Waiting For The Beast (Lucifer's Clock Series, Book 1)

Labor & Delivery

Robinette took one last breath and pushed until she felt her baby slide out of her body. She dropped her head back on her pillow, exhausted from the long, laborious, birthing process and anxious that her journey into motherhood was about to begin. She waited to hear her baby's first cry, but she heard nothing.

The room was so quiet she could hear the clock ticking on the wall. She looked down towards the foot of the bed. Elizabeth and the two nurses were gathered around Dr. Gabriel staring at the bundle in her arms, as if they were in some sort of trance.

"What's wrong? Is he stillborn?!" shrieked Robinette.

"No, she's fine," said Elizabeth softly.

She? For some reason Robinette had envisioned it being a boy, which was why she never had the sex checked. Dr. Gabriel walked over to her and placed her baby in her arms. When Robinette looked at the infant, her jaw dropped. She was breathtaking. The newborn had a head full of curly, jet black ringlets and beautiful, caramel skin that was impossibly giving off a soft glow. She had long eyelashes that people were going to question for the rest of her life if they were Maybelline, and under those gorgeous eyelashes were almond shaped, hazel eyes with flecks of gold that oddly flashed, like tiny lights throughout her iris.

"She's the spitting image of Luciano," whispered Elizabeth. Robinette felt a lump forming in her throat.

"Yeah, she is."

"We need to find that loser so he can take care of his responsibility. He shouldn't get away with this."

Robinette didn't say anything. Elizabeth didn't know the truth like Dr. Gabriel. Robinette let her parents and Elizabeth believe that Luciano had broken up with her after taking her virginity. There was no way she could tell them that she'd never had sex with him. They would think she was lying and have her committed if she told them the truth.

Her parents had already tried to control the situation by forcing her to get an abortion. When she refused to, they stopped speaking to her and disowned her. Elizabeth had been very supportive and allowed Robinette to move in with her, when she had to drop out of college. Between Elizabeth and Dr. Gabriel she didn't know what she would have done.

"We'll be okay. We don't need him," Robinette whispered to her baby. At that moment the baby did the most peculiar thing, she looked up at Robinette and smiled. Robinette decided then she would name her Angelica, because she looked as if she should have had a halo around her head and wings sprouting from her back.

When it was time for the nurses to take Angelica to the nursery, Robinette didn't want to part from her. She couldn't believe she had a baby. Angelica was her very own little miracle. Robinette wondered if this was how Mary had felt when she'd first laid eyes on baby Jesus. She almost expected the three wise men to appear at any moment.

Robinette watched Angelica closely as she slept in her arms. All kinds of thoughts ran through her mind. Would Angelica have any special abilities or qualities besides her hypnotizing beauty? Would she be a good enough mother? What if Angelica didn't like her? Would Luciano return to take her? Her last thought sent chills down her spine. She suddenly felt overprotective. She instructed the nurses that they were not to have any other visitors besides Elizabeth. Deity or not, if he wanted Angelica, he would have to go through her first.

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Little did Robinette know, Angelica did have a visitor that night. Lucifer watched over her as she slept. If he had a heart it would've been bursting with pride. He had finally done it, after centuries of searching and pursuing the perfect innocent. Between Dracula, and that damn music called R&B, it seemed harder and harder to find a virgin at the ripe age of eighteen, let alone one that would pledge her soul to him willingly.