Erika was a true crime fan before they were embraced. They had been tracking a killer that reappeared in Minneapolis after being absent for two decades. The police wouldn’t listen, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.
Erika’s luck always came in twos. There was always good news knocking at their door after bad. Gift horses were always looked at directly in the eye and then the mouth. It was an unhappy way to live, in the middle of two extremes.
It followed them into death as well. Get murdered by a creature until very recently they thought was only in cheap horror, but then get scooped up by a conspiracy that taught them how their new life would go. Long days, short nights. There was never a day off, but her coworkers were pretty cool, as was Fatima. Erika knows that Fatima would rather have them around more often, but like all of the Stargazers, they go where they’re told.
The thing is, the other shoe had been due to drop for a while. There was an inkling in Erika that the good news hadn’t hit yet. It didn’t make sense until the bonds broke. What had been a comfortable life quickly crept up with dread, doubt, then despair. When life gave her a vulnerable vamp, well it’s a start.
Erika wonders if things have gotten knocked out of whack. The sense of balance that had always pervaded their life seemed shifted towards the unlucky. They could feel that there was still a debt to be paid. They could also feel a great deal more now. They could feel Dani’s building rage, Jack’s doubt, Nadine’s fear and need for control. And when Kamran failed to take what was owed to him, Erika felt him slip beneath a wave of fury and determination.
The world was a strange place, maybe it always was, but now Erika feels closer to the skin of it.
Character Ideas:
35 to 25, line 1 and 5
