cart that had the towels and gloves piled on top of the plastic wrapped dead man. He noiselessly followed behind her to see her walk into a building that looked like a small house. Dozens of pottery objects from statues to plates filled the tables and shelves in the building. A massive kiln already had a blazing fire inside of it.
Rue could see the sweat forming on her brow and beneath her nose as she stood close to the kiln, throwing in the towels and gloves. Next came the difficult part, getting the body into the hellish fire. With surprisingly little effort and a lot more sweat, she hefted the body through the large hole of the pottery furnace to be incinerated. What she did next took him by surprise. She stripped off all of her clothes, including her bra and panties to put them into the fire. He could not stop staring at her naked body illuminated by the yellowish red flames of the fire. A tear appeared on her cheek, shining like a diamond briefly before it slid down her face to drip from her chin. However, there was a smile firmly planted on her lips. At that moment, he decided he wanted her. Not as his next offering to his murderous sickness, but as his partner in crime and his lover. He had never wanted anyone like he wanted her, and it bothered him immensely.