Meet Me on the Battlefield

.:1:.

"Are you sure you're strong enough to fight?" Collie asked worry pinching her features.
"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" Teddy asked wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.
"You haven't fed in a while and you're looking a little... malnourished, mom."
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Let's just go." Teddy grunted.
Pushing her red-brown locks to the other side of her head, Theodora LeBeaux shifted her gaze from her adopted fledgling, Colette, to the body on the ground before her. Granted, Teddy had not fed on this being but she did just kill him for trying to put his hands on her. Feeling the hunger burning in her throat, she realized Colette was right, she hadn't fed in a while. Teddy had been so focused on making sure Collie was fed she hadn't even thought about feeding herself.
Colette had been young before she died and was still young as a newborn vampire. Most vampires acquired their fangs almost immediately after turning, however, Collie was different. For some reason, Collie's hadn't come in yet. When Teddy found her, she was crying, alone and starving, in a dark alley beside a dumpster. Knowing the pain of rebirth, Teddy flocked to her. After a while of talking and keeping at a safe distance, Teddy and Collie talked while trying to gain the young girl's trust, trying to show her that Teddy had no intention of harming her. Hours pass as Teddy sat across from her, trying to calm the girl before she had finally opened up to her. Noticing her lack of fangs, Theodora knew what she had to do. Collie was unable to feed on her own, so Teddy had to do what any maternal figure would. Disappearing into a bar a few feet from where they both sat, Teddy used her allure to lure a victim out before taking his life and poking holes in the man's neck so that Collie could feed. Pulling her hand from the vain that she'd punctured on the man, she encouraged Colette to latch on and feed. Almost instantly, without hesitation, she did. Watching as tears fell from the young girl's eyes, it was then that Teddy knew that she had to be the one to help her. It was from that night on that Teddy had become Collie's undead mother.
Standing after feeding on the dead body before them, Teddy sighed in relief before wiping the warm red liquid from her lips, she looked to Collie with a nod. She knew that Collie worried about her sometimes, and she couldn't help it, but Teddy was more worried about Collie than she ever was about herself. Over the past few months of being within one another's company, the two had become, nearly, inseparable. Of course, Teddy would have times where she would have to disappear to talk to her sire, or see a doctor who dealt in supernatural beings, such as herself, who was helping her with her memory loss.
When Theodora was turned, everything from her life before was a blur. She couldn't remember much of anything from it but small flashes that came to her in sleep. These flashes were vivid in the short time they played behind her eyelids, and they felt real and familiar. It was as though she was remembering things from before. Feeling things she felt before, smelling things that made her think of a home she couldn't remember. The smell of fresh baked cookies... the sounds of a guitar softly strumming something sweet. The feeling of swaying with someone, but not ever seeing their face as they danced slowly with her, holding her so tightly in their arms. They felt so real. For all she knew, they could be her living life memories fighting their way to the surface, but falling short to the darkness of whatever happened to her when she'd turned. The doctor she saw was helping. Talking about them to someone helped her. The only thing that seemed to stand out in a lot of these dreams was a red flannel.
Hearing the faint growl of an animal in the short distance, Teddy's attention flicked from Colette to the next street over as she closed her eyes and inhaled as deeply as she could. Her heightened senses, often, helped her with her survival; it often kept her away from things that could kill her, such as vampires that were stronger than her own sire, Silas. She, herself, was still merely a fledgling, so her strength was severely limited, so she knew better than to go against anyone above Silas. From what she can tell by the smell in the air, there was another vampire nearby, as their blood had a sweeter scent to her than humans or other creatures, however, she was also picking up the scent of werewolves. There were more wolves than vampires, and that vampire was hurt.
Without hesitation, Theodora's legs pulled her toward them. Running as fast as she could, with Collie in tow, Theodora skid to a holt, standing between the bleeding vampire and the werewolves that chased her. Collie standing at Teddy's side, ready to attack, Teddy threw her arm out to stop her child from lunging at the wolves. Telling Collie to get the girl to safety, Teddy bore her claws and fangs, icy blue eyes narrow to the shadowed figures of a wolf pack that drew ever nearer.
"Teddy, I can fight! You know I can!" Collie protested. "You just fed for the first time in weeks! Let me take this one!" She continued. Shaking her head, Teddy let out a low growl of her own to her.
"Just fed or not, I'm still stronger than you, and what I say goes. Get her to safety. Now." She said sternly. Before Collie could utter another word in protest, Theodora's icy gaze flicked back to her in warning. Relenting, Collie ducked under the injured girl's arm and helped her stand and waited for an opening to run. Turning her attention back to the wolves as they seemed to stop a few feet away, Teddy straightened her posture.
"Today must be our lucky day, boys." One of the wolves chuckled. "More bloodsuckers to rid the world of."
"Awe, where are those two going?" Another called out, talking about Collie and the injured vampire. "We weren't done playing with that one, yet."
"If playing was what you wanted..." Teddy said, lowly, before stepping out into the light of a streetlight, a twisted grin plastered on her black painted lips. "Then I'm the one you want, as I can assure you that I'm a lot more fun."
"Oh, are you no--" One of the betas began to speak, only to be stopped by the one in front, whose face seemed to go pale as she revealed her face to them. "You want first hit this time, Adam? I mean, he got the last one, I guess it'd only be fa-"
"T... Teddy?" The man spoke, his voice shaken as he stepped into the light, himself. The man wore a green jacket and jeans, his hair brown and curly, and eyes of hazel. The look on his features suggested familiarity, but Teddy couldn't place him from anywhere. Raising a brow to him as she looked him up and down, Teddy prepared herself to lunge.
"So you've heard of me?" She smirked as she rolled her shoulders back for a moment.
"Theodora, don't you...? It's me! It's Adam!" He replied. The beta wolves behind him prepared themselves to attack, only to be held back by the alpha before them.
"Never heard of you." Teddy chuckled. "You should really give yourself a more intimidating name, really. Adam doesn't exactly instill fear in anyone." She continued, grin turning to a snarl before she was on him in the blink of an eye.
Claws exposed and fangs snapping, Teddy lunged, only for Adam to catch her arms just in the nick of time to save his own neck. The look on his face suggested hurt, but not the kind of hurt she was hoping to see. More so of emotional hurt, than physical hurt like she, truly, wanted to see. Ripping her arms from his hands, Teddy ducked out of his reach before trying again, only to be caught, once more. Watching as one of the betas jumped at her out of the corner of her eye, Teddy watched as her opponent reeled his fist back to hit him and knock him back, and away, from them. This confused the fledgling for a moment before she dismissed it as him wanting to make it a fair fight, Teddy used this distraction to knock the man to the ground and pin him to the asphalt.
The corners of her lips twisting into her grin once more, her blue eyes narrowed as they bore into his as he only seemed to look up at her with an expression that she did not recognize as fear, but as sadness. Her grin faded, slowly, as annoyance overtook her. He was taking all the fun out of the fight by not fighting back. In her annoyed distraction, she didn't see the other beta charge at her, knocking her off their alpha and sending her into the light post hard enough to leave a dent. Wincing, slightly, as she sat up, Teddy shook it off and stood up once again. Looking to the Alpha once more as he turned to his betas, Teddy raised a brow to watch as he scolded his men.
"Why would you do that?!" He shouted in his face.
"She had you PINNED! What was I supposed to do?! Watch her kill my alpha and do nothing?!" He shouted back.
"She wouldn't kill me!" Adam shouted back at them.
"Are you sure about that?" Teddy asked as she, slowly, moved closer, ready to attack again. Stopping in her tracks as she felt a ping of pain in her temple strong enough to make her eyes shut for a moment, Teddy drew in a sharp breath. Flashes... Like in her dreams. An exchanging of rings. Opening her eyes to look down at her left hand, Teddy looked down at the wedding rings that sat on her ring finger for a moment.
"You would never kill me. You always threatened it when I didn't wash the dishes, but you never went through with it." Adam said as he turned to her again and walked toward her, holding his hand out to his betas so that they didn't follow. "Do you not remember?" He asked, pain in his voice as a lump seemed to grow in his throat. His voice quivered in sadness. "Do you not remember anything? Do you not remember me?"
"I don't know you!" She shouted, switching her attention back to the man walking toward her. "All I know is that you and your pathetic little lap dogs take pleasure in killing my kind!" Teddy snarled as she bore her fangs at him once more, only to feel another wave of pain wash over her strong enough to knock her to her knees, holding her head in pain. More flashes. Memories that she had seen before. Flannel. Red Flannel. She had never had flashes while awake before, why now?
"You do know me, Theodora! You know me better than anyone in the world!" He shouted as he stood a foot away from her, only to stop and jump back as a flash of red breezed passed him in an attack.
"Colette! I told you that I could handle this!" Teddy shouted as she struggled to her feet, one hand still on her head.
"Good thing I don't listen very well, huh, mom? This dirty bastard almost ripped your head off!" Collie growled as she stood between Teddy and Adam.
"M...Mom?" Adam asked in shock before looking back at Teddy. "You're... h...how?"
"Well, when a mom and a dad love each other very much, they fuck and make a baby." Collie replied sarcastically before hissing at him to force him away from Teddy. "Mom... You're not well. Tag out. Let me rip their heads off for you."
"No. This is my fi-" Teddy cringed as her head pounded again.
"Hey, uh, boss?" One of the Betas called to the alpha.
"What?" He growled back.
"Sun's comin up. Should we finish them off, or were you plannin on stallin until the sun came up to watch them fry? Because if that was your plan, then you're more devious than I thought, and I'm lovin this side of you."
"Wait... What?" Adam asked before looking to the East as the sky began to lighten. His eyes wide as he looked back at Collie and Teddy, Adam drew in a breath. "Get her inside!" He shouted. "Go! Get her somewhere safe!"
"Wait... What? Boss! We can't let em get away! They could tell their friends we're goin soft!"
"I've lost her once, I'm not losing her again!" Adam shouted back at him before looking to Collie. "GO!"
Confused, but without hesitation, Collie grabbed Teddy by the arm and ran as fast as she could to get them somewhere far from daylight. Making it to their little house just in time for the sun's first rays to light the sky, Collie sat Teddy down in the living room and sat across from her on the edge of the coffee table, face full of concern.
"You... gonna tell me what that was about back there?" She asked, brow raised to her mother.
"I... I don't know... Maybe one of them has the ability to push thoughts?" Teddy tried to explain. "I've never had memory flashes while I was awake before... only in sleep." She continued. "Maybe... the alpha...?"
"Maybe you had tainted blood? Was the guy we killed earlier on something?"
"I... didn't really taste anything different. He may have gone a little heavy on the sugar in his diet, but that's the only thing I could tell." She shrugged.
"Maybe it was because we stayed out too late. We were pushin it tonight." Collie offered before flicking her red tresses from her porcelain face.
"Maybe. Are you sitting on the coffee table?" Teddy raised a brow before Collie looked down at the table. "Tables are for glasses, not asses." She sighed before standing from the couch. "Where did you stash the other girl?"
"Safehouse for vamps a few blocks over. I didn't want to run her back here because it was too far. I didn't want to leave you alone for too long in case you needed me to save your ass... Like I just did."
"I had it covered, Colette.." Teddy sighed as she walked to her bedroom.
"Sure you did, mom. We'll get them next time.." She smiled, following behind her before moving to her own bedroom. "Next time I'll rip that curly haired bastard's throat out for barking orders at me." Collie grinned before looking back at Teddy, who rolled her eyes and closed her bedroom door behind her. "Night, mom! I love you!"
"Night, Collie." Teddy called back before moving to her coffin and laying down on her side.
Normally, at this point of the day, she would be exhausted, but, for some reason, she was wide awake with questions dancing across her mind. Trying her best to force them from her head as she laid there so that she could sleep, Teddy pulled the lid shut before laying still for several hours. It wasn't until, almost, midday that she had finally fallen asleep. However, she had no dreams, no memories, no flashes tonight. Just darkness. She knew that she was going to have to take a trip to see doctor Porter when she awoke to ask what she thinks the flashes during the fight meant.
As the day became the night once more, the light in the room faded to nothing as Teddy awoke. Pushing her coffin open, Teddy sat up and stretched before standing and leaving her bedroom, only to find Collie standing outside her door with a wide grin on her face. Confusion lining her features, Teddy stood in wait for whatever news Collie was about to give her. It must have been something good as she was smiling rather widely.
"...Can I help you, love?" Teddy asked, a small smile pulling at her lips.
"Guess what came in today?" She asked in a sing-song manner.
"The...mail?" Teddy asked, looking over to the coffee table, but not finding the mail sitting there as it often was when she awoke.
"Nope." She chirped.
"Are you going to tell me, or is this what we're going to be doing tonight, because I actually have plans to visit my doctor tonight." Teddy chuckled before Collie gave her the biggest, open-mouthed, smile she had ever given her before. "Your fangs! Collie! Your fangs came in!" Teddy squeaked in excitement before jumping for joy with her daughter. She had been a vampire for a while now, and her fangs had only just come in. In a way, she was relieved that she no longer had to kill for two, but she was also a little sad that she didn't get to do that for Colette anymore, she could hunt on her own without her. "Are you going to try hunting on your own tonight?" She smiled as Colette nodded happily. "That's wonderful, Collie!" Teddy chimed. "I'm going to go see Dr. Porter for a little bit. Please be safe, and careful, and don't go looking for those wolves, okay?" She asked as she held Collie's face in her hands before kissing the young girl's forehead. "I love you. I should be back soon."
"Okay, have fun!" Collie called after her as Teddy grabbed her car keys and left the house.
Revving her car to life, Teddy pulled from the driveway of the little house that she occupied and headed into town to see Doctor Porter. It wasn't too terribly far from her house, she just preferred to drive sometimes. It was one of the things from her human life that she remembered that she enjoyed doing. That and coloring for some reason. Pulling into the parking lot, Teddy parked the car and shut off the engine before heading into the building. The Doctor's office was a neutral space where fighting wasn't allowed on any side and was agreed upon by both sets of royals, vampire and werewolf. Breaking that rule resulted in death by your own kind, and no one really wanted that.
Pushing her hair from her face as she walked passed the receptionist, who barely looked up to greet her, Teddy pulled open the door to the office, ready to sit down, only to stop in her tracks as she noticed that the doctor was, already, with a patient. Ready to apologize and pull the door shut, she stopped when her icy gaze fell upon the familiar face of the alpha wolf from the night before. Eyes narrowing to him as he stood, quickly, hazel eyes looking back at her full of sorrow and hurt, again, Teddy shifted her attention to Doctor Porter.
"I'll come back later." Teddy, finally, said as she began to turn on her heels.
"Actually, Theodora, please come in." Doctor Porter suggested.
"Unless this mongrel is leaving, I-"
"Teddy, please?" The wolf seemingly begged. Turning to look at him with a narrow gaze, she stared at him for a moment.
"Mrs. LeBeaux, please sit." The Doctor repeated. Drawing in a slow breath before stepping into the room and closing the door behind her, Teddy, slowly, approached the couch furthest from the wolf as he, slowly, sat back down, his eyes never leaving her face.
"Why am I sitting in on his session?" Teddy asked, her voice low and venomous.
"Because his session has a lot to do with you, and I have a feeling that what you came here to tell me involves him, too." The Doctor said before pulling her glasses from her face and cleaning them on her coat.
"Why would a wolf come to see a therapist about me? He just met me last night." Teddy asked, looking to Dr. Porter.
"No, I didn't just meet you, Teddy. I've known you for-"
"Don't call me that. You don't know me. You can call me Theodora, and nothing else. We are not friends. I don't associate with dirty mutts who take pleasure in killing vampires." She growled.
"Theodora, are you here to tell me about your memory flashes?" Doctor Porter asked.
"Yes. But he doesn't need to be here for that." Teddy replied, her glare lingering on Adam's face.
"Actually, I think he does."
"Why? He has nothing to do with any of them. I don't know this man. He doesn't need to know anything about my life that he can use against me."
"I would never hurt you, Teddy, not on purpose!" He shouted, voice full of pain. "Remember! Just... remember me..." He seemed to beg, again.
"What did you remember from your dream, Mrs. LeBeaux?"
"You still... go by that name?" Adam asked, shakily.
"It's my last name. So, yes." Teddy glared before looking to the Doctor again. "I.. I remembered the red flannel... and a song... dancing... my rings." She began to list before looking down at her left hand again. "I think... before I was turned... I was married."
"Okay, that's a start." The doctor said as she looked to Adam, watching his face as his heart seemed to shatter the more Teddy talked. "What song was it? Do you know any of it?" She asked. Teddy nodded.
"I... I think it was my first dance... at my wedding... I remember dancing, and feeling the heaviness of layers and layers of fabric on my hips down..." Teddy began.
"... 'From the Ground Up'..." Adam said softly before Teddy looked up at him, sharply.
"Did you do this to me!?" Teddy shouted, standing from the chair, ready to attack, only for Adam to stand and hold his hands out to show he was harmless. "Did you push thoughts into my head to weaken me!? Do you have that magic?!"
"M..Magic? What? No! Teddy, I know what song it was because I was there!" He replied.
"What do you mean you were there?!" She shouted again.
"Teddy, I was there! At the wedding! I know you!" Adam continued, taking a step toward her, only for her to flinch away from him.
"How do you know me, if I don't know you?!" She asked before looking to the doctor. "How does he know me?! Did he know me from before?! Is this a trap?! Are you working with the wolves?!" Teddy began to feel closed in.
"No! No! Teddy, it's not a trap!" Adam answered.
"I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to her!" Teddy said, pointing at Porter.
"Theodora, please sit. Adam, you as well." She asked. "This is a neutral space." Porter continued. "As a matter of fact, Theodora, come sit on this couch with Adam."
"I don't want to sit with him." Teddy replied eyes narrowed at him.
"Mrs. LeBeaux, I really think it would be helpful to your condition if you would sit with him. There are things that I need to test." Porter suggested, no longer looking at Teddy, waiting for her to do as asked. Relenting, Teddy, slowly, approached the other couch and sat as far from the man as she could. "Thank you. Now, Adam, if you would."
"Yes, Doctor." Adam nodded as he sat down beside Teddy as she shrunk away from him.
"Now, Adam. You say that you know her. Know her how? Did you know her from before she died?" Porter began.
"Yes." He answered simply.
"Care to elaborate?" Porter continued as Teddy flicked her attention between Porter and Adam.
"I have known her... for years." He began before reaching for the chain around his neck and began to fidget with a ring that was attached to the chain. "I've known Teddy for... the best years of my life." He seemed hesitant to explain.
"Adam, why don't you remove your jacket? It's warm enough in here that you shouldn't need it." Porter suggested as he looked up at her and nodded. Standing, he unzipped his green jacket and shrugged it off his shoulders and hung it up, returning to the couch to a wide-eyed Teddy looking at his shirt. Red Flannel. "Theodora, are you alright?" She asked as Teddy shook her head for a moment and touched her hand to her head. "Memories, again?" Teddy drew in a shaken breath before nodding slightly.
"You... remember me wearing this a lot, don't you?" Adam asked.
"I just remember red flannel. I don't remember who was in it." Teddy said slowly, staring, unseeingly, into the coffee table between the couch and the doctor.
"What else do you remember about the flannel, Teddy?"
"The smell... of body spray that always seemed to linger on it..." She replied, seemingly in a trance.
"Close your eyes, Theodora, would you?" Porter asked as Teddy looked up at her. "Close your eyes and inhale, deeply, through your nose."
"I... I don't want to." Teddy replied, shaking her head slowly as she could feel a lump growing in her throat.
"Why?" Adam asked, softly.
"It's too much... this is too much... I can't...." Teddy's breathing became unsteady as she felt herself begin to panic.
"Alright. Adam, we'll go back to you, then. Would you care to elaborate on how you know Mrs. LeBeaux?" Porter asked, shifting her attention.
"I met her... at a bar one night. She had a rough day at work... she was a kindergarten teacher back then." He chuckled, looking down at the floor as he spoke, Teddy's eyes, slowly trailing from the table to see the pain on Adam's face as he spoke, watching as his pained expression grew softer. "I was standing at the pool table, playing a few rounds with my buddies, and I... I remember looking up, originally I was going to look up at the TV above the bar to see what the score was on the game that was playing, but my eyes never made it to the screen. They stopped on her... and I couldn't look away. She took my breath away, and I couldn't think straight. She was wearing this... little black and red sundress with flowers on it. I remember thinking that... there was no way that this... beautiful woman was here alone... she had to be waiting on someone. So I... tried to focus on my game of pool." Adam chuckled again before looking up at the doctor. "After about... ten minutes of me just... watching her between turns, I didn't see anyone join her, and she turned down all the guys that approached her... So... Deciding to try my hand... I downed a shot of whiskey, ordered her a drink, and I walked over to her." Adam looked over to Teddy as her eyes watched him. "I asked... if you were waiting for someone, and you just... gave me the most breathtaking smile and shook your head before the bartender handed you the drink I ordered for you, and you told them-"
"I didn't order this... I don't drink rum and coke...." Teddy said slowly. Adam's eyes grew wide as he smiled, his heart seeming to burst before looking over to the doctor and back to Teddy.
"Do you... remember that night?" He asked before she shook her head.
"Only... bits and pieces of... random memories. None of them seeming to be in the same time, or place." She answered.
"But you remembered that... That's a big deal." Porter answered before scrawling something into her notebook.
"See, Teddy, you do know me!" Adam exclaimed, his eyes and voice full of hope.
"If I know you, then why do I hate you? Why do I want to kill you? What did you do to me that night?" Teddy asked, pleadingly, before his smile faded and he looked to the floor.
"I didn't do anything to you that night. I walked you home to keep you safe, then I walked home, hoping to see you again the next day." He replied.
"Then why do I hate you?" She asked, again, voice shaking.
"I think that's enough for tonight." Porter replied as she stood and walked to the door to pull it open. "If you would both like to come back and talk tomorrow night, see my receptionist to make an appointment on your way out.
Wanting answers, so desperately, Teddy just stared at Adam as he sat for a moment longer before standing and looking down at her, offering his hand to help her stand. Shaking her head and standing on her own, Teddy looked at him one more time before walking toward the door. Adam chuckled lightly before shaking his head and grabbing his jacket. He seemed relieved that she remembered something, but he was afraid to fill in the rest of the blanks that she was asking him about.
Making it out to the parking lot, Teddy stood beside her car, looking down at it, where her reflections should have been staring back at her, but found it absent, as it always was. Hearing footsteps behind her, Teddy didn't run as she could see his reflection in the black paint and windows of her car. It was Adam.
"I need answers." Teddy said softly, shakily.
"I know you do." He replied, looking at her, his hands interred into his jacket pockets.
"Why...?" Teddy asked, turning to face him, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Why... what?" He asked, shrugging. "There are a lot of 'whys' when it comes to us." He added.
"Why do I hate you?" She asked again as a tear rolled down her cold, porcelain, cheek, her voice softly begging.
"You don't hate me..." He said softly, his heartbreak evident on his face. "You don't hate me because you never could.... Just like how I could never hate you." Reaching for her face to wipe her tear away, only to pull his hand back as she flinched away from him. "Sorry, habit." Adam apologized as he put his hand back in his pocket. "Teddy..."
"Please? I don't... remember... anything from before I died... I don't even remember how I died..." Teddy begged.
"You... " Adam drew in a shaken breath as tears began to roll down his own cheeks. "I..." He looked down to the ground, away from her as he tried to tell her what happened... He didn't want to tell her that it was his fault... that he killed her.... It was an accident... And that some vampire brought her back.
"You what?" Teddy asked, shifting herself so that she could look at his face. "What did you do to me?" She asked. As his eyes finally met her face, they lingered until she straightened her posture, but even then, they remained on her face.
"I'm so sorry... It was an accident.... I didn't mean to.... I didn't have control... I couldn't... control it back then..." He said as he stared at her, tears streaming his cheeks.
"Couldn't control what?" Teddy pled.
"I was still... new to it back then... I was just...." He fought for the words to say. "The first full moon... after being bitten." He began to explain. "I should have locked myself way... I should have run away... If I did.. I wouldn't have.... You wouldn't have...."
"Did you... did you kill me?" Teddy asked softly. He didn't have to utter another syllable as his face said it all.
Her hands moved to cover her mouth and nose before slowly backing away from him and turning back to her car, Theodora felt the tears running down her face. This man who looked at her with such adoration, such longing, such... history... was the reason she died. Teddy didn't know what to think; she was torn between several emotions at once that were on opposite sides of different spectrums. Hearing Adam speak behind her, Teddy couldn't hear anything as her mind began to fog. It wasn't until she felt his hand touch her upper arm that she even reacted. Baring her claws, Teddy swung back at him, tearing a hole in his jacket as he barely moved out of the way in time. The hurt was clearly evident on her soft features, Teddy remained in a defensive posture as she looked at him.
"Who are you?" Teddy demanded.
"You know who I am." He replied.
"Were you a friend of my husband's?" Teddy asked.
"No. I'm not a friend of your husband." Adam said as he stepped toward her again.
"Then you killed me for what? To get back at him?!" Teddy shouted.
"No! Teddy! I didn't kill you on purpose! Jesus fuck, Teds! It was an accident!" He shouted back at her. "I would have never killed you on purpose! Yeah, you pissed me off from time to time, but I fucking loved you! I fucking loved you with all of my fucking heart, and when I realized what I'd done, it killed me! I didn't even know... what happened until I came back home... and you were there... on the floor." The tears rolled down his cheeks in torrents the more the truth escaped his lips. "I couldn't handle seeing you like that, so I ran out of the house... but when I came back... you were gone... I never stopped looking, Teds!"
"You loved me?! So, what? You were jealous of my husband and decided that if you can't have me, no one can?!" She yelled.
"For fuck's sake, Teddy, I am your husband! How are you not getting this?!" Adam, finally, admitted.
"Bullshit!" She cried out.
"You remember my flannel... and our wedding song... the smell of my fucking cologne.... I haven't fucking changed, Teds."
"If you were my husband, then why do you not have a ring on your hand?!" She asked in annoyance. "What? Did you fucking throw it into the river after I died and moved on?!"
"Theodora!" He grunted in annoyance before pulling the chain from inside his shirt again and showed her the ring. "I never fucking take it off! I just don't wear it on my finger so I don't lose it!" Pulling the chain from around his neck, he took the ring off and put it on his ring finger. "I never moved on, Teddy! I could never fucking move on! How the hell could I?! You are the love of my life!"
"I can't... I can't deal with this right now... I'm sorry... I've... I've got to go." Teddy exhaled before turning from him and placed her hand on the handle of her car door, only for it to be moved away as Adam pulled the door open for her.
"You always hated when I did this for you, but I was raised a gentleman, and a gentleman doesn't let a woman open her own doors." Adam sighed, knowing that this whole transition was going to take time on both sides, but Adam was just elated to see her alive.
"If I hated when you did it, then why did you keep doing it?" Teddy grunted in annoyance as she sat in the driver's seat, looking up at him.
"Because I love you and was determined to treat you like the Queen I always saw you as." He said as he stared at her face, his features softening from mild annoyance at their situation to longing, once again. "I know... that this... all of this... is complicated. And you always hated complicated... but... I'm really... I don't know if there's a word, in my vocabulary, that is strong enough to describe how happy I am that you... that you're here... that I'm looking at you... that I get to... hear your voice... do the things that I used to do to annoy you... again..." He said softly, studying her features before his gaze fell onto the puncture wounds on her neck that would, seemingly, never heal, and tried to hide the sadness in his eyes. Those scars would never heal, which made him wonder if the scars from what he had done to her had healed, or if they would be a constant reminder that he had killed the one he loved?
As Theodora looked out the windshield of her car, waiting for Adam to close the door, she tried her best not to look at him. She had so much on her mind that she didn't even notice that he was looking at her attire. From how he described her from her life before, she was completely different. Conservative... reserved. Prudent. Cute. As opposed to how she dressed now, in a black skin-tight romper that had long coattails and a corset lace over her chest, she was like a new person entirely. Her hands moving to the steering wheel as she waited, it took her a minute before she shifted her icy gaze from the window before her to Adam, who held his hand atop the window frame.
"I'm sorry... I know I should close the door... but... Can I just... have a minute?" He pled. "I know... that you will, probably, never see me the same way as you did before... Hell, as far as I know, you don't even love me anymore... but I never stopped loving you, and I probably never will, but getting to see you... alive...means more to me than you will ever know, and..." Exhaling softly, Adam flicked his gaze to her hand as the light of a passing car hit her rings just right to make them shine bright enough to catch his eye. "You still wear them... even though you couldn't remember?" He chuckled.
"I still don't remember, Adam." She confessed. "My memories come to me in flashes, and I don't get the full memory at a time. They never seem to connect." Teddy sighed as she leaned back in the chair and looked at her rings. "I mean, the other night, I dreamed about white dresses, and then it flashed to... a classroom... then to these white and rose gold high heeled shoes with wings on the back of them..." Teddy added before placing her hands back on the wheel. "The night before that, I had a dream that I was pregnant." After a moment, her eyes grew wide before flicking her gaze over to Adam. "If these flashes aren't just dreams... they're memories!" Standing from the driver's seat to look at Adam as his expression changed to shock before fading to heartbreak, he seemed to stop breathing and stumble backward, his hand covering his mouth. "Do we... do we have children?" Teddy asked. Adam, slowly, shook his head.
"No... we were trying to... start a family before... before the accident... but... I didn't know... I... I never knew you were...." He seemed to have a hard time breathing. "In the dream, you were, for sure, pregnant?" Adam asked as Theodora nodded. "You were... I would have been..." Stumbling back again, Adam had to lean against another car to stabilize himself as another torrent of emotional pain rushed through him. "I killed... my wife... and my unborn child..." Teddy watched as the man began to panic, but she didn't know what to do.
"You... you didn't know...?" Teddy asked, stepping to him. "I... I didn't tell you?"
"No.. I remember... you called me while I was at work, telling me that you had some big news for me when I got home; I assumed that the news was going to be something about you getting the classroom you wanted for the year, but you never got a chance to tell me before the moon came out..." Adam's voice was shaky as he spoke, trying his best to keep from falling apart. "How far along...?"
"From what I remember from the dream, a few months." Watching as his face fell from her's, Adam looked broken. "Listen... if you... if you want to talk... and help me fill in some of these gaps in my memory, I can meet you somewhere tomorrow night... if you want. I would really like some answers to a lot of things now that I know that you're the only one who could fill those gaps for me." Teddy said softly, looking away from him as she straightened her posture. "As much as... I'm sure you dislike the idea of what I've become... As you are... something different, and can, therefore, feed one something else, whereas I am... limited... however, the bane of my existence is that I am only able to survive on a specific diet of... well...-"
"You need to feed. You're feeling weak." Adam said softly, not looking up at her. "Do you want me to..." He hesitated before looking up at her. "Do you want me to bring you something?"
"Adam, no. I... I can't ask you to do that. I need to find my daughter, anyway. Her fangs came in today." Teddy said with a small smile on her black, painted, lips.
"Your daughter... did you... is she...?"
"I adopted her as my own when her sire abandoned her." Teddy nodded.
"So you didn't...? With anyone else...?" Adam asked, standing up straight as he looked her over, sighing in relief as she shook her head. "Well, that's good."
"Have you...?" Teddy asked brow arched as he cleared his throat and looked away.
"...So this sire thing.... Is that a marriage thing?" He asked, changing the subject.
"No... my sire is whomever turned me. Adam, you didn't answer the-"
"Who turned you?" He asked, suddenly interested, and curious.
"Silas. Adam-"
"Silas?!" The name seemed to cause an involuntary growl to escape his lips.