You know this as soon as you wake, hours before dawn: that tonight you will find the one who calls you. Stride through the city like a lion, your coat radiant, your teeth swords, your lungs filling with the scent of her sweet perfume, and blood.
In the closet where you keep your secret things are souvenirs from earlier times, pieces of jewelry that glow in the darkness with the light of the women who wore them. You can feel it in your fingers as you rub them – a little trace left over from that warmth they gave to you. Each piece has a voice, replaying her last words and sounds, music to accompany the film in your head. You like to listen to them one at a time, but sometimes you hold them all together and close your eyes and crouch there in the dark, until they blend into one murmuring song, like wavelets into surf.
You knew long ago, when you first began, that all women want beauty – but it comes at a cost. Changing their flesh is a start. But getting to the real, deep perfection they secretly crave is something only you can do.
The first hint of daylight starts to enter the room.
It's important to make this day look like any other, so you get ready for work. But first, you check to make sure of the other things you're going to need. Scrubs and gown. Latex gloves. Plastic bedding. Plenty of towels.
A sterile surgical tray, with a selection of scalpels.