In My Masters House
Chapter Five - Lovers Bond
© Cederwyn Whitefurr
10th October, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

When Kelsie awoke from her exhausted sleep, she found the bed empty. Blinking sleepily, she rubbed her eyes with her soft paw-pads and looked around. Even the hint of her masters scent was nowhere in sight, so she assumed she had been sleeping for some time. Rolling over onto her back, Kelsie stretched herself out her toes slaying as she moaned and shivered, still overcome with the pleasure her beloved master had brought her.

Carefully, she rolled off the bed, then padded quietly up the hallway, where she froze and melted into her bedroom doorway, ears pricking forwards as she unwittingly listened in on a conversation one voice she knew her beloved master, the other...was a stranger. Feeling her nape hairs rising, Kelsie didn't dare come any closer, knowing how her master didn't like strangers who sometimes visited to see her.

"Why?" Kelsie had asked one day, and her master merely stroked her furred cheek and said they wouldn't understand and they would take Kelsie away from him. Kelsie did not want to leave her master, not then, not now, and not ever. She adored him, doted on his every whim and desire, and knew he loved her as well but the niggling fear still pricked her heart with its cold claws, and Kelsie listened to the conversation knowing she shouldn't but powerless to stop herself.

"For the love of the Gods Mike - " Come the strangers voice. "You look like hell you been sleeping enough? Getting enough food...god you're so...you're not the man you were a month ago, and it HAS been a month since any of us seen you at the office..."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Mike replied, his voice sounding old, weary and exhausted.

"No, you're not fine anyone with half a brain can see that! My god man what the hell has happened to you? You needed time off, fine, we gave you time off you've been pushing yourself hard this project T.I.E it..."

"It is not going as well as I'd expected. There are some problems with the neural interface and - "

"Spare me the scientific gobbledegook, I wouldn't understand it in a thousand years but all I need to know, is will it work? Will it provide a virtual reality, so lifelike as for us to corner the market? Think of the possibilities it can bring for the company - "

Kelsie's ears flicked and she frowned, not understanding a lot of the discussion, but started to become quite distressed, hearing her masters exasperated voice and growing irritation.

"Its fine!" Mike suddenly snapped, then slammed his hand down on the table. "I've built this from the ground up where was the company when I was spending nearly twenty hours a day, slaving over this...this gods cursed computer? I'll tell you where they were thinking of how much money my program would make for their shareholders. Where's the gratitude? Where's the pot of gold at the end of this virtual rainbow? What the hell is in it for me!"

Kelsie felt her hackles rise, and a low, menacing growl escaped her throat, as her eyes narrowed and she trembled in rising anger, her senses tuned tightly to those of her master, and this...this stranger who was upsetting her master would be made to leave...now.

"Hey, hey - " Come the placating voice of the stranger. "Mike, you...I mean you're brilliant don't get me wrong, but whats in it for you? My god man  do you have the slightest idea, of what your T.I.E can be used for...its...its implications are almost boundless! It'll make you a wealthy man, beyond wealthy..."

Mike snarled and clenched his hands at his sides, then his angry voice snapped like a whip.

"I know damn well what it can be used for do you take me for an idiot? I fucking designed the core programing I know it inside and out, and I fucking well know what it can do! Do you hear me? Get the fuck out and tell the company, if they keep hounding me, they'll never get their hands on the T.I.E software,not now, and not ever!"

"Mike, please, we only - " Come the other voice, soothing and cajoling.

"Get out before I throw you out like last nights garbage!" Mike snarled, and there came the scrape of the chair, as he rose.

Kelsie couldn't see the interchange, but the sound of footsteps receded away, then she heard the slam of the door and her master return to the chair. Frightened and nervous, Kelsie crept from her bedroom and slowly padded over to her master, and scratched gently along his shoulder with a claw tip before whining softly and nuzzling him.

"Go away Kelsie," Mike snapped brusquely at her. "Don't bother me now..."

"Master?" Kelsie whined piteously. "What...please Master, please calm down."

With terrifying speed, Mike spun around in his chair, then stared at her. Kelsie involuntarily stepped backwards, her eyes widening in fear as she seen a side of her master, she had never imagined existed.

"Get the fuck out!" He raged, then as Kelsie stood rooted to the spot, he suddenly lashed out and slapped her muzzle violently, snapping her head to the side.

Kelsie stood staring at him, her eyes filling with tears, before she laid a paw to her muzzle, then turned and fled to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Oh...god no...Kelsie...please!" He cried, then leapt from his chair and ran down to her bedroom.

Kelsie threw herself on her bed, burying her head in her pillow and sobbing helplessly. Never â€" never â€" had her master even raised his voice to her, let alone physically hurt her. Had she done something â€" something terrible, to make him so angry at her? Did she not please her master with her training and talents? What had she done, to make him so angry? Sobbing hysterically, Kelsie pushed her muzzle deeper into her pillow and wept unashamedly....

*

Mike stood outside Kelsie's room, hearing her pitiful sobbing, yet when he hammered on the door, she made no answer and he rested his head against the door, then felt the hot tears prick the corner of his eyes.

"Kelsie...my love please, I - I didn't mean to hurt you sweety...please open the door!"

Kelsie, for the first time in her life, willfully disobeyed her master, fearing for her very life, so frightened was she.

"Kelsie...please - " Mike sighed, then sniffled and rested his hand against the door.

"Go away!" Kelsie's choking wail come from inside her bedroom.

"Kelsie, please open the door!.  I didn't mean it honey...you know I didn't mean to hit you, I'd never do anything to hurt you!" Mike pleaded with her through the closed and locked door.

Kelsie didn't know what to think anymore all she knew, was her Master was angry she could sense it, and there was no way he was coming anywhere near this young, terrified Husky. Pulling another pillow over her head, Kelsie clutched it and sobbed heart-brokenly, her love, trust and faith in her master sorely tested, but unbroken...for the moment.

For twenty minutes, Mike hammered at Kelsie's door, begging, pleading and eventually outright demanding she open it, and all he got was Kelsie's sobbing whimpers. Finally, he gave up and returned to his work, leaving the Husky to cry in her room, knowing she'd come out eventually, and they would kiss and make up he promised himself that.

*

Nine hours later, an exhausted Kelsie slunk from the room, hungry, frightened and timid, and she glanced at her masters office, which had the door open. Her claws clicking lightly against the floor, Kelsie sniffled and timidly slunk down the hall, her throat aching from hours of crying, and badly needing a drink of water. Just as she was about to pass his office, he seemed to sense her presence, and he stopped her dead with a word, Kelsie's training instantly making her obey.

"Master, please...please don't hurt me anymore - " Kelsie whimpered, as she dropped to her knees and clasped her paws before her in a pitiful, pleading gesture.

Mike rose, then walked out of his office and looked down at the sobbing Kelsie, who hung her head like a pup caught at something naughty, not knowing if she would feel the gentle petting she so craved or the back of his hand.

"Kelsie," Mike began, then his throat locked and he reached out, then pulled her head against his groin and stroked her ears. "Honey...I, I'm sorry my love, work has got me so angry and frustrated, then they sent one of my co-workers to try and get the software off me and I...I snapped sweety, I took it out on you, and all I can do, is pray, you will forgive me."

Kelsie clutched him tight, burying her head against Mike's slacks, and howling in fear and misery, the fresh tears soaking his slacks and running down Kelsie's cheeks. Mike didn't know how best to comfort the hysterical Kelsie, so he merely stood like a statue, his hand resting on the back of her head, and his gaze growing hazy almost like a man standing alone his eyes filling with tears, like a man remembering another time and place a memory that even now, still brought back terrible pain.

Kelsie sniffled, feeling her master's hand grow still â€" then his low, hitching breath as he began to cry. Bravely biting back her own tears, Kelsie blinked and looked up, her eyes shining with love and forgiveness for her master, and she rose feeling his hand fall away from the back of her head, to hang limply at his sides. Kelsie whined quietly, her eyes growing concerned, before she began tenderly licking the tears from his cheeks.

"Why do you cry master?" Kelsie whined softly, her ears flattening and eyes widening. "Do I not please you, obey your every wish and desire?"

He began sobbing harder, stroking her head and trying to control himself, but it was a losing battle. He knew the reasons for his bitter tears yet how could he tell her? How could he tell her the truth? He loved Kelsie with everything he had. she pleased him in ways he could never conceive of, never refused the slightest thing he asked of her...yet she did not know the truth. No, he would not tell her, he couldn't tell her no matter how much, in his secret heart, he desired to confess the truth to her and tell the adoring Husky everything. He gazed down at her upturned face, his tears sliding down his cheeks, and he cradled her head to his stomach and stroked her one last time â€" before he disengaged from her gentle grasp and stepped backwards.

"No Kelsie," He wept, his hands clenching in suffering. "No more, my loving, adoring pet. I...I let this go on, for far too long."

"Master?" Kelsie whimpered, clutching her paws before her in a begging gesture. "Please, you're frightening me!  What did I do? Please master, please tell me!"

"It...its not you Kelsie, it was never you, my sweet, gentle, loving, companion, no, it was never you. I brought this upon myself, and now, it must end. I...I love you Kelsie, I always will...please, forgive me my beloved...it...t is for the best..."

"Master!" Kelsie screamed, throwing herself at him.

He involuntarily stepped backwards, then Kelsie threw herself at him and she passed through him like she was a ghost, then the entire scene seemed to flicker and in the blink of an eye, the place was completely transformed. Mike sat at a desk, his gaunt, withered body emaciated and unwashed, the pungent smell of his unwashed body sickening, a black miasma of dirt, filth and worse seemed to cling to his pale, sickly flesh. He sat in a chair, several electrodes running from a large, black box sitting beside his computer, and a pair of strange, electronic set of glasses over his eyes.

Tears slid down his cheeks, as he reached up and took them off, placing them on the table beside him. With fingers that more resembled claws, he peeled away the electrodes and let them fall to the litter covered floor, over which cockroaches and rats had been living amongst the filth and decay for months...and he'd never noticed. He had used his computer programming knowledge to create a virtual reality, so lifelike, he would have become an incredibly wealthy man, richer than he could ever have dreamed of, but finally he saw the trap he had fallen into, in designing the T.I.E software.

"No," Mike rasped, small sores erupting from his dry, cracked lips. "No, the world does not need such...a terrible, terrible thing...."

He touched his shaking finger to the enter key, and the computer made a simple, electronic beep â€" and over six years of work was wiped away  as the Total Immersion Experience program, he had codenamed T.I.E was forever destroyed by a virulent virus, he had coded into the software.

*

As he rose, he turned about, then placed his hand on a small, no more than two-feet square, mahogany box, on which was a beautiful picture of a non-anthropomorphic husky female, her tongue lolling and seeming to smile at the unseen camera-operator, who had taken her picture. Just below the picture, was a gold, engraved plaque.

"In loving memory of Kelsie, Born 23rd August, 2039, Died, 19th July, 2046, cremated by Pets In Peace Pet Crematorium."

He stroked his hand over the box, feeling the tears begin again, as he wept for his dearly beloved Husky who he had loved with all his heart and Kelsie had been real, the love they had shared as master and pet had been real.... He paused, feeling the grief still fresh in his mind, as he stroked the mahogany box.

*

Yet, her conversion to an anthropomorphic creature - the incredible, so-life-like sex and other wonderful things they had shared, in that program had been nothing more than an escape from the harsh reality his beloved pet had died.  He missed her with all his heart. He turned to the nearby computer, and typed in a password, then his finger hovered over the enter key. He knew what he had to do, yet once done, there was no going back...no more nights spent snuggling with the adorable Kelsie, no more feeling her warm breath against his body...no more...

"Goodbye...my love - " He sniffled, then taking Kelsie's cremated remains, he turned and left the room not wanting to see years of his hard work being destroyed and the program he had made forever disappear into the ether....

~ END ~