Burnt Sienna (Hemlock Grove // Roman Godfrey AU)

New Town, New Beginning

I had now gone to work for a whole week. Today was a Friday, and I decided to take another route out of Hemlock Grove, a more forest-y one to start of a well-deserved weekend. I hummed to myself as I sped until a figure skid across the front of the road, and I halted.

A furious me immediately got out of the car (which, by the way is a dumb thing to do). "Hey you! Go die in front of someone else's car!" I shouted. The figure turned and I was now looking at an unkempt young man with a beard, brown hair, and stark eyes. I felt sorry(?) for him.

"Sorry, not a lot of cars come this way, so I wasn't expecting you to zoom by. " the young man said.

I felt guilty. I could see he didn't mean to do it, but I tried to keep a tough exterior. I heard more than enough stories about girls getting kidnapped with situations like this, but I brushed the thought off. "That's alright. Just be careful next time."

"To make it up, you could have tea and cookies with me. Not to sound like a creep or anything." the man said.

I laughed. What was the harm. It was the weekend, and this would help me know someone here. "Alright, done. But first, drop the name."

"Peter. Peter Rumancek," the man replied.

"Nice name. I am Sienna. Don't really have a last name," I explained. I offered Peter to drive us to his house. He did not decline. When he sat in the passenger's seat, he looked at me with a strange face, almost confused.

"Is everything alright? I am sorry if I'm being pushy or anythi-"

"No, no," Peter interrupted as he shook his head. "You're fine." I shrugged and drove as Peter explained where to go.

Peter's house was a trailer in the middle of a dried out forest, surrounded by a dense leaf bed. We went inside his house. Unkempt and disorganized but definitely warm and cozy. Peter left me to glance around as he brought in piping hot tea and cookies.

"'You bake?" I asked.

"One of those things I learned," he answered.

Peter and I talked for probably a whole hour because it was getting dark outside. We exchanged numbers. He seemed like such a sweet and kind person.

When I was walking out, he said, "I would love for you to pop by from time to time. And also, next time if you come, would you mind meeting my cousin? You mentioned you were new were looking for people to hang out with. I think you both will be great friends."

"Of course," I smiled. "Thank you! I hope to meet you soon," I said as headed to my car. I was so glad I made a friend.

A few days later, I met with Peter again. He took me to a strange, sort of empty part of town. We went into a small and quaint place.

"Come on in. Don't worry- it's just Destiny's place." Peter noticed my confused face. "Destiny, my cousin," he reassured. I nodded, indicating I understood.

I was confronted by a beautiful, dark, curly-haired woman. "You've brought a friend," she said as she kissed Peter on the cheek.

Destiny looked at my eyes and then at my palm. Her expression changed from bubbly to a little unsure but then back to being bouncy. She fake-coughed then proceeded to say, "Introductions, cousin?"

"Oh, right. Sienna, this is Destiny. She is my cousin and a witch. Destiny, this is Sienna; she works at the White Tower." Oh, so the Godfrey Institute is also called the White Tower. Got it.

"No need to freak out, honey. Witches don't actually fly brooms or have cats. That's bogus. I do other things," Destiny explained. I nodded. It was not freaky; I knew there were witches.

"How long have you been a witch?" I asked.

"I don't know, started sometime when I was in my mid-teens. It's interesting how much you get to know about this regular world by this extraordinary method," Destiny answered.

Destiny showed me around her place and talked about Peter and her. She seemed like a sweet friend. We spent the evening there, before I offered to drop Peter off at his place.

""Peter, have you made friends since you came?" I asked.

"Not a lot. Except Roman."

"Who's that?" I asked intrigued.

"A spoiled rich kid with serious damage. But hey, no judging. He's got his load of issues, I have mine. Why'd you ask?"

"I don't know. I guess I wanted to know a little about you and also to see if you knew anyone else I could meet."

"Ohhh. Gotcha. Yeah, anytime you have a question, ask. Also, thanks for talking to me," Peter said.

"Of course. Who wouldn't want to talk to you. Anyway, goodnight. Thanks for taking me to Destiny's." After dropping Peter off, I headed home.

I came home and embraced my mother in a hug. "How did today go?" she asked.

"Pretty good. I met a witch today," I said and noticed my mother tense up. "Oh don't worry, it is not as freaky as you think," I said chuckling.

"Did she say anything to you. About you?" Mother asked.

"Mom, she's a witch, not a fortune-teller. No, we talked about normal things. She was really, really nice. But I do understand why you're nervous," I explained as I headed towards my room. I laughed at the image of my mother suddenly becoming all alarmed when I told her Destiny was a witch. I mean, I get that it is a little odd, but if Mom was thinking Destiny was going to chop me up and boil me in green soup, she has it all wrong. 

Author's Note: First of all, thank you for reading the first chapter of this book! I know it's bad and things are sort of going slow, but I want to try to introduce everyone, so even if people don't know what Hemlock Grove is, they can still read this book and understand it. I apologize for any mistakes I made. I hope the next chapter is better :)