Chapter 2: Fresh Meat

Lavinia was brought outside with the other girls. She had not been allowed to grab her coat before Isaac's guards herded her along and the wintry chill bit into her skin. She huddled close to the other girls, keeping her arms wrapped around her chest.

As they stood surrounded by guards, two carriages pulled forward. Isaac climbed into the first one without looking back at the cluster of shivering girls. One of the guards pulled open the door to the second carriage and started roughly shepherding the girls aboard.

The six of them just barely managed to fit on the narrow seats inside. Pressed up against Lavinia's right side was a shorter girl she recognized. She had been hired to work in repairs due to her tiny frame. She was crying softly. Lavinia pulled one of her arms free and wrapped it around the girl, holding her shaking body close.

"You're all right," Lavinia stroked the girl's hair back from her tearstained face. "What's your name?"

"Rosie," she replied softly.

"You're going to be fine, Rosie." Lavinia glanced at the other girls in the carriage for reassurance, but none of them would meet her gaze. Settling back into her seat, she resigned herself to wait.

The carriage jostled, bouncing between the scattered cobblestones. None of the other girls spoke staring intently at their shoes or fidgeting with their hands. Time passed in a wicked way, each moment feeling both like an eternity and an instant. After an unbearable period, the girl with curly hair twitched the window shade to the side. She gasped.

Outside was not the narrow grimy streets that the six girls were used to. Instead, the road fell away under the carriage to reveal a sheer drop. The sky was unnaturally dark, almost artificial in its hue. There was no visible mood and the carriage seemed to drop a few degrees from just leaving the window uncovered.

They were moving swiftly, far faster than a horse should be able to pull them. As they watched, the road behind them curled and bent. Lavinia realized with a start that they were on an incline. The carriage was steadily climbing hairpin turns.

It had been years since Lavinia had left the heart of the city, but she knew that they must be far removed at this point. Through the darkness, she could make out foliage filling in the edges of the road. She stared at it openly. The other girls did too. Greenery was entirely forgiven to her.

Suddenly, something large and dark swept close to the carriage and the girl by the window dropped the shade with the little shriek.

"What was that?" Rosie asked.

"I don't know," said Lavinia. "Maybe an animal or something."

"I don't think we need to worry about it," said a girl with close-cropped hair. "I doubt that Astor kid would willingly lose his playthings to an animal. Or anything else for that matter. If we are killed he'll want to do it himself."

Rosie whimpered and huddled even closer to Lavinia. She pressed her face into Lavinia's shoulder and gripped the front of her dress.

"It's all right," Lavinia said, only partially for Rosie's benefit.

After a few moments, the carriage trundled to a halt and the girls inside waited for something to happen. Finally, one of the doors was pulled open and the six of them staggered out.

Before them rose an enormous structure. To call it a manor house would have been a severe understatement. The building was amorphous and unbalanced, with hulking windows and dark stone. It grew irregularly, as if it had not been planned, merely found and inhabited.

Lavinia stood with Rosie's hand clutched in hers. The house made some sort of ironic sense. All the wealth of the Astor family and their wretchedness still seeped into their home, putting it on full display. Isaac Astor clearly grew up here, though he was quite the reverse. His finely crafted face and glittering eyes betrayed nothing of the evil inside.

The group only had a moment to look at the estate before they were prodded forward by the guards. They were ushered into a small side door that took them down a dimly lit stone hallway. On either side, the flush work was interrupted by heavy wooden doors. The hallway was silent and still.

Up ahead, two candled flickered, illuminated a twin set of doors. On the left, a plaque was mounted reading "Arabella". The door to the right bore Isaac's name. Up the hall, Isaac leaned lazily up against the wall. While the group stood paused at this juncture, Isaac tilted his head forward, making eye contact with Lavinia. He licked his lips. The guards turned a thick iron key in the lock.

From behind the door, there came the sudden sound of scrambling movement and whispered cries. As it swung open, a row of drab but clean bunkbeds came into view. On them, three young women were perched. All of them were exceptionally thin with long, lank hair. Their eyes looked hollow and darted around the room, not setting on any of the new girls who were thrown inside. The door swung shut with a loud click. As soon as the door was shut and the guards were out of view, the three women jumped down to swarm the fresh meat.

"How many of you?" the first woman reached out to grasp at the girl with curly hair's hand. "Six. Six new ones," she patted the girl on the cheek and stood back to look at the group as a whole. "I'm sorry, but I am relieved you're here."

Rosie peaked out from behind Lavinia, staring at the bruises and puncture marks across the women's body. Lavinia followed her gaze, frowning slightly.

"Relieved?" She asked.

The woman's face twitched painfully for a second. "If you are here, that means he's done with us. We don't have to persist. We can die."

One of the other two women reached out to rest her hand on the first woman's shoulder. "Isaac Astor is not kind to his meals. Batches rarely last more than a few months. He likes a blood bath. But these last few weeks… It's almost like he's been playing with us." She touches the side of her neck where the skin is purple and raw. "With you all here he might give us a break."

"Or a quick end," chimed in the third woman.

The girls shifted nervously in place.

"You all should rest. He does not give much downtime," said the first woman.

The new girls slowly fanned out, claiming bunks and starting to lay down. As Lavinia sat herself down on the bed below Rosie, she caught the second woman's eye.

"What is he actually like?"

"Astor?"

Lavinia nodded.

"He is cruel and sadistic. He tries to make the process as painful as possible. It's hard not to feel envious of the ones who only last a single session."

"How many sessions have you been through?"

The woman smiled sadly. "You do not want me to tell you."

"I'm sorry…" Lavinia met the woman's eyes, staring into the hollow, tired pits. She reached out to take her hand, trying to bear some of the weight with her.

"Helen. My name is Helen."

"I'm sorry Helen." Lavinia squeezed her hand once. Though she could feel the pain through her gaze and touch, Lavinia could not help but feel some sort of terrible thrill thinking of what was to come with Isaac.