Vampire attack on Egor

The Vampire attack on Egor is the novel's first major crisis, a failed nocturnal hunt that shatters the ordinary world for a young boy and forces the Night Watch agent Anton Gorodetsky into a confrontation that reveals the hidden rules of the Others' society. The event begins with Egor's journey home from a swimming pool and culminates in a violent rescue in a dark alley, establishing the central conflicts of the story: the predatory nature of unlicensed vampires, the moral compromises of the Treaty, and the emergence of a powerful, unaligned Other whose destiny will become a prize in the war between Light and Darkness.

Causes and Background

The attack is not a random act of violence but a calculated hunt by a pair of unregistered vampires. A male vampire, described as the leader and initiator, has brought a newly turned female vampire to feed on a victim. They use the "Call," a magical melody that lures prey by sapping their will. The male vampire is a registered resident of Moscow, a detail that later underscores the Night Watch's failure to prevent poaching. Egor, a boy of about thirteen, becomes their target after leaving the swimming pool late at night. He is unusually sensitive to the Call, hearing the music from a distance, and his aura is later revealed to be a rare, shimmering, semi-transparent glow of undifferentiated potential—a destiny still undefined, making him a "real delicacy" for the vampires. The Night Watch has been hunting this vampire duo for a week, with Anton assigned to the case as a field test, but the hunt has already cost three other lives.

What Happens

Egor, walking home from the metro, feels an inexplicable pull. The wind pushes against him, and he hears a soothing, alluring melody that weaves into words. Despite his fear, he turns into a dark alley where the two vampires wait. The female vampire, with a thin face and huge, magnetic black eyes, commands him to come to her. Egor is paralyzed, unable to scream or run, as she extends her fangs. A woman walking two German shepherds passes the alley; the dogs growl in fear and loathing, but the woman sees nothing and walks on. At the moment Egor is about to submit, Anton, who has been tracking the vampires, arrives. He has been attuning himself to vampire senses for a week, drinking pig's blood and using drugs, and is on the verge of turning himself. He enters the Twilight, the parallel shadow world, and confronts the vampires. He throws cheap vodka into the female vampire's face, which burns her, and then uses the male vampire's own registration tag—a seal on his chest—to kill him. The tag, implanted with energy, floods the vampire's body, causing his skin to shrivel, his spine to shatter, and his remains to collapse into dust. The female vampire flees, and Egor, breaking free from the Call's grip, runs away in terror.

Consequences and Aftermath

The immediate consequence is the death of one vampire and the escape of another, but the deeper repercussions are far-reaching. Anton is reprimanded by his boss, Boris Ignatievich, for failing to capture the female vampire and for wasting his amulet's charge on a separate, unrelated curse. More critically, Egor's survival and his ability to flee after the Twilight collapsed reveal his exceptional magical potential. Boris Ignatievich declares that the boy is potentially more powerful than he is and that the balance of power in Moscow would collapse if he were to join the Dark Side. Anton is ordered to find Egor and bring him into the Night Watch. The event also exposes the brutal reality of the Treaty: vampires can legally hunt humans if they have a license, a fact that Anton later reveals to Egor, causing the boy to reject the Watch. The attack thus serves as the catalyst for the novel's central plotlines: the hunt for the female vampire, the struggle to recruit Egor, and the moral crisis that Anton faces as he is forced to confront the compromises his side makes in the name of balance.