the whole story.

'It is impossible to make you into an Other,' I explained. 'You're an ordinary human being. I'm sorry, but there's no way you'll ever be an Other.'

Timur Borisovich snorted again.

'It's . . . well, if you like, it's in the genes,' I explained. 'Timur Borisovich, did you realise that your contact was caught in a trap? That he had formulated his proposal wrongly, and as a result he was obliged to do something for you that's impossible?'

The self-confident businessman had nothing to say to that.

'You did,' I said. 'I can see that you did. And you still went on demanding?'

'I told you – it can be done!' said Timur Borisovich, raising his voice. 'I can feel it! I can tell when someone's lying just as well as you can! And I didn't make any threats, I only asked!'

'It was probably your father who came to see you,' I said. 'Do you realise that?'

Timur Borisovich froze in his seething jacuzzi.

'He wanted to help you all right,' I said. 'But he can't do this. And your demand is literally killing him. Do you understand that?'

Timur Borisovich shook his head.

'The promise he gave was too vague,' I said. 'You took him at his word, and if he fails to carry out his promise, then he'll die. Do you understand?'

'Is that one of your rules?'

'It's a corollary of power,' I said curtly. 'For the Light Ones.'

'Where was he all that time, my dad?' Timur Borisovich asked with genuine sorrow in his voice. 'I suppose he must still be young? Why did he come to me when my grandchildren are already married?'

'Believe me, he couldn't have come sooner,' I replied. 'Most likely he didn't even know about you. It just happened that way. But now you're killing him. Your own father.'

Timur Borisovich was silent.

But I was exultant. This businessman lounging in his jacuzzi wasn't a hardened scoundrel. He'd grown up in the East, and the word 'father' meant a lot to him.

No matter what.

'Tell him that I withdraw my . . . request,' Timur Borisovich muttered. 'If he doesn't want to . . . then to hell with him . . . He could simply have come and told me everything honestly. He didn't need to send his staff.'

'Are you sure I'm one of his staff?'

'Yes. I don't know who my dad is. But he's some big wheel in those Watches of yours.'

I'd done it! I'd removed the sword of Damocles that had been hanging over Gesar's head!

Maybe that was why he'd sent me to Assol? Because he knew I could do it.

'Timur Borisovich, one more request,' I went on, striking while the iron was hot. 'You have to disappear for a while, get out of town. Certain facts have become known . . . there are Others on your trail, apart from me. Including Dark Ones. They'll make trouble for you, and . . . for your father.'

Timur Borisovich jerked himself upright in his bath.

'What else are you going to order me to do?'

'I could order you,' I explained, 'just as easily as your bodyguards. And you'd go dashing to the airport without your trousers. But I'm asking you, Timur Borisovich. You've already done one good thing by agreeing to withdraw your demand. Take the next step. Please.'

'Do you realise what kind of ideas people get about businessmen who take off without warning to God knows where?'

'I can imagine.'

Timur Borisovich grunted and suddenly looked older somehow. I felt ashamed. But I carried on waiting.

'I'd like to talk . . . to him.'

'I think that'll be okay,' I agreed. 'But first you have to disappear.'

'Turn around,' Timur Borisovich muttered.

I turned around obediently. Because I believed I wouldn't get a heavy nickel-plated soap-dish across the back of my head.

And that entirely groundless trust saved me.

Because I glanced at the wall through the Twilight – to make sure the bodyguards were still sleeping peacefully by the door. And I saw a fleeting shadow, moving far too quickly for a human being.

And what's more, the shadow was moving through the wall. Not walking normally, like a magician, but gliding like a vampire.

By the time Kostya was in the bathroom, I'd already set my face into the calm, mocking expression appropriate for a Light watchman who's got the better of a Dark One.

'You!' said Kostya. In the Twilight his body gave off a light vapour. Vampires generally look different in the Twilight world, but Kostya still looked a lot like a human being. Amazing for a Higher