I've seen a lot of people claim that the only way to get rid of the bloodthirsty debuff is to fist fight but that's not always true. If the sim is a monarch, knight or spy you can satisfy their blood lust by sparring, which is a friendly interaction that gives pretty good xp.
As for the cruel trait, you can work out your pent up anger on the quest specific sims who don't stick around after the quest, or by yelling at children since kids can't attack you and don't help with quests. It's mean but it works.