Josefina Valez

Lasombra -x- Sabbat -x- Montreal

Sobriquet: None.

Appearance: Josefina appears to be an aging Hispanic beauty. Her long, dark-glossy hair is shot with gray, but her emerald eyes sparkle with the mischievous light of a much younger woman. Josefina's smooth olive complected skin holds a dark tan from her last days beneath the rays of the life-giving sun. She prefers to wear light colored dresses that contrast well with her skin, but when necessity dictates that she wear more practical clothing, she usually dons denim pants, a light cotton blouse, a leather jacket, and cow-boy boots. Like her grandmother Carolina, she prefers to wear silver jewelry liberally worked with turquoise and wears light airy perfumes. Unlike her grandmother, Josefina isn't particularly petite - rather she would be best described as a full-bodied mature, but athletic woman. Another significant difference between the two Valez women would be Josefina's laugh lines and crows feet; Carolina could have passed for a high-school girl, her grand-daughter on the other hand is the elegant cougar.

Background: Josefina was born to Camilo Leocadio and Maria Valez-Leocadio of Ciudad de Juárez, Mexico in 1972. Her father, Camilo was the young son of a fairly wealthy, northern Mexican landowner. Her mother, Maria was of rural Mexican peasant stock, who had been abandoned by her mother years before. Theirs was a fairytale romance so common to young lovers, it would probably have ended in some predictable way.

The end began one evening in Ciudad de Juárez in 1982, as Maria was returning home from shopping to find her mother Carolina waiting for her. Maria was suitably overwhelmed and excited, there was so much to catch up on and so many unanswered questions. The reunion was bitter-sweet until Camilo returned home from work with Josefina on his shoulders. At first sight of the girl, Carolina wanted the child, Josefina possessed all of Carolina's long lost beauty. Camilo and Maria must have sensed something was wrong, because they sent Josefina, then - just turned ten years old, to her room to play. She read her fairy-tale books until she heard strange noises coming from the kitchen, she was so scared by the sounds that she waited with her hand on the door-handle until it began to turn by-itself. The her mother's "friend" Carolina came into the room and told her they were going to go live in a big city full of angels. Josefina suddenly felt funny, but it sounded so nice, she couldn't wait. As they walked away towards the shiny black car, she wanted to ask where mommy and daddy were and why her house was on fire. But she learned quickly that Carolina did not like those kinds of questions.

She never saw Mexico again, though she would dream of it often enough to remember it in a hazy kind of way. She was raised in Los Angeles by her god-parents Orso and Sofia Grimaldi. She had one older half-brother Giustino who looked after her and was her best friend. She went to the best private schools and had many tutors. Every holiday was fantastic, with lots to eat, wonderful toys and sometimes the family went different places to see new things. But never on her birthday, that was always spent with Carolina, who would come and take her for that one night of the year.

As the years passed, Josefina way peripherally aware that Carolina was always nearby, but never particularly close. She wanted to love Carolina for bringing her to live with the Grimaldi family, but as much as she did love them, she could not summon any love for beautiful woman who took her away from her parents and home in Mexico. Orso was a big bear of a man, with a hairy chest and flush face so full of cheer and Sofia was a wonderful woman who wiped away her tears when she cried and taught her what it was to be a woman. And of course, there was always Giustino who she loved best of all.

It wasn't until they moved to Montreal and she was in her twenties that she realized that her beloved step-family were nearly as unchanging as Carolina. None of them seemed to have aged a day, since she had come to live with them in the early 1980s. She finally confronted Sofia, on her off day from University; the truth left her numb and she was forbidden to ever mention it again for fear that Carolina would find out. With Sofia's confession, all of Josefina's delightful storybook monsters had come to life and turned her world up-side-down. Carolina was actually Josefina's grandmother, but at the ripe old age of 62 - she looked like a waifish model. The Grimaldi were Carolina's servants, who would live far longer than normal people because a long time ago, their ancestors had drunk the blood of vampires and had passed on some of the gifts of undeath to their children. Carolina was a vampire, could not appear in reflective surfaces and was the most powerful of her kind in Montreal. It was all so epic, so terrifying. During the day, Josefina would practice her nonchalant, everything is normal act in front of a bright shiny mirror that never lied to her like Carolina.

As the years passed, the role that Carolina played in Josefina's life changed in a frighteningly predictable way. Originally, Carolina was a faux aunt who would bring toys to and take Josefina nice places on her birthday. Then when Josefina entered her teen years, she became a distant older sister who arranged for and chaperoned Josefina's sweet-sixteenth party. Then in Josefina's twenties, Carolina became her BFF and showed her a world of pleasures far removed from dolls and high-school dances. In Josefina's thirties, Carolina became her 'little sister,' who liked 'older' men of influence or wealth and dragged Josefina around all night to endless parties. Finally, in Josefina's early forties, as crows-feet began to creep around Josefina's eyes and gray into her hair, Carolina became her college age 'daughter' who would pretend to sulkily attend her mother's cocktail parties.

It wasn't long after this final change in their quixotic relationship, that Carolina came to her and told her that everything had been arranged. Josefina was going to marry Giustino Grimaldi, her older adopted brother. There was never an option of saying no, if Carolina had said it, then it was a done deal. In her adult years, she had known more than a few men and had enjoyed their company, but she never let herself get close to any for fear they would meet a fate similar to her parents. Josefina married Giustino during a night ceremony in a newly consecrated church and was allowed to invite her old boarding school friends and sorority sisters and even her co-workers. Her daughter - Carolina - brought a refined older gentleman as her date and introduced him as Tobias Smith. Josefina felt something electric pass through her as Tobias kissed her hand, and strangely, she saw something like passion pass through his eyes. The wedding celebration lasted nearly to dawn, but by that time, Carolina and Mr.Smith had already been gone for hours. If the marriage bed wasn't entirely normal, it was certainly well used and fruitful, for a year later she gave birth to not one baby girl, but two - twins.

Carolina must have been pleased, because she made regular appearances at the christenings and at birthdays and even during the holidays. Always, Carolina would appear with Tobias Smith in tow and after awhile, Josefina began to relax in his presence, sensing nothing like danger from him. But, the opposite was true of Carolina, who began to act - strangely - and Josefina was anxious every-time that Carolina would visit, fearing a repeat of what had happened to her own parents. Surprisingly, one night Tobias appeared without Carolina and visited late into the evening with Josefina, as Giustino had take the children to work with him. His visit was cordial, and it repeated itself more and more often.

When the girls turned ten, Carolina threw them a wonderful party that Josefina thought might be her last; but Tobias was ever at Josefina's side and while Carolina seemed to finally notice, she did nothing overt. That night, Tobias offered Josefina immortality; she was flabbergasted, flattered, terrified and electrified. Throughout the whole of the next day, Josefina expected something terrible to happen, which made the day seem to last forever, but with the setting of the sun, Tobias arrived and walked her to the cemetery. Upon their arrival at the cemetery, he explained what was to happen and though she was afraid, she knew it was too late to change her mind. Her death and subsequent immortality changed her in some ways and petrified her in others. The dark new world she entered was nothing like her imaginings, for it was both better and worse and infinitely more complex.

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