{"sf1_id":789235,"sf2_id":"q1xvjQkm","title":"Amber Silverblood: Chapter Thirty Three","author":"ThisAdamGuy","words":1395,"posted_at":"2014-11-29T15:08:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Adventure","Demon","Fantasy","Ghoul","Mage","Magic","Suspense","Teen","Transformation","Urban","Warlock","Werewolf","gremlin","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/789235-amber-silverblood-chapter-thirty-three","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/q1xvjQkm","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/7a/4e/7a4e149a-0dd8-40b2-a29b-18ce8b0307ff","description":"#34 of Amber Silverblood\n\nAmber calms down Kimberly, but gets some very bad news from Tyler.","content":"Chapter Thirty Three\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Hold still,\" I said, dipping the washcloth into the bathwater.\u0026nbsp; Kimberly shut her eyes tight as I reached up and began to dab at her face.\n\n\"It hurts a little,\" she said when I lowered the cloth again, rinsing it off as best I could in the tub.\u0026nbsp; It was already stained black and brown, but towels were yet another thing the Swag Pag neglected to see as worth spending their hard stolen money for.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" I told her, wiping her cheeks again as gently as I could.\u0026nbsp; \"You might be having an allergic reaction to it.\"\n\nAfter I'd finally gotten up off the floor in D.K.'s room, I had found Kimberly sitting in the corner of our trashy room, crying.\u0026nbsp; It had taken me over an hour to calm her down, but after that she'd agreed to take a bath surprisingly easily.\u0026nbsp; Of course, I wouldn't let her set foot in the tub until after I'd scoured it clean.\u0026nbsp; It obviously hadn't been used in years...\n\n\"Does it hurt?\" she asked suddenly, opening her eyes when I took the cloth away from her face.\n\n\"I'm sure it does,\" I answered.\u0026nbsp; \"Don't worry, if you get a rash I'll find you something to put on it.\"\n\n\"No,\" she shook her head, and pointed at my cheek.\u0026nbsp; \"That.\"\n\nI self-consciously put my hand over the bruise to hide it, and looked away.\u0026nbsp; It _did_ hurt.\u0026nbsp; D.K. hit me harder this time than he had before.\u0026nbsp; It hurt to talk, or even open my mouth.\u0026nbsp; Chewing my food was going to be a chore, too.\u0026nbsp; Still, at least it had been me and not Kimberly.\n\n\"You shouldn't let him hit you,\" she said.\n\nI looked up and locked eyes with her.\u0026nbsp; That was probably the nicest thing she'd ever said to me.\u0026nbsp; And yet, I couldn't take her advice.\n\n\"I can't stop him,\" I whispered, hardly able to believe I was having this discussion with a five year old.\u0026nbsp; Wasn't this supposed to be the other way around?\n\n\"Why not?\" Kimberly asked, her eyes wide with innocence and curiosity.\n\nI knew the answer right away, but the words stuck in my throat.\u0026nbsp; \"Because he's stronger than me,\" I managed to say at last.\n\nTo my surprise, Kimberly just shrugged.\u0026nbsp; \"You're stronger than me,\" she said, as if that settled the matter.\n\nI don't know what she meant by that statement, but it struck something in me.\u0026nbsp; I _was_ stronger than her, which meant it was my job to protect her.\u0026nbsp; I'd known this the whole time, but it had never occurred to me until now just what that meant.\u0026nbsp; Being strong didn't just mean taking her punches for her.\u0026nbsp; If D.K. had tried to hit her, I wouldn't have been able to stop him.\u0026nbsp; I paused, my hand in midair, and squeezed the rag so hard that all the water came out.\u0026nbsp; A new, fiery conviction came over me.\u0026nbsp; I would protect Kimberly with my life, and the only way I could do that was to be stronger than the ones who wanted to hurt her.\n\n\"What?\" she asked, bringing me back to the present.\u0026nbsp; I realized I was still sitting there, the washcloth clenched in my fist, with a scary expression on my face.\n\n\"Nothing, honey,\" I said and went back to cleaning her face off.\n\nFifteen minutes later, I finished drying her off, and she put on her clothes and headed back to our room.\u0026nbsp; They were the same clothes she'd received at Majestic, and they were without a doubt filthy at this point.\u0026nbsp; The pack had nothing for her to change into, though, so she had to make do with those.\u0026nbsp; She hadn't complained about it, probably seeing it as a minor annoyance amongst all the other scary things happening around her, and for that I was thankful.\u0026nbsp; At least the makeup hadn't given her a rash.\u0026nbsp; I drained the tub and dried off my own hands, but when I turned to leave the bathroom I found Tyler standing in the doorway.\n\nI had to bite back a gasp.\u0026nbsp; Tyler was so huge that his head nearly touched the top of the doorframe, but he still moved so quietly that I hadn't heard him.\n\n\"Are you all right?\" he asked, glancing down at my cheek.\n\n\"It hurts,\" I admitted, \"but I'll be all right.\"\n\n\"It should be gone by tomorrow morning,\" he said.\n\nI nodded absently, and subconsciously reached up and toyed with my hair a little.\u0026nbsp; I could hear D.K. and Kaylie in the other end of the house, and so I felt safe to ask the question that had been bugging me all this time.\n\n\"Tyler, what are the G-Nomes?\"\n\nTyler glanced down the hallway, like he was afraid his alpha wouldn't like it if he answered that question, and then stepped into the bathroom with me.\u0026nbsp; I tried not to think about how awkward that was, but was relieved when he didn't shut the door.\n\n\"They're gremlins,\" he said, almost whispering.\u0026nbsp; \"And they're one of the rival gangs in town.\"\n\n\"A gang of gremlins?\" I asked, incredulously.\u0026nbsp; I had heard and seen some weird things over the past few days, but for some reason this took the cake.\u0026nbsp; \"I thought they were supposed to be small or something.\"\n\nTyler shrugged.\u0026nbsp; \"Most people do.\"\n\nIt made sense, I thought.\u0026nbsp; They had been making computers blow up just by touching them that morning.\u0026nbsp; That sounded pretty gremlin-y to me.\n\n\"And D.K.'s worried about them taking the pack's territory?\" I said, remembering what he had been screaming about earlier.\n\n\"It wouldn't be the first time,\" Tyler replied.\u0026nbsp; \"This part of town belonged to them before we came.\u0026nbsp; They've been trying to take it back ever since.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" I said, holding up my hand, \"you guys didn't always live here?\u0026nbsp; Where did you come from?\"\n\nFor a second, Tyler stopped talking.\u0026nbsp; But then he shook his head and said, \"That's not important.\u0026nbsp; D.K. is going to attack the G-Nomes tomorrow morning.\"\n\nInstantly, all curiosity towards Tyler's past was forgotten.\n\n\"Attack them?\" I echoed in a high, shrill voice.\u0026nbsp; \"Like, _fight them?_\"\n\n\"He's tired of them challenging him,\" Tyler said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.\u0026nbsp; \"It's a wolf thing.\"\n\n\"Are you going with him?\" I asked.\n\nHe nodded, \"So is Kaylie.\"\n\nI swallowed hard, afraid of hearing the answer to my next question.\u0026nbsp; \"And what about me and Kimberly?\"\n\nTo my relief, Tyler said, \"I don't know.\u0026nbsp; He'll probably leave Kimberly here.\u0026nbsp; She's too little to be any good in a fight.\u0026nbsp; She'd just get in a way.\u0026nbsp; \"You,\" he paused awkwardly, \"he'll probably want you to go.\"\n\nMy knees suddenly felt weak, and I had to grab the towel rod to keep from falling.\u0026nbsp; I sat down on the toilet and looked up at him.\n\n\"Will it be dangerous?\" I asked, feeling stupid for even having to ask.\n\n\"Yeah.\u0026nbsp; Gremlins can hurt you pretty bad if they get their hands on you.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" I said wrapping my arms around my stomach, reminded of the smoking, fizzing computers back at Chuck's store.\u0026nbsp; Could they do that to a human body too?\u0026nbsp; The mental image made me feel sick.\n\n\"I can't fight anybody,\" I whispered, looking down at the putrid brown rug beneath the toilet.\u0026nbsp; \"I'm too weak.\"\n\n\"You're not weak,\" Tyler said, and I looked back up at him.\n\n\"I fought a werewolf once, and I lost,\" I said, cringing at the memory.\n\n\"That doesn't mean you're weak,\" Tyler argued.\u0026nbsp; \"It just meant the other wolf was stronger.\"\n\n\"It's the same thing, isn't it?\"\n\n\"No.\u0026nbsp; Just because somebody's stronger than you doesn't mean you're weak.\u0026nbsp; It just means you aren't as strong as they are.\"\n\nFor some reason, Tyler's reassurances actually made me feel better.\u0026nbsp; I still wasn't looking forward to picking a fight with the metalhead punks I'd met earlier, but at least Tyler didn't think I was completely useless.\n\n\"D.K. wants to leave first thing in the morning,\" he said, turning to walk out of the bathroom.\u0026nbsp; \"You should get something to eat, and then go to sleep.\u0026nbsp; You'll need as much energy as you can get tomorrow.\"\n\nNEXT TIME: Ooh, a fight scene?!\u0026nbsp; With the G-Nomes?!\u0026nbsp; This might actually be pretty cool.\u0026nbsp; Assuming, of course, that Amber doesn't get killed or something.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Amber Silverblood","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/788356-bonus-chapter-1-thanksgiving-2014.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/792450-amber-silverblood-chapter-thirty-four.json"}}