The Beltane Massacre in it's in entirety :)

The Beltane Massacre

Part One

By Robin Renee Ray

Plans were made and everyone was looking forward to the day they could set their spirits free. Gram Simms met his pagan wife, Lil, at a match making dinner that had been set up by mutual friends. He had heard nothing but dancing around the ’Maypole’ since the night he had placed the ring on her finger three months after they met, seven months prior. Lilith Giles was raised with a strong group of Wiccan women who had claimed the craft as their religion for centuries. Gram on the other hand knew little of his background, or chose to keep it to himself.

“Just ten more days, sweetie,” Lilith glowed with excitement.

“I know, you reminded me this morning,” Gram rolled his eyes, as he flushed the toilet.

“I thought you were excited about my family coming?”

“I was…I am. I just think it’s going to be a little weird being here with a house full of women and me the only guy.”

“I know, honey,” Lilith walked her five foot three, small frame over to Gram’s six foot two, one and wrapped her arms around his waist. “They’re old and they won’t be here that long.”

“Just how long is ’that long’?”

“Four days and nights, tops. Most won’t even go out with us until the eve of the 30th.”

“Can’t I just take a fishing trip with the boys? I mean, why does this Holiday of yours have to include me?”

“Babe, you promised,” she stepped back and looked up.

“I know, us dancing practically nude, without a care in the world? I get it, but in front of all of those people?”

“Once you meet them, and see that no one else cares, then neither will you. It’s the one time of the year that you can take off this ring,” she picked up his left hand, “ and not worry about me getting upset about other nude women being around.”

“Yet, I can’t have my nasty magazines in the bathroom.”

“Oh, Gram,” she smiled and walked out of the bedroom.

Gram went into the bathroom and finished getting ready for bed. Three hours later the world he found himself in was nothing compared to the one he left when he laid his head down on the pillow. He stood on the edge of a tree line, watching a group of individuals chant, swaying around a slender caldron that stood three feet off of the ground. All that circled the caldron were adult male and females, all wearing black robes, and all chanting words that he did not understand. As he watched, a bright blue glow took hold of the flame inside the cast-iron caldron.

Two large men stepped out of a tent made of black material, leading a young female, no more than eighteen. Her face was slack with meditation and her body completely nude. From across the clearing came two more men dragging a young male, much the same age of the young girl, fighting to be free of his captors, until his eyes fell upon the young nude female. “Kira,” he cried, and was knocked to the earth. Once the crowd moved, Gram could see a stone slab not half a foot off of the cool dark earth.

“Blood must be shed to assure a fruitful future. Ten moons have past and not one harvest has made gain,” an older woman spoke loud, turning for all to hear. “We have given word to the moon who listens and yet we have not paid homage to the very earth…” she paused as the wind blew. “That now demands payment for the treasures that lay before us. Our crops bring in half profit. Our wheat does not half fill our barns. We can barely feed our children, and the tax collector takes all we save to survive the winter. This Beltane, we pay homage in the ways of our forefathers. This eve we gave way to the Sun God. The children are A-Maying as I speak and now we will glory the ancients.”

 The two men drug the young male over to the stone and tied him down, face up. He cried and asked what he had done, with no one giving more reply than a simple grin of queer satisfaction. The other two men stood the young girl in front of the older woman and then walked away. The girl swayed as if on drugs, and then began dancing to music that only she could here. The boy cried out her name over and over, “Kira, Kira!”, but she heard nothing but the cord in her own mind. The elder woman raised both hands, and the whole crowd circled the stone table that the young man was laying on. They all began to sing that chant, which sounded more to Gram like a spell than music. Yet, the young girl, the one he loved, danced with more rhythmic speed.

Gram grabbed the base of the tree that he was hiding behind when he saw the black clocks fall. Men and women of all ages stood in all their glory, as the one in control lifted a pearl handled, silver blade above her head. She spun around, as they all did, singing and chanting, and then all at once they stopped. The girl, Kira, stood on wobbly legs, rocking slightly as she glared at the shiny blade. The elder woman with strands of gray crossing her weathered face held it sideways, slowly raising it toward her. Kira stepped up and took it into her hand, smiling up as if she had just received a new puppy.

“The time is at hand to feed Mother Earth. You child, have mated and will bring forth a child as the wheat fills the barn. This night the moon will once again be sated and we the people of Hellsfire will once again live in prosperity. Now do what you were born to do my child.”

The young nude female knelt down by the stone slab, as the young male pleaded for her to cut him free so the two of them could flee from the place that held them prisoner. He made promise after promise, right up to the moment that the blade slashed him open from sternum to pelvic. Kira laid the blade down beside his warm body and stuck her fingers into the opening and filled her hands with his fluids. She then placed them in her mouth and licked them clean. It was then that the crowd went into a wild frenzy.

“Take of this sacrifice my children, for this is the night of Beltane. Take from one another as it was done in the days of our forefather. We are of the Celtic ancients and obey them we will. His body will be given to Mother Earth and she will reward us our great deeds,” the elder spoke, as the crowd swarmed the body and covered themselves with his blood, tasting their fingers as if he were sweet honey.

Gram slid on a branch, and the woman turned.

Lilith shook Gram several times before she got him to wake up. He grabbed her by the forearms and yelled out, “How could you?” then fell back onto his pillows. Lilith didn’t know what to think of her husband’s actions other than, that he had had a very bad dream. He got up and took a shower and she went in and made him breakfast. When he came out he grabbed a cup, poured himself some coffee and sat down at the small kitchen table.

“You must have had a really bad dream, babe,” Lilith said, flipping the eggs.

“Just a weird one. I think it was all that talk about what your family does.”

“Well, someone has to talk. You never talk about your past,” she replied, raising one brow, setting his plate down in front of him.

“I don’t think that I’m very hungry.”

“This dream really got to you, didn’t it?”

“I don’t think I want to be a part of this bringing in the new moon with you and your family.”

“Gram! This will be the first time that you meet my great aunt and her friends. My grandmother will be here, and Gran called and said that they had it set up for eleven on the thirtieth. We’ve been planning this for months.”

“No, Lil, you’ve been planning this. I’ve just been going along with it.”

“Please,” she walked around the table and wrapped her arms over his shoulders. “They’ll all be gone by the second. It will be another two years before they come back. Unless…”

 “No one’s going to die,” he turned in his seat and sat her down in his lap.

‘They’re getting so old, and it’s been at least ten years since I’ve lived this close. It really means a lot to me Gram…Please!”

Gram agreed and went to work. Gram and Lilith had moved to the country community that she had been raised in, two months after they were married, due to her inheriting her father’s farms. Gram had taken the new position of the town Veterinary, while learning how to be a farmer when he wasn’t stuck at the office. Things had gone downhill on the farm years prior, when Lilith’s grandfather passed and both of her uncle’s we killed in a car accident. It would take two summers just to get it back into running shape, or that was Gram’s take on things.  He had already got the pole ready to set up. Lilith had said it had been used in the family since before her time, that all in her religion had used the pole. All that was left to be done had to be done by those who knew, and understood the Beltane Holiday.

Lilith was on the phone when Gram came home from work. She had ribbons of all types and colors spread out all over the living room. She hurried off the phone to explain to him that it was part of the ritual of dancing under the moon. Gram was in a much better mood. He had forgotten about his nightmare and was getting excited about getting things set up, at least, the cook out portion of April 30th and where all of his troubles were supposed to melt away. He especially liked the part where she told him that it was the return of vitality, and passion. He couldn’t stop thinking about the freedom she spoke of, of the two of them laying among the trees becoming one on the blanket of Mother Earth.

“How many times have you done this, Beltane, thing?”

“I told you. I haven’t lived around here since we moved to Atlanta,” she gathered the ribbon.

“Then how do you know you can handle being nude in front of other people?”

“Is that what’s bothering you? Because you don’t have to strip down babe. Neither do I, I just want to go to another ceremony. I haven’t been since I was a young girl, not to one like this anyway. Gran said it was the time of the blue moon.”

“And, that means…?”

“I don’t know. But it has to be pretty damn special. She just told me that her coven was coming to bless our land, and in our faith that means we’ll have a great crop next year.”

“I work with cows and horses, babe. It’s not like I was going to get out there and making this big wow of a wheat, or corn field anyway.”

“So, it’s still a great honor. We went to this family’s farm when I was about five and I remember those people giving my family two spring calves the next year. People can’t do that when their farm is in bad shape. They were blessed, because the coven came.”

“Did a young guy get sliced up on a stone slab?” he whispered with a mock, while bits of memory seeping in.

“Do what?”

“That’s fine, babe. Just don’t expect me to be able to hang around much. I have patients. Carol has two horse’s ready to drop. Bob has three milk cows that he’s calling me on every other hour…”

“I know you’re not a Wiccan babe, but we have a lot of faith in nature. Those animals will be fine come the eve of our Beltane.”

“I hope you’re right. I could use a break,” he smiled giving Lilith a hug.

It was the day before Lilith’s family arrived, and the couple was getting the two guest rooms in order. Gram had already been instructed that they were strong German women, and that most men in the family just stayed to themselves, answering only when spoken to. Even though the conversation of explanation was more than odd, Gram was in complete compliance with Lilith because he was more than happy to stay out of their way. It was the only time that Lilith had asked him to take his time at work, so that she could get them settled in.

Gram had left for work, and not ten minutes later, two cars pulled up. Seven women in all got out, but all attention was placed on the eldest, Lilith’s great grandmother. She hugged her, and then placed her hand on Lilith’s stomach. “Half the deed has been done” was all she said, while they took her in and settled her into her room. She and Lilith’s, Aunt Martha stayed with her while the others left to make other arrangements.

Meanwhile, back at work, Gram had a visit by an elderly man that he had never met.

“Do you have an appointment, Sir?” the receptionist asked.

“The young man will want to see me.” With that, the man walked through the swinging doors that led through to the back of the building.

“Can I help you? We were just about to close,” Gram said, replacing bottles back into a cabinet.

“They only come when the ground is hungry,” the old man said.

“Excuse me?”

“I remember the day they took my older brother into that very field, I was four, or…”

“I’m sorry, do we know each other?”

“Doesn’t matter. They only want one thing young man. Best be for taking that bride and leaving while you still can. The Giles’ is a family that…” the old man grabbed his throat.

“Sir, are you okay?”

The old man fell to the floor as blood seeped from his nose and mouth. “Kelly! Call an Ambulance,” Gram set the elderly man up to keep him from drowning in his own blood. The man choked, sputtering the words, “stay out of the field” then died, right there in Gram’s arms.

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The Beltane Massacre

Part Two

By Robin Renee Ray

The ambulance came and took the man away, telling Gram that he was the town loony, and not to take stock in anything he said. After everyone left, Gram and his receptionist began cleaning the spots of blood that the old man lost on the white tile floor.

“Did you know him?” Gram asked.

“No, Doctor Simms, I’ve only seen him walking around talking to himself. The whole town has.”

“I guess we’re closed for the next three days…wife’s orders.”

“I’ll be there,” Kelly quickly added.

“At the farm,” Gram turned as he took off his white work coat.

“Sure, I’ve been Wiccan all my life.”

“Lil, doesn’t remember a lot.”

“Oh, no need in asking me either. I hear this year is something straight out of the book of ancients. I’m so excited I can’t stand it.”

“What’s the book of ancients?” he stood and threw his wash rag into the bucket.

“Some covens, a very few mind you, live by the old way…the way of the Celtic’s. It’s said that in the old days the coven gave sacrifice under the blue moon, but that was like hundreds of years ago. We offer a feast now, only this year it will probably be huge.”

“Sacrifice, huh,” he said, turning off his desk lamp, vividly remembering his dream. “What did they sacrifice?”

When he got no reply he stepped out of his office.

“I have to go now Dr. Simms. I’ll see you at the ceremony.” Then she simply walked out the front office door.

“What the hell was that all about?” Gram asked aloud, and then gathered the rest of his things.

He opened his cell phone and dialed Lilith.

“Is it safe to come home?”

“Yeah, but don’t grab me like you always do. Gran might not like that. Just kiss me on the cheek,” she whispered.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, Gram, I am. My family is very old fashion.”

“But you’re my wife.”

“I know, sweetie, but she’s old…Please,” she became quite.

“Okay, want me to pick anything up?”

“No, I have supper ready. Oh and babe, please don’t mention the smell.”

“Why? What’s the house smell like?”

“My aunt likes to burn incense. She says it helps her meditate.”

“Yeah, okay Lil. But no one’s touching me with that voodoo crap, and I mean it.”

“It’s not Voodoo,” Lilith snapped.

“I’m sorry. It’s just starting to really freak me out. I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

It seemed that every car Gram passed, the driver was looking at him. Everything about the evening was strange, right down to the lack of birds singing in the trees. There was a group of women getting in their cars when Gram pulled into his driveway. None of them looked his way, they just hurried getting in and drove away. He stood beside the passenger door, scratching the top of his head, thinking he was supposed to meet his wife’s family. Gram shrugged and took it as a blessing. A blessing that he wouldn’t have to be sitting in a room filled with chatty women.  

The door opened as he was walking up the sidewalk and Lilith stepped out, smiling as she always did when he came home. Had he been letting things that meant nothing, get to him when he should have been putting his thoughts on what his eyes now devoured, he thought as he switched his bag to his left hand. She looked back and closed the door as he took the first step. “Gram,” she whispered.

“Just one,” he whispered back, as his hand slide around her small waist.

Their bodies pressed tight as they kissed their ‘hellos’, then Lilith stepped back, lowered down from her toes and avoided his eyes. “My Gran’s even a bit different then I remember. She and my aunt are putting stuff all over the house and I wanted to tell you out here before you see it and say something.”

“How bad can it be?”

“Gram, there’s red and black scarves covering my new tables, and candles that stink so bad I feel like I’m going to get sick every time I turn around,” she complained, walking him back down the steps. “My Gran gave me these, hippie looking head things made out of baby’s breath and wild flowers, for us to wear at the gathering.”

“It’s okay, Lil. As long as it’s not like it use to be, and we don’t have to get naked, it will be fun. Didn’t you say that you were looking forward to this sunrise feast thing?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think our home was going to be taken over,” she smiled.

“Now look who’s being the pain. I’ll meet your family, be polite, and even offer to help with the dishes. Let’s just eat and go to bed. I’m tired so if I have to stay up all night tomorrow night, then at least I have an excuse to go to my room early.

They kissed one more time then walked in to find Lilith’s aunt standing behind her grandmother’s chair, both staring at the door. Lilith lowered her head then brought it back up, taking Gram’s medical bag. “Gran, Aunt Martha, this is my husband, Gram Simms. Supper is ready if everyone wants to go to the dining room.” Her grandmother held up her hand.

“You came to this land of your own free will?” the elderly grandmother asked, crossing her hands into her lap.

“Yes ma’am. I came to start a new and exciting life with Lil. I mean Lilith,” he quickly added when her brows came together.

“And you have embraced our Lilith’s way of life, in whole?”

“If by that you mean her religion then no. Not completely. I have to be honest and say that I don’t understand too much about it, but, I’m willing to learn for her,” he reached out to take Lilith’s hand, but she pulled away, clasping her hands like a small child.

“Then you will celebrate Saint Walpurga with us, as the old did in the days when things were done in accordance with the moon. Those things have changed, some of us remain the same,” the elderly woman spoke, as she reached for a glass of iced tea. “Make your man stand no more, child. Martha will ready the table while you help him relax.”

Lilith looked at her aunt, who in turn nodded her head once, then turned for the kitchen. Gram told Lilith’s Gran how nice it was to meet her, and then excused himself, with Lilith on his heels, to change out of his work clothes. No sooner than he closed the door, he began talking. “We’re going to celebrate what? I thought you called this gathering the Beltane, or the Maypole. And what the hell is that smell?”

“It’s the incenses they brought,” she walked over to the door, “and keep your voice down. I don’t want them to here you.”

“Your aunt didn’t look to happy to see me,” he spoke as he took his shirt off. “I don’t know if I want to sit at the same table with them or not.”

“Please, Gram. It’s just for a few days. We head out tomorrow when the sun goes down, we have the morning feast, and then they leave two days later.”

“Why do I get the feeling that, that’s not all, Lil.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, I just had something strange happen at the office today,” he said as he slid off his work shoes. “A little old man came in. He looked fine, then when he started talking he collapsed. He told me to stay out of the field.”

“Oh my goodness Gram is he alright?” she asked as she handed him his jeans.

“No, he’s not. He died right there, right after he said that.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I’ve been having these weird dreams too, and thinking about them during the day. I’m excited to see the younger people run out into the woods, and I can’t wait to see you dance around the bonfire…” he paused to put on his sweat shirt. “Even cooking all that food outdoors sounds great. I’m actually ready to see how well those pits I dug work, but I can’t shake this uneasy feeling.”

“I have something that might make that feeling go away,” she smiled, leaning over and taking his hand and laying it on her lower abdomen.

“For sure, there’s no doubt,” he smiled back.

“Doctor Parker’s office called yesterday. I wanted to tell you with us having a romantic dinner, but I just couldn’t wait.”

Gram yelled out, as he picked Lilith up off the ground and spun her around. “Shhh, they’ll hear you.”

“I want the whole world to hear me. I’m going to be a dad and I think that is amazing!” he yelled, as a light tap sounded at the door.

“Just a minute,” Lilith called out, trying not to giggle as she shimmied her way out of Gram’s arms. “Go to the bathroom and close the door, and then come out after we leave the bedroom.” With a mouthed ‘thank you’ she walked to the door and waved him toward the bathroom.

Gram leaned into the door, hearing her tell her aunt that they were just playing and were almost ready for dinner. In a deep harsh voice he heard her aunt reply, ‘your grandmother waits’ then the door to the bedroom closed. He stepped out wishing he had asked more about what was going to be going on, other than getting half nude and dancing to the sounds of the like of Lilith’s, Aunt Martha singing. He cringed. After sitting on the edge of the bed for five minutes, trying to block out the young man strapped down to the stone slab, he stood, straightened his sweat shirt and walked to the door.

He wanted to say how good the meal smelt, but the overpowering stench of the incense was just too overwhelming. So, he took his seat at the head of the dining room table and lied. “It all smells wonderful, ladies.” Lilith shot him a glare then shook her head lightly as she walked back into the kitchen. He then remembered that these women were used to men being seen and not heard, of course, unless they were first spoken too. Gram had heard of families with strong, even overpowering women, but nothing to this extent.

“Drink your wine, it will help you rest this night,” Lilith’s grandmother, spoke as she took the seat across from Gram.

“Yes, I hear we have a long night ahead of us,” he replied not knowing what to say.

“Tomorrow’s eve will become clearer. You have done well with the family farm, but the ground is in need of tending. Do you plan on bringing in a good harvest next year?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have time to plant. We were thinking of just making part of the farm my practice,”’ he explained, almost causing Lilith to drop a bowl of green beans.

“What he means is, we have plenty of room for him to work from an office in the front barn, so he doesn’t have to drive so far to tend animals at neighboring farms.”

“The field craves life, Mr. Simms, it has been deprived far too long,” the elderly lowered her head and glared.

“Yes, well, we both agree it’s going to take time to get the place back into running order, and with my being able to work closer to home, the sooner things will be taken care of.”

“Your husband has a strong will, Lilith. I think this land will be well suited with his mending its needs.”

Gram smiled at the aunt who was still staring at him.

“I told you he was wonderful, Gran!”

The dream hit swiftly, only this time he wasn’t standing behind a tree watching a gathering. He was standing inside the oldest barn at the back of the property, with what looked like an elderly man standing with his back to him. The man was slumped over with his head hanging to the side. The barn was filled with old tools, that hadn’t been used in over a hundred years. Though somehow, these tools held a shine of moments of just being sharpened. The man moaned as the tools began to slightly swing. Gram reached up and immediately felt the skeletal frame under the flannel shirt on the man’s shoulder and stepped back. The old man turned and yelled out, “Stay out of the field!” Gram jumped back at the site of the elderly man’s face. His eyes had rotted from their sockets and his skin hung on by sheer will alone. “Ready yourself to kill the wicked, for your blood will stain the ground…just as your forefathers.”

After the old man spoke, a thick gray worm slithered from his mouth and dropped to the floor, where around his feet were thousands more. They squirmed as he moved forward and Gram stumbled back. “They come to sate the earth’s hunger, for it calls for a thirst from a curse laid down by the ways of the old. It is sour here, Gram Simms.” The elderly man shuffled, snapping his head back and forth with his effort as one bony hand came up. “Ready yourself, or consecrate the earth for the wicked. Call upon the souls that fed this land before you. Bring forth the wrath and lay this wicked way to rest.”

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The Beltane Massacre

Part Three

By Robin Renee Ray

“Who are you?”

“There,” the old man pointed.

Gram turned around and saw a stack of hay in the corner, then turned back to look at the horror of his nightmare. The man was gone and he now stood alone with the sharp tools swinging more rapidly. He reached up to block one coming right at him and sliced his forearm open from elbow to wrist. He screamed and woke with Lilith shaking his shoulders.

“Gram? Wake up, honey, you’re having a bad dream,” she cried out, frantically trying to wake him.

He threw his arms up, seeing nothing but the walking dead of so many young men, that he couldn’t see past the crowd of bloody hands that were coming down on him. He doubled his fist and swung out, hitting Lilith right across the jaw. She flew off the side of the bed as Gram sat up swinging at what only he could see. Lilith cried from the floor, begging him to wake, when her grandmother walked into their bedroom. She simply walked over and touched his foot, and he laid back down as if in a deep sleep.

“He didn’t mean it, Gran,” Lilith got up holding her left cheek. “He was having a horrid nightmare and I was trying to wake him up.”

“The others try to speak to him. You must have him drink the tea, and do so often, if you wish him well for the evening’s events.”

“He doesn’t like it,” Lilith disagreed.

“Then place the herbs in his food, just make sure that he holds them here,” the elderly woman grabbed her own stomach.

“I don’t remember anything like this, Gran. Why is he so important to you? The gathering is for us believers.”

“Do not question me,” she turned and walked back to the door. “You do as you are told!” Then she walked out and closed the door.

Lilith paced the room waiting for her gran’s touch to wear off and allow Gram to wake up. She knew about her grandmother’s touch from past years. She had witnessed others coming to her grandmother’s house for help, when she would spend her childhood summers with her. A light tap sounded at the door and she went to see who it was. Her aunt crooked her finger, telling her to come out into the hall.

“We have flowers to gather. The others will be here soon and things must be ready,” her aunt scolded.

“I know, and it will. I have all the fresh flowers that are growing in pops already on the back porch. The tables can be set up before the sun sets, so we have time.”

“You should hold that temper, young Lilith. You are still but a child and have much to learn.”

“I know, Auntie, and I am sorry. I’m just worried about Gram. This is all so new for him.”

“Have your breakfast with him, make sure he drinks his tea,” Martha said and turned to walk away.

“Why is this drink so important? We’re already pregnant.”

“They are simply for good health,” her aunt turned to look at her. “The drink is good for the blood.” Then she walked away.

Gram was getting dressed when Lilith walked back into the bedroom. He immediately told her that he was going to be working in the back barn, while she did whatever it was that she had planned with her family. After a few minutes of pleading, he agreed to have breakfast with her before he left the farm house for the morning. Even Lilith was shocked to see her aunt and grandmother standing by the smaller kitchen table when they came out. Two plates were set and both filled with eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

“This looks amazing,” Gram said as he pulled Lilith’s chair out.

“Wait until you taste Lilith’s grandmother’s tea. It has been in our family for years, and drunk for good health,” Martha spoke as she set the two cups on the table.

“I’m not much of a tea drinker,” Gram glanced over at Lilith. “But, I’ll give it a try.”

Lilith’s face lit up. “So, what are you going to be doing in the back barn?”

“Just doing some cleaning right now. I need to make room to pull that plow in if we’re going to get it to work.”

“You have a fine new barn. Why not just work on your equipment in there?” the grandmother asked as she dried her hands.

“It’s big enough alright, but we have other plans for the barn,” Gram shoved a huge bite of pancakes in his mouth to keep from further explaining himself.

The elderly woman’s face contorted into a harsh frown, becoming so upset that she left the room with Martha on her heels. Lilith waited until they were out of the room, and then scolded Gram for not going along with her Gran, rather than doing what he wanted anyway. He ate part of his breakfast, sipped the tea once, then shoved it away and got up. He walked over to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.

“I know you ladies will be busy all day so don’t worry about my lunch. I have to run into the clinic to pick up a few things.”

“You’ll be back to get ready by five, right?” Lilith got up and grabbed his hand.

“Of course, I just don’t think you need me around right now,” he winked and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be out back well before lunch.”

He stretched his back as he stepped off the back porch. He heard the aunt cough and walked around the side of the house in time to hear her say that she would kill the goat if Lilith refused. His stomach clinched into a knot as he hurried back towards the back yard and out past the garden area that led to the old barn. As soon as his hand hit the base of the Pecan tree he threw up. No one, not even his wife had mentioned anything about slaughtering an animal. He wasn’t ignorant to the fact that humans were considered goats in some ritualistic religions. They had been mentioned in the books he had read, that Lilith had around the house.

The barn leaned to the left, supported by the trees that had grown at its base through the years. Weeds reached waist high and every other step was filled with broken bits of wood and odd parts of rusted, used farm equipment of long ago. Gram pulled back on the offset double door, cracking the left side open just enough to step through. It was lit by the slashes of daylight that came through the gaps in the walls. Dust filled the air as his boots hit the sawdust covered earth. Ropes hung down from the rafters in different lengths, all swinging as his body passed by.

The very spot that the elderly mans corpse stood in his dream came into view. That’s when he turned and looked back to where he had been pointing. The stacks of hay had turned into one large mound of debris and several things had been piled on top. Gram began moving them, noticing most were one type of cutting tool or another. He lifted a sickle with half the handle rotted off and smiled at the thought of someone actually using it to cut wheat. It was almost unbearable to breathe by the time he found the bottom of the solid earth floor. He sat back, still puzzled at what he was hoping to find. He was thinking he would find some sort of treasure chest, but there was nothing on the floor but good ole mother earth.

He laughed, looking up, seeing a small bright glint in the corner. He stood, looking back once at the spot where the man would have been standing and realized he was pointing at the corner, not the stack of hay. He leaned down and began moving the loose hay and other debris. It was a handle, a round brass loop handle, attached to the only wood that he could see on the floor. He yanked and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. He walked back over and grabbed the sickle, placing the tip in the crease of the opening. He grabbed the handle and pulled as he stomped down on the curve of the blade and the small hidden hatch flew open.

Down on his knees he reached in and pulled out a dark leather book, which was wrapped in a knapsack type cloth. Gram was fixing to take out the other wrappings when he looked down at the name on the binding of the book. Gilbert Simms, eighteen hundred and sixteen. “What the hell?” he said as he sat back and lifted the book. He untied the small leather string and opened the front of the book. Harvest of the Blue Moon, was inscribed on the first page, with the same date right below. Turning back the first page, he read something that put chills up his spine.

She comes with long gray curls on the eve of Beltane to take another of our line to feed the earth of her coven. In age she stays but death never comes. Her glory to the dark side of her faith feeds her black soul as the Simms’s blood feeds the earth of her line. Gram, flipping the pages, saw four golden symbols. Below them it read, ’Take to the four corners and breach the soiled earth. Call upon the work of her hand to reverse in the ground that holds the blood of the keepers.’ After flipping through a few more pages, he looked down into the opening that held other wrapped objects.

Gram took out the first, which was about two feet in length and removed the knapsack cloth. Its golden shine filled the rustic glow of the old barn and visions began dancing in his mind. He saw an old man placing the items in the small opening. The old man swung his head around as if waiting for someone to appear. He took out a silver dagger from the flap of his shirt and shoved it deep into the whole. He then closed the lid and covered the top with hay. The old man stood, taking a blade through the chest. He dropped to his knees and died right there where Gram now knelt. The figure moved to fast in Gram’s mind for him to see who or what had killed the old man, but he felt that the old man was his kin from long ago.

Gram set the golden rod on the ground by the book and reaching in, found the curved dagger. When he was finished taking everything out of the hole, he had four, two foot long golden rods, one curved dagger, and a smaller book with symbols in and on it that he couldn’t understand.  Plus, the one large leather book which spoke of murder and evil minions that lived in little old ladies. The same little old lady that he feared now, ruled a coven of women that loved their Mother Earth, and worked with ignorant minds. Puppets ruled by the very blood in their veins.

Gram sat until well after twelve reading from the book that was left by what he now knew was his great, great grandfather, Gilbert Simms, once known as Simmons. Names changed twice, to flee from the Celtic curse which caused the blood line to feed the earth and be keepers of the harvest. “Kill the woman, break the chain,” he said, as he covered the items back in the hole. The only thing he kept was the smaller book with symbols, sticking it in his back pocket.

“Gram,” Lilith called from the back yard. “Honey, are you back there?”

He hurried to cover the hatch, hiding it better than when he found it.

“You have cleaned that barn for a long time,” Martha said not ten feet from the front of the barn, cutting wild flowers as Gram stepped out.

“Well, I think what I do on my own time is my own business. Good day,” he replied, and closed the barn door.

“You should watch your mouth on this Holy days eve,” she turned gripping her sheers.

“You got it,” he sarcastically replied, then walked away.

Lilith was standing in a white sun dress, her dark brown hair hanging free with wild flowers braided in small strands down both sides. Her smile made his heart grow two sizes bigger and a warm sensation ran through his body. There was no way he was letting this wicked woman take this life from him. At that moment he knew that he would do what his forefathers could not. He would break that chain if it killed him. His thoughts were brought back to the day at hand when three vehicles came driving up the road toward the farm house.

Buy the entire Hellfire Book of Beltane collection and enjoy more awesome stories, just like this one. http://www.amazon.com/Hellfire-Book-Beltane-Volume-ebook/dp/B0052ACBJG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334512055&sr=1-1

The Beltane Massacre

Part Four

By Robin Renee Ray

“I have to go to town. Come on, go with me,” Gram said as he walk up to Lilith.

“I can’t babe. Everyone’s showing up, and we have a feast going in the kitchen.”

“Please, Lil,” he took her hands. “Go with me. We’ll be back in no time.”

“Your grandmother needs you in the house, Lilith,” Martha said, as she walked past. “It is time to ready the field. The children will be ready to play.”

“Why don’t you go help Gran…?”

“Gram!” Lilith interjected, smiling at her aunt as she went inside.

“Your aunt doesn’t like me and the feelings are mutual,” he grabbed Lilith’s arm and walked her out back by the garden. “Something’s not right with those two, Lil. I can feel it.”

“They’re just set in their ways, Gram.”

“I found something…in the barn. My family and your family have met time and time again, Lil and soon after, one of the males in my family dies, right here on this land.”

“Oh Gram, what are you talking about?”

“Lilith!” her grandmother called out, while several preteens ran out the back door past her.

“Coming!” she called back. “What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing, never mind,” he said pulling her into a hug. “You go do whatever it is you have to do. I have to run to my office then I’ll be back to help you.”

“What about this book, Gram.”

“Forget about it, and please, keep it to yourself. It’s probably just a coincident.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“You just worry about this little one in here,” he placed his hand over her lower abdomen. “I’ll take care of everything else.”

“I love you, Gram Simms.”

“And I love you Mrs. Lilith Simms,” he kissed her then looked toward the house, seeing the aunt on the back porch, looking back at him. “You better go. The old crow is waiting.”

Lilith turned to see her aunt, and then giggled into his chest. “You’re so bad.”

 “But honest huh?

“Very!”

Gram looked back at Martha whose looks, if they had been blades, would have slashed his flesh like cutting through warm butter. Leaning down he planted a long passionate kiss on his wife. Lilith swooned under his embrace and Martha stormed back into the house. “Why, Mr. Simms, you have not done that in a long time!” Two of the young girls that had been running around the yard, stopped to snicker and giggle, like the school girls they were, then they ran off toward the new cars driving in.

“It’s the eve of Beltane baby, haven’t you heard that it’s the time of the male God’s to make whoopee with the female Goddess so they can make little baby Goddesses,” he laughed, bending her backwards, then spinning her around into the air.

“You have been paying attention…in a weird sort of way,” she laughed.

Gram set her down gently and the two parted their ways at the back yard. He shook hands with what few men climbed out of the cars, and Lilith met the young and old women alike with cheer. All females in the crowd wore bright vibrant colored dresses made of soft cotton. Every girl had wild flowers, either braided into her hair, or had it tied into their ponytails. The older women either wore them stuck into the buns on their heads, or in clips in the hair that was hanging free down their backs. The men just wore jeans and random shirts of western styles. Not more than six men in all, three past the age of fifty, and three under. The rest of the males were preteen and teens that were already running out into the wooded area of the property.

After the evening meal was served all the younger people would attach the ribbons to the tip of the poll and the older men would help stand it on end. Some of the others would finish bringing in wood to the already lit bonfire that Gram had built the week prior, when he drug the pole out to the middle of the field. He had painted it white, using the sidewalk in front of the house, then drug it behind the old farm truck. He had enjoyed the idea of this new thing that Lilith referred to as a gathering of her coven, right up until the dreams and the meeting of her family.

It was well known that the Giles family coven celebrated the Holiday of Beltane with a twist that had come down from generations in their family. Ways that the new covens in the faith knew nothing about, or had only read about in the historical annuals of the Beltane line, taking it all the way back to the Celtic people. Few read the book of Gilbert Simms and lived to tell about it. It was a book that could explain why the Giles coven and the Simms land were so different and only a select few knew who ruled the whole show.

The first stop that Gram made was at the hardware store. He beat on the locked door, knowing that the owner, Henry Lambert, lived in the apartment at the back. “Henry! Open the door, or I swear I’ll bust this window!” Gram yelled, beating on the glass so hard it vibrated. Henry came around the corner of the hall and turned on the light. When he saw Gram, he turned it back off and turned to walk away. “Henry, please!” Silence filled the cool evening air as Gram waited on the elderly man to do more than just stand there. He prayed the old man wouldn’t drop dead, like the last one. “I need your help.” Gram pleaded.

“They’ll kill me, just like old Hank,” Henry looked back, with pure sorrow gracing his face.

“And they’ll kill me if you don’t open this door. You know what’s going on, don’t you, Henry?”

“Hold your tongue, boy,” Henry rushed over and unlocked the door.

After ushering Gram through, Henry searched the streets with his head swinging both ways. “That old woman scares me half to death son. You should remember that. She has ears where ears don’t belong.” Henry babbled as he locked the door. “You get what ya need then get out the back way. Stay out of that field. You best be for gettin’ as far out of Hells Valley as ya can.”

“The book said this use to be Hellsfire,” Gram whispered as his hand slid over a brand new sickle. The curved blade sparkled with the new shine on its edge.

“How’d you know that?” Henry backed into the glass door so hard he hit his head.

“I found it in one of the old barns on the farm. It called this place Hellsfire, and said my name use to be Simmons. Ever heard any of that, Henry?” Gram asked, already knowing he had.

“You have to kill the beast,” Henry rushed over and took the sickle down. “Plant the rods and trap the evil…but you stay out of that field, you stay to the sides while you plant them rods, boy, or you’ll be trapped with it.”

“What about this?” he took the small book out of his back pocket.

“The book of the ancients,” Henry took off toward his apartment.

“Hey, where you going?”

“Come with me.”

“I need more weapons,” Gram was feeling the rush.

“You need magic, boy,” Henry declared, and opened a cabinet in the kitchen portion of his one room apartment area. “This is brick dust. You’ll need it to draw the symbols after they step into the field for the ceremony, after the sun goes down. That’s when you plant the last golden rod, and draw the last symbol to seal them in. Only then can you cross and raise the needs of the earth.”

“What the hell are you talking about, old man?”

“Ya read the book, didn’t ya?”

“Some of it, but I don’t understand these things. I don’t even know if I can take a human life.”

“She ain’t no human, boy. She’s been here since before time. Them there bodies are just a vessel to the demon that uses `em. Make a coven with the devil to keep a good harvest with blood, you pay for life with a demon on your back, and the poor souls they use… they pay for life as well,” Henry looked back at Gram with his brows pulled together.

“This is mad. How can all of you know about it and do nothing?”

“Cause only the blood line can end it…for all of us. Those that believe have no idea that they’re under a spell when the sun sets. They all eat and drink it right up without a care in the world.”

“That’s why they kept trying to get me to drink that damn tea.”

“That, and other reasons. They want your blood to be ready to feed the earth,” Henry looked away. “Don’t mean to be so blunt, but you’re running out of time.”

Buy the entire Hellfire Book of Beltane collection and enjoy more awesome stories, just like this one. http://www.amazon.com/Hellfire-Book-Beltane-Volume-ebook/dp/B0052ACBJG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334512055&sr=1-1

The Beltane Massacre

Part Five

By Robin Renee Ray

“That I understand. I read where the males killed had to be ready so the ground would heed a good crop for years to come, or some shit like that.”

“It’s the deal the old woman made with the devil back in the days of the Civil War, or there abouts. So they say. That sort thing I ain’t too sure about. But, I do know she is a powerful being and can’t be trusted not matter what you think you may be seeing.”

“Just looking her way puts my hair on end, I get what ya mean. Time to go old man, I have to get the first three rods in the ground before the sun goes down, and I have to do it without being seen. Now, show me what symbols I need to draw and where. I plan on putting this demon back in hell where it belongs.”

Plans were in motion and Gram had everything he needed. The sickle was a short handled tool, which was easily hidden behind the seat. He had two butcher knives and one small 38. Caliber hand gun, that Henry gave him. That was all the weapons that the old man had to offer and all that Gram had to use against, what he knew to be, something from another world, regardless its form of being an old woman.

He had parked out on the dirt road that led up to the farms main drive and walked through the heavy trees that lined the front part of the property, back to the old barn where he took out the golden rods. He left one behind, slid out with the other three, and the gun. He stayed low to the ground as he circled the main field at the left side of the farm house. The field he had placed the pole and the wood in for the bonfire. He had placed all three rods into the ground and was heading back to the barn when two of the younger men came walking out of the tree line.

“Everyone is fixing to eat. Lilith sent us to find you,” one said as they stepped up beside him.

“I was just on my way. I’m starving.”

His words seem to take them aback.

“You guy’s ready, or were you two doing something else?”

“No, we were just told to find you.”

“Then I guess we better get back. I sure hope they fixed a feast.”

“Oh they did,” the other smiled, and both men’s demeanor changed.

“Lilith makes a killer meatloaf with these little baby carrots from the garden. Be sure to try it,” Gram made forced small talk.

“As does my wife. She makes the best apple pie in Hells Valley.”

“I can attest to that. I can’t say my wife is that good of a cook, but she can sure make a beautiful baby,” the first replied and then laughed.

When they stepped out into the view of the farm house, the back yard was filled with long tables that were over beaming with more than enough food to feed a small army. The younger of the people were eating away from the tables, sitting on the stone fence, talking among themselves, as the older folk began sitting around the tables and filling their plates. Martha and Lilith’s grandmother came out on the back porch and everyone fell to a soft whisper. Martha raised her hand and even the birds seemed to fall silent.

“Kira wishes to say grace over this fine meal that we have been so blessed to have before us,” Martha spoke and Gram almost choked on his own breath. Kira was the name of the girl in the book, a book over two hundred years old.

“We give great thanks for this eve’s gathering and for all that it means to our coven. May this feast not only fill our stomachs, but let it fill our mortal souls of renewal. Let us nourish these bodies with what this earth has given, then let us go into the night and enjoy all that it offers. Please, enjoy what is laid before you.” Grandmother Kira waved her hand and everyone fed like they were starving. Even Gram.

The table was soon turned into a mess of upturned bowls and empty goblets. People lazily pushed themselves away from the table and stumbled toward the field. Some undressed as they went and others threw black robes over their shoulders. The two men that came out to find Gram, took their place back by his side as Lilith was pulled away by a group of women who were giggling while painting her body with bright floral colors. He looked at her and smiled, then started unbuttoning his shirt. He had placed the gun in his boot before he got out of the truck, and had no worries of anyone saying anything about the blade at his side, because he had been out in the woods. He simply dropped it to the ground with his shirt.

The two men moved further away as the women ran over and started painting flowers on Gram’s chest and back, laughing and bumping into each other when he twitched at the sensation. He looked over at Martha and gave her the warmest fake smile he had, and then bowed his head toward Kira. She bowed her head back, as he laughed out loud running with the crowd of women pushing him toward the group that was waiting to adorn him with wild flowers. Kira and Martha made their way out to the field with the others, assured of the working herbs in the food that he had consumed. Something about having the brick dust in his pocket stopped that fact from being true, because he knew exactly what he was doing.

“You look so cute,” Lilith called out from the group of females that were placing loads of wild flowers in her hair.

“I smell wonderful,” he called back with a loud laugh, causing all that was near to burst out with him.

Once their handmade crowns were on their heads, they swayed and spun around through the path on the way to the field. It was easy to see the pole going up with all the multi colored ribbons with the bright bonfire burning to its full peak. Gram made it to the edge of the field and stopped. “I have to relieve myself. I’ll be right back,” he snickered, hitting one of the men in the side with his elbow. The man stepped into the field with two women at his side nodding his reply. Gram rushed to the old barn and took out the last golden rod, the rest of the brick dust, along with the dagger, then he rushed back, hoping that everyone under the demon’s spell was in the center of the earth that he was fixing to close.

He drew the symbol of a star on the earth then placed the tip of the golden rod down in the middle of it. He lifted it up in the air the slammed it back down into the earth. The earth shook like it had been struck by lightning and all inside knew something unnatural had just happened by the quake under their feet. Gram pulled the dagger out then stepped over the line, and onto the field he had been so warned to stay away from.

“What have you done?” Kira spun around with her hair floating on an energy that couldn’t be seen.

“I’m breaking the chain, demon,” he drew his gun and pointed at the man that was running at him. “I will kill you!” he yelled and the man stopped. “I call on the blood of my forefathers.” He then slid the curved blade across his forearm and Kira screamed out, with her hand in mid air. The blade flew from his hand and stuck into the ground about a foot away, but it was too late, the blood from his veins had already begun to soak the earth at his feet. “I call upon you to set my people free. I call upon you to put this demon back in hell!”

The earth’s shell began to shimmer and vibrate and like molten lava, bodies poured up through the dirt, clinging and clawing to free themselves from its clutches. Gore dripped from their skeletal forms, clots of earth fell from their open mouths as they moaned, stretching their stick like necks to the night sky. The elder grandmother shot her hand toward one and it exploded into a cloud of blood and bones. “You dare come against me,” she yelled and shot out at another.

“Help me,” Kelly his assistant cried out.

Gram saw the earth and blood creature drive its skeletal hand down into her abdomen, and pull it back out with her intestines intact. Kelly’s hand was up in the sky as if she was reaching for an invisible hand, then seconds later it fell to the ground, and she was no more. 

The night filled with screams of people being butchered by the creatures that come up from the crust of the earth. Creatures concurred by the blood of the ones who had been slaughtered there. Gram ran to the left of the field, sliding down to his knees as one of the younger men swung at him. He hit the ground and looked back in time to see two of the blood creatures pulling the man to the ground. He screamed as they tore into his body, ripping his insides out as he slowly fed the earth with his life. Gram spun around and grabbed the sickle that he had hidden when he first planted the rods.

He turned around with the sickle in his hands. Lilith was crouched down behind her grandmother, and Martha was standing at her back. The more that fell to the creatures, the more creatures crowded around the old woman. Gram saw the fear on his wife and ran in with the sickle ready for the kill. Kira turned in time to see her own death. Her head hit the earth and another bolt shot through the ground. The creatures fell as if they were made of dust, leaving none alive in the circle, but Gram, Lilith, and the evil Aunt Martha.

“Get away from her you bitch,” he yelled, bringing back the sickle for a second strike.

“No, Gram, please,” Lilith crawled to him. “Help me, please.”

Gram lowered the weapon and leaned down to help the woman he loved. His eyes met hers and he stepped back as she rammed the curved dagger into his chest. Lilith’s eyes were no longer the eyes of his loving wife they were the eyes of the old woman. “I consecrate this earth with the blood of my coven with the dark one. I have saved my word on this eve of Beltane and my harvest will be fruitful.”

“What have you done,” Gram dropped to his knees.

“What I must to survive,” she replied, crawling over and pushing him back. “I loved you more than any of the rest, and I thank you for laying that old watcher to rest. Your seed will long feed this land after you, my love.” She raised the blade high, and then brought it down deep into his chest. She split him open, and then stuck in her hands. She cleaned her fingers in her mouth, smearing his blood over her nude body, and then held her hand out to Martha who came and knelt down beside her.

“The children will come back soon, Martha. They will see this and tell of the Beltane massacre for many years to come. Our coven will grow with new life. This eve is a new beginning,” she placed her hand on her lower stomach.

..ooO<>Ooo..

Gram Simms was found to be under the influence of drugs and lost his mind, killing seventeen in all. It was proven that his own wife and her aunt had to take his life to save their own. It was the biggest massacre to be recorded in Beltane history. Henry made his way out to the Simms farm after the rush of the media. He found the golden rods and took them back into the old barn where Gram had said he had found them. He found the book that Gilbert Simms had written. He placed it all back into the hidden place in the floor of the old barn. All, but the dagger, that had not been found. He closed it up and covered it with the old musky hay. Henry smiled as he patted the ground. He stood and took a blade to the chest. Henry dropped to his knees.

“You should have known better, Henry,” Lilith yanked the dagger back out. She closed the door and walked away.

Buy the entire Hellfire Book of Beltane collection and enjoy more awesome stories, just like this one. http://www.amazon.com/Hellfire-Book-Beltane-Volume-ebook/dp/B0052ACBJG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334512055&sr=1-1