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.”
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 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
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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
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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
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There's no way
sixteen year old Quincy Amarante will become the fifth grim reaper. None. Not
over her shiny blue Mustang. Her Jimmy Choos. Or her dead body.