een through the Twilight it actually looked beautiful. Up on the roof, the flat roof of that absurd "house on stilts," I could see different-colored patches of light. The only things that have any color in there are our emotions. And there were plenty of those around.

The brightest of all was the column of crimson flame that pierced the sky¡ªthe vampire's fear and fury.

"She's powerful," Semyon said simply, glancing up at the roof and kicking the car door shut. He sighed and started taking off his coat.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'll go up the wall... over the balconies. I advise you to do the same, Ilya. Only you go in the Twilight; it's easier."

"And how are you going?"

"The ordinary way. There's less chance she'll notice. And don't you two worry... I was climbing mountains for sixty years. I took the fascist flag down from Mount Elbrus."

Semyon stripped to his shirt, throwing his clothes onto the hood of the car. They were followed by a swift protective spell covering his threads and the fancy wheels.

"Are you sure?" I inquired.

Semyon laughed, jiggled about, did a few squats, and swung his arms around like an athlete warming up. Then he trotted across to the building, with the fine snow settling on his shoulders.

"Will he make it?" I asked Ilya. I knew how to climb the wall of a building in the Twilight. In theory. But an ascent in the ordinary world, and with no equipment...

"He ought to," said Ilya, but he didn't really sound convinced. "When he swam through the underground channel of the river Yauza... I didn't think he'd make it then, either."

"Thirty years practicing underwater swimming," I said gloomily.

"Forty... I'll get going then, Anton. How are you going up, in the elevator?"

"Yup."

"Okay... don't keep us waiting."

He shifted into the Twilight and ran after Semyon. They were probably going to climb different walls, but I didn't really want to know who was going which way. My route was waiting for me, and it wasn't likely to prove any easier.

"Why did you ever have to meet me, boss..." I whispered as I ran up to the entrance. The snow crunched under my feet; the blood pounded in my ears. I took my pistol out of its holster on the run and took the safety catch off. Eight explosive silver bullets. That ought to be enough, as long as I hit the target. I just had to spot the moment when I had a chance to take the vampire by surprise and not wing the boy.

"Sooner or later someone would have met you, Anton. If not us, then the Day Watch. And they had just as good a chance of taking you."

I wasn't surprised he was keeping tabs on me. First, this was a serious business. And second, after all, he was my first mentor.

"Boris Ignatievich, if anything happens..." I buttoned up my jacket and stuck the barrel of the pistol into my belt behind my back. "About Svetlana..."

"They ran an exhaustive check on her mother, Anton. No. She's not capable of casting a curse. No powers at all."

"No, that wasn't what I meant, Boris Ignatievich... I just had this thought. I didn't pity her."

"And what does that mean?"

"I don't know. But I didn't pity her. I didn't pay her any compliments. I didn't make any excuses for her."

"I understand."

"And now... disappear, please. This is my job."

"Okay. I'm sorry for turning you out into the field. Good luck, Anton."

I couldn't remember the boss ever apologizing to anyone before. But I had no time to be surprised; the elevator had finally arrived.

I pressed the button for the top floor and automatically reached for the little button-earphones. Strange, there was music coming through them. When had I turned on the Walkman?

And what trick will chance play me

All will be decided later, for some he is no one,

For me he is my lord,

I stand in the darkness, for some I am a shadow,

For others I am invisible

I love Picnic. I wonder if Shklyarsky's ever been tested to see if he's an Other. He ought to be... But then, maybe not. Let him keep singing.

I dance out of time, I've done everything wrong,

Not regretting the fact

That today I'm like a shower that never fell,

A flower that never blossomed.

I, I, I¡ªI am invisible.

I, I, I¡ªI am invisible.

Our faces are like smoke, our faces are smoke

And no one will learn how we conquer...

Maybe I could take that last line as a good omen?

The elevator stopped.

I jumped out onto the top-floor landing and looked up at the trapdoor in the ceiling. The lock had been torn off, quite literally¡ªthe shackle was flattened and stretched. The vampire wouldn't have needed to do that; she'd probably flown to the roof. The boy had climbed up over the balconies.

So it must have been Tiger Cub or Bear. Most likely Bear; Tiger Cub would have broken the trapdoor out.

I pulled off my jacket and dropped it on the floor with the murmuring Walkman. I felt for the pistol behind my back¡ªit was wedged in firmly. "So technology's all nonsense, is it?" I thought. "We'll see about that, Olga."

I cast my shadow upward, projecting it into the air. I reached up and slid swiftly into it. Once I was in the Twilight, I started climbing the ladder. The thick, clumpy blue moss covering the rungs felt spongy under my fingers; it tried to creep away.

"Anton!"

When I stepped out onto the roof I even hunched over a bit, the wind up there was so strong. Wild, icy gusts¡ªeither an echo of the wind in the human world or some fantastic whim of the Twilight. At first I was sheltered from it by the concrete box of the lift shaft, projecting above the level of the roof, but the moment I took a single step I was chilled to the bone.

"Anton, we're here!"

Tiger Cub was standing about ten meters away. For a moment the sight of her made me envious; there was no way she was feeling the cold.

I don't know where shape-shifters and magicians get the mass for transforming their bodies. It doesn't seem to come from the Twilight, but it's not torn the human world either. In her human form the girl weighed maybe fifty kilograms, maybe a bit more. The young tigress poised in combat stance on the icy roof must have weighed a centner and a half. Her aura was a flaming orange and there were sparks wandering lazily over the surface of her fur. Her tail was twitching left and right in a regular rhythm; the right front paw was scraping regularly at the bitumen of the roof. At that spot it was scraped right through to the concrete... someone would get flooded come spring...

"Come closer, Anton," the tigress roared, without turning around. "There she is!"

Bear was standing closer to the vampire than Tiger Cub. He looked even more terrifying. For this transformation he'd chosen the form of a polar bear, but unlike the real inhabitants of the Arctic he was snowy white, just like in the pictures and children's books. No, he had to be a magician, not a reformed shape-shifter. Shape-shifters were limited to only one form, two at most, and I'd seen Bear take the form of a pigeon-toed brown Russian bear (when we arranged a carnival for the Watch's American guests), and the form of a grizzly, at our demonstration classes on transformation.

The girl-vampire was standing right on the edge of the roof.

She looked worse, a lot worse since the first time I met her. Her features were even sharper now and her cheeks were hollow. During the first stage of the body's transformation, a vampire requires fresh blood almost constantly. But I wasn't about to be fooled by the way she looked: Her exhaustion was just her appearance; it was agonizing for her, but it didn't take away her strength. The burn mark on her face was almost gone; I could just make out a faint trace.

"You!" the vampire's voice rang out triumphantly¡ªas if she'd summoned me to be slaughtered, not for negotiations.

"Yes, me."

Egor was standing in front of the vampire; she was using him to shield herself from our operatives. The boy was in the Twilight she'd summoned, so he hadn't lost consciousness. He stood still, not saying anything, looking from me to Tiger Cub and back. We were obviously the two he was counting on most. The vampire had one arm around the boy's chest, holding him tight against her, and she was holding her other hand against his throat, with its claws extended. The situation wasn't that hard to assess. Stalemate. Both sides stymied.

If Tiger Cub or Bear tried to attack the vampire, she'd tear the kid's head off with a single sweep of her hand. There's no cure for that... not even with our powers. On the other hand, once she killed the boy, there'd be nothing to stop us.

It's a mistake to drive your enemy into a corner. Especially if you're going to kill him.

"You wanted me to come. So I've come." I raised my hands to show they were empty and started walking forward. When I was midway between Tiger Cub and Bear the vampire bared her fangs:

"Stop!"

"I haven't got any poplar stakes or combat amulets. I'm not a magician. And there's nothing I can do to you."

"The amulet! The amulet on your neck!"

So that was it...

"That's nothing to do with you. It protects me against someone incomparably superior to you."

"Take it off!"

Oh, this was bad... really bad... I grabbed the chain, pulled the amulet off and dropped it at my feet. Now, if he wanted to, Zabulon could try to influence me.

"I've taken it off. Now talk. What do you want?"

The vampire twisted her head right around¡ªher neck easily turned the full three hundred and sixty degrees. Oho! I'd never even heard of that one... I don't think our fighters had, either: Tiger Cub growled.

"There's someone sneaking up here!" The vampire's voice was still human¡ªthe shrill, hysterical voice of a stupid young girl who has acquired great strength and power by accident. "Who is it? Who?"

She pressed her left hand, the one with the extended claws, into the boy's neck. I shuddered, picturing what would happen if a single drop of blood was spilled. The vampire would lose control! She pointed to the edge of the roof with her other hand in a ludicrous gesture of accusation, like Lenin on his armored car.

"Tell him to come out!"

I sighed and shouted:

"Ilya, come out..."

Fingers appeared on the edge of the roof, and a moment later Ilya swung over the low barrier and stood beside Tiger Cub.

Where had he been hiding? On the canopy of a balcony? Or had he been hanging there, clutching the strands of blue moss?

"I knew it!" the girl-vampire said triumphantly. "Trickery!"

It seemed she hadn't sensed Semyon. Maybe our phlegmatic friend had spent a hundred years training in ninja techniques?

"What right have you to talk about trickery?"

"Every right!" Something human flickered briefly in the vampire's eyes. "I know how to deceive! You don't!"

"Fine, fine. You know how, we don't," I thought. "Just you keep on believing that. If you believe the only place for 'white lies' is in sermons, that's just fine. If you think that 'good must have hard fists' only applies in old poems by a ridiculed poet, you just keep right on thinking that way."

"What do you want?" I asked.

She paused for a moment, as if she hadn't given it any thought:

"To live!"

"Too late. You're already dead."

"Really? And can the dead rip people's heads off?"

"Yes. That's all they can do."

We looked at each other, and it was strange, so pompous and theatrical¡ªthe whole conversation was absurd, after all; we'd never be able to understand each other. She was dead. Her life was someone else's death. I was alive. But from where she stood, it was all the other way around.

"I'm not to blame for this." Her voice had suddenly become calmer and softer. The hand on Egor's neck relaxed slightly. "You, the ones who call yourselves the Night Watch... who never sleep at night, who claim the right to protect the world against Darkness... where were you when my blood was drunk?"

Bear shifted forward slightly. A tiny little step, as if he hadn't moved his powerful paws at all, just slid when the wind pushed him. I knew he'd continue slipping forward like that for another ten minutes, the same way he had been doing for an entire hour since the standoff began. Until he thought he had a good enough chance. Then he'd pounce... and if he was lucky, he'd be able to tear the kid out of the vampire's arms with no more harm done than a couple of broken ribs.

"We can't keep track of everybody," I said. "It's just not possible."

This was terrible... I was starting to feel sorry for her. Not for the boy who'd been caught up in the game played between Light and Darkness, not for young Svetlana, with the curse hanging over her, not for the entirely innocent city that would bear the full brunt of that curse... I was feeling sorry for the vampire. It was a good question¡ªwhere were we that night? The ones who call ourselves the Night Watch...

"In any case you still had a choice," I said. "And don't tell me you didn't. Initiation can only take place by mutual consent. You could have died. Died honestly. As a human being."

"Honestly?" The vampire shook her head, scattering her hair across her shoulders. Where was Semyon?... How hard could it be to climb to the roof of a twelve-story building? "It would have been good to die¡ªhonestly. But the person who signed the license... the one who earmarked me as food. Was he acting honestly?"

Light and Darkness...

She wasn't simply the victim of a vampire on the rampage. She'd been marked down as prey, chosen by a blind throw of the dice. She had been destined to give up her life for the continuation of someone else's death. But that young guy who had crumbled into a heap of dust at my feet when he was incinerated by the seal had fallen in love with her. Really fallen in love... and he hadn't completely sucked out the girl's life; he'd turned her into his equal.

The dead can do more than rip off heads; they can love too. The trouble is that even their love requires blood.

He'd had no choice but to conceal her, since he'd turned the girl into a vampire illegally. He'd needed to feed her, and only live blood would do for that, not the bottled blood of naive donors.

So he'd started poaching on the streets of Moscow, and then we'd started to pay attention, the keepers of the Light, the valiant Night Watch, who hand victims over to the Dark Ones.

In a war the most dangerous thing is to understand the enemy. To understand is to forgive. And we have no right to do that¡ªwe never have had, not since the creation of the world.

"Even so, you still had a choice," I said. "You did. Someone else's betrayal is no excuse for your own."

She laughed quietly.

"Yes, yes... good servant of the Light... Of course. You're right. And you can tell me a thousand times that I'm dead. That my soul has burned away and evaporated into the Twilight. But if I'm so malevolent, can you explain to me what the difference is between us! Explain that... make me believe it."

The vampire lowered her head and looked into Egor's face. She spoke in an intimate, almost friendly tone:

"And you... boy... do you understand me? Answer me. Answer me honestly, don't take any notice of... my claws. I won't take offense."

Bear made another tiny movement forward. I could feel his muscles tensing as he prepared to pounce.

But then Semyon appeared behind the vampire, without making a sound, with a movement that was smooth and quick at the same time¡ªhow did he manage to move that fast in the human world?

"Wake up, little one!" the vampire said coaxingly. "Answer! Only honestly! And if you think he's right and I'm wrong... if you really believe that... I'll let you go."

I caught Egor's eye.

And I knew what he was going to say.

"You're right too."

A cold, empty feeling. No strength left for emotions. Let them show on the outside, let them blaze like a bonfire that people couldn't see.

"What do you want?" I asked. "To exist? All right... give yourself up. There'll be a trial, a joint court of the Watches..."

The girl-vampire looked at me and shook her head:

"No, I don't trust your court. Not the Night Watch or the Day Watch."

"Then why did you call me here?" I asked. Semyon was moving toward the vampire, getting closer all the time...

"For vengeance," the vampire said simply. "You killed my friend. I'm going to kill yours... while you watch. And then... I'm going to try... to kill you. But even if I fail..." She smiled. "... you'll always know you didn't save the boy. Won't you, watchman? You sign licenses without thinking about real people. And the moment you do look... out creeps your morality... your rotten, false, cheap morality..."

Semyon pounced.

And Bear pounced in the same instant.

It was beautiful, and it was faster than any bullet or any spell, because in the final analysis all that's left is the body striking the blow and the skill acquired over twenty, forty, a hundred years...

But I still pulled the pistol out from behind me and jerked the trigger back, knowing that the bullet would fly through the air slowly and lazily, like a "high-speed" shot from a cheap action movie, still leaving the vampire a chance to dodge, a chance to kill.

Semyon flattened out in the air, as if he'd hit a wall of glass, and slid down an invisible barrier, shifting into the twilight as he went. Bear was flung off to one side¡ªand he was far more massive. The bullet, crawling toward the vampire with all the grace of a dragonfly, flared up in a bright petal of flame and disappeared.

If it wasn't for the way the vampire's eyes were slowly opening wider and wider, I might have thought she'd conjured up the protective shield herself... But that's something only the most powerful magicians can do...

"They are under my protection..." a voice said behind my back.

I swung around¡ªand met Zabulon's gaze.

It was amazing that the vampire didn't panic. It was amazing she didn't kill Egor. The unsuccessful attack and the sudden appearance of the Dark Magician must have been much more of a surprise to her than to us, because I'd been half-expecting something from the moment I took off the amulet.

I wasn't surprised he'd gotten there so fast. The Dark Ones have their own pathways. But why had Zabulon, the observer from the Dark Side, preferred this little tussle to staying in our headquarters? Had he lost interest in Svetlana and the vortex hanging over her head? Did he know something that we didn't?

That damned habit of trying to calculate everything in advance! The field operatives had it beaten out of them by the very nature of their work. Their work was all instant response to danger, battle, victory, or defeat.

Ilya had taken out his magic wand. Its pale-lilac glow was too bright for a third-grade magician and too steady for me to believe he could have charged it. The boss had probably charged it himself.

So he must have been expecting something?

He must have been expecting someone to turn up with powers that matched his own?

Neither Tiger Cub nor Bear changed their form. Their magic didn't require any external devices, and certainly not human bodies. Bear kept his eyes fixed on the vampire, totally ignoring Zabulon. Tiger Cub stood beside me. Semyon walked slowly around the vampire, rubbing his waist and deliberately making sure she saw him. He left the Dark Magician to us too.

"They?" Tiger Cub growled.

It took me a moment to realize what was bothering her.

"They are under my protection," Zabulon repeated. The magician was wrapped in a shapeless black coat, and his head was covered with a crumpled black beret of dark fur. He had his hands in his pockets, but somehow I was certain there was nothing there, no amulets, no pistols.

"Who are you?" screeched the girl-vampire. "Who are you?"

"Your protector and mentor," said Zabulon, looking at me. Not even straight at me, more a casual glance past me. "Your master."

Had he gone insane? The girl-vampire had no idea of the balance of forces here. She was wound up, ready to blow. She had been prepared to die... to end her existence. Now she suddenly had a chance to survive, but the way he spoke...

"I have no masters!" The girl whose life depended on other peoples' death laughed. "Whoever you are¡ªfrom the Light, or from the Darkness¡ªremember that! I have no masters and never will!"

She began backing away toward the edge of the roof, dragging Egor after her. Still clutching him with one arm, holding the other hand at his throat. A hostage... a good move against the forces of Light.

And maybe against the forces of Darkness too?

"Zabulon, we accept," I said, laying my hand on the tense muscles of Tiger Cub's back. "She is yours. Take her¡ªuntil the trial. We honor the Treaty."

"I am taking them," said Zabulon, gazing forward blindly. The wind was lashing into his face, but the magician's unblinking eyes remained wide open, as if they were made of glass. "The woman and the boy are ours."

"No. Only the vampire."

He finally deigned to look at me.

"Agent of the Light, I am only taking what is mine. I honor the Great Treaty. The woman and the boy are ours."

"You are stronger than any of us," I said, "but you are alone, Zabulon."

The Dark Magician shook his head and smiled in mournful sympathy.

"No, Anton Gorodetsky."

They came out from behind the lift shaft, a young man and young woman. I knew them. Oh yes, I knew them.

Alisa and Pyotr. The witch and the warlock from Day Watch.

"Egor!" Zabulon said in a quiet voice. "Have you understood the difference between us? Which side do you prefer?"

The boy didn't answer. But perhaps only because the vampire's claws were pressed against his neck.

"Have we got a problem here?" Tiger Cub asked in a purring voice.

"Uh-huh," I confirmed.

"Your decision?" asked Zabulon. His Watch agents weren't saying anything as yet, keeping out of things...

"I don't like this," said Tiger Cub. She edged a little closer to Zabulon, and her tail lashed me mercilessly across one knee. "I don't like the Day Watch's view of what's going on here... not one little bit."

Bear obviously shared her opinion: When they worked as a pair, one of them spoke for both. I looked at Ilya: He was twirling the wand in his fingers, smiling darkly as if he were thinking. Like a child who's brought a loaded Uzi to a party instead of a plastic machine gun. Semyon was obviously up for anything. He didn't give a damn about the petty details. He'd spent seventy years running over rooftops.

"Zabulon, do you speak for the Day Watch?" I asked.

I saw a brief flicker of doubt in the Dark Magician's eyes.

What was going on? Why had Zabulon left our headquarters, abandoning the opportunity to track down an unknown magician of monstrous power and enlist him in the Day Watch? You didn't just abandon an opportunity like that, not even for a girl-vampire and a kid with potentially great powers. Why was Zabulon determined to go head to head?

And why on earth was he so reluctant¡ªI could sense it, there was no doubt about it!¡ªto speak in the name of the Day Watch?

"I speak as a private individual," said Zabulon.

"Then we have a few little personal disagreements," I answered.

"Yes."

He didn't want to involve the two Watches. Right now we were just Others. We might be on duty, we might be on official assignments, but Zabulon preferred not to raise the conflict to the level of an official confrontation. Why? Was he so very confident of his own powers, or was he afraid the boss might turn up?

I didn't understand a thing.

And the most important question of all was why he'd left our headquarters and abandoned the hunt for the sorcerer who'd put the curse on Svetlana. The Dark Ones had insisted that the sorcerer must be handed over to them. Why would he abandon that claim so easily?

What did Zabulon know that we didn't?

"You're pitiful..." the Dark Magician began. But before he could finish, the hostage made his move.

I heard Bear's puzzled growl of confusion and looked around.

After playing the part of a hostage in the vampire's clutches for the last half hour, Egor was dissolving, disappearing.

The kid was withdrawing deeper into the Twilight.

The vampire squeezed her arms together in an attempt to keep hold of him or kill him. The sweeping movement of the clawed hand was swift, but it met no living flesh. The vampire struck herself under her left breast, in the heart.

What a pity she wasn't alive!

Like a snowdrift suddenly springing into life, Bear pounced, streaking through the empty air where Egor had just been standing and felling the vampire. The twitching body was completely covered by his massive carcass, with just one clawed hand protruding from under his shaggy side and twitching spasmodically.

In the same instant Ilya raised the wand. The lilac glow dimmed slightly, and then the wand exploded into a column of white flame. The field agent looked as if he were holding a beam of light torn out of the lamp of a lighthouse. It was blinding; I could almost feel its weight. With a visible effort, Ilya swung his arms, scraping the gray sky with a beam of light brighter than any seen in Moscow since the war, and swung the gigantic club down on Zabulon's head.

The Dark Magician screamed.

He fell, pinned down onto the roof, and the column of light tore itself out of Ilya's hands, moving of its own accord. It was no longer a beam of light, but a white snake, sprouting silvery scales as it coiled and writhed. The end of the gigantic body flattened out into a hood and a blunt head protruded from under it, with unblinking eyes the size of truck wheels. The slim, forked tongue flickered, blazing like a gas burner.

I jumped back as the tail almost caught me. The fiery cobra coiled itself into a ball and fell on Zabulon, rapidly winding the coils of its body around his head. And on the far side of the blazing coils there were three shadows thrashing away at each other, their rapid movements blurred into dim streaks. I hadn't noticed when Tiger Cub leapt on the witch and the warlock.

Ilya laughed quietly and took another wand out of his belt. This one was less bright¡ªhe must have charged it himself.

Had he been carrying a weapon designed personally for Zabulon, then? Had the boss already known our enemy?

I looked around the roof. At first glance, everything was under control. Bear was lying on the girl-vampire, pounding away with his paws, with occasional muffled sounds emerging from under his body. Tiger Cub was dealing with the two Day Watch agents, and it didn't look as if she needed any help. The white cobra was throttling Zabulon.

We were left with nothing to do. Ilya was watching the struggle, holding the wand at the ready, evidently trying to decide which tussle to throw himself into. Semyon had never taken any interest in the Day Watch agents and Zabulon, and now he'd lost all interest in the vampire and was wandering along the edge of the roof, looking down. Was he worried about new reinforcements for the Dark Side?

And I stood there like an idiot, holding the useless pistol in my hands...

The shadow sprang to my feet at the first attempt. I stepped into it, feeling the searing chill. Not the chill that humans know, not the chill that every Other knows¡ªthis was the chill of the deep Twilight. Here there was no wind; here the snow and ice under our feet had disappeared. Here there was no blue moss. The space was entirely filled with mist, thick, glutinous, and lumpy. If mist can be compared with milk, then this was curdled milk.

My friends and foes had all alike been transformed into vague shadows that were barely moving. Only the fiery cobra fighting with Zabulon was still as swift and scintillating as ever¡ªthat battle was being fought at every level of the Twilight. Thinking about the amount of energy that must have been transferred to that magic wand made me feel dizzy.

What for? Darkness and Light, what for? Neither the young vampire nor this young Other, the kid, were worth that kind of effort!

"Egor!" I shouted.

I was beginning to feel frozen. I'd only ever entered the second level of the Twilight twice: once in class, with an instructor beside me, and the day before, to get through the closed door of the apartment. I didn't carry any protection for this level, and every moment I was losing more and more strength.

"Egor!" I took a step through the mist. I could hear muffled blows behind me¡ªthe snake was pounding someone against the roof, clutching his body in its jaws... and I knew whose body it was...

Time down there moves even more slowly, and there was just a tiny chance that the kid might not have lost consciousness yet. Struggling to make anything out in the gloom, I walked toward the spot where he'd dived down to the second level of the Twilight, and I didn't spot the body under my feet. I stumbled and fell, then got up, squatting on my haunches, and found myself face to face with Egor.

"You okay?" It was a stupid question to ask, because his eyes were open and he was looking at me.

"Yes."

Our voices had a hollow, rumbling sound. There were two fluttering shadows right beside us: Bear was still tearing at the vampire. She was really holding in there for all she was worth!

And so was the kid!

"Let's go," I said, reaching out and touching his shoulder. "It's... tough being down here. We could get stuck here forever."

"So okay."

"Don't you understand, Egor! To be dissolved in the Twilight means suffering, eternal suffering. You can't even imagine what it's like, Egor! We're leaving!"

"What for?"

"To stay alive."

"What for?"

My fingers wouldn't bend. My pistol felt heavy, cast out of ice. I might last another minute, or two...

I looked into Egor's eyes.

"Everyone decides for himself. I'm leaving. I've got something to live for."

"Why do you want to save me?" he asked curiously. "Does your Night Watch need me?"

"I don't think you'll join our Watch," I said, surprising even myself.

He smiled. A shadow slowly ran through us¡ªSemyon. Had he spotted something? Was someone in trouble?

And there I was, wasting my final strength trying to prevent a little Other from committing esoteric suicide¡ªwhen he was doomed anyway.

"I'm leaving," I said. "Goodbye."

My shadow clutched hold of me, freezing to my fingers and growing onto my face. I began tearing myself out of it in jerks, and the Twilight hissed in displeasure at such behavior.

"Help me," said Egor. I only just caught the sound of his voice; I was almost out already. He'd left it until the very last moment.

I reached out and grabbed his hand. I was already being torn out, the mist around me was melting. All my help was purely symbolic; the boy had to do the real work for himself.

And he did.

We tumbled out into the upper layer of the Twilight. The cold wind struck me in the face, but this time it felt good. The listless movements on every side were transformed into a furious struggle. The blurred tone of gray looked bright and colorful.

Something had changed during those few seconds we'd spent talking. The vampire was still twitching under Bear... that wasn't it. The young warlock was lying on the roof, either dead or unconscious; Tiger Cub and the witch were rolling about nearby... that wasn't it.

The snake!

The white cobra was expanding, inflating to fill a quarter of the roof. As if it had been pumped full of air and it was rising, or flying up of its own accord into the low sky. Semyon was standing by the twined coils of the fiery body, half-squatting in one of the ancient combat stances, with small orange spheres streaking from his palms into the clump of white flame. He wasn't aiming at the cobra, but at someone else underneath it, someone who should have been dead a long time ago but was still struggling...

There was a sudden explosion!

A vortex of Light and scraps of Darkness. I was tossed onto my back and as I fell I hit Egor and knocked him down, but just managed to grab hold of his hand. Tiger Cub and the witch, locked together, shot across to the edge of the roof and froze against the barrier. Bear was torn off the vampire, who was badly mauled but still alive. Semyon staggered but stayed on his feet, protected by a dimly glowing defensive shield. The only thing blown off the roof was the unconscious warlock: On his way he broke through the rusty bars of the barrier and plunged downward in a helpless bundle.

But Ilya just continued standing where he had been, rooted to the spot. I couldn't see any defenses around him, but he just gazed curiously at what was going on, clutching his wand.

The remains of the fiery cobra soared upward, spreading out into glowing clouds, melting away, scattering in showers of sparks and fine rays of light. Beneath this fireworks display Zabulon slowly rose to his feet, extending his arms in some complex magical pass. He'd lost his clothes in the struggle and now he was completely naked. His body had changed, assuming the classical features of a demon: dull scales instead of skin, an irregular skull, covered with some kind of matted fur instead of hair, close-set eyes with vertical slits for pupils, a massive, dangling male member, and a short forked tail hanging from the base of his spine.

"Begone!" cried Zabulon. "Begone!"

The things that must have been going on at that moment in the human world... Outbursts of deadly depression and blind, irrational joy, heart attacks, ludicrous behavior, quarrels between best friends, betrayal by faithful lovers... People couldn't see what was happening, but it touched their souls.

But why?

Why did the Day Watch want all this?

And at that moment I suddenly felt calm, a state of icy, rational composure I'd almost forgotten.

It was all one complex maneuver. If we started from one simple idea, made one initial assumption¡ªthat everything was happening according to Day Watch's plan¡ªand then connected up all the chance events, starting with my hunt in the metro¡ªno, starting with the moment when the young vampire had been allocated a girl to feed on, a girl he couldn't help falling in love with.

My thoughts were moving as fast as if I were acting as a brainstorm conductor, connected up to other people's minds, the way our analysts sometimes worked. No, of course, that wasn't really happening; it was just that the pieces of the jigsaw had started moving around on the table in front of me, coming together.

Day Watch didn't give a damn about the girl-vampire...

Day Watch wouldn't risk open conflict for the sake of a kid with potentially great powers. Day Watch had only one reason for doing all this.

A Dark Magician with monstrous reserves of power.

A Dark Magician who could reinforce their position, not only in Moscow, but right across the continent...

But they'd already achieved that goal; we'd promised to hand over the Dark Magician...

The unidentified magician was the only unknown in the equation, the X. We could designate Egor as Y: His resistance to magic was far too high for any novice Other. But on the other hand, the boy was an already known quantity, with just one indeterminate factor...

And that had been deliberately introduced into the problem, to make it more complicated.

"Zabulon!" I shouted. Behind my back Egor was scrabbling and sliding on the ice as he tried to stand up. Semyon was backing away from the magician, still maintaining his defenses. Ilya was observing everything dispassionately. Bear was closing in on the twitching girl-vampire as she tried to stand up. Tiger Cub and the witch Alisa were moving toward each other again. "Zabulon!"

The demon looked at me.

"I know who you're fighting for!"

No, I didn't know yet. I was just beginning to understand, because the pieces of the jigsaw had come together and shown me a familiar face...

The demon opened its jaws¡ªthey shifted to the left and the right, like a beetle's. He was looking more and more like some giant insect; his scales had grown together into a single carapace; his genitals and tail had retracted; new limbs had begun to sprout from his sides.

"Then you're dead."

His voice was the same as before; in fact, it sounded even more thoughtful and intelligent. Zabulon stretched his arm out toward me¡ªit extended in jerks, growing new joints as it came.

"Come to me..." whispered Zabulon.

Everybody froze¡ªapart from me. I started walking toward the Dark Magician. There was a trace left of the mental defenses I'd nurtured for years and years. There was just no way I could not obey Zabulon.

"Stop," roared Tiger Cub, turning away from the battered but still snarling witch. "Stop!"

I really wished I could do as she said, but I just couldn't.

"Anton..." I heard someone say behind me. "Look back..."

That was something I could do. I turned my head, tearing my eyes away from the gaze of those amber eyes with the narrow, vertical slit pupils.

Egor was still squatting down; he didn't have the strength to get up. It was amazing that he was even conscious at all... after all, the external input into his energy reserves had been shut off. The external input that had attracted the boss's attention, that had been maintained from the very beginning. Factor Y. Introduced to complicate the situation.

The small ivory medallion on a copper chain dangled from Egor's hand.

"Catch!" the kid shouted.

"Don't take it!" Zabulon ordered me. But he was too late; I'd already bent down and grabbed the amulet as it came flying toward my feet. The carved medallion burned my hand when I touched it, as if I'd picked up a live coal.

I looked at the demon and shook my head:

"Zabulon, you no longer have power over me."

The demon howled and came straight at me. His power over me was gone, but he still had plenty of strength.

"Tut-tut!" said Ilya.

A wall of white flame cut across the space between us. Zabulon howled as he hit the magical barrier and the sheet of pure white light flung him back. He shook his scorched paws, looking ridiculous now, not terrible at all.

"A complex move," I said. "But elementary really, isn't it?"

Everything on the roof went quiet. Tiger Cub and the witch Alisa stood side by side, not even trying to attack each other. Semyon looked at me, then at Ilya, and I couldn't tell which of us had surprised him most. The girl-vampire was crying quietly, trying to get up. She was in the worst state of all; she'd used up all her strength in surviving the fight with Bear, and now she was struggling to regenerate. With an incredible effort she left the Twilight, becoming a vague silhouette.

Even the wind seemed to have died away...

"How can you make a Dark Magician out of someone who is fundamentally pure?" I asked. "How can you win over to the side of Darkness a person who doesn't know how to hate? You can shower problems on him whichever way he turns... bit by bit, a little at a time, hoping that he'll become embittered... But that doesn't work. This person... this girl... is too pure."

Ilya gave a quiet laugh of approval.

"The only thing that she could hate," I said, looking into Zabulon's eyes, now filled with nothing but powerless malice, "is herself. And that's the clever move. Unexpected. Let her mother fall ill. Let the girl devour her very soul, despising her own weakness and refusal to help. Drive her into a corner so tight, there's nothing else she can feel but hate, even if that hate is for herself. Of course, there is a divergence of probabilities. Just a slight chance that a single Night Watch agent who doesn't really know all that much about field work..."

My knees started to buckle¡ªI wasn't used to staying in the Twilight this long. I would have fallen on my knees in front of Zabulon, something I really didn't want to do, but Semyon slid through the Twilight and supported me by the shoulders. He'd probably been doing that for a hundred and fifty years too.

"About field work..." I repeated, "might suddenly not behave according to plan, not trying to pity and comfort a girl for whom pity is fatal. He had to be distracted. A situation had to be created that would keep him busy. He had to be given a secondary assignment, and feel obliged to carry out that assignment for professional and personal reasons¡ªanything that came to hand would do. An ordinary vampire could be sacrificed for that, couldn't he?"

Zabulon began transforming back to human form, rapidly assuming his former appearance as a gloomy intellectual.

That was funny. What for? When I'd already seen what he'd become in the Twilight, what he'd become once and forever.

"A complex maneuver," I repeated. "I'll bet Svetlana's mother doesn't really have to die from any fatal illness at all. That was a minor intervention from your side, within the permitted limits... But then we have rights too."

"She's ours!" said Zabulon.

"No." I shook my head. "The Inferno's not going to erupt. Her mother's going to get well. I'm going straight to the girl now... and I'm going to tell her everything. Svetlana will join the Night Watch. You've lost, Zabulon. No matter what, you've lost."

The tatters of clothes scattered across the roof crept toward the Dark Magician, grew together and jumped up onto his body, clothing the sad, charming intellectual grieving for the whole world.

"None of you will leave here," said Zabulon. The Darkness began thickening behind his back, like two immense black wings unfurling.

Ilya laughed again.

"I'm stronger than all of you," said Zabulon, squinting at Ilya. "Your borrowed powers are not unlimited. You will stay here forever, in the Twilight, deeper than you have ever dared to look..."

Semyon sighed and said, "Anton, he still hasn't gotten the picture yet."

I looked around and asked:

"Boris Ignatievich, don't you think you could drop the playacting now?"

The bumptious young field operative shrugged:

"Of course, Antoshka. But I don't often get a chance to observe the head of the Day Watch in action. Don't hold that against an old man. I hope Ilya found it just as interesting being me..."

Boris Ignatievich resumed his normal form. Instantly, without any theatrical intermediate metamorphoses or light effects. He was still in his gown and skullcap, but he was wearing soft moccasins on his feet, with galoshes over them.

Zabulon's face was a sight for sore eyes.

The dark wings didn't disappear, but they stopped growing and flapped hesitantly, as if the magician was thinking about flying away but couldn't quite make up his mind.

"Wind up this operation, Zabulon," the boss said. "If you withdraw immediately from this building and from Svetlana's house, we won't lodge an official protest."

The Dark Magician didn't hesitate.

"We'll withdraw."

The boss nodded, as if he'd never expected any other answer. Just for a moment I thought... He lowered the wand, and the barrier between me and Zabulon disappeared.

"I'll remember the part you played in this..." the Dark Magician hissed at me. "Forever."

"Do," I said. "It's good to remember."

Zabulon brought his hands together¡ªthe mighty wings flapped together, and the magician disappeared. But before he went, he glanced at the witch¡ªand she nodded.

I didn't like that one little bit. A spiteful parting gesture may not be fatal, but it's never pleasant.

Alisa came over to me, walking with a light, dancing step completely out of keeping with her bloody face and dangling, dislocated left arm.

"You must leave too," said the boss.

"Of course, I'll be only too delighted," replied the witch. "But before I do, I have one small, very small, debt to collect. Isn't that right, Anton?"

"Yes," I whispered. "A seventh-degree intervention."

Who would she strike her blow at? Not the boss; the idea was ludicrous. Tiger Cub, Bear, Semyon... that was stupid. Egor? What suggestion could she implant in him at the very weakest level of intervention?

"Open yourself," said the witch. "Open yourself to me, Anton. A seventh-degree intervention. The head of the Night Watch is a witness: I won't overstep the mark."

Semyon groaned, squeezing my shoulder so tight it hurt.

"She has the right," I said. "Boris Ignatievich..."

"Whatever you say," the boss answered softly. "I'm watching."

I sighed and laid myself open to the witch. There was nothing she could do! Nothing! A seventh-degree intervention¡ªshe could never turn me to the Darkness with that! The idea was simply ludicrous!

"Anton," the witch said gently. "Tell your boss what you wanted to say. Tell the truth. Act honestly and correctly. The way you ought to act."

"Minimal intervention..." the boss confirmed. If there was any pain in his voice, it was so deeply hidden that I couldn't hear it.

"A complex maneuver," I said, glancing at Boris Ignatievich. "From both sides. The Day Watch sacrifices its pawns, and the Night Watch does the same. For the great goal. In order to win over to their side a sorceress of immense, unprecedented power, a young vampire who is longing for love may die. A little kid with feeble powers may disappear forever in the Twilight. Operatives may be hurt. But there's an end that justifies the means. Two great magicians who have opposed each other for hundreds of years cook up another little war. And the Light Magician is in the toughest spot... he has to stake everything. And for him to lose is more than just an inconvenience; it's a step into the Twilight, into the Twilight forever. But still he stakes everyone's lives. His own side's and the other's. Right, Boris Ignatievich?"

"Right," replied the boss.

Alisa laughed and walked toward the trapdoor. The witch was in no shape for flying; Tiger Cub had given her a good mauling. But even after that she was feeling victorious.

I looked at Semyon and he turned his eyes away. Tiger Cub slowly transformed back into a girl... also trying not to look me in the eye. Bear gave a short, sharp howl and trudged toward the trapdoor without changing his form. It was toughest of all for him. He was too uncompromising. Bear, the great warrior and opponent of all compromise...

"You're all bastards," said Egor. He stood up, moving jerkily¡ªnot just because he was tired; the boss was feeding his reserves now; I could see the fine thread of power streaming through the air¡ªbecause at first it's always hard to tear yourself out of your shadow.

I was the next out. It wasn't difficult; during the last quarter of an hour so much energy had been splashed out into the Twilight that it had lost its usual aggressive clamminess.

Almost immediately I heard a disgustingly soft thud: It was the warlock who'd fallen off the roof hitting the asphalt.

Then the others started appearing. An attractive-looking, black-haired girl with a bruise under her left eye and a broken jaw; an imperturbable, stocky little man, a calm-looking businessman in an oriental robe... Bear had already gone. I knew what he'd be doing in his apartment¡ªhis "lair." Drinking pure surgical spirit and reading poetry. Probably out loud. And watching the happily burbling TV.

The girl-vampire was there too. She was in really bad shape. She mumbled something, shaking her head and trying to re-attach a hand that had been bitten off. The hand was making feeble efforts to grow back. Everything around her was spattered with blood¡ªnot hers, of course; it was the blood of her latest victim...

"Time to go," I said, lifting the heavy pistol. My hand trembled treacherously.

The bullet smacked into the dead flesh, and a ragged wound appeared in the girl's side. The vampire groaned and squeezed it shut with her one good hand. The other was dangling on a few threadlike tendons.

"Don't," Semyon said softly. "Don't, Anton..."

I went ahead, taking aim at her head. But at that moment a huge black shadow swooped down out of the sky, a bat grown to the size of a condor. It spread its wings, shielding the girl-vampire and convulsing as it transformed.

"She's entitled to a trial!"

I couldn't fire at Kostya. I stood there, looking at the young vampire who lived in the apartment above me. The vampire's eyes were trained directly on me. How long had you been sneaking around after me, my friend and enemy? And what for¡ªto save your fellow vampire or to prevent me from taking a step that would make me your mortal enemy?

I shrugged and stuck the revolver into my belt. You were right, Olga. All this equipment is useless.

"She is," the boss confirmed. "Semyon, Tiger Cub, escort her."

"All right," said Tiger Cub. She gave me a glance, more of understanding than sympathy, and set off toward the vampires with a spring in her step.

"Even so, she's for the high jump," Semyon whispered and followed her.

That was how they left the roof: Kostya carrying the groaning girl-vampire, who had no idea what was going on, with Semyon and Tiger silently walking behind him.

The three of us were left alone.

"Son, you do have some powers," the boss said gently. "Not great ones, but then most don't even have that. I'd be happy for you to be my pupil..."

"You can go..." Egor began. The remainder of the phrase had no place in polite conversation. The boy was crying silently, struggling to hold back the tears, but he couldn't stop them.

One tiny little seventh-degree intervention, and he'd feel better. He'd understand that to fight the Darkness, Light has to use every possible weapon available to it...

I looked up at the somber sky and opened my mouth to catch the cold snowflakes. I wanted to freeze. To freeze solid. Not like in the Twilight. To become ice, not mist; snow, not slush; to freeze, solidify, and never melt again...

"Egor, come on, I'll see you home," I offered.

"It's not far, I'll be okay..." the kid said.

I went on standing there for a long time, gulping down snow mixed with wind, and I didn't notice him leave. I heard the boss ask: "Will you be able to wake your parents up on your own?" but I didn't hear the answer.

"Anton, if it's any comfort to you at all... the boy's aura's the same as it was. Still indeterminate..." He put his arm around my shoulders. He looked small now, pitiful, not at all like a well-groomed entrepreneur or a top-flight magician. Just a sprightly old man who'd won another brief battle in a war that had no end.

"Great."

That's what I'd really like¡ªto have no aura at all. To make my own destiny.

"Anton, you still have things to do."

"I know, Boris Ignatievich..."

"Will you be able to explain everything to Svetlana?"

"Yes, I expect so... I will now."

"I'm really sorry. But I have to use what I have... the people I have. You're linked with her. A standard mystical link, impossible to explain. No one can take your place."

"I understand."

The snow was settling on my face, thawing on my eyelashes, melting and dribbling down my cheeks. It felt as if I'd almost managed to freeze solid, but I didn't have the right.

"Remember what I told you? Being on the side of the Light is much tougher than being on the side of the Dark..."

"I remember..."

"It will be even tougher for you, Anton. You'll fall in love with her. You'll live with her... for a while. Then Svetlana will move on. And you'll see her moving farther away from you, see her contacts extending into places far higher than you can ever reach. You'll suffer. But nothing can be done about it. You play your part at the beginning. That's the way it is with every Great Magician, with every Great Sorceress. They achieve greatness by trampling over the bodies of their friends and loved ones. There is no other way."

"Yes, I understand... I understand everything..."

"Let's go then, Anton?"

I didn't answer.

"Shall we go?"

"Aren't we late already?"

"Not yet. The Light has its own paths. I'll take you there by the short way, and after that, you follow your own path."

"Then I'll just stand here for a while," I said. I closed my eyes so that I could feel the snowflakes landing on my eyelids, so tenderly.

"If you only knew how many times I've stood like that," said the boss. "Just like that, looking up into the sky, asking for something... Maybe a blessing, maybe a curse."

I said nothing; I already knew there wouldn't be any answer.

"Anton, I'm frozen," said the boss. "I feel cold. As a man. I want to drink a few glasses of vodka and snuggle down under a warm blanket. And lie there, waiting for you to help Svetlana... for Olga to deal with the vortex. And then take a vacation. Leave Ilya here in charge, since he's already been inside my skin, and head for Samarkand. Have you ever been to Samarkand?"

"No."

"It's no great shakes, to be honest. Especially nowadays. There's not much good there, except the memories... But they're only for me... How are you doing?"

"Let's go, Boris Ignatievich."

I wiped the snow off my face.

There was someone waiting for me.

And that's the only thing that stops us from freezing solid.