249 Test of Strength (21)

By the time Iris had come downstairs, Jane had already left the room. She was swiftly walking through the corridor, glancing behind herself once in a while.

Iris put the phone on silent and took a photo, but it was too distant. The person up ahead could be anyone. With a frown, she looked at the phone, then the corridor. It wouldn't be good to get too close; it was dangerous.

What about the outside then? The whole ground floor had wall-length windows. Not hesitating for long, Iris dashed outside. Jane was far enough that she didn't hear the noise of the door being opened.

Once out, Iris quickly ran around the house. She didn't try to get where Jane already was, but found a bush to hide behind near the windows of the next room. As expected, Jane entered the next moment and took a quick look around. Her searching gaze was focused on the room, so Iris could easily snap a few photos from behind the flower bush.

When Jane left, she also moved away. After a few more photos, she grew bored and returned to the house. Was there anything else to do?

'Mhm… What if I caught her sniffing around private stuff? That would certainly be damning for her…'

With that thought in mind, she ran up the stairs. Jane was at the other end of the mansion, so there was still some time before she would go upstairs.

In Kyro's room, Iris looked around for something to tempt the woman, but saw nothing. From what she knew, Jane was focused solely on weeding out her enemy, Iris herself.

That gave her a thought. It was something from a drama she'd seen once, but it fit so perfectly… The idea was a bit too nasty for Iris, but she was really getting tired of being hunted for no fault of her own.

Why was she in the wrong if Kyro liked her? Jane had left him for almost a decade herself, so what right did she have to say anything? It was beyond stupid and illogical.

While thinking that, Iris opened a drawer. There were mostly university notebooks there, but she collected some free pages and found a binder to collect them. She put it at the top, then left the drawer open.

Hoping she had enough time, she turned on the computer. While it loaded, she took a picture of herself at that moment. It was only of the upper half, but the fact that she was wearing nothing but Kyro's white shirt which was too large for her was obvious.

Her face grew warm at the photo, but she gritted her teeth and sent the photo over bluetooth. On the computer, she quickly put it to print. A lot of noise came from the device, and Iris froze. Like a little critter having heard a predator, she stood still, listening for any sound outside.

Jane had to have heard that... The printer was making so much noise. Who would have known it was such an old thing!

The moment the picture was out, Iris turned off the printer and the computer. Her heart was galloping in her chest, and the page slipped through her fingers a couple times before she could finally pick it up. Feeling like a thief in her own house, she put the picture in the binder, right at the top. The moment Jane entered, she would see it.

With that done, Iris grabbed the phone and looked for a place to put it. There wasn't much in the room, and a newly created makeshift stand would be too obvious.

In the end, she chose a shelf by the window. It wasn't too tall, but filled with books, and Iris could hide the phone there pretty convincingly. The camera view would be great too, if only a little too to the side, catching the corner of the bed.

The important part was for the photo she'd taken not to enter the shot. It would be way worse for Jane if it seemed that she was snooping around private documents.

Once everything was ready, Iris clicked record and changed into a fennec in a corner that wouldn't be seen. As per usual, she dragged the shirt under the bed to be out of the way, then went to see what was taking Jane so long.

The woman was still on the first floor, looking at the family photos. Iris had never entered the parents' bedroom, but Jane didn't seem to have any such reservations. She had barged right in and was staring at the photo collage on the wall.

From below, it was hard for Iris to see it, but she could recognize a small unsmiling boy as Kyro. He looked like somebody who hated having to stand there and pose. But it was just one photo like that. In the others, she could see the whole family of three laughing and enjoying themselves.

She decided to come explore it more when she had time. The phone's battery wasn't long-lasting, so she had to hurry her victim over.

At her scream, Jane jumped once again. She whirled on Iris, thinking to shoo her again, but she didn't listen. Like mad, she began shrieking and shouting. When Jane tried to kick her way, she evaded with ease and began howling even louder.

"Fine, fine, I'm leaving," Jane muttered. It was clear that she planned to lock Iris up inside the bedroom, but the moment she stepped out of the room, a startled scream left her lips.

Iris dashed past her legs to see what had happened and saw Queen standing in the corridor. The majestic chow chow was a proud lady that wouldn't lift a finger to do something taxing as chasing away an intruder, but her size alone was intimidating.

Like any normal human, Jane wasn't excited to see such a large monster blocking her way. On shaking legs, she backed away. It was away from the exit, right toward the staircase.

Queen watched her progress without any interest, paying more attention to Iris, if truth be told. Her dark gaze seemed to be disdaining the little fox for creating such a commotion.

It was a bit embarrassing to be put down by a dog, but Iris shook away that feeling. She focused back on her task. Jane was still staring at the dog which was the size of a bear, so she wasn't prepared for the sneak attack of someone much smaller.

Well, to call it an attack was a bit too much… Seeing her target distracted, Iris just came close and bumped her nose into the woman's leg above the shoe. The sudden contact shocked Jane, and she lost her marbles.

As if chased by a ghost, she dashed up the stairs and into the first room on the right. The door was thrown shut the same second, but Iris didn't mind. She calmly walked up and sat down against the wall facing Kyro's room.

Jane had already entered the trap, so there was no need to hurry. Once she left, Iris would just need to pick up the phone, and her opponent would be ruined.

It took quite a while for Jane to leave, but she did. Her face was flushed red, her eyes crackling with thunder. In her hand, there was the picture Iris had taken earlier.

'Wait, what?' Iris began screaming in her heart. 'What are you doing woman! That's not up for taking!'

There was no way she could allow that photo to leave the house. It was there just to force Jane to pick up something, which would look like part of a document stack in which she'd be normally not interested, for a better look!

Fuming, Jane began walking downstairs, wanting to evacuate the house while the dog seemed to be gone. Iris waited for a few seconds, then backed off to give herself a running start and launched herself from the top step.

Her aim was a tad off. There was no purchase, and she clawed at Jane's head, pulling her hair while trying to get hold of something. The woman screamed, swatting Iris away, and she landed on the ground with a painful whine.

Her side burned from hitting the sharp corner of the step, but then a paper flitted past her face. Jane's hand reached over to grab it, but Iris was faster. She snapped her teeth around it and sprinted away.

Jane cursed her, bounding over. They ran around the house for a few minutes, with Iris dodging left and right. In time, they were back at the staircase. It was hard for Iris to scale it as a fennec, but she had no choice; the crazy woman was right behind her.

Calling on the last bits of her energy, Iris rushed up and into Kyro's room. Without much thought, she dived under the bed. It was a dead end, but she was exhausted.

The crazy woman soon came in, closing the door to remove the only exit. She then said something, but Iris couldn't hear it over her own harsh breathing. The paper had slipped out from her mouth and lay before her, a number of teeth marks on its side.

As if in a daze, Iris realized that the incriminating thing was a paper page. And she had sharp teeth.

Not wasting time to call herself an idiot, she began tearing it to pieces as fast as she could.

Jane shrieked when she heard it and fell on her hands and knees. There wasn't much space under the bed, so she couldn't really go under it herself. Not that it stopped her from trying.

When the fingers came too close, Iris introduced them to her teeth. After that, Jane didn't try to get close again. She just watched for a time, promising death to Iris.

In the end, she could only retreat. Even with her messed up mind she knew that she couldn't dawdle around for too long. And the picture had already been destroyed.

Alone, Iris rested in the darkness. She licked the blood off her teeth, finding the taste disgusting. Still, she was happy.

In a while, she pulled herself out and changed. With interest, she grabbed the phone and stopped the recording function. She hadn't planned for the second part, but it should be worth something too.

Her eyebrows rose when she heard what Jane had been speaking. Now this was something next level. With an innocent smile, she clicked to send the video over email. Kyro was probably busy, but he would certainly find a place and use for such material.

[Skip first 5min, then 5 more after the first encounter.]