The Twilight Watch Read Online Free Page B

building, that must have
been where the Inquisition kept all its files. Even I didn't know
that for sure. Anyway, by sending the letter to the Inquisition, this
person . . . or Other . . . has thrown down the gauntlet. Now the
Inquisition will be after them. The official reason will be that security
has been breached and an attempt is being made to initiate
a human being. But in reality, what's driving them is concern for
their own skin.'
    'I wouldn't have thought it was like them to feel afraid for
themselves,' I said.
    'Oh yes, and how, Anton! Here's a little something for you to
think about . . .Why aren't there any traitors in the Inquisition?
Dark Ones and Light Ones join them. They go through their
training. And then the Dark Ones punish Dark Ones severely, and
the Light Ones punish Light Ones, the very moment they violate
the Treaty.'
    'A special character type,' I suggested. 'They select Others who
are like that.'
    'And they never make a mistake?' Gesar asked sceptically. 'That
couldn't happen. Yet in the whole of history, there has never been
a single case of an Inquisitor violating the Treaty.'
    'They obviously understand too clearly what violating the Treaty
leads to. There was one Inquisitor in Prague who told me: "We
are constrained by fear".'
    Gesar frowned:
    'Witiezslav – he's fond of fine phrases . . . All right, don't bother
your head about that. The situation's simple: there's an Other who
is either in violation of the Treaty or taunting the Watches and
the Inquisition. The Inquisition will conduct their investigation,
the Dark Ones will conduct theirs. And we are required to send
a staff member too.'
    'May I ask why me in particular?'
    Gesar spread his hands expressively again:
    'For a number of reasons. The first is that in the course of the
investigation you'll probably come up against vampires. And you're
our top specialist on the lower Dark Ones.'
    He didn't seem to be making fun of me.
    'The second reason,' Gesar went on, opening the fingers of his
fist as he counted, 'is that the investigators officially appointed by
the Inquisition are old friends of yours. Witiezslav and Edgar.'
    'Edgar's in Moscow?' I asked, surprised. I couldn't say that I
actually liked this Dark Magician who had transferred to the
Inquisition three years earlier. But I could say that I didn't really
dislike him.
    'Yes, he is. He completed his training course four months ago
and flew back here. Since this job means you'll be in contact with
Inquisitors, any previous personal acquaintance is useful.'
    'My acquaintance with them wasn't all that enjoyable,' I reminded
him.
    'What do you think I'm offering you here, Thai massage during
working hours?' Gesar asked cantankerously. 'The third reason why
I particularly wanted to give this assignment to you is . . .' He
stopped.
    I waited.
    'The Dark Ones' investigation is also being conducted by an
old acquaintance of yours.'
    Gesar didn't need to mention the name. But he did anyway.
    'Konstantin. The young vampire . . . your former neighbour. I
recall that you used to be on good terms.'
    'Yes, of course,' I said bitterly. 'When he was still a child, only
drank pig's blood and dreamed of escaping from the "curse" . . .
Until he realised that his friend the Light Magician burns his kind
to ashes.'
    'That's life,' said Gesar.
    'He's already drunk human blood,' I said. 'He must have! If he's
in favour in the Day Watch.'
    'He has become a Higher Vampire,' Gesar declared. 'The youngest
Higher Vampire in Europe. If you translate that into our terms,
that means . . .'
    'Third or fourth level of power,' I whispered. 'Five or six lives
destroyed.'
    Kostya, Kostya . . . I was a young, inexperienced Light Magician
back then. I just couldn't make any friends in the Watch, and all
my old friendships were rapidly falling apart . . . Others and
people can't be friends . . . and suddenly I discovered that my
neighbours were Dark Others. A family of vampires. The mother
and father were vampires, and