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 20 - I See You

Olivia left Norman sleeping as she exited the bedroom the following morning. She had planned to visit her grandchild's room, but one of the guards had parked a chair outside and was reading a book, thwarting her plans. He looked up, when she approached, and stood, placing his book on the chair.

"I have orders to escort you to the front door, Mrs. Godfrey," said the guard.

"Really? Is that necessary? I quite know my own way considering this is my house."

"Nevertheless, I have my orders."

The guard was pointedly not looking her in the eye. Olivia frowned and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Where is my son? I need to speak to him."

"He's not here right now. You want me to give him a message?"

"No, that's quite all right. I will talk with him later."

"Then I'll escort you to the door."

She sighed heavily. "Very well. I am leaving. Call me a taxi."

"Something wrong with your cell phone?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you are very impertinent?" asked Olivia.

He smiled. "I get that a lot."

Down in the foyer, Olivia made the call, waited on the taxi, got in when it arrived, and gave directions to the bungalow. She put Roman out of her mind momentarily mostly due to the fact that she had taken away Norman's will and memories last night was weighing heavily on her mind. She did not like doing that to him, as she wanted him for him, all of him, just the way he was and not a spineless man like J.R. had been. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but shook her head, shaking the urge to cry away, and looked out the window.

After dropping Peter off at Destiny's and picking up and paying for a vial of the substance that would help him with his hunger, Roman went home and had a bloody steak for breakfast. He spent the morning in the den going over financial reports from the institute, making notes for his meeting with Dr. Pryce. He had placed the vial in his Altoid tin for easy access.

Before Roman started in on the reports, he had a conversation with the bodyguard about his mother staying the night and about the bodyguard accompanying him to the institute later. He also suffered through an ass-chewing from the security company for not allowing them to do their job properly since he was often taking off on his own without security. They reported that they had installed security cameras at all the entrances in order to keep the outside of the home more secure.

Roman took a shower, shaved, blow dried his hair, dressed in one of his tailored suits and, going back into the bathroom, combed his hair until it was perfectly smooth. As he gazed in the mirror, he again looked for Shelley as he'd been doing since she disappeared, but was again disappointed. He really missed Shelley in the worst way.

Stopping by to see Michelle, he greeted Amanda as he picked up Michelle and cradled her in his arms. "How's my girl doing?" he asked.

"She's doing very well. She spit up a little bit ago but otherwise, nothing to report."

"Well, Michelle, you can spit up on Amanda any time you want. Yes, you can. Just don't spit up on me right now. I have a meeting to go to."

"Thanks a lot," said Amanda in mock dismay.

Roman put his lips to Michelle's cheek and kissed her. He lingered there and felt his fangs come down as his stomach growled, and he started to hear the voices again. His eyes bugged out, and he quickly placed her back in her bed and excused himself to Amanda. Bolting out of the room, he went back to his room and slammed the door, leaning against it and breathing heavily.

"Fuck me!" Roman exclaimed as he looked for his Altoid tin. He sat down on his bed, shaking like a leaf, took out the vial, removed the top and placed a drop in his right eye. He re-stoppered the vial and let it fall to the comforter as it took effect.

His eyes rolled up in his head as the most incredible high filled him. He fell back on the bed and just enjoyed it. His fangs retracted, and the growling in his stomach stopped.

This is better than weed or coke. Worth every penny.

"What happened last night, Peter?" Destiny asked. "Don't bullshit me."

"I already told Mom what happened. Didn't she tell you?"

"I heard a watered down version. What really happened?"

Peter sat down heavily on the couch near Destiny. "We fought off the werewolf, the thing that Christina has become. I sliced her with Roman's double-sided axe. It was odd though. Her skin smoked where the axe touched her. She ran off after that."

"Where was Roman during all of this?"

"Uh, well... Roman was trying to... resuscitate Christina's victim."

Destiny put her palm against Peter's forehead, closed her eyes, and announced, "He was feeding, wasn't he? I knew it."

Peter jerked back and gave her a look.

"You can't hang around with upir, Peter. They are scary as shit, dangerous and can't control themselves. Did he try to drink your blood? He's going to turn on you one of these days."

The door opened, and Lynda walked in with groceries. "What'd I miss?"

Roman had come down by the time his Frozone bodyguard came by to knock on his door. Roman collected his Altoid tin and contents and slipped them in his inside jacket pocket. His notes were in another pocket. Outside, his Hulk bodyguard waited for him in the security company's black SUV while the other one walked him to the car.

After they arrived at the institute, Roman entered the conference room where Dr. Pryce and another man waited for him. They both stood when he entered, and Roman quietly asked the bodyguard with him to wait outside the conference room. He complied without complaint, but looked surprised when he looked at one of the men. The other gentleman he recognized from the viewing the other night.

Roman looked back at Dr. Pryce and the other man. "Pryce. I wasn't aware anyone was joining us."

Dr. Pryce introduced, "Roman, this is David Bishop. He is the head of LOD, LLC and has recently taken ownership of your uncle's interests in the institute. He wanted to meet you while he was here today. Mr. Bishop, meet Roman Godfrey."

Roman took his hand as Mr. Bishop smiled wide, held out his hand and said, "Pleased to meet you young man. I look forward to working with you."

"Likewise. I'm a little perplexed though. I thought I was having a private meeting with Dr. Pryce, and not a stockholder's meeting." Roman looked from one to the other.

Dr. Pryce interceded and said, "Mr. Bishop was just leaving, weren't you, David?"

Mr. Bishop fell in with what Pryce said and excused himself. "Yes, I have rather a lot on my plate today. We'll have to have a meeting soon, Mr. Godfrey. It was nice meeting you."

Outside the room, after the door closed, Roman's bodyguard said through his teeth, "What are you doing here? You look rather casual today without your collar and robes."

"Not here. Text me." Bishop walked off without even looking at the bodyguard.

Back inside the conference room, Roman sat at the head of the table before Dr. Pryce could get there first. Dr. Pryce sat down slowly on Roman's right. In front of Roman were a couple of notebooks and a rather large fiscal report about six inches deep in an eleven by seventeen ledger binder. Dr. Pryce took one of the notebooks for himself.

Roman started, "Before we get started on the financial records, LOD, LLC, tell me about them."

"LOD, LLC does genome-wide association studies in large animals to research common genetic variants to see if any variant is associated with a specific trait in a certain species. They were based in Pittsburgh until recently. They are moving their projects to several of the upper floors. We do some of the same studies here, so I am sure we'll collaborate on our work where they are compatible."

"They do not do any human studies correct?"

"No, not to my knowledge."

"Okay, that's all for now on them. I'll want more information at a later date. Talk to me about the obstetrics wing and why my cousin died there."

Dr. Pryce looked uncomfortable which was unusual for him. He was always so poised and polite even when he was anything but that. "I'm afraid that is your mother's tale to tell."

"My mother is not part of the company any longer. I own everything except the part my uncle sold to LOD. I want you to be straight with me about what my mother has done."

"Your mother was always... very persuasive in her dealings with me. I was not acting under my own will."

Roman replied, "Yes, I am fully aware of my mother's persuasiveness. Can you put that aside for right now and lay it out for me?"

"Very well. Your mother ordered me to create the obstetrics wing for your cousin's delivery. It was state of the art, but we didn't have an obstetrician on staff. I was not qualified to deliver the child. I was told that if there was a difficulty that the girl was not important. She also asked for the child since Norman didn't seem interested in the child at the time because of his grief. I was deeply upset that your mother had tied my hands with regard to the entire procedure."

Roman had suspected this but hearing it confirmed hit him hard. "Did you do anything medically or genetically to the child?"

"No."

Roman felt some relief at that, then asked, "Why did you drug me that night when I discovered your pet project in the maturation chamber? Ouroboros."

"Ouroboros is my private research project. It needed time to mature. You came into the institute that night drunk and hopped up on cocaine demanding answers. I couldn't let you ruin all my research with your rash behavior."

"You are growing a fucking person in that chamber, Doc. That's not right."

"Your mother was never interested in my projects as long as the money was flowing."

"I'm not my mother."

"I ask that you let me finish with regards to this project and tell no one about it. I will be the first to accomplish this type of research."

"I want regular reports on your pet project."

"Agreed. I think you will find that you benefit directly." Dr. Pryce gave one of his little grimace smiles.

Roman pulled out his notes and asked a lot of intelligent questions about what he had read in the report. They also went over the notebook: charts, graphs and predictions for gross and net profits for the year.

When they were finished, Dr. Pryce said, "Would you have time to accompany me to one of the labs? I had one item that I wanted to share with you."

"Sure. Lead the way."

They both stood, exited the conference room and went into the hallway. "This is rather sensitive. Could your bodyguard stay here?" asked Dr. Pryce, glancing at the guard.

"You aren't going to drug me are you?"

Dr. Pryce just smiled, and Roman conferred with the guard who rolled his eyes and agreed to wait there for them.

They got on the elevator, and Dr. Pryce hit the button for the fourth floor as the state-of-the-art lift took them effortlessly to that floor. They walked down a long hallway, and Dr. Pryce produced a key card, punched in a code, and the door released. The space inside was rather dimly lit.

As Roman's eyes adjusted he saw someone lying on a hospital bed. A large someone.

"SHELLEY!"

AN:

The music for the closing credits would be Big Black Delta: Side of the Road.

For fans of "Hemlock Grove" who are on Facebook, there is a Hemlock Grove group there that would love to grow it's membership. Just look for 'Hemlock Grove, PA' on Facebook and ask to join. All are welcome.