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One of the most unnerving traits Dante had was after patching up any of his human companions. (It was usually just Lady but there were rare cases) He'd lick the blood off of his fingers.
It had freaked Lady out something fierce the first time after the Temen-ni-gru. He'd cleaned, stitched, and wrapped her wounds and once satisfied had simply pulled away and licked his fingers to clean them of her blood. She'd blanched and he immediately wilted at her reaction.
“Shit sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean to freak you out.” He sounded like a kicked puppy.
She didn't stop watching him wearily and he deflated. Regret wafting off him in waves.
“How do I say this without it being weird?” He grumbled. “It's good for demons as you know, and despite it all I am half. It's still tempting, but I've never gone out of my way to actually…” He trailed off before rubbing at his face.
“The blood is not going back in your body, why waste it?” He tried instead even as he winced at the words.
Lady did her best to separate her own opinions on the matter and look at it from an objective angle. And objectively, he wasn't wrong. Why waste blood when it could benefit him? He'd not shown any interest as he patched her up, clearly it wasn't so tempting he couldn't stop himself.
Simply a desire, something with no downsides and only positive benefits.
She relaxed marginally as she nodded. He seemed to relax finally. “I won't do it again if you don't want me to.” He offered weakly.
She waved him off. She wouldn't outright tell him no, but she really wasn't ready to think about it more right now. He seemed to understand as he retreated to go wash his hands.
After the first time and once Lady got more comfortable with Dante, it became commonplace. Any blood left on his hands was his to consume. She'd even considered finding a way to get him more (she was curious what the effects of more would be). As it turned out it gave him a boost in all his demonic aspects. His strength, healing, speed, everything.
With the minimal amount of blood he digested it was barely noticeable, but if he'd gotten banged up himself? Well he'd always bounce back just slightly quicker.
She'd grilled him extensively on it out of her own curiosity. Apparently to him it tasted like the essence of a person distilled, and nothing ever made it taste less desirable. Over all it was simply a baseline desire he had though easy to ignore and forget. But when presented with a reasonable source he'd never say no.
So it was a relatively common sight to see the hybrid licking blood off his hands. Trish did the same herself, so at some point everyone who hung around the Devil May Cry members was desensitized to it.
Patty had been the first outsider to be witness to it. Lady had stumbled into the shop, barely able to walk and closer to bleeding out than not. Dante was by her side in seconds and quickly began to patch her up.
Patty, who'd been chilling on the couch, was left to watch as Dante did his best to put her back together.
“You're so lucky I'm used to this. Can you imagine 19-year-old me trying to patch you up in this state?”
Lady wheezed out a pained laugh. “I had to walk you through so much.”
The hybrid chuckled. “Yeah you did, but hey I've learned over the years thanks to you.”
Eventually, once the huntress was taken care of Dante was left to clean off his blood-drenched hands. It was a lot more blood than normal, and he hated why, but his mouth watered all the same. If he was being honest Lady's blood would always be special.
He'd tasted all kinds over the years, but Lady’s remained his undisputed favorite for reasons he wasn't willing to think about, let alone acknowledge.
He contented himself with licking off the blood and only remembered Patty was indeed present when the girl had made a disgusted noise. He'd paused and glanced her way only to wince at the look on her face.
He did his best not to act too weird around anyone outside of the Devil May Cry crew. But alas his nature wasn't exactly so easy to always hide. He also frankly forgot, especially when he was in the shop. The shop was his, his territory, his home, his den.
Patty had been witness to more than he'd prefer, but this hadn't been something he'd exactly wanted her to see. The idea of her telling her mother… he shuttered at the thought. He'd likely never see the kid again.
And as much as he pretended otherwise, he did like her sticking around. She was funny, good entertainment, and most importantly his. He blinked back at the girl with subdued panic as he absent-mindedly licked the blood off his lips.
“Dante…why are you…” Patty began, and he felt his heart drop.
Lady however, just waved her off. “He does that, don't worry about it.”
She then launched into a recap of that first time after the tower and how she'd been about ready to make a run for it after attempting to blow his head off. Then into her discoveries on the subject. For a woman who hated demons and wanted them eradicated, she knew a lot about them.
He'd almost call her a scholar if he didn't know it was simply to learn what made them tick all so it made her job more efficient. It, in all honesty, circled right back around to scary when you really understood her intentions. At least he was mostly exempt from her more…murderous tendencies.
Still off-putting that she wanted to know how he worked, but he'd never blamed her for her curiosity.
The huntress's explanations seem to reassure the kid and he's thankful as he goes back to cleaning off his hands.
In the end Patty is unfazed like she is for all of his other quirks. If he's being honest he's so thankful for this bizarre little girl who takes to the insanity like a fish to water. He already feels bad enough about some of his more demonic traits.
He's happy to say he'd never tasted Patty's blood and would like to keep it that way. He never wanted to see her hurt badly enough for him to have that kind of opportunity. Patty didn't quite agree however, her own curiosity burning about the whole concept.
He preferred her curiosity about what her blood tasted like to him over the alternative.
Then had been poor Nero, he’d watched Dante clean Lady's blood from his fingers as everything with Fortuna wound down. They'd been off to the side checking each other over, and he'd just finished patching up a relatively small wound she'd managed to get in an area she couldn't quite reach.
The kid had just gaped at Dante utterly lost and clearly alarmed. Ironically, it was one of the most demonic things he'd done in front of the kid.
He just blinked back at him unsure of what exactly to say. After all Nero likely understood exactly what this was. Hell, he probably had the same urges. Though likely more subdued than even his own. Trish and him had compared notes and found his human half dampened quite a lot.
Though it was still more potent than one would expect, likely thanks to Sparda being as powerful as he was. But that was semantics.
Nero was staring at him, and Kyrie seemed to be giving him a look that was approaching horror. Dante quickly realized he had no idea what to say. Lucky for him, Lady had no such issue as normal.
“Ignore him he's still half demon, we can't all be perfect.”
Her blase tone must help because they both relax marginally. Nero seems to be digesting the implications and reckoning with the fact he too actually does desire blood. Dante had been there and sometimes he still struggled, but it came with being part demon.
He contented himself with the knowledge that it could be much worse.
Lady continued on nonplussed. “We have a longstanding deal that if he patches me up, any blood left over is his.”
Dante just grins, and she must know he's showing off his fangs if the elbow he gets is anything to go by. He feels slightly bad about the flinch from Kyrie, but he can't help the desire to mess with the kid.
“It would likely work the same for you Nero. It would simply give you a small boost.” Lady finishes.
The kid seemed very unsure, and Dante finally butted in because he at least owes the kid this. Besides, he knows exactly what the kid is worried about he too had the same concerns once.
“It's not addictive and it doesn't make you aggressive or anything like that. It's simply like getting a small boost.”
Lady scoffed. “Trust me, if it was an issue I wouldn't be working with him. Let alone trust him not to maul me.”
He couldn't help the content noise he made at that. She'd have blown him to pieces that first time if that were the case.
The huntress threw the gauze and medical tape she had over to the kid.
“Patch up your girl and see for yourself.”
The kid flushed lightly but took at least half the advice as he went over to Kyrie.
“He could probably use an actual boost.” The hybrid grumbled with concern evident in his tone.
Trish just tutted at him.
“Don't be getting mushy on us Dante, it's out of character.”
He just rolled his eyes. “God forbid I show concern over a nestling.”