Taking Light {Sequel: "For Love of Evil"}

-14-

Destiny stood in the kitchen, staring into the living room through the open wall divider. She watched Roman skeptically; staring at his tall physique nearly towering over her cousins'.

"It's not nice to stare, dear." Lynda smiled wide, nudging her hip into Destiny's.

"I can't believe Peter invited him here after what he said to him." Destiny continued to stare, catching glances at Roman as he cautiously looked over his shoulder.

"What the fuck's her problem?" Roman murmured to Peter, trying to keep his eyes away from the dark haired young woman who continued to stare daggers at him through the kitchen.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Peter shook his head, taking a swig of beer. "There's something you should see." Peter made his way over to the table as Roman followed. His eyes shifted to Destiny every so often, still haunted by her menacing gaze.

Several maps laid out on the surface of the table—maps of Hemlock Grove. "What is it?" Roman asked, chewing on his bottom lip.

"It's a map."

"No shit it's a map." Roman mocked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"No, look-" Peter pointed to the marks he had made. "Each mark represents where every murder has taken place within the last year. Notice anything odd?" Peter asked, connecting the dots on the map. He was giving Roman a hint—a big hint.

Roman's brows furrowed, his expression showing vexation in his eyes.

Peter sighed quietly, taking a drink of beer. He set the glass bottle next to the maps, picking up the sharpie he had used to make the previous marks.

"First, there was Anita Parker." Peter circled the dot he had made, his eyes wavering to Roman.

He nodded, thinking back to the first murder—the girl he had forced to walk home alone under a full moon. Roman shook the image of the blonde beauty, trying to pay close attention to what Peter was saying.

"Then there was Jane Doe." Peter trailed the marker to the next murder site; a diagonal line.

Roman recalled the young woman he had thought to be Lyra dead in the woods. He had rushed to Lyra's house in the middle of the night, just to be sure it wasn't her. That was the moment Roman knew that he was in love with Lyra Cambion.

"Then there was... Lyra." Peter cleared his throat, knowing Lyra's death was still a sensitive subject—despite Lyra now being alive and well.

Roman's jaw clenched, watching Peter draw another line. He could never forget the blood that gushed out of Lyra's mouth when he had checked for a pulse—the way he had found one but it was too late.

Roman sighed heavily, his cheeks puffing with air as his eyes widened at the memory.

"I didn't think anything of it at first, but then I connected it. The next two murders that happened within the past three months- look." Peter connected all the dots from the locations the bodies of Ashley Nolan and Jasmine Clarke were discovered—it made an incomplete pentagram, a five pointed star in the making of six points.

"Holy shit." Roman murmured, crossing his arms as he chewed on his thumbnail.

It was too perfect to be a coincidence; it meant something. "How is this possible?" Roman questioned—the inquiry directed toward himself.

"It's weird that impossible is even a word, isn't it?" Peter said, patting Roman's back as he took another drink of beer.

"No, I mean- my mom committed three of those murders, including Lyra's. You really think she's got something to do with the recent ones?" Roman asked, unable to comprehend what any of it meant. Olivia had never struck Roman as that meticulous—that precise.

"It means something, it has to. Maybe there's a bigger picture here, maybe someone else is involved." Peter said, staring down at the makings of a pentagram drawn on the map. "We know this is where it's gonna hit next. Full moon's coming, you know what that means- we know when and we know where." Peter looked over at Roman to see a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. They finally had a piece of the puzzle.