Thursday's episode of 'The Vampire Diaries,' entitled "We'll always have Bourbon Street," forced Damon (Ian Somerhalder) to deal with the realization that Elena (Nina Dobrev) is sired to him and may be with him due to that strong connection. The episode also took Damon and younger brother Stefan (Paul Wesley) down memory lane in 1942 New Orleans.
Elena and Damon
The season's eighth episode kicks off with a steamy scene between Elena and Damon after they've spent their first night together. The newly formed couple seem blissfully in love and happy, except for the fact that they have to tell Stefan (his brother and her ex-boyfriend) that they are now together.
The twosome find out that Elena is sired to Damon separately-he from Stefan and she from Caroline-and must decide together what they're going to do about it. While Damon seems determined to let her free for her own good, Elena says the sire bond is not what is keeping her with him. She's encouraged when her hybrid friend Tyler (Michael Trevino) tells her that a sire bond can dictate actions but not feelings.
Ultimately, it seems like the two will remain together, at least for a while longer.
Damon and Stefan
Time and again the Salvatore brothers are forced to join forces for Elena's sake. After Damon takes up Stefan's challenge to find out if Elena is truly sired to him and finding out that Stefan is right, the two head down to New Orleans to dig out information on a possible cure. There, Damon meets up with Charlotte (Madeline Zima), a former flame who continues to be sired to him.
Unfortunately for Damon and Stefan, there is no real cure to the sire bond between two vampires but there is a way to set Elena "free." Before leaving New Orleans, Damon tells Charlotte that she must forget about him and move on, using his sire bond over her to let her continue her life without him. Damon also lets Stefan in on a secret sacrifice he was forced to do in 1942 to let Stefan surpass his "ripper" days while at war in Egypt.
Knowing that he must do the right thing by Elena, the two brothers head back to Mystic Falls so Damon can set her free of her sire bond to him as well. However, Damon comes home to find out that Elena has found out about the sire bond and does not want Damon to undo it.
Elena, Caroline and Bonnie
Elena and her girlfriends Caroline (Candace Accola) and Bonnie (Kat Graham) decide to have a girls' night. The night takes off badly as Caroline continues to badger Elena about how horrible Damon is but the girls soon decide to keep boys off limits. They then decide to get drunk off of Champagne and end up in Damon's bathroom. There Caroline and Elena get into an argument again about Damon and Elena spills that she's slept with him the night before.
Things begin to heat up between the three best friends, leading Caroline to inadvertently tell Elena that she's sired to Damon. However, Elena doesn't believe her and promptly kicks out her friends from the Salvatore house.
To her surprise, Elena opens the front door to find hybrid Kim (Alyssa Diaz) and hybrid Adrienne. A fight ensues between the five and before Elena and Bonnie realize it, Kim and Adrienne have kidnapped Caroline as bait to showdown Tyler. Elena enlists Tyler's help to find Caroline, who's being tortured by Kim.
Tyler and Elena find Kim and Caroline at the barn where he has been taking Original Hybrid Klaus' (Joseph Morgan) army of hybrids to break their sire bonds. A battle for alpha leadership ensues, resulting in Tyler taking control of his pack.
Caroline and Elena make up and Caroline promises to be less judgmental of Damon for Elena's sake.
'Vampire Diaries' S4E9, "O Come, All Ye Faithful," airs Thursday, December 13 at 8 p.m. EST on the CW.
WATCH THE PROMO FOR "O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL"