‘That’s all right, it’ll live a long time with me,’ Lena laughed. ‘Ten years at least. Pavel and I will make sure of that.’
‘Then take it!’ I said, indicating the mouse with a magnanimous gesture. ‘I’ll come round to visit some time.’
‘Did you put it into a deep sleep?’ Lena asked, picking the mouse up by the tail.
‘It will sleep until the evening for sure.’
‘Good.’
She carried the mouse to her desk, shook the floppy disks out of a cardboard box and put the little creature in it.
‘Buy a cage,’ Olga advised as she admired her nails. ‘Or an aquarium. If it escapes it will gnaw everything to pieces and leave filthy droppings everywhere.’
Anna Lemesheva had followed the conversation thoughtfully and then clapped her hands.
‘All right, girls. That’s enough distraction. The unfortunate creature has been saved and it has found a new home. Things could hardly have been resolved more elegantly. Now let’s begin our briefing.’
She’s a very strict boss, but not malicious. She doesn’t make things hard for anyone for no reason, and she’ll let you fool about, or leave early if necessary But when it comes to work, it’s best not to argue with her.
The girls all sat in their places. Our room is small; after all, the building wasn’t meant for the present numbers of the Watch. All that could fit were four small tables for us and one big desk, where Anna Lemesheva sat. The room reminded me of a school classroom in some tiny village somewhere, with a class of four pupils and one teacher.
Lemesheva waited until we’d all switched on our computers and accessed the network; then she began in her resonant voice:
‘Today’s assignment is the usuaclass="underline" patrolling the south-east region of Moscow. You will choose your partners in the guardroom from among the available operatives.’
We always go on duty in pairs, usually one witch and one shape-shifter or vampire. If the level of patrols is stepped up, then instead of ordinary operatives they give us warlocks or some of the junior magicians as partners. But that doesn’t happen very often.
‘Lenochka, you’re patrolling Vykhino and Liublino.’
Lena Kireeva, who had stealthily begun playing patience on her computer, started and prepared to argue. I could understand why. Two huge districts and a long way away too. Nothing would come of it, of course. Anna Lemesheva would insist on having her own way as always, but Kireeva couldn’t help feeling indignant.
But just at that moment the phone on Lemesheva’s desk rang. We exchanged glances, and even Lena’s eyes became serious. It was the direct line from the operations duty officer, it didn’t just ring for nothing.
‘Yes,’ said Lemesheva. ‘Yes. Of course. I understand. I accept the detail.’
For a moment her expression became vague – the duty magician was sending her a telepathic briefing on the situation.
That meant it was serious, that there was work to do.
‘To your brooms …’ Lenka whispered quietly. The line, from a children’s cartoon, was a traditional saying with us. ‘I wonder who they’ll send,’ she said.
But when Anna Lemesheva put the receiver down, her expression was firm and tough.
‘Into the bus, girls. Everyone. Look lively.’
So much for ‘to your brooms’.
This meant something very serious. This meant a fight.
CHAPTER 2
THE MINIBUS was driven by Deniska, a young Dark Magician so incredibly lazy that he preferred working in the garage among the vampires and other small fry But his laziness didn’t mean he couldn’t drive, and he knew the few spells that were essential for his job very well indeed. We literally flew along the road as we made our way out of the city centre at a speed that the presidential cortège could only dream of. I felt the surges of power as he examined the reality lines, made the militiamen look the other way or made other drivers steer their cars off to the side. On this occasion he had Edgar sitting beside him, a plump, swarthy, dark-haired magician from Estonia who looked nothing like a person from the Baltic but possessed magical abilities that were almost second grade.
There were nine of us in the vehicle. I could hardly ever remember Anna Lemesheva leaving the Watch building before, but she was sitting in the chair by the door, reciting the briefing in a monotone:
‘Darya Leonidovna Romashova. Sixty-three years old, looks considerably younger, probably, constantly nourished by power. Presumably a witch, but could possibly be a Dark Sorceress. Under observation for the last four years as an uninitiated Other.’
At this point Lemesheva permitted herself to swear briefly and obscenely, directing her abuse at the members of the detection department.
‘Apparently she refuses all contact. She avoids conversations on mystical subjects, citing her religious piety! What has faith got to do with the abilities of an Other? It’s another question who that Christ of theirs was.’
‘Anna Tikhonovna, don’t blaspheme,’ Lenka said quietly but insistently. ‘I believe in the Lord God too.’
‘I’m sorry, Lena,’ Lemesheva said with a nod. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you. Let’s continue … Romashova has probably been earning something from small-scale magic. Love potions, hate potions, hexes, removing curses …’
‘The standard charlatan’s stock-in-trade,’ I put in. ‘No wonder they didn’t bother to check her seriously.’
‘And what about monitoring her results and finding out if she really did help people?’ Lemesheva asked. ‘No, I’m going to write a report. If Zabulon thinks that’s good work – then fire me. It’s time for me to retire.’
Olga cleared her throat in warning.
‘I’m prepared to say it to his face!’ Lemesheva was obviously worked up. ‘Well, I ask you, they suspect a woman is a witch for four years, but they don’t bother to check properly It’s a standard procedure – we send an agent and monitor the discharge of power … And the Light Ones did it, by the way.’
So that was it. Now I understood and immediately gathered myself. This wasn’t going to be just an incident with a crazy witch who had done something she shouldn’t have. It was a fight with the Night Watch.
Vitaly growled indistinctly in his seat opposite me, more likely trying to keep his courage up than looking forward to the battle ahead. He’d grown lazy standing watch, this brave mouse-hunter. I smiled spitefully and the werewolf snarled and bared his teeth slightly. They had already started to grow, and his lower jaw was extending forward.
‘Vitaly, spare us the spectacle of transformation in the vehicle,’ Lemesheva said sharply. ‘In this heat the stink of dog will be quite unbearable!’
The trio of vampires on the back seat all began to laugh. I knew these guys quite well, they had been tried in action and on the whole I didn’t find them repellent at all, not like most non-life. Three brothers, born a year apart from each other, strong, well-built young men from an ordinary human family. The eldest had become a vampire first, when he was in a paratroop regiment, and he’d done it deliberately, out of ideological considerations – his commanding officer, who was a vampire, had suggested the young man should become a vampire too. Their unit was in action somewhere in the south at the time, things weren’t going too well, and the young man had agreed. Naturally, after that the unit became incredibly effective in battle. Killing a dozen enemies a night, penetrating the enemy’s rear line, walking past sentries without being seen – for a vampire, even an inexperienced one, all this is child’s play. Afterwards, when he returned to civilian life, the young man had told his younger brothers everything, and they had offered up their own throats.