The next morning started off lazy and slow. There were no alarms set, so Madeline just woke up when nature prompted her, which was a little before 10 a.m. Normally, as with most people living alone, she would have dragged her groggy body, messy hair and all, into the kitchen and pour herself a bowl of cereal. But being a guest in someone else’s home dictated she look presentable first. Straight out of a long shower, she towel-dried her hair and put on some light makeup after brushing her teeth and slipping into a t-shirt and jeans.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she quickly realized there was no cereal and no milk. She also realized Levi was gone. There was a note on the fridge that he was at the local farmer’s market, so hopefully, he was picking up something for breakfast.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.

Apprehensively, she tip-toed through the living room and peeked through the peephole. On the other side, she could see Caslon’s golden-brown eyes peering back at her. Should she open the door? She knew he was a friend of Levi’s, but she didn’t know how much of a friend he actually was to her yet.

“Miss Madeline?” he called from the other side of the door, voice slightly muffled. “I know you’re there. I can feel you looking at me.”

Shit.

At the risk of being rude, she unlocked and opened the door, forcing a smile. “I was just looking to see who it was. Sorry, it took so long.”

“You don’t have to lie, ma mie,” he responded, waving one hand dismissively. “You hardly know me. I understand. But I do come bearing gifts.”

In Caslon’s other hand was a small box of six doughnuts. Six beautiful fried doughnuts, iced with chocolate. They even had rainbow sprinkles.

“I figured you’d be hungry, and Levi has no experience with keeping a pet… er roommate. He is either is out buying wheat germ for you, or has completely forgotten that you need to eat. Tisk tisk,” Caslon said rolling his eyes.

“A pet?” Madeline raised a brow suspiciously, but it didn’t stop her from reaching for a doughnut.

“Slip of the tongue,” Caslon admitted, looking wounded. “Something my kind would say. I apologize.”

Awkwardly, Caslon glanced at the doorframe with hurt in his eyes, prompting Madeline to finally invite him in, and the two headed to the sofa to sit and eat. It was then Madeline noticed he was still wearing flannel pajama bottoms. Caslon acknowledged her assessment of his attire.

“Oops, sorry,” he blushed. “I normally just sort of wander over here. I honestly didn’t think twice about what I was wearing, but the doughnuts are good, yes?”

“Yes, thank you,” Madeline replied sincerely. His was as good an excuse as any, she supposed, although she was still wary of him.

“So I take it you are still staying in the guest room?” Caslon pried as he began to eat a doughnut.

“Yeah, why?” Madeline answered in between bites of decadent pastry.

“I don’t smell him on you,” Caslon continued frankly, sniffing the air. “This isn’t normal for him.”

For some reason, his words stung. “I can only imagine,” she replied harshly.

“In that regard, if you are ever in need of straightforward comfort, I am currently unattached,” Caslon offered. “I don’t play any games, and I keep exclusive for the duration.”

Madeline couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew Caslon was forward, but really? At least he was damn honest. She had suspected he was also a shapeshifter, but what kind? A horny rabbit?

Not looking amused, she popped the final piece of the doughnut into her mouth and spoke.

“I’ll keep that in mind. So how was your sister’s flight?” she said, changing the subject.

“Fine, I suppose. You should meet her sometime, not sure if you would get along, but that’s beside the point.”

Madeline raised an eyebrow, perplexed by the meaning of his words. Why would it be important to meet someone she wouldn’t like?

“She’ll be here through the holiday, then she’ll be flying back to Japan.”

“The holiday?” Madeline asked. She knew she was a bit fuzzy on dates, but was pretty sure it was still just October. Was he talking about Veterans Day?

“Halloween,” Caslon replied joyously, with a smile as bright as a child talking about Christmas. “It’s the biggest holiday of the year! You should stop by my apartment sometime and say hello before then. It will be a great time!”

Just then, she heard a key in the door and Levi stepped inside, a large paper bag in his arm.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned Caslon, as he locked the door behind him and headed into the kitchen to set the bag down.

“You hadn’t fed her,” Caslon explained in his defense, rising from the couch. “How neglectful of you.”

“I was getting food,” Levi said returning to the living room. “And didn’t I tell you to leave her alone? Nothing past friendly conversation. In the hallway.”

“I was being friendly.”

“You’re going commando in your pajamas, cleanly shaven, and you managed to put on some cologne,” Levi accused. “And you brought processed sweets.”

“Going commando…?” Caslon said, looking confused as he ran his fingers through his chestnut waves of hair. It took him a few seconds to realize what Levi was pointing out. Caslon gave a weak laugh trying to make it seem like it was an accident.

“Out” Levi ordered, pointing to the door.

Not bothering to even try to argue, Caslon slouched his shoulders and left, but not without reminding Madeline to visit him, or rather his sister, before Halloween.

“Are you done eating that crap?” Levi questioned Madeline as he grabbed the box that contained the remaining doughnuts.

“I suppose so, since you’re going to toss them,” Madeline pouted.

“Good. Follow me.”

Taking the box into the kitchen, Levi dumped it into the trash and then washed his hands in the sink. He then proceeded to remove about a half a dozen ripe fruits from the brown bag, along with some whole grain bread, and a bag of granola.

“And just so you know, I would never forget about you,” Levi said with a princely charm as he removed a sharp knife from one of the drawers. With mesmerizing precision, his hand seemed to dance with the knife as he peeled and sliced the fruit into bite-sized pieces. His movements were so quick and fluid that the fruit ended up with perfect, clearly defined edges. Grabbing a couple of plates from the cabinet, he carefully stacked the pieces together, being cautious not to bruise anything. Satisfied with the placement, he sprinkled granola on top and set thick slices of fresh bread on the side. Next, he poured some filtered water from his fridge into two glasses and Madeline helped him carry everything to the coffee table in the living room. As they sat to eat, Levi offered up the same sincere gesture for his food as he did the night they had Chinese delivery, and then asked Madeline if she was ready to start learning. She insisted excitedly that she was.

“So, first off,” Levi began, “Try to put aside all your preconceived understandings of legends and urban myths. Some of them are true, and some of them have been fabricated by the same beings they are about. This isn’t going to be an encyclopedia style explanation, it’s going to be an identify-and-live-to-fight-another-day version. I will do my best to be as non-judgemental as possible, but this is the first time I am trying to teach someone this stuff, so...”

Madeline nodded. She was ready to absorb all she could.

“I like to think that there are roughly five categories of non-humans,” Levi continued, counting off each one by raising a finger on his hand, “Shapeshifters, the Dead, the Undead, the Magical, and the Supernal. I’ll go over what you’re more likely to encounter first, and then over the next few weeks, I’ll go into much more detail. And there will be no notes. None. If you have questions, you should ask them as we go, but absolutely nothing gets written down or recorded. As a non-human, I identify things differently than you will, but I’ll do my best to provide information that will be relevant to you.“

“No notes?” she asked, “Is it even all right to tell me?”

“If you decided to run off, hypothetically, and go poking your nose around in places it shouldn’t be, someone will permanently cut it off,” Levi responded. “And if you run off and decide to use info on me as leverage with a third party, I’ll kill you myself.”

“Hypothetically,” Madeline reminded him. She wasn’t liking the conversation’s sudden change in direction.

“Of course,” Levi smiled sweetly, before taking a bite of cantaloupe and continuing. “The most common non-humans are shapeshifters, mainly because most of them, myself included, can hold human form indefinitely. And the term is a very broad one, but means the same thing - they can change from human form to either a partial animal-like form or a full animal form. Some, like me, don’t have to harm humans to survive. Those are the kinds you’ll come across most often because they blend into humanity the easiest, and their lifespans are comparable to humans as well. Out of all shapeshifters, it’s the cat types, called felindae that are the most common.”

“That makes sense,” Madeline accepted. “Cats are pretty elusive creatures. They come and go from people’s lives all the time.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard of ‘werewolves’?”

Madeline nodded again. There’d been a lot of movies and tv shows about them, both good and bad.

“That would be the second most common.”

“Is it true that if you are bitten by a werewolf you will become one? Or that they eat human flesh?” Madeline asked, because although it was common monster movie knowledge, whether or not it was actually true was another thing.

“Natural werewolves are born, not made,” Levi explained, “As are most shapeshifters. So being bitten or scratched by them, or any shifter isn’t going to make you one. However, there is a type of werewolf whose lycanthropy is transmitted like a disease. They were the result of vampires screwing with magic and natural werewolves. You’re not likely to run across those, but they are the kind that loves human flesh because besides being bodyguards, they are also genetically designed to clean up victims.”

“What about dogs?”

“Dogs are an interesting case,” Levi continued. “They are out there, but very, very rare. The whole story about them being man’s best friend is so true that it’s heartbreaking. Some have decided to remain in human form forever, and have been fully genetically blended into the human race. The rest decided to remain as dogs forever and lost the desire to be anything else. The latter have usually done so out of sheer selfless love for a human or family of humans, and have even gone as far as to breed with true dogs.”

“That is pretty amazing, but sad at the same time,” Madeline said, looking down at her plate after swallowing a bite of bread.

“The most important thing to remember is that there are literally thousands upon thousands of different kinds of shapeshifters, making it impossible for me to cover them all. Even the same animal types have different names and slight variations depending on what part of the world they came from. I can tell most of them apart by scent, but that’s not going to work for you. The best giveaway is going to be mannerisms and body heat. It’s nearly impossible for shapeshifters to completely let go of what makes them who they are. The way they carry themselves might be rough and wolf-like, or slinky and cat-like, or shrewd and raven-like. When they are very upset, they might snarl, hiss, click, or whatever sound they would normally make. They will usually have the same heightened senses that match whatever their true nature is. Another thing to looks for is that most will be born in litters, so be cautious of twins. Also, the most common ones will normally run an average of three to four degrees hotter than your own body temperature.”

Levi rested his exposed forearm on top of Madeline’s. His skin felt warm like he was running a fever, and yet comforting to her at the same time. It explained why his body was so pleasantly inviting on the chilly night he rescued her.

“I feel what you mean,” she replied, committing the fact to memory while selfishly enjoying the physical contact.