The Night the Vampires Came

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The only sound in the car was the squeaking of the windshield wipers. I wiped my hands, which were still damp from grabbing Grace's drenched ponytail, on my jeans.

The streets were empty. Abandoned vehicles littered the open roads.

I heard the panting of my rapid breathing as I made a tight turn to get onto the highway. It disturbed me that I didn't hear Grace's breathing. She was silent in the back seat and strangely calm.

I didn't call out her name. I was too scared she would open her eyes, and they would glow as my mother's had.

Instead, I turned on the radio. FM 105.3. It was my favorite music station. There was nothing there but static. I set it to the news. The sound of reassuring human voices filled the car.

"Our hearts go to the regions affected by the disaster. Please stay safe," a distant man's voice came from the speakers. "Here in Miami Beach, we are experiencing high winds and cloudy skies."

Oh, lucky them, I thought to myself. If only I could punch him through the radio.

"James," an annoying female voice said. "Do you think the disaster could have been prevented? We knew there was a collection of Black Waters off the shores of Pleasant Lane Beach. The satellites spotted a week ago. Through evaporation, it contaminated the air, and now it's falling from the sky as rain."

Black Waters was what they called the Blight Rain once it collected in a nasty puddle on the ground. We have been fortunate enough, up until now, in Windflower that all the rain had evaporated once the sun came out. I was vaguely aware of the existence of terrifying places in the world, where rivers ran thick with that poisonous substance all the time.

It used to be called Black Waters because when it was first described, it was in an underground lake that was never exposed to the sunlight. People soon discovered that this enchanted liquid could be used to make medicines and dietary supplements. It was even called "Mana" or "Life's Blood" for a while. Manna City used to have another name before they changed it to reflect the rich people's love of the magical black gold. Now, ever since it turned against us, everyone stopped calling it Mana. There were all sorts of names for it now. Black Waters was the word that the talking-heads used the most recently.

"Now, now, don't be hasty, Alice," the man said with a laugh. "There's no proof that Black Waters create this contaminated rain. Sometimes, people do weird things when it gets dark outside. Are you going to lecture me about seasonal affective disorder too? Next thing you know, people will say that plastic straws are responsible for people being sad in the winter."

I sighed and shut the radio off. I couldn't stand it anymore. Stupid talking heads telling us what we saw with our own eyes wasn't true. Maybe my mother didn't bite me, I thought sarcastically. Perhaps she was trying to kiss me with her teeth. I hoped a vampire bit James' head off.

"You should turn the news back on," Grace whispered hoarsely from the back seat. I hoped it was just a cold that she was coming down with. "It will tell us if the police blocked the roads off."

I nodded. My sister had a point. I turned the radio back on, and the annoying voices filled the car again.

"Now Alice," James continued. "If the Black Waters are coming for us, tell me why Manna City way up north is completely unaffected? They're a goddamn island!"

Oh, that's an easy one. It's because they are a walled city with air purification machines so all the rich people can go to their charity galas in peace. Even a poverty-level child like me knew that.