“Oh yes,” Gia assured her. “For instance, right now you’re thinking, “Holy shit, Justin was telling the truth about immortals being able to read minds and stuff.” She nodded solemnly and assured her, “Yes, he was. You haven’t yet gained the ability and are new to our ways, but I assure you it’s a skill necessary to our survival. Although,” she added with a twinkle in her eyes, “I do understand your thinking me a rude bitch for reading you like this.”
Holly slapped a dismayed hand over her own mouth. She never ever cursed. Well, okay, rarely ever. But she would definitely never call someone a bitch. Not out loud. She was constantly editing her thoughts when she spoke to avoid such things. Diplomacy and politeness had been drummed into her from the cradle. She couldn’t edit her thoughts, however. They just came as they were and yes she had thought Gia was rude to read her mind like that. Although she would deny the bitch part to her grave and hadn’t meant for her to hear that. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean—-”
Gia waved off her apology with a laugh. “I’ve heard worse . . . and so will you once you learn to read minds. Mortals never guard their thoughts. They don’t realize anyone can hear them. They look at -people and make snap judgments and have throwaway thoughts that could be terribly hurtful if you let them.” Expression growing solemn, she warned, “You will hear many unpleasant things from mortals once you start to be able to read minds. When you do, you have to try not to take them personally, at least from the -people who do not know you.” She paused briefly and then added, “As for the ones who do know you . . .” Gia grimaced and then shrugged. “You will learn what they really think of you.” Reaching out, she patted her arm. “Even the -people who love us occasionally have unpleasant thoughts about us. It can be very painful . . . which may be good. It makes it easier for many turns to break away from their families.”
Holly frowned. She had no intention of breaking away from her family, and she really didn’t think they would have hurtful thoughts about her. She had very loving and supportive parents. They were tight--knit; they’d had to be. All they’d had was each other while she was growing up.
“So you have never had an unpleasant thought about anyone you love?” Gia asked, raising her eyebrows. “You’ve never thought your mother was a bit of a nag, or your father was anal and sometimes seemed to care more about a bunch of bones than he did the living breathing women in his life?”
Holly’s eyes widened. “You read my mind,” she realized and breathed out a little sigh before admitting, “Yes, I’ve thought both those things . . . and I guess they would be hurtful to my parents.” She grimaced and added, “And I suppose they may have had the occasional unpleasant thought about me too.”
Gia smiled faintly and shrugged. “No one’s perfect. We all have moments when we’re stubborn, or selfish, or act like a spoiled brat. -People who truly love us know this, and love us despite it. The ones who ignore those tendencies and pretend we’re perfect don’t really see us at all, they see what they want us to be . . . and that’s not really love. Anyway,” she added, standing up and smiling now. “Enough of this serious business. We should see you changed and take you downstairs. Justin and the boys are waiting for you to wake up before deciding what to do about dinner.”
“The boys?” Holly asked uncertainly.
“Anders and Decker are here too.”
“Right,” Holly breathed with a frown. She didn’t recognize either name.
“They work with Justin,” Gia explained. “Lucian dropped you all off before heading home to Leigh and the bambini.”
Holly thought bambini might mean “baby.” She had no idea who Lucian and Leigh were though. Frankly, she didn’t much care either. She was too busy being relieved that Justin was there, and at the same time confused by that relief. He was mostly a stranger too.
“Bambini means babies,” Gia explained, turning to head for the door as she continued, “Lucian and Leigh have twins. And of course Justin is here. You are his life mate. He turned you. It is his job to train you to survive as one of us.”
“Right . . . as a vampire,” Holly muttered. Standing to follow her, she asked. “So, you can read my mind because you’re one?”
“Of course. So are the boys,” Gia said on a laugh.
“So is this a . . . er . . . like a hive of vampires? You all live together and . . .” She let the question trail off because Gia had paused at the door and turned back, chuckling at the suggestion.
“No. This is not a hive, as you call it. This house belongs to Lucian’s nephew, Vincent Argeneau. He and his wife, Jackie, are out of town and I offered to house--sit.”
“Oh.” Holly tilted her head. “So why are the rest of us here?”
“Ah.” Gia wrinkled her nose. “Well, Lucian was going to take you back home to Canada for your training, but—-”
“Canada!” Holly squawked with horror. She’d simply assumed she was still in California, but the mention of Canada made her wonder.