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  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.

  But Semyon seemed to believe it right away.

  A sacrifice provides a massive discharge of energy, especially if it's the sacrifice of a child; more if it takes place inside a Circle of Power; and even more if it's performed by an experienced witch. Lena Kireeva was standing inside the Ring, the knife already in her hands and the girl lying on the black table.

  If we transferred the liberated Power into Edgar, the Light Ones wouldn't be able to stand up against it. Of course, they had extreme methods of their own, but did they have the authority to make use of them?

  The shape-shifter tigress sprang out into the corridor. She must have been battering the vampire brothers on the balcony and seen what we were preparing to do.

  "You can't stand against us," Edgar said aloofly. "We'll take what is ours anyway, and a human child will die. And you'll be to blame."

  The Light Ones were dumbfounded. It was hardly surprising: The situation behind this particular conflict didn't seem particularly important in any way. It wasn't a matter of states threatening nuclear strikes against each other if their agents were arrested for spying. Others don't threaten to use first-degree magic in the case of a petty conflict between operational agents.

  But the Light Ones were still keeping up the pressure on our magician. They were maintaining the press, if only by inertia, and we had no more Power left to share with Edgar. Olga had gone rigid and lost consciousness, and now she was standing in the ring like a limp wooden puppet. Zhanna was already sinking to her knees, but heroically maintaining a grip with her hands and giving a few final crumbs of energy. Lena 's face contorted in an agonized grimace and she raised the knife above the twitching little girl. She was conscious, otherwise the discharge of energy would have been reduced, but she was restrained by a spell of silence. My body felt as limp as cotton wool and I was beginning to sway. I wish they'd hurry… I won't be able to hold out…

  "Stop!" shouted Semyon. "We surrender the witch!"

  Hold it… hold the Circle. I tried to draw energy out of the surrounding space, out of the little girl who was frightened to death, out of the people walking by a little distance away and diligently paying no attention to what was going on.

  It was useless. I'd been completely drained of everything. It was Lemesheva… that was why she was standing there stronger than everyone else, the lousy… We were all going to die here for an old woman no one needed, and she'd be left, that vile creature.

  But the Light Ones had already shoved a scruffy, plump woman in a dirty housecoat and torn slippers into Edgar's arms. She didn't understand a thing-she was staring all around and trying to cross herself.

  "You'll pay for this" were Semyon's last words.

  Edgar pulled the witch's arm behind her back with a sharp jerk-he had no time for explanations and no strength left for magic. He dragged her down the staircase.

  Hold the Circle…

  A sacrifice is an act of such great Power that it is best held in reserve. The right to use it might have been won twenty or thirty years earlier by the cunning use of intrigue and provocation. That was why Kireeva was still standing stony-faced above the little girl, with the knife gleaming in her hand, ready to cut out her heart in a single swift movement, while Deniska monotonously recited the words of the appropriate spells. At any moment we could have received a powerful stream of energy… only it was better to do without it.

  Hold the Circle…

  My fury was the only thing that saved me. Fury with the entire unsuccessful day, with all the failures of the last year, and with Lemesheva, who clearly knew more than she was saying.

  I don't know where I found those final crumbs of Power, but I did! And I drove them through the limp bodies of Olga and Zhanna, so that Lemesheva could transmit the thin stream of Power to Edgar…

  The first to jump into the minibus were the vampire brothers… those damn useless field agents… Then Lena let the little girl go and she went rushing off, howling. Deniska stopped reciting spells, picked up the little table, and tossed it into the back of the minibus. And it was only then that Lemesheva broke the Circle.

  Everything was swimming in front of my eyes. For some reason I started coughing as I tried in vain to free my hand from Olga's rigid fingers.

  "Into the bus!" Anna Lemesheva shouted. "Quickly!"

  Edgar appeared-at least he looked fairly cheerful. He tossed the witch into the back of the bus and jumped into the seat beside Deniska. Anna Lemesheva dragged Olga into the bus and I helped Zhanna get in-she was in a very bad way, but she was still conscious.

  "Who are you? Who are you?" the rescued woman wailed. Lemesheva slapped her across the face with all her might and the witch shut up.

  "Deniska, step on it," I said. As if he needed to be told…

  We tore out of the yard with a screech of tires. Edgar was holding his head in his hands and working-correcting the reality lines and clearing the way ahead of us.

  "Feeling bad, Aliska?" Lena asked with avid curiosity. I gritted my teeth and shook my head. But Lena complained, "I'm completely exhausted. I'll have to take some time off."

  The rescued witch whined quietly until she caught my hate-filled glance. Then she immediately fell silent and tried to move back and away from me, but the vampires were sitting there. Battered, bloody, and angry-I thought they'd been sensible enough to try to keep away from the shape-shifter, but each of them had caught one or two blows from her paws.

  "And they burnt Vitalik to ashes…" Deniska said gloomily. "He was an idiot, of course, but he was our idiot… Anna Tikhonovna, are you sure this bitch was worth all this bother?"

  "The order came from Zabulon," Lemesheva replied. "He probably knows best."

  "He could have helped us then," I couldn't help remarking. "This was a job for his powers, not for ours."

  Anna Lemesheva gave me a curious kind of glance. "I think not. You made a wonderful effort, my girl. Quite marvelous. I didn't expect you to provide so much Power."

  I barely managed to stop myself from crying like a child. To hide my tears I looked at Olga-she was still unconscious. At least I could take comfort in that-she'd come off far worse than me… I raised myself up with a struggle and slapped Olga on the cheek. No response. I pinched her. She didn't stir.

  Everybody was looking at me curiously. Even the quietly swearing vampires stopped licking their wounds and waited.

  "Anna Tikhonovna, couldn't you help her?" I asked. "She was hurt in the line of duty, and according to instructions…"

  "Alisa, my dear, how can I help her?" Lemesheva asked in an affectionate voice. "She's dead. Since five minutes ago. She miscalculated and drained herself completely"

  I pulled my hand away. Olga's limp body jerked to and fro in the chair and her chin lolled across her chest.

  "What, can't you tell?" Zhanna whispered. "Aliska, what's wrong with you?"

  Telling the living from the dead doesn't require any spells. It's elementary Power work. That subtle substance that some call the soul is sensed immediately… if it's there.

  "You gave up too much Power!" said Lena. "Oh, Alisa, you're completely empty now! For five years-empty. Like Yulia Bryantseva, who drained herself during an operation
two years ago, and ever since then she can't even enter the Twilight!"

  "Don't get your hopes up," was all I said, trying to keep a calm expression on my face. "According to the instructions, they have to help me restore myself."

  It sounded pitiful.

  "Did they help Bryantseva?" Lena asked.

  But Anna Lemesheva sighed and said, "Alisa, if only everything had been according to the instructions a year ago, when Zabulon was so fond of you."

  Before I could even think of a reply, the rescued witch suddenly squealed hysterically: "Where are you taking me? Where are you taking me?"

  That's when I lost it. I jumped up and started beating the solitary witch on the face, trying to scratch her as badly as I could. She was so frightened she didn't even try to resist. I pounded her for about three minutes to the approving cries of the vampire brothers, reproaches from Lemesheva, and encouragement from Lena and Zhanna. The only one who didn't say anything was dead Olga, whom I kept stumbling over in the crowded space of the minibus. But I think she would have supported me.

  Then I sat down to catch my breath. The old witch was sobbing and feeling her bloodied face. If only they were chasing us! I'd bite into those Light Ones' throats as hard as any vampire! I'd finish them off without any magic!

  But there wasn't anyone chasing us.

  Nobody could have called our return triumphant.

  The vampires took Olga's body and set off with it to our headquarters without saying a word, as if they even understood the full tragedy of the situation. But then why shouldn't they understand? They had swapped life for non-life, but they could still think and feel, and theoretically they could carry on existing like that for all eternity. But now Olga was gone forever.

  Deniska drove the minibus away to the parking lot. Edgar took the rescued witch firmly by the arm and led her toward the Watch building. She didn't resist. We brought up the rear of the procession.