Hello, my lovely readers! Once again, I am so appreciative of all feedback I received. Thank you! So, we left off with Blaze tricking Stefan into thinking she'd been given vervain by Connor. But let's backtrack a bit first with some Matt POV…

Chapter 5: Renewed Allegience

Matt was pissed. He'd really liked Blaze, and she was just using him the whole time. Man… His insides churned as he reentered the Grill. Elena and Caroline had just stood up to leave when they spotted his incensed expression.

"Matt, what's wrong?" Elena frowned.

Matt paused in indecision, wanted to tell them what had just happened. But then he'd promised to keep Blaze's secret. After all, when Rebekah revived she'd probably tell Damon and Stefan anyway… well, Stefan, at least.

"It's nothing. I'm just a little stressed out," he finally sighed.

Elena placed her hand gently on his arm. "We all are."

Caroline's eyes brightened. "We're headed over to Stefan and Damon's to discuss the 'Connor problem'. You should come with us."

"Yeah, Matt, just come with us," Elena beamed hopefully.

"House full of vampires… I don't know, guys." Matt had had enough of the undead for the day. "I think I'm just gonna go home. Clear my head."

"All right, see ya, Matt." They waved and departed in the opposite direction.

Damon walked into the parlor where Blaze sat quietly next to Stefan.

"Hey, you're that cute guy from the Grill," she looked up, brimming with faux intrigue.

Uncertainty flashed across Damon's face for a moment, but he masked it smoothly with his usual charming demeanor. "Blaze, right?"

"You remember!" she gushed. Hopefully Damon would fall for the ditzy routine.

"Yeah… Stefan. Kitchen. Now."

Blaze adjusted her pseudo hearing-aid to listen in on the brothers' little chat.

"What's she doing here, Stefan?"

"What was I supposed to do, Damon? Leave her crying alone in the woods?"

"Uh, YEAH. Every killable vampire in town's about to meet us here so we can discuss how to take down the Energizer Bunny of Vampire Hunters."

"Be careful, Damon. Connor seems to have some kind of vested interest in Blaze."

"What? Her? You've got to be kidding me."

"He gave her a lotion mixed with vervain this morning. It practically set my hand on fire."

Damon cursed under his breath. "All right then, Stefan. Get rid of her the old fashioned way."

Blaze stared blankly around the room when Stefan returned.

"We've got to get going, Blaze. Damon's got some friends coming over…"

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'm so sorry for imposing on your hospitality." Blaze's face was plastered with concern.

"Yeah, support group," Damon rolled his eyes. "It's my turn to host."

"Oh," Blaze beamed at him innocently. "Well, I hope we run into each other again sometime… Damon." She grinned shyly. Gosh, she hated him. Hopefully the next time she ran into Damon Salvatore she'd be able to stake him.

Blaze waved at Stefan with a smile as he drove away. Then, turning to the house, she tallied the vampires in her head. Tyler Lockwood, Elena Gilbert, Caroline Forbes, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, and Rebekah, the mysterious Original. She needed to find out more about the Originals, and more about Tyler, before she could capture him.

But did she even want to? Connor was an absolute jerk to her, and it made Blaze want to retaliate somehow.

She ran inside the house briefly to grab more rope. She'd have to get more soon if all these unkillable vampires kept popping up. Then Blaze set off toward the town, unsure of what to do next. She'd wanted revenge on the vampires, but they kept being so nice. It confused her.

Her mind was on high alert as she walked along the city square, but it comforted her to know that all the 'killable' vampires, according to Damon, were currently at the boarding house.

Still, she couldn't shake from her current state of hypervigilance. It was as if she could smell the danger in the air, and she scanned every inch in sight as she passed. She could see everyone, hear everything… well, the hearing amplifiers helped with that.

But there were no vampires. Woman in a red dress walking her dog. Couple across the street drinking coffee. Man in a black suit reading the paper. Man in jeans holding a gun… Blaze's heart stopped. The guy holding a gun was fast approaching the man reading the paper. She had to stop him.

The would-be thief was a mere yard away from the oblivious but handsome man when Blaze broke into a sprint. He panicked and turned to run, but Blaze could have outrun him on her worst day. She flew past the man reading his paper, who looked up in amused surprise, and tackled the thief with ease.

"What the hell is going on here, Miss Harris?" Liz Forbes had just rounded a corner and pulled out her gun hastily.

Blaze pinned the man's arms behind his back and heaved a sigh, peering up at the Sheriff. "He had a gun out, and was walking up to that man with a newspaper." She pointed behind without looking back.

"Bailey, what are you talking about?" Liz creased her eyebrows. "There's no one there."

"What?" Blaze whipped around, and sure enough, the man was gone. Shoot. He wasn't a man at all. Another vampire. But if all the 'killable' vampires were at the Salvatore's, then that meant… more Originals. She had to think fast.

"Sheriff, I swear I saw someone. I was just trying to help…" she trailed off in mock disbelief. Liz's deputy came up and began to cuff the suspect.

"Bailey, listen to me," Liz rested a hand on Blaze's shoulder. "I appreciate what you tried to do, but you've always been a little… too helpful. Just let us do our job, okay?"

Blaze felt utterly embarrassed. That vampire had made her look like a fool. She was fuming, and all her previous doubts suddenly vanished. She was going to find Tyler, and she was going to kill him.

Yikes! Who was the vampire? And remember, next chapter a vampire's going to have a run in with a stake. o.O Please Review!