Tests and Gene Therapy

Seeing my nervous look, Mia chuckled before ruffling my hair, "Don't worry, Alex, the needle will be in and out before you know it!" I tried to smile but I knew how these tests went down.

They were never quick, especially the tests to do with needles.

She saw that I was still nervous but shrugged, figuring that there wasn't anything she could do and instead picked up one of the needles. Knowing the drill, I lay back into the chair and put my arms on the rests either side of the chair.

When I did this, Mia smiled and pressed a button on the chair. The result was two metal restraints, one per my arms, holding them down and keeping me from struggling. A second restraint came from the chair and put itself firmly over my neck, clamping down with near-breathtaking levels of force.

I inwardly let out a sigh as I remembered the first time they tried to stick a needle in me a year ago...Haah~ Memories I love~

The quick rundown would be that I broke all the fingers on Sergei's hand when he tried to hold me down, slashed Arthur and the blonde woman with my newly found retractable claws and purely because of adrenaline-fueled fear, I kicked Mia and the average-looking woman - who I found out was called Ayako - across the room. I apologized ( to Mia and Ayako, only) but well, it at least gave me a gauge on my strength.

Which is to say that the people who made me really went out of their way because I'm staggering OP. Physique-wise anyway.

Anyway, Mia was slowly pushing the needle through my skin on my right arm now. My whole body tensed up and I couldn't help but feel the sensation of something stabbing me and drawing out blood was incredibly nauseating. Which is quite ironic as I'm a vampire.

Seconds felt like minutes and I felt my stomach turn slightly. Part of me was outraged by this blatant stealing of my 'precious' blood, while another part was outraged that I was held down and restrained like a dog, not being able to do anything. These parts of me seemed to be my instincts, I guess. The first one was my instinct as something akin to the perfect Vampire, while the second was the instincts from my Oni side. Both made sense as Vampires treat blood quite specially and Oni are known for having short-fuses, and my current situation (not just the needles, but everything in this bloody facility) was probably pissing this side off.

Not that I was at risk of losing control and my instincts taking over. They didn't try to control me, no, it would probably be better to say that they tried to guide me.

As I thought all of this to ignore the sucking sensation on my arm, I suddenly felt my mood get better and I looked at my arm.

No needles in arm makes a happy Alexander.

But this happiness was short lived as Mia quickly placed the needle down and picked up a new, sharper and slightly thicker needle. Seeing this needle, I subconsciously flexed my arms and body, straining the metal restraints holding me down.

Mia had an apologetic smile on her face as she stabbed the needle into my arm once more, this time not searching for a vein but for a bone.

My brain short-circuited from the pain, and my coherent thought came back to me seemingly dozens of minutes later where Mia was cleaning up my arm where she had taken blood and also my leg where she'd apparently taken samples from as well, while I was mentally out of it.

She finished her cleaning and picked up the multiple needles on the tray next to the seat I was restrained to.

After picking them up, she went off to do her science-y sh*t while I slowly recuperate from the earlier trauma.

Truly, it's not that bad, and even in my past life I wasn't this affected by needles but you have to realize, she just stabbed a needle through my bone, that stuff is crazy painful. Plus, I'm beginning to think that I just don't like people stabbing stuff into me, rather than me not liking needles in general.

"Ohohoh~! Looks like you're ready for your next bit of Gene Therapy, Alexander~!" hearing Mia call my full name sent a shiver down my spine but hearing her mention Gene Therapy actually made my pale face go a little rosy.

As opposed to what one might think, the Gene Therapy I undergo isn't too bad. On the contrary, it's actually pretty relaxing.

When I asked Mia why that is, she simply explained it to me like this; Every piece of Gene Therapy we give you, we further unlock your potential, giving you both more strength now and more potential strength in the future, so of course it will feel relaxing - You're having limiters removed, like a weight off your shoulders! And because you Dormant Genes are without impurities, you won't die from them being opened up!

She then went on a massive science related splurge of information which I chose to ignore. For someone so pretty, Mia is a massive nerd. But it's probably what 'humanized' her for me. Arthur and his sister, Hannah, were cold people, Sergei was the type of guy who was scared of the strong but overly-domineering to the weak and Ayako was just indifferent, she never got involved with me unless it was for one of her experiments.

But Mia looked after me, taught me to read, made me lunch (O+ Blood bag), when I got hurt she'd get worried and it wasn't because I was some kind of billion-dollar project for her. No, she sincerely looked at me as a family member.

So, I guess you could say she was a reason for why I hadn't gone completely cuckoo after all the stuff Arthur and his sadistic sister had put me through.

No matter...I looked at her working away with her cute smile and something clicked inside of me. A desire, the first of this lifetime where many more would undoubtedly come. The desire to protect would be the best way to put it.

With this thought, I calmed down, my tension from earlier slowly sapping away.

"Hmmm...So are you ready, Alex?" Mia looked over at me, excited lights floating around her amber eyes.

I gave a quick nod and she walked over with a needle in her hand. This needle was already full with a greyish liquid. As I looked at the needle, weirdly enough, I didn't go tense. Mia also seemed to notice this but she shrugged it off as she told herself that she'd ask about it later.

The needle went in before she injected what felt like lukewarm, comfortable water into my veins.

The liquid traveled around my body and seemed to be awakening things and heating up my body. It kinda felt like I was in a sauna or a hotspring.

I relaxed into my chair and let the liquid do its work.