Puppy Read online

  The vampire obviously didn’t lack control, or he’d be dead. He knew from experience that vampires thought his blood was especially tasty, and some were better at managing their cravings for treats than others. It had been enough to prompt him to isolate himself in the heart of the slums, where he’d thought — foolishly — that he’d be safe.

  He’d built up an empire, and now he would have to watch it fall.

  Instead of draining him dry, the fanger hauled him off of his feet and into shockingly warm arms, cradling Caleb there like some valuable treasure. He tried to choke out a protest, but the vampire shook his head.

  “Hush,” the heavily-accented voice interrupted him as the vampire started toward the door. One hand rested against the back of his head as the dark-skinned man carried him through the doorway, and Caleb could feel hard muscle where his body pressed into the other man’s.

  Silent as they went downstairs, he saw Ethan’s still form on the floor. His heart skipped a beat. He’d seen one of his go down after being bitten, but he’d thought it had merely been a feed of convenience. Ethan couldn’t be dead, but he had no way of checking.

  He tried anyway, doing his best to squirm out of the vampire’s arms so he could get to his comrade. “Let me—”

  “I said hush!” The vampire’s tone left no room for argument.

  Caleb’s scowl deepened even as he shut up. He tried to speak again anyway, and he realized before long that the bastard had used some sort of vampire whammy to get him to shut up. Asshole.

  But the more they moved, the more the room swam around him, and he found himself resting his head against the vampire’s shoulder. He wasn’t safe, not by a long shot, but at least he was being carried out. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

  As they left the supposed safe house, the blood loss and short rations hit him all at once. He closed his eyes to keep the dizziness at bay, and he thought over his options.

  He could try to fight. Depending on how old and experienced the creature was, he might have a chance of getting the drop on him even without his weapons.

  He was painfully aware that there was a very low probability of success.

  He could submit. There was a substantial part of him, a secret part that ached to be controlled, that was all aboard that particular option — and it wasn’t just about his sexual proclivities. The idea that he might get to go back to having regular food and hot water was more appealing than it should have been.

  But then, there were the inevitable issues: his master could prove to be a total dick like some of the others he’d encountered, and he might end up worse off. The promise of food and care wasn’t a guarantee when it came to supes.

  He’d never heard of anyone like himself before, whose blood was like fine wine and chocolate to the creatures, and he knew that gave him something of an edge. Most of them didn’t want him to die that easily, after all, and they’d always been careful around him — which was why he was unmarked and mostly free.

  Or at least, why he had been until mere minutes earlier.

  Caleb had watched some of his people escape, and he wished them all the best. With any luck, they’d find a new leader who could protect them from their own. For now, he had to worry about himself.

  It was time to roll the dice and see just where he ended up.

  Lulled halfway to sleep, it wasn’t until they reached the edge of the slums that he opened his eyes. He could see the open contempt and envy from those around him. They wanted this, wanted what he had. The vampire carried him rather than dragging him roughly through, and in what even he knew was a dick move, he let himself rest more comfortably against the vampire to taunt them.

  He went so far as to make a sound of pleasure, enjoying the way gazes darkened all around him. Really, if he was going to go through this, he was going to enjoy it.

  The fanger chuckled, murmuring, “You will be a good addition to my household.”

  Caleb went to speak, only to find that his tongue wouldn’t cooperate.

  “You may speak. Quietly. Do not assault my ears with prattle, or I will still your tongue again.”

  “Your household?” Caleb asked, stretching his mouth wide and doing his best not to turn his resentment up on the man holding him.

  “Yes. I do not currently have a pet. You will be my pet while I am in this city. If you please me, you will leave with me when I depart.”

  “And if I don’t please you?”

  The vampire rolled his eyes. “You are not so very stupid as that, I do not think,” he remarked.

  No, Caleb wasn’t that stupid. But he didn’t know what the vampire liked or what sorts of things he was into, and it was going to make it that much harder to decide if he wanted to satisfy him.

  Decide. Like he had that much of a choice.

  Then again, vampires had tried to claim him before, and he’d always had something up his sleeve. After the first one had nearly drained him dry, he’d always taken precautions. But with things ramping up with the werewolves, he’d gotten careless.

  Idiot.

  “Skip the mark and let me go back to my previous life?”

  The vampire barked out a laugh. “You amuse me. This is good,” he said, shifting Caleb in his arms. “I am called Liam, childe of Isaiah. You may call me Master. You are mine. I would ask what your name was, but I do not care who you were before. I will call you what I wish.”

  “Caleb,” Caleb said anyway. “It’s Caleb. Master. And I’m not gay, so.”

  Technically, he was bisexual, but he didn’t want to give up too much to the vampire all at once. Not to mention, he wanted to see just what sort of master he’d gotten himself into trouble with.

  The vampire continued to walk at what felt like a leisurely pace, but Caleb realized they’d been moving much faster than he’d thought. They were already out of the slums, with the hollow-eyed blood whores and would-be pets long gone. He was safe, supper, or both.

  “I do not care what your sexuality was, pet,” Liam stated, and he paused at last before a sleek SUV that had no place even close to the human sector of the city.

  A woman scrambled from the driver’s seat, and Caleb could easily see the intricate mark taking up most of the inside of her left wrist.

  Great. If Liam decided to mark him up like that, it was going to hurt like a bitch.

  “Sir,” she greeted him, bowing and then opening the door to the back of the car for them.

  Liam set Caleb down on the floor of the vehicle without glancing at her, commanding with a wicked smile on his lips, “You will stay down there. Puppies do not sit on the furniture or in comfortable seats. Is that not one of the rules of the city?”

  Caleb gave him a level look, not particularly sure he liked the term puppy, and Liam laughed as he climbed in. The woman closed the door behind them, returning to the driver’s seat before pulling away from the curb.

  At least this way, Caleb could hide the fact that he still had an erection despite the fact that the effects of the bite had long since faded.

  The vampire lounged back in his seat, eschewing a seat belt.

  Caleb remarked, “You know, you’d really be safer with a—” Maybe snark wasn’t the best way to address this particular vampire. He might not like it, which meant Caleb’s life would be a hell of a lot worse for indulging in his need to speak up.

  Liam snorted. “Please, pet, do not tell me you were going to say that I would be safer with a… safety belt?”

  “Seat belt, as us common folk like to refer to it,” Caleb replied, interested in the fact that he wasn’t immediately struck for speaking up this time. He was having a conversation with a vampire, and he wasn’t being treated like a juice box who should be seen and not heard — for the moment, at least.

  Things were looking up.

  “And why would a vampire need a … seat belt?” Liam inquired.

  “A vampire launched as a projectile could be a public health hazard?” Caleb ventured.

  Liam bl
inked at him. Chuckling, the vampire began threading his fingers through Caleb’s admittedly filthy hair. Still, his voice dropped in volume as he replied, “You will mind that tongue when we are not alone, or I will remove it.”

  All right, so maybe they weren’t quite that good. At least he was getting a feel for the fanger. He’d deal with snark as long as it was in private.

  After a moment of soothing petting, the vampire grimaced. He pulled his hand away, wiping it on Caleb’s shirt — which wasn’t much cleaner. “Do you not bathe where you are from?”

  “Not if I can help it. My men have to hold me down once a month and spray me off with a water hose.”

  Liam’s eyes searched his features, but Caleb kept his expression neutral. “You will stay clean while you are with me,” he stated after a lengthy pause.

  Score.

  Even if it was only for the vampire’s benefit, he was still going to be able to take regular baths. If he could get baths, a steady supply of food and clean water, he would be better off than he’d been in the slums.

  Things were definitely looking up.

  Chapter Three

  Liam

  His temporary driver stopped the vehicle in front of the best hotel in the city, which was famed for hosting the elite even before the Takeover. Liam waited for her to open the door for him. When she did, he slid out, letting his new pet scramble out behind him. He was curious to see if the human would try to run, so he stood there without moving, but Caleb climbed out and stood beside him.

  Liam frowned at him, canting his head to the side. “Down.”

  The human blinked at him. “What?”

  “I am aware that my accent may occasionally make my words difficult for you to understand, but surely you know the word down. Get down, pet. On all fours.”

  The human had no choice to obey, not with Liam’s voice so heavily laden with compulsions, and he slid down until he was on all fours like a common beast. That was the style in the city, was it not? Liam had heard it was all the rage, ever since a witch had taken a werewolf as a pet and begun training him to be a dog.

  Liam had rolled his eyes, but he had seen a certain appeal. Besides, it was something he had never done before, and those things were few and far between. He had done far too many things in his years, and little was new. But making a human into some sort of puppy dog… He’d seen it, but he’d never trained such a creature.

  It would be new. Interesting.

  “There,” he said, nodding. “You will stay on all fours at all times, unless I tell you otherwise.” That time, he didn’t bother with compulsions. If he laid them on too heavily, he risked them crossing in ways that wouldn’t be pleasant for either of them. Besides, it would be more entertaining to get Caleb to obey of his own volition.

  “Master?” His new puppy looked up at him, and Liam couldn’t resist the urge to pat his head, filthy and in need of a good cleaning notwithstanding. “Why do I need to be on the ground?”

  “That is where puppies stay,” Liam stated with a shrug, glancing at the front doors of the hotel. He took a step toward them.

  “I’m not a dog.”

  Liam turned to eye his new pet, wondering if he should have laden him with compulsions until he could be properly trained anyway. He didn’t want to be embarrassed in public. The concierge had already looked at them several times, and while he ordinarily enjoyed the attention, he didn’t want to be seen with an ill-trained pet.

  Still, he chuckled, hiding his irritation behind a laugh. “Of course you are.” He allowed some of the disdain he felt for the new status quo to seep into his voice. The human wouldn’t understand it as such, simple creatures that they were. “What else would you be? You are a human. I am a vampire. This makes me a superior being. Do I misunderstand?”

  “No,” his pet muttered, staring at the ground.

  No challenge at all. Liam didn’t even have to hide what he was doing. “Now come.” He clucked his tongue, striding for the doors without waiting. If his pet didn’t follow this time, they would begin to have issues.

  But Caleb followed clumsily on all fours, and the concierge opened the door for them without batting an eye.

  “I need to outfit a new puppy-pet,” he told the concierge, both needing the supplies the city found common enough for such creatures and wanting to be sure the man knew his pet was new and not rebellious.

  He had a reputation to maintain, after all.

  The concierge immediately nodded, replying, “I’ll see it brought to your suite, sir.”

  Liam nodded in satisfaction, crossing the lobby and delighting in the faltering way his new puppy tried to follow him. He was probably leaving a trail of dirt and grime in his wake, but he was certainly paying the hotel enough to clean up after him and his pets.

  He pressed the button, waiting for the private elevator to the penthouse suite he was renting to arrive, and he glanced back to see a younger man patting his head and cooing over him as Caleb squirmed and looked toward Liam.

  “Master!” he called out.

  Liam scowled, striding over just as the doors dinged open behind him. “He is mine,” he snapped at the other vampire, who blinked at him and took a step back.

  “Sorry,” the young — and he had to be young — vampire mumbled before turning and nearly running away.

  Liam shook his head. “Into the elevator. You allow no one but me to pet you. And if you are in trouble, you bark. You do not speak.”

  Caleb obeyed, following him into the elevator. His pet looked up at him as the doors closed, giving him that look.

  Liam arched a brow. “There. Do you see? You give me puppy eyes already.”

  Caleb flashed Liam a dirty look.

  Liam’s chuckling turned into full-fledged laughter. “Oh, we will have a great deal of fun together,” he replied, his mood brightening. He had business in the city for his sire, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself while he was there. “Now,” he said as they stepped off of the elevator and he slid the key card into its slot, tapping in his personal code, “let us see about a bath.”

  He saw Caleb lift his shoulders up at that, his position seeming to straighten, and he nodded. At least his new pet had some semblance of pride if he wanted to get clean.

  He led the pup into the suite, closing and locking the door behind them. But as soon as the door closed, Caleb rose onto his feet, and Liam stared daggers at him, his good mood threatening to vanish as swiftly as a candle’s flame could be extinguished. It might leave smoke in its wake, but it would be gone all the same.

  “I am not certain why you think my tolerance for your antics makes you believe I am a gentle master,” he warned. “I am not.”

  “You said —”

  “For you to be on all fours at all times, unless I tell you otherwise,” Liam interrupted.

  Caleb stayed standing.

  Liam was on him in an instant, pressing him hard against the wall and baring his fangs. “You will obey me,” he hissed.

  Silence.

  “Do you understand me, or must I punish you?” Was it his imagination, or did Liam feel something hard press against his thigh? The bite had to have affected Caleb more than Liam had supposed.

  More silence.

  Liam grabbed Caleb by the arm, throwing him as easily as he might a rag doll onto the floor. “On. All. Fours.”

  Caleb grimaced, but he lowered himself back to all fours, casting a dirty look back at Liam as he did.

  Liam scowled, his foot connecting with enough force with Caleb’s ass to send him toppling back onto the floor. “Bathe,” he demanded through clenched teeth.

  Liam had had many slaves over the years — some legal, some otherwise and known publicly as assistants — and he’d learned to read some of them. These actions almost spoke of purposeful defiance, which didn’t surprise him considering he was dealing with a man who was willing to pull a flamethrower on a vampire.

  Well, he’d have to be stricter.

  He sur
veyed his suite, wishing he were already ensconced safely within his new home instead of at the mercy of some hotel — renowned security or not. At least he could assess it ahead of Isaiah’s arrival, but he still wasn’t pleased at the knowledge that he was reliant on anyone else. But the damned werewolves who had been working their way into the slums had taken offense to his increased arms sales in the area, and they were giving him trouble.

  He’d take care of them.

  For now, he’d take care of his soon-to-be pup.

  On silent feet, he strode to the bathroom, and he entered to see Caleb in the bathtub, water sluicing away some of the filth from him. He crossed the room, closing the door behind him. He tsk’d at the sight of the dirt accumulating in the bottom of the tub, shaking his head and rolling up the sleeves of his suit.

  “You are filthy,” Liam commented, knowing the words were pointless but feeling the need to say them anyway.

  The human rolled his eyes, and Liam slapped him. The snark amused him, but the blatant show of disrespect pushed even his limits. Caleb’s head snapped to the side, but Liam saw the way his pup’s teeth dug into his bottom lip as he kept quiet through it.

  Grabbing the showerhead, he chased the dirt down the drain with the steady stream of water first before he hosed Caleb down from head to toe. Turning off the shower, he began to fill the tub, taking up the washcloth and the decadent soaps provided by the hotel.

  The human gave him a strange look, and Liam shook his head as he began to scrub him clean so that his pup’s stench would no longer assault his senses.

  “Everyone knows that dogs do not bathe themselves,” he stated, ruthlessly tackling every inch of Caleb’s body, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet — including his curiously hard cock. Was he still reacting to the bite, or was he thinking about the possibility of it happening again? “Though I believe you are capable of cleaning out your ass for me, no?”

  “Yes, I can clean out my ass.”

  Liam eyed him. “Good puppies speak by barking.”

  “I’m not a good puppy,” Caleb retorted as Liam turned off the water and began to dry him off with a fluffy towel. “I’m not a puppy at all.”