A.N: Many thanks to the reviewers, it makes me happy to know ya'll are so invested with the story! Also, as a side note, please let me know if there are any errors, grammatical or spelling ones, I'm beta-ing my own work, rather than getting a second person. But that's only I'm churning out these chapters pretty quickly and don't want to annoy someone to beta for me, since I expect quick results. I'm pretty fussy, but it does mean I'm quick when beta-ing for others! =]

p.s – I totally stole the idea from Naruto, it's a good team building exercise!

Right now onto some responses:

To Guest: Thanks for reading and in response to your review - Firstly, no idea where Ares came from, he's not in my story at all. Secondly, I'm aware that Apollo and Artemis are children of Zeus in mythology, but I had already stated in my first chapter that I was just using their names, and other minor details, i.e. Apollo and Artemis being twins and the brotherhood between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Basically, I'm using some of their relationships, but everything else I'm making up. For the purpose of this story, disregard any knowledge you have of the Greek Deities and just use the information that's provided from the chapters please! But thanks for pointing that out, maybe I'll put in a disclaimer or something just to explain that fully.

To nikki: Yes, yes and yes! Teddison all the way!

To Jessica Torres-Robbins: Thanks for the support! You'll be disappointed to find that Callie is not Aphrodite, I'm afraid. But there are still many truths to be learned, so just hang in there!

To Guest from Chapter 3: Apologies for the late mention. Thanks for the support, and for defending as well, but I don't mind at all. And if someone decides to 'get stoned' and what not, it's their choice; each to their own I suppose. Let's not cause a scene now.

Chapter 10: Man Down!

Callie p.o.v

It had been a week since the night I was attacked and Arizona had saved me. I hadn't seen much of her, in between work at the hospital, work as Artemis and training Mark and Addison; it didn't leave much time for us. It was kind of a good thing as I was still reeling from the information that my mother may be a half-breed vampire and she might be responsible for Arizona's loss of memory. I really didn't know how to face her at the moment. I thought back to that night.

"Lucia Torres"

"No, that's not possible, you said Mnemosyne was a half-breed, an ancient one at that, but our mother is human!" Aria screamed at Tim.

"I know it's hard to believe, but that's what all the sources say."

"What sources? Who the hell is trying to implicate my mother?"

"The Seers. We've gone to see a few, and all the signs point to her."

I was shocked into silence, and when I looked at Arizona, I saw that she was just as dumbfounded as I was. We made eye contact and her face began to pale, her mouth kept opening and closing, but no sound escaped, she looked away and refused to make eye contact with me again.

"Tim, Aria, perhaps we should talk to the person in interest?" Terri cut in before the situation got out of hand, and looked towards me, "perhaps we could arrange a meeting with Mrs Torres. Callie? Could you persuade your mother to visit Seattle?" I nodded wordlessly.

"Cal!" Aria protested from my left, "You can not be serious! They're are saying that mama caused Arizona's memory loss and was potentially responsible for her attack." I snapped out of my daze and looked at her in confusion. She narrowed her eyes at Terri, "I mean, that's what you're implying right? My mother attacked Arizona, and when she found out she was a Royal, erased her memories and left her in the forest." I hadn't thought about that, and was grateful for Aria's foresight.

"That is not what I'm saying at all. I can assure you, that I am certain that Mnemosyne is not responsible for Arizona's attack," Terri stated confidently, I noticed Terri was careful to state 'Mnemosyne' and not 'your mother', "As a Seer, she would have been able to sense Arizona's bloodline, whether it was hidden or not. Their power of sight enables them to protect the Royals, so she couldn't have been responsible. Mnemosyne has also been one for peace and against violence, attacking Arizona would bring war to her doorstep, she wouldn't take that risk. We just want to know why she decided to erase her memories. I would never suggest that your mother was Mnemosyne if we didn't have sufficient evidence; I am not one to make wild accusations. And besides, I am curious as to how she knows of us as well." It was another point that had not occurred to me, I never questioned my mother on her knowledge of vampires; instead I'd just accepted it as part of my childhood.

Ignoring Aria's protests, I pulled out my phone and dialled, praying that she wouldn't answer.

"Torres Residence, how may I help you?" I recognised the voice of my housemaid on the other side, and cursed in my head.

"Maria? It's Callie."

"Ms Callie! What a surprise, what can I do for you?"

"Is my mother home?" Please say no.

"Of course, one moment please." Dammit.

"Calliope?"

"Hi mama."

"Well isn't this a surprise, how's Seattle? Are you and Aria settling in well?" Her voice was light, full of love and warmth and I prayed to every deity above that she wasn't involved.

"Everything's fine, but I was wondering if you could come for a visit? It's been a while and…" I looked towards Arizona, who had yet to speak, "there's someone I would like you to meet." I watched as she clenched her jaw and swallowed roughly.

"Oh? You've met someone? That's wonderful! Let me check your father's schedule and we'll arrange a date to visit."

"Oh, I was hoping that it would just be you." I didn't want to get my father involved, it was hard enough as it was already.

"… Is everything okay Calliope? You're not sick are you?" her voice turned lower, worry evident.

"No, no I just wanted your approval before introducing her to daddy." I really hoped she was buying my story, because I sure as hell wasn't. I could hear Aria huffing and puffing next to me.

"Of course, I can come in 2 weeks? It's the earliest I can do."

"No, that's perfectly fine, I'll let Aria know too. We can come pick you up?"

"Nonsense, just tell me where to meet you and I'll make my own way."

"Okay… I love you mama"

"… I love you too Calliope, take care of yourself and look after Aria okay?"

We hung up and I looked at Terri, "She's coming in 2 weeks."

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings and ended up walking into someone, knocking them onto the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, are you okay?" I offered a hand to the blonde woman that I had knocked over. When she stood up I saw that she had the iciest blue eyes I'd ever seen, they weren't like Arizona's clear and bright ones, theirs were colder.

"I'm fine, I should have been paying attention to where I was going."

"No, it's my fault, I was lost in my thoughts."

"It doesn't matter, no harm done." She held a hand out, "I'm Erica, Erica Hahn."

"Callie Torres." I felt a shock when our hands touched. Her hands were soft and warm, and when she smiled at me, I felt butterflies. I noticed that she had dropped her coffee in our collision and offered to buy her another one.

"Well, who could resist an offer from such a beautiful woman?" I blushed, and smiled shyly. I couldn't deny it, and maybe I was going through withdrawal with lack of Arizona, but this woman was definitely attractive.

We ended up in a nearby coffee shop and I'd learned that she was a cardio surgeon at Seattle Presbyterian, she had moved to Seattle 3 years ago when the Head of department position opened up. She was charming, and funny and very flirtatious. When we finally parted 2 hours later, we had exchanged numbers and a promise to go out again. I made my way back to my apartment, smiling all the way. When I got there, my smile dropped as I noticed a blonde standing outside the lobby, she perked up when she saw me and jogged over to me, a small smile on her lips.

"Calliope"

"Arizona, how long have you been here?"

"Only for the last hour or so"

"What? It's freezing out here!" It was mid-November and the weather had predicted snow coming our way.

"I was waiting for you," her face never changed, smile on her lips all the time.

"But couldn't you have waited inside? You know, where it's slightly warmer?"

"But then I wouldn't be able to see you walking down the road." She stated simply. This woman was adorable at times; I could feel a smile spreading across my lips.

"Come upstairs, you must be freezing." I grabbed her hand and led her to the elevator to go up to the fifth floor where my shared apartment with Aria resided.

"Nah uh," she shook her head, "I can't feel it remember?" she grinned cheekily, and her dimples became visible; I really missed those dimples, Erica didn't have dimples. Wait, why am I comparing her to Erica? I must be more tired than I thought I was.

I closed the door behind me as Arizona wandered around my front room.

"Where's Aria?"

"She's on call tonight, so she'll probably be sleeping at the hospital."

"Right."

I stood in front of my door and she stood by my bookshelf, no one said a word, it was pretty awkward. She eventually sat down on the couch and watched me as I headed into the kitchen.

"Uh, do you want something to drink? I have water, beer, soda, uh, no blood though, and –"

"Calliope." I froze on the spot at her low, silky voice. "Come, sit down. We need to talk." I really hated those words; nothing good ever came out of anything starting with those words. Slowly, I shuffled over to her and sat at the edge of the couch, leaving lots of space in between us, she noticed and shifted closer, until our legs touched and I shivered at the contact.

"You've, uh, you've been avoiding me." I hated how much she could affect me with just one touch.

"No I haven't." I opened my mouth to protest, "No really, I haven't. I mean I haven't not been avoiding you, but I haven't purposely been avoiding you either if that makes sense?" Seeing my blank look, she continued on quickly, "I really have been busy, we all have. Splitting my time between the hospital, clearing stray nests and training Mark and Addie, I haven't really had much time to do anything else, and I'm sorry."

The sincerity in her voice and apologetic look on her face made me sigh, and seeing that I had relaxed, she smiled.

"I did have some time to think though." I tensed back up immediately, "It's not a bad kind of thinking!" I stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously, trust me okay? I know that a lot has happened and it was a lot to take in. If your mom really is Mnemosyne, I needed to think how it would affect us. So really, this time apart was a good thing, we needed some space and time. I've thought about it a lot, hell it was the only thing I really think about, it was all I could do, so instead of sleeping, I spent my nights thinking of you and Mnemosyne."

I gave her a quick once over and saw that she really did look tired, her eyes weren't as bright as they usually were and her body was more slumped, as if there was a heavy weight on her shoulders.

"I've decided what to do if it turns out that your mom really is Mnemosyne," she looked really defeated, "I've debated, tossed and turned and finally decided…"

I held my breath.

"… That I don't give a damn!" I let out my breath immediately. "This week apart has been hell, and I can't do it again. I-uh-I love you, and I want to spend every waking moment with you, the rest of the world can just shove it!"

She loves me? She loves me? I was too busy with my internal celebration that I hadn't realised that I had yet to answer her. She was staring at me expectantly, but had mistaken my silence for rejection.

"I-uh-I'm going to go now, don't worry, I don't expect anything, I just thought you'd like to know…" she trailed off before heading towards the door.

Her movement snapped me out of my daze and I jumped out of my seat and grabbed her arm. I pulled her into me and crashed my lips onto hers. In the back of my mind, I felt guilty for flirting with Erica that afternoon, but a little flirting never hurt anyone right? All other thoughts flew out of my head when I felt her respond, arms wrapping tightly around my neck, mouth opening. Our tongues met and I felt a moan escape from my throat.

"I love you too" I managed to get out in between kisses. A huge smile overtook her face.

"I love you so much, Calliope," Her eyes grew to a light shade of purple and I could see her fangs peeking out slightly, but instead of feeling scared, I felt excited. She must have been able to sense that excitement, because the next thing I know, she had lifted me up and headed towards my bedroom.

God I loved this woman.

I woke up to my alarm going off, and groaned when I felt the light against my partially opened eyes. Did I not close the curtains last night? I slammed them shut again and turned to hit my alarm, only to find my movement limited by a pale arm around my waist. My naked waist. I twisted my head to see a mass of blonde curls behind me, and smiled as I recalled the night before. She groaned slightly, before briefly peeking open an eye, lazily lifting a finger and sending a bolt of energy at my alarm, which shattered to pieces on impact. I jumped slightly at the noise, and she returned her arm across my waist, snuggled in closer and let out a happy sigh of contentment.

"You owe me a new clock."

"I'd buy you a million clocks if it meant I could do this every day." Came the muffled voice, before her head popped up and a happy grin took over her face. "Good morning, Calliope."

I turned in her arms and ran a hand across her cheek, fingers lingering at her dimples, "morning Ari," we both leaned in and shared a kiss, which slowly got heated as she trailed her lips down my throat. I tilted my head back at the contact, offering her more space, but the kisses soon changed to quick pecks, before she just nuzzled her nose against me and inhaled deeply. I noticed that she'd done that a lot during our heated moments last night as well.

"Are you okay?" I ask concerned

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" she didn't move, choosing to talk into my throat instead, the vibrations made me shiver.

"Nothing, it's just, I noticed you doing this a lot last night as well," I gestured to what she was doing. She pulled her head back and blushed; it was too adorable so I leaned forward and gave her a peck on the nose.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd notice that," I arched an eyebrow and she scratched her chin shyly, clearly embarrassed, "it's just that you smell really good and sometimes it's hard not to lose control when all I want to do is lose myself in you, your body, your smell, your taste …" she trailed off with a groan, eyes closed tightly, and I blushed brightly at the confession.

"Oh … I-uh," I cleared my suddenly dry throat and tried again "… thanks?" What do you say to something like that?

She chuckled, "You are more than welcome Calliope." She gave me another peck before moving to leave the bed, to my disappointment. "What time is it anyway?"

"I have no idea, you destroyed my clock," I pointed to its messy remains, r.i.p dear clock. She looked at me sheepishly, "why did it go off anyway? I don't remember setting it at all, I'm not on the morning shift."

"Oh, I did that last night, after you passed out on me Torres." I averted my eyes in embarrassment, "don't be embarrassed, it was super hot!" She looked around the room for her phone, "and I set it because I have be in a 10 today, and it's now," she looked down at the screen, "9am! Shit! Lucky you only live across the road from the hospital huh?"

As she scrambled to get dressed, I heard her stomach growl.

"You hungry? I could make you something to eat?" I offered, I suppose it was partially my fault she was so hungry, but I had no regrets.

She bit her lip and glanced up at me meekly, "I'm not that kind of hungry, Calliope".

Not that kind of… Oh!

"Sorry Ari, I don't have anything around here, maybe I should start storing some at home. You could, you know?" I gestured to my neck. She approached me quickly, face darkening and stroked the side of my face.

"No." she stated firmly, "That's not what you're for, I love you, and I would never…" She stepped back quickly, arms crossed over her chest defensively. "Don't ever offer that again, not to me, to Terri, or Tim and definitely not anyone else. Not even if I was dying, I would never feed from you."

My heart broke at her look; I approached her and placed my arms on her shoulders. I could feel how tense she had gotten. I pulled her into me and wrapped my arms around her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I love you too; I'll never suggest something like that again. It's just, you're hungry and I don't want you to starve, I'm sorry, I love you, I'm sorry."

She finally relaxed and wrapped her arms around my waist, laying her head against mine.

"I know you mean well, but I don't want to hurt you. You're my girlfriend, not my feeder-"

"Girlfriend?" I cut her off, like I said, we hadn't had much time to talk, let alone discuss anything about us.

"Um, if you want? I would really like you to be, but if you don't we don't have to-" I kissed her to stop her rambling.

"Shut up, you dork. I would love to be your girlfriend. I love you."

"I love you too"

A few hours after Arizona had left for work, my phone went off and I looked to see I had received a message.

"Free for coffee? x"

It was from Erica; at first I was going to ignore it, but I decided there was nothing wrong with meeting up with a friend. So I replied and went to get ready.

"Erica, hey," she had arrived before me and was already sat at a table waiting. "Sorry I'm late."

"For someone as pretty as you? I'd wait forever." I blushed lightly, before ordering a large black coffee.

"Late night?" she inquired regarding my order.

"Something like that."

We spent the next hour continuing our conversation from the day before, I told her about my time in Miami and I learned that she lived in Boston before moving to Seattle. We were interrupted by the sound of my pager going off.

"Hospital?" she asked, taking a sip from her cup.

"Yeah, 911. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, we can do this another time." She stood up as I did, and leaned in for a hug. She kissed me on the cheek as I pulled back, shocking me slightly. "I'll call you." The sound of her phone ringing stopped me before I could say anything, so I just waved and ran off towards the hospital.

When I entered the hospital lobby, Mark, who had been waiting for me, grabbed me and pulled me towards the stairs.

"What are you doing Mark? I got paged, 911."

"I know, that was me." He replied gruffly.

I noticed that we were headed downstairs to the basement. My blood ran cold; the basement was specifically set up for the vampires of the hospital. Each room had been reinforced with soundproof metal wall and doors, the rooms were created to be darker than the average patient room, and there was a separate cold storage room for blood down here.

"Who was it Mark?" He didn't reply, but his face was dark and angry, "Dammit, answer me Mark!"

He lead me down a long corridor and when we reached the end, there was a room. He walked straight in without knocking and I realised that this was a waiting area, following him in I saw Addie sitting in the corner of the room curled up in the seat, sobbing.

"Addie!" I ran towards her to pull her in for a hug, but as I got closer, I noticed she was covered in blood. "Oh my god, are you okay Addie, what happened?"

The woman in my arms was shivered, tears streaming down her face; she was inconsolable. I had never seen her like this before.

"Sweetie, calm down, what happened?"

"I-i-it's not my blood. God it's my fault!" she screamed and buried her face back into my shoulder. I looked up and that's when I noticed Tim, Lexie and Alex sitting on the other side of the room. That's when it hit it me; I looked towards Mark and mouthed 'Teddy?' to which he nodded solemnly.

Shit …

Addison p.o.v – 2 hours ago

We had spent the last week training with Thalia and Clio, and I was in complete awe. Their speed and control; and the damage their power created was ridiculously unbelievable, and they weren't even at full power. They made Mark and I attack them over and over again in order to gauge our abilities, and to my absolute dismay, Teddy and Alex sat in audience. We were thrown onto our asses more times that I can count, and it was humiliating having her watch me. She'd constantly reminded of my weakness before, and I'm sure she's having the time of her life right now. I looked towards Teddy who had her head dipped in thought, and before I could take another attempt at Clio, she called me over.

"Hey Addison,"

"What?" I snapped, I was not in a good mood.

"You're fast, like really fast, but your attacks are weak." I rolled my eyes at her.

"If you just called me over so you can insult me –"

"Just shut up and listen alright?" She cut me off before I could get too worked up.

"No, look, your speed works to your advantage, I mean your challenge is just to steal the bell off Clio right?" I nodded to this, curious as to what she was saying, "Sloan isn't as fast as you, but his attacks do a lot more damage. If you can distract her enough, he can land a hit to her back to throw her off balance, and you can get in quick enough to get the bell. You and Sloan aren't working together, so you're just getting in each others way."

I pondered this for a moment before nodding and sending the message to Mark mentally. To my surprise, it worked like a charm and I had the bell in my hand in no time. I turned to Teddy and smiled in thanks, maybe she wasn't so bad after all. She just grinned smugly and walked back to Alex. Ugh, I take it back; I hate her.

I'd been given my first mission to clear out a stray nest. At first I thought I'd be paired with Mark, seeing as we'd spent the last week working on our teamwork, but instead I'd been paired with Teddy Fucking Altman. I tried to protest at first, but was told that I needed an experienced hunter out with me tonight, and that Mark was going out with Alex to a different destination.

Terri explained that in the last few nests, they had noticed a change stray activity. They were no longer all brainless, hunger and blood driven, hysterical vampires anymore, there were a few that possessed more control and autonomy, which indicated they probably had a sire; a pretty strong one at that too, considering that their eyes shone a proud yellow as opposed to the dark soul-less eyes strays usually possessed.

"Why did I get stuck with you?" I knew I was being petty, but I really didn't like her.

"Because I'm more experienced."

"Yeah, but why couldn't Terri or Arizona or Tim come with me instead? Hell, I'd even take Lexie, anyone but you!" Her eyes clouded over briefly, before she faded back into the calm and cool persona she'd adapted since we left the warehouse.

"My Masters have better things to do than babysit you, and Lexie rarely goes on these types of missions on her own. She always goes with Terri, besides, we complement each other" I scoffed at that, "we fit, because we're about the same height and the same build, you're almost as fast as I am, and your long ranged attacks are getting stronger. I'm better at close ranged attacks, so we make sense." She explained calmly, never once losing her composure.

"Why does she get to stay with Terri all the time? I mean Alex gets Arizona's time, so who do you get? I mean who really is your 'Master'?" I know I was being unfair, but I wasn't used to the person standing in front of me, I was more used to the angry, brash, and impulsive version.

"Lexie has a different type of use. She goes on missions with Terri or together with me and Alex, because she's needed to memorise the situation. Her photographic memory enables her to recall the entire room as it is, and so when we're at the scene, she can tell us if there's something missing, or odd with the place. It makes it easier to hunt for clues, and when fighting, her memory allows us to break down fighting styles. Besides, Terri marked her, so it's no surprise she's always following her.

Alex had been Arizona's protégé beforehand, so they've always been close. They became only closer ever since she marked him and then sired him. Alex is like Tim to her, a brother figure that's insanely protective of her."

Her jaw clenched and I felt her anger spike slightly before calming back down so quickly I wondered if I'd imagined it.

"I was marked by Arizona, but sired by Terri; so technically, I belong to both of them. I don't have a set Master like Alex or Lexie, so I just go to whoever needs me to. And to be honest, Terri's in charge anyway, so I just go with her orders most of the time." I was taken by the amount of detail she'd just given me, I'd expected her to brush me off or something, and not give me a fucking lecture.

I didn't get a chance to reply, as we'd arrived in the old church. The irony was not lost on me. I suppose we were here to 'save the souls' of the strays, and to give them 'freedom' from their sins. I snickered at the thoughts. Teddy shushed me and I shot her a glare. I saw that her eyes were flickering red, and I couldn't help but be captured by the sight. Taking in the rest of her features, I had to admit, the red eyes didn't suit her as much as her usual hazel, that aside, she was pretty hot. I found myself mesmerised by her face and had started leaning in without knowing it.

"I can sense about 5, what do your senses tell you?" she turned to me and we found our faces inches away from each other. I froze and she tilted her head in concern. "Montgomery?"

I snapped my head towards the window we had been hiding by, and let my senses take over, eyes glowing green. "Yeah, I've got 5 too."

"Good, anything else that you can tell about them?" she whispered into my ear and I involuntarily shivered. She didn't seem to notice though, or if she did, she didn't say anything. I inhaled deeply, letting my concentration focus on the occupants of the room.

"2 of them feel different. The other 3 reek of nothing but blood, and death, but 2 of them feel different."

She nodded, "that's good, you're right. When we get in there, I want you to take out the weaker ones as quickly as you can. Leave the stronger ones to me, and when you've finished, come and join me okay?" we moved off into separate entrances, but she grabbed my arm at last minute. "Make sure they're dust before you turn your back okay?" I rolled my eyes at her, it was obvious, and I wasn't stupid. I opened my mouth, but froze at the serious look in her eyes. "I'm serious, we don't want any ambushes okay?" I nodded before moving off.

There were two men standing at the altar, and three men loitering around by the front door. I could see Teddy sneaking in the back entrance from my position crouched under the window on the left, I silently watched my targets as I awaited the signal.

"Now" it echoed through my head, and in a flash I had appeared behind one of the men, claws digging in and hand crushing his trachea completely, before moving off to the second stray. He came at me arms raised, ready to punch, I dodged the attack and twisted so I was behind him; summoning up my power, I froze his head with my left arm whilst my right arm swung around and shattered his skull. Following through with the movement of my arm, I twisted around to confront the third man who had just taken a swing at me with a rusty pipe. I blocked the attempt at my head with my left arm and sent a bold of energy towards his stomach, making him lose his grip on the pipe. In a flash, I had appeared behind the guy, claws at the ready, and tore five long gashes across his throat. Blood sprayed everywhere and he slowly turned to dust, taking a final look around to make sure there were no bodies, I headed towards the sounds of fighting behind me.

Teddy was locked in an intense battle between the two with bright yellow eyes, her own eyes were getting brighter and brighter, I noticed that they both carried short blades, as opposed to Teddy, who was weaponless. As she was engaged with one of them, I saw the other creep up behind her, and in a mild moment of panic, I sent a bolt of lightning that went wild. It hit the target, but had also hit Teddy, to her frustration. As I got closer to them, I noticed that Teddy had sustained some damage; she now sported a cut across her right brow and along her left cheek, she had more cuts running across her arms and thighs, and a shallow cut across the left side of her neck, but she was still going strongly.

I charged at the other man and engaged into battle with him, rusty pipe in hand. We traded blow after blow, until we were locked in a stalemate and I found myself pushed back to back with Teddy, who had one hand gripping an arm holding a blade over her head. Using all my strength I managed to push him back, and when I finally found an opening I released a blast of energy mixed with lightning at him and threw him back crashing into the pews. I was absolutely exhausted after the exchange, but I found myself tensing as the pressure around the room suddenly increased. I turned towards the man Teddy was fighting against to find him surrounded by an aura of bright yellow, it was blinding and I struggled to keep my eyes open. All of a sudden I found myself flying backwards along with Teddy. I stared at him in horror when we both landed on the floor and saw a deranged smile take over his face, we both charged again, but were sent flying back once again by a sudden eruption of energy, he laughed manically. The pressure was steadily increasing and I found it hard to breathe let alone move. I glanced at Teddy who also seemed to be struggling, less so than me, but struggling nonetheless.

"Addison" I looked at her, "Run."

Even against a guy like this, one who was completely kicking our asses, one who made me quiver in fear, she still had a look of complete determination on her face. A similar face to the one she has when she's locked in a difficult surgery, the same one she makes when we fight against Thalia and Clio, the same one she puts on when she is hell bent on emerging victorious. It was awe-inspiring and I was jealous as hell.

I didn't move a single muscle; I just stared at her. I looked towards the glowing man and fixated my focus on him. I summoned as much energy as I could in my weakened state, and tried to force myself to move. Towards him, away from battle and out the door, I didn't care, I just wanted to stop shaking and be able to move dammit!

"Jesus Christ, just run Addie!"

He came at us as we sat there drained. Shit, this is the end! A sudden increase in energy caught my attention and I saw Teddy's aura flare up heavily. Jesus that's bright. Her whole body was surrounded by a rich red aura, her eyes blazing a bright red, with white specks floating around, and on her chest was a small red owl, shimmering proudly. She disappeared and reappeared behind the guy with the arm holding the blade in hand. He looked at his right shoulder to see blood spewing heavily; she had torn his arm off completely in a move so fast neither the man nor I could see. She was so fast and so fucking magnificent, and I was strangely turned on by it.

The man howled in pain and turned to grab at Teddy. He didn't make it halfway before she had grabbed the blade from his torn arm and sliced his head clean off, blood splattering on her face. She was just so majestic.

Her aura faded away and she was left bent over, and panting, absolutely exhausted from her injuries. Seeing the pressure had disappeared, I willed my tired body into movement, and walked to her.

"Holy crap Teddy, that was just-"

"Addie!"

Movement behind me caught my attention and I saw that Teddy had her eyes trained on something behind me. I cursed my tired state dulling my senses; I really needed more training in fighting and stamina, by the time I had managed to turn around, Teddy had already materialized between the attacker and I, and she had a blade pierced right through her stomach. Anger flooded my veins and I let it manifest itself into flames around my hands. I forced the flames out at the enemy and he went flying backwards, blade exiting her body as he retained his strong grip and I watched as she collapsed onto the floor. Acting on pure adrenaline and anger alone, I flashed in front of the guy, picking up the discarded blade from his dead comrade along the way and impaled him to the wall behind him through his head. His cold, dead eyes stared back at me as he turned to dust. The adrenaline filtered out of my body as my mind registered the absence of danger, and I turned around to see Teddy on the floor, in a pool of her own blood, unmoving. Shit!

"Teddy!" I panicked and hurried back to her side, sliding to my knees beside her, I lifted her head onto my lap and she let out a groan of pain.

"I told you to make sure they were fucking dust, Montgomery!" She hissed out through clenched teeth.

Was she seriously scolding me? She was starting to piss me off.

She coughed and more sounds of pain escaped her lips. The guilt was eating away at me, but I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing she was. She was just as tired as I was; more so, after her sudden 'level up', not to mention she was injured and heavily bleeding, yet she still managed to react faster than I did.

"Why the hell did you jump in front of me, Altman?" I shot back; she confused me, sometimes she would be cold and uncaring towards me, and sometimes she would be angry and confrontational, but then there were the times where she would be warm and welcoming, helping me train and offering ice packs and coffee when I was bruised and tired from training. I mean just now she took the attack directed at me; she just jumped in front without second thoughts. Yeah, she definitely confused me.

Raising a shaky and blood covered hand up to my cheek, she stroked it gently, before declaring the softest and warmest voice I had ever heard come from her, "I couldn't let you get hurt. My heart wouldn't be able to take it if you died." Blood spewed out from her mouth as she coughed, her hand dropped from my cheek and her head lolled backwards, eyes closed.

Shit! I placed both my hands over the wound on her stomach that just wouldn't stop bleeding.

"Teddy … Teddy!"

A.N – Erica… I'm sorry I had to do it, she's integral to the story, her flirting with Callie is all part of it!