Smoke & Mirrors

Chapter 1

Smoke. So entrapping. So unclear. So...suffocating. It's the real danger in those awful fires. The way it makes you feel safe until it reaches you, hitting you like a hot slap in the face. It fools you. It tricks you into thinking you're okay and clear of any blazing orange heat, but really you're already dead. You try breathing but it's so hard, almost painful. The way it teases you with it's tainted air. And then you're gone, but the smoke...it's still there. It always is.

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 Vesper was so lost in her train of thought that she barely noticed the tiny twig that came across her cheek as she ran, barely. It wasn't uncommon for her to lose sight of reality and fall into the dream like state she was in while catching onto a deep thought. To her it was the only kind of dream state she'd get retribution from. Sleep wasn't exactly the most possible action for her near perfection. Rather she spent the last 84 years in quiet restlessness.
  
  She beganbegins to slow done to a halt, the smoke trailing behind her coming to a stop and dissipating. It was an attempt to regain her composure and collect her thoughts so she wouldn't lose her way or worse, run into something, again.

  It wasn't always like this. As a newborn, Vesper showed a bright keenes and clarity, however, the more her gift evolved it began to blur her thoughts. Now she found herself often on the verge of amnesia as she was always a foot further into her thoughts than what was happening in front of her.

  Vesper found herself sliding down against one of the trees resting under the canopy of several dark green hues it gave. Looking up at the sun through the slowly dying leaves Vesper sighed at the calm she was in the middle of; a small breeze blowing about, moving the leaves and branches left and right. The noise was so soothing that if she were still human she'd doze off into a silent slumber. Instead she could only enjoy the silent requiem of her thoughts. A close enough paradise. It was a nice break from the regular raging emotions of a vampire.
  
  She was in no hurry despite her desperate decision to play hero to a man she hadn't seen in years and a family she'd never met to even begin with. Yet, she was still set on going to redeem herself and her past. She felt a need to prove that she was enough and that she could be a trusted ally, maybe even to find a coven or a family to be with. So many years alone and petrifying ruined one's state of mind. Pushing them to a breaking point, especially if there's betrayal.

  She knew the Cullens would need her help along with others if they were to face the Volturi head on and it was the perfect way for her prove herself as reliable and to fight her enemies. She wouldn't lie though. If it weren't for her natural desire for vengeance she wouldn't be so set on helping the Cullens or even leaving her previous "life". Just for once, she wouldn't deny herself of any hidden desires. She couldn't possibly.

  From afar, anyone passing through, even though unlikely, would see a small woman glowing with small specks of silver glitter across her face as she looked up to the bright warm sun. Like shiny freckles glimmering over her nose and eyes. She sat with a stillness close to a statues in manner. A beautiful statue clad in a black poncho sweater far too big for her with waves of locks that spread across her chest and fell to her bum.

  Anyone would be captivated enough by her presence to stop and stare for a while entrapped in her beauty. Even the two Romanians would if they slowed down enough to even notice her presence. Even the small scent of smoke and coal should've given her away to the far older vampires, yet they sped past a bit ahead before even slowing and not even for her.

  Two older men with strong accents and their own motives of vengeance against the Volturi came to a halt a mile away from the once resting female vampire. Vesper quietly picked herself up from the forest's soft ground and climbed up a tree to observe the two new figures.

  Even though the distance between them was great to the human eye and ears, to a vampire it was all clear and crisp. Vesper leaned out of the tree and sat still as possible while she watched.

  "There isn't much further left to go, but I already feel... I feel...," a man with dark hair and red eyes spoke as he sat on a fallen tree. A younger looking man, not by many years, stood up on the log beside the other man. He was panning his eyes across the land, taking in and observing. He was so pale and blonde.

  "You feel the presence of another one of our kind. I feel it too..." He replied with a smooth but strong accent. That accent lingered in Vespers mind. She knew deep down they were familiar to her. She knew them, maybe not personally, but in some way or another.

  "It should not matter Vladimir. We are too close to have some confrontation. It could risk our chance at revenge." The man with the dark hair spoke with an oddly placed smile on his thin pale lips. He, like the other man, were dressed in a modern gothic style. Old fashioned, but all the same they could blend in with modern society, maybe as some goth punks.

  For a moment Vesper shifted slightly as she believed the blond man had seen her, but he just turned to gaze in another direction. She let out a second sigh in one day relieving a puff of smoke from her lungs. It wasn't really like she needed to sigh or even breathe for that matter, it was just more of a way for her to feel more human again.

  "Perhaps they share the same destination as us. They're alone, I can smell them," he said with a small snarl rolling off of his tongue. It sent a shiver down Vesper's spine as she realized who they were. They were the Romanians. They would be on her side along with the Cullens and whoever else they have tagging along, yet she knew otherwise. Her past would immediately deem her as an enemy to them. "I can smell....a sweet smoke..." At that very moment Vesper pressed too much weight onto a twig next to her sounding a small snapping noise. Small to human ears, but crystal to even the ordinary vampire.

  With the snap of the branch both men looked in her direction and making a clear bolt for the noise. She became to frozen with fear, cold hands still clinging to the tree that gave her refuge. However, neither man even saw her hanging above them. They only looking at the level ground around the forest.

  "I can really smell it now," the man with dark hair spoke snarling and wiping his head around in every direction. Another twig snapped above them causing them both to look up. There was nothing, but the blond man caught sight of a blur trailed by smoke heading west. This caused the blond man to smirk.

  "So they are going to the same destination as us. How interesting...and the smoke, what a funny sight." The blond man spoke with his back straight and his hands behind his back. He turned to smile at his companion having it returned. They immediately started off again along their route unsure of whether or not they'd catch up to the mysterious figure of smoke.