Chapter Ten

Beauty and the Beasts

The woman grinned at them with pearly white teeth and evil eyes. She looked like she had just jumped from the pages of Vogue magazine and seeing her in the dark and dank surroundings of the cellar made Ashley feel light headed. Everything had just gone from crazy to surreal. A cellar full of cages alien hounds she could just about handle. Miss Universe waltzing in was just too much.

'I'll ask again.' The woman sighed, resting her perfectly manicured hands on her hip. 'What are you doing in my cellar?'

The Doctor was about to answer, but the sound banging stopped him. He looked towards the door on the back wall and knew instantly that the girl, and quite possibly the other girls, was behind it.

'Is that you lady?' a young, frightened voice sobbed through the door. 'Please let me go!'

The woman turned her head to the door impatiently. 'Oh shut up you little skank.'

'Claire?' the Doctor called out. 'My name's the Doctor. I'm here to take you home, okay? So don't worry.'

The girl behind the door began crying hysterically. 'Oh please get me out of here! Please get me out! She's insane! She's got all these big dogs and-'

'Shut the hell up!' the woman yelled. She glared at the Doctor and crossed her arms beneath her bust. 'Oh please. He's locked in a cage for God's sake.'

The girl behind the door let out a weak wail, and fell silent. The Doctor moved to the bars of the cage. 'Who are you?' he demanded.

The blonde woman grinned. 'I could just go ahead and give you my number if you like.'

Ashley scowled and took a step forward. 'He doesn't go for slappers.'

The Doctor put his hand in front of her and shook his head. 'Let me deal with this.' He told her quietly.

'I'm sorry,' the blonde woman said patronisingly. 'You must be into the kind of girls who don't shave their armpits.'

Ashley's mouth dropped open. 'I do shave my arm-'

'Tell me who you are!' The Doctor demanded impatiently.

The blonde turned her steely blue eyes back on him and half smiled. 'I like to be called Lily.' She said, examining her fingernails.

'Where did you get all these hounds from?' the Doctor asked.

'You know, it wouldn't kill you to ask nice.'

'I'm not nice to murderers.'

The two of them glared at each other for a moment. Ashley stood back silently, wondering if she was going to die in a stinking alien dog cage.

'I'm not a murderer.' Lily snapped. 'I just… shorten their life a little to lengthen my own. It's not as if these kids have anything going for them anyway. The majority of them were drunk or stoned when my hounds picked them up anyway.'

'That old woman was Victoria Hepple then.' Ashley mused.

Lily snorted. 'Scruffy and smart.' She commented nastily. 'You'll die a spinster.'

Ashley scowled. She felt that heat in her stomach again. She could toast that bitch where she stood. She glared, feeling warmer.

'Ashley.' The Doctor said her name gently, but firmly.

She glanced to him, brow still furrowed, but relaxed.

Lily looked at the thin silver watch around her slim wrist. 'Well I guess you're both lucky. You're in time to see me enjoy my beauty session.' She winked at the Doctor and then sauntered towards the door on the back wall. The hound, Mary-Sue, remained staring at the Doctor and Ashley.

Lily hauled open the door and a young, blonde haired girl stumbled out, hitting the floor on her side. The Doctor gritted his teeth. Ashley put her hands on the bars, but quickly snatched them back when the hound growled at her.

'Come on you little skank,' Lily hissed, hauling the girl up by her hair. The girl squealed in pain.

'Lily,' the Doctor snarled, trying to suppress his mounting rage. 'Don't do this. If you stop now, I'll let you move on without punishment. I only give one chance.'

Lily grinned broadly, seemingly able to restrain the young girl without much effort. 'And what are you going to do?' she smirked. 'You're a Doctor, right? You going to give me a botched nose job?'

The Doctor glared. 'I'm warning you.'

Lily laughed harshly. 'Whatever.'

The Doctor and Ashley watched helplessly as Lily grabbed the girl by her cheeks and forced her to make an o with her mouth. The girl sobbed as a greyish mist floated from her open mouth and into Lily's. The Doctor and Ashley watched in horror as the young girl turned into a young woman, a middle aged woman, an elderly woman…

'Oh my god…' Ashley mumbled.

Lily let go of the frail old woman and coughed violently. She hit herself in her chest a couple of times with her fist and managed to compose herself, wiping under her eyes carefully. 'Oh,' she croaked. 'Oh she was a harsh one.'

The old woman dropped to the floor. From where the Doctor and Ashley were, it was hard to tell if she was still alive. The Doctor stared at the unconscious woman, his mouth ajar in horror.

Lily ran her hands through her hair. 'Oh I always feel high as a kite after doing that. It's amazing.'

'What… How did you do that?' Ashley stammered.

'She's a Leech.' The Doctor said in a flat voice.

'Oh now come on.' Lily frowned. 'That's a very derogatory term for us. The correct term is Sicloid.'

'They suck the life out of young beings to lengthen their own,' the Doctor explained. 'Because they're an arrogant and vain species, and detest the idea of growing old.'

'Can you blame me?' Lily replied, looking at the old woman on the floor in disgust. 'Look at that. It's foul. Who would be able to get up in the morning and look at that?'

'I wouldn't be able to get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror if I did that to a nineteen year old girl.' Ashley replied.

Lily looked at her sharply. 'Excuse me?'

Ashley frowned. 'What?'

'What did you just say?' Lily marched to the cage, her eyes wild.

'I said I wouldn't be able to look at-'

'No, the age,' Lily snapped. 'How old did you say she was?'

The Doctor laughed humourlessly. 'Oh that's ironic.'

'What's ironic?' Ashley frowned.

'At least I think it's ironic,' the Doctor mused. 'I never know which context to use it in…' He turned his steely gaze on Lily, who was looking uncomfortable. 'Lily here hasn't taken any girls older than seventeen. That's because the remaining years of a seventeen year old is just the amount to last her twenty-four hours. The older they are, the less time she has to benefit from their youth.' The Doctor leaned forward and pressed his face against the bars, ignoring the growling hound. 'You're either going to have to find yourself another girl within a couple of hours, or you're going to be all skin a bones.'

Lily's jaw was working behind her lips. Her eyes flicked between the Doctor and Ashley and she swallowed. 'Well I guess I'm just going to have to balance it out by taking her.' She spat, nodding to Ashley.

'You touch me and I'll rip your extensions out you cow.' Ashley hissed.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. 'Go ahead.' He moved away to the other side of the cage, pushing his hands into his pockets.

Ashley turned and stared at him in disbelief. 'Doctor!'

The Doctor ignored her and nodded to Lily. 'Go on then.' He raised his hands. 'I'm not going to do anything.'

Lily looked dubious for a moment. She clicked her fingers to the hound and it instantly stood and bared its teeth. 'You try anything,' she said. 'And Mary-Sue will-'

'Tear me limb from limb,' the Doctor sighed. 'Blah blah blah, yeah I get it.'

Lily moved forward, pulling the key out from the front of her dress. Eyeing the Doctor, she unlocked the padlock and removed it. She pulled open the door. 'Get out.' She demanded.

Ashley looked at the Doctor. 'You can't be serious…'

The Doctor glanced away, his expression unchanging. Shocked, Ashley turned to Lily. She was tapping her foot impatiently.

'Don't make me send Mary-Sue in to get you, sweetheart.'

Ashley glanced once more to the Doctor. She gritted her teeth. 'Fine.' She scowled, and stepped out of the cage. Lily seized her arm instantly and pulled closed the cage door over, not bothering to replace the padlock. Ashley struggled, but the woman was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked. Ashley felt the woman's strong fingers on her cheeks, forcing her to open her mouth.

'Doctor!' Ashley yelled, panicked. 'Help me!'

The Doctor watched from the cage, not moving, not speaking.

Ashley felt the warm sensation in her stomach. Her skin felt like it was tightening. She waited for the Doctor to stop it, but he didn't move.

He didn't even batter an eyelid.

Arg, only two more chapters of this one to go :p Thanks to everyone who's reading, although you might possibly have to wait a couple of days for the conclusion. Emphasis on the may. It depends if I get paid or not lol! (that sounded random... i'm supposed to be going away lol)