Hey guys,

Took forever to finish and post this chapter. Sorry about that c:

Changed

Friends To Confide In

Ch.12

~Korra's POV~

Asami called me late last night and told me about her meeting with Ozai. She said that Azula came and made her come to his vampire lair. She told me about the dhampir story Ozai had told her, and that she is supposedly the last descendant of the original dhampir's bloodline. It sounded unbelievable, and Asami denied it was actually true.

If it wasn't for the fact Ozai threatened to kill everyone she cares about if she doesn't help him, I would have told her to ignore him. Whether it's true or not, we've got to find something out before Ozai starts killing people off in Republic City.

Asami dropped by my house this morning, like usual, and we went to school. The news about Rachel had died down, and hardly anyone was talking about her anymore. I was glad, I guess that might sound bad but I didn't want Asami to be thinking about that, as well as myself since I had been there. After a few of my morning classes passed by quickly, we met at my locker when a girl I hadn't seen before came walking up to us.

"We should get going." Asami said when she saw her coming. She grabbed my math book out of my locker and shut it, and started walking down the hall, grabbing my arm and dragging me along.

"Ow! What's the hurry?" I said.

"Yes Asami, what's the hurry? You see me coming down the hall and you practically run away? Ouch." The girl said sarcastically and stopping us.

"I don't want to talk to you, is all." Asami said curtly.

"Who are you? I haven't seen you here before." I asked her.

"My name's Azula. Maybe Asami here has mentioned me? I just need to talk to her for a minute." I remembered her name as the girl's who Asami said came to her house yesterday. I looked over at Asami, understanding why she'd started dragging me down the hallway. I didn't say anything.

"Okay, fine. What do you want to talk about?" Asami said to Azula.

"Ozai asked me to invite you to dinner tonight. He would like to get to know you better."

"No thanks, I already have plans."

"Oh, that's too bad.-"Azula said not sounding the least bit disappointed. "-Ozai really was hoping to continue discussing what we talked about yesterday."

I bit my lip. Azula gave off a vibe that was really getting under my skin. I didn't like her already, and I'd only known her two minutes. Why couldn't she just take no for an answer and go away?

"From what I remember, you didn't do any of the talking. Anyway, I'm busy today. You'll just have to tell him I can't make it." Asami said sounding irritated. Azula rolled her eyes and then looked at me. She seemed to be trying to intimidate us. Before I could blink Azula pushed me against the wall and pinned me there. I gagged from her hold on my throat momentarily.

"What are you doing?" I said, struggling to break her hold on me. Her hand didn't even budge. Asami ripped her hand off my neck and shoved her backwards. Azula hardly stumbled.

"Keep your hands off my friends. You can't intimidate me into doing what you want. " Asami snapped.

Azula stepped back up to us and stared Asami in the eyes, glaring. "You should go to Ozai's dinner like a good little dhampir brat then."

"Right, since your little stunt there made me change my mind. The answer is still no." Asami paused a moment, and continued in a serious tone. "Leave me and my friends alone."

To my shock, Azula nodded and walked away from us. From what I'd just witnessed, she didn't look like the type of girl who took anybody telling her what to do, kinda like me. Did Asami just use the mind-control trick on her?

Asami turned to me. "Let's head to class."

We were also in math together. A class we both hated. I am terrible in math, but Asami seems to be pretty good in it and she helps me out sometimes. I probably wouldn't have passed math class last year without her help. The teacher walked in and started our lesson as the bell rang. After what seemed like a long confusing amount of notes and trying to at least attempt to learn something, class finally ended.

It was lunch time now, and I was glad. I hadn't gotten to eat breakfast this morning having woken up late. TyLee came up and asked if she and Mai could eat with us today. I said sure and Asami agreed. I've always liked the two of them.

TyLee is short and pretty with long brown hair. She is almost always smiling and happy, and super energetic. Her favorite color is pink, my least favorite color, and she wears it almost every day. TyLee is one hundred percent girly-girl. She loves to go shopping just like Asami and I.

Mai is her best friend. She also has long hair only it's dark brown almost black. She is kinda quiet most of the time and has a tough attitude. Tahno is also her brother. I feel terribly sorry that she has to put up with that creep every day. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I had to be family with him. She and TyLee are practically inseparable, just like Asami and I, so I figure that's how she is able to deal with him. The two are pretty much opposites, but I suppose just like they say, opposites attract.

"We saw your fight with Tahno the other day." TyLee said.

"Oh yeah?" I said.

"Yeah, you messed him up pretty bad. Thing is, he was walking around just fine afterwards." Both Asami and I froze, and glanced at each other.

"Relax, we know what's going on." Mai said.

"You do?" I asked. Mai nodded and then pulled her notebook out of her bag with a pen.

"Yeah, you really kicked his butt." TyLee said. "I don't think he even stood a chance. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Korra and me have been talking defense classes since we were 5 or 6, I guess they came in handy. " Asami answered. Mai wrote something down and put a finger to her lips and showed us the paper.

We know Tahno's a Vampire. He doesn't know we do, that's why I'm writing it. He can hear gestured across the room.

I saw Tahno sitting at a table with his group of friends. Asami and I stared at the paper she wrote on. They know about Tahno? I thought about it a moment. I suppose it would be pretty hard to hide that fact from your family. I took her pen and wrote a note back.

Let's talk about this later at my house. I wrote back and showed her, TyLee and Asami. They all nodded.

"Yeah, he was pretty weak." Asami said. Mai laughed.

"I heard you're dating Mako now Korra. He's cute." TyLee teased me. I felt my cheeks go red.

"Yeah, and Asami's got herself a guy too. She's going to homecoming with Iroh."

"Hehe, looks like you both got hottie dates for the dance. Nobody has asked me yet. I hope someone cute does. "

"Don't worry Ty, I'm sure someone will ask you. You're too cute to go alone." Asami reassured her.

The bell ending lunch rang. "We'll meet you after school." Mai said.

~Asami's POV~

Interesting. TyLee and Mai said they knew about Tahno. I was anxious to know what else they knew after school. I figure it's pretty obvious they know about me too, it didn't seem that they were going to tell anybody though. Well, if I were in their position, I don't think I would either. The fact that vampires are actually real still sounds crazy to me…and I am one.

Speaking of Tahno, I happened to run into him in the hallway. He stopped in front of me and smiled his usual full of himself smile. "Hey, Asami."

"What do you want?"

"We need to talk." He said.

"Huh, I really don't think we do." I said going to step around him. He stepped to the side and blocked my way again. I stared at him growing annoyed.

"You've got the whole school saying I'm a wimp. I don't like that." Tahno said. I laughed.

"That's what you wanted to say to me? I guess that makes you a whiner too. You should have fought back harder." He scowled at me. "Now that you've got that off your chest, mind moving out of my way now? I need to get to class."

"You know, that badass attitude of yours is pretty shitty. It makes you hotter though." He licked his lips like I was something to eat. "You should keep it up. You might get some real friends."

"Friends like you? Not likely. Move." He raised his eyebrows and leaned closer to me.

"Soon you won't have any friends, just people like you and me." He said quietly. I ignored him.

I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him out of my way. I caught him off guard. I hardly needed to use any effort. I really was stronger like Ozai said. I walked past him and down the hall.

After school we met up with Mai, and she told me TyLee was at cheerleading practice and she'd meet up with us later. The three of us headed to Korra's house. I found myself anxious to know what she knew. It must really suck to be Tahno's sister, but it was a plus since she would probably know something we didn't. We headed up to Korra's room and I sat on her window seat and Mai sat on her bed. I closed the open window.

"You and TyLee know about Tahno?" Korra asked her.

"Yeah, unfortunately we do. A little over a month ago I and TyLee saw him messing around with a girl and he bit her neck. At first we thought he was giving her a hickey since she seemed to be enjoying it, but when he pulled away she blood running down her neck and shirt."

"He didn't see you?" I asked.

"I don't think so. I think he would have confronted me about it by now if he knew that I know. I had already suspected he was before that day though. It wasn't the first time I'd seen him do something weird."

"What else did you see him do?" Korra said.

"He can make anyone do what he wants without them thinking twice about it. He told one guy to jump off the roof our house. The guy told him he was crazy, and then he repeated it and the guy nodded and jumped. He broke both his legs. Another time, he threw this guy through a door in a fight. The door didn't just break, there was hardly anything left of it. He put him in the hospital for 2 weeks. TyLee is scared of him."

"Are you?"

"I think I'd be stupid if I wasn't a little scared of what he can do. I don't think he would hurt me."

"Do your parents know?" Korra asked.

"No just me and TyLee as far as I know."

"Tahno used that mind control trick on me once and Korra twice." I said. Mai looked at me suspiciously, obviously wondering how I would know. She doesn't know about me. I realized. I wondered I should tell her. I looked over at Korra and she seemed to know what I was thinking, she nodded.

"How do you know?" Mai asked me.

"Tahno was talking to Asami at a party and asked her to follow him to a bedroom, she refused and then he looked her in the eyes and she strangely changed her mind. Just like the guy you said he told to jump off the roof. I followed them up the stairs and he made me go back down. The only reason I know is because I had this weird dream about it, where I was watching it happen to me." Korra told her.

"The other time was at the football game that Rachel died at." I said as we heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Korra's mom, Senna, answered it. I heard TyLee's perky voice and Senna sent her upstairs. TyLee knocked once and then opened Korra's bedroom door.

"Hey girls." She said shutting the door. "What did I miss?"

We filled her in on everything we'd told Mai just now. I went through how to tell them I was a monster like Tahno in my mind. Considering they already knew about vampires, I don't think they would take it badly. That fact didn't really reassure me though.

"You think Tahno used compulsion on you guys?" TyLee said. Korra and I nodded.

"Tell them, they can handle it. I trust them." Korra told me. I took a deep breath.

"Tahno…changed me." My words hit TyLee like a rock and I saw her tense up and look slightly afraid. Mai looked like she was waiting to hear it. I guess nothing surprises her.

"Y-You're a vampire?" TyLee stuttered.

"Yeah, but I'm not like Tahno. I didn't want this. He forced it on me." Korra smiled at TyLee and told her it was okay.

"Tahno changed forced you to change into a vampire?" Mai asked.

"Yes, at the football game." I saw both girls piece it together. TyLee looked even more uncomfortable.

"Let her explain before you making any assumptions. It's not how you think it is." Korra told them.

I told them how Tahno used Korra to get to me. How he guilted her, how he baited and threatened me. What he did to Rachel, and my part in it that I couldn't control. About how I had changed into a monster, a vampire. I felt all the horrible guilt of what I had done flood back into me. I was about to tears before I finished telling my part of the story to them. Surprisingly, TyLee crossed the bedroom and wrapped her arms around me, despite the fear she had felt minutes ago.

"It wasn't your fault." She told me. "I'm not scared of you. You're not a monster Asami."

"My brother is a murderer. You are just a victim who got pulled into this."

"That's not even the half of it." I continued to tell them about the special abilities I have, about Azula and Ozai. I even went as far as to tell them about the story Ozai told me and how he thinks I'm the newest dhampir. The four of us talked until late that night, and Mai and TyLee promised they wouldn't tell anyone.