done about it, those are precisely the ones we're most interested in – the good ones as our support, the bad ones as potential Dark Ones.

But somehow we tend to forget that there are all different sorts of people . . .

The singer with the bass guitar didn't know anything about Others. I was sure of that. If only I could have sat up half the night with every one of Assol's inhabitants, then I could have formed an accurate opinion of all of them.

But I wasn't entertaining any such illusions. Not everybody will ask you to come in, not everybody will start talking to you about obscure, abstract subjects. And then, apart from the ten or so residents, there were hundreds of service personnel – security guards, plumbers, labourers, bookkeepers. There was no way I could possibly check all of them in a reasonable amount of time.

I managed to get washed in the shower – I'd discovered a strange sort of hose that I could get a jet of water out of – and then walked out into my one and only room. I needed to get some sleep . . . and the next morning I'd try to come up with a new plan.

'Hi, Anton,' a voice said from the open window.

I recognised it. And immediately felt sick at heart.

'Good morning, Kostya,' I said. The words of greeting sounded inappropriate somehow. But not to greet the vampire at all would have been even more stupid.

'Can I come in?' Kostya asked.

I walked over to the window. Kostya was sitting on the outside sill with his back to me, dangling his legs. He was completely naked. As if to demonstrate straight away that he hadn't climbed up the wall, but had flown to the window in the form of a gigantic bat.

A Higher Vampire. At not much more than twenty years old.

A talented boy . . .

'I think not,' I said.

Kostya nodded and didn't try to argue:

'As I understand it, we're working on the same job?'

'Yes.'

'That's good.' He turned round and flashed his teeth in a gleaming white smile. 'I like the idea of working with you. But are you really afraid of me?'

'No.'

'I've learned a lot,' Kostya boasted. Just like when he was a kid and he used to declare: 'I'm a terrible vampire! I'm going to learn how to turn into a bat! I'm going to learn how to fly!'

'You haven't learned anything,' I corrected him. 'You've stolen a lot.'

Kostya frowned:

'Words. The usual Light word game. Your people allowed me to take it, so I did. What's the problem?'

'Are we just going to carry on sparring like this?' I asked. And I raised my hand, folding the fingers into the sign of Aton, the negation of non-life. For a long time I'd wanted to find out if the ancient North African spells worked on modern Russian creatures of the Dark.

Kostya glanced warily at the incomplete sign. Either he knew what it was, or he'd caught a whiff of power. He asked:

'Are you allowed to breach your disguise?'

I lowered my hand in annoyance.

'No. But I might just risk it.'

'No need. If you say so, I'll leave. But right now we're doing the same job . . . we have to talk.'

'So talk,' I said, dragging a stool over to the window.

'You won't let me in then?'

'I don't want to be all alone in the middle of the night with a naked man,' I laughed. 'Who knows what people might think? Let's hear it.'

'What do you make of the T-shirt collector?'

I looked at Kostya quizzically.

'The guy on the tenth floor. He collects funny T-shirts.'

'He doesn't know anything,' I said.

Kostya nodded:

'That's what I think too. Eight of the apartments here are occupied. The owners of another six show up from time to time, but all the rest are very rarely here. I've already checked out all the permanent residents.'

'And?'

'Nothing. They don't know anything about us.'

I didn't ask how Kostya could be so sure. After all, he was a Higher Vampire. They can enter another person's mind as easily as an experienced magician.

'I'll deal with the other six in the morning,' said Kostya. 'But I'm not hopeful.'

'And do you have any suggestions?' I asked.

Kostya shrugged:

'Anyone living here has enough money and influence to interest a vampire or a werewolf. A weak, hungry one . . . newly initiated. So the list of suspects is pretty long.'

'How many newly initiated lower Dark Ones are there in Moscow?' I asked. I was amazed at