Married To The Mad Vampire Lord-Chapter 567: At The Altar_Part 1

I knew it, something was bound to go wrong, Elle thought in despair, almost close to tears.

The groom was supposed to come ahead of the bride and stand at the altar, waiting for her to be given to him. They had rehearsed this days ago and practiced, and Elle knew the vows she was to give, his words, and his expected reactions. But right where her groom was supposed to be standing, the space was empty.

Only the priest was there, his expression was that of impatience. It seemed the guests had expected the groom to arrive first, and when they realized it was her, the murmuring grew loud, everyone whispering and wondering where he was.

Elle scanned the crowd of guests.

The McKay relatives were all present, but her groom’s parents were not. A sinking feeling twisted in her stomach, and she tightened her hand around her uncle’s arm.

"What’s going on? Where is the groom?" she heard her uncle demand of someone.

"W-we don’t know, my Lord. He was supposed to be here minutes ago, but there is no sign of him," replied the person, who sounded nervous being in the presence of her uncle.

Did something delay him, or... had he really changed his mind about the marriage because of her refusal last night? Elle thought. She hadn’t told anyone about what had happened, but after what Eryx had said, that she was to leave her homeland and go with him to another country after the marriage, and that it would be up to her to tell her family, he had kissed her.

That kiss had led... to him touching her in places that repulsed her and made her uncomfortable, while he whispered in her ear what he intended to do to her on their wedding night.

Elle had never felt so repulsed and horrified in her life. She had pushed him away, pulling back the sleeve of her dress he had pulled down to touch her. He had looked hurt that she stopped him, turned around, and left, saying they would meet at the altar. She hadn’t been able to share this with anyone because she felt ashamed and also thought it was a normal behavior of a groom, but in her heart, she had feared Eryx had changed his mind about her the moment she put a stop to his advances.

Now, entering the church to find that the groom hadn’t arrived when she and her family were twenty minutes late as per the scheduled time, she began to suspect it had something to do with that night.

Not long after, someone came running down the aisle with a folded paper in hand. The person passed by her and her uncle to stand at the altar and began reading the letter. Elle recognized him, it was Eryx’s best friend, and her insides clenched as he began to read.

"Everyone, settle down. This is a message from the groom, which he asked me to read aloud to save another man from making the same mistake he almost made in his life," the man at the altar announced.

Immediately, the noise in the church quieted. When it came to gossip or anything juicy, the people of Mirehaven were always listening.

"Here goes the groom’s words: ’I wish I felt guilty enough to offer an apology to my so-called bride for not showing up today, but I don’t. I have no reason to apologize now that I am finally seeing what I was blinded to.’

Elle felt her head begin to ring at those words.

"’The Hathaways are nothing but disgraceful to society, and no man should lower himself to marry such a woman. I do believe many have heard of my wonderful love story with Arielle; unfortunately, I realized too late that Arielle and her brother were having an unholy affair. He admitted it himself to me the night he came to see me and told me that if I dare hurt the love of his life, my corpse would be delivered to the doorstep of my family...’"

All eyes in the hall turned to Aryen at those words, and horror and disbelief spread across their faces. The ladies sitting next to him in the front row moved away quickly, while Aryen himself was too flabbergasted to even blink.

"’I didn’t announce my withdrawal from the wedding because I feared for my life and family. I had to make them believe I was still interested in order to escape. I know that by the time everyone is hearing this, I am far away across the world with my parents. My sincere apologies to my close relatives who have traveled to witness my wedding and to the people of Mirehaven, who...’"

The man reading the letter didn’t even have time to finish when someone hurled a hard shoe at him, the force of it striking his head and knocking him unconscious on the altar. The person responsible was none other than Finn, who had been seated in the front row as well.

"Bullshit! To think I took you as a friend!" Finn shouted, clicking his tongue in fury, the realization settling on him that they had just ruined Elle’s life by allowing her to meet Eryx instead of fixing it and giving her the happiness she deserved.

Aryen could barely blink after hearing the lies written in that letter. Yes, he had warned the bastard not to hurt his sister or be the reason she shed tears in the future, that was all he had said and done. To think the bastard had twisted his words in such a way that it would not only ruin his own reputation, but also drag his sister’s name through the mud.

Angel, who was seated a little farther back, watched everything unfold while listening to the whispered words of the guests as they insulted his Red.

"I have always known there was something strange about that family and the way they sheltered the girl. Such an abomination, sleeping with her own twin brother. Disgusting."

"No one would want such a woman, and to think everyone calls her the most beautiful. She’s disgusting, just like her mother who gave birth out of wedlock."

"No wonder Aryen always ignored our advances. He’s been getting it from his sister. May the Lord Almighty save us from such people. It’s good that Eryx had the sense to run away."

"Nobody would ever marry a used item. I condemn them all to hell in the name of the Lord."

As such words rang out loudly enough for everyone to hear, Angel felt something clawing violently at his insides, an overwhelming urge to kill them, to burn everything down. He wanted them to suffer for daring to speak about Red and the Hathaway family in such a manner. But he forced himself not to move, for if he let the demon inside him loose, everyone would suffer from it, even the innocent ones, and he feared even his own family.

His dark eyes shifted to Red, who still stood in the middle of the aisle, gripping his father’s forearm tightly.

His gaze zeroed in on her face through the veil she still had on, and he saw the tears. His hand clenched into a fist so tight that dark veins surfaced beneath his skin. He listened to the frantic beating of her heart and realized she was hurt, deeply hurt, and that she felt as though she had lost her every chance.

A chance at what, he did not know. Her chance to be with Eryx? He wondered. A man he would soon hunt down.

From the corner of his vision, he saw his brother and Aryen on the altar, hauling their friend who had read the letter up to his feet as they demanded to know where Eryx had run to. Eryx. Max wanted to kill the man. But his eyes were drawn back to Red, who was now surrounded by her mother, his mother, and Rosey.

Max didn’t know what had come over him right at that moment where he was looking at her. The idea flashed suddenly through his mind, and instead of repelling it, he found himself acting upon it. He must have been insane, because he didn’t even think as he rose to his feet.

All attention immediately shifted in his direction, for he stood taller than every other man in that church.

He found himself walking toward where his family was gathered around Red.

The crowd faded away from his senses until only her remained in his vision.

What the hell are you doing? he asked himself.

I’ll be damned if I know, he answered silently.