The Shrike
 Jacqueline Scarlet slowly walked down the long hallway in her dimly lit mansion. Women of all sizes and states of undress adorned the walls like paintings, some preserved by magic, but must alive and squirming. Scarlet's magic kept them alive and healthy, but did nothing to alleviate the aches and sores that came with being tied up and hung in a grim larder.
 "Now who should I go for today? Roseanne, you've been here for quite a while, haven't you? I suppose that vacation took a bit longer than you expected." The sorceress gently caressed the supple form of the defeated woman. She had given up, her eyes absently gazing ahead. They sharpened ever so slightly as the tourist's captor met their gaze. Scarlet broke it off. "Or how about the Gausses? A mother and her three daughters lost out camping. How tragic!" She mocked them melodramatically and strolled over to the youngest, thirteen year old Gwendoline, and kissed her on the cheek. "Now now sweetie, don't cry. It'll be all over eventually." Jacqueline turn her attention to a gaggle of bound and gagged college girls. "Maybe one of your group, Sarah. Tell me, did you taste the drug I laced your punch bowl? I guess Girl's Night Out wasn't as safe as you thought." She chuckled menacingly.
 "But you..." Her voice dropped to a more sinister note. "Julianne Dier. 'Detective'. You heard girls were disappearing and you thought you could find out why. Well, to your credit, I suppose you did." She walked over to the farthest end of the hallway. A young woman with boyish features was tied, arms and legs spread, onto the wall above the door. She had been stripped of all clothing but her underpants; frilly black panties. She could best de describes as "small" in almost every way- breasts, weight, height, even her hair was cut short, either by choice or by Jacqueline. Her mouth was gagged like most of Scarlet's prisoners, but her eyes blazed with a fresh hatred the others had lost. The sorceress slowly floated up until she stood eye to eye with the bound detective. She tore off the gag with a snap.
 "You cunt!" Julianne swore. "I'll kill you!"
 "Hush, darling. Such sour words will spoil the meat. Tonight will be fun! For me. Since you're so interested in what I do here I'll give you a front row seat to a night of debauchery for me. I've been stocking the larder for quite a while now, it's about time I clean it out." With a twist of Scarlet's hand the thick, bristly ropes tying up Dier unwound, and the detective slowly fell, magical rings appearing around her wrists, ankles, stomach, and neck.
 "What have you done to me?"
 "With these rings I can guide your body however I please. It doesn't use up very much magic, so I can focus on the real fun." Her eyes glowed, and Gwendolyn Gausse floated down from the wall. The tape that was keeping her mouth shut slowly peeled off as she drifted closer and closer to the grinning Jackie.
 "And for my first trick, I'll make this little girl disappear!" True to her words, the sorceress opened her mouth wide and engulfed the girl's feet. Her mother screamed something, but her yells were muffled by the layers of tape plastered over her mouth. Gwen herself just cried, sobbing and sniffling as she was slowly drawn in. As she reached the girl's thighs Jacqueline ran her finger down her chest and skirt, making a clean cut through the clothes. The skirt fell off and the poor girl's back was exposed to the warm mansion air. Scarlet slowly made her way up the crying girl, lapping up her small, underdeveloped bottom and smooth, delicate torso. Finally, with a pop, the girl's head was sucked into Scarlet's mouth and she swallowed.
 "There's nothing more satisfying than the rush I get from watching someone disappear." Her smooth stomach had been stretched and warped to a bulbous, shifting mass of teenaged girl. "Oh my dear Julianne, if only you knew how it felt. I have complete, utter dominion over this girl. Her life will end by my hand, and her very flesh will be dissolved, incorporated into mine. Then I will dispose of what's left."
 "You're a horrible person." Julie spat at her. Jacqueline gave a knowing smile.
 "I suppose it's time for the next act. You other two Gausse girls, get down here." At her command, the two girls floated down, their mouths untaped and arms unbound. "Tell me your names."
 "Jessica"
 "Laura" The two spoke at once.
 "Which one of you is older?" Jacqueline inquired.
 "Laura." They both replied.
 "Laura... there's an oven in the kitchen, down the hall and too the right. Cook Jessica and bring her to me." Their eyes pleading and horrified, the two sisters obediently marched down the hallway.
 "How did you even get them to-" Julianne's question was interrupted by her captor speaking.
 "Magic, my dear. I specialize in that of the mind; enchantments, illusions... I'm sure you'd make a great spellcaster if you tried."
 "Shut up."
 "Anyway, the Gausses will be taking their time." A distant screaming, bloodcurdling and sudden, could be heard. "It seems they're just getting started. I may as well do something else. Roseanne... no, I'm still saving you. Sarah. Shannon. Alice. It's your turn." Like the sisters before them the three named girls, all that was left of the party, floated down. They squirmed and begged, but to no avail.
 "What are you going to do with them?"
 "Oh, I'm going to do nothing. Sarah is going to shove Shannon up Alice's ass, then Alice is going to feed herself to Sarah." True to their orders, the girls assumed position. Shannon, the smallest of the three, a waifish woman of african descent, bent over below Alice, a larger woman with blond hair that flowed down below her ample chest. Alice pulled her pants down, sobbing, as Sarah, a tall, athletic student, grabbed Shannon's torso and shoved her up.
 Jacqueline stared calmly at the spectacle before her, her mouth in a delicate grin, her eyes drinking up the sight of a woman being slowly inserted into the ass of her friend. Alice yelped in pain as her sphincter was pushed to the limits, but with a wave of Jacqueline's hand Shannon slipped right in. Despite herself, Alice gave a little moan as her soft insides were simulated. A gentle whimper could be heard from inside her.
 "Well? Get on with it!" Jacqueline barked to Alice. "I have no patience for fools."
 "No! No!" Alice pleaded, but she could do nothing to stop herself from crawling into Sarah's mouth. Her head was shoved in first, causing Sarah to gag and flail. Her arms swung, and the momentum of her friend pushed her backwards onto the ground. Alice's engorged gut spilled out over her- she could feel Shannon struggling inside Alice, her air supply running dangerously low. Air! Sarah inhaled deeply though her nose in a desperate attempt to stay alive while her blonde friend's bloated mass blocked out her mouth.
 Alice, crying, forced herself in further. Soon her buxom chest and pillowed shoulders had made their way into Sarah's mouth. She kicked with her legs to get in more, hitting her unwanted predator in the stomach multiple times. Eventually, though, her spine had started to curve, and the tension of her body lifted her lower half into the air. She kicked futily, halfway down her friend's throat.
 "Sarah, finish the job. It's apparent to all of us that Alice here can't." Jackie commanded. Obediently, Sarah grabbed Alice's buttocks and shoved her in, popping the engorged belly and round hips in all at once. Her stomach bulged almost instantly- the pain was sharp and sudden, and she yelped. Her friend's legs slowly slipped down into her as she rubbed her aching, bloated belly. Finally she slurped up Alice's toes and gulped, crying. She clutched her gurgling stomach and sobbed into it. Tears crawled down the quivering pile, leaving a wet, salty trail behind them.
 "I think I'll leave you to think about that for a while, sweetie. All this fuss and I've barely had time to enjoy my meal!" the wicked spellcaster gestured down to her boated stomach. The skin had contracted slightly around Gwen, who was still struggling. "Oh, I'm so sorry dear. Do the acids burn? I'm sure you would have suffocated by now, were you not still under my spell. It's a shame the world is not so merciful." She cooed, stroking her prey through her skin. No one else could hear it, but Gwen was absolutely wailing in despair and pain.
 "In the mean time, I think Jessica is just about done! Laura, there's a platter in the drawer above the oven. Put Jessie on it and bring it out, please. Oh, and put on that apron I have out. Nothing else."
 Laura emerged to no one's surprise, cooked sister on a platter. She had been butter glazed and tied up like a turkey- her rump was pointing high in the air and her breasts sat squished against the plate. An apple was in her mouth. Laura was made up nicely as well- her red hair had been brushed to one side, and the shapely apron did well to accentuate her mature figure.
 "Place her before me and look into my eyes." Laura gently placed down the saucer but avoided Jacqueline's gaze. "I said look at me!" Jackie snapped. Laura snapped to attention, meeting the eyes of this horrible woman. The first thing she noticed was that they were grey. The second thing she noticed was that she was very, very hungry. Her stomach roared, but there was nothing to eat. Nothing, that is, except for Jessie... plump, succulent Jessie, laid out on a platter, skin a rich brown, the hot, buttery smell wafting through the air...
 The viciousness with which Laura tore into her sister surprised even Jacqueline. The redhead dove in, ripping off a leg and tearing though flesh. She gulped and groaned, but went back for more. A breast was swallowed whole; an arm skeletonized. In minutes the white meat had been stripped from Jessie, although bits and pieces were scattered around Laura. Laura didn't stop, no. She tore through the organs, swallowing kidneys and gnashing through livers. At last Laura had skeletonized her sister, leaving the heart remaining. She swallowed it in one gulp.
 "My, my. Aren't we all surprised. I suppose you just aren't you when you're hungry." Laura slowly looked at her hands, wet with butter and oils. "Hope you're proud of yourself babe, I haven't seen anyone that ravenous in a while. You know what? I think I'll spare you for another week or two. Give you time to really think about what you've done." The spiked rings drew around Laura, lifting her off the ground and back onto the wall where she was hanging, but sporting a distended gut full of her cooked sister. "I've had my fun with the Gausse girls, now it's time for mommy to come out and play." Jackie teased, lazily pulling Mrs. Gausse down from the larder with an idle flick of the wrist.
 "Mrs Gausse, you've been here for a few weeks now, and you've seen what happens to little girls that end up in this big ol' gut of mine. In no time flat they go from pretty little princess to steaming brown shit. It's amazing, isn't it?" Mary-anne Gausse drifted down like her daughters before her. She spit in Jackie's face. Jackie blinked and slowly wiped her face, hand shaking.
 "Funny thing is, I can choose how fast or how slow my digestion is. Magic's crazy that way, isn't it?" Her voice, while still curt and cheery, had a barely hidden rage behind it, and she spoke with teeth clenched. "So how about you FEEL it as your daughter is melted away into nothingness!" With that she grabbed the woman and pressed her face against the predator's swollen belly. There was a loud gurgle and a muffled shriek, and Jackie's stomach went into overdrive. Mary-anne's skin quivered with the bubbling and roaring gut she was forced against. She felt something hard and rounded push against her- a bone, no doubt. She snarled, her head clouded with rage, and ferociously bit the stomach of her evil captor. Jaqueline yelped in pain.
 "You done fucked up now, bitch." Jackie spat, letting her anger reach a boiling point. She clenched her fists, and Mary-anne's veins glowed red hot. The mother screamed and writhed in pain. "You've seen a lot of shit in the time you've been here," Jackie hissed through gritted teeth, "but trust me, I can do things that make the rest of this night look like child's play."
 ---
 Jacqueline walked out alone, adjusting something under her dress. Her previously distented gut having returned to it's toned smoothness.
 "What did you do to her, you bitch?" Dier looked her captor dead in the eye.
 "Stay a while and maybe you'll find out." Jackie replied, her voice unusually devoid of snark or smugness. Julianne gave her an inquisitive glance. Jacqueline turned her back to the trapped girl. "My sweet Dier, I've decided I'm going to let you go soon. You'll be right as rain, too. No tricks. No mind control."
 "But?"
 "But, you're also going to decide the fate of everyone else in this castle. Trust me, this is only one of the many halls of mine, each stocked with delicious, frail, weak girls." Julianne said nothing. She knew this was a fraction of the girls Jacqueline Scarlet had captured; she was tracking over forty disappearances, and she had even recognized a few when Jackie had led her through the mansion. "I'll make them forget everything that happened and release them to the world, perfectly unharmed..." Jacqueline drifted off.
 "...On one condition." Julianne finished.
 "Nothing gets past you." Jackie curled her fingers into a song fist. At her command the last untouched capture in this larder drifted down. As Roseanne slowly fell, crucified, to the floor, her body shrunk until it was only the size of Julianne's forearm. Jackie picked her up like an ice cream cone. The broken woman looked from one J to another, no emotion but exhaustion on her face. "You eat her, everyone else is released, you don't, and I let you go either way, what happened tonight is on you."
 "I won't do it." Julianne looked away.
 "It's like I said. You have a little snack, and everyone else in this castle goes free. I promise"
 "How do I know you won't just eat me afterwords and ignore your promise, you sicko?"
 "My dear Julie, what will have changed? If you eat her there's a chance everyone else walks free. You don't, and there is zero chance of anyone but you making it out through anywhere but the sewers." She smiled calmly.
 The magical rings that bound Julianne in place faded into nothingness, and for the first time in a week she stepped on the ground out of her own free will. The young woman walked over tot his monster and snatched the woman out of her hand.
 "I'm so sorry." She delicately removed the girl's shoes and lowered her, feet first, into her mouth. She didn't worry about choking- her throat began to glow white, and the woman slipped down like milk. Thick hips, smooth stomach, massive bosom- Julianne felt that she was eating the best meal of the day. Something crawled up her, something that she knew was horribly, horribly wrong... but it felt so good. The power she had over this person, this living, thinking, crying person... it was intoxicating. She finished swallowing with a savage snap of her teeth and a final gulp. She took a deep breath.
 For the first time in the night, Jacqueline Scarlet was genuinely surprised, if only for a moment. "I must say, I didn't expect you to take my offer. Well, let it never be said that I am not a woman of my word." She turned around and began walking away.
 "Wait."
 "Oh?"
 "You don't... you don't have to free them..." Julianne said nervously, stroking the small bulge in her petite stomach.
 "Really?" Jacqueline said, her voice slow and mocking surprise.
 "It uh... it seems an awful waste, don't you think? To let all these meals free?" Julianne couldn't quite believe what she was saying.
 "Why yes, it does. Are you sure? I hate to break a promise."
 "I'm... I'm sure, Miss Scarlet." Jacqueline smiled and walked over to Julianne, placing an arm around the girl's shoulders.
 "Well then. How about tomorrow we go clean out another larder? Together." Julianne nodded excitedly.
 "Together."