The Night Watch (Watch 1)

'He can't see us, Svetlana. He looks straight through us.'

'He's self-taught.'

'Yes. Self-taught and talented. An Other with powers that manifest themselves chaotically. Capable of seeing Evil. Incapable of recognising Good. Don't you find that frightening?'

'No,' Svetlana said sullenly. 'I'm sorry, I can't see where you're going with this, Olga. Sorry, I mean Anton. You've started talking just like her.'

'That's okay.'

'The Dark Other's going somewhere,' said Svetlana, looking past my shoulder. 'To extract other people's energy, to cast evil spells. And we don't interfere.'

I turned my head slightly and saw the Dark One. To the unaided eye he looked about thirty years old at most. Well dressed, charming. A young woman and two children were sitting at the table he'd just left. The boy was about seven, the girl a bit younger.

'He's gone for a leak, Svetlana. And his family, by the way, are perfectly ordinary. No powers. Are you suggesting we eliminate them too?'

'Like father, like son. . .'

'Try telling that to Garik. His father's a Dark Magician. Still alive.'

'There are always exceptions.'

'Life consists of nothing but exceptions.'

Svetlana didn't answer.

'I know that itch, Sveta. The itch to do Good, to pursue Evil. Right now, to finish it for ever. That's the way I feel too. But if you can't understand that's a dead end, you'll end up in the Twilight. One of us will have to put an end to your earthly existence.'

'But at least I'd have done something.'

'You know what your actions would look like to an outsider? A psychopath killing normal, decent people at random. Chilling reports in the newspapers, with spine-chilling descriptions and grand nicknames for you, like "the new Lucretia Borgia". You'd sow more Evil in human hearts than a brigade of Dark Magicians could generate in a year.'

'How come you lot always have an answer for everything?' Svetlana asked bitterly.

'Because we've been through the training. And survived. At least most of us have.'

I called the waiter and asked for the menu.

'How about a cocktail? And then we can move on. You choose.'

Svetlana nodded as she studied the wine list. The waiter was a tall, dark young man, not Russian. He'd seen just about everything and he wasn't much bothered by one girl acting like a man with another.

'Alter Ego,' said Svetlana.

I shook my head doubtfully – it was one of the strongest cocktails. But I didn't argue.

'Two cocktails and the bill.'

We waited in oppressive silence while the barman was mixing the cocktails and the waiter was making out the bill. Eventually Svetlana asked:

'Okay, I get the picture with poets. They're potential Others. But what about the great monsters? Caligula, Hitler, the homicidal maniacs?'

'Just people.'

'All of them?'

'Mostly. We have our own monsters. Their names don't mean anything to ordinary people, but you'll be starting the history programme soon.'

'Alter Ego' was an accurate description. Two heavy, immiscible layers, black and white, swaying in the glass. A sweet plum liqueur and a dark, bitter beer.

I paid in cash – I don't like to leave an electronic trail behind me – and raised my glass.

'Here's to the Watch.'

'To the Watch,' Sveta agreed. 'And your escape from this mess.'

I felt like asking her to touch wood, but I didn't. I downed the cocktail in two gulps – first the gentle sweetness, then the mild bitterness.

'That's great,' said Svetlana. 'You know, I like it here. Maybe we could stay a bit longer.'

'There are lots of good places in Moscow. Let's find one without any Dark Magicians out on a spree.'

Sveta nodded.

'And by the way, he's not back yet.'

I looked at my watch. Yes, he'd been gone too long.

And what really bothered me was that the magician's family were still sitting at their table, and the woman was obviously getting worried.

'Sveta, I'll just be a moment.'

'Don't forget who you are!' she whispered as I left.

Yes, it would look a bit odd for me to follow the Dark Magician into the gents'.

I walked across the restaurant and took a look through the Twilight on the way. I ought to have been able to see the magician's aura, but there was nothing but a grey void lit by ordinary auras glowing different colours: pleased, concerned, lustful, drunk, happy.

He couldn't have just slipped out through the plumbing.

The only weak glimmer of light from an Other's aura was outside the building, over beside the Belorussian embassy. But it wasn't the Dark Magician, it was much weaker and a different colour.

Where had he gone to?

The narrow corridor ending in two doors was empty. I hesitated for a moment – who could tell, maybe we just hadn't noticed the magician leaving via the Twilight, or maybe he was powerful enough to teleport? Then I opened the door of the gents'.

Inside it was very clean and bright and a bit cramped, and the air had a strong smell of floral air freshener.

The Dark Magician was lying just inside the door and his outstretched arms prevented me from opening the door all the way. He had a puzzled, confused expression on his face. I spotted the gleam of a slim crystal tube in his hand. He'd reached for his weapon too late.

There was no blood. There were no signs at all, and when I took another look through the Twilight I didn't find any traces of magic.

It looked like the Dark Magician had died of a perfectly ordinary heart attack or stroke – if he'd actually been capable of dying that way.

There was just one small detail that ruled out that possibility.

A small cut on the collar of his shirt. As narrow as if it had been made by a cut-throat razor. As if someone had stuck a knife in his neck and just nicked the edge of his collar. Except that there were no signs of the blow on his skin.

'Bastards!' I whispered, not knowing who I was swearing at. 'Bastards!'

I could hardly have ended up in a worse situation than this. I'd swapped bodies and gone out to a crowded restaurant with a 'witness', only to wind up entirely alone, standing over the body of a Dark Magician killed by the Maverick.

'Come on, Pavlik,' someone said behind me.

As I looked round the woman who'd been sitting at the table with the Dark Magician came into the corridor, holding her son by the hand.

'I don't want to, Mum!' the kid yelled, acting up.

'You go in and tell your dad we're getting bored,' the woman said patiently. The next moment she looked up and saw me.

'Call someone!' I shouted desperately. 'Get help! There's a man hurt here! Take the child away and call someone!'

They obviously heard me in the restaurant – Olga had a strong voice.

The murmur of voices stopped immediately, leaving the slushy folk music to play on in the sudden silence.

Of course, she didn't do as I said. She ran forward, pushed me out of the way, collapsed on her husband's body and started keening – actually keening – at the top of her voice, already knowing what had happened while her hands were still busy unbuttoning the slit shirt collar and shaking the lifeless body. Then she started slapping the magician on the cheeks, hard, as if she hoped he was only pretending or had just fainted.

'Mum, why are you hitting Dad like that?' Pavlik cried shrilly. Not frightened, just surprised, he'd obviously never seen his parents fight. They must have been a happy family.

I took the boy by the shoulder and started gently leading him away. People were already squeezing into the corridor. I saw Sveta staring at me wide-eyed. She'd guessed what had happened.

'Take the child away,' I said to our waiter. 'I think a man's dead in there.'

'Who found the body?' the waiter asked calmly. Speaking without an accent, quite differently from when he was serving our table.

'I did.'

The waiter nodded as he smoothly handed on the boy to one of the female restaurant staff. The boy was crying now, he'd realised something had gone wrong in his happy little world.

'And what were you doing in there?'

'The door was open and I saw him on the ground,' I said, lying without even thinking about it.

The waiter nodded, accepting that it could have happened that way. But at the same time he took a firm grip of my elbow.

'You'll have to wait for the militia, lady.'

Svetlana had already pushed her way through to us. She narrowed her eyes when she heard those last words. That was all I needed now – for her to try erasing the memories of everyone there.

'Of course.' I stepped forward, and the waiter was forced to let go of my arm and follow me. 'Sveta, it's awful, there's a body in there!'

'Olya.' Sveta's reaction was the right one. She put her arm round my shoulders, gave the waiter an indignant look and led me back into the restaurant.

Just then the boy passed us, sobbing loudly as he squeezed his way through the greedy, curious crowd back to his mother. They were trying to get her away from the body – she'd taken advantage of the confusion to bend back down over her husband and start shaking him:

'Get up! Gena, get up! Get up!'

I felt Svetlana shudder at the sight and I whispered:

'Well? Do we exterminate the Dark Ones with fire and the sword?'

'Why did you do it? I would have understood without that!' Svetlana whispered furiously.

'What?'

We looked into each other's eyes.

'Then it wasn't you?' Sveta whispered uncertainly. 'I'm sorry, I believe you.'

I realised then just what a mess I was in.

The crime scene investigator didn't take any particular interest in me. I could see from his eyes that he'd already made up his mind – death from natural causes. A weak heart, drug abuse, whatever. He couldn't be expected to feel any sympathy for a man who frequented expensive restaurants.

'Was the body lying in this position?'

'Yes, just like that,' I confirmed in a weary voice. 'It was awful!' He shrugged – he couldn't see anything really awful about a body, especially one that wasn't drenched in blood. But he was condescending.

'Yes, a terrible sight. Was there anybody else nearby?' 'Nobody. But then a woman appeared, his wife, their child.' I was rewarded with a crooked smile for my deliberately disjointed statement.

'Thank you, Olga. Someone may be in touch with you again. Not planning to leave town at all, are you?'

I shook my head rapidly. The militia was the very last thing I was bothered about right then.

But I was bothered by the sight of the boss sitting unobtrusively at a table in the corner.