Read Online The Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko - Free Book Online Page A

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.
    Carrying a body along a crowded street in the center of Moscow, close to the walls of the Kremlin, is not the most relaxing of occupations, even with the spell of inattention that Lemesheva had pronounced again. People didn’t look at us, they just quickened their step and walked around the procession. But the Twilight became agitated.
    The fabric of existence is woven too fine here. There’s too much blood, too many emotions, the traces of the past are too clearly evident. There are places like that, where the boundary between the human world and the Twilight is almost imperceptible, and the center of Moscow is one of them.
    If I’d been in a fit state, I would have seen the surges of Power emerging from the depths of a different reality.
    Probably even Zabulon couldn’t explain exactly what stands behind them. All that we could do was pay no attention to the greedy breathing of the Twilight that had sensed the death of a witch in magical combat.
    “Faster!” Lemesheva said, and the vampires quickened their stride. The Twilight must have become seriously agitated.
    Only I couldn’t tell any longer.
    We went in the door that was invisible to human beings, and Lena had to take me and Zhanna through. Our colleagues were already running toward us. The witch, who had started yelling again, was dragged off to the interrogation room on the tenth floor. Olga was handed directly to magicians from the department of healing (without the slightest hope of being able to help, but the fact of death had to be registered). One of the healers on duty examined us carefully. He shook his head disapprovingly as he assessed Zhanna’s condition and frowned when he looked at the battered vampires. But when he turned his attention to me, his face simply froze.
    “Is it really that bad?” I asked.
     
    “That’s putting it mildly,” he said without superfluous sentimentality. “Alisa, what were you thinking of when you gave out your Power?”
    “I was acting according to instructions,” I answered, feeling my tears welling up again. “Edgar would have been killed-he was up against two second-level magicians!”
    The healer nodded. “Very praiseworthy zeal, Alisa. But the price is very high