Along came Reid

18. Eye of the Storm

"Bean–Bean, wake up."

"Huh?" Jamie mumbled, shifting in the car seat only to realize her limbs were stiff and sore from sleeping in an unnatural position all night. Her eyes cracked open to a fuzzy tear-blurred world. After a minute of wiping the crust from her lashes, she focused to find Reid still at the wheel driving.

"Wha?" she mumbled, with a soft frown of confusion on her lips.

"You're cute when you sleep." Reid remarked softly with a bright grin.

"Huh?" Jamie blinked slowly, leaning her head against the headrest. Minutes later Reid shook her shoulder again, rousing her to consciousness once more.

"Come on you, wake up. We're here."

This time, Jamie's eyes fluttered open and she sat forward with a dull groan of exhaustion. The world around her was nothing short of a blur as her mind tried to jump start into wakefulness.

"I was knocked out." she admitted with a lion-esque yawn, lifting her chin to look out of the window in time to see a group of farmers out tending the crops in the surrounding fields. The sight of them reminded her of her family trips into the countryside. However, this trip was not that. She wasn't going to visit her grandmother; she was going to live with vampires. The thought of it alone sent a shiver to her shoulders. "Where are we?"

"Our new home." Reid announced moving to point at a mansion estate down the road they drove on. Jamie squinted her eyes to better view the breathtaking structure. It looked very much like a southern plantation with it's tall ionic pillars and white marble edifices; even more so with the humans laboring in the fields surrounding it. "We'll be staying in the main building."

"Not one of those homes?" Jamie asked, pointing to the quaint cottages bordering the farmlands. Reid propped his elbow onto her seat and leaned towards her with a mirthful gleam in his eye.

"You're welcome to stay with the other cows-er-I mean, humans." he remarked with a sly grin.

Rather than find humor in his intentional slip up, Jamie could only look at the farmers with sympathy. Did they have a choice or were they forced to work as labor? Jamie could only guess at the arrangement between the humans and the vampires. "No, I'll stay with you." she answered absently, lost in her thoughts.

Reid slowed the car to an easy roll before stopping altogether. "You sure bean?" he asked, placing his hand on her shoulder. Jamie turned to face him, her expression confused.

"Yeah, why?" she asked, fighting another yawn that attacked mid-sentence. Reid leaned closer, his expression genuinely apologetic.

"I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to be with your own kind. I mean, you are–"

"Reid I'm staying with you." Jamie concluded, turning her head to glance at the boys sleeping in the back. Her attention moved to the rear window, but she found no cars trailing them. "Where's Nelson?"

Reid snickered evilly and leaned forward on the steering wheel. "He and the others are un-wrapping that present I brought."

"Oh-right." Jamie winced, remembering the sizable horde Reid attracted the night before with his antics. "That."

"Don't worry, they'll be fine." Reid shrugged. "It's not like the spawned can really hurt a vampire anyway."

"So you're immortal?" Jamie asked, her eyes fluttering shut.

"Not quite." shrugged Reid. "We have our weaknesses."

"Should I know any of them?"

Reid snorted with amusement. "Here's one, we vamps are sluggish during the day."