Rumpled Seal Skins

Emergency exit, dumb teenager pranks and a missed dinner, of course. Kevin nodded in understanding as he watched the boy sitting on the ground. Teenagers tend to be stupid and he had both been recipient and cause of such stupidity when he was still alive.

“Are you a bat… uh, person?”

“A what person?” the vampire asked though he heard him perfectly, he just found it silly. “No, I’m not a bat person. I’m a vampire.” He almost cursed out loud at the cheesiness of having to introduce himself to the boy, but made no comment about it as he eyed the boy curiously. “Is it time for dinner already?”

“Oh,” Finnian felt dumb. ‘Bat-person’... how stupid of him. “Right. I mean, I didn’t really think of it,” he added, shrugging and wondering if he ought to have realized when he thought of bats. More importantly, the selkie decided he should get out of the mine as soon as possible. He didn’t know if this vampire was in fact a student of the school, or some unwelcome guest that got past the security -- unlikely, but one never knows for sure -- and wasn’t bound by any contract and could kill him anytime.

He sounded young enough to be in school at least, and seemed familiar with the set up of camp, but Finnian had reason to be wary. Only recently did he realized that was lucky enough to have survived two whole years without lasting damage, but for his third, he’s decided he’s pushed his luck more than enough times. He’s made it a goal to finish his contract with very good reason.

Right, there was supposedly a cabin connecting to the mineshaft. Kevin could see the boy struggling in the dark and he continued to pin him down with his knee on the stranger’s chest. He was a tall lad, the vampire surmised, a little on the pale side too.

“I’m staying here for the summer,” he explained before slowly getting up to release his hold on the boy.The mine shaft was almost quiet now save for the tiny bats that remained that could not fly yet. “I didn’t know that the Coal cabin connected to the mines.”

When he felt himself released, Finnian slowly sat up and rubbed the sore spot on his chest, listening to the stranger’s answer. Everyone’s staying here for the summer, anyway, he thought. He kept mum his thoughts and the other went on.

“Emergency exit,” he replied, though he himself thought that his answer was a bit too short. Being too polite to not want to come off as terse, he added to explain, “I was locked in the cabin by--um, someone. I’d miss dinner so I used the floor hatch to find my way out.”

He wasn’t aware that mine shaft was connected to the cabin and so he was apprehensive that someone would be there at that moment. He wondered if it was a hunter, though if it was, he was doing a bang up job of messing it up– everyone knows you should attack vampires in the daytime when they’re asleep. 

So was it then?

Kevin flew deeper in the mine shaft, looking for the source of that sneeze. He mimicked the way bats detected their prey and avoided hitting into things, and when he saw a rather tall and lanky form making its way towards him, the bat swooped down and landed on him, knocking the stranger down in the process.

“Who are you and what’re you doing here?”

Finnian sniffed, which made him want to sneeze again. The selkie tried his best to stifle it lest he goes into a sneezing fit, but before he could fail and sneeze his lungs off, something hit him and knocked all the air out of him when he hit the ground.

“From up...stairs... cabin,” he coughed instead, trying to roll to his side and prop himself up. He could sense a bit of movement about him, but that was it, for the boy was still disoriented from his fall. Finnian could only wonder who was it that spoke, and why sneezing in his presence was offensive enough for him to warrant a physical attack.

Bat fighting was a really petty pastime and something Kevin tries to avoid. But what can you do when more than half of the Chiroptera species are as much of an asswipe as you are? He knew they were pulling his leg, probably thought it was a funny of letting the kid know he was a stranger in their turf. But the boy wasn’t amused. He had to teach them a lesson in sharing.

It was easy to spot him if someone knew what he was, he was significantly larger than the other bats in the area. A couple of minutes more had passed and the boy felt he had done enough damage to let them know he meant to stay. It was odd at first when he realized he could somewhat communicate with bats whether he was in his vampire form or the other one and it was strangely comforting that they almost served as companions.

Kevin’s already heightened senses were enhanced by the abilities of the creature he’d transformed into; he was somewhat blind but he could tell someone was approaching from the other end of the mine shaft.

It was a bit difficult to reign in one’s thoughts in the dark; they tend to go wild and unruly and the next moment all of one’s fears would come in kicking and it would be very difficult to calm down. Finnian does not lack in imagination; and a few times he’s inconvenienced his friends with his silly fears -- Eleanor with heights; Alec with trees -- that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’d go dumb with fear of being alone in a dark tunnel if he weren’t used to them.

Funny enough, he probably wouldn’t have made down in the tunnel had he brought a light with him. The boy just realized that he managed to climb down the mine shaft without sparing a thought that he was dealing with elevation. Suppressing a shudder at what the mine shaft might have looked like if he peered down in it with a torch first, Finnian forced himself to take another step and just follow the sound of the goddamned water.

He could hear bats above him. He wasn’t relaxed enough to be humming to himself as he walked, which was good, since he’d prefer to go undetected and would have hated to disturb anything and---aAACHOOooo!!

There was a lot of fluttering and tiny squeaks that could be heard and the boy untucked his head from under his velvety wing, his snout sniffed the damp air inside the mineshaft. Upon realizing how inconvenient it was to stay at River Cabin (potential death by sun) the undead made his way to Coal Cabin where he settled inside the old,  abandoned mine. It was definitely night time as there was much activity inside, bats were flying all around and there he was just about to wake up.. 

Maybe the other bats thought he was ill. Or lazy.

Gingerly, he flew down, checked his bags and if bats could roll their eyes, he would’ve done it. At least he remembered to cover his things with something, otherwise all his shit would be covered in literal shit. Bat shit to be precise.