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She pointed a finger at me. “See? This is exactly what I mean. Your survival is so important to you that you’ve sacrificed all your potential in life in order to keep yourself safe. When’s the last time you held down a job?”
“Not that long ago,” I mumbled.
“She has a point, Lorelei,” Nana Pratt interrupted.
I glared at the ghost who’d appeared in the kitchen doorway. Eavesdropping until she felt compelled to insert her opinion, no doubt.
“The difference between us is that you’re willing to sacrifice someone else to insure your own survival. I only sacrifice parts of myself.”
Addison rolled her eyes. “Gee, that sounds so much better.”
“Is it wrong that she’s starting to grow on me?” Nana Pratt asked.
It figured the elderly ghost would warm to someone like Addison. Nana Pratt was willing to do anything to protect her family. She’d probably even sacrifice me if it meant saving Steven and Ashley. Then again, Matilda had killed one of The Corporation’s assets to protect me. Solomon had only shown up at Bruce Huang’s house to investigate his silence. Now the djinni was dead so that I could continue to live.
“How many departments does The Corporation have?”
“Worldwide? No idea. I know the ones we’ve discussed, plus the prophecy department, merger and acquisitions, asset retrieval,” She began to tick them off on her fingers.
“I guess merger and acquisitions is focused on finding humans to become avatars.”
She nodded. “They recruited me. It isn’t easy, though. They don’t take just anybody. There’s a lot of criteria that has to be met to qualify.”
“Like what? Desperation and a burning desire to lord over humanity? Seems like that ought to be a mark in the negative column.”
“I heard what you said to Mathis about preying on the weak. It isn’t too far off. They find people who are down on their luck, who seek validation or want to be special. Then they offer them their heart’s desire.”
“Is that what happened to Melissa? That’s your birth name, isn’t it?”
She stared at her empty plate without answering.
“Tell me about the prophecy department.” I pictured women in tailored suits chatting around a scrying glass instead of a water cooler.
“I don’t know much since I wasn’t a part of it, but they’d brief our department at meetings each quarter with any prophecies related to our tasks.”
Fascinating. “How accurate were they?”
“Fifty-fifty, I’d say, but I wasn’t privy to their official stats.”
“Asset retrieval,” I repeated. “Is that what you pretended to be when you came for the menagerie?”
She shook her head. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“I’m only trying to get a clearer picture of the organization.”
“It’s strange,” she mused.
“What?”
“That you don’t know more about them. I’m confident you’re a goddess, but your lack of knowledge confuses me. I thought every god on this plane knew about The Corporation, either because they were an employee of the company, or because they were at a rival organization.”
“How many rival organizations can there possibly be?” Cranking out gods in human bodies seemed like a pretty niche area.
“Not many. Mostly smaller operations like your buddy Magnarella’s. They never managed to get very far with their programs, either because they lack the resources or because The Corporation destroys them first.”
I winced at the mention of the deceased vampire. “He wasn’t my buddy.”
“I was sure he’d created you with his god elixir.”
