Eclipse

19.

Pierce ran his bony hands over his face vigorously before relenting. "There's another book," he said quietly.

"What?" Yuri and I asked together in unison.

"Another book," Pierce repeated, his black eyes shining calculatingly as an idea started to form beneath. "Juarez had two. He picked the two of them together. Now, I'm no translation expert, but I'm pretty sure, from what I gleaned from it, that it's the opposite of what the Nephilim want."

"Your point being?"

"My point being that they don't have anyone who can translate these books because they're written in an altered form of Greek, and they don't know that there's another half to this ritual that has the opposite effect. If you can convince them that this book is the one they're looking for... then maybe you can trick them into closing Hell's gates forever! Maybe the Fallen won't rise again—ever!"

The excitement in Pierce's face was almost tangible in the air but I remained doubtful.

"How do you know that they can't read Greek, or whatever it's written in?"

"I think you're forgetting that I've worked as a spy for them for years now. I think I know their capabilities. Besides, the two books are almost identical—hell, even the wording is similar. They won't know the difference until it's too late for them."

I chewed my lip nervously as I considered his idea, unknowingly wiping out the final traces of my lipstick. It seemed reasonable enough, but any number of things could go wrong.

"I know,' Pierce said, as though he was reading my mind, "anything can screw up, but what other choice do we have?"

I considered his proposal when Kieran butted in. Do it. He's right. There isn't anything else we can do to stop them.

Oh, and so he returns, I snapped, more out of habit that any genuine spite, but conveyed his approval to Pierce, who nodded in feverish anticipation.

"Alright... let's do this then," he murmured, kneeling on the floor to unlock the trunk which, I just noticed, was protected with at least six heavy-duty combination locks.

"I hope you now what you are doing," Yuri told me quietly, his lips so close to my ear that I could feel his breath fanning hot against my neck. His voice was low enough for Pierce not to hear despite his acute Lupi hearing. "I do not want word to spread that I harboured a Lupi for this purpose."

I stared up at him in exasperation. "If you agree to keep him up here, then at least your beloved club will still exist, right? If those Nephilim get their hands on the book... all you hard work and the time you've put into this... well, there won't be anything left of it, will there?"

A sheen of ice formed over Yuri's porcelain pale skin as he dipped his head to glower down at me. "You have no idea how long it took for me to start this place up, and get it into every single thick skull who's dancing downstairs that this place is not one of trivial quarrels, that this place is not aligned to either belief. You were never here to see the countless fights that started in here. Broken noses, split lips, cracked ribs, head injuries... ruptured organs... I dealt with all of this, and now, at last, I live in a vague semblance of peace, something that I have yearned for oh so long. You do not know how much this place means to me, so I suggest you shut it."

I maintained eye contact without blinking. "Let's just hope that there's something more than a pile of charred rubble after all of this," I replied softly, walking away away from him when Pierce stood up with a battered black book in his hands.

"This one," he said, "is what you need to hand over." I gingerly handled the old book and looked down at it. Yellows pages that resembled papyrus hung frail from the bindings in danger of falling out.