Although, of course, they could never admit it openly.

Chapter 5

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT HANDED OUT THE LUNCHES. I WAS OFFERED cognac again, but I refused. Enough already. I had to be in good form in Edinburgh.

Behind me Edgar ate with a hearty appetite. Gennady prodded pensively with his fork, picking out only the pieces of meat. When his gaze fell on me, I completely lost all desire to eat my own meat. It even took me some effort to get the salad and a piece of cheese down. It was really rather annoying that everything tasted so good. I ought to have ordered the vegetarian lunch.

Saushkin took a flask out of his pocket. He unscrewed the top and took a gulp, then he put the flask away, demonstratively licking his dark-stained lips.

“You know, Edgar, there’s one thing that surprises me,” I said in a quiet voice. “I thought you always had a dislike for bloodsuckers. Not to mention vampires who violated the Treaty…And you removed a criminal’s registration seal?”

“Calm down, Anton,” Edgar said peaceably. “When Gennady killed those Light Ones on the boulevard, it was only self-defense. And in Edinburgh…well, that was unfortunate. But it was self-defense too in a certain sense. Gennady didn’t even drink the boy. He didn’t like the idea of drinking one of Kostya’s friends, so he poured all the blood away…”

“And how did he reach the Higher level?” I asked, looking at Gennady.

The vampire opened his mouth just a crack, extending his fangs.

“His son left the recipe for ‘Saushkin’s Cocktail’ in his notes,” Edgar said coolly. “Sure, Gennady increased his level illegally. But he didn’t have to kill any people to do it…”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked, looking at Gennady. His fangs were extending farther and farther. I wondered what Schrodinger’s Cat would do if someone tried to bite me through its fluffy body.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Edgar asked, reaching out one hand and taking Gennady firmly by the shoulder. “Or is there something I don’t know about my comrade-in-arms?”

“He’s lying,” said Gennady. “He’s trying to set us against each other.”

“I don’t think so,” said Edgar, still holding the vampire’s shoulder, and perhaps even applying a little pressure to it now. “You’re very agitated, Gennady. Calm down.”

“I’m perfectly calm,” the vampire hissed.

“Have you killed people?” Edgar asked imperturbably. “There wasn’t any recipe for a cocktail left by your son, was there?”

“Yes, I’ve killed some,” Gennady said. He took the flask out again and shook it. “But there was a cocktail! This is it, Kostya’s cocktail. I didn’t go through all my papers right away, I had too many things on my mind! So I only read the letter in spring, and by then it was too late…So what?”

“They found fifty-two bodies drained of blood in his apartment,” I said. “Perhaps you were wondering what had got the Watches so heated? His own kind are ready to tear Gennady to pieces now. They’ve been left without licenses for five years!”

“That’s Gesar being too modest again,” Edgar commented. “In his place I would have demanded ten. It’s outrageous. I had my suspicions in the matter. Outrageous! Gennady, that’s not the way to do things! We’re all one team!”

“Are we still one team?” Gennady asked.

Edgar sighed. “Yes. What’s done can’t be undone…But why did you do it?”

“How was I to know that you would come and find me?” the vampire asked. “I wanted my revenge on Anton. And how can a weak vampire take his revenge on a Higher One? I had to build myself up. It’s all his fault!”

This was an excuse that would never go out of fashion, I thought. Not only among the sons of Darkness, but among the most ordinary of human scum:

It was all his fault! He had an apartment, a car, and an expensive cell phone, and all I had was three rubles, chronic alcoholism, and a hangover every morning. That was why I waited for him in the gateway with a brick… She had longlegs, she was seventeen, and she had a handsome boyfriend, and I had impotence, a porn magazine under my pillow, and a face like a gorilla. I just had to attack her in the hallway when she walked in, humming to herself, with her lips still hot from kisses… He had an interesting job, work assignments all over the world, and a good reputation, and I had a degree diploma that I bought, a petty job working under him, and chronic idleness. That was the reason I fixed things so that he would be accused of embezzlement and kicked out of the firm…

They’re all the same, these people and these Others who are desperate for glory, money, or blood and have discovered that the shortest path is always the Dark one.

There’s always somebody who’s getting in their way and somebody who’s to blame…

Probably when Gennady Saushkin wanted to save his little son he really was trying to do good. He didn’t have a soul, but in his mind and his heart, he simply couldn’t accept Kostya’s death. Just as he didn’t want to accept it now. And the Dark way had proved so simple and so short…

For a long time he had teetered on the very brink, if a vampire still has that option open to him. He hadn’t killed people. He had even tried to be honest and kind, and he had managed it. He had even managed to bring Kostya up almost as a human being.

But what makes the short roads different is that you have to pay a toll for using them. And on the Dark roads they don’t like to announce the charge until the end of the journey.

“Are you satisfied with his explanations?” I asked.

“I’m disappointed,” Edgar replied. “But there’s nothing to be done about it now.”

“There are some things that you can’t put right,” I agreed.

But to myself I added, And there are some that you can.

The Twilight customs counter at Edinburgh was empty. There were some forms lying there and even a search amulet, glowing an even, milky-white color. The last Other to pass this way had been a Light One. There were no Others on duty.

Edgar pulled me into the Twilight. I still couldn’t use magic with that damned Schrodinger’s Cat squirming on my neck and occasionally sticking its claws out. I took one look at Gennady and turned away. He was an appalling sight. What was it Zabulon had said about human children playing at vampires? They ought to be shown what a vampire really looked like. Cheeks eaten away by ulcers; ashen-gray skin; vacant, cloudy-white eyes like hard-boiled eggs with the shell removed.

We walked past the counter and through a door that was closed in the real world, into some kind of service corridor. We went into a small room that was either a poorly furnished janitor’s office or a storeroom for lumber that was already worn out but not yet written off. Chairs with their backs torn away and broken legs, shelves full of dusty boxes and jars, rolls of murky-colored flooring material.

Edgar jerked me by the shoulder and pulled me back into the real world. I sneezed. It was definitely a temporary storeroom for junk. I blinked as my eyes grew accustomed to the dim lighting-the windows were completely shut off by blinds. I laughed. Well, now I could award myself another point in this game.

Sitting in a chair that was better preserved than all the others was a beautiful woman with black hair. Her simple everyday clothes-trousers and a blouse-seemed entirely inappropriate on her. She ought to have had a long dress that emphasized her femininity or something light and airy, white and transparent, or nothing at all.

But she would have made any clothes look good. Even a hobo’s old suit.

I admired her once again. Just as I had the first time our paths had crossed.

“Hello, Arina,” I said.

“Hello, sorcerer.” She held out her hand, and I pressed my lips to the palm.

Even though I had seen her in her Twilight form.