A/N: This chapter is very important and cute. It introduces a lot of characters and only a few of them are all that important. It also serves to give few clues about the nature of Bella's job. You'll be getting more clues next chapter.
Disclaimer: Allegra's mine, so HA!
Chapter Seven
Juice Box Wishes and Cinnamon Roll Dreams
Allegra pulled on her skirt unhappily. She really didn't like the dress Alice had picked out for her party. It was almost too pink, with puffy short sleeves and a neon pink under skirt that puffed out the bejeweled and flower covered skirt. Alice insisted on doing her hair like her favorite doll and the end result was a mound of curls that danced around her pudgy pink cheeks when she walked.
She looked like an adorable person sized doll that was obviously very upset about something.
Edward refused when she demanded that he change her clothes into something she could play in. He thought she looked perfect and secretly hoped that dressed as she was she might behave. It was a long shot, but he could hope.
Most of the family was out back helping Alice put the finishing touches on the party decorations. Emmett had gotten her a gigantic teeter totter that she probably wouldn't be able to play on until she got bigger. Edward knew she would try to play on it, surely in a way that was not intended by the manufactures'. That inalienable fact was the reason Edward said that she was never to go outside by herself, ever. She'd grumbled, but agreed. He was her Daddy after all.
Esme was standing next to him, waiting for the guests to start arriving. To Esme's right was Hannah, who came early with a list of people who hadn't been invited but were showing up anyway and ten cases of hard liquor. She said that the parent would need it. Her shirt was as pink as Allegra's under skirt and proclaimed proudly, "Birthdays Are For The Young and The Senile."
Standing on Edward's other side was Tanya, who had made a big impression on Allegra but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) not the impression she was hoping for. Allegra thought she was pretty, but not as pretty as her Mommy, no one was as pretty as her Mommy. Edward was inclined to agree.
The Denali coven insisted on staying, all except Laurent who supposedly went back to Alaska. Alice saw him wandering around the wilderness for a while, with no clear destination in sight. Irina was upset by this though still excited about the prospect of a party. Most of the festivities were kept a secret from Allegra, which she didn't like. Somehow Emmett had rented (because Rosalie wouldn't let him purchase any of it) a Ferris wheel, a small roller coaster and a merry-go-round, all child sized so that Allegra could ride them. Edward really didn't like idea of her going on the Ferris wheel or the roller coaster and was only mildly consoled by Hannah's reminder that she couldn't actually get hurt.
Alice bounced into the entry way and announced, "Two people are coming!" The rest of the family followed behind her, ready to make a good impression on Bella's friends.
"What do they look like?" Hannah asked, a bit anxious. But as usual her thoughts gave away no reason for her anxiety.
"They're both young looking, female, dressed rather oddly-"
"Nnena and Lyra." Hannah sighed and shook her head. "I'd been hoping they wouldn't come, but Lyra said they were and I should really know better then to question a Prophet."
"A Prophet?" Carlisle asked.
"Yeah. You see Alice is a Seer," Hannah explained. "She sees possible futures. Lyra is a Prophet. She knows the future. There is no questioning what she sees. Hell she knows when all us are going to die. She can tell each piece of grass exactly when and how often it's going to be stepped on in its life time. I'd stay out of her head, Edward, cause like most Prophets she's one step away from Crazyville."
Everyone absorbed that for a moment as they listened to the pair of light footsteps making their way up to the front door. "What about Nnena?" Alice asked. She was curious about Lyra and had every intention of cornering the poor girl the first chance she got.
"Nnena's a vampire slayer." This declaration was also met with silence.
"But Nnena only kills the bad vampires," Allegra said, pulling on her dress again. She was hoping that if she ripped it, Daddy would let her change. Realizing this, Edward reached down, pulled her hands from her skirt and picked her up. She could do plenty of damage while in his arms, but having her close severely lessened her chances of following through on whatever plans she'd made. She sighed and went on, "Nnena doesn't hurt good vampires, like Ms. Portia or her sisters. They help her 'take care' of the bad vampires. That's what Mommy said."
They didn't have a chance to continue the discussion, because at that moment a soft knock came at the door. No one moved for a moment, Esme opened the door and a young girl Edward assumed was Lyra started talking immediately.
"Right on time!" she exclaimed. "You opened the door right when you were supposed to. I love it when people are prompt. Harry's always five minutes late or early. It messes up my whole day. He's got more free will then most. Has to do with the age and purity of his blood line. You know the farther a Dien family goes back the more powerful their magic is. That's why he can screw around with the future. But not by much just a few minutes. He'll be a few minutes late by the way. Do you have any paper? Your family's future is so rich I need to get everything's that's going to happen to you out of my head."
Her companion, Nnena, pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket with a pen. Lyra snatched them up greedily and started writing fiercely up against the door jam. Nnena grabbed the present out of Lyra's hand and gently presented both gifts to Allegra.
"Happy birthday, squirt," she said. Allegra squealed and clapped her hands.
"Can I open them now, Daddy?"
"No, Allegra. You can open them during the party," Edward said.
"I don't like my birthday!" she pouted. "I have to wear itchy stupid dress. I can't open my presents when I want. I can't eat the pan of cinnamon rolls in the oven. I can't do anything I want!" Allegra crossed her arms and continued to pout.
"You'll like you're fiftieth birthday party!" Lyra said. "Your husband will get the most beautiful necklace and-"
"Hey, Lyra!" Hannah said, interrupting before Edward erupted. He pitied the fool who married his daughter. "I think I saw a frog out back why don't we go out there and you can tell it about it's imminent demise."
"Okay!" she skipped from the room after with the piece of paper still in her hand. "You'll have fun, Allegra. I promise." Nnena followed her out back, trusting her friend to lead her through the house.
"Well, that was interesting," Tanya said.
"They can still hear you," Hannah commented.
"I think the Razzantes are coming next," Alice said. After Lyra's impeccable visions of the future, she was beginning to question her own ability. After all her visions could change, Lyra's were set in stone. Lyra saw the truth, Alice saw possibilities.
"Four stressed out adults and fourteen insane children?" Hannah asked.
"Yup."
"That's the Razzantes for sure." She ran to the door and pulled it open for the parade of Razzantes. "Hey Danielle," Hannah said to the woman who was aptly herding in five boisterous boys. "Gianna," she said to the other woman, herding five more boys into the house. The boys were yelling, demanding attention and trying to get away from their mothers, to no avail.
Emmett came to rescue, gently snatching up a few boys. He made the noise of an airplane flying them through the house toward the back yard, while they screamed in delight. Rosalie, who had already caught the attention of the three oldest Razzante boys easily ushered them through the house, with their mothers close behind. They had muttered exhausted hellos and happy birthdays as they passed. Allegra was still pouting and refused to acknowledge her guests.
Edward sighed and closed his eyes. When would she get over this?
"Give her three minutes!" Lyra exclaimed from the back. The thrilled yells and laughs from the Razzante boys drowned out the rest of Lyra's words. He opened his eyes to two nearly identical men carrying a girl in each arm. Hannah introduced them as Matt and Jim Razzante Sr. and the four girls as their only daughters. Seven kids each, five boys and two girls. He, a vampire for crying out loud, couldn't keep up with his single one year old daughter. They muttered equally exhausted hellos and happy birthdays as they followed their wives out.
Emmett and Rosalie stayed out back with the guests, while Esme made drinks for the adults. So far so good. Except for his daughter's bad mood. He rubbed her back soothingly and hummed her lullaby. She realized immediately that he was trying to make her feel better. She pushed against his chest and looked him in the eye.
"Daddy, I just don't understand why I have to do things I don't want to do on my birthday. And Mommy isn't even here, I want Mommy here!" she said.
"I want Mommy here too, Allegra," Edward explained. "But Mommy's job is very important, if it wasn't she'd never miss your birthday." Allegra sighed and wiggled until she was facing the door.
"Aunt Alice, when's Oliver going to get here?" She thought fondly of playing with Oliver, her next door neighbor. She apparently had 'called him' which meant that no one else was aloud to play house with him. In fact she'd once kicked another girl for trying to play house with him. Edward had a feeling that he'd have to watch their relationship very closely.
"He's coming next with Melanie and your God father," Alice said, absentmindedly. Jasper put a protective arm around Alice, she was feeling off and he didn't like it.
"Mr. Harry's coming! Yipee!" she exclaimed. "Dis birthday just got tons better!"
"This, Allegra," Carlisle corrected. "With T H sound, th."
"Th-is," Allegra repeated. Her speech suffered when she when was excited. "Is he gonna give me that picture that's so pretty and that I want soooo much?"
"Now, sweetie. We don't want to ruin the surprise." The Razzante men came back out to get the fourteen gifts, one from each child. Carlisle and Jasper (who reluctantly pulled himself away from Alice) helped them lug the packages in and deposited them in the living room with the other two from Nnena and Lyra.
Oliver and his parents (Kate and Oliver Sr.) showed up next. The lovey dovey feelings coming off of the couple made Edward want to gag but Allegra was so thrilled to see them that he suffered through it. She wiggled out of his arms and raced over to the two year old Oliver who squeezed her as tight as he could.
Allegra introduced him to everyone in sight. "This is my Grandpa and Grandma and my Daddy and my Uncle Jazz-per and my Aunt Alice and Miss Tanya and Miss Kate and Miss Irina and Miss Carman and Mr. El-e-a-zzarr. And out back is my Uncle Emem and Aunt Wros-ah-lee. We should go now to meet them-" She tried to sneak past Edward but he scooped her up before she could.
"Let one of your aunts or uncles show them out back, Allegra," he said. "You still have some guests yet to arrive."
Allegra began to pout again when Melanie and her father came in. Alice collected their gifts while Kate showed them to the party. Carman, Elaezar and Irina followed them, prepared to help playing host to all of the children. Hannah sighed, crossing off names on the list of uninvited and invited guests.
"My sisters should be coming any minute now and then Harry and that'll be it," she muttered. As she spoke the door opened and Hannah walked in. Or at least it looked like Hannah. "This is my twin Emmy, she has no manners," Hannah informed Edward and Tanya.
"This is my sister Hannah, she has no style," Emmy said. Emmy was wearing a bright pink, net skirt with a sky blue tub top and had her long red hair tied into a messy pony tail on top of her head.
"She calls it style, I call it dementia. Party's out back."
Hannah's three older sisters filed in after her. Cassie the oldest by a few thousand years, was just a short and lean as her sister. Annamaria the second oldest was a bit taller but not by much with the most interesting lavender eyes, Edward had ever seen. Margaret, the youngest of the three was the only one of the sister to cut her hair short. All of their gifts were small and Edward suspected that they were all jewelry of some sort that he'd have to make sure Allegra didn't try to eat.
Hannah showed them graciously to the party and left Edward, Tanya and Allegra to meet the last guest. His daughter's Godfather was the last to appear. He looked remarkably like James and Edward would have assumed that he was James were it not for the huge grin on his face when he spied Allegra. He came with five bulky men carrying a massive flat package that barely fit through the door. He must have known about Edward's mind reading abilities because he kept his thoughts far away from his gift.
"Hello, pumpkin," he said to Allegra.
"Mr. Harry!" his baby exclaimed dancing in his arms. She flopped out of his arms and into Harry's. "What did you get me, Mr. Harry?"
"Oh, oh! Now, let's not ruin the surprise," he told her, following Edward and Tanya out back. Allegra screamed in joy when she saw everything they got for her.
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! This is the best birthday ever! I want to go on that big wheel and the rolly thing and the go around. I want to do all of it at the same time, Daddy!"
Allegra ran off into the party. Naturally, his little trouble maker was the center of attention. All the boys wanted to play with her, but she only had attention enough for Oliver. Yes, he'd have to watch this relationship very closely. He hovered over her the whole party barely paying attention to the guests, until Esme grabbed his arm and dragged him over the picnic table where all the other parents sitting.
"You need to relax, son," she whisper. She loved seeing him happy, but having him stress over every little thing his daughter did was tiring, even for those how never slept.
"Don't be too hard on him, Esme," said Matt Razzante Sr. "I hovered over my oldest until Danielle got pregnant again. Being almost constantly scared out of your mind for your children is part of being a new parent. He'll get over it eventually," he assured.
Lyra danced over to them, leaned over Matt's shoulder and said, "Give him three months, as soon as Bella gets back!" She flounced away to tell the Ferris wheel when it would break.
Edward shuddered. Her mind gave him a head ache. It moved a mile a second, jumping erratically from the future of the trees to the future of one of the children to the future of a bird flying overhead. In spite of all of this her thoughts were surprisingly clear. Her hearing was impeccable, because she knew just about everything any allusion to possible futures was an excuse to get the truth out of her head.
"She's a trip, let me tell you," Hannah said. Even though she looked exactly like Emmy they weren't similar in any way. Hannah was entertaining the parents while Emmy was riding the roller coaster. "Bella's crazy about her though. Her and Nnena. Two of the most annoyingly dangerous people I've ever met and Bella can't get enough of them."
"How are they dangerous?" Esme asked, slightly worried. "They seem so nice."
"Lyra knows everything and isn't coy about telling anyone what they want to know. She could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. And Nnena is a very young vampire slayer. She can tell the difference between a vampire that needs to die and one that doesn't, but she doesn't have much control over her strength."
"How strong is she?" Emmett asked. Any talk of strength and Emmett was enticed away from just about anything.
"Nnena is stronger than the strongest vampires in existence, all vampire slayers are. If they weren't they would die. Hell, she told me once that she accidentally ripped someone in half. Have you ever heard something so ridiculous! But I believed her, she didn't look proud of it, just really embarrassed and slightly guilty."
"Do you think she could beat me at arm wrestling?" Emmett asked, excitedly looking over at Nnena. She was gently pushing Melanie on the swing. In fact, Edward noted, she did everything gently. Like she was afraid of breaking something.
"I think she could take your arm off. So don't be an idiot and challenge her or something equally fatal," Hannah snapped. She slipped for a moment and thought of Bella. Edward could see the memory clear as day.
Bella packing all of Allegra's things into the luggage. She looked up at Hannah and said, "Don't let any of them get hurt because of their association with me."
The thought vanished almost as quickly as it appeared and was replaced with a memory of the night before. The image of naked flesh and echoes of moans made Edward pull away both mentally and physically. Hannah was more energetic then he ever wanted to know. She gave him a look that said, "that's what you get." Her thoughts stayed in the gutter but that didn't stop Edward from checking in every once and a while.
She knew something about Bella that she wasn't saying. Something that had to do with whatever job she was doing for James. It was dangerous, obviously and not just dangerous for her but for them as well. He got the sense from Hannah's memory that Bella had charged her friend to keep them safe and that she had the means and the connections to do just that. Edward also realized that Hannah wasn't going to elaborate and there was nothing he could do about it.
Alice brought the cake out mid-afternoon. It wasn't really a cake but tiered, layered cinnamon rolls, because cinnamon rolls were the only sweets Allegra liked. At the top was a single roll with a pink candle sticking out of it. Everyone gather, sang her happy birthday and waited for her to blow out the candle. Allegra climbed onto Edward's lap and closed her eyes. I wish my Mommy was here.
Edward kissed her hair, wishing with her while she blew out the candle.