Grace Tainted Blood: The Monster Within: The Monster Within

By Yvonne Varsan

In the tradition of Carrie and The Omen comes Grace a supernatural urban horror with a twist. 

A married couple’s life will be altered in horrible and unexpected ways with the arrival of an orphan girl like no other.

A baby is born to a single mother, and since there is no relative available after her mother's death she is sent to an orphanage where her strange personality breaks havoc. Years later she is adopted by a couple whose lives change dramatically after her arrival. The girl is everything they always wanted. She is beautiful, vivacious, and curious about the world that surrounds her but something inside her has been waiting to be awakened.

Her name is Grace, and her angelic face and beautiful blue eyes attract everyone but there is something evil attached to this girl’s past that will destroy the lives of those who cross her path.

Can the evil be stopped before they fall prey to the dark inheritance that the girl carries or are they already doomed?

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022

Book preview

Grace

Tainted Blood

                  A Novel 

Yvonne Varsan

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part and it may not be copied, downloaded, transmitted, or sent by any means without the consent of the author.

978-1-387-61380-9

Imprint: Lulu.com

All rights reserved

      Copyright © 2022 by Yvonne Varsan

    Cover art copyright 2022 by Yvonne Varsan

Printed in the United States of America

We stop looking for monsters under our beds when we realize they are inside us.

                            Charles Darwin

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Prologue

On a stormy night, a beautiful baby girl is born in a busy hospital full of other crying babies, but this baby is not like the others. This baby has something else that will make her special and terrifying at the same time. Her mother passed during childbirth. An unexpected hemorrhage that doctors could not stop took her young life unexpectedly. Her dead body lies on top of a cold gurney on its way to the morgue. The baby is taken to the nursery and placed in a crib with the other newborn babies. This night will mark the beginning of a story like no other. 

Chapter 1

M

arina Leighton is a beautiful, young, and naive woman who has fallen for the wrong man just like hundreds before. She is nine months pregnant and scared because she has felt from the beginning even when she has no prior experience that this is not a normal pregnancy. 

She had told the doctor many times about her fears, but Dr. Simon always disregarded her concerns as first-time jitters.

This time he had said to her- 

Look Marina, I have enough experience with first-timers just like you and I can assure you that everything you are experiencing is normal. 

  There is nothing to worry about…the baby is fine, fully grown inside you, and ready to come out any minute, he said looking at her with a big smile on his face.

She had said the same thing repeatedly but this time the expression on her face makes him understand that his words are not having the desired effect on the patient and added…

    You are the healthiest pregnant patient I have had probably in my whole career, so stop getting so nervous and instead start getting prepared to receive your newborn.

Marina stares at the ceiling with a blank expression in her eyes and incorporates to get dressed after the check-up and tells Dr. Simon 

    I know that you think I am just nervous because I will be giving birth anytime soon but please understand … I am not just nervous I am terrified, and this feeling of dread does not leave me alone. I can barely sleep just thinking about it.

Dr. Simon looked at her and perceiving the fear in her eyes felt compassion for this young and lonely woman that had nobody but herself during this trying time that usually is the happiest for every woman since bringing a child to this world is a miracle of God.

    Marina your body is beyond stressed because of the pregnancy and your actual situation. I understand that having a baby alone, without a partner to give you support is bad enough, but you are not the first or the last woman on earth going through this, and you must try to keep calm for the baby’s sake, said the doctor emphatically making her feel like a child that had just been scolded.

  Yes, doctor I will try, I promise, said Marina even when deep inside her she knew she would not succeed. Eight and a half months have passed since she learned she was having a baby and since then her whole life changed but not in a good way. At first, she was so excited and scared of Dave’s reaction because he had his temper, but he was also so sweet and gentle with her that she felt he would be incredibly happy after the first impression. Nothing came out as planned. He had vanished into thin air suddenly. She went to his apartment, and to his job, and called his phone so many times and left so many messages that went unanswered until she got tired and stopped calling and looking for him. She decided to have the baby on her own. If she ever saw Dave again, she would not tell him that the baby was his, but now almost on the verge of insanity with this fear consuming her she wished he would have been there instead of her having to face this alone.

Five days after Marina’s last appointment with Dr. Simon, she felt deep inside her that the baby was trying to get out. The night could not be darker cold or stormier. The howling wind

and the rain that is pattering relentlessly against the windowpane making sounds make her shudder. Looking outside the window into the dark of the night a strange movement gathers Marina’s attention.

Had she seen someone outside under the rain? she asks herself but at once disregards the thought and closes the curtain sits down and turns on the television. 

Fear runs down her spine. The intense sound of the falling rain on top of her roof makes weird noises as if strange voices were trying to warn her of her impending destiny. The night brings a bad omen, and a cold chill enters her body, and the fear makes her shudder. 

The pain started, and her water broke, crying in pain she grabs the cell phone and dials emergency. On the other side of the line a woman’s voice answers

    911 what is your emergency?

An agonizing scream breaks the awkward silence. Marina can barely speak because of the gut-wrenching pain inside her. In a desperate effort, she manages to tell the operator that she needs help. The operator on the other side of the line says in the most calming voice

    Mrs. don’t worry, try to calm down an ambulance is on its way I just need to verify your address please.

Marina almost screaming gives the operator her address 

221 Mangrove Lane, please come fast, I can’t take it any longer … Please help me.

The operator says-

    Please ma’am try to calm down. I will stay on the line with you until the ambulance arrives.

When the ambulance arrives, Marina is so weak that is not capable of opening the door, so the paramedics enter the house looking for the pregnant woman in distress. An agonizing and pale Marina tries to walk toward them, but the pain is so unbearable that she faints and must be rushed to the hospital right away.

Screams break the silence of a hospital operating room. A woman is giving birth while destiny threads its macabre web of evil over the soon-to-be-born baby. As a life is brought into the world, another life is being taken away. In the hastiness of the moment, no one can fathom that this will end in tragedy for the mother because besides all the craziness of the moment she seems fine for a first-timer, weak but fine. 

The baby is born, and a faint wail can be heard. Everyone is relieved that the baby is alive, and the smiles cover their faces when suddenly a loud and shocking scream invades the room. Marina is dying, her blood pressure has plummeted suddenly, and blood gushes down her legs. Doctor Simon and the nurses who had been attending the procedure rush to her side, but it is too late, no vital signs can be found and the efforts to bring her back to life are futile. Marina is pronounced dead at midnight, the witching hour, she has died of a sudden hemorrhage that nobody had expected because she seemed fine. While her lifeless body is being transported to the morgue, her baby girl is being transported to the nursery. Inside the delivery, room Dr. Simon speaks with the head nurse about the strange and unexpected circumstances surrounding Marina’s unexpected and tragic demise. 

      In all my years of practice I had never lost a patient, and less a healthy one. I am still trying to figure out what happened said Dr. Simon to Nurse Gaines.

    Yes, me too, said the nurse with a sad expression on her face.

    It is unbelievable that a person can be fine and suddenly without warning, couple minutes later chaos ensues, and she dies, said Nurse Gaines.

  I already called the cleaning crew and asked for the area to be closed until everything is disinfected. God, I have never seen so much blood come out of one person, she said.

  She had been my patient for a while, and she was always on edge regarding the pregnancy, said Dr. Simon.

What do you mean doctor? asked the nurse.

  Well, she seemed genuinely scared beyond reason most of the time whenever she had an appointment, said Dr. Simon.

    I thought that it would subside eventually, but it never did, he said.

    "Did she ever give you a reason for that fear? the nurse asked with curiosity.

    No, not really, said Dr. Simon.

    And the baby’s father or any family member we can notify about her death and the infant’s birth? asked the nurse.

  No, she stated once that he was not around anymore, and regarding family, she always said she was alone in this world, so I guess there is nobody out there to claim the body or the baby.

Nurse Gaines then added -

  Well, it is a shame that this happened, my heart aches just at the thought of that poor angel that will have no parents to love and guide her.

  Yes, it is a shame but unfortunately it is out of our hands now, and since there is nothing else to be done here anymore let’s get back to work, said Doctor Simon, and both left the place with a heavy heart.

Chapter 2

A

month later no one had come forward to claim Marina’s body or the beautiful baby girl that was born that night. The hospital personnel is so fond of the baby that knowing she will be taken away to an orphanage breaks their heart but unfortunately, nothing can be done because Marina had no family and the child’s father remains unknown. Greta, the lady from Social Services has been to the hospital on separate occasions to see the baby. The baby has no name yet, so she has decided to call her Baby Girl Leigh for now and that is how she is inscribed. Greta is preparing Baby Leigh’s papers so she can be taken to the orphanage where she will live until she is adopted, or she comes of age. In the meantime, a nurse inside the nursery is making the rounds and tending to the newborns while a second one is getting the baby ready for the Social Services lady as they call Ms. Greta. Nurse Bowers has been working at the hospital for almost 20 years. She has been thinking about retiring soon. They love her there; the staff has been like a family to her since her husband Gary died ten years ago in that accident down the road. She loves to handle newborns, and baby Leigh is the most lovable of them all. Her big blue eyes have a sparkle to them that she has never seen before. It felt as if she could see inside you. Nurse Bowers liked that feeling, felt like a connection and she was sad to see her go but unfortunately there was nothing she could do, just her job. There she was, getting the baby ready when suddenly, her weary hand slipped and made a scratch on baby Leigh’s arm while changing her. A speck of blood appeared on the baby’s skin and the baby started crying. Nurse Bowers reacted quickly, placing the baby back in the crib. She walked to the medicine cabinet to get antiseptic and some gauze to clean the baby’s hand but when she turned around, she felt something was different. That is when she noticed the strange, almost red, glow in the baby’s eyes. The baby was not crying anymore, instead it seemed as if she was smiling at her, but that baby smile chilled her to the bone. Suddenly, the air in the room grew cold, too cold to bear. She stopped walking toward the baby and turned around with the intent of leaving the room to get Nurse Meier to help her since she was feeling uncomfortable around the baby, but her intention was cut short. Fear creeps inside her. Her heartbeat is getting faster, her head feels heavy, and she feels something warm flowing down her face. Instinctively she touches her face, and she can feel her skin wet. She runs to the bathroom mirror, and she sees blood flowing out of her eyes and nose. She starts screaming and turns to rush out of the nursery, but she is already doomed. The beautiful baby with big blue eyes has turned into something else. The scaled skin and the red eyes that once were blue now stare at her with malicious intent. The nurse screams and the babies around her start crying. Blood pours down her pale face. She turns around to leave but slips in the pool that her blood has made on the floor. Her head hits hard against the floor, not hard enough to kill her, but hard enough to leave her in a daze. She tries to scream, but nothing comes out just the sound of blood drowning her. The last thing Nurse Bowers sees before death takes her is the devilish grin and the evil gaze of a one-month-old baby sitting up on her crib staring at her.

Hospital personnel rush to the nursery, screams have been heard and the babies are crying. No one can imagine the horrific scene they will encounter when the door opens. 

Being the closest to the area Nurse Meier was the first one to arrive but the Dantesque scene that she saw after opening that door would haunt her forever. Nurse Bowers, her beloved friend lies on the floor in a pool of blood. The expression on her face is one of pure terror. Her lifeless eyes are fully open, staring at the crib where a baby is sound asleep. Blood covers her face and a good part of the floor. The commotion after the incident is still reeling in the minds of all those who knew Nurse Bowers. They cannot understand how a healthy sixty-two years woman can die of a sudden brain hemorrhage as announced by the doctors. The police came and searched the scene, besides the cadaver and all the blood everything else seemed normal, not a crime scene they said, just an unfortunate and sudden death. One of the detectives did not seem comfortable with the conclusions but for the moment there was nothing else to be done. They closed the case as death by natural causes after receiving the coroner’s autopsy report saying that the deceased have had a hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm. So that was it, case closed.

The same day of the strange incident, three hours later, Greta Crane left the hospital carrying a blue-eyed baby girl in her arms. Baby Leigh was smiling and for a moment Greta felt sad for her misfortune, but quickly changed her train of thoughts to happier ones assuring herself that such a beautiful baby was destined to be adopted soon and that with such a lovely angelic face she would grow up to be an incredibly beautiful woman someday and would probably have a happy life. If only Greta would have known what awaited her down the road that day, but she did not and unintentionally she opened the door to something that nobody ever thought possible. She unleashed the darkest evil when she stepped out of that hospital on that breezy and cool afternoon. She also sealed her fate, one that would bring destruction to many others.

Chapter 3

G

reta Crane had lived a good, but lonely life. The man of her dreams, the love of her life had gotten married to her sister. Since then, she had left her parent’s house in Oregon and had moved to New York in hopes that there, in that big city that never sleeps she could forget and maybe even find somebody else and get married and have at least three of four children. To have a lot of children running around, playing, and making noise had always been her most intimate desire but nothing turned out as expected.

Burying herself in pity was not an option. Instead, she decided to make a career, and since she was so fond of children nothing better than Social Services to fulfill those dreams even if just partially. She had dedicated her life to the children, and she had made the most of it by helping those poor kids find a suitable home and making sure they were treated right by their guardians or adoptive parents. At forty-one years