Fresh Meat

Janik placed his thumb against the pad and heard the satisfying click of the lock as he let himself into the luxurious cage where Victoria kept her current plaything. He remembered with pleasure his last encounter with the girl a few days before. It has been so satisfying; her ineffectual squirming, her muted screams and the feeling of his body inside hers had been exquisite. He could only hope to be so lucky this time.

On seeing him enter, the girl retreated to the back of the room; she had obviously reached the point where she feared him but hadn’t given up fighting. He sauntered to the bed and dropped his burdens, unconcerned. It didn’t matter what she did; he could always make her cooperate. If she resisted hard, she would learn the painful cost of her defiance.

“What do you want?” The girl asked, nervously eyeing the paraphernalia on the bed.

“Mrs McCarthy wants you. You must be prepared.” As always, Janik kept his voice neutral, his emotions hidden, betraying nothing.

“Mrs McCarthy or you?” The girl’s tone was accusing. Janik ignored it.

“You must change. Strip.”

The girl didn’t move, daring him to make her. He raised his taser and allowed it to spark briefly. That caught the girl’s attention. Reluctantly, she began to remove the stretchy outfit Victoria liked Angie to wear when she was watching her on the cameras. Janik had to admit: her body was more toned than it had been when she arrived and he imagined her beneath him once more.

What little fight was in the girl dealt with, he had her come nearer so that he could fit the collar, then leashed it to the bedpost while he could secure her arms in a single glove which held them behind her back. With each restraint, the girl became more helpless, and he began to relax a little. However, the look of hostility in her eyes never diminished.

Fitted with a gag and hobbled her with connected ankle cuffs. He tugged the leash, and the girl followed, stumbling a bit given her restricted freedom. As they reached the corridor, he slowed, not wanting her to trip and harm herself; that could cause complications.

They made it down the first flight of stairs to the ground floor without incident, the girl following seemingly obediently, if slowly. Janik began to imagine how he would enjoy himself with her once Victoria was finished. He could hear the rapid tattoo of his employer’s heels somewhere nearby, evidentially, so had the bound girl behind him.

The leash suddenly went taught, and there was a loud bang. He turned in time to see the girl falling to the floor, a large gash above her left eye and her left shoulder in a weird position. Instead of throttling her, he let go of the leash, and she hit the floor, blood beginning to seep from the cut.

“Clumsy girl,” he growled and moved to wrestle her back into an upright position.

The girl began to flail and make as much noise as possible, given the rubber ball filling her mouth. Janik reached down with a hand to get a grip on the infuriating girl, but she managed to splatter blood over it. She seemed to be in genuine pain.

Janik could feel his hopes for another taste of the girl slipping away, and that angered him. “Get up, you stupid girl.” He had to shout to make himself heard over her persistent mewing, loud despite the muffling effects of the gag. She had curled up into a ball as best as she could in her bound state, blood oozing from above her eye, her shoulder still twisted at an awkward angle.

Getting very angry now, Janik reached for his taser.

“What in god’s name is going on?” A familiar voice angrily demanded from behind.

Janik straightened and turned to meet the gaze of his furious employer, blood covering one hand, his taser in the other. Realising how the scene must look, Janik decided not to add fuel to the fire by making excuses.

“Step back,” Victoria ordered and knelt next to the crying bleeding girl. She quietened down in Victoria’s presence, her eyes now showing nothing but desperation and pain. The older woman undid the buckle and tugged the ball from the girl’s mouth.

“Please, please, don’t let him hit me any more.” The words came as a beseeching whisper from the girl’s lips, interspersed with panting and sobbing.

It was at that moment that Janik realised that the girl had played him and that she had undoubtedly won this round. Furious at himself, he left to clean the blood off his hand and to decide how best to deal with the situation.

---

Doctor Liam Cusack looked down at the blond girl obediently sitting in bed as he finished adding a dressing over the stitches he had applied above her left eyebrow. A ring of purple bruising was beginning to show around the affected eye and the bridge of her nose. Were it not for her injuries, she would be a very pretty girl, he mused to himself but then wondered how long such a beauty could last as a captive of Victoria McCarthy.

She hadn’t said a word since he had entered her palatial room with its electronically locked door, but she had reacted to the pain of resetting her dislocated shoulder. Cusack was not so far from retirement but wondered if he would continue to receive the odd call from this accursed estate to minister to the poor souls who were held prisoner here, even after he stopped officially practising.

Cusack’s grey eyebrows knit in a frown. It was in his interests to keep his patient fit and healthy for whatever purpose Mrs McCarthy intended; equally, it was important that he maintain the secret of what went on in this place and that put him in a difficult position. If the girl died because of some secondary injury, the police wouldn’t find out, but Mrs McCarthy could cause him far worse harm in other ways.

“Do you speak English?” He asked, fully aware that Mrs McCarthy’s captives were generally foreigners.

To his surprise, the girl nodded. “Yes,” she replied in English, but with a slightly unfamiliar accent. Astonishment must have shown on his lined face, producing a small smile from the girl in return.

“Are you feeling any dizziness, nausea, or any other symptoms of concussion?”

The girl shook her head, “No. I’m OK.”

He frowned, “they could come on later. If you feel anything like that, we need to get you to a hospital.” He couldn’t keep the reluctance out of his voice at the prospect of such a visit, but the girl didn’t seem as eager for an opportunity to escape as he expected.

“Under the circumstances, I don’t think going to hospital would be a good idea.” She sounded cool and calm, her gaze steady despite whatever trauma had caused her unexplained injuries.

Giving a heavy sigh, Cusack relaxed. She seemed far too young for this house of horrors. Caught in his own web of blackmail and culpability, the old doctor felt dismayed that he couldn’t help her further.

“It’s OK,” the girl commented unexpectedly. “I’m not looking to leave right now, but if I change my mind, I’ll let you know.” Her voice, like her outward appearance, was calm, like it was a decision she had just reached but was sure about.

They exchanged a look which seemed to speak volumes about their shared knowledge of Victoria McCarthy, this place, her position in it and Cusack’s relation to it all.

He couldn’t help but smile sadly and nod at the girl, suddenly hoping this place wouldn’t be the end of her and that they would meet again.

---

Victoria bashed her keyboard to log in to her personal computer. She was still wearing the outfit she had intended for Angie to see her in for the session in the playroom she had scheduled for earlier in the afternoon. Now, there was no way that was going to happen. She felt furious at her indispensable assistant for laying hands on her prized possession.

The live security feed appeared on screen, and Victoria was surprised to hear Angie’s voice utter the words, 'I’m not looking to leave right now.' She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t clawing the walls to escape after being beaten by the big Pole. It felt as if something had been happening behind her back, of which Victoria was unaware. She was out of the loop in her own home, and that made her blood boil.

After watching her tame doctor leave, Victoria began surveying historical footage. She started by watching Janik toss Angie back into her suite the first morning she had left them together. The girl was visibly upset but uninjured; that was to be expected given her realisation of her incarceration. Knowing she had already reviewed the footage from when she was away, Victoria spun on to times when she was at the estate but not with her plaything.

She found the moment Janik threw a naked Angie back into her suite after she had been caned. Again, the girl was understandably upset. She watched as the girl clawed off her remaining restraints and crawled to the bathroom.

Looking closely, she rewound the video. At the time, Victoria had wanted the girl to feel her pain, but she hadn’t wanted to suffer the requisite commotion which would inevitably accompany that. Angie had been fitted with a ball gag harness in accordance with her instructions. When Janik returned her, she was wearing a spider gag, which wouldn’t prevent noise unless the ring was threaded with some other obstruction.

Victoria felt herself getting angrier as she re-watched the footage to be sure. She continued searching historical recordings. She happened upon a clip of Angie ministering to her when she entered the suite, furious at the failure to sell her house in Angie's home city. It was mesmerizing watching the girl attend to her with such diligence, right up to the point where she fell asleep in the bed. It still surprised her that the girl hadn’t taken the opportunity to escape or do her some kind of harm. Instead, she covered her with the sheet and crawled underneath to lie with her, almost protectively.

Victoria shook her head, unable to decide what game Angie was playing before she spun on and found the moment a few days before when Janik had returned the girl after their hugely enjoyable afternoon play session. This time, her apparel hadn’t changed. She was still muzzled but otherwise naked. Again, the girl clawed off the gag and crawled to the bathroom and didn’t re-emerge.

Sometime later, Victoria watched as Mary arrived with dinner and then sought out the suite’s occupant. She emerged from the bathroom supporting a visibly shaken Angie wrapped in a bath towel. After being dried and seemingly coming to, the girl passed out again on the bed.

Victoria wound further and was impressed to see Mary return in casual clothes to watch the girl sleep. She felt gratified that her maid would protect her investment in Angie but also angrily curious about the cause of her breakdown. She spun on further and felt a pang of jealousy as Mary transferred to the bed, but at least she was still fully clothed.

When Angie finally woke, Victoria listened with rapt interest to their conversation and then quickly spun through the rest of the footage to ensure nothing else was untoward.

Victoria sat back in her office chair; an unexpected feeling of guilt sat like a rock in the pit of her stomach. In fact, she had suspected that Janik had used her previous pets, but they had been plucked from death sentences around the world; in Victoria’s opinion, they deserved whatever they got.

She picked up the framed photo the girl had given her for Christmas. She was smiling, a beautiful, welcoming face filled with youthful exuberance. Victoria had carefully trained her for her intended role, but she didn’t deserve to be abused by the likes of Janik. It had happened under her roof, and she felt monstrously guilty that Angie was now scarred, both physically and mentally, because of her inattentiveness.

Victoria continued to stare at the image of her plaything. She was perfect for the role: beautiful, enthusiastic, obedient within the confines of her captivity. Unlike Victoria's previous pets, this one wasn’t clawing the walls to escape. She seemed to be trying to find a way to accept her captivity, at least for the moment. Victoria considered what an asset Angie would be if she could convince her to willingly accept staying in the long term. Janik had jeopardised that possibility. Reluctantly, she realised that she could not dispense with Janik in the short term, and she would have to make amends with the girl, if she could be salvaged.

---

Angie shifted her seated position in bed. Her shoulder was sore, and it was difficult for her to hold a novel open to read with one hand, her other arm being held in a sling. She hadn’t been sure how the altercation with Janik would work out and had to improvise somewhat when he demanded she be bound before leaving for the playroom, but the results had been acceptable, if more painful than she had planned.

The door clicked. Angie looked over in fear that the big man had returned to get her. Instead, it was Victoria. She was still wearing her outfit from the afternoon; the stains of some of Angie’s blood were evident in odd places. She wore a face of deep concern, which Angie hadn’t witnessed since their reunification after Christmas.

Suddenly, Angie felt for her. Although Victoria hadn’t abused her, she had obviously realised that she had allowed it to happen, and that had affected her deeply. Angie set her novel aside as the older woman came and sat on the edge of the bed, seemingly unsure how to begin.

Unable to resist, Angie raised her good hand and cupped her cheek in an instinctive gesture of sympathy. She could feel the protective urges of the impotent lioness. There was nothing she could do to prevent the abuse already inflicted, but she seemed surprised nonetheless by Angie’s tenderness.

Angie withdrew her hand. “Maybe we can make another deal?” she suggested, her voice quiet, conciliatory. Victoria raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak.

“If you want to play with me, I’ll cooperate. If you need me tied up to play, that’s fine, but if I can’t do it myself, could you have Mary do it? The same goes for when you’re done with me.” Angie made eye contact and allowed an air of pleading into her voice. “Just, please, don’t let him touch me again.”

Victoria’s face became like stone. After a long pause, she nodded silently and left without another word. Angie was sure she had unexpectedly hit a nerve, which was usually bad. In this case, it suggested that the older woman viewed her as more than property, which was another little victory.

Mary was just arriving with a tray of dinner as Victoria left. Angie could vaguely hear their brief exchange outside the open door.

“Mary. Take good care of her.” Victoria ordered, remorse apparent in every word.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mary squeaked back in surprise.

The maid bustled in with the tray and set it down before coming to Angie. She gave her a warm look and then a tentative hug.

“So, that was your plan?” Mary raised an eyebrow. Angie merely shrugged and drew her in again.

“Expect anything you say in here to reach Victoria’s ears,” she whispered back. “Let's not talk about escape attempts or anything we wouldn’t want her to hear.” As she pulled away again, Mary gave her a serious nod and then continued as if nothing had happened.

“Mr Janik looks really pissed off. I think Mrs McCarthy has revoked his access to your room and the dungeon,” Mary reported jovially.

“The dungeon? You mean the playroom?”

“I know what I said,” Mary gave her a pointed look. “What did you say to her?” She nodded toward the door.

“We made another deal.”

“Really? Is that good or bad?”

“Good for me, bad for you.” Angie managed a smile despite her various discomforts. Mary looked confused. “If I need to get tied up or untied, you’ll be the one doing it, not Janik.”

“OK,” Mary managed to express incredulity and trepidation in that single word.

Angie’s smile widened. “I assume that means if I need anything inserted or removed from a hard-to-reach orifice, that’ll be down to you too.”

“Ewww!” Mary recoiled, just managing to stop herself before she slapped Angie in the arm.

---

Doctor Cusack returned just under a week after originally attending to Angie’s injuries. In the intervening time, the girl had spent a lot of time in bed thinking and less time exercising. She had stretched, though, to ensure her injured shoulder didn’t seize up. The dressing over her eye had led to a moratorium on luxuriant showers, but Mary had been very helpful in making up for her lack of two fully usable arms and had also spent a few nights playing card games with her, which was a very welcome diversion.

Cusack looked a lot less nervous on this occasion. He asked her some cursory questions about how she had been feeling and then set about removing the stitches. After dressing the wound, he sat back to look her over.

“My mind hasn’t changed about wanting to leave,” Angie commented. She had mentioned it originally because she could see Cusack’s sympathy for her plight as she had recognised Mary’s, but he would be equally at risk if he had done anything to help and was an unknown quantity. Having had a week to think about it, Angie was beginning to wonder if her long-term plan to work on Victoria was beginning to bear fruit. She hadn’t seen the older woman, as if she was avoiding her. Mary had reported that she was out of sorts and spent a lot of time in her suite, which only Miriam had access to.

Cusack looked guilty in response to the answer to his unspoken question. Angie looked at him curiously. He reacted very much like Mary in their earliest meetings and wondered if they had something in common. “She has a hold over you, doesn’t she?” Angie suggested.

There seemed to be no need to elaborate on who ‘she’ was. Cusack just nodded silently, shame visible on his face.

“I won’t ask what it is. I’ll just say that I’m happy for you to be my doctor from here on.”

The doctor looked up in mild surprise, then leaned closer to murmur. “I worked on you when you arrived. You were unconscious at the time. Mrs McCarthy had me fit a subcutaneous tracker.”

Angie digested this news for a few moments, the implications for her prospects of escape in the future and her survival at present. She had felt fear of Janik, still wondering the estate somewhere outside her door and realised that Victoria was her best protection against his reprisals.

“I think it’s safer if Victoria knows where I am at all times right now. That way, she’s in control. She’s best when she’s in control.” Angie pointed out, the revelation coming to her almost as she spoke the words.

Cusack shook his head. “You’re not like the others she’s captured. She had me implant trackers in them, too.”

“Others?” Angie asked in surprise. Cusack immediately realised he’d revealed too much and clammed up. They exchanged another look of shared understanding. Not wanting to get him into trouble by forcing him to expand on the subject, Angie nodded and let the matter drop.

---

Angie took a bite of a morsel of food delicately fed to her by unseen hands. It had been a few days since Doctor Cusack had taken her stitches out. Victoria had demanded her presence at dinner but had ordered Mary to bind her arms behind her back and blindfold her first.

Victoria had been subdued at first, but Angie was enraptured by her unseen proximity, and that thawed her a little. The older woman fed her bite-size pieces of the mystery meal and occasional sips of wine. Angie was complimentary, both to encourage her hostess and because the food really was excellent.

At the conclusion of the meal, Victoria announced that it had been sushi and then led her blind charge to the lounge. They lay together on the sofa. Their positions brought back memories of when they had done something similar before Christmas, but this time, Angie was still blind and bound and wearing expensive evening wear, which was a definite plus.

Angie inhaled Victoria’s scent deeply and remembered how relaxed and safe she had felt on that previous occasion. Once again, Victoria gently stroked her arm, as if the girl were a lover, not a pet.

“Can you take off the blindfold?” Angie requested after a while.

“Why?” Victoria sounded genuinely curious.

“I want to see your face so that maybe I can understand what you’re feeling.”

The blindfold was quickly removed, and Victoria’s face appeared in Angie’s field of vision. Her features betrayed a mixture of curiosity and concern. “What are you looking for?”

Angie thought for a moment. “Something we used to have,” she responded, searching the older woman’s features.

Victoria frowned. “You want to go back to Friday nights in that pokey little house where we always had to cut things short so that you could sneak home?”

“I want to play with you AND see my family.”

Victoria’s face became stony. “You’d have a lot of awkward questions to answer if you went back,” she pointed out.

Angie averted her gaze and nodded. She didn’t want to push. She had become aware in the last week that she had stopped regularly thinking about her family, that homesickness had been overtaken by the need to protect herself in her new situation. When she first realised, she felt guilty at forsaking those closest to her, but what would be the point in getting home if she arrived a broken ruin?

Angie decided to change the subject. “There are loads of outfits in my wardrobe. Somehow, they all fit me.”

Victoria seemed to warm and contract, pulling Angie closer to her. “You like dressing up?”

“No, not really. Too many embarrassing school plays of yesteryear. Too many eyes watching.” Angie remembered them all. She was no actress and was always somewhere at the back, only included so that everybody in the class got a role. On stage, however, she felt that everyone in the audience was looking at the giantess in the background, and that just made her wilt and want the ground to swallow her up.

Victoria relaxed a little, perhaps in disappointment. “I think it would be fun with you, though,” Angie conceded. “I could dress up, even play a role, if it were only for you. But not in front of an audience; it could only be for you.”

“It would be my privilege.” Victoria’s Irish accent thickened audibly. She moved in uncertainly for a kiss, but Angie met her lips halfway, sealing the deal. It was the first time they had kissed in a while. Something felt different to Angie; Victoria’s tongue was urgent, but she felt more liberated, like when they used to kiss at Albert Dive. It was another tiny taste of what they used to have.

As they disengaged, Angie looked into Victoria’s eyes. “You want me to play the captured virgin princess to your wicked queen?” She was rewarded as the older woman’s eyes filled with passionate fire, but it subsided.

“I’m not sure you’re recovered enough for that yet.” Angie could see the older woman reining herself in but wasn’t willing to give up that easily.

She put on a tone of mock innocence. “Does that mean you want to break and corrupt me later?”

Unable to resist, all the fire and passion of the Victoria Angie remembered came through in the kiss which followed. Being bound and in her power, she just allowed it to happen and happily rode out the older woman’s ardour.

At length, Victoria pulled her up from the sofa and back to her suite where they were both delighted to discover how well Angie played the role of French Maid.