It was still early in the morning when a woman walked down the dark corridors of the facility. The light was only partially turned on, so her brown hair got illuminated every time she passed windows or light bulbs. She continued going down the floor until she reached a red door, on which hung a sign that said, "Access is forbidden." Against the warning, the woman opened the door to enter the room. The small room had two doors, hooks for the lab coats, and a sink with disinfectant placed on it.

The woman put on her lab coat and goggles before she entered the laboratory. The laboratory was large and had a lot of instruments she had never used in her life. At the back of the room was a massive window that separated the room into two sections. One section was for the scientists, and the other was a white room where a person with black hair lay on the ground with closed eyes.

"How are you today?" Asked the woman.

"How am I supposed to feel when I'm locked in a room all day? At least I still get normal clothes and good food." Answered a tiered person from the inside. You could hear the desire for freedom in her voice.

"Then I would like to start the daily check-up now." Luna had chains around her wrist and ankle that were connected to a raised floor she would lay on if the scientists did their test or sampling.

"Do what you have to do," said Luna, before she made her way to the raised floor without any objections. She knew she would lie on the table even if she tried to struggle. With a button press, the chains got retracted into the ground, making Luna unable to move. That way the scientists could take blood samples from her without any danger. The door opened, and the woman entered the room.

"Did you have any discomfort last night?"

"I would like to get a decent bed if that were possible. Always lying on this hard mat is painful in the long run. But apart from that, nothing was bothering me."

"I'll see what I can do," answered the woman with a regretful smile on her face. She continued to take blood samples from Luna and measure her heartbeat and blood pressure. But something bothered her for a couple of days now.

"Mhhh, 97 heartbeats per minute?" asked Jannet, "did you do any sports activities before I arrived?" In the previous few days, Luna's heart rate has been steadily rising. The woman in the room was worried because critical values would soon be reached if this kept up. But every time she questioned Luna about whether this was typical for vampires, she received no response, so she had no notion.

"No, and if you don't believe me, just check the cameras."

"Strange; is there anything else I could do for you?" she asked.

'I think I need to discuss that with Grimm,' thought the woman. She was concerned about the heartbeat frequently, which constantly rose. She might be ill, but on the other hand, the woman had no idea how different the physiology of a vampire was.

"Since the release is out of the question, could you get me something new to read?."

"That shouldn't be a problem; if you get bored, feel free to chat with me. I also got something you wanted to have yesterday." The woman reached into her handbag and pulled out a carton that had been kept there the entire time.

"You wanted to eat gingerbread yesterday because it is already October, so I thought I would bring you some."This was the first time Luna looked the woman in the eyes, but was unable to accept it because she still lay bound on the table."

"Thanks, Jannet." Jannet, who placed the box on the floor, froze when she heard her name spoken by Luna.

'She said my name for the first time,' was the only thought in her mind. She tried to start conversations with Luna dozens of times, but she always got ignored. She got up and left the room. The door closed, and the chains unlocked themself, which allowed Luna to move again and grab the gingerbread box.

"I'll come back later." Said Jannet. She had to make her daily report about Luna's condition. Leaving Luna behind, Jannet made her way upstairs to the meeting room with a complicated face. She doesn't think it's okay to lock Luna in a cage like an animal and take away any freedom of choice. The vampire case has already been made public, and some people have already campaigned for her release. This group is currently still in the minority. So there is still a long wait for an improvement to her condition. Historians also made a lot of visit requests. If her age is right, she has witnessed lots of human history. It's no wonder many people want to talk to her; she is, after all, a living artifact. It certainly won't be long before instructions from above change, and the first visitors are allowed.

When Jannet reached the room, several scientists and doctors were already waiting there. That's how the day always started; everyone who took part in the vampire research project was brought up to date by Jannet on the vampire's current health status.

That's why all eyes were on her when she entered the room.

Grimm was also present. He was always instantly recognized in the crowd by his greasy old hair. With a loud voice, Jannet began to speak. "Can you all please be quiet; So I can announce today's medical examination." Finally, it got quiet in the hall, and Janet could begin with her announcement.

"As I informed you yesterday, the blood pressure and blood values ​​have not changed. The heartbeat, however, causes me great concern; due to its constant increase over the past few days. If we assume that this continues to grow, it will reach critical values ​​in the next few days."

Researchers grew concerned; if Luna inexplicably died, many things would never see the light of day. But what could be the reason for her worsening condition?

"How accurate is her heart rate?" asked a younger member of the research team. "Yesterday, her heart rate was 89 beats per minute, but today it went up to 97 beats per minute, which might be a dangerous development. But, all of you should know that we still know nothing about vampire physiology, so it could still be normal for them."

Murmurs went through the researcher's crowds. Her condition seemed to have deteriorated since her arrival, and if they didn't do something about it, Luna could probably die. Grimm didn't like that at all. If Luna were to die, he would never crack the path to immortality. So he thought about possible reasons for her worsening condition. But nothing came up in his mind.

"Does anyone have any ideas what we can do about it?"

They had no idea how her body operated differently from theirs. Due to the lack of prior research into vampires, they were unable to say for sure if the outcome of a medical examination would even be helpful. Grimm was deep in his thoughts. The conversation was leading nowhere.

"Do you think she's hiding something from us?" One scientist finally asked.

"That could be possible, but what benefit does she derive from it?" asked another.

No matter how hard the researchers thought about it, they couldn't come up with an answer.

"Would you like to hear my opinion about this?" asked Jannet.

"If you have an idea, go for it," said Grimm.

"We all know that Luna hunted for blood about once a month. What if she needs human blood to survive instead of animal blood? So far only human cases are known. Of course, that doesn't rule out the possibility that she secretly hunted animals."

Everyone knew that animal blood was indeed different from human blood. Squids, for example, have blue instead of red blood. So everyone thought about crucial differences between human and animal blood? But comparing different blood types takes a lot of time. The time the research lack at the moment.

"If we assume her pulse continues to rise steadily, she probably won't have more than two weeks. The time comparing human and animal blood to identify the crucial difference would be too immense to tick off in two weeks. I would therefore suggest that we split into two groups. One group continues the examination of the vampire as before, and the other tries to determine the blood differences and the vampire's reaction to different types," said Grimm. He didn't want to split up the forces, but now, he had no other choice.

Either they find what caused her to deteriorate, or he would lose their precious test subject. The time was ticking, and every minute counted. For now, there sadly is no getting around human blood.

While the researchers argued a few floors above the lab, Luna sat alone in her cell with a book in hand and gingerbread in her mouth. The chains around her wrists jingled every time she turned the page. She was reading this book for the second time now, but today it was much more difficult to concentrate.

Her hands were constantly shaking, making reading more difficult for her. They took a lot of blood samples from her over the past few days. It has almost been two weeks since she last drank fresh blood from a living person.

'In two day's I will reach my limit.' Her palm had already become sweaty, and she had to wipe it regularly. She didn't like to lose control due to blood neglect, but this might be her only way of breaking free. Still reading on the mat, she cursed this room because it was missing decent furniture. A sofa or a bed would be enough to stop her back pain. She turned to the next page when she suddenly heard footsteps.

"From your look, I take you didn't like the conversation with Grimm and co," said Luna as a tall, brown-haired woman entered the room. Blue eyes looked in Luna's direction, and a groan came from her as she heard the comment.

"You have no idea," answered Jennet.

"I take that as no bed any time soon, right?"

"Sorry, I didn't even get the chance to ask. They immediately panicked after they heard about your condition," explained Jannet. She took a chair and placed it in front of the enormous glass.

"Is there anything you want to tell me? With every passing day, your condition becomes worse. I don't know how different the body of a vampire is compared to a human one, but even I can see that something horrible is happening to you." Jannet had tried this conversation a couple of times by now; Luna, however, was always as silent as a grave and never revealed personal information. So as always, Luna remained quiet.

"It's okay if you don't want to discuss it, but you should know I am really concerned about your health."

"I know you are, but this is nothing you can solve. Vampires have specific requirements to survive, but if you take them away, they begin to wither like a flower." Luna looked up from her book. Her eyes had already changed color to a beautiful red. But no glowing was emitted from them just yet. Jannet stood up from her chair to take a couple of steps back. For some reason, uneasiness overcame her the moment she made eye contact. She was scared by that ominous feeling.

"Oh yes, before I forget. It was decided to give you human blood for tomorrow. There will also be some historians coming to chat next week. So you shouldn't get bored." Jannet was still warry of Luna. Whatever she did, Jannet didn't want to have that experience again. With that said, Jannet turned around and quickly made her way out of the lab.

"And don't forget new gingerbread!!" Luna cried after her.

During the day, some researchers approached Luna and forced her onto the examination table. With her chains pulled in, Luna lay helplessly on the table while more samples were taken from her. She couldn't hide her trembling anymore, and the researchers quickly became aware of this new development. The news spread around the facility, and shortly after they noticed, an old man with greasy gray hair and wrinkles on his face came into Luna's field of vision. He had his hand by his face and seemed lost in thought.

"I think you know more about your condition than you pretend to know."

"Oh, and how did you come up with this thought?" Luna asked with a nasty grin on her face. Of all the researchers she had met, Grimm was hated the most by her. So she didn't hold back and tried everything to annoy him.

"You seem to forget what kind of situation you are in, don't you?" asked Grimm with a small knife in his hand and a grin on his face. "I could do whatever I want with you, and nobody would know about it."

Luna only sneered about his comment. If he wanted to intimidate her, he would have to do better.

"If you're going to intimidate someone, you should do it right. I mean, it would be unforgivable if the historians found out about it next week, wouldn't it?" said Luna. Immediately his face went blank like a piece of paper. If it gets revealed that he tortured Luna, then his career would be over. What he didn't know was that Luna could always charm a historian and feed him false information. But she kept that to herself. Sadly, her charm was not enough to completely hypnotize a person and order them to set her free.

"What exactly does the good gentleman want to know then?" His face twisted in pain as Luna continued to upset him. He knew she wasn't going to answer him anyway. It was a frustrating week for Grimm; every blood or saliva sample was useless after a short time. It was simply impossible to do a good analysis as fast as the proteins and DNA were breaking down.

"What exactly is wrong with you, your pulse is getting higher and higher, and now you are shaking uncontrollably as if you had a fever?"

"Who knows." Luna usually only gave short answers, which made Grimm's collar burst, and he took out a clove of garlic from his pocket. How could this inferior creature fool him? But sadly, it did not have the desired effect he hoped it had.

When Luna saw the garlic, her face froze.

'Does he want to fool me? As if garlic would affect me,' she thought.

"I'm tired of talking to you; if you don't have anything important, you can leave the room and give me some time off," Luna spoke to him. She lay on this table for hours now, and her back was hurting a lot.

Grimm's head turned red like a tomato. "When the historians are gone, I'll make your life hell. Don't forget that."

Luna sight; she was still lying on the table, and Grimm did not deactivate the chains. 'This will be a long night,' were her last thoughts. Before he left the room, he left Luna on the table and didn't unlock the chains.