The Masquerade

The Wolf

“Well, while we're waiting for the asshole, mind telling me how I can kill you?” She asked. Sophia's eyes widened for a moment.

“When you state it like that, I think I might mind,” She said. Mackenzie smiled and Sophia shook her head.

“There are three basic ways to kill a vampire,” She started, “The first is the most obvious and the most common; a stake to the heart. The second is beheading, which is the most difficult. I've only ever heard of this method being used in ancient times, when vampires and humans were far less civilized. And the third is starvation, the most time consuming. As far as I know, only vampire hunters use starvation, and only if they have an agenda because it is incredibly painful for the vampire involved.”

Mackenzie nodded, leaning back against the hard patio set chair. She blew a piece of her bangs out of her face and then leaned forward on to the table once again. “So if it came to it, I'd use the stake to the heart method?”

“Yes. You said you wanted to learn to protect yourself so I will be teaching you the correct way to stake a vampire. But first we'll have to go through basic fighting techniques. You're going to have to build some muscle too,” Sophia explained, gesturing at Mackenzie's body. Mackenzie frowned.

“Not all of us have mega awesome vampire strength,” She said. A cool breeze pushed her hair in her face once again and she hastily pushed it back. Sophia's bun stayed perfectly intact, held in by numerous bobby pins. Mackenzie once again marveled at how neat she managed to stay. It wasn't just in her physical appearance, but the way she carried herself. Her posture was nearly perfect, she walked with an unprecedented amount of grace, and she always looked Mackenzie in the eye when she spoke to her. Mackenzie felt practically buffoonish next to her.

“Many of us rely on our extra strength to fight. They don't even consider learning the proper ways to control it,” Sophia said, “If you are more prepared, you may stand a chance against one of my kind.”

“So how is our training going to work?” Mackenzie asked, “Am I going to be punching giant slabs of meat? Or possibly waxing your car?”

Sophia stared at her in confusion for a second, then restored her expressionless default face “I'll be having you do an hour of weightlifting, cardio, and learning skills and techniques. We'll start tomorrow.”

“Please don't tell me I have to wake up before eight,” Mackenzie complained, mostly joking.

“Better waking up early than never waking up at all,” Sophia responded flippantly. Mackenzie stared at her in absolute horror.

“Holy shit, why would you say that?” She exclaimed. Sophia shrugged at her loud reaction.

“Well it is a poss-”

Sophia stopped dead in her tracks, looking puzzled at something behind Mackenzie. She turned to see Julian standing at her gate, holding a body over his shoulder. Both Mackenzie and Sophia stood up hastily, their chairs scraping against the ground. Sophia rushed forward to her brother and Mackenzie followed.

Julian grunted and hoisted the body up further on his shoulder. It was a very odd thing to witness, because Julian was so much smaller than the person he was carrying. He walked to the patio set and just about threw the body on the table, ignoring the endless amount of questions streaming out of Sophia's mouth along the way. Mackenzie flinched and looked around to see if they'd drawn the attention of any of the neighbors. Nobody seemed to have heard it, and Mackenzie was more than grateful to Tony for keeping her mom out of the house.

“Anyone order a werewolf?” Julian announced showily. He grinned at Mackenzie's perplexed response to his words.

“Julian, what happened?” Sophia asked, her voice commanding. Mackenzie went to examine the unconscious body, looking it over. It was a boy, tall and muscular. He had the ridiculous shaggy, “flippy” hair that had only seemed attractive when she was in middle school and watched shitloads of Disney Channel. His skin was suntanned, and he had a very angular face. Mackenzie recognized him, but she couldn't remember from where and she couldn't place a name.

“Well I heard about these attacks on the news this morning and I thought it could have been out hunter, so I went to look. But when I got there the crime scene was way too bloody to have been made by one of ours. No one's that wasteful,” Julian wrinkled his nose, “And while I was there I saw this boy-”

“Tate Saunders,” Mackenzie said as she remembered who he was, “I had health with him sophomore year.”

“Okay, well I saw Tate Saunders lurking around the crime scene looking pretty guilty. The cops confirmed it as an animal attack, so I put two and two together,” Julian's smiled widened, “And then I knocked him out and kidnapped him.”

“Without anyone noticing?” Sophia asked, her eyes sharp. Julian waved her off.

“I'm pretty stealthy, sister, give me credit,” He said. Mackenzie looked back at Tate and poked him.

“Why didn't you just kill him?” She asked. Sophia looked taken aback, but Julian seemed to be used to the way Mackenzie would say things.

“Because there's a treaty,” He stated. Mackenzie opened her mouth to ask another question, but Julian interrupted her. “But we have a knocked out werewolf to deal with and it's a very long explanation. So shut up”

“What happened to trying to woo and charm me?” Mackenzie asked wryly. Julian smiled.

“Oh, I'll get to that in the long run,” He assured her, with an added flirtatiously raised eyebrow. If she weren't still angry with him it may have gotten past her carefully built defenses.

Julian walked up to Tate and raised his hand over him. Even if she saw it coming Mackenzie still jumped when she heard a loud crack ring out through the yard.

“Is slapping him really going to wake him up?” Mackenzie asked, “And do we really want him to wake up?”

“I want to know how much he knows,” Julian explained. Tate's cheek was bright crimson where he had slapped him.

“Julian, he probably will not remember anything. Mackenzie has known him for a couple years, and if he was immortal, I don't suppose he would be posing as a sophomore in high school,” Sophia said. Julian sighed.

“Wait, some explanation would be nice. I don't need to know about your stupid treaty, but I don't understand what's going on,” Mackenzie said. She didn't like not knowing what the siblings meant, especially if her words were being used as an example in the conversation.

“We will try to wake him up once more and explain to you after,” Sophia said. Mackenzie hesitantly nodded, fully knowing that if Julian had said the same thing, she'd be bitching about it.

Julian faced Mackenzie and squinted at the wind “So Mackenzie, would you happen to have a bucket lying around somewhere?”