A weird book

"Dearie!"

Derek's attention snapped back to the sweet old lady, who was now calling for him across the lawn. As he made his way back to her, he noticed some of the other buyers browsing some of the items and was somewhat taken aback by how most of them were styled. All of them seemed to be older men, all separate, but the odd thing to Derek was the fact that they were all wearing well-tailored suits, uniquely patterned, and each wearing bulky, silver jewelry around their fingers and knuckles, adorned with things like skulls and bones. It almost seemed pre-planned.

As Derek approached the old lady, he noticed something new had been brought out onto the lawn. A salacious portrait of a woman with pale skin, jet black hair and draped in an alluring red dress, accentuating the amazing body of the woman who was wearing it. He was kind of surprised to see such eroticism in what seems to be an older art piece. Derek was no art buff, but it still didn't stop him from trying to recognize the artists signature. "Suzanne Valadon." He sounded out to himself. Didn't ring a bell.

"She's a pretty gal, huh?" the sweet old lady asked him, drawing his attention away from the painting. "It was one of Gorgo's favorites." She seemed to have some sort of attachment to the painting. Derek smiled and nodded his head, "He must've had great taste in art, ma'am."

"Well, no use bickering about that now. About the books you were looking for.." She said, still looking in and out of boxes, "I can't really seem to find any. I did find one book, but it's very special. It was from Gorgos childhood, and he paid to have it translated and printed in English. I don't know how much you would want it hun, but I don't want you to leave empty-handed!" the elderly lady said while handing over the book to Derek.

"Huh." Derek said, examining the strange looking book. It looked ancient in age, yet still retaining extremely clear text and un-ripped pages. The title was still in a different language, which took up most of the cover, etched in white chalk-like font. The only thing that Derek could understand was written at the bottom separately. He tried to sound it out;

"Codex Gigas."

"No idea what that means.." he said to himself, before turning his attention back to the old lady, "but, I do need something to bring home, and it does look mighty interesting. I'll take it!" Derek continued with a smile. "I'll make sure that it's well taken care of, out of respect for your Gorgo." That sentence brought a smile instantly to the elder ladys face, bigger than anytime so far today. "Well dearie, it's yours. Free of charge. Please just take care of it."

Gobsmacked by her kindness, Derek thanked her repeatedly and shook her hand. After a little bit more inconsequential small-talk, Derek stated his gratitude once more and made his exit back to his car across the street. "Some people are so great." He thought to himself, getting into his vehicle and placing the book on the seat next to him. As he drove off, he could no longer see the elderly lady, fiendishly grinning with a deep dark red glare illuminating from her eyes.