'Don't waste your time,' I said. 'Let's go.'
Just at that moment a Dark portal opened only two metres away from us.
First a blast of cold chilled me to the bone, and I started thinking fondly of the heat in the human world. Then the moss burst into flames and burned all the way down the street. Naturally Zabulon hadn't set it on fire deliberately, it was just that the opening of the portal had spilled out so much power that the moss couldn't assimilate it all.
'Zabulon,' whispered Alisa.
From out of the paving stones about five metres away a ray of violet light shot up into the sky. The flash blinded me and I automatically squeezed my eyes shut. When I looked in that direction again, there was a bluish-black bubble hanging in the grey mist, with something looking vaguely like a man clambering out of it – bristling with spiny scales. Zabulon had responded to the summons by travelling through the second or third level of the Twilight. The time we were moving in would have seemed as slow there as human time did to us.
I suddenly had the old feeling of powerlessness that I thought I'd come to terms with a long time ago. The powers that Zabulon or Gesar used so casually were so far beyond me that I simply couldn't comprehend them.
'Zabulon!' Still holding her hands behind her back, Alisa raced towards the monstrous creature and pressed herself against it, burying her face in the bristly scales. 'Help me, help me!'
Of course, Zabulon hadn't appeared in demonic form just to make an impression on me. In human form he wouldn't have survived a minute in the deep layers of the Twilight. And he'd probably had to travel for hours, if not days.
The monster cast a baleful glance at me from the narrow slits of its eyes. A long forked tongue slithered out of its mouth and slid across Alisa's head, leaving a trail of white slime on her hair. A scaly hand with long claws took hold of Alisa by the chin and gently lifted up her head. Their eyes met. The exchange of information was brief.
'Little idiot!' the demon roared. The tongue withdrew into its mouth and the jaws clacked shut, just missing it. 'Greedy little idiot!'
Well. So much for my right to a third-degree intervention.
The demon's short tail lashed Alisa across the legs, tearing the silk dress and knocking her to the ground. Its eyes flashed, the witch was enveloped in a blue glow and she froze.
So much for the help Alisa had wanted.
'May I take my prisoner away, Zabulon?' I asked.
The monster stood there, swaying on its crooked paws, with the claws on its toes sliding in and out. Then it took a step and stood between me and the motionless witch.
'I ask you to confirm the legality of the arrest,' I said. 'Otherwise I shall be obliged to summon help.'
The demon began transforming. The proportions of its body changed and its scales disappeared, its tail was drawn back into its body, and its penis stopped looking like a club studded with nails. Finally clothes appeared on Zabulon's body.
'Wait a moment, Anton.'
'What for?'
The Dark Magician's face remained inscrutable. Presumably in his demonic form he felt far more emotions, or at least he didn't feel any need to conceal them.
'I confirm the pledge made by Alisa.'
'What?'
'If this matter is not made official, the Day Watch will accept any magical intervention you make, up to and including the third degree.'
He seemed to be utterly serious.
I swallowed. A promise like that from the head of the Day Watch . . .
'Never trust the Dark Ones.'
'Any intervention up to and including the second degree.'
'Are you that eager to avoid a scandal?' I asked. 'Or do you need her for something?'
A tremor ran across Zabulon's face.
'I need her. I love her.'
'I don't believe you.'
'As the head of the Moscow Day Watch I ask you, watchman Anton, to settle this matter amicably. It is possible, since my ward Alisa Donnikova had not yet caused any significant harm to humans. As compensation for her attempt' – Zabulon emphasised the last word – 'to perform a magical intervention of the third degree, the Day Watch will accept any Light intervention that you may perform up to and including the second degree. I do not ask for this agreement to remain secret. I do not impose any restrictions on your actions. I confirm that for the offence she has committed Day Watch agent Alisa will be severely punished. May the Dark bear witness to my words.'
A faint trembling. A rumbling below ground, the roar of an approaching hurricane. A tiny black ball appeared on Zabulon's open palm, spinning rapidly.
'What do you say?' asked Zabulon.
I ran my tongue over my lips and looked at Alisa's magically frozen body. She was a real bitch, no doubt about it. And I had a personal score to settle with her.
Maybe that was why I didn't feel like settling this business with a compromise. Maybe it had nothing to do with the risks of an agreement with the Dark. Alisa had tried to use the prism of power to extract part of the life energy from humans. That was third- or fourth-degree magic. I'd be able to perform a second-degree intervention, and that was a very big deal. A genuinely massive intervention. A city without a single crime for a whole day. A brilliant and unequivocally good intervention. How many times in the history of the Night Watch had we needed to make a third- or fourth-degree intervention but didn't have the right, and we'd had to just go ahead and risk it, terrified by how the other side might respond?
And now I could have a second-degree intervention for free, or as good as.
'May the Light bear witness to my words,' I said, and held my hand out to Zabulon.