Read Online Solomon's Sieve by Victoria Danann - Free Book Online Page B

of cat-sized reptiles in a large terrarium. She looked up as he was approaching.
    “All taken care of?”
    “No. Turns out it’s not my problem,” Ragnal said. “It’s your mess and you’re the one who needs to clean it up.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “One word. Vampire.”
    “Cut the cryptic games and say what you mean to say before I lose patience with you twice in one day.”
    “Your vampire’s saliva interacted badly with the unique organic composition of the subject’s little world. Turned homo sapiens into cannibals intent on wiping out their own species.”
    Heralda paled visibly as she thought about the possibility of giving Pierce cause to extend their Earth sentence. Extensions can be a real bitch when time is infinite. The vampire project was supposed to be for extra credit . How ironic was that!
    “You’re sure?”
    “That’s what he says. Why would he lie?”
    Heralda turned to the elementals standing by the inner doors. “Get me Kellareal!”
     

CHAPTER 6

    Overseer Dimension
     
    Heralda was a vision sitting in her white and gold room with her hip-length black hair moving in slow motion around her body. It was lifted by an invisible force so that it appeared to be floating. She was wearing a blood-red dress that matched her blood-red mouth and was tapping her blood-red fingernails on the massive arm of her rococo chair. That’s how Kellareal found her, lost in thought, when he entered the room.
    She looked up. “Why am I just now hearing about this?” Her tone was accusatory, but Kellareal wasn’t easily made to feel defensive.
    “The vampire in Loti Dimension?”
    “YES! THE VAMPIRE IN LOTI DIMENSION!”
    His throat moved as he tried to swallow his frustration and not yell his response at equal volume. “I’ve attempted to bring the situation to your attention many times. Perhaps you were distracted?”
    She glared at Kellareal for an uncomfortable minute as if it was his fault that she hadn’t been paying attention. “All right. Whatever. I’m listening now.”
    Kellareal explained the history, confirming that the vampire virus had first appeared around two thousand years ago and, as Solomon Nememiah had said, would have rendered the human population of Loti extinct if the secret society of vampire hunters had not intervened.
    Heralda rose from her chair and began pacing. “Who sponsors this Black Swan thing?”
    “They’ve been operating independently.”
    She raised her eyebrows. “No sponsor?”
    He shook his head and angel dust fell freely around him like platinum glitter. “None.”
    Heralda pursed her beautiful lips while she continued to pace.
    Huber entered uninvited, didn’t bother to cast Kellareal a glance, and plopped down on Heralda’s very grand, temporarily vacated chair. “If you don’t stop doing that thing with your mouth, you’ll end up with smoking wrinkles.”
    “Hmmm?” She hadn’t been paying attention. “Huber, I don’t have time for your silliness right now.”
    He slunk off to his play corner, sat down at his table, and began making motor lips noises.
    “ Not having a sponsor might make it easier to correct this situation. No objection. No interference. No blowback.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Kellareal agreed.
    She looked at Kellareal. Really looked at him for, perhaps, the first time in centuries. “I’ll probably need your help.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Huber. Stop that and come here!”
    Huber looked up from what he was doing, which appeared to be stirring the beginnings of a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico. He dropped his hand like he’d been caught doing something naughty and shuffled over to stand at the foot of Heralda’s dais.
    “Go talk to this mortal mischief-maker. Find out if he’s the sort who could keep his mouth shut if we give him what he wants.”
    Huber stood up ramrod straight, gave an exaggerated mock salute, and attempted to click his heels together. It looked a little ridiculous in his everyday