Chapter 157: Chapter 157

Azraiel quietly steps into the house, the soft glow of the desk lamp casting a warm circle of light over the cluttered table. The scent of old books and fresh ink hangs in the air. Charlotte and Katya sit hunched over a spread of aged, leather-bound journals, their brows furrowed in concentration. The pages are filled with cryptic language, symbols and characters that twist and curl in an almost hypnotic dance. Beside the journals, a notepad lies open, filled with hastily scribbled notes and tentative translations.

Katya's hair is pulled back into a messy bun, a few loose strands framing her intense expression. Her fingers trace the symbols delicately, as if afraid to smudge the ink. Charlotte leans closer to the pages, mouthing the unfamiliar words under her breath. A soft hum of concentration fills the room, punctuated only by the occasional scratch of a pen or the rustle of paper.

He smiles a bit, remembering their first encounter in this very home. Back then, Charlotte was unaware of him being her mate and almost hurt Katya for hugging him.

How fast the time changes!

Azraiel's presence goes unnoticed until he clears his throat, breaking the spell of their focus. "How's it going?" he asks, his voice a quiet rumble.

Charlotte and Katya both jump, their heads snapping up in surprise. Katya's hand flies to her chest, eyes wide, while Charlotte nearly knocks over the journals.

"Azraiel!" Charlotte exclaims, her voice a mix of relief and embarrassment. "We didn't hear you come in."

“I know you did!” Azraiel mindlinks her knowing very well that she heard him come in the moment he put his foot on the porch.

Katya lets out a breathless laugh, shaking her head. "You scared us," she says, a smile tugging at her lips despite the lingering shock.

Azraiel steps closer, his gaze shifting between the journals and their notes. "Making any progress?" he asks, his tone gentle but curious.

Charlotte smiles, "Oh, you won’t believe what happened. I accidentally knocked over the coffee and cut my hand a bit. The blood from my hand fell on the journals and it glowed and made a sound, Azraiel. Katya then realized that these journals were under a blood spell. We both put our blood on the journals and the symbols shifted to form words. The language is still unknown but we can see clear patterns now.” Charlotte lets out everything in a breath excitedly, her eyes shining with pure joy!

Azraiel takes in everything she just said and looks at Katya in confirmation. Thankfully, she understands the question in his eyes.

Katya nods, “Looks like our mothers knew each other. This kind of spell cannot be performed without the blood from both the lineages. Only one bloodline’s blood cannot unlock this type of spell.”

He nods in relief. This means they are on the right track. Their parents knew something was up years ago and did try to protect them at all costs.

“We are still decoding it.” Charlotte says and looks at the clock.

Azraiel smiles, a soft pride in his eyes. "Good. Keep at it. I have a feeling this is going to be important." He pulls up a chair, ready to join them in their deciphering, the three of them now united in their quest to unlock the mysteries hidden within the ancient texts.

It's almost 10 when Katya’s stomach rumbles and a soft blush coats her cheeks in embarrassment.

“Oh my God! I am so sorry! I completely forgot about dinner.” Charlotte looks apologetic beyond measures. They got so lost in their work that they completely forgot about food.

“It’s alright!” Katya chuckles.

“I’ll order some food. Is Italian fine?” Azraiel asks already fishing out his phone to make a call.

“Yup.” Katya and Charlotte say at the same time and then start giggling like teenagers.

Azraiel shakes his head at them but smiles nonetheless.

Once the food is ordered they get back to work. As time passes, they don’t realize how quickly the time has actually gone. The food came, and they ate and resumed their work again.

“What does this symbol stand for?” Charlotte asks Katya quietly.

“I believe that’s C.” She nods towards the symbol.

By now they have managed to decipher a couple of letters, all thanks to the language being integrated with English in Katya’s mother’s journals. Katya knew what those words were supposed to be in those specific spells and translated the symbols to those words.

“Could this be an ingredient list or some herb list?” Charlotte asks while looking at the page filled a list of words that looks like they are arranged in alphabetical order.

Katya and Azraiel scoot closer to get a better look at what she is referring to.

Katya scrunches her brows in concentration trying to translate any of the words with the letters they have recognized so far.

Azraiel picks up the page on which they have written the translated symbols.

“No..” He whispers.

Katya and Charlotte look at him in question.

“These are not herbs or ingredients for any spell.” He picks up the pen and translates the word he has been looking at on the blank paper.

“This word,” He starts explaining, “is the shortest on this page and we have translated these symbols. This here is L, the next curved line is E and the last symbol is O.”

“LEO?” Katya speaks the words as if speaking a foreign word for the first time.

Charlotte gasps. “Oh! This is a list of names!”

Azraiel nods.

“And not just any list of names, it seems,” She adds a second later soberly, “One of my pack members is named Leo!”