The Masquerade by Alexa Rae

of me. My eyes found her immediately. Her eyes grew larger as I pinned her down with my gaze, my wicked smile still in tact. The screams and chanting from the audience continued, but a shrill of
    a cry shot from the first couple rows. I stood up, laughing as I straightened. More fans grew frightened of me. I had shed my mask. They saw me for the monster I am.
    A hand gripped my forearm. I turned to see Jesse. He got one glimpse of my face, turned me so that my back was facing the audience, and pulled me away from the edge. His movements were swift and faster than any human's ability. Max and Cam stopped playing, their eyes wide as they watched Jesse pull me off stage.
    When I was no longer visible to the audience, Jesse shoved me. I was airborne for a split second before my back slammed into the drywall. Jesse's eyes snapped to the side to make sure none of the stage crew had witnessed. Our manager, Allan stood by the big black boxes where we stored our
    equipment. His eyes found me first. They grew wide, before he turned his back as though he hadn't seen.
    "Shows over." Jesse barked at him.
    Alan nodded once to him, without looking at me, and ran
    around to the other side of the stage. Jesse pulled the guitar strap from around his neck and leaned it against the wall. He moved away from the opening on the stage, his eyes on me.
    Reality crashed around me as the adrenaline slowly seeped
    out of my system. My breathing slowed, my back still against the wall, watching my best friend. We shared a moment of silence before Cam and Max rushed off stage. They finished the song without either of us before they fled. Max glared
    at me. Cam ran past me, through the backstage door faster than the human eye could follow.
    "What the hell is wrong with you?" Max fumed.
    I stared at him, my breathing becoming even again. The
    backstage door opened and the street crew, who set up our equipment, flooded into the room. I turned my face as a few of them came to retrieve the guitar Jesse set down and the one Max still held. They got what they needed and moved
    away, barely paying much attention to us. They knew the rules and they didn't ask questions.
    Jesse finally moved, gripped my arm again, and shoved me to the back door. On our way out, the long horizontal mirror, nailed to the wall,
    caught my reflection. I turned to find the monster a handful of my fans were exposed to. My eyes were black. A demonic glow radiated from my orbs that stood out against my ghostly pale skin. Short, red, jagged veins formed underneath my eyes. The corner of my mouth ripped open, pink flesh oozing from beneath the
    cut. Blood from the wound, trickled over my jaw and slid down my neck. I didn't look as bad as I could have, but it wasn't a human appearance.
    Jesse forced me out the back door. I stumbled onto the
    gravel, my mind clouded with incoherent thoughts revolving around one thing, flesh. Saliva pooled in my mouth at the thought of sinking my teeth into the soft skin of a young girl's jugular. Hell, the sex didn't matter. I would have
    eaten half of a male's face off.
    "Calm down, Ben." I heard Jesse's voice say, somewhere around me, but I couldn't focus on it. I couldn't care less about what he had to say. I was fucking hungry.
    The small sound of a whimpering girl's voice, struck my
    senses. My head whipped to the side. Cam appeared from one of the back streets behind the venue, his arm wound tightly around a girl's waist as he forced her to move with him. She had a soft face, her auburn hair framed delicately around
    her pale skin. She looked like a modest college student, the hardest to find. Her jeans were loose and her white sweater was too big for her frail body. Cam practically tossed her into me, she stumbled and her glasses toppled to the
    ground.
    She trembled against me, making small pleas, but I couldn't hear her. One of my hands gripped her neck, while the other grasped her waist. It wasn't a sufficient hold, but I was much stronger than her.