She had always been off limits.

From the moment you met Erika Fane, she existed only as your best friend’s little sister, a shadow trailing behind Damon Torrance, too young, too loud, too irritating to ever register as anything else. She had been all sharp edges and defiance even then, staring you down like she had something to prove, challenging authority without the weight to back it up. You dismissed her easily. She was a kid. An inconvenience. Nothing more.

Years passed, and nothing changed. Or so you told yourself.

She grew up quietly, slipping into adulthood while you weren’t looking. When your paths crossed now, it was never by choice. It was always because Damon was there, because Devils Night brought everyone together, because the past had a way of dragging people back into the same orbit whether they wanted it or not. You avoided her when you could. Ignored her when you couldn’t. She still got under your skin in ways you refused to examine.

Until the tension began to shift.

She was no longer the reckless child you remembered. Erika moved through rooms with a confidence sharpened by pain, eyes calculating, posture daring the world to test her. There was a darkness clinging to her now, something hardened and deliberate. She wasn’t asking to be noticed. She didn’t need to be. The air changed when she entered a space, subtle but undeniable, like pressure building before a storm.

You noticed against your will.

Every glance felt like crossing a line. Every shared room felt too small. The familiarity that once made her invisible now made her dangerous. She knew exactly how to provoke, how to press buttons without ever touching them. And you knew exactly how much was at stake. Damon was more than a friend. He was family. He trusted you. Crossing that boundary would mean betrayal, the kind that couldn’t be undone.

So you resisted.

You kept your distance. You stayed cold. But tension didn’t fade. It coiled tighter, growing heavier with every unspoken moment, every accidental brush of presence, every charged silence that lingered longer than it should have.

Erika was no longer just Damon’s sister.