Something was happening to the girl's face. Her lower jaw was stretching down, her teeth were moving, curving. He saw the flash of long fangs that were not human.
Egor took another step.
Story One Destiny Chapter 1
The night got off to a bad start.
It was barely even dark when I woke up. I just lay there, watching the final gleams of daylight fading away in the cracks of the blinds, thinking things over. This was the fifth night of the hunt - and there was still nothing to show for it. And I wasn't likely to get lucky tonight either.
It was cold in the apartment; the radiators gave off hardly any heat at all. The only thing I like about winter is that it gets dark quickly, so there aren't many people out on the streets. If not for that, I'd have dropped the whole business ages ago and left Moscow for someplace like Yalta or Sochi. It would have to be the Black Sea, not some faraway island in a warm foreign ocean: I like to hear the sound of my own native language around me...
Stupid dreams, of course.
It's still too soon for me to be thinking of retiring to somewhere a bit warmer.
I haven't earned it yet.
The telephone must have been waiting for me to wake up - it started trilling in that loathsome, nagging way it has. I fumbled for the receiver and held it to my ear - quietly, without saying a word.
"Anton, answer."
I didn't say anything. Larissa's voice was brisk and focused, but already tired. She obviously hadn't slept all day long.
"Anton, shall I put you through to the boss?"
"No, don't do that," I growled.
"That's more like it. Are you awake?"
"Yes."
"It's the same again for you today."
"Anything new happen?"
"No, not a thing. Have you got anything for breakfast?"
"I'll find something."
"Okay. Good luck."
It sounded feeble and unconvincing. Larissa didn't have any faith in me. No doubt the boss didn't either.
"Thanks," I said to the dial tone. I got up and made the trip to the toilet and the bathroom. I was just about to spread toothpaste on the brush when I realized I was getting ahead of myself and put it back down on the edge of the sink.
It was completely dark in the kitchen, but of course I didn't bother turning on the light. I opened the door of the refrigerator - the small light bulb I'd screwed out of its socket lay there freezing with the food. I looked at the saucepan with the colander sitting on top of it. Lying in the colander was a lump of half-defrosted meat. I lifted out the colander, raised the saucepan to my lips, and took a gulp.
If anyone thinks pig's blood tastes good, then he's wrong.
I put the saucepan with the remains of the thawed-out blood back in the refrigerator and walked through to the bathroom. The dull blue lamp hardly lightened the darkness at all. I took a long time cleaning my teeth, brushing furiously, then I gave in, made another trip to the kitchen and took a gulp of icy vodka from the refrigerator. Now my stomach didn't just feel warm, it felt hot. A wonderful set of sensations: frost on my teeth and fire in my stomach.
"I hope you..." I started thinking, about the boss, but I caught myself just in time. He was quite capable of sensing even a half-formed curse. I went through into my room and started gathering together the clothing scattered all over the place. I discovered my pants under the bed, my socks on the windowsill, and for some reason my shirt was hanging on the mask of Chkhoen.
The ancient king of Korea eyed me disapprovingly.
"Why can't you just watch over me?" I growled, and then the phone started screeching again. I hopped around the room until I found the receiver.
"Anton, was there something you wanted to say to me?" the disembodied voice asked.
"Not a thing," I said sullenly.
"I see. Now add 'glad to serve, your honor' to that."
"I'm not glad. And there's nothing to be done about it... your honor."
The boss paused for a moment:
"Anton, I really would like you to take this situation we have on our hands a bit more seriously. All right? I expect you to report back in the morning, in any case. And... good luck."
I didn't exactly feel ashamed. But I wasn't feeling quite so irritated anymore. I put my cell phone in my jacket pocket, opened the cupboard in