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Am I Enough PT 15
Bucky X Reader
A/N: I am on a roll two fics in the same week.But please don’t get too used to it I try though. So here it is I hope you enjoy it. My tags for this story are still open. I am addicted to comments it helps me write faster and generally makes my day.
It wasn’t anything in particular that woke you up the next morning. It was merely how comfortable you seemed to be. You manage to stretch, then curl back into the heat that is radiating from your side. You drifted off once again into a relaxed state not quite asleep but still aware of things beginning to go on around you. The murmuring started out like a TV on really low so as not to disturb anyone. It wasn’t till the shuttering from cameras that you stiffened and really took in your surroundings. You were draped across a warm, firm surface. Your eyes cracked open to get the full reality of the situation, bracing yourself for it.
You opened them to a neck a thick tanned neck, raising your head you land on Bucky’s face. His eyes are open and fixated on something above you and over the couch. With you wiggling around in his arms you manage to draw his attention to you. His grey eyes seem to sear into yours.
“Not to alarm you or put you in a more awkward spot but we seem to have an audience.” He runs his hands up and down your back. It had been a habit he had picked up while you were dating. If you were honest, you missed it. You peer over the back of the couch to find the team lined up in the kitchen watching the two of you. Some quickly turned their attention else where pretending they hadn’t done anything. Other, aka Tony and Nat, had their phones out and taking pictures of the moment. You jerk up, flinging yourself to the other side of the couch.
“Tony that better be an email your sending or your going to have to buy a new phone.” You turn your glare on him. He was far from your good graces especially after the stunt he pulled on you yesterday.
He at least had the gall to look down and put his phone away. You quickly rise from the couch, you wouldn’t make eye contact with Bucky who was still stretched out on the couch. Rushing out you feel your face burning with embarrassment, you got too comfortable that’s what happened and now you were in this predicament. Now what were you going to do? You couldn’t leave your room, but at the same time you still had a bone to pick with Tony. But it’s not like they hadn’t ever caught you in that position before. Of course that was before the incident happened.
You started to pace your room, pulling your hair while twiddling your fingers together. What the heck were you supposed to do. You had made so much progress with Bucky. This could put you back on the scales. Wait?! Why did you care so much? This was just Bucky, you had merely fallen asleep on him. Carelessly draped yourself over him like a dishrag and invaded his personal space.
You pick up a pillow and scream into it. Why was this so freaking hard to figure out? Signal more hair pulling. It wasn’t really like you could even ask the other girls for help either. You knew they would just tell you to accept your feelings and get over it. Finally it clicked you needed him really only he could help.
“FRIDAY, would you grab Sam for me?”
“Right away, ma’am.”
You continued to pace your room, you were so caught up in your thoughts you managed to miss Sam knocking and walking into the room. He watched you for several moments, he was quite certain you were about to set your floors on fire. It was his laugh that finally brought you out of your stupor.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to see you are overthinking this whole situation.”
“I know that, why do you think I asked you to come in here?! It’s not like i haven’t been in this position before. I swear I feel like it is the very first time. But I shouldn’t feel this way we aren’t dating. We broke up heck I half promised myself I wouldn’t get involved with him anymore. So why can’t I get him out of my head and like you said over think every single stupid situation?”
Sam stares at you for a moment trying to pick apart all you had just said. “First, calm down. Why don’t you sit down next to me?” He waited until you perched on the edge of your bed before he began. “Now I know that you seem to think of me as a cure all, a master of all solutions, but I’m not. I can’t help but say that you need to just let things happen. You are so focused on what’s happening and what could possibly happen but you need to stop. It’s doing nothing but causing you stress.”
You can’t help but appreciate how he always goes the extra mile for you. At the same time you could understand what Sam was saying. You did rely on him too much, there was a time where you could make your own choice, stand on your own two feet. Somewhere along the line you stopped, using everyone you knew to help solve them. Taking each situation and using it as an excuse as you needed it. Jeez you were nothing but a baby.
“Sam, when did I become such a baby? When did I start being unable to help myself?” To say Sam was surprised was an understatement. He knew you would have to realize it eventually but definitely not this quickly.
He sat beside you, wrapping an arm around you he pulls you into his side. “Finally saw it did you, you’re getting your fire back to full strength. I knew it was there it just needed the right moment to fully ignite. So let me ask you what are you going to do?”
“I don't really know yet but I know I can walk out there handle anything they throw out of me.” You turn and hug Sam close. “How did I ever manage to find such a great friend as you?”
“You know I'm not sure but I for one am glad you found me.” He squeezed you before pushing you to arms length. “Now, I hope you know you can still come talk to me, I'm in no way saying you can't talk to me any more.”
“Oh I know. Now I just need someone to talk to and give advice, I'm finally getting my legs back and this time I'm not going to lose them again.” He could see the flames igniting in your eyes again, he felt his smile grow from seeing it where it belonged.
“Well then legs, let's go eat I'm starving and you’re being too serious for my liking this morning. Race Ya!!” He shoved you so you went sprawling on your bed.
“Hey, cheater! Come back here.” There was no venom in your voice. You race after him, stumbling into the kitchen you see him sitting down on a stool acting like he’d been there forever. You came up next to him and casually shoved him off. He let out an unseemly squawk. The group fell apart, while you perched yourself on the seat he had vacated.
“Excuse you ma'am, I believe you are in my seat.” Sam was attempting to loom over you. It wasn’t very intimidating, so you proceeded to ignore him. He attempted to shove you off, you had seen it coming and braced yourself for retaliation, hr only succeeded in swaying you. You laughed at his efforts, he in returns growls at you. “You’re in my seat woman.”
“So, you pushed me first.” You don’t bother to make eye contact, instead watch Wanda finish preparing pancakes. Making it seem as though you had never seen the process before.
Vision was plating up food as Wanda finished, passing out plates to the people seated at the island first. When he placed your plate down he glanced up at you. “(Y/N) did you have a good night? Get plenty of rest?”
You were startled by the sudden question. “Wasn’t so bad.” You look over at the man in question before continuing. “Bucky is a pretty good lay.” He was mid sip with his coffee when you said that, resulting in him choking on it. He wasn’t the only one though, both Steve and Tony had also been drinking, Tony’s spurt right out his nose. You hold back a full laugh before continuing. “Yeah he’s rather warm, I think from that super soldier stuff he’s got going on. Also not such a bad mattress, not to soft but definitely not to firm. Though i will say, I don’t like getting poked in the stomach everytime I move, if you get what I mean.”
By this point the guys are rolling on the floor laughing, Steve and Bucky are bright red that they resemble tomatoes. The girls are staring at you like you have grown a second head. Vision on the other hand is carefully taking your statement apart. “Yes, the serum makes his metabolism run quicker than most humans. This results in a higher body temperature, he runs about 5-7 degrees hotter. Ideal for falling asleep on to most people.” You nod your head in agreement, it had been delightful to wake up on top of him. “Though I am concerned about this feature that was poking you. Would you mind describing the feel to me?”
Wanda came up to him slapping a hand over his mouth. If it was possible Steve and Bucky got even redder. You couldn’t help one more jab at him before getting the day going, “It wasn’t anything significant, just a small, teeny tiny prod. In fact if I hadn’t been paying attention would have never even felt it.”
Sam was crying, “She called you small, I knew it!”
“I am not small.” Bucky shouted. This didn’t help anything, as it just embarrassed him farther.
The day continued at a great pace, everyone would still chuckle every time they saw Bucky. You had chewed out Tony that morning about the work he had made you do. Your legs and back were almost nonexistent and could barely support you. You spent most of it sitting down, sorting through various paperwork and things that needed to be filed with other people. Being so busy, you missed lunch.
You had finally sorted through the stacks when you came across some papers that need more information and signatures to them. Most were merely equipment repairs and supply acquisitions. For the most part you filled in the blanks but when it came to personal items you really had no clue. You spent your afternoon chasing down all the others getting them to sign different forms.
You were having trouble finding Natasha and Bucky, it seemed whenever you asked a person they had just left or where they had gone wasn’t right. You were getting frustrated, you just wanted to get this done and move on with your day.
Slinking into the common area you found them both seated by the window, sitting rather close to each other. A sharp pain shot through you, it was happening again, the doubt. You could feel yourself starting to sweat, and close down all your emotion preventing as much pain as possible. Clearing your throat, they both swing about, when they saw it was you they both separated, Bucky stood up and Natasha brought up her hands waving them in an attempt to clear any misunderstanding.
“(Y/N) please it’s not what it looks like.”
Bucky POV
After the heyday that was this morning Bucky was exhausted. He was currently seated on the edge of his bed, head in his hands. Releasing a heavy sigh, a knock disturbs his racing thoughts.
“Hey Buck. You ready for our workout session?” Steve was peeking around the corner of his door. When he saw the state Bucky was in he came all the way in shutting the door behind him. He had a feeling this would come but mostly he thought it would be after a few punching bags met their untimely demise. “What’s on your mind? I hope you don’t take this morning too seriously, I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”
“Oh I know that, but still I’ve never been that embarrassed before. I can’t believe she said all those things about me.” he finally raised his head, his thoughts were still a whirlwind of emotion and trying to figure out what the heck had happened this morning. “I mean did you see how she ran out of the room after you caught us on the couch? I thought for sure I had screwed it up then. But she came out and acted with such fire. I mean I’m kinda turned on by it all.”
“Yeah, I mean except the being turned on. I thought I wouldn’t see it for a very long time.” Steve threw an arm around him. “Think of it this way, she is able to stand up for herself.”
“But she ran and then had Sam come to her. She relies on him now they are hardly ever apart from each other. I mean movie nights, dinner, she is hardly ever away from him. How am I supposed to compete with that? They are best friends maybe even more than that. We used to be that I used to be the person she ran after. Came to with each problem and delima. I mean I know I screwed that up I understand that. I just wish we could go back to how it used to be. There has to be something I can do to make up with her.”
He didn’t know how to help him. He hadn’t really ever been in a situation like this. He was drawing a complete blank on this. “I don’t really know how to help you. But maybe it’s more proving to her that your over Natasha, that it won’t happen again.”
“You know what Punk? That has to be one of the smartest things you have ever said to me. Now i just need to prove it to her. Yeah, but how?”
“That I really have no idea about, you’re on your own for that one.” Steve claps him on the back before rising. “Now come on we have training to do.” He didn’t even look back. Just walked out and moved toward to the gym.
He was thoroughly kept busy in the gym. The methodical pushing and pulling of weightlifting and the steady thumping of running allowed him time to think about what he needed to do. The first being talking to Natasha and making sure they were on the same page about everything.
By the time he had finished and showered, lunch was ready to go. He wander into the kitchen and found Nat sitting at the island. Serving up his lunch he quickly took a seat next to her. Surprisingly he realized that they hadn’t been close or even alone together in the same room since the incident. They had eventually moved to one of the couches.
“Hey I…. I think this talk has been long overdue.” He was looking out the window not daring to look at her. “I need you to know that we can never be together. I can’t do that to her again. Going through all that seeing her pain I can never do that. Never again.” He was more firm as his speech went on anyone could be sure that he knew what he wanted.
“Yeah I have to agree. Though I’m glad we are getting this time to talk about everything. I mean we were probably so scared of messing up again that we were merely avoiding anything that could seem suspicious to her.”
“Yeah.” They sat in silence neither wanting to be the first to explain their actions to the other. Unfortunately (Y/N) chose that moment to come into the room. He could see the look on her face, the fear, the past playing out in her eyes. In a flurry of action, Bucky raised his hand to prevent any understanding.
“(Y/N), this is a misunderstanding. We were just talking I swear. I…. We needed to discuss some things that's all.” He approached her with hesitance in every step.
She paused and he froze taking in each others reactions. He could see her face relax, notice her searching his face for answers making sure that everything he was saying was true. Finally after a few painful moments and the mere thought that she wouldn’t believe him, she straightened and a smile emerged on her face.
“Oh, ok. I’m sorry for just assuming things. I just got a little scared is all.” There was only a slight tremble in her voice.
“Yeah, and (Y/N) I am going to make up for everything I’ve done to you. I’ll earn your trust back I promise.” She was nodding her head, even though he could still see her trying to accept his answers. Well what could he do, moving one step at a time. It may be a long process but for her it was worth every moment as long as he could get her back.
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♡ (fluffy) harry x draco headcanons ♡
before they got together, Draco obsessively read every article about Harry in the Daily Prophet (not that he'd ever admit it)
he even stole his mother's Witch Weekly to read about Harry once (or twice)
so...he's positively obsessed about Potter, though he may need some time to truly understand the nature of his obsessiveness towards him
but when he does (!) (!) (!)
for Harry it's different. he's pining for Draco for a long time, but he's scared to do something about it; it's Draco Malfoy we are talking about after all
so he just watches from distance, getting grumpy, then hopeful and then grumpy again
they start small; talking about quidditch. A LOT (they play it a lot too, even when it's only two of them)
may I add they are both fiercely competitive during it? or during everything really??
a quick game of snap may turn into a bloodshed (and they both cheat shamelessly when losing)
they also work out together and turn it into a competition as well (duhh)—who can lift more, who can run faster, etc
Draco knows exactly how to push Harry's buttons, effortlessly getting a rise out of him; it helps him when he wants to distract Harry (and win), but mostly he does it because Harry's reaction to these little provocations are so fucking adorable
Harry often blushes too; at Draco's bluntness (which is also adorable)
Draco simply can't take his eyes out of Potter, and his little, cold heart ache whenever Harry looks at him softly, with those eyes of his
actually he could stare at him for hours, but he feels like a bit of a creep for it, so he often does it while Harry is asleep (still acting like a creep if you ask me)
Harry opens up to Draco first, he's so painfully genuine that Malfoy has no other option but open up as well
it turns out it's not that bad; opening up to somebody he cares about
and sometimes it scares him how much he cares
so...yes Draco is positively smitten with Harry
he's even willing to accept the Weasel in their life for the sake of Harry (which should speak volumes!)
Draco is taking Harry out to dinner often, always insisting on paying (a true gentleman through and through). it's his way of spoiling Harry and showing his affection, despite Harry's protests
and when they are alone...
they can't keep their hands off each other, and even the softest kiss can quickly escalate (!)
speaking about kissing; Draco loses his mind whenever Harry kisses him, completely overwhelmed
and when his hand start trailing over his body, moving lower and lower, Draco's breath catches
as I said they can't keep their hands off each other :)
at night Harry clings to Draco lovingly, despite Draco's mock complaints
but when Harry is not with him and he has the bed all for himself he can't sleep at all, he feels lonely and miss Harry like crazy (the feeling's mutual)
︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵
i love them your honor and i will die on this hill
*currently re-reading my favourite drarry fanfictions and having a time of my life*
you can find more of my works about draco ♡here♡
Prompt 7
Villain of the week captures Jaskier and Geralt and either uses a potion or spell or curse of some sort to revert Geralt down to nothing but baser wolfy instincts, perhaps while saying a snarky quip to Jaskier about "finally seeing what a monster the witcher is", only to get blindsided by InstinctsOnly!Geralt just going CUDDLECRAZY over his bard. Kisses, licks, hugs, snuggles, nuzzling, the whole shabang. ♡!Optional addons!♡ • Obligatory "perhaps things get spicier than just cuddles"
• The captor tries to separate them and/or harms Jaskier and Geralt casually proves he doesn't need his swords to kill
• This all happens pre-slash, and Jaskier is stunned at Geralt's behavior, but suspects it's just the instincts and Geralt doesn't truly like him nearly this much (Geralt has to tell him how wrong he is after they're safe, of course) ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
PISSING AND SHITTING ON THE FLOOR @araglas1989 found a pre-existing fic that ticks almost all the boxes! I'd still love to see someone write this prompt, but if you're a fellow reader like I, feel free to give this one a try! by leodesic on AO3
Deep down, you’ve always wanted Buffy to accept you, to love you, even.
a few of my favourite things ☆ (7/30) romantic reationships: buffy and faith
we’re slayers, girlfriend, the chosen two.
father, have mercy I know that I have gone astray when I saw my reflection it was a stranger beneath my face
Genderswap Banban and Banbaleena cuz why not? Lol
Rewatched This Years Girl/Who Are You last night and I CANNOT stop thinking about Faith's extended monologue at Spike about how cool it would be to have sex with Buffy. Like, completely unprompted, she delivers this CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT to a guy she doesn't know and doesn't care about. "I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more." HELLO??? "And you know why I don't? Because it's wrong." SO WE'RE NOT EVEN REALLY TALKING ABOUT SPIKE ANYMORE HUH
Like. She really said all that. Out loud. An extremely detailed sexual fantasy about how cool sex with Buffy would be if Buffy wasn't such a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun. Or if Faith wasn't Wrong
And honestly, it's still not as completely insane as last episode when she tied up Joyce to complain about being dumped and how much she hated Buffy's new boyfriend who she has seen ONCE for a total of about 30 seconds through a window
We need to talk about the Enemies kiss from Faith's perspective. Because obviously this scene is framed from Buffy's POV, and invites us to ask questions about Buffy's character. The big question is "Is Buffy capable of killing Faith?" and the answer is explicitly "Not yet". "Yes" is the destination she will reach in the season finale. But the other question, implied but never brought to the forefront, is the inverse: Is Faith capable of killing Buffy? I would argue this scene proves that the answer is "No".
Faith and Buffy stand there, with knives to each others throats, a slight flick of the wrist away from ending the others' life. It seems like a Mexican standoff, an impasse - neither can kill the other without dying themselves. But the show tells us that it's actually not.
"What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that."
The show tells us explicitly that Buffy will not kill Faith, and that Faith knows it. She is correct in her assessment here. She has to be correct, for Buffy's journey to make sense. She knows she is correct, because her role as Buffy's Shadow demands that she know.
It only follows, then, that Faith could have killed Buffy here. Since Buffy was incapable at that moment of killing Faith, it would have been trivial for Faith to kill her. She could have done it, and nobody could have stopped her. Nobody else was capable of stopping her.
So why doesn't she? If she kills Buffy in that moment, then she has won. She would be the only slayer, the one girl in all the world. Sunnydale would be her town to rule. If all her bravado about being jealous of Buffy and wanting to destroy her and her life and take anything she wanted without anyone holding her back was true, then killing Buffy here would achieve all that. If that was her only motivation, then she would have killed her.
But she doesn't. Because deep down, that is not the thing she always wanted. She never wanted to kill Buffy. I think that's one of the most important things about their relationship. Buffy can kill her - but she could never kill Buffy. Because who would she be without her? What is a shadow without its light?
That's not to whitewash Faith - she was perfectly capable of doing a lot of truly repugnant things to Buffy, and she did do a lot of them. But Buffy has an iron core that Faith does not, and it makes her capable of killing the people she loves. You can see this difference in the different ways they deal with Angelus. Buffy eventually musters up the strength to kill Angel in S2, while Faith remains resolute in absolutely refusing to do the same in AtS S4. It is the same for each other.
It's so fascinating. Buffy's arc is all about "becoming" Faith. "You kill me you become me". "You did it. You killed me". The show tells us that killing Faith proves Buffy's similarity to her, and yet also tells us the Faith was never capable of killing Buffy to begin with. How delightfully insane. How "she is more myself than I am" of them.
Faith stands there, with a knife to Buffy's throat, knowing full well that she could kill her right then. Nobody can or will stop her. She holds Buffy's death in her hands. A flick of the wrist, and she wins. She can have everything she claims to want. And what does she do?
She gives her a kiss.
sorry but it's canon that buffy and faith are bad for each other. I still ship them tho
No it’s not, they’ve never been in a relationship or anything and haven’t been on good terms since they were 17. Most of the problems they had in their tragic relationship were caused by other people. I fully believe post chosen, once they mature and have time without an apocalypse happening they would move past the past and get along really well and fall in love and be in a happy healthy relationship. They already made huge strides in season 7. There are reasons I believe they are actually the only people who would make each other happy but I won’t get into that. The idea that faith and Buffy will always make each other unhappy and just can’t get along is a myth.
Also, Buffy and Faith are absolutely girlfriends in early Season 3, but are also completely unaware of that fact.
!["She Didn't Even Kill Me! [...] She Didn't Even Care Enough To Cut Off My Head, Or Set Me On Fire. Is](https://64.media.tumblr.com/dacdb40ef215b4d721948c795504c88a/3ba3ff5566c3d7ac-4f/s500x750/40e0e1a7337edfc30a742dfb468b4838fb3fafe9.jpg)
!["She Didn't Even Kill Me! [...] She Didn't Even Care Enough To Cut Off My Head, Or Set Me On Fire. Is](https://64.media.tumblr.com/15182056b199d14d8d0d3c169033ebde/3ba3ff5566c3d7ac-dc/s500x750/672ca5f0acc3208ff61b06cfe53fd1161101b0cf.jpg)
!["She Didn't Even Kill Me! [...] She Didn't Even Care Enough To Cut Off My Head, Or Set Me On Fire. Is](https://64.media.tumblr.com/1789c347209d11701d9ca35fc278033c/3ba3ff5566c3d7ac-bb/s500x750/0838d8dc5cc6c9c605e6d85f00bf49172f32960c.jpg)
"She didn't even kill me! [...] She didn't even care enough to cut off my head, or set me on fire. Is that too much to ask? Y'know, some little sign that she cared?" - Spike about Drusilla, definitely not Faith about Buffy
Lovers Walk is about Faith.
One of the reasons I don't mind that Faith is physically missing for so much of S3 is that she is such a strong thematic presence that episodes where she doesn't even appear are still very much About her and what she represents in the narrative. Like Band Candy showing us the events of Bad Girls eight episodes in advance, The Wish showing us how easily Buffy could end up a more jaded, bitter, friendless slayer, Earshot being centred around characters whose jealousy and insecurities can turn suicidal as easily as homoicidal. But Lovers Walk might be my favourite of these.
If you read the events of Revelations as Faith feeling cheated on and dumped (which you should, because that's how the narrative describes it. It's not literally what happens but it is explicitly how Faith feels about it), then that makes Spike in Lovers Walk very clearly a proxy Faith. Like, we leave off Revelations with Faith alone in her motel, feeling sad and heartbroken and cut off from Buffy, and then we roll into Lovers Walk and Buffy's other dark shadow self turns up a heartbroken mess, having just been cheated on and dumped, and spends the whole episode being very sad and bitter about it, and I think it's a good reference point for what Faith is also feeling at that point.
Faith is already linked to the events of this episode through the "we're just good friends" axis that connects Buffy/Faith, Buffy/Angel and Willow/Xander that I've talked about before. She's also linked through the dog/love theme that is woven throughout S3 and pops up here with the "love's bitch" reference. And Spike's speech puts a bow on this, by being, to be honest, a better desriptor of Buffy/Faith than it is of Buffy/Angel. Everything that Spike says in this episode Faith could say herself, and most likely wants to say herself.
"You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends."
I'm So Evil, And Skanky, And I Think I'm Kinda Gay (Bad Girls)
In 1872, a full twenty-five years before the release of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu published Carmilla. This story depicts the relationship between the young and innocent protagonist, Laura, and the confident and mysterious title character, Carmilla. A friendship blossoms between Carmilla and Laura and the two become close, but over time Laura becomes suspicious of Carmilla’s strange behaviour. She flees from her, and it is revealed that Carmilla is a vampire who has been preying on Laura – feeding on her nightly and attempting to turn her into a creature of darkness. Carmilla is confronted, killed, has her head removed and body burned, and the ashes of both are thrown into the river.
A simple story and much shorter than a true novel, Carmilla’s historical impact outweighs its length. Not only is it one of the earliest and most notable pieces of vampire fiction, and a great influence on Dracula itself, it is also the origin point of one of the most controversial tropes in this genre of fiction: the Lesbian Vampire.
The vampire myth as constructed by Dracula and its compatriots positions vampires as a corrupting sexual influence upon women. Older men sneak into the bedrooms of virginal young women, penetrate them, and therefore transform them into something tragic and ungodly. They personify a threat to patriarchy; a threat perceived in the form of female sexuality. The idea is that an unmarried woman having symbolic sex will irrevocably twist them into some kind of monster.
The Lesbian Vampire exists as an extension of this idea, focusing on one of the most diabolical threats to patriarchal ideology – a woman who sexually desires another woman. Carmilla’s victims are exclusively female, and her pursuit of Laura is very visibly romantic in nature. She kisses Laura, confesses love for her, the two take walks in the moonlight and embrace each other. This is what leads to Carmilla feeding upon Laura and threatening her death. Symbolically, there is no separation between the two. The danger Laura is in is caused by same-sex desire. Carmilla’s villainy is her lesbianism. The trope does not have to include vampires in a strict sense, but more generally the link of sapphic seduction leading to corruption.
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