S ince the bathing went so well, Victor decided to try a little experiment with Jimmy. That night, he leapt down into the basement to find his little brother shivering in the corner. Victor had released Jimmy’s hands earlier before reattaching his collar chain. Victor didn’t want his arms to freeze in that position, especially since he had some ideas that would require the full use of Jimmy’s arms. Jimmy had wrapped one of the towels around his lower half, another around his shoulders.

Jimmy had his back to the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest. He was watching Victor, his eyes tracking every movement. His sharp gaze settled on the small plate of meat and bread that Victor had brought down as a reward for Jimmy for earlier.

Victor sat in his ever present chair and set the plate of food behind him. “Come here, Jimmy, sit next to me,” he ordered gently, patting the side of his leg.

Logan was torn. He was hungry, but he was also wary of what Victor might try to do to him if he got too close. The memory of his beating earlier that day was also lingering in his mind. Silently, Logan got to his feet and approaches his brother slowly, resisting the urge to dive for the food. He stiffly sat at Victor’s feet, again pulling his knees up to his chest so that all Victor can see of his face were his eyes staring at him.

Victor affectionately scratched Jimmy behind the ear. “You did very well today, Jimmy,” he praised. His scratches changed to a gentle rub. Jimmy started to lean into the touch. Victor pulled his hand away, taking a moment to stroke the underside of Jimmy’s jaw before reaching behind the chair for the plate. “And because you were such a good little brother, I brought you some extra food for your dinner tonight.”

Victor watched, pleased, as Jimmy eagerly took the bites of bread and meat from his hand. He bent down and pulls his brother into a kiss. Jimmy started, but he didn’t pull away. After a moment, he began to kiss back, his tongue battling with his brother’s as if he could gain a small amount of dominance. Jimmy pushed himself forward, placing his hands on Victor’s knees.

Victor had to stop or he would have to fuck his brother again, and he didn’t think Jimmy was quite ready for that so soon. He ran a claw along Jimmy’s bottom lip. Victor leaned back in the chair, watching his brother through half closed eyes. “I think we can try a new sleeping arrangement tonight,” he told his little brother, lightly gripping Jimmy’s jaw with thumb and forefinger. “I’m going to have you sleep upstairs, see if you’re ready for it.”

Logan tensed. Victor was up to something. And he didn’t think he was going to like what it was.

Victor reached back to unhook the chain. “Don’t make me regret this, Jimmy,” he warned directly into Jimmy’s ear, before he removed the chain. He scooped his little brother up and tossed him over one shoulder. Along the way to the living room, he picked up a shorter, lighter chain. Victor dumped Jimmy unceremoniously on the floor and attached the new chain to his collar. “Now, be a good boy,” he grinned, ruffling his brother’s hair.

Logan had an overwhelming urge to rip Victor’s throat out with his teeth. But the rational side of him knew that this would only piss Victor off and Victor still has the upper hand. When Victor turned on the television and went to sit on the couch, leading Logan behind him, Logan tried to sit next to him. He was quickly rebuffed by Victor, knocked into a small but thick oak table with a sweep of his brother’s arm.

“I didn’t say you could sit on the furniture, Jimmy,” Victor chided him; his attention on whatever sport is on the television. “You stay on the floor until you have earned that right.”

Logan grit his teeth. His anger and humiliation won out over his good sense. “I’m not a fucking dog for you to house break, Victor!” he yelled. And as soon as the words were out, he knew he had been very stupid.

Victor sighed loudly, his disappointment evident. He calmly kicked Jimmy in the stomach, cracking two ribs. Jimmy curled in on himself for a moment, trying to crawl away. Victor pulled on the chain sharply, dragging Jimmy back over to him. He snapped his fingers at Jimmy, pointing to the floor next to his feet. “Sit, Jimmy.”

Groaning in pain, Logan decided to list to reason and struggled over to Victor’s side. Once the ribs had healed, he sat at his brother’s feet again with his knees pulled up to his chest. Victor seemed to find this satisfactory and went back to watching a football game. Logan occasionally glanced at his brother, noticing that he never loosens his grip on the chain. This was humiliating. But perhaps that was the point, Logan surmised.

As the game went on, Victor reached out and began to absently play with his brother’s hair. His mind was only half on the game. He watched as Jimmy slowly started to lean against him, tension slowly seeping out of his back.

Logan quickly found that the towel around his waist was not all that warm. He started to press into his brother’s leg for the body heat Victor could supply him with. Victor began to rub slow circles into his scalp. Between the full belly and Victor’s warmth, Logan felt his eyes beginning to droop. For a moment, he could pretend that he was not chained like a naughty puppy. Instead, he pretended they were children again. Victor only wanted what’s best for him, and he would keep him safe through the night.

Victor chuckled softly, when he heard Jimmy’s breathing even out. Unconsciously, Jimmy wrapped himself around Victor’s legs. He placed one hand on Victor’s knee, trying to burrow into him. Jimmy’s head is now partially cradled in his lap. This is how it should be. Jimmy dependent upon him, looking to him for all his comforts.

When the game ended, Victor gently roused Jimmy from his nap. Jimmy mumbled incoherently as he stood, never quite opening his eyes. He guided his sleepy little brother into the bedroom, attaching the chain to the end of the bed. Jimmy curled up on his side on a small rug next to the bed. Covering his little brother with a blanket, Victor mused to himself, “Not a dog, huh?”

Victor stripped down before putting on an old t-shirt and sweatpants before getting into bed. He lay perfectly still, waiting to see if Jimmy was faking being asleep. After thirty minutes, he started to nod off. If Jimmy was going to attack-

Logan struck quickly, digging one set of claws into the meat of his brother’s leg. He reached behind to rip the chain from the bed post. “I ain’t your pet, Victor,” he snarled, slashing randomly. When he was positive that Victor has been incapacitated, Logan made a mad dash for the bedroom door and right out of the house. The snow stung into his bare feet. For a moment he contemplated going back to get some kind of clothing, but Logan knew that he needed as much space between Victor and him as possible.

Logan ran for the front gate of the house. He was passing through it when there was an agonizing burning from the collar. He writhed in pain on the snowy path, fire burning along his spine and forcing the air from his longs. Logan tried to keep crawling away from the house, but the pain only increased. Unable to take the pain anymore, Logan dragged himself back inside the gate. He panted in pain, before trying to find a way to get the collar off. He now realized why the damned thing was so thick and tight to his throat. His brother must have put some kind of device to cripple him with pain if he tried to wander too far from the house.

Howling in rage, Logan started to scratch as his neck. There had to be a way to get this collar off before Victor-

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Victor walked out of the front of the house slowly, his intention quite clear. Jimmy had been a Very Bad Boy. And this will not be tolerated.

He watched in mild amusement as Jimmy makes a second vain attempt to lunge past the gate. Victor stepped down on the chain still trailing behind Jimmy, knocking his little brother’s feet out from under him. He grabbed Jimmy by the hair, dragging him back toward the house. “That was a very bad thing to do, Jimmy,” he said frostily. Victor threw his little brother at the pile of wood in the front yard. Jimmy’s body connected with a wet thunk, before dropping into the snow.

“Victor, don’t, please,” Logan muttered, holding up one hand in supplication as he gets up on all fours. “I won’t-“

“No, you won’t,” Victor promised, reaching for one of the logs. He sung it over his head, bringing it down on his brother’s spine with a sharp crack. He rolled Jimmy over and punches him in the face repeatedly, until he can barely recognize that it was his own little brother underneath him. Victor watched dully as the bones in Jimmy’s face move back into place, the skin knitting back into its proper form.

The smell of Jimmy’s blood on the snow had made Victor hard. He tossed his brother back onto his belly. He would rather use Jimmy’s mouth, but he didn’t trust his little brother not to bite in retaliation. Forcing Jimmy’s legs apart and freeing himself from the remains of his own clothing, Victor forced himself into Jimmy’s body. Jimmy cried out in pain, but Victor didn’t care. He just rutted like a beast in heat, enjoying the warm tightness his brother had to offer. Jimmy struggled, his claws coming out. Victor responded by snapping them off, never even breaking his rhythm. He climaxed quickly, before roughly pulling out. He dully noticed that there was more blood on the snow.

Victor grabbed Jimmy by the hair again and dragged him into the house. “You see what happens when you’re bad, Jimmy? Bad things. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can get good things, but you need to be a good little brother to get those things,” Victor ranted. He tore open the basement door and threw Jimmy down, getting some satisfaction from the smacking of his little brother’s body with the cement floor.

“You’ll stay down there for the next three days, Jimmy,” Victor snapped, slamming the door shut and locking it. The door was metal, and thick. It would take Jimmy a very long time to claw his way out, once the claws had grown back. And Victor doubts he would try given that he now knows he can’t get off the property. Not without yet knowing how to shut the collar off.

Victor stalked back outside. He needed to kill something, because beating Jimmy senseless and fucking him had done nothing to take the edge off of his rage. Glancing at the wood pile and the blood, he notices a rat sitting in the snow, sniffing at one of Jimmy’s claws.

Grinning, Victor decided he might hunt something much smaller tonight. There was a small city fifty miles south of where they were. He went back into the house to get some decent clothing.