Wren looked up to see three figures walking down the aisle toward them. The first two were a man and woman. They were tall, elegantly dressed, and both were stunning redheads. The third, smaller figure walked a couple of paces behind the man and woman and was of a swarthy coloring. Dressed in the long black robe and high collar of a priest, he carried a leather satchel in one gnarled hand. Hunchbacked and rail thin, he made for a dramatic contrast to the beautiful figures walking several strides ahead of him.

“I’ll have you meet my parents. If we're lucky, they'll know of a way to nullify this ridiculous marriage and then you can be on your way to wherever it is you wish to go.” Ash said and Wren turned to face him just in time to see the cigarette between his fingers vanish in a puff of smoke. The redhead stood up and strolled past Wren nonchalantly. Wren stumbled backwards to avoid the man and ended up clinging to the edge of the nearest pew, watching as the three beauties congregated in the middle of the aisle. The swarthy hunchbacked fourth party appeared completely out of place in their midst.

In fact, disheveled and still damp from the rain, Wren felt pretty out of place himself.

“What is the problem here, Ash?” The man standing beside the female questioned in a disapproving tone. On top of having flame-red hair, he also had dark red eyes that glowed as if from an inner light source. He was tall, towering over the other three by at least a foot, and boasted the most forbidden frown that Wren had ever seen. He glanced around the chapel as if he were looking for something and his eyes came to rest for a moment on Wren, but then immediately dismissed him as if he were unimportant. He instead focused his red gaze on Ash again, his frown even more pronounced than before. “You sounded as if you were having some sort of emergency, but I see nothing all that alarming.”

“Yeah...well...you see.” The younger male said, as he darted a glance back at Wren. The frown evident on the young man’s features distinctly reminded Wren of the very same frown marring the older man’s handsome face. It was obvious that Wren was looking at father and son. Wren’s attention was drawn away from comparing the two when Ash pointed directly at him and said, “That boy over there...he came into the chapel, ate from the banquet, and read the scroll. He even managed to perform the blood sacrifice, and well...”

Ash lifted his hand, the one with the strange, black markings etched into the skin of his ring finger. Wren glanced down at his own hand, feeling a bit uneasy as he stared at the markings on his own finger.

“Instead of being married to my actual fiancé.” Ash continued, “who ran out on me by the way, I'm actually married to that boy. So, I was wondering...is there a way to undo this shit?”

Silence.

Wren half expected the newcomers to burst out laughing. He certainly didn’t expect what followed.

The older man sighed as if completely put out by this turn of events. The woman gasped and the droll little figure in the black robes tittered gleefully.

“How could you let this happen, Ashley?” The man said, disapproval evident in his voice.

“I didn’t ‘let’ anything happen, father.” Ash said through gritted teeth. “I’m the victim here. My fiancée ran away and then my wedding was hijacked by that… human!”

There was a moment of silence and then Ash’s father sighed heavily.

“I’m afraid ending the marriage will not be easily accomplished.” The older man said. He cast a look toward Wren. “Seeing as the boy not only partook of the wedding banquet, but also sealed the nuptials with his blood sacrifice.”

“Well, we could always end the marriage by killing the human.” The hunchbacked priest suggested in a grating, raspy voice. He sounded far too excited about the prospect and Wren cast a glance toward the open double doors of the chapel. It wasn’t that terribly long of a sprint and he wondered if he could make it before any of them could stop him.

As if he’d read his mind, Ash cast one graceful hand toward the double doors, and with a flick of his wrist, both doors slammed shut with a resounding finality. Wren felt his heart physically sink.

The woman – Ash’s mother, apparently – placed a manicured hand against one rouged cheek. Her long nails were painted a bright blood red to perfectly match her red hair and lipstick. “That won’t do at all, dearie. Ashley will be forced to uphold the necessary allotted time for grieving. The death of a spouse will just mean postponing his marriage to his proper bride.”

“A moot point, seeing as the bitch stood me up.” Ash said testily.

“That’s neither here nor there.” Ash’s father said. “I have a contract with your fiancée’s family that I expect to be upheld. The issue of your current marriage is the problem for the here and now. We’ll worry about dealing with your proper bride and her family once we null this unfortunate wedding.” The older man paused, then continued. “However, your mother is right, Ash. Killing the boy will only result in unnecessary complications and a period of postponement that is unacceptable.”

The priest sighed in obvious disappointment and Wren felt like he was caught in some sort of never-ending nightmare. If he pinched himself, would he wake up?

Ash crossed his arms before him and glowered at his parents. “Okay, uxoricide is off the table… for now. So, what do you suggest I do?”

“We’ll try to have the marriage annulled, dear.” Ash’s mother said.

His father nodded. “That’s the best course of action, for now. It shouldn’t take too long, if things go smoothly. We can always resort to the alternative as a last resort, if need be.”

Wren’s pretty certain the “alternative” would be uxoricide and it didn’t take a genius to figure out the meaning of the word! He chuckled, his tone bordering on the hysterical. He couldn’t believe they were just calmly discussing his impending demise as if he weren’t even present!

“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?” Ash inquired, as he momentarily cast a questioning glance in Wren’s direction.

“Well, don’t kill him.” His mother said. Yeah, Wren liked that idea.

“And don’t neglect him and just let him die either. The end result will be the same.” His father said sternly. What would he do? Leave him to starve to death like some forgotten houseplant?

“And whatever you do, under no circumstances should you consummate the marriage.” The priest said as he held up one long, gnarled finger in warning. “If you do, only death can sever your union.”

Ash cast a baleful glance toward Wren. “No worries there.”

Thank God. Wren thought.

“Well, we’ll get in touch soon.” Ash’s mother said. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she disappeared in a puff of smoke. Ash’s father followed suit a moment later. With a cackle that sounded more animalistic than human to Wren’s ears, the strange hunchbacked priest disappeared as well.

“Well, that’s that!” Ash said, as he threw up both hands in exasperation. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as if trying to sooth a headache. Then, with a sigh, he look at Wren and gestured for him to come closer. “Let’s go.”

Wren took an instinctual step backward. “Go where?”

Ash narrowed his eyes. “Where else? My house.”

He had no intention whatsoever to go anywhere with this man… or, whatever he was. One thing Wren was certain of was that the man before him was not completely human.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Wren mumbled, but barely had he uttered the words than the redhead was striding toward him. Wren would have ran, but he found himself trapped between two pews and all he could do to try to escape was continue backing down the narrow aisle between the seat of one pew and the wooden back of another.

So intent was he on getting away that Wren stumbled over his own feet and would have tumbled over backwards had Ash’s hand not snaked out and seized him about the waist. The redhead steadied him, holding Wren’s body against his own. Wren’s hands instinctively grabbed onto the lapels of Ash’s jacket.

“Got you.” The amber-eyed man whispered in a smoky voice. Then, before Wren could fight his way out of the man’s arms, a puff of smoke engulfed them and Wren gasped as he felt the stone floor of the chapel give way beneath his feet.