Page 63 of Stronger Than Blood
“You need to be alone?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, unless you need time to yourself, I could use the company.”
I smiled and went to him. “Know what I want?” I asked.
Mick snorted. “I have a pretty good idea.”
I nuzzled his neck and bit his earlobe from behind but then turned him to face me. “Yeah, but before that, why don’t we curl up on that couch of yours and watch some bad television?”
“Oh, that sounds perfect. Are you okay with me just falling asleep? I’m wiped out.”
“More than,” I said and leaned over to kiss him on his neck.
“Mmm,” Mick moaned, and we stayed like that for several minutes before I drew him over to the couch and let him lie back against me.
That was the best thing for both of us, although I really could use another roll in the hay. I instinctively knew that tonight, he just needed a solid wall of support.
Chapter forty-four
Mick
With Granny back home, the world around the monster shifted back to how it’d been before she’d had her stroke. Now though, I enjoyed thinking of the son of a bitch hiding in the corner, afraid of what she was going to do to him.
Kalinda pulled the floorboard up where Granny had told her she stashed the angry mojo bag. After replacing it with one that Kalinda assured us was more aligned with our goal of removing him from this realm to the one he should’ve already passed into, she went out behind the home and created a ritual fire pit.
“To be honest,” Kalinda told us, “I can’t guarantee this won’t be intense. Destroying a mojo bag that’s held that thing captive could release him, but it could also be what is needed to pass him over. Just be prepared.”
I swallowed hard, fearing what releasing him would mean for me. Still, Kalinda had told us repeatedly that allowing the jackass to remain locked with Granny’s angry mojo bag wasn’t good for any of us.
So, with Kalinda’s guidance, we all bathed using oils she’d prepared, which were designed to protect us. She also hungseveral wind chimes made of bottles and other odds and ends in the trees around the house.
If anyone asked questions, Kalinda told us to tell them they were simply wind chimes because Granny had liked the ones she’d had outside her room at the home.
“And that’s sorta true too. There were chimes outside my window, and I liked them… when they weren’t keeping me awake.” We all laughed, including her.
“Well,” Kalinda said, smiling, “speaking of that, as annoyed as the chimes made you, that’s exactly why we are hanging them in your yard. Spirits hate the clanking of glass, so this should help deter him from sticking around.”
“Hopefully,” I said. “I don’t fancy having that thing coming at me ever again.”
Kalinda reached over and took my hand, and Granny took the other. Rory looked on with sympathy. At that moment, I knew these people had my back.
Before the fire was started, Kalinda began to chant, pouring her oils in a spiral from the fire around us and the firepit. Then she poured the rest of the oils onto a cotton cloth, which was bunched up under the woodpile.
Granny was sitting in her favorite rocking chair, which we had brought from the front porch. The rest of us sat on the hodgepodge of chairs Granny had scattered around her yard. “Repeat after me,” Kalinda ordered.
Leave us! Go, and don’t return!
We cast you out with this bag we burn!
We all practiced saying it a few times until we knew the words, and then Kalinda struck a match.
Fire burst from the match to the cloth, almost as if it were chasing gasoline. I knew, somehow, it wasn’t a fire attracted to a normal fuel source. No, as it burned blue and green, I could tell it was a fire designed for the ritual we were conducting.
We quietly repeated the chant over and over as the fire caught the logs and began to burn brighter. When it was starting to create coals, Kalinda stood and reached her hand out to Granny, who looked up at her, then over to me and nodded before pulling a dusty old bag out of her lap and handing it to Kalinda.
“Ida Jamison, do you renounce the anger you used to create this mojo bag?”
Granny nodded, looked at me again, and then said, “I renounce the anger but not the intention. That bad man needs to leave.”
