How Hazel Became Oak - Epilogue

Beth looked at Eve closely, Eve seemed deep in thought. "I know this is probably rather a lot to take in," she said.

"I was wondering what ill effects the horrible thing might have caused. I just can't think," she said, sounding worried, as well she might.

"This might sound like an odd question," said Beth, "but why were you still virgin until last night?"

Eve thought for a moment, "something always held me back," she said. "Sometimes right at the last minute. I have never felt able to let anyone penetrate me, or even bring me to orgasm, even though I love my body being touched and I am happy to bring myself to a climax and do so quite frequently."

"That might be one of the effects," Beth said. "A malevolent spirit might well attempt to frustrate the fulfilment of loving relationships. They are the work of the Goddess and the dark forces ever seek to counter them. If so, the daemon was ultimately the cause of its own demise, for had you not been a virgin you could not have been our Chosen One and its banishment would have been at best delayed, and at worst avoided. This is the way of the Goddess, using the very machinations of the evil ones to accomplish their undoing. But I am speculating beyond my knowledge and can only tell you what I surmise."

"Let us talk about the rite itself," Beth moved the conversation forward. "When we first met I saw that you were possessed, and I thought by Sarah but I also perceived something of the dark spirit in you. And now I must apologise. I decided to proceed with the ritual, knowing this, but without telling you what I suspected. In my defence it did not occur to me that both Sarah and some other spirit could reside in the one person. But it is to my shame that in my arrogance I did not seek guidance from those more learned than me. It is by the grace and blessing of the Goddess that all has come right."

Eve interrupted, "High Priestess, your apology is not needed. My heart tells me that you were guided by the Goddess in this and if these marks around my wrists and ankles are the price to be paid to be my own soul again then I count myself fortunate."

Beth nodded her head, sadly, "and yet there is more for which I must ask your forgiveness. At the crux of the rite, as your orgasm approached, the dark force was expelled. You experienced that through the dark vision you related earlier. Thanks to the magical hands of sister Hazel, the power of my own orgasm was sufficient to expel the Daemon, but to banish it, I withdrew the Athame, with which I had already partially penetrated you. You were on the cusp of orgasm, but you did not reach your climax. It was at that point you received the burns from your bonds. The daemon attempted to resist expulsion by forcing your body out of the sacred circle. I knew that this was always a possibility, and that is why I had you bound to the altar. Those ties caused hurt to you for which I am deeply sorry, but they preserved your life. The signs that Ash and Willow painted so lovingly on your, body also served to prevent the spirit from re-entering you. That is why I needed to see them earlier, to make sure they were intact. Had they not been I would have been worried that the daemon was yet within you. Happily, there is no sign and I am sure you a free of it.

When I saw the shadow. I believed that the daemon had misled me into believing that it was Sarah whose soul was co-resident with yours. Now looking back, I was blinded and a fool. For what purpose would a spirit attempt such a subterfuge? I was bound to try and free the spirit of my lost love and so come into direct conflict with it. Perhaps it believed it could overpower me and be freed to roam the earthly plane. I know nothing of its foul motivation but I should not have abandoned you to my own self-pity." Beth bowed her head. and this time I was unable to think of a way to lighten her load.

Eve spoke again. "And yet I achieved a climax which lifted me to the heavens and from which even now my body still tingles, how did that happen?"

"It was your sister Hazel, Eve. It was she, not I, who freed Sarah, bringing you the vision of our sojourn by the lake. And when you returned to reality, Sarah having departed, it was her lips and tongue that initiated the sacred climax and raised the fire within you, and her penetration with the Athame that took your virginity and allowed the Goddess to enter you.

Eve looked at me with eyes wide. "Is this true?" She said.

"It is partly true," I said. "It is true that the High Priestess was overcome for a few minutes and that she calls it self-pity and is ashamed. But it is also true that she expended her energy extravagantly to first expel and then banish the daemon that was within you and that she then recovered herself so as to enable you and I to simultaneously climax. Neither of our orgasm's alone would have been enough to free Sarah, nor would the Goddess have been able to fulfil you so completely. I was the earthly agent of your climax it is true, but I was but a channel, guided by the High Priestess and the Goddess and you must thank them both without reserve. You are truly Chosen and have been from the beginning by forces beyond our human understanding."

And then, to my eternal shame, and to this day my face burns when I think about it, I could not help adding, "and now that Sarah has left your body, I'd love to know whether you still fantasise about having your toes sucked."

Even Beth had to laugh, and I knew that she and Eve would need to talk more in private but that apart from some minor abrasions we had done no harm. We had much to be thankful for and so we set off to the thanksgiving ceremony in which I was to be newly named Oak with love in our hearts. And, in Ash, an ill-concealed desire to tell the sisters that the budding love they had long observed between their High Priestess and Hazel, Lore Mistress was now in full and glorious flower.

****

And that is the story of how Hazel became Oak, how a trapped soul was freed and how I found my soul-mate all on one eventful all hallows eve. May the Goddess protect you.