Poison Kiss

Chapter 23:

Poison Kiss:

Chapter 23:

Vincent's POV:

I was rudely awoken at four in the morning by the sound of children's screams. Raven was being so noisy that at first I though someone had accidentally switched on some creepy halloween music or a pedophile's favorite soundtrack.

I slowly slid off the couch like a petrified slug, trying my best not to wake Ashlynn. I almost jumped out of my skin when she rolled over and let out a loud snore directly in my face. I hurriedly recovered and landed clumsily on my knee, before dashing into the nursery. The second I stepped in the door, the stench hit me. Yep, diaper change.

Ashlynn's POV:

Thick rays of sunshine filtered through the broken blinds and splashed across my face. I tried to keep my eyes shut, just hoping for a little more sleep, but the irritating feeling of a single patch of heat in my forehead was driving me crazy. I rolled over to avoid the wrath of the sun and fell to the floor, smacking my head on some hard surface on the way down.

As I lay on the floor, eyes still shut, I heard a very familiar sound coming from a distant room. Either that or one with the door shut. It sounded like a mixture of someone crying and the ringing of an oven timer. Was my alarm clock having a nervous breakdown?

I peeked my eyes open cautiously, expecting to see a flaming alarm clock. Instead, I caught a glimpse of a very familiar looking living room. Crap! I fell asleep at Vincent's! My mom must be so worried. Oh goodness, she's going to slaughter me. I pressed the tips of my fingers into my temples and sighed. I'm officially an idiot.

"Oh! The cake!" I heard Vincent exclaim. I glanced up and saw him streaking across the living room and into the kitchen, a screaming Raven nestled snuggly in his arms.

I jumped up, banging my shin on the coffee table in the process, and scurried into the kitchen after them.

When I reached the doorway, Vincent was searching the kitchen madly in an attempt to find a safe place to put Raven down. I rushed over to him and scooped her up in my arms, her wails increasing in sound almost instantly. I had never been very liked by small children.

"She's been like this since four in the morning!" Vincent exclaimed while he slid on his flowered oven mitts. "I completely clueless. I thought she'd shut up after the diaper change!" He threw open the oven and reached in, withdrawing a smoking cake. "Since I was already up, I thought I could surprise you with this cake." he tossed the baking pan down on the counter and gazed at it mournfully. "Such a beautiful waste..."

I had been bouncing Raven on my hip for the past few minutes and paused when he mentioned baking a cake for me. "Why?" I asked cautiously. "Did you destroy something of mine?"

He guffawed and slapped his knee jokingly. "You seriously don't remember?" I shook my head nervously. What the hell could I possibly have forgotten? "Just go wait the living room while I clean up this mess. I'll join you when I'm done." he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and grumpily made my way back into the living room, Raven still nestled securely in my arms. She had begun to quiet a bit, but still wasn't showing any signs of shutting up.

I plopped lazily down onto the couch, taking care not to squish Raven. I gazed down at her cautiously. She was so adorable, even when she sounded like as camel was trampling her. I loved the way her tiny fists clenched and unclenched as if she was preparing to punch someone. She would be good at self defense someday, I knew it in my heart, but for now it was up to Vincent to protect her from this cruel world. It was a shame that she had to be growing up in a time like this, one in which opportunities were scarce. Due to Vincent's education, I knew that she would grow up without a lot of things, but that wouldn't matter much because she would be loved and cared for no matter how many mistakes she made. Love in this world was quite a rarity, and I was glad that she would have it.