"The time is now, Isabel." Yvette whispered. Isabel smiled and touched Alice's hand. Alice looked over at the other women and gave a toothy grin to her friends. Isabel took a quick glance down the hallway and nodded.

"It is indeed sisters."

For a moment the candles flickered and the four flourished women stood together, hands held palm up to the ceiling. Yvette's expression turned dark and her lips parted to expose her pearly whites. Isabel giggled and looked around at the stone walls, her horrible eyes sweeping over the cobwebs and bats that nested above. Rora cooed quietly to herself and her eyes fluttered to the back of her head. Alice sighed and stood still and quiet.

"Repeat it sisters." Yvette said, taking Alice and Rora's hands. The rest of them grasped hands and soon their voices filled the hall with an eerie echo of darkness.

"The quiet of the night,

The slip of the moon,

The horrors in our sight,

The blood covering their room,

Remember where you are from,

Take time to indulge the visions.

Remember what we've done,

And prepare for collision.

Eat their hearts,

Grip their groins.

Take hostage their souls,

Remember, they're toys.

Take voice with the raven,

Take strength in the sin,

Eat up the unshaven,

And rejoice with your kin."

The four women lifted their faces to the sky and let out a screeching howl into the night. Yvette was the first to break off and she reached over and slapped the other three. Rora growled and slapped her back.

"Enough, girls." Isabel scolded. "The men will be here anytime."

"Oh," Yvette sighed. "It's been quite a while, has it not sisters? I can't wait."

Rora rolled her eyes. "Always the horny one Yvette?"

Yvette slapped Rora across the face again, and the two women began to fight. Alice and Isabel scowled and walked past, leaving the two to pull each other's hair and scratch each other's eyes out.

"Is the food prepared?" Isabel asked. Alice nodded and turned to her sister.

"Do you suppose enough will come? If Rora and I have to share one more time, we'll rip each other's throats out."

"There will be plenty tonight." Isabel purred out the response and lifted a finger to her lips, licking it slowly.

"Oh, control yourself Isabel."

The woman giggled. "Sorry, but I'm getting excited."

The sound of fighting girls ceased and a few moments later the two younger sisters came bounding up behind them. Yvette muttered violently to herself and Rora growled. Isabel glanced back, taking in their outfits. They'd ripped them up a bit, but the girl's dresses weren't too bad. Alice was the smallest of the four, skinnier than them all by more than could be healthy. Rora was barely any better. Isabel knew that if the girls were naked you'd be able to see their ribs. They were starving.

"If it comes down to it, Isabel, we should share." Alice whispered.

Isabel snorted. "There will be no need for sharing tonight, sister."

As they made their way down the stairs, Isabel took the front of the line, reaching up and adjusting her chest to pop out more, giving away more skin than was necessary. She reached up and pulled the pin that had been holding back her long, luscious black hair and the curls came bouncing down around her pale and exposed shoulders.

Yvette, instead of letting her hair flow down around her shoulders, pinned it loosely up. The dark copper tone brought out her pale features and her high cheekbones, and having it up with just a few strings hanging down that tickled her shoulders brought the attention to them. She adjusted her skirts and put the diamond necklace around her neck, letting it hang just above her bosom.

Alice's chest was nearly bare, covered lightly by the white of her blouse and pushed up by the corset that showed off her tiny waist, and wide hips. Her hair was a wild mess of waves and curls, some pinned up and some let loose, some cut short, and some long. She looked like an animal with her fierce and hungry expression, her crazy hair and ripped clothing. Rora had given her a few good cuts across her freckled nose that added to the animal look.

Rora wore the only red gown that the girls had preserved from… the old times. It brought out prominent features on her slender body. She wore a pearl necklace and bracelet that encircled her skinny neck and bony wrist. Her hair was cut short, hanging long over her eyes and cut like a man's on her neck. The color matched their eldest sister's, Isabel.

All four sisters had beautiful blue eyes and all had pale, creamy skin. All were deathly beautiful.

As they descended the stairs, the sight of a room full of men came into view. Isabel smiled sensually and once she got to the bottom of the stairs she went immediately to the first man, plopping down in his lap and touching her lips lightly to his ear, then neck, then slowly reaching her hands up to his chest.

Yvette, instead of going to a man, got down the stairs and backed up against the bar and began to pour drinks.

Alice began to do a dance and twirl around as the men began to cheer and grab at her skirts. Her bare feet pounded on the floor and her anklets sparkled in the candle light.

Rora sat down on the floor and bent forward, showing off her assets while laughing and clapping while she watched her sister.

The men were soon drinking and becoming quickly intoxicated, laughing and watching the women, enjoying the sultry site of their bodies, a sight that was not usually given them. When you had to be out in the sun, working for survival every day, it wasn't often you found a good woman to give you a little pleasure.

Men from all over the county came to these four women for just one small night of pleasure… and few came away from it.

As the night wore on, Alice noticed that one of the men was not drinking, though he wasn't quite a man. He was smaller than the others, though fit and in shape, probably more so than the others. He watched silently, sipping the same drink Isabel had given him at the beginning of the night, keeping his eyes off the women, and on the doors.

Alice began to make her way toward him, giving each sister a look that let them know she was going in for the kill.

"You don't seem to be enjoying yourself…" Alice cooed to the boyish man. "You want something a little stronger, perhaps, could do the trick?"

The boy looked over at her, and for a moment she was taken aback as his green eyes stared back at her. Her sisters must've heard her gasp, because they all looked over at her and, though they could not keep their attention fully on their sister, they watched her from the corner of their eyes as they served the other men.

"I'm fine, thank you," he said in an emotionless tone. Alice tried to smile, but was so thrown off by his… she wasn't sure.

She flitted away, continuing her dance, but as she went on, she found that the boy watched her now. IT unnerved her, the way he controlled himself around women and wine. She'd never seen a man like him for…

Well, she'd never met or seen a man like him.

"So, you all must be travelers," Isabel began to strike up conversation as the dancing and drinking began to wind down. Some of the men were sleeping, a few still drinking, and two being entertained by Rora and Yvette. Alice sat down where she could watch the boy and Isabel was plopped in yet another man's lap, caressing his ear and neck.

"Yesh…" the man drawled. "Been travelin' togetha since he was a boy." The man pointed drunkenly at the boy with green eyes. "Ain't that right Charlie?"

Charlie sneered at the man, but nodded curtly.

"We been wanderers since my wife died." The man said. "Well, to be more precise, since I killed her."

Alice glanced at Charlie and tried to read his reaction. He was completely emotionless still, no sign of sorrow or anger. But he also glanced at her and for a moment stared. Alice knew he could see her fear, it wasn't very well hidden, but she

"What are all you lovely women doing out here alone?" the drunk man asked.

"Just providing a service to any man who wants it, darling." Isabel cooed.

"Leon," Charlie said, "We need to go soon."

Charlie must have seen the women's panicked expressions, because he immediately stood and grabbed the man's shirt, hauling him to his feet with one tug. "Now."

"Wait just a moment," Isabel purred. "You haven't gotten any entertainment, boy-o."

Isabel moved with cat like grace and was holding onto Charlie in a moment. Her arms wrapped around his torso and slowly moved down to his belt, where she began to unbuckle him. But before she could get any farther Charlie whirled, Leon still in his hands, and swatted Isabel away, sending her across the room. She hissed and crouched onto her hands and feet.

"You aren't going anywhere," Isabel's voice came out in a growl and she slowly moved forward until she stood before the door. "We do not entertain for free."

Charlie didn't miss a beat. He threw Leon over his shoulder and made a break for the back door, but Yvette beat him to it and threw him and the large man to the ground, using his own momentum against him. His head hit a stool on his way down and blood splattered over the floor. Rora took no time in restraining him and she quietly waited for her sisters to help her.

Rora was the youngest of the four, but probably more capable than the other three.

"Alice, get those two."

There were two drunks who were sitting up and looking around, but they were completely gone to the rum. As Alice tied them to separate posts, the smell of the liquor wafted up and filled her nostrils. She turned aside and gagged. She'd never been able to hold her liquor the way her sisters did.

When Alice turned back to her sisters, they had Charlie and Leon tied to separate posts and were undressing them by simply cutting off their clothing, leaving them in only their long underwear. Isabel began to cut Leon's at the waist, and Alice moved forward to begin cutting Charlie's.

He was just waking up, his eyes searching the space before him, trying to register what had happened. Alice bent down and pulled the knife from her belt. She reached over and began to cut his long johns.

As Alice got the top half of them off, she took in the long scars up and down his torso and back. He watched her silently as she reached down, head cocked to the side, and touched one softly.

"What are you going to do to them?" Charlie asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Alice stared at him and sighed. She stood and walked away, returning a few minutes later with a bowl full of steaming water and a few washcloths. She began to rub down Charlie's torso and arms, neck and face.

"What are you going to do?" Charlie asked again.

She continued with the cleaning, avoiding eye contact, hoping that he wouldn't see the regret and anguish now forming as tears within them.

"We're going to eat you."