The Day Watch Read Online Free Page B

give him a kiss sometime…
    Anyway, a moment later I’d completely forgotten my lovesick neighbor. I stuck my hand out. The first car drove straight past-the driver looked at me with greedy longing in his eyes, but his wife was sitting beside him. The next car stopped.
    “I need to go to the center of town,” I said, leaning down toward the window. “Manege Square.”
    “Get in,” said the driver, reaching across and opening the door. He was a cultured-looking man with dark hair, about forty years old. “How could I refuse such a good-looking girl a lift?”
    I slipped into the front seat of the old Zhiguli 9 and rolled the window all the way down. The wind hit me in the face-that was some relief at least.
    “You’d have got there quicker on the metro,” the driver warned me honestly.
    “I don’t like the metro.”
    The driver nodded. I liked him-he wasn’t staring too brazenly, even though I’d obviously overdone things with the paranjah-and the car was well cared for. He also had very beautiful hands. They were strong, and their grip on the wheel was gentle but secure.
    What a pity I was in a hurry.
    “Are you late for work?” the driver asked. He spoke very politely, but in a manner that was somehow personal and intimate. Maybe I ought to give him my number? I’m a free girl now, I can do what I like.
     
    “Yes.”
    “I wonder, what kind of jobs do such beautiful girls do?” It wasn’t even an attempt to strike up an acquaintance or a compliment-it was genuine curiosity.
    “I don’t know about all the rest, but I work as a witch.”
    He laughed.
    “It’s a job like any other…” I took out my cigarettes and my lighter. The driver gave me a fleeting glance of disapproval, so I didn’t bother to ask permission. I just lit up.
    “And what do a witch’s duties consist of?”
    We turned off onto Rusakov Street and the driver speeded up. Maybe I was going to get there in time after all.
    “It varies,” I replied evasively. “But basically we oppose the forces of Light.”
    The driver seemed to have accepted the rules of the game, though it wasn’t really a game at all.
    “So you’re on the side of the shadow?”
    “The Darkness.”
    “That’s great. I know another witch, my mother-in-law,” the driver said with a laugh. “But she’s already retired, thank God. So why don’t you like the forces of Light?”
    I stealthily checked out his aura. No, everything was okay. He was a human being.
    “They get in our way. Tell me, for instance-what’s the most important thing in life for you?”
    The driver thought for a second.
    “Just life itself. And for nobody to stop me living it.”
    “That’s right,” I agreed. “Everyone wants to be free, don’t they?”
    He nodded.
    “Well, we witches fight for freedom too. For everyone’s right to do what they want.”
    “And what if someone wants to do evil?”
    “That’s his right.”
    “But what if he infringes on other people’s rights in the process? Say I stab someone and infringe on his rights?”
    This was funny. We were conducting the classic dispute on the subject “What is the Light and what is the Darkness?” We Dark Ones and those who call themselves the Light Ones-we all brainwash our novices on this subject.
    “If someone tries to infringe on your rights, then stop them from doing it. You have that right.”
    “I get it. The law of the jungle. Whoever’s stronger is right.”
    “Stronger, cleverer, more farsighted. And it’s not the law of the jungle. It’s just the law of life. Is it ever any different?”
    The driver thought about it and shook his head.
    “No, it isn’t. So I have the right to turn off the road somewhere, throw myself on you, and rape you?”
    “But are you sure you’re stronger than me?”
    We’d just stopped at an intersection and the driver looked at me closely. He shook his head.
    “No… I’m not sure. But the reason I don’t attack girls isn’t because they might fight back!”
    He