Chapter 3 Chapter 1

The night got off to a bad start. When I woke up, it was just dark.I lay, lost in thought, watching the last light fading through the chinks in the shutters. Fifth night of hunting - nothing, no luck today. It was cold in the apartment, and the radiators were only warming slightly.The only reason I like winter is that it gets dark quickly and there are few pedestrians on the road.Look here... I've had enough of everything, I really want to leave Moscow and go to Yalta near the Black Sea or somewhere in Sochi.I only go to the Black Sea, not to those distant islands in other warm oceans: I like being surrounded by my mother tongue.

Of course these are stupid ideas. It's too early for me to go to a warm place to rest. I am not qualified yet. The phone rang rapidly and obnoxiously.I reached for the receiver and stuck it to my ear—I was silent and said nothing. "Anton, answer." I am silent.Larissa's voice was professional, but tired.Apparently, she hadn't slept all night. "Anton, do you want to speak to the boss?" "No." I muttered. "Okay. Are you awake?" "yes." "You're still the same as usual today." "What happened again?"

"No, nothing." "Is there anything for breakfast?" "I'll look for it." "That's good. Good luck." Wishes are listless and boring.Larissa didn't believe me, and the boss probably didn't either. "Thank you." I said to the hung up phone.I got up and went around the toilet and bathroom.I wanted to squeeze the toothpaste onto the toothbrush, but then I thought of something to do in a hurry, so I put it on the side of the washbasin. It was pitch dark in the kitchen, but I still didn't bother to turn on the light.I opened the freezer door - a unscrewed light bulb was already frozen with the food.I looked at the pot and it was covered with a colander.There was a half-thawed piece of meat in the colander.I took the colander away, brought the pot to my mouth and took a sip.

If anyone thinks that pig's blood tastes good, he is wrong. Putting back the pot containing the remaining blood, I went into the bathroom.Dim, blue-glowing lights barely drove the darkness away.After brushing my teeth vigorously for a long time, I couldn't resist going into the kitchen again and took a sip of the vodka that was frozen in the freezer.The stomach is not warm, but hot.It gives people a strange feeling of cold on the teeth and heat in the stomach. "Call yourself..." I was about to say the boss, but I woke up just in time.He could even feel the curse of being unprofessional.When I got back to my room, I started picking up the laundry that was strewn everywhere.The pants were found under the bed, the socks were on the windowsill, and the shirt somehow hung on the North Korean Chuyong mask.

The ancient Joseon emperor looked at me disapprovingly. "Take a good look at the house." I muttered.Just then, the phone rang again.I jumped up across the room and found the microphone. "Anton, do you want to say something to me?" asked an unseen interlocutor. "No." I said sullenly. "Okay. You should add 'At your service, my lord.'" "Not willingly, but obliged to oblige, my lord." The boss was silent for a while and said: "Anton, I ask you to take the status quo seriously, okay? I'll wait for your report in the morning, anytime, anywhere. Okay... I wish you success."

I am not ashamed.But the anger subsided.I put my phone in my coat pocket and opened the wardrobe in the outer hall.Think about what outfit to equip yourself with.Friends gave me some new clothes last week, but I settled for a plain, simple and functional outfit. I took another mini walkman.I don't need sound, but boredom is a relentless enemy. Before going out, I looked for a long time through the peephole in the door to the landing—no one. And just like that, another night began. I walked on the subway for more than six hours, going from one branch to another in a random way.Take a nap from time to time to relax your senses.It was pretty quiet all around, but I still saw some interesting things, but all the situations are normal for newbies.It was only when it was almost eleven o'clock that there were few people in the subway, and the situation changed.

I sit with my eyes closed.This evening, I have been listening to Manfredini's Fifth Symphony for the third time.The discs in the Walkman were recorded by myself.It contained miscellaneous recordings of medieval Italians, Bach's "Elyssa," and works by Rich Blackmore and the Picnic. Interesting, it's always a coincidence that something happens when you listen to the melody.Today's luck fell on Manfredini. My whole body was tense, and I twitched from my heels to the back of my head. I cried out in pain, and at the same time I opened my eyes and looked around the car.

My eyes immediately locked on a girl, a young and lovely girl.She was wearing a dapper fur coat and was carrying a bag and a book.A whirlwind of black gas swirled above her head—the kind I hadn't seen in three years. Maybe there was something wrong with my eyes, the girl noticed it, glanced at me, and immediately turned around. You better look up! No, of course she couldn't see the black air. At most she could feel a little uneasiness.Although the light is very dim, even with the corner of my eye, I can find something shaking on her head... It's like dust falling into her eyes, and it's shaking like the air current evaporated from the asphalt road on a hot day.

She could see nothing, nothing.She would have lived a day or two if she hadn't wrestled in the ice and snow and hadn't suffered a mortal head injury.Maybe she will be hit by a car, maybe she will be stabbed by a gangster at the entrance of the corridor... The gangster who stabbed her will not understand why he killed this girl.People would say, "How young to die so early. What a pity, so likable." Yeah, of course.She did have a kind and pretty face, tired but not fierce.With a girl like that, you feel like a different person, desperate to be better.But it's also a burden, and it's tiring.It's best to be friends with such a person, flirt occasionally, and be honest with each other.Such people are rarely loved, but everyone loves them—except someone who once paid a dark magician.

The black cyclone is actually a common phenomenon. If you observe carefully, you will find that there are five or six similar black air hanging over the heads of the passengers.These cyclones are dim and faint, spinning slightly.This is the result of the most common non-professional curses.For example, someone throws a sentence at someone's back: "Go to hell," or someone expresses it more simply and gently: "Damn it." Then the black cyclone coming from the dark side will draw your power, let Things are not going your way. It's just that such a common, unprofessional and unprofessional curse can only work for an hour or two, at most it can last for a whole day and night.The consequences of this curse, while unpleasant, are not fatal.But the curse on this girl was created by a real experienced magician.The girl herself didn't know that she was no different from a dead person.

I reached into my pocket unconsciously, and I frowned knowing where I was.Why are mobile phones not working in the subway?Don't people with mobile phones take the subway? Now I am torn between a dilemma—I should do the basic task even if there is no hope of success; I can save this dead girl, but I don't know if I can help her.But no matter what, I have the responsibility to track down the creator of this black air... At this moment, I was attacked a second time, this time different from the last one.No cramping or pain, just dry throat and tingling gums.Blood vessels in his temples throbbed and his fingertips began to itch. yes! But why did it come at such an inopportune time. I stood up - the train began to slow down in front of the station.As I walked past the girl, I felt her looking at me, and staring at me from behind as I walked forward.She is afraid.It seemed that although she couldn't feel the black air hanging over her head, she still felt uneasy.This forces her to be aware of the people around her. Maybe that's why she's alive until now. I try not to look in her direction.Reaching into my pocket, I found the amulet—a stick ground from onyx.I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of another way. No, there is no other way out. I hold the onyx stick in my hand.The fingers start to tingle, and then the agate stick heats up, releasing the built-up energy.This feeling is not fake, but this heat is not what a thermometer can measure.I felt like I was holding a coal from a fire.A piece of charcoal covered with cold ash on the surface, but still hot in the middle... I drew the talisman completely, and glanced at the girl.The swirling black air trembled and bent slightly in my direction.It is so strong that it even sprouts intelligence. I attacked. If there is even one other in the carriage, or even on the entire train, then it will see a dazzling flash of light that can instantly penetrate metal and concrete... I have never attacked black gas with such a complicated structure.I have also never used an amulet with such powerful energy. The effect was completely unexpected.Those curses hanging over the heads of others were completely lifted.A middle-aged woman patted her forehead wearily and looked at her palm in surprise—the migraine suddenly disappeared.A young man stared dully at the glass window, then shivered all over, his face relaxed, and the slight melancholy in his eyes disappeared. The swirling black air above the girl's head was swept away about five meters and jumped out of the carriage.But its structure persisted, and it zigzagged back toward the victim. Look how strong it is! See how purposeful it is! It is said that if the black air is forced back even two or three meters away, it will lose its direction and stick to the nearest person.To be honest, I have not seen this phenomenon myself.This situation is also bad, but other people's curses are much weaker, and the new victim still has a chance of being rescued. And this swirling black air moved back again, like a faithful dog returning to its master in distress. The car stopped.I took one last look at the black air—it was hanging over the girl's head again, and it even accelerated the rotation speed... There is no way, I really have nothing to do.The platform next to it is where I patrol in Moscow this week. I can't cross it and follow a girl, or the boss will eat me alive... Maybe, this is not just a metaphor... As the car door creaked open, I took one last look at the girl—a hasty memory of her bioelectric field.There were not many chances of finding her again in the big cities.I should try it anyway, but not right now. I rushed out of the car and looked around.I'm really inexperienced in field work, and that's absolutely true.But I don't like the training method he uses. How the hell did you find the target? I look at these people with the eyes of ordinary people, and they are all suspicious.Up to now, there are still many passengers crowded here - after all, it is the "Kursk" station of the ring line, there are passengers coming out of the train station, there are also scattered vendors, and there are people who are eager to transfer to the residential area ... I close my eyes slightly, and I can observe a more interesting scene - a bioelectric field that is usually dim in the evening.Among them, someone's hatred appeared as a red spot, a group of dazzling orange lights were flashing, obviously eager to go to bed, and some limp gray-brown strips of gas gradually disintegrated, which were the creatures of drunks electric field. There is no trace.I just have a dry throat, itchy gums, and a pounding heart.There is a taste of blood on the lips.Growing restless. The signs of all this are indirect and at the same time too obvious to ignore them. who is it?who? The train started behind me, and the sense of the object's proximity remained undiminished—that is to say, we were very close at this moment.A train is coming.I felt the subject moving, walking towards the train. go ahead! I crossed the platform and zigzagged through the crowd of trains rushing to the station. At the end of the train, the sense of the target began to weaken, and I ran to the front of the train again... yes... it felt like the target was getting closer... It's like playing that little kid's game called "hot-cold." People walked into the car, I ran along the car, I felt my mouth was full of sticky saliva, my teeth began to hurt, my fingers trembled... English songs were sung in the earphones: Oops, that's so aptly sung, surprisingly aptly... Not a good sign. I jumped into the door that was about to close and stood there dumbfounded, carefully capturing my feelings.Guess right?Or still can't lock onto the target... You guessed it, it was this carriage. As the train speeds along the circle, my instincts explode, "Here! Beside!" Maybe, I can guess who it is by following this carriage? I took a furtive look at my fellow travellers, and lost hope.There isn't anyone particularly noteworthy here. No way, just keep waiting... When I arrived at the stop of "Heping Avenue", I felt that the target was leaving.I jumped out of the car to change cars, not far away, right in front of me... On the fan-shaped platform, the sense of the target's looming has become almost unbearable.I found several more candidates--two girls, a young man, and a little boy.They are all potential candidates, but who is among them? Four of my subjects got into the same car.That was success, I followed them into the car and waited. A girl got off at the "Riga" station. The sense of purpose has not diminished. The boy got off at the station "Alekseevsky". awesome!Is it the girl or the little boy?Who are they? I secretly looked at the two of them.The girl was plump, with rosy cheeks, and she was reading the Komsomolskaya magazine earnestly, without any sign of uneasiness on her face.On the contrary, the little boy was slender and thin, standing at the door of the car, scribbling with one finger on the glass window. In my opinion, the girl is more persuasive, that's her. But, in general, it also depends on gender. I have begun to hear the calling.It is not yet a sentence, just a soft, slow melody.The sound in the earphones suddenly became inaudible, and the call easily covered the music. Neither the girl nor the boy showed signs of uneasiness.Maybe they have a lot of patience, or on the contrary - they give in all at once. When the train was approaching the "National Economic Achievements Exhibition Hall" station, the little boy withdrew his hand from the glass window, got on the platform, and hurried towards the old exit.The girl stayed. Really bad! When they were together, I couldn't figure out which of them my feelings came from! At this time, the melody of the call sounded cheerfully, with code words in it. A woman's voice. I stepped out of the closing car door and hurriedly followed the little boy. great.The hunt is drawing to a close. Just my depleted talisman? There were very few people, there were only four of us on the escalator.The little boy was in front, behind him a woman with a baby, then me, and behind him a wrinkled, elderly colonel.The army man's bioelectric field is beautiful, composed of brilliant steel gray and baby blue tones.I even thought mockingly and tiredly that I could call him for help.People like him still live in "soldier's honor" to this day. But the old colonel is not as effective as catching an elephant with a flyswatter. I stopped thinking about it, looked at the little boy again, and closed my eyes to explore his bioelectric field. The results were dismal. He was enveloped in a flickering, translucent light, red at one moment, rich green at another, and dark blue at another moment. rare phenomenon.An unformed fate.Fuzzy potential energy.A little boy may grow up to be a big villain, a good person, or a person who is nothing and does nothing, in fact--there are the majority of such people in the world.So people often say that everything is in the future.A similar aura is generally possessed by two or three-year-old children, but it is difficult to see in some older children. Now I understand why the call was directed at him.Anyway, he is a delicacy. I feel like my mouth is full of drool. The time dragged on too long, too long... I looked at the little boy, at the thin neck in the scarf, and cursed the boss, cursed the customs, cursed the etiquette—cursed everything that made me work.I had itchy gums and a dry throat again. Blood has a bitter salty taste, but only blood can quench thirst. Damn it! The little boy jumped off the escalator, ran down the hall, and disappeared behind the glass doors.Immediately I felt lighter.I slowed down and followed behind. I took a look at the little boy's actions: he jumped into the underground passage.He ran, the magical call pulling him, ordering him to meet it. faster! When I ran into the small shop, I threw two coins to the salesman, trying not to show my teeth when I said: "Six rubles with rings." Slowly the acne-stricken lad—who himself seemed to have warmed himself at work—delivered the drink, honestly reminding: "It's not very good, but it's not poisonous, 'Dolokhov' Yes, but after all..." "Health is more important," I said emphatically.The wine is obviously fake, but it's ok for me now.With one hand I tore off the metal ringed cover, and with the other I pulled out my phone and dialed.The salesperson's eyes widened.I took a sip as I walked—the wine smelled of kerosene, and the taste was even worse. It was obviously fake, and it was dispensed secretly—I ran towards the passage. "Hi." This is not Larissa, Pavel is usually on duty at night. "I'm Anton. I'm outside, near the 'Universe' hotel. Following." "Want group support?" The other party asked with interest. "Yes." I have exhausted the power of the amulet. "What happened?" The homeless man curled up in the middle of the aisle held out his hand, as if expecting me to give him the open bottle.I ran from the side. "Something's wrong over there... Come on, Pavel." "Colleagues are already on their way." I suddenly felt like my upper and lower jaw had been pierced by a red-hot needle.Cough, you bastard... "Basha, I am not responsible for my actions." I said quickly and hung up the phone.He stopped in front of the police on duty. always like this! Why do defenders of the human order always appear when they are not needed? "My name is Serrant Kaminsky," said the young policeman deftly, "your papers." I would like to see, what crime can I get, drinking in public?This is the most likely one. I reached into my pocket and touched the amulet.It's slightly warm, but it doesn't need to be too hot this time. "I'm not here," I said. Two pairs of eyes that had long regarded me as prey looked me up and down, and then lowered their eyes, losing the last trace of rationality in their eyes. "You are not here," they both repeated in unison. No time to chat with them.I threw out the first sentence that popped into my head: "You guys go buy a few bottles of wine and take a break. Quick! Run!" It seemed that my suggestion had hit their favor, and the police, hand in hand, ran down the aisle to the kiosk like children playing a game together.I am a little embarrassed to think of the consequences of my advice, but there is no time to turn things around. When I came out of the passage I was convinced it was too late.No, it's strange that the little boy didn't go far.He stood there, shaking slightly, about a hundred meters away from me.Look at this resistance!The power of the call is so powerful, it makes people wonder why the few pedestrians didn't jump up?Why didn't the trolleybus come through the doorway from the street, for good luck? The little boy looked back.It seemed to see me, and then walked forward quickly. It's over, it's broken. I followed, thinking rapidly about what to do next.You might as well wait for the people in the group, they will come in ten minutes, not more than ten minutes. This is not a good thing for the little boy. Mercy is a dangerous thing.I fell into it twice today.The first time was trying to fight off the black cyclone in the subway, exhausting the energy of the amulet in vain, and now, following behind the little boy. Years ago, someone said to me a statement that I disagreed with, and I still don't agree with, even though it has been proven to be true many times over. "The interests of the masses and the interests of individuals are difficult to coincide..." Yes, I understand, this is the truth. I ran to follow the call, the call I heard may not be the same as the little boy heard.This calling is a seductive melody for him, beguiling and bewildering, losing will and strength.For me it's the opposite, a pulse-pounding alarm. The blood is rushing... My body, which I had tortured for a week, rebelled.I want to drink—not water—I can quench my thirst with dirty snow from the city which does no harm; not wine—a bottle of impure bad liquor in my hand can do no harm. I want to drink blood.And it's not pig's blood, not cow's blood, but human blood.This damn hunt... "You should pass this," said the boss. "You've been in the analysis department for five years—a little long, don't you think?" I don't know, maybe it's a bit long, but I like it. Besides, the boss himself has not fought in actual combat for more than a hundred years. I walked past the brightly lit windows filled with faux food in fake Grelli ceramics.The cars on the nearby street were speeding, and there were few pedestrians.This is also a fake, an illusion, the only interface in the world that people can reach.Fortunately, I am not human. In the non-stop running, I summoned the Twilight Realm. The world sighed as it stepped aside, casting a long, thin shadow like an airport searchlight hitting me from behind.The shadow rose up and gradually gained scale; the shadow extended to its own space—a space where there was no shadow at all; the shadow left the dirty asphalt road, stood up straight, like a thick Pillars of smoke; shadows run ahead of me... I quickened my running speed, pierced through the gray shadows, and entered the twilight world.The color of the world dimmed, and the cars on the street seemed to slow down and freeze. I'm getting closer to my destination. By the time I got through the gate, I was already thinking about the ending—the body of the immobile, heart-emptied, drained boy and the vampire slipping away. However, I showed up just in time. The little boy was standing in front of the young female vampire baring her fangs, slowly pulling down her scarf.He wasn't necessarily afraid at the moment—the call knocked him completely unconscious.He was probably fantasizing about touching those sharp, shiny tusks. Next to it stood a male vampire.Immediately I felt that he was the master of the pair: he had created the vampire, he had trained her to drink blood.The most damning thing - he has a mark officially registered in Moscow.The beast! But my chances of success are 10% higher. The vampires turned to me, flustered and unaware of what was about to happen.The little boy was in their twilight, and I couldn't and shouldn't see him... any more than I could see them. Then the boy's face widened, and he even smiled--a friendly, quiet smile and said: "Hello." He treats me like one of his own.Don't blame him for his misidentification: I'm really one of them at the moment, more or less.A week of preparation wasn't in vain: I began to feel what they felt, but I almost shifted to the dark side myself. "Night Watch," I said.I stretched out the hand holding the amulet, its energy has been released, but this will not be so easy to detect from a distance, "Come out of the twilight world!" Presumably the boy would have given in, he didn't want me to know the long trails of blood he left behind, and he wanted his behavior to be characterized as an "illegal attempt to cooperate with humans".But the girl didn't have his patience, the ability to understand what was going on. "Ah-ah-ah-ah!!!" She dragged her voice, howling, and rushed towards me.Luckily, she wasn't biting the little boy with her fangs: at the moment she couldn't help herself, like a druggie who had just pulled a syringe out of a vein, like a nymphomaniac on the verge of orgasm. For an ordinary person, her jumping speed was too fast, and no one could stop her. But I'm evenly matched with vampires.I raised my hand and poured the opened wine directly on her twisted face. Why do vampires have such a hard time with alcohol? The terrible howl turned into a scream.The female vampire turned in circles, beating her face with both hands, and the skin and light gray flesh fell off layer by layer.The male vampire turned and ran. There's nothing complicated about all of this.The registered male vampire—not a stranger from outside, had to fight with him on an equal footing.Throwing the bottle at the vampire with one hand, I reached out with the other—and caught the string on the registration mark that had just come loose.The male vampire screamed hoarsely, clutching his throat. "Come out of Twilight!" I yelled. He seemed to understand that things were going badly, and he jumped at me, trying to loosen the string that was holding him by the throat.He stuck out his fangs as he lunged, and began to deform. If the amulet had enough power, I'd just stun him. And in the present situation I had to kill him. I issued a silent command, and the shimmering blue mark on the male vampire's chest made a creaking sound.A surge of energy injected by someone much more capable than I was poured into the flesh of death.The vampire still wants to run.He was well fed, his body was strong, and the life of others was still feeding the dead form.But it's not impossible to resist the blows of this force: now he's skinny, with mucus dripping from his eye sockets.Then the spine snapped in two, and the quivering remnant plopped in front of me. I turned away—the vampire might have revived by this time.But she was no longer a threat.The vampire girl ran across the yard at breakneck speed.She never came out of the twilight world, so I was the only one who saw this shocking scene.And of course those dogs.Somewhere nearby a puppy was barking hysterically.It hates and fears, which is what dogs have always felt about half-dead people since ancient times. I don't have the strength to chase the female vampire anymore.Leaning over, I collected some leftover bioelectric fields—dried, gray, decayed.We will find her.Now she can't hide anywhere. Where is that boy? Coming out of the twilight world created by vampires, he may lose his memory or become a vegetable.He was no longer in the gate.It is impossible for him to run past me... I walked from the gate to the yard, and I really saw the little boy.He could run almost faster than the female vampire.very impressive!Miracle.He doesn't need help.Too bad he remembered everything that happened, but who would believe this little boy?In the morning, everything in his memory would dim and fade away, turning into an unrealistic nightmare. Or was it better to catch up with the little boy? "Anton." Our inseparable duo, Igor and Garico, came running down the road. "The female vampire is gone!" I yelled. Garico kicked the withered corpse of the vampire as he ran, picking up a crumb in the cold air, and shouted: "Plastified!" I passed on the description of the female vampire to him, and Garico frowned and quickened his pace.The combat team members ran to chase the female vampire.Igor said while running: "Take out the trash!" I nodded, as if they needed an answer, and stepped out of my twilight world of invisibility.The world is bright.The shadows of the combat team members gradually disappeared, and even the snow in the real life of human beings was not trampled by those invisible feet. I sighed and walked over to a gray "Volvo" parked on the side of the road.There are some simple tools on the back seat, a strong plastic bag, a shovel and a broom.It took me about five minutes to hug the almost weightless remnant of the vampire and stash the pocket in the trunk of the car.I shoveled a lot of dirty snow from the loose snowdrift left by the lazy yard sweeper, and sprinkled it on the door. Then I stuffed the remaining rotten things into the dirty snow, stomped on it for a while, and said to myself: No need for a human funeral, you're not human... It's all over now. I got back in the car, sat at the wheel, and unbuttoned my coat.everything is fine.Even good.The lead vampire is dead, the buddies will catch his girlfriend, and the little boy lives. I can imagine how happy the chief will be!

---

Notes: