{"sf1_id":816867,"sf2_id":"0mvJgzWm","title":"Amber Silverblood: Chapter Forty Three","author":"FieryRodentThing","words":1764,"posted_at":"2015-02-07T15:08:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Adventure","Betrayal","Demon","Fantasy","Ghoul","Mage","Magic","Suspense","Transformation","Urban Fantasy","Warlock","Werewolf","gremlin","hotdogs","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/816867-amber-silverblood-chapter-forty-three","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/0mvJgzWm","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/4c/38/4c38fde3-9d1f-4e34-aee8-b79bf8059b67","description":"#45 of Amber Silverblood\n\nAmber and Kimberly go to the store with Tyler, and Amber contemplates upcoming events. Also, an EARTH SHATTERING ANNOUNCEMENT is made.","content":"Chapter Forty Three\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Amber?\"\n\nA knock came at my door, jolting me awake.\u0026nbsp; A gentle knock, not D.K.'s rude, demanding hammering.\n\n\"What?\" I asked, trying to blink away my sleepiness.\n\n\"Can I come in?\"\n\nI sat up.\u0026nbsp; That was Tyler's voice.\u0026nbsp; What did he want?\u0026nbsp; I glanced at the clock Majestic had given to us, and was surprised to see it was almost noon.\u0026nbsp; I got out of bed, throwing the covers over it and pushing it back into the wall.\n\n\"Just a minute,\" I said, going to Kimberly and shaking her awake.\u0026nbsp; To my relief, she didn't argue when I motioned for her to get up, and I hid her bed as well.\u0026nbsp; The toy chest and dresser went next.\u0026nbsp; I may have trusted Tyler more than I did the rest of the Pag, but I didn't want to risk him telling D.K. about the stash of awesome stuff I was hiding.\n\nLuckily, I was still in my clothes I'd worn from the night before, so I didn't need to change.\u0026nbsp; The talk with Stark had been exhausting, and I'd fallen asleep the minute I'd laid down in bed.\n\nI opened the door.\u0026nbsp; \"Hey,\" I said.\n\n\"Hey,\" he said back.\n\n\"You need something?\"\n\nHe jerked his head down the hall.\u0026nbsp; \"D.K. wants me to go get some groceries.\u0026nbsp; I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?\"\n\nI brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear.\u0026nbsp; \"Um, yeah, sure.\u0026nbsp; Can Kimberly come?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" he said, and turned to head back down the hall.\u0026nbsp; \"I'll wait for you by the door.\"\n\nI shut the door.\u0026nbsp; \"Want to go to the store?\" I asked, turning to look at Kimberly.\u0026nbsp; She nodded.\u0026nbsp; \"Good.\u0026nbsp; Let's get you something to wear.\"\n\nWe picked out a pair of jeans and a cute pink shirt for her, and a pillow-y jacket to go over it.\u0026nbsp; She wanted to wear a skirt we'd found, but I'd decided it was too cold outside for that.\n\n\"Do you like him?\" she asked as I zipped up the jacket for her.\n\n\"Who?\" I asked, looking up at her in surprise.\n\n\"That guy who was just here.\u0026nbsp; You don't like the others, but you talk to him all the time.\"\n\n\"He's nice,\" I answered, looking around the room to make sure we had adequately hidden everything.\u0026nbsp; \"There aren't many nice people around here, so I talk to him.\"\n\nShe smiled mischievously, and raised her hands to cover it.\u0026nbsp; \"Are you in love with him?\"\n\n\"No, I am not in love with Tyler,\" I laughed, leading her toward the door.\n\n\"Yes, you are!\" she teased me.\u0026nbsp; \"My mommy says that girls only talk to boys they love!\"\n\n\"Did she really tell you that?\" I asked, smirking.\n\n\"No, but it's true!\" she insisted.\u0026nbsp; \"Is he your _boooooyfriend?_\"\n\n\"Quiet,\" I said, messing up her hair.\u0026nbsp; \"Don't say anything like that around him.\"\n\nJust like he'd promised, Tyler was waiting for us at the door.\u0026nbsp; Thankfully, Kimberly did as I said and didn't start teasing him too.\n\n\"Are we taking the car?\" I asked.\n\nTyler shook his head.\u0026nbsp; \"Only D.K. gets to drive the car.\u0026nbsp; We're walking.\"\n\n\"That's a pretty long walk,\" I said, following him outside.\u0026nbsp; \"How much do we have to get?\"\n\nTyler dug the list out of his pocket and handed it to me.\u0026nbsp; I scanned it, and groaned.\n\n\"Ten cartons of cigarettes, three different kinds of beer, and a whole bunch of junk food,\" I said, handing it back to him.\n\n\"It's what D.K. wants,\" Tyler said.\u0026nbsp; \"He doesn't check the receipt, though.\u0026nbsp; We can probably get a few other things without him noticing if they're not too expensive.\"\n\nThat was a relief, I guess.\u0026nbsp; Kimberly ran a few steps ahead of us, obviously happy to finally be out of that disgusting old house.\n\n\"That's pretty rebellious of you,\" I said.\u0026nbsp; \"I thought werewolves were totally loyal to their alphas?\"\n\n\"We are, but a guy's got to have his limits.\"\n\nI looked at him for a few seconds as we walked.\u0026nbsp; A guy's got to have his limits?\u0026nbsp; What did that mean?\u0026nbsp; Could it mean, possibly, that D.K. didn't have as much control over Tyler as he thought?\n\nI decided to investigate a little further.\u0026nbsp; \"Hey, Tyler?\u0026nbsp; Do you like D.K.?\"\n\nHe gave me a sharp look, and for a second I thought he was going to tell me off for asking such a question.\u0026nbsp; Instead, he shook his head.\u0026nbsp; \"No, I don't like him.\"\n\nThat was encouraging.\u0026nbsp; I decided to push a little bit further.\u0026nbsp; \"So, then why do you go along with him?\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"I mean, that he's a twig and you're a boulder.\u0026nbsp; If you wanted to, you could take him down and become alpha yourself.\"\n\n\"No,\" he said without a moment's hesitation, \"I can't.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" I waved my hand at him.\u0026nbsp; \"Look at you!\u0026nbsp; One hit, and you'd break every bone in his body.\"\n\n\"I can't,\" he insisted.\n\n\"But...\"\n\n\"Amber,\" he cut me off, \"it doesn't have anything to do with how strong I am.\u0026nbsp; I can't do it.\"\n\nI stared at him in silence for a few seconds.\u0026nbsp; I hadn't even realized I was getting my hopes up by saying things like that, but now the sudden wave of disappointment was almost too much to bear.\n\n\"Why not?\" I asked at last.\n\n\"Because,\" he said, both his tone and the look he gave me making it clear that this was all he'd be willing to say on the matter, \"if I try anything, he'll kill my sister.\"\n\nI let Tyler keep his silence for the rest of the trip.\u0026nbsp; After all, I still had a lot to think about.\u0026nbsp; In just a few hours, Majestic was expecting me to be there to help them catch the Silverblood.\u0026nbsp; That, alone, was enough to keep me from eating anything all day.\n\nStark...\u0026nbsp; He had seemed legitimately nice last night.\u0026nbsp; Besides buying me food, he had offered Kimberly a safe place to have her first change.\u0026nbsp; That was one thing the Swag Pag could never provide.\u0026nbsp; I was still convinced he was the Silverblood, though.\u0026nbsp; Why else would he be so interested in us?\u0026nbsp; And here I was, plotting to put him back in Majestic's captivity.\n\n_Who cares?_ my subconscious fought back.\u0026nbsp; _It's his fault this is all happening in the first place.\u0026nbsp; You owe him absolutely nothing!\u0026nbsp; In fact, he owes_ you _everything!_\n\nBut what about Kimberly?\u0026nbsp; I bit my lip as I watched her run ahead of us, playing hopscotch on the cracked sidewalk.\u0026nbsp; What did I owe her?\u0026nbsp; Without me, she wouldn't be in this mess either.\u0026nbsp; I could blame Stark for the whole thing getting started, but not for my biting Kimberly.\u0026nbsp; It would be a hollow excuse, at best.\n\nMaybe that was why he had made the offer, I thought.\u0026nbsp; Maybe he blamed himself for Kimberly just like I blamed myself, and helping her through her change was his way of making up for it.\u0026nbsp; It would be irresponsible of me to take that opportunity away from her.\n\nThen again, if I didn't help Majestic tonight, they'd take back everything Ed had brought us.\u0026nbsp; That meant we'd both go back to living in the Swag Pag's garbage.\u0026nbsp; I couldn't just let that happen either, could I?\u0026nbsp; I had the opportunity to give her a better life than what our pack offered her.\u0026nbsp; In exchange, she might not make it through her first full moon.\u0026nbsp; There was the issue of my mother, too.\u0026nbsp; If I abandoned Majestic, Mom would stay with Hendricks.\u0026nbsp; I sucked in my breath, drawing a concerned look from Tyler.\u0026nbsp; I gave him an unconvincing smile, and he turned back around.\n\nThere wasn't a right choice here, I realized.\u0026nbsp; There were good aspects to both sides, but bad ones as well.\u0026nbsp; The only thing I could do was weigh the benefits of both options and decide which ones were more valuable, so...\n\nIf I let Stark go free, he would help Kimberly through her change.\n\nIf I helped catch him, Kimberly would have everything Majestic had given us, and I would get my mom back.\n\nThat was two benefits against just one.\u0026nbsp; I sighed as I looked at Kimberly, blissfully unaware of the decisions I was making for her.\u0026nbsp; Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, I told myself.\u0026nbsp; Maybe I could help her through her first moon on my own.\u0026nbsp; To be honest, I had no idea what I would need to do, but... well, she was only five years old.\u0026nbsp; It couldn't be that hard to control her, right?\n\nMaybe he wouldn't even show up, I thought.\u0026nbsp; That would be the best thing.\u0026nbsp; I'd spilled the beans about the trap, so he'd probably steer clear.\u0026nbsp; In fact, if he was smart he wouldn't even be in that part of town.\u0026nbsp; Would he still be willing to help me?\u0026nbsp; I didn't know, but I decided I'd deal with that when the time came.\n\n\"Hey Tyler,\" I spoke up at last, on our trip back to the house.\n\n\"Hm?\" he responded without looking at me.\n\n\"I've got to go somewhere tonight.\u0026nbsp; Is that okay?\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" was his reply.\n\nI knew he probably wasn't the one I needed to ask, but I felt better about coming to him than I did D.K.\u0026nbsp; If it came to it, I could just my alpha that Tyler had given me permission.\u0026nbsp; I hated the idea of throwing him under the bus like that, but there were more important things going on.\n\n\"Thank.\u0026nbsp; Could you make sure Kimberly is okay while I'm gone too?\"\n\nTyler finally turned to look at me, and I could see the suspicion in his eyes.\u0026nbsp; I set my jaw, trying to think of a lie to tell him when he asked what I would be doing.\n\n\"Yeah, I will,\" he said, and turned to face forward again.\n\nNEXT TIME: Aaw, Tyler is such a nice guy.\u0026nbsp; Don't you just wanna pinch his little... okay, no.\u0026nbsp; But between you and me, I think Amber is TOTES crushing on him.\u0026nbsp; I ship Tymber.\n\nAUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, remember how I told you that there would be an earth shattering announcement this week?\u0026nbsp; Well here it is!\u0026nbsp; The announcement is...\u0026nbsp; Drumroll please... Dummadummadummadummadumma...\u0026nbsp; On Wednesday, March 4 2015, I will begin uploading A NEW STORY!\u0026nbsp; It is called The Slayer and the Sphinx, and it is an epic urban fantasy in the same vein as Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.\u0026nbsp; More info forthcoming... NEXT WEEK.\u0026nbsp; Be sure to catch the Valentines Day bonus chapter!\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Amber Silverblood","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/813639-amber-silverblood-chapter-forty-two.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/819469-amber-silverblood-bonus-chapter-3-valentine-s-day-2015.json"}}