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

-35-

Peter's vision blurred when opening his eyes. He saw Roman sitting beside him - his legs tucked into his chest with his arms resting on his knees. There was a stark contrast of red on his pale flesh; blood on his face and hands.

He watched as Roman took a draw of a cigarette, his hand unsteady as it moved to his mouth.

Peter rose from the ground, struggling to sit up. Roman noticed Peter's movement, doing a double take to be sure he wasn't hallucinating. Roman licked his lips, tasting Lyra's blood; he had forgotten that it was still there.

"Lyra... where's-" Peter's head turned, searching for Lyra's whereabout.

His vision focused in on a pair of legs beneath the trees off in the distance. His first instinct was to run to her, but saw the distant gaze in Roman's eyes that said it all. "I tried, Roman... I tried." Peter's jaw clenched; his face twisting in discomfort.

"I know." Roman said; his voice crackling from exhaustion. He took another draw of his cigarette, his expression trying to appear hard, but Peter could see the sorrow hiding behind his eyes - through his trembling hands.

Roman's eyes squinted at the horizon, watching the sun begin to rise. Not a single car had passed - no one had witnessed the devastation in the middle of the road, nor the body of his dead lover beneath the trees. It was beginning to sink in just how much Roman had lost - he lost Lyra and his child as well as any hope for himself.

"Olivia did this... my own mother did this." Roman spoke factly. His eyes trailed to Peter, but focused on the ground below. Roman flicked the butt, exhaling the smoke from his mouth. "If she would've just done what I told her to. If she just would've got rid of the fucking thing..." Roman bit his lip - he was trying hard not to speak too harshly of Lyra and her actions.

"It wouldn't have mattered." Peter said. "Ares, Pryce... they were in on it. They were gonna make it look like an accident - the abortion was meant to be botched." Roman's eyes finally looked to Peter; wide and full of pain. "She told me she saw it... through Pryce. She said that her dad shut down - she couldn't get a read on him, but I think he was in on it."

"You mean that mother fucker signed off on killing his own daughter?" Roman stood from the ground, knocking the dirt off his backside roughly. He ran his hands through his hair, feeling the crusted blood in the strands, a patch of his hair matted together.

"I think so. Lyra ran because... well, she had to. She had a better chance at making it." Peter sighed, grimacing as he tried to stand. Roman held out his hand, helping pull Peter to his feet.

Peter stood slouched, staring down at Roman's hand. The sight of Lyra's blood on his hands made his chest tighten. The only thing Roman had left of Lyra was the blood on his hands now. It made him think about the necklace, the six pointer star Lyra had told Peter to give to Roman. He closed his eyes, feeling the weight of the necklace around his neck. He wondered if Roman had noticed, but clearly, he hadn't - his attention was elsewhere.

"I gotta get some clothes on." Peter mumbled, patting Roman on the shoulder as he limped away, toward the trailer. Roman had been so occupied in the aftermath of Lyra's death that he had forgotten Peter was nude. It was the last thing he thought about as he watched Peter slink toward the trailer down the hill.

His eyes shifted to the pair of legs between the trees. He felt an ache in the back of his throat - his eyes brimming with tears. He wanted to hold her one more time, but he couldn't bring himself to see her like that - throat torn open, lifeless. She was merely an empty body and nothing more.

Roman pried his eyes away from the corpse and followed Peter across the road to the trailer. He seemed in a daze; walking as if on autopilot. Roman was physically present, but his mind was not.