Page 7 of Stalked By Shadows
“I usually take an Uber, which we can share if you’re okay with that.”
“Sure. Why is the after dark one less people?”
“For safety, mostly. The graveyard is very old and has a lot of uneven surfaces and jagged corners. There’s a checkpoint in and out which does a headcount. As the tour guide, I’m responsible for all my clients. So if someone vandalizes something, even by accident, like tripping over something and breaking it, that’s a ding against me. It’s why the day group is limited to twelve and the evening to six. Some of the other cemeteries have had issues with people being shot or mugged, but security is pretty tight at St. Louis Cemetery Number One. There’s only one way in and one way out, and a checkpoint with guards. It’s also still an active cemetery with bodies being added as a lot of the plots are family owned. I think there was a ceremony yesterday. People like doing the night one because the atmosphere is different, psychological mostly.” Micah glanced up at me from his box sorting. “You ever been?”
“No, but I’m pretty new to town.”
“That’s right, Lukas said you guys are from North Carolina. I bet it’s an adjustment.”
“Humidity is the same. Culture is a little different here, almost European?” I couldn’t think of a better word for New Orleans. “Adjusting to civilian life has been the harder part,” I said. “Relearning how the world works in some ways. Almost twelve years is a long time out of the real world.”
Micah studied me for a minute. “I think having people shooting guns at you is pretty real.”
“It is, but the military is about taking orders, looking at everyone with suspicion, and praying you survive each day. The outside world is a little less intense. More talking and less gunfire.”
“Sometimes,” Micah said. “I think it depends on what part of society you’re in.” He picked up a stack of books and began to sort them.
I opened another box and it took me a few seconds to make sense of the contents. Dildos? Sex toys? Glass sculpture-like sex toys? Alien impregnator kit?
“Um?”
“Oh! I was waiting for that,” Micah said. He put down his stack of books and stepped to my side to dig through the box, pulling out not one but three big boxes that were the “Alien Impregnator Kits” of various sizes.
“What the fuck?”
Micah laughed. “It’s a thing. Someone asked me about them, if I could get them and would stock them. I have a whole section of adult stuff. Regulars shop it mostly; the rest don’t notice.”
“I didn’t notice it. And who wants to be impregnated by an alien?” There were jelly sort of eggs that went inside some sort of phallic device which then was inserted and… “Is that even safe?”
“The eggs dissolve,” Micah said examining the box. “I’ve heard some great reviews, especially from gay men. My ex’s new boyfriend is the one who wants to try it. I thought I’d ask him after they have a go.”
“You’re friends with your ex’s boyfriend?”
Micah shrugged. “Our break up was sort of a play of life events. We didn’t fit anymore. He still makes videos with his new boyfriend. Timothy has a great cock, and people love watching him. Can’t fault him for that.”
I gaped at him. Maybe my filter wasn’t so broken. Maybe I was around the wrong people. “Great cock…” Though I did remember him from the videos with Micah.
“It was actually one of his best features,” Micah grinned.
I frowned at him, comparing myself. Was I even on the radar?
“If you’re into toys, I can give you some recommendations,” Micah said as he picked up the box and entered the shop, which was blissfully empty. I hadn’t noticed a sort of floating bookshelf in the back before, with a curtain behind it, enclosing a narrow doorway. Micah walked through it into a small lighted area. There was a glass case filled with elaborate cocks of all shapes, colors, sizes, and materials, from glass to steel. Was that even safe?
The walls were filled with pegs of hanging toys, plugs, vibrators, beads, lots of leather gags and jock straps, and dildos of a thousand sizes. The room was the size of a large walk-in closet, and held more sin than I thought a southern boy like me could handle. And I was so turned on at that moment. “Holy fuck.”
“We have that too,” Micah pointed to a dildo which looked like it had a cross on the end. “Exorcism style.”
“Do I have to… would people ask me… I don’t even know…”
Micah put his hand on my elbow and squeezed. “Only regulars come here for toys, or people who Google our shop looking for them specifically. Anyone comes in asking, direct them to me. I know a lot about this stuff.”
That comment had me thinking of him in a lot of compromising ways with some of the more interesting toys including now an Alien Impregnator Kit. “Um…”
Micah blasted through the box fairly quickly, even finding a place for the two new glass dildos that looked more like art than sex toys. He noticed my gaze fixed on the case and said, “Those are one of a kind. I actually have two that I love. They’re safe, easy to clean and warm to your body temperature fairly quickly.”
“I’ve never…”
“Played with adult toys?”