A/N: I felt the need to get away from the metaphysical realm for a little while since I am going to be editing the 500+ page Ex/Aqueaura novel for publication. This one features normal people with not-so-normal interests. Yes, folks, we are talking about BDSM! Yay! This will be a nice piece of education for those out there that do not know much about this sub-culture. But if your sensibilities will not be able to withstand the info, you've been warned! Enjoy! And review.

Prologue

I like pain. No, that isn’t an entirely true statement. I love pain. I’m a masochist with a capital M. What kind of pain? Just about any and every sort of pain I have ever encountered. I have trained my body to receive and deal with pain in great or small amounts. Preferably great. Just thinking about it is making me… well, I won’t go there. Not yet anyway, it would be naughty. And I am only naughty when I want to be. Or when it might benefit you. My name is Calla. But my scene name is Lilly. Clever, aren’t I? And I am a submissive but not a slave, I have no Master. Not from lack of looking, but none of them has ever appealed to me. You see, I am a masochist, true. But in order to be a slave, I have to respect them… and a lot of Tops out there don’t think about that. They think about their lovely little flogger and what pretty little welts it will bring up on your delicious little back. And don’t get me wrong, that’s great! But it’s just not enough to make someone fall at one’s feet and whimper in subjection. Well, I guess it’s enough for some people… but not me. Though I have been told a few times that if I wasn’t such a S.A.M. (that’s Smart Ass Masochist, for all you non-BDSM folks out there) that maybe I wouldn’t have such a hard time finding someone to properly train me.

Since I work at a prestigious BDSM dungeon, I really don’t have to worry about that much. And while I am not the most popular lady there, I make enough to pay for my gorgeous little one bedroom apartment, my wonderfully gas-efficient compact car, my stunning kitty-cat and my handsome puppy-dog. Technically, I am a Switch, not a Sub at The Thorned Rose, affectionately called the Rose by the ladies and the regulars. Being a Switch means that you can do both submissive and dominant sessions, and it means you get more clients. Yippee.

Yes, I am a Switch, tending to my Subbie side and I am happy with the way I am. And I will be until someone finally earns my respect the way a true Master should. But I have better things to be dwelling on, like the Fetish Ball tonight… It’s an annual event and most of the girls are going to represent the Rose. We all get to go in a fantastic limo since Lady Illaria, the owner of our well-respected dungeon, is going with us. So here I am, letting my best-friend Mistress Phoenix, do my hair. Now that might not seem like a big deal to you, but I seriously hate my hair being fucked with. You can pull my hair, even drag me around by it, but heavens forbid you put a little hairspray in it. Weird, yeah but it drives me nuts to try to tame something that behaves itself so well. I’m sure if I had a therapist, they would love analyzing that little tidbit of information… yay. I normally leave my hair alone, so that it can bounce and swirl past my shoulders in its glorious waves of gold but Phoenix thinks that I need a more dignified look for the Ball tonight…so here I suffer.

“Could you not use so much hairspray? I can feel my hair suffocating!” I complained, more out of habit then actual outrage. Nix chuckled and shook her head, “I don’t think so, Lills. You’re hair isn’t going to cooperate with these twists without a little help.” She smiled at my reflection while I pouted in front of the mirror. I studied our images while telling myself not to be so immature. Nix and I are the same age, give or take a few months but we both look younger then our 21 years. Nix is dainty, bordering on tiny even. She looks like one of those little porcelain dolls in those really expensive boutiques. With a little elf mixed in. She has beautiful glossy black ringlets and huge pastel blue eyes that dominate her breathtaking triangular face. She is just over five feet tall with a slight, athletic build. She’s a ballerina…and she looks like one. Hell, she was standing in first position right behind me, with those size five heels touching and not an inch of space to be had from ankle to hip. A lot of the clients at the Rose really like the whole delicate look that Nix has going on, they also like the impact that her dainty little hand makes when she spanks them. She’s stronger than she looks.

I guess I look more dominant that she does, even though that’s not the case. I have hair that is more gold than brown or even blonde and large almond-shaped green eyes that are more emerald than grassy with a few hints of amber here and there. I have high cheek bones and a cupid bow mouth that tends toward a pout not matter how many smiles cross it. Nix looks like a pixie and I look more like… one of those timelessly classic Hollywood stars from the fifties. Or so I have been told. My skin is more of a honey against the cream of Nix’s alabaster complexion; I get the tan from taking my American Pit bull terrier, Radar out on a few hikes every week. Radar’s deaf, much to my cat Alchemy’s supreme amusement and still a puppy at sixteen months old, so he’s kind of clumsy but he always seems to know when someone’s coming over or even when the phone is going to ring, so- Radar. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, careful not to disturb Nix’s masterpiece in the making, I see the curled up ball of white fur that is my puppy and smile.

Nix caught the look and flicked a glimpse in the same direction and grinned. “He’s worn out; did the Mistress corner him in the kitchen again?” I looked a little sheepish, you see, my cat, affectionately dubbed Mistress Meows for her loud pushy nature has taken to holding Radar hostage in the kitchen if she doesn’t feel that she has been given an equal amount of treats. A few days ago I came home to a shaking puppy and a smug kitty, I felt so bad that I gave Radar a bit of ice cream to cheer him up… Meows lost her feline smirk soon after she saw that she wasn’t getting any of the vanilla goodness. I think she’s still pouting, since her window seat has been suspiciously empty tonight. Then again, she may be plotting. “Radar wasn’t shaking when I came home, so I don’t think that was it. He’s probably a little worn out from his play date at the dog park.”

Nix grinned, “Dog park? I can’t wait till you have kids, you treat your pets like humans.”

“I do not,” I objected, gamely. “I treat Radar like a pampered pooch… and Meows thinks she is human, so who am I to tell her she’s not?”

Nix laughed, “All done here.” I sighed in relief, “Looks great, let’s get going.” As I grabbed my over coat I stole a peek at the mirror and sighed again, seeing my hair pulled up into a riot of twists and curls that framed my face perfectly. I couldn’t wait to take it out tonight, lovely as it was. We drove to the Rose in separate cars and met up with the limo and the rest of the girls. As we climbed inside, I was glad to see that our costumes would fit in perfectly, at least with our crowd. Nix was done up as a black and red ballerina, all ribbons and bows down to her red point shoes. I chose a forest-y nymph look. All greens, browns and tans… it went well with the hair and eyes. Nix was shadows and I was glittery… and it was in my hair. Ugh, it was going to be a long night.

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We all glided out of the black stretch limo in our fetish best with Lady Illaria in the lead, a few photos were being snapped, so we all put on our play faces. I was one of the tallest in our group, my natural height is 5’8 but the heels push me closer to six foot. A little much but it makes my legs look like they go on for days. My body is pretty curvy and the hikes and a few hours a week at the gym keep it from going a little too curvy, if you know what I mean. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never be in perfect shape like Nix and that my legs will always look too big and round to me, but my clients never complained. They said I looked womanly. I have that hourglass shape that looks to die for in a corset, I know I shouldn’t complain about my body but hey, people always want to be something they’re not.

When we entered the Ballroom, I let the waves of the music wash over me and hoped that I would get an opportunity to dance at some point and not be tangled up with clients or potential clients all night. Nix and I made the rounds, making nice with the well-known Masters and Mistresses. We usually paired up with each other because people were used to seeing us together and we were more comfortable that way.

The BDSM world is pretty small once you get to know it, and people really do have to mind their manners. One little slip up can cost you your reputation. The Rose and its Ladies were almost impeccable and we all worked hard to keep it that way. A common mistake that people make is that BDSM is all sex and debauchery and it isn’t. Well, I guess it is in some circles. But not in the more professional ones, not only was that kind of slutty but it was illegal in most states, including ours. LA allows a lot, but anything like prostitution is against the rules. And it’s so much more fun to play with your clothes on. That’s how I play, unless I find someone that I decide to be involved with on a personal level. Until then, the clothes stay on.

Nix got snagged by another Master and dragged happily onto the dance floor so I took my chance to take in a song or two. Somewhere between song number four and five, my eyes happened to fall on this gorgeous guy by the bar. Tall, not too muscular, with those long wiry muscles that are more deceptive then the bulging kind. Blonde hair, much lighter than my gold, caught up in a long braid that trailed more than halfway down his back. A few inches longer than mine. He was a little tanner than I was, so I figured he had to be an outdoorsy type. I speculated on if he had a dog or not. He was talking to one of the Masters I knew in passing, and for some reason, Master what’s-his-name pointed at me. Slowly, the mystery man turned to look at me. Silver eyes pierced mine from across the room and for a moment I forgot to breathe. The heat in his gaze made my belly tighten deliciously. I dipped my gaze down submissively, not wanting to be rude if he was a Master… their feathers can be so easily ruffled, after all. By the time that I looked back up under my golden lashes, he was gone. My eyes searched the crowd for him for a moment or two, and then Nix was at my side again. She chattered at me about some new gossip tidbit so I didn’t really focus on what she was actually saying. My thoughts were on the anonymous hunk that had disappeared so suddenly. I hoped that I hadn’t upset him by being caught staring… I shook my head and paid closer attention to Nix when she complained that I wasn’t listening to her.

There was a fantastic show happening on the main stage, so we wandered closer to the action. The stage was split up into three different sections, which meant three different shows. Nix headed over to the play piercing side where Mistress Pandora was slipping hypodermic needles into a guy’s back and then slipping feathers into the plastic end so that he had these wicked black wings. We’d seen this done a couple dozen times before, but Nix was friends with Pandora so she went over to chat a bit. I would have gone with her, but another demonstration caught my eye. Rope suspension. It’s so much trickier than regular bondage. You have to make sure that nothing is going to pinch or cut off the flow of blood to any extremities. It’s very precise and when it’s done right: beautiful. I love good suspension. It’s like flying, almost. But not many people get it right that come by the Rose, so I don’t get to do it much. Unless I have one of the ladies practice on me, which is fun too. I didn’t know the man who was doing the ties, but he seemed to be pretty good. I made a mental note to ask Nix about it as I made my way towards Mistress Pandora’s section of the stage.

The Ball was winding down a bit and the look-e-loos were leaving. The lifestyle was still a little taboo, so we tended to draw a lot of attention. Not that we minded, we liked educating, and when that was no fun: shocking. The shows were over and Nix and I were walking toward the bar when someone grabbed my arm. I looked up and into the face of Master Nero and stifled a groan. “Hello, Sir. How are You this evening?” I asked respectfully, pulling my arm out of his grasp and hoping that it seemed as inconspicuous as I thought it had.

He leaned down so close to my face that I could practically feel my personal bubble pop. “Hello, my lovely Lilly.” I fought the urge to roll my eyes, like I hadn’t heard that one before. “Your Master is doing quite well.”

“Oh, Sir.” I fluttered, “I don’t have a Master, and You know that.”

“Not yet, Lilly. Not yet.” His fingers skimmed my throat possessively and the desire to slap his too pretty face was nearly overwhelming. I backed away from his touch, wondering where Nix had gone off to. “It was wonderful seeing You, Sir. But we were just getting ready to leave ─”

“I must treat you to a drink before you go.”
“Thank you so much, Sir. But I don’t drink and I must be on my way, Lady Illaria will be so displeased if I keep them.”

“I’m sure she’ll make an exception for me.”

This time, I did roll my eyes. “No. Thank. You. Sir.”

His brown eyes narrowed, “You should be more respectful of your superiors.”

My palms itched again so I said nothing as I skirted passed him, not trusting myself to speak. My anger flared beyond my control as his hand came down on my arm again, rougher this time. My hand was mid-swing before Nix managed to snag it, saving Master Nero from a very undignified slap. “Oh, Nero! You’ve found her! I just don’t know how to thank you; we’ve been looking all over. You naughty girl, Lilly… Lady Illaria is ready to leave, we best be on our way.” Nix hurried us out of his range quickly. Fuming, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Nero talking to my Mystery Man. Their eyes were on Nix and I. I glared back at them.

“You shouldn’t let him get to you like that, Lills.” Nix warned, pulling me through the doorway. I shot a final glower over my shoulder as I scoffed, “Please, you would have hit him at the first annoying remark.”

She grinned, “True.”

While she told the others about our fateful run-in with Nero the Zero, my mind wandered back to stud he had been talking. Damn it, why did all the cute ones have to be assholes? I thought as we all piled back into the limo. Oh, well. I shrugged, at least I had Radar.

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A/N: Soooo, whaddya think? Like? Don't like? Don't care? Well, either way... stay tuned. Things are going to be heating up a few chapters in, but I'll give you all fair warning... before the naughty things happen. grins

Cat