Echoes Of My Past Self, Part 2

Chapter 4:
Starting over

Third-person POV:

"It's okay, the news was bound to make its appearance sooner or later." Samantha forced a smile on her face. Shane said nothing, he just looks away and change the channel. Instead of the depressing news of Samantha's death, there's a comedy show on TV.

"It must be hard to lose everything on one day, your family, your friends, everything you've worked for." Shane was deep in thought while Samantha did her best to stay positive. "It's tough, but I believe that everything happens for a reason." She smiles, and this time it's a genuine smile. "I see..." A smile crept on Shane's face, he looks at the time and stands up.

"I wish I could spend more time with you but, I need to get back to work." He was about to walk away when Samantha stopped him. "Wait!" She grabbed his sleeve, and just for a second, he looked surprised. "What's the matter?" He turns towards her. "I was judging for a while now but, Shouldn't I be in school?" for a second his expression turned a little grim but he quickly smiles. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that you were still in school. But, Are you sure that you want to go to school? I mean, you can become the best violinist in the entire continent if you wanted to."

Samantha shook her head. "I may become the best violinist, but that doesn't mean that I can just skip school!" Shane sighs in defeat. "Okay, so where do you want to go to school?" Samantha thought about it for a second, and then she faced Shane.

"Well..., There is only one school nearby, isn't there?" She had a bitter smile on her face, Shane immediately knew what she meant. "It doesn't matter, you don't have to go to that school if you don't want to." Samantha was wondering why Shane was so nice to her, well, it wasn't like she was complaining or anything. "Although I am no longer the Samantha I once was thanks to my new appearance, I would be glad if I could at least be close to the people who were once close to me."

She looked away from Shane. "I know what I'm asking is crazy, but even though I'm not the same Samantha, that doesn't mean I can't be around my friends and family." Shane gave it a deep thought before speaking again.

"Well, who am I to stop you?" He chuckles before turning serious again. "I worry that people will become suspicious of you because you act very similar to "Samantha". You don't know what will happen if people become suspicious of you. But I will at least try to protect you if anything goes wrong." He smiles gently after saying that. "Why are you so nice to me? I have nothing to offer..." Samantha couldn't help but ask the same question again.

And just for a moment there was sadness in his eyes. "I don't know..." That's all he said before leaving. "Did I hurt him? I didn't mean to..." But no one heard what Samantha said, only silence accompanied her in the living room.

- The next day

The alarm went off. "5 more minutes..." Samantha tries to turn off the alarm, but she stops midway "Wait, I don't remember setting any alarms, there's an event today that I haven't heard about yet?". As she pounder over this someone knocks on the door. "Wake up sleeping beauty. It's time for you to get ready for school." All the sleepiness that Samantha had a moment ago left. "Did I just heard him right?" She though before Shane knocks on the door again. "Samantha, are you awake? Don't tell me that you are still sleeping..." She gets out of bed.

"No, I'm awake now." She gets out of bed and Shane chuckles. "Can I open the door?" "Sure." He opens the door, he is holding some school uniforms. "Wait, are those what I think they are?" Shane casually places the uniforms on Samantha's bed. "Yep, you can choose the one you want to use for today. Besides, why do you look so surprised?"

"I didn't expect you to sign me up for school so quickly." Samantha mumbles while looking away, and Shane messes with her hair. "Hey!" Shane chuckles again. "Now get ready for school, I will be waiting for you at the dinning table." He left the room leaving Samantha alone with her thoughts. "Shane never ceases to amaze me..." she mumbles as she gets ready for school.

Shane drives Samantha to school. They were quiet in the car, but it was not an uncomfortable silence, but a peaceful one. Finally Shane reaches the school, it's been only 2 days since Samantha stopped going to school, and yet, she felt nostalgic. "It feels nostalgic to be back here." She looks at the school, there was sadness in her eyes. "Are you gonna be okay?" Shane asks worried. "Don't worry, I will be fine." "Oh yeah, before I leave, your name is going to be Lilith. I hope that that's okay with you..." Samantha remembers the first time Shane called her like that:

Samantha was deep in thought. Zero finally notices her.

"Oh! Who are you miss?" he asks. "Stay away from Lilith, Zero!" Shane's tone turns a little aggressive, he grabs Samantha by the wrist and drags her away. Despite him being irritated, he gently drags Samantha away from Zero.

"It's fine, you actually saved me the effort of choosing a new name actually." Shane leaned close to Samantha but he backed away before Samantha notices. "See ya later." He smiles. Shane drives away and Samantha walked inside the school. The air on the school was in between lively and gloomy, after all, one of their students was killed, and how was she killed? It remains a mystery.

As she walks the long hallways she notices that the other students were staring at her. They looked at her from top to bottom, it felt like they were wolves and she was their prey. Samantha felt both irritated and uncomfortable. "What's wrong with people! They look as if they have never seen a new student before!" Samantha tried her best to ignore them and picks up the pace. She went to her classroom and sat down on the furthest desk possible as she didn't want to be the center of attention. As she waited for class to begin, her ex-boyfriend entered the classroom. She tensed, and watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was surrounded by gloom, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

Samantha didn't knew how to feel about him after what happened 2 days ago. Well, whether she forgave him or not didn't actually mattered, it's not like they would talk during the school year. As soon as she looks away from the pitiful scene, the ball rang. As soon as the teacher walks in, the classroom goes quiet. "Good morning students, I have an important announcement to make. There is a new student, please stand up and introduce yourself to your classmates." Samantha stood up, and all eyes were on her. She stood in front of the class and smiled. "My previous self was all shy, and she wasn't the most positive person in the classroom, this new self needs to be the opposite." This is what she told herself before speaking. "My name is Lilith, I hope me all get along!" "Awwww" that's all the student said. This made her feel a little uncomfortable, but she decided to go along with it.

"Please sit down on your desk." The teacher turns to the other students "And I hope that the male students aren't thinking of flirting with our new student." She said this with a stern expression on her face, making every single male student to suddenly gulp. "So this is the type of teacher that my ex has... Wait, why am I thinking about this?" She shook her head and sat on her desk. During the lesson Samantha felt that the teacher was watching her. Almost every time she looked at him he looked away. Samantha asked the teacher to go to the bathroom, and the teacher gave her permission. She rushed out of the bathroom and picked up her phone to dial Shane's number. As soon as she was about to call Shane someone else enters the classroom, she turns around and her phone is taken away. "!" Samantha was about to scream but her mouth is covered.

WARNING:

THERE'S VIOLENCE, AND ALMOST R@PE IN THIS SCENE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I left my assistant to take care of my classroom, now I have time to play with the cutest girl in the classroom~" Samantha tried to struggle, but he grabbed her by the hair. There were tears on her face. "Stay still! If the other girls were obedient enough, then you should be too!" He pinned her on the wall and began ripping open her shirt. The hand that he used for covering her mouth moved away and grabbed her by the throat. It was hard for her to breathe, his leg went in between her thighs. Samantha didn't give up, she tried kicking him, and after a while, she fell on the floor. She coughed and took a deep breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you okay...?" Someone asked, she looked up and saw the teacher knocked out on the floor.

"I should've known, wish I came a little earlier..." The person that saved her was in his 20's, but there was something about him that looked similar to Shane. "I-I am okay..." The person helped her stand and placed a jacket over her shoulders. For a moment his eyes went wide, but he quickly changed his expression to a neutral one. "Who are you?" She asks. "My name is Leo, I am a teacher substitute." He picks up his phone and calls the police. "Let's go outside, the police will take care of this." Samantha follows him and they went outside. After a while, Shane appears and rushed over to Samantha and hugged her.

"I'm sorry something like that had to happen to you." He said with a pained expression on his face. "How did you...?" Shane lets go of her. "The person that saved you, Leo, is my big brother." As soon as Shane said that, Leo walks over to them. "Hi, I wish we could've met under better circumstances..." Samantha smiles. "Thank you for saving me!" Leo looks away, probably embarrassed. "No need to thank me, it was the right thing to do." Shane chuckles. "You should've taken the police career you know?" Shane says while turning towards his brother.

"But you are okay as it is." Having said this Shane looks at the time. "Let's go home Samantha, you should rest after what happened today." Samantha nods and they said their goodbyes to Leo.

Shane POV:

After what happened the only thing I felt was rage, I began driving and Samantha looked shaken up by what happened. Well, nobody would blame her, I wished so much that I could've been there to save her and break that bastard's neck. But soon that feeling was replaced by something more...bloody. I covered my mouth, my throat was dry and I knew the feeling all too well. Samantha seemed to have noticed my strange behavior.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling sick?" Samantha was worried about me, and I tried to act normal. "Yeah, I-I'm okay." I smile and continue to drive. "I need to drink blood very soon. Dammit! Why now? And Samantha is beside me too!" Cold sweat was running on my face and my skin was getting more pale by the second. Samantha grabbed my arm. "Don't touch me! I-I mean... I'm okay..." Samantha got startled after I yelled at her.

"Just what I needed, I just had to lose control and yell at her.." I bit my lip, I couldn't take it anymore so I stopped the car. "I'm sorry. I'm tired, I'm anxious...I'm...hungry..." I looked at her, all I saw was red. I could see her blood running through her veins, I could hear the beating of her heart getting louder by the second. I was trying to control myself, but I was losing control of myself by the second.

"Shane, you are scaring me..." Her hands were on the door handle as I got closer to her. I reached out for her, but I managed to stop myself midway. My red eyes were reflected in her eyes. "You won't remember what happened just now" That's all I said to her and she fell unconscious after I said that. "I'm sorry." I began driving again, I don't know how I gained control of myself at the last second, all I know is that I shouldn't miss a single feeding schedule if I don't want her to find out the truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 5:
The discovery


Shane's POV:

I carry her out of the car and place her on the sofa, my thirst for blood was worsening by the second, I don’t know if I should feel surprised by how long I controlled myself from biting Samantha. Still, my thirst for blood was getting stronger, in my mind, I was thinking whether or not to taste her blood. I began to see red again, I was super close to biting her, my fangs were an inch away from touching her skin, then I felt someone behind me.

“Shane, what are you doing?” I got startled and immediately got up, it was my Zero’s twin sister. I walked away from Samantha as quickly as possible.

“I feel grateful that you came when you did.” I sighed and my sister had a look like she wanted me to explain what was going on. But now it wasn’t the time to tell her, I needed to run away from Samantha and drink blood from somewhere else.

“Victoria, take care of her while I’m gone.” I immediately rushed out of the apartment with my sister yelling after me.

“Have you forgotten that I'm a vampire too!? You have more control than me!!!” And after that I don’t know what happened, all I know was that I didn’t return to the apartment for the day.

Third-person POV:

On the next day, Samantha woke up feeling weird. She didn’t know how she got to her room, and all the memories from the day before were a mess, she couldn’t tell what happen and didn’t happen. As she was still laying in bed she heard a cat meow.

“Hmm?” There was a cat on the bed, it was looking at her. Samantha looks at the cat with curiosity, wondering how did it get inside the room.

“How did you get in here?” But of course, the cat didn’t answer, she pets the cat. The cat purrs contently and Samantha chuckles.

“Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter how you got in here.” A while later Shane knocks and opens the door.

“Morning Samantha.” He was smiling but his expression turns sour when he saw the cat.

“Good morning Shane!” She said cheerfully and Shane smiles, whether or not the smile was genuine it didn’t bother Samantha. Samantha’s phone vibrates and she picks it up. And Shane seizes the moment and grabs the cat.

“It seems that my brother left his cat in my apartment yesterday. How did I not notice?” Samantha looks at Shane, her expression saddening a little.

“Is that so? I was gonna ask you if we could keep it…” Samantha gives the cat a final look and then looks away. This hurt Shane a little but he left the room with the cat. At breakfast, there was an uncomfortable silence.

“Why is Shane quiet? He normally starts the conversation.” Samantha studied Shane’s expression. When he notices he smiles.

“What’s wrong?” He asks as he stops writing in his book.

“Just saying but, I’ve never seen you eat when you are around me. Do you not like eating in front of other people?” His eyes widen and he looks away.

“You could say something like that…” In his eyes, there was regret and sadness, or at least that’s what Samantha thought it was. He clears his throat and looks at Samantha.

“I need to go, you can do whatever you want for the day.” He stands up and left the dining room.

“Did I say something wrong?” She replayed the conversation in her head but couldn’t find anything that she might’ve said to offend him. In the end, she lets it go and continues eating break. After she finishes eating breakfast she thought that it was a good idea to go out for a walk.

“I haven't exercised in so long, I have to take better care of myself.” She left the apartment and began was about to jog around the city when she spotted a familiar-looking cat.

“Huh?” The cat was sitting on the sidewalk, staring at her. She walked over to the cat and picked it up.

“Did you get lost? Or did you escape from your owner again?” She thought it was weird for the cat to have gotten to the apartment so quickly. She wondered if Shane's siblings' homes were nearby. As she was lost in thought the cat hopped out of her arms and ran away.

“Wait!” She chased after it, for a good while, before stopping on another alley. She didn’t want to enter the alley given the fact of what happened last time. She took a deep breath and walked into the alley, and the cat was sitting there, looking at her.

“I know that I was gonna jog around the city but I didn’t expect to run this much for the second time.” She chuckles.

“Well, nobody told you to chase after me, after all, it was your decision.” A voice stopping Samantha mid-chuckle.

“Who said that!?” She looks around the alley, but there was no one else in there except for her and the cat. The cat sighs and Samantha’s eyes widen in surprise.

“You live with a vampire and yet, seeing a cat talk surprises you this much? Oh wait, he never told you that he was a vampire. Yeah, that must be it.” Suddenly the “once a cat” turned into a young man. He had dark blue hair and yellow eyes. Samantha stood back in shock, nothing that he said seemed to be able to process in her mind.

“You... What…” Samantha couldn’t believe what she saw. The young man walks towards her, but Samantha was frozen in place.

“Oh! Sorry about that. My name is Raven, not a fitting name for a cat but, oh well.” He picks up her hand and kisses it. Samantha finally snaps and backs away from him.

“Also, nice to meet you, Samantha.” He smiles at her.

“WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ME THESE DAYS!?” She thought that she was going crazy. But then again, if she somehow managed to come back to life in another body, anything else was possible.

“Can you please not scream!?” He asks while covering his ears. For some reason, she felt sorry for him.

“I’m sorry…” She apologizes. Samantha felt that ever since that unfortunate day, her world has turned upside down. For her, it feels like she can no longer tell what’s real or not. Raven felt sympathetic.

“So, you are the princess that the prince soon to be king choose?” Raven says with amusement in his voice. Samantha, of course, looks at him confused.

“Hmm? He hasn’t told you? Oh well, that’s to be expected. I will tell you a little bit of what’s going on but not here.” He grabs her hand and was about to take her somewhere else when Shane appeared out of nowhere. Shane sights in annoyance.

“Oh, it’s you.” He looks at Raven’s hand, which was still holding Samantha’s hand.

“Get your hands off of her!” He was about to attack Raven but he turns into a cat and jumps out of the way.

“Oh well, I guess his majesty will end up explaining everything to the princess after all.” Raven chuckles and left the scene. When Shane regains his composure he looks at Samantha.

“What did he tell you?” Samantha glared at him.

“You have a lot to explain Shane. I knew that it was suspicious that you were too nice to me.” Shane bit his lip, he reaches out to grab Samantha's hand but she backs away from him.

“I will explain everything, it’s just not here. Follow me home.” He turns around and begins to walk away, since Samantha didn’t have any other choice she follows him. When they both arrived at the apartment, they sat down on the couch. Samantha patiently waited for him to begin explaining.

“Yes, I’m a vampire, but not only vampires exist in this world. We all hide our identities from humans, but at least 25% of them know that we exist.” Samantha wasn’t surprised, after all, she died thanks to a vampire.

“Then what about the vampire who killed me?” Shane’s eyes widen at what Samantha said.

“You died to a vampire?” Samantha nods and Shane’s expression turns bitter.

“Vampires are not supposed to kill humans, much less drink from them without their permission. And those who fail to follow those rules are punished, with the worst punishment imaginable. Most of them don’t get to live another day. But of course, tracking those who don’t follow the rules is no easy task.” A shadow falls over Shane’s face, his hatred for those who don’t follow the rules is clear.

“And of course, there’s an exception to the “don’t drink from a human” rule, some people’s names are on a list. Criminal names to better describe it, we can drink from them, but not kill them. Unless they commit another crime…” He looks away when he said this.

“Anyways, you asked about what I was gonna do with you, right? Why’s that?” He asks Samantha with a serious expression on his face.

“Raven called me a princess, and he called you his majesty…” Shane closed his eyes.

“Just because you live under my roof it means that you will be the princess? I wonder where he got that idea from.” He had no expression on his face when he said this.

“Either way, I won't harm you, if that is what you are thinking about. Do you have any other questions?” He looks at Samantha.

“If you are gonna be the future king, why are you here living alone? Don’t you suppose to have a guard or something?” Shane smiles at Samantha’s question.

“That’s what my parents always say. But I like the freedom I have for now. Any other questions?” Shane changed the subject, he doesn’t seem to like talking about his royal life.

“No. That’s all.” Shane stood up from the sofa, he was walking towards his room. But before he leaves Samantha’s line of view he stops.

“Sorry for not telling you anything, I hope that one day you can trust me again…” He said this without looking at her and left.

“Life seems to get more complicated as the days go by…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's note: This is the end of this book, the next books out of this will be with a specific route, for example, Samantha x Shane, Samantha x Zero, etc. Hope you all look forward to it!