The Cliché Romance

Chapter 11

Avril was sitting in Reaver's study near the fireplace. She was lost in her own thoughts. ' Maybe Barry is right.' she thought to herself. 'Maybe Reaver doesn't really have a free will to be who he is , other than what he was created to be.' The thought of that made her sad.' I'm glad I have free will.' she looked at the fire's intensity, she felt a sense of calmness with the chaos in her mind, until Avril heard a scream coming from upstairs. She jumped up and ran upstairs only to find Reaver had some poor young maid pressed into the bed.

"No, please stop!" she yelled.

"Oh, come now, my dear! You'll enjoy it, I promise."

Before Reaver could do anymore psychological damage to the poor girl, Avril grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off. She tried to hold back a laugh when he made the weirdest choking sound.

"Reaver, stop!" she screamed. The young girl quickly buttoned up her blouse before taking off down the stairs. "Did it ever occur to you that not EVERYONE, wants to sleep with you!"

"Well, it did when I met you, but I threw away that idea long ago."

Avril crossed her arms."Oh, Really?"

"What are you upset that I no longer find you attractive?"

Was he serious?-of course not, but she'd play along.

"How will I ever sleep at night..." she said sarcastically.

"Actually, why don't you make yourself useful and do me a favor, will you?"

Avril looked at him suspiciously. She could never trust him with anything and all of the sudden he wanted a 'favor'? Here it comes...

"I need you to run a few errands for me." he said with a smile, still laying on the floor.

Avril sighed."What kind of errands?"

"I just need you to drop a few things off. There is a seal on my desk in the study." he sat up finally and smiled." Just take that little trinket back to wraitmarsh for me. I have to give it back but I'm not on good terms with the owner so if you do this, then I will throw a big party for you!"

Avril rubbed her temples."Fine I'll do it."

"That's a good girl! Now hurry along so I can be ready by the time you arrive!" Avril sighed and walked out the room. She hurried to the study and took the seal before looking around. She spotted a big bag of gold on the table and then she had an idea.

Avril rushed out of the mansion and headed to the local pub. There were plenty of drunks there already and ,SURPRISE!, more wandering hands. This place made her sick and she couldn't wait to get out. She looked around and saw a young man there who looked to be fresh into his twenties, not that he look pleased to be here either. She slowly approached him and greeted him with a smile. He was a very handsome young man with long blonde hair and green eyes. The man smiled back not wanting to be rude.

"Hello, I was wondering if you might be able to do me a favor." she asked innocently. This caught the mans attention, he seemed to be quite taken with her.

"What does, mi'lady ask?" he said. His voice almost seemed like an angel's it was so smooth.

"I need this taken to a temple in Wraithmarsh." she showed him the seal and put on a helpless girl act." I would do it myself but Wraithmarsh is terrifying and I'm afraid to go." she jiggled the sack of money. "I'll pay you."

The man looked at her a bit surprised. He smiled at her gently and took her hand. "Fear not, I will deliver this for you at once!" He said taking the seal and putting his hat on, rushing out the door. He didn't even take the gold, which surprised her.

She looked around the bar and decided to try some albion beer. She always wanted to know what that Balverine beer tasted like. Hey! She was willing to try anything once...well, not anything.

Avril sat at the bar and asked for a beer. The bartender quickly served her and she gave him the gold for payment. She picked up the mug and looked at it. It sure smelled like a Balverine. Before she could regret her decision she quickly took down the whole drink, not even bothering to taste it before hand. Once she drank it all she slammed the glass to the bar and crinkled her nose. The beer tasted a bit sour with a hint of hazelnut, probably to hide the bad taste. Which, didn't help AT ALL. The hairs on her body stood up on end.

'ok, never doing THAT again.' she thought to herself as she akwardly waved to the bartender and left. She decided to leave before the young man came back, and went to look around town a bit. Once she was outside she saw a gift shop close by. 'That looks nice' she walked over to the stand and scanned over the gifts. Everything had a lot of detail to it, but it looked a bit worn, not that she minded. She was about to ask about something when suddenly a bard came up to her asking if she'd like to hear a song. She always hated the bards, their songs were boring if not amusing in some sense so she decided to make a bargain with him.

"Ok, but I'll make you a deal. I let you play, and I'll show you how to get more money than you could ever imagine." The bard looked at her taken back by her forwardness.

"Sure." he said, though he was not completely sure. He began to play, feeling a bit intimidated, like he was under inspection. He had no words, it was just melody. Avril began to get sick.

"Stop, stop, stop!" She shouted. She shoved her hands out for the lute and looked at the man. "Let me show you how it's done." She said smiling gently at him. He slowly handed her his lute and she played a few notes to make sure it was in key. Once she fixed it up, she looked at the man. "When you play, you have to think of something that makes you happy. Don't just let it be a hobby or a job. Let it be your way of life, your passion." She began playing the lute with great skill."Once you feel it in your heart, it will just come out on its own." she said laughing and she began playing more skillfully.

People nearby watched in awe as she played. She was smiling as she played and people began to throw gold into the lute carrier, making the bard watch her in amazement. When the song was over she turned around and gave a bow, as the crowd began to cheer. Avril blushed a bit and handed the lute back to the bard. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go so overboard."

The bard smiled and shook his head. "No, it was an amazing song. I'm glad you played." He turned around and looked through a giant bag of his, and pulled out another lute. " Here, I want you to have this."

Avril looked at the lute. Her eyes began to glow when she saw the beautiful designs engraved into it. It was a beautiful dark mahogany."Thank you so much. I don't know what to say." she smiled and took it. The people greeted her with open arms. Bloodstone didn't seem to be such a bad place after all.

Avril saw it was getting dark outside so she began to head back to Reaver's mansion. She entered the house and went straight into the study and got her bag.

"What are you doing back?"

She turned around quickly to see it was Reaver. He looked a bit confused to see her there, which caught her off guard until she remembered, she was supposed to be old and wrinkly. "What do you mean, I was running errands for your party tonight." she tried to sound convincing.

"Yes, but...did you take my seal back?"he asked.

Avril looked up to the ceiling in thought until she dropped her bag, keeping the fake dark seal in her hands. "I knew I forgot something!"

She must have done a pretty good job on her school project, because he turned SO white. Reaver didn't hesitate one moment to draw his gun. "You little bi-"

"Relax, Reaver, it's just a fake." she said dropping it to the floor. She wasn't much afraid of him, but the gun...

"What do you mean it's a fake!" he shouted. Avril sighed. He was so caught up in making her miserable that he didn't even notice the wrinkles on his own face had disappeared.

"Reaver, why are you so hell bent on making me miserable?" she asked forwardly. Reaver was quiet for a few moments.

"I don't need a reason for the things I do." he said.

"How childish.."

"Excuse me?" he said pulling the hammer of the gun back.

"Give it a rest will you!" she shouted."I can't understand how someone can be so selfish and arrogant. Someone who would kill their own family just so they wouldn't have to die! Well look where it got you. No true friends or allies, because everyone is dead afraid of you! You will never find someone who could love you for just being you. And you're stuck being a slave to the shadow court for the rest of eternity. Some eternal life! Why can't you just go back to being Dorian!"

Reaver's expression was sour to that name. He repositioned the gun at her and gave her a fair warning. "Don't you ever say that name again or I will kill you."

" I wish you WOULD kill me! It'd be better than having to live with someone like you! I don't even know if I can get home!" she paused for a moment. Reaver looked at her a bit confused.

"Get back home?"

"Just forget it, go have your stupid party!"

Avril stormed off upstairs, leaving Reaver in confusion. He sighed and went to the chair next to the fire place. He stared off into the fire as the guests for his party began to arrive. "What am I doing.." he asked himself out loud. Why DID he want to hurt her? She was probably one of the fairest maidens he'd ever laid eyes upon. She was so alive and so beautiful when she smiled. Was she right? Has his miserable life been such a habit that he would hurt even people he cared for? Reaver shook his head. No. He must not give in. He will never go back to that low life by the name of Dorian.

Never.

A/N

hehehe. Funny story on the name actually. I tried to find some indication on what Reaver's name might have been before he became Reaver. But there was nothing. Well my friend was spending the night when I happen to be writing chapter 10 and I asked her what would be a good name for Reaver. I was a bit lazy and said maybe we should name him Stephen, since he's voiced by Stephen Fry. Well she said that was too plain. And I somewhat agreed, but only because Stephen is the name of my boyfriend lolz. Well she told me about the book by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and told me about it. I had also remembered seeing it mention on wikipedia under Reaver's 'article' and said there was a chance that Reaver was inspired by that book. So I ended up naming him Dorian. Lol.

I'm not too fond of the name myself (it sounds a bit feminine) but I stuck with it for laughs. In the end, I ordered the book off ebay and can't wait to read it. :) I hope you all are enjoying it, it sure seems like you are and that makes me very happy. Anyways! I've made this A/N too long so please R&R THANKS!