Page 62 of Elven Shadow

“Come on, come on,” he snarled. “Hurry the fuck up. Jesus Christ. It’s like you’retryingto piss me off.”

Rebecca watched the whole thing from behind a rusty, reeking dumpster coincidentally set out in the alley between an Indian restaurant and something else that dumped way too many rotten vegetables at the end of the night. Her hiding place made for an entertaining view, to say the least, though she could have done without the enlightening odors of curry and decay.

Now was as good a time as any to make a move. Get a little more involved than playing Peek-A-Boo-elf from behind a dumpster.

Have a little fun.

Rebecca stepped out from behind her hiding place, the clacking of her heels echoing down the alley like a staccato beat heralding the impending threat to this would-be mugger’s physical safety.

She’d taken at least five steps before the masked man seemed to finally notice he and his victim were no longer alone.

“Kinda seems like you’d wanna get this over with as quickly as possible.” The shadows and close confines of the alley amplified Rebecca’s already dark voice bouncing off brick and asphalt alike.

Ski Mask wobbled where he stood, as if her words had barreled into him like physical projectiles, before jerkily turning around to face her.

“If I were you,” Rebecca added, “I’d just take what I could get before this whole thing gotreallyugly.”

With a startled gasp, the man trained his pistol on her. For the first time since she’d started watching him tonight, his outstretched hand trembled violently, the pistol in it wobbling in his grip. “Stay back! I-I’m warning you…”

Well, at least the guy had finally found his voice again. That was something.

Not for long, though.

Rebecca stopped in the alley, glanced casually at the barrel of his pistol, and spread her arms. “Not that I’m a supporter of straight-up armed robbery, to be clear. Wouldn’t call myself a fan of holding people at gunpoint, either. If you ask me, that just makes the whole thing too easy.

“And it almost always ends up the same way. Someone eventually does something stupid. Something they can’t ever take back. Then everything just gets…messy.”

“What do you want?” he snapped, thrusting his weapon toward Rebecca this time but failing to produce the desired intimidation effect.

She sucked on her teeth and offered a contemplative grimace. “Uh-oh. You’ve been nervous about this whole thing from the beginning, haven’t you? Listen. Right now, I’m just offering a few pointers. You know, in case you reallyfeel like continuing this line of work. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. Really doesn’t really seem like a good fit.”

“Y-you’re crazy, lady.” A tight, humorless leer showed through the bottom opening in his ski mask. “But since you’re here… Hand over your money and whatever valuables you got on you, and I’ll let you out of this.”

Rebecca snorted. “See? That’s what I’m trying toshowyou. You’re going about this all wrong. If you’re gonna make threats like that, you gotta be willing to see them through. So it’s a promise and a chance for the other person to do the right thing. Not just a threat. You know what people appreciate even less than a threat?”

“I don’t really give a shit,” he snapped.

“Anemptythreat.” She pointed at him. “Because then all that worrying and trying to find a way out ends up being all for nothing. Nobody likes to have their time wasted. Not even robbery victims, okay? Trust me. I’ve been on both sides of this door, and that rule holds true for everyone.”

Ski mask huffed out another laugh, this one sounding a little more confident and a little less stunned by his current predicament. He looked over his shoulder at the woman he’d just been trying to rob and muttered, “Can you believe this shit?”

The woman clutched her purse tightly to her chest, eyed Rebecca sideways, and murmured, “I think she’sonsomething… Or maybe she just needs a differentkindof help. You know. Mentally.”

Cocking her head again, Rebecca peered past Ski Mask to offer the other woman a tight smile and a humorless laugh of her own. “Yeah. Good one. Says the lady who thinks walking alone down a dark Burnside alley after eleven at night is a good idea.”

The other woman’s jaw dropped before she quickly recollected herself, hugged her purse tighter against her chest, and scoffed.

“Lucky for you, I just happened to walk by,” Rebecca added. “Though I was really,reallyhoping for a little more of a challenge tonight. But, like our guy over here, I guess I just gotta take what I can get and quit bitching about it, right?”

“I said hand over your wallet and whatever else you got on you, lady!” Thrusting his weapon toward her again before his foot-shuffling dance returned, Ski Mask snarled at her.

It made Rebecca want to take him out right then and there, without actually getting her point across first. That would, however, be doing the guy a major disservice.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” she replied. “The empty threats. At this point, I already know you’re full of shit and won’t actually fire that weapon—”

“Hand it all over now! Or I’ll shoot. I swear to Christ I’ll shoot you!”

“Huh. How about you drop the gun and book it right back to whatever slimy hole you crawled out of? Or I’ll make you eat the end of that pistol.”

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