Author's Note: Roman and an OFC, Elsie. The dialogue isn't exactly Roman-esque but I feel his behavior is rather true to the original work.

*ROMAN'S POV*

I kept sneaking glances at Peter's empty seat. Truthfully, I only come to school so I'm not alone. I can still feel everyone- Letha, my dear Shelley, and Peter- roaming the hallways with me. All of them are gone. They each left me. One by one, gone.

The only person I have left is Sophia, Letha's baby. My baby. She's the spitting image of her mother. Norman lives with me, only because most of the time I'm afraid I'll end up hurting her. She needs someone to care for her, and he's the only person I remotely trust.

Looking back at my notebook full of drawings of Sophia and Letha, I was ripped from my own world due to a small commotion. Forcing my eyes from the sketched eyes of my heir, I saw what everyone was fussing about. A new kid. Her slender back was towards me. She was about a foot shorter than I. She slowly turned to face the classroom full of kids, and strutted towards the only seat available. Her face was soft, blonde hair curled and hanging loosely around her shoulders, her lips were in a subtle pout… She looked almost exactly like Letha, the only real difference was her eyes. They were a pair of waterfalls I could drown in. So clear, so blue. Her mouth slowly turned into a smile, "Um, hey, I'm Elsie. " My elderly teacher made her way to Elsie and they whispered back and forth.

I couldn't seem to look away from this new girl that sat in Peter's chair. Something inside of me shook like it did when I first met Peter.

She can feel me watching her, I know it. She's twitching her slim, small fingers. Smirking to myself, I continue to watch her squirm. Suddenly, she snaps her head to look at me. Her eyes wide and knowing. "I'm Elsie," she repeats to me.

"Roman."

"Why are you watching me, Roman?" The way she says my name sends a chill up my spine. Her mouth forms the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. It reaches her eyes; she's radiant.

Leaning closer to Elise, I whisper, "That's not your seat." I hear her breath hitch in her throat, her uneasiness returning.

Her small hand rubs the back of her neck. She runs her tongue along her bottom lip before pulling it into her mouth and nibbling on it. Another chill up my spine. She glances at the teacher, who has returned to grading papers or whatever the fuck she does up there, then back to me. Her eyes burn into mine. She blinks and looks down at my notebook. Cocking her head to the side, she smiles. "Your sisters?"

"That's not your concern." Her eyes meet mine once more. There seems to be some emotion in them, but I can't seem to figure out what it is.

At the end of the day, I stand idly at my locker whilst Ashley Valentine talks my ear off about how crazy she thinks I am. I wonder if she'd still bother me if she knew just how crazy I really am. Would she still want anything to do with me if she found out what I am? Would she accept my mind control, fangs, or the fact that I'm dead? Probably not.

"Roman, listen to me."

"What, Ashley? What?"

"Ugh, that ugly ass new girl's over there!"

I quickly look to where she's glaring. I see Elsie struggling with her bag and books. Pushing myself off my locker, I go to help her. When I reach her, she tenses up but doesn't turn around. "Hi, Roman." I can hear the unnamed emotion in her voice from her eyes, earlier. She continues to search through her bag whilst her books teeter out of her arms. "Fuck!" The last of her books falls onto her small foot. Finally, she looks at me and gestures at her books.

I bend to collect them. I can feel everyone watching us, but it's knowing that she's standing right in front of me that makes me not care. She makes me feel better, like Peter used to. I run her books along her skin-tight, white jeans as I stand erect. "You dropped these." She's watching someone across the hall, not paying attention to me anymore. Turning to find who stole her attention, I see Ashley glaring at us. Sighing, I let my arm fall across her shoulders. "Come with me." As we walk past Ashley, I blow her a kiss. She huffs away. Stupid slut.

"What was all that?" Her voice sounded small, her body looked small. Everything about her was smaller than it was earlier. She shrugs me off her, grabs her books as she stares at me.

"What?"

"You made us a spectacle and now your little girlfriend's gonna make my time here even worse than it already was! What the fuck, Roman!" Her small foot slams on the ground.

Not being able to hide my pleasure from it, my smile fills up my face. "She's not my girlfriend, she's just crazy." She visibly relaxes as she lets out a breath, but tenses up just as quickly as she loosened up. "What?"

"I think someone's watching us."

"Everyone's watching us. Can I give you a ride home?" She glances around us before nodding. As we pull out of the parking lot, she reaches for the radio dial. She plays with it until she abruptly stops on some country song. I look at her; she has a face-splitting grin that reaches her eyes again. I really like seeing this, her smile.

"Oh my god, this is my song!" She exclaims as she turns it up. I can't help but laugh as she scream-sings along to the song. Once it's over, she promptly turns the radio back down. It's now background noise. She closes her eyes as her blonde- more white than blonde- hair whips around in the wind. "I love your car." She beams at me.

"I love my car."

"Thank you."

"For?"

"Today. You were the only person that was half-way decent to me. Everyone made me feel unwanted, but you … you make me feel like I'm gonna be okay."

Taken aback by her confession, I stare at her instead of the road. Her eyes are closed once again, her smile gone. All of her playfulness gone. She looks so small and broken. It triggers something within me. Suddenly, we hear a loud roar from the woods around us. I stop the car. Her eyes snap open. I can see panic running through her. We both look around us, trying to find where it came from. When I look back towards her, she's starting to climb out of my car. Her gaze steady, like something's beckoning her. She walks straight towards the woods, before running into them.

"Oh, fuck." I pull the key from the ignition and get out of the car, "That better be you, Petey." Cautiously, I follow her path. She's by the river just across from Peter's old place. I can see my house from here too. I hope it's Peter and not some Vargulf. I can't deal with that again.

I can hear her talking. I stay back and watch her talk to the wind. She's watching the river flow when another roar-howl erupts. "I can't go down there!" She screams at the wind. She drops to her knees and extends a hand towards the river. "I don't want to hurt him."

Maybe I'm not the crazy one here. The thought makes me uneasy. I want her to be sane. I want her to like me, and be okay. Realization takes over my mind. Hurt him. "Hurt who?"

"You." She looks back at me, through her hair, then she looks at Peter's place. "I won't do it. He's my friend." Another roar-howl.

"Who are you talking to?"

She ignores me. Her small hands digging into the dirt, she stomps the heel of her shoes into the ground. "I'm not going anywhere." She looks at me again, this time I can see her face. It's full of fear. "Please, go. Roman you have to go. Leave me." I stay where I stand. Her eyes plead with me as another, closer roar-howl booms. She screams, "Go Roman!"

I run toward her, pick her up and throw her over my shoulder and run back to my car. As I toss her in the back, I jump in and start the engine. The roar-howls are getting closer to us, and seem to be getting louder. Stomping on the gas, we zoom down the road toward my home. Elsie's quiet in the backseat, still laying down in the position I put her in. I can't even hear her heartbeat, but I can hear her breathing. I can now smell the wolf that's following us. It's getting closer to us, but it's still too far for me to see it. Grabbing my phone, I call Norman. "Norman, take the truck and get Sophia out of there. Go to Destiny's. Do it! I'll explain later. Just go!" Throwing my phone in the passenger seat, I whip the car around and head back for town. "Oh, Elsie, what have I gotten myself into?"

Pulling up at Destiny's place, I note that Norman had followed my instructions. I guess dealing with my mom for so long, the poor guy learned to not ask too many questions and do as he's told. I carry Elsie inside and put her on the bed. Her eyes are closed, her breathing shallow, her heartbeat very slow. I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"She's going to be fine," Destiny reassures me after I explained everything that happened. "She was trying to draw it away from you."

"Is she a wolf, too?"

"I don't think so. You'd be able to smell it. I don't sense anything about her."

I walk into the kitchen, to let her fix Elsie. Norman's changing Sophia on the floor. She's playing with her feet. I smile at my daughter, she's so happy. When he's done, I scoop her up and sit her on my lap as I wait for word from Destiny. "Norman, you should stay at a hotel indefinitely. I'm not sure what's going on or how long it's going to last. I just need Sophia safe, and that's your job." My uncle looks at me with his tired eyes. He hates Sophia because she reminds him of Letha, but that should be reason enough to love her. He is her grandfather after all.

Destiny clears her throat. We turn to look at her, "She's fine. I'm gonna get her cleaned up and pick her brain for answers but you should get everything settled at the hotel. I'll call you with whatever I get out of her, Roman."

"Don't hurt her." It was more of a plead than a command.