Day Watch

It wasn't intended for me. So it was strange that I could hear it…

That meant I had to do something.

Something implacable inside me was already giving orders. Put your jacket on! Put the bag in the cupboard! Lock the windows and the doors! And not just with the locks and latches, you blockhead!

Drawing in Power from everywhere I could reach, I made sure that ordinary people wouldn't take any interest in my room. Others had no business being here anyway.

The dead-drunk Syrian in the next room suddenly sobered up. On the next floor down the Czech who had been suffering torment with his stomach finally puked and collapsed in relief with his arms round the toilet bowl. In the room across the corridor an elderly businessman from the Urals slapped his wife on the cheek for the first time in his life, putting an end to an old, lingering quarrel-an hour later the couple would celebrate their reconciliation in the restaurant on the second floor. If there was a Light One around then, I'd already set the table for him…

But all this didn't really interest me. I was following the Call. The Call that wasn't intended for me.

Evening was smoothly merging into night. The avenue was full of noise, the wind howled in the trolley wires. For some reason the sounds of nature drowned out the voices of civilization- maybe because I was listening so intently?

To the right, along the avenue. Definitely.

I pulled my cap down tighter on my head and set off along the sidewalk.

When I had almost reached a long building with shop windows along its first floor displaying absurd phoney samovars, the Call stopped. But I already knew where to go.

Beside the next building there was the dark tu

As if to spite me, the wind grew stronger, lashing at my face and shoving me back like a rugby player, and I had to lean forward in order to move at all.

There was the alley. It looked like I was too late. An indistinct silhouette froze for a moment against the vague patch of light that was the other end of the alley; all I could make out was a pale face that was obviously not human and the dull gleam of two eyes. And I think I saw teeth.

That was all. Someone had been here and disappeared, but there was someone else still here, and they wouldn't be going anywhere.

I leaned down over the motionless body and took a close look. A girl, still very young, about sixteen, with a strange mixture of bliss and torment in her glazed eyes. There was a fluffy knitted scarf and a matching hat lying beside her. Her jacket was unbuttoned, exposing her neck. And there were four puncture marks clearly visible on her neck.

Somehow I wasn't surprised that I was able to see in almost total darkness.

I squatted down beside the girl. Whoever had drunk her blood-not a lot of it, no more than a quarter of a liter-had also drunk her life. Sucked out all of her energy right down to the last drop. A lousy way to go.

And then people burst into the alley from both ends simultaneously, or rather, not people-Others.

"Stop there! Night Watch! Leave the Twilight!"

I straightened up, not realizing immediately what they wanted from me, and received a hard blow-but not from a fist or a foot. It was something white, as white as a surgeon's coat. It didn't really hurt, but it was a

And then I was immediately thrown one more step up the stairway. Not even just one, but two at least.

I left the Twilight. Now I understood what was happening when everything around me slowed down and I could suddenly see in pitch darkness. It was the world of the Others. And I'd been ordered-not asked, but ordered-to return to the world of human beings.

So I did, obeying without any objections. Because it was the right thing to do.

"Name yourself!" they demanded. I couldn't see who they were, because they were shining a flashlight in my face. I could have made out their faces, but just at that moment that wasn't the right thing to do.

"Vitaly Rogoza, Other."

"Andrei Tiu

Now I could tell that I hadn't been hit with full Power; it had just been a warning shot. But if they wanted, they could strike a lot harder-the charge in the wand was strong enough.

"Well now, Dark One. What do we have here? A fresh corpse, and you standing beside it. Are you going to explain? Or maybe you have a license? Well?"

"Andriukha, hold your horses," someone called sharply to him from out of the darkness.

But Andriukha took no notice and just gestured in a

"Wait!"

He spoke to me again: "Well, then? Why don't you talk, Dark One? Nothing to say?"

I wasn't saying anything.

Andriukha Tiu

I'd been that strong yesterday.

He obviously hadn't charged the amulet himself-I could sense the work of a much more experienced magician than him. And I thought the two young guys behind his back looked a bit more powerful too.

On the other side the alley was blocked off by a girl, standing on her own. She was young and not very tall, but she was the most experienced and dangerous member of the group. She was a shape-shifting battle magician. Something like a Light werewolf.

"Well, come on, Dark One!" Andriukha insisted. "Still got nothing to say? I see. Show me your registration! And someone let the Day Watch know we have a Dark poacher here…"

"You're a fool, Andriukha," I said derisively. "So delighted because you've caught a Dark poacher! Why don't you try taking a look at the victim? Who do you think finished her off?"

Andriukha broke off and squinted sideways at the dead girl. He seemed to be getting the picture.

"Ava… vampire…" he muttered.

"And who am I?"

"You're a ma… magician…" Andriukha was so confused, he'd begun to stammer.

I turned to the girl, because I'd decided she was the one I ought to talk to. "When I got here it was all over. I saw the vampire, but he was already outside the alley. He took off into the yard. The girl was already dead, she's been completely drained, but only a mouthful of her blood has been taken. I'm new in town, just off the train two hours ago. I'm staying at the Cosmos Hotel."

And I couldn't resist adding, "Not the first time vampires have used this alley for poaching, is it?"

Now I could see the traces of the past there, on the ground and on the walls. I'd jumped several steps at once.

"Only last time you were luckier, Light Ones… But I must say you did a lousy job cleaning up-the signs are still visible now."

"Don't get any idea we're grateful to you," the girl answered darkly through her clenched teeth. "And let me take a look at your registration anyway."

"By all means." I meekly showed them the seal. "I hope I'm not required any longer? I wouldn't like to hinder your superlative detectives in their search for the poacher."

"We'll find you tomorrow," the girl told me dryly. "If we need you."

"Please do!" I said with a grin. Then I moved one of the watchmen aside and walked out onto the avenue.

I cast off the guise of an ordinary Dark One about a hundred steps farther on.