Elena is the heroine, the main protagonist (alongside Stefan), the female lead, and the main female character in the books series (except Dark Reunion, which features Bonnie McCullough as the protagonist). Elena was born July 7, 1974 in Fells Church, Virginia to Thomas Gilbert and Elizabeth Gilbert (née Morrow), who were tragically killed in a car accident years back. Elena is 17 at the beginning of the very first book, and she is the most beautiful, popular girl at Robert E. Lee High School (mainly called the Queen). Physically, Elena is extremely beautiful, drop dead gorgeous and she is every boy's dream. She has an 'angelic' physical appearance. Elena has a thick, long, straight pale golden hair, which reaches just above her waist and is so fair in color, it almost seems to shimmer in the sunlights like gold. Elena has an unusual, unique eye colour of blue, which is described to be the same color of lapis lazuli stone (which is the stone vampires use to protect themselves from sunlight) with flecks of gold (but have also been described to be the colour of violets). She has a fair, pale, and creamy skin (compared to the color of swans, alabaster or porcelain) with light, pink rosy cheeks. Elena is of average height for a teenage girl and she is described to have a slender, gorgeous body. According to Stefan, Elena is about a good handspan taller than Katherine. Although Elena has a strong physical resemblance to Katherine, there are slight physical differences among the two girls. While Katherine has lighter, silvery eyebrows and eyelashes, Elena's brows and lashes are darker blonde. Katherine is described to have extremely long (it pools and trails behind her on the floor) darker blonde curly-ish hair while Elena has pale gold blonde straight hair. Elena sees herself as beautiful, therefore, she is quite proud and vain. Elena is extremely shocked and hurt when Stefan, the new boy whom she is instantly, indescribably drawn to, does not pay any attention to her in the beginning of the series, but Stefan avoided her for other personal reasons which were unknown to Elena at the time.

Personality wise, Elena is described to be popular, beautiful, confident and ambitious. In terms of general personality traits and characteristics, Elena is described as being popular, outgoing, confident, smart, opinionated, idealistic, feisty, sociable, fearless, loving, caring, passionate, devoted, commanding, encouraging, protective, determined, strong, brave and loyal. However, on the downside, Elena can also be selfish, self-centred, entitled, proud, obstinate, stubborn, promiscuous, indecisive, aggressive, vain, headstrong, childish, spoiled, needy, clingy, demanding, conceited, attention seeking and boastful. Elena's best friends since childhood are Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez, but she was once also best friends with Caroline Forbes, who eventually turned into an enemy after Elena fell deeply in love with Stefan, when Stefan reciprocated her feelings and began a relationship with him. Before the series began, Elena had many issues and troubles in regards to then opposite sex, love and romance. She admits to using boys as trophies, prizes and using them to help boost her confidence and self-esteem. Elena's first love is her childhood friend, Matt Honeycutt. Unlike all the other boyfriends and boys Elena has dated, Elena genuinely loves and cares about Matt and doesn't see him the same she does other boys. Although Elena loves and cares for Matt, she feels like she loves him in more of a platonic, brotherly or friendship way. Elena's life changes forever when she unexpectedly and fatefully meets a mysterious, foreign boy from Italy, Stefan Salvatore, who is secretly centuries old immortal. Elena is immediately, intensely and indescribably drawn to Stefan when she first sees him and she is deeply, passionately and strongly in love with him. It was revealed in the book Shadow Souls, that Stefan is Elena's true soulmate due to the 'soulmate principle', which is a silver cord or thread (described to be the colour of moonlight) binding, linking or connecting the souls of destined, true soul mates from heart-to-heart or soul-to-soul.

Elena has a younger four-year-old sister named Margaret, and she and her sister lives with her legal guardian Aunt Judith Gilbert (her father's sister) and Uncle Robert Maxwell. Although Elena is deeply in love with Stefan, she later also develops feelings for Damon, Stefan's older brother. Throughout the series she has to face hard challenges, such as becoming a vampire unwillingly, truly dying to save both Stefan and Damon, then coming back to life as a guardian angel, travelling to the Dark Dimension (in order to save her beloved Stefan), facing kitsune, and fighting a phantom. Elena greatly resembles a vampire, Katherine, and worries that she will become like her and that Stefan and Damon are drawn to her because she strongly resembles Katherine. But the differences are that Elena is a brave, strong, courageous girl and will fight for her friends and not herself. As the series progresses, she is willing to put her life at risk and do anything to help and protect the people she loves and cares about. Elena has endured much loss, grief, pain and tragedy in her very young teenage life; mostly due to the loss of her parents in a tragic, fatal car accident. Elena dies twice throughout the course of the series, first dying and changing into a vampire, and then dying as a vampire after killing Katherine to protect Stefan (and Damon) from Katherine torturing and killing them all. Elena then comes back in Dark Reunion as a spirit of the afterlife and returns in Nightfall a supernatural human with angelic powers and abilities. In Midnight, she is turned back into a regular human girl and begins attending college with her love Stefan and her friends Bonnie, Matt, and Meredith.

Stefan is the hero, the second protagonist (alongside Elena), the male lead character and a main character of the book series. Stefan is Damon's moral, benevolent younger brother. He was born on November 5, 1474 in Florence, Italy to Conti Di Giuseppe Salvatore and his unnamed mother, who died a few years after Stefan's birth due to an illness. Stefan is a five hundred plus year old immortal born during the time of The Renaissance, who was one of the Salvatore brothers that fell deeply in love with a young beautiful Bulgarian girl who was a vampire, Katherine Von Schwarzschild, during his human life and before he was transformed into a vampire when he was a 17 year old human boy. During his human life, Stefan was a noble, aristocratic young man who lived by a strict code of morals, values, ethics and code of honor. Stefan strongly believed in nobility, duty, responsibility, justice and doing the right thing as much as possible. In his human years, Stefan was seen to be deeply sentimental and he was shown to care about family, friends, memories, duty, his ambitions and studies, responsibility and serving his duty to his hometown of Florence. Between he and Damon, Stefan was the favored child with everyone, especially his father Giuseppe, mostly because Stefan was seen by everyone as a good, noble, obedient, and ideal son. Stefan was Giuseppe's favorite son and held Stefan at high regard and respect because he was obedient, dutiful, studious, noble and responsible.

Physically, Stefan is extremely gorgeous and inhumanely beautiful with classically handsome fine facial features which are youthful, boyish and fresh in appearance. He has a straight classical nose, full perfectly shaped lips, and high cheekbones which are sculptors dream. Stefan has the thick, soft, black wavy-ish hair, intense, captivating and piercing green eyes, which are described to be the color of emeralds, malachite or summer oak leaves and very pale, clear skin. He is taller than Damon with a lean, flat-muscled body with long legs, and lithe, hard muscles in his arms and chest. Stefan is said to strongly physically resemble Damon due to family relation; this is noticed by both Elena and Bonnie. Stefan wears a heavy silver ring with a large, round lapis lazuli stone (given to him by Katherine) on the middle finger of his right hand in order for him to walk in the sunlight.

Personality wise, Stefan is described as brooding, mysterious, complex, inscrutable and intense. In regards to his personality traits and characteristics, Stefan is the complete and total opposite of his brother Damon. Stefan is described to be pure of heart; compassionate, empathetic, kind, altruistic, selfless, moral, noble, brave, courageous, gallant, loyal and protective. However, on the downside, Stefan can also be depressive, martyring, guilt-ridden, isolated, self-pitying, too selfless, naive, self-loathing and stubborn. As opposed to his elder brother Damon, Stefan deeply, strongly cares about humankind and has a very strong regard for human life. Because of this, Stefan has never killed any humans during his immortal life and therefore, does not drink human blood under any circumstances and lives on a strict animal blood diet (although throughout the series, he does eventually give in to his 'no human blood ever' rule and drinks Elena's blood during times of intimacy). Although Stefan is very kind, compassionate, calm and gentle by nature, Stefan has a quick temper when provoked and can be menacing, intimidating and scary if you try to cross him, manipulate him or harm the people that he loves and cares about in any way. Stefan is stoically loyal and fiercely protective.

Not much is known of Stefan's back story or of what Stefan had been doing between the period of the time when Stefan was transformed into a vampire back in his home of Florence and the time he came to Fells Church, but it could be presumed that Stefan was living in the shadows while saving or protecting humans who were ever in any harm or danger. Although Stefan had lived in secret and in the shadows, Stefan yearned to live amongst humankind, desiring to relive his humanity, the humanity that he had lost against his will many centuries ago. Stefan is also a strong romantic at heart; he is very chivalrous, gallant, well-mannered and polite towards the opposite sex and he loves very intensely, deeply and passionately. Stefan is at first seen to be shy, quiet and reserved, however, eventually he opens up to the humans around him and makes good, solid and lasting friendships and acquaintances. When Stefan lets his guard down, he is practical, charming, pleasant, friendly and likeable and also possesses a dry sense of humor.

Stefan arrives in Fells Church to start a new life and live amongst humans and enrolls as a high school student at Robert E. Lee High School to blend in like a regular 17 year old human. It is there, where Stefan unexpectedly, fatefully and inevitably meets Elena Gilbert. He is intensely, immediately and indescribably drawn to her. He fell for her at first sight, but because Elena bears a striking resemblance to his past and first love, Katherine, he repeatedly tries to avoid her at all costs during the beginning of the series, feeling that their uncanny physical resemblance brings up painful, sorrowful memories of his dark past. Later in the series, Stefan eventually lets his walls crumble and falls in even deeper and more passionate love with Elena. However, although Stefan falls for Elena, and Elena reciprocates his love just as strongly and passionately, his elder and malevolent brother, Damon, follows him to Fells Church to make torture him and make his life chaos. Damon repeatedly makes threats and attempts to try to rob Elena away from him out of revenge, anger and envy against him. In Shadow Souls, it was revealed that Elena is Stefan's true soulmate, due to the 'soulmate principle'. Stefan develops strong friendships with Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez. Stefan becomes best friends with Matt Honeycutt, Elena's childhood friend and first love, in The Awakening. Although Matt is still in love with Elena when Stefan begins a relationship with her, Matt supports Stefan and Elena being together and believes that Stefan is a good individual, despite him being a vampire. Throughout the course of the series, Stefan has been strewn out of Fells Church, mostly out of his control (and mostly, by Damon's influence), causing him and Elena to repeatedly become separated from each other against their will. Due to all the unexpected, unusual events surrounding both Stefan and Elena, they have both have had to overcome many obstacles, trials and tribulations and their strong love for each other has been tested repeatedly throughout the series. Because of this, it has caused Stefan to leave Elena's well-being and life in the hands of his impulsive, immoral and dangerous brother, Damon.

Though Stefan and Damon do not see eye to eye, Stefan still deeply loves his elder brother and strongly believes that Damon has an inner humanity deep inside him, despite Damon's constant of committing amoral acts. In regards to Damon, Stefan has a rather complicated and even strained relationship with his elder brother, ever since childhood. Damon has deeply, strongly loathed or hated his brother ever since they were children, and Stefan could never understand why Damon always hated him so much. Stefan believes that the deep hatred that Damon harbored against him had to do with the untimely death of their mother due to Stefan's birth. Stefan revealed that Damon was quite close to her, considering that Damon was the first born child of the family and that as soon as Stefan was born, both Giuseppe and Stefan and Damon's mother gave more attention and love to the younger Salvatore, changing the dynamics of the Salvatore family completely. Stefan does not have much memory of his mother, because she died a few years after he was born, but it is said that his and Damon's mother was the complete opposite of Giuseppe in terms of personality and temperament. She was said to possess a similar temperament to Stefan; calm, gentle, kind, caring and protective but also, she was rather fragile, weak and vulnerable in regards to physical health.

Stefan is the opposite of Damon in regards to outlook, values, ethics and beliefs, which makes Stefan extremely polar opposite to Damon in all these aspects. While Damon has no problem with killing many innocent humans for their blood to gain Power, Stefan is strongly opposed to taking innocent human life and has never believed that killing innocent people for their life force (blood) is worth it to be powerful and gain Power. Whereas Damon is strongly drawn to the dangerous, wild, dark side of life and living in the shadows of darkness, Stefan enjoys life amidst the sunlight amongst the comfort of family, friends and humans. Although Stefan doesn't drink human blood, Stefan still possesses the standard vampire abilities such as immortality, super speed, super strength, agility, enhanced senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell), telepathy, and mind compulsion. Stefan also has the unique ability of being able to read individuals minds. If Stefan consumes enough human blood, Stefan would gain enough Power to manipulate the weather (create storms, rain, thunder, lightening, wind, fog, etc.) and shape shift into an animal, in which Stefan did after he drank enough human blood and turned into a falcon in The Struggle. Stefan is attending college with his love Elena and his friends Bonnie, Matt and Meredith.

Damon is the anti hero, the main antagonist and a main character of the book series. Damon is Stefan's immoral, malevolent elder brother. He was born October 31, 1469 in Florence, Italy to Conti Di Giuseppe Salvatore and his unnamed mother, who died due to an illness that had weakened her a few years after Stefan's birth. Damon is a five hundred plus year old immortal who was born during the period of The Renaissance. He, along with his younger brother Stefan, fell in love with a young Bulgarian girl who was a vampire, Katherine Von Schwarzschild during his human life and before he was transformed into a vampire in his early twenties. Physically, Damon is described to be extremely gorgeous with handsome features, high cheekbones, and a cruel mouth. He has straight, fine, black hair, black eyes the color of the midnight sky, and very pale complexion. Damon is said to strongly physically resemble his younger brother Stefan due to family relation. This is noticed both by Elena and Bonnie. Although Stefan and Damon have a strong resemblance to one another, there are slight physical differences between him and Stefan (Stefan has the thick, wavy-ish hair, Damon fine straight hair and Stefan has green eyes, Damon has black eyes). Damon, like Stefan, wears a silver ring with a large lapis lazuli stone on the middle finger of his left hand to protect him from the sunlight.

During his human years, Damon was described to be rebellious, disobedient, delinquent, troublesome, insubordinate, self-centred, proud, arrogant, reckless, careless, impulsive, irresponsible, envious, competitive, adventurous. However, Damon did possess seduction and poise of that of a proud aristocrat. He had little to no respect for authority and duty; the complete opposite of Stefan. Damon made and lived by his own rules, refusing to listen to or follow authority and stand up to the concepts of duty and responsibility. Damon preferred living adventure, wildness, and danger; seeking out pure self-pleasure above all, even family and duty to Florence. Damon engaged in various activities that involved danger and living on the edge such as gambling, drinking, jousting, sword fighting, womanizing and hunting and hawking. Due to Damon's rebelliousness and wild lifestyle, he was seen as strongly irresponsible and a "ne'er do well" coward by most of the entire town of Florence, including his own father Giuseppe, who has always expressed resentment and extremely disappointment in Damon and whom Damon never had a good relationship with since childhood. Personality wise, Damon is the complete and total opposite of his younger brother Stefan. In terms of general personality traits and characteristics, Damon is described to be cold, sinister, sadistic, impulsive, selfish, prideful, arrogant, vain, envious, controlling, manipulative, powerful, dangerous, reckless, unkind, uncaring, cold-hearted, ruthless and unsympathetic. However, Damon is also capable of being loyal, determined, passionate, protective (especially where Bonnie is concerned) and capable of affection with only a very select few of people. Normally Damon is rather self-contained and emotionless, however, Damon seems to possess a quick, violent temper and lash outwardly towards others in extreme fury and anger, very much like his father Giuseppe. This is probably one reason why Giuseppe and Damon clashed so severely during Damon's childhood and human life.

Damon strongly despises humans and he has little to no regard for human life. He is guiltless and remorseless and has little to no problem with killing and torturing many innocent humans or taking human life mainly for their blood supply. It was revealed that after Damon had transformed into a vampire, Damon had joined one of the Free Companies which included ruthless mercenaries, that involved robbing and plundering. Damon had wandered all across the world; fighting, torturing and killing many innocent humans along the many centuries to rob their life essence (blood) for gain in Power. Damon did this to gain a significant amount of Power so that he could be much stronger then that of Stefan to torture him. Stefan, as opposed to Damon, has never killed any humans or drank human blood during his immortal life and had lived off a strict animal blood diet, which caused Stefan to be weaker in his Power. Damon also has little to no problem with threatening and intimidating small children, such as Elena's younger sister, Margaret. Damon likes to manipulate and torture humans for his own personal pleasure and he is highly sadistic in nature. He is shorter and stockier than Stefan but more powerful since he feeds off human blood straight from the vein. Damon enjoys toying with, torturing and tormenting his younger brother Stefan and making him feel weak and vulnerable. In regards to romance, Damon has been shown to display deep feelings for Elena and Bonnie but in different ways. Damon has strong feelings of passion and desire for Elena and he has made it his goal to make Elena his 'Princess of Darkness'. Damon has repeatedly offered Elena a life of adventure and power in the darkness but Elena has rejected Damon's wishes repeatedly and remained stoically loyal to Stefan and her love for him. This has caused Damon to become extremely angry, jealous and vengeful towards Stefan. Aside from Elena, Damon has a deep, intense bond with Bonnie. The two have a deep, unusual and unbreakable bond between one another physically and emotionally. Damon is also always seen to be extremely protective of her, especially whenever she is in trouble. He even goes so far as to sacrifice himself for her and cried when he found out she'd been kidnapped in Midnight. Damon is seen to be very gentle and tender towards Bonnie and she seems to bring out the more 'human' side of Damon without any effort and before Elena ever could.

During his human life, Damon was always in the shadows of his younger brother Stefan. Between he and Stefan, Stefan was the favoured child with everyone, including Damon and Stefan's parents, especially their father, Giuseppe. Damon never got along with his father since childhood and had a rather strained relationship with him, the complete opposite of Stefan, who Giuseppe strongly favoured. It was revealed in the series that when Damon and Stefan were young children after their mother had passed away, Giuseppe would often get into raging, intense and heated arguments and fights with a young Damon, normally when Giuseppe was also rather drunk. During the intense, heated fights between Giuseppe and Damon, Giuseppe would physically beat and abuse Damon. It was also revealed that during the fights between Giuseppe and Damon, Stefan would often step between Giuseppe and Damon while they were fighting, to prevent the argument from escalating and to stop Giuseppe from beating and abusing Damon. Because of this, Stefan has always been given the role of peacemaker within the family, especially after their mother died. Due to Stefan always being the chosen one, preferred one or the favourite amongst everyone, and Stefan constantly being given attention, love, and respect since their human lives, there was always a lot of anger, hatred, revenge and jealousy towards Stefan from Damon since childhood.

Because of Damon's jealousy, anger and envy towards his brother, Damon made it his life's goal both as a mortal and immortal to mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically torment Stefan as much as possible, including threatening to kill Stefan on multiple occasions. Damon has deeply, strongly loathed Stefan since childhood, not just out of jealousy towards Stefan but because he thinks that Stefan is to blame and is responsible for the death of their mother, who was weakened and fell very ill after she gave birth to Stefan and never recovered afterwards. Because of this, Stefan has always felt responsible and has felt extremely guilty about his mother's death, thinking that he is to blame, even though it was not Stefan's fault. Although Stefan doesn't have much memory of his mother before she died, it was said that Damon was quite close to her and she was the complete opposite of Giuseppe in terms of temperament and personality; she was said to possess a warm, kind, compassionate and caring personality, similar to that of Stefan. Although Damon repeatedly admits to passionately loathing his younger brother Stefan since their human years and since childhood, it has been evident throughout the course of the series that Damon does in fact love and care about the younger Salvatore and has secretly wanted to be 'worthy' of Stefan and his brotherhood eventually. Currently, Damon is living within the town of Fells Church alongside his brother Stefan, who is attending college with Elena, Zander, Bonnie, Meredith and Matt.

Bonnie is a main female character of the book series. She was born September 8, 1974 in Fells Church, Virginia. She is the best friend of Elena Gilbert and Meredith Sulez. She also used to be close friends with Caroline Forbes since childhood, alongside Elena and Meredith, but became distant from her as they got older due to personal reasons. Bonnie is a powerful psychic witch who is descended from Celtic Druids. She eventually develops strong, deep feelings for Damon, and has an unusual, unbreakable bond with him, physically and emotionally. Bonnie is of Scottish-American descent. She has the one older sister called Mary who is three or four years older and is a nurse. It's also hinted that she may have another older sister but it was never confirmed. Physically, Bonnie is described to be petite (about 4'7" to 4'11" in height) and has large, childlike brown eyes with long, heavy, black eyelashes and strawberry-red hair that she had permed at the very start of the books but is naturally straight. She has the white, pale skin that Damon describes as translucent. Her physique is described to be somewhat underdeveloped and because of this, Damon often refers to Bonnie as a 'woman-child'. She is considered classically beautiful but has yet to grow into herself. Personality wise, Bonnie is described as bubbly, optimistic, cheerful, kind, caring, selfless, brave, loyal and protective. She is sometimes considered to be the weakest member of the group because she is the most emotional and compassionate out of everyone, but she is always willing to help and to protect her friends and loved ones in any way that she can, regardless of the danger. This proves how brave she in dangerous situations, despite everyone around her thinking differently and believing that she is not capable of protecting herself because of her childlike looks. Bonnie has always been considered second and third compared to Elena and Meredith, but because she is not an envious person by nature it doesn't normally affect her or bother her.

Because of her personality, Bonnie can also be taken for granted by most people including her friends, especially in regards to her empathy and ability of giving to others without asking for anything in return. In general, Bonnie is sweet, enthusiastic, unselfish, kind and humble, in retrospect, she is the complete the opposite of Damon. She is also powerful and helps the group many times. Bonnie doesn't like her psychic powers because when she over uses them, she sometimes falls unconscious, faints or blacks out but when asked by Honoria Fell, she decides to keep them and she tries to use them as well as her late Grandma in Scotland had used them. Bonnie is terrified of her strong abilities and powers and what she is capable of doing with them, fearing that her powers might control her rather than the other way around. Bonnie tends to pass out after her visions and has yet to show any real usage of her power. Later in the story she develops a connection with Matt, but her connection with him are more platonic and brotherly in nature. Bonnie talks about the prophecy in which her grandmother told her that she would die young and be young and beautiful in her grave. Bonnie is attending college with her friends Elena, Stefan, Meredith and Matt. At college, Bonnie meets an original werewolf named Zander in the book Moonsong, who has told her that he loves her. Both Zander and Elena have shown a dislike towards one another, due to a strong lack of trust between the two.

Meredith is a main female character of the book series. She was born June 6, 1974 in Fells Church, Virginia, although ever since childhood, Meredith always celebrated her birthday a week before her actual birth date which was May Thirty-First. Meredith is best friends with both Elena Gilbert and Bonnie McCullough since the first grade, and she is also close friends with Matt Honeycutt and Stefan Salvatore. Meredith used to be friends with Caroline Forbes alongside Elena and Bonnie, but eventually grew apart due to personal reasons. Meredith does not care for Stefan's elder brother, Damon Salvatore and she is one character who's not impressed by him or enamored by his charms whatsoever. She is Latina in descent and physically, she is tall, with an olive complexion, dark brown eyes, heavy black lashes, and thick, loose black hair. According to Elena, she never wears make-up because she doesn't need any. She is described as elegant, graceful, and beautiful. She has a very wry personality, often making keen observations or comments in a dry tone. She is normally very cool and unflappable, intelligent, intellectual, calm under pressure, and extremely competent. Meredith is extremely cynical when it comes to vampires. When Stefan first arrives at school, Meredith, along with every other girl in the school, finds Stefan strongly attractive. She later falls in love with Alaric Saltzman, the school's young and new history teacher, and has a long-distance relationship with him as he studies abroad in Russia. She is the only human female character in the novels who seems to be completely unfazed by Damon in some way and is the only person Damon admits to being afraid of. In The Vampire Diaries: The Return Vol. 3: Midnight, it is revealed that Meredith has a twin brother named Cristian Sulez. On Meredith and Cristian's third birthday, Klaus, the Original vampire, influenced Meredith to drink Cristian's blood. Then he kidnapped Cristian and fed him blood, slowly turning him into a vampire. Although it is not explained how, Cristian grew into an 18 year old even though he is a vampire. Since Cristian was four, Klaus has sent Meredith's parents, Nando and Gabriela Sulez, pictures of Cristian. Before Klaus kidnapped Cristian, he instructed Meredith's parents to feed Meredith a tablespoon of animal blood every week or she would die. This has resulted in Meredith's canines being like "kitten teeth" although she is not a vampire. Both her parents and at least one grandmother are alive. Meredith's mother used to be close friends with Caroline Forbes' mother a long time before the start of the series. Meredith's grandfather currently resides in a mental institution in West Virginia. After the attack, Meredith's grandfather became a source of deep shame for the family. In Dark Reunion, Bonnie says that Meredith's parents "considered her grandfather's condition such a blot that they never allowed him to be mentioned to outsiders." In The Return: Midnight, she is revealed to be a vampire hunter and has been keeping it a secret all her life.

Matt is a male supporting character of the book series. Matt was born and raised in Fells Church, Virginia. He is Elena's childhood friend, ex-boyfriend and first love. Matt is the typical human 18-year-old 'All-American' boy-next-door, who was the high school star quarterback on the schools football team. He was on the high school football team with Tyler Smallwood and Stefan Salvatore, who played the position of wide receiver. Matt is good looking, very tall and athletic, with short, cropped blond hair and clear, honest blue eyes. Due to his family's poverty, he tends to wear older clothes. Personality wise, Matt is described as practical, friendly, kind, loyal, understanding, supportive and protective. While Matt is heartbroken at losing Elena to Stefan, he eventually accepts it. In the beginning, Matt is extremely envious of Stefan and still pines for Elena, but he shows some feelings for Bonnie, although his connection with Bonnie is more platonic or brotherly in nature. Later in the series, the relationship between Stefan and Matt is closer to that of best friends or companions. Matt, however, strongly dislikes Stefan's elder brother, Damon and they frequently fight throughout the course of the series. He is fiercely loyal and likes to see the best in people. After the events of The Fury, Matt's faith in humanity and the world was severely shaken, and he spends much of Dark Reunion in a pessimistic and defeated state. It takes a renewal of friendship and a deep heart-to-heart with his best friend, Stefan for him to regain some of his earlier determination, optimism and good humor. Matt is attending college with his friends Elena, Stefan, Bonnie and Meredith.

Caroline is a female supporting character of the book series. She is described as being attractive in a model-esque way, tall, curvaceous, and bronzed. She has the thick, wavy, auburn hair and catlike, slanted, bright green eyes. She frequently wears skimpy clothing that emphasizes her assets and shows off her bronzed complexion. Caroline's personality is difficult to ascertain, as readers mostly see her being adversarial to Elena. Caroline has a younger brother named Daniel. Her father joins a lynching party to stake Stefan and/or shoot him with wooden bullets. Elena notes that she and Caroline used to be the best of friends, though they developed a rivalry for social status. Caroline also used to be friends with Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez. Over the summer, while Elena was in France, Caroline turned on her, and when Elena returns on the first day of school, she is met with a cold reception. Originally, Caroline wanted Stefan for herself but Elena was indescribably and strongly drawn to him. This caused the rivalry between Caroline and Elena to heat up intensely. From what is displayed of Caroline's personality in the books, she is extremely competitive, manipulative, cunning, selfish, shallow, and self-centered. She takes social slights very personally and seems to value status above most other things. After Elena's second and then-final death, Caroline seems to have a change of heart; she rejoins her old friends, Bonnie and Meredith, and stops speaking ill of Elena. Caroline eventually gets involved in a relationship with Tyler Smallwood. In The Return: Nightfall, it is revealed that Caroline is pregnant with Tyler's unborn twins but Tyler does not know this. At first, it was suspected that Matt Honeycutt was the father of Caroline's unborn children, but it is confirmed that Tyler is the real father. Because Tyler is a werewolf, the babies are hybrids, being half human, half werewolf. Therefore, both unborn children are carrying the werewolf gene and could possibly change into werewolves in the future.

Alaric is a male supporting character of the book series. He is the new, young, attractive history teacher at Robert E. Lee High School who was suspected of being a vampire hunter when he was in fact studying vampires. He is an experimental psychologist from Duke University, specializing in the research of psychic powers. His research took a sideways step when he discovered the victim of a vampire. He focused his research on vampire victims. Alaric is good-looking, with an athletic build, hazel eyes, and sandy brown hair. He has a boyish smile, and he is not much older than the students in his class. In The Fury, Elena assesses him to be two or three years older than she is, which is 22 or 23 years old at the most. In Dark Reunion, Bonnie believes that Alaric is about 22. Despite trying to appear as a fearsome vampire hunter and killer, he is not a violent, hateful person and cannot stand to see innocents hurt. He denies being a vampire hunter when Damon accuses him of being one. Once it is established that Stefan is not the killer plaguing Fell's Church, Alaric is concerned for Stefan's safety on learning he has gone to meet with Caroline Forbes, where he will be ambushed. He is highly sociable and is able to function very well as a host. Alaric falls in love with Meredith Sulez and has a long-distance relationship with her while he goes abroad to further his studies. Alaric is good at power-seeking and has the high material goals. He develops a romantic relationship with Meredith on the sly. While they do not have any romantic scenes together in the books, nor are they as outwardly affectionate as Stefan and Elena, there are implications that the relationship is serious. The reason for their secrecy may be the inappropriate nature of a student/teacher relationship, even though Alaric only went to Fell's Church to research vampires and used teaching as a cover. Alaric is an Aquarius, and he is from Charlottesville, Virginia.

Katherine was the young and beautiful a vampire whom Stefan and Damon fell in love with during the Italian Renaissance 500 years ago. She was born in Germany to Baron Von Schwartzchild. She resembles Elena with golden blond hair and eyes the color of lapis lazuli. She was very fragile when she was young and her last illness was terminal. Her maid Gudren sought out a vampire named Klaus to turn Katherine into a vampire. As a vampire, Katherine is much stronger than she was as a human, but the sun still weakens her. She wears a small, silver lapis lazuli ring, made by her maid Gudren, to protect herself from burning in the sun. Katherine arrives in Florence, Italy where her father took her in order for her to recover after he illness. It was there when Katherine meets and falls in love with Stefan Salvatore, the younger Salvatore brother. Over a period of time, after Stefan and Katherine spend much time together, Stefan and Katherine's fathers begin to discuss the prospects of a possible marriage. However, this prospect is cut when Stefan's elder brother, Damon comes home from university. Damon, in an attempt to get revenge against his brother out of hatred and envy, tries to seduce Katherine as much as possible and tries to steal her from Stefan. Katherine eventually develops feelings for Damon, resulting in a competition between the two brothers for Katherine's affections. Katherine turns both Stefan and Damon into vampires so that all three can be happily together forever. When Stefan and Damon argue and tell Katherine that she must choose between them, Katherine attempts to get the brothers to reconcile by fooling them into believing she had committed suicide. Blaming the other for Katherine's death, Stefan and Damon fight to the death by sword, thus completing their transformations into vampires. Both Damon and Stefan feel immense guilt over having caused Katherine's "death." In The Fury, it is revealed that Katherine is the Other Power who attacked some of the people of Fell's Church. After Stefan and Damon killed each other, Katherine fled to Germany, where Klaus found her. Katherine grew powerful and sadistic over the centuries partly due to Klaus' influence. She can shape shift into a white tiger, kitten, owl, and she can manipulate the weather. She boasts about being the strongest of all due to killing many humans and vampires. She lured Stefan and Damon to Fell's Church to punish them for not reconciling after she faked her death. Katherine tries to kill Stefan, Elena and Damon. Katherine was especially envious of Elena for Stefan falling deeply in love with her. Katherine dies when Elena shoves her into a shaft of light and removes her protective necklace. It was revealed in The Fury that although Katherine loved both brothers, she reveals that she had always loved Stefan more than Damon.

Klaus is a pureblood vampire, one of the 'Old Ones' who has never been a human, and he existed long ago before the pyramids were built, which was 2500 B.C. According to him, he fought in the Trojan war and helped cause the downfall of the Roman Empire. In the late 15 century, he lived in a village in Germany, where the people thought that he was the devil himself. Klaus is Nordic in appearance, with electric blue eyes and short, close-cropped, platinum blond hair. He is described as being handsome although his features are often contorted in madness. He wears a dusty long tan coat. Personality-wise, Klaus is extremely deranged, and the line between his evil and his madnesss are very blurry. When pressed, he is deadly serious and reminds everyone about his unfathomable old age, but usually he seems unnaturally chipper, and his evil deeds during Dark Reunion are tinged with irony. He refers to everyone as "sport." He writes "Goodnight, sweetheart" on Vickie's mirror after brutally murdering her and leaving the same song playing in her room. He nearly kills Stefan with the white ash wood spear that was intended for him. His mood changes from cheerful and amused to enraged in seconds. Despite his seemingly erratic and scattered personality, he appears to be a patient and methodical killer capable of elaborate plans. One day, a maid begged for his help to save her dying mistress, Katherine von Swartzschild. Klaus turned her into a vampire and instructed her on how to be malevolent and despotic. Centuries later, Katherine thought that she killed him, but Klaus arrives in Fell's Church, where he helps Tyler become a werewolf. After that, he uses Tyler and his own enhanced vampire powers to play with the Salvatore brothers and their human friends. He murders Sue Carson, a friend of Bonnie and Meredith, and Vickie Bennett in an extremely violent manner. He offers Damon a truce if he will keep out of his way whiles he violently kills Stefan. Klaus also kidnaps Caroline Forbes and holds her hostage as bait to get Stefan to fight him. In the final showdown, all the weapons used against him fail. Stefan bravely faces Klaus in an attempt to battle him and defeat him to protect the people he cares about and the town of Fells Church. However, despite Stefan's bravery, Klaus about almost kills Stefan and also, nearly kills Damon as well until there is an intervention from Elena's spirit, leading an army of Civil War ghosts. The ghosts carry a screaming Klaus away, and his current whereabouts (and state of being) are unknown. Klaus reappears in the Hunters trilogy, in the book Destiny Rising.

Sage is a vampire, presumed to be an Old One by Elena, although it is never proven. He is described as being helpful, benevolent and good-hearted. In 'The Return' trilogy, they encounter him and he is a good character. Sage helps Bonnie, Elena, Stefan, and Damon throughout these books. The four soon start to trust him and consider him their friend and ally in the battle. Sage is born during the Iron Age (700 to 500 BC), and is the son of a Fallen Angel and an unknown french woman. For a while, he knew the nature of his father and his mother, but when the woman dies and her soul is damned because the love for the devil, The Celestial Court send him and his father in the Dark Dimension and he become the Guardian of the Gate of the Seven Treasures of Kitsune. Probably here he take, as his "pets", a hellhound named Sabre and a falcon named Talon. The death, and damnation, of the mother left Sage conflicted, torn between his loyalty to his father and his desire to avenge her.

Judith is Elena and Margaret's maternal aunt and legal guardian. She is the sister of Elena and Margaret's mother.Judith was born into the Morrow family at an unknown time. She could be strict and anxious sometimes, but was caring and responsible. Judith met a man name Robert Maxwell at some point,and affectionately called him "Bob". He proposed to her, and she accepted his request. She moved in with Elena and her baby sister Margaret right after the death of the girls' parents. She always looks vaguely flustered. She has a thin, mild face and flyaway red hair pushed back untidily. She is engaged to and later marries Robert Maxwell, though she briefly broke the engagement after Elena's death, thinking it was best for Margaret. She is deeply caring and one of the last people Elena talks to before dying the first time.

Margaret is the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Gilbert, niece of Judith and Robert Maxwell, and Elena's younger 4 yr old sister. When her parents died, she was only a year old and can barely remember them. Elena considers her to be very innocent and secretly talks to her as a vampire after her death, saying that it is not yet her time to rejoin her deceased parents. She has the platinum white-blond hair, fair, pink skin with peachy cheeks, and very light blue eyes. Margaret is generally cheerful, upbeat and optimistic, and she is empathetic enough to offer Elena Halloween candy when her older sister seems distressed. She likes animals well enough to adopt a kitten, though it turns out to be Katherine von Swartzschild in animal form. Due to her age, she gives little to no evidence of understanding the activities and concerns of her older sister or the other characters. She perceives Elena’s death as her older sister’s having gone to be with their parents. Her parents died when she was around one year old, so she has little memory of them. It is unknown how she spends her time or if she has any friends, as the reader only sees her with Elena or Aunt Judith.

Vickie was an acquaintance of Elena, Matt, Meredith and Bonnie, but she was never particularly a part of their inner circle. Physically, she was small with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was at the cemetery with Elena when they left the homecoming dance. She had stayed there in the church with Dick Carter, Tyler Smallwood's best friend. She was attacked by Katherine, and that caused her to go insane and she accused Elena of it. Then she is accused of killing Sue because she relapsed after her death and she was the only one present. After her transition away from the "fast crowd," her involvement is considered unlikely. When Bonnie and Meredith go to her house, she catatonically says that the murderer said she is next. She is left under the protection of Damon but is later murdered by Klaus. In Midnight, it was revealed that Vickie was presumably alive and in Fells Church.

Once a rich maiden living happily with her family in the Dark Dimension. Her family was killed by a demon she refused to marry. She then becomes a slave to Old Drohnze but is later rescued by Elena and Damon.

Zander is a benevolent Original werewolf who has moonlight-coloured hair, blue eyes, and was very naïve. He became Bonnie McCullough's "admirer", which angered Damon Salvatore and led him to almost beat Zander almost to death. Zander later on becomes the main love interest of Bonnie. Zander was born in the late XX century. Zander is tall, gorgeous, with clear, true blue eyes, and slim torso with well-muscled arms. His features were sharply cut, the eyebrows arched, the cheekbones high, but his mouth was soft and sensual. He has pure white-blond hair. Zander has a noble personality, kind, gentle, compassionate and mature. He is literally Tyler's opposition or another werewolf infected, since they can not control the savagery and anger due to their wolfish nature. Zander reveals himself as an original werewolf. At first, Bonnie believes this to mean he is really old. However, Zander reveals this just means that he is directly descended from the cavemen who naturally possessed the werewolf gene and did not inherit it from a bite or from being passed down from a family member who had been bitten. He also says that this gives him the power to stop turning on full moons and if he is skilled enough to turn when not on a full moon. He also says that the High Wolf Council sent him to college to investigate as the college was on ley lines making it a supernatural hotspot and that he and his friends have been trying to stop the Vitale society. Bonnie reveals she knows it's on ley lines and that he need not worry as they had taken down most of the members and her friends were on their way to finish the rest off. Zander is very surprised and asks for an explanation off Bonnie. She reveals mostly everything, but leaves out about the Guardians and Dark Dimension, so as not to confuse him.

Caleb is a member of the Smallwood Family and a carrier of the werewolf gene. He is an ancestor of Jacob Smallwood and the cousin of Tyler Smallwood. Physically, Caleb is described as having curly blond hair, and blue eyes. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Smallwood. When he was twelve, is father allowed his brother's son, Tyler, to stay with them for a short period of time. A few years later, in 1986, both Mr. Smallwood and his wife died. Later Caleb moved to Fell's Church, at home of his uncles, in early summer, after the "disappearance" of his cousin Tyler, following the fight against Klaus. Suddenly he finds himself having memories of two conflicting realities (one that was real, and one that was made up of fake memories implanted by the Guardians). The reason he retains his real memories is because he is supernatural (not just a dormant werewolf, but also some kind of spellcaster). He sees newspaper articles depicting each reality as well, and determines from them that Elena and her friends know what has happened and why his memories are so conflicting. Hoping that they also know where Tyler is, he begins doing yard work for aunt Judith, hoping to get closer to Elena so that she will tell him everything. In an effort to speed up this process, he casts a spell that makes the group jealous of everyone else, hoping they will turn against each other and reveal what they know. He give Elena, at their first meeting, a rose that has "found" on the porch (probably linked to the spell). He later watches the group during the rescue of Meredith from drowning, at Hot Springs, but runs away when is saw by the girl and Matt.

When Elena goes to the cemetery, to visit her parents, she also sees Caleb, who has also lost his parents, and reveals that he was the one who run away to Hot Springs. Stefan shows up and throws Caleb against a tombstone out of envy that he might like Elena. He says that he discovered evidence that Caleb is "evil". Stefan takes Elena to the Caleb's shed, and they see that Caleb had collected many photos and newspapers about them. They detail both realities - of the events that actually happened and everyone's fabricated memories. Stefan and Elena conclude that the Guardians just changed these, but Caleb can see some of them for what they really are because he is supernatural. Later Stefan, Meredith and Matt eventually try to confront him in Smallwoods' house, while his aunt and uncle are away, where he reveals his plan. Caleb says that he deduced that the group of friends was behind his contradicting memories and gave Elena the rose, hoping to get closer to her so that he could find out where Tyler went. As Matt stands guard on the first floor, Meredith regretfully informs Caleb that Tyler killed Sue Carson and that they truly don't know what happened to him. Later, the rose given to Elena by Caleb, will be used to destroy an Original Phantom, that fed the jealousy of the group.

Tyler Smallwood is a 18-year-old direct descendant of the Smallwoods that were present at the founding of Fell's Church. Tyler is the stereotypical "jock" type; he is very tall, broad, husky and muscular with jet black hair, pale skin and very dark eyes. He is described as handsome and attractive, although he is rather fleshy. Tyler has fleshy hands and significantly large teeth. Tyler is much taller than Stefan and at least twice as broad. Tyler's family, the Smallwoods, is one founding family of Fell's Church; there appears to be some deep-seated resentment on the part of the Smallwoods over the history of the town's creation. Tyler seems to think that his family is more responsible for the founding than the Fell family, after which the town is named. In the first book, Tyler takes Elena to the graveyard, where she sees his grandfather's grave. Tyler tries to force himself on Elena, but Stefan saves her. Tyler has been antagonistic towards Stefan and Elena ever since. He is later revealed to be a werewolf; it was dormant until he knew how to begin the werewolf gene. Tyler eventually develops a relationship with Caroline Forbes. He is the father of Caroline's unborn babies at the end of The Return: Nightfall. Tyler has a cousin named Caleb Smallwood, who appears in Phantom.

Jacob was the first known member of the Smallwood Family to become a werewolf. He was also a co-founder of Fell's Church. Living in the area near Drowning Creek when Thomas and Honoria Fell arrive in the area and founded Fell's Church; he is also present during the foundation of the city and become one of the Founding Families. On the night of November 12th, after returning from the forest, Jacob was attacked by a werewolf. His wounds were deep, and Honoria Fell tried to treat them with whortleberry and sallow bark, being a witch. She later went to her home and cast her runes, which apparently told her that Jacob would become a wolf himself. Honoria told this to no one but her husband, Thomas. Every night, at the full moon, Jacob became a werewolf, and attacked young girls. On December 20th, Thomas Fell made bullets of silver and, with Honoria, went over to his house. The Fells killed him, and Honoria decided to bury him in the graveyard at the bottom of the hill. Eight and a half months after his death his son was born, inheriting the gene of lycanthropy and transmitting it to the next generations.

Theophilia or Mrs. Flowers is the owner of the boarding house where Stefan lives. They once thought she was just a crazy old woman. During The Return: Nightfall, she is revealed to be a witch like Bonnie and helps the friends search for Elena in the woods. Mrs. Flowers is said to be over 100 years old. She has grey hair and a smiling face with bright black eyes. She seems to suspect what Stefan is and makes knowing references about things lurking in the woods and jokes about Stefan flying off the roof. It is possible that she has the psychic premonitions. In The Return: Nightfall, Mrs. Flowers reveals to Elena that she became a nurse when she was younger. She then states that she is a witch and has known about Stefan all along. She tells Elena that she has a "soft spot" for him and has decided to help Elena find Stefan, who has gone missing. She helps to cure Matt. Mrs. Flowers is educated in the usage of herbs. She tells Bonnie and Meredith that she used to be a medium or vaudeville and her mother died in 1901. After Elena, Matt, Bonnie and Meredith found Stefan, they took him back to the boarding house and found that Mrs. Flowers had left the front door open. They thought she was crazy to do that since there had been attacks by the cemetery which was near the boarding house. Stefan and Damon returned to Fell's Church after Bonnie summoned Stefan. They hid in the boarding house barn to talk but were interrupted by Mrs. Flowers who bought them refreshments and had Stefan's room ready for him, promising not to speak a word of his return before she left, leaving everyone stunned and confused. While doing her gardening, Stefan, Matt, Meredith and Bonnie asked her where they could hide white-ash wood and she directed them to the location in the woods, confused. Matt returned to Fell's Church and stayed at the boarding house with Mrs. Flowers. Meredith said that they made a solid team. Mrs. Flowers enjoyed Matt's company and cared very much for his safety. They worked with Dr. Alpert and Isobel Saitou 's mother and grandmother. One night Matt went and spied Shinichi with several children, including the Sheriff's niece Rebbecca ( Do not get confued with Rebekah Mikaelson). The sheriff went after them abut did not return, and Matt later saw Rebbecca wearing his shirt as a dress. Matt snatched the sheriff's badge from her and took it back to Mrs. Flowers who tried to see what happened to the sheriff through the badge, but could not see clearly since it hadn't been touching his skin.

Shinichi is a magical fox spirit called a "Kitsune" from Japan. At first, he appeared as a dark and mysterious person, who offered a partnership to Damon to destroy Fell's Church. With the help of Damon, Stefan is lured away from the town with the promise of becoming a human again. Shinichi begins to feel for Elena, soon Shinichi falls deeply inlove with Elena and becomes obsessed with her. Shinichi and his twin sister, Misao, used terrible tentacled creatures called Malach to make Damon one of his pawns. The malach entered his body and took him over from the inside, corrupting his body and his soul, bringing him under Shinichi's will. Shinichi made Damon torture Elena and kidnap her, making her believe that Stefan wanted her to be under Damon's care, while he and Misao spread the malach like a virus among the citizens of Fall's Church. In his human form, Shinichi looks like a young and beautiful Asian boy with pitch black hair, red all around the tips and golden eyes. In his real fox form, he has more than six tails and black and red fur. His personality is twisted and evil. Shinichi begins to make moves on Elena. At first, he appeared as a dark and mysterious person, who offered a partnership to Damon in order to destroy the entire Fell's Church. With the influence and help of Damon, Stefan is lured away from the town with the promise of becoming a human again. Shinichi and his twin sister, Misao, used terrible tentacled creatures, which can be the size of a pinhead or big enough to swallow your entire arm, to make Damon one of her pawns. The malach entered his body and took him over from the inside, corrupting his body and his soul, making him entirely under Shinichi's will. Shinichi made Damon torture Elena and even kidnap her, making her believe that Stefan wanted her to be under Damon's care, while he and Misao spread the malach like a virus among the citizens of Fell's Church. He and his sister die in The Return: Midnight, after saying that they regret taking the mission to destroy Fell's Church.

Misao is a magical fix spirit called a "Kitsune" from Japan. She is Shinichi's twin sister. In the beginning of Nightfall, she appeared in Caroline's mirror in her brother's form, and used her bad feelings for Elena to making them sign a contract, which enabled Caroline to get her revenge on Elena and Stefan. Misao possessed Caroline with malach and used her to spread the virus-like creatures in the town, mostly among the young girls. Under their influence, the girls did terrible things to themselves, like home-made piercings and offering sex to the older boys. Although they are brother and sister, Misao has a passionate and sexual attachment to Shinichi, and they share a kiss in the scene where they lure Bonnie, Meredith, Matt, Alaric and Mrs. Flowers into the woods. In her human form, Misao looks like a pretty young Asian girl with long black hair, scarlet all around the tips, and black eyes, while in her fox form she has more than six tails and black and scarlet fur. Her personality is spoiled and arrogant.

The Guardians can recruit adepts among human beings, though endowed with certain qualities. This is the case of Elena, when she was 14, while she was in the car with her parents, the Guardians are near the machine, invisible for human eyes, to kill the young girl and bring them to the Celestial Court. Elena, however, saw them and pointed to his father, who was distracted, causing the accident that killed the parents. Because of their dedication and nature, the guardians can be corrupted by their own personality and desire. This was in the case of an angel who desire more power and turned manipulative, cruel and evil, making what is now known as The Devil.

• Ryannen - She is the Supreme Judge of the Blonde Guardians, and the more resentful of the Court. She is described as sweet, but her dedication and devotion, she becomes cold and cruel with vampires, because Elena refuses to be part of the guardians. Of the three judges, Ryannen is the most hated by the Protagonists. She has fair hair, almost white. She is not very patient and is very organised but also very bossy.

• The Blondes Guardians, with blue eyes and a thin constitution, which oversee the City of Darkness. They hate the delays and only think about work.

• Susurre - She is the Supreme Judge of the Brown Guardians. She has long dark hair, and really good/nice. Not like the other guadians. She is calm in crisis, the peace keeper. She has patience and is very organised and very warm and welcoming.

• The Brown Guardians, with black skin, curly hair and a lithe physique. They are the kindest and oversee the Underworld.

• Idola - She is the Supreme Judge of the Red Guardians and leader of all the three judges. She has red- hair, and is a real rude most of the time, feisty & mean & sharp. Inconsiderate, independent and doesn’t need saving or protecting.

• The Red Guardians, with short hair and almond green eyes. Are severe and intransigent and are the typical Guardians of the Celestial Court.

• Andrés Montez - He's a human Guardian who lives in Costa Rica.

• Javier - He was a Guardian.

• Mylea - She is one of the Principal Guardians.

• Elizabeth Gilbert - She was a guardian, but eventually decides to live among humans, to protect her daughter and husband.

• Elena Gilbert - She was chosen by the Court, as a form of replacement of her mother. Elena was a loyal and loving guardian with friends and family.

• Devil - He was an angel, but his selfish and evil nature caused his exile from heaven.

• Sage - He is half angel and half vampire, as well as a loyal guardian to the court and Elena, Stefan and Damon.

• Katherine von Swartzschild - She is the daughter of Elizabeth and therefore half angel and half vampire. She was corrupted by Klaus, the most dangerous of the Old Ones, and this caused her to never use her benevolent power.

Elena Gilbert starts her senior year of school at Fell’s Church with her friends, Meredith Sulez, Bonnie McCullough, Caroline Forbes, and Matt Honeycutt. Caroline promptly becomes competition with Elena for the position of most popular girl. A mysterious, handsome foreign boy named Stefan Salvatore, also enrolls. All of the girls within the entire school want his attention, but Stefan just brushes them off. This deeply shocks Elena, who has never been brushed off by a boy before. Stefan joins the high school football team with Matt and plays the position of wide receiver. Through flashbacks, we learn that Stefan is a vampire who was born in Renaissance Florence. There he fell in love with a German girl, Katherine von Swartzschild, who had been changed into a vampire by another vampire, Klaus, when she was ill and dying. Although Stefan hoped to marry Katherine, their romance became complicated when Stefan’s seductive older brother, Damon Salvatore, appeared. Although Katherine told Stefan that she loved him, she also seemed romantically interested in Damon. Katherine was almost an exact double of Elena. Vampires survive in sunlight when they wear lapis lazuli. Katherine has a ring of lapis lazuli and gold. Meanwhile, a number of mysterious and frightening events occur in Fell’s Church. A large crow exhibits un-birdlike behavior. Elena and her friends feel a threatening force that causes them to flee from the town’s old cemetery, and Elena loses her hair ribbon in the flight. A homeless man is attacked and partially drained of blood. Stefan experiences fugue states and fears that he has been attacking people during them, even though he has no memory of doing so when he awakes. Elena devises various schemes to pursue Stefan, but Stefan continues to repeatedly avoids her. Stefan is magnetically and strongly drawn to Elena, she reminds him of his past and first love Katherine, and because of this, he is strongly tempted to drink her blood. Elena finally corners Stefan at the Homecoming Dance. She believes he will be unable to refuse her invitation to dance with her, the Homecoming Queen. However, Stefan’s date for the evening is Caroline, who foils Elena’s plan. To show she is not hurt, Elena leaves the dance with Tyler Smallwood and Dick Carter, two boys who are on the football team and who have shown themselves to be hostile to Stefan in the past. Another girl, Vickie Bennett, goes with them. The four go to the cemetery to deface the funerary statues of Honoria Fell and Thomas Fell. Elena perceives one statue moving and revealing an empty space beneath, but no one else shares her vision. A drunken Tyler sexually assaults Elena. Stefan appears and rescues Elena by beating up Tyler. Stefan takes her to his room at the boarding house so that she can clean up before he drives her home.

Elena confronts Stefan to ask why he’s been avoiding her. His responses are evasive, but they lock hands and then kiss, at which point Elena is completely certain that she’s found her other half and her romantic destiny. When Stefan drives Elena home, she learns that Vickie has been found wandering on the road, scratched and raving about having been attacked by some supernatural force. To Elena's confusion, Stefan then seems to draw away from her emotionally. The next day Stefan tries to break up with Elena, but she refuses to let him do so. Without his knowing, she opens a small casket on Stefan’s dresser and finds the hair ribbon she lost when fleeing from the cemetery the first week of school. This convinces her that he has secretly loved her from that time. She writes about the hair ribbon and the romance in her diary, also noting that Stefan still seems to be hiding something from her. Elena, Bonnie, and Meredith plan the school’s Haunted House for Halloween. The lights go off and a seductive college-aged boy enters. He nearly persuades Elena to kiss him despite her love for Stefan. When she refuses, he says he may finally have found the girl he’s been looking for. Then he disappears. Elena brings her diary to a slumber party with Meredith and Bonnie. They hold a dumb supper at which Elena invites her future husband to enter Bonnie’s house. She does not see Stefan, but the seductive college-aged boy appears. He quotes love poetry and tries to kiss Elena. Elena’s head swims and she nearly succumbs, but she manages to resist. The boy reacts with anger but leaves when Elena asks him to do so. Elena then learns that Bonnie’s dog has unexpectedly died during the dumb supper and that her diary has been stolen. Over the next few weeks, Elena becomes more concerned at how Stefan seems to be drawing subtly away from her and keeping secrets. For example, he is wearing an object on a chain around his neck, hidden underneath his clothing, and he refuses to talk about it. He appears haunted and sad. Elena is determined to bring them back together and persuade Stefan to trust her completely. Because Stefan confronted their European History teacher, Mr. Tanner, on the first day of school and corrected him about how teenagers behaved during the Renaissance, Elena plans to wear a Renaissance ball gown as her Halloween costume. She believes this will overcome Stefan’s resistance to her. Much to her distress, however, Stefan’s reaction to seeing her in the dress is shock.

During the Haunted House, Mr. Tanner is given the role of Bloody Corpse. This requires him to be covered with fake blood with a knife lying nearby; he is supposed to sit up unexpectedly to frighten visitors. When Bonnie leads visitors to see the Bloody Corpse, however, she finds that Mr. Tanner actually is dead and covered with blood. A panic results. Tyler tells everyone that the murderer is probably Stefan Salvatore because the strange violence in Fell’s Church began at the time that Stefan arrived in town. This spurious logic turns the crowd into a mob. Elena passes a warning to Stefan through Matt, and Stefan flees back to the boarding house to prepare to leave Fell’s Church. Elena follows him and finds Stefan on the roof of the boarding house with blood smeared on his lips, his fangs extended, and dead birds at his feet. In her shock, she falls off the roof, but Stefan leaps after her and catches her in mid-descent. Elena is unhurt. Elena demands explanations at last. Stefan tells her he became a vampire when he and Damon both pressed Katherine to marry them. Katherine told them that she would make her choice between them, and that night she came to Stefan’s bed and turned him into a vampire. Stefan believed he had been chosen. The next day, however, she told Stefan and Damon that she had gone to both their beds and turned them both into vampires. She gave each a ring and told them she expected they would all live happily ever after as a threesome. Stefan and Damon rejected Katherine’s plan and demanded that she choose between them. Katherine fled in tears. The next day, they found her empty dress in the garden and ashes in the dress. A note nearby told them that she had taken off her lapis lazuli ring to commit suicide and thereby bring the brothers back together. Distraught and blaming one another, Stefan and Damon then dueled with swords. Damon stabbed Stefan through the heart. When Stefan fell and Damon bent over him, Stefan stabbed Damon fatally. Both brothers were thereby locked permanently into their vampiric state. Stefan was buried with Katherine’s ring and beside Damon. When both woke, they separated in fear and confusion. Stefan lived on animal blood in the streets of Florence until Damon, who had become a powerful mercenary soldier, returned and threatened to kill him unless he left. They saw one another intermittently since that time, with Damon invariably threatening to kill Stefan.

Stefan also explains to Elena that vampires have Powers that include the ability to influence and read minds, the ability to turn into animals, and the ability to influence the weather. Damon drinks human blood and so is more Powerful than Stefan, who tries to lead a moral existence by drinking only animal blood. Lapis lazuli protects vampires from sunlight. The mysterious object Stefan wears on a chain around his neck is revealed to be Katherine’s ring. Elena assures a guilt-ridden Stefan that he is not responsible for Katherine’s death or Damon’s. She also persuades Stefan that he is not responsible for the violence in Fell’s Church as he had feared. She now is able to identify Damon as the seductive college-aged boy who nearly persuaded her to kiss him. Since Damon is in Fell’s Church and is evil, Elena concludes Damon must be responsible for the violence. He has not shown himself because he has been trying to make Stefan blame himself. Stefan finds Elena’s argument convincing. Over Stefan’s objections, Elena then persuades Stefan to drink her blood in order to erase the last boundary between them. After returning Elena to her home, Stefan goes to the woods and uses his Power to call Damon, who appears. Damon admits to killing Mr. Tanner and tells Stefan that he must abandon Elena to Damon, who wants her for himself. Stefan refuses. Damon attacks Stefan and drinks his blood against his will, a process that is extremely painful. When Damon releases Stefan, Stefan attempts to stagger back to his car but is attacked again from behind, after which he falls unconscious. The next day Elena finds Stefan has disappeared. Furious and certain as to who should be blamed, she goes to the cemetery and shouts Damon’s name to summon him. Here, the book ends.

The Struggle begins with Elena Gilbert standing in the cemetery shouting for Damon Salvatore to answer her. When he appears, she accuses him of being responsible for the disappearance of his brother, Stefan Salvatore. Damon urges her to forget Stefan and uses his Powers to try to persuade her to become his. When he fails, he promises Elena that she’ll be his before winter and leaves. As a parting shot, he tells her that he killed Stefan the night before. Unconvinced that Stefan is dead, Elena sets out to find him. She nearly freezes in the snowstorm that Damon has called up with his Powers, but she is rescued by Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez. Bonnie uses her psychic powers to determine that Stefan is alive but in a place that is always dark and wet. Having guessed that this location is a well on the abandoned Old Francher place, Matt Honeycutt and the girls set out to rescue Stefan. They succeed, but Stefan is near death from his ordeal. While the other three set out to find medical help, Elena insists Stefan drink her blood to restore him. Elena’s blood loss causes her to be unusually tired, but she recovers soon. Stefan can’t remember who attacked him, but Elena is sure it was Damon. When Elena returns to school, the replacement European History teacher is Alaric Saltzman, whose first act is to encourage all the students to talk about their recent terrifying experiences to get their feelings out. Stefan is suspicious of this un-teacherly behavior. Alaric invites all the students to a get-together at his house in the evening. Elena and Stefan show up, but when Elena leaves Stefan to find food, she runs into Damon, who is there in the guise of “Damon Smith,” a college student on vacation who is a friend of Sue Carson, one of Elena’s fellow students. Stefan and Damon have a confrontation that Elena interrupts when she fears that Damon’s goal is simply to make Stefan seem irrationally violent (and therefore Mr. Tanner’s murderer). In leaving the house, however, Elena finds a slip of violet paper in her purse with a line from her stolen diary. Elena warns Bonnie and Meredith that “Damon Smith” is the murderer, although she won’t tell them why she believes this. Meanwhile, Vickie Bennett has returned to school, but she behaves irrationally by undressing in the cafeteria and then accusing Elena of being evil. Stefan and Matt have disappeared to hunt for vervain, a plant that interferes with a vampire’s ability to control others’ minds. Elena spends a night at Bonnie’s house where she dreams pleasurably about dancing with Damon. She wakes abruptly to find a crow in the room and vampire marks on her neck, and she realizes that she invited Damon into Bonnie’s house during the dumb supper. When she returns home, Stefan is there with the vervain that will protect her—a few hours too late. She does not tell Stefan about her experience with Damon because she wants to avoid a confrontation between Stefan and Damon that she is sure Stefan, with his weaker Powers, will lose.

Elena and the other girls set out to find the diary thief. Despite Elena’s initial inclination to blame Damon, they identify Caroline Forbes as the culprit. Elena follows Caroline at lunch into a deserted schoolroom where she overhears Caroline and Tyler Smallwood discuss how to use the diary against Stefan and Elena. Their plan is to wait until Elena is chosen to play “The Spirit of Fell’s Church” during the annual Founder’s Day ceremony. Caroline will also be chosen to play a role. At that time, she will walk onstage and read Elena’s diary aloud to the crowd. Caroline and Tyler believe that Elena’s statement in her diary that Stefan took her ribbon from the cemetery on the day the homeless man was attacked will suffice to prove to the police that Stefan is the murderer. Elena, Meredith, and Bonnie decide to burgle Caroline’s house to retrieve the diary before she can use it on Founder’s Day. When Caroline and her family return home, they are forced to flee without having found anything more than Caroline’s diary. Elena, however, is unable to reach the door in time and ends up on a second-floor balcony. Damon, who has been lurking on the roof, pulls her up to avoid detection. Once again, he suggests to Elena that she’d be better off with him than with Stefan. Once again, she rejects him. This time, the vervain defeats Damon’s attempt to influence her with his Powers. Damon tells Elena that if she’d give him some of her blood, he’d get the diary back. Elena jumps off the roof to show Damon that she’d rather be dead than endure his presence. Damon rescues her before she falls to her death. He then jumps with her to the ground. After telling her that he’s done a favor and will collect the next time he sees her, he shifts to crow form and flies away. Elena’s Aunt Judith prepares a mock Thanksgiving dinner a week before the real Thanksgiving to ensure nothing goes wrong. Elena invites Matt and Bonnie as her guests.

Aunt Judith’s fiancé, Robert Maxwell, also appears and brings “Damon Smith” as his guest. When Elena’s little sister Margaret Gilbert appears with her new white kitten, Elena seizes the kitten and sticks it into Damon’s face, knowing that animals often sense a vampire’s nature and become hostile. The kitten hisses and spits before fleeing the room, leaving everyone to wonder why Elena is thrusting cats into guests’ faces. After dinner, Damon leaves, but Elena knows that he has now gained an invitation to her house and can return whenever he pleases. She is about to ask Stefan for help despite her fear that he will confront Damon and lose the fight when she realizes that her house was actually built in two parts: a first part before the Civil War and a second part afterwards. Although Damon was invited into one part, her bedroom is in the other. Damon shows up as Elena expected, but when he is unable to enter her room, he threatens to enter Margaret’s room instead. Elena leaves her room to protect her little sister. Elena wakes up the next morning in her bedroom. She is surprised that Damon has not turned her into a vampire, but she is weak and dizzy from blood loss. When she sees Stefan later, she confesses to him that Caroline plans to use her diary against Stefan. Stefan, who’s been wondering why Elena has been so worried, is relieved that she’s not rejecting him because of his vampire nature. He refuses to leave town and says that he and Elena will face the situation together. He then drinks her blood again. Afterwards, he proposes to Elena and offers her Katherine’s ring. She accepts but says that the engagement must be kept secret because she is still seventeen and Aunt Judith thinks that Stefan has been a bad influence on Elena. Elena has now lost quite a bit of blood and, on several occasions, drunk the blood of Stefan or Damon in exchange. As a result, she is somewhat dazed during the Founder’s Day ceremony. The latest plan is that Elena’s friends will steal the diary back from Caroline because she will not be able to carry it in her nineteenth-century costume, but Caroline foils them by obtaining her reticule early and bringing the diary with her.

When Caroline pulls out the diary to read onstage, though, she finds she brought her own diary and not Elena’s. Elena spots Damon in the audience and realizes that he has saved her and Stefan by substituting the diaries. She goes to ask him his motive and refuses to believe him when he says “for my own purposes.” Aunt Judith arrives and encourages Elena and Damon to spend more time together. Believing that Damon is influencing Aunt Judith, Elena becomes angry. She tells Damon she’s marrying Stefan and shows him Katherine’s ring on her finger, at which point he becomes angry and leaves. Aunt Judith forbids Elena to marry Stefan, and Elena takes Matt’s car to the boarding house to find Stefan. She returns when she cannot find him, but she feels the presence of evil in the brewing storm, and she spots a large white owl chasing her. She screams at Damon to leave her alone, but she drives off Wickery Bridge while speeding to safety. She then drowns. Meanwhile, Stefan is confronting Tyler, Caroline, and several of Tyler’s bulky friends in a Quonset hut. When Bonnie and Meredith find him, Bonnie abruptly has a psychic realization that Elena is drowning. She, Meredith, and Stefan race to save her but are too late. Stefan sends Bonnie and Meredith to find the police and then sets out to commit suicide. First, he returns to the Quonset hut and drains all the boys to the point of unconsciousness. Stefan then uses his new Powers to turn into a falcon and find Damon. Stating that Damon made a mistake in not killing him and Elena together, Stefan attacks. The fight is interrupted, however, when Elena wakes up in a state of great confusion and arrives to save the brother she’s now sure she loves: Damon.

The third book deals with Elena's adjustment to her vampirism, as well as her confusion at loving both brothers. Stefan finds Elena dead, and believes that the force that was chasing Elena was Damon. They fight, and in the middle of it, Elena awakens, and attacks Stefan— as Damon had given Elena more of his blood in the exchange and as such viewed Stefan as a threat to her creator. They stop the fight, Stefan is broken-hearted assuming that her attack on him meant she loved Damon more, and Damon tries to clear everything up, being very nice and rational to Elena. Still caring for Elena whether she loved him or not, Stefan convinced Matt to feed Elena blood to help her, leaving Matt in shock because of what she had become, as well from discovering Stefan had almost killed Tyler and his buddies, leaving Caroline unharmed. Damon left Elena in the attic of Robert E. Lee's history teacher for her safety and she awoke days later to stumble across her own funeral reception. After reading her diary, Elena's memories returned clearly and was overjoyed and relieved when Stefan forgave her. But the Other Power was taking control of the animals in Fell's Church, driving many to dispose of their pets. Elena convinces the brothers to work together to stop this powerful force. While having to stay out of the way of the town's new vampire hunter (the new teacher, Alaric Saltzman), Stefan, Damon, Elena and her friends search for the source of the dark presence that has overtaken the town and which they also suspect to be behind Elena's death. They find the answer in Honoria Fell's tomb, and it turns out to be Katherine, who in fact did not die centuries before as the brothers had thought. Instead, she had faked her death, having her maid bring ashes from the kitchen, lay them out on her dress, and put her lapis lazuli ring on top, while she had another forged, making it looked as if she had killed herself. Since then, Stefan has lived with the guilt of her death, while Katherine has spent that time seething with anger. She decides to take revenge, and is jealous of Elena for "stealing" both brothers' love. Katherine reveals that she is the one who attacked Vicki and ran Elena off the bridge. They are all tortured brutally, and Elena ends this by knocking Katherine into the light of the tomb, while unsuccessfully getting herself out of the sunshine fast enough. She dies in the end, saying that she wants both brothers' words that they would take care of each other because Damon is often misunderstood, and she wants the fraternal rivalry to end, also telling Stefan that she loved him, and that she did not want this to happen, causing pain for him as Katherine had.

In early June, six months after the death of Elena Gilbert , Caroline Forbes arranges a surprise birthday party for Meredith Sulez on June 6th The other guests are Bonnie McCullough , Sue Carson , and Vickie Bennett . Vickie is now over the emotional distress and seeming insanity Inflicted upon her by Katherine von Swartzschild , but she remains nervous and passive. Shortly before the party, Bonnie has a dream In Which Elena tries to tell her something important. The dream ends with Elena and the surroundings turning into a horror setting, and Bonnie believesa That in the end she was not speaking to the real Elena. Meredith is not happy at the surprise, and Bonnie tries to console her at least, That the party is not being held on her real birthday, May 30th Meredith responds That her real birthday is June 6 but her parents gave up celebrating that day because June 6 That was the day Meredith's grandfather went insane from a vampire attack and tried to kill both Meredith and her grandmother. Bonnie tries to reach Elena with the other girls using a Ouija board. When Vickie goes to get the board from the closet, she feels someone grab her. When the other girls investigate, they find nothing there. Bonnie is able to reach Elena, who warns them That a new evil is coming to Fell's Church and they need help to fight it. The message ends abruptly and the lights go out. When the girls try to fumble Their Way to the door to escape the house, Bonnie feels a large touch her sweaty hand. She screams, and the girls separate in panic. Vickie Sue and run upstairs, Caroline runs outside, and Bonnie and Meredith hide in the living room behind a chair. Bonnie Sue hears scream upstairs "Vickie! Vickie! No! "Then she hears glass breaking. She and Meredith go upstairs. The lights come on, and they find Vickie in a state of shock in the bedroom. Sue has fallen out of the window and is lying dead with a broken neck below. Bonnie and Meredith unsuccessfully try to persuade the Fell's Church Authorities and the supernatural That force has arrived. When they can not do so, they attempt to persuade the other high school students to join in Their fight against the new evil. Caroline says she is afraid and going to stay with her ​​family in Herron. Tyler Smallwood tells her story Bonnie That is not credible because she was hiding in the living room and not able to see what really happened. Only Matt is willing to side with Bonnie and Meredith, and Matt Appears to be depressed to the point of indifference to everything. That Bonnie Tyler suspects was the owner of the large sweaty Hand That grabbed her, in part because Tyler had no way of knowing That she was hiding in the living room during the attack unless he had been there, but Meredith dismisses the Possibility of Tyler being The killer on the ground That Tyler is too stupid to organize the attack.

Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt decode Elena's dream-message to That mean they need to use blood and hair to summon Stefan Salvatore to fight the new evil. They Obtain dried blood and hair from the crypt where Stefan and his brother Damon Salvatore Katherine fought. Bonnie uses the blood and hair in a spell where she Reaches out to Stefan. Just before Bonnie's message arrives, Stefan is in Florence, Italy, having an argument with Damon. Damon has picked up a one-night stand named Rachael, Damon and Stefan berates his moral failings for drinking human blood in, especially from unwilling human girls. Damon responds with the new hotel only realities are pleasure and power and That Should Stefan join the winning side. Stefan Damon retorts That is choosing girls who remind him of Elena. Bonnie's psychic message arrives abruptly, leaving Stefan with the knowledge That Elena wants him to return to Fell's Church. Stefan returns promptly to Fell's Church, Accompanied by Damon. They join with Matt, Bonnie, and Meredith at the barn owned by Mrs.. Flowers . When Bonnie asks why Damon came, Damon responds That they mixed up some of his hair with Stefan's and so he, too, was Summoned by Bonnie's spell. Bonnie and Meredith tell Stefan and Damon what happened and ask for help. Stefan asks Bonnie agrees but to contact Elena for him and let him ride along psychically So that he can see Elena once more. Bonnie refuses, saying That the new evil is too powerful and dangerous. Meredith comments That it's odd That yet another supernatural evil has arrived, and Stefan explains That evil is attracted to Fell's Church because blood soaked into the ground during a Civil War battle. Matt agrees That there are many soldiers' graves in the woods. Mrs. Flowers enters and hands grape juice and cookies to the humans around. She offers to let Stefan stay in his old room, and she warns them all that they have Their work cut out for them. Whether Mrs. Everyone wonders. Flowers is just a daffy old woman or something more. Stefan organizes the fight by suggesting an interview with Vickie. While Damon controls her parents' minds to Prevent interruptions, Stefan Vickie persuades him to invite al. He then hypnotizes Vickie, who tells him That Sue was thrown out the window by a tall blond man with blue eyes. Certain Vickie is the man will come for her and kill her next. Her belief is reinforced in the next few minutes while objects in her room start to move, lightning cuts through the sky, and the words "Goodnight, Sweetheart" Appear written on her mirror with lipstick. Stefan gives Vickie Vervain to help her resist the man's influence and promises That they will all keep watch over her. The others realize That Stefan believesa Sue's killer is a vampire. After delegating to watch over Damon Vickie first, Stefan heads to the funeral home to Examine Sue's corpse. He finds a slash on her chest That he believesa significant. Matt comments that Bonnie That there seems to be no point to Their fighting because there is always more evil in the world. Returning to Vickie's house to take over the watch, Stefan tries but fails to reach Elena psychically. He believesa that "tall, blond man with blue eyes," he sounds like someone has heard about, but he can not identify the memory.

The next evening, Stefan and Matt head to the public library So that Stefan can read Honoria Fell's journal, he hopes Which contains information That will confirm a theory he's come up with. Bonnie and Meredith are left to guard Vickie. At the library, Matt tells Stefan about his despair at the endless presence of evil in the world. Stephen expresses his philosophy: it does not matter if evil is never going to be defeated Permanently: you just have to go on trying. This philosophy is persuasive to Matt and his depression Causes to disappear Permanently. While Stefan lingers to find a book by Gervase of Tilsbury, Matt heads back to help Bonnie and Meredith guard Vickie. He arrives to find Meredith and Bonnie asleep succumbing to Damon's seductions. Matt Bonnie orders back to the car where she will be safe and confronts Damon. Matt Damon shows That he could kill him if he wanted to, but when Matt holds companies and refuses to run, Damon shows him respect. Matt Damon tells That he's a murderer because he killed Mr. Tanner , but Damon says he killed Mr. Only after Mr. Tanner. Tanner stabbed him with a knife. Stefan then comes up with a plan with the new hotel rest follow. Meredith and Bonnie stage a loud argument during graduation. Meredith says she will go alone to Elena's grave that night to lay a flower there. Their argument is overheard by the party Intended to overhear it: Tyler Smallwood, who shows up and changes into a werewolf to attack Meredith. Stefan, Matt, and Bonnie are waiting for Tyler, though, and they Appear and tie him up. They lead him to the ruined church and threaten to amputate a limb, Which will have the effect of destroying his werewolf abilities, unless he tells them what he knows. That explains Stefan That he knows the killer cut Sue's chest to let Tyler drink her blood. The blood Initiated Tyler into his hereditary powers as a werewolf. Because Jacob Smallwood, a town founder and contemporary of Honoria Fell, was bitten by a werewolf, all his male descendents were similarly infected. Tyler refuses to admit any Involvement until Stefan feints with the ax. Hysterical with terror, Tyler tells them That the killer is an Old One, an Original vampire, who can not be killed and can only be injured by one type of wood. Tyler does not know what type. He also says That the killer plans an attack on Vickie that night. Stefan and the others abandon Tyler and race to Vickie's house, where they'd left on guard Damon. Damon is there, but Vickie is dead. Because of the blood gushed everywhere That in her bedroom, she believesa everyone went mad with guilt over having killed Sue and stabbed herself with a pair of scissors. Damon blames Stefan for not having stopped the Old One. Damon says the Old One was unstoppable. That insinuates After Stefan enjoyed watching Damon, Damon, Stefan hits. Matt, Bonnie, and Meredith break up the fight. Damon leaves, saying he'll kill Stefan That if Stefan comes after him. When Stefan and the others return to where they left Tyler, he is nowhere to be seen.

Instead of going home, Bonnie visits Stefan's room. She is afraid of his mood swings and hopes That if she offers to let him see Elena, he'll settle down. When she finds Elena in a vision, though, Stefan and Elena have only a few minutes together before the Old One shows up and begins to control Bonnie's mind. The Old One identifies himself as Klaus, the vampire who turned Katherine. He destroys Elena's appearance to hurt both her and Stefan, but Stefan refuses to turn away from his beloved and uses his own Powers to restore her appearance. Before Klaus destroys Bonnie's dream-vision, Elena tells Stefan that one of Klaus' victims will know how to defeat him. Stefan is planning to go to Europe to hunt for a victim when Bonnie realizes Klaus That is probably the vampire who attacked Meredith's grandfather. They all plan a trip to the mental institution where he is housed. Meredith's grandfather is insane but able to tell them That white ash wood is Klaus' weakness. When Stefan and the others return, they make a spear of white ash wood. They then learn That Klaus has kidnapped Caroline and will kill her that night-the night of the summer solstice - unless Stefan comes alone to the old Francher place in the woods to fight him. Bonnie, Meredith, Matt and Stefan refuse to let it alone, but Stefan walks off and threatens to kill them if they follow. Naturally, they follow anyway, though they try not to be seen. A confrontation occurs in the woods, with Klaus and Tyler fighting Stefan, Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt. Caroline is rescued. Bonnie Tyler knocks unconscious, but only after Tyler rakes Meredith's leg to the bone and gives Matt a concussion. Klaus Stefan stabs multiple times to kill him slowly. Damon shows up and throws his own spear at Klaus, distracting him. Damon and Bonnie try to help Stefan, who is too badly wounded to save. Stefan asks Damon to promise to save the others, and Damon agrees when he can find no way to save Stefan's life. The promise is made moot when Klaus reappears and hits Damon with lightning, knocking him unconscious. Klaus is about to kill Bonnie, who is vainly trying to shelter Stefan with her body, when Bonnie suddenly calls upon Elena. Elena's Ghost Appears, along with the ghosts of the Civil War soldiers. The soldiers seize Klaus and carry him away. Tyler Fleece. Elena offers to heal Stefan, who Decides he wants to live in order to go on trying it for good in the world. Elena's ghost then kisses all the wounded to heal them. Then midnight arrives, and with it Elena's time as a guardian spirit is up. She is being drawn away to her final reward when Stefan screams her name in agony at Their separation. Elena is suddenly restored to human life and deposited naked on the ground. The girls rush to offer her Their clothes. Elena and Stefan joyfully reunite and embrace, and the others embrace Elena as well. The only exception is Damon, who stands apart and says he is not like the others. Matt says that Damon is not that different, that he voluntarily came to Fell's Church to help them, and killed Mr. Tanner in self-defense. That Damon also admits he did not rescue Vickie from Klaus because he had not been able to enter Vickie's house without an invitation. Although Damon has now been exculpated from every major sin attributed to him, he continues to refuse to join the others. After giving Elena his leather jacket, he walks away into the woods.

One week after Elena has come back from the dead, she is in a childlike state, unable to read and almost completely unable to speak. Her understanding is impaired but not completely absent. Because of Elena's seeming impairments, her beloved Stefan Salvatore is protecting her from her best friends: Meredith Sulez, Bonnie McCullough, Matt Honeycutt and Caroline Forbes. That although he feels it is wrong to drink Elena's blood when she is unable to give reasoned consent, Elena makes gestures to insist that he drink, unable to control his urges, he gives in to her. Damon Salvatore watches outside Caroline's window as she talks to an independent image of herself. Damon believes the mirror-Caroline to be a supernatural evil force that is playing some sort of trick on Caroline. He feels a sharp puncture on his neck while he watches, which surprises him not because mosquitoes bite into vampires. After the mirror-Caroline goes away, Damon persuades Caroline to let him into her bedroom. He is about to bite her when he realizes he is being influenced by something, it is susppected that the supernatural being is the same thing as what was controlling the figure in the mirror that had been talking to Caroline. He snaps out of the trance type phase he was in and leaves. Afterwards, he goes around the town of Fell's Church, biting an seducing young women while he shoplifts. He does not have sex with them because, as a vampire, he is impotent. Vampires only enjoy Bloodlust and its satisfaction. Damon visits Stefan and Elena, beats up Stefan and drinks his blood, and demands the return of the leather jacket he gave Elena. Stefan allows Elena's friends to visit her. Suspicious of Caroline, who claims to have been raped by Klaus, Meredith and Bonnie require her to sign a blood oath That she will not hurt Elena, and they threaten to tell her sorority sisters future if she betrays Elena or Stefan. A Crow Appears and vomits blood on the paper they all sign. The blood-vomit is in gothic script and reads: "Elena is mine. -D." When the four humans show up at Stefan's room in the boarding house owned by Mrs. Flowers , Elena is floating in a lotus position and Exuding sheer goodness. Elena does not Recognize any of them. She kisses Caroline, who is upset by Elena's apparent lesbianism. That explains Elena Meredith is behaving like a prairie dog, prairie dogs as they kiss another when they meet one another to Recognize. Caroline rejects this explanation. Bonnie thinks Elena is pure and can not be a Therefore pervert the way Caroline thinks. Elena kisses Meredith and Bonnie. Caroline, who is increasingly upset, says Stefan likes to watch girls kissing. Stefan uses his Caroline Powers to eject from the room. The others say negative things about Caroline, who overhears and reenters. Caroline starts to use Black Magic to attack the others, but Elena drives back the darkness with her White Power. She Develops wings That glow, but then they disappear. Caroline leaves, Matt and Elena kisses while Bonnie and Meredith distract Stefan So that he will not have to watch his Fiancé kiss another man.

Meanwhile, Damon seduces a woman named Damaris, who he does not like, and drinks her blood. When he leaves her, he may have turned her into a vampire. He does not know or care, but thinks her Vampirism may be amusing when her husband finds her. Bonnie and Meredith have a sleepover together. In the middle of the night, Bonnie gets up and, in trance, starts to channel an entity speaking backward Angielski. She records it on Meredith's cell phone. Meredith transcribes the recording. That Elena warns it will have an Awakening That they should be prepared for. The next day, Stefan says That he is going to leave Fell's Church with Elena because her reanimation has made her blood too attractive to vampires, who are attracted to Fell's Church anyway because there ley lines cross. Bonnie is upset by the proposed departure. As Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt drive home from the boarding house, they are surrounded and attacked by ambulatory trees, Which poison the three humans with Their sap. Bonnie uses her psychic powers to call to Damon for help, but even though he is nearby, he does not respond at first. When he does respond, he Decides to save the nearly-dead Bonnie. Returning to the boarding house with her, he nearly runs into Stefan, who is driving with the floating Elena tethered to his car like a balloon. Damon realizes Stefan That is actually a super-powered because he has been drinking Elena's spiritually super-charged blood, and he was letting Damon beat him up before in order to Conceal the power of Elena's blood. Stefan volunteers to save Meredith and Matt Damon while cares for Bonnie. Bonnie Damon Rescues by partially undressing her, floating her in a bath of warm water, and then feeding her his blood. Meredith, now fully Recovered, threatens him if she finds he has removed Bonnie's panties. Finding That he did not to so, she and the others relent. Bonnie, HOWEVER, wakes up and accuses Damon of watching while the trees attempted to kill them all. The others reject Damon, who leaves in spite of Elena's incoherent That request he stay. Stefan and Elena float in the forest together, kissing and drinking one another's blood, while unbeknownst to them Damon watches jealously from a tree. Damon then discovers the presence of another person, Shinichi, who seems to have supernatural powers.

The next morning, Elena wakes up able to speak. She and Stefan engage in kissing and possibly sexual intercourse. Stefan then buys her a Jaguar. She and Stefan then go for a celebration picnic with Bonnie, Meredith and Matt. During the picnic, Matt tells them with the new hotel fifteen-year-old Tami Bryce kissed him and rubbed up against him, and he can not understand That why. Elena tells the others That she saw a monster inside Damon Tentacled the day before. That when she says Damon ignored Bonnie, he was being Influenced by a supernatural evil termed a Malach . The others agree and Malach That may have been affecting Tami And that they will mount a campaign to save the girls of Fell's Church from the new evil. Meanwhile, Shinichi, now Identified as a kitsune , and Damon are watching unseen. That Damon says he does not want "his" girls-Bonnie and Elena - hurt. Shinichi puts Damon in a trance and encourages the Malach inside Damon to grow larger and stronger. Damon tells Stefan That there is a website Referring to an organization, the Shi no Shi, that vampires can turn to humans. Stefan is suspicious but agrees to visit Damon in the woods at a Particular time to learn more about it. He leaves a note on the computer for Elena and sneaks off while she sleeps. Damon changes the note to read that Stefan has Decided to leave Elena for her own good. Elena wakes and believesa That she has been abandoned by Stefan. She Decides to find Stefan with the help of her friends. During a sleepover with Bonnie and Meredith, Elena Decides That this is the Awakening Referred to in Bonnie's channeled message. Meanwhile, Matt is attacked by malachs on the way back from the boarding house. The next day, Matt returns to the boarding house, where Mrs. Flowers reveals herself to be a witch and binds Matt's wounds. Matt has two unexplained punctures on his neck, Which everyone dismisses. The sheriff calls the boarding house to warn Matt That he is a suspect for the removal of stop signs from Intersections. Matt denies the charge.

Meredith and Bonnie set out to visit Caroline to see if she is Malach-infested. Caroline is scuttling on the ceiling of her living room like a lizard, and she runs under the bed in her mother's room. When Caroline's mother faints, Meredith and Bonnie carry her to her bedroom and deposit her on the bed. The possessed Caroline, or some other force, grabs Their Ankles. Bonnie calls Damon to help. Damon arrives, frees Bonnie and Meredith, Bonnie kisses, and leaves. Matt and Elena visit Tami, who has super-glued a homemade stripper outfit onto herself. She makes sexual Overtures to Matt, who is horrified. Matt and Elena then head toward the Old Wood for further Investigations, while Bonnie and Meredith head to the house of a friend Isobel Saitou . Isobel has mutilated herself, and Dr.. Alpert thinks she should go to the hospital. All set out, but Meredith and Bonnie leave to find Mrs. Flowers. In the Old Woods, Matt Damon and Elena encounter, who orders them to kiss and then have sex while he films them with a video camera. Elena at first tries to Cooperate, but Matt objects and is tortured by Damon. Elena Damon Decides That is not acting like himself. She attempts to rescue Matt Damon persuading it to drive away. HOWEVER, she leaps out of the speeding car, hoping to make her way on foot to a nearby house. She is badly injured by her jump, HOWEVER, and she can not find the house because she is caught in a trap snowglobe designed by Shinichi. Damon suddenly comes to himself with vague memories of hurting Elena. He finds Shinichi and threatens to torture him. Shinichi reveals Elena's location and how to cure her injuries, and he leaves with a kitsune Damon That key will magically open any door. Damon Creates a door to whatever room he finds Elena Necessary to heal. Being in a spot not covered by the rules governing his fairytale ability to tell her the truth, Damon confesses to her That he and Shinichi kidnapped Stefan And that Shinichi and his twin sister, Misao , who are kitsunes evil plan to destroy Fell's Church. The kitsunes are the ones behind the Malach, the ambulatory trees, and the sexually precocious and self-mutilating girls. Damon also drinks Elena's blood and realizes That it has amazing powers, Including the power to restore a vampire's sexual potency. Damon's possession returns, HOWEVER, and he attacks Elena, who Fleece with the key through a series of doors. At last, she directs the key to open the door to taking her someplace the kitsune can not see. When Damon chases her to this place, Elena finds herself within a power she identifies as Wings of Redemption. Rainbow-colored wings open on her back and enfold her and Damon, who screams as he is redeemed from all his sins. He also forgets everything, so Elena opens up her violet-blue Wings of Remembrance, Which allow him to remember. That Damon realizes he has been possessed by Shinichi And that he'd been playing the villain, and he calls himself an abomination, kisses Elena's foot, and vows to be her slave. Elena then opens up her white Wings of Purification. Still with the wings open, she Causes Damon to lie face-down on her lap and uses her fingernails to pull the Malach out of his spine. The Malach had originally Entered via the puncture in Damon's neck at that Damon mistook for a mosquito at the beginning of the book. Damon stands up and stomps on the Malach to kill it. Damon and Elena then concoct a plan to defeat Shinichi and Misao. First, HOWEVER, Elena makes a side trip to visit Stefan, who is imprisoned in a dungeon in a hell dimension. She makes him drink her blood to regain some of her strength.

Meanwhile, Matt has woken up. Tracking Elena, he ends up at the house she was trying to reach. There another girl, Kristen Dunstan , makes sexual Overtures to him. He continues into the woods and finally runs across Meredith, Bonnie, and Mrs.. Flowers. The four then encounter Isobel and Dr. Alpert. They reach the boarding house, but possessed other girls attack. Appears Damon, and then two of the group are revealed to be Shinichi and Misao, who have been playing with them all along. Damon, Shinichi, and also Dr. Misao. Alpert, Mrs.. Flowers, Matt, Meredith, and Bonnie prisoner. Caroline is also present as one of the helpers of Shinichi and Misao. Elena watches hidden from the trees and wonders if Damon has betrayed her while the others are herded into a clearing. Bonnie is tied spread-eagled to a makeshift altar to the ambulatory trees, and another walking tree with a penis approaches her. Damon magically summons a pair of scissors to cut out Meredith's tongue. Elena hesitates, filled with doubt, but then she realizes That the solution to the situation is belief. She jumps off the tree where she has been hiding and, because she has belief, she Develops a pair of golden wings, called Wings of the Wind, that enable her to fly. She seizes Misao and the scissors, and flies upward. Misao is heavy and Elena falters, but everyone calls out That they believe in her, and she flies higher. She starts to cut Misao's tails off to diminish Misao's power. Damon summons a magic sword and cuts Bonnie free. Misao begs for mercy and Elena finally gives clues where to find the magic key That will release Stefan. Shinichi agrees to give Damon a psychic map if Damon surrenders his memories of the last few days to him. Damon agrees even though losing his memories involves losing his redemption. Elena opens the Wings of Purification again and purifies the Old Woods, turning it into a place where flowers grow and removing the ambulatory trees. The good guys then let Shinichi and Misao him, but not before Misao admits to pretending to be Shinichi pretending to be the mirror-Caroline. Caroline says she is pregnant and needs a husband. The next day, Caroline INFORMS her family and the sheriff That she is pregnant and Matt is Responsible. A judge related to Caroline's family signs an order for Matt's arrest. Thus joins Matt Damon and Elena in Their quest to find and rescue Stefan. Damon refers to Elena as his 'Princess of Darkness', as he intends to win her away from Stefan. Here the first book of the Return trilogy ends.