This just a messy thing I threw together, I binged Midnight Mass last night again and it made me wanna draw something with vampires. I was also listening to Aurora + wanting to do a softer vibe, so I was shooting for more of a romantic vampire thing rather than horror vibes. I loveeee the gaussian blur + soft light layer combo.
ALSO YAY FOR T4T VAMPIRES :D
Anyways. Another win for the AURORA x RDR community (I make up the entire population of that place.) The lyrics I used are from To Be Alright but Exist for Love is the feeling I was trying to convey with this piece.
A little story about Shad's lore. This character of the vampire in rdr2 isn't talked about much, so it allows me to let my imagination run wild.
(I admit I took inspiration from @red-dead-muses 's posts for the graphics, but they are WoW.)
Tags of people who might be interested: @red-dead-muses @howdycowpokes @sweettea-osi @ripvvanwinkle @doethelittlecowpoke @cowboy-corvidae
RP? I don't know. I just wanted to write something, actually.
Nighttime in that part of America had become strange for Shad. Before, she would spend hours in front of the crackling fire in the gang's camp, talking and laughing with her friends, to her new family.
But now...she spent them alone, in the solitude of the night, hunting wild animals to bring back to the camp cook, because that was the only thing that kept her busy from her thoughts.
She had always considered herself a girl with principles, a simple girl, who simply wanted to find a purpose in life. She thought that by staying with the gang, she could find that something she was missing and maybe that was partly true, but she never expected to become part of a legend.
A vampire. A bloodthirsty vampire. Animal and...human.
At first, she thought it was interesting. Heightened senses, superhuman speed and power, she felt almost 'invincible'...But immortality came at a cost, and she was beginning to dislike that cost.
Shad gazed at the stars, her breath absent, as she remembered the nights she had gazed at the sky in the garden of her old house in Italy.
Oh, Italy. She would have stayed, if it hadn't been for everything that should have tied her there... the society that wanted her to keep quiet and good, her father, and that marriage she didn't want. "Fuck off..." She just wanted those thoughts to leave her alone for a while, but the guilt of leaving and the fear of being found were hitting her harder than she would have liked.
Luckily, those thoughts faded away when she heard the sound of something. An animal. Not large. Discreet. A deer, perhaps? Very likely. The animal's footsteps were moving away. He was afraid, she could feel it in his heartbeat, a skill she had mastered over the past few weeks.
The deer heard her, tried to run away, but could not do anything against such a monster, because yes, she called herself a monster who wants just bloods and when she landed the deer and was ready to suck the life away, She repeated it to herself again.
'You're a fucking monster.'
The deer didn't move in her hands, as if it knew it was dead by now. Shad's claws scraped the animal's flesh to draw the blood she so craved. She showed those now too sharp canines, but before she could bite the neck of her dinner, she heard a voice behind her and stopped.
"I see you've adjusted to your new life, girl." It was a voice she had never heard before. Short, ancient, mocking. Shad turned to the man who had spoken, and a tall figure, in the dim light, was looking at her. Only his blood-red eyes were visible.
She felt like she was experiencing that scene again.
The deer ran away, grateful that he wouldn't have to die that night at the hands of such a fearsome being, and Shad stood there, looking at that man, who gave her goosebumps...
"I...know you?" She asked, but the man ignored her. "I've been watching you for a while. Wasting your power hunting miserable animals and not eating what you actually need most?... a huge waste." The man approached her in a composed manner and now she could see him better. The features of a man of a certain age, but with pointed ears, blood-thirsty eyes, and skin whiter than the moon.
"Y-you..." It didn't take her long to close the stitches. Her hands clenched into fists. "Was it you...?"
"That day? In Saint Denise? Unfortunately, yes." The tone was almost disgusting. "It was a mistake, but I guess there's no going back." He gestured with one hand, not looking at the face of what he had created. The man felt more powerful, haughty.
At those words, Shad had to digest for a moment. That man had been the reason for hef transformation, and besides having confirmed it in such a disgusted way, Had he even dared to say that it had just been 'a mistake'?
"What the hell do you want from me, you dirty piece of me—" "calm down, girl. Don't be rude. It doesn't suit a woman like you." Shad was starting to get upset. If that man had been a person with blood, she might even consider leaping on him and testing him with her dear lifeblood.
"What do you want." They were distant, the tension on Shad's part was palpable, while the other man seemed calm. Too calm, almost.
The Saint Denise vampire began walking around her, as if sizing up his prey. "Initially I didn't want anything, on the contrary, I thought about killing you." Shad followed him with her gaze, a shiver running down her spine. "But then I thought, why not make this worthwhile? You are young, of moderate beauty, you will attract many men." The man stopped almost in front of her. A smirk on his face. "You'd make great bait."
A decoy? He wanted her to attract men for...him to...eat?
"I won't be part of your little charade just because you want bigger dinners, vampire." Shad wouldn't have done it. She didn't kill for herself, she didn't grow up leading men to die. She'd had enough. Even if he was like her, She didn't want anything to do with him. Shad started to turn and leave, but was stopped by a hand that gripped her wrist. A groan of pain escaped her lips as she turned to look into those eyes that once again, asked for blood and didn't take no for an answer.
"You better go along with it, girl. I made you, and I can kill you whenever I want." The tone was grave, showing his canines which were decidedly larger than her own. "Or I could kill your new little family. They all look really delicious, you know?"
Shad froze at those words. Did he know about the camp? Of course he did. He was watching her. What could she do at that moment? She couldn't run away, she couldn't refuse...was her family more important than her principles?
"...fine..." She murmured, lowering her head, unable to see the man's satisfied smile. He let go of her wrist. "It was easy. Good girl. I'll get in touch, but don't make too many plans." His tone was light, as if he had just closed a profitable deal.
The vampire of Saint Denise vanished into that cold night, and Shad was left there again. Alone. Under the sky of that night she would always remember and hate until the end of her life.
