Vampire

In Sergei Lukyanenko's The Night Watch, vampires are a distinct category of Others—beings transformed by the Twilight into living corpses who must consume blood to sustain their unnatural existence. They are simultaneously the most feared and the most regulated of the supernatural races, bound by a registration system, hunting licenses, and the terms of the Great Treaty that governs the uneasy peace between Light and Darkness. The novel uses vampires to explore the moral compromises inherent in maintaining order, as the Night Watch polices vampire activity not by eliminating them but by licensing their predation, forcing both the characters and the reader to confront the uncomfortable boundary between acceptable and forbidden violence.

Nature and Origin

Vampires are Others who have been totally transformed by the Twilight world, acquiring immense powers but losing the gift of life itself. As Anton Gorodetsky explains to the newly awakened Egor, vampires can continue existing only by using the energy of other beings, with blood being the most convenient form for transferring it. This transformation is not a choice made in a moment of weakness; it is a fundamental alteration of being. Kostya, the seventeen-year-old vampire who lives in the apartment above Anton, was born a vampire—a fate almost impossible to escape when both parents are vampires. The novel emphasizes that vampires are not simply evil humans but a separate kind of existence, alive and dead at the same time, for whom the Twilight is their natural habitat. Their bodies reflect this duality: they can extend fangs, transform into bats, and regenerate from wounds, yet they are vulnerable to silver, to the seal of registration, and to the instantaneous death that the seal can deliver.

Registration and the License System

The most striking feature of vampire society in the novel is its integration into a legal framework. Every vampire in Moscow is required to carry a registration tag—a blue imprint on the gray skin visible only in the Twilight—that marks them as a known entity. When Anton first discovers that his neighbors, the family of Gennady, Polina, and Kostya, are vampires, Gennady opens his shirt to reveal the seal, declaring, "We're all registered." This registration is not merely symbolic; it is a mechanism of control. The seal can be activated remotely to kill a vampire instantly, as Anton does when he destroys the rogue male vampire who attacked Egor. The energy implanted in the seal by a more powerful magician floods the dead body, shriveling the skin and shattering the spine. Beyond registration, the license system allows vampires to hunt humans legally. Anton admits to Egor that vampires with a license are permitted to take living blood, and that the Night Watch's role is to ensure there is no poaching. This revelation shatters Egor's naive understanding of good and evil, forcing him to confront the reality that the Light Ones police a system in which some humans are designated as legitimate prey.

The Call and the Hunt

Vampires possess a supernatural ability known as the Call, a mesmerizing melody that lures victims to them. When the rogue vampire duo targets Egor, the Call manifests as an alluring, enchanting music that saps the boy's will and strength, drawing him toward the alley where the vampires wait. The Call is so powerful that it can be heard from several kilometers away, and it completely numbs the conscious mind of the victim. For Anton, who has attuned himself to vampires during his week-long hunt, the Call has the opposite effect—it stirs his blood and acts as an alarm. The hunt itself is a grueling process that pushes Anton to the edge of his own humanity. To track the vampires, he must drink pig's blood and use drugs that bring him closer to the vampire state, his gums itching and his throat parched for real human blood. He confesses to Olga that he almost went over the edge, that his fangs had already sprouted, and that when he felt the Call summoning the boy, he almost joined the vampires himself. This blurring of the line between hunter and hunted is central to the novel's moral complexity.

The Moral Dilemma of the Night Watch

The vampire license system forces the Night Watch into a morally untenable position. When Egor learns that vampires could have attacked him legally under the Treaty, he is horrified, and Anton can only confirm the truth: "Yes." The boy's response—"Then they could have attacked me… under that treaty of yours? With a license?"—exposes the fundamental contradiction at the heart of the Watch's mission. The Light Ones are not crusaders against evil but regulators of a system that permits evil within defined limits. This is dramatized most powerfully in the confrontation on the roof, when the girl-vampire, who was herself a victim before being turned, demands to know where the Night Watch was when her blood was drunk. She argues that she had no choice, that initiation can only take place by mutual consent, but that the person who signed the license—who earmarked her as food—was the one acting dishonestly. Anton is forced to acknowledge the justice of her complaint, even as he prepares to destroy her. The novel suggests that in a war, the most dangerous thing is to understand the enemy, because to understand is to forgive, and the Watch has no right to forgive.

Vampires and the Balance of Power

Vampires are not merely individual predators but pieces in the larger game between Light and Darkness. The rogue vampire who initiated the girl-vampire without a license is a threat not just because he kills but because he disrupts the balance. When Anton kills him, the boss reveals that the boy Egor possesses potentially greater power than any vampire, and that if the Dark Side were to recruit him, the balance of power in Moscow would collapse. The girl-vampire, once captured, becomes a bargaining chip in the confrontation between Zabulon and the Night Watch. Zabulon claims her as his own, invoking the Treaty, and the Night Watch is forced to honor the claim. Even Kostya, Anton's friend and neighbor, is bound by the same system; when he intervenes to save the girl-vampire from execution, he does so by asserting her right to a trial. The novel makes clear that vampires are not outside the law but are subjects of a parallel legal order, one that the Light Ones administer even as they find it morally repugnant.