Earth's Grand Healer

Each month, Samantha Clark (now Samantha Drake-Wayne)since her 12th birthday has been performing a ritual during a full moon where she sheds blood, compelled by some voice that is not her own. During the months of her pregnancy the need to perform the ritual was quenched. Now, three months after the birth of her children, that same voice is compelling her to perform that ritual again. Who is behind that voice? What does it really want. And will Samantha be unleashing the worst nightmare not seen in 400 years?

Part 1: The Voice

Samantha couldn't sleep. She looked at her husband sleeping peacefully, envious for just an instant. Samantha remembered, before she knew what she was, there were other nights like this one, drawing her towards something she did not fully understand. It was always during a full moon and lasted three nights. It was a hunger she could not quench, ravenous and demanding the taste of flesh. It scared her. She remembered the first time that it happened, the day she started to become a young woman. It was during a full moon then as well. It may be one of the reasons why her father sold her to Devlin, putting her into the hands of a cruel and dangerous man. They feared her; feared her in ways that Samantha did not understand. Then, someone came along who didn't fear her, but cared about her well-being more than herself. Not only that he, had the very essence that her dreams had foretold.

Samantha rose and left their shared bedroom. The Manor was silent. Everyone was asleep, a rare moment. Usually, it seemed there was someone was up at all hours of the night, but tonight everyone slept, including the children. Samantha headed downstairs to the dining room. Her padding footsteps not quite echoing through the hall. The Manor was so quiet, a pin drop would have sounded like a cannon shot. As she drew closer to the dining room, she could hear the sound of a ticking clock somewhere hidden from view. Her footsteps were guiding her to stand in front of a familiar and yet alien portrait of herself. The likeness was remarkable. How could a woman she never met know what she looked like?

Samantha read the name of the artist, Martha Wayne.

'Bruce's mother?' Samantha thought. 'Did she have some clairvoyance that no one was aware of?'

Samantha reached up to lightly touch a certain spot on the painting. She was expecting to find it dry, but the paint was, if not moist, still a little damp.

'Damian mentioned that oil paintings could remain wet for many months, even years after a painting has been worked on depending on the thickness of the paint, even from the pigment.'

How that pigment was created, it was as if it had a property that defied time. That gave the Artist the opportunity to rework an area if they weren't satisfied, as if the image wasn't quite right in their mind. The paint had been applied thickly, as if with a knife, and not a brush; at least that's the way the area Samantha had touched had been applied. It was not that hard to imagine just what Martha Wayne was thinking or possibly feeling. The painting was dream-like, it's edges not quite clear, as if in a misty fog.

"How could she know?" Samantha thought.

"Such a beautiful likeness," a voice said behind Samantha.

Samantha's eyes went wide, startled out of her revere. She turned to speak with the person but there was no one. Was she going crazy or was the Manor haunted?

"Ha-ha-ha," the voice laughed playfully, echoing through the empty halls of the Manor, but only Samantha could hear it.

'Surely someone else heard that,' Samantha thought to herself.

"We are quite alone," the voice said.

"You can read my thoughts?" Samantha felt violated at having her private thoughts read by an unknown entity that may or may not be hostile.

"Don't be cross," the voice pouted. "Who do you think has been coaxing you to shed your blood to me every month since you became a woman?"

That information startled Samantha. "Who are you?"

"It is near that time, again, is it not?"

"Why must I do this?" Samantha questioned. "Haven't I given you enough?"

"Do you want to be the grand healer of the earth?" the voice taunted. "Who do you think put that idea in your head? By giving me your blood, I don't take it from others needlessly, and it has been a long time since I've been fed."

"Who are you?" Samantha questioned, again.

"Perhaps you should ask your cousin, the voice said. "I've been bound to this earth, this plane for centuries. Your blood is slowly releasing me. Only a little more shall do, then I can claim what is mine."

'My cousin? I have no cousin,' Samantha thought. 'What is this being saying?'

"You are so naïve little princess," the being said. "I have waited for someone just like you. And now I will be freed."

Samantha's heart sank like a stone the voice was no longer kind, but menacing and cruel. What had she inadvertently released? How could she be so naïve? And how was she going to stop it before it was too late?

Continues with Part 2: Brothers Know Everything