Erika
“Harden?” she called out once more.
As with before, there was no response. Just silence. There had been nothing but silence since she’d woken up to the sound of the window breaking. Technically she’d been awake since he kissed her on the forehead, but it had been one of those semi-states of awareness. The shattering of glass had fixed her of that quickly however, and now she sat cross-legged on her bed, comforter pulled up in front of her like a flimsy and utterly useless shield, and yet still somehow reassuring.
Harden had told her to stay there, so she’d slammed the door shut. Now, twenty minutes later, she was still waiting for him to come back, but it was looking more and more likely that he wasn’t returning. Nobody was answering her calls, and she was starting to get annoyed, but also scared. Maybe whoever it was had killed Harden. Was he even now lying somewhere in her house, dead or dying?
The instant that thought struck she darted for the door. There was nothing she could really use for a weapon in her bedroom, but she clutched a pillow tightly. If someone was there she could throw it at them and start to run while they were forced to deflect it. It wasn’t much, but it was all she had.
“Harden?” she asked, flinging the door open and stepping back in case someone was waiting for her.
Nothing happened. Nobody jumped out from the hallway to attack her; there were no screams or shouts. Just more silence. She could see down the length of her unit at the shattered glass covering her little living room. In the middle of it all was a large stone with a white patch on it.
Looking around, she saw no signs of Harden. No body, no pools of blood. Nothing. Sticking to the far wall, she moved to the front door and slipped on shoes to protect her feet. Then she walked across the glass, shards crunching under her feet, until she got to the rock. Picking it up, she noticed that the white patch was actually paper taped to it, with a message scrawled across it in red marker.
Stay away from the Kronum shifter. This is your last chance.
She eyed the rock, and then dropped it to the ground, unsure of what to do with it, or with the broken window either. When she’d moved in, they’d been given a number to call about problems with the units. That seemed like a good place to start. Hopefully they wouldn’t charge her for a new window. She’d just remove the note and say someone tossed a rock through it, probably vandals from Cloud Lake or something. She could play it off.
She was just hanging up her phone when the door thundered under repeated hammerblow-like knocks.
“I’m getting really sick of people knocking at my front door,” she muttered. It never led to good things, unless it was Harden returning. But he had no reason to hammer away at it like that.
Unless he was hurt.
“Coming!” Erika shouted, dashing to the door and flinging it open.
The bald man from the ball strode into her apartment, looking around angrily.
“Where is he?”
“Where is who?” she snapped back. “Who the hell are you? Get the fuck out of my house.”
“It’s not your house,” he snarled. “We built it. We own it. You are simply a tenant. One who is rapidly overstaying her welcome. Be careful who you threaten.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not afraid of you.”
He whirled and advanced on her quickly. Erika backed up until she bumped into the wall. Without hesitating the shifter drove his fist into the wall next to her head, leaning in close to her. “You should be,” he whispered. “If you had any brains, you’d be asking politely for my forgiveness. You have no idea how I can hurt you. What I can do to you.”
“I know you’re dead if you touch me,” she said, refusing to bow to his intimidation. “You talk about having brains, but that would be a pretty dumb move on your part.”
She expected him to get angrier with her, but instead he just laughed.
“You poor, naïve little thing. Do you truly think that killing you is what I seek? I could have arranged that two or three times already since the ball. No,” he assured her, “you won’t die. That would be far too short a punishment for defying me.” His smile grew wider. “Feel free to test me out and see. But I promise that you…and your child, would regret it.”
Her face drained of blood and she wrapped a hand around her belly. The shifter laughed again at her reaction.
“I hear the streets are warm in the summer. But how are they in the cold of winter?” He grinned, and headed for her door. “Do yourself a favor. Cut things off with him. This is your last warning. It’ll be easier that way.” The shifter shrugged, looking around her empty unit once more. “After all, we don’t have him, and he isn’t here now. When someone just threw a rock through your window? Some person he must be.”
With that, the shifter left, closing the front door with surprising care behind him. Through the hole that used to be her window she could hear him laugh once more, the sound fading away as he walked down her the short sidewalk in front of her house.
Erika locked the door behind him, for all that would do against a determined shifter, and stood there, contemplating his words. He was right, in several senses. It would be easier to call things off with Harden, to tell him that they weren’t a thing any longer. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about consequences to her and the child within her.
She caressed her stomach reflexively. The baby was what mattered most. What she had to think of in the long run was its well-being. She couldn’t bring it into a world where she had to fear for its safety. What if these assholes killed Harden and she was left on the streets with nothing once the baby was born? What kind of mother would she be then?
Worse, what if they kick me out before the baby is born? If I can’t feed myself, or find shelter…
There was no good outcome. Either she lived with Harden and took her chances, putting her baby into danger, or she lived with the pain that his absence from her life was likely to cause. She could do that, Erika realized. If it came down to the well-being of her child, she would put it above herself. In an instant.
For the first time she truly understood what it meant to be a parent, to be a mother carrying her helpless baby within her, and the lengths that she would go to protect it. Images of shows she’d watched as a child came to mind, of parents of wildlife throwing themselves at anything that came near their babies, no matter the cost to themselves. She’d not understood that before on an instinctive level.
Now she did.
She walked over to the phone and dialed a number she knew by heart by now.
“Hello?”
“Kel, it’s me. I need you.”
“On my way.”
The phone went dead with a click, and she put it down before settling onto her couch to await her friend’s arrival. It didn’t take long; she only lived four doors down.
“What the hell?”
She heard Kelly notice the broken window as she approached, a somewhat hesitant knock on the door following shortly thereafter, as if Kelly was unsure what to do.
“Erika?” she called, her voice carrying in through the window.
She opened the door, and as she did, the tears began to fall.
“Oh no,” Kelly said, sweeping into the house like a whirlwind and snatching Erika up. “What happened? Come on, let’s go. Sit down.”
Letting herself be guided to the couch, Erika worked to get herself under enough control so that she could fill Kelly in on what had happened. Her best and only friend thoroughly listened as she talked, only asking questions to clarify or for further detail when absolutely necessary.
“So these assholes have something against Harden simply because of where he came from?” she asked in disbelief. “I mean, he looks just like them!”
“Apparently he smells different,” she said. Both of them looked at each other for a moment and then shrugged. They couldn’t detect a difference. Had to be a shifter thing.
“You’d think, in this day and age, that we could move beyond such things. I mean, we’re not residents of Cloud Lake, but they’ve welcomed us here with open arms. We could theoretically go to other places. Harden, if I understand, has nowhere to go at all!”
Erika nodded. “Yes, he’s homeless. His home was destroyed by the Institute, just like they tried to do to Cadia. He told me there are, to his knowledge, nine shifters left. He suspects there are more scattered about, but he only knows of the nine, including himself.”
“Nine,” Kelly whispered angrily. “And these douchebags won’t let him find a place in Cadia?”
She shook her head. “They seem dead set against it. Why else throw a rock and then come threaten me once they’ve lured him away?”
Kelly nodded. “Speaking of which, where is he now?”
Erika crossed her arms. “Exactly. I wish I knew. He told me to get back into the bedroom, and then I haven’t heard or seen him since. That was over an hour ago.”
“What the fuck! Okay, so what’s the plan?”
She bit back tears. “I need to do what’s best for the baby. I have to think of it before I do myself. That means ensuring that he or she is provided for, safe, and doesn’t have to worry about others coming after him. No matter what.”
“I understand,” Kelly said immediately.
“Thank you,” she whispered, embracing her friend.
There was a knock at the front door, and she nearly jumped out of the sofa.
Can’t handle the knocks anymore.
Getting up, she tiptoed over to the door, leaning forward to look through the peephole.
“Shit,” she hissed, pulling back swiftly.
It was Harden.
He knocked again. “Erika, I know you’re in there,” he said, sounding slightly confused, probably not understanding why she hadn’t opened the door.
Kelly mimed answering the door and waving goodbye. She was right. It wasn’t going to be easy, but Erika had to end it cleanly. She couldn’t just avoid him. Steeling herself, she unlocked the door and opened it just enough for her face to show.
Harden was already stepping forward, but he paused when she didn’t open the door completely. His eyes darted past into the house, and then fixed on her once more.
“I’m not coming in, am I?” he asked dully, realization sinking in.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.
“You don’t have to do this,” he protested. “We can make it work.”
Tears built in her eyes, clouding her vision no matter how hard she blinked. “It’s not for me,” she told him, fighting back the sobs that threatened to emerge.
His nose started to go wild, and he opened his eyes wide. “They came again, didn’t they? While I was gone?”
She nodded, unable to speak.
“Shit. And you’re going to do as they say then?”
Erika nodded. “I’m sorry, Harden,” she whispered, her voice wavering even at that level. “I am. But I have to think of my baby first. I need him or her to be safe and cared for. I can’t live with worrying if it’ll be hurt because of you and me. You have to understand that, you have to believe me, it’s not because I don’t care. I’m just doing what I have to.”
Anguish filled his pale green eyes.
“Please don’t do this,” he pleaded.
“I’m sorry.”
She shut the door.