'Light and Dark live in peace?'
'Yes.'
'Those . . . the vampires .. .' He kept coming back over and over again to the same subject. 'They're Dark Ones?'
'Yes. They're people who have been totally transformed by the Twilight world. They acquire immense powers, but they lose the gift of life itself. And they can only carry on existing by using the energy of other beings. Blood's the most convenient form for transferring it.'
'And they kill people!'
'They can exist on donor's blood. It's like processed foods, it doesn't taste so good, but it's still nutritious. If the vampires just went out hunting—'
'But they attacked me!'
He was only thinking about himself right now. That wasn't good.
'Some vampires break the law. That's why we need the Night Watch, to police the observance of the Treaty.'
'Then . . . vampires don't just go around hunting people, right?'
I felt a breath of wind against my cheek from invisible wings. The claws dug into my shoulder.
'Now what are you going to tell him, Night Watch agent?' Olga whispered from out of the depths of the Twilight. 'Will you risk telling him the truth?'
'Yes, they go hunting,' I said. Then I added the thing that had struck me as most terrible of all five years earlier. 'If they have a licence. Sometimes . . . sometimes they need living blood.'
He didn't ask straight off. I could read everything the boy was thinking in his eyes, everything he wanted to ask. And I knew I'd have to answer all the questions.
'Then what do you do?'
'We make sure there's no poaching.'
'Then they could have attacked me . . . under that Treaty of yours? With a licence?'
'Yes,' I said.
'They could have drunk my blood? And you would have just walked by and looked the other way?'
Light and Dark . . .
I closed my eyes. The Treaty blazed brightly in the grey mist. Stark words, the product of thousands of years of war, costing millions of lives.
'Yes.'
'Go away!'
The boy was as tense as a coiled spring. On the brink of hysteria, on the brink of insanity.
'I came to protect you.'
'Don't bother!'
'The girl vampire's on the loose. She tried to attack—'
'Go away!'
Olga sighed.
'Now you've done it!'
I stood up. Egor shuddered and moved his stool further away from me.
'You'll understand some day,' I said. 'We have no other option. . .'
I didn't believe the words I was saying. And it was pointless to argue now. It was getting dark outside, pretty soon it would be hunting time . . .
The boy followed me, as if he wanted to make sure I left the apartment and didn't hide in the cupboard. I didn't say another word, just opened the door and went out into the stairwell. The door slammed shut behind me.
I walked up one flight of stairs and squatted down by the window on the landing. Olga didn't say anything and neither did I.
You can't just go revealing the truth like that out of the blue. It's not easy for a normal person even to admit that we exist. But to come to terms with the Treaty . . .
'There was nothing we could have done,' said Olga. 'We underestimated the boy, both his powers and his fear. We were discovered. We were obliged to answer his questions and to tell the truth.'
'Are we drawing up a report?' I asked.
'If you only knew how many reports like that I've drawn up . . .'
There was a smell of decay from the garbage chute. Outside, the noisy avenue was slowly descending into the evening dusk. The streetlamps were already beginning to flicker. I sat there, toying with my mobile phone and wondering if I ought to call the boss now or wait for him to call. Boris Ignatievich was probably observing me.
He was bound to be.
'Don't expect the boss to be able to give you too much help,' said Olga. 'He's up to his ears already with that black vortex.'
The phone in my hand started ringing, and I answered it.
'Yes?'
'Where are you, Anton?'
The boss sounded tired, worn out. I'd never heard him sound like that before.
'On a landing in a big, ugly apartment block. Beside the garbage chute. It's quite warm here, pretty comfortable really.'
'Did you find the boy?' the boss asked, sounding entirely uninterested.
'Yes.'
'Good. I'll send you Tiger Cub and Bear. There's nothing for them to do here anyway. And you come to Perovo. Now.'
I was just reaching for my pocket when the boss added:
'If you haven't got any money ... even if you have, stop a militia car and get them to bring you here as fast as they can.'
'Do you really mean that?' I asked.
'Absolutely. You can leave straight away.'
I looked out of the window into the darkness.
'Boris Ignatievich, it's not a good idea to leave the kid alone. He really is potentially very powerful . . . '
'I know that . . . Okay. The guys are on their way. There's no danger to the boy once they're there. Wait for them to arrive, then come straight here.'
He hung up. I put away my phone and looked sideways at my shoulder.
'What do you make of that, Olga?'
'Odd.'
'Why? You said yourself they wouldn't be able to handle it.'
'It's odd that he wanted you to go, not me . . .' Olga said thoughtfully. 'Maybe . . . no, it can't be that. I don't know.'
I took a look through the Twilight and spotted two little specks right on the horizon. The field operatives were coming so fast they would reach me in about fifteen minutes.
'He didn't even ask the address,' I commented glumly.
'He didn't want to waste any time. Didn't you feel him take the co-ordinates?'
'No.'
'You need more training, Anton.'
'I don't work in the field.'
'You do now. Let's go downstairs. We'll hear the Call.'
I got up – that spot on the staircase had begun to feel really comfortable, just like home – and set off down the stairs. I was miserable, I had a really bad feeling about this. A door slammed behind my back. I turned round.
'I'm afraid,' Egor said, coming straight to the point.
'Everything's fine.' I started walking back up. 'We're guarding you.'
He chewed on his lips, shifting his gaze from me to the gloom of the staircase and back again. He didn't want to let me back into the flat, but he couldn't bear to be alone any longer.
'I think someone's watching me,' he said eventually. 'Are you doing that?'
'No. Most likely it's the vampire.'
The boy didn't even shiver. I hadn't told him anything new.
'How does she attack?'
'She can't come in through the door unless she's invited. That's one thing about vampires that the fairy tales have right. You'll feel like you want to go out yourself. In fact, you already want to go out.'
'I won't go out!'
'When she uses the Call, you'll go. You'll understand what's happening, but you'll still go anyway.'
'Can you . . . can you tell me what to do? Anything?'
Egor had given in. He wanted help, any help he could get.
'I can. Trust us.'
He only hesitated for a second.
'Come in.' Egor stepped back from the door. 'Only . . . Mum will be back from work any moment.'
'So?'
'Are you going to hide? What should I tell her?'
'That's no problem,' I said dismissively. 'But I—'
The door of the next-door apartment opened cautiously, just a crack, on the chain. A wrinkled, old woman's face peeped out.
I touched her mind, lightly, just for an instant, as carefully as possible so as not to do any more damage to a reason that was already shaky.
'Ah, it's you . . .' the old woman said with a beaming smile. 'You, you . . .'
'Anton,' I prompted her politely.
'And there was I wondering who the stranger was, wandering up and down,' said the old granny, taking off the chain and coming out on to the landing. 'The times we live in, the outrageous things people get up to, they just do whatever they like . . .'
'It's all right. Everything's going to be all right. Why don't you turn on the TV, there's a new series just starting.'
The old woman nodded, shot me a friendly glance and disappeared into her apartment.
'What series?' asked Egor.
I shrugged.
'I don't know. There must be something. Isn't there always some soap opera or other?'
'And how do you know our neighbour?'
'I don't.'
The boy said nothing.
'Just one of those little things,' I explained. 'And I won't come in, thanks, I have to go now.'
'What?'
'There'll be different guards here to look after you, Egor. And don't worry – they're far more professional than I am.'
I took a glance through the Twilight; two bright orange lights were just approaching the entrance of the building.
'I ... I don't want them,' said the boy, panicking immediately. 'I want you to stay!'
'I can't. I have another assignment.'
Down below, the entrance door slammed and there was a clatter of footsteps on the stairs. The action heroes disdained to use the lift.
'I don't want them!' Egor grabbed hold of the door as if he'd decided to shut himself in. 'I don't trust them!'