{"sf1_id":769527,"sf2_id":"V1Y9M3y1","title":"Amber Silverblood: Chapter Twenty Seven","author":"ThisAdamGuy","words":1287,"posted_at":"2014-10-18T14:06:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Demon","Fantasy","Mage","Magic","Suspense","Transformation","Urban","Warlock","Werewolf","Young adult","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/769527-amber-silverblood-chapter-twenty-seven","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/V1Y9M3y1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/b5/96/b59624ab-527b-47a1-ae76-23646abaa6b4","description":"#27 of Amber Silverblood\n\nAmber finally makes it to her house and looks around- but somebody is there waiting for them.","content":"Chapter Twenty Seven\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\nWhen I was just a regular girl, the woods had never interested me.\u0026nbsp; As a werewolf, they called to me.\u0026nbsp; I'd spent a lot of time in them, even when the moon wasn't full, and had eventually come to know my way through them like most people know streets.\u0026nbsp; I had never been in this part of the forest before, but I knew the general direction I needed to go.\u0026nbsp; In less than fifteen minutes, I peered between the trees at the road that led to my house.\n\nTyler made a warning noise in his throat, telling me to stay hidden.\u0026nbsp; He needn't have bothered.\u0026nbsp; The road was wide and flat, with nowhere to hide except on either side of it.\u0026nbsp; Even if there weren't any supernatural freaks looking for us, all it would take was one of my neighbors looking out the window to start a panic.\u0026nbsp; Kimberly's \"death,\" and the news reports I'd starred in would still be fresh on their minds, so I kept to the shadows of the trees, slinking behind my old neighbors' houses.\n\nA dog began to bark wildly, startling me.\u0026nbsp; It was Rocky, a Rottweiler the police had told my neighbor had to stay behind a tall wooden fence at all times. \u0026nbsp;That fence began to shake, and I instinctively growled at it.\u0026nbsp; Then Tyler was there, standing between me and it.\u0026nbsp; It wasn't for protection- Rocky couldn't have gotten over the fence if it wanted to.\u0026nbsp; It was his way of saying, \"Ignore it and keep moving.\"\n\nIt felt like a knife had been driven into my heart when my house finally came into view.\u0026nbsp; Or, what was left of it, I should say.\u0026nbsp; A massive pile of wood and brick stood where my home used to be, looking as if a tornado had touched down on it but somehow ignored the entire rest of the neighborhood.\u0026nbsp; It was exactly like Stacey had said it would be, but that hadn't prepared me for actually seeing it.\u0026nbsp; I whined, high and reedy, in my throat.\n\nTyler sat down next to me, his black coat brushing against my brown one, looking calmly at the wreckage.\u0026nbsp; I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but I knew what I was feeling.\u0026nbsp; My home, my last connection to a normal existence, was nothing but a pile of rubble.\u0026nbsp; After what seemed like hours, I picked myself up and went to inspect it.\n\nIt was like the rescue crews hadn't even touched it, I realized.\u0026nbsp; Where I stood now, stepping carefully so as to avoid getting a nail stuck in my paw, I was where the living room had previously been.\u0026nbsp; Mixed in with all the debris, I could make out the polished wood of the coffee table, and a corner of a couch cushion poked up right next to it.\u0026nbsp; I made my way to my old room, smelling everything as I went in the hopes of finding a clue to... what?\u0026nbsp; I didn't know, but I kept sniffing because if there _was_ anything there, I didn't want to miss it.\n\nSticking my snout under a collapsed piece of the wall, my nose touched something soft.\u0026nbsp; I tried to snap at it, but couldn't quite reach it.\u0026nbsp; The wall would have to move if I wanted to get it.\u0026nbsp; I looked to Tyler, feeling shy despite myself.\u0026nbsp; He understood what I wanted, though, and immediately came and sank his teeth into the wood.\u0026nbsp; With strength that I hadn't known he'd had (which is really saying something), he managed to flip it over, and it landed with a loud thud on top of what had once been the hall bathroom.\u0026nbsp; A cloud of dust rose from the impact, making me sneeze.\u0026nbsp; When it drifted away in the breeze, I saw what I had been trying to get.\n\nIt was Blister, a stuffed cat I'd had all my life.\u0026nbsp; He was made up of a dozen different materials my mom had found in her sewing basket.\u0026nbsp; A red button was its nose, and it had one black button and one brown button for its eyes.\u0026nbsp; I'd slept with it every night until Stacey had made fun of me during a slumber party when I was seven.\u0026nbsp; Just don't ask why I had named it Blister.\u0026nbsp; That's a story I really don't feel like sharing...\n\nI took the toy in my mouth, my heart throbbing with pain.\u0026nbsp; It still smelled like my mother, even though she hadn't touched it in years.\u0026nbsp; I was glad for my wolf body, because I knew if I had been human right then I would have broken out in tears right in front of Tyler.\u0026nbsp; I would give it to Kimberly, I decided.\u0026nbsp; It would be perfect.\u0026nbsp; I turned to go, holding Blister carefully so as not to damage him with my teeth.\u0026nbsp; There was nothing else for me to see here.\n\nI was suddenly on high alert, though, when Tyler growled.\u0026nbsp; I spun around to look at him, and then turned to look in the direction he was glaring.\u0026nbsp; His teeth were bared, gleaming pearly white in the moonlight, and yet the gray haired man standing in the woods, halfway hidden in the shadows, didn't seem at all intimidated.\u0026nbsp; For a second I thought he was one of my neighbors, but I had never seen him before in my life.\n\nHe stood with his hands in the pockets of his faded blue jeans, his expression hidden behind a thick mustache the same iron gray as the hair on his head.\u0026nbsp; A ratty Dr. Pepper t-shirt covered his chest, and his arms were tight with muscle.\u0026nbsp; I lowered myself closer to the ground, tail between my legs, suddenly afraid for my life.\u0026nbsp; The man didn't say anything, and the only movement he made was the gradual rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.\u0026nbsp; His eyes, so blue they were almost black, drilled into me like lasers, but didn't tell me anything about what he was thinking or feeling.\u0026nbsp; He never even glanced at Tyler- I was the center of his attention.\n\nTyler growled again, louder this time, but the man's eyes never left me.\u0026nbsp; Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he walked backwards until the night swallowed him up.\u0026nbsp; He wasn't reacting to Tyler's threat, I realized with a shudder.\u0026nbsp; He had just decided it was time to go.\u0026nbsp; Suddenly, the giant black wolf didn't seem as invincible as he had five minutes ago.\n\nWhile he had been a far throw from being a twig like D.K., the stranger was nowhere near as big as Tyler- and yet, that didn't bring me any comfort.\u0026nbsp; Tyler was big, strong, and definitely knew his way around a fight.\u0026nbsp; The other man, whoever he had been, was even more dangerous.\u0026nbsp; I could it feel it in my instincts.\u0026nbsp; Tyler may have had more muscle, but the man watching me knew how to use his better.\u0026nbsp; His entire body had been as tight as a spring, ready to react if anybody had made a move against him.\u0026nbsp; Neither of us would have lasted half a minute.\u0026nbsp; I was sure of it...\n\nTyler stood glaring into the woods for almost a full minute before turning back to me.\u0026nbsp; I felt faint from fright, but I shook myself and tried to forget about him- whoever he was. \u0026nbsp;Taking the lead again I ran back into the forest the way we had come, leaving my old house, and my old life, behind.\n\nNEXT TIME: Ooh, scary new guy!\u0026nbsp; Who could he be?\u0026nbsp; Who is he working for?\u0026nbsp; What's he trying to do?\u0026nbsp; What's his favorite thing to get at the Chinese buffet?\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Amber Silverblood","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/766742-amber-silverblood-chapter-twenty-six.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/772927-amber-silverblood-chapter-twenty-eight.json"}}