“Gwyneth and Morgaine?”
“Witches.”
“What do you mean? They’re not supernatural, just regular women who practice Wicca, right?”
“I guess so, although I’m not totally sure. Sly asked Morgaine to put a spell on the newspaper ad I answered, advertising the apartment. He said the spell made the ad visible to me and my family, but no one else could see it. That ensured I’d be the only one to answer the ad.”
“By Sly you mean the guy who turned out to be your biological father, right?”
“Right. Sylvestro Flores is his real name, but he likes to be called Sly. He’s in the building too.”
“He lives here? I didn’t know that? Which apartment?”
“None. He’s in the basement.”
“The basement? There’s no apartment in the basement, just a laundry room and a dark, dirty storage area and utility room.”
“Uh, yeah. Sly doesn’t have a lot of stuff, and he doesn’t need fancy digs, although I’d love to see some kind of fixed-up space for him. He is my father, after all.”
“Of course. Let me get this right. If you, Dottie, Joe, and I are the only guaranteed humans—”
Merry interrupted. “No guarantees.”
Roz groaned, but continued her inventory. “And Gwyneth and Morgaine are witches, and Jason and Ralph are shapeshifting falcons, and Nathan’s a shapeshifting raven and Konrad’s a werewolf, that would mean Sly is a—”
“Vampire.”
Roz froze in shock. Her throat constricted, or she would have yelled, “Awhat?” Merry must have interpreted her silence, though.
“He’s a vampire. Don’t worry. He doesn’t feed on the neighbors.”
Roz’s head spun. Finally, she understood why Merry wanted her to lie down.
Chapter 13
Roz had invited Morgaine to her apartment for a cup of tea, hoping to get a little perspective on the wolf-man in apartment 2A.
She carried an antique silver tray to the living room and set it on the coffee table. Two bone china cups filled with Constant Comment tea steamed and scented the air with a fragrant orange aroma.
“What a beautiful tea set,” Morgaine commented.
“It was my grandmother’s. I’m happy to finally have a use for it. No one has fancy teas anymore.”
“Well, I’m glad you brought it out. I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble.” Morgaine lifted her cup and blew on the hot liquid.
“No, don’t worry. I’m not the kind to make watercress finger sandwiches.” Roz stuck her pinkie finger out as if to make the point.
Morgaine chuckled. “No, I’m not either.”
Roz couldn’t get over the change in her friend since her makeover. “Are you getting used to your new look?”
Morgaine took a sip of her tea and smiled. “Sort of. I’m used to getting negative attention for the goth stuff. Now, because I’m a blonde, I’m getting the opposite kind of attention. It’s weird.”
“Oh, really? Sounds like a good thing to me. Maybe I should have gone even lighter.”
Morgaine grinned. “How did Konrad like the highlights?”
Just the mention of his name sent a knife through Roz’s heart. She set down her teacup. “He…um…he liked them, but we’re not…” She took a deep breath and forced the words past her lips. “We’re not seeing each other anymore.”
