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

Watch.
    Vitaly growled indistinctly in his seat opposite me, more likely trying to keep his courage up than expressing delight at 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 stretching 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 backseat all began to laugh. I knew those guys quite well; they had been tested in action, and by and large, I didn’t find them repulsive at all-not like most non-life. Three brothers, born a year apart, strong, well-built young men from an ordinary human family. The eldest had become a vampire first, when he was working in a regiment of paratroopers, 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.
    Of course, 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. Afterward, when he returned to civilian life, the young man had told his younger brothers everything, and they had offered up their own throats for biting.
    “Anna Tikhonovna, how many of them are there?” Olga asked. “The Light Ones?”
    “A few. Four… maybe five. But”-Lemesheva ran her stern gaze over all of us-“you mustn’t relax, girls. There’s at least one second-level Light magician.”
    The oldest vampire brother whistled. Facing a magician, especially one that powerful, was beyond a vampire’s abilities. And if there were two of them…
    “And the girl shape-shifter’s there,” said Lemesheva, looking at me.
    I clenched my teeth. So, Tiger Cub was there. The shape-shifting battle magician, as the Light Ones preferred to call her. An old acquaintance of mine… and a close one. I seemed to feel an ache in my left arm, which she had once pulled out of its socket. And I remembered the wounds on my face-four bloody lines from her claws.
    But Zabulon himself had helped me then. He had healed me completely so there was no damage either to my appearance or my health. And I used to go into battle boldly and cheerfully, feeling his approving glance and restrained, patient smile.
    It’s over. That’s all behind you now, Aliska. What used to he is gone now. Forget it and don’t torment yourself. If they tear your face, you’ll have to wear the paranjah all the time, until your turn comes for magical healing, and the line’s six months long. And you’ll be lucky if they consider you worthy of complete healing, including cosmetic magic…
    “Everybody check your equipment,” Anna Lemesheva commanded.
    The girls started bustling about, and I patted my pockets, checking on the tiny packets, little bottles, and amulets. A witch’s Power doesn’t lie only in controlling energy through the Twilight. We also employ auxiliary means, which is what really distinguishes us from sorceresses.
    “Alisa?”
    I looked at Lemesheva.
    “Do you have any suggestions?”
    That was better. I had to think about the future, not about the past.
     
    “The operatives can neutralize Tiger Cub. All four of them.”
    “We don’t need any help, Aliska,” the oldest vampire brother said good-naturedly. “We’ll manage.”
    Lemesheva thought for a moment and nodded
    “All right, the three of you work together. Vitaly, you’re with me, my reserve.”
    The werewolf smiled happily. What a fool. Anna Lemesheva would toss him into the fire like a splinter of wood.
    Right into the very hottest spot.
    “And the