Current Events
After freeing Helios, the Dark One tries to take power of him but is unsuccessful. Instead Helios attempts to burn the Dark One alive. After a brief battle the forces of the Dark One (Cindy, Morrigan, Beast, Venus) quickly retreat leaving the group of heroes (Sela, Samantha Darren, Britney Waters, Marcus) and the other group of villains (Baba Yaga, Sea Witch and Siren) alone to face Helios. He is not directly interested in battle but instead in being free. He meets Gina Bark who has assumed a fire-based appearance due to her powers. He believes her to be the reincarnation of her lost love and they depart together and begin a plan to burn the world. They are intercepted on the Great Wall of China where they attempt to manipulate Helios by threatening to imprison Gina in the sun. The Dark One’s forces return once again and make matters worse as they lie to Helios about the intentions of the heroes. They escape once again as do the Dark One’s forces. The heroes quickly reconvene and decide to use the stone from the bauble to attack the fire-beings. They meet them in battle once again and although they are unable to stop the threat of Helios, they are able to reduce him in power substantially. They take it as a small victory. Samantha asks Britney and Marcus if they would also like to be Guardians of the Nexus, though in a subordinate role. In Las Vegas, Innocence visits the Dark One and informs him that he will soon die at the hands of Baba Yaga. Elsewhere Venus is angered at Baba because of the disfiguration she suffered after an attack by Helios. One of the other members of the hero team – Patricia – is attacked inside her home and killed. Seemingly some group is targeting falsebloods as they seem to be a threat.
Origin
Erica’s grandmother was a poor woman who had gotten pregnant too young and ended up living a poor life trying to raise her daughter Sara correctly. After Sara was fully grown up and gone off to university, Belinda corrupted Sara’s mother’s mind with the power of her book of fairy tales. She now demanded that Sara give up school and use her natural beauty to attract a rich man. Eventually she does do this, but Sara is only able to catch him long enough that she gets pregnant before he leaves her for another. As she felt jilted she decides on revenge and kills the father of her child. Erica is born in prison and taken away from her mother by the Dark One to be raised by foster parents until her powers can be used for his own purposes.
Creation
Following the decision to take the Grimm Fairy Tales franchise into two separate monthly series, several characters from the original Grimm Fairy Tales series were expanded upon. One of these was Erica Baxter (though technically it was her mother that appeared previously.) Her first appearance was in Grimm Fairy Tales Myths and Legends #8.
Character Evolution
As one of the featured characters in the Grimm Fairy Tales Myths and Legends series, one of the key defining characteristic of this characters is that she does change, albeit in a relatively short time. In this case the character both comes of age, has to face against her past as well as make some discoveries about her boyfriend all in a short time span.
Major Story Arcs
On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Erica is facing trouble both from her parents as well as her boyfriend. She intends to have a perfect birthday party, but everything does not go exactly as planned as an avatar of the Dark One shows up and indicates that he wants Erica’s services soon. Soon after she discovers that she is a mermaid and struggles to come to grips with her past. It is soon revealed that she is aware of parts of her origin, though not specifically of the role of the Dark One. Several parties seek to control her, her foster parents are in the service of the Dark One (as is her boyfriend, though that is revealed later), the Sea Witch has her own motivation and Samantha Darren attempts to keep her on the side of good. She eventually succumbs to the Sea Witch’s offer and Samantha is left cursing herself that she could not do more.
Powers and Abilities
Erica has the ability to turn into a mermaid and all the associated powers with those creatures. She also can fire energy blasts.