The Twilight Watch Read Online Free

either
composed by a human being, or by a competent Other who can
cover his tracks. If it's a human being, then there has to be a leak
somewhere. If it's an Other, then it's a totally irresponsible act of
provocation.'
    'No traces at all?' I asked again to make sure.
    'None. The only clue is the postmark.' Gesar frowned. 'But that
looks very much like a red herring.'
    'Was the letter sent from the Kremlin then?' I quipped.
    'Almost. The postbox the letter was left in is located on the
grounds of the Assol complex.'
    Great tall buildings with red roofs – the kind that Comrade
Stalin would have approved of. I'd seen them. But only from a
distance.
    'You can't just go walking in there!'
    'No, you can't,' Gesar said with a nod. 'So, in sending the letter
from the Assol residences after all this subterfuge with the paper,
the glue and the letters, our unknown correspondent either
committed a crude error . . .'
    I shook my head.
    'Or he's leading us onto a false trail . . .' At this point Gesar
paused, observing my reaction closely.
    I thought for a moment. And then shook my head again:
    'That's very naïve. No.'
    'Or the "wellwisher",' Gesar pronounced the final word with
frank sarcasm, 'really does want to give us a clue.'
    'What for?' I asked.
    'He sent the letter for some reason,' Gesar reminded me. 'As
you well understand, Anton, we have to react to this letter somehow.
Let's assume the worst – there's a traitor among the Others who
can reveal the secret of our existence to the human race.'
    'But who's going to believe him?'
    'They won't believe a human being. But they will believe an
Other who can demonstrate his abilities.'
    Gesar was right, of course. But I couldn't make sense of why
anyone would do such a thing. Even the most stupid and malicious
Dark One had to understand what would happen after the
truth was revealed.
    A new witch hunt.
    And people would gladly cast both the Dark Ones and the
Light Ones in the role of witches. Everyone who possessed the
abilities of an Other . . .
    Including Sveta. Including little Nadya.
    'How is it possible "to turn this human being into an Other"?'
I asked. 'Vampirism?'
    'Vampires, werewolves . . .' Gesar shrugged. 'That's it, I suppose.
Initiation is possible at the very crudest, most primitive levels of
Dark power, but it would have to be paid for by sacrificing the
human essence. It's impossible to make a human being into a magician
by initiation.'
    'Nadiushka . . .' I whispered. 'You rewrote Svetlana's Book of
Destiny, didn't you?'
    Gesar shook his head:
    'No, Anton. Your daughter was destined to be born a Great
One. All we did was make the sign more precise. We eliminated
the element of chance.'
    'Egor,' I reminded him. 'The boy had already become a Dark
Other . . .'
    'But we erased the specific quality of his initiation. Gave him
a chance to choose again,' Gesar replied. 'Anton, all the interventions
that we are capable of have to do only with the choice of
"Dark" or "Light". But there's no way we can make the choice
between "human" or "Other". No one in this world can do that.'
    'Then that means we're talking about vampires,' I said. 'Supposing
the Dark Ones have another vampire who's fallen in love . . .'
    Gesar spread his hands helplessly:
    'Could be. Then everything's more or less simple. The Dark
Ones will check their riff-raff, it's in their interest as much as ours
. . . And yes, by the way, they received a letter too. Exactly the
same. And sent from Assol too.'
    'How about the Inquisition, did they get one?'
    'You get shrewder and shrewder all the time,' Gesar laughed.
'They also got one. By post. From Assol.'
    Gesar was clearly hinting at something. I thought for a moment
and drew yet another shrewd conclusion.
    'Then the investigation is being conducted by both Watches
and the Inquisition?'
    There was a brief flicker of dissatisfaction in Gesar's glance.
    'Yes, that's the way it is. When it's absolutely necessary, in a
private capacity, it is permissible to reveal