Chapter 2
Christmas Presents
The next morning was Christmas Day, after a good night's sleep of settling down in the guest room – which was Edward's old room – everyone gathered down stairs in the decorated living room; Alice had, once again, gone a bit over board with her decorative skills. Though no one could deny, it was beautifully thought out; a large authentic but strategically decorated tree was placed in the corner of the room, covered in silver, purple, and red tinsel with a star placed on top, and underneath the tree were lots of presents.
Some of us sat down on the white lounge as Alice and Esme began handing out the presents; even my father had brought me something, he sat down beside me and pulled a small black box from his pocket.
"Here, Son; I wanted you to have this," Father opened the box, and inside was a beautiful golden ring with an elegant cut ruby beaming up at me. "It was your mother's... it was her dying wish for you to have it."
I instantly grew attached to the object as I placed it on the centre finger of my right hand; because of my gift to see into the past memories of a person, I knew what had happen to her – I knew who she was and everything about her because of what I saw when she was pregnant with me. It was as if I knew my mother as though she still existed; then underneath, in my lap was a book – it was a photo album with pictures of my mother when she was alive and happy; even when she was pregnant with me, pictures of her bruised and pale but happy.
"Thank you so much, Father. This means a lot to me." I replied, and hugged him with all my might.
He chuckled. "Now just wait and see what else I brought you." Father then dashed up stairs.
Then all of a sudden came Bella's voice. "Hey!"
She and Renesmee both opened their presents and from the box they pulled out… baseball outfits?
Father then had returned with a few boxes; and then suddenly there was a knock at the door, and in came Felix, Heidi, Renata, and Demetri.
"What is going on here?" I asked. Bella's mental shield was still up so I had no way of guessing what was going on, which was a little uncomfortable.
My father then stepped forward placing the boxes on the lounge. "Carlisle and I coordinated this year; and as Alice has so kindly told me that a storm will be hovering over soon so…" Then from the boxes Father pulled out dark black-maroon baseball outfits with the Volturi crest on the back and left breast pocket – complete with mating hats.
"We decided to do thing a little different this year, right Aro?" said Carlisle.
"That's right. This time we are going to have a sporting battle," He smirked. "A battle of the covens."
I looked back at the new arrivals, or should I say 'team mates'.
Excitedly we each got dressed in our new outfits; it was so unusual seeing the guard out of their old-fashioned clothes – even though the tailoring of the baseball outfits was a little old-fashioned – it just wasn't the same, the only one who was hardly in playing clothes was Uncle Marcus – as he was the umpire. Felix, Alec, Heidi, and even my father, put on their hats and we marched out onto the playing field; it was amusing seeing the guard so competitive in such a playful way – I knew my existence had loosened them up but I had no idea it was of this extremeness.
My father flicked the marron scarf around his neck, and Alec slouched the silver bat over his left shoulder as we spotted the Cullens lined up in a loose orderly fashion, each too in their Cullen team uniforms; but Bella's shield was still up so neither Edward nor I could cheat. Though I saw that Emmett and Edward's faces were deeply stiff in trying their hardest not to laugh, I was guessing because no one had ever seen us like this before.
The line came together while Marcus stood to the side between us.
"I want to see a clean game. So everyone gets a turn the pairings will matched to comparability, this is not a particular order; Aro and Carlisle, Sulpicia and Esme, Felix and Emmett," The two monstrous vampires seemed quite happy with their match. "Heidi and Rosalie, Demetri and Jasper, Renata and Alice, Jane and Bella, Alec and Edward, and finally Ambrogio and Renesmee."
"We'll bat first." Said Father,
Renesmee had the ball in her hand. "I'm the one with the brutal fast ball." She chuckled quite sinisterly.
"I'm pretty sure we can handle that, Nesmee." I replied wickedly.
The teams fanned out. Alec stood up to the plate first with Edward at the pitch; we waited for the first crack of lightening, and then Edward delivered his first throw – Alec swung but only managed to get to second base – as Jasper happened to be in the right place of the field. Next was Heidi with Rosalie; Alec got his run but Heidi was caught out by Rose when Esme passed the ball to her – the two vixens eyed each other coldly as they parted. Hoots and cheers stirred from the field as Carlisle stood up to the pitch, smiling at Aro, as my father spun the bat impressively; grinning confidently, he raised the bat to his ear – Jane and Renata cheered as the bat ringed like thunder as my father hit the ball out of the field with Edward pursuing it – but Edward was just not fast enough as Aro skid across the home base.
"Nice one, Father."
We switched sides and Demetri was up first, Jasper hit the ball, but Felix back flipped off a nearby tree – winking at Bella as he landed with the ball in his hand. After Alice got Renata out, Esme and my mother had their shot, and Jane and Bella tied the score, now it was my turn. Renesmee gripped the bat firmly, turning my wrist with the ball in my hand, I flung my arm back and delivered the strike; she swung and the ball flew out of the playing field. Demetri raced after it with grace and style, cheering roared as he passed it to Alec – he threw it to Marcus at home base.
"Oooo, so close." Said Marcus. "Safe!"
The Cullens cheered in their victory, we all shook hands and congratulated them in their fair play.
"Even in defeat, who knew the Volturi could play baseball." Said Edward.
"Thank you, Edward; we're all full of surprises." Father replied. "But still, what a tremendous game."
"Yeah, keep it up and some day you might be able to beat us." Mocked Emmett.
Felix glared at him, "Oh is that so, Cullen." He then lunged forward and the two giant vampires began wrestling.
I leaned over and whispered to Renesmee. "I wedgier twenty dollars Felix's wins."
She replied, "You're on."
The fight was aggressively playful, Felix had Emmett caught in a head lock and was unable to over throw him; suddenly the wrestling match turned into a snowball fight when Rosalie threw one in the back of Felix's head after beating Emmett in the headlock. Snowballs were soon flying everywhere, snow angels were planted on the ground; and my father laughed so hysterically when he buried Renesmee and I after knocking all the snow off an entire tree.
This Christmas had been the best one I had had in years. We all went off on an afternoon hunt – but in separate parties – the Cullens went into the woods, while the Volturi raced to the Canadian border to feed on humans. After we had returned, we were all still laughing and shaking the snow out from our hair as we entered the house.
"This has been such an entertaining visit." Said Father, "But I fear that we will have to leave quite soon."
I looked at him heavy hearted. "What? Now? Father, please one more night?" I pleaded.
Renesmee then grabbed hold of his attention, "Can't you stay, just one more night... Please."
She fluttered her eyes adorably Father couldn't help but smile, "Oh very well, but the rest of the guard must to return to Caius." He replied.
"Of course, Master." Nodded Demetri.
The others returned to Italy immediately but I was permitted to stay behind for a few more days, under Marcus's, Alec's and Jane's watchful eyes; Renesmee and I had so much to catch up on. Firstly, we hunted together in the woods, laughing so much as I chased her through the tops of the trees – though it was a little annoying as I could always see and hear Jacob with us.
Renesmee showed me around Forks and she even introduced me to her grandfather, Charlie Swan. Together we arrived at the house, and immediately my throat began to burn; I felt both of our bodies tense a bit as Charlie opened the door, and the old man's face lit up at the sight of Renesmee.
"Hey, Nessie. Come to wish your old granddad a happy Christmas?" he smiled.
Renesmee hugged her grandfather, and nodded, "Merry Christmas, Grandpa! And there's someone I wanted you to meet."
Charlie looked at me and instantly I saw his mind come to a conclusion; though not as dramatically as Bella, but it was a little hazy to see Charlie's thoughts – I suppose it was like a pure vampire looking into their human memories – but what I could see was that he believed I was pursuing Renesmee as a love interest.
I shook Charlie's hand respectfully, "Hello Chief Swan, Renesmee has told me so much about you. It's an honour to officially meet you, at last; I'm Ambrogio Voltago, but please call me Gino."
"Hi, Gino." In his mind, my surname and my face had struck a recalling chord but he couldn't remember where.
"I believe you met my father and my siblings a few years ago... Aro Voltago." I continued to jog his memory.
"Oh yeah, Carlisle's Italian friend; I thought you looked familiar. How's things goin'?" he asked,
"Fantastic, we had a few problems a few weeks ago, but other than that everything's going perfectly. Back home, it's a little surprising, how I'm still adjusting to being addressed as a prince."
Charlie's eye then flickered back and forth between me and Renemsee, "So, are you two..."
"Dating? No, no, no," chuckled Renesmee, "No, Gino's my best friend. I just wanted him to finally meet you."
I vaguely saw the wheels in Charlie's head turning, "I think I might need to get her a can of pepper spray soon."
Renesmee casually grabbed my hand; and I was snickering to myself as I exchanged the thought to her, "Okay. Well, Grandpa, I'll see you later; I'm just gonna show Gino the rest of the town."
Charlie nodded, "Okay, see later then, Ness."
Renesmee and I were still chuckling to ourselves about the thought Charlie had about us; but as I looked back to him, eyeing us from the doorway, one last time I could see that Charlie was suspicious of me, as he was with the truth about Renesmee and Bella.