Burnt Sienna (Hemlock Grove // Roman Godfrey AU)

Wild Boar Told Us

I came home and immediately texted Peter. I needed to tell him what had happened at work today. 

To my relief, he did fly in the door twenty minutes after I did and sat down on the couch to hear all I had to say. 

By the end, Peter shook his head. 

"Our doubts on her were right all along. She's looking for something. Or someone. We need to find out where she lives. Or her car. Something that will give us more information about her," Peter said. 

I recalled that tomorrow would be a board meeting at the end of the day. "She'll be there tomorrow. She'll come in with her car. We can do this. You can leave work early or something."

Peter nodded. "I'll be there."

The next day, time went slower than usual. I felt my body being restless and all day, I could not focus on any work. When Pryce noticed this, he asked me what was wrong. I did not restrain myself from telling him my plan for today. After all, knowing about Stauffner benefited him too.

"But for that, I will need your help, Dr. In order to make this successful, I will need to you excuse me from today's meeting. If Roman asks, make something up. Anything up. And you need to make sure Maria doesn't leave the room before it's time."

"Of course. I will assist you in any way possible. And in return, you are telling me everything. I mean everything you get to know today. Yes?"

I nodded. Pryce let me go early, and I went straight to the parking lot and hid behind a random car. About 7 new cars showed up. They were all board members that weren't already in the building. My eyes scanned for Maria Stauffner's car. 

It was a normal white Lexus. She stepped out, and began to converse with the other members as they headed towards the elevator. I was still crouching down and sent a text to Peter. 

Moments later, a "I'm here too" brightened up my phone screen. I thought it was safe to get up now. I was glad to see Peter standing a few cars away. I pointed to Stauffner's car and Peter nodded. 

"Oh, but I completely forgot it would be locked," I sighed when we got to her car. 

"Leave that up to me," Peter smiled and he pulled out a gadget and inserted it on the car door. 

"You gypsy," I shook my head laughing. Peter laughed too. Surprisingly, no sirens went off. So far, so good. 

There was a slight foul stench that hit us when we opened the car doors. Peter went in the driver's and passenger's set, and I took the back. We decided to do the trunk together. We had to make sure everything was in its right place. There were folders, all filled with useless business information. We found a purse with makeup, a pack of gum, old mail, a few pens with mismatched lids, and a magazine at first glance. Not what we were looking for. 

We continues to search. Under one of the seats, I found a small jar. It was a jar of gore, like the insides of an animal. This is where the stench was coming from. Peter pulled out his phone and carefully took pictures of the jar. "Maybe Destiny could tell?" He then pulled out a plastic bag. 

"I am going to take a little of what's in there and give it to Destiny. She will for sure find out what it is." I nodded. When Peter opened the jar, both of us gagged. The rancid smell was worse than rotting meat. I felt like I was going to pass out from the strong disgusting smell. Seems like the insides were mixed with something else. The other weird thing we found was in one of the dashboard. It was a cassette tape with the strangest picture on it. We clicked a picture of that too. The final strange objects we found was in the trunk. It was a metal candle box first, but it was filled with blood and something else. Maybe paint?  and there were five candles. 

After Peter and I took pictures of everything, we put it all where we found them originally and locked the doors again. 

"Let's go," I told Peter. He nodded. 

Peter and I drove to Destiny's. She as always was happy to see us. 

"We got clues on Maria," Peter said. "Now it's up to you to make sense of all of it." 

"Evidence?" requested Destiny. 

Destiny first took the bag of animal guts and went to her bathroom. Peter went with her. I decided to stay. 

15 minutes later, she and Peter came out. "Wild boar. It was a wild boar carcass, eaten by some other predator first. Don't know what that is. It was already dead when she found it. But I think she gutted it and is preserving its intestines for some reason."

Destiny then sat on the couch with her laptop. Peter and I sat on either side of her. Peter began showing her the pictures. 

Destiny began looking all of it up. Every time, all the objects connected to one thing- a cult. 

"Okay, again, try not to freak out. Based on what you got me, she is in a cult, something related to a beast. This specific one would promote her if she found a supernatural being and captured it. I don't know what kind. Based on our previous research, she could be here for Peter- the werewolf, the upir, or you, Sienna. Sienna, since she works at the White Tower but already established some type of deal with Roman, by process of elimination, she's after you."

I was confused, but Destiny's words made sense. "But why me? I don't use my powers, I don't. And with the feeding of fear, I don't even crave it. Yes, it feels good when I do get fear, but I am living without it."

"Si, that's why it's a cult. They're all bazooks. None of them are in their right minds," Peter said. "Stop working there."

"I can't just do that. That means I would let her win. And confirm her suspicion on me. I can't do that."

"Alright, I care about you. And don't really want anything to happen," Peter said.

"My feelings exactly," Destiny said. 

"Aww, don't worry you guys. Nothing will happen. At least we found out what this Maria Stauffner actually is, beneath her whole business woman facade. I need to tell Pryce. I promised. And who knows, he may be able to help."

"You trust Pryce awfully a lot," Peter said. "Just saying Si, he may not be the angel you view him as." 

"No, I understand he only uses people for his own benefit. I know he's heartless most of the time. But he genuinely does care about me. Or else, he would have raised hell about me being a demon spawn. Right?" I said.

"I guess so," Peter sighed. "I just want you to be careful."

"Don't worry. I will be," I said.