Vampires

Vampires are a unique and tragic category of Others, beings who have been completely transformed by the Twilight and exist in a state of living death. They acquire immense powers but lose the gift of life itself, and can continue existing only by consuming the energy of other beings, most conveniently in the form of blood. This fundamental need places them in a fraught relationship with both ordinary humans and the Watch system that polices them.

Nature and Transformation

Vampires are not born but made: initiation can only take place by mutual consent, and the process is a total transformation of the body and soul. The male vampire whom Anton kills in the first story had initiated a girl by crude force, turning her into a vampire illegally. Once transformed, vampires exist in a state of being both alive and dead at the same time, and the Twilight is their natural habitat. They can move through it with an elegance that only the undead possess, and their powers include the ability to summon victims with a hypnotic "Call"—a melody that saps the will and draws prey toward them. The Call can be heard from several kilometers away, and its effect is almost irresistible to ordinary humans, though Others and those with strong resistance can fight it.

The Licensing System and the Treaty

The most morally complex aspect of vampires in this world is the licensing system established under the Great Treaty between Light and Darkness. Vampires can obtain licenses that legally permit them to hunt and feed on human beings. Anton explains this to Egor with devastating honesty: "Yes, they go hunting. If they have a license. Sometimes… sometimes they need living blood." The Night Watch's role is not to prevent all vampire attacks but to ensure there is no poaching—that is, no unauthorized hunting. This means that a vampire with a valid license could legally attack and drink a human's blood, and the Night Watch would be obliged to look the other way. This system is a source of profound moral anguish for Anton and for the Watch as a whole, as it forces them to prioritize the balance of power between Light and Darkness over the protection of individual human lives.

Registered Vampires and Society

Not all vampires are rogue predators. Many are registered members of society, living alongside humans and Others under the terms of the Treaty. Kostya, Anton's neighbor and friend, is a young vampire born to vampire parents, a student at Moscow University. His family wears registration tags—blue seals on their chests that are visible in the Twilight—and are subject to monitoring by the Watch. These registered vampires can subsist on donor blood, which is less satisfying but still nutritious, and they are expected to obey the law. The existence of such integrated vampires complicates the moral landscape: they are not inherently evil, but their very nature requires them to consume life energy to continue their strange existence. Anton's friendship with Kostya is a testament to the possibility of coexistence, but it is a fragile and uneasy one, constantly tested by the underlying violence of their respective natures.

Conflict and the Watch

When vampires break the law—by poaching, initiating victims without consent, or killing for pleasure—they become the targets of the Night Watch. Anton's first field assignment is to hunt down a pair of rogue vampires who have been actively hunting in Moscow. The male vampire, who had a Moscow registration tag, was using his status to cover his crimes, while the female vampire he had initiated was wild and inexperienced, driven by hunger and frustration. The confrontation on the roof of the Cosmos hotel district illustrates the brutal reality of vampire hunting: Anton kills the male vampire by activating his registration seal, which floods the dead body with energy and causes it to shrivel and crumble. The female vampire escapes, and the hunt continues. This episode demonstrates that even within the regulated system, violence is inevitable, and the Watch must be prepared to kill those who step outside the bounds of the law.

Thematic Significance

Vampires in The Night Watch serve as a powerful symbol of the moral compromises inherent in the struggle between Light and Darkness. They are not simply monsters to be slain; they are beings with their own tragic histories, capable of love and loyalty, yet condemned by their nature to prey on others. The licensing system forces the Night Watch to become complicit in the very evil they are supposed to fight, a fact that Anton finds deeply troubling. The vampire's final plea on the roof—"You, the ones who call yourselves the Night Watch… where were you when my blood was drunk?"—exposes the hypocrisy of a system that sacrifices individuals for the sake of a fragile balance. Vampires thus embody the central ethical dilemma of the novel: the impossibility of waging a clean war against evil when evil is woven into the fabric of existence itself.