Sixth Watch (38 page)

“That's excellent, Gesar! That's wonderful. How very like a Light One.”

“And you . . .” Arina began.

“Stop! I don't wish to know!” Zabulon cried. “It has no bearing on the business at hand, and I don't want to know.”

“Whatever you say,” Arina agreed amiably. “We purged everything. All the data in the archives. All the records in the chronicles. Nothing was left but the scraps of vampire legends and references in secondary documents that everyone had forgotten about. And then we wiped our own memories clean. We took a very thorough approach.”

“But why can you remember it?” Gesar asked.

“I took a different view from the very start,” she said. “I sensed that neither of the experiments would turn out well. Neither the world war nor the revolution. You can't coerce human nature like that. And you can't make good out of evil. No one can manage that.”

“But you remember!” Gesar persisted.

“I kept my memory in a separate place.” Arina laughed. “We witches have an artifact that stores the memories of all the Great Grandmothers. I didn't even have to do anything special, so you didn't spot any cunning on my part. The moment I picked up that artifact, I remembered . . . And I realized what we had done. But it was too late. All I could do was watch what was happening to Russia. Keep an eye on you idiots. And follow instructions . . . Until I got too sick of it all.”

Gesar and Zabulon sat there looking miserable and wretched. The grin of maniacal glee had even disappeared from Zabulon's face.

And I must say I really enjoyed that.

“So you know everything, then?” Olga asked in a businesslike tone. “Who the members of the Sixth Watch are and how to defeat the Two-in-One? There's no point in going over old grudges now.”

“No, there isn't,” Arina concurred. “Yes, I know. That's why I
was so distraught. I could see the way everything was going. I was searching for a solution. A way to save myself and all of us, to save the country and the entire human race. But I didn't find it . . . Didn't you ever even wonder why in Russia the subtle world suddenly started warping and cracking? An Inferno breaks through, an Absolute Enchantress is born, the
Fuaran
is found, the Tiger appears . . . What do you make of all that? Things come apart when they're botched.”

“Well,” said Gesar, looking at me and Svetlana, then averting his gaze. “The Absolute Enchantress was my initiative.”

“Ours,” Zabulon said unexpectedly, and I looked at him in amazement.

“Ours,” Gesar agreed. “We saw that the Twilight was unsettled. Certain fragments of knowledge kept resurfacing . . .”

“So we carried out certain work,” said Zabulon. “To prepare for the appearance of an Absolute Enchantress. As a weapon against the Twilight.”

“There was something the Tiger told me before he died,” I said, staring at Zabulon. “He said I was ‘begotten of the Darkness.' And he told me you would explain what that meant.”

“Yes, I can explain that,” Zabulon said glibly.

“Please don't,” Gesar said to him. “Let's get on with business.”

“This has to do with our business,” I said. “Tell me.”

“You could say it's all a matter of genetics,” Zabulon began. “Or even—”

“Don't,” said Gesar, raising his voice.

“Or even eugenics,” Zabulon continued. “The abilities of an Other are not necessarily inherited by offspring, but there is a definite correlation, which is easiest to calculate after several generations. We don't study the genes, but we calculate the lines of probability.”

Gesar didn't protest anymore. He just sat there, looking at me.

“The Absolute Enchantress had to be born from two lines,” said Zabulon, keeping his eyes fixed on me. “One of them had to be Light—and that was quite easy, there was a very wide choice. The
other line had to be Dark, and it had to pass through me. That was mandatory.”

I swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat.

“But I'm a Light One,” I said.

“Boris Ignatievich was convinced that a Light One and Dark One wouldn't be able to get on together,” said Zabulon. “So he waited for the right moment and initiated you in a Light state of mind. I was very offended by that for a long time, and to be honest, I was angry with you too, although it wasn't your fault in any way.”

“My father was an ordinary human being,” I said firmly. “A normal, ordinary human being!”

“Yes,” Zabulon agreed readily. “It's an unfortunate fact that children rarely inherit the abilities of Others; they usually skip a generation. Gesar and Olga actually had a candidate of their own, but they managed to lose the boy somehow and only found him again when it was too late. And my last four granddaughters actually have no Other abilities whatsoever. But things went a bit better with my three grandsons—and you were the lucky one.”

“Dad is your grandson?” Nadya asked in the silence that had fallen.

Zabulon gave an embarrassed shrug.

“So that makes me your great-granddaughter?” Nadya went on.

“And what about me? Gesar, who are you to me?” Svetlana exclaimed.

She jumped to her feet and dashed across to Gesar, who pulled back, raising his hands in a gesture of appeasement.

“Who are you to me? My father? My grandfather? What sort of Bollywood epic is this? Maybe I should start dancing and break into a song about the long-lost daughter who has been found?”

“You're not related to me,” Gesar said in a loud, emphatic voice. “There were Light Ones in your family line, you had the potential of a Great Enchantress, and that was enough! Yes, we exploited you, we put you in contact with . . . suitable candidates. And we wrote Nadezhda's birth into your destiny! But that's all. I'm not your relative!”

“What a pleasure it is to hear that!” Svetlana exclaimed, and slapped Gesar hard on the cheek.

The Great Light One put his hand to his face and gaped at her in confusion.

“I've been dreaming about doing that for a long time,” Svetlana declared joyfully.

“Give him another for me,” I said.

“Gladly!” said Svetlana, and she did. Then she turned to Nadya and said. “That's all, we're leaving.”

“It will mean the end of the world, little girl,” said Arina.

“I couldn't give a damn,” Svetlana replied. “Don't order me around, you old witch. Or are you my mother, or granny, or great granny?”

“Now leave me out of that!” Arina exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “All we women are sisters! And no matter what kind of mess the men might make, we have to answer for life, don't we? And you're a doctor, you swore the Hippocratic oath.”

“The Soviet doctor's oath,” Svetlana replied morosely, but she sat down again beside Nadya and pulled her daughter close.

“Everyone calm down,” Arina continued in a conciliatory tone. “This is no reason for a quarrel. As if you didn't know, Sveta, that you were prepared for Nadya's birth and led toward it. So what? You have an intelligent, beautiful daughter. Do you really regret that? And you, Anton? This old fogey had a little fling with your grandmother. You can barely even remember her, and did you ever even think about your grandfather? You didn't care who he was. Well there he is now, your biological grandfather. It makes no difference to anything.”

“Yes it does!” Nadya protested. “The kids asked me in school: ‘Gorodetsky, are you a Jew?' And I said there weren't any Jews in my family. But there are. I lied to them all!”

And that suddenly relieved the tension. Zabulon started laughing first, grunting and hammering his fists on the table. Gesar started
smiling, still holding his hand over the cheek that had been slapped first. Olga smiled and shook her head, and even Svetlana couldn't suppress a chuckle.

“Feeling better now?” Arina asked amicably, and I suddenly suspected that our merriment had been prompted by one of her subtle, inconspicuous witch's spells. She was very good at doing that sort of thing. “Now, let's get back to business. The Watch of Six consisted of representatives of the Six Great Parties . . .”

“What a surprise,” said Svetlana.

“First, a vampire,” Arina continued. “A representative of the most ancient Others. The college of vampires was represented in the Watch of Six by Viteslav.”

“May his dust rest in peace,” said Zabulon. “Ah, Kostya, you creep—just look who you killed!”

“In fact, none of them are still alive, apart from me,” Arina told us. “Second, the witches. As you already realize, I represented the Conclave. Third, a representative of the Light magicians: Alfred Klaus Lange.”

“He was killed in 1040, in a duel with the Black Magician Christophe Gautier,” Gesar chimed in.

“To be more precise, they killed each other,” Zabulon added. “For some reason they suddenly developed very strong feelings about the relations between Germany and France. A strange business, they seemed to be drawn to each other . . . Ah! I understand!”

“That's right,” said Arina. “Gauthier represented the Dark Magicians. Obviously there really was some kind of morbid, subconscious attraction between them; they got along very well together in the Sixth Watch.” She squinted sideways at Nadya.

“I'm only a little girl and I don't understand any of your innuendoes,” Nadya declared.

“Fifth, there was a Prophet,” Arina continued.

“A Prophet,” I said with satisfaction. “So there
was
a prophet. And I think I know that prophet, don't I, Arina?”

“You did know him.” Arina said with a nod. “Erasmus Darwin. A good kind of fellow, but unfortunately he drank to excess. Especially after he purged his own memory . . . He suddenly seemed to run wild.”

“His life lost its meaning,” Gesar said softly.

I looked at Zabulon, but he didn't say anything. Erasmus had once been his pupil, but the Dark Magician's face was like a mask of stone.

“And the sixth party . . .” Arina paused for a moment. “In fact this party is not represented by an Other in the literal sense of the word.”

“An uninitiated Other,” I said. “A Mirror Magician. Right?”

Arina nodded.

“You almost figured it all out. A Mirror. A wonderful young girl by the name of Maria Montessori. When she forgot about serving on the Watch of Six, she forgot all about the world of the Others. But she had a well-rounded personality and she lived an interesting life. A human life.”

“Gesar and I can appoint the representatives from the Parties of Darkness and Light,” said Zabulon. “We have that right. You can appoint a representative for the witches . . .”

“That's no problem,” said Arina, shaking her head. “I'll go myself.”

“The vampires have acquired a new leader,” Zabulon continued. “And in view of her direct involvement in recent events, I think she will soon present herself to us. That leaves a Prophet and the Mirror Magician.”

“The Mirror Magician is in Moscow, we both know him,” Gesar said coldly.

“Ah, everything is knotted together so tightly.” Zabulon sighed. “Who brought him here?”

“I asked him to come,” I said.

“Oh, well done, Antoshka,” Zabulon said with a nod.

I pretended not to have heard him use the diminutive form of my name.

“And a Prophet,” Gesar added. “I suppose that Glyba . . .”

“Not Glyba,” I said. “Innokentii Tolkov.”

“Justify that remark,” Gesar told me.

“Everything here is interconnected,” I said. “And there are also additional conditions, which mean that the representatives have to be the following: Innokentii Tolkov for the Prophets, Zabulon for the Dark Ones, and Nadya for the Light Ones.”

THE DAY WATCH OFFICE WAS EMPTY. ZABULON HAD SENT ALL
his colleagues home, even the operational duty officers, before we appeared. They wouldn't have been a help in any case.

So the tea and sandwiches were brought by Sveta and Nadya.

“There was something else in the Prophecy too, remember?” I began. ‘The Sixth Watch is dead'—well that's clear enough. Prophets are obliged to maintain the rhythm of prophecy, so the six parties had to be listed. But Prophets can't prophesy about themselves. For instance, the prophecy said ‘The Fifth Power has disappeared.' I think that's about the witches, and specifically about Arina.”

Arina nodded.

“‘The Fourth Power has come too late,'” I continued. “That's about Egor. If the Mirror Magician had already been embodied . . . or if Vitalii Rogoza had been able to carry out his function to the end, then everything would have gone differently. Svetlana would have been killed. Nadya wouldn't have been born. Maybe I would have died too.”

Sveta hugged Nadya without saying a word. That was the way they sat almost all the time now, huddled up against each other.

“The Mirror wasn't trying to liquidate a banal imbalance of force in the Moscow Watches,” I said. “He was trying to deal with the global problem. But he didn't have time . . . ‘The Third Power does
not believe'—that's about us, the Light Ones. About you, Gesar. We've lost our sense of purpose, we've lost our belief and our hope.”

Gesar looked away.

“‘The Second Power is afraid,'” I said, nodding to Zabulon. “Sorry, Granddad, but that's about you.”

Zabulon bared his teeth in a white smile.

“‘The First Power is exhausted,'” I concluded. “The vampires. They were the first force of Others. They are exhausted. Worn out. They have degenerated. We have proved to be better predators than the undead who drink blood.”

“All right, but what does all this have to do with the composition of the Sixth Watch?” asked Olga.

“I'll go on in a moment,” I said. “But in the meantime it would be a good idea to send for Egor and Innokentii.”

“I already have,” said Gesar. “I don't agree with what you're saying, but they're on the way. Carry on.”

“There's also the thing that Lilith said,” I added, looking at Zabulon. “But first I'd like to know who she was and what was her relationship to you.”

“She was one of the first,” said Zabulon. “And once, a very long time ago, she . . . took me under her wing.”

I waited for more.

“I think the blood that runs in my veins was in hers too,” Zabulon continued reluctantly. “Her life began in the most ancient of times and she hid from everyone. But she owed me a few favors. And I owed her some too. Perhaps she was one of the group that met the Two-in-One. I was hoping that Lilith would tell you more. For the same reason that she maintained contact with me.”

“Blood,” I said.

“Yes, blood.”

I recalled the ancient beast who had crumbled to dust in my home. Could my line of descent really run back to her? Could Nadya really be descended from her?

Anything was possible. We don't choose our ancestors.

And we're not obliged to live up to their expectations.

“Some of what she said simply confirms other information,” I went on. “She listed the parties, in her own way. The one born of the Light is a Light One.”

No one argued with that.

“Then one born of the Darkness is a Dark Magician.”

Or with that.

“The one who took another's Power is a vampire.”

Gesar nodded.

“The one who has no Power of his own is a Mirror Magician.”

Zabulon nodded.

“The one who sees is a Prophet.”

Svetlana sighed.

“The one who senses is a witch.”

Arina raised her hand to attract attention before adding: “But the most important thing she said was very . . . vampirish. Ancient. All of the Six must be bound by the primary power. The first power. Blood.”

“Pyotr, the Neanderthal vampire, said that his blood is in every living person on earth.” Olga reminded us. “And in principle he's right. We are all of the same blood.”

“Yes, but I don't think that that kind of homeopathic dilution is what is meant here,” I said. “If I'm right, it's all very simple. Nadya has to be one of our group—she's an Absolute Enchantress, the only force capable of beating the Twilight, whatever form it's incarnated in.”

“But I couldn't beat it,” said Nadya. “Dad, I'm not afraid, but I simply couldn't do it.”

“You were alone that time,” I said. “This time you'll be the Watch member from the forces of Light. With you, Zabulon, from the forces of Darkness. You and only you, because you're connected with Nadya, through me. The Prophet can only be Innokentii. He and Nadya swore blood brotherhood. They're connected.”

“They cut their fingers with a little knife and signed their names in blood?” Zabulon asked mistrustfully. “Why, that's absurd! Games for children!”

“It depends on how you look at things,” Gesar said softly. “All right. Innokentii Tolkov.”

“Egor. The Mirror Magician.”

“What about him?” Zabulon asked suddenly. “Perhaps he's your son, Gorodetsky. That would be a surprise!”

“I once rescued him from a vampiress who lured him with the Call. They are tied together by blood. And by the way, I am connected to them by that same Call, and through me so is Nadya, and so are you, Zabulon.”

“If it really is the same vampiress, returned from her death after death,” the Dark One remarked.

“Who else could it be?” I asked.

“But where is she?” Zabulon countered.

“She said she would come when the time was right. She has come before this, there are no grounds for disbelieving her.”

“Let's accept that,” Gesar agreed. “But what blood connects Arina with any of you?”

“Maybe you can answer that?” I said to the witch.

Arina flung her hands up in the air.

“Why are you all so obsessed with this idea of blood? There weren't any blood ties in our Watch of Six . . .” She paused and thought for a moment. “Perhaps there were—trifling indiscretions of youth . . . But nobody demanded anything of the kind. Why have you decided you need to pay attention to what Lilith said? It's a vile name anyway, satanic! You shouldn't set any store by what she told you!”

“Tell us, Arina,” I said.

“Maybe I'm Zabulon's long-lost grandmother?” Arina suggested. “I don't know, stop pestering me about it! I don't have any children, my only daughter died in infancy, and then I couldn't have another child, like all witches. I've never bitten anyone, and I haven't been bitten by any vampires either . . .”

She stopped and chewed on her lip.

“What?” I asked.

“It's nonsense,” Arina replied firmly. “It's got nothing to do with all the others you've listed. If you're so certain you need a tie of blood with a witch, then look for another one.”

For the first time I felt my confidence falter.

“No, there has to be a connection,” I muttered. “Everything fits.”

“Anton,” Svetlana said softly. “There's something I don't understand here. Do you mean to say that our daughter is a member of the Sixth Watch, along with Zabulon, Arina, Egor, Kesha, and that vampiress—the one whose name you can't even remember?”

I nodded.

“Without you or me . . .”

“Yes.”

“You've lost your mind,” Svetlana said in an icy voice. “You've gone crazy, Gorodetsky. You want to send our daughter into a deadly dangerous battle, accompanied by a Dark Magician who laughs for no reason at all, a vampiress who has returned from the next world, an overweight little boy, an uninitiated Other who works as a conjurer, and an old witch?”

“I changed my color, by the way,” Arina reminded her. “Now I'm a pure Light Healer, just like you.”

“A leopard never changes his spots!” Svetlana exclaimed furiously.

“And that's a fact,” Arina agreed. “But I am a Light One. And you know, Svetlana . . . Anton's right after all!”

I looked at Arina and she looked back.

“Shut up, witch,” I said. “Shut up.”

“Everyone's always so rude to me,” Arina sighed.

We looked into each other's eyes, and it felt as if we were talking—it wasn't the magical kind of conversation that Others can have; we were simply thinking about the same thing.

“So that's it then,”
Arina thought.
“How did you guess, Gorodetsky?”

“I just did,”
I thought, looking at the witch's face. Either she had removed her camouflage, or I had started seeing right through her—
her beauty had evaporated, but it hadn't been replaced by her genuine, pitiful appearance. Arina was simply a sad old woman.
“That's the way it is, isn't it? Always and everywhere.”

“You're right about that, Gorodetsky. But it would be better to tell. Believe this witch.”

“No. Not right now.”

Svetlana looked at us in alarm.

“I like what's happening here less and less,” she said. “Gesar . . . Zabulon . . . Don't you get the feeling that these two are holding something back?”

“You should know best,” Zabulon replied diplomatically.

“Anton Gorodetsky, I request you to answer,” Gesar said. “As your superior, as your teacher . . .”

“As the one who defied what was foreordained and made you a Light One,” Zabulon added vengefully.

“What are you hiding?” Gesar asked. “I know you, Anton. You would never send your daughter on such a dangerous mission without yourself or your wife. Regardless of any prophecies!”

“I'm certain that the members of the Sixth Watch are in no danger in their encounter with the Two-in-One,” I said.

Gesar peered at me intently, then shrugged and announced his opinion: “He seems to be confident about what he says. Bearing in mind Anton's ability to find nonstandard solutions, I'm willing to trust him.”

Svetlana wasn't reassured. But fortunately, just then the door of the office opened and four people came in: Egor and the old battle magician Mark Jermenson, who were discussing something excitedly; Kesha, who was looking disgruntled; and the Prophet Sergei Glyba, who had his arm around Kesha's shoulders.

“I took extra precautions with the boy anyway,” Gesar explained.

“And quite right too,” Glyba declared loudly. “I've already explained everything to Kesha and he has agreed, right, Kesha? Saturn is in Libra, the year is on the turn. Last night the moon was obscured by clouds.”

“It was a new moon,” Arina informed him.

“Really?” Glyba asked in surprise. “But all the same, there were clouds. So Kesha agrees that I should be the one in the Sixth Watch . . .”

“I don't agree at all,” Kesha said angrily, shrugging Glyba's arm off his shoulder. He saw Nadya and his eyes flashed; he immediately straightened up and even pulled in his stomach.

He was a good boy. Even if he was clumsy and overweight.

“Thank you for coming,” said Gesar. He got up and stepped forward, assuming the role of the host without being invited to. Zabulon spread his arms out theatrically and shook his head, but didn't say anything. “Almost all of us know each other . . . do you remember me, Egor?”

“Yes,” Egor replied. “You haven't changed.”

Gesar nodded.

“And you look better than you did back then on the roof, Zabulon.”

Egor was very calm. Even tranquil.

“Hello, Egor,” said Svetlana. “I'm Svetlana, Anton's wife. And this is Nadya, our daughter.”

“And I'm a witch,” said Arina. “Just a witch.”

“Hello there,” Egor said with a nod. “Pleased to meet you.”

He walked over to Arina, reached out his hand, took a tiny scarlet flower out of her hair, and presented it to her. Then he smoothly did the same thing with Svetlana and Nadya.

“I didn't feel any magic,” Nadya said in a surprised voice, examining the flower.

“It isn't magic, it's sleight of hand,” said Egor, bowing politely. “I understand you have a team that is about to do battle with a monster in order to save the entire world. And I have an important function to perform in it.”

“You could put it like that,” Zabulon agreed.

“I'm ready and willing,” Egor said with a nod. “I've been warned about the possible consequences and I have no problems with that.
I accept responsibility for the risks involved. Do I need to sign anything?”

“We work without bureaucracy,” said Gesar. “Sit down. Would you like some tea or coffee? A sandwich?”

“Coffee,” said Egor, walking over to the table. He shook my hand. Zabulon also reached out to him across the table and, after a moment's hesitation, Egor shook hands with him too.

“Olga,” Gesar commanded. “Bring Egor a coffee and a latte for me.”

Olga shrugged in exactly the same way as Zabulon had when Gesar started giving orders. My wonderful boss not only regarded himself as the most important person in any situation, he also treated any woman, even his own beloved, in the simple manner of the bygone times of his youth. It was the woman's job to bring tea or coffee for a guest, and that was that. Olga accepted the situation and didn't say a word, but just walked out into the reception area, where the secretary's coffee machine stood.

“And I'll have water; still, not fizzy!” Jermenson shouted after her as he walked across to Gesar and sat down beside him.

“Are we still waiting for someone?” Egor asked.

“Yes, the sixth member of the team isn't here yet,” Gesar said evasively.

“That sounds a bit vague,” said Egor, looking at me.