The Masquerade (27 page)

"You too, Ben," she said, watching him back away from the kitchen. I leaned over to watch him open the front door. He looked
over his shoulder, shot me a wink, and stepped outside while shutting the door behind him.

I exhaled and turned to face the wrath of my mother. She stared at me in disbelief as if Ben's actual presence wasn't enough. It was
difficult to remember that Ben was a rock star. I'd listened to his music for years, but he was a different person than the one I imagined while listening to his CDs. My boyfriend was just Ben.

"Did he sleepover?" I laughed. Of course that
would be the only thing she was concerned with. "This isn't funny, Ella."

I sighed. "He did sleepover, but I swear we didn't do anything other than sleep."

"I don't like knowing a guy slept over at our house,
especially without me here."

"Adam used to sleep over all the time."

My mom waved the comment off with her hand, "Adam's gay." She moved to clear some dishes out of the sink while I watched her,
rolling my eyes. There was a reason Hayley could only form a bond with my mother and no one else's.

"You only say that because Adam never went for me."

She put her hand to her hip. "I still don't get that. You have the whole package, Ella."

"And you only say that because you're my mom."

"It's true."

I decided not to argue. We were silent for a moment. My mom
began the process of pulling out bagels from the bag she brought home. I watched her as she retrieved some necessary requirements from the fridge in order for us to devour the most scrumptious bagels in history. She liked cream cheese. I
preferred peanut butter.

"I really like him, Momma."

She nodded without looking up. "I know you do." She stopped and it looked like she was going to say something, but she shook
her head.

I frowned. "What is it?"

She handed me a toasted bagel slathered in peanut butter. I held it in my hands without looking away from her. She sighed, "You just
look a lot like I did when I met your father." She gave me a small smile that lacked any real emotions. "I want you to be careful, Ella."

I felt a twinge of pain in my chest, watching my mother's
empty mask conceal raw emotions. She could never move on from my father. No matter how many times I begged her to find someone new. She was the last person who deserved to be dropped by the man of her dreams. The man of some girl's dreams was always another girl's bastard.

"Ben is different."

She shook her head. "I just don't want you to end up like me."

I examined her blue scrubs. Her blonde hair, greying slightly, pulled back into a messy braid, the worry in her emerald green eyes.
She was a concerned parent and the best mom I could ever ask for. She was beautiful.

"What's so bad about being you, Momma?" She shot me an incredulous look. I rolled my eyes. "Okay the love of your life left
you, but you can't let that define you. You're wonderful. Mom. Everyone knows it. Give someone a chance to experience that."

"That must be how I raised such a wonderful
daughter."

I flung my hand out, my fingers flipped down. "Stop," I mimicked with a high- pitched voice. "You're embarrassing me."

Her eyes widened. "Good God, Adam's rubbing off on
you."

"Please don't give Hayley another reason to torment him." I begged her. The thought of my friends reminded me that they still didn't know. I wasn't sure how I was planning on telling them, but I was
putting it off. "Speaking of which, they don't know about Ben. I mean they think I'm just dating some guy."

My mom frowned. "Why are you keeping him a secret from everyone."

I shrugged, "People at school, rumors start, and
eventually it gets into the media and it looks bad on Ben. He wants a normal relationship with me. I don't think it's anyone's business who I'm dating anyway." The lie didn't sound too bad. In fact I would have believed it. I
still didn't like lying, but it dawned on me that being with Ben only meant feeding a handful of lies to my friends to keep his identity safe.

"But keeping it from your best friends?"

"I know," I exhaled. "I'll tell them soon but
for right now I'm dating some Sloane guy."

My mom stared at me for a moment. Probably trying to figure out what was going on in my head. She knew something was up, but she trusted me
enough not to ask. She made a clicking noise as her tongue flicked the roof of her mouth. That was her way of mentally changing the subject.

"Ella, I'm going to be out of town for a couple days." She finally said, breaking the silence.

"Where are you going?"

"Your grandfather is in the hospital."

The frown on my face twisted into a nasty scowl. "Whatever he's in for he deserves it."

She shook her head and adverted her wary eyes to gaze at a stain on the granite countertop. "I'm not talking about my father." She caught the look on my face and sighed. "It's not their fault your dad
ran off. He hasn't seen or contacted your grandparents either."

"So that asshole ditched his own parents too?"

"Don't be so quick to judge your father." She snapped.

I frowned. "What?"

She shook her head, already negating the comment. I stared at her in disbelief. What did she mean? Why was she suddenly so defensive when it came to my dad? My mom spoke before I could press her outburst.

"We're all your grandparents have left."

I stared at her for a moment before responding. "Then why don't we visit them? Why don't they visit us? The last time I saw them was
at Noah's funeral and they barely said two words to me."

She shook her head. "I can't explain it, Ella. They send you birthday cards every year."

"A card just really hits the spot for my
affection," I muttered.

She rolled her eyes. "They live in Waxhaw, a town just outside of Charlotte. There's a hospital he's been assigned to in Uptown. I'll be staying in a hotel somewhere in the city so I can be close to him."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tonight," she gave a small apologetic smile. "I'm only planning on staying a week so I should be home around this time next Sunday."

I searched my mother's face, looking for alternative motives hidden behind her expression. This was more than just being there for my grandfather. I knew she secretly hoped that my dad would show up. I hoped the asshole stayed far away from my mom. I hardly knew my dad. The only memory I
had of him was the night before he left. I remember his face as he tucked me into bed and kissed me on the forehead. I remembered his blue green eyes and dirty blonde hair. That was it. I didn't want to remember anything else. He
didn't want me. He abandoned my brother. He dropped my mother. He was nothing, but another asshole to me.

"She totally wants to see your dad again."

"I know!" I threw my hands onto the counter and
let out a breath of frustration. Two freshman girls from my school, sitting at the bar, sharing a chocolate milkshake, shot me wide-eyed stares. I flashed them a blank stare while Hayley, sitting a few stools down, spun her index finger around, pointing at them, telling them to mind their business.

"You have to let her do her own thing, El. It's her life, if she wants to waste it over your dad then that's her decision. We've all tried talking to her." Shiloh said with a sad smile.

"I don't blame her though," Hayley said. Shiloh and I shot her similar frowns. She shrugged, "My mom still has pictures of our parents in high school. Your dad was hot."

I always forgot Hayley's mother and mine were best friends.
They had a fall out their senior year and they haven't said much to the other since, but I know they don't have any grudges because Hayley and I were able to strike up a friendship without any problems.

"That's weird and I don't care."

"You should," Hayley drawled. "He may be an ass, but he definitely contributed to the gene pool. You didn't just getcha' good looks from your momma."

I groaned, "Let's change the subject."

"Alright, there are a bunch of hot college boys on table six. Care to hand them my number." Hayley asked flashing me her most convincing smile.

I pointed to Shiloh, "That's her table."

Shiloh stared at Hayley. "You should just carry around business cards with your name, number, and favorite sex position on it."

"Can I do that?" Hayley asked. Her eyes widened as she contemplated the idea.

"No!" Shiloh and I shouted together.

A man came into the diner and slid onto the barstool at the
very end of the bar. I gave him an acknowledging smile. I turned back to Shiloh and pointed to Hayley whose eyes were devouring one of the hot college boys. "Watch her." Shiloh waved me off with a roll of her eyes and I moved down the end of the bar counter, pulling my pen and pad from the black apron
wrapped around my waist.

"Hey, are you ready to order?" I asked with a bright smile.

The man, in his late twenties, a strong build, wearing a
suit that looked expensive, looked up. His eyes, dark and penetrating, threw me back. I had to control my expression to keep it composed. He stared at me for a long, uncomfortable moment.

I cleared my throat. "Do you need more time or I could
get you a menu?" I said, trailing off when I realized he didn't have one of the laminated folds in front of him.

"That depends," he said, his voice thick with raw emotions. "Are you on the menu?"

I stood frozen with my heart in the pit of my stomach. I stared at him with eyes wide in disbelief. Feeling my hands grow numb I firmly set the notepad down on the counter.

"No," I said through clenched teeth.

One of his eyebrows arched. "You're scared of me," he commented, "Which means someone came clean about our messy little secret and I think I know who."

I narrowed my eyes, "Get out."

He tilted his head to the side. His hungry eyes raked over my body. The black orbs moved up to my face while I fought back a grimace. "I see why. You're beautiful. I'll give him that. Yet, still I never
expected Benjamin to fall for a human."

"What do you want?"

"Don't ask questions you already know the answers to."

I swallowed. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

He smiled. "I think you will. We know everything about you, Ella Moore. Shiloh, over there gets off work in thirty minutes and my friends know all about that." A chill shot down my spine. My eyes trailed over to
Shiloh who was taking orders from the table full of college guys. One of them looked up and met my gaze, his expression darkened and he shot me a smirk. I looked at Shiloh who was smiling and laughing, completely oblivious.

"Hayley is too easy. She personally told one of my
friends that she preferred the name Slutty Princess." I turned back to the monster, biting down hard on my lip. "You can choose to put up a fight, but your friends will be dead before you even realize they're missing."
His expression darkened. His head tilted to one side. My eyes caught the vertical line growing on the side of his neck. It stretched until the skin ripped open with a small pop. Blood trickled from the edge of his skin, down
his neck, and inside his dress shirt. "If you make this anymore difficult than it needs to be I'll rip them to shreds myself."

"Okay," I said quickly. "I'll do whatever you want, but my friends stay out of this."

He smiled, folding his arms on top of the counter. "Continue working, you're closing tonight so we'll wait. When you leave the restaurant, go straight to your car, and I'm sure you understand what happens next." He leaned forward, his glare darkening. "If you so
much as make one phone call. Your friends die. We're everywhere, Ella. Don't think you can send a message for help without it going unnoticed. Be smart about this."

The fear trickled down my spine. I shivered involuntarily
and immediately regretted it because he was taking note of my reactions. He laughed, but it sounded more like a snarl. "I'm going to assume we have an agreement."

"I'll do whatever you want, but keep your fucking hands
off my friends."

"You're beautiful and smart. It's a pity about your blood type, but I suppose that makes you even more desirable." He smiled. "I'll see you soon." His movements were quick and swift. One moment
he was sitting at the bar and the next he was out the door.

I didn't realize I was still standing in front of the empty seat, my eyes frozen on the door, while holding my breath until I heard Shiloh call
my name. I blinked once and turned to her, my expression calm and unreadable.

She frowned the second I turned. "Are you okay?"

I nodded once, "I'm fine. I just thought I saw
something."

"Who was that guy?"

I played it off with a meaningless shrug. "I don't know. He wasn't hungry I guess." She stared at me with the frown still set in her mouth. She didn't believe me so I had to go with it. I matched her
expression, "Are
you
okay?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine." Her eyes narrowed on me. "Don't do that. What's wrong, Ella?"

"Nothing, I promise." I feigned a smile. "Did you get any of those guys numbers for Hayley?"

Shiloh grinned. "That one on the outside of the table promised he would come back. It depended on his work schedule or something.
Hayley left a couple minutes ago so I didn't have the chance to put her on display."

My eyes snapped to the end of the table and found she was referring to the monster whose eyes I made contact with before. His eyes shot
up once and met mine. A malicious smile poisoned his expression. I silently thanked whatever reason made Hayley leave before he could latch onto her.

I looked away to notice Shiloh wasn't paying attention
anymore. Her eyes were set on the cash register while she took the receipt of a customer.

My hands were shaking. I immediately hid them underneath the counter top of the bar, but I couldn't hide the cold bead of sweat that trickled over my forehead. A wave of nausea swept over me, clouding my
thoughts, and triggering the rolling sickness I felt in my stomach. Every hair stood up on my skin. My heartbeat hammered inside my chest. My eyes skimmed the clock on the wall. It was a little past eight on a Tuesday night. I had about an
hour before closing. I continued to stare at the clock until I lost focus and my vision blurred.

"Ella," I heard someone say, but the voice was far off. When they repeated my name I blinked once and I was brought back to the
diner. I turned to the direction of the voice and found I had to blink again

Eli stood in front of the counter, his hands casually gripping the edge, while he stood waiting for me to respond. When he caught
sight of my expression his features hardened. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," I managed to let out.

"No, you're not." He looked around the diner once. When he spoke again I noticed his voice had dropped several notches. "What
is it?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

"Bullshit."

I motioned to the door. "You need to leave."

"Why?" Hi eyes narrowed as he tried to gauge my expression. His eyes suddenly widened with realization. "You're not in the dark anymore."

I stared at him without saying anything. I'd almost
forgotten about our past encounters and every dark detail he alluded to about Ben. He knew what he was. Kellan and Chester knew it. I wanted to ask about what they knew and how, but I couldn't work up the nerve.
They
were listening
to me. The diner was nearly cleared out. Shiloh was packing up to leave and there were two customers in the far back table. They looked harmless, but I couldn't be sure. If their hearing was as good as Ben said it was then they could hear our conversation from outside.

I wanted to ask Eli for help. I was screaming inside my mind. There was a way he could contact Ben, but there was nothing I could say or do that wouldn't set off the Undead who were watching me.

Eli nodded once. His eyes flickered over to the large
windows overlooking the square and moved back to me. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Maybe he understood more than I realized. Did he know about the Undead?

"You know the one thing I regret about losing
you?"

If anything, I could have hugged him for getting my mind off the Undead for a split second. The comment took me off guard. "What?"

He gave a sad smile. "I always thought you were weird
for listening to that screamo shit, but I think if I would have just listened to your favorite songs a couple times, I would have understood you much more than I did." I watched the indention in his cheek as he bit the inside of
his mouth. "I think I could have gotten into Parkway Drive, Chelsea Grin, The Masquerade," his eyes inadvertently flashed to mine for a quick second before his gaze fell on something behind me, "Bring Me the Horizon, and
what was that other one you liked?"

He knew
. A small, microscopic twinge of hope settled in the bottom of my stomach. My expressionless mask lifted. I could play along. I knew exactly how to tell him what was wrong. If he knew so much about The
Masquerade he must have known about the Undead. My only hope was that he paid attention to my favorite music when we were dating.

He was waiting for me to pick up, his eyes resting intently on mine. "Was it August Burns Red?"

I shook my head. "No! Remember, it was The Devil Wears Prada. I begged you to take me to their concert, but you couldn't stand the noise. So to drive you insane I listened to "Outnumbered" off their
EP album for like, three weeks straight." When I said the name of the song, I met his gaze the way he met mine before.

I wanted to let out a sigh of relief when I caught the look of recognition that flashed in his eyes after I said the song title.
He
remembered
. There was hope. I didn't know what he could do, but he knew. I wasn't alone.

"The most annoying three weeks of my life."

I rolled my eyes. "You put up with it."

He gave me a smile. The one that exposed his dimples and made me feel like I was the only girl in his world. I hadn't seen that smile since before our breakup. I didn't feel the same way about it, but it still
touched my heart that he could still smile that way.

"Yeah, I did."

Shiloh flew out of the kitchen with her messenger bag in one hand and her cellphone in the other. She froze when she saw Eli at the counter
in front of me. She didn't even look at me. Once her eyes settled on Eli, her mouth set into a firm frown.

"I just took the trash out."

He twisted away from the counter with his hands up.
"I'm leaving Shiloh."

She ignored him and looked at me. "Are you alright if you close tonight?"

I plastered the best fake smile I could afford on my face. "Go home and relax," I paused, "And don't stop anywhere. Go
straight home and lock your doors." That wouldn't keep a zombie out, but it was the best advise I could afford.

Eli nodded before she could question me. "I'll walk you
out." He urged her out the door with his hand on her arm. She looked over her shoulder to me and I smiled reassuringly. I'd have some huge explaining to do later, if there was going to be a later.

I busied myself at the diner with nonstop cleaning until I
could officially lock the doors for closing. No one stopped by the restaurant within the next hour. It made me wonder if the Undead had something to do with it or if we were having a slow night. I wasn't sure I preferred it that way, there
is an unmistakable feeling of security when you're around other people who are oblivious to a frightening or dangerous situation. It makes everything seem less real because they don't feel your fright.

It finally came down to shutting off the lights. I gave the
empty diner a quick once over, my heart pounding in my throat. My hands never stopped shaking in anticipation of what was waiting for me outside. Every ounce of my weight sank into my shoes. It took everything I had to lift my feet and
move them properly, one foot in front of the other.

I kept my eyes glued to the empty street in front of the diner when I stepped outside. I managed to twist my body to the side in order to lock the front doors while keeping the road in my peripheral vision. I slipped
the keys into my back pocket, walked down the sidewalk, and turned the corner to get to my usual parking spot.

The side road I turned on was deserted, my lone car parked by the end of the curb. If I didn't know any better I would have assumed they weren't going to show, but my hands were still shaking. The eerie chill draped like a curtain over the night sky. They were here.