Travis Kidd

Origin

Travis Kidd was orphaned at a young age when in the mid 30s a group of vampires murdered his parents in search of Skinner Sweet. He then spent an extended period in a psychiatric ward where he'd constantly speak of vampires and was set to be lobotomized, until he eventually escaped with the help of Linden Hobbes. Once free, he began to hunt vampires, searching for Skinner Sweet, who he blamed for the death of his parents.

Creation

Travis Kidd was created by American Vampire co-creators Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque.

Major Story Arcs

Death Race

During 1954, Travis Kidd poses as Piper Francis' boyfriend, in order to get closer to the vampires holding her captive in order to help keep their secret hidden from the public. Once he manages to kill the vampires posing as Piper's parents, Travis leaves her alone, and distraught. Shortly after he is contacted by the leader of the Vassals of the Morning Star, Linden Hobbes in an attempt to recruit the young vampire hunter for their cause. As a sign of trust, Linden offers Travis information about the vampire that murdered his family. Travis declines Linden's offer, but creates a disturbance at the diner they're eating at, and steals the information from Linden during the chaos. Later at Travis' hotel, a disguised Piper draws him out. Once caught and revealed, Piper pleads with Travis to take her with him, so they can be together and hunt the vampiers side by side, but once again, Travis declines.

Later, Travis attempts to sneak up on the vampire in question at his house late at night, but the vampire escapes in his car, leaving Travis to give chase. Somewhere in the California desert, the two get entangled in hot rod race to the death. In an effort to knock Travis off his game, the vampire driving the other car pops his trunk to reveal that Piper is tied up in the back. Deciding to do the right thing, Travis manages to save Piper, and set the vampire's car on fire with a molotov cocktail. But the vampire manages to escape from his burning car, jumping on to the hood of Travis' revealing that it is none other than series antagonist, Skinner Sweet.

Travis aims to take down Skinner that night, seeing as it is a moonless night, which means the American Vampire species is weaker than normal, but if the fight goes on into the next day, Skinner will regain his full strength, and Travis will be in trouble. The race goes on through the night, eventually leading to both cars crashing. Bruised and battered, Travis believes Skinner to have run away again and calls him out, but to his surprise, as day break comes, a fully re-powered Skinner stands in front of Travis.

The two begin to fight, with Skinner overpowering Travis easily. Travis came prepared though, ingesting gold dust, the American vampire's weakness, into his system, so his blood would be tainted with it. Skinner falls for Travis' trick, biting the young hunter on the neck, leading him to enter a very weakened state. Before Travis is able to kill Skinner, Linden Hobbes and other members of the Vassals show up to retrieve skinner, and extract the blood from his system. Dumbfounded, Travis asks Skinner what the Vassals did to him in order to get him to work for them, Skinner replies "You don't know the half of it, kid." Before Travis is confronted by Hobbes, he once again steals a car, and drives away with Piper, who tells him to go to a specific house so they can get an untraceable car. At the home, Travis realizes it's a set up, with the house belonging to a coven of vampires. He asks Piper how many are waiting for him, though she initially plays dumb, she reveals that she's still loyal to the vampires as Travis shoots her dead. He then bursts into the house, ready to kill all the vampires.