{"sf1_id":849034,"sf2_id":"myww6KK1","title":"Amber Silverblood: Chapter Fifty Three","author":"ThisAdamGuy","words":2339,"posted_at":"2015-04-18T13:12:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Adventure","Betrayal","Demon","Fantasy","Gangs","Ghoul","Mage","Magic","Suspense","Transformation","Urban","Urban Fantasy","Warlock","Werewolf","gremlin","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/849034-amber-silverblood-chapter-fifty-three","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/myww6KK1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/75/1e/751e4885-4f39-4145-ba4b-566e880afc26","description":"#57 of Amber Silverblood\n\nThe hunt for Roy continues! He's one sly weasel, which means Amber's gonna have to use her brains to catch him, not her brawn.","content":"Chapter Fifty Three\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\nI took a second to think.\u0026nbsp; If Roy was telling the truth, then he was only able to switch himself with the soda can because he could see it.\u0026nbsp; That meant that he couldn't be far away, so I took off running in the direction he'd thrown the can.\u0026nbsp; Once I was in the street, he was pretty easy to spot.\n\n\"Somebody stop him!\" I shouted, running after him.\u0026nbsp; If I couldn't beat him up without looking like a mugger, then I'd make _him_ look like a mugger.\n\nI got a few strange looks for my outburst, but nobody moved to intervene.\n\n\"Stop him!\" I said, pointing at him in the distance.\u0026nbsp; \"He just robbed me!\"\n\nNow _that_ got their attention.\u0026nbsp;Before I'd even finished my sentence, there were three guys trying to cut him off.\u0026nbsp; Roy skidded to a stop, and then ducked into another alley.\n\n\"Get'im!\" one of them shouted, and went in after him.\n\nIt didn't matter at this point, anyway.\u0026nbsp; I was faster, so I made it to the alley before they did.\u0026nbsp; I could take Roy down by myself if I had to, but it'd be nice to have some help.\u0026nbsp; And now that I'd branded him as the bad guy, nobody would blame me for giving him a good thumping.\n\nHe was still in sight when I came to the other end of the alley, and I immediately started calling for help as I chased him.\u0026nbsp; That was one good thing about his neon clothes-- they made him easy to pick out in a crowd.\n\n_Ninja my butt_, I thought as I gained ground on him.\n\nI almost had him.\u0026nbsp; He was only ten feet in front of me, so I put on an extra burst of speed and closed the distance.\u0026nbsp; Grabbing his collar, I threw my shoulder into his back and shoved him into the wall.\n\n\"Okay, okay, I give!\" he said, trying to push away from the building.\u0026nbsp; I was too strong for him, though, so he stayed right where I wanted him.\n\n\"Give it back!\" I snarled, leaning in close to his face.\n\n\"Are you all right?\" I turned and saw one of the men who had come chasing after us running up.\u0026nbsp; \"Do you need help?\"\n\nThen, suddenly, I wasn't looking at that man anymore.\u0026nbsp; I was looking at Roy.\n\n\"Wh- what the hell?\"\n\nI looked and saw the man who had come to help me pinned to the wall by my hand.\u0026nbsp;Roy turned and ran, and I went after him again, leaving a very confused man behind.\u0026nbsp; He didn't have a head start this time, so I managed to catch up within a few seconds.\u0026nbsp; This time, I tackled him to the ground.\n\n\"Holy crap!\" he yelled with his face pressed against the pavement.\u0026nbsp; \"What are you?\"\n\n\"You wouldn't believe me if I told you,\" I growled, squeezing his shoulder where I knew the pressure point was.\u0026nbsp; He groaned, and tried to wriggle free, but I held him tight.\n\n\"Let me up,\" he said.\u0026nbsp; \"I'll give you the money back.\"\n\n\"So you can switch yourself away again?\" I asked.\u0026nbsp; \"Yeah, right.\"\n\n\"You're holding onto my jacket,\" he said.\u0026nbsp; \"I can't switch if you've got my clothes in your hand.\"\n\n\"Why?\" I asked.\n\n\"Because whatever I switch with has to be put in the same position I was in.\u0026nbsp;My jacket's all bunched up in your hand.\u0026nbsp;I can't replace it with anything when it's like that.\"\n\nI gave him a blank look.\n\n\"Look, just let me up!\" he said.\u0026nbsp; \"It's not like I can run when you've got hold of me.\"\n\nReluctantly, I took my weight off him and let him stand up.\u0026nbsp; I kept a firm grip on his jacket, though.\u0026nbsp; I didn't know if he was telling the truth, but he hadn't switched himself already so I guessed there must have been _some_truth to his words.\n\n\"Now give me the freaking money,\" I said.\n\n\"Okay, fine, here,\" he said, and dug into his pocket and produced the cash.\u0026nbsp;I snatched it out of his hand and hid it behind my back.\u0026nbsp; It wasn't a great hiding spot, but at least he wouldn't be able to see it there.\n\n\"You owe me two extra for that snow cone you bought,\" I reminded him.\n\n\"Aw, come on!\" he whined.\u0026nbsp; \"Cut me some slack!\"\n\n\"I'll cut you _someplace_ if you keep screwing with me!\"\n\n\"All right, sheesh!\" he got his wallet from his back pocket and took two more dollars out of it.\u0026nbsp; I snatched them away and then hid my hand behind my back again.\n\n\"Don't mess with me again, got it?\" I said, giving him an icy glare.\n\n\"Sure, sure, whatever,\" he grumbled.\u0026nbsp; \"Freaking mutant.\"\n\n\"What was that?\" I asked, pulling him closer.\n\nRoy smiled.\u0026nbsp; \"Nothing.\u0026nbsp;Hey, what's that?\"\u0026nbsp; He pointed at something behind me.\n\nI laughed.\u0026nbsp; \"How old do you think I am?\u0026nbsp; I'm not going to fall for that.\"\n\n\"No, seriously, there's a cat back there.\"\n\n\"So what?\"\n\n\"So, it's a really cool cat.\"\n\nI squinted at him.\u0026nbsp; What the heck was he--\n\nWhile I was distracted, Roy slipped out of his jacket and dodged to the right.\u0026nbsp;I'd been so focused on him that I hadn't realized that he didn't have the thing zipped up.\u0026nbsp; He didn't manage to get far, though.\u0026nbsp; I just had to reach out and grab his shoulder.\u0026nbsp; Roy raised his hand, gave me a coy wink, and then suddenly I wasn't holding onto him anymore.\u0026nbsp; I felt the money get yanked out of my hand behind me.\u0026nbsp; So what was I...\n\nI heard a screech, suddenly red hot pain lanced up my arm.\u0026nbsp; With a shriek of my own, I whipped my arm back and threw the cat across the street.\n\n\"Jerk!\" I spun around and yelled, holding my bleeding hand against my shirt.\u0026nbsp;Roy was long gone, though.\n\nAs mad as I was at that cat, I couldn't help but feel sorry for it.\u0026nbsp; It wasn't its fault Roy had put it in my hand.\u0026nbsp;Still, I thought as the breeze made my scratches prickle, I definitely liked cats a little bit less now.\u0026nbsp; The scratches would heal.\u0026nbsp; They'd probably be gone by tomorrow morning, in fact.\u0026nbsp; But I doubted whatever D.K. did to me would go away nearly that fast if I didn't get him his money.\u0026nbsp; Problem was, I had no idea where Roy had gone this time.\n\nHaving no other option, I started wandering around town, looking for him.\u0026nbsp; Roy was one sly weasel, and if I was going to catch him I'd have to be even sneakier.\u0026nbsp; I couldn't rely on just being stronger than him, because he could just switch himself away.\u0026nbsp; I needed a plan...\n\nAfter walking aimlessly for half an hour, thinking, I wandered past a floral shop.\u0026nbsp;Despite the hard winter we'd been having, they somehow managed to have a bunch of live plants growing out in front of the store.\u0026nbsp; There were flowers in every color, but it was the leaves that caught my attention.\u0026nbsp;They were _green_.\n\nAn idea began to form inside my head.\u0026nbsp; It was a stupid idea, but it was the only one I could think of.\u0026nbsp; Looking both ways to make sure nobody was watching me, I quickly plucked a handful of leaves off the plants.\n\n\"Hey!\" the shop owner yelled, throwing the door open and storming out.\u0026nbsp;\"You'll have to pay for those, now!\"\n\nI looked at her, clutching the leaves tightly in my hand.\u0026nbsp; \"Um... nope!\" I said, and turned and ran the other way as fast as I could.\n\nWell, great.\u0026nbsp; If collecting D.K.'s money didn't make me a thief, then _that_ sure did.\u0026nbsp; Still, nipping leaves off a plant was nothing compared to what I needed to do next.\n\nI went inside a clothing store down the street from the and pretended to browse.\u0026nbsp;Roy may not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but he knew what I looked like, which meant he would know to stay away from me.\u0026nbsp; If I wanted to bait him close to me, I needed to make sure he didn't recognize me.\u0026nbsp; So, with that in mind, I snagged a random jacket and ran out of the store.\u0026nbsp; An alarm rang, painfully loud in my sensitive ears, but I kept running despite the workers shouting at me to stop.\u0026nbsp; I rounded the corner, shooting through another alleyway, and into the next street before yanking the tags off slipping it on.\n\n_Oh, just my luck_, I thought, having to shrug my shoulders to keep it from sliding off.\u0026nbsp; _Four sizes too big!_\n\nOh well, at least it would hide me better.\u0026nbsp; I flipped the hood up and made for another clothes store.\u0026nbsp; Maybe it wasn't smart to wear freshly stolen merchandise in the middle of a crowded street, but I figured I could outrun any cop that tried to chase me.\u0026nbsp; The jacket wasn't enough, though.\u0026nbsp; I needed a new pair of pants just to make sure Roy didn't recognize me.\n\n_I'll probably never be able to come into this part of town again,_ I thought, taking a pair of oversized camo pants down and running out of the store.\u0026nbsp; More sirens, more people yelling at me, and more of me ignoring them.\u0026nbsp; When I was a safe distance away, I slipped the pants on over my jeans.\n\n\"Right,\" I said, pulling the leaves I'd collected earlier out of my pocket.\u0026nbsp;\"Now the fun part begins.\"\n\nWith that, I ventured back into the street, holding the leaves in my hand.\u0026nbsp; I tried to hold them out so anyone could see them, but still hide them enough that they wouldn't realize they were leaves.\u0026nbsp;If Roy thought I was carrying a huge wad of cash, maybe he would come try to steal it.\u0026nbsp; Like I said, it was a stupid plan.\u0026nbsp; But also like I said, it was the only thing I could think of.\u0026nbsp; And since I figured people were still keeping their eyes out for the clothes I'd stolen, I kept to the other side of the shopping district, which effectively halved the area I could work in.\n\nIt took another forty minutes of just wandering around randomly, and I was about ready to give up, when he finally showed himself.\u0026nbsp; I saw him before he saw me, though with his glow-in-the-dark clothes it was impossible to miss him.\n\n\"Excuse me, good sir!\" he said, walking up to me just like he had before.\u0026nbsp;\"Could you help me?\u0026nbsp; My mother is in the...\"\n\nI flipped the hood back, and Roy's voice trailed off.\n\n\"Oh,\" he said at last.\u0026nbsp; \"Crap.\"\n\nThen I dropped the leaves, grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him into the alley with me.\u0026nbsp; He struggled, but I had too good a grip on him.\u0026nbsp; I kept him moving this time, knowing that if I let him focus on something for too long he would just switch himself with it.\u0026nbsp; This particular alley was behind an L-shaped building, which made a corner halfway through.\n\n_Perfect_.\n\nI kept his shirt sleeves balled up in my fists, and threw myself backward so that I had my back in the corner.\n\n\"Hey, let me go!\" he yelled.\u0026nbsp; \"Help, I'm being mugged!\"\n\n\"Shut up, already!\" I hissed, and clamped a hand over his mouth.\n\nUsually, when you mug someone you want to have _them_ in the corner.\u0026nbsp; I could tell Roy was confused by the fact that I had put myself there instead, but slowly I saw comprehension dawn on him.\u0026nbsp; If he was facing the corner, all he could see was brick walls on both sides, and me.\u0026nbsp; If I'd put him where I was, he could have looked out into the street for things to switch with.\u0026nbsp; Like this, though, he had nothing to work with.\n\n\"I'm done playing games with you,\" I said, keeping my hand over his mouth.\u0026nbsp;Not only was it keeping him quiet, it was keeping him from turning his head and looking away.\u0026nbsp; \"Give me back my freaking money!\"\n\nRoy struggled for a few seconds, and then finally relaxed.\u0026nbsp; He looked me in the eye, and nodded.\n\n\"Are you going to scream?\" I asked.\u0026nbsp; He shook his head, so I slowly took my hand away.\n\n\"Well, this is, uh, interesting,\" he chuckled.\u0026nbsp; \"You've got your back to the wall, and you're pulling me closer.\u0026nbsp;Someone might think we're--\"\n\n\"If you finish that sentence, I'll snap your neck,\" I said.\n\n\"Okay, okay, fine!\u0026nbsp; Looks like you thought this through.\u0026nbsp; You really got me this time.\"\n\n\"It wasn't hard,\" I said.\u0026nbsp; \"Even if you can do magic, you're as predictable as a rock.\"\n\nHe gave me a strange look.\u0026nbsp; \"Magic?\u0026nbsp;What?\u0026nbsp; Is that what I've been doing?\"\n\n\"Well, what else would it be?\"\n\nRoy let this information sink in, and got a thoughtful look on his face.\u0026nbsp;\"Magic, huh?\u0026nbsp; Who'da thunk it?\"\n\n_Aw, crap._\n\nI didn't know why, but I had a feeling telling him that may have been a mistake.\n\n\"Never mind it,\" I said.\u0026nbsp; \"Give me the money!\"\n\n\"All right, here,\" he said, reaching down into his pants pocket and pulling out the roll of bills he'd stolen from me.\u0026nbsp; Strangely, he didn't seem all that upset about it, now that I'd given him something to think about.\n\nI pushed Roy away, sticking the money in my pocket this time.\u0026nbsp; \"Pleasure doing business with you.\"\n\nRoy laughed.\u0026nbsp; \"Maybe we can do this again sometime.\u0026nbsp; You free on Saturday?\"\n\n\"Nope,\" I replied, and kicked him in the crotch.\n\nI watched him for a few seconds, moaning in pain and holding himself, and smiled in satisfaction.\u0026nbsp; Then, on a whim, I stripped out of the clothes I'd stolen, knelt down, and forced him into them.\u0026nbsp; I zipped the jacket up to his neck and then, without further ado, ran out into the street.\n\n\"Help!\" I screamed.\u0026nbsp; \"He's trying to rob me!\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\nNEXT TIME: And that wraps that up!\u0026nbsp; Now Amber just has to deliver the money back to D.K.\u0026nbsp; I sure hope he's not mad at her for taking so long!\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Amber Silverblood","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/846573-amber-silverblood-chapter-fifty-two.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/852349-amber-silverblood-chapter-fifty-four.json"}}