Compendium Character Sheet: Trina

Named Ekaterina in honor of her sniper great-grandmother, Trina is the human through whose eyes we first glimpse the paranormal. She's a homicide detective, and with that comes a certain pragmatism and calm. She's confident, but not cocky, comfortable, not trying to prove anything. She's repressing her feelings for her partner, Lanny, for the sake of the badge, and she's more or less okay with that. She's well-adjusted; learning she's the great-granddaughter of a vampire - that vampires exist at all - throws her for a loop. But Trina's superpower is that she can always land on her feet, and make sense of the things unfolding around her. She's the rock of her new little immortal family. The conscience, and the voice of reason. And still very much mortal herself. 

From a writing standpoint: Trina is such an important character for me to have on the roster. Because I'm invested, and want to show her journey, yes; but also because she gives us a relatable perspective when we need to pause, step back from the POV of a prince, or an ancient Roman, or a guilt-riddled former Soviet. She's our baseline; our "what would a regular person do or think?" in this instance. And I love that she's a woman; that it doesn't matter that she's a woman. She's relatable because she's a human.

And it's important that, given the way other characters have been turned and become immortal, she's still human right now. Trina's personal journey is perhaps less flashy than that of someone like Val. But over the course of the series, everything she's ever known will be challenged. Her heart will be challenged; though she and Lanny are together in a romantic relationship, it's a relationship that has a long way to go before it reaches its happily ever after. As a writer, I love playing with the idea that Lanny's vampirism isn't an obstacle, but, rather, something that's served to heighten their differences, and bring out that natural tension between them. 

Trina takes a lot onto her shoulders; she's half-mothering her guys at this point. And knowing the weight she's carrying, it's vitally important to me that she gets a fulfilling journey, with a satisfying ending. She's got a big, fierce family behind her: biological up in Buffalo, and found in NYC. Nobody messes with Trina and gets away with it.

“How about,” Lanny said, “we shelve all our personal shit and figure out who’s eating people in our city, yeah?”

She snorted. “All our personal shit?”

He turned to her then, eyes going wide, the whites bright in the dark. “Well, I mean…” His expression slid into a smirk, the one that doubtless worked on lots of women – it worked on her, at least. “Not all.”

“Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.”

“You eat yet?”

“No.”

He slung an arm around her shoulders, heavy, strong, and comforting. He was healthy, now, alive, and vital, and whatever else was going on, she could revel in that fact. “How ‘bout Chinese?”

“Sounds good.” She let him steer her down the steps and toward her unmarked, not even a little afraid of what might lurk in the shadows. The scariest thing of all had an arm around her, right where she wanted it. 

~ From Golden Eagle, due Fall 2019

** Dragon Slayer coming 4/30/19. Preorder HERE.