(Chapter 1)
The Realm of the Black Rose
Oh, tell me the legends of long ago. When the kings and queens would dance in the realms of the Black Rose...
(Roisin Dubh. The Black Rose. By Thin Lizzy)
"Come on Rosie." Ellie urged. "I really can't wait to see what it's like."
"On my way." Roisin Donavan replied, her voice edged with a soft Irish accent. "Someone had to pay the taxi fare."
Roisin glanced around the local area. It was far from the back street in Dublin where she had grown up. A row of modern condo's ran along the length of the road that was parallel to Venice beach and the hive of activity it hosted. The sharp tang of the ocean assailed her sense of smell, and she could almost taste the fresh sea air on her tongue when she breathed in. It was also warm. Maybe too warm for the heavy black boots, black jeans and leather jacket, but she didn't feel comfortable wearing anything else, when she was at school she had hated having to wear dresses or skirts. The day she left, she had burned her uniform and begun wearing jeans and t shirts. The Goth wear she now wore was her armour, as was the heavy eyeliner, black lipstick, and multiple facial piercings. Back in her home town she stood out, like a rusty nail from a floorboard. Here in the bustling world that formed the metropolis of LA's beach culture, she was just another slightly different person on the tide of different people. Roisin smiled, she could get used to living here.
The apartment they were staying in belonged to the two women they had met in Italy. The chance meeting had come about when Ellie had been spotted running across the vine fields that belonged to Zabina's family. Of course it hadn't helped that Ellie was nude and handcuffed at the time. Happily, Zabina and Alex had been cool about the situation and had invited them over to the barn conversion they were staying in, several times. Ellie had got on really well with Alex, as they had similar tastes in sexual recreation, and Zabina had spent a lot of time chatting to Roisin. There was something about the Italian woman that had opened Roisin's mind. She understood Roisin. Not just understood how she felt about things, she had looked deep in to the Irish girl's soul and seen the scars she had kept hidden in there. Then she had shown her the door to a possible different life, one where she wouldn't have to look over her shoulder every five minutes.
When she looked back on it, she totally understood why Alex loved Zabina, she was like a goddess. Intelligent, charming, funny, and so classy. To be fair, Roisin had a bit of a crush on Zabi.
It had been Zabina's idea that Roisin and Ellie stayed at their apartment for a while. They were both going to be living in Italy for the near future, and a house sitter would be doing them a favour. While Ellie had a good job at the vineyard, Rosie had no real skills, and was constantly living on the edge of being broke, so moving one was no hardship. Zabina had said she would arrange some work for them both in LA, which made the jump more logical, and the chance of starting out somewhere fresh was a dream come true to Roisin.
As Roisin topped the last step to the door of the apartment, Ellie was waiting eagerly by the door, a back pack in each hand containing their carried belongings. That was one good thing about Ellie, Roisin mused, she was as strong as a horse. The Kiwi girl stood a good few inches taller than Rosie, and she carried far more muscle. Which wasn't really surprising as she had grown up on her parent's farm tending sheep and horses every day, whereas Roisin had spent her youth avoiding her strict Catholic father and the Garda. Admittedly a lot of the trouble she had gotten in to in her teens was her own fault, that is if you considered her being gay and a Goth, while at the same time the daughter of a devout Catholic her own fault. Roisin quickly pushed those memories out of her head, she was so done with dwelling on the past.
Roisin input the code that unlocked the door, remembering the code had been easy, she had a bit of head for numbers, which was how she had got in to trouble with the Garda. One damp evening, she had broken in to a basement of a building, looking for somewhere warm and dry to sleep, and discovered a small gambling den. She had sat and watched the men playing cards for hours, enthralled by the symmetry of the games. After a time, she had ended up working there as a dealer, and learned all about card counting and how to play the odds of casino games, which in turn had got her in trouble with several casinos and the Guardians of the Law. It was around that point she had decided that Dublin wasn't where she wanted to live anymore.
As the door opened, Ellie rushed past with a high pitched screech and Roisin smiled at her enthusiasm. They weren't together as such. Rosie enjoyed her company. Her childlike innocence in some many things was offset by the submissive sexual side of her, and the streetwise Rosie felt a little protective of her. Even though Ellie was older and bigger, Roisin felt like the responsible adult out of the two of them.
"I'm calling this room." Ellie's voice sounded from the main bedroom.
"Actually, I think you will find the other room more to your liking." Roisin replied as she looked around the main living space. A lot of the floor area was taken up by storage boxes. Zabina had told her she would organise for a friend to come over and pack up her and Alex's stuff, then organise what was to be shipped out to them, and what would go to storage. Zabi had also suggested that Ellie would find the spare room very interesting, although she hadn't said why.
The apartment was nothing like anything Roisin had ever seen before. Everything was modern and stylish. The rooms were functional and not overcrowded with furniture. And the view over the beach was to die for. Roisin wasn't sure how they would pay for things yet, she and Ellie only had a small amount of cash, but Zabina had told her not to worry about getting work as she would sort something out for them. Roisin had wondered how, as she didn't see either of them working on one of Zabi's fashion boutiques. Worst case she may be able to scam some money doing card tricks over on the beach or something.
Roisin's bag was sat on the bed in the main bedroom, where Ellie had left it. The bedroom was like the rest of the apartment, neat clean and calm, one wall had a large print of a woman Roisin recognised to be Zabi, clad skimpily in very short shorts and a corset that barely contained her breasts, she guessed this was Alex's handy work. Looking around further, Rosie saw her reflection in one of the floor to ceiling mirrors. Her complexion was its normal light brown, an indication of her mixed heritage family, although she had bags under her eyes from travel induced lack of sleep. Her short cropped black hair looked jagged and was in need of a trim, and her dark makeup was smeared. The silver of the three rings in each eyebrow stood out against her skin, and the black stud in her left nostril matched the dark lipstick. Apart from her face and neck, her hands were the only visible areas of skin. She was totally the opposite of Ellie. Thin where Ellie was curvy, flat chested where Ellie had well developed, full round breasts. Insular and introvert, where Ellie was vibrant and outgoing.
"Wow." Ellie announced loudly as she burst in to the room. "You've so got to see what I've found."
There were times when Ellie's energy and exuberance made Roisin feel a little jaded. This was one of them.
"What have you found?" Roisin asked with a sigh, wanting nothing more than to have a lay down and sleep off her jet lag.
Ellie's face split in to a wide grin. "Fun stuff." She replied catching hold of Rosie's hand and half dragging her towards the other room.
Fun stuff? In Ellie's mind that could be anything from a pile of magazines about horses to a crate of beer. As they entered the spare room, Roisin stopped dead in her tracks. Fun stuff could also mean a large cupboard stuffed full of bondage gear.
Now Zabi's comment about how this room would suit Ellie made sense.
The secret came out one evening when they had been celebrating Ellie's birthday. The more than tipsy Ellie had expressed how she had been in a relationship with a girl who was in to BDSM. This confession was closely followed by her saying how much it had turned her on when she had been stripped, tied up and teased to the brink of climax for an hour. Although Roisin had never tried bondage, the thought of seeing Ellie in that position had made her feel a little excited, and that night they had sex together for the first time. The following morning had been little awkward, but after they had both admitted that whilst the sex had been pleasurable, neither had serious feelings for the other. Since that night, they had repeated the act several times, usually when Ellie had talked Roisin in to daring her to carry out a task in a state of bondage, hence the evening where Ellie had been seen by Zabina and Alex.
"Well at least you have a lot of new toys to play with." Roisin commented, fairly convinced on where this conversation was going to lead.
