Wings of Blood and Cruelty

A Hemlock Grove fanfic by Glamoured By-Eric

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.-Friedrich Nietzsche

Chapter 19 - Just Beneath the Skin

Drink it all.

You need this.

The voices were strong as he drank the blood from the woman's neck. Encouraging him. It tasted so good, taking the hunger away. At least it was until he was interrupted by a new voice, calling a name he should know. He turned and heard the inner voices again.

Take him!

Eat him!

As Roman lunged at Peter and covered him on the ground, he lowered his face and fangs toward Peter. Peter head-butted Roman then punched the heel of his right hand into Roman's nose, making Roman's already blood-covered face look even worse. Unfortunately, that seemed to further antagonize Roman whose mind was already consumed by the voices.

Kill him!

Drink his blood!

Roman turned his face back to Peter's and used one of his fangs to scrape Peter's ear. It stung initially and then went completely numb. Roman raised up, getting fully in Peter's face and hissing loudly. Peter looked into Roman's eyes and was surprised that they looked as reptilian as his fangs. Both of the eyes were red with black slits down the height of his eyes instead of the normal round pupils. As he looked, the eyes closed from either side revealing a nictitating membrane. He looked scary as hell, and Peter began to panic quickly.

Peter was desperately trying to hold Roman off with both of his hands and decided to try and reason with him. "Roman, this isn't you. Snap out of it. Damn it! It's me! Peter!"

Roman gripped Peter's throat harder so that Peter couldn't talk. Feeling no other recourse, Peter reluctantly removed one of his hands away from Roman and felt around for the weapon. As he felt himself beginning to pass out from the lack of oxygen, he located the weapon, gripped it, and clubbed Roman with the flat side. Roman fell back, loosening his grip on Peter, and Peter hit him again, knocking Roman to the ground beside him. Peter gasped for air, his chest heaving from the exertion, and moved to cover Roman, holding the point of the weapon at Roman's chest.

Roman wasn't moving so Peter stood up, still holding the weapon for safe keeping should Roman wake up in the same frame of mind. When Roman remained still, Peter lowered the weapon and accidentally scratched the inside of his hand with the blade.

Peter swore to himself at the way it burned him and noticed that light smoke rose from the cut. He removed his t-shirt, hoodie and jacket, using his t-shirt to soak up the blood on his hand and ear. When the blood slowed, he pulled his hoodie back on, zipped it up and pulled on his jacket.

Peter moved cautiously to Roman and used his foot to tap Roman's cheek, holding the weapon again in case he needed it. When Roman didn't move, he said loudly, "Godfrey, wake up!"

Roman's head lolled to one side, then he swallowed and tried to focus. "I need a cigarette," he stated as he sat up and leaned over on one arm.

"Thank God!" exclaimed Peter in relief. "I was afraid I'd have to do something drastic to snap you out of your blood haze."

"Blood haze? What are you talking about?" he replied, then looked down at his once white dress shirt.

"You don't remember going into full, feral mode and leaving me to deal with the werewolf?"

Roman licked his lips, tasting the blood and glanced over at the wrecked car and the body of the woman in the driver's seat. He started shaking his head in revulsion. "I didn't... I couldn't..."

"I'm sorry, man, but you did. Then you turned on me and attacked me. You bit my ear and nearly strangled me."

Roman looked stricken as he got up from the ground and started moving slowly up the hill. Peter stooped to pick up the bloody t-shirt and climbed the hill behind Roman.

When they arrived at Roman's car, Peter said, "I think you should let me drive. We can go to the trailer and take showers and wash these bloody clothes before someone sees them. I'm pretty sure Mom didn't have the water or electrical turned off before we left."

Roman just nodded, without looking at Peter, and moved toward the passenger side.

The creature made it to Castle Godfrey before it collapsed on the wet floor and slowly changed back into Christina. She shivered in her completely naked state, on the cold, wet cement as she tried to remember how she had gotten there, and why she was without clothes. She placed her hands over her eyes and began to weep, rocking back and forth.

When she was exhausted from crying, she removed her hands and looked down at herself. She saw a 'y' incision on her chest and down her torso and began to scream.

While the shirts soaked in the bleach water in the washer and Roman was in the shower, Peter was sitting on the couch at the trailer as he used Roman's cell phone to call his mother.

"I thought you'd be here by now, Peter," his mother said.

"I know. Roman and I got... held up. We're at the trailer. I think we are going to crash here tonight."

"Is everything all right? You sound stressed."

He hesitated before he answered her. "We had an encounter with the werewolf. She stopped us on the road. Roman and I fought her off. Got our clothes a little dirty so we are using the washer. We're fine though. Just a little tired."

"Tell me this. Did you kill her?"

"No, we only injured her. She ran off."

"Did you hit her with the car when she stopped you on the road?"

"No. Definitely not. Can you imagine Roman's reaction if we had?"

"Speaking of Roman, how is he doing with his problem?"

"He'll be okay tonight, I think. We'll pick up the vial tomorrow."

"I'm worried about you, Peter. Is Roman safe to be around?"

"He's holding his own right now."

"Okay, if you are sure. I worry about you, son. You are all that I have."

Roman came out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist.

"Okay, Mom. I'll talk with you tomorrow. I need to take a shower."

"Good night, honey bun."

Peter disconnected and tossed the phone to Roman who caught it deftly. "I hope you didn't use up all the hot water."

"No, I left enough for your flea-ridden carcass," remarked Roman with a smirk.

"Very funny," replied Peter as he turned to go down the hall toward the bathroom. He stopped by Vince's linen closet and found a ratty, brown towel. He tossed it over his shoulder and opened the accordion doors to the washer and dryer and got a nose full of the smell of bleach. He'd only needed to wash his white t-shirt and Roman's white, dress shirt and white tank top. He pulled them up from the cold water and checked on them to see if the blood was gone. They needed to soak a little longer.

Hopping in the shower, Peter took a brief one since the water was cooling off quickly. After wrapping a towel around himself, in wiping the steam residue from the mirror, he examined his ear which was strangely still numb. It didn't look too bad. The scratch on his hand, however, was red and angry-looking and hurt like the dickens. Looking down, he saw his shorn hair was still in the sink. He picked it up in his good hand and put it in the toilet. He relieved himself and then flushed, watching the hair swirling down until it was gone.

Turning off the bathroom light, he went back to the washer and dryer. The blood was gone from the shirts, so he added soap and set the cycle. Checking the dryer on a hunch, he found, to his delight, his favorite pair of holey jeans and slipped them on.

In the living room, a shirtless Peter walked in and sat down on the chair and looked over at Roman. Roman had donned his suit pants which were, thankfully, free of blood, but he was also shirtless.

"Did the blood come out?" asked Roman.

"Yeah."

"I'm scared, Peter. What the fuck happened to me back there?"

Peter laid it out for him. Roman looked stricken yet vulnerable and swallowed heavily. "I'm sorry. I didn't sign up for being upir. I don't want to worry about what is beneath my skin and whether or not I could hurt someone close to me."

"You aren't the only one who has something beneath his skin. I turn into a fucking werewolf at the full moon and have since I hit puberty. It is something that you will have to learn to live with and control. No one can do it for you. I can't control the turning, but I can control whether I hurt someone or not."

"I didn't kill her at least. The werewolf took care of that."

"You scared the hell out of me, Roman. If I hadn't hit you with the flat side of the weapon, you would have killed me. It was bad enough watching you suck the blood out of that woman's neck."

"The only thing I remember is the hunger and the voices."

"Voices? What voices?"

"The voices in my head telling me to drink blood. I've heard them before off and on, even before I was changed on my birthday."

"So you are like schizo-man now?"

Roman frowned and replied, "No! I'm not schizophrenic. My mom hears the voices too. She didn't explain further only that I saw her zoning out when we were at a stop light once. I just know that I need to talk more with my aunt. She's got to have some answers for me."

"Let's hope she does." Peter looked at the long scar across Roman's chest and asked, "Where did you get that scar on your chest?"

"Sometimes, I cut myself. Little cuts mostly. This one was to freak someone out. I've always been fascinated by blood. Girls with their periods were a real turn on for me."

Peter grimaced and said, "Really? Huh. That's... pretty gross."

"Yeah, I know. I'm a freak. A real, blood monster."

They both laughed a little.

Roman got serious and said, "I miss her, man. Shelley. She and Letha were everything to me."

"I miss them too."

"You were always good with Shelley. She really liked you. Always put a smile on her face and stuck up for her when others were being fucktards. That meant a lot to me and to her."

"I remember the first day that I saw her. I was like, 'Whoa! What is this?' I quickly befriended her because I know what it is like to be different and have people make fun of you. She never deserved anything the ass wipes doled out to her. She was one of the gentlest people that I have ever known."

"I still can't see her. I've tried."

"I really think she is gone, Roman. Sworn shot her what? Two or three times? I think she went as far as she could run and dropped. I hate to sound like a glass half empty kind of guy, but I think she would have found her way back if she was still alive. Don't you?"

"I'm holding back my judgment on that one. I'm harboring a little hope still."

Peter got up and went back to the washer when the cycle finished and threw the clothes into the dryer. He walked back into the living room and said, "I'm beat. I'm going to bed. You can sleep in the room my mom used. Second door on the right. See you in the morning."

AN:

The music for the closing credits would be Skillet: Monster.