Corpse Bruid - 8

After the encounter with the corpse and Antonio, Lovino was startled and shocked. He didn't know if he should tell his parents of what had happened, or if he should tell the police that his fiancé had been abducted by a corpse. But could that really be possible? Could a corpse actually come back to life, let alone marry someone that was still alive? It all seemed so surreal, and he didn't want to believe it. He needed advice.

He needed to know if a dead woman could truly marry a living man.

Lovino threw open the glass doors of his bedroom and ran out onto the balcony. Rain pounded his body and cascaded from the gutters, making his ears ring. He quickly looked over the railing to the streets below his terrace to determine how far it was down. It didn't look like he would break anything if he jumped, but to be sure, he tied a blanket to the railing and began to shimmy down. Lovino was lucky enough that Mr. and Mrs. Carriedo had left to grieve and Mr. and Mrs. Vargas had retreated for tea in the west drawing room. Lovino slid down and gasped as he heard the blanket tear. He fell to the cold and wet ground of the sidewalk and growled.

"Damn it all…" he muttered. He pulled the blanket around his shoulders and ran off down the street, his sights set on the church.

--

Lovino ran up the slippery steps of the church and pounded on the big doors. "Father Edelstein! Father Edelstein! Come out here! I need to talk to you!" Lovino shouted over the rain. He beat on the door until Roderick Edelstein opened it, holding a candle and clad in his striped pajamas.

"Mr. Vargas!" Roderick blinked. "What are you doing here? You should be at home, stricken with grief."

"I have to ask you something!" he stammered. The rain made his body tremble and unstable as he inched forward. "You have to answer me! I wouldn't be out here in the rain if it wasn't this important!"

"What ever could it be?" Father Edelstein asked.

Lovino clamped his hands together. "Father… I'm begging you! Do you know if the living can marry the dead?"

Roderick's eyes widened. The force of the question brought his knees to become weak and he stumbled backward into the church. "What? Why is would you ask something like this? What makes a young man about to marry ask such a question?"

"It's that damn bastard, Antonio!" Lovino cried. He stumbled in after him. "He's married to a corpse! He's married to a corpse bride!" He shook his clasped hands in front of his face. "There has to be someway to break them up!" He looked up at him with angry and upset tears in his eyes.

Roderick looked down at him and noted the passion in his voice. He nodded once. "I do believe I know what must be done. Come with me." Lovino made a quiet noise of relief and watched as he licked his fingers and smothered the flame of his candle.

--

"Let me go! You idiot! Let me go!"

Mrs. Vargas opened the door to her manor, shaking her head in disappointment as she took in the sight of her son struggling to get out of the priests' grip. Lovino looked up at her with his teeth bared as Roderick released him and he stumbled into the home.

"Your son needs rest," Father Edelstein rumbled. "He's going insane, Mrs. Vargas. Perhaps all the stress from the wedding is getting to him. He is babbling on and on about unholy affiliations!"

Mrs. Vargas gripped Lovino's wrist, making him grunt and try to pull away. Mr. Vargas appeared behind them and began to close the door as his wife pulled Lovino toward the stairs. "Thank you, Father Edelstein. I will be sure to take a hold of the situation. Thank you so very much." Mr. Vargas closed the door and the snap of the lock echoed through the empty hall along with Lovino's shouts and grunts.

"You all are idiots!" Lovino screamed. "Kiku, you believe me, right?! I'm telling the damn truth! Antonio's married to a dead woman! Let me go!"

"Lock the doors!" his mother shouted at Kiku. "Bar the windows! Put spikes on the balcony! Put down bear traps! See to it that he does not leave his bedroom!"

It took four servants to drag the boy up to his bedroom and get him in quickly enough to lock the doors. Lovino continued to bang on the doors and scream his lungs out as the servants put mouse traps in the hallways. After about an hour, Lovino had yelled all he could and now his lungs hurt, and all he wanted to do was cry. Lovino slid down the door and hugged his shins as he sobbed into his knees. There was a soft knock at the door. Lovino's first instinct was to scream at whoever wanted to bother him more, but his throat was too raw.

"Lovino…" breathed a deep voice. He gasped and quickly looked up. He had recognized the voice as Lord Nathan Falsford's voice. "Lovino, your parents and I have been talking and we have come to the conclusion that you and I are to be wed tomorrow at noon. I'm sure I will make you the happiest boy in the world."

Lovino heard the footsteps fade down the hallway. A tear fell down his face as what had just been said festered in his mind.