A zombie with a T-shirt saying "Philidelphia: The City of Brotherly Love" lay with his head underneath the wheel of county inmate transporting van. The van was pulled up to the door of an old rare books store in the historic downtown area of a now defunct Pennsylvania community. Inside Dirk lit a cigar as he and Tayden began to search the shelves. Hill stood, uneasily, looking out the window.
"Why can't we just leave?" the young man finally asked. "We don't need to stick around. All those for leaving raise your hand." His arm sprang up and he stood on his tip-toes to try to further emphasize the point he was trying to make. No one even acknowledged him.
Dirk continued to yank books from the shelf and let them fall to the ground as he searched. As the angel searched the shelves, he began to feel a strange sensation all across his body. The closer he came to the rear of the store, the stronger it became. His skin started to feel like thousands of needles were pricking the surface of his skin. "Uh... guys," Tayden finally spoke. "I think there's something back here."
The gunslinger let another book fall as he joined his teammate. They entered a small office in the back. Dirk and Tayden began their search again. "This drawer is locked," Tayden said while sitting at the desk. Dirk was getting ready to shoot the lock when Tayden yelled, "Wait! Here's a key!" He put it into the lock and turned it. After the click, he slid the drawer open.
Inside lay a cloth wrapped around something large. Tayden picked it up. A spark lit up inside his body as he lifted it. He unwrapped the cloth to reveal a relic of a book. The former angel opened it and revealed its passages transcribed so long ago. "Latin," he said after a few moments. "It's written in Latin."
"You know Latin?" Dirk asked.
"It kinda comes with the job."
"Comes with the job?" Hill asked. "What are you? A priest or something?"
"Um... yeah. Something." Tayden knew that trying to explain would only complicate things further.
"Well, what is this thing?" Hill felt like he had walked in on the middle of some complex movie, and he wanted to know just what the hell was going on.
"It's the Liber vitae. A record kept by a monistary centuries ago. It was common practice for churches to keep records of members and major events. There seems to be something extremely special about this one, though." Tayden studied the book further.
"If it was common practice, how do we know that this is the one?" Dirk said right on cue.
"He's telling me it is."
"He?"
"Yeah," Tayden said as he motioned upwards with his eyes. "Him."
"Him?"
"Yes. Him."
"Hmmm...." Dirk stared at the angel. "He's not going to want a cut, is He?"
