The Masquerade

The Vampire

The next morning, Mackenzie was awoken by her mother's shouts.

"You're wasting your life away by sleeping all day Mack."

Mackenzie rolled over and checked her mini alarm clock. It was only ten o'clock.

"Son of a bitch," She grunted as she rolled out of bed. The sun shown through her gray curtains, lightly illuminating the green of her walls. She dragged herself to the bathroom, showered, put make up on, and pulled on a white sundress. It took her an hour to dry and flat iron her hair, so by the time she was ready it was noon. She walked to downstairs to the kitchen at a lazy pace.

"Look who's up," Mackenzie's mother said, while setting slices of bread on the table, a cheerful air around her.

Mackenzie could always tell when her mother was in a good mood because she would wear bright floral clothing on her petite figure. Today she had on a shirt filled with pink roses and she wore her strawberry blonde hair in a bun, indicating that she'd be baking later.

"I've been up for two hours," Mackenzie snapped. Her mom laughed.

"I know. And I'm guessing you have plans today?" Her mom said.

"You guess correctly. I'm going to show mysterious neighbor boy around town," Mackenzie said with a smirk. Her mother raised her eyebrows.

"Mysterious neighbor boy?"

"His name is Julian. He's about my age and he's staying with Mrs. Addison," Mackenzie explained while her mom cooked their lunch.

"Hm, well you know my rules. No sex, no drugs, no beer," Her mom reminded her.

"Oh, I know. Don't worry, those are the policies by which I live," Mackenzie exclaimed in an over dramatic fashion. Her mom laughed and set a grilled cheese down in front of her. Mackenzie ate it quickly then went back upstairs to brush her teeth.

She spotted the family heirloom bracelet her boyfriend had given her for her seventeenth birthday and slipped it on, then gave herself another once over in the mirror. Her bright red hair was as straight as she could get it and her long bangs swept out to the sides nicely. Her pale complexion was less sick looking than usual and her hazel eyes were wide and childish enough to seem attractive but not uncomfortably young. She adjusted the top of her dress before heading back downstairs to wait for Julian.

She was a little nervous, but also a little bit sickly excited. Today she would either get answers, get killed, or get laughed at. Mackenzie knew there was a risk, but it was one she was willing to take. She figured Tony would be pissed if he knew, but she wasn't planning on letting him find out. She also didn't think she would get any real information from him.

Julian showed up a couple minutes early so Mackenzie didn't have to wait long. She went and answered the door right after he rang the bell and was surprised to see him in a plain gray t-shirt and dark jeans. He looked less vampiric and mysterious than he had on Tuesday night.

"Hi," She breathed. He smiled, his vibrant blue eyes lighting up.

"Hey," He replied smoothly. They stood for an awkward second, until Mackenzie realized she was letting the cool air out of the house. She quickly stepped out and shut the door. She wasn't planning on inviting him in, just in case.

"So, where to first?" He asked. Mackenzie took a deep breath before delving into the options.

"Well we could go to the west end of town, past the factories and see the shopping district. Or we could head east and look through the neighborhood and the park. If we go north we're going to get near the woods and there's really not much out there but a bunch of land. If we go south we'd see the lake and some of the only entertainment available here. That's where you'll want to go to meet kids from the high school. Um, if you're in high school. I'm not sure, you never told me how old you are," Mackenzie finished, embarrassed with her rambling.