diff --git a/cassandra/numpy_parser.pyx b/cassandra/numpy_parser.pyx
index 1334e747..ed755d00 100644
--- a/cassandra/numpy_parser.pyx
+++ b/cassandra/numpy_parser.pyx
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 """
-This module provider an optional protocol parser that returns
+This module provides an optional protocol parser that returns
 NumPy arrays.
 
 =============================================================================
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ as numpy is an optional dependency.
 include "ioutils.pyx"
 
 cimport cython
-from libc.stdint cimport uint64_t
+from libc.stdint cimport uint64_t, uint8_t
 from cpython.ref cimport Py_INCREF, PyObject
 
 from cassandra.bytesio cimport BytesIOReader
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ from cassandra import cqltypes
 from cassandra.util import is_little_endian
 
 import numpy as np
-# import pandas as pd
 
 cdef extern from "numpyFlags.h":
     # Include 'numpyFlags.h' into the generated C code to disable the
@@ -52,11 +51,13 @@ ctypedef struct ArrDesc:
     Py_uintptr_t buf_ptr
     int stride # should be large enough as we allocate contiguous arrays
     int is_object
+    Py_uintptr_t mask_ptr
 
 arrDescDtype = np.dtype(
     [ ('buf_ptr', np.uintp)
     , ('stride', np.dtype('i'))
     , ('is_object', np.dtype('i'))
+    , ('mask_ptr', np.uintp)
     ], align=True)
 
 _cqltype_to_numpy = {
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ _cqltype_to_numpy = {
 
 obj_dtype = np.dtype('O')
 
+cdef uint8_t mask_true = 0x01
 
 cdef class NumpyParser(ColumnParser):
     """Decode a ResultMessage into a bunch of NumPy arrays"""
@@ -116,7 +118,11 @@ def make_arrays(ParseDesc desc, array_size):
         arr = make_array(coltype, array_size)
         array_descs[i]['buf_ptr'] = arr.ctypes.data
         array_descs[i]['stride'] = arr.strides[0]
-        array_descs[i]['is_object'] = coltype not in _cqltype_to_numpy
+        array_descs[i]['is_object'] = arr.dtype is obj_dtype
+        try:
+            array_descs[i]['mask_ptr'] = arr.mask.ctypes.data
+        except AttributeError:
+            array_descs[i]['mask_ptr'] = 0
         arrays.append(arr)
 
     return array_descs, arrays
@@ -126,8 +132,12 @@ def make_array(coltype, array_size):
     """
     Allocate a new NumPy array of the given column type and size.
     """
-    dtype = _cqltype_to_numpy.get(coltype, obj_dtype)
-    return np.empty((array_size,), dtype=dtype)
+    try:
+        a = np.ma.empty((array_size,), dtype=_cqltype_to_numpy[coltype])
+        a.mask = np.zeros((array_size,), dtype=np.bool)
+    except KeyError:
+        a = np.empty((array_size,), dtype=obj_dtype)
+    return a
 
 
 #### Parse rows into NumPy arrays
@@ -140,7 +150,6 @@ cdef inline int unpack_row(
     cdef Py_ssize_t i, rowsize = desc.rowsize
     cdef ArrDesc arr
     cdef Deserializer deserializer
-
     for i in range(rowsize):
         get_buf(reader, &buf)
         arr = arrays[i]
@@ -150,13 +159,14 @@ cdef inline int unpack_row(
             val = from_binary(deserializer, &buf, desc.protocol_version)
             Py_INCREF(val)
             (<PyObject **> arr.buf_ptr)[0] = <PyObject *> val
-        elif buf.size < 0:
-            raise ValueError("Cannot handle NULL value")
-        else:
+        elif buf.size >= 0:
             memcpy(<char *> arr.buf_ptr, buf.ptr, buf.size)
+        else:
+            memcpy(<char *>arr.mask_ptr, &mask_true, 1)
 
         # Update the pointer into the array for the next time
         arrays[i].buf_ptr += arr.stride
+        arrays[i].mask_ptr += 1
 
     return 0