Along came Reid

14. Reality

Jamie's head lowered and her eyes shut. Reid's arms still held her back to his chest, giving some stability to her fearful shivers. Talk. It sounded simple, but as of late, talking was anything but. Especially where vampires were concerned.

"Yeah. I guess we do." she breathed in agreement, her lips pursing. As it was, Jamie still felt highly uneasy about vampires. After having one drink her blood, another one bite her, and another one try to abduct her, Jamie held little sweetness towards the blood sucking monsters.

In that same breath, Jamie couldn't ignore Reid's heroic effort to keep both vampires away from her. However, the nagging thought of his personal gain by keeping her bound to him didn't quiet. Her initial opinion of being with him still hadn't changed; unfortunately her circumstances had, and such circumstances no longer permitted her the luxury of her former opinion no matter how much she wished to cling to it.

"Tomorrow Nelson is going to return with vampires. You can't outrun them. Hiding isn't an option anymore."

Jamie inhaled deeply through her nose at the thought of Nelson. "How did you know?"

"What?"

"How did you know he was here? Were you watching?"

"Yeah I was." Reid admitted shamelessly.

"Why? I thought you hated me-"

"I was upset. There's a difference." he clarified. "But you were right to kick me out. In every sense, you're drawing the short stick in this."

It was useless to ask, but Jamie couldn't help herself. "I can't kick you out again, can I?"

Reid quieted, pulling her closer to him and moving his chin to rest atop her head again."I wish things weren't this way bean, I really do." Reid admitted softly. "If I could have kept you from all this I would have." The arms around her tightened and Jamie listened as he inhaled with frustration.

"If I was who I used to be, I could have protected you. Yeah I need blood to live, but I really do like you Jamie. You sort of grew on me." A soft snort sounded from his nostrils as if he were laughing. "What?" Jamie asked with hesitant confusion.

"I've gone lower than Nelson." he muttered to himself in amusement. "Nothing bean. I just- I never thought I'd get so attached to a human."

"So when you met me, was it food of friendship that drove you to my doorstep?"

"If I'm honest with myself- both, but mostly the friendship. There's an old proverb that says something like: better a meal of vegetables with friends than a feast with enemies."

"Vegetables?"

"Bagged blood." Reid amended.

"Oh." she breathed, taking a deep breath to stall as she processed his words. "So you kind of meant it." Jamie noted softly. "The friendship part I mean."

"A lot of me meant it, but how'd you get to that conclusion?"

"That vampire, he said you were weak.""Yeah, he did." Reid grumbled.

"You purposely stayed weak just to respect my wishes?" Jamie asked, her eyes looking unseeingly at the dim planters filled with greens.

"Crazy right? I mean, I could have easily made you a blood slave."

Jamie stiffened. "A what?"

"Strong vampires can manipulate the desires of humans." Reid explained before lifting his hand and wiggling his fingers in front of her face. "All it takes is a touch."

"You can do that?"

"Forgive me bean, but I've already done it. It's how I kept you from questioning why I didn't eat."