"Good," he muttered and then glanced around briefly before returning his gaze to hers and asking, "Are you hungry? I mean for food," he added quickly. "I'm hungry."
"So am I," Decker said.
"And me," Anders added.
"You boys have eaten three times already today," Gia said with a shake of the head. "I swear, you three are as bad as my uncle and cousins. They are always hungry too."
"Wait until you meet your life mate, Gia. You'll understand then," Anders said with a shrug.
When that brought a snort from the woman, Decker assured her, "You will. Besides, it's breakfast time."
"You mean dinnertime," Holly said quietly.
Gia laughed and moved toward the refrigerator. "No, he means breakfast, piccola. We sleep during the day as a rule. If Lucian hadn't arrived this morning and kept the three of us up all day until he left, we'd all be sleeping, or just waking up."
"So you can't go out in sunlight?" Holly asked.
"We can," Gia assured her, frowning at the contents of the refrigerator. "But it means we need more blood so we avoid it." Closing the refrigerator door, she turned to say apologetically. "There is nothing left to eat. Vincent knows I do not eat, so did not leave much and what he did leave is now gone thanks to you three."
"We can go out for something to eat," Justin said quietly.
"That is best, and you perhaps should stop and get groceries on your way back," Gia said, turning to head for the door. "Have fun, piccola. I'm to bed for a nap. Wake me when you get back if you want to talk."
"Why does she keep calling me piccola?" Holly asked the moment the other woman was out of earshot. "What does it mean?"
" 'Little one,' " Justin answered.
"It can mean that," Decker agreed, "But it also means 'young one.' It's a term of affection. Gia must like you."
"She hardly knows me," Holly said dryly.
"She can read your mind," Anders pointed out quietly. "She probably knows you better than people who have been in your life for years. We all do."
"Except me," Justin said with a scowl. "I can't read her."
"Except Bricker," Anders allowed.
"Oh," Holly murmured and immediately began to worry about what might be in her thoughts. Just how well could they all read her? Did she have to consciously think of something for them to read it? Or could they pluck out thoughts and memories from her mind like a harpist picked strings, all of them visible and available and there for the plucking?
"Between being a new turn and--" Decker's gaze slid to Justin. "Other things, you will be very readable to most immortals. Younger immortals will only be able to read your surface thoughts. Anyone over three or four hundred years old, though, should be able to read some of the thoughts not on the surface unless you use tricks to block them."
"There are tricks to stop you from reading me?" Holly asked with interest and when all three men nodded, she asked, "What are they?"
"That is part of your training," Decker said.
"You have other more important things to learn first, though," Anders added firmly.
"Right," Holly muttered with resentment. To her, preventing their reading her was the most important thing. Of course, they wouldn't think so. No doubt being able to read her came in handy. For instance, she could hardly plan an escape with them able to read her every thought.
"True," Decker said with amusement, obviously having read the thought she'd had. Standing, he crossed toward her adding, "Come on. I need food before I faint . . . and Justin can explain about nanos on the way to the restaurant," he added coaxingly.
Holly wasn't hungry, but supposed if she wanted answers she'd best go with them, so didn't protest when Decker took her arm and turned her toward the door. At least they weren't going to keep her locked up in the house like a prisoner.
"You are not a prisoner," Decker assured her.
"Unless you try to escape," Anders added, stepping up to her other side.
"She won't try to escape," Justin said, sounding annoyed and Holly glanced over her shoulder to see that his expression matched his tone of voice as he followed them.
"You can't read her, Bricker," Anders said solemnly, which made Justin turn a worried gaze her way, his eyebrows raised in question.
Holly just turned her head forward. What did he expect? She didn't know any of them. She'd been knocked out and transported to some house outside Los Angeles and was being kept there for training with four strangers. Of course she had thoughts of escaping. That was just common sense, she assured herself. So why had his expression made her feel guilty?
Seven
"So . . . nanos?" Holly prompted. They were in an expensive black sedan with tinted windows, one that belonged to her absent hosts, Vincent and Jackie, would be her guess. Anders was driving, with Decker in the front passenger seat and Justin in the back next to her. But she couldn't help noticing he was scrunched up against his window, as far away as he could get. Holly tried not to be insulted by that. Was he afraid she'd try to bite him again? Shrugging the question away, she said, "Justin? Nanos?"
For one moment Justin continued to peer out the window and she thought perhaps he hadn't heard her, but then he turned and said, "That's what I gave you with my blood. Nanos. Right now there are millions of bio-engineered nanos racing through your blood stream, traveling to any parts of your body that need repair, or where viruses or germs have gathered."
"Millions?" Holly asked with disbelief. "Surely you didn't give me millions when you--"
"No," he assured her. "But they multiply quickly when necessary, using our blood to clone themselves. That would have been the first thing they started doing after I gave them to you. Well, one of the first things. Some would have been busily doing that while others were sent to stop the bleeding and begin repairs on your chest wound. They act like white blood cells and surround and remove germs, parasites, fungus, poisons, and whatnot from our systems, but they also repair anything that needs repairing in us: organs, cells, skin--"
"Is that why Gia looks so young when she's eight hundred years old?" Holly asked.
"Yes. The nanos are programmed to keep us at our peak condition, so we never age past a certain stage."
"You all look about my age," Holly murmured, glancing to the two men in the front seat. "How old are you three?"
When Justin hesitated, Decker announced, "Anders is over six hundred and I'm over two hundred and sixty."
Holly's eyebrows rose, though she wasn't sure why. Gia was much older. She turned to Justin curiously. "And you?"
"Over a hundred," he said evasively.
"Okaaay," she said slowly. She was riding in a car with three octogenarians, she thought and then frowned. No, that was someone in their eighties, wasn't it? Not over a hundred. So was she riding with centurions?
"We're centenarians," Anders corrected. "A centurion was a commander of a century, a hundred soldiers."
"Oh," Holly murmured and thought, you really do learn something new every day. Well, some days anyway. Shaking her head, she glanced to Justin. "So these nanos keep you young and healthy. Why the need for blood?"
"They use blood to do their work as well as to clone and propel themselves," Justin explained. "It takes a lot of blood, more than we can produce ourselves."
She considered that. "So, if you stopped taking in the extra blood, would the nanos just die off and leave you mortal again?"
"No," he assured her solemnly. "They would devour the blood in your veins and then go after the blood in your organs, causing excruciating pain and eventually madness, so that you became a ravening beast who would attack and destroy anything to get blood."
"Riiiight," Holly said weakly. "So taking blood regularly is good."
"Definitely," he said dryly. "I'm sorry. There is no cure, no way to rid yourself of the nanos. Not yet anyway."
Holly sighed. "Well, I guess it's better than dead."
"Yes," he agreed.
Holly nodded, "So, you gave it to me throug
h blood. Can it be passed via other bodily liquids? Say kissing or sex?"
He shook his head. "Blood only."
"So a blood transfusion or . . ." She didn't bother finishing because he was already shaking his head.
"Too many nanos are needed to start a turn. A blood transfusion wouldn't work."
"Why?" she asked with surprise. "If they're in the blood, then--"
"Think of it like fish in a dammed-up river. You stick a net in to try to catch one and the fish will all scram. Knock a small hole in the dam and maybe one or two fish who happen to be close by come out with the water, but the rest will instinctively swim away as quickly as possible from that small hole, maybe out of that tributary altogether and to another part of the system. But if you open the floodgates, or blow up a section of the dam, loads of them come flowing out before they can get away from it."
"So you're saying the nanos would flee from the needle like fish would flee a net or a hole in a dam?" Holly asked slowly. When he nodded, she said, "And opening the floodgates is like biting into your wrist?"
He nodded again.
"What about slicing your wrist open?"
"That would work, but only if the wound is deep and severs the vein entirely. Otherwise the nanos would repair and stop the bleeding too quickly."
"We're here."
Holly glanced forward at that announcement and noted that they were at a California Pizza Kitchen. That was when her stomach gave a loud rumble. It seemed she was hungry after all, Holly acknowledged with a grimace and reached for the door handle.
She was halfway across the parking lot, Decker and Anders on either side of her, and Justin behind when she suddenly came to an abrupt halt. "Wait a minute!"
All three men stopped, concern on their faces. At least they all three looked concerned for all of a heartbeat and then Decker and Anders relaxed. She guessed they'd read her thoughts. Of course, Justin couldn't and it was him she turned to, to say, "Gia said she was eight hundred, and you guys are over one hundred, two hundred and six hundred. Right?"
"Yeah," Justin nodded with confusion, unsure where this was leading.
"Well, there is no way this kind of technology was around eight hundred or even one hundred years ago. Just no way," Holly said with certainty.
Justin relaxed and smiled faintly as he agreed, "No, it definitely wasn't around eight hundred or even one hundred years ago."
"Then . . . oh, hell," she breathed suddenly, taking a step back from them before accusing, "You're aliens, aren't you?"
Justin blinked. "What?"
"That's the only explanation," she said with certainty. "You're aliens from another planet."
"No, we're not from another planet," Justin assured her, and then glanced nervously around at the passing people coming and going from the restaurant. Holly hadn't been whispering. If anything, she was speaking in a louder than normal voice.
"Yes, you are," she exclaimed, sure she was right.
Justin winced. "Holly, honey, you maybe want to keep your voice down. We're in public and--"
"You're from a more advanced planet," she accused. "And you crash-landed here or came here to study us and-- Cripes, we're like cows to you!"
"Honey," he began, and then glanced to Decker and Anders. "A little help here guys?"
"Nah," Decker said with amusement. "This is too interesting."
Anders nodded. "I want to hear more of her theories."
"I want to see how he explains away her theories," Decker countered.
"You're going to farm us," Holly accused. "You're going to get the extra blood you need for your people by using us as cows and milking us by the millions. You'll lock us up on farms and bleed us daily."
Justin cringed. Her voice was getting louder with every word and they were definitely garnering attention. "Holly, honey. You need to calm down. We aren't aliens. Our ancestors come from Atlantis, not space."
"Atlantis?" She stared at him as if he was crazy.
"Yes. Surely you've heard of it?" He barely waited for her to nod before rushing on, "Well, it did exist, and as the myths claim, it was much more evolved scientifically than the rest of the planet and that is where the nanos were developed. They were created as a medical aid, to help cure the sick or seriously injured. And when Atlantis fell, the only survivors were those who had been treated with nanos."
He paused briefly to see how she was taking this. Noting the frown on her face and uncertainty, he added, "We aren't going to hurt you, Holly. I made you one of us, remember, honey? I saved your life. I'm the good guy."
She frowned harder at those words, which was at least better than the screeching she'd been doing a minute ago, he thought, and then Holly asked, "Why did you save my life?"
"What?" Justin asked, caught by surprise.
"In the hotel you said something about turning me because I was your life mate or something. What is that?"
Justin hesitated, his gaze sliding to Decker and Anders. There was no help there, of course, the two men were watching the entire exchange with amused interest and offering little assistance. Scowling at them for it, he turned back to Holly. "Do you think we could take this conversation inside? I really would rather not hold it in a parking lot."
Holly looked like she was about to say no, but then nodded abruptly and turned to stride inside. Decker and Anders immediately chased after her, trying to maintain their positions at her side, but Justin watched her go with a frown. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to explain the life mate business to her. He didn't even know if he could. Would it be interfering to tell her that she was his? He didn't know. The council might consider that undue influence, or tantamount to bribery. After all, he could promise her the best sex of her life: mind-blowing, lose-your-head--not to mention consciousness--sex. Who wouldn't jump at that?
Maybe he should just call Lucian and ask if he could explain it or not, Justin thought, and reached a hand into his jacket pocket for his cell phone.
"Hey!"
He glanced around to see that Holly was standing in the open door of the restaurant, scowling at him. Decker and Anders were behind her, amusement on their faces. It was an expression that they couldn't seem to get rid of, Justin noted grimly. The bastards were enjoying this.
"Are you coming, or what?" Holly called impatiently.
Cursing under his breath, Justin released his phone and headed for the door. He just wouldn't tell her, he decided. He'd say, "I'm sorry, I can't explain that at this time. Perhaps later though," and then change the subject. It would be easier that way anyway, he thought grimly. He really didn't want to even think about how hot the sex with her could be, let alone put it into words. Just sitting beside her in the car had been a trial. He'd been trapped in the backseat with her scent, feeling the heat coming off her body and washing over him in a heady wave of Hollyness. Justin had actually considered sitting on his hands to keep from touching her. Fortunately, he'd managed to make it all the way here without doing either.
"Really? And what does he do?" Decker was asking when Justin caught up to them at the table where they'd been seated. At first, Justin didn't know who they were talking about, but Holly's answer quickly got him up to speed.
"He works for a company that designs and manufactures photonic-integrated circuit-based components," Holly explained, and then smiled at their blank expressions and admitted, "Yeah, I don't really know what the heck that means either."
Decker and Anders chuckled, but all Justin could work up was a forced smile. He really didn't want to even think of her husband, let alone discuss how brilliant she thought he was.
"Basically, James is really smart," Holly said. "He has a degree in applied science and he works in the company's repair department. He does warranty work as well as repairing the components the manufacturing department messes up."
"I see," Anders murmured and Justin glanced to him sharply. There was something fishy about his tone of voice. It was distracted, and Justin understood why the minute he loo
ked at him. The other man was staring at Holly's forehead as she talked, concentrating on it.
Anders was reading Holly's thoughts about her husband, Justin realized. The inner, subconscious thoughts that she was unknowingly exposing in thinking of him. Thoughts Justin would have liked to read, but couldn't. It was damned annoying that the other two men could . . . and were, he thought, noting that Decker had the same expression on his face.
"It's a starting position," Holly went on. "But if he proves himself, they've promised him a promotion, and I have no doubt James will prove himself. He's brilliant and he loves what he does." She smiled at the thought and then suddenly turned to Justin and said, "Anyway, you were going to explain this life mate business to me."
Justin froze, holding his breath briefly as he fought the terrible temptation to just tell her. How could he not be tempted? The minute he explained about life mate sex, she'd probably jump his bones on the spot. However, Justin still wasn't sure that wouldn't get him into trouble. If the council considered it unfair or tampering, they might wipe her memory and insist he stay away from her until she was either divorced or widowed. Justin couldn't bear the thought of that, so he let his breath out slowly and then forced himself to say, "I'm sorry. I'm afraid I cannot explain about life mates to you until I've spoken to Lucian and found out if it is all right to explain. It might be considered undue influence or something."
"Undue influence how? And to do what?" she asked with obvious confusion and then narrowed her eyes. "Is this just your way of avoiding explaining?"
"No. Justin is right to refuse. He could be punished for telling you about life mates," Decker said solemnly.
Holly scowled at this news, but then heaved a sigh, glanced around and then stood. "I'm going to the ladies' room. If the waitress comes before I get back, could you please order me a California club sandwich?"
"Of course," Decker agreed.
Justin was still watching her walk away when Decker turned to him and said, "You were smart to refuse to tell her. It could be seen as interfering."
Justin nodded unhappily and then glanced sharply to Anders when he added, "But our telling her would not be."
Decker raised his eyebrows. "Do you think we should?"
"Definitely," Anders said solemnly. "We should really help Justin with this."