I walked into the suite and froze on the spot in astonishment.
I’d never realized that my taste was like this.
Everything around me was white, beige, and pink. The parquet flooring was light, bleached wood, the walls were covered with beige wallpaper with pale pink flowers, the furniture was old-fashioned, but also made of light-colored wood and snow-white satin. The large sofa by the wall was leather. And what color? White, of course. There was a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The windows were draped with transparent tulle and the curtains were bright pink.
The sun must really make this place sizzle in the mornings!
One door led into a small bedroom. Cozy, with a double bed. The bed sheets were pink silk. There was a little vase on the dressing table with a fresh scarlet rose in it-the only spot of deep color in the entire suite. The washroom and toilet were behind another door. The space was tiny, but it was equipped with some kind of hybrid cross between a hydromassage unit and a shower cabinet.
“Rather vulgar, and it doesn’t suit the style,” Bruce said with a sigh behind me. “But many guests like it.”
His face, reflected in the mirror, looked rather pained. Evidently he had not really liked the idea of installing this miracle of modern plumbing in the hotel.
I nodded to the vampire without turning around. The idea that vampires are not reflected in mirrors is just as false as the tales that they absolutely cannot tolerate sunlight and are afraid of garlic, silver, and aspen stakes. They are reflected in mirrors, even when they deflect a person’s attention.
But if you don’t look at them when you’re talking to them or, even worse, if you turn your back on them, it really unnerves them. Vampires have a very large number of magic techniques that require looking their opponent straight in the eye.
“I shall be glad to take a wash,” I said. “But a little bit later. Do you have ten minutes you could spare me, Bruce?”
“Are you on an official visit to Edinburgh, Light One?”
“No.”
“Then, of course I do.” The vampire’s face lit up in a broad smile. He sat down in one of the armchairs.
I took a seat facing the youth and forced a smile in response to his, all the while looking at his chin.
“So what do you think of the suite?” Bruce inquired.
“I think an innocent girl of seventeen would like it,” I replied honestly. “Only it needs a white kitten.”
“If you wish, we can arrange for both of those,” the vampire suggested politely.
Well, now I could consider the social part of the conversation over.
“I have come to Edinburgh unofficially,” I repeated. “But at the same, at the request of the head of the Night Watch…and the head of the Day Watch…of Moscow.”
“How unusual…,” Bruce said quietly. “The esteemed Gesar and the most worthy Zabulon sending the same messenger…and a Higher Magician, as well-and for such a minor incident. Well, I shall be glad to be of assistance.”
“Does what happened upset you personally?” I asked bluntly.
“Of course. I have already told you my opinion,” Bruce said, and frowned. “We’re not living in the Middle Ages; this is the twenty-first century. We have to break the old patterns of behavior…” He sighed and squinted at the door of the bathroom. “You can’t wash in a basin and go to a wooden privy when water mains and sewers have been invented. Even if you are used to a basin and find it rather more agreeable… You know, in recent times there has been a movement growing among us to take a humane attitude toward human beings. No one drinks blood without a license. And even with a license they try not to kill… Hardly anyone drinks children under the age of twelve, even if they are chosen by the lottery.”
“And why twelve?”
Bruce shrugged. “It’s just a matter of history. Do you know, for instance, what the most terrible crime is in Germany? The murder of a child under the age of twelve. If the child is already twelve, it is a completely different crime with different penalties… Well, as it stands we don’t touch the young growth. And now we are trying to push through a law to exclude children from the lottery altogether.”
“Very touching,” I muttered. “But why did someone dine on the young man without a license?”
Bruce thought about it. “You know, I can only offer hypotheses…”
“That’s exactly what I’m interested in.”
Bruce paused for a bit longer, then smiled broadly. “What is there really to discuss? One of the young ones lost control. Most likely a young girl who only became a vampire recently, and she liked the look of the young man. And then there’s the setting, so arousing, in the style of the old legends…she got carried away.”
“You think it was a woman?”
“It could be a young man. If he’s gay. There isn’t actually a direct connection.” Bruce turned his eyes away in embarrassment. “But it’s always more pleasant…more natural, somehow…”
“And the second option?” I asked, struggling to stop myself from commenting on what he had said.
“Someone from out of town. Perhaps a tourist. You know, after the Second World War, everything got so jumbled up, everyone started traveling all over the place…” He shook his head disapprovingly. “Certain irresponsible individuals started taking advantage of that.”
“Bruce, I wouldn’t like to trouble your Watches,” I said. “They might get the idea that their Moscow colleagues have doubts about their professionalism. Perhaps you could tell me who’s the senior vampire in your city? The Elder, the Great…what do you call him?”
“I don’t call him anything,” Bruce said with yet another broad smile. And he slowly moved his fangs to demonstrate his status, lowering the two long, sharp teeth out of his upper jaw and then drawing them back in again. “But they call me Master. I don’t really like the word; it comes from those stupid books and films. But if that’s what they want, let them call me that.”
“You’re rather young for a Master,” I said, slightly surprised. “Only two hundred years old.”
“Two hundred and eight years, three months, and eleven days,” Bruce specified. “Yes, I am young. But this is Scotland. If only you knew what suspicious, stubborn people the Highlanders are, absolutely hidebound in their superstitions! In the time of my youth not a year went by without one of us having an aspen stake hammered through his heart.”
Perhaps I was mistaken, but I thought I detected a hint of pride in his fellow countrymen in Bruce’s voice.
“Will you help me, Master?”
Bruce shook his head. “No, of course not! If we find out who killed the Russian boy, we will punish him. Ourselves. We won’t destroy him, but we will punish him severely. No one will hand him over to the Watches.”
Well, naturally. I should never have expected anything else.
“Is it pointless to ask whether you have already found him and punished him?”
“It is,” Bruce replied with a sigh.
“Well, then, should I go bustling about, trying to find the criminal?” I asked in a deliberately rueful voice. “Or should I simply take a holiday in your wonderful city?”
A harsh note of irony appeared in Bruce’s voice. “As a Dark One, the only thing I can say to you is, take a holiday! Relax, look around the museums, have fun. Who cares about this dead student now?”
That was when I felt I couldn’t hold back any longer. I looked into Bruce’s eyes. The black holes of his pupils glittered scarlet. I asked, “And what if I break you, you bloodsucking carrion? If I break you, turn you inside out, and make you answer all my questions?”
“Go ahead,” Bruce replied in a soft, almost tender voice. “Try it, Higher One. Do you think we don’t know about you? Do you think we don’t know how you came by your Power?”
Eye to eye.
Pupil to pupil.
A black, pulsating tunnel, drawing me into emptiness. An eddying vortex of red sparks from the stolen lives of others. An enticing whisper in my ears. The inspired, exalted, unearthly beauty of the youthful vampire’s face.