Sam rested her face in her hands as she sat at the lunch table with her friends. Although she hoped that the bizarre events of yesterday were a one time thing, and she would never hear from this person again somehow she knew that wouldn't happen. And it didn't help that she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Earth to Sammie!" Sam sat up as she heard Clover's voice. "Sorry, I guess I just spaced out." Clover looked concerned at her friend. "Are you okay Sam?" Sam nodded slowly. "Yea...why do you ask?" She watched Clover point her finger to her face, just under her eyes and suddenly Sam knew why she was asking. She had dark circles under her eyes. What else was supposed to happen when she spent the night worrying about that gift?

"I'm okay, I was just up late doing some work." Clover nodded slowly. "Alright Sammie." Sam watched Alex giggle and her eyebrow shot up in confusion. "What's so funny?" Clover grinned and for the first time Sam noticed that her hand was behind her back as if she was hiding something. "Ta-da!" She brought her hand forward and Sam's heart almost stopped when she saw what she was holding.

A black envelope with a red seal, and her name written in red on the front.

"Is this the reason why you were up?" Clover grinned. Sam tried her best not to grab the envelope. "Uh no..Clover where did you get that?" Her grin grew wider. "From your bag." Sam narrowed her eyes. "My bag?" She looked down while thinking. "But I left it at home in my room. How is that even possible?" She then noticed that the seal wasn't broken, meaning this was another letter from the same person.

Crap.

"Give me that!" She reached for the envelope but Clover drew it away from her grasp. "Not until you tell me what this is about." Sam sighed thinking fast. "It's a letter from my dad." Clover raised an eyebrow. "Black envelope?" Sam shrugged. "It's his favourite colour." She grabbed the envelope and buried it in between in books. She was not about to open it in front of her friends. The rest of the lunch break thankfully went on as it usually did, and when the bell rang the three girls parted ways heading for their separate classes.

Sam walked down the hall heading to her Chemistry class. She stopped halfway there and moved to a secluded spot behind a side wall. Letting out a breath she retrieved the envelope from her bag and began to open it while silently praying that it wasn't another riddle.

It was.

.::.

One bite could undoubtedly kill you,

if its poisoned fangs reach your flesh.

The sight may be frightening,

simply because you don't see these things everyday,

but I have taken the liberty,

of sending it to you.

I warn you in advance,

it's only fair,

Seeing that it's poison can stop your every breath,

and take away your very last.

Love,

Your Deadly Admirer

.::.

She didn't need to think twice to realize that she didn't like the sound of this one. But when did she like the sound of the last one? She frowned dreading the gift that she knew would pop out of somewhere, that had to do with this riddle. "Why would anyone do this to me?" she whispered as she shoved the envelope back in her bag. Sam knew there was no answer she was going to get to that question. She sighed. The good thing was that at least she was at school, a place where she knew he could not spy on her. She could at the least feel safe.

Her best bet was to try and work on this riddle and prepare as much as she could for this gift he would be sending.

------------------

It stayed on her mind all day. The riddle. Sam came home, opening the door and scanning the area for any signs of intrusion. Thankfully she saw none, well at least not yet. She relaxed her shoulders and walked inside going straight to her couch. She opened her bag pulling out the riddle and read it over to see if it would make any more sense then it did at first glance. She frowned. "Damn he's good at this." Sam rested her chin in her hand, while glancing at it again.

"If its poisoned fangs reach your flesh..hmm.." She paused. "What kind of things have poisoned fangs?" He already sent her a dagger and she doubted he would send her another one with a poisoned tip. But it was a possibility. She read it again. "Wait. A snake?" Her eyes widened. "He wouldn't be crazy enough to send me a snake, would he?" She giggled. "No way that's crazy. It's gotta be something else." Sam kept at it for hours trying to figure it out, but her attempts ended once again in vain. The only logical answer seemed to crazy to be true.

"Whatever it is I'll deal with it when I gets here." Sam scowled standing up and walking to her room to change. She was stopped midway when her doorbell sounded. Sam sighed turning around and walking to her door. As she reached the door she stopped suddenly, afraid of who might be behind it Sam drew in a breath and slowly turned the knob opening the door a crack. It was her mailman. She let out a breath. "Hi."

"Hi there." He smiled while holding out a large wooden crate to her. Sam stared at it. "Wait..that's for me?" He nodded. "Yea." Sam stared curiously at it. "Do you know what it is?" He giggled. "I don't open gifts, it's against my job procedures." Sam laughed nervously. "Ha..ha..right." She signed the form and took the "gift." She had a gut feeling this was from the same man, and when she saw the ominous black envelope attached to the side she knew it was.

She groaned setting the crate down and grabbing the envelope off the side. She opened it hastily wanting to get this over with.

"Why would I do this? Because I find it amusing Samantha. Very Amusing."

"Great..now he's even spying on me at school" she thought while she glared at his latest message. She put the letter down and reached for the crate then stopped hesitating for a moment. She took a deep breath and opened it. Her eyes widened in shock and she did everything in her power not to scream. Coming out rapidly from the box was the largest snake she had ever seen. A cobra, fangs bared was almost on her lap. Sam shrieked standing up and causing it to fall, which was not a good move seeing that the snake looked more dangerous and angry than ever and it was moving towards her leg. Sam screamed stepping away from the fifteen foot snake that was busy coiling itself around her right leg.

Sam backed away as fast as she could screaming in horror. Even she had no idea how to deal with a snake, a cobra to be specific. Backing away she fell back on the couch, lifting her legs up to keep them away from the rapidly advancing snake. As she did she noticed another letter sitting at the bottom of the crate. She narrowed her eyes and stopped screaming long enough to read the note.

"Don't worry he doesn't bite, but I can't say I don't."

A shiver of relief went through her body, but her relief stopped when she read the second part over again. She shivered again, this time in fear then she stopped. There was no way this guy was going to intimidate her. Sam yelped when the snake licked her foot. She stared at the animal and actually let out a laugh when she realized it wasn't trying to bite her.

"I guess I have a pet snake." Sam smiled. Besides the fact that it had scared her half to death the snake was harmless. And much to her surprise Sam found herself to be in awe of the man who sent this to her. The snake wrapped around her arm. Sam smiled again at her realization. "He's been trained not to bite." She ran her fingers over its scales. She knew that he'd have to be really smart to be able to train a snake not to bite, especially one as dangerous as this one.

She just hoped he wasn't as dangerous as he was smart.

But something told her that he was, and she hoped she could ignore her thoughts. But deep down she knew she couldn't. She had to stay on her guard.