Morning came earlier than expected.
I woke up before the alarm, my body fully rested after barely six hours of sleep.
"Fuck those senses, waking up twice because someone is facking in the next building isn't exactly cool", I grunted, standing from the bed
I stepped into the shower, letting the cold water clear the last traces of grogginess, then headed out for breakfast.
I ordered what used to be my "I'm starving" meal.
Big mistake.
Finished it in minutes. Ordered more. And more. By the time I stopped, the waitress joked that I was preparing for hibernation.
I paid, left a decent tip, and walked back to the motel in mild disbelief.
"Okay," I muttered. "This appetite is going to be expensive."
Back in my room, I finally took a proper look around instead of rushing out like yesterday.
That's when I noticed the envelope on the bedside table.
I froze for half a second, then picked it up.
No stamp, no address. Just my name written in clean, simple handwriting.
To Samael Ashborn
I opened it.
Congratulations on your new life, Samael.
A small gift to make things smoother.
We don't want anyone to pry into your mind, right?
- Rob
The moment I finished reading, I felt it.
Something settled in my mind - like a transparent barrier locking into place around my thoughts. Not heavy, not restrictive. Just… like a cocoon protecting a fragile butterfly.
"Mental shield", said I with a goofy smile
I tested it instinctively, pushing against it from the inside.
Sadly, it wasn't like Bella's immunity from the story. This is different. Narrower, it can only protect me.
"But I guess that is more than enough for now"
I leaned my shoulder against a wall and laughed quietly.
"Edward."
Yeah. That would've been a problem.
A mind-reading vampire stumbling onto a reincarnated lion-eagle hybrid with memories of another universe? That conversation would've been messy.
And getting a counter myself would've been a nightmare.
To absorb an ability, I'd need to find someone who had one. And in this world, mental abilities weren't exactly common. The Volturi's strongest asset was a girl who inflicted unimaginable pain with a thought, and there was no natural counter lying around.
Finding something to block mental attacks from thin air?
Pain in the ass didn't even begin to describe it.
Rob just saved me months, maybe years of trouble.
"One problem less," I murmured.
Now, let's think about my second unique ability.
Power Absorption
I focused inward, trying to understand it better. The instinctive knowledge suggested it was tied to my predatory traits - my claws and fangs. To take something, I would likely need direct physical contact, most likely resulting in the opponent's death
"Primitive, but I kinda like it"
I'd figure out the details on the go.
For now, I had a much more mundane issue.
Money!
Ten thousand dollars sounded like a lot - until you realised it wasn't. Not in the long term, not if I wanted freedom.
And yes, I had the house in Forks waiting for me. But Bella wouldn't even enrol in school until January. It was June now. I had an entire summer ahead of me.
"Let's solve the money problem first," I decided.
I have plenty of time.
Vampires aren't going anywhere.
The motel was on the outskirts of a small town. I walked to the nearest tech store and bought a decent laptop. Nothing flashy. Just reliable.
Information first.
For the next two days, I stayed mostly inside.
I compared this world to my old one: politics, technology, and major events. The differences were minor. Subtle shifts, but nothing dramatic.
"They do lack some bangers, like Game of Thrones and LOTR,"
"But I don't have years, I need something faster..."
Then I focused on markets.
Stocks, trading, investments.
In my previous life, I barely understood the basics. Here, though?
I had Instant Mastery.
I stared at graphs for hours. Studied market behaviour. Followed news cycles. Analysed patterns.
After a couple of hours, something clicked.
Connections formed at terrifying speed. My brain filtered noise, highlighted trends, and optimised strategies. Within two days, I wasn't just competent.
I was better than professional traders.
I started small, four to five hundred dollars a day.
Consistent, yet controlled.
If I suddenly started making tens of thousands daily, someone would notice. Suspicion was unnecessary attention.
After a few days of steady profit, I closed the motel chapter.
I bought a cheap Honda, reliable and invincible.
Stocked up on necessities for a few months. Spent a couple of thousand on books, I took everything that caught my attention.
Then rented an average house in a nearby town, one with a large forest stretching from its backyard.
Average. I started to use that word quite often.
Because I'd started noticing something.
Bloodlines influence people. I'd read enough stories to know that. I thought my only change was the appetite.
I was wrong.
My species was a mix of lion and eagle. Some instincts balanced each other out. But not all.
I felt… prouder.
Less tolerant of disrespect. More inclined to assert dominance if pushed. Occasionally tempted to show off. To look cool, to stand out.
Manageable, but the deeper instinct was clearer.
Both lions and eagles are predators. Ambush predators.
And right now?
I was exposed.
No territory. No established base. Surrounded by a modern world full of cameras, satellites, and unpredictable variables.
So I chose being subtle.
Lay low - not grovelling in dirt, but blending with the grass. A bystander, watching.
And most importantly-
I didn't want to scare away potential prey.
Prey, in this case, meant vampires.
Or anything supernatural.
After settling into the new house, I increased my daily trading profit from five hundred to about a thousand. Not dramatic, but steady.
Every cent was reported properly to the IRS. I might be a supernatural predator now, but even I wasn't stupid enough to mess with taxes. Strangely enough, the idea itself felt threatening.
With income stabilised, I turned to preparation.
I felt unprepared.
So I fixed that.
My house is filled with books, bought right before moving it - biology, medicine, history, economy, psychology. I studied all I could
But understanding life wasn't enough for me; I wanted to know how to break it.
So, I studied combat.
Video lessons, manuals, recorded seminars. Different martial arts styles from around the world.
Instant Mastery went to full mode. It is much more suitable to learn physical realated skills.
Learning subjects or becoming a broker takes days. Martial arts takes second.
I just had to repeat a move a couple of times for it to become flowless.
My brain discarded inefficiencies. Combined techniques. Refined movements.
Then, I built a personalised fighting system optimised for my body in human, warelion, and winged lion forms.
Every day I trained.
Strength control, precision, reaction speed, and movement economy.
Two weeks passed like that.
By the end of them, I no longer felt like a reincarnated student playing with power.
I felt prepared.
I was not invincible.
But ready.