Phantomhive Manor; home and base of operations of the Phantomhive family. While technically, there is only one true "Phantomhive" currently residing in the house, the supernatural beings who live there are still referred to as "family". While this is true, they don't always participate in "family" activities together. Today, for example, the head of the household and his partner were currently in the middle of work, or rather, tried to be.

The pair were seated on one of the two sofas in the Phanomthive's office, examining the information that they had been presented by the new detective Bailey. The Phantomhive looked over the map with the locations where the bodies were found while the Macken looked for a connection between the victims. He flipped through picture after picture, but simply couldn't come up with anything. With a furrowed brow, the menace ran his fingers through his hair. His hand hit his boyfriend's thigh as he used it as a pillow while reclining on the couch.

"What do you think?" he asked the bluenette. Alois held up some of the pictures up for the other demon to see. "Master of disguise, or something else?"

"I assume maintaining that sort of disguise would be difficult long-term." Ciel answered. "I assume that it's multiple people who look similar to the victims in an organised group."

"But what for? It's not like some of these people had any sort of big secret that they would be guarding that would be of any use to anyone." The blonde replied. "I mean look, this one's a school teacher, this one's a store clerk- they aren't hiding any government secrets, or anything…"

"Maybe someone closely linked to them is." Spoke the watchdog. "And it doesn't have to be a large-scale government conspiracy, as fun as that would be. It could be anything to drugs, to weapons, or anything else."

"Then what are we going to do? Are we trying to think of a motive so we can catch them?"

"That would be useful…" Ciel trailed off. He moved the menace's bangs out of his face as he spoke. "We know that they're all from around the same area, but none of them seem to have anything in common. We also know that the culprit or culprits replaced the victims once they were dead. They did it almost seamlessly, and left only when they were discovered without violence. They stole nothing, either. What does that mean?"

"It sounds like something out of a shitty sci-fi flick." Alois mused, closing his eyes at the bluenette's touch. It was then that his eyebrows furrowed. "Come to think of it… doesn't this sound like something a human couldn't pull off?"

The Phantomhive blinked in response. That was entirely possible. Why, even he could shape-shift, so that made it perfectly feasible. Come to think of it, there was only one victim at a time. Had there been multiple individuals, there would be more. In addition, that also explained why there was nothing stolen- why they seemed to slip into the role of a human being for no material gain.

It was survival. It was becoming increasingly difficult to survive as a supernatural being in the modern world, so blending in was a challenge. Perhaps who, or whatever did this, was merely trying to live another day?

"That makes sense, actually." Ciel answered, running his hand through flaxen locks. "Good work."

"I try." His beau said with a grin. "But how exactly does one catch a shape-shifter, and determine if there even is one?"

"Now that, is a good question…" sighed the bluenette. How exactly does one capture someone who could possibly be anyone at any given moment? Moreover, how can it be confirmed that even such a person even exists?

"Are there any witnesses, or anything?" questioned the blonde. "Or security cameras, like in the 'Graffiti' case?"

"I'm not sure. These spots seem pretty secluded. There's alleyways, isolated places in the park, and a spot on the shore of the Thames… I doubt it. The best way would to be able to catch them in the act, but that seems very unlikely of ever happening."

"Is there any other evidence that could help us figure anything out?"

"Just the locations, the victims, and the methods used to kill them."

Alois huffed in a bit of frustration at the lack of information. The Phantomhive was equally troubled, but less expressive of it. As the menace looked over the images again, his eyes wandered to the photo of the latest victim.

"What if they didn't change back after running away?" he inquired, tilting his head to look up at the other man for a reply. "If they have to take someone else's form in order to blend in, maybe they're still in the form of the last person they killed?"

"Could be…" answered his boyfriend. "In that case, we could try surveillance tapes and the like, but how do we find them? The area is very broad."

"Is it possible to call in reinforcements?"

"Not yet. We'd first have to prove that there's supernatural involvement before deploying H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. investigators."

"What about the police?" suggested Alois. "Surely we can boss around a couple of them…"

"They have to follow the law, unfortunately, which is not how we operate." Ciel stated, rubbing his chin. He was now deep in thought as he tried to figure out a plan of action. They might as well be searching for someone who is invisible! That's basically what this person was. Ciel and Alois simply had to find a way to expose them, and that would be the end.

"Damn… I hate laws and shit…" the blonde replied. "A stakeout by ourselves wouldn't work, though. It would take up too much time, and we might not even get any results." He paused to think for a moment before speaking again.

"We could wait until another body is found…" he suggested. "Only, we wouldn't tell anybody we found it. Instead, just, identify who it is, and then go look for the imposter where the victim is supposed to be."

"That's horrible." The watchdog accused. "It would work, though. Alright, until we come up with a better plan, we still have that."

"One more person isn't gonna do much harm. It's better one more person dies than ten, right?"

"Precisely, but I couldn't tell you how many people would agree."

"I don't get 'normal' people. They're so unreasonable…" huffed the Macken, reaching up to play with his partner's hair. "So, what could we do that's 'morally just' instead?"

"There isn't anything, it seems. We can't expect to find them just out of the blue. There's no such thing as miracles."

"That's a depressing thought."

"Sorry. I'm not known for my cheery demeanor, you know." Ciel uttered, watching as the blonde menace sat up. He opened his arm so that the other man could sit while leaning against him while his other hand kept a grip on the file that he was looking at.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Doing nothing, though, seems a lot like waiting for one." Spoke the menace, resting his head on the bluenette's shoulder and getting comfortable. His eyes stared intently at the map in front of the other demon, while he wasn't really paying much attention for it. "Chasing things and beating them up is the fun part…"

"I know what you mean. Unless we can come up with a more 'involved' plan, this is what we have, though."

"Why don't we ever get orders to just beat the crap out of people?"

"We're detectives, not thugs, Jim." Ciel paused for a moment. "You just want to act out and crush somebody, don't you?"

"That is the true nature of violence, Ciel." Quipped the fair-haired gentleman. "It is inescapable to those who have had a taste of what power is like."

"Are you trying to go all philosophical on me?"

"I'm bored."

"Hi, 'bored', I'm Ciel."

"Oh, fuck off!" whined Alois. "I'll kick your ass."

"First, you want to wait for another person to die to catch a murderer, and then you threaten me?" jokingly asked the bluenette. "You're horrible. I'm so upset. Really, I am."

"You're full of shit, that's what you are…"

"And yet you love me anyway."

"I suppose somebody has to." Teased the menace. "Who else would be able to tolerate a weirdo who solves murder for giggles like you?"

"Now you're resorting to name-calling?"