"The, the, the BLUE one!" screamed the terrified man, desperate to make some choice and not sure what kind of choice his captor was giving him. The captor smiled.
"Oh, this is perfect," said Sereth, smiling creepily at the bleeding, tied-up gang member. "Do you remember that stray dog we passed on the way in hear?"
The once proud but low-level gangster, now just a sniveling kidnap victim, gave him a blank look. Sereth rolled his eyes.
"The one with the long legs and grayish-tan fur. The mongrel. The one those skater punks were kicking for fun around the trashcan fire!"
"Yes, yes, I remember!" the man interrupted pleadingly. "Wh-what about him?"
"You'll see," said Sereth cryptically. He turned the dial one millimeter to the left. Five years ought to do it: time enough to grow old as a dog, shorter than prison but possibly much harsher. Time enough to reflect on the innocent 20-year-old he'd buried under a tarp like a dog, and on the fact that her brother had gotten the best of him in the end. Sereth was glad he'd found this amulet so soon after the corrupt police stopped investigating the crime. Sereth gently touched the blue pawprint to Talver's sleeveless skin. Talver flinched, then calmed down and looked confused. Especially when Sereth started to untie him.
"Wait, that's it?" he asked. "You're letting me go? You just wanted to do some kind of jewel ritual?"
"Yep, that's all," said Sereth. "You're free to go wander the streets."
Talver wasn't sure whether to grab the gun and shoot this guy, walk away slowly and count his blessings, ask more questions about why this was so easy, or run to tell the first fellow gang member he met. He couldn't really make himself do anything right now. He was still in shock. All the beatings, interrogations, and threatening ominous decision-making questions, and now this? Surely it was a trap! Would he be shot as soon as he turned his back? Would he be ambushed by a rival gang when he stepped outside? Was the place surrounded by police agents? It didn't make sense. Sereth was still grinning at him as though waiting for something to happen.