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WE MADE A FUNNY GROUP¡ªA YOUNG VAMPIRE FROM THE DAY WATCH, two Inquisitors, and a Light Magician

All standing together in a big, e for the water in the microwave to boil so we could make instant coffee I’d even allowed Kostya to co on the inside of the sill

Witezslav was the only one who just couldn’t sit still

"I’ to and fro in front of the"I’ve lost the feel of the place The country’s unrecognizable"

"Yes, the country’s changing New houses being built, new roads" I exclaimed enthusiastically

"Spare me your irony, watchman," Witiezslav interrupted "That’s not what I’ about For seventy years the Others in your country had the strongest discipline of all Even the Watches remained within the bounds of propriety"

"And now it’s like everything’s gone crazy?" I asked shrewdly

Witezslav didn’t answer that

I felt ashaue vahly hoodwinked and bamboozled It was the first time I’d seen the Inquisition humiliated Even Gesar well, he wasn’t exactly afraid of it, but he acknowledged it as an insuperable force

Then suddenly he had outwitted it And with elegant ease

Had soed in the world? Had the Inquisition becoaht Ones, and the Inquisition?

Or Dark Ones, Light Ones, and the Twilight?

The water in the glass teapot began to seethe and bubble I poured the boiling water into the cups standing along the win-dowsill Set out the coffee, sugar, and a carton of milk

"Gorodetsky, do you realize that today the Treaty was violated?" Witezslav asked out of the blue

I shrugged

"You don’t have to answer," Witezslav said "I already know you’ve understood the whole thing An individual fro injudiciously, after which he was granted the right to recruit a certain individual to the side of the Light I don’t think he will be of any great help to the Night Watch"

I didn’t think so either Timur Borisovich wouldn’t bother to learn how to use the Twilight Power He’d get his long life, the ability to do little hts, to dodge bullets That would be enough for hie suular basis And the businessman would become a better person, he would do some kind of charity work pay for the upkeep of a polar bear in the zoo and ten orphans in a children’s home

But even so, it wasn’t all worth a quarrel with the Inquisition

"Ignominious," Witezslav said bitterly "The abuse of an official position for personal ends"

I couldn’t help snorting

"What’s so funny?" Witezslav asked guardedly

"I think Gesar was right You really have been shuffling papers around for too long"

"So you think there was nothing wrong with all this?" Witezslav asked "There’s no call for outrage?"

"A man¡ªokay, so he’s not the best ht One," I said "Noill never do evil to anyone On the contrary So why should I be indignant?"

"Leave it, Witezslav," Edgar said quietly "Gorodetsky doesn’t understand a thing He’s too young"

Witezslav nodded and took a sip of coffee He said glooht fraternity That it was the substance you cared about, not the form"

That really wound me up "Yes, the substance is important to me, Witezslav And the substance here is that you’re a vaician I don’t knohere you can see a violation of the Treaty, but I’ainst Zabulon"

"Light Magician" Witezslav hissed "Adept of the Light All we do is maintain the balance, is that clear? And even Zabulon would have ended up facing a tribunal if he’d pulled a stunt like this!"

But there was no stopping s He tried to killpeople toward the Darkness You say one of our side acted dishonestly in outwitting the cheat? Well, ht! You’re always so outraged when you get your own counterfeit coin back well, that’s easily fixed Start playing fair for a change"

"Your fairness and ours are two different things," Edgar put in "Witezslav, let’s go"

The vampire nodded and put down his unfinished cup of coffee

"Thank you for the coffee, Light One I return to you the invitation to enter"

And the two Inquistors walked out, leaving just Kostya, sitting silently on the sill and finishing his coffee

"Moralists," I said angrily "Or do you think they’re right too?"

Kostya sot what they deserve It’s high ti or two I’m just sorry it was Gesar who did it, and not Zabulon"

"Gesar didn’t do anything," I said stubbornly "He swore, didn’t you hear hied "I’ve no idea how he set everything up But it was his plot Zabulon was right to wait it out He’s a cunning old fox, all right You knohat surprises me?"

"What?" I asked cautiously So

"What difference is there at all between us? We sche the little people ant over to our side And you do exactly the saht One¡ªand he did it Good for hiot no co

"What do you think, as right in the Second World War?" I asked

"What are you getting at?" Kostya was tense now, naturally expecting a trick

"Just answer the question"

"Our side was right," Kostya said patriotically "And, by the way, soht in the war Two of them were even awarded the order of Hero of the Soviet Union"

"And just as our side right? Stalin would have been happy enough to s up the whole of Europe And we boed museums, and shot deserters"

"Because it was our side That’s why it was right"

"Well then, now it’s our side that’s right And our side is the Light Ones"

"You mean, that’s the way you see it," Kostya objected "And you refuse to consider any other point of view?"

I nodded

"Ha" Kostya said conteument"

"We don’t drink blood," I said

Kostya put his cup down and stood up "Thank you for the hospitality I return to you the invitation to enter"

And I was left alone¡ªin a big, empty apartment, with just the half-elass teapot

Why had I heated it in the le pass with ht there in the cups

I took my cell phone out and dialed Svetlana’s nuone for a ith Nadiushka and left her phone in her roo nearly as jaunty as I’d tried to make out

In ere we really better after all? Sche? I needed the answer, I needed it once again And not fro words into fancy lace patterns And not from myself, either¡ª I didn’t trust myself anymore I needed the answer from someone I did trust

But I also needed to understand how Gesar had tricked the Inquisition

Because if he had sworn on the Light, and lied Then as I fighting for?

"Aw, to hell with the" I began and stopped short Don’t curse¡ªthey taught us that in the first few days after initiation And I’d almost let rip

Let the whole business be Just let it be

At thatthe doorbell¡ªas if they’d guessed this was a bad time for ht across the roo that I hadn’t locked the door

The door opened a bit and lanced around and asked, "Okay to co?"

"No, that’s fine, come in"