Revenge and the Wild(69)
“Red-eye,” Lavina said to the barkeep.
“That’s an awful strong drink for a proper lady,” Heck said.
“Pour me one too, bar-dog. Make it a double,” said Hubbard, his eyes still red and swollen from crying. He’d taken a seat on the other side of Westie while she’d been distracted by Lavina. Westie’s gaze darted around the mirror behind the bar, looking for escape routes.
“Believe me,” Lavina said, “I can handle it on a day like this one.”
The barkeep poured Lavina’s drink and slid it down the bar, where Lavina caught it before it bumped Westie’s cup.
“You left early,” she said to Westie.
Westie let go of her cup to find she’d dented the metal with her machine. She was suddenly in the mood for something stronger. “Didn’t think anyone was aware.”
“I’m very much aware of you, Westie.”
The way Lavina said it, like she knew all of Westie’s secrets, made her skin itch.
Hubbard made burping and hiccuping sounds beside her but didn’t speak. He could’ve sat next to his wife, but they chose to box her in. Westie flexed her metal fingers, not sure who she should be more worried about.
Lavina gazed around the room, letting the silence between them simmer until it felt good and awkward before wrinkling her nose and saying, “It’s nice to come in here without creatures around. I don’t know how you can stomach sitting and drinking with all those filthy animals.”
Westie thought about Costin. He’d risked everything to hide the evidence of her thievery and her possible link as a witness to Olive’s death. Though Westie was guilty of prejudice herself when it came to creatures, it made her mad to hear it from Lavina.
Westie turned and looked Lavina straight in her flat brown eyes. “They’re not filthy animals. They have the right to be on this earth just like the rest of us. They lived on this land for thousands of years, minding their own business, not hurting anyone. It belonged to them and the natives. Most folks never even knew they existed. Settlers saw an opportunity and took everything, killing anything or anyone that got in their way. Finally the creatures got sick of it and fought back.”
Lavina took a sip of her whiskey and nodded slowly. “Yes, the creature war. But do you really think those beings are civilized?”
Westie wanted to hurl her drink at the woman. Civilized. Lavina didn’t know the meaning of the word. Civilized people didn’t hole up in cabins, preying on unsuspecting families in need.
“Banshees are so empathetic they can sense death before it ever happens, and they feel that pain so deep, so intense, that they can’t help but cry out. Werewolf daddies never leave their children, not for any reason. They mate for life and take care of their families. And trolls”—she looked over at the troll, flies buzzing around him, so drunk he’d shit himself—“okay, I reckon trolls don’t count. They’re not much good for anything. But vampires, all they need is blood to survive. They don’t even need to kill to feed. How’s that for civilized? Can you say the same thing about yourself? If you ask me, the only real ‘creatures’ in this place are human.”
Lavina squeezed her lips together. In the hazy light her face looked like a rumpled shirt, drooping and creased.
“I know what you think of me—of us.” Lavina glanced at Hubbard. He had twisted in his chair to face Westie and was spinning the knife Heck had been using to cut limes on the bar. Westie kept her machine loose in case she needed to take it from him. “I was sad to hear such things, but you heard what the mayor said about Olivia finding those earrings in the forest where she played.”
Lies! Westie wanted to shout, but Lavina couldn’t know Olive had admitted the Fairfields were killers, or she’d have to admit she’d been with the girl before her death.
Lavina continued, “I do fear that accusation has tainted our reputation with the sheriff. He’s been nosing about our business.”
“Why don’t you just go on and leave, then?”
“I’ve spent too much time with Emma. I want to see it through. Nigel may not like us, or even trust us, but he needs our money. I’ve seen that desperate hunger in his eyes.”
Westie wondered how Lavina planned to invest without money. They must’ve discovered their missing fortune by now. Olive knew; she would’ve told them. Or maybe she’d been telling the truth when she said she hadn’t told them. Westie couldn’t be certain.
While she chewed it over in her head, Lavina said, “You remind me of someone I used to know. Doesn’t she remind you of someone we used to know, Hubbard?”
“Can’t say I remember her too much,” he said.
Westie tensed, biting the inside of her cheek, tasting blood. Hubbard picked at his teeth with the knife.
Westie mashed her face into a scowl. “How exactly do I remind you of this person you used to know?” she asked Lavina.
Lavina chuckled, though her laughter quickly faded. “She was clever. She was a fighter, that girl.” She reached out and touched Westie’s hair. “The resemblance is astonishing. You even have the same color hair and eyes as her.”
The muscles in Westie’s neck tightened. She wanted to swat the woman’s hand away. Instead she continued to crush her cup with her machine until liquid spilled out and it was no more than a twisted piece of metal.