Cat & Moused: The Pierced Series, #5.5

By J. C. Mells

Meant to be read AFTER Book 5.

Moused Thurman was sure there had to be better ways to spend Christmas Eve than being held hostage in an elevator by a sexy, sassy, vampire-assassin.

But for the life of him, he couldn't think of one.

This is a short story that takes place in the world of the Pierced Series. 10K words long. 
This story first appeared in the Xmas anthology A VERY PARANORMAL HOLIDAY.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. C. Mells
• Release date: Jun 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386479932

Book preview

Cat and Moused: A Short Story, is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

For more information about the author or the series, please visit:

www.jcmells.com

THE PIERCED SERIES

Pierced: Book 1

Escaped: Book 2 (novella)

Pinked: Book 3

Perfect: Book 4

Napoleon: Book 5 (novella)

Cat & Moused: A Short Story

Kidnapped: Book 6

Cat & Moused

Chapter 1

Shopping at Macy’s, midtown Manhattan, on Christmas Eve, was probably not one of Moused Thurman’s better ideas. In fact, it was most definitely one of the worst ideas he’d ever had in his twenty-two years on the planet. Last-minute shoppers hustled, jabbed and jostled their way through the various departments of the iconic store on 34th Street; every one of them in a panic to get that item they forgot – or more likely – to get that gift for the loved-one they forgot. Meanwhile, what Moused considered to be the most hideous music ever written was pumped through the sound system on every single floor. We Wish You a Merry Christmas was currently making him bleed from the ears as he made his way over to Men’s Accessories.

As he perused the TAG Heuer watch counter, Moused caught a flash of shiny black out of the corner of his eye for the third time tonight.

It was her again.

There were two things he was sure of. One, the dark-haired woman in the red coat and shiny black pants was definitely following him, and two, she was a vampire.

Adjusting his glasses – or rather, pretending to – he used them to take a couple of quick photos, undetected, before bending down to look into the glass display case currently housing several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of Swiss chronograph watches. He pointed to the one he wanted and handed the store clerk his Black Amex Card. When Moused looked up again, his watcher was gone. Just like the last time.

Twice was a coincidence, three times was not. It might be time to call the higher-ups in Vegas.

Damn it. He knew he shouldn’t have left the house today. He’d been forced to leave the familiar, cozy and secure space of his basement workshop where he was accustomed to spending the majority of his time. Unfortunately, he couldn’t ignore client demands and had just finished spending an exhausting afternoon making nice with Bertrand Wainwright – a big cheese to the big cheeses - at least in the human world. When Moused finally left - the job finished at last - he made the decision to grab that last Christmas present he needed for one of his House Masters.   What a stupid, stupid decision to just pop into Macy’s on Christmas Eve.

Way to go Mousey. Just one more example of how book smart doesn’t always equal street smart.

Moused was normally what he himself referred to as an indoor guy; someone that sat in