Sketched this scene while listening to @sillyunicorn‘s podfic of Sucker by @mostlymaudlin and finally had time to finish adding color. Anyway Kevin is a baby bird and I love that for him.
I didn’t realize that I actually had another vampire!Kevin drabble pretty much done. Just wrote a little bit more to it and called it good to go. It follows from the first drabble I wrote a few months back.
Elder Price had spent the rest of the day outside of the hut in a tree. It was shady enough for the sun not to burn him but it was also secluded enough to not be bothered by anyone. Shame filled the 19 year olds body from what had happened in the hut. They were never supposed to have found out… He had controlled it as best he could, but the General.
Kevin rolled his eyes at the thought.
This whole ordeal was the General’s fault. Well, it was Kevin’s initial fault. He tried to scare him off by flashing his eyes red with his initial instinct to protect everyone around him. Then the gun fired and blood was now everywhere and even on him. Looking back on the whole situation, Kevin realized that he didn’t change his shirt.
Dried blood caked in splatters on his shirt. Good blood gone to waste… he thought. He groaned out loud, completely done with everything.
“Elder Price?”
Kevin looked down at the ground to find Nabulungi looking up at him with worried eyes.
“Are you alright?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“No.”
She didn’t ask to climb up, she just did. Quickly, she managed to scale the tree with ease and sit next to him on the branch.
“What’s wrong?”
“A lot,” he sighed. “Nabulungi, can I ask you something? It might sound a bit strange.”
“Of course, Elder Price,” she smiled.
“Do you believe in the things you can’t explain? Like… werewolves, ghosts, monsters, vampires, so on and so forth…?”
“Of course. There are all of those things here in Uganda. Why do you ask?”
“Cause,” he sighed. It was better to just come out with it rather than later. “Cause I’m a vampire and the others Elders found out and I’m terrified to go back.”
“The General triggered it, didn’t he?” she frowned.
“Yes.”
“I was hoping that none of you would ever have to encounter him…” she sighed. “He always seems to bring out the worst in people… No matter what it is.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” he clarified. “It was a bad situation and when he showed up, I had the urge to just protect everyone. Don’t get me wrong, taking him on wouldn’t be that bad. But keeping it a secret? That’s harder.”
“I wouldn’t know,” she shook her head, “so I can’t connect. But I understand that it would be very hard.”
“I’m afraid to go back to the hut…”
“Who else knows?”
“Besides the other elders?” She nodded. “My parents and siblings by default, but not the rest of my family, and one of my friends. That’s it. I keep it hidden from everyone.”
“Why tell me then?”
“Well, you asked,” he then shrugged. “I don't know. You seemed understanding about a lot of things. I trust you.”
“I do understand,” she agreed. “I’m sure everything will be fine back in the hut, you’re probably just overthinking it.”
“Better to overthink than to under-think.”
“Do you want me to keep this between us?”
“If you wouldn’t mind, yes.”
“Of course, Elder Price,” she brightly smiled to him. She then turned her head to look at the sun and quickly realized what time of the day it was. Quickly, she began to shimmy back down the tree trunk. “I am sorry, Elder. I must be getting home before my Baba worries something happened to me. Good luck with everything.”
“Thank you, Nabulungi,” he smiled a bit to her, not showing teeth. “Really. Thank you for listening to me vent.”
“Of course. If you need to talk, I am here.”
“Thank you. You can always come to me when you need to talk as well.”
“I will keep that in mind. Goodnight, Elder Price.”
“Goodnight, Nabulungi.”
He watched her scamper off in the direction of the village. Now he was alone again in the tree. The sun was setting and the sun rays began to slightly burn his skin. He sighed and kept having to adjust himself in the tree. Finally, it had just set and the sky was an beautiful violet blue. It was then he determined that it was time that he had to face the music in the hut.
With a deep breath, he jumped down from the tree and began his walk of shame to the hut. On the way back to the hut Kevin was unbuttoning his blood stained, and more than likely ruined, shirt. It was all around just a bad day that should’ve never happened.
All of the lights were on in the hut once Kevin finally approached it. He was saying a thousand and one different prayers in his head, mostly for the others not to be in the room. There was no way that he could face the others right away. Kevin shut his eyes tight and mumbled a small prayer under his breath before he grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.
Elder McKinley looked up quickly at the door open and see Elder Price walk in. He let out a deep sigh of relief, like he had been holding it in for hours. “Thank Heavenly Father you’re alright.”
“Wh-where are the others?” Kevin asked hesitantly.
“In their rooms, doing scripture readings,” he answered. “Elder Cunningham is with Elder Zelder in my room.” Elder McKinley paused for a moment before speaking again. “Are you alright? Like, really?”
“I… I don’t know,” he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it though. It’s fine.”
“No,” Elder McKinley stood up from his seat, “It’s not fine. I’m the leader of this hut and I need to make sure that all the other elders are okay. If you’re not okay-“
“Please,” Elder Price stopped him. “Please just drop it. Forget today even happened. Forget everything that happened.”
“Kevin-“
“Elder please.” The young man was begging by this point, “I just want today to be forgotten by everyone. Please. Just… Just drop the whole ordeal. Tell the others I want this whole thing to be forgotten. I just want nothing to do with anything about who I am, okay?”
Elder McKinley nodded, completely understanding with what was going on. “I’ll pass the word around then.”
“Thank you,” he nodded. “If you’d excuse me, I need to find a clean shirt.”
Without another word, Elder Price walked towards his room and disappeared into the hut. Elder McKinley waited a few moments before he got up and began to keep his word to the disgruntled Elder and tell the others.
Someone asked about Kevin sleeping upside down and honestly?? He totally would lmao. Like when i was little, i used to hang upside down on the jungle bars; putting my legs up and over a bar and then hooking my feet underneath the next one so i couldnt fall down. So maybe Kevin has one built in his apartment so hes a bit more comfortable at night but mAYBE he also has one built in the grump space too! In case he needs to sleep during his breaks :0 He tucks his arms into his shirt/sweater so they dont dangle above his head when hes sleeping so he looks like a very snug bug in a rug uwu
YO IVE BEEN ON THIS DAMN PICTURE FOR LIKE 2 HOURS STRAIGHT gOD HELP ME
Its actually a pre-existing design of mine for vampires so I figured, why not use it and tweak it a lil bit?
They tend to be around 9-10 ft tall so theyre p intimidating. Their wings are reminiscent of bat wings with the arms and long fingers n such and they can unhinge their jaws at will for feeding and fighting. Theres different kinds of vampires and Kevin happens to be one that specializes in mobility (slim frame, long legs and arms for galloping and a massive chest and wingspan for flying.)
(pt.1) I don't know if there's a backstory for Kevin yet, but just hear me out. So, Kev lives in the underworld but on occasion would visit the human realm. One night, he's confronted by vampire hunters, who get a hold of him and tie him up, leaving him in the middle of the local park and waiting for sunrise. Kevin's basically freaking out and trying to scream for help, but the sun is already rising and beginning to burn his skin.
(pt.2) Now, luckily for him, a grump was walking by (i’ll use Barry for now) and say Kevin smoking and screeching. Barry borrows a sunhat and stupid shawl from a nice old lady and goes over to Kevin, plopping the hat on his head and wrapping him up. Kevin is like, super weak and his skin looks awful, so Barry decided to carry him back to the grump space. Long story short, he says thanks and becomes their editor.
We technically dont have an origin story for Kevin so yes omg.
I have it where the people in this au are relatively peaceful when it comes to other hybrids but maybe there are fanatics? People who are extremely paranoid about Demons and Vampires and other underworld creatures. They tend to just protest and cause trouble but theres always a small group that takes it too far.
Kevin often goes to the the overworld to buy tasty goods that the underworld doesnt provide, but as hes walking through the woods to go back to his portal, he gets ambushed by a group of hunters just before dawn. Theyre screaming and shouting at him and all he can hear is his heart beating in his chest because holy shit its gonna be morning in an hour and he cant transform into his tiny bat form fast enough. He tries to transform into a tiny bat but they tackle and tie him up before he can shrink himself down.
And hes like, fuck.. because its gonna be sunrise in literally 5 mins and he can already feel his skin start to burn uncomfortably. He has no way of contacting friends, relatives, or his portal and hes stuck in the middle of the woods where absolutely no one can fucking see or hear him. But hes been alive for too fucking long to fucking burn alive in some horrid medieval fashion and he starts screeching as he starts to partially transform.
Hes lanky and tall and leathery but its been so long since hes used this form so hes exhausted. The sun still burns him but with his thicker skin and wings covering most of his body, he can last for another hour or so until he gets enough strength to walk back to his portal.
He sits there next to the post for another 10 minutes before he hears not-to-subtle footsteps approaching him. He groans bc hes in no condition to walk away let alone fight anyone. He peeks out from underneath his wings only too see a massive fucking bear standing not even 3 feet away from him. Hes got a cute bright pink tank top on and some shorts with a massive sunhat on. He looks more confused than aggressive so he doesnt see him as a threat…
“I know it looks weird, but Holly wanted me to try out the stretchy shirt for everyday use and I needed a hat but she only had this one.” The bear says. “Honestly, its super comfortable so i cant really complain.”
He takes off his hat and slowly approaches Kevin, flinching when he hisses at him.
“Nononono dude, here take my hat. You need it more than I do.” He leans down and puts out his hand. “I can put it on ur head if you cant move yet, if thats okay with you.”
Kevin looks at the offered sunhat and then up to the bear before slowly nodding. He moves his wings from over his head as Barry carefully places the hat on his head.
“I um… do you have a portal somewhere? Maybe i can carry you there so you dont have to walk and hurt yourself.”
Kevin nods.
“Okay, will you be okay if I drop you off in there?”
Long silence before Kevin shakes his head.
“Oh! okay I assumed- never mind. Do you have someone here who can help you?”
He shakes his head.
“Okay, well um, I have a friend who can help maybe… shes never worked on a vampire before but im sure all you need is a bath and some ointment…maybe…”
Kevin looks at him and nods.
“Is that a yes to coming with me? or…?”
Another nod.
Barry sighs dramatically and rolls his shoulders. “I can carry you back home I guess. Well, Hollys house. Thats where all the goods are at.” He leans down and scoops up Kevin in his arms, struggling to bend his now super stiff gangly limbs.
“Im…sorry about my wings, I-I cant fold them back. Theyre too stiff..” Kevin manages to rasp out.
“Oh you can talk? Well yeah, youre okay kid theyre not in my way.”
Kevin frowns. “Im like 500 years old im not a kid..”
Barry rolls his eyes. “Okay, yeah whatever kid. The faster I get you home, the faster you can go back to wherever you came from. And then you dont have to deal with me calling u kid.”
They get alot of stares as they walk through the city and back to Hollys house. A flamboyant looking Bear and a nearly dead fully transformed vampire wading through wary crowds. They get there and Holly is super happy to help get him all fixed up. “I never got to see one up close before. Youre so cute!! and pinchable.”
And even after hes all patched up and ready to go, Kevin still comes back to visit them whenever he does his shopping errands once a month. But it gets to a point where hes coming over every day and for hours at a time. Barry jokes about it, saying if he wanted to stay and work for them that would be a lot less trouble than having to commute here everyday.
He doesnt expect him to actually take the damn offer.
