“I look sharp,” I said, pleased as I looked in the full-length mirror of my hotel room.  We’d looked at a few places, but I hadn’t liked any of them yet.  So, hotel living was where we were at, even if I barely slept because it was so damn loud.  “You did an amazing job in next to no time.”

                “Thank you, Your Sacredness,” the petite woman standing in my room said with a grin.  “I know normally women over five foot-ten don’t wear heels, but I couldn’t resist seeing how those red pumps with the serpent on the heel looked on you.  They’re just the right touch of flash to all that black.”

                “Indeed,” I agreed, sliding my hands down the black pencil skirt, the semi-fitted jacket just the right amount of professional while hiding my tendrils.  My hair half up, the remainder flowing down my back.  It was still in the box braids and much easier to manage, I’d realized.  “Also, none of that fucking ‘sacredness’ crap, Michelle.  I’m either the Psyche or Cassandra.”

                “As you like, Y- Cassandra,” Michelle said with a short bow. 

                “You don’t get out much do you,” I asked, mostly rhetorically. 

                And of course she answered seriously.  “Like most of the Family in Oregon, I attended the private school we run through high school, then went to Oregon U for my double bachelors in fashion design and non-profit business management.”

                “And now you’re my errand girl?”

                “His Sacredness, Zoth Ommog, told the family you sound like you want to run a charity organization the family initially funds,” Michelle told me.  “Being the first person on the ground with you, so to speak, means that I can help with building this from the start.  And you, my goddess, need to look fierce to be taken seriously.  Especially as a woman- er- goddess of color.”

                “I guess,” I hedged.  Zothie had taken my idea of helping the people of the Bay Area a bit further than I had so far, but he wasn’t wrong.  “Can the family afford to do this?”

                “Given that he’s shifted his considerable assets to us along with details on sites where to obtain new mineral rights, we’re good,” she assured me.  Apparently, the look on my face said I had no damn idea what she was talking about.  “Sorry, too used to running with people in the know.  We’re Deep Ones, the people who serve those Who Walk the Stars and there are benefits.  One of them is knowing where certain minerals are and those can be quite profitable to mine.  Our branch of the Family came West on His orders a couple centuries ago and mined where he told us.  It has set the family up for generations and we’ve moved into tech and pharmaceutical holdings as well.  Trust me, Cassandra, we can easily handle funding the recovery of dozens of cities.”

                “Then why haven’t you?”

                That made her pause.  “I guess it does sound rather monstrous that we haven’t, huh?  I don’t know, I just graduated, and this is my first job outside interning with Medica in the Portland offices.  I was mostly a fetch and carry girl there.”

                “That’s near fucking criminal,” I murmured as I stepped away from the mirror.  I heard her thinking that she was grateful I wasn’t giving her grief over a dual focus on fashion and non-profits.  Like most people thought it was bad to study what you loved.  People can be ridiculous.  “Well, before we start all that, I want to see what happens to those cops that hurt Tanya.”

                “Of course, we have seats reserved at the press conference already, it starts at two and it is now…” she glanced at her watch and back at me.  “It’s 12:30, so if you like we have time to grab lunch before.  Then we have the meeting with the realtor from the Family at five to see that multi-unit on Russian Hill.  The pictures looked really nice.”

                “And we can keep the whole thing for the Family,” I added.  “Being able to have our people under one roof consolidates things plus living in the Bay Area is insanely expensive.  You shouldn’t go broke looking for housing.”

                “Well, it has eight separate units, so there’s plenty of space,” she agreed.  “Not going to lie, I was nervous about looking for a place to rent here.  Even tiny studios are over two grand a month.”

                “I like having space,” I thought with a shudder.  I didn’t want to live in a tiny space ever again.  Even it if meant spending a LOT of Zothie’s money.

                “I heard that,” my older brother yelled from the living room.  He was watching TV, playing on his laptop and looking up astrological maps on the second laptop that was hooked up to a projector.  He took multitasking to a whole different level.  “Like I said, I don’t care.  I lived in a damned lake for the last years, as long as we can get food delivery, I don’t care where you pick.”

                “Maybe we should bring on a couple people for your personal food lackies,” I said, mostly in jest.

                “Well, I might know a couple,” Michelle said thoughtfully.  “My cousin Damia and her partner are looking for something new.  She’s a chef at a Michelin Star restaurant out here and looking for something lower key since once of her partners is pregnant.”

                  “What’s her specialty,” Zothie asked as we walked into the main room of the hotel. 

                “French modern and fancy everything,” Michelle answered.  “If it pleases Your Sacredness, I can ask her to reserve us a table tomorrow eve so you can meet her.”

                “Make it so,” he said, obviously trying to sound like some fucking starship captain.  He grinned at me.  “What, having good help is nice.  And if we can get a personal chef on board, all the better.”

                “You can’t just order the Family around ‘cause you’re a god,” I growled at him.  “If they choose to work for us fine, but it;s their choice.”

                “I can because I am their god,” he reminded me.  “I brought them out to Western America generations ago and gave them the information to make them a powerhouse of wealth and standing.  They should serve me.”

                “By that logic we should work for my DNA donor,” I snapped at him.  “Wait, we’re paying Michelle, right?  Not just forcing her to be here?”

                I saw in her mind that she did not think her low six figure annual salary was forcing her to do anything but kept my eyes on Zothie.

                He waved his hands as if it were nothing.  “She’s being paid to work for us, little Psyche.  And you are a far kinder boss than many of the rest of my Family.  Michelle is using us to get her dreams of running a non-profit off the ground and we’re using her to help you accomplish that for your chosen cause- helping the poor.  What else do you want?”

                “For the record, I’m happy to be here,” Michelle interjected as I started to open my mouth.  “Yes, His Sacredness told Grandmother to send down someone to help you, but I volunteered for the spot.  And having met you, I’m glad I did.”

                “Fucking fine,” I said, letting it go.  They were all crazy some way.  I ignored Zothie’s laugh in my head and swept into the kitchen, pausing as I heard the clack of my new heels.  Well, crazy but with good fashion sense. 

                “Officer Dunham, did you know Miss May was pregnant,” one of the reporters asked, his voice cutting over the others in the press conference.

                We were packed in like sardines but true to her word, Michelle had gotten us seats in the front row of the press conference.  Apparently, Oakland PD did enough of these that they had their own press room, complete with curtained stage, fancy podium and enough seating for a flock of reports, plus one goddess and her assistant.  I sat, eyes narrowing with every word the police chief spoke.  He’d said there was an ongoing investigation and that the officers involved had been given desk assignments while it was sorted out.  Which sounded like the union was covering their asses and nothing real would be done.  A quick scan of their minds showed that the officers involved knew this was performative and nothing would come of it, they’d be back on the streets in less than a week.

                Not on my fucking watch.

                I felt Michelle stiffen next to me as she leaned over to whisper in my ear.  “That’s the one Miss May said threw her to the ground.”

                With her permission, I’d had the lawyer we’d retained for Tanya May send over her statement for us to review prior to the press conference.  It had been damning, despite what the chief had claimed.  The law was on Tanya’s side but the enforcers clearly were not.

                A rather portly man with a saddle bar mustache and pasty skin took the podium and spoke, “I’m Officer Dunham and we did not know the woman was pregnant.”  His thoughts said that was a lie.  “She was loitering in a public space and we asked her what she was doing.” And tossed her around a bit.  “We have a duty to protect the public.”

                He fielded other questions as I slid my sunglasses on to cover my eyes and started working my way into his mind.  Zothie had been teaching me the method of prying things out and it was touchy if you cared about the subject.  It could be brutal if you didn’t.  Guess which I was.

                Officer Dunham paused mid-answer about his career, eyes glazing as he stared at me.  Time to turn off his ability to lie.  “What are you- stop- yes.  Of course, we knew the *redacted* was pregnant.  Fat cow, had to be breeding more *redacted* little welfare babies.  Not sorry to save the taxpayers the expense.”

                A collective gasp rippled through the room as the chief’s jaw dropped.  He tried to take the podium and its live microphones back but under my control, Dunham kept talking.  “We have to keep them in line, you know?  Otherwise they start acting like *redacted* and-“

                The mics cut off, the plug pulled by the department lawyer.

                I released my hold on Dunham’s mind, the damage done on live television for the city and beyond to see.  The officer in question slumped to his knees, eyes still locked on me.  He blinked as I gave him the mental equivalent of a slap in the face to bring him back to himself.

                “What did you do,” he whispered before being physically pulled from the state.  Officer Dunham’s voice grew louder with each word as he repeated, “What did you do?!?”

                The mics at the podium were switched back on as Dunham was pulled behind the curtains, loudly wondering why he’d said those things, that he had to go tell the right thing to the reports.  I couldn’t help but grin as I shot a look at the cameras that had filmed everything and knew many agencies were showing this live.  The evening news would be fun tonight.

                The press conference broke up shortly afterward with the chief refusing to take any questions.  Because how could anyone make things right after that. 

                “Well, time to head to our next appointment,” I said, rising from my chair to stand tall around those around me.  Like she who’s genetic material had been taken for me, I was very tall for a woman.  “Shall we, Michelle?”

                “Yes, Cassandra, let us be long our way,” she said.  “That was quite the show.”