The Night Watch (Watch 1)

They'd screwed something up. Failed to pull off some grand scheme in the struggle against the Dark.

And now they were willing to hurl a new recruit into the breach.

For the sake of humans who couldn't give a damn for the Light or the Dark.

They were driving her through all the hoops an Other is supposed to jump through. They'd already raised her powers to the third grade, now they were working on her mind. Very, very fast.

There had to be a place for me somewhere in this insane pursuit of an unknown goal. Gesar made use of everything that came to hand, including me. Whatever I did – hunting vampires, chasing down the Maverick, talking to Sveta in Olga's body – all that had just been playing into the boss's hands.

Whatever I did now was bound to have been foreseen too.

My only hope was that not even Gesar was capable of foreseeing everything.

That I could find the only way that would ruin his great plan for Sveta's powers.

And avoid causing Evil in the process. Because if I did, it would be the Twilight for me.

But in any case, I'd be doing Sveta a huge favour.

I caught myself standing with my cheek pressed against the trunk of a scrawny pine tree. Standing there, hammering my fist against the wood. In fury or in grief, I couldn't tell which. I held my scratched and bloody hand. But the sound didn't stop. It was coming from somewhere in the forest, from the very edge of the magical barrier around the house. Blows in the same rhythm, a rapid, nervous drumbeat.

I lowered my head and ran between the trees, like an adult still playing at paintball. I already had a pretty good idea of what I'd see.

There was a tiger leaping around in a small clearing. Or rather, a tigress. Her black and orange coat gleamed in the rays of the rising sun. The tigress didn't notice me, right then she wasn't capable of noticing anything. She ran between the trees, the sharp daggers of her claws ripping at the bark. White scars appeared on the pine trees. Occasionally she stopped, rose up on her hind legs and started slashing at the trunks with her claws.

I set off slowly back to the house.

We all of us let off steam the best way we can. We all of us have to struggle, not just against the Dark, but against the Light too. Because sometimes it blinds us.

But don't feel sorry for us: we're proud, very proud. Soldiers in the world war between Good and Evil, eternal volunteers.

CHAPTER 4

THE YOUNG man walked into the restaurant as confidently as if he came there every day for breakfast. But that wasn't so.

He went straight over to the table where the short, swarthy-faced man was sitting, as if they'd known each other for a long time. But that wasn't true either. With his last step he sank smoothly to his knees. He didn't slump, he lowered himself calmly, without losing his dignity or bending his back.

The waiter who was walking past swallowed and turned away. He'd seen all sorts of things in his time, let alone petty incidents like a mafia underling kowtowing to his boss. Only the young man didn't look much like an underling, and the older man didn't look much like a mafia boss.

The trouble he could smell in the air threatened to be far more serious than a mobsters' shoot-out. He didn't know what exactly was going to happen, but he could feel it coming, because he was an Other himself, although he wasn't initiated.

But only a moment later he had completely forgotten the scene he'd just witnessed. He had nothing but a vague sense of unease somewhere near his heart, but he couldn't remember why.

'Get up, Alisher,' Gesar said in a low voice. 'Get up. We don't do that round here.'

The young man got up off his knees and sat down facing the Night Watch chief. He nodded.

'We don't either. Not any more. But my father asked me to go down on my knees to you, Gesar. He followed the old rules. He would have knelt. But now he never will.'

'Do you know how he died?'

' Yes. I saw with his eyes, heard with his ears, suffered his pain.'

'Give me also his pain, Alisher, son of a devona and a human woman.'

'Take what you ask, Gesar, Exterminator of Evil, equal of the gods, who do not exist.'

They looked into each other's eyes. Then Gesar nodded.

'I know the killers. Your father will be avenged.'

'I must be the one to do it.'

'No, you will not be able to do it, and you have no right. You have come to Moscow illicitly.'

'Take me into your Watch, Gesar.'

The head of the Night Watch shook his head.

'I was the best in Samarkand, Gesar,' the young man said, staring hard at him. 'Don't smile, I know that here I would be the lowest of the low. Take me into the Watch. As a pupil of your pupils. As a guard dog. I ask this in honour of my father's memory – take me into the Watch.'

'You are asking too much, Alisher. You are asking me to give you your death.'

'I have already died, Gesar. When they drank my father's soul, I died with him. I walked along with a smile while he distracted the Dark Ones. I walked into the metro while they were trampling his ashes underfoot. Gesar, I have a right to ask this.'

Gesar nodded.

'Let it be so. You are a member of my Watch, Alisher.'

Not a trace of emotion showed in the young man's face, but he nodded and pressed his hand to his heart for an instant.

'Where is the thing that you have brought, Alisher?'

'I have it, my lord.'

Gesar reached across the table without speaking.

Alisher opened the small bag on his belt and took out a rectangular bundle of coarse fabric, handling it with great care.

'Take it, Gesar, and relieve me of my duty.'

Gesar covered the young man's open palm with his hand and closed his fingers. When the young man withdrew his hand a moment later, it was empty.

'Your service is completed, Alisher. Now let us simply relax. Let us eat, drink and remember your father. I will tell you all that I can remember.'

Alisher nodded. It was impossible to tell if he was pleased by what Gesar said or simply willing to accept whatever he suggested.

'We will have half an hour,' Gesar stated simply. 'Then the Dark Ones will arrive. They must have picked up your trail, even if they did so too late.'

'Will there be a battle, my lord?'

'I do not know,' Gesar replied with a shrug. 'What does it matter? Zabulon is far away. I have no reason to fear the others.'

'There will be a battle,' Alisher said thoughtfully. He looked round the restaurant.

'Drive all the customers away,' Gesar advised him. 'Gently, unobtrusively. I wish to observe your technique. And we will relax while we wait for our guests.'

About eleven everyone started waking up.

I was waiting on the terrace, lazing in a lounger with my legs stretched out, taking occasional sips from a tall gin and tonic and savouring the sweet pain of a masochist. Every time someone came out through the doors, I greeted them with a friendly wave and a little rainbow that sprang from my spread ringers and went soaring up into the sky. It was a bit of childish fun, and everybody smiled. When Yulia saw my greeting, she stopped yawning, squealed and replied with a rainbow of her own. We competed with each other for a couple of minutes, and then made a rainbow together, a big one that stretched away into the forest. Yulia told me she was going to go and look for the crock of gold, and she strode off proudly under the multicoloured arch, with one of the terriers running obediently at her feet.

I was waiting for certain people.

The first to emerge was Lena. Bright and cheerful, wearing just her swimsuit. When she saw me she was embarrassed for a moment, but then she nodded and ran towards the gates. I enjoyed watching the way she moved: slim and graceful, full of life. Now she'd dive into the cool water, swim on her own for a while and come back for breakfast with a keen appetite.

Next to appear was Ignat. In his swimming trunks and flip-flops.

'Hi, Anton!' he shouted happily. He came over, pulled open the next lounger and flopped down into it. 'How're you doing?'

'I'm in fighting mood!' I told him, raising my glass.

'Good man.' Ignat looked around for a bottle and didn't see one. He reached out and took a sip from my glass. 'Too weak, too much mixer.'

'I got plastered yesterday.'

'In that case you're right, better watch yourself,' Ignat advised me. 'We were on champagne all evening. Then we moved on to cognac later. I was afraid I'd have a hangover, but I'm okay. I seem to have got away with it.'

It was impossible to be offended by him.

'Ignat, what did you want to be when you were a kid?' I asked.

'A hospital attendant.'

'What?'

'Well, they told me boys couldn't be nurses, and I wanted to help sick people. So I decided that when I grew up I was going to be a medical attendant.'

'Great,' I said. 'But why not a doctor?'

'Too much responsibility for me,' Ignat admitted. 'And you had to study for too long.'

'So did you get to be a medical attendant?'

'Yes. I was in an ambulance crew, a psychiatric team. All the doctors loved working with me.'

'Why?'

'Firstly, because I'm really charming,' Ignat explained ingenuously. 'I can talk to both men and women in a way that seems to calm them down and make them agree to go to hospital. And secondly, I could tell when someone was really ill and when he was just seeing something invisible to others. Sometimes I was able to whisper in the doctor's ear, explain that everything was okay and no injections would be required.'

'Medicine has suffered a great loss.'

'True,' Ignat said with a sigh, 'but the boss persuaded me that I'd be more useful in the Watch. And that's right, isn't it?'

'I suppose so.'

'I'm bored already,' Ignat drawled. 'Aren't you bored? I want to get back to work.'

'I think I do too. Ignat, have you got a hobby? Outside of work?'

'What are you interrogating me for?' he asked in surprise.

'I'm curious. Or is it a secret?'

'What secrets do we have?' Ignat asked with a shrug. 'I collect butterflies. I've got one of the best collections in the world. It fills two entire rooms.'

'Very worthy,' I agreed.

'Come round some time and take a look,' he suggested. 'Bring Sveta, she tells me she likes butterflies too.'

I laughed so long even Ignat got the point. He got up, smiling uncertainly, and muttered:

'I think I'll go help get breakfast ready.'

'Good luck,' was all I said. But I just couldn't help myself, and when Ignat reached the door, I called to him: 'Listen, is the boss right to be worried about Sveta?'

He propped his chin on his hand and thought for a moment.