Damian Sullivan

Damon Salvatore is one of the two main male protagonists of The Vampire Diaries. Damon is a 378-year-old vampire and distant descendant of Osiris.He was a major antagonist in the first part of Season One. He was born during the 1600s and lived in the colonial town of Liberty Falls with his brother Jason, his father, Giuseppe Sullivan, and also with his mother Lillian Sullivan until her death in 1658. He became a vampire in 1664. At the time of his return to Liberty Falls, Damon and Stefan hadn't seen each other in fifteen years due to their bitter and violent relationship.

In the 1950s, Damon was captured and tortured by the Augustine society, led by the Whitmore family, who experimented on vampires for a "bigger purpose". During his five years of captivity, he meets another prisoner, Enzo, with whom he became best friends with. Eventually, the plan the two made failed at a critical moment and thinking Enzo "died" because of him, Damon turned off his humanity to suppress the guilt and sadness. He sought revenge, an act of hunting down every member over generations that left one alive to carry on the family name until he finally killed the last descendant in the Whitmore family, which ended with Aaron Whitmore's death.

Damon's sole purpose in coming back to Mystic Falls was to free his sire Katherine Pierce from a tomb she was never in. Damon deeply loved her after 345 years. After realizing that Katherine never loved him, his love for her fades as his friendship and love for Ellie, Katherine's descendant and doppelgänger, grows. Due to her impact on him and the strengthening relationship with his brother, they begin working together to protect Ellie, along with her friends and family. He lives with his brother Stefan, girlfriend Ellie (when she wasn't away at college), and her brother Matt Grayson (after Elena burned their house down) in the Salvatore Boarding House.

In the Season Three, Damon filled the role as a deuteragonist in the first half of the season due to Stefan falling prey to Klaus.

Throughout the series, his bond with Elena continuously grows and they eventually fall in love with each other. Shortly after her death and subsequent transition into a vampire, Elena's feelings for Damon are heightened which makes her admit her love for him and they start a romantic relationship in Season Four. The relationship is complicated when they realize that, due to the fact that it was Damon's blood that turned Elena, she is sire-bonded to him, so nobody is sure whether Elena's feelings for Damon are real or because of the sire bond, but most of the people they know insist that, once the sire bond is broken, Elena will return to Stefan. When Jeremy dies, Elena turns off her emotions; after she turns them back on, the sire bond is broken and Elena reveals that her feeling for Damon were real and she's still in love with him.

In Season Five, he discovers Enzo's undead status and they become friends once again however once "Elena" breaks up with him, he puts an end to his diabolical plan against the Whitmore Family and is then injected with a dangerous compound by Wes Maxfield, causing him to become an Augustine Vampire and the only one in existence. This injection would cause him to crave vampire blood and he would not be able to stop feeding until he had killed. He was later cured, thanks to Enzo, Stefan, and Caroline's actions. Due to the Other Side collapsing, Damon gave up his life to save his loved ones and this particularly caused Elena, Stefan, and Alaric much grief.

In Season Six, Damon and Bonnie are trapped in a 1994 Prison World, which Damon initially believes is his own personal hell, as they are continually reliving a day from his history that Damon believes is the worst thing he ever did. Bonnie is convinced her grandmother sent them there and there is a way out. They work together to find a way back to Mystic Falls. They also form an alliance to take down Kai. During this time, he is able to form a healthy friendship with Bonnie, and they are able to move on from their past and become friends. When Bonnie has a chance to send him home, leaving herself alone with Kai, she does so. Damon initially believes Bonnie was killed in the process, but when he realized she's still alive, he becomes determined to find a way to bring her back. After returning home, he learns that Elena has had Alaric compel away all her memories of their relationship and he attempts to win her back. Damon soon learns of Liz's sickness and soon after, she passes away in the hospital in front of him, leaving him devastated. He is soon reunited with Bonnie who made it out of the prison world and shows him a video of a mysterious lady, who turns out to be Damon's mother. Bonnie had managed to escape the 1994 Prison World by going to Nova Scotia and regaining her magic through Qetsiyah's calcified blood in Silas' tombstone. She also picked up the Cure for vampirism and gave it to him, who in turned gave it to Elena. He expressed the desire to take the Cure with her too and become human. At the end of the season Kai placed Elena into a sleeping curse and tied the spell to Bonnie's life, which was supposed to keep the now human Elena in a mystical coma until Bonnie dies; until then Elena would remain asleep. Damon was devastated by this and said a difficult goodbye to Elena as they locked her in a coffin while his best friend, Bonnie, lived out her remaining days.

As of Season Eight's I Was Feeling Epic, Bonnie managed to break the spell, allowing Elena to wake up, while not killing herself in the process due to the spell, and Damon being able to reunite with her. In the final flash forward, the newly human Damon married Elena Gilbert and they lived a long and happy life together before passing away and finding peace.

His best friends are Elena Gilbert, Alaric Saltzman and Bonnie Bennett. He was close friends with Elizabeth Forbes until her death. His friendship with his sister-in-law, Caroline Forbes, has improved during the last season and they now consider themselves as close friends. Damon was also best friends with Enzo from the time he first met him, until the latter was killed by Stefan, despite the two occasionally being at odds.

Damon is a member of the Salvatore Family and was a member of the Town Council.

Early History
Damon Salvatore was born June 18, 1839, to Giuseppe Salvatore and Lillian Salvatore in what would eventually become the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. He is the oldest and first born child of Giuseppe and Lillian. During his human years, Damon was seen and described to be rebellious, carefree, emotional, independent, troubled, insecure, misunderstood, principled, impulsive, competitive, and irresponsible and seemed to lack a general sense of direction. People of the town of Mystic Falls even described Damon to be irresponsible and cowardly, including his own father Giuseppe. The reason for this is because Damon rebelled against the town's and his own father's wish, by leaving the Confederacy on his own terms during the time of the Civil War. Later on it was revealed that Damon hated everything the Confederacy believed in and left after an inspiring conversation with Oscar, one of the Heretics that his mother sent to look after her sons. In his human years, when it came to love, Damon was always seen to be the chaser and the pursuer, the opposite of Stefan, who appeared to be harder to get and challenging with women, especially in regards to Katherine. Damon during his human years, also displayed womanizing tendencies with the opposite sex. Damon and his father, Giuseppe, never got along or had a good, close relationship and Giuseppe frequently expressed extreme disappointment and resentment in the elder Salvatore. Despite his very strained relationship with Giuseppe during his human life, Damon was very close to his younger brother Stefan and they shared a very close relationship and bond. Damon described Stefan as his best friend or companion and the person who trusted the most. However, the brothers eventually became strained after Katherine Pierce came into their lives and both brothers started to compete fiercely for Katherine's affections, with both of the brothers not being aware of Katherine playing them against one another. He was turned into a vampire in 1864, when he was 25 years old, after he drank Katherine Pierce's blood willingly and was shot by his father, Giuseppe, after attempting to save Katherine from being buried in the tomb.
 * -|Human Life=

When he was 12 years old, his father was very abusive towards him, burning him with a cigarette at a thanksgiving dinner. In his father eyes it was a lesson for his elder son, as he thought that Damon had stole his money. Damon, over a 150 years later, learned that it was his mother who stole Giuseppe's money in order to run from her abusive husband, and that she planned on taking Stefan and Damon with her, but the plan failed, as Giuseppe found out about it.
 * -|1850s=

At the age of 17, in late May 1858, his mother died of consumption (he later learns in 2013 this was not the case). Damon had promised Stefan that he would write his mother's eulogy and say it at his mother's funeral. Just before the funeral, Damon comes to Stefan and helps him get dressed. Stefan says that father told him not to cry. Damon replies with that he is a child and that if he feels the need to cry that he is allowed. Saying all of this, Damon doesn't even go to the funeral. Instead he got wasted, returned to his younger brother who was angry with him for not showing up.

As a young man, Damon joined the Confederate Army on his father's order, to defend the South during the American Civil War. However, Damon secretly hated everything the South stood for, and had been planning to desert for sometime before his squad joined the army at Gettysburg. The only thing stopping Damon was fear of Giuseppe's disapproval. Eventually, he met a man named Oscar who convinced him to follow his own beliefs rather than his father's. That night, Damon deserted while his squad was decimated during the following battle.
 * -|1863=


 * -|1864=

Damon was born to Giuseppe Salvatore and Lillian Salvatore on June 18, 1839 in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. His younger brother Stefan Salvatore is eight years younger than him, and the two were very close when they were human. He joined the Confederate Army at some point, coming back when he was on leave to spend time at the Salvatore Estate.

However, Damon secretly hated everything



It is uncertain how or when Damon found out that Katherine was a vampire, but unlike Stefan, he did not fear or reject her, and willingly drank her blood. She once demonstrated to him one of her tricks for securing victims, which was lying in the middle of a road to stop any travelers that may come to pass. Though he showed an initial hesitance, Damon even kissed her while a victim's blood still stained her lips.



Damon wanted to give up his human life and spend an eternity with Katherine, and he begged Stefan to keep the secret from their father, who was a member of the Town Council and a vampire-hater. When Stefan inadvertently revealed that Katherine was a vampire, she was taken away by the townspeople. Their father was furious and scolded Damon for trying to conceal her secret and protect her. Damon was furious with Stefan, but Stefan agreed to work with him to rescue her. In the midst of their daring plan, they were both shot and killed by Giuseppe, who was ashamed of his sons for sympathizing with and loving a vampire. They both died with Katherine's blood in their systems, but Damon awakened first and witnessed the burning of Fell's Church, where the townspeople had imprisoned the vampires, including Katherine.



When Stefan awoke the next morning, Damon told him that Katherine's death meant his reason for living was gone, and he wouldn't complete his transition into a vampire. Later that day, when Stefan returned after being unable to resist feeding on his own father, and inadvertently completing the transition, he forced Damon to drink from a young woman's neck, causing Damon to also complete his transition. He promised Stefan an eternity of misery, not for making him turn but for the fact that Katherine had turned Stefan as well, instead of just Damon. At some point Damon received a daylight ring from Emily Bennett. She told Damon that she had spared the vampires in the church, which Damon kept secret from Stefan until 145 years later, when he would be able to free Katherine from the church.

Damon saw Stefan in 1912 for the first time in 48 years since they transitioned; both had returned to Mystic Falls for their nephew's funeral. After an initial hesitance, Damon agreed to have a drink with Stefan and catch up. When he was feeding on a human alone, the vampire Sage found him and commented on his lack of enjoyment for the feed. Damon seemed content to feed just enough to survive, but Sage encouraged him to enjoy it, to take pleasure in being a vampire. Once he was persuaded, he tried to get Stefan to enjoy the feed, and talked him into feeding on human blood again. Stefan fed so hard on his victim that he tore her head off, shocking both brothers. Furious with Damon for making him drink human blood, he ran off and Damon did not pursue him.
 * -|1912=

Damon was living in New Orleans with a vampire he had turned named Charlotte. Damon soon noticed a pattern of strange behavior from the woman, in that every order he gave her, even seemingly innocuous ones, she followed with frightening enthusiasm. He sought guidance from the witch Valerie LaMarche to break the Sire Bond between him and Charlotte, and the witch told him she needed a human sacrifice of 12 people to do the spell. Damon killed the 12 people, but could not find Val to perform the spell he needed. He ended up ordering Charlotte to count every brick on every building in New Orleans and meet him at the corner of Bourbon and Dumaine. He left New Orleans soon after...
 * -|1942=

Stefan and Lexi found Damon while he was in New Orleans. At Lexi's insistence, Stefan sought to make peace with his brother before shipping out to the North African front of the war. After an initial hesitance, Damon seemed happy to reunite with his brother after thirty years apart, and the two spent the evening talking. Damon even suggested he might join Stefan and leave for war with him, but Lexi made it clear she did not approve of the idea. Her concerns seemed warranted especially after Charlotte brought a bleeding victim to the bar where they were talking and Stefan started to lose it at the sight and smell of human blood. Later, Damon was all ready to ship out with Stefan when Lexi talked him out of it, citing his profligate lifestyle and how Damon's behavior would not be good for Stefan's rehabilitation. Realizing she might be right, Damon decided not to go, and he left the train station without explaining to Stefan.

In 1953, Joseph Salvatore lured Damon to Mystic Falls in order to hand him over to Dr. Whitmore. After Joseph injected Damon with vervain, Damon killed him, but Dr. Whitmore entered the room shortly after and injected Damon with another dose of vervain. When he woke up he was strapped to a table and Dr. Whitmore cut one of his eyes out, in order to experiment and study vampire healing abilities. Damon was brought to a cell and in the cell next to him was another vampire named Enzo. The two vampires bonded and it was Enzo's friendship that allowed Damon to hold on to his humanity. Dr. Whitmore continued to torture and perform experiments on him and he called him 21051.
 * -|1953-1958=

Every year Whitmore would show the rest of Augustine Damon and Enzo and demonstrate his research on the annual New Years Party. Enzo then came up with a plan for one of them two would drink the others blood ration in order to build up his strength until the coming New Year's Eve. Damon was the lucky one and when the next New Year's Eve Party came he broke free from his chains and he slaughtered every member of Augustine while the building set ablaze. Enzo was still trapped in his cage and Damon tried to free him, but the cage bars were soaked with vervain and couldn't get him out. Damon knew that if he was going to save himself he had to stop caring about Enzo so he turned his humanity switch of. Now not caring he left Enzo to burn alive. After finally being free from five years of torture, Damon kept the promise he made to Enzo to kill every member in the Whitmore family, but one and let that person have a family and kill them to but one and to the same thing again and again. Damon did exactly that and among the ones he killed was Aaron Whitmore's parents and Aaron was among the ones that he kept alive.

It had been two years since Damon escaped the Augustine cell, and he still had his humanity switched off. On November 8, 1960, during Election night, a lady asked Damon for an interview. She asked him questions related to the terrible fire at Whitmore House and then tried to attack him with a vervain injection, but Damon easily stopped her. When he found out that she was an Augustine member he ripped her head off. Decades later Damon finds out that the girl he killed was actually Enzo's one true love, Maggie James.
 * -|1960=

Damon lived in New York City during the 70's, where he maintained a wild life full of parties and feeding off of people. At the time, he still had his humanity switch off and he killed locals of New York; a soon to be fed upon victim asked if he was the Son of Sam, to which Damon replied, "Son of Giuseppe, but close enough". Damon was friends with Will, another vampire, who ran a bar and let Damon feed on the people there, while in exchange, Damon stole his victim's ID's for him.
 * -|1977=



Lexi had eventually found Damon and told him that she and Stefan had heard all about Damon's current life and that Stefan was worried for him. Lexi tried to help Damon get his humanity back, but Damon rejected her offer. However, Lexi was stubborn and she stuck with Damon for the following six months. She had gotten Damon to talk about Katherine Pierce, thinking that if he talks about her, his switch will flip on. Damon tricks Lexi into thinking that his humanity was back and the two have a night full of wild sex.



The next morning, Lexi woke up on a roof because the sunlight was burning her skin. She tried to escape by opening the door to get into Billy's, but it was locked. Then she found out the truth: Damon had tricked her. Damon told her that it was his way of getting back at her for annoying him for the past six months. He ditched Lexi on the roof thereafter, leaving her trapped until nightfall. It was revealed in The Cell, that Damon turned off his humanity in the 1950s because he couldn't deal with the pain of leaving Enzo behind while escaping from the Augustine Society.


 * -|1994=

In April 1994 (after Kurt Cobain died), Damon with his humanity still off, shows up on Stefan's doorstep, wanting to make amends. Zach Salvatore, the owner of the house and their nephew, allows Damon in on Stefan's promise that he'll keep him in line. Zach has been living with Gail who is pregnant with his child. Stefan warns Damon to stay away from them claiming that both of them are on vervain.



One day, at a party, Damon flirts with a young Liz Forbes. Stefan takes a picture of Zach and Gail and notices bite marks on Gail's wrist. He then confronts Damon about feeding on Gail and after Damon compels Liz to forget ever meeting him, Damon breezily confesses that he swapped out Zach and Gail's vervained coffee for a little in-house feeding. An angry Stefan reminds Damon that these people trust them and then snaps his neck.



Damon wakes up in the shed without his daylight ring. Stefan wants to know what Damon's really doing there, and Damon says he wanted to feel a connection to his humanity again. He tries to convince Stefan to go on a road trip with him. Instead, Stefan reminds Damon of all the times he's ruined his life and how he can't seem to help doing it. Damon gets it that its a no for a road trip then.



On May 10, 1994, Stefan and Zach hear screams and rush to the library to find bodies everywhere and Damon covered in blood, holding Gail hostage. He demands his daylight ring back from Stefan, who returns it, realizing he'll never be rid of Damon. Damon gives his own version of their past. Damon says, "In 1912, I showed you who you were, Stefan. In 1942 I gave you your freedom and in 1977 I almost killed your best friend because it should have been you there to help me. You owe me. It'll take you an eternity to pay me back.". Then he kills Gail by attacking her and leaves.

Damon turns a woman named Isobel into a vampire after she asked to be turned by him. He will later meet and fall in love with her daughter Elena Gilbert who will also be turned into a vampire by his blood but not on purpose.
 * -|2007=

Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series

 * -|Season 1=


 * -|Season 2=


 * -|Season 3=

{{Scroll-1| In Growing Pains, Damon is with Elena and Stefan in Elena's room, explaining to her that she died with vampire blood in her system and that she is in transition. He speaks bluntly and tells Elena that she has two options: to feed and become a vampire or die. He visits Rebekah and tries to stab her with the white oak stake. Rebekah unhands him easily but someone else shoots her in the back with an arrow, and Damon escapes. Damon, Matt, Dr. Fell and Liz meet at the Gilbert house and try to sort out where Caroline, Elena and Stefan could be. Matt realizes they could be locked up at Pastor Young's ranch, so he and Damon leave to check it out.
 * -|Season 4=

Damon and Matt arrive at the ranch, and instead of going on the offensive, Damon lures the pastor out by viciously biting Matt. After being shot, Damon plays possum, kills the officers that approach him, then turns his attention back to Matt, threatening to kill him.

When Damon is apparently about to kill Matt, Elena attacks Damon to stop him, revealing that she has completed her transition and is now a vampire. She tells him she remembers everything he compelled her to forget, including the fact that she met him first, though she alludes to the fact that it wouldn't change anything. She asks Damon what he would have done if he had been in Stefan's position and he answers with the truth: he would have let Matt die to save her. He asserts his own selfishness, saying that he would have been selfish enough to let her friend die so that Elena could have the life she wanted: a human one. After he reminds Elena of another compelled memory she got back, she doesn't respond and Damon leaves.

In Memorial, Stefan wants Elena to get used to animal blood right from the start and Damon disagrees with this approach. They argue about it until Elena arrives, and Damon tells Elena that, now that she's a vampire, she should be a vampire and feed on human blood. After the news comes out about the explosion at the Young farm that killed the town council, both the sheriff and Elena ask Damon if he did it, but he denies it. Elena also confesses that she has been having trouble keeping blood down, and asks Damon for help. After she refuses to drink from a human, Damon offers his own blood, but asks Elena not to tell Stefan about it.

Later, Damon gets a call from a frantic Elena, asking him to bring her a change of clothes. When he shows up at the church, he finds Connor sitting just outside the bathroom where Elena is. Damon manages to hand Elena a bag of her things without Connor seeing the bloody mess she's made, and waits until Elena is ready to go, making tense small talk with Connor. Outside, Damon tries to get Elena to drink from a blood bag, but once again she can't keep it down. Elena starts to get hysterical but Damon calms her down and she goes back inside the church. Stefan meets Damon outside and they argue again about what is best for Elena. Damon reveals that she hasn't been able to keep blood down for days, and casually mentions that Elena drank from him earlier.

Later, after Connor opens fire on Tyler in the church, Damon goes after him and catches up with him in the parking lot. He rips the door off Connor's truck and pulls him out, but Connor fires at Damon with wooden bullets and is about to stake him when he hears Stefan coming. Choosing flight over fight, Connor makes away in his truck. Rather than pursue Connor, Stefan stays behind with Damon and starts to help him up, but then sucker-punches him instead. Damon is indignant at first, but Stefan tacitly indicates it was payback for letting Elena feed from him.

That evening, Stefan gathers everyone together for a Japanese lantern ceremony. Damon doesn't think they should put the brakes on finding the hunter, but Stefan insists they take the time to grieve. The group takes turns releasing a lantern into the sky after memorializing lost loved ones, but Damon refuses to participate and leaves. Instead, he grieves in his own way at Alaric's grave alone, "talking" to Alaric about everything that's going on and, in a roundabout way, how much he misses his friend. Unbeknownst to Damon, Alaric’s ghost sits beside him the whole time, listening.

In The Rager, Damon and Stefan banter about being in a fight because Damon blood-shared with Elena, and Damon reveals his intention to take down the hunter and then leave town. He takes it upon himself to snoop around Connor's trailer, but quickly gets caught in one of the hunter's booby traps: if he moves so much as an inch, the trap would detonate strategically placed bombs. He calls Meredith, who arrives and helps cut the arrow out of Damon's back. While she works, Damon ignores a phone call from Elena, and Meredith comments that Damon is a good brother. He objects, but she points out the good in taking on the dangerous, necessary jobs so that Stefan can mentor Elena.

When Damon returns to the boarding house, Elena is in his room ostensibly looking for bourbon, but he quickly calls her bluff and says he knows she is looking for the white oak stake. He starts undressing in front of her, and when she doesn't leave asks her suggestively if she'd like to stay for the show. Elena snaps out of it and leaves, announcing her determination to find the stake.

After Jeremy has lured Connor to the hospital, Damon, having recruited Jeremy and Klaus in his plan to take down the hunter, traps Connor with a setup identical to the one that trapped Damon earlier. Even though he has an arrow in each arm, Connor still reaches for his gun. Just as he's about to pick it up, Klaus appears and kicks it out of the way. Damon and Klaus tag team their captive with an interrogation, but Connor remains tight-lipped. After Damon mentions Connor's invisible tattoo, Klaus seems intrigued. Connor tries to stake Klaus, but is easily disarmed. Damon observes while Klaus mentions something about Connor being one of the Five, but doesn't have time to find out what he means before Connor detonates the bomb and Damon is blasted into the hallway.

In the fallout of the explosion, Meredith chastises Damon for using the hospital in his dangerous plan and advises him to mend his relationships with Stefan and Elena. Later, when Elena is losing control while feeding on Matt, Damon vamp-runs into the house and pulls her off of him. Damon compels Matt to forget that Elena almost killed him and to go home, then turns to a distraught Elena and promises to help her learn how to be a vampire.

In The Five, Damon and Stefan search for more clues about the mysterious Five and the hunter, Connor, who is missing. Damon leaves Stefan to search for answers while he takes Elena to Whitmore College to learn how to feed. Under the guise of accompanying Bonnie on a visit to see the professor that took over for her grandmother, Damon hopes to teach Elena how to do the "snatch, eat, erase" method of feeding. She fails to bite her first victim after seeing a picture of the woman’s little sister on her phone; she loses her nerve and sends the woman away. Damon is annoyed, wondering aloud why Elena cares about a stranger. She reminds him that she's still herself and has the same feelings as when she was human. Bonnie arrives with a flyer about a frat party that night, and Damon is delighted at the chance to find Elena some victims she won't feel so sympathetic about.

That night they arrive at the ‘Murder House’. Decked out in costumes like the other party-goers, Damon and Elena have no trouble blending in and feeding at their leisure. Elena's first victim is a guy who had just slipped a roofie into a girl's drink. She lures him away from the action into an empty room and feeds on him. Damon coaches her, warning her not to kill him. She finishes and compels the guy to leave and forget what happened. Excited about her first successful snatch-eat-erase, Elena hugs Damon and tells him she wants more. They return to the dance floor, dancing and feeding on people, and then dance together, blood dripping from their mouths. Elena sees Bonnie return, snaps out of her blood high and runs outside, mortified.

Damon joins Elena and Bonnie outside. Bonnie accuses him of wanting Elena to be like him, and he argues that she already is and needs to learn to revel in the feed; not hating herself and enjoying it will be the only way she, like him, can make feeding fun and not get carried away. Damon walks away, leaving Elena crying about what had happened. He accompanies her home and she apologizes for letting things get out of hand at the party, confessing that she hates that, deep down, she agrees with Damon's point of view. She starts to say she doesn't want to be that way, and Damon finishes her sentence to say she doesn't want to be like him. When Stefan opens the door, Damon leaves.

In The Killer, Damon arrives at the Gilbert house to see Elena and ask about Stefan, who hasn't answered Damon's calls. Damon surmises that Stefan is dodging him after finding out about Elena dancing and feeding with Damon at the frat party, but Elena reveals she didn't tell Stefan about it. Damon teases her about being in a shame spiral, but they both get worried when Stefan doesn't even answer a call from Elena's phone. When Stefan finally shows up at the Lockwood mansion, Damon and the others already have a plan in motion to rescue Jeremy, Matt and April from Connor: Caroline and Tyler got the sheriff and the hybrids involved, and Damon asks Caroline to get Bonnie to help out as well. Stefan clashes with Damon about how to go forward with the rescue mission.

Later, up in Alaric's loft, Damon finds Alaric's map of the town's tunnels, one of which leads to the Grill. After a brief phone call with Stefan, Elena proposes to offer to trade herself for the hostages, since Connor does not yet know she's a vampire. Damon shoots down this idea, suggesting she wouldn't be able to handle a fight against a professional hunter. A mock fight ensues that ends with Elena straddling Damon on the bed, the crossbow pointed at his heart. She tells Damon that Jeremy is the only thing holding her together, and he promises that they will get him out. When Stefan rejoins them at the loft, Damon wonders aloud why Stefan has involved Klaus in his plan. When Damon suggests he's going to go rogue, Stefan stabs him with a vervain dart.

When Damon wakes up, he discovers Stefan stole his daylight ring. Elena decides that she's going to the Grill, and Damon tells her to get as close as she can before killing Connor. Later in the tunnels, Damon runs into Stefan, who has Connor. Damon immediately wants to kill the hunter, so Stefan tells Connor to run as fast as he can. Stefan tries to restrain Damon, but Damon eventually thrusts his hand into Stefan's chest and grabs his heart, threatening him until he confesses what he's been up to with Klaus. Stefan finally reveals that there's a cure to vampirism and Connor's tattoo is the key to finding it. Damon releases Stefan, shocked.

Later, Elena is crying while she digs a grave for Connor in the woods. Damon and Stefan try to soothe her, but she wants none of it. Back at the boarding house, the brothers agree not to tell Elena that she killed her chance at becoming human again. Stefan mentions a plan to go forward with finding a new hunter, and Damon says he will help, but he wants to know one thing: Does Stefan want to cure Elena because she's not cut out to be a vampire, or because he can't love her if she one? Stefan says he'll always love her, but she's not supposed to be a vampire. Damon makes it clear that he's fine with her either way, so if he helps find the cure, he's doing it for Stefan.

In We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes, Damon arrives at the Gilbert house after Elena called him, though he wonders why she asked him to come and not Stefan. Elena admits she doesn't trust Stefan at the moment, and Damon in turn admits that he called Stefan as the younger Salvatore walks in the front door. After Elena finishes showering, she has another hallucination, and this time she imagines that Damon is Connor. She bolts out of the house, where Klaus grabs her and speeds off. Bonnie meets up with Damon and Stefan and they ask for her help in breaking the curse Elena is under. She says the spirits won't let her do that kind of magic to break the curse, but she suggests that Shane might be able to help.

Later, Damon waits to meet Bonnie and Shane in Alaric's old classroom, where, alone for a moment, he reminisces about his friend. Bonnie and Shane arrive and Damon shows the professor the drawing of the hunter's mark and asks if he knows anything about the Hunter's Curse. Shane explains that if a hunter is killed by that which he hunts, the killer will walk the world in torment until a new hunter is awakened and the legacy is passed on. Damon realizes this means Jeremy has to get involved, and he and Bonnie explain to Jeremy he needs to kill a vampire to break the curse. Stefan calls Damon to ask him to find Elena, who has escaped.

Later, he finds her on Wickery Bridge, and somehow she sees that he's really there. Jeremy and Stefan kill the hybrid Chris in time, ending Elena's hallucinations. Damon is relieved, but soon realizes their new problem is that Elena ditched her daylight ring, and the sun is beginning to rise. She panics as her skin starts to blister, and Damon grabs her and jumps off the bridge into the water.

Later, Elena wakes up in her bed at home with the daylight ring back on her finger, and Damon explains that he fished it out of the river. She takes his hand and thanks him for saving her life. The moment starts to feel more intimate, so, realizing the awkward position he is in, he pulls back and tells her about the cure, the reason behind Stefan's secrecy lately.

Back at the Grill, Matt approaches Damon with information he had found out about the explosion at the Young farm. Having heard from April that the pastor knew Professor Shane, who suspiciously knew about the hunter's mark and curse, Matt decided to have Sheriff Forbes check the pastor's phone records. The pastor had made a call a day during the last month that he was alive, and 10 calls on the day of the explosion, all to the same phone number—Shane's office.

Later, Stefan and Elena break up, and their conversation has a lot to do with Damon. They talk about trust, and how Elena seems to rely on Damon more lately, instead of turning to Stefan. Elena admits that since she has become a vampire, everything she felt for Damon as a human has become magnified. His suspicions confirmed, Stefan breaks it off, and Elena agrees.

In My Brother's Keeper, Damon learns about Stefan and Elena's break up. He offers Stefan his support, but Stefan brushes him off. Later at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, Damon advises April on which dress to wear, and Elena changes her earlier opinion to agree with him, which Caroline finds bizarre. Elena follows him out of the room and down the stairs. He tells her he knows about the break up, but that he can't say he's sorry to hear it. Elena tells him Damon was the reason they broke up, and he is clearly surprised. They gaze at each other for a long moment, but Shane breaks them out of it and asks to talk to Damon. Damon leaves, glancing back to smile at Elena. Outside, after skirting around the issue, Damon accuses Shane of convincing the pastor to blow up the council. Shane stonewalls him and walks away.

Later, Elena is worried about Jeremy, but Damon assures her that Jeremy's probably fine. Damon confirms with Stefan over the phone that Stefan is with Jeremy and getting him to kill vampires. He later finds Tyler and suggests that Hayley talking to the professor is suspicious. Cornering the professor again, he threatens to kill Shane unless he gives up the name of another hunter, and instead Shane reveals that a Bennett witch is needed to get to the cure.

During the pageant dance ceremony, Damon and Elena catch one another's eye and smile at each other. Later, Elena moves into the boarding house, no longer safe living with Jeremy, and Stefan leaves for the night. Over drinks, Elena vents about the strain her new vampire status has put on her relationships with Jeremy, Stefan and Caroline, and her doubts about being cut out to be a vampire. Damon responds that he's never seen her more alive. Elena admits that she had wanted to dance with Damon earlier, remembering their dance at last year's pageant, and so Damon stands up and offers Elena his hand. They share a slow, intimate dance which escalates into passionate kissing and clothes-ripping, and finally they have sex with each other for the first time. Back at Caroline's house, Stefan and Caroline figure out that Elena is sired to Damon.

In We'll Always Have Bourbon Street, Damon awakens the morning after he and Elena finally consummated their relationship. He admits to Elena that he's happy, and they have sex again. When Elena leaves for school, Damon makes one request -- that they wait just one day before they tell Stefan about them. Stefan arrives just as Elena is leaving, and he confronts Damon with his theory about the sire bond. Damon resents Stefan for suggesting it and wants to dismiss it completely, but Stefan only asks that Damon test the theory by asking Elena to try drinking from a blood bag again, and to emphasize that it would make Damon happy if she did. Damon reluctantly agrees to try, though he makes it clear that if Stefan is wrong, he should be very sorry indeed. Damon meets Elena at school and gives her a blood bag. She's doubtful that it will work, but when she is able to drink it without a problem, she's thrilled. With the sire bond seemingly confirmed, Damon is dismayed, though he doesn't let on to Elena what is going on.

Damon returns to the boarding house to look through some of his old things, and Stefan finds him in the midst of his search. Damon explains that this had happened to him once before, back in 1942 in New Orleans, when a girl named Charlotte was sired to him. Seeking a way to break the bond, he had enlisted the help of a witch named Valerie LaMarche. The brothers head to New Orleans looking for answers to their current problem, and reminisce about the time they briefly reunited in 1942 before Stefan left for the war. They arrive in the French Quarter, and continue to be at odds about the sire bond and Elena's connection to Damon.

They arrive at the address Damon had for the witch in 1942, as Damon couldn't remember where her shop was and they needed a place to start. Stefan suggests they look for Charlotte after Damon admits that the last time he saw her, he'd told her to count every brick in every building in New Orleans and he'd meet her at the corner of Bourbon and Dumaine—and he was gone by morning. After Stefan makes a comment about seeing how literal the sire bond is, they head to the corner and continue to argue about how to handle the sire bond and telling Elena. Damon, frustrated and angry with Stefan, leaves to get a drink and blow off steam, but on his way he is attacked by another vampire. Stefan hears the commotion and rushes to Damon's aid, but it turns out to be Charlotte, who hadn't attacked Damon but kissed him. She reveals that she has been counting the bricks of New Orleans all these years, but insists that she's not crazy and has lived a life beyond that as well. Damon and Stefan enlist her help in finding the witch's shop.

Later, they enter a shop and ask the shopkeeper, Nandi, for a spell that could break a vampire sire bond. Damon insists that the witch Val had had a grimoire with a spell to do it, and recounts the time in 1942 that he had visited the shop and Val had told him of a spell that required the sacrifice of 12 human souls. Nandi says she doesn't practice at all, and all of her grandmother's grimoires were lost during Hurricane Katrina. The brothers leave the shop, though Damon knows Nandi was lying—he recalls seeing a young girl in Val's shop whose name was Nandi, so she must have used magic to slow her aging. Damon reenters the shop angrily demanding her help, and she retaliates by using magic to cause Damon pain until Stefan steps in and brings the negotiation back to talking. Nandi explains that her mother had used Damon to access the power left behind by the sacrifice in order to practice a brand of magic called Expression. She also reveals that a sire bond cannot be broken with magic, that a vampire only develops a sire bond with her maker if the feelings were there when she was human, and vampirism only heightens those emotions. The only way around the bond is to sever all ties with the person in question - to tell her to live her life without him, to never think of him again, and to stop caring for him - and he must never see her again.

Before the brothers leave New Orleans, Damon does his best to set Charlotte free, telling her that it would make him happy if she could forget about him and make a life of her own. He leaves her and rejoins Stefan, who worries that Damon won't be selfless enough to do the same with Elena. Damon responds by recounting what really happened in 1942 when Damon never showed up to leave for war with Stefan: Lexi had convinced Damon that Stefan would be better off without him, and that he should think about what was best for Stefan instead of himself. Stefan seems touched to learn of this, and assures Damon that above all he wants Elena to have her free will back.

Damon arrives back at the boarding house to find Elena cleaning up after girls' night. She already knows about the sire bond, and asks if he and Stefan found a way to break it. Damon implies that there is no simple fix, but before he can try to set her free, she insists that she's happy and the sire bond doesn't change anything between them. Damon believes the opposite, and professes that although he usually doesn't do the "right" thing, he has to do right by Elena because he loves her. To strengthen her case, Elena takes Damon's hand and holds it against her heart, and they look at one another as they contemplate how to know what is real and what isn't, silently considering the future of their relationship.

In O Come, All Ye Faithful, Damon awakens next to Elena in his bed. Although he had not sent her away to free her from the sire bond, he refused to have sex with her. They instead slept beside each other, fully clothed. Still, Damon feels guilty about not following through on his promise to Stefan. Elena insists that their relationship feels real to her, and she dares a reluctant Damon to send her away. He deflects by bringing up their other problem - that Stefan doesn't yet know they had sex. After their discussion about how to proceed leads to an almost-kiss, they are interrupted by Elena's phone. Elena says she has to meet Bonnie, who is trying to teach Jeremy not to kill Elena. Elena asks Damon if he wants to come.

At the Gilbert Family Lake House, Jeremy is chopping wood when Elena and Damon pull into the driveway. After Bonnie takes a tensed-up Jeremy inside, Damon sees Shane standing in the doorway and wonders aloud what he's doing there. Elena reveals that she invited him to help with deprogramming Jeremy's hunter instinct. They approach the house, but it is now in Jeremy's name, so he has to invite them in. He does, and immediately tries to stake Elena. She disarms him easily, but it's clear that they have their work cut out for them.

Later, Stefan calls Damon to tell him the sword is missing. Damon flippantly suggests two plans involving killing Tyler to stall the plan to kill Klaus. Changing the subject, Stefan asks sensitively if Damon knows where Elena is, assuming that Damon had sent her away after they returned from New Orleans. Damon responds vaguely about her possibly helping deprogram Jeremy. Later, after the first attempt to hypnotize Jeremy fails, Elena sits on the dock and tells Damon how strange it seems that the last time she'd been there, she was so in love with Stefan, and now that's barely a memory. She wonders aloud whether this was the sire bond, or just being so happy to be there with Damon. This conversation, apart from making Damon uncomfortable, gives Damon an idea: Shane should have used someone other than the person Jeremy wants to kill to attach Jeremy's "detour feelings" to. He goes inside to suggest that they use Bonnie as Jeremy's detour whenever he feels the need to kill Elena.

Outside, Shane and Elena talk about her relationship with Damon. After Shane shares with her that he had lost his family, Damon interrupts them to threaten Shane's life (again), but Shane diverts their attention with another reveal: that he knows where the cure is because he has already been there. Later, Shane tells Damon and Elena the story about Silas and how he was trapped with the cure; thus, in order to find the cure, they need to find Silas. When Jeremy's mark is complete, it will contain the spell needed to dig up Silas. He refuses to reveal Silas' location, using it as leverage against Damon killing him. Damon calls Stefan with the news that they no longer need the sword. Alone again, Damon tells Elena his theory about Shane having orchestrated the massacre at the Young farm. Shane enters and makes excuses about the pastor being depressed and coming to Shane for supernatural assistance. They are interrupted by Jeremy and Bonnie, who are ready to test Jeremy's control around Elena. Jeremy walks toward Elena with a wooden stake in his hand and Damon steps in between them, but Jeremy, after looking at Bonnie for reinforcement, hands the stake to Damon. Jeremy reaches Elena and hugs her.

As Damon watched Elena and Jeremy decide which Christmas ornaments to bring back to their house, Damon sat outside on the deck and watched her. Elena took out plastic mistletoe and wanted a kiss, but Damon wouldn't do it. He said it was good to see her normal like that with her brother. He wants that for her. The truth is, of course, that Damon wants that with his brother, too. He misses celebrating Christmas with Stefan, which used to be their favorite holiday when they were human. Damon was ready to do the right thing: He told her she's gonna go home. He's gonna stay there with Jeremy and teach him how to hunt, protect himself, and kill vampires without her. "I’m setting you free Elena. This is what I want. This is what will make me happy," he said.

Later, we saw Jeremy thank Bonnie and hug her goodbye. Bonnie was going to drive Elena home. Elena told Damon she was prepared to fight him on this, but suddenly, every part of her body was telling her she needs to get in the car and leave him. She kissed him goodbye. Simple and gentle, they clearly felt the kiss, but she was very confused about the intense push to leave him still. Damon was surprised by the kiss, but still saddened that he had to send her away.

In After School Special, Jeremy and Matt sparring lakeside in tank tops while Damon listened to a voicemail from Elena for presumably the 100th time. Jeremy wanted Damon to teach him something new -- and what we learned was that Jeremy is still no match for a vampire. A pizza delivery girl arrived, for the third day in a row. Damon told her not to return, no matter how much the boys begged. Damon wanted to finish that message from Elena, who misses him and wishes he'd let her come to him, so he told Jeremy and Matt to run around the lake twice.

Later, Jeremy practiced slowly loading a gun while Damon fished for information on Elena's mood. Their conversation was interrupted by Klaus, who wanted to know how many vampires Jeremy had killed. He needs that hunter's mark to grow so he can find the cure and make more hybrids (since he just murdered 12 of them). Damon said Jeremy wasn't ready, and Klaus said he wanted to help. So Damon told Jeremy to watch and learn -- and then he fired two bullets into Klaus. "That was for Carol Lockwood," Damon said.

Meanwhile, Damon's sitting in the woods outside of the Gilbert lake house, whittling. Klaus vamps up. Surprisingly he's not mad that Damon shot him. He's more worried about Jeremy's hunter mark. He suggests they turn more townspeople so Jeremy can kill them and grow the mark. Damon hesitates and Klaus accuses him of trying to appease Elena by doing the right thing of not involving innocent civilians. Damon doesn't deny it. So Klaus tells him he's already started working on his idea. His first victim is the local pizza delivery girl. Earlier that evening he'd turned her then compelled her to go to Jeremy's house. While Klaus and Damon sit in the woods, Pizza Girl knocks on Jeremy's door, claiming car trouble. Too honest for his own good, Little Gilbert admits that he's about to hop in the shower then he invites her inside to wait for the mechanic. Pizza girl attacks Matt faster than you can say “extra pepperoni, please.” Jeremy hears the struggle, comes in and stakes her. Damon vamps in and together they all watch Jeremy's tattoo grow.

Elena called Damon on the phone and had a heartening discussion about her feelings for him. For the first time she confesses that she loves him. He promised to find the cure for her and would maybe do things she wouldn't like, but it was for her. And, then he asked her to come see him. Jeremy, Matt, and Damon showing up at a bar littered with patrons Klaus had in transition to become vampires. He thought Damon was going to convince Klaus there was another way to do this. "Well, I thought about it," Damon said, "and then I realized his idea was better."



In the next episode, Catch Me If You Can, Damon was disappointed that Jeremy wanted to retreat from the newly turned vampires, but then he softened -- caring about Jeremy and Matt. Damon said he’d slow the vamps down and ripped one's heart out. When Elena arrived, she was naturally upset with Damon, but she agreed to let him stay with Jeremy and go hunting while she took Matt home. Damon and Jeremy headed back to the bar to hunt the new vamps. Damon told Jeremy, "I'm trying to keep you alive, dumbass." Inside, they followed a blood trail -- and found a pile of dead bodies. Kol was there, looking adorable as always. He still had blood on his hands when he offered the guys a drink. "He's underage and I don’t like you," Damon cracked.

Kol cut to the chase and told them that finding the cure risks the awakening of Silas. Damon didn't care so much. So Kol continued: A few hundred years back, he came across a group of Silas' followers. They said Silas would rise again and trigger the end of all time, which sounds dangerous even to an immortal. So he murdered all of them. He can’t sit back and let this race for the cure happen. Kol didn't want to kill Jeremy and suffer the hunter’s curse. So he decided to rip off his arms. Solid plan, actually. Damon told Jeremy to run and fought Kol. Kol had Damon slowly staking himself to confirm that Damon could be compelled. Kol told Damon he wouldn't remember him saying this, but he was to find Jeremy and kill him.

Later Damon went to see Elena and asked where Jeremy was. At the Grill, she said, checking on Matt. Damon said he should go apologize to Jeremy for being tough on him. At the Grill, Jeremy senses something was up with Damon when they came eye-to-eye. He started after Jeremy, and Elena called Damon's name and he stopped -- for a second. He told Elena that Kol must have compelled him because if he finds Jeremy, he'll kill him. He saw Jeremy had gone down in the tunnels they used when Connor took hostages at the Grill. He followed. It's deliciously creepy that while Damon was hunting Jeremy, he was yelling ahead to tell him to run and get out of there because he was coming and going to kill him. Jeremy stopped in the tunnels and cut his hand and let it bleed on his jacket. Damon smelled the bait and when he picked up the jacket, Jeremy attacked him. Damon bit Jeremy's arm and tossed him. Damon said Jeremy was stupid, he couldn't fight him in close quarters. "Worth a shot,” Jeremy said, and he shot Damon twice in the stomach. Damon told Jeremy to shoot him in the heart because he won't be able to stop himself from coming after him. ''"Do it. Do it''," Damon said. He lunged at Jeremy, and he fired a shot.

Damon woke up and Jeremy had shot him in the head. Damon thought Jeremy was stupid. Damon was still on the hunt. Jeremy ran through the woods bleeding. Elena caught up to Damon and tried to tell him that he can resist the compulsion because she loves him, and he loves her, and he'll do anything for her. "Sorry, Elena," he said and continued the chase. When he found Jeremy, Damon again did the most decent thing he could. "Shoot now," he told Jeremy. Jeremy fired a shot, and Stefan pushed Damon out of the way. "Hey brother, long time no see," Stefan said. And he snapped his neck. Damon was taken back to Salvatore Mansion and drained of most of his blood to weaken him. He couldn't even get off his back. He wanted to see Elena, but Stefan said they can't let him do that because with the sire bond, he'd be able to get Elena to let him out. Stefan's plan: Damon stays in there until they find the cure and the sire bond and compulsion are broken. Then Elena and Damon can do whatever they want.

In A View to a Kill, Damon, who was still on the ground in the Salvatore family cellar. Stefan tossed him a vial of blood and offered him a bottle of water. When Damon got up, he was greeted by Klaus, who was going to play the role of Original Babysitter. Stefan told Klaus to give Damon a vial of blood every couple of hours so he doesn’t desiccate. He gave him permission to bleed him out again, if needed. Damon told Klaus that Stefan was still mad at him for sleeping with Elena, and Klaus told Damon about catching Stefan sneaking out of Rebekah's bed. Revenge sex, Damon knows it well. Klaus was inside the cellar with Damon villain-bonding. Klaus asked Damon how he gets Elena to overlook every horrible thing he’s done: “What is it you say to her?” Damon knew what this was about: Klaus is afraid Caroline won't forgive him for killing Carol Lockwood. Damon gave him a real answer: Damon is the bad guy so things get done, Klaus is a bad guy just to be a dick. "If you're gonna be bad, be bad with purpose; otherwise, you’re just not worth forgiving."

Klaus, meanwhile, freaked out after Kol called him and asked Damon what Stefan and Elena were planning. Damon genuinely didn’t know. Klaus thought he'd compelled Damon to stay in the cellar, but Damon had been drinking that bottled water Stefan gave him, which had vervain in it. Damon was reunited with Elena now that he’s no longer compelled to kill Jeremy, and Stefan arrived home with Silas’ headstone. Elena assumed Rebekah was daggered so they just needed to get Professor Shane and they’d be set -- but Stefan said he didn’t dagger Rebekah because she's on their side. How could he trust her? Damon was more than happy to tell Elena that Stefan had slept with Rebekah. Elena had nothing to say until the brothers started bickering, and then she told them to stop. “Why don’t you tell her to calm down, Damon. You've managed to use that sire bond pretty well so far, haven’t you?” Stefan said. Damon punched Stefan. Then Jeremy screamed and ripped opened his shirt. The mark grew, and now they all could see it. “Here we go,” Damon said.

After arriving at the island, Shane offered Damon sunscreen with Damon asking, "Is that suppose to be a joke?"Damon declined to tell Elena if he’d take the cure when it's found. On the island, the hiking began. Rebekah recapped what everyone brings to the table including Elena (nothing) and Damon (“nice behind”). When Shane skated the question of whether Bonnie should trust him, Damon pressed for answers. What Shane means is that after his son died in a car accident, his witch wife tried to resurrect him with Expression. It overwhelmed her, and she died. Bonnie was understandably pissed that Shane taught her the same magic that killed his wife. But his wife, Shane said, was undisciplined, and he’s learned the warning signs so he can keep Expression from consuming Bonnie. That’s why they can’t kill him once he points to the cure: Bonnie needs to keep him alive so he can keep her alive.

The gang came to their camp for the night. After Shane made a comment about Damon having the most to lose when they find the cure, Elena had to assure him that her love for him won't change. She clearly wants him to take the cure. In the morning, the group had to split up: Bonnie wanted to stay behind and try a locator spell, Shane wanted to stay with her, and Damon wanted to stay with Shane. Shane used the satellite phone he said earlier no longer worked, which set Damon off. He demanded to know where the cure is, and Shane said it and Silas are entombed in caves deep beneath that well. Flashback: Shane's wife told him that if he helps raise Silas, Silas will help those who've helped him, which means Shane can raise both his wife and their son, Sam. She explained the necessity of the hunter's mark, the spell, and the power of a descendant of Qetsiyah. He asked about the massacres. Shane's wife told him that he wouldn't have to perform three massacres of twelve himself -- he just had to convince someone it was possible for them to see a loved one again, too, and they'd do it for him. They’d all come back, too, she said. Damon counted two massacres -- Pastor Young's, so he could see his wife again, and Klaus' holiday hybrid spree. Shane assured Damon that he hadn't brought them all along to be part of massacre number three, but he wouldn’t tell him where the magical well is.

Shane tried to tell Damon he should leave the island rather than watch Elena find the cure and choose Stefan. He assumed Damon wouldn't kill him because then Bonnie would die when she did the spell to access the cure. But Damon doesn't care about Bonnie, he told Shane. And right before Damon snapped his neck, Elena arrived to stop him. She freed Shane and told him to stop messing with her friends. Damon finally admitted to Elena that he doesn’t want her to be cured. Even if she still loves him, she'll be human and he'll be a vampire, and they won’t work. She told him to take the cure with her so they could grow old together. That’s Stefan, not him, he said. He used to miss being human, but now he can’t think of anything more miserable than being human, then walked away. Damon went walking through the woods and got hit by an arrow. He realized it was from one of the Five from the mark on the guy's hand. The hunter snapped Damon's neck.

In Down the Rabbit Hole, Galen Vaughn, the Hunter who captured Damon, had him tied to a tree and wanted to know why his mark suddenly completed itself two days ago. Damon insisted he knows nothing about tattoos. "Look at my skin, it's flawless," he cracked. A new classic Damon line. Vaughn took a poker to Damon's neck to show he should be taken seriously. Vaughn now had Damon walking toward the well. His plan was to use Damon to make Bonnie open the crypt to Silas for him. He'd make Silas take the cure, kill him, and complete the Brotherhood of the Five's mission. Damon noted that Bonnie would not do anything for him, but good news for Vaughn: They didn't give a crap about Silas, they just wanted the cure, so yes, Bonnie would open the crypt regardless. Vaughn dropped the bombshell we all kind of saw coming: There's only one dose of the cure.

The Hunter and Damon officially entered the playing field. Since Vaughn no longer needed Damon because Bonnie had done her part already, they were ready to kill each other. Damon said he was going to do away with Vaughn and get the cure for the girl he loves. Vaughn said Damon's attachment to his friends would be the end of him. We heard a noise. “You don't know my friends,” Damon said. Enter Rebekah. “Or my enemies,” he finished. He knocked Rebekah out with some kind of stake grenade he buried in her chest and fired some kind of vervain yo-yo around Damon’s neck.

Stefan and Elena caught up, and Vaughn fled through the passage. Stefan sent Elena on, and he stayed behind to try to help Damon. Stefan finally freed Damon, and Damon insisted Stefan go help Elena get the cure while he sat, sulked, and recovered. Stefan didn’t waste time telling Damon that they had to save the dose for Klaus. Damon had crawled over to Rebekah and picked the stake shrapnel out of her back. She knew he hadn't gone with Elena and Stefan because he wanted Elena to have the cure, even if she may not love him back then, which meant he was being selfless with her and was now a "halfway decent person."

In Stand By Me, Stefan told Damon that because Jeremy was one of The Five, he's supernatural, so the resurrection ring would no longer work. Damon said Elena won’t survive this. He asked Stefan to take Elena off the island, and he'd look for Bonnie, who’d gone missing. Damon’s witch hunt was interrupted by a noise in the woods. “Unless you’re blonde, a Bennett witch, or a doppelgänger, I suggest you steer clear,” he said. Rebekah appeared shortly there afterward. He told her about Katherine’s return and Jeremy, and what Rebekah said: She's not heartless. She won’t miss Jeremy, but she knows he was Elena's only family and she understands loss. She wanted to find Katherine, but Damon said she’d be gone. They had to find Bonnie. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Silas is up and about.

Rebekah assumed Damon wasn't strong enough to handle a grieving Elena, and he used her as a shield to stop an incoming arrow from Vaughn. Damon caught up to Vaughn and knocked him out. Damon had a large knife to Vaughn's throat because he assumed Vaughn had helped Katherine “bone” him. They couldn't kill him, but Rebekah was prepared to go Zero Dark Thirty on him (which Damon always approves of) and Vaughn spilled everything: He was tracking vampire dens in Colorado when Katherine found him and said she could lead him to Silas. Katherine already knew about the Hunter’s mark and cure, having found Hayley in New Orleans. Damon left Vaughn with Rebekah, so she could pursue her lead on the cure, and he was off to find Bonnie. That really is why he stayed behind: He knows Elena couldn't survive losing her best friend, too.

Luckily, Bonnie walked out of the woods and found Damon, who hugged her. Bonnie and Damon drove up to Elena's house, and Damon immediately told Caroline to get him Stefan. Apparently Bonnie had shared her plan with him on the trip home. Damon told Stefan about how Bonnie needed to complete the Expression Triangle in order to gain enough power. She mentioned about dropping the veil between this side and the Other Side, so all supernatural creatures have access and they can all see Jeremy, Alaric, Vicki and everyone that they ever lost.

Back inside the Gilbert House, Damon tried to get Elena to talk to him but she wouldn't listen to him. She went downstairs and asked for Bonnie. Matt was taking her home, so Elena said they'd have to do this the old-fashioned way. She wanted to burn the house down with Jeremy in it. It was a good cover story. Plus, she didn't want the memories of everyone she's lost. After Elena breaks down, Damon tries to calm her down and comfort her. Then he told her to turn off her humanity in order to help her. He said it would all go away. It's what he wanted her to do. She stared ahead.

Outside, Stefan told Damon it was a mistake to turn off Elena's humanity, since it was all she had left, and Damon said humanity means nothing if you don't have someone to care about. Stefan said she had Damon, and Damon said he wasn't enough this time -- she'd lost her brother. He truly thinks she wouldn't survive losing her brother because he couldn't. His plan is for them to keep an eye on her, and then Damon will eventually use the sire bond to bring her humanity back. Damon told Stefan their differences over Elena mean nothing now, and Stefan started to tell Damon what he couldn’t actually say -- I love you. Damon said he knew and put his hand on Stefan's shoulder. The brothers went back inside to find Elena with another lit match. This was still the best cover story, she said. Stefan tried to tell her that maybe one day she'll want to come home, but she said she wouldn't. She dropped the match, and then they all walk out as the flames built.

In Bring It On, Damon is out on the road with Elena while she pretends to play dead and feed off of her victim. Damon stopped her from nearly killing the woman and had to ask her to show a little restraint. They'd agreed no killing. The next morning at the Salvatore Mansion, we learned that house has the only vervain-free water supply thanks to their fancy filter. While Elena showered, Caroline, Damon, and Stefan made their game plan: Damon would work on finding Katherine and Caroline would take Elena to school for some normalcy. "Sounds like fun," Elena said, not yet wearing the towel she had with it. "What, it's nothing you guys haven't seen before," she said to the brothers. She was fine with the school plan because she had nothing else to do. They all assumed the sire bond was working and trusted that she wouldn't feed there because Damon asked her not to.

Having obtained Klaus' phone records off-screen, Damon paid Klaus a visit to tell him he sucked at two things: Find Katherine and covering up his secret phone conversations with Hayley. Damon tried to convince him to let him speak to Hayley since they're back on the same side again: Katherine most likely wants to shove the cure down Klaus' throat, which neither of them wants to happen. Klaus said Hayley was off-limits but told him about the vampire who should soon be dying of a wolf bite who'd attacked Hayley on Katherine's behalf.

Stefan called Damon, and we got the explanation: the sire bond was based on her feelings for him, so without her feelings, the bond was gone. Damon was busy anyway. He was now at the truck stop, where he was quickly joined by Rebekah. She was back from the island, where, she told him, she saw Shane's dead body. Now she's looking for Katherine, too. They joined forces because she'd brought some of Klaus' blood, which they could use to save the vampire and interrogate him about Katherine. Damon and Rebekah had made their way to the Grove Hill medical center, where Damon believed the wolf-bitten vamp would go to avoid the fun and feed. After seeing the blood supply there was gone and thinking about what Stefan had told him about the Mystic Falls hospital having been robbed, he figured they had another vampire to worry about -- but not now. Rebekah distracted him by telling him that he's better off if she gets the cure because if Elena takes it, she'll go back to Stefan. In Elena's current state, she's still leaning Team Damon.

Back at the medical center, Damon bit a nurse and sent her bleeding to her car as bait for the bitten vampire, who'd be looking for his last meal. Damon grabbed the guy and knew him. His name was Will. Will asked for help, and Damon ripped his heart out. He didn't tell Rebekah he knew him, he just said he was too far gone for help. She had to know he was lying. Damon arrived home and smiled at all the beauties there. He told Rebekah that losing the cure was the best thing that ever happened to her. If she wasn't a vampire, she'd just be ordinary. Stefan text Damon that Elena was AWOL and he needed help. The brothers arrived just in time to stop Elena from staking Caroline after a pretty badass fight sequence in the woods. When the Salvatores stepped in, Damon noted that under other circumstances, Elena fighting another chick would be a major turn on.

In Damon's bedroom, Elena sat impatiently as he looked for something that turned out to be a picture of him and Will. I assume the life mystery he spoke of was how Will knew Katherine. Elena was annoyed that Damon of all people was judging her when he's tried to kill Stefan multiple times. She told him she doesn't care how bad he is now, and that if he were to be honest, he likes her better like this. Next time we saw them, they were in his car on their way to New York City.

In Because the Night, Damon told Elena that they were in New York City so she could feed -- “There's so much life, a little death goes unnoticed.” While Elena was off getting her hair done, Damon gave Stefan an update over the phone: He’s there because his buddy Will used to get fake IDs for vampires, and he thinks Katherine was one of his clients. He then saw Elena's new haircut and thought it was hot. Damon took Elena to Billy’s, the underground club he frequented in the '70s. He used to kill people to get their IDs for Will, and Will would let him feed in the club. Damon was asked to get a lot of 5’7” brunettes for Will to give a client who was a runner. In a flashback, he was about to feed when Lexi stopped him. “You got Lexi'd?” Elena asked in present day. And then Damon's head was down on the table. It was Rebekah, pissed that he left without her. Rebekah told Elena that Damon was there following a cure lead, but Damon seemed to save it. It was revealed that Stefan had heard about Damon being reckless all the way in Mystic Falls and sent Lexi to find out what had flipped his switch. Elena pretended she was mad because Damon was clearly going to try to Lexi her. He went to the bar, and Elena admitted to Rebekah that she was returning the favor and playing him right back. She wants to find the cure first so he and Stefan can't shove it down her throat.

Lexi didn't heal Damon with Bon Jovi concerts because she could feed with Damon. Flashback to them double-teaming a woman in the club, which is what Damon and Elena did now. He then relinquished his side of the neck to Rebekah. Elena saw Damon sneak off. He was in Will's apartment, Damon phoned Stefan as he searched Will's files. He thought the clients were filed under their birthdates, and he couldn't remember Katherine's. “June 5, 1473,” Stefan said immediately. He discovered a sheet of addresses for Katherine, mostly post office boxes. Elena found him, and they went back downstairs. She wanted him to finish his story about Lexi. Lexi had partied with Damon for months, and late every night, she’d torture him asking him to talk about Katherine. Love is the most powerful emotion, Lexi said, so she thought she could flip his switch if he’d just let himself remember what it was like to love Katherine. Lexi wasn’t giving up -- Damon had asked her to help Stefan back in 1864, and now Stefan had asked her to help him. Damon told her that the person he cared about wasn't Katherine, it was her. They had one hot and heavy night together that ended on the rooftop. Elena grabbed a bottle and wanted to hear the rest of the story on the roof. As Damon led her away, Elena smirked at Rebekah.

Elena made a move on Damon, telling him she'd never done it on a roof and that he didn't have to take the high road now because the sire bond isn't in play. She put her hand in his back pocket, which would have been hot had she not been looking for the sheet of addresses. Damon said he was trying to save Elena from doing the one thing when her emotions were turned off that she can’t take back. When he got his humanity back, Lexi was a walking-talking reminder of all the awful things he’d done. He avoided her until she showed up for Stefan's birthday that time. With the rush of memories came a rush of guilt. That's why he killed her. Out of sight, out of mind. Elena still insisted she's not taking the cure, and Damon assured her she would, even if they have to break her neck or tie her up till they find it. Rebekah was there to break his neck. Damon later wakes up and realizes that Elena is missing. Elena then calls him to tell that Rebekah and her have taken his car and are now going after Katherine for the cure.

In American Gothic, an off-screen Sheriff Forbes proved efficient this episode: She tracked down Damon's car after Elena and Rebekah ran out of gas and abandoned it. She'd also tracked the car they'd stolen after it, so once Damon filled up the tank, he and Stefan were off to the cream corn capital of Pennsylvania, too. Damon was looking on the bright side of things: If Rebekah takes the cure, they can kill her. But then Elena is a vamp forever, Stefan reminded him. “Elena without humanity is a stone cold bitch, and I won’t trust her until we get the old Elena back,” Damon said. Finally, they're on the same page. Later, the boys showed up in the Pennsylvania town, and Damon again insisted that he's over vampire Elena and wants to do whatever it takes to get her home and to take the cure.

When Rebekah was breaking Katherine's hand, the boys sat down, and after Damon gloated about Katherine's predicament, Stefan asked where Elena was. The answer: Off getting kissed by Elijah, who believed she was Katerina. And that’s why Rebekah was reminding us how Katerina had come between Elijah and Klaus. Katherine came clean about her being “friends” with Elijah. Rebekah told Stefan where Elena was meeting “em,” and Katherine agreed to take Rebekah and Damon to get the cure. Katherine took Rebekah and Damon to a home that didn't belong to her. She tried to pretend the cure was stolen from her safe, but they weren't buying it. Rebekah took upstairs and Damon looked downstairs. He noticed the fish tank had no fish in it but a large treasure chest. When the water had vervain in it, he knew he'd hit the jackpot. Katherine dunked his head in the tank as he went to fish out the cure, and she almost got out the door before Rebekah stopped her. To save her life, Katherine gave Rebekah the cure and bolted. Stefan went at Damon, assuming he didn’t really want to stop Rebekah from taking the cure, but Rebekah gasping for air interrupted that. He threw a letter opener at her head, and she caught it. Her hand was cut, but it healed. She was still a vampire. Meaning the cure was still out there.

Damon admitted to Stefan that he had a moment of weakness and let Rebekah take the cure. But afterward, he realized what a mistake he'd made. Stefan said they can’t judge Katherine for repeating her past when they do it, too. Them falling for the same girl has to stop: Once they give Elena the cure, Stefan said, he wants to get her out of his life and get a new one of his own. Elena had called a meeting in the diner with Damon and Stefan to ask them whether they were going to respect her decision not to take the cure and accept who she is now. If not, there would be consequences, she said. The boys didn’t seem to hear that part. Stefan reminded her how she never gave up on him, so he’s doing the same. She asked for another refill and snapped the waitress’ neck. If they don’t let her be, they'll have more bodies on their hands.