Chương 37: Chapter Thirty-Four - Last Night, First Prey

We returned to the Bloody Bat just a few minutes before opening. Sharp clutched her hands together as she asked to talk to Paris, then she stuttered though an explanation that basically boiled down to 'thank you for the job and the room, but I'm heading out not.'

"Well, can't say I'm surprised," Paris said.

"I'll have the room cleaned out. Fold the sheets up on the bed, if you could."

"Okay," Sharp said. Paris eyed her, then raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"Oh! Uh, yes, okay, thank you," Sharp replied quickly.

"I'll get changed for my last shift!" She darted off, which meant she missed the woman shaking her head ruefully. It seemed like Sharp's lack of sharpness had won the woman over, at least a little. I missed the days when I could pass myself off as a bright-eyed, innocent youth. People were so quick to judge from appearances alone and assuming that a person who was so daft and sincere-seeming wasn't a threat. It made getting close to a target so easy. Ah, but it wasn't time for reminiscing.

We'd be leaving the bar for the last time in the morning, heading to a bank, then off to my place, hopefully before mid-morning was done. Sharp wasn't going to stay for very long, as she still had some courier work to take care of. Sharp got dressed in a hurry, then darted out to get to work, leaving me all alone. I, of course, chose that as a good time for a nice nap. I had nothing better to do, and the day had been quite busy. Naps did as naps were wont, and made time slip by without notice.

I blinked awake some time later, vaguely aware of the shift in the air in the room as Sharp slipped in.

"Finished your shift already?" I asked before stretching my paws out and my rear up. Sharp nodded and sat on the bed, then reached down and removed her shoes.

"Yeah. Last one. I think I might miss it... a tiny bit. A man pinched my butt."

"His physical description," I demanded. Sharp snorted.

"The bouncers flung him out the back. He wasn't someone important enough to be untouchable or anything."

"I see," I replied.

"That would certainly put a damper on wanting to work here."

"I guess. Ah, it'll be nice to not have to work as hard." I harrumphed. As If I wouldn't be working her to the bone once we were at my place. I had a small home gym, and there was a larger one of the entire apartment. That, and I'd have her enrolled in self-defence courses, gymnastics, maybe even music, for the dexterity practice. If this idiot girl thought I'd be letting her coast along without turning her into a lean mean killing machine, she had another thing coming.

Sharp changed into a loose shirt and shorts, then crumpled onto the bed to sleep. She pulled me closer, and I allowed it, for a period. I wasn't terribly tired, however. The music in the bar continued for another hour, and I decided to fiddle with our laptop while Sharp slept, but I couldn't get the damned thing to open. It was clearly not designed with cats in mind. Eventually the bar settled down. An hour or so passed, and yet... I still wasn't tired. Sighing to myself, I stood and made my way to the door.

It was easy enough to open it and peek my head out. The coast was clear. The kitchen was closed for the night, and the lights in the back section were all shut except for a few glowing red emergency exit lights. I padded across the corridor, walking back and forth along it. I tried some light jogging, then a full on sprint. The last almost ended with me meeting the exit door face-first, but I managed to stop by using my claws on a carpet by the door for traction.

I had to get used to this body some more, and a bit of additional exercise couldn't hurt. I wanted to get those next couple of levels in Body, if only to see what would happen. It seemed like the most logical skill to increase, and it was close. Cat was closer, but I genuinely didn't care for that one except to be curious about what it might give. I wasn't even sure if the system I had access to was complete like Sharp's. For all I knew, it might well give me nothing but the vague pleasure of seeing numbers rise.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I was just going for another run when I heard something. A clink and clatter, like someone moving a plate on a table. It was coming from the kitchen. No light under the door, no footsteps. I felt my ears swivel a moment before I lowered myself and stealthed over to the doorway. Keeping low, I squeezed into the kitchen and scanned across the room.

It was only lit by LEDs on some of the stoves and ovens and fridges and by the emergency exit light, but that was more than enough to see by. I stayed still for an interminable second before I heard it again. A clink, then a clatter. There! On one of the tables by the far end of the kitchen. There was a sort of window into a space behind the bar for waiters to pick up meals. A sink was next to that, empty, but someone had left a couple of plates with leftovers out.

A lazy last-minute pick up left for the morning crew? It didn't matter, because someone else had found the plate. A large, overweight little mouse was standing on its hindlegs right atop the plate. It had some piece of food in its forepaws. A fry? It didn't matter. The little bastard was munching away, beady eyes scanning the room but mostly out of the window. I ran. Not towards the table, but behind cover. Then I slowed so that my paws wouldn't make any noise.

Circling around and keeping furniture between us, I reached the bottom of the table. I could hear the mouse now, faint little crunches as it ate. I felt my blood spike with adrenaline. That would be its final meal. With a powerful leap that had me spring upwards, I cleared the edge of the table and landed on my hindlegs. The mouse squeaked, but I was already lunging forwards. The plate flew off the side of the table and exploded below, but not before I gave the mouse a serious wallop across the face.

It was flung off the side, and I gave chase. The mouse landed, rolled, then hopped onto all fours. I crashed next to it, mouth clamping down at its neck, but the little bastard zipped away. I did bat him with my paw though. My claws sank into some flesh, but I think I did more to trim its fur than actually injure it. The chase was on. The mouse ran through the fallen debris left by the plate, scampering around sharp porcelain spikes, then it was on a straight-away.

I could see the gears turning in its little head as it dashed towards the underside of an oven. So I pushed harder and leapt, my forepaw swinging as hard as I could. My claws grabbed onto the little mouse's flank and I swung it around and away from the oven. It got loose, but not before leaving some blood behind. The mouse squeaked as it tried another dash, this time under the table. I followed. It zigged, but I had predicted it and crashed into the mouse chest-first.

We tumbled, and even as I spun and it went airborne, I refused to look anywhere else. When the mouse came down, it was into my open jaws. I only realized how disgusting it was when my mouth had clamped already. I wasn't about to let go, however. Spinning around, I brought my rear legs up, and started to kick repeatedly while gripping my teeth into the mouse as hard as I could. I didn't play with my targets.

A minute later the mouse and its insides were spread out across the kitchen floor and I was covered in entrails, but I was victorious! I almost wanted to howl into the night, but that was a little melodramatic. Instead, I started to inspect the area. I didn't want to leave bloody paw prints around. Maybe I could wipe my paws off on a paper towel? That's when the ding arrived. Cat Has Levelled Up! Cat 4 > 5 You Have Reached a Threshold Pick a Perk! You have... 30 Available Cat Perks! Pick one!

I swallowed as I opened the list, then stared. Why were there so many options?