For Love of Evil - [Roman Godfrey/Hemlock Grove]

-5-

Roman approached the site of the mauling; yellow police tape wrapped around one tree and stretched across to another, creating a circle of where Anita Parker had died.

Roman saw the figure of someone standing in the middle of the trees, staring down at the ground with pursed lips.

"Hey... what the hell are you doing here?" Roman shouted as he approached the boy, Peter. He took a step back, his waist nearly touching the yellow tape that stretched around the crime scene.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Peter snapped back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Just checking things out. You got any idea who did this?" Roman asked, stepping closer to the school pariah - the "werewolf." Peter shook his head, and Roman could see he was telling the truth.

"I was trying to get a feel of who might've done this. You, ah... you're Roman Godfrey, right?" Peter scratched behind his ear, his blue eyes looking to Roman for answers.

Roman nodded, "Yeah, you're Peter Rumancek. Let's cut the bullshit, what do you know about this?" Roman reached into his blazer, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his lips. He lit the end, impatiently waiting for Peter to answer.

"You, ah... ever heard of a vargulf?" Peter asked, watching Roman nod as smoke billowed above his dirty blonde hair. "Well, that's what I'm thinking."

"So it's not you?"

Peter scoffed, dropping his hands to his sides with a thud. "Of course not. What makes you think I'd be here if I did it?"

"I don't know. Cover your tracks... or maybe you don't know you did it. Don't you, like... lose your sense of self when it happens?"

Peter smirked with a slight head shake. "I don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Of course you don't." Roman snorted, looking up at the nights' sky.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Peter ducked beneath the tape, moving away from where the body had lain.

"Just wanna make things right."

"I ah... I saw you talking to the new girl. You know her?"

"Barely. We have calculus together."

"I would say I'm glad she moved here to take the focus off me, but I'd be lying."

Roman's brows furrowed in concern as he looked down at Peter. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean, is that girl... there's something off about her. If I were you, I'd stay away from her."

"You mean... you've had the dreams too?"

"Something like that. They're overwhelming, taking place of the others. You know, the ones that don't make sense." Peter admitted.

Roman took one last draw of his cigarette before tossing it over the tape, taking large steps toward Peter. Smoke rose out of his nose and mouth as he stood mere inches from Peter's face. "You seen it too. The-the snake, the mangled body... the vargulf."

"Why do you think I'm here?" Peter said sarcastically, stepping past Roman, trailing away through the woods until out of sight.

As much as Roman sensed Peter was right about Lyra, he couldn't control the way he felt about her. There was a gravitation pull, as if he were being forced into her presence. There had been two occasions his need to be close to Lyra had outweighed the voices he couldn't quiet.