“And this requires feeding people to an invisible monster why?” Ava asks.
“You couldn’t see it?” Linda’s voice snaps back to the present, derailed from its well-worn track.
“Nope.”
“Could you two?” She looks at LeGrand and Mack, then laughs. “Of course you could. I can tell. Besides, we never have any question about your father’s lineage, LeGrand. The most prolific Pulsipher.”
LeGrand frowns, but says nothing.
Ava kicks the table. “You were explaining why you need to feed people to an invisible monster?”
“Do you know how many of the founding families of this town lost everything in the Great Depression? How many of their sons were killed in World War Two, Korea, Vietnam?”
“How the fuck would I know that?” Ava mutters, increasingly annoyed. This isn’t getting them anywhere. They should leave. But Mack is hanging on the words, a hungry look on her face. Ava will let Linda finish explaining, and then she’ll tell LeGrand and Mack to get in the car, and then she’ll shoot the old lady. For Brandon. Because he’s dead, and because this woman declared it a waste because it didn’t do her, personally, any good.
“None.” Linda smiles, triumphant. “No one lost everything, no beloved sons were killed on foreign soil. We were protected. We have been protected, since my grandparents’ time. They performed the first sacrifice, made the covenant, traded their blood to protect their blood. Which you are obviously not, Ava. I should have known. Your slut mother must have tricked your idiot father.”
Ava leans down and retrieves the handgun from the floor, setting it on the table with her fingers caressing it. “Say something else about my mother.” A wild grin splits Ava’s face. Her father always knew her mother got pregnant just before they met, put his name on the birth certificate anyway. He never cared, and he never once looked at Ava with anything but love and pride.
Of course he didn’t belong with these people.
“Oh, shoot me then, you filthy little animal. It doesn’t matter. They’ll figure out you’ve escaped, and they’ll get more. Probably from Rulon. He’s always good for it. There’s doubtless a dud daughter or two he won’t mind shipping to us.” She glances at LeGrand, her smile coy.
LeGrand raises the rifle in one smooth movement. “I’ll kill you.”
“Once I’m dead, who knows who they’ll pick to replace you? You’re signing death warrants.”
“We’re not doing anything,” Ava spits. “Don’t turn this on us!”
“Aren’t you? You’re choosing to leave, knowing that someone else will have to take your place. Your whole generation is so selfish, it disgusts me. This was the most noble thing you could possibly have done with your lives, and instead you’re going to turn your backs and run, leaving someone else to die in your place.”
Ava lets go of the handgun and lifts her hands in the air, incredulous. “Do you even hear yourself? You’re batshit. Completely fucking batshit.”
“Watch your tongue,” Linda snaps. “I will not tolerate such language in my home.”
“Oh my god. If you love your legacy so much, sacrifice yourself.”
Linda scoffs. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you! All of us, gone. Then no one would be in charge. My grandparents sacrificed so we wouldn’t have to! We earned our success. We earned our lives. We earned this world, and I’ll be damned if I let you take it from us.”
“Come on.” Ava stands and gestures to Mack and LeGrand. This is pointless. She half feels like she’s back on Facebook, arguing with her pervy grandpa. Maybe she is losing her mind, after all. Pain delirium has set in. “Let’s go. We’re done here.”
“My father will send someone?” LeGrand asks, his voice soft.
“Oh, yes,” Linda replies. “He’s good for at least one replacement. He mentioned her when we spoke about you. Alma? Almera? Something like that.”
LeGrand swings the rifle, the butt catching the side of Linda’s temple. Her head snaps to the side, skin broken and blood finally ruining her hair.
Linda gasps in pain, blinking, still alive. Still conscious. It’s the first and only time LeGrand has struck anyone. It feels like someone else did it. He can see evidence of it, feel his heart racing, but he didn’t choose to hit her. It was automatic.
“How do you know it works?” Ava demands.
“What do you mean?” Linda groans, closing her eyes and shaking her head.