I drifted into sleep exploring those possibilities in my mind, eager to return to the promise of her embrace and discover whether or not they could come true.
Episode 3
Punished
Chapter One
I was fifteen minutes late to my December appointment with Elizabet. It couldn’t be helped. I’d had a late final, then gotten stuck in rush hour traffic along I-75, and fretted the whole time. Devin wasn’t answering his phone and, like a dummy, I hadn’t yet put Marco’s number into my cell, even though I’d been a pet for a month and a half and knew I should’ve.
I paid the taxi driver and scooted out of the back seat, slamming the door behind me when I exited. The night air was balmy enough that I carried my coat as I sprinted up the drive to the front door. I took a few precious seconds to smooth my hair and the suit I wore, then rang the doorbell.
It still felt a little odd to just barge in, no matter how welcome I was.
The door opened on a sober looking servant with sagging jowls. “Master Eric. The Mistress has been asking for you.”
My heart sank straight to the floor. Any hopes I’d had of sneaking in and avoiding punishment were dashed. “Finals,” I explained.
“Ah, yes,” the servant said kindly. “The Mistress wishes you to go straight to her chambers if you would, sir.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
I kept my coat and bag with me and jogged up the stairs. Devin’s room was on the way, so it would be just as easy for me to drop my things off as to have someone else do it. I reached his room and hesitated outside the door. On the other hand, Elizabet had requested that I go right to her chambers. I waffled with indecision for about three seconds, and finally decided I’d better play it straight since I was already skirting the line by being late. I hefted the bag and wound my way through the twists and turns of Elizabet’s home until I reached the room we used to exchange blood.
I knocked politely before entering, but no one was inside. Odd. They must still be eating supper. I ignored the hollow ache in my stomach. I’d missed lunch trying to juggle finals and hadn’t had a chance to catch a snack on the way up.
I dropped my things onto a chaise and wandered in restless circles, exploring the room for the first time since I’d entered the world of the Vampyr. Very little about it changed from one visit to the next. The bed took up a large chunk of one wall with it’s deep red canopy and sheer drapes that fell to the floor, while chaise lounges were scattered along the other walls at even intervals. A small table had been erected at the foot of the bed and the linens were clean, but other than that, the room appeared exactly the same as it had the first two times I’d been in it, right down to the strange red and black wallpaper that seemed to shift right before my eyes.
I poked my head into the bathroom. I’d never been inside before and was disappointed to find that, in spite of the ornate fixtures, it wasn’t much different from bathrooms everywhere. The room contained a large tub, a toilet, and a free-standing sink. A baker’s rack held an assortment of plush, white towels and a wide variety of toiletry items and medicines.
The bedroom door opened and I turned. Devin stepped inside holding a covered tray that held a plate of roast beef, unless my nose was mistaken. I patted my rumbling stomach, willing it to behave. Devin’s face was unusually pale and grim, and an eerie foreboding slithered up my spine. I cleared my throat and stuffed my hands into my trousers, watching while he set the tray on the table at the foot of the bed.
“Ah, everything ok?” I asked, and cringed when my voice cracked. My nerves were showing. They only got worse when Devin yanked his tie off and glowered at me.
“Elizabet is upset.” He dropped his tie on a chaise and stripped off his suit, jacket first. “If you were going to be late, you should’ve called.”
I hunched my shoulders. “Tried that. You didn’t answer.”
“You weren’t supposed to call me,” he said stiffly. “Marco’s the one in charge of the pets, Eric. He’s not too happy with you either, by the way.”
I blew out a breath. “Sorry, man.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Just when I think you’re mature enough to handle this life, you pull a stunt like this.”
A hot ball of anger lodged in my throat. “That was low, Devin. I tried to get here on time.”
“Trying doesn’t mean shit around here.” His hands raced down the front of his shirt, undoing the buttons with sharp jerks. “You read your contract. You know what happens when you break the rules.”
“Punishment,” I ground out. “I was fifteen minutes late. How harsh can the penalty be?”
“Plenty,” he said evenly. “There’s still time for you to back out.”
The foreboding gripping my spine hardened into alarm. What could they do to me that would be so bad I’d rather break the contract? My imagination went wild, pulling up every scene from every bad horror flick I’d ever watched.
Devin must’ve caught some of the images flickering through my mind, of medieval torture devices and me, a broken, bloody mess. He shot me a disgusted look. “We don’t do that here. Jesus. Where did that come from?”
I shrugged and looked away. “I figured it would be bad.”
“Not like that.” He finished undressing and padded toward me on silent feet, his nude body gleaming in the dim light. “I’ll tie you to the bed and tease you, Elizabet will feed from you, and then you’ll watch while she and I have sex.”
I gave a half laugh. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Trust me, it’s pure torture.” He jerked his chin at the wall. “Ever wonder why the walls look so funny, why whenever we come in here our bodies react sexually?”
I had, a lot, and not just here. The bad thing about being a thinker is that you think all the time, usually about stuff you should probably leave alone. “What’s your point?”
“When Elizabet bought this house, she had spells woven into the walls, mild ones in the outer rooms, strong ones here. Think of it like an external aphrodisiac.” He ran his hands down the lapels of my jacket before tugging it off. “It keeps us ready, always ready. Those spells in conjunction with whatever we do to you will push you to the edge of your endurance. Elizabet will compel your body to stay there, always on the precipice of release. It’s not a pleasant way to spend the evening.”
Well, crap.
Devin ran his hands over my chest, flicked a finger at my tie. “Take off your clothes so we can have a few minutes before she gets here.”
I knew what he wanted, and still, I stripped down to my skin, not quite eager to share time with him that way, but not quite strong enough to say no either. Devin was the first man I’d ever been attracted to, the only man I’d ever wanted that way. Part of it was the bond between us, the fact that we were rotation mates and shared a night with Elizabet each month. Part of it was simply Devin. He charmed everyone he met, everyone, and had pulled me in just as easily as he did all of his other groupies.
“We don’t have long,” he murmured against my throat, and then his hands were on me, skimming down my back until he cupped my ass. One finger slid between my ass cheeks, stroking the tender pucker of my anus, and I yanked back.
“What the hell, Dev?” I said. “I’m not ready for that and you know it.”
His amber eyes glowed nearly yellow, lit from within by desire and need. “She’ll insist. I’ll be as easy as I can.”
“Whoa, wait a minute.” I backed away from him with my hands held out. My heart stalled when he followed, stalking me until I bumped into the bed. “I didn’t agree to that.”
“When you signed the contract,” he said as he aligned his body with mine, “you agreed to be punished however Elizabet and Marco see fit. If you walk out now, no one will hold it against you, but you will break the contract.”
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore Devin’s skin brushing mine and the jab of his erection against my stomach. I’d signed that contract in order to have the money and time I needed
to have both an education and a girlfriend. What would Gianna think if I had sex with Devin?
I choked out a laugh. Jesus. She didn’t even know I’d had sex with Elizabet. I hadn’t worked up the nerve to tell her about that. She knew I was Elizabet’s blood slave, true, but she didn’t know about the sex.
Devin tangled his hand in my hair and tugged my head back, then his mouth came down on mine, teasing and coaxing until I kissed him back. He nipped at my lips and slid his tongue into my mouth to brush across the ends of my canines. I moaned as pleasure shot through me, going straight from my mouth to my dick as if they were directly connected.
He pulled back to lick at my lips. “I love that sound you make when you’re aroused, that low moan in the back of your throat. One day, you’ll have your mouth wrapped around my cock when you do that.”
I clutched at his hips and let him explore. His mouth drifted down my chest and found a nipple, and his teeth clamped down hard enough to pull the breath from me. “Cut it out, Dev.”
He flicked his tongue across the nipple and blew, drawing another moan from me. “We’re out of time anyway. I need to tie you up.”
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it,” I groused.
“I’m not happy about having to do this to you,” he said. “That’s not going to stop me from enjoying you while you can’t say no.”
I let him maneuver me toward the end of the bed, watched while he pulled heavy ropes out from behind the drapes, and obligingly held my arms up so he could fasten the leather bands at the ends of those ropes around my wrists. He did the same with my ankles, spreading my legs wide and tightening the ropes until I could barely move. I was spread eagle between the foot posts of the bed with my feet flat on the floor and my thighs pressed against the footboard just above my knees.
It was the first time I’d ever been so vulnerable in my life, that I could remember. It wasn’t scary so much as it was titillating. Knowing that Devin could do whatever he wanted to me, and would without hesitation, sent heat shivering through me until my dick jutted straight out from my body.
“Do I get a safe word?”
Devin snorted out a laugh. “You shouldn’t need one. But if things get too uncomfortable, all you have to do is say so, or if Elizabet or I sense that something’s wrong, it’ll end. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”
I eyed him carefully. “I can trust you to do that?”
“Jesus, Eric. Of course, you can.” He shook his head, patted my ass a little too heavily. “You should know by now that I’d never deliberately let you come to harm.”
I did, but it was good to hear him say it out loud.
Devin sat on the bed beside me and opened the tray he’d brought in, wafting the smell of roast beef. He picked up a slice of the meat and held it near my mouth.
“I could’ve done that before you tied me up,” I said.
“Just eat, Eric. You’ll need the nourishment.”
Well, that didn’t sound good. I opened my mouth and took the meat from his fingers, avoiding the temptation to nibble or lick, and hissed in a breath when he sucked his fingers into his own mouth instead. So much for keeping things calm between us. He fed me one small bite at a time, grazing his fingers gently against my canines, dragging them across my lower lip. By the time the door opened on Elizabet, my body was heavy with need.
“Shit,” he said just loud enough for me to hear.
I twisted around, straining against the leather bands to see what had upset him. Elizabet drifted into view, and behind her came Marco. The door closed behind them with a gentle snap and Devin’s gaze met mine.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and that was when real fear set in.
Chapter Two
I could hear Elizabet and Marco undressing, but couldn’t see them thanks to the tight bindings around my wrists and ankles. Marco murmured something too low for me to catch, causing Elizabet to laugh softly.
“What’s wrong?” I mouthed at Devin.
He shook his head slightly, barely moving it. His expression held a look I’d seldom seen there, concern mingled with fear. Marco. That was probably Devin’s worry. Hell, it was my worry. Elizabet on her own was enough to cause fear. For God’s sake, she was a vampire. That in and of itself was troubling, but with Marco by her side, the stoic, supremely controlled Marco, her favorite and best; well, I’d not been around that long, but even I’d heard the tales. Marco acted as Elizabet’s control, reining her in when she was on the edge of losing whatever it was that kept her humanity intact and her vampire side inhibited. I’d seen his effect on her at supper, just before the first time I’d been led to this very room. When they used Elizabet’s pets together, it was a different story. Then, there were no controls, no inhibitions. Whatever came through Elizabet’s mind, that’s what Marco enforced, and tonight, she was focused on one thing: Punishing me.
My heart leapt into a gallop and sweat popped out along my skin. I should’ve walked away when Devin gave me the chance.
Too late now.
Elizabet’s hands slid down my back. “I am very put out, sweetling, but your fear is unwarranted. No harm shall come to you. Nothing permanent, at least.”
More hands joined hers, calloused, male hands that were gentle for all their strength. A breath escaped my lungs as those hands gripped my dick and began a slow stroke, thumbing the head of my erection with each pass.
“Fear me, little pet,” Marco said in a low rumble next to my ear. “I find the scent…arousing.”
He licked my neck, the rough, wet rasp of his tongue gliding along my skin, and I shivered. His hand tangled in my hair to pull my head aside, then struck in a painful bite. I cried out and lifted onto my toes, then relaxed when the pain subsided into pleasure. I moaned and closed my eyes, and lost myself in the feel of his tongue laving the bite he’d made, his mouth sucking in long draws against my neck, his hand stroking my dick a little faster, a little harder until I was ready to explode.
The tip of my dick was engulfed in hot, wet heat. I managed to slit my eyelids open enough to make out Elizabet kneeling in front of me, her mouth on my dick, her pretty little ass in the air with Devin behind her, his hands between her legs. Marco let go of my erection and I cried out again as Elizabet bit into my dick, hard enough to draw blood. Pleasure followed almost immediately as she suckled my erection.
The twin draws of Marco at my neck and Elizabet around my dick shot a frantic heat through me until I was right on the edge of coming. I panted as I rode the crest of arousal and need roiled through my blood, and then hit a painful wall. I should’ve come. My balls drew up close to my body and heat throbbed through my dick, and still, I didn’t come. The pain ratcheted higher with each pull Marco and Elizabet made, building until flames licked along every sensitive nerve in my body.
I began to tremble from it, tremble from the pain of not coming, of having that peak prolonged for far longer than it should’ve been. Spots danced in front of my eyes and my head lolled. I locked my knees in place to keep from sagging and bit my tongue to keep from crying out, certain the punishment would be worse if I did.
“It’s too much,” Devin said in a hoarse whisper.
I focused on him, or tried through the red haze descending on me. “’m ok,” I mumbled, probably one of the biggest lies I’d ever told. Ok was not me. My limbs were going numb and the rest of me was on fire, a painful burn of shivering need. I was pretty sure Marco and Elizabet were draining me, too. A few more minutes and I’d be beyond ok; I’d be dead.
Oh, well. It was good while it lasted.
Dimly, I felt Marco and Elizabet release me. I sagged against the bindings, willing the pain to stop, willing my body to release its seed. An arm came around my torso, the skin cool against my heated flesh.
“You can’t come until Elizabet wants you to,” Devin whispered against my ear. “I’m going to help you do that now, ok?”
My dick was sucked into another mouth and I flinched from the touch on my too-sensit
ive skin. Something probed at my anus, and then a finger slid inside and rubbed, and I lost it, crashing through the wall and into a screaming orgasm that felt like it lasted forever.
I think I blacked out.
I opened my eyes, grimaced when stabs of pain shot through them, and shook my head to clear my vision. After a minute of blurred light, I gave up and shut my eyelids, listening instead.
The soft rustle of sheets. A low, nearly inaudible moan. The arm still around my torso.
The finger in my ass was still stroking in and out. A moment later, it was joined by a second one that stretched my hole pleasurably.
“Relax or it’ll hurt,” Devin said, and then he licked where Marco’s mouth had been, skimming along the wounds left by the favorite’s teeth.
Desire streaked through me, going from the bite marks in a straight line to my dick. I felt it hardening as a simmering heat built low in my gut and I pushed back against Devin’s fingers. I wanted him to do it, wanted him to make me come again.
“That’s it, baby,” he murmured. “I’m gonna do something else now. Don’t be afraid.”
His fingers pulled out and I moaned from the sharp pleasure-pain as they slid along the inside of my hole. His mouth trailed in hot kisses down my back, licking the salted sweat from my skin as he went lower until his breath puffed along the crack of my ass. His hands parted my ass cheeks, and then something hard and wet probed my anus, sliding in and out. His fingers dug into my glutes and his mouth latched onto me, sucking gently as the sliding continued.
My head dropped back at the pleasure of it, built higher by the knowledge that what Devin was doing was slightly taboo and a whole hell of a lot naughty. His tongue pushed in and out, withdrew to flick lightly along the sensitive skin exposed to his touch. His teeth nipped at the little pucker, then his mouth soothed the stings.
The Vampire's Pet (The Vampyr Book 1) Page 11