Day Watch

"You really are a fool, Vitaly Rogoza," I whispered. "A clever and obedient fool. But then, maybe that's the only reason you're still alive?"

But the person inside me suddenly came to life and reassured me: Everything's happening as it should. You did the right thing by getting rid of Fafnir's Talon. I was overwhelmed by such a blissful, unshakeable certainty that I was right, that I even stopped feeling the cold, piercing wind.

Everything was just fine. Everything was right. Children shouldn't play with atom bombs.

I twitched my shoulders, turned around, and strode off in the direction of Tverskaya Street. I'd only gone a few steps when I came across the entire top level of the Day Watch (the only ones missing were the magician Kolya and-naturally- the chief), plus about fifteen mid-level agents, including A

"Hi," I said in a surprisingly cheerful voice. "What are you all doing here, eh?"

I'm getting carried away again, I thought miserably. Oh-oh…

"Tell me, Vitaly," Edgar asked in an odd, u

His attention was distracted for a second as he diverted an over-vigilant militiaman who was all set to approach a gathering that he thought looked suspicious. Then his gaze returned to me: "Why?"

"Do the Dark Ones really need a pointless fight? Do they need pointless casualties?" I said, answering a question with a question, like some joker from Odessa.

"I think he's lying," A

Edgar frowned gloomily, as if to say: How can we probe him? So they were already afraid of me in the Day Watch! Would you believe it!

"A

"Why don't we go back to the office?" the magician Yura growled. "Instead of standing around in the wind like the three poplars on Plushchikha Street in the old film."

His words made a lot of sense-I was begi

With Edgar's support, Yura called up an economical portal, and two minutes later the entire Watch had already ridden the elevator up to the office in groups. I couldn't help remarking that my portal would have been more stable and would have worked for longer. Apparently I'd moved up another step on the stairway to nowhere when I parted with Fafnir's Talon. And apparently I was now more powerful than everyone else there, taken together. But I was still as inexperienced and naive as ever, and I still had to learn the most important thing of all: how to use my Power properly.

The technicians, led by the unsleeping Hellemar, were working away hard on their headquarters notebooks. When the hell did these young guys ever rest? Or was it just that they all looked alike?

"What's going on, Hellemar?" Edgar asked.

"The Light Ones are withdrawing their outposts," the werewolf reported cheerfully. "One after another. Not just changing them, but removing them completely. And they've lifted the cordons at the entrances to the city and the railroad stations."

"They've calmed down," sighed A

"Of course they've calmed down," Yura snapped. "The Talon's gone now. They've probably already transferred it to Berne. In fact, I'd bet on it."

He was right. A few seconds earlier I'd sensed the source of my Power suddenly disappear into the Twilight and move somewhere far, far away. I wondered if I was fated ever to hold it in my hands again just one more time… I didn't know…

"For the life of me, I don't understand why all this fuss over the Talon was started in the first place. What were the Regin Brothers trying to achieve? Why didn't they let us know what they were doing? It's all some kind of crazy nonsense, absolute nonsense."

"And what makes you so sure the Regin Brothers didn't achieve their goal?" I asked i

"You have a different opinion?" Yura inquired cautiously, exchanging a quick glance with Edgar.

"Yes," I said honestly. "Only don't ask me about the details- I don't know them anyway. There was a serious imbalance of Power developing in Moscow in favor of the Light Ones. So serious that Europe was begi

"And your appearance is another piece of the jigsaw?" Edgar surmised.

"Obviously."

"And the absence from Moscow of Zabulon, our chief?"

"Probably."

The Dark Ones looked at each other, wondering.

"I don't know about that," A

"But would we be able to keep it under control?" Yura remarked.

"I don't know…"

"In any case," said Edgar, after thinking for a while, "we still have the right to demand satisfaction from the Light Ones. There were several serious interventions committed. What they've done over the last two days goes way beyond the recent killings. Tiu

"Better hold the fanfares for a while," Yura remarked skeptically. "Wait and see."

Edgar shrugged and spread his arms in the gesture of a man sticking to his own opinion. He really believed what he'd just said. And I could understand him.

There's no way of knowing how the argument would have ended. The cell phone on Edgar's belt trilled and everyone automatically turned toward him.

It could have been a private call, or a call from the technical section. But the Others gathered together in the office were pretty powerful. Almost all of them were capable of calculating probabilities and the consequences of very simple events.

This call had a dense central thread that was clearly visible. A thread co

Edgar raised the phone to his ear and listened for a while. "Show him through," he said, then canceled the call and put the cell back on his belt. "An Inquisitor," he said with a stony expression, "with an official a

Less than thirty seconds later the warlock from the duty watch opened the door into the Day Watch main office. And a second after that the impassive Inquisitor called Maxim strode in through the doorway.