[Disclaimer: The movies and its characters don't belong to me. I don't own them. They belong to their rightful owners and I'm just borrowing them for this one-shot.]
Red
He could smell it.
The sweet scent of blood, filling his nose, attracting him towards the man sitting in front of the console.
He was greeting him, still slightly confused, after Kirk had introduced him to Khan.
Scotty.
Kirk had told him the man's name and Khan couldn't get it out of his head. Why did it seem so familiar?
Right... Montgomery Scott. The Enterprise's Chief of Engineering who'd invented the transwarp beaming equation, Khan had used to attack Starfleet's headquarters.
'Quite intelligent… for a human being,' it occurred to him once again as he tried to focus on his thoughts instead of his longing for the blood running through the human's veins, keeping the engineer alive.
He didn't bother replying to the man's friendly "Hello", but instead explained that he knew how to get to the bridge without getting caught, remembering his mission on this ship.
'Don't talk to him. Ignore him. You can't afford drinking his blood. Kirk has to trust you if you want to reach your goal.'
The Scotsman didn't make it easy though.
Khan felt the man's presence behind him as he lead them through the corridors and it blurred his mind. He couldn't focus.
Why? Why did the man ask questions about the Vengeance? Why didn't he shut up? Couldn't he just be quiet, if only for a minute?
Khan wanted to turn around, sink his teeth into the man's neck, drink every single drop of this sweet smelling blood. He could smell a bit of oil in its metallic origin scent, probably from working in engineering for so long. And though most people would have described it as disgusting, he couldn't help but love the smell of it. Maybe it was because it reminded him of his past, when he himself had spent a lot of time with his ship's engines.
The Augment couldn't describe the relief he felt when a few men appeared out of nowhere and attacked their little group.
'Fight.'
He had something to do, something to distract himself.
So he went right at one of the attackers and threw him around like a rag doll. They didn't stand a chance against him. He was more powerful than all of them combined.
A strange sensation suddenly hit him and he stopped in his tracks, swirling around.
Kirk was fighting another man, while Scott had been pushed to the floor. And Khan immediately realized what was distracting him.
Blood. There was blood, running down the back of the Scotsman's head. The man instinctively pressed a hand on the aching wound, before staring at it again.
Blood. So much blood. Why did head injuries have to bleed so much?!
Khan turned around and just ran. He had to get away from the bleeding engineer.
When he was sure that the distance between them was far enough, he stopped and leaned his back against a wall, trying to calm his breathing.
'Focus, damn it! Focus on your mission!'
He had to kill Marcus. He had to get his crew free. There was no way that he'd let a damn engineer stop him!
"Where's Khan?"
He could hear his voice. Even from afar.
They were searching for him. And he knew that he'd had to get back to them.
"Let's search for him. I'll go that way, you take the other."
Kirk. Was he really that stupid? Would he just let his friend walk these floors alone?
'You need it… You need to taste it.'
A quiet voice echoed through the back of his mind. And that voice was right.
Slowly his body moved forward again. He couldn't stop himself from following the scent which was filling his nose once more.
And there he saw him.
The man was carefully glancing around a corner, phaser in his hand.
"Scotty."
Khan called him by the name Kirk had used to introduce him by.
The Scotsman turned around, obviously startled by the voice coming from behind him.
The tension left his body when he saw who it was.
"There ye are. Where have ye been?"
Khan moved forward, step by step. His prey was right in front of him. It trusted him. He'd just have to help himself and take what his body longed for.
His hands found the man's shoulders and he pressed him against the next best wall.
"Wha-"
The Scotsman didn't even get to finish his question. Khan sank his teeth into the engineer's neck and started to suck the hot red fluid out of the body, at first hesitantly and then faster and faster.
It was better than he could have ever imagined. Metallic and at the same time flowery and sweet. He couldn't stop himself from drinking.
But he had to!
'I can't kill him. Stop it!'
Slowly he moved his head back and just stared into the Scotsman's widened eyes.
"Nothing happened. You found me. We walked back to Kirk together."
Khan's eyes were glowing and the same glow was reflected in Scott's eyes.
He nodded slowly and Khan moved his head back towards the bite. He let his tongue run over the tiny holes and the wound disappeared.
"Let's go."
With that he grabbed the man's arm and they started to walk.
It didn't take them too long to find Kirk. Soon enough they'd get to the bridge.
And even though Montgomery Scott would never remember what had happened aboard that ship… Khan wouldn't forget it.
For if he'd get the chance… he'd follow that scent again.