Page 12 of Marked By Shadows

“I could imagine that,” Freya said, coming up behind us and putting a hand on Chad’s arm. “There are a handful of women who would love that as well. Washboard abs are a thing in media, but there’s a market for the real thing too.”

Alex held out an empty plate for me. “You need to eat too,” he told me.

I took the plate and followed his lead, filling it up with meat and veggies rather than carbs and chips. Chad and Freya were locked in intense conversation when Alex and I made our way to the dining room and the huge table. We found two seats together and sat down, Alex diving in right away. At least feeding him was easy.

“This is fantastic,” Alex told me after a moment of chewing, marveling over the spices on the meat, and the authentic blends in the salsa.

I filled a lettuce leaf with meat and fresh salsa, creating a sort of taco. “Grace is an amazing cook. She has degrees and everything, but didn’t like the high stress life of working in a restaurant. Here she has full control of the meals.”

Nicole and Julie sat across from us, both waving my way. Both were blonde and pretty, in their late twenties. They could have been twins for how similar they were, and often cosplayed as a duo.

Byrony and Melissa took the opposite end of the table. While I didn’t know either of them all that well, I pointed each of them out to Alex. Byrony with her red-gold mane, and startling blue eyes, not all that unlike mine, and Melissa, another brunet who was thin as a rail, but with cropped short hair and wide shoulders. I knew Melissa did a lot of cross-gender cosplays like myself, able to straddle the line enough to go either way. Byrony’s skill ran similar to Freya’s, sexy, curvy cosplay that was so spot on people begged for her time. Byrony was lucky enough to not have the typical freckles of being a redhead, meanwhile I’d been stuck with them my whole life, despite having only traces of red in my hair thanks to my Irish mother.

While I admired her skill, I had never been a fan of her holier-than-thou attitude. She had always said a guy had no place in sexy cosplay, all while sharing pictures of her favorite guys in costumes. Of course the difference was the men she shared were all the ‘manly’ men type with endless abs and bulging necks. She had not been supportive of my return to cosplay. I had planned to avoid her most of this trip.

Jonah patted my back as he passed to sit beside Byrony. Like me, Jonah was on the small and pretty side, and the only other male, beside Chad, in our group. He had actually been shifting into full modeling work. Someone had caught a glimpse of his delicate features perfectly carved into that burnt sienna skin of his, and his bedroom eyes, and decided he had to be seen everywhere. I was a little surprised he’d taken the time to join this retreat.

It was interesting to note that I was the only Asian person in the group, though being only half Asian, did that count? Back home in Japan, entire sections of big cities were devoted to cosplay. It was either an all-in hobby, or nonexistent, but everyone knew what it was. In Ireland, it was completely the opposite, not really a thing, or even well known, but there were a handful of people with the interest. The USA had pockets of fans, and a large enough comic book industry to support a vast growth of cosplay, but the average American had either never heard of it, or only vaguely had an idea of what it was. Jonah was the only African-American guy I knew who cosplayed, though I had seen others. No one matched Jonah’s intensity. He was only a year older than me, but already making a name for himself. He had bigger aspirations than I ever did.

“Hey Jonah,” I said. “I heard a rumor you were going to be on Next Top Model.”

“Maybe,” Jonah said, sashaying his hips. “They know a good thing when they see one. And so do I. Micah, sugar, your man is fine,” he said looking over Alex.

Alex’s cheeks immediately reddened and he almost choked on a mouthful of food. I patted his thigh and encouraged him to keep eating. “Alex isn’t used to the praise, but I agree.”

Now that dark shadows no longer hollowed out his face, and he had several days of sleep and food, Alex was beginning to look healthy again. He would need more time to really put back on the weight he’d lost, but he was still a beautiful man. A mix of ethnicities that gave him fine cheekbones and skin a shade or two beyond tan, not quite sepia, but close. Alex’s hair, which could be described as an afro prior to the care he showed it now, gave away his own African American father, while still having that odd bleach blond edge to it, though it was completely natural in color. Alex was a fine mix of races, which fascinated me in a lot of ways. Like the way his skin looked against mine, or how plump his lips were when I kissed them, and his hair. I fucking loved his hair, even in its natural state, the body and life to it that I would never have in my own, and those intense deep brown eyes. Nothing seemed to change the way he looked at me. It was never a passing glance or sweep of casual acknowledgment. When that warm gaze fell on me it was filled with adoration, interest, and intensity.

Alex stopped to stare at me. Heat flushed up his cheeks. “Um…”

I gave him a sexy smile, leaning over to kiss the tip of his nose and run my hand over his beard.

“No fair,” Alex grumbled. “Eating. You can’t look at me like you’re sexing me up while we’re eating.”

“Later,” I promised him, patting his thigh and going back to my food. I was going to be all over him later.

“Much better than that giant dick Tim,” Melissa said.

“Tim is Tim,” I defended my ex. He had gone with me once to a cosplay thing, but found it ‘childish’ and a ‘look-at-me-fest’ that meant he hadn’t understood the concept at all. Cosplay was about beingseen. Not for who we were, but who we could become. It was more magic than simply putting on a costume and striking a pose. The work required was a whole level of crafting and acting, that most people would never understand.

Jonah waved his hand dismissing the whole tangent of conversation. “We are going to be ghost hunting tonight. Looking for the white lady,” he said. “Will you join us?”

Alex tensed beside me, his gaze flicking up and darting around the room like he was looking for someone who wasn’t there. He had been more than thrilled about having a few days off from ghost tours.

“We’re pretty tired from the drive,” I began, hoping for a chance to drag Alex off to the cabin without prancing around the dark trying to awaken things no one really understood.

“But you know how to do this sort of thing. Call spirits and all that, right?” Julie prompted.

“He does lockdowns a couple times a year,” Nicole said. “I’ve seen the videos. You often catch some scary stuff.”

“On video sometimes.” Visual disturbances weren’t something I experienced, never had been. I was all audio or physical sensation. Alex, however, got full unexplained visuals. “I didn’t bring any equipment for that.”

“We have digital recorders,” Jonah said. “And our phones.” He continued to study Alex, resting his face on his palm, elbow on the table, instead of eating. “Hey are you the Alex that posted those pictures in Micah’s group? The ones of the ghosts from the tour? Man, that one in the French Market was crazy clear.”

“Yeah, those are mine,” Alex said. He had not been checking the group for comments, but a handful of technically inclined fans of the paranormal had enhanced his pictures. The one he’d taken from the French Market, showed what appeared to be a person, edges of a face visible, and the entire body defined until reaching the lower legs. The form appeared to be floating from the knee up. That picture had actually gone viral while Alex was away, featured on cable news shows about the paranormal, and dozens of YouTube vlogs. I had no answers, and knew Alex didn’t either.

“Will you investigate with us?” Byrony asked.

Freya joined the group, sitting at the head of the table and smiling at the group. “Micah and Alex had a long drive. I’m going to run them through a short tour of the house after dinner, and then they probably need some rest. Tomorrow is a busy day.”