The Hellfire Book of Beltane Volume One

by Anthology

  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.

  "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 nam
e 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."

  "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 li
ne, 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.