My Stepmom Is A Vampire & Her Entire Bloodline Wants To Breed Me-Chapter 235: First Experiment

"What would you like to do today, Dr. Mark?"

Flynn sat obediently in the chair while Mark prepared a large metal syringe. The needle was long and cold as he inserted it carefully into the boy’s thin arm, drawing blood slowly. Several of Mark’s colleagues stood nearby, observing every movement.

"We want to see whether your blood differs from others," Mark replied evenly.

"Differs?" Flynn asked, blinking in confusion. "Am I different?"

It seemed Robert had not told him everything.

"Only slightly," Mark said. "But don’t worry. You are still human. Just like us." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Flynn nodded.

"Are you scared?" Mark asked as he sealed the vial.

The boy shook his head. "I do what Father asks. He trusts you, so I trust you."

Instead of comfort, those words unsettled Mark. Something in the back of his mind whispered that this was wrong.

Children were like blank canvases. Easy to shape. Easy to guide. Flynn’s loyalty might not be natural at all.

It might have been carefully cultivated, like a spider weaving invisible threads under a red moon.

After the blood draw, Mark asked Flynn about his past, family, his habits, and how Robert had found him.

The answers were simple.

Flynn never knew his parents. He had lived in a slum orphanage that was secretly involved in human trafficking.

When he was about to be sold to a noble family, he ran away and survived by begging. One day, he was struck by a carriage. The carriage belonged to Robert Latros.

And Robert "saved" him.

Mark narrowed his eyes. "So that was how it happened.’

According to old records, Crimson Nectar could not be identified through appearance. Only when they bled would vampires detect something different. Their scent was overwhelming and irresistible.

The physical examinations continued. Endurance tests. Reflex tests. Detailed medical analysis. Everything suggested Flynn was completely normal.

When they were finished, Mark took the blood sample to the laboratory and examined it under a microscope. Clotting was normal, cell behavior was normal, no irregular structures, and no hidden parasites.

Nothing. It was just like any human blood.

He stared at the lens longer than necessary.

There was nothing unusual.

"Perhaps it’s not something visible to the naked eye," Robert said later when Mark reported his findings.

The vampire sipped thick red liquid from a porcelain cup, deep in thought.

"Have you tasted his blood?" Mark asked suddenly.

"Once," Robert answered without hesitation. "When he was injured. I could not resist."

His eyes grew distant. "I was human once, before Prince Rohan changed me. I fought in many wars. The closest comparison I can give... is drinking water after crossing a desert. Sweet as sugar. Satisfying like a feast after returning victorious to your lord."

"It nourishes more than the body," Robert continued. "It touches the mind."

Mark remained silent, but his imagination filled in the rest. Like tasting something tied to memory, something deeply personal.

"There is a group within the Vampire Hunter Association," Mark said after a moment.

"They call them Pharos. Humans who developed abilities through trauma and proximity to vampires. If we borrow one, perhaps they can see what we cannot."

Robert’s lips curved slowly.

"We don’t need to request one," he said. "I will provide one for you."

Mark frowned. "But isn’t Latros cooperating with the Vampire Hunter Association? Why not ask them directly?"

Robert set the cup down carefully.

"They are overwhelmed with scavenger operations. They lack manpower. There is no need to burden them further."

The reasoning was sound and that made it unsettling.

If not through the Association, then how exactly would Robert acquire a Pharos?

That, Mark realized, was the real question.

Mark did not object at the time. After all, the answer he sought might already be within reach. There was no reason to hesitate now.

When the little girl was brought before him, he immediately understood what Robert, or perhaps the men under Latros, had done to her.

Her eyes were hollow. Empty. She looked constantly detached from her surroundings, as if part of her mind had been left elsewhere.

Everyone knew how Pharos was created. Trauma and survival under extreme stress by vampires. But not everyone could become one.

Mark wondered how many children had been broken before one survived.

The girl responded only to Robert. She clung to him and called him "Father," her small hands gripping his coat without hesitation. The sight disturbed Mark. A chill ran through him, but he forced it away.

He needed answers.

"Her name is Isabella. You may call her Bella," Robert said as he introduced her. "As you can see, she is shy. Be careful not to frighten her."

He rested a hand gently on the back of the child, who appeared no older than eight, the same age as Flynn.

Bella gave a small nod and bowed slightly. Her short blonde hair fell over part of her face. Her pale blue eyes rarely met anyone’s directly.

Despite her fragile appearance, Mark brought her into the laboratory without delay.

He placed Flynn’s blood under the microscope and adjusted the lens.

"Tell me what you see," he said calmly.

Pharos were said to perceive truths hidden from normal sight, hidden by the deceit of vampires.

Bella leaned forward carefully. Her eyes widened.

"There’s something in it," she whispered, her voice trembling not with fear but awe. "It looks like snowflakes. They’re white and have different patterns... They’re beautiful."

The excitement in her tone softened something in Mark’s chest. At least the trauma had not erased her capacity for wonder.

’She’s stable,’ he told himself. ’Robert didn’t do anything irreversible.’

The hesitation inside him began to fade.

The experiment continued.

To observe more clearly, they mixed regular human blood with Flynn’s sample.

Bella tilted her head.

"The snowflakes don’t react," she said softly. "They’re just moving around."

"Moving how?" Mark asked.

"Like insects crawling in the grass."

The doctors exchanged looks and recorded the observation. The white particles appeared alive, separate from the host blood. Something a normal human’s blood did not contain.

Next, they prepared a controlled sample of vampire blood and added it to Flynn’s.

Bella gasped.

"They’re merging," she said excitedly. "The white turns gold!"