I said as I opened it up.
"Woody Woodpecker. Or Whoopi Goldberg."
I wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Yes?"
"Where are you, Anton?"
The boss sounded tired, worn out. I'd never heard him sound like that before.
"On a landing in a big, ugly apartment block. Beside the garbage chute. It's quite warm here, pretty comfortable really."
"Did you find the boy?" the boss asked, sounding entirely uninterested.
"Yes..."
"Good. I'll send you Tiger Cub and Bear. There's nothing for them to do here anyway. And you come to Perovo. Immediately."
I was just reaching for my pocket when the boss added:
"If you haven't got any money... or even if you have, stop a militia car and get them to bring you here as fast as they can."
"Do you really mean that?" I asked.
"Absolutely. You can leave right away."
I looked out the window into the darkness.
"Boris Ignatievich, it's not a good idea to leave the kid alone. He really is potentially very powerful..."
"I know that... Okay. The guys are on their way. There's no danger to the boy once they're there. Wait for them to arrive, then come straight here immediately."
He hung up. I folded away my cell phone and squinted sideways at my shoulder.
"What do you make of that, Olga?"
"It's strange."
"Why? You said yourself they wouldn't be able to handle it."
"It's strange that he wanted you to go, not me..." Olga said thoughtfully. "Maybe... no, it can't be that. I don't know."
I took a look through the Twilight and spotted two little specks right on the horizon. The field operatives were hurtling along so fast they would reach me in about fifteen minutes.
"He didn't even ask the address," I commented gloomily.
"He didn't want to waste any time. Didn't you feel him take the coordinates?"
"No."
"You need more training, Anton."
"I don't work in the field."
"You do now. Let's go downstairs. We'll hear the Call."
I got up - that spot on the stairs had begun to feel really comfortable, just like home - and set off down the staircase. I was miserable; I had a really bad feeling about this. A door slammed behind my back. I turned around.
"I'm afraid," Egor said, coming straight to the point.
"Everything's fine." I started walking back up. "We're guarding you."
He chewed on his lips, shifting his gaze from me to the gloom of the staircase and back again. He didn't want to let me back into the flat, but he couldn't bear to be alone any longer.
"I think someone's watching me," he said eventually. "Are you doing that?"
"No. Most likely it's the vampire."
The boy didn't even shiver. I hadn't told him anything new.
"How does she attack?"
"She can't come in through the door unless she's invited. That's one thing about vampires that the fairy tales have right. You'll feel like you want to go out yourself. In fact, you already want to go out."
"I won't go out!"
"When she uses the Call, you'll go. You'll understand what's happening, but you'll still go anyway."
"Can you... can you tell me what to do? Anything?"
Egor had given in. He wanted help, any help he could get.
"lean. Trust us."
He hesitated only for a second.
"Come in." Egor stepped back from the door. "Only... Mom will be back from work any moment."
"What of it?"
"Are you going to hide? What should I tell her?"
"That's no problem," I said dismissively. "But I..."
The door of the next apartment opened cautiously, just a crack, on the chain. A wrinkled, old woman's face peeped out.
I touched her mind, lightly, just for an instant, as carefully as possible so as not to do any more damage to a reason that was already shaky...
"Ah, it's you..." the old woman said with a beaming smile. "You, you..."
"Anton," I prompted her politely.
"And there was I wondering who the stranger was, wandering up and down," said the old granny, taking off the chain and coming out onto the landing. "The times we live in, the outrageous things people get up to, they just do whatever they like..."
"It's all right. Everything's going to be all right. Why don't you watch TV, there's a new series just starting."
The old woman nodded, shot me a friendly glance, and disappeared into her apartment.
"What series?" asked Egor.
I shrugged.
"I don't know. There must be something. Isn't there always some soap opera or other?"
"And how do you know our neighbor?"
"Me? Her? I don't."
The boy said nothing.
"Just one of those little things,"' I explained. "We are the Others. And I won't come in, thanks; I have to go away now."
"What?"
"There'll be different guards here to look after you, Egor. And don't