When they'd gotten back to the temple, Korra was fussed over by everyone, and he was just about to slip back into the basement when she called his name.
"Yes?" he said, coming a bit closer.
"I heard what you did," she said. "Thank you."
He nodded. "Least I could do."
"Have you eaten?" she asked.
"No," he said.
"You're in no condition to—" Mako cut in.
"I know," Korra said, "but someone has to."
Everyone looked at each other uneasily. "Can't he go find someone selling it on the street?" Mako suggested.
"Do you know where the illegal blood trade is?" Korra asked. "Because I sure don't, and Tahno doesn't either."
Mako sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll do it."
"What, really?" Tahno said, startled.
"I don't want you biting Korra, or my girlfriend, or my brother, so I guess I have to step up and be responsible," he said. "Come on, where do you want to do this? Basement?"
"Basement's fine," he said, following Mako down.
Mako used a flame in his hand for a light. "Any funny business, and I'll singe more than your hair," he said.
They reached the bed, and Mako paused, putting the flame in his hand out, leaving them both enveloped in what for Tahno was a quite comfortable darkness. "Not yet, I'm not ready," he said. He pulled off his scarf and his shirt, and set them aside.
"Why are you taking your clothes off?" Tahno asked.
"You really do see in the dark, huh," Mako said. "Well, you creatures bite the neck, right? I don't have many shirts, and I don't need blood on them."
The neck. Korra had never let him take from anywhere but the wrist. His fangs descended, his body tense with anticipation. "Okay," Mako said, sitting on the bed. "Get it over with."
"You're going to let me do it in the dark?" Tahno blurted out in surprise. Really, is this guy that ignorant, or just suicidal?
"I don't want to see your ugly face. Just do it."
Tahno knelt behind Mako on the bed, nearing the curve of his neck where it ran into the planes of his shoulderblades. He put his hands on Mako's shoulders awkwardly, then let them slide down his chest. That felt better than he would have liked, Mako's warm, smooth muscles under his hands, his heart pounding a little fast with fear.
"What are you doing? Just bite me already."
"Just trying to find a good position," he said. "I am new at this." He leaned in just under Mako's ear, taking in his scent, and feeling Mako shiver when his breath tickled the fine hairs there. He licked, and felt the hot artery pulsing under his tongue. He fairly melted with need.
"Did you just lick me? What is wrong with you?"
"It's a natural anesthetic," he said defensively. "So it doesn't hurt as much. Something you're going to appreciate in a moment," he said, sinking his teeth in.
There was absolutely a difference, feeding from the neck. Where the wrist had been a pleasurable trickle, this was a deluge. He had the sense of being eroded, swept away. He dug his fingers into Mako's shoulders, making a little moan deep in his throat.
"Ow, you—" Mako said, clearly not sharing in any of Tahno's pleasure. "Take it easy."
He realized soon that this was as much as Korra had ever let him take, but Mako didn't stop him, and 'take it easy' wasn't exactly a no. He was quickly understanding why Korra fed him from the wrist. It would be far too easy to take too much this way. Mako was just pouring into his mouth, and nothing in the world was going to convince Tahno to stop. He realized that by the time Mako understood what was happening, he'd be too weak to fight him off.
I could kill him, he thought somewhere through his bliss. I'm going to kill him.
I don't care.
He jerked his head back, in shock at that thought. I don't care. He played it again in his mind. The blood was spilling from the wound, wasting. Quickly, he picked up one of the bandages Korra had left by the bed, and applied pressure.
"That's it?" Mako said.
"Y-yeah," Tahno replied. "That's enough." His voice was a bit shaky. He started wrapping a strip of fabric around Mako's neck, to keep the pressure steady.
"Ow, that's too tight."
"Do you want to bleed out? Hold still." He made sure to keep his hips back, so that Mako would not feel the inevitable feeding erection.
Mako got up when he was done, fidgeted with the bandage, and pulled his shirt on. "Well, that was weird and unpleasant," he said. "I hope I never have to do it again."
"Pity," Tahno said, "you tasted fantastic."
"Better than Korra?" he asked, and Tahno couldn't tell if that was some sort of attempt at a dig or if he was actually curious.
"You know, I don't think I could say one of you is better than the other," he said honestly. "You're both delicious." He tried to come off cool and flippant. And I nearly killed you, he thought. And I nearly didn't care.
"Well, I guess blood's blood, right?"
"Oh, I could definitely tell the difference," he said. He was actually beginning to feel a bit delirious. That was a welcome change from constantly starving, he supposed. The hunger wasn't gone, but he felt warm and tingly and nice. "For one thing, you were afraid. Korra never is."
"Have I ever mentioned that you are just a disturbing, creepy person?" Mako said, walking away. "And I mean, even before the vampire thing, though I can't say that's improved on your personality any."
Tahno breathed in deep. "I do scare you. You have no idea how much you should be scared, though." Now he was just trying to make it worse. He couldn't help how much he loved that scent.
"Shut up," Mako said uneasily. He lit a flame in his hand, but Tahno could tell by the unfocused way he was staring that he still couldn't see him in the dark. He was too far outside his circle of light. Tahno looked right at him, and saw Mako's eyes focus—must've been the reflective glint of his eyes. He'd have to account for that in the future, remember not to look at people directly. He could still get the drop on him. Lower his eyes to hide them, then move fast, very fast, to right in front of Mako, between him and the door, his face suddenly illuminated by Mako's flame. He wouldn't hurt him, of course, just ruffle his feathers a little. The predator in him thrilled at the thought, of just batting his prey around a bit, no harm done. The more fear he coaxed out of Mako, the more that sick, predatory part of him took control.
Is that any way to thank him for easing your hunger? he thought. Half-kill him then scare the crap out of him? He didn't have to help you, you know. None of them did.
"Thank you," Tahno said, deliberately holding his gaze so Mako could see where he was. "I…I really mean it. I know you weren't thrilled about it…but you don't know how much it helps."
"As long as it helps keep your creepy self away from people I care about," Mako said. "And don't think I didn't notice how you were with Asami today. I don't want you touching her. She's been through enough with you people."
You people. As in, vampires. Being grouped with Amon and Hiroshi Sato stung more than a little, even if there was technically some truth to it. "I'm not in a position to refuse any willing vein," he said. "If you don't want her to offer, that's something you need to take up with her, not me."
"Oh, trust me, she's not going to offer." Mako went up the stairs, and once more Tahno heard the click of the lock and chains sliding into place.
More than the previous times, he felt trapped. He could probably break through some part of the room, if he absolutely had to—maybe the floorboards. But he wouldn't be welcome here again after he did that. He tried to settle in bed. He wished Korra was with him. He wouldn't hurt her. He knew he wouldn't, no matter how much she smelled of blood.
Like you wouldn't hurt Mako.
That's different, he countered. He—I wasn't prepared to drink from the neck. It was just overwhelming. I didn't mean it. I couldn't.
He clutched the blankets tighter. His fangs had slipped back into place, but the post-feeding erection was still there, worse than the ones before. He brushed his hand against it, considering taking care of it, but didn't want his mind to go…wherever the hell it went last time. So instead he tried to think of the opposite of that, anything that would make that thing go away.
He thought of bending. Not of the people he'd faced in the ring, or the things he'd done with it in bed—not people, period, just him and the water. It was a clean, pure kind of pleasure, a satisfaction that didn't depend on anyone else and didn't hurt anyone. And of course it was something he'd never feel again. But he focused on the memory, until the ache at his groin ebbed and subsided.
Tahno found himself profoundly wishing there was someone there with him—not for their blood, just someone to put their arm around him and hold him in the dark.
He heard the chains being removed and the door unlocked, and when the door opened, the scent of Korra's blood hit him hard. His fangs immediately extended. Ugh, he thought, putting a hand to his head and willing them to retract, who asked you, anyway?
Korra came down the stairs with a lamp. He squinted up at her. "Are you doing okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "Just wanted to check on you, and tell you what happened." She paused. "I heard about what you did. Thank you."
He felt a warm glow at that, and smiled at her. Fuck. Fangs, he thought, quickly turning away.
"Sorry, am I bothering you?" she asked. "I could come back later…or send someone else down who isn't cut up all over."
"No," he said, a little too quickly. "Don't go. It's just…a physical reaction. I know it doesn't look like it, but I am in control."
"You sure?" she asked. "Whenever you get that look…you always look like you're in pain."
"It's easier today," he said. "Mako was…generous with me."
"He really is a very giving person," she said.
"I don't think he realized just how much he was giving." Or how much he almost gave. "How was he today?"
"I think he had a bit of a headache, but he seemed fine."
They were silent a moment. "I weakened you, didn't I," Tahno finally said. "I took a little too much. You had to fight, and you weren't at your best."
"It wasn't your fault," Korra said. "It was my choice. I thought I could handle it."
He closed his eyes tight. "Look at me. Practically doing Amon's work for him. Making you all easy pickings for him."
She set down the lamp and sat down next to him. "It's not your fault, okay. You're just trying to survive. I don't think you're getting enough blood. Beifong's working on finding another source for you."
He nodded, and looked at her. "Can we just…not talk about blood, for a moment?"
"Okay," she said, and started telling him about her escape. Tarrlok had kept her prisoner in a metal box, until Amon had showed up and she'd been able to trick them into thinking they'd electrocuted her when they opened it. When she got to the part about Amon turning Tarrlok, Tahno was clenching his fists.
"When I found your blood in his office, I wanted to kill him myself," he said. "But even then I didn't wish this on him."
"I'm glad you didn't kill him," she said. "Him returning bought me time to escape from Amon. And besides…" she touched his shoulder gently, "I don't want you to become a killer."
She was right, of course. Any righteous rage would only have been an excuse. And there would be other excuses later, flimsier ones. He picked her hand off his shoulder, at first as if he objected to it being there, but found himself running his fingers over hers gently, then up her arm, over her cuts and scratches. The little cut on her finger had been gone. So whatever impeded her healing from working must only apply to the wounds he made himself, not something in his saliva. He bent closer to the big laceration on her shoulder. "Do you…mind?" he asked.
"I don't think you should bite me now," she said. "I can leave if—"
"I won't bite," he said, "promise. Maybe I can just make it hurt a little less."
She hesitated, considering, and gave a slight nod. "If it's not too much trouble or anything…I mean, I've been trying to heal it with waterbending…I'll get it to close eventually, it just takes a few sessions."
Tahno leaned in towards her shoulder, and pressed a trembling kiss to the cut before dragging his tongue over it, very careful to keep his fangs from scraping her. He licked it a few times, in a dedicated sort of way, like a cat grooming, tasting the blood on his tongue but not allowing himself to suck at it. He worked his way down her arm this way, tasting every scratch, then up the other.
He was suffused in her scent, her taste, hardly aware of anything else. On her skin seemed such a pleasant place to drown himself. The only thing he didn't allow himself to forget was that he must not bite her, that she was fragile now and he couldn't allow her to be hurt. He came up to the scratch on her cheek, brushing it gently with his thumb before licking there too. Then he sank down, pulling her shirt up, and licked a cut on her waist.
"I know you can probably find them all by scent, but that's all I'm comfortable with you doing," Korra said. "Don't pull my shirt up any more."
"All right," Tahno said, regret in his voice. He pressed his cheek to her stomach. So warm.
"I really do need to get you a heater," she said. "You're freezing cold."
"Sorry," he said, pulling away from her.
"It's okay," she said, and she got into his bed more, pulling the blankets over herself. "Get back here, I'll warm you up."
He paused a moment in surprise, then settled down with his head on her shoulder, pressed against her with the blanket over them both. She fairly radiated heat, and he felt it seep through him. "Sorry about before," he said, still struggling to think clearly. "That must have been pretty disgusting for you." When he was alive, the last thing he'd have wanted on a fresh wound was somebody's cold, dead tongue.
"What was?"
Well, everything, really. "All the…licking."
"No, you made a lot of the pain go away. It was nice. Told you you'd come in handy."
He hugged her a little tighter in gratitude. "You're so warm. It feels good."
"Is this…a good idea?" she asked. "You sound a little…drunk."
"Mm, yes," he said. "Drunk on your scent, and your taste. Feels nice. It's okay though. I won't hurt you. Promise I won't hurt you." He realized he sounded out of it, and he was. The urge to bite her was as strong as ever, but he soundly ignored it. This was too nice to ruin by hurting her, by doing anything she didn't want.
His body was relaxing more and more in response to her warmth, as though it were just soaking all the tension and pain out of him. He hoped she wouldn't mind him falling asleep on her, because he was going to at this rate.
Foggily, he was aware of himself coming to, Korra asleep under him. He could hear her pulse loud as thunder in his ears, steady, relaxed. He crept up her body slightly, to her neck, burying his nose there and just breathing her in for a moment. He started licking her neck, and she stirred. "Tahno, Tahno stop, look at me," she said, but he was past caring. He bit down, and when she tried to pull him off, he grabbed her wrists, his grip crushingly strong, her body pressed under his. Her blood flowed into him, fast, too fast, her pulse was pounding hard now, getting erratic, and he could taste her fear—
He jerked away from her suddenly, getting tangled in the blankets and falling over. "What is it?" Korra asked.
Tahno was breathing hard, more out of emotional habit than necessity. He looked at her neck. The skin was unbroken. He could still taste her blood in his mouth, but it was older, weaker, from his attentions to her cuts.
"You just had a bad dream, I think," she said.
"You…you were sleeping, and I…."
"I wasn't sleeping, Tahno. I trust you, but I'm not stupid."
"You…you trust me," he repeated incredulously. "Did I ever tell you to do that?"
"You promised you wouldn't hurt me," she said.
"Don't ever believe my promises," he said, backing away from her further. "Don't believe anything I say, unless it's that I want your blood, because that's the only time I'm honest."
"Stop freaking out, it was just a dream. You didn't do anything."
He backed up until he hit the wall, trembling. "If you are ever in doubt as to whether you should trust me, you just have to do one thing—look at my mouth. If my fangs are out, there is one thing I am thinking about. 'Just a physical reaction,' I am such a liar Korra, I'm lying my ass off and it's going to get you killed."
She got up and stepped towards him, leaving the lamp behind, now outside of its circle of light. He could see her steps get a little more uncertain as she came closer, not able to see clearly. "Just hold still a moment, okay?" she said. "I can tell you're upset, and if I'm just upsetting you more I can go, but…I don't want to leave you like this."
"I know you can't see me," he said, his voice low, "so I'm telling you, my fangs came out the moment you walked in the room, and they haven't gone back in. Think, Korra."
Korra was standing right in front of him, and he could tell by the way she was looking in the right place that she could see the gleam of his eyes, and probably a vague suggestion of the rest of him. He was completely frozen there, like an animal in the headlights of a Satomobile, not knowing what she would do next. She reached towards him, and he remained motionless as her hand touched his face, trailing tenderly down his cheek, and her thumb brushed against his lips, gently pushing them open, slipping inside. He felt her thumb rub against one of his fangs, which was quite temperature-sensitive. He didn't dare speak, but choked out a whimper. What are you doing, Korra?
Her thumb brushed back across his lips, and she dropped her hand. "They're just teeth, Tahno," she said. "Naga has bigger fangs than yours. I'm not scared of them."
Tahno felt more than heard the sob, deep in his chest, and fell forward onto Korra's shoulder, his sudden weight forcing her down to her knees. His breath came in great hitching sobs, and he felt her hand on his back.
"S-sorry," he muttered, not seeming to be able to take his face off her chest. "I'm ruining your shirt." He felt guilty about wasting the blood too, but there was nothing he could do to stop the tears from flowing.
"It's all right, stupid. I have plenty of shirts."
"I don't even know," he said through his tears, "how I haven't hurt someone yet. I'd just need to slip for one moment and it'd be something I could never take back. I'd be as bad as Amon." He held her tighter. "I was so scared. It…I remember what it felt like, to die. And I could see it. I could see myself doing it to someone, so easily. Knowing exactly how awful it feels." He slid further down her body, into her lap. "This isn't me. I'm not me. I would never think these things. I never want to bite you again, Korra," and that hurt to say, because he did, he did, "and I never want to see you hurt because of me, and I never want to smell your blood and like it so much. I just want my own self back. I don't want to be…this."
"I'm sorry," she said. "Maybe when we get you some more blood, you won't be so hungry and it'll get easier."
"I don't want to need blood."
"Well, you do, and that's just a fact," she said. "Denial isn't going to help you."
"Aren't you the one in denial," he said softly. "At least I know what I am. I don't want it to be true, but I know it. You're the one holding me like a crying child. Like some poor, suffering innocent. Like I haven't been thinking of killing you this entire time I've been crying on you."
"But that isn't what you did," she insisted. "You apologized to me for messing up my clothes, and you told me about your feelings. That part is you. Whatever else is going on in there, you're the one in control, and you've stayed in control. You told me I should be afraid of your fangs, but I've yet to see you use them where you didn't have permission."
"I shouldn't use them at all. I shouldn't be hurting anyone."
"Oh, yeah, that'll help lots. Starving yourself isn't going to make this better."
"Do you know," he said, "I could smell your fear on Councilman Tarrlok."
"Yeah, Mako mentioned that," Korra said.
"Did Mako mention how much I like fear?" he said. "I tasted his last night. I wonder what it would take, to make you afraid of me. Not very much, I think. See, your heart is already beating a little faster. You're remembering that you're injured, in no condition to really fight. You should have left when I started crying, harsh as that seems. Crying just makes me hungrier, you know." He paused. "Now you're probably wondering how much you'd have to burn me to make me stop if I turned on you. Would a little burn be enough to snap me out of it, or would you have to kill me? Would there even be time?"
"No," Korra said. "I wasn't thinking that. I was just thinking about how I'm going to get you enough blood. I'd probably be going pretty crazy too if I was starving and everyone was made of food."
"How do you know it's even possible to get me enough? Maybe I'll just want more and more, and never stop being hungry."
"Well, Hiroshi Sato seemed a lot more put-together, and he certainly had the money to buy as much blood as he needed."
"Maybe he was killing people."
"If he was, he did a fantastic job of covering up his tracks. Anyway, I did read somewhere that new vampires tend to need a lot more blood. I don't know how much, but…if we get you through this, it's going to get easier, I promise." She stroked his tangled hair, and he relaxed somewhat.
After a few minutes, she started to get up, and he got off her and went back to the bed. She took the lamp, promising that he'd be fed sometime that evening, and told him to sleep some more if he could.
It took at least an hour after she left for his fangs to finally retract. Her scent was everywhere—on him, in the blankets, and the taste of her blood and skin lingered in his mouth, without any of the satiation of actually drinking it. The warmth she had left on him slowly dissipated.
A few hours later, the door opened again, and he saw Asami in the doorway, wearing her Equalist glove. "Come on," she said, "get your money. We're going for a bit of a drive."
They headed out to Dragon Flats, Tahno mostly silent, embarrassed about his episode with Korra earlier. No wonder she didn't want to see him. He wondered what she'd told Asami. He knew the glove was there for her protection. She seemed a bit nervous, but not really afraid.
"You're unusually quiet," she said at length. "You can't be that hungry, after all you took from Mako."
"Did I take that much?" he asked innocently.
"He acts tough, but I did notice that my boyfriend was about three shades paler, yeah."
"Ah, so you're the one I have to watch out for," he said teasingly. "After all, you've had the most close experience with vampires out of all of us."
"You couldn't even tell my dad was a vampire, though," Asami said. "He wasn't…obvious about it, like you."
"I don't even know how it would be possible to hide," Tahno said. "Did he eat? I mean like, normal food."
"Yeah," Asami said. "He did take his meals alone a lot, but I saw him eating enough times that it never made me suspicious. He certainly did it at enough public events." She paused. "Have you tried eating regular food?"
"No," he said. "I haven't really…wanted it, I guess."
"Maybe it would do you some good to get some form of nutrition in you," she said, and reached in her pocket. "Here," she said, holding out a wrapped candy, "try this."
He took the candy, unwrapped it, and sniffed it dubiously. He could definitely tell it was candy, and it smelled sort of objectively nice in the way the beach or a perfume might smell nice, but not in a way that seemed like food. He gave it an experimental lick, and made a face.
"You don't like those?" Asami asked.
"I used to," he said. He bit off a corner of it and chewed it, feeling like he was chewing clay. When he tried to swallow, his throat closed off, and he gagged. He spat the tiny mouthful out the side of the Satomobile. "Nope," he said. "Not going to happen. You sure your dad was a vampire?"
She shrugged. "He had fangs."
"Maybe he was just doing it for show, and throwing it up later, or something. That's dedication."
"I wouldn't put it past him," she said. She pulled the Satomobile over. "Okay, this is the place. Go in and…do your thing."
Tahno got out and approached the building. There was no sign of any kind, and the windows were boarded up and painted over. He tried the front door, finding it open. As soon as the air inside hit his face, he knew he'd come to the right place. A lot of blood had been spilled here. His fangs sprang into his mouth right away, his whole body shivering with anticipation.
At the end of the hallway a large vampire leaned against the wall, watching him. Some kind of bouncer, he suspected. He looked Tahno up and down as he neared, and said, "In that way. Pay at the desk first."
Tahno went to the desk and paid the fee—two hundred yuans, and he was torn between thinking that's a lot for a meal and knowing he'd have paid a lot more. He was given a stern lecture first—no killing, just blood, no sex—and escorted into a dingy room with a middle-aged woman in her underwear.
There were little round scars all over her body, and quite a few that hadn't scarred yet, but were scabbed or open. The scent of blood on her was driving him mad, but he still had the thought, That cannot be sanitary. She had a silver chain wrapped around her fingers, and something about the look on her face told him she knew how to use it.
"Where would you like to bite?" the woman asked.
"I don't know, is there a spot that hasn't been taken already?" He looked her over thoroughly, and found the inside of one elbow that didn't look too scabby. Beggars can't be choosers, he thought, and giving her a quick lick, bit down.
He immediately noticed that this was different from biting Korra and Mako had been. Her blood was still good, what there was of it, anyway, but her blood pressure seemed worryingly low, and her heart was weak and trembling. His first instinct was just to compensate by sucking harder, but as he did this he realized that at this rate, he was going to kill her.
Why oh why did the spirits curse me with a conscience, he thought, pulling back painfully. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I think someone took most of your blood already," he said. "Or, several someones. Can I have someone else? No offense or anything, but I think you should take a few weeks off. And possibly get to a hospital."
"You can go to the front and buy someone else, if that's what you want," she said.
"No, see, I already paid for a meal, and I didn't get one," he said.
"You bit me, didn't you?"
"Yeah, and I hardly got anything. Maybe because there wasn't all that much to take."
"If you're not finished, then take more," she said, holding out her arm. "You've got another five minutes or so."
"No, listen, if I do that, you will die," he said. "I think you should stop taking customers for the time being."
She laughed at him. "It's fine, kid, I've done this before, take a bit more."
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "As tempting as you make that, I have a bad feeling about what that bouncer out there would do to me if you died on me." He went back to the main desk, and explained his situation.
"She's fine," the woman behind the desk said. "Finish up quick, or buy someone else."
"You're trying to stick me with the one who's running on empty because I'm new, right? Or does she have some kind of death wish or something? Do you people just not care about the lives of your employees?"
"Sir, either buy someone else or leave." The bouncer's hand was on his arm. That bastard looks well-fed, Tahno thought. I bet that's where all her blood went.
"I want my money back."
"You bit it, you bought it."
It began to make sense. The people who worked here could only make money while they had blood in them, which they could only replenish so fast. A more experienced vampire would have been able to tell if someone was a good purchase without biting them, but idiots like him would just go charging in. If he hadn't stopped on his own, he felt sure she would have used the silver chain on him before he took it too far, and pointed out that killing was against the rules. Either way, he'd have paid full price for only a few mouthfuls of blood. "This…this is a scam," he said, pounding on the desk. "You can't—"
The bouncer started pulling him towards the door. "All right, that's enough for tonight. Be seeing you tomorrow night, okay?"
"Fine, you win," he said, as he was pulled through the hallway. "I'll pay for someone else."
"Tomorrow," the bouncer said, laughing. "Give you some time to think about your manners." He pushed Tahno roughly out the door.
Idiots, Tahno thought. I would have spent a lot of money there. But apparently they had to play their power game, to put him in his place because he was new. They thought he'd come back crawling. The worst part was, he probably would.
He sat down on the front steps, tasting the traces of blood in his mouth. Asami was getting out of the Satomobile and coming towards him, and he realized he didn't want to be all fanged-out around her. Come on, come on, he thought, running his hands through his hair and trying to clear his mind.
"You okay? Did you get what you needed?"
"Not really, and no," he muttered, keeping his head down. Go in you pointy bastards. He tried to push them back up with his tongue, only succeeding in cutting his tongue. Well that was entirely counterproductive, he thought, at the surge of blood in his mouth. He didn't like the taste of his own blood at all, and fought the urge to spit it out. He was disgusting enough with blood apparently coming out of every orifice without randomly spitting it too.
His blood actually tasted a lot like Amon's had. As he swallowed it, he had a flash of the pain and terror he'd felt with Amon's hand in his mouth, looking up at that mask. His fangs slid back into place. Well, at least there was one thing he could think of that didn't make him want to eat people.
"What happened?" Asami asked.
Tahno got up, shaking his head. "I'll tell you about it on the drive. Let's just get out of here." He flashed her a weak smile, to put her at ease, and noticed that she relaxed slightly.
He explained the situation at the blood den to her as they drove. "I can't believe they'd do that," she said. "I mean, they already have you where they want you, don't they?"
"It might make most vampires better-behaved in the long run," he said. "It shows us firstly, that we need them more than they need us, and secondly, that they're under no obligation to be fair. That breeds some humility." He grimaced. "I should have seen it coming, really—the managers in pro-bending are almost as bad."
"So you're still…"
"The less said about it, the better." He was gripping the side of the Satomobile hard, the window down and his head leaned into the night wind—and away from her.
They rode in silence another few minutes, and Asami pulled over in a quiet lot by a factory.
"Why are we stopped here?" Tahno asked.
Asami took a deep breath. "I'm probably going to regret this in a minute, but I don't want to take you back hungry."
At the thought of Asami actually offering her blood to him, the fangs sprang eagerly into Tahno's mouth. No, no, no, he thought, think of Amon, think of…. He tried biting his tongue again, and the bitter taste of his blood filled his mouth, making him make a face.
"What…do I disgust you?"
"No," Tahno said quickly, seeing her reaction change when she caught a glimpse of his fangs.
"You're really giving me mixed messages here," she said.
"I think you can just take it as a given that I want to say yes," he said. "Really, really want to. But when your open is, 'I'm probably going to regret this in a minute,' I get the idea that you're not really all that okay with this, and I…I'm probably going to take it anyway, let's be honest here, so I think you need to be a little clearer about what you want, since you seem like a nice person who's had some shitty things happen to you recently."
"Well, so do you."
He laughed bitterly. "Did you just call me nice? That's a first."
"You seem to be fighting this really hard. And from what I've heard from Beifong, that isn't easy."
"I just like to win, that's all." He realized he was staring at her neck, and looked away. "Come on, get us out of here before we both have something to regret."
"I don't want you to end up biting Mako again, at least not so soon."
Tahno smirked, showing a bit of fang. "You realize you sound a lot like him now. I'm going to get you all sacrificing yourselves for each other. It's sweet. And I'm really the only winner."
"I thought you liked to win?" she said. She pulled her skirt up, and he saw that above her knee-high boots, her flesh was bare. "I don't want Mako to know," she said, "so you'll have to bite somewhere a bit hidden."
He looked longingly at the soft curve of her inner thigh, traced with blue veins. "I take it Mako hasn't made it to Zone Three."
"And won't, at the rate he's going," she said, and pouted. "Really now, I'm not sure what gets you vampires excited, but you're starting to make me feel unattractive here."
"No, uh," he said, touching her thigh, "I'm actually fairly sure that if you'd done this when I was still human and told me to drink your blood, I still would have taken you up on it." He flashed his sharp-toothed smile at her. "Though for very different reasons." He bent over her, her usual scent even stronger here, with a bit of musk. "How high up do you want me to go?" he asked, trailing up her thigh.
"There's fine," she said, shoving his head down a few inches. "Don't get fresh."
Tahno closed his eyes dreamily, letting himself be pulled towards a spot that was warm and pulsing just under the skin, dragged his tongue across it and sunk in.
The blood flowed hot and silky into him, faster than at the wrist, but not so dangerously fast as it had at the neck. He'd probably have done anything for blood even if it had all tasted as bad as the bottled stuff he'd gotten in the jail, just because of how rotten it felt to be without it, but this was just cosmically good. In a way, that terrified him. He could start to like this life if he kept feeling things like this.
He felt her fingers stroking his hair, and thought that was rather sweet, until he remembered the glove she was wearing. Was that some kind of signal to stop? Should he stop now?
No. Not yet. Please, not yet.
The seconds passed, slow, blissful. "Okay," Asami said. "I think you should stop."
He pulled away, and not having anything handy to press on the spot to stop the bleeding, a line of blood dripped down her thigh. Unable to bear the sight of it going to waste, Tahno licked it up, the trail leading him back to the open wounds, and pulling away the second time was even harder. She'd gotten out a handkerchief and was pressing it to the injury.
Tahno stretched back in his seat contentedly, then realized he was giving Asami a full view of his tented pants. He considered pulling his legs up to hide it, but that would be closing the barn door after the ostrich-horse had left. Instead, he turned to her, his eyes hooded. "Take a picture, it lasts longer," he said.
"If I had my camera with me, I might," she said. "You're in quite a state. I take it you enjoyed yourself."
"You have no idea," he said. "Really, none."
"What's it like?" she asked, and he looked at her slightly askance.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Well, I don't know, you were just practically orgasming in my lap. Can't I be curious?"
"I wasn't orgasming. It's different."
"But you are…." she said, gesturing at his pants.
"Oh, that. That always happens," Tahno said with a scowl. "It just sort of…does that."
"A lesser man would be embarrassed."
Tahno raised his eyebrows at her. "Indeed."
"But you didn't answer my question," she said.
"I don't really want to talk about it," he said, pulling his fangs in. "It's…still kind of upsetting."
"What, it wasn't upsetting to drink my blood, but it's upsetting to tell me how it felt?"
"One of those things I pretty much have to do," he said. "Okay, fine, you really want to know? Imagine…imagine a big, aching hole in you, that's made of pain and emptiness and need. And drop by drop, that's filled and made whole, and the relief just washes over you like sleep when you've been up for days or water when you're parched, and it just makes everything right in you. Except you can't ever get enough of it, and every time you stop that little bit of joy starts to drain again, and oh, every time you do it you're hurting someone, and if you don't manage to pull yourself away from that one good thing, you'll kill them." He smiled at her icily. "Exactly like an orgasm, of course."
"Thank you for telling me," Asami said, complete sincerity in her eyes, and Tahno softened slightly. "I guess I just sort of wondered…what my father's life was like. Since he never told me anything."
"Well, that all depends on what he was drinking," he said. "The bottled stuff is disgusting."
"But considering he probably had the resources to do whatever he wanted, why would he choose that, then?"
"Oh, I can think of a few reasons. Since he wanted to keep it a secret, it's a lot easier to find one discreet supplier than to have to keep dozens of people silent. And even if he was killing them, a trail of bodies that long would catch up to anyone eventually, even him. He wouldn't have to worry about killing anyone by accident. And there's also the psychological factors," he said. "To be honest with you…as good as what we just did felt, I'm only biting people out of desperation. It still freaks me out. If I had a steady supply of the bottled stuff…I'd probably just go with that."
"You know, if a few weeks ago you'd told me that my father was a vampire, I could have come to terms with it. And I probably would have been the first to say that he'd be the sort of person to go out of his way not to hurt anyone, because I really thought that, human or not, he was a good man." She paused, her lip trembling. "I was there at the finals match, in the stands. I…I didn't even like your team, I was booing you whenever you cheated. I laughed when Korra got you good in that tie-breaker match. But then when Amon came out…." She looked away, and he smelled the salt of her tears.
"You saw that, huh," he said.
"Most of it. I had to turn away in some spots," she admitted. "I wanted to see you lose the game, not beg for your life. It was so awful. And my father held me when I cried. He comforted me. That's the kind of man I thought he was. Then I learned that the gloves used to stun the police so that could happen were manufactured under my own house. He collaborated with that monster." She paused a moment, letting the tears come. "I'm sorry," she said. "You suffered from what he did a lot more than I did."
He pulled her close to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. She might be crying because of her father now, but she had cried for him, even without knowing him or liking him, and he was oddly grateful for it. So there had been a sympathetic face in the crowd that night. It didn't escape his attention that her hair and neck smelled lovely, but he fought those thoughts angrily. Not the time, okay.
"I can even see why the idea of the Equalists might appeal," Asami said. "The fact that my father lived as a successful and productive member of society proves that it can be done. But only because he kept his condition a secret. I can't imagine if he'd been forced to live out in Dragon Flats and go to blood dens like the one we just came from. And of course there'd be prejudice against his products. I can understand people not wanting to buy our products now, considering he's clearly been giving money and resources to Amon, but just based on what he was? And that's not even getting into the whole suspicion of non-benders. Just because a bender can prove right away that they're not a vampire, and a non-bender can't…I got so angry when Korra started implying we might secretly be vampires, and then she turned out to be right about my dad…."
"So what, you're saying you agree with them?"
"No. They're right about the inequality, the problems in society. But I don't even understand how they could go from that to thinking it's okay to just kill and turn people. I don't see how my father could hold me and comfort me that day and not see that this was wrong. I don't get how he could be so self-righteous and so incredibly out of touch."
"Maybe it is because they're vampires," Tahno said.
"But you're not like that."
He pushed her back gently, and forced a weak smile. "I guess," he said. "Come on, we should head back. I'm assuming you wanted some sleep tonight."
Asami wiped at her eyes and started the Satomobile. "All this is our secret, okay?"
"Yeah."