CRY FOR BLOOD

Part II

By Wesley Overhults

Gotham General Hospital

Rachel Roth grumbled unintelligibly and blearily opened her eyes.  The sterile white of the ceiling tiles was her first clue that she was definitely not back home in her room.  The beeping of a heart monitor was her next clue and it was a dead giveaway that she was in a hospital.  Her mind tried to process the events of the past twenty-four hours.  She had gone to Megan’s house to uncover the truth about what had really happened.  There were a couple weird emails and texts with a strange symbol.

“Damn it,” Rachel muttered as the symbol flashed in her mind and she instinctively recoiled from it.  She felt like she was going to have a panic attack and the fact that the heart monitor began to beep faster didn’t do anything to calm her nerves.

“You need to lie still,” advised the nurse after hearing the urgency in the heart monitor and coming into the room to check on Rachel.  “You almost died last night.  Your parents are here, Rachel, and they’re worried to death already.  No need to give them any further cause for alarm.”

“Yeah, sorry if I’m not as concerned about everyone else’s feelings as I should be,” sniped Rachel.  “I hear almost dying tends to make you have a panic attack.”

“The doctor should be in to see you soon so please try to relax,” advised the nurse.  “After he checks you out, your parents can see you.”

“Right, got it,” assured Rachel, trying desperately not to think about the weirdness that had occurred the previous night.

The weirdness was only beginning though.  It was bad enough thinking about that weird symbol but there was also the crazy priest that had been lurking outside Megan’s house.  There was a scuffle and he had been stabbed.  She tried to help him and that was when her hand started glowing.  Rachel looked down at her hands and tried to figure out what was going on.  The glow from the night before was the same glow she saw on herself during Megan’s funeral.  Something was going on with her and she definitely knew it wasn’t just a panic attack.  She couldn’t think about that now though.  She had to keep calm so her foster parents and the doctors wouldn’t suspect something was wrong.  It wouldn’t do her any good to start spouting off about all this bizarre stuff now.  She couldn’t continue looking into Megan’s death from a padded cell.

“You should thank Mrs. Waters’s housekeeper,” suggested the doctor as he came into her room to check her over.  “She was the one who called the ambulance.  That stab wound was very close to puncturing your heart, Miss Roth.”

“I’m okay now though, right?” asked Rachel hopefully.

“You lost a lot of blood but you’ll be alright,” confirmed the doctor after looking over her chart.  “You’re going to have to keep that wound bandaged for a while and I would recommend not participating in any strenuous activity unless you’d like to tear open your stitches.  You’ll also need to take some antibiotics to make sure it doesn’t get infected.”

“Gym class was never my best subject anyway,” quipped Rachel.  “Can I see my parents now?”

“I’m afraid they’ll have to wait a little longer,” explained the doctor.  “There’s someone else who wants to talk to you.”

“My name is Detective Dale Colton and I’m with the GCPD,” informed a man with shoulder-length brown hair while he came into the room and took a seat in one of the chairs.  “I’d like to ask you some questions about your attacker if you don’t mind.”

“I doubt these meds I’m on will be able to help me give some straight answers but sure, go ahead,” decided Rachel.

“For starters, can you describe your attacker?” asked Detective Colton.

“It was a man,” began Rachel.  “I had come to Megan’s house earlier that day to get some stuff from her room and my phone fell out of my pocket.  I went back to get it later that night and when I came out of the house, I saw him standing across the street.  He looked really shady so I went to see what he was doing.  He had a knife and there was a scuffle.  I didn’t get a good look at his face.  It was too dark and everything happened really fast.”

“We can get you an appointment with a sketch artist,” reminded Colton.

“I really didn’t get a good look at his face,” repeated Rachel.

“I know you’ve suffered a serious trauma but I have one more question for you,” said Colton before pulling out a picture out of the pocket of his faded leather jacket and holding it up so Rachel could see it.  “Have you ever come across this symbol before?”

Rachel stared at the weird S and tried desperately not to have a panic attack again.  How did the police know about that symbol?  Was Megan involved in something bad?  She had to have been if the police were onto something.  Did the police know about what really happened to Rachel last night?  Did they know that the person who attacked her had the same symbol carved into the blade of his knife?  Did they know the crap that the priest said about her, about how she was the sire to some dark lord of evil or something?  Rachel’s head swirled with a thousand questions but she had to maintain control of her fear.  She couldn’t let the detective know that she had indeed seen that symbol before.

“No,” lied Rachel.  “I have no clue what that is.  Why would you ask me that?”

“No reason,” said Colton nonchalantly before putting the picture back in the pocket of his jacket and then getting up to leave.  “I’ve been working another suicide case, thought maybe it was related to your friend’s.  I gave your foster parents the number for the station so if you have any further information then give us a call.  Ask for me if you do.”

“I will,” promised Rachel and she knew in the pit of her gut that Colton was lying to her.  Whatever other case he was working, it was related to Megan’s and the thread that connected them was that symbol.  She had to figure out what the heck it was and she had to make sure she stayed ahead of the police.

“You had us worried to death, Rachel,” noted her foster father as both he and her foster mother came into the room once Colton had left.  “We thought you were just going over there to pick up your phone.”

“I was,” explained Rachel.  “Look, if you’re going to get mad at me for this then can you at least do it when we get home?  I’d really just like to get some rest right now.”

His blood-red eyes looked out over the flock that he had gathered.  It was a modest amount of followers but they suited his purposes.  Things would be different once they had welcomed The Daughter into their fold.  Brother Blood knew that he answered to a higher power and that he had a great calling in life.  He had been chosen by the Dark Lord to prepare the way for His coming and that meant that he had to be the one to guide The Daughter to Her destiny.  In return for his faithful service, Blood was promised a position of power in the new world.  The Master had already given Blood a sample of that power and Blood had used it to gather together his Church of Blood.  They were his eyes and ears to the outside world, the world beyond the confines of the abandoned church he had made his own.  They were also his hands as well, doing his dirty work all in the effort to prepare the way for Him.

“My children, I am disheartened by the actions of one of you,” stated Brother Blood and watched the mutterings between the priests and priestesses in the red robes.  “It seems that one of you is not pure of heart.  One of you dared to strike The Daughter last night.”

The whispers went into overdrive now as each member of the Church of Blood simultaneously tried to figure out who had committed such a sin while quietly praying to their god that Brother Blood would not find some other fault with them.  Blood looked around and watched their nervousness grow.  It got their blood pumping and he did so love it when that happened.  It made that blood even tastier when it was hot and boiling with emotions.  He, of course, knew who the offender was.  It was the one he sent to Megan’s house to keep an eye on things.  Megan was a stupid girl who had failed to carry out the duties assigned to her and she had paid for that mistake with her life.  Blood only regretted that he didn’t have time to sample some of her blood while she was lying there in the tub.  The GCPD was starting to become wise to his comings and goings though so he began taking extra precautions.  It wouldn’t sit well with the Dark Lord if His acolyte was caught before he had completed his trials.

“It was I, Brother,” spoke up the guilty man.  “I did not know it was The Daughter.  I would have gladly died but Her ability healed me.  She showed mercy on me, Brother.”

“Mercy?” inquired Brother Blood as he strode towards the man and watched the other Church members part like the Red Sea to let him through.  “The Daughter doesn’t show mercy.  It must be Her human side corrupting Her, polluting Her blood with impurities.  Nevertheless, you have committed a grievous sin and you must be punished for it.”

“I submit myself to your authority and the authority of the Dark Lord,” said the man even as Brother Blood clutched him by the throat and picked him up with just that single hand.  “I will serve my penance righteously.”

“You know what the penalty for such a sin is,” reminded Blood before snapping the man’s neck and then throwing him into what looked like a pool used for baptism.  “Bleed him out.  I will return for the ritual once you have it prepared.”

The other members of the Church of Blood set to work on extracting the blood from the dead body, knowing that Brother Blood intended to bathe in it as the ritual demanded.  It was the only way to maintain his supernatural abilities but Blood dared not tell them that.  It wouldn’t do for his sheep to perceive him as anything less than a powerful shepherd.  Blood retired to his private sanctum and opened the book that was on his bed.  The book had the same mark on its cover that all his followers displayed one way or another.  He opened the book and recited something in a strange tongue that was unknown to all save for the members of the Church.

“I trust you have dealt with the one who almost killed my daughter,” spoke a disembodied voice.

A quartet of glowing, red eyes appeared before Brother Blood and he knew that the eyes belonged to the Dark Lord.  Blood was the only one who could hear His voice because he had been chosen.  All the gifts that Blood had received came with a price and the price was his eternal servitude to the Dark Lord.

“I have killed him just now, Lord,” assured Blood.  “It seems that The Daughter is slowly beginning to manifest Her abilities.  This is surely another sign of Your coming, Lord.”

“Indeed but she will need your guidance to grant me my passage into your world,” explained the voice.  “You and your order have kept watch over her very well, Sebastian Blood.  I am pleased with your service but now is the crucial moment.  The celestial convergence is at hand.  Do not fail me or you will know torment such as no mortal could hope to comprehend.”

“Your will is law, Lord Trigon,” assured Brother Blood.  “I will make sure that She is ready to perform Her duties when the time is right.”

“See that you do,” suggested the voice.  “The hour of my coming is drawing ever closer.  You’re running out of time, Blood.”

“As soon as we have Her in our possession then we’ll be ready to perform the ceremony,” said Brother Blood.  “I will not fail You, Lord Trigon.”

“It goes without saying that you’re missing school today,” noted Mrs. Thorne.  “You want to tell us what happened, Rachel?”

“I already told you,” reminded Rachel as she hovered in the entrance to her room, one foot in the room and one foot in the hallway.  “Mom, this is Gotham.  Everybody gets mugged in Gotham no matter how rich they are or aren’t.”

“Well you’re not going out for a while,” decided Rachel’s foster mother.  “Rachel, you had your cell phone on you.  You could have just called the police instead of trying to fight the guy.”

“I’m okay,” assured Rachel.  “Trust me, aside from these stitches in my chest that itch like crazy I’m going to be okay.”

“Alright, just try to keep yourself out of trouble,” said Mrs. Thorne.

Rachel didn’t respond, instead simply retreating into the sanctuary of her room and closing the door behind her.  She ruled out going to the library to look up information on that symbol since she didn’t want to anger her foster parents any further.  However, she did have her computer and the internet was probably better than any library.  She booted up her laptop and logged onto the internet.  The problem was trying to figure out where to look though.  The symbol was a little hard to describe and there were probably thousands of occult symbols out there in the world.  Tracking down the right one could take hours if not longer.  If what that detective said was true, then the police were most likely looking into the origin of the symbol.  Rachel had a different route to take though.  Looking into Megan had led her to the symbol so perhaps if Rachel continued to pry then maybe she would uncover another lead in her search.

“It’s amazing what you can learn just by looking at someone’s Facebook page,” muttered Rachel to herself as she stared at Megan’s profile.

Rachel was never one for social networking sites but she had to at least admit that it was easier to keep up with everyone than doing it in person.  She had gotten a Facebook profile back when she was in middle school but never used it.  It wasn’t as if anyone really wanted to be her friend anyway so she didn’t bother doing anything with it.  The only thing it was good for was that it let her see everyone else’s profile, provided that they made their profiles public.  Rachel was in luck as that was exactly what Megan had done with her profile.  Rachel scanned through the posts made on Megan’s wall, still not comprehending why people bothered with social media.  After Rachel stopped being friends with Megan, she would occasionally check Megan’s Facebook page and hope to see some kind of proof that Megan wasn’t the heartless bitch Rachel thought she was.  When Rachel never got her proof, she stopped bothering with it.

“Should’ve tried to check Megan’s page from her computer,” said Rachel, realizing her tragic mistake.  “Bet she was still automatically logged in.  Too late for that now though.”

Rachel saw something that seemed to stand out.  Meredith Hiller had mentioned on Megan’s wall that she was looking forward to seeing Megan at church that night.  A check of the post’s date revealed that the day was a Tuesday.  As far as Rachel knew, Megan and Meredith didn’t go to the same church and even if they did, she couldn’t recall any Baptist church that had a service on Tuesday nights.

“Worth a shot,” decided Rachel, reaching for her phone.  She was surprised when it rang before she could dial a number, arching an eyebrow as she looked at the unknown number of the person calling her.  She answered it and was even more shocked to learn who the caller was.

“I heard about what happened last night,” explained Meredith Hiller.  “Are you okay, Rachel?”

“Peachy,” replied Rachel glibly.  “I mean it only hurts when I breathe so yeah I’m cool.  How did you find out about that so fast?”

“My dad works at Gotham General,” reminded Meredith.  “He’s friends with the doctor that saved your life.”

“Small world,” said Rachel.  “Listen, Meredith, you and I have never been friends and I know you don’t really give a crap about how I’m feeling so let’s cut to the chase.  Why did you call me?”

“I know you like to pretend that you didn’t care about Megan but we both know you did,” said Meredith.  “The kids at our church want to hold a candlelight service for Megan tonight.  I think it would be a good idea for you to come.”

Rachel wanted to say no, in fact it was almost a reflex at that point.  However, she realized that maybe in this case it was better to say yes.  She knew for a fact that Meredith and Megan didn’t go to the same church unless Megan changed churches when she decided to change friends as well.  Then there was the matter of how Meredith found out about Rachel being attacked.  It was too implausible that Meredith suddenly found out about the attack not even twenty-four hours after it occurred and it was even more implausible that she actually cared about Rachel’s well-being.  Something was going on and it seemed as if Meredith was in the middle of it somehow.

“You know, I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” decided Rachel, trying not to gag at the thought of going to church with Meredith.  “What time and where?”

“Well, you can just come to my house at six and then I’ll take you to the church,” said Meredith.  “I’m so glad you decided to come with me, Rachel.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy the service.”

“Yeah, whatever,” said Rachel nonchalantly.  “I’ll see you at six.”

Rachel hung up the phone and pondered her next move.  Out of curiosity, she checked Meredith’s Facebook profile but everything was hidden from people who weren’t on her list of friends.  Rachel figured Meredith would have made everything public.  She certainly enjoyed soaking up the pity from everyone else with every post she made on the memorial page for Megan.  In Rachel’s experience, the people with the prettiest faces in public were usually the ones with the dirtiest secrets.  Maybe Meredith had her own secret and it was somehow connected to Megan’s death.

“Off the computer, Rachel,” said her foster mother and Rachel didn’t even realize she had opened the door.  “Doctor says you need to rest more after what happened.  If you’re not going to do that then I’ll call the school and let them know you’ll be going there today after all.”

“Mom, I know you kinda grounded me but Meredith Hiller just called me and told me that her church is doing a candlelight thing for Megan tonight,” explained Rachel.  “I kinda told her I wanted to come.”

“What time?” inquired Mrs. Thorne, her face clearly displaying her obvious skepticism at her daughter’s sudden interest in religion.

“I’m supposed to be at her house at six and then she said she would drive us there,” said Rachel.

“Make sure she brings you back before nine,” warned Mrs. Thorne.  “It’s a school night and you know I don’t want you wandering around out there by yourself after what happened.”

“No, I understand,” assured Rachel.  “It shouldn’t take that much time so I’ll be home before nine.  Promise.”

“Why the sudden change of heart about church?” asked her foster mother.

“I dunno,” admitted Rachel with a shrug.  “I mean you and Dad both know I’m not very religious but, well, it’s for Megan and I just thought maybe I could suck it up this one time.  I mean she was my best friend, you know?”

“Good enough reason,” said Mrs. Thorne.  “You know, you could make church a habit.”

“Seriously, do not sound like Meredith Hiller,” warned Rachel.  “It’s bad enough that I have to do this with her.”

“I’m just saying it wouldn’t hurt,” said Mrs. Thorne.  “Just think about it, Rachel.  That’s all I’m saying.”

“We’ll see about that after tonight,” muttered Rachel after her foster mother had closed the door.

Rachel logged off her computer and then decided it was time to get that rest her foster mother and the doctor had talked to her about.  She changed out of the clothes she had been wearing the day before and put on something to sleep in before curling up on her bed.  She closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep.  It only took a few minutes for her to fall asleep but it was anything but peaceful.  Her dreams were filled with that symbol, flames, and four glowing eyes that scorched her very soul with their gaze.

Detective Dale Colton looked at the contents of the file folders that were spread out across his desk.  The cases were all open suicides and in the middle of them was Megan Waters.  Somehow, he knew they were all connected.  All of them involved the victims bleeding themselves out and in more than one case that weird mark kept coming up.  He had been trying to track down the source of that symbol but so far nothing had come up.  He was hoping that his latest request for information would turn up something.  Until then, he was busy staring at the files.

“There’s something missing,” he muttered to himself.  “There’s something I’m not seeing.”

Detective Colton didn’t have a partner.  He hadn’t been reassigned one yet after his last partner had met an untimely end.  It was the hazards of living in Gotham, which had to be the most violent city in the world or at least the country.  Colton had worked the streets of Gotham for his entire police career and he had seen every conceivable kind of murder.  There was something about these suicides though.  Somehow he didn’t think they were actually suicides and even if they were then there was definitely some kind of coercion going on.  He was certain of that much.

“You finally got a hit on that case,” spoke up the clerk after dropping another folder on his desk.  “A professor from Gotham University wanted me to give you that personally.”

“Thanks,” said Colton and watched the young girl leave to continue her rounds.

Colton opened the folder and was immediately greeted with a picture of the same symbol.  This time though there was a lengthy write-up on the symbol’s history.  Apparently, it was called the Mark of Skath and it was a very old symbol that hadn’t seen popular use in at least a couple centuries.  The members of an ancient cult worshipped Skath, their god of evil.  Most if not all of their rituals involved human sacrifice and also bathing in human blood under the belief that it would grant them some kind of supernatural powers.  The report stressed though that many occult scholars didn’t even acknowledge the existence of Skath’s followers due to their scarcity and the incredibly clandestine nature of their activities.  It was possible though that the worshipers of Skath still existed even today.

“They have to be operating here in Gotham,” realized Colton, making no mistake about the symbol.  He decided that he was going to have to figure out a way to get a warrant for Megan Waters’s computer and her phone to see if she had any contact with these people.  He was also going to have to keep an eye on the Roth girl.  It couldn’t have been a coincidence that she was attacked after leaving Megan’s house and Colton highly doubted the attacker was a simple mugger.  Somehow, she was connected to all of this.

“You are certain that She will come?”

Meredith Hiller looked at Brother Blood as he spoke and practically hung on his every word.  She had been a member of the Church of Blood for her whole life after members of the Church found her when her biological parents had abandoned her.  From an early age, she was taught to worship Brother Blood.  There was nothing she wouldn’t do for Brother Blood, her adopted parents drilling that religious fervor into her that they also displayed.  Meredith was one of Blood’s finest witnesses, the cult leader using her like a recruiter to bring more lost souls into his congregation.  Megan had been one of those lost souls.  Meredith recruited her when they were in middle school and quickly discovered that Megan was best friends with Rachel.  It was only a matter of persuasion to get Megan to do what Meredith wanted, to dissolve her friendship with Rachel by sleeping with Rachel’s boyfriend Eric.  Meredith could be very persuasive when she wanted something.

“She cares for Megan even now,” reminded Meredith as the two of them sat in a car parked outside of a house in Gotham Heights, her eyes barely seeing the outside world through its tinted windows.  “All I had to do was tell Her that this was in Megan’s honor and She practically jumped at the chance to be a part of it.”

“Human emotions make people weak,” said Brother Blood before getting out of the car and walking towards the door, Meredith trailing behind him.  He had changed from his ceremonial robes to a simple red suit so that he wouldn’t draw attention to himself.  He hated the fact that he had to look so mundane, so average, so human.  “Lord Trigon made a crucial error in choosing to lie with a human woman.  He did not fully consider the consequences.”

“You are dangerously close to speaking blasphemy against the Dark Lord,” warned Meredith.

“And you must remember your place,” retorted Brother Blood.  “Do not forget that I am His right hand.  You answer not only to Him but also to me.”

“Yes, Brother,” apologized Meredith before another member of the Church of Blood opened the door to let the two of them in.

Neither of them wrinkled their noses at the stench of death that hung heavy in the air.  Brother Blood trusted that the members of his Church could hide the two bodies of Eric Andrews’s parents.  They had strict instructions not to harm Eric yet though.  Brother Blood wanted that act saved especially for him.

“I want you to watch what transpires here,” ordered Brother Blood as they approached Eric’s bedroom.  “This wouldn’t be necessary if your friend Megan had done what she was told.  I want you to watch this and learn the price of failure.”

“I have no friends who are not of the faith, Brother,” reminded Meredith.

“You people can’t do this!” cried Eric Andrews even as the Church members held him down on the bed.

“You soiled The Daughter,” said Brother Blood, looking with disdain at the teenage boy lying on the bed.  “You deemed it necessary to lie with her and then you turned one of my flock against me.  Megan Waters was a good asset to me until you ruined her.  You must be punished for your sins, Mr. Andrews.”

“Just relax, Eric,” suggested Meredith.  “Trust me, we’re going to set you free.”

Meredith’s tone shifted into a different pitch.  It filtered through Eric’s ears and triggered something in his brain.  Meredith was always good with words, always bending them and twisting them to her purpose.  She could bend and twist people the same way, make them do what she wanted.  She had a little supernatural muscle behind it but it was also the talent she had cultivated through a lifetime of lying to the rest of the world and telling everyone what they wanted to hear.

“You shall be absolved of these sins,” stated Blood after lifting Eric with one hand and carrying him into his bathroom where the noose was already waiting for him.  “Pay your penance, Andrews.”

“Do it, Eric,” pressed Meredith.  “Megan wants to see you again.  She wants you to hold her in your arms just like you used to.  I was her best friend in the whole world, Eric, and I know she loved you so much.  Go be with her, Eric.  Go be with her.”

It was the perfect scenario.  His Church would murder Eric’s parents and make it look as if Eric had killed them and then taken his own life.  Blood deposited Eric in a standing position on the chair and watched the body put the noose around his own neck and then hang himself.  Blood couldn’t believe that this idiot had chosen to make love to The Daughter, to allow Her to actually feel emotions.  That was why Rachel’s relationship with Eric had to end.  The Daughter of Trigon didn’t get to know what love or any other emotion felt like.

“This is the price of your failure” stated Brother Blood.  “Make sure that The Daughter is in the proper state of mind before the two of you enter our place of worship.  I don’t want any other dead bodies until the ceremony is complete.  After that, all of us will be able to do whatever we want.”

“As you wish, Brother,” said Meredith, a serene smile on her face even as she watched the lifeless body of Eric Andrews hang from the curtain rod of his bathtub.  “The Daughter shall be ready to perform Her duties.”

NEXT: Rachel crashes a meeting of The Church of Blood and things go from bad to worse for her.