The Day Watch (6 page)

“A few. Four… maybe five. But”-Lemesheva ran her stern gaze over all of us-“you mustn’t relax, girls. There’s at least one second-level Light magician.”

The oldest vampire brother whistled. Facing a magician, especially one that powerful, was beyond a vampire’s abilities. And if there were two of them…

“And the girl shape-shifter’s there,” said Lemesheva, looking at me.

I clenched my teeth. So, Tiger Cub was there. The shape-shifting battle magician, as the Light Ones preferred to call her. An old acquaintance of mine… and a close one. I seemed to feel an ache in my left arm, which she had once pulled out of its socket. And I remembered the wounds on my face-four bloody lines from her claws.

But Zabulon himself had helped me then. He had healed me completely so there was no damage either to my appearance or my health. And I used to go into battle boldly and cheerfully, feeling his approving glance and restrained, patient smile.

It’s over. That’s all behind you now, Aliska. What used to he is gone now. Forget it and don’t torment yourself. If they tear your face, you’ll have to wear the paranjah all the time, until your turn comes for magical healing, and the line’s six months long. And you’ll be lucky if they consider you worthy of complete healing, including cosmetic magic…

“Everybody check your equipment,” Anna Lemesheva commanded.

The girls started bustling about, and I patted my pockets, checking on the tiny packets, little bottles, and amulets. A witch’s Power doesn’t lie only in controlling energy through the Twilight. We also employ auxiliary means, which is what really distinguishes us from sorceresses.

“Alisa?”

I looked at Lemesheva.

“Do you have any suggestions?”

That was better. I had to think about the future, not about the past.

“The operatives can neutralize Tiger Cub. All four of them.”

“We don’t need any help, Aliska,” the oldest vampire brother said good-naturedly. “We’ll manage.”

Lemesheva thought for a moment and nodded

“All right, the three of you work together. Vitaly, you’re with me, my reserve.”

The werewolf smiled happily. What a fool. Anna Lemesheva would toss him into the fire like a splinter of wood.

Right into the very hottest spot.

“And the four of us…”

“Five,” Lemesheva corrected me.

Aha, so the old crone has decided to do some work herself?

“The five of us form a Circle of Power,” I suggested. “And we feed it all to Edgar. Deniska maintains contact with headquarters.”

The minibus bounced over a few potholes and bumps. We were already driving into the yard between the buildings.

“Yes, that’s the only possible way to play it,” Lemesheva agreed. “Take note, everybody! That’s the way we’ll work!”

I felt slightly excited that my plan had been accepted completely. I was still a genuine battle witch, after all. Even with all my personal problems. That was why I took the risk of speaking up and overstepping my bounds on the senior witch’s final decision on how the group worked.

“But I would suggest summoning help in advance. If there are two second-level magicians there.”

“All possible help has already been summoned,” Lemesheva snapped. “And we still have an ace of trumps up our sleeves.”

Vitaly looked at the old witch in surprise and grinned proudly with his wolf’s fangs. A fool twice over. She didn’t mean him. He was no ace, just a common low card… and certainly not a trump.

“Right, girls, let’s get started!”

Our minibus stopped. Anna Lemesheva jumped out spryly and waved her left hand. A fine, dark dust swirled around her fingers for an instant and I felt a spell of inattention enfold the yard. Now, no matter what we did, ordinary people would take no notice of us.

We tumbled out of the minibus.

It was just an ordinary yard in South Butovo. Oh, what a dump… I’d rather live somewhere in Mytishchi or Lytkarino than be formally registered as a Muscovite and live in that terrible place. There seemed to be everything there should be: houses and stunted little trees trying to grow in the compressed clay, and wretched little cars standing at the entrances, but…

“Get on with it!”

Lemesheva gave me a kick that bounced me about three meters away from the minibus. I almost went flying into the sandbox, where a boy and a girl about five years old were discussing the mysterious art of building sandcastles.

But even the little children didn’t notice me, although they’re always more sensitive to the presence of Others.

The vampire brothers went dashing past me like three shadows. They surrounded the minibus, already in the process of transformation: Their fangs were growing out between their teeth, and their skin was taking on a pale, sickly tinge. The typical appearance of non-life…

“The Circle!” Lemesheva barked. I dashed across to the minibus like a bullet and grabbed Olya and Lena by the hand. Oh, the old witch was strong!

But there was someone standing in the entrance to the house, visible only to our sight as Others-a short, stocky guy… definitely a guy-you couldn’t call him anything else-wearing worn Turkish jeans and a synthetic T-shirt, with a ridiculous cap on his head.

That was really bad.

The guy was called Semyon. And he was a magician of astounding power, even if he wasn’t always quick to use it. Even more terrifying, he was a magician with immense experience of field operations…

I felt Semyon’s gaze slip over me-firm, resilient, and flexible, like a surgical probe. Then Semyon turned and went back into the entrance hall.

This was really bad!

Then Zhanna grabbed Olga by the hand. Anna Lemesheva completed the circle-and all my emotions disappeared.

We became a living accumulator, connected to Edgar, who was already walking toward the entrance with a gentle, unhurried stride, at the human level of perception and in the Twilight at the same time.

Edgar walked up the stairs, just as his opponent had done. Of course, he didn’t overtake him there. And when he reached the door of the apartment on the fourth floor, they were waiting for him. Fused into the Circle of Power,

we were all perceiving the world through his sense organs now.

The door was standing open-at the human level of the world. In the Twilight, the doorway was blocked by a solid wall.

There were two magicians standing on the landing. Semyon and Garik. I couldn’t feel any emotions now, but I still had my thoughts. Cold, calm, and unhurried. This was the end. Two magicians, each equal to or superior to Edgar.

“The entrance is closed,” said Semyon. “There’s a Night Watch operation taking place here.”

Edgar nodded politely. “I understand. But there’s also a Day Watch operation taking place here.”

“What do you want?” Semyon moved aside slightly. Standing behind him in the narrow hallway of the apartment was a tigress. An immense beast with gleaming fur and its teeth exposed in a smug smile.

What is Lemesheva counting on? We can’t handle this! There’s no way!

“We’d like to take the person who belongs to us,” Edgar said with a shrug. “That’s all.”

“The witch has been arrested and charged: magical intervention of the third degree, murder, practicing black magic without a license, concealing the abilities of an Other.”

“You provoked her into taking this action,” Edgar said coolly. “The Day Watch will conduct its own investigation of events.”

“No.” Semyon leaned against the wall and the blue moss crept convulsively along the surface, trying to get as far away as possible from the magician. “The matter is settled.”

Garik didn’t even say anything. He twirled a small amulet that looked like a cube of ivory in his fingers and glimmers of energy pierced the air. Most likely it was an ordinary magical accumulator…

“I’m going through and I’m taking what belongs to us,” said Edgar.

He’s incredibly calm. Maybe he also knows something that 1 don’t?

The Light magicians didn’t say a word. But such a piece of obvious stupidity seemed to have put them on their guard. The witch’s fate now depended on who would conduct the investigation. If we could get her, we’d be able to defend her and make her one of us. If the Light Ones got her, then her life was over.

But better her life than all of ours! Two second-level magicians, a shape-shifter, and another two or three Others in the apartment! They’d crush us!

“I’m going in,” Edgar said calmly and took a step forward. The Twilight around him howled as it filled with Power-the magician had set up a defensive screen.

All I remember after that is the battle.

The Light Ones struck as soon as Edgar took that step. Not with deadly spells, but an ordinary “press,” trying to force our magician off the staircase. Edgar bent over as if he were walking into a wind and the outline of the Power vortex protecting him became clearly visible. The battle was being waged at the level of pure energy. It was primitive and not at all spectacular. Ah, if only Zabulon had been there instead of Edgar! He’d have forced them to expend all their energy and tossed those upstarts aside in an instant, drained of all their abilities!

But Edgar was putting up a worthy fight. For about five seconds he moved forward using his own Power, even forcing the press back to the door of the apartment. Then I felt the cold in my fingertips.

The magician had started to draw on our Power.

I immediately sensed the Light Ones tense as they spotted the energy channel between us and Edgar. They didn’t try to disrupt it-a hasty attempt would only have led to Edgar absorbing their energy as well. They simply increased their pressure, counting on their own superiority. And I had the impression that the magicians concealed inside the apartment started feeding them with Power as well.

For a few moments everything hung in the balance. The current of our combined Power had immediately increased Edgar’s pressure, but the Light Ones had their own reserves. The little cube in Garik’s hand crumbled and scattered across the floor in golden dust and their counter-blow pushed Edgar back a meter. Olga began groaning beside me-her basic energy reserves were exhausted, and now she was pumping out the very substance of her Power, the deep reserves that can’t be replenished so easily. She didn’t seem to be in very good shape today.

What was Lemesheva hoping for?

There was a noise behind the backs of the Light Ones. Aha… the vampire brothers… they must have got in through the balcony…

But the magicians didn’t even seem to notice what was happening. The tigress was the only one who went dashing toward the noise, brushing aside the puny furniture in her way and ripping the linoleum with her claws.

And a moment later I heard a pitiful howl from one of the brothers.

Yes, three vampires weren’t really enough for the shape-shifter…

“Vitaly!” Lemesheva commanded. The mental command slid through the Twilight and our werewolf dashed toward

the entrance of the house, throwing off his clothes and changing into a wolf on the way. We continued feeding Edgar with energy and he started moving forward again, even managing to squeeze Garik back into the apartment. Then a huge wolf appeared from behind Edgar and rushed forward, paying no attention to the magicians.

It was a good idea. But inside the apartment the appearance of the werewolf was met with a bolt of fire. One of the Light Ones who had been kept in reserve had joined in the struggle, and he’d immediately shown that he was serious.

The werewolf’s thick brown fur burst into flames and he leapt up into the air and fell on the floor, thrashing his paws about and rolling over and over, trying to put the flames out. If he had continued the attack, he would have had a chance to get to the magician before he could prepare a second fireball…

But he’d obviously been on watch duty for far too long.

Vitaly kept trying to put out the flames, and new charges kept striking him from out of the darkness. A second, a third, a fourth… Blood spurted out and burning lumps of flesh went flying through the air. The wolf howled and fell silent-only its back legs were twitching now, with its tail lying between them, blazing like a firework. It was actually quite beautiful.

The amulet hanging at my chest-a small crystal jug with a drop of red liquid sealed inside-crunched and shattered into tiny fragments. That was bad. It was a signal that my Power was running out and it simultaneously released my final reserve. A drop of the blood of a woman who has died giving birth to an Other is a very powerful source of energy, but even that wouldn’t last for long.

“Lena!” Lemesheva ordered.

I felt the wordless command again and Lena left the Circle, moving slowly, like a sleepwalker. My right hand was left empty and the trance receded for a few seconds, before Anna Lemesheva reached out to me. But it was enough time for me to see something standing in the center of our Circle-a small folding table of black wood, with a slim blade of burnished steel lying on it. And Lena was already standing by the sandbox, frozen over the playing children as if she were choosing between them…

“The girl!” Lemesheva shouted. “One girl is more use than a dozen boys!”

Now I understood everything. Apart from one thing, that is. How had Anna Lemesheva been granted the right to a human sacrifice, and why had she decided to waste such tremendous Power on saving some ordinary witch?

But then Lemesheva grasped my hand and at once I became a mindless part of the Circle of Power.

Edgar was already squeezed back into the corner of the stairwell-they weren’t just pushing him back now, they were trying to crush him against the wall. He threw up one hand: “Stop!”

A terrible pain…

The Circle was draining the very last drops of energy out of me, and Olga wasn’t giving any more at all. She’d been wrung completely dry and she was standing there with us, twitching as if she were holding a bare power cable, and Zhanna was groaning quietly too, her head gradually sinking down onto her chest…

“We have the right to a sacrifice,” Edgar said coolly. “If you don’t let her go…”

The Light Ones froze. I saw the way they looked at each other and Garik shook his head.