Epilogue #2
At their table sat the model of the year award winner, Gabriel Moore, Crystal, Stan, and the League babe from Canada, Victoria. The guests had all been making eyes at each other and flirting throughout dinner, so it was pretty clear they all knew what was next.
This used to be Crowe’s favorite part of his favorite celebration. Now, he was afraid that if anyone touched his witch, his claws would come out and he’d spoil the party. He had to say something about what a difficult time he was having, and it was now or never.
Crowe leaned toward his darling Joell and whispered low, “So, I know what’s gone on at these parties before, but do you think… Is this year… I mean…is it going to be any different?”
“I don’t think we varied the Maypole ritual or the feast very much, Crowe. Do you mean the celebrations after that?”
“I mean raw, steamy, indiscriminate sex with the guests.”
He must have spoken a tiny bit too loudly, because the rest of the people around the table perked up and fell silent, as if waiting for an answer to something they were all wondering. Joell smiled at him but didn’t answer. Instead, she rose and tapped her glass to get everyone’s attention.
As soon as the room quieted, she started giving her speech.
“I want to thank everyone for coming to this wonderful celebration of the Sabbat, Beltane. Beltane represents the joy of full spring, of life and renewal. I’m so pleased to renew and reaffirm many friendships and create new ones today. And to celebrate life fully with one another.”
So far, everything, almost every word, remained the same, and Crowe’s stomach sank.
“But since we have so many new guests this year, I’ll take a moment to explain what Beltane is. There are four great festivals of the Celtic Pagan year, and most modern witches celebrate these.
“The two greatest are Samhain, or Halloween on October thirty-first, which ushers in the beginning of winter, and the second is six months later, Beltane or May Day, which ushers in the beginning of summer. Being opposite on the wheel of the year, they separate the year into halves. Some consider Samhain the more important of the two since it’s considered the beginning of the Celtic New Year. But May Day runs a close second.
Rayna piped up. “Some places, notably Wales, even consider May Day to be the greatest holiday.”
“Right,” Joell said. “Here at the League, we celebrate jubilantly at this time of year and more reverently at Samhain.
The month of May was named in honor of the Goddess, Maia.
She was originally a Greek Mountain nymph and was considered the most beautiful of her seven sisters.
She has since earned the title of Earth Goddess.
She cleared her throat and continued. “The Maypole represents the male phallus. It must be planted in Mother Earth for the joyful dance to begin. The dance represents the precursor to sexual intercourse, which is required to bring forth human life.
“The word ‘Beltane’ refers to the great Bel Fire, the fire of the God of Light, Bel, and he can be traced to the Middle Eastern God Baal. We may not have a big bonfire now, but we’ll light one outdoors later. Right now, we’re here in the Ballroom.”
Some people tittered at that, probably knowing what a ball they were going to have as soon as Joell stopped talking.
“In many ancient cultures, a young maiden of the village was selected to be the May Queen. Various ways to represent the great joining have been invented, but the original version insisted on the May Queen being fucked by every man in the village.”
Great cheers went up as she spoke those words.
I felt like crying. If Joell wanted to play the May Queen, I would definitely lose my cool.
“If the maiden was impregnated, the child of the May Queen was called a Beltane Baby and was considered a very lucky child. Because no one knew who the father was, the entire village raised the child. Fortunately, we Ladies of the Law are all on the Pill!”
That got a laugh, and grins grew wide on everyone’s faces.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t a virgin in the lot of us, so we won’t bother trying to find a May Queen.”
A few people glanced over at Katie, our teenage witchlet, and she blushed.
“Take heart. All is not lost! There’s another way people celebrated the great rite, which was just as popular.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
“On Beltane night, those who wished to participate in the ritual wandered into the woods to fornicate with whomever they wished.
Long after the Christian form of marriage, insisting on sexual monogamy, had replaced older Pagan customs. The rules of strict fidelity were always relaxed for the Mayday rites.
“These wildwood antics have inspired writers such as Kipling. Here are his words:
‘Oh, do not tell the Priest our light,
Or he would call it sin;
But we have been out in the woods all night,
A-conjuring Summer in!’”
Someone from the back of the hall yelled, “So hurry up and let us get it on!”
Joell chuckled and said, “I will. I promise, but there’s one more ritual I want to mention before we start. It has to do with the old hand-fasting custom.”
My ears tingled. I hadn’t heard of any hand-fasting on Beltane.
“Those who feel they want to celebrate but want to make love with one other person exclusively will find the highest point on a hill and will celebrate with each other all night long. In the morning, they are considered off-limits to others and waiting to be hand-fasted. There are a lot of hilltops here in these mountains!”
Crowe glanced around and saw Rayna and Major Payne grinning at each other. Chad and Brianna were also holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes.
Then Joell looked at Crowe and said, “Crowe?” She extended her hands. Without standing, he reached out and took both her hands in his.
He gulped and hoped his voice didn’t come out as a squeak. “Yes, love?”
“Will you do me the honor of being my exclusive partner tonight?”
He breathed a huge sigh of relief that he was sure everyone heard. “Tonight, and every night, my love.” Applause followed them all the way upstairs as they raced each other to the turret.
The following day, the witches bid goodbye to the last of their guests and limped or sauntered into the library where a comforting fire had been lit. Joell and Crowe sat on the loveseat and held hands.
Last in were Chad and Brianna, also holding hands. They hadn’t seen them for hours, and it looked as if they hadn’t missed them very much. Chad took one of the easy chairs, and Brianna sat on his lap.
When everyone was seated, Joell smiled and said, “I trust everyone had a pleasant evening?”
There were chuckles and giggles and one outright guffaw.
So unlike Crystal, the Brit, to let loose unrestrained laughter like that.
She was sitting to their left, so Joell leaned over and gave her a high-five.
No one would ask for details, at least not in front of the group, but in years past, Crowe was able to witness several of the lusty league members having a ball.
“I guess Stan ‘the man’ performed well last night,” Joell said.
“Let’s just say I have some great material for my next erotic novel,” Crystal said and winked.
“Glad to hear it. Now, as you all know, my time in charge is ending.
“Aw, gee…” some of them said, with sardonic smiles.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m glad too. Bas made it look so easy. Trust me, it isn’t!”
“We never said it was,” Sahara said.
“But that said,” Lioness added, “When is it my turn? Because I’ll be able to tell Chad to stuff it if we get an assignment during our next PMS week.”
Everyone laughed at that. Truly, Crowe was looking forward to Lioness’s quarter. She was always the one to lift their spirits at the right time.
“I’m glad you asked,” Joell said. “I’ll be selecting the next leader the same way Bas selected me.
” She rose and walked over to the shelves that held all of their steamy romance novels.
With a wave of her hand, the books floated off the shelves and began rearranging themselves. She turned her back to them and waited.
When the last rustle of paper stilled. She covered her eyes, turned around, and pulled one off the shelf. She opened her eyes and smiled. Then flipped the cover to face the group and announced, “Sahara is our next leader!”
Sahara groaned. “Dammit. What am I going to tell my archeology students? We were in the middle of a dig.”
“Simple,” Chad said. “You give them a long, complicated, team research project, and three months to finish it.”
“Brilliant,” Crystal said, and it sounded as if she meant it.
Sahara nodded. “Yes, I could arrange that. Thanks, Professor Patterson.”
“Any time. The League works hard. You deserve to play hard when you can.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Sahara said. “Do you have another assignment for us?”
“Not yet,” Chad said. “But don’t worry. When the world needs you, I’ll let you know.”
“Great! I’m going to take a nice, long soak in the hot tub,” Joell said.
Crowe’s ears perked up at that. “May I join you?”
“Absolutely. I was hoping you would.”