Journey's End

The beginning of Spring, known as Beltaine, was an exciting time for us. We anticipated the warming of the world around us and the adventures we knew we would be having. Minnie had graciously offered her home and the land around it for our celebration and by the time we arrived on April 30, tired but happy, we could see that she had made things ready for us.

An old hand at long camping trips and festivals, I had loan of my dad’s extend cab truck. Packed in the back was the huge army tent I had used many times at the medieval faires of my college years. It could sleep 10 easily and was rigged for privacy sheets, which for me were lovely hand painted sheets of canvas. Also packed were several full sized air mattresses and the bedding to go with them. There were also lithium battery lanterns and three solar showers. The girls traveling with me, Renee and the Kid, would be sharing the tent with Vi, Scarlett and Westexan .

Fairy was driving a monstrous RV with satellite TV and phones and the comforts of home. Lina had one as well. These girls though were city girls, and I imagine their idea of camping out included the Holiday Inn and a swimming pool.

GS and Jen were behind us and they too were driving a huge RV. GS did not believe in camping. I had followed him all the way down, traveling easily in the rocking chair between him and Fairy. Scarlett, and Vi had come out with Aolani. Butter and Linzy and Sugar and Bluebelle were there having traveled with Dude and Sal, along with Raki, Nicky and Val.

Dude and Sal were loaded with their own tents and goodies. We parked with the cars first along the edge of the property line by the forest and the RVs parallel to them in front and our tents would be pitched on the sides, leaving the big acre of yard open for our bon fire and for our outdoor kitchen. I climbed down out of the truck and stretched my legs and lit a cigarette, a pack of Turkish blend I snatched from the parlor on our way out. Minnie was smiling and I came and hugged her.

“Minnie, this is beautiful, thanks for inviting us out for the spring gathering,” I said.
“I love having you guys here,” she said.
“Are they here?” asked God Speed, walking up to us. Minnie nodded.
“They came last night late, almost dawn and they are bedded down in our family room,” she said. “My neighbors, I am sure, are a bit puzzled as to why I painted the windows black, but I would do anything for them so they felt secure while they are here.”
“Well, we better get busy then and start setting up our tent city,” said God Speed.

I went back to the truck and opened it up. I unloaded the blankets and bedding first and got out the plastic tarpaulin and laid it on the ground and pinned it through the grommets to the ground. My tent had a canvas floor so the plastic would keep it dry. My tent was a bit of a cipher. A veteran of many a medieval faire, it had started its life as a forty by forty army tent and over the years, I had made patches of canvas painted with Celtic symbols and medieval shields and other pieces of art til you could hardly recognize it as an OD green military issue tent. Before I left, I took it out and sunned it and rubbed it with soft wax to renew the water proofing til it resembled something in texture to soft leather. We girls lugged it out and spread it out and I got the poles we would use to pitch it. Scarlett and Vi busied themselves with the mattresses to inflate them.

Fairy was setting up her house too, pitching the marquee in front of her vehicle with the flip of a switch and bringing out her folded chaise lounges and her little tables. Lina was doing the same. God Speed, in addition to his RV, brought the dining shelters from the fall solstice at his house and Minnie said she had a couple of folding tables and plenty of chairs for us to sit in as we ate. She had also arraigned for several cords of wood to be stacked around the side of her house for our fires.

Spring was certainly here and I blessed the warm sun beating down on my shoulders and the sweat on my Fangtasia tank top. Once the tent was raised, I began to rummage around for the things to make the tent a home. I swear, I must be a gypsy in some other life, because good sturdy baskets filled with pillows and sheets and blankets and bath towels became bedside tables and end of bed baskets to hold extra blankets and clothes. I showed the girls how to hang the tent dividers which would offer visual privacy. We made up our beds and unpacked our bags and then they all went out to watch me setting up the solar showers.

Solar showers are great. You set up the heavy duty frames and put the bags on the top of them, fill them with water and let the sun warm the water during the day. They weren’t super hot showers, but they would be warm enough to get clean. Once we got the camp set up we set up our torches and set about discussing the menu.

“Tonight, we are having a good hearty beef stew I have been cooking since this morning,” said Minnie. We nodded, this would be good. The pig we were going to roast for tomorrow night was coming in the morning and the boys would be in charge of that while we girls made the side dishes. We all had store orders and we girls would be going the store in a little while. Raki and Dude had brought most of the alcoholic drinks and Aolani had procured us two hog’s heads of honey mead. We were also going fishing during the day and I had gotten permission to trap rabbits on a nearby farm. So, in addition to whatever we gathered from the store, we were going to have game meat too.

We loaded up in my truck, Minnie in the shotgun seat and Fairy and Jen and Lina in the back seat and we headed for the store. Minnie was excited to have us here as she pointed things out to us and bubbled on about how exciting it was to have the guests of honor show up at her door.

“Oh, and we have a bathroom in the basement and in the garage, since we don’t really use it as a garage, but a workshop. It isn’t fancy but it is clean,” she said.
“I am sure it will do perfectly,” I said. “Are your neighbors curious?”
“They are, but they won’t be too curious,” she said.

We parked in the Walmart lot and got out; we all held grocery lists in our hands and got our buggies and dispersed to the four winds. We were going to meet in front of the check outs so we could all check out together. I ran off to bed and bath and got green and yellow and pink twin sized flat sheets to use as table cloths. I also picked up several tower candles and several bags of tea light candles and several bottles of torch oil to keep our torches going.

But it did not take long for us to have full buggies with sodas and goodies for a four day picnic for all of us. Aolani was going perform a spring ritual for all of us and we were going to have music and fun and if a little magik was added into the mix, that was okay too. I wondered what ostensibly Christian Bill and Jessica and Pam would make of our semi Pagan festivities. Eric of course would recognize a lot of the elements of the activities and would appreciate them.

We checked out and headed for the truck and loaded everything carefully into the bed of the truck. We were more than well stocked for our celebrations and I was becoming even more excited. We jumped in and took off back to Minnie’s house. When we pulled in, everyone jumped up to help with our goodies and we were soon unpacking and sorting supplies and stowing things in Minnie’s chest freezer and kitchen. If she was overwhelmed, she did not show it.

After things calmed down a bit, I went and took a quick cold shower and came out and began to make Lafayette’s No Bad Ju Ju corn bread and Renee was putting the finishing touches on her cloudberry tarts, the little pastries that Eric and Godric had absconded with, not that they eat anymore, but for the smells of the fruit they thought they would never smell again. I didn’t notice that the sun was going down til I felt a familiar cool touch of Bill’s hands on my shoulders and his cool lips on my neck.

“I am so glad you made it safely sweetheart,” he said softly in his slow deep voice.
“I am glad you had a good rest,” I said. “Are you hungry?”
“For you? Always, but I will settle for a bottle of Tru:Blood,” he said. I went to the fridge and got a bottle of Tru:Blood and heated it in the microwave. Eric came in.

“Is that my bottle Aslinn?” he asked.
“No, It is Bill’s bottle, but I will warm you one,” I said. I went and took out the bottles from the fridge and took off the caps and got them ready to warm. Butter came up and Eric pulled her into his arms and hugged her close and took a moment to rub the honey bun.

“You are getting bigger dearest,” he said, kissing her neck.
“I feel like a mack truck,” she said.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered, kissing her gently on the mouth. I handed Bill his bottle and put the other three in the wave. Nicky greeted Pam with a kiss and she stood behind the slender blond with her arm around her waist as they waited for the bottles to warm. When they were ready, I handed a bottle to Nicky and she handed it to Pam who kissed her and took a drink. I handed Butter Eric’s bottle and he let her go long enough to drink from his bottle. The Viking made a slight face. None of the Vampires really liked the synthetic blood but they drank it anyway. They would be treated to real blood later in the nights to come as they paired off with their various spirit spouses. I shooed them outside so I could finish with the corn bread and noticed that Jessica was not up yet.

“Jess?” I said, just a little louder than my normal speaking voice.
“Hey Aslinn,” she said.
“I warmed you some Blood,” I said. She made a face. “Come on, drink up.”
“I hate this shit,” she said, sipping the bottle.
“I know,” I said. “But even Eric drinks it, so you must, so you don’t get sick.”
“Okay mom,” she said sarcastically. “Is Chris here?”
“Yes, but you have to eat first then you can go outside and play,” I said. “Every drop young lady.”
“Okay, okay,” she said. Scarlett came in.
“Hey Jessica!” said Scarlett, hugging the young Vampire.
“I’m so glad you all are here,” she said. “It’s so boring at Bill’s house.”
“Well, he is your guardian, and you have to understand, he is very old fashioned, even more so than Eric,” said Scarlett.
“And Aslinn is mean, she won’t let me go outside til I finish this shit,” she said.
“She is right, you finish it, then you can play,” she said, kissing the young girl on the cheek. “Aslinn, I came in to make a salad.”
“Cool, you can start and when I finish here, I will help you,” I said. Renee came in.
“Hi Jess,” she said. “Minnie said there were some bowls and spoons and plates and such in here.”
“Yeah, right there,” I said. “Bill, can you help her with these?” Bill had followed Renee back in.
“Certainly,” he said. “Good evening Jessica.”
“Evenin’ Bill,” she said.
“Make sure she finishes that bottle,” said Bill to me.
“Gosh, okay, I will, gee whiz!” she spluttered. She took a long defiant slug of the Blood and made a terrible face to pound it down.

Bill and Renee went out with the dishes and I cut the corn bread and covered it with a clean tea towel and I went to work to make the salad. When we had it done we loaded everything in a laundry basket and took it out together. We finished setting the table and called everyone to supper. The Vampires sat down as well to simply chat. Jessica was slowly finishing the bottle and showed it to Bill when she finished. He nodded at her and she went to sit by Chris and Scarlett.

“What do you have planned during the day while we are at our rest,” asked Eric.
Well, we plan to go fishing and rabbit hunting and seeing the scenery,” said God Speed. “Tomorrow, though we are roasting a whole hog.”
“My goodness? Are you that hungry God Speed?” asked Pam.
“Well, I don’t imagine it will go to waste,” he said.
“And we have a ceremony planned to celebrate the coming of spring,” said Aolani.

“How do you non-Pagan Vampires feel about that?” I asked.
“Human rituals are very interesting,” said Pam. “I don’t put much stock in it.”
“But then, all the imagination leaked out of you when I made you,” said the Viking, teasing his child.
“Is it a real Pagan ceremony? My human parents would have a fit if they knew what I had seen as a Vampire,” said Jessica.
“It is a real Pagan ceremony,” said Aolani.
“But you will recognize a lot of it Jessica, as Christians have borrowed a lot of the same images to make the Easter Rabbit and have colored Easter Eggs,” explained Bill. “I have been reading Aolani’s work on Eostre and the Christianization of the Pagan feasts. She and Aslinn do an amazing job with the Mythology thread.”
“They do,” said God Speed. “If they haven’t written about it, it isn’t worth knowing a lot about.”

After supper, we cleaned up the table and washed the dishes and pots and pans and silverware and came back out to drink beer and wine and sodas. Fairy had classic country music coming out of the speakers of her RV. Around the fire were clean sand and huge logs to sit on. Some of us were sitting on them, and few of us were leaned against them. I was leaned against one, my legs folded with a pillow on top where rested my Vampire’s head. Curled against Bill was Vi, and he had his arm around her shoulder and was idly stroking her hair. Beside me sat Renee, and Bill’s hand held one of hers, his fingers playing with hers.

God Speed and Jen were sitting beside Fairy, who was sitting on a log and Eric was sitting up between her knees, her arms around his neck and shoulders. Jen held hands with Eric on one side while Butter held the Viking’s hand on her honey bun. God Speed held Jessica’s hand as she leaned against Sal’s shoulder. She looked over at GS, a new sort of excitement in her eyes. Sal did not look that happy with the situation, even though Jessica explained everything carefully to him.

The fire was warm and told us stories of the past with the flicker and dance of the flames. Since the time of primal man, the fire was the place where story tellers stared to tell the stories of the gods. Like the oracles of old the story teller would translate the language of the fire and relate the wonders to those in their company. And that is what we did, feeling the company of our friends and the coming of new adventures.