Personal Pet
(part one)
Kyle

~*~

Kyle didn't know why he remained so damn defiant. It only got him into trouble. It only caused him pain. It only made them mad.

But Kyle had tried playing the submissive card once before. And he decided it was worse. The abuse became more taunting, the smirks more smug. They had won. It made him feel helpless, weak, pathetic, useless. Even if he was all those things deep inside, he didn't need them to know it.

So he kept up his acts of defiance against his tormentors. They enjoyed trying to break him. He refused to scream at the lash of a whip or whimper at the tightening of his bonds. He would stay standing until they drug him to the ground. And if one of them got too close, he would take a dangerous chance of fighting back.

He was the only one of the cat demons being sold and traded that had been brought back as a "bad deal" more then three times.

But that was before he was sold to Caine. If there was anyone to break the cat demon, it was a vampire.

Kyle stood perfectly still as the tall, dark man aproached. He had shoulder length black hair that was pulled back. Swirling silver eyes were latched onto the cat demon, a small smirk gracing his pale lips. Kyle wasn't trying to stand still. In fact, he wanted nothing better then to run, as fast and as hard as he could. But he couldn't help it. He felt like his mind was encased in a steal trap, caged, keeping him from making his own decisions, from making his body move.

The vampire stood in front of him now. A clawed hand gently brushed the side of his cheek and Kyle shuddered. The vampire smiled unpleasently, staring at the cat demon's mismatched eyes. Kyle had one deep blue eye, the other a soft brown in color. That, plus the fact that his black ears and tail were splashed with orange and white made him a rare prize indeed; a male calico cat.

After a short pause, the vampire's silver eyes snapped from the young cat demon to the man who stood near-by, a coiled whip in his hand. "I'll take this one." The vampire's voice was cold and smooth as oiled glass.

The slave keeper grinned. "Gots good taste, Mr. Caine. Yeh always buyin' me rare breeds." He held out a hand, palm up. "This one'll cost yeh two hundred silver pieces, though."

The vampire arched a slender brow. "You're raising your prices, Mr. Gates. Gabriel only cost me a hundred."

A rumbling laugh left Gates' chest. "Aye, bu' tha' was some years ago, wassnit? An' Kyle 'ere is worth a pretty penny more."

Caine thought for a moment. "You humans and your short lives." He said, shaking his head as he brought forth two small draw-string bags from his traveling cloak. "It seemed less then a few months to me." He placed the bags in the man's eager, dirty hand.

Gates laughed again, baring yellowed teeth in a grin as he opened one bag, eyeing it's glittering contants greedily. "Aye. Jus' the one this time 'round, Mr. Caine?"

Caine turned his silver eyes on the still motionless Kyle. "One's all I need for now, Mr. Gates."

The man grinned again. "Right. We're in town fer two weeks if'n yeh change yer mind." He tossed a rope to the vampire, the other end of which bound Kyle's wrist to the point of cutting of circulation.

Catching the rope deftly, the vampire nodded.

And with that one, simple gesture and not another word spoken, Kyle's fate was sealed.