Chapter 4

Authors Note: Thanks for all the praise on the third chapter guys.

It was the third or fourth time that I visited Lisbeth's shop that she was freaking out.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit all to hell," she muttered, flicking through her menu as I walked through the door. She ignored the bell as it rung, hurriedly scanning a quest menu repeatedly. "What the hell…"

"Lisbeth?" I asked. She jumped, her menu staying in front of her as she spun around.

"What?!" she yelled, sounding agitated.

"What are you doing?" She sighed, flicking away her menu and rubbing her temples.

"It's this damn quest. I'm supposed to take this statue from a party."

"Stealing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, which she couldn't see but made me feel cooler.

"Oh, relax. It's already stolen, I'm just returning it to its rightful place in exchange for some ores."

"So what's going wrong?"

"I can't get in! I show my invitation at the front, but it always gets denied!"

"Is it a specific type of party?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, if it's a masquerade ball, and you don't have a mask you won't get in. Or if there's a dress code, you're not getting in with your blacksmithing gear. Can I see the invitation?" She nodded, summoning up the slip of paper and handing it to me. I scanned it.

'You are invited blahblahblah…Requirement: MUST come in pairs.'

"Umm…Did you actually read this thing?"

"No," she said. "I had to build a sword for the guy just to get the damn paper. I thought it'd get me in just by showing it, so I didn't bother."

"Well, it says you have to go in pairs." She groaned and pulled dramatically at her hair.

"Uhh…It's a damn timed quest. Who am I going to find…" Her words slowed as her eyes widened, and she looked up at me.

"You mean me?"

"Who else would I mean?"

"Fine. You want to show up with Death on your arm, that's up to you." She laughed.

"Aw, you're not even going to dress up?"

"Do I look like I carry a suit and tie on me?"

"Well then. We're going shopping!"

"I thought this was a timed quest."

"That doesn't mean I can't see you all dressed up. Besides, we've got 'till midnight tonight."

Lisbeth's P.O.V.

I picked out a very cute dress from the NPC tailor's, and took the Reaper's word that he'd picked up something. I thought we'd be wearing the new clothes straight to the party, but he disagreed. He said he had an escape plan in case we raised an alarm, and asked me to trust him. I did.

We walked up to the bouncer that had rejected me twice, and he let us in as soon as we showed the invitation. We walked past the ballroom, my information leading us to the second floor.

"The room it's in should be at the end of the hall," I said, flicking aside my menu. He nodded, keeping an eye behind us as we progressed across the mansion. We got to the end of the hallway, and I tried the door handle. Locked. "Damn it. It's locked." I was halfway through materializing my mace to knock the door down, when he put a hand on my wrist.

"You take watch," he said, crouching down in front of the lock.

"You learned lock picking?" I asked curiously. My question was answered when the lock clicked and the door swung open. He rose, ushering me into the room and shutting the door behind us. I scanned the room, identifying the small statue and grabbing it off its pedestal. There was a subtle click, and immediately he rushed over to analyze the pedestal. He tensed, rushing over to the window and throwing it open. "What?" I asked.

"You set off an alarm, that's a pressure pad. Guards are coming."

"So, what? We're getting out the window?"

"No, that's what we want them to think," he said, grabbing a side door and opening it to reveal a closet. "Get in." I nodded, running in, before he followed me into the cramped space. It would have been comfortable for one person, but with two people packed inside, we were pressed against each other. He pressed his ear to the door, listening.

I could hear the door being flung open, and footsteps raced to the window. "They're outside," said an older voice, and the footsteps exited, the door to the office being shut. The Reaper nodded, opening the closet, and the two of us spilled out.

"You realize you picked the most cliché hiding spot ever, right?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I can't hear you over the sound of us not getting caught," he replied sarcastically.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now we put those fancy clothes to good use," he said, flicking through his menu and turning around. "Put on whatever you bought."

Seth's P.O.V.

When she gave me permission to turn back around…Damn. A ruby dress with straps that hung to her shoulders had appeared. There was a rose, it's color a lighter pink than her hair, pinned to one of the shoulder straps, and a scarlet belt of the same fabric wrapped around her waist. She was…Beautiful.

Lisbeth's P.O.V.

When he turned back around, he was…handsome. He'd put on a pure black suit, the jacket, shirt and pants all a void, contrasted by the crimson tie he had on. He'd put on a masquerade mask, and it covered the upper half of his face, with tinted paper covering the eyes. I assumed he could see through, but I couldn't. I could see his hair, which was short and hung just over the edge of the mask, and was a dark brown, sort of like my real hair color.

"Y-You look…um…" he stuttered out, rubbing the back of his head.

"You too," I said, smiling. He extended an arm.

"Shall we go?" he asked. I smiled, interlocking arms with him.

"We shall." We walked out of the office. "So the plan is we blend with the NPCs and sneak out?"

"Yep."

"Good plan."

"I thought so."

We walked through the ballroom, and suddenly, I stopped.

Seth's P.O.V.

I felt her arm jerk mine back, signifying she'd stopped. "What is it?" I asked, turning back to look. She'd stopped, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

"Dance with me," she said.

"Are you kidding?" I asked.

She shook her head, her grin getting even bigger. "Don't you want to dance with me?" she asked.

"I don't dance." She grabbed my other arm, dragging me to her.

"You do now." I groaned in mock despair. She dragged my hands into position, grinning as she led us in the small circle of a dance.

"Why do you torture me so?" I asked. She giggled, and I couldn't help but smile.

"So?" she asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"So what?" I asked.

"Do I look…sexy?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and raising the eyebrow higher, a grin spreading across her face.

Well…Fuck. No way in hell was I going to tell her the truth, but I didn't want to sound like too much of an asshole.

"If I say yes, can we go finish this quest?" I asked.

She smiled, her eyes scanning my face, searching for a chink in my armor. "Tell me your name?" she asked lightly.

…This was something personal. This was no longer bargaining, she was making an effort to get closer to me. But…the question was why? I was a beater. THE beater. According to everyone, I cared only for myself, and anyone who got in the way was dead. And yet…This girl legitimately wanted to get to know me.

I opened my menu, requesting her to party with me, knowing my name would show up on the request. She glanced down. "Seth," she read out slowly, as if feeling her way through saying the word. She smiled. "I like it," she said, tapping the circle that was the yes option.

Authors Note: Seriously though, thank you guys for all the support this story has gotten. Loving it, and believe me, there are twists and turns coming up soon.