- At Whitmore College, Elena and Caroline decide it's time to throw a big party, but their plans are interrupted when Jesse suddenly needs Caroline's help. At Elena's request, Damon comes up with an effective method to get Wes to answer his questions. At the party, Elena finds that she and Aaron have a lot in common, and Caroline grows more concerned about Jesse. Meanwhile, Katherine does a favor for Matt and manages to get through to Stefan, who is still struggling to overcome the events of the summer. Finally, Bonnie does her best to cope with her new reality, and Damon makes a terrifying discovery about a secret society.—Anonymous
- Dr. Wes Maxfield experimented on assistant Jesse, after turning him into a vampire, as scientist member of the ancient Augustine society. Jesse however proves strong enough to overpower Maxfield, runs to his dorm and calls Caroline and Elena, who arrive too late to prevent him biting roommate Aaron. Aaron turns out to be Wes's orphaned charge, whose life is saved with Jesse's blood. Damon postpones attending the girls' welcome party for Bonnie, torturing Wes with his own research germs, and is shocked to find the Augustines, who once tortured him, still exist, but ends up overpowered by vervain gas and locked up. Katherine discovers Matt's Chzech Traveler possession and summons daughter Nadia to cure him and get hold of the knife, the only way to kill travelers. Jeremy learns of Bonnie's price for resurrection, the pain of every dying supernatural. Stefan must learn to cope with his safe drowning trauma, also coached by fast-aging Kathrine, whose suicide attempt he prevents.—KGF Vissers
- Dr. Maxfield continues his experiment on Jesse, who has turned into a vampire over 14 days. Dr. Maxfield hooks a bag of blood into Jesse's arm and expects a positive response to the first bag of Augustine blood. Jesse is much stronger than he expects, however, and breaks free. Before Maxfield can initiate his emergency procedures, Jesse attacks him, vamping out times ten.
Bonnie joins Caroline and Elena in their dorm room, and through awkward Windows phone product placement, we learn that she's not a witch anymore after coming back as the supernatural anchor. Elena and Caroline plan Bonnie a blow-out "welcome back from the dead" party. Bonnie makes a lame excuse to go meet Jeremy and make-out.
Across the quad, Bonnie sees an old woman starting at her. Jeremy can't see her. When Bonnie leaves, the woman finds her and tells her she's ready. She touches Bonnie's arm and vanishes and Bonnie screams in pain.
Elena calls Damon to come to her party, but pauses to hand Aaron a flyer inviting him. She accidentally mentions something she compelled out of him before and has to do it again, but makes him agree to come to the party.
Elena suggests Damon invite Stefan to their party -- she bought bourbon.
Damon tries to talk to Stefan, but he's freaking out, reliving his repeated drowning. Damon can tell something is wrong, but Stefan won't say what.
At the Grille, Katherine trades Matt drinks for Czech translation of the video he took of himself. She explains he has a Traveler inside him. Katherine realizes Nadia was the girl who followed Matt back to the States.
Jesse calls Caroline in a panic, begging her to come to his place. His roommate is about to come home. Caroline rushes over. Jesse's roommate arrives: It's Aaron. Jesse apologizes to him then attacks him. Caroline arrives and pulls Jesse off. "Who the hell turned you into a vampire?" she asks.
Jesse explains Maxfield's torturous conversion. Jesse left him locked in the lab.
Elena arrives with blood bags. Caroline suggests Jesse be the one to heal Aaron. They start showing him the perks of being a vampire.
At the Grille, Katherine convinces Stefan to join her for a pity drink. He tells her about his summer of safe flashbacks, which she thinks is PTSD. She thinks she can help, after he life of traumas and running, but she has a favor to ask.
Nadia arrives, Katherine called her. She introduces Stefan to her daughter.
At their college party, Bonnie waits for Jeremy to show. Caroline is teaching Jesse to sublimate his vampire urges through grain alcohol. Elena sent Damon to question Wes Maxfield, but Caroline is pretty sure that means Damon is going to kill him. Caroline's Damon hatred is not subtle.
In Maxfield's lab, Damon pokes through his lab samples. He explains to Maxfield that he's going to inject him with a disease and he'll heal him with his vampire blood if Maxfield talks.
At the Grille, Katherine, Nadia and Matt meet up in the walk-in fridge. Nadia calls on the Traveler in Matt, Gregor. He explains he's in Mystic Falls to find and kill Silas. He's also interested in an antique knife that Katherine now has. And after Silas is dead, he's supposed to kill Katherine -- which is news to Nadia.
"Travelers are ruthless, manipulative, hypocrites. I know, because your grandfather was one," Katherine says. She stabs Matt in the side with the knife, expelling Gregor's spirit. The knife is the only way to kill a Traveler.
Back in the lab, Maxfield says his experiments were for the greater good. Damon questions what that could possibly be and injects him with rabies.
At the dorm party, Bonnie sees the old woman she helped over before. The woman was a witch, but is doing fine on the other side since Bonnie helped her transition over.
Jeremy finds Bonnie.
On the dance floor, Caroline cozies up to Jesse.
In the lab, Maxfield explains he was trying to create a new kind of vampire that doesn't feed on human blood.
Back on the dance floor, Caroline kisses Jesse. He bites down on her lip and fully vamps out. He hides it from her and rushes out.
Aaron arrives at the party and bonds with Elena over Jell-o shots and stories of how their parents died. He was out camping when he was six when he woke up to his mom screaming. They were covered in bite marks and everyone said it was a bear. He got passed around among relatives until he ended up with Maxfield.
Elena leaves to go call Damon and make sure he doesn't kill Maxfield.
Back at the Grille, Stefan has another safe flashback. Katherine finds him and tries to help him through it by making him name the people he has killed, to remind him that he's in control and on solid ground.
Nadia finds them, angry at Katherine for killing Gregor. She storms off.
Damon tells Elena about Jesse feeding on vampires, and she makes him promise not to kill Maxfield. In the lab, Damon slices his wrist to heal Maxfield of the various diseases he's injected him with, but Jesse storms in, wanting answers from Maxfield.
He sees Damon's bleeding wrist and attacks him. Damon isn't worried, since he's a much older vampire than Jesse, but he soon finds out the usual strength-age rules don't apply. Jesse tackles him out a door and into the hallway.
Jesse overpowers Damon and begins to feed on him when Elena finds them. With Jesse attached to his neck, Damon tells her Jesse's about to rip his head off. Elena grabs a shard of the broken door and stakes Jesse, killing him, just as Caroline runs up in time to see it.
Elena feels awful, but Damon tells Caroline she had no choice. "The Elena I used to know would have given Jesse a chance," Caroline says.
Stefan finds a note from Katherine to Nadia, apologizing for killing her boyfriend. Then Stefan realizes he's reading a suicide note.
Katherine works up her nerves on the top of the clock tower, then finally falls over the side. As the ground rushes up beneath her, at the very last second Stefan swoops in and catches her.
She tells him she's dying of advanced old age. "You're Katherine Pierce, suck it up," he says.
Katherine savors the turn of events, and the glimmer of hope that Stefan might care about her.
Finally alone, Bonnie struggles to light candles with a lighter. Jeremy joins her and she admits she misses magic. He helps her forget, by taking her to bed, but before they get very far, she sees Jesse standing in the room. She realizes Jesse is dead.
He touches her and Jeremy watches as Bonnie screams in pain. After Jesse is gone, she explains that as the anchor, she's going to feel the death of every supernatural being. She says it's worth it to be there with him.
Elena and Caroline clean up after their party. Caroline apologizes for what she said, but tells Elena again how dangerous she thinks Damon is.
Back in the lab, Damon cleans up as Maxfield secretly works his way free from his restraints. Damon plans to compel the whole thing out of Maxfield's head.
When he sees a bag of labeled blood in the fridge, the number jars his memory. Damon remembers his own number from trials 60 years ago. Maxfield realizes Damon was an Augustine vampire, too. Maxfield breaks free and Damon is unconcerned as he runs to the opposite side of the lab. But then Maxfield hits his "emergency procedures" button and atomized vervane fills the room, dropping Damon.
"I'm sure Augustine will be thrilled to have you back," Maxfield says.
Damon wakes up in a cell that is hauntingly familiar. His initials are scratched into the wall and memories of his time in captivity, being tortured, come rushing back.
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