Page 28 of Stronger Than Blood

Chapter twenty-six

Mick

We gave Madam Granny’s address, and Rory rode with me over to the farm to get the morning chores done. I didn’t ask him, really. I didn’t have to any longer. He just came with me, and to be honest, that did something to my heart.

I’d never met anyone so generous with his time before. And although he and I clearly liked each other, I could tell that was just how Rory was. He liked helping, and that made him special in my book.

I ignored the house, as I usually did when I came to work the gardens, even when Granny was home, and we went straight to work.

Rory said he’d take the first shift of tilling, which I was thankful for.

My poor head was still not screwed on quite right after all the drinking we did yesterday.

Although, the moonshine had been good… if you could call it moonshine.

Truth was, that stuff was just too good to be real moonshine. Smooth whiskey or bourbon was a better description.

I used the hoe around the plants, always chuckling at the double meaning of the word. I was anything but a ho, but even Granny chuckled sometimes when I teased her about her hoeing ways.

I looked up and watched Rory handle the tiller with such ease. Granny’s soil was beautiful and soft to work where he was. It was the part of the garden that sloped down, meaning all the best topsoil ended up down there by the end of the year.

My grandpa had supposedly used a bobcat once to move all the topsoil back to the upper gardens, but I’d never thought to repeat that.

It was just the nature of that kind of farming.

At least there wasn’t a lot of runoff to worry about, and we were able to use the soil down here for our more delicate and fussy plants.

Rory was beautiful. He’d taken his shirt off, and I don’t think he’d even thought about it, but it sure had an impact on me. His body was thin, not that of a bodybuilder in any way, but it was beautifully defined, with a nice six-pack.

I looked down self-consciously at my own body. I wasn’t bad-looking. Truth was, you couldn’t live on a farm and work like I did and not have some muscle mass. However, you also couldn’t cook pies on the night shift without gaining a nice layer of fat on those muscles as well.

I mean, it’s not like I was fat or anything—far from it, but I doubted I’d ever have that six-pack.

I looked up just as Rory paused and stretched.

Drool settled in my mouth as I imagined using my…

well, shit. That was stupid. I needed to get my mind off the things I could and would do with Rory, if he let me, and get back to the job at hand.

I forced myself to focus on the work. Luckily, the garden wasn’t as overgrown as Joann had said.

Just a few weeds here and there. Although I’m guessing Joann did a little hand weeding while she’d been harvesting.

We were all taught to do that because, by then, we were almost to the point where the plants were too big to hoe around.

From then on, I’d need to get on my hands and knees to weed it.

I almost jumped out of my skin when Rory slipped his arms around me. “Rory, damn, I didn’t notice the tiller had shut off.”

Rory chuckled, and the vibrations sent chills up my spine. I turned and let my hands slide up and down his sweat-drenched bare back. This was new, and I loved it. “You about done?” he asked.

“Mmm,” I said because any words at this point would come out as a squeak. I leaned up and took his mouth with mine. Oh God, he tasted so good, and how did someone still smell this good when they were covered in dirt and sweat?

He took the kiss deeper, and the rambling in my mind came to an abrupt halt. I pulled him closer, wanting all that skin up against me. Things would’ve progressed had we not heard someone clearing her throat.

I looked behind me and snickered when I saw Madam standing there, grinning. “So, I see I came at the worst possible time.”

“Best you did before things got any hotter,” Rory said, and he looked down at me and winked.

“You two about done?” she asked since it was clear we were no longer working.

I nodded. “Yeah, I just need to finish up this row.”

“Why don’t you do that while Rory and I walk around the house?”

All my happiness deflated at the thought. I’d been able to disregard the issue that brought her here until now. I nodded and turned to kiss Rory again before finishing the work.

If I was going to go with Madam and Rory to Memphis, I’d need to call the neighbor’s kid and see if he could come and till while I was away.

I’d also need to get Joann to come out and make sure he didn’t till down all our hard work in the process.

It was a critical time, and I didn’t want an overeager teenager to destroy the plants just as they were coming into full production.

I was just finishing when I heard Rory and Madam coming back. “He’s getting stronger then,” Madam said.

“Feels that way. Do you really think it’ll help to have Mick’s great-grandmother back home?” he asked.

I looked up and saw her nodding. “I think it’s the only thing that’ll help.”

I walked toward where they were standing and washed off the hoe before hanging it up. I’d need to do another sharpening before using it again, but I wanted to be part of the conversation.

The moment I came over to them, Madam asked, “Can we go inside, Mick? I would like to assess the situation with you present before we make any other decisions.”

I swallowed hard but nodded and headed toward the back of the house. I unlocked it and stepped inside. The back porch led directly into a hallway, where the bathroom was located. That was where Rory and I cleaned up as Madam walked further into the kitchen.

“Help yourself to something to drink,” I said as I threw water on my face and then scrubbed my arms.

She didn’t respond, so I used some old towels. After showing Rory where to toss his used towel, I went out to find Madam.

She was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room, her body rigid. I knew instantly something was happening.

When I got close, I heard her chanting and looked over her shoulder to see blood-spattered walls. “We should get out of here!” I said, but Madam took my arm. She held me there as she continued to chant.

Rory came up behind us and gasped, and I realized he was seeing whatever was happening. The chanting stopped, and Madam put her hand in mine, leading me forward. “We rebuke you, spirit. You do not belong here. Move on!”

I heard laughter and froze, unable to move another inch. Madam didn’t try to force forward and stopped next to me. “We rebuke you, spirit. You do not belong here. Move on!”

I jumped when I felt an unseen hand grip my neck before it threw me across the room, where I hit the wall next to Granny Ida’s hutch. I heard the plates rattle as I struggled to get free. Before I could move the entity grabbed me by the neck again and began strangling me.

“Fight him, Mick. You are stronger than him. Don’t let him win this!” Madam said.

Barely enough air to breathe, much less talk, I forced out between my teeth, “Get off me!”

I pushed at the air in front of me, and although nothing could be seen there, the pressure around my neck eased some. “Get off me!” I yelled again, more forcefully, pushing and kicking with my foot.

I caught enough of my breath once the pressure eased, and instead of being afraid like I usually was, I felt my anger growing. “You fucking asshole,” I yelled. “Get out of my life! Get the fuck out of my house!”

The dishes in the hutch began to vibrate, the curtain flipped open and closed, and it just pissed me off that much more.

“You are a bully, a stupid, evil bully. You don’t belong here. You’ve taken all you will ever get. Now go to hell where you belong!” I screamed so hard I fell back to my knees.

The rattling stopped, and in front of me stood the image of the man who’d tried to kill me all those years ago—Preston Garrison. His head was dripping with blood, his mouth hanging grotesquely open. “Get the fuck out!” I said and rushed him, but Madam and Rory both stepped forward and held me back.

“He’s going,” she said. “He’s going.”

I watched as he faded. When I looked at the walls, the blood had disappeared, but I could still feel the pain around my neck where he’d tried to strangle me. Real blood dripped onto my hand, and I realized my nose was bleeding.

“Fuck that asshole. Fuck him!” I yelled again, and within seconds, I was in Rory's arms.

A moment later, Madam held a wet paper towel to my nose.

They led me into the living room and sat on either side of me as I calmed down.

Tears rolled down my face as I rocked back and forth.

“I’m so sick of him being here. Sick of his attacks against me.

Can we not banish him? I want him to suffer.

Can we lock him in some horrible prison, somewhere with spikes that stab his soul?

” I said, and even though I’d meant it, I chuckled.

“Maybe we can fart in a bottle and lock him in there so he has to smell it for eternity.”

Both Madam and Rory chuckled. “You did more just now to control him than I’m guessing even your Granny Ida did. He was feeding off your fears, but he wasn’t prepared for your anger. Although he’ll feed off of that, too, if you aren’t careful.”

I shook my head. “I just want him gone. What can we do to make him leave?”

Madam shrugged. “I don’t know, honey. The spirit world has its own rules, and they flow differently from our own.

I do know his attacking you cost him. I felt him get weaker the harder you pushed.

He wanted your fear, not someone who fought back.

I’m guessing this will calm him down for a while, at least.”

“Long enough for Granny Ida to get home?”

She nodded. “Yeah, long enough for your Granny Ida to get home. Between the two of you, I think you can make it so uncomfortable here he might choose to leave on his own. If neither of you are feeding his sadistic needs, he might move on to find someone or somewhere else to get that.”

“Hurting others?” I asked and felt weepy again. “No, I want him gone. Like I said to him, it’s time he goes to hell where he belongs.”

Madam patted my hand but didn’t say anything else. I knew she didn’t have the key to ending this, but somehow, now that I’d stood up to him once and for all, I believed with Granny Ida’s help, we could find a way to banish him. I just had no idea how to make that happen.