Blood Codex

Chapter 31

After a couple of false turns, Crowley and Rose found their way to a large red double door.

“This way?” Crowley asked.

Rose shrugged. “My research only revealed so much. We’ll have to try it and see.”

Crowley pushed the brushed aluminum door handle down and the door swung easily open. “So far so good.”

They entered a room with a set of short steps to their right leading up toward a second mezzanine level. To their left was a white wall with a heavy metal door front and center. Straight-backed wooden chairs stood either side of the door and a huge circular mural in grays and whites, a dozen feet in diameter, hung suspended above it.

“Now that looks promising,” Rose said.

“May I help you?”

Crowley jumped like a naughty schoolboy, then hardened his face, annoyed he’d been spooked. A man in robes descended the short flight of steps to their right.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the man said.

Crowley gathered every bit of his teaching experience to put authority in his voice, determined to reverse the situation and make the man in robes feel like the recalcitrant one. “We’re personal guests of His Eminence.” He thrust the quickly made badge under the man’s nose.

Crowley smirked inside as the man quailed at Crowley’s assertive tone. He glanced at the badges and frowned, but nodded reluctantly. “Ah, yes. You wish to access the climate controlled archives.”

“Yes, thank you,” Rose said, her tone entirely opposite to Crowley’s. She flicked him a look as the man in robes stepped toward the doors.

Crowley grinned and raised his hands, mouthed, What?

Rose couldn’t keep the amusement from her face, but she shook her head in exasperation. The door popped and brushed the pale floor as it swung open. Inside were numerous pale blue filing units with thin shelves, rows of compactor shelving, with three-handled wheels on the ends to move them left and right for access. The air was still and dry, a sense of importance heavy in the atmosphere. As soon as they were inside, the man in robes shut the door behind them and turned to face them, wringing his hands slightly. He was clearly uncomfortable with interlopers in his sacred space. Crowley really couldn’t blame him for that.

“What’s your name?” Rose asked him, still the embodiment of politeness.

“Lorenzo.”

“Hi Lorenzo. I’m Rose. We’re so sorry to disturb you, but we’re on very important business.”

Crowley looked at the hundreds of wide, shallow drawers. None of them looked even close to big enough to hold the Codex. He made a slow circuit of the room, wondering if any of the compactors might have deep enough shelves to hold it. Lorenzo followed him like a shadow, the man’s nerves grating and beginning to feed into Crowley’s own agitation. But Crowley did his best to ignore the man, kept up his slow tour while Rose went in the opposite direction. After a few moments they shared a hopeless glance, both obviously thinking that it was unlikely the Codex Gigas was anywhere in this sterile, neutral space. Crowley looked into the space between a couple of open compactors and decided he would have to wind the wheels and peer into each one to be sure when Lorenzo spoke again.

“What can I do for you? What are you hoping to find?” Impatience was evident in the man’s voice.

Crowley and Rose exchanged another glance and the truth passed silently between them. They weren’t going to find it on their own. Crowley decided to take a chance.

“We’re looking for a very old book. A large one.” He spread his hands as he spoke to indicate the approximate size. “Lots of fancy artwork on the inside.”

A look of alarm passed over Lorenzo’s face, but he quickly recovered. “We don’t have anything like that in here. As you can see, we don’t have the space to store something of that size.” He visibly relaxed as he gestured at the storage drawers. “We primarily have individual documents here that require special care. I'm sorry I can’t help you.” He forced a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“What about in these?” Crowley asked, pointing to the wall of compactors. “You could easily store a body in there, let alone a large book.”

Lorenzo frowned, not amused by Crowley’s snide dig. “Well, you’re welcome to look in each one, but you’ll see they all have shelving that could not accommodate anything of the size you indicated.”

Crowley pursed his lips. Despite the man’s chagrin and nervousness, those words had the ring of truth. It seemed they wouldn’t be finding the Codex in this room, and Lorenzo was quite comfortable in his certainty of that fact. But Crowley hadn’t missed the man’s look a moment before.

“Where should we look for a book like my friend described?” Rose asked.

Again a flash of alarm crossed Lorenzo’s face, that look again, then a smile broke out. “I’m afraid I don’t know. I’m very sorry I can’t help you. If that will be all?” He turned in the direction of a desk in one corner and took a couple of steps toward it.

“Say, what time do you get off work?” Crowley asked casually.

Lorenzo turned back, frowned. “Why do you ask?”

“In case you and I need to have a conversation about the call you’re about to make.”

The color drained from Lorenzo’s face, his cheeks going paler than the storage cabinets all around.

Rose stepped between them, flicked a quick look of caution at Crowley, then said, “Don’t mind him. He’s a bit eccentric. May I know your family name? I’d like to tell His Excellency how you tried to help us.”

“Caballo,” the man stammered. “Lorenzo Caballo. And really, I’m sorry I don’t know where to find the item you seek.” He went to the door and held it open, his face a mask of discomfort.

Rose nodded to him and went out, headed for the red doors back to the corridor. Crowley followed, giving Lorenzo a sarcastic smile as he left. This whole process was beginning to grate on his patience. Unrestricted access to the Vatican’s most private places, and they kept hitting dead ends. But it wasn’t over yet. Lorenzo had maybe revealed more than he intended to.

“That was another pointless excursion,” Rose said once Lorenzo had shut himself back inside.

“Maybe not.” Crowley gestured back the way they had just come. “Let’s find out what’s directly above that room.”