I apologize for not writing sooner. I felt like I was crumbling… and that tends to hinder typing capabilities.

Chapter 9: Tricks

"She's clever, Niklaus." Kol glared into his phone. "And quite the actress. I couldn't detect a hint of a lie in her heartbeat when she spoke."

"Just get to the point, Kol. How much of a threat is she?" Klaus voiced crossly from the other end of the line.

He paused, not wanting to sound weak but still wanting to get his point across. "Don't underestimate her, Nik. She has more than a few tricks up her sleeve," Kol grinned at his own wit.

Connor cursed under his breath. "Kol and Elijah Mikaelson aren't our only concern right now. The third brother found out about his hybrids."

Blaze's skin crawled. Klaus.

"Now, from what you've told me, Elena and Stefan are devoted to keeping those they love safe. If we could get the blonde who's with Klaus when he makes it back into town, we could lure them into a trap."

"What about Elijah and Kol?" Blaze's thoughts flitted to the eldest brother, before forcing herself to shake the errant whims from her mind. He's a vampire. He's a vampire.

"If we're lucky, they'll want to get their sister back."

"But how are you going to hold that many vampires for that long?" It was the one question that constantly rang in the back of Blaze's mind.

Connor's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'll show you."

Blaze and Connor trekked through the darkened woods for several minutes when Blaze stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Connor's eyes creased with suspicion.

"Caroline and Klaus are here," Blaze whispered, an increasing sense of foreboding building beneath her skin.

"How do you even know where they're going?" Caroline's voice sounded low and unhappy.

"Don't worry, love. The hunter will lead us to our hybrids." Klaus offered a bright smile.

"Our hybrids? Oh please, don't flatter yourself." Caroline rolled her eyes. "Your hybrids. And my Tyler."

Klaus grabbed her arm and whipped her around suddenly to face him. "I felt the rush in your pulse, Caroline. I feel it now." He grabbed her chin, and Caroline stared vulnerably into the Original's eyes. "You're only fighting yourself, love." Then he breathed into Caroline's ear, causing shivers to creep down her spine. "But it's a losing battle. You will give in, sooner or later."

Caroline froze for a few seconds until finally she was able to shake her head and scoff, "Get over yourself, Klaus."

Klaus froze uncharacteristically, then cursed.

"What the hell, Klaus? Can't take the truth?" Caroline lifted her hands incredulously.

"Our cover's been blown, love," Klaus grimaced.

Caroline stiffened. "What, but how?"

"It appears our little hunter heard much of our ensuing conversation. I wouldn't doubt if she could hear us now."

"That's impossible," Caroline shook her head quickly. "Blaze is a human. I mean, she freaking wears vervain."

Klaus quickened his pace and snapped, "Kol said she had a few tricks up her sleeve. This is apparently one of them."

"Well what are we going to do?" Caroline stumbled irritably behind him.

"You should know by now, Caroline," Klaus paused and grinned at the vampire beside him, "I've got a few tricks of my own."

"And you're sure this is going to work?" Connor eyed Blaze dubiously.

"Absolutely," Blaze nodded. "Sheila Bennett gave a ton of them to my father before she died."

"Then let's get to it."

The two climbed stealthily into the trees in the midnight air and waited in perfect silence. Then they watched unmoving as Caroline and Klaus approached the clearing where the hunters had stood minutes before.

"So where'd they go?" Caroline folded her arms impatiently.

"They can't have gone far, love. Try to catch the traces of their scent in the air."

The vampires spread out several feet when Caroline whipped around at the loud rustle of branches behind her.

"Boo," Blaze whispered with an eerie grin and drove a strangely adorned stake into the young vamp's heart.

Klaus turned in seeming slow motion at Caroline's muffled intake of breath. "Noooooooooo," His roar reverberated through the entire wood as he rushed at Blaze.

Blaze could see the rage of yellow gleaming in his eyes when she lifted back the sleeve of her trench coat and torched him ruthlessly. "Hurry, Connor," She shouted desperately.

Connor hurled a vervain grenade at the Original's neck and pinned him to the ground on his stomach. Then Blaze began to stab carefully-placed syringes throughout scattered pressure points on the vamp's body.

"My grandmother showed me how to do this when I was fourteen." She pierced his skull in several places then worked her way carefully down to the spine. "There were no vampires in Mystic Falls at the time, but every so often a few would get too close for comfort. These paralytics have had vervain added to them for extra potency."

"How long do we have?" Connor glared at Klaus.

"Tie him with your extra vervain ropes. Then, I'd say, with how resilient he is compared to the others we have roughly… twenty minutes tops."

Connor tied up Klaus while Blaze took Caroline's body, wrapping her body and mouth in cords of her own. Then, grabbing the stake from Caroline's chest, she waited for nearly a minute for the color to return to return to Caroline's cheeks.

Caroline squealed in confusion and rage at Blaze's casual shrug. "Surprised?" She peered at the vampire passively and leaned in toward her ear, "I'll tell you a secret." Then Blaze backed away, flourishing the stake in the moonlight. "There's not a single splinter of wood in these stakes… They've just been spelled to mimic the effects of a real one."

Caroline thrashed around furiously, but it was no use. She simply had to endure the pain and disgrace of being picked up and carried through the woods by Connor and Blaze, bound in vervain ropes, going to who-knows-where…

Not very much, and I know you had to wait forever, but at least it's something! Next up… Connor's going to take Blaze (and Caroline) to the lair where he's keeping Rebekah, Damon, Tyler, and the other remaining Hybrids. And soon Blaze will have another run-in with either Kol or Elijah, possibly both. Thanks for Reading and Please Don't Hesitate to Review… Even if you're a troll and just need to go on a rampage. I'll understand… in time. ;) -Viola