Smoke & Mirrors

Chapter 2

 

  As deadly and as toxic it may be, smoke seems to redeem itself in appearance. It's rather settle like a dangerous fog, but more crisp like a black or gray cloud. And, of course, it's most pleasant feature; endless, almost solid, curves and bends. A settle sight to behold as you're consumed by the darkness. A subtle way to go...

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  Back to running, again, Vesper thought to herself as she made a clear, now nonstop bolt to the Cullen's home. She realized that it'd be best to avoid the Romanians at all cost, at least until she reached her destination. At least there she would have a fair chance.
  
  The Romanians weren't particularly fond of her, well it had more to do with who she was and who they are. Vesper knew that if either of the two men found out who she used to blur with it would quickly result in a quick dismemberment of her head and the setting of her body on fire, or possibly worse...

  Vesper focused on this thought to keep her going. She had to make it to the Cullen's before the two men with strong accents, yet she kept feeling the urge to stop. It wasn't as if any break was needed to rest, but the woods and nature appealed to her, that, and the men made her curious. Never in her long 104 years had she seen real Romanian vampires since most of them were killed. In fact all of them, except for the two she encountered, were inevitably dead. A well known fact to Vesper.

  The colors and shapes around Vesper were all blurred into one mass of greens, browns, and grays, with a few rare differences here and there. It was always like that when she ran. The only clear sight to her was directly in front of her. She could see several miles ahead of her in great detail. She could tell that she wasn't far from her intended destination. However, she knew the Romanians wouldn't be all too far behind her. After all, running wasn't her strong suit.

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 Several miles behind Vesper the two ancient vampires she had encountered earlier were also making their way to the Cullen's home. Their faces were hard and, for the most part, emotionless except for the small glances to each other. They had grown devilish smiles on their faces that got ever bigger when glancing at each other knowingly. Not only did they realize they were close, but they discovered someone who may serve as a new ally to their attempts to defeat the Volturi.

  Stefan was excited at the thought of finally having a chance at taking down the Volturi and at last restoring their powers. It was something both Romanians had dreamed about, if they could dream. Yet, despite the excitement of a gain and strength, Vladimir was still stuck on the smell he had earlier, just minutes ago.

  He caught the smell of smoke, which was bizarre enough on its own, but there was something else. The smell was also sweet, like chocolates or a some sort of baked sweets. It was odd to him that a Vampire would have a smell like that, unless...no. Vladimir shook the idea out of his head. Such things were impossible to him, let alone, just another distraction getting in the way of his goal.

  Vladimir looked up after regaining some sense of reality from zoning out to see his only coven mate much further ahead of him than before. He decided to let the thought go and focus on making it to the Cullen's as quickly as possible. He soon caught up to his friend, Stefan and traded him a less than usual unsure smile. Stefan could tell his friend was troubled by something and quickly noted it with concern. It was odd that Vlad would appear as unsure or troubled. That's when it hit them both at once while running.

  There was a new scent. One not smelled by either man for quite some time, but all the same, a familiar smell. It was normal to most humans, but to a vampire it was putrid and it meant trouble was bound to come to them. It smelled like wet dog. Both men stopped immediately at both the smell and for the fact that the vampire they smelled earlier was right in front of them.

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  Vesper had stopped as soon as the smell of wet dog hit her nose. She knew that it would mean a werewolf was nearby. She was reconsidering a new path to take to the Cullen's when she felt the brisk breeze and heard a whoosh. As she turned quickly she came face-to-face with the men she was watching earlier. Her eyes grew wide making eye contact with the man with the darker hair.

  "Hello, I am Stefan and this is Vla-," Stefan had begun to sat before the girl decided to bolt in fear. Both men rolled their eyes and looked at eachother

  "After you," Vladimir said with another devilish smile on his face. Both men gave chase to the girl, running as fast as their legs could take them.

  Vesper had a fair chance from her head start, but she knew it wouldn't take long before they began to gain on her smoke trail. It was a weakness that too often gave her away making it impossible for her to evade a clean escape or even hide.

  She quickly came to a clearing in the forest. It was giant stream with dark water crashing against the sharp black rocks embedded in the mud. She began to look around with sharp turns of her neck to see if she could find her pursuers now realizing they weren't behind her anymore. That's when she saw them both on the other side of the deep opening, but they were no longer chasing her.

  Instead, they were both running ahead of her and looking behind them ever so often as if now they were the ones trying to escape. That's when she knew that something was off. That something was very wrong. She ignored the issue and kept along the stream as a guide and to keep an eye on the Romanians.

  With every step she took she was constantly watching the man, her path, and the entire world around her on the lookout for wet dog. As stressful as it was she was so close she could literally smell the other bloodsuckers and even hear a heartbeat. A heartbeat? Vesper began to process a millions reason why so many vampires would be keeping a live human around. They weren't even scared; the beat had such a calm tempo. How...curious. She began to wonder if this why Carlisle told her to keep an "open mind".

  It wasn't like she wouldn't help Carlisle, after all, he was her closest ally, but she was in shock as to what he wanted. The message he had sent her was ominous and through his two vampire children; Rosalie and Emmet. It was so bizarre that Carlisle would send his kids instead of coming to tell you himself at least. However, a lot of things from today were bizzare to Vesper. Including the two weirdos from Romania.

  That's when she regained her composure and glanced at the men who were now giggling like two giddy school girls. She squinted her eyes at the odd sight and that's when it got weirder and she looked behind them to see a pack of four werewolfs behind them. They attracted the worst possible problem.

  "Oh for the love of God," she said making herself run faster to get there before the troublemakers.