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[josefina-cruz]

lilieths​:

『  ☢  』

It was odd how two people could come together like they did, with a nonsensical genesis like theres and now Lilith couldn’t imagine another path down this road. She might not ever forgive herself for indirectly inflicting pain on Josefina, but there were certainly other ways to repent for that. Past that, she’d felt lucky enough that Jo even wanted her to remain in her life after the events of this past month.

“Definitely good for him. I take it he’s not putting the pendant back on? It would’ve curved the headache I’m sure but that’s a bandaid he’d have to rip off some other time.” Not that it was any of her concern either way, if he’d wanted to remain ignorant after or explore all the Midnight Underground could offer him. But she was glad he could maintain that sense of normalcy nonetheless. “Honestly just copy and paste the same reply each time, message received, doing gay shit, see you next year. Which is a stupid joke but what’s a little tom foolery?”

The undead woman shrugged in response, her bits of dramaticism the true spice of life. “I had to represent my baby tarantula. Hot pink though? A real travesty against this skin, but everything else is a winner. Save politics, we’re all losers under whatever warped system we’re wading through. Imperfect is better than nothing though, I guess.”

Which was one of those things you could apply to multiple parts of your life; and yet it was another one of those things that was easier said than done. 

“No, it’s not bad, it’s normal I think? But I don’t consider that choking, you’re just getting closer to that thing you’ve always wanted and it’s finally settling into your bones. That’s all gonna melt away after you go and kiss her anyhow…what is it people are always talking about, you’re on the precipice of something great? It’d be weirder if you were chill about it, you know?”

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Josefina nodded along with her, pulling out her phone and typing out the message Lilith had suggested. Her cousins sent back multiple rolling eye emojis but it seemed to have done the job in convincing them to leave her alone for a minute if nothing else. Even if it only was going to be one single minute that she had the peace at her part.

“It’s in a jewelry box of his,” she explained. “If he wants it he has it but he seems pretty content figuring things out. I don’t know there is something kind of addictive about this place, about knowing more than the people around you. It can feel isolating too but I think the fact I’m here helps at least a little bit. That he has someone who understands him and can help guide him, even if there’s frustration that I’m the niece.”

Everything had her overthinking. Tonight was going to be fun, she was going to get to kiss Clementine, and then they would all move on with the weird shit of the Underground and elect a leader they all hated who would probably quit in a few years and they’d have to do the entire thing all over again. That was how it had been before Moira.

“You’re right. Things are going to change after tonight, I can feel it. Thanks for listening, Lilith.” Josefina reaches out and gives her a hug even from the counter. “Go be hot and do hot girl shit even at a boring as hell party. I’ll miss you though. Try to get into the fun kind of trouble for me.”

[josefina-cruz]

esmerays​:

* ✶

A pensive hum fills the air as Esmeray spins Jo out and pulls her back in, “well, no, it wouldn’t be fair to say that. My brother’s recyclable at least,” she teases, “it’s a ridiculous thing, the Seelie and Un thing. Besides the biological dichotomies, there isn’t some difference like good and evil, or light and dark, it’s— it’s the beginning of a rant that won’t end anytime soon, as such I’ll be sparing you from my thoughts on the matter.”

It wasn’t something any Seelie could speak so freely about. Her clan had been labeled apologists for as long as she could remember and it was a wonder the Fialas kept them as close as they did. Even so, it was best to watch your tongue around some of the Faeries in attendance.

“Corliss could bring me home, yes. I could fold, apologize for embarrassing him like I did and promise to bend to his every will, bear his children; I could sever the bindings even,” though that much would cost her a piece of herself, “and perhaps it would be easier. I would be able to see my family without limits, be forgiven for my crimes but…even thinking about it has my chest tightening. That would truly be a prison of my own creation, worse even than the dungeons beneath this very castle.”

Esmeray would be lying if she said that wasn’t a thought that had crossed her mind a few times throughout the years; when she’d first when pushed across the veil, those feelings of homesickness had been too great and an unwed Prince seemed the only remedy on those nights. But then she’d be living in misery, never knowing Connor, never knowing Jo or anyone else. What was longing to invisible chains?

She answes immediately, nodding softly in response, “of course— you can trust me to keep this hidden from wanting or un-wanting ears. I would make you this promise, but you should never seal this kind of covenant with our kind,” she knew of Josefina’s addictions as it was, she need not add fuel to the fire. Though Jo’s words add some to her own, and she’s tightening her grip on her waist, holding her closer, “can I say it’s a relief you held your ground and didn’t thrall them? Besides who they are, this is very much your choice and nothing your father should impose on you.”

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If Esmeray wasn’t taken and Josefina wasn’t in love with Clementine, she would be perusing this woman in a heart beat. Though the taken thing wasn’t really that big of a deal breaker when the husband in question was Connor. The way the Fae guided her around the dance floor was enough to sweep anyone metaphorically and physically off their feet.

“A rant wouldn’t bother me. But we can table it until you need it,” Jo promises. “Away from prying ears and eyes I mean. Maybe next time I stop in and bother Lilith about something.”

Sometimes, in the quiet of her own mind, she wonders why people bother to fall in love. Rather quickly she remember her dhampir friend and the questions are answered. But Esme has always been curious to her. The Fae has always been good, no questions or curiosities or ulterior motives, though she may pretend she has them. At her core, Josefina has always seen someone good. It would be easy to be jealous of it, but instead she’s simply always admired.

“And you couldn’t hurt him like that, right?” she questions with a smile.

The next topic makes her grimace. Of course Hollis was evil, that wasn’t so much up for debate. The Heir chose greed, the kind Josefina knew, and perhaps that’s where her father had spotted the similarities. But after Liza leaving, after Marcia’s death, she had wanted nothing to do with the thralling business at all - even if it killed her. And it nearly had dealing with the fae food addiction on top of the crash from having no thrall. Maybe that’s why she’d sought Esme out at first. She seemed the perfect alternative to Hollis. The antithesis. 

Their rebel souls sung in unison.

Josefina shakes her head. “Honestly I’d rather die than thrall them, especially now, but it hadn’t been good. It still isn’t. I don’t even know what the fuck to do about my dad and I. It’s all fake smiles at parties like this, but we don’t ever approach each other. Maybe that’s for the best.”

[josefina-cruz]

esmerays​:

* ✶

The night was an odd one, as she knew it’d be. Esmeray was glad to be across the veil one more; she had hopes that she would see her brothers, perhaps her parents even, and maybe some old friends. The air felt fresher, the magik more concentrated and it felt healing. As if every breath eased some of the pain in her side and muffled the irritation sitting atop the scars. It was another reminder, that she’d been pushed from her place of belonging.

“My mother was furious, honestly. She sent me to the family’s estate as punishment; the one located in the mountainside, by…” Esme leans in conspiratorially, “by Un territory. A vacation, if you ask me.” During that time, a very many things happened for Esmeray; she’d spent time with her less Seelie ‘cousins’, was able to see Dovi more freely and even strengthen her connection to Her Light. 

A blessing in disguise if you asked the Faerie. “You know, they expected me to rescind my rejection once I returned. That I did not do. As you’ve succinctly pointed, he’s quite pompous, treats his subjects like disposable toys and— myself? A birthright. As if I was promised to him just as a prince is promised their coronet.”

“If he knows anything of value, it’s all to do with my lineage and past that, the man couldn’t even hold a conversation with me about my attunements. My desires, my values…the decision made itself. You should have seen his face after. I think the poor thing is still licking his wounds.”

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Josefina doesn’t know the dance they’re doing so she relies on Esme to guide her as much as she can. Thankfully the other woman doesn’t seem too bothered by the prospect, smiling genuinely for the first time Jo has witnessed in a very long time. She wants to find her own happiness in this moment but from the corner of her eye she can see Jose walking about wearing a mask of his own and that’s enough to make her sick to her stomach.

Focusing back on Esmeray, she listens closely to her story, nodding along. “Men are all trash then? Even Fae men? Insane how that is, honestly. I never got the Unseelie versus Seelie thing but maybe I’m being purposefully ignorant here. If you ever want to give someone a history lesson I’m all ears.”

Something lingers in the back of her mind though, a curiosity she couldn’t quiet itch. It gnawed at her front lobe as she chewed her own lip in time with it and contemplated how best to say the next thing.

“I know he sucks but he could get you home, right? Even with the everything you marry the prince that basically proves loyalties. And I know you’re like bonded to Connor so you couldn’t, but did you ever think about it, before. That maybe it would just be easier to do the thing that everyone wanted you to do and you could go back to your comfortable life?”

She is not, definitely not, talking about her and Jose in this situation. Definitely and absolutely not. It’s not like she’s been properly disowned by him or anything but there’s a pretty solid understand they won’t speak to each other for the rest of possibly forever. He’d asked her to thrall someone she’d never choose in a million years. He’d fed her addictions. He’d made her miserable.

“Can I tell you something? You can’t tell anyone though. Not even Noa and Clem know.” She takes a deep breath. “My dad tried to get me to thrall with Hollis. After my mom and Moira’s death. I was so pissed off I’d thrown a vase at the wall and ran away. Wouldn’t take his calls, wouldn’t do anything. We haven’t spoken since.”

[josefina-cruz]

lilieths​:

『  ☢  』

It was ever a wonder why she’d waited so long to thrall Josefina, why she’d dragged her feet when all the signs where there. Of course, she’d been nervous about it, unsure about what doom this could spell for eclectic girl. All that happened after wasn’t a consequence of the thralling but it’d set her on edge for some time, apologizing as many times as Josefina would allow and giving her the option to cut these ties if she so chose. But here they were, Fina still thralled to her and Lilith hoping there was a better end to this story then there had been for Levi.

“That was a choice on behalf of his grandmother, I gotta say…I think I’m gonna be confused about it for the rest of forever but, he’s better now, right? Here’s hoping there’s no other side effects.” And there shouldn’t be with crafts like that; at least, people who knew what they were doing could mitigate secondary responses. If it really was her craft ( which, she’d hope it wasn’t ) then he’d be fine. Lilith Gaumond didn’t make shitty charms. 

Stepping further into the kitchen, Lili maneuvers her way around Fina, waltzing over and hoisting herself onto the island at the center of the kitchen. Her movements were careful as she tended to the tulle of her own dress, a lighter green to compliment Josefina’s own, falling off of her body like the leaves of a willow tree. Easy to move in, for the most part— the rest of the night might devolve into something less-than favorable. “Thank you, baby, I was channeling my inner lady of the lake…and obviously I have to represent you.”

“As far as a New Year’s kiss? Not likely. I’m running back to Thad’s soon, stopped by to see my favorite girl, but you know the politics.” Honestly, she didn’t love lying to Josefina but it was for the best. Lilith could, in theory, compel her to keep the events of the night a secret, but she wouldn’t if she could help it. Better to leave her untethered tonight, free and pretty as she should be. The night was for her and Clem and that didn’t need to be bogged down by anything else. “A hundred is a huge number, so many to choose from.”

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Sometimes it seemed like Josefina and Lilith were made in the same vat of toxic sludge. In truth, she’d mostly started chasing her around in hopes of a thralling just to fuck around and find out, but the longer they interacted, the more time they spend together, the easier it was to see why she’d fought so hard. Lilith was motherly even at her strangest. And Jo had had Marcia, for awhile, but not really - not ever like this.

“God who the fuck even knows, to be honest. I think he’s like vibing with his kids tonight though, which, much deserved. They kept texting asking why he was taking fistfulls of Advil and it’s like I don’t know Paulina maybe ask your dad instead of sending me the fourteenth text in twenty minutes, I’m busy doing gay shit.”

Jo rolled her eyes, looking over to access Lilith’s outfit. “Tres chic, I have to say. It’s a great color on you, but what isn’t? Politics is politics though. Trust and believe I get it.”

“Is it bad I’m nervous?” she asked after a moment, taking a deep breath. “About Clementine. I’ve never been nervous about anyone in my life until this moment. I just want it to go well. Like I’ve finally got this chance at something I’ve literally always wanted and now I’m staring it down about to choke.”

[josefina-cruz]

esmerays​:

* ✶

It felt as if Corliss were trying to replicate that dance all those years before; she was wearing the same colors he’d gifted her then ( the very same dress, if not a little updated ), the same jewelry and he, as predictable as ever, was regarding her as if she were his own, While she hoped he wouldn’t, there was the possibility that he would try to propose tonight as he had all those years before…did the poor thing think this night any different? Mother Below, he’d been just as territorial whenever Esmeray mentioned Ludovicus, even when all she’d ever done was tolerate the Seelie prince. Perhaps that had been too much kindness.

With Josefina’s much welcome interruption, Esmeray tries to contain her joy, schooling her features into something neutral, solemn even. “We could be so kind, yes Your Highness?” The sound of her own voice was so saccharine it turned her stomach, but she’d been raised for this.

“Oh no, no…trust me…there wasn’t any engagement to sour,” she starts, before curtsying in a jesting manner and placing her hand in Josefina’s. This, was a much needed reprieve from Corliss— she’d nearly snapped the bones in his hand when she’d seen her husband leave for the gardens with Hollis. It’s okay, she’d told herself but the sight incensed her. “He asked, in front of all the ladies in waiting like the idiot he is, and I said no. I assume he’d thought I’d fold underneath such scrutiny, but the man has never known much of me. He proposed at one of these dances even, my mother and father nearly cried when I declined the offer.”

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Esmeray looks nice tonight. It’s a dress that looks nice on her. But that’s all it is. Nice. It’s not really her, at least not in the way Josefina knows her to be. Her fellow political daughter has moved past all that and into something she might akin to her Red era. Or maybe sometimes it’s Lover, given just obnoxious her and Connor can be around each other.

“The dancing is fun at least,” Jo observes as they take a little spin together. It’s also nice that no one is looking at the two of them for being two women dancing together. At least the Fae have some cool things. Aside from their food.

That whole thing has been a struggle tonight. Lilith gave her instructions to follow and, as her thrall, she can’t ignore them, but that doesn’t meant the temptation is going to go away. It’s hard to not remember the way they tasted on her tongue, the sweetness, that rush and that high. She swallows and shakes her head so she can refocus back on Esme.

“Oh my God so a rejected engagement then? Do tell,” she teases. “For the record he seems a pompous ass and that’s coming from me. And an idiot if he’s asking questions he doesn’t want answer to. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Sounds like he deserved it. Especially since he didn’t know you well enough to know you don’t have a problem making people look like fools when it’s deserved. Very sexy of you, by the way.”

[josefina-cruz]

noatwithstanding​:

Who: @josefina-cruz​ When and Where: December 31st, The Devlin Mansion

Noa wasn’t sure what she expected to find when she reached the room.  Not after seeing Clem.  Jo, certainly, preferably conscious, but beyond that- No, no spirals.  Not now.  She pulled in a breath, held the pressure of it against her ribs, grounding, for a moment, then rolled her shoulders back and knocked, just hard enough to be heard, not to startle.  At least she hoped. “Jo?  Jo, it’s me.”  It wasn’t a may-I-come-in knock, more of a signal to alert her that, “I’m coming in.”  She peaked her head around the door before pushing it open just enough to slip through.  Her steps were careful but quick as she made her way to the side of the bed, muffled by the sound of her dress trailing over the carpet.  Her heels had been abandoned on the landing of the stair case. She perched just on the edge of the comforter, not wanting to hover.  “Can I look at you?”  Careful fingers reached to brush dark hair away so Noa could better see her face, the puncture marks on her neck.  Oh god.  Where did she start?  Keep the fear off your face.  “Can you lie back for me?”  It wasn’t really a question; she was already pushing gently at Jo’s shoulders and trying not to think about how pale and clammy her friend’s skin was beneath her hands.  “Hey, okay, hi…”  Finally, she actually looked to meet the other’s dark eyes.

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Josefina had been lying there, in a bed in a mansion she didn’t know well, surrounded by things she didn’t have attachment to, wonder if she was going to die. She wasn’t. Liza had drank enough blood from her on a few occasions that she knew what it was like to feel like you had the kind of blood loss that killed someone and Clementine, despite her attitudes, had not taken that much. She had taken a lot though. Enough that when she tried to sit up on Noa’s approach, she fell back into bed.

The best she could do as groan when Noa started to touch at her skin. Her clammy and hot and sticky skin. God she looked like shit right now, no way around it. She wanted to be embarrassed but this was one of her best friends and she had probably seen her worse.

“Hi,” Jo finally managed to choke out. There were tears in her eyes, the kind that never seemed to stop coming once they had begun. “Noa I think Clem hates me.” Probably not the most important thing to be discussing when there was a chance she needed somewhat immediate medical attention, but it was the only thing at the forefront of her mind.

[josefina-cruz]

clemxjohnson​:

~

Clementine feels panic sink it’s claws into her chest the minute Jo tries to speak and her voice comes out hoarse. And she’s arguing with her about it, but none of them make her feel better. Why is Jo trying to make her feel better? She had done wrong. She had been bad. She had been no better than Liza. 

How many times had Jo stumbled through the apartment door looking just as bad off as she did right now? Used as nothing more than a blood bag by someone, and never batting an eye. Never blinking or complaining no matter how much Noa and Clem begged her to see that Liza was no good. And now? Now, she had no leg to stand on, because she had done the same thing. Maybe not with intent, but what good was intent when she had hurt the person she cared about most of the world. 

There’s a voice in Clementine’s head telling her that she should have known better. Monster. She was only doing this to avoid telling Jo her feelings, thinking this was some romantic gesture, rather than an act of, albeit necessary, violence. Monster. She wasn’t ready to drink from a living, breathing person. She had been sucking on blood bags from hunters, not even proper blood for more than a week and a half. Clementine digs the heels of her hands into her eyes, willing the tears forming behind her hands not to fall. 

Jo starts to speak again, insisting that this was fine. That she liked it. Something in Clementine snaps when she hears that.

Hands, blackened by mascara and eyeliner snap down to her sides, and she stares at Jo with a mixture of frustration, sadness, and anger, brow creased as she tries to find the words stuck in her throat. 

“No, no. I— that’s not okay, Josefina. It’s not. I… I— I shouldn’t have been drinking from you in the first place, I don’t know how to do that safely, I…” She bites back a sob, her red painted bottom lip caught between her teeth. “I hurt you. Whether or not you see it that way, I hurt you. And…” She takes a short, heaving breath, her composure escaping her too fast to manage. “And, you’re just acting like that’s okay. Like, I’m supposed to do that to you. It’s not okay! None of this is okay! Why don’t you see that? Why haven’t you ever been able to see that?”

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Josefina feels so fucking dizzy right now. It’s been awhile since she was being fed off of by a vampire and back then she took iron supplements on the regular to make sure that she didn’t pass out. She tries to sit up, to be able to argue back and explain to Clementine that this is what she’s made for, this was what she was raised for, but she starts to feel a little sick.

It comes to her in a terrifying rush, those memories of her mother, worn and tired but with a smile on her face. She doesn’t know if Moira was more like Liza or more like Clementine but either way Jo isn’t upset to have been drank from. Maybe she’s always been chasing that euphoria her mother described to her. Or maybe she’s been chasing her ghost. Marcia was dead long before her spirit left this realm. Tio Boris and her used to talk about it.

Marcia had become by choice. Josefina had become one by obligation. And yet they walked the same paths to nearly the same destinations: in love with a Devlin woman and willing to die for that love.

“Why are you trying to tell me what is and isn’t okay by me? God you sound like my fucking parents! I told you it was fine so it’s fine. How about you stop telling me what I can and can’t handle?”

She all but forced herself to sit up now, gritting her teeth from the pain and dizziness she feels. If she walks at all she’ll fall over but her frustration is enough to keep her upright at least for now.

“Maybe I fucking like this, Clem. Maybe I like being like this. And who the fuck are you to judge anyway? You sit there and you flagellate yourself over and over again like you’re some kind of monster and no matter how hard I or anyone else tries you’re so determined to view yourself as the bad guy. That shit is just poison your parents put in your head and you know that. But you know what I think? I think you like being the martyr! I think you like being the person everyone can call a bad guy because then at least there’s a reason for you to hate yourself.”

[josefina-cruz]

lilieths​:

『  ☢  』

These days had Lilith feeling like a debutante, being chaperoned around the Midnight Underground by her grandson or whoever else was deemed fitting. It was as annoying as it was endearing, but finding her footing was a little better with help. And while she hated the thought of leaning on all of these people, there had been no dissuading them. Some days, Lilith wanted to turn back the clock, to undo any growth she’d experienced through the years. 

She’d been a callous thing in her youth, haughty as all hell and isolated from anyone that wasn’t family. Cards were kept so close to her chest, you’d have to wonder if anyone really knew her at all. Anyone save Carmy, of course. A bond like that came once in a lifetime.

But Cicerone help anyone who’d crossed her path then. A wizard on a mission, bogged down by a knowledge so far out of reach, Lilith kept her heart behind an air of mysticism, self-sabotaging her own relationships because of immaturity and gluttony. There were more important things in this life, more pressing matters. And then she lost Lucy, and then Levi shortly after and even Carmen and that gaping hole left in her chest was too much.

Enter Abernathy and she’d opened her heart like Pandora’s box…and maybe Carmen had been right, maybe she was looking to fill that abyssal hole in her chest and she’d done so by wearing her heart on her sleeve, leaving herself open to philia, storge and even ludus. She had so many people in her life to fill those days with color. Carmen had returned to her, she had a family again and past that she’d thralled herself to one most interesting woman, every bit amazing even when those similarities between herself and Levi got to be too much.

Lili doesn’t know then, if its one thing or another that has her gravitating towards Josefina, “cute as always, baby tarantula— he took it extremely well in a way that’s almost scary for a man that was seemingly unaware until we gave him a brain aneurysm but, yeah…look at you though, you’ve got me drooling but I know the New Years kiss is reserved,” she teases. The two were cute, they deserved a little fun and levity; a lucky kiss to enter the New Year.

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Being thralled had simply always been par for the course for Josefina. When her parents had told her the truth, made her Aware, she’d basically already known. But Aware was dangerous without protection and what better protection could there be than being thralled - who cared about the eternal consequences?

Her addictions were many. Fae fruit for one, a quick fix when she was between thralls and needed something to shave the edge off of her anxieties and desperation. Fae wine came plentiful too. She was starting to get better at not blacking out but that was dangerous by itself. Being too complacent with spirits of the Other Realm could be dangerous.

For once though, she’d found someone to thrall her that didn’t treat her like she was disposable. Lilith hardly treated her at all though perhaps that was because of all that had happened in the last two months. It was nice though, to be thralled and still have time to be her own person. Party planning was exhausting.

“He really did almost die that night. I mean not, like, literally but yikes, Lili, he was unwell.” Jo laughs gently, pushing her hair back and looking into the glare of the microwave to adjust her lipstick - green, like the rest of her outfit. “You look good too. A true fit. What’s the plan for tonight for you all things considered. Any New Years Eve kisses in your future? No judging either way. I’ve got my big plans ahead of me. This place has like 100 bedrooms to get lost in. And I thought Connor had a big ass house.”

[josefina-cruz]

clemxjohnson​:

~

Clementine is like puddy in Jo’s hands as she adjusts them around so that this is easier at the very least in the physical sense. Clementine has exclusively used blood bags to satiate herself since lockdown began. Jo would be her very first experience on a living, breathing person. And, she trusted her so completely that it made Clem’s heart flutter. 

It does not quite squash her nerves, but as she leans down to press a kiss against the skin of her neck first, red lipstick leaving an apropos stain in its wake, she take a shaky breath, and lets her teeth sink past skin. 

The sensation is instantly so much better than a blood bag. A microwave and years old Hunter blood is nothing in comparison to the taste of Jo. Warm on the tongue, and sweet. Sweeter than anything Clementine had tasted before. Like some sort of Godly, Artemis crafted nectar, it fulfills some primal part of Clem she wasn’t even aware of, and all that she wants from this life is to keep this taste in her mouth forever. She drinks.

And drinks. And drinks. 

Until that petulant, evil voice of her parent’s reasoning rings through her head like an alarm. 

You’re going to kill her. 

Clementine doesn’t know if it’s true if she’s being frank, but she flies off of Josefina anyway, eyes wide as the remnants of blood sit at the corner of her mouth, chest heaving as she eyes her friend. 

Pale faced despite her flush. Tired. Clearly ill. Because of her. Because of Clementine, and the primal killer instincts she had been warned of time and time again. 

“I’m sorry,” It’s barely audible the first time, croaked out from behind shaking hands, “I’m so sorry.” 

And then a flip switches. If Clementine couldn’t control herself, why hadn’t Jo done anything to stop her? “Why… why didn’t you push me off, Jo? I was hurting you. I was going to kill you. Why didn’t you push me away?”

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷♡꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Anticipation nearly kills her. Sitting there and waiting, feeling the gentle kiss on her neck, Jo tries not to bite her lips so hard they bleed. And then she feels it: fang into skin. It’s just as heavenly as she imagined. Liza has been nice too, but this, with Clementine, it was so much more.

Her ex-girlfriend had not been shy about drinking. Should she have wanted it, well, Josefina was also her thrall and that was simply the give and take of their relationship. It wasn’t like she was getting nothing out of it either. There was that sick part of her that craved these moments, of feeling like she was useful, that she, and no one else, was helping another person to survive. Liza would drink and drink and drink her fill until she had left her girlfriend sick and anemic. And even then, Jo had not complained. She had simply been grateful to satisfy.

So she doesn’t move. She doesn’t speak. Not even as she starts to feel the way it makes her heavy as the blood leaves her body. There are black spots starting to appear in her vision and all she can think to do is moan because a part of her just hopes she’s made Clementine happy.

But then she’s moved, jumping back from her so quickly it makes Josefina a little sick to imagine. She tries to sit up but the world starts to spin around her. She knows how she looks. She’s looked this way before so many, many times. 

“Clem...Clementine it’s okay,” Jo starts, but her voice sounds weaker than she means it to so she tries again to sound like she always does. “You weren’t going to kill me. You stopped. It’s not like I’ve never been drunk from before and you stopped.”

Liza was experienced though. She knew how much to take to keep Josefina on her feet when she sent her on her way for errands to run. Clementine was not Liza, she wasn’t because she was kind and she loved her in the way that her ex could never.

“I’m okay,” she tries again. “I’m okay. It’s not bad. I liked it. I like that you can...that I’m useful like that. You were obviously hungry. You can do that to me, I don’t mind, Clem, I don’t.”

[josefina-cruz]

clemxjohnson​:​

~

Clementine was a master of denial. From her heritage to her stubbornness to consume human blood like she was meant to, she had spent her whole life hiding behind excuses and lies she had forced herself into believing. Jo was just another bullet point on that long list. Years of denying the way that her heart flutters around her best friend; denying that she feels a warmth spread through her chest when they curl up on her bed together, Josefina tucked under her arm while she reads; denying the way the shape of her lips act just as a siren song anytime Clem’s eyes flick downwards too long. It’s so easy to hide in the shadow of it all. 

But, the way that Jo’s lips feel pressed against her already warm and buzzing skin are undeniable. The way their fingers threaded together as she was dragged lovingly from the kitchen and up the stairs is real. The way her eyes absolutely sparkle in the, albeit gaudy, lights of the bedroom— room? Clementine still needed to learn the layout of this place —they had ducked into over a chorus of giggles and kisses shared.

Jo’s words just barely Reach Clementine’s ears over the haze that’s covered most of her senses, but she finds herself giggling as she meeting Jo in the kiss, savoring the feeling of her on the skin. “I’m going to be so marked up tomorrow, people aren’t going to know which one of us are the Dhampir,” She teases.

She flashes her fangs in a small smile, as if to remind Jo it is her that’s meant to bite necks, and runs her tongue against the sharp, elongated teeth. 

Though the teeth don’t retract yet, the teasing gives way into another wave of some pure, pent up desire as she stares almost doe eyed up at Jo, her best friend, yes, but easily the most beautiful person Clementine knows both inside and out. It’s not time to tell her she loves her. She does. Jo knows she does, but it’s too early to say it in a setting like this.

Instead, Clementine decides on the next best thing she could give Jo. “Do you… can I… bite you?” It’s not a hickey she’s asking permission to leave, either, though she figures that will go without saying between the two of them.

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷♡꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Josefina has been in love with Clementine for as long as she can reasonably remember. Moira had Damian help find a home, creating a debt for her daughter in the process, but it had been the Alves Cruz family that had made sure she had not been lonely. Marcia had taken that onto her shoulders and as such her daughter had been all but forced into the roll as her best friend. Not that she would ever be resentful for it. Love had flourished from those ties and Jo would be forever grateful for that.

Part of her wonders for a moment, however briefly, if this is what her mother ever felt like. Though in likelihood she was staring up at Moira and not down. The Queen Vampire Orator herself never struck Jo as the bottom type.

And then there had been Liza. She had been a replacement. When Josefina realized that Clementine was likely never going to have her in the way she wanted to be had, she had chased after a vampire known for causing chaos. And chaos had been caused. She’d been nearly killed a few times from it when she convinced herself she was in love.

It wasn’t like this though. Nothing was ever going to be like this, Josefina decides as she gently strokes Clem’s cheek.

“Good. I like to keep the people on their toes, you know that,” she giggles. 

Looking at her best friend’s teeth makes her swallow hard. Danger has always been her thing and what more dangerous than a vampire who could drink her dry. And then Clementine is asking to do that and Josefina’s brain short circuits completely.

The questions isn’t about drinking her dry, not really, but the implication of a bite meaning blood makes her toes curl. Jo nods and cautiously helps adjust them so that her friend is on top.

“I know you’re like a super bottom bitch, but it’s harder to drink from the bottom. So I’ve been told. But, uh, yeah. Yes. Of course. I’ve told you like a million times you can drink from me. I want that. I want you. And I trust you. And I love you.”

[josefina-cruz]

Who: @lilieths​

When: December 31st, Clem’s Coming Out

There was only an hour left until midnight. It felt like a special time for the Underground, just by virtue of the name, but Josefina knew it would be the exact same thing every year that it had been this year. Painful. Annoying. But naivety made her look forwards with hope. Clementine and her had a date coming up and hopefully, tonight, she would sneak in that kiss she’d been talking to Lilith about.

If only she could pep talk herself out of the kitchen.

Clem was working the room, charming in that way she always was. How they couldn’t tell she was the daughter of the Devlin herself was anyone’s guess. Even if their magnetism was different, it was there all the time. And she, like her mother, had fallen in that pit with eyes wide open, hoping to be devoured.

The door to the kitchen opens and she turns to face the person. Part of her wonders if it isn’t her darling little dhampir but it’s someone equally as fun. Lilith is there. She looks better now, healing. They both are, even if they now have matching scars stretched across their bodies.

“Hey there thrall mother. How’s the night treating you? You look hot as hell. I’d sleep with you myself if I wasn’t in the process of trying to hook you up with Tio Boris. Or, like, hook you up with him again. He took it well, right? All the stuff.”

[josefina-cruz]

Who: @esmerays​

Where: December 26th, Poelnaran

Josefina had been switching her gaze to three heads the entire night. The first one was Clementine, who was the most radiant being she had ever seen, then to the corner where Nora and Chloe looked like they might start something she hoped they could finish. Then to the dance floor, where the discount wonder twins were making their way around with their respective captives. Connor was charming enough in a social situation, she supposed, and so was Esme. Still, if she could throw them a bone at any point, she would.

Pun completely intended.

When the music started to shift, she quickly shuffled her way through the crowd, sliding up to Esmeray and Prince Corliss. “I think we’re supposed to switch partners for this dance, aren’t we? I’d be so honored to have a fae teach me just how to dance. Are you willing to honor me with it?”

Part of her was banking on the fact that he didn’t pay enough attention to anything to know who she was in relation to Esme as anything more than a curious Aware hoping to learn something more. For a moment, he looked like he may argue, but with a few blinks up with her most charming smile, the man turned to find himself a new partner, telling Esme he would see her rather soon.

The music started again and Jo raised her hands to let her friend guide her. “Okay so he’s a total tool bag. What’s the deal there? Am I smelling an engagement gone sour?”

[josefina-cruz]

The party is in full swing. There are people screaming downstairs, maybe pouring champagne on each other as they count the minutes until the ball drops and all of Vegas erupts in excitement for the new year. But Josefina doesn’t care about the ball right now. She doesn’t care about how the people might be trashing her brand new Moira given house. She doesn’t care about anything but the way Clementine’s lips feel on hers.

When they started kissing is anyone’s guess. Maybe it was sometime in the kitchen when she’d been mixing up another batch of spiked blood orange lemonade that Clem had looked at her a little too sweetly, and she had been a little too drunk on wine and love, that she had finally done what she always wanted to do and got on her toes and kissed her. And that girl was just as as sweet as she’d always thought she’d be.

It had been on that kitchen island that they’d kissed a little too long before one of their friends came in and cleared their throat and raised a brow. Jo didn’t really even register who it was before she’d grabbed Clementine’s hand - she was shy, always so shy - and began dragging her upstairs. They were giggling the entire time and every few steps up the grand staircase Josefina would have to pause, turn around, cup her cheeks, and kiss this girl like she’d never fucking kissed anyone before. She wanted her like she wanted to breath. And even then she wanted her friend more.

They’re in a room now. It looks like a bedroom, but most of the furniture came in the house and Moira was nothing if not eccentric. The dress Clem is wearing is the most beautiful scarlet and her shoulders are exposed, that beautiful pendant of blood pulling all attention to the area. Jo isn’t a vampire, but she is hungry and so she feasts upon her skin like a rabid little beast, leaving bite marks and hickies everywhere she can get her mouth on.

“You are so beautiful,” she finally manages to breath out, smiling down at Clem. “Oh my God. You’re like actually kissing me right now. Do it again.”

She giggles and leans down one more time, cupping her cheeks so she can finally chase the kisses she’s been after for decades now.

@clemxjohnson​

[josefina-cruz]

Do Revenge (2022) dir. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

[josefina-cruz]

clemxjohnson​:

~

Clementine could count on one hand the amount of times she had been truly separated from Jo. Most of which were groundings one or the other received in childhood. Certainly no longer than two days now that they were both adults. It was some specially curated hell she had entered now having Jo right by her side. The importance of her choice to stay at the lot was incredibly apparent. No one, least of all Clementine, wanted to find out what happened if she left the premises. All that she was sure of was that they were much more threatening this way than any other way.

Instead she’d have to settle for longing facetime calls where neither one expressed the weight of their true emotions and pretended like things were fine. In reality, Clem felt like she was steadily going insane. Between the letter, being separated from one of the two people she cared about most, and jump starting a new diet of human blood, all she wanted at the end of the day was to see Jo’s face anywhere but through a screen. 

“I think the last time we were apart this long was when I got grounded for sneaking out at your suggestion,” Clem shoots back with a teasing smirk. Her parents knew keeping her from Jo was the best possible punishment there was. “I’m eating plenty. Or, at least as plentiful I can on a rationed diet. 

“I’m fine, Jo,” Clementine insists, though her smile is soft and fond despite the attitude filled words. Leave it to Jo to be the one worried about her when she was hanging by a thread. The only thing standing between Jo and demise was Lilith hanging on to whatever shreds of life remained. “You have hawk eyes and ears here, anyway, I don’t think anyone would let me get away with less than the bare minimum.”

The tone shifts drastically, and Clementine softens even more. “You aren’t going to lose me. I’m staying very safe, very far from danger. I can’t even leave. Remember? I’m probably safer than most of you right now.”

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷♡꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Josefina can’t help but laugh at the mention of her friend ever successful attempt at getting Clementine to forgo her parent’s rules and explore high school nightlife. There had been a party one of the seniors was throwing and she had been so determined for the two of them to dance together. Maybe it was selfish. It probably was. She was known to be selfish.

The party had been fun though. It was the first of many nights she had almost kissed her best friend. Noa’s been watching their little side stepping dance forever and if they’re both starting to get irritated over it. All she wants is to take the girls hand and kiss her through the screen. But there is a screen and it’s the bane of her fucking existence right now.

“I have a complicated web of drama that I follow incredibly closely,” Jo points out. “And I will know all you do that is against my wishes. Sorry, babe. I can hear if you’re not eating. The walls will tell me. Or the pigeons. Or whatever.”

Even though she’s the one possibly dying, it’s still a comfort to know Clementine is safe, well fed, and taking care of herself. Truthfully there probably is no one better to be with. Cam is a hunter, an experienced one at that, and he can probably keep them all safe. Everyone in that shitty weird little hovel he called a house anyway.

“Clem, I’m starting to tired crash, not gonna lie to you, but I promise we’ll see each other soon. You’re safe so please, please keep being safe. Got it?”

[josefina-cruz]

The car ride with Nora had felt a lot like pulling her own teeth out, honestly. Sure the woman had tried and partially succeeded and ripping out a small piece of her soul and absorbing it, but it really hadn’t been the intended effect of the spell, so Josefina was more apt to forgive. She also didn’t really have enough energy to hold a grudge right now. If she ever started to feel better and was mad, they could cross that bridge then. Right now, every part of her body ached from her own pain and Lilith’s and that second one was getting worse by the day.

Which was why the magic. Jo didn’t have any, only Esme and Nora (and, she guessed, probably Cam in a weird way) had any but her and Clementine could at least be helpful. That was who she was here for anyhow. Clem. But even after a tearful reunion in the driveway they were all but dancing around each other, unsung songs hanging in the air like lead balloons.

Jo didn’t exactly like the taste of cigarettes, but she’d rifled through the drawers in the house and found something that would help calm her frazzled nerves, and gone outside in hopes of calming herself down. She rubbed her eyes and watched the smoke curl in the Vegas desert air. It was colder out here but with every passing day it was getting colder in that way Nevada did when it prepared for winter. Once December hit in earnest they’d all be bundled up tightly. Especially her. She’d never been built for winter.

Now she was not a hunter or an oracle or a wizard or a wolf or anything like that, but she had also been raised in the underground. She could tell when a fairy was watching her.

“I know I look like shit right now, but I promise I don’t bite, Esme. If you want to come talk feel free. Or keep tapping the glass like I’m a fish in an aquarium. Who cares, honestly? Not me.”

@esmerays​

[josefina-cruz]

CAMILA MENDES Photographed by Rachell Smith for Hunger Magazine