Puppy Read online

  “No, that won’t do… That won’t do at all.”

  Liam pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, one he’d only seen on the few supes he’d interacted with. It was the rare free human who could afford a cell phone, and they were more than a little pointless. Who would they call?

  The vampire slid his finger along the screen, but Caleb couldn’t see what he was doing.

  He heard the phone ringing as Liam switched it to speaker, and then a woman’s lilting voice answered on the other end, “Childe of Isaiah. How good of you to ring.”

  “Lady Desideria,” Liam returned, and the respectful way he spoke to the woman sounded at extreme odds with the way the man had spoken to everyone else.

  Caleb’s heart skipped a beat. He’d heard enough about the vampires to be fucking terrified. He didn’t dare tune out even what seemed like small talk, afraid of what this vampire might be doing with one who had a reputation that extended even deep into the slums.

  “I trust you are well?”

  “The stars shine bright; the world goes on. Your sire desecrates the balance of death and creation.” Liam’s fingers flexed around the phone he held as the feminine voice came from the other end of the phone. “What need do you have of me?”

  Despite his expression, Liam’s voice remained polite. “I have acquired a pet, Lady. I wish to accessorize it properly.”

  “Him,” Caleb spoke up.

  Liam shoved him hard with his foot. Caleb sprawled over, knocking over the bowl of water and ending up wet. He bit back the motherfucker that threatened to spill past his lips, only glowering up at the vampire.

  Liam paid him no further mind, though there was a soft laugh from the other end of the line.

  “Come to me, my lovely,” she replied.

  Before Liam could reply, the call cut off.

  This did not bode well.

  This did not bode well at all.

  Liam shook his head, tucking his phone back into his pocket. He ignored the mess — both on the floor and on Caleb’s face — and he retrieved the leash. Clipping it to the end of the collar, Liam tugged. “Come.”

  Caleb had to fight not to snort.

  It wasn’t like he had much choice, and he fell in step behind his new master. When they approached the door, though, he balked, realizing what they were doing. They were about to leave the room with him on all fours, collar around his throat with him leashed to a vampire... with a tail plug sticking out of his ass and cum on his face. He tried not to move, but Liam only dragged him a few steps by the neck before he reluctantly started moving.

  Liam patted the top of his head. “Good boy,” he praised again, even though they both knew Caleb had been anything but and didn’t want to be anything of the sort.

  He was only glad the vampire didn’t seem to be paying attention to his cock, or he’d have given away just how much the idea of public nudity both appalled and titillated him. He followed the vampire into the elevator, shame and desire making his erection painful as he did, and when the doors opened, he cringed at the idea of getting out.

  Liam didn’t give him a choice, already striding forward and giving him no choice as to whether or not he was going to follow.

  The trip across the lobby felt like it took an eternity, but barely anyone even cast a glance in his direction. Those who did showed only lust, not pity, and Caleb found himself straightening a little beneath their expressions despite himself — as if he were with someone else entirely, rather than a vampire he’d only met hours earlier.

  It seemed like so much longer.

  The same driver waited outside with the same generic SUV, and again Liam pushed him down onto the floorboard. This time, though, he stroked Caleb’s hair and didn’t stop, though he pulled out his cell phone and started an animated conversation in a language Caleb didn’t even recognize — let alone speak.

  He half-drowsed despite himself, lulled into a false sense of security by that touch, but there was a part of him that knew he needed to stay alert. He knew where they were going, and he knew who was going to be there. He had to be careful, or he was going to end up in an even worse situation with an insane vampire with a reputation as long as the years she’d supposedly lived.

  Well, that was going to happen anyway…

  Caleb didn’t have much time to look up at the quaint-looking house they arrived at; Liam hummed in pleasure, and Caleb stumbled after him over pebbles with sharp edges to a set of stairs. He hissed in pain as he tried to navigate them, his knees already feeling the wear of the time spent down on all fours, but Liam only continued to lead him on.

  Knocking firmly on the front door, he waited, and he glanced aside at Caleb. “You will show Lady Desideria respect,” he warned. “I will not stay her hand should you offend her.”

  A chill ran down Caleb’s spine, but before he could reply, the door flew open and a dark-haired blur had her arms around Liam. She kissed both of his cheeks, babbling excitedly at him in the language Caleb assumed he’d been speaking in the car.

  Liam laughed, but his reply came in English — doubtless so Caleb could understand, which only made him more nervous. “Yes, this is my new pet. I would like an alteration made, beautiful lady, if you would be so kind. And then we shall talk of Isaiah and your witchling. Where is he?”

  “Visiting family,” Desideria said, the vampiress’s voice holding a dreamlike quality as she spoke, as though she drifted somewhere the rest of them couldn’t reach.

  Or a place none of them wanted to go.

  “Terrible things await, but then… they always do, don’t they, little puppy?” She laughed, the girlish sound somehow an assault on his ears despite the mock-innocence of the sound.

  Caleb dared a look up at her. She might have been pretty — hell, she might have even been his type — if she hadn’t been dead and crazy.

  “I do not like the false tail,” Liam said.

  Caleb didn’t like the sight of his smile.

  Desideria crouched down, patting her knees as she cooed, “Come here, boy. Come here. Come along, pet.”

  Caleb stared dumbly at her, and Desideria pouted as she glanced at Liam. Whatever attraction he held for the male vampire didn’t extend to Desideria, and he edged away from her instead of moving closer. He found himself closer to Liam, but it was preferable to being nearer to the vampiress.

  “He doesn’t behave very well.” She pouted.

  Liam’s expression darkened. “He has been mine only a few hours, Lady, but I believe he will behave nicely after this…”

  “Oh, yes,” Desideria said, and Caleb could hear the smile in her voice as she rose. “Come along,” she invited them inside.

  Liam tugged at the leash until Caleb followed. “Go to her like a good boy.” Liam’s voice was all warning, and Caleb reluctantly went to her.

  She made a delighted sound, scratching behind his ears. “Good boy,” she praised as though he really was a dog and nothing more. He found himself leaning into the touch, just as he’d done with Liam in the car, and he couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. “Such a good boy. Aren’t you a good boy? You’re about to please your master so very much, puppy dog…”

  As she trailed off, he knew one thing for sure: he was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of her hands continuing to run down his body. They ran along his tailbone until she reached the bottom, and she stroked soothingly just above his ass.

  There, her fingers stilled, and he felt something strange. It wasn’t painful, but something like a shock of static electricity ran through him. There was a jolt, and then a stretching sensation before something began to hurt.

  Caleb gritted his teeth, looking to Liam despite himself. The man had brought him there, but he was the only thing between Caleb and the madwoman.

  “A tail? A pretty little tail the color of his hair? How long?” He couldn’t see the look in her eyes, but he could hear the glee in her voice, and suddenly, Liam’s words from earlier clicked.

&nbs
p; No.

  Fuck no.

  He could handle a lot, and he was enjoying a lot, but he hadn’t signed up for a tail. He hadn’t agreed to be turned into something less than human, and having some freaky tail-thing added to him…

  Was it even possible?

  Obviously, since Liam took it all in stride.

  As the realization struck him, Liam chuckled, and he held the leash tight. “He understands, Lady. I may need to hold him now.”

  Caleb struggled and bucked, catching sight of Desideria’s serene smile as a set of impossibly strong hands held him down. Her fingers continued to work at his backside, until something started to sprout from his tailbone. He tried to fight, but the collar around his throat felt impossibly tight. He couldn’t breathe, and he continued to fight until he was panting like the dog they kept telling him he was.

  Finally — blessedly — he passed out.

  Chapter Six

  Liam

  Liam watched in fascination as Desideria worked, and even as his pet passed out, he didn’t look away. He lowered Caleb fully to the ground, but the vampiress hardly seemed to notice. She hummed softly beneath her breath, the sound of an old Italian lullaby filling his ears, and he shook his head. His sire might have escaped the madness of age, but not this woman.

  Far from it.

  Still, she knew what she was doing, and she was renowned for her skill with crafting and molding pieces and parts of the body. From flesh to bone, she could turn it into anything she pleased, and it was both terrifying and fascinating to watch.

  It took time, and Liam had no doubt that it would have been painful had his pet been awake to feel it. The way the spine first erupted from flesh, plates moving until it moved was oddly alluring.

  She made a soft sound, considering, and then he didn’t know how she managed, but as she ran her hands along the bone, hair began to sprout until a soft layer of what could be described as fur covered it.

  He noticed toward the end that the fur on the tip was thinner than the rest and that the vampiress’s attention had begun to wander, but she’d kept going until she was done.

  Only then did he speak, feeling comfortable interrupting her at long last.

  “And it will react to his moods? Wag when he is happy?” he inquired.

  Desideria beamed at him, batting lightly at his tail and peering beneath it at the tail plug before swatting at it as well. Her giggling filled the room, and it took her a moment to reply. “Two tails!” she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Yes. You will know when he is happy, when he has behaved badly and knows it…” She petted the unconscious human’s head. “Puppies are so fashionable,” she said wistfully. “But the last pet I had died. I think I was supposed to feed it…”

  As she trailed off, Liam snorted. “Yes, Lady Desideria. You are meant to feed your pets. They do require sustenance.”

  The vampiress scrunched up her nose. “No. You’re the first, you know, to do this.” She touched the tail again and then rose, skirts swirling about her ankles. “I like it.”

  She had outdone herself, even if the last bit had been a little sloppy. He didn’t want a real dog; he was hardly into that. But this? This, he would enjoy. A person, forced to act like a common mutt; a person, with a functional tail that still left his ass open for fucking.

  When he woke, Caleb was going to be horrified — and Liam couldn’t wait to see the look on his face.

  But his pet remained unconscious, and Liam swept him into his arms, carrying him to the car and setting him onto the floorboards. He relaxed on the way home, knowing that when they arrived at the hotel, it would be time to wake his pet and tend to him. He pulled the old plug out, casting it aside. They wouldn’t be needing that any longer.

  His knees were scraped all to hell, and Liam vaguely remembered the knee pads that had been in the box. Well, he didn’t particularly care. His pet was there for him. He wasn’t there to care for his pup. Then again, he wouldn’t have a pet for long if he didn’t take care of it.

  He considered, albeit briefly, healing those wounds. His own blood would easily take care of them. But he wasn’t ready to share his own blood, not with a brand new human pet.

  Caleb could suffer a bit longer.

  Not in the mood to carry his pet up to his suite, Liam casually shook Caleb awake, and his pet woke with slowly blinking eyes, clearly still disoriented from what had happened to him. “Out,” he ordered. When Caleb didn’t obey swiftly enough, he grabbed him by the collar, shoving him out of the car by force.

  Caleb scrambled to all fours, cringing, and his tail tucked down between his legs.

  He got to see his pet’s moment of initial shock, and his head whipped around as he turned to see his tail. Liam chuckled, but he didn’t give him time to adjust. He wound the leash around his hand, ordering, “Come.”

  This time, he didn’t lace the word with compulsion. The earlier incident was why even vampires of his age and experience didn’t rely on them too heavily. That, and they went through the reserves of blood that fueled them too swiftly, and he wanted every drop of blood in his system.

  Caleb stumbled behind him, and Liam could hear his graceless pup struggling to keep up. He didn’t slow his pace any. They would have to work on leash training along with the rest. He glanced back to see the trail of bloody spots his pet was leaving on the floor, but one of the hotel staff was already discreetly mopping up behind him.

  He chuckled. It was one of the many reasons he paid so much to stay here. The staff tended to be so accommodating — and those who weren’t tended to be replaced swiftly enough. Since they were by and large marked humans, they certainly didn’t want that to happen.

  This sort of job was positively cushy by comparison to what they might experience elsewhere. They could, for example, end up like Caleb.

  He heard hushed whispers as people noticed the tail, and he held his head high even as his pet showed no such pride.

  Well. That wasn’t true.

  Caleb’s cock was hard again.

  Curious.

  They reached the elevator, and Liam closed his eyes as it rose to the floor of his suite, already dismissing what he’d noticed as mere human strangeness. They entered, and he realized that his pet was still leaving behind blood — on the carpet he’d already soiled with his seed. “You are a filthy little puppy,” he stated with a frown. “First you spill your seed on the carpet, and now you bleed on it. I will take the price of the cleaning out of your hide, pup.” But not right then.

  Right then, he had other ideas, and they had little to do with the state of the carpet and everything to do with turning the pup into what he wanted him to be.

  Liam unclipped the leash from his pet’s collar, tossing it aside.

  Caleb stared up at him a little dumbly, his eyes seeming out of focus.

  Liam eyed him. “You will need to do better than that. We have training to do.” His pet groaned, and Liam kicked him lightly in the ribs, sending him tumbling onto the floor on his side. “No,” he said firmly. “Bad dog. Now. All fours.”

  Caleb slowly obeyed, his features overtaken with a glower as he did. There was the recalcitrant pet he had begun to get used to. Part of him was pleased; he had wanted a challenge, after all, and while some of this was ridiculously easy, he was still enjoying himself.

  “Sit.”

  Caleb stared at him.

  Liam pushed heavily down on his pet’s ass, forcing it to the ground. Caleb got back up to all fours. Liam pushed him down again, chuckling darkly. “I suggest you learn this position swiftly. You’ll be more comfortable this way than on those knees of yours.”

  “Wonder why that is,” Caleb muttered.

  Liam found himself surprisingly pleased to hear his pet talk, to see the spirit that was still there — not that he showed it. “Bad,” he chided. “You do not speak. You are a puppy. You will bark, and you will whine, and you will act as puppies do. Do you understand?”

  Caleb glared at him.

&nbs
p; “Speak, boy.”

  “I tried that,” Caleb complained.

  Liam swatted at his nose, but this time, amusement shone in his eyes. “You know what it is I mean, pup. Speak.”

  A halfhearted bark emerged from his pet’s lips, but Liam couldn’t help but notice the way Caleb’s cock stayed perfectly hard. It still didn’t make any sense. Was he enjoying this? How could he possibly find any of this appealing? None of his other slaves would have.

  “Good boy,” he praised anyway, ruffling his pup’s hair as his mind began to drift.

  He worked through command after command, fighting him through sit and stay and his favorite: roll over. That one had taken more than one smack and threat before he’d managed it.

  Liam stopped him the fifth time he rolled over, resting a foot upon his pet’s stomach and then sliding it down to rest atop his cock and balls. “Remember who owns you,” he said, putting just a touch of pressure there before sliding his foot back down to his thigh. “Now. Roll over.”

  That time, Caleb did so without complaint.

  It nagged at him, though, that his pet’s cock stayed erect. Shouldn’t he have been the slightest bit bothered by this? Especially when he balked at order after order, when he fought even the slightest new command.

  Just like a puppy would.

  That was when the realization hit him, and Liam’s vision blurred red as fury swept over him like a tidal wave.

  Caleb had been fucking with him.

  His pet — his little dog, the little creature he’d spent the last several hours training — was getting off on this, even as he pretended not to. He was provoking Liam on purpose, and he was asking for each and every punishment he received.

  Suddenly, it all made sense, from the first erection in the bath to the one his pet sported right then. He was enjoying this, and that pissed Liam off to the point where he could scarcely think straight.

  He was not the sort of man who enjoyed being made a fool of, least of all by a human a fraction of his age.

  “You enjoy this, then? Let us see if you enjoy being fucked, little pup,” he snarled. He yanked off his shirt and threw it on the floor, unfastening his pants and kicking them aside. “Present.”