The hunt was on.

Ira did his best to control his rising excitement as he followed the sound of the limping body. It lead him off into the small collection of trees on the manor grounds, presumably because they offered better cover. At this pace, he could easily catch up, but running ahead to catch them right now wouldn't be very fun. So instead he walked at a steady slow pace, Amanda following two steps behind him and filming his every move.

He hummed a little as he walked, a catchy song that he had heard some missions ago but didn't care to remember the title of. Ira ignored his map in favor of finding the hiding people like a human, hoping it would be more fun this way.

Now what about this one? They were limping, so they must be injured. That would make the hunt less entertaining. But if he left to go hunt someone else, who knew what would happen. What if this one died before Ira could catch them? Wouldn't that be even less fun? 

Furrowing his eyebrows, Ira abruptly turned around to face Amanda, almost getting hit in the head with the professional camera that she carried on her shoulder. 

Ira asked, "Do you think this one will die while I go hunt somebody else?"

"If you desire it, we can provide medical aid to the prey," Amanda said and took a couple of steps back to get a better image of Ira.

Come to think of it, what should Ira call Amanda? Her soul was Amanda's, but she was a different person. Wasn't it rude of him to call her by someone else's name? He had greater respect for her than he did any other human in existence, after all.

"Do you want me to call you Fumiko?"

She gave him an odd look that he couldn't decipher. "Fumiko-san is okay."

"Okay." Ira nodded and made sure to remember it, noting it down on his mental memo notes. "Fumiko-san."

She smiled kindly at him and asked, "So you want that medical aid for your prey?"

"Yes."

She took out a phone from her pocket and sent a quick text while Ira went to find some other prey. He started humming again as he walked, turning around to go back into the house. He figured that he'd start inside and work his way outward. 

Throwing open the door, he stepped inside and started the search. Every nook and cranny was thoroughly examined. He didn't let a single millimeter avoid his sight, knowing full well that though humans were annoying and weird, they also had a craftiness to them that made them very good at running away. Well, when it wouldn't go against their pride. Or hurt it. Or just gently bruise it. 

Pride was strangely important to humans.

But in this particular situation, Ira figured that it was better to be safe than sorry. Also, it gave them false hope that he wouldn't find them, which was always fun to crush.

He smirked a little to himself and stood up straight again. No human was hiding under the couch, so time to check if they were in that cabinet. It looked like it could roughly contain a full-grown human, provided that they weren't too buff or unbendy.

Despite his intentions to drag things out for amusement, it didn't take him long to find the first would-be assassin.

Ira frowned when he stared down at the fallen wannabe assassin. The assassin had attempted to run when he had been found, so the guards that had begun trailing after Ira not long into the game took action and knocked the beta out. Unfortunately, this took nearly all the fun out of the game that Ira was playing.

He frowned at them. "Are you always going to do that?"

They simply gave sharp nods in response.

He sighed.

Regardless, he wasn't going to let anyone ruin his fun. He cracked his neck and went to find another assassin.

Fumiko followed after him, trailing in his wake and dutifully recording his every move. Ira had no problem with this, finding that he wanted to watch later and compare it to his own video. He was recording it for entertainment purposes, in case he got bored on another mission. But as he was recording it from first person human perspective, he imagined that the video Fumiko was taking might pick up stuff that he had voluntarily missed.

By the time that evening arrived, Ira had found four assassins. He had already tracked down the last five, and was simply waiting for the timer to count down. The longer it took him to catch them, the higher their hopes would climb.

Ira was looking forwards to crushing it.

He took a sip of his new cup of hot cocoa and breathed in the fresh air. He was sitting on the porch, from which he had a good view of one of the assassin's hiding placing. He intended to find them all after a good night's rest, so for now he was simply keeping in sight of them to make them panic and unable to relax. After all, the more high-strung they were, the higher the chances that they would make mistakes.

Fumiko was still by his side, still recording. Since it was a professional camera, it had an impressive battery life, but Ira knew that it was starting to run out. He had already seen Fumiko order a minion to go and buy another one, one with a full battery.

There weren't a lot of stars to see in the night sky, as they were still in the big city. The humans' smog and pollution kept him from getting a good view and he grimaced at the thought of it. Though the moon was out, it was only a small sliver of its usual size. 

He frowned, held out his hand, and said, "Phone."

Amusement filled him when a minion actually put his phone in his hand, and Ira hit speed-dial again. 

Three tones rang into his ear before Silas picked up the other end. "Ira?" Silas asked, sounding concerned. "Why are you calling again so soon? Has something happened with the assassins? Are they no longer fun? I can provoke someone else to send more assassins if you want."

"They're fine, I'm just waiting around in order to scare them," Ira responded.

He heard Silas let out a bark of laughter and then say, "Well, as long as you're happy."

Frowning to himself, Ira sat up straight on the beach chair and looked suspiciously at his phone. Then he brought it back up to his ear and demanded, "When are you coming back?"

"Tomorrow evening, if all goes well."

Ira hummed. "I ran out of your pastries. When you come back, you need to bake me some new muffins. And a cake. And chocolate pudding. I want chocolate pudding. Yours is better than the store-bought ones."

"If that is what you desire, I shall gladly give it to you," Silas said smoothly.

Ira gave his phone a weird look. " Why are you talking like that?"

"Slip of the tongue, don't worry about it. I'll start baking as soon as I get back, no need to worry," Silas reassured him and Ira found himself nodding along. He hoped it wouldn't take too long, becuase he hadn't been lying.

He really was out of goodies.

He hung up before Silas could confess his feelings again, too busy with his game to spare the attention. Ira let the phones fall into his lap and tapped his fingers on it. In his mind, he could see one of the prey staring at him from their hiding place and Ira felt his excitement rising again. He cracked his neck and rose out of the beach chair, the phone clattering to the floor in his wake.

It wasn't like he needed the phone, everything it could do, he could already do in his mind. No need for a messy, unsophisticated interface when his own nature was more then enough.

He stretched his back and heard it crack loudly.

Fumiko had switched to a new camera by the time that Ira decided to start his hunt again. Unfortunately, he couldn't start right away, no matter how much he wanted to. This body needed to visit the bathroom and his stomach was growling again, the way it always did when he went too long without eating. He sighed, but decided to deal with that first, so that he wouldn't pass out.

Although, if he passed out, he wondered what he could convince Silas to do for him in the name of nursing him back to health. Maybe he could even get Silas to make a chocolate fountain?

Ah, a chocolate fountain, what a beautiful dream... If only the choice wasn't between playing his game and a chocolate fountain, it would have been easy. Unfortunately, if he wanted to hunt, he would need to keep his body in a good condition. Ira sighed again and started walking into the house along the veranda.

Inside, his bare feet thumped on the wooden flooring. On the way to the bathroom, he zoomed in on his Host.

His Host was in the middle of a date, or so it appeared.

He was in a fancy restaurant, even fancier then the last one Ira and Silas had eaten at. His Host was also very clearly uncomfortable, having absolutely no idea what the etiquette and manners of eating at such a high-level restaurant was. The alpha gave Ira's Host disapproving looks every time he made a mistake, but made no move to help him correct them.

The situation was obviously hard on his Host, even Ira could see that. His Host had big bags under his eyes, he was hunched in on himself and barely looked at the alpha.

Ira would have felt sympathetic, if it wasn't for the fact that it was all an act.

He had checked in on his Host enough times that he had seen him making faces in the mirror and using makeup to make himself look haggard and tried. At the very least, it hadn't been his idea. It was his Host's roommates that thought it was swell idea that could in no way go wrong.

Still, the fact that he was going along with it didn't exactly improve Ira's impression of him.

When he was done in the bathroom, Ira went to the kitchen. He pulled out milk from the fridge and got out the carton of cereal from a shelf. He was too excited about his hunt to eat anything more substantial and it wasn't like he cared to take care of this body beyond the immediate day. If he switched bodies right now, he might not make it back in time for his game.

He munched on his cereal so quickly that he didn't even taste, doing his best to finish it up as fast as possible. Once he was done, he rose out of his seat and half-ran back outside. His beach chair was still where he had left it and somebody had pulled out a small table next to it and placed his phone onto it.

Ira sat down in the chair again, leaning back on it. Fumiko stood next to him some meters away, still recording. Ira zoomed in on his Host again.

His Host and the alpha were back in the alpha's apartment, and Ira hurriedly zoomed out before he saw something he would regret. He shuddered at the mere idea of it, horrified at what he had (once again) almost witnessed.

It was getting closer and closer to morning, the late-night quiet, and clouds were starting to cover the sky. The smell of rain was in the air.

Ira kept an eye on the assassin closest to him and waited. When morning came, he would make his move.

Oh, it would be glorious.