This episode starts with the morning after the hot sex scene between Damon & Elena from the last episode. Damon wakes up to realize Elena is missing. He calls out to her, she is around and jumps right back in to bed after saying that she was supposed to be back at school 20 minutes ago! Damon says he's 'happy' and they make love again. At the same time Caroline & Stefan are continuing their conversation about how it is not good news that Elena is sired to Damon. Stefan says maybe Elena might not react like the hybrid do to Klaus. As a vampire to vampire siring is rare and different. Caroline is not so sure - she insists that Elena has become Damon's 'lapdog'! She wants to check with Tyler how a sire bond works. Stefan tells her to just ask Tyler about it & not mention it to anyone else till they're sure about it and how it works. She agrees.

Tyler, Hayley & Kim are watching Adrian, the only hybrid left who is sired to Klaus, transforming. Adrian is in pain and says he cannot do this anymore. Kim can't see him in pain & asks Tyler & Hayley to stop torturing him. Hayley says that Adrian is the last hybrid left who is sired to Klaus. If he doesn't break the bond and goes in front of Klaus, he might be in danger. Kim refuses to listen & takes Adrian away.

Elena is leaving for school and Damon comes with her to the door to kiss her goodbye. She tells him that they should tell Stefan about them but Damon tells her that the time has never been right for them and they should be able to enjoy one secret selfish day before they tell Stefan & destroy his. Elena agrees to holding it off for one day. Just as she opens the door to leave, Stefan arrives. They all say awkward 'Hi's and Elena leaves. Stefan awkwardly tells Damon that they need to talk.

Stefan tells Damon about the sire bond and Damon rubbishes it. He insists that Caroline & Stefan are just not happy that he is the reason Elena is finally comfortable being a vampire. Stefan asks him to prove him wrong. He reminds Damon that Elena nearly killed herself by not being able to drink from any other food sources but the vein. Damon agrees to give it a try but is confident that Elena's doppelgänger body will reject the blood from the blood bag even if he tells her to drink it.

At school Elena runs in to Bonnie & Caroline who ask her if she is okay. She says she is fine and that Matt is living with Jeremy to keep his hunter thing in check. She asks them if they are game for a girl's night at the Salvatore house and tempts them with the wine cellar collection. Bonnie agrees - she wants to try out some spells Shane has been helping her with. Caroline teases her about how the Prof. is just Shane now.

Elena spies Damon in the background behind the 2 girls. Caroline is not too sure if Stefan & Damon would like the idea of the girls hanging out at their place but Elena says now that Jeremy wants to kill her, the Salvatore house is her house too. Damon beckons her to follow him and she excuses herself from the conversation. In the classroom Damon shows her a blood bag & tells her that she forgot her 'lunch'. Elena is surprised and tells Damon that she can't drink from the blood bag. He tells her that the last time she tried it circumstances were different & she should give it another try...for his sake. She takes a few sips & is happy to discover that she can drink from a blood bag and doesn't have to hurt people anymore. She hugs Damon, thanks him with a kiss and leaves for her class. Damon of course is not happy with the discovery.

Hayley is shown going through papers on Prof. Shane's desk when he walks in on her. She tells him that she is meeting her part of the deal but Shane hasn't got what she asked for - information about her parents. Shane shows her a flash drive which contains information about her parents and her lineage and tells her that as soon as she breaks the last hybrid's sire bond and he has 12 hybrids who aren't sired to Klaus, she can get the information. She mentions difficulties with Adrian and Shane states then Tyler will have to be included in the 12 hybrids. Stefan talks to Caroline on the phone. She tells him that the hybrids are sired to Klaus as they're grateful that he relieved them of the pain they had to go through while turning every full moon hence by turning enough times they can get rid of the pain and subsequently the sire bond. Stefan asks what is the equivalent of that for vampires and Caroline says there isn't one - that's the problem.

Stefan comes across Damon going through old documents. Damon tells him that Stefan was right and that Elena is sired to him. Stefan asks what can they do about it. Damon tells him about 1942, New Orleans, when there was a girl called Charlotte who was crazy about him and asked him to turn her in to a vampire. He narrates an incident where he jokingly asked her to guard his drink and if anyone touches it show them no mercy and left the bar. When he got back he found she had killed a man because he spilled Damon's drink. That was his first clue that Charlotte was sired to him. Stefan says he is sure Damon took full advantage of the sire bond and then left her once he was bored of her. Damon tells him he had to make a clean break as she went all 'fatal attraction' on him. He hands over a card to Stefan which has the name & address of a witch who had helped him break his sire bond with Charlotte. Damon suggests they take a trip back to Bourbon Street, New Orleans.

Later at the Salvatore house, Elena is handing out drinks to the girls. She pulls out a blood bag and the girls are surprised to know it is for her and not Caroline. She explains that Damon suggested she try drinking from a blood bag and because of him she can now drink from a blood bag. Caroline is not happy to hear this. She asks Elena where 'my least favorite Salvatore' is. Elena reads out a text from Damon stating Stefan & he are brothers bonding & will be late so not to wait up. Caroline taunts Elena about checking in on texts with Damon. Elena is miffed and tells Caroline to lay off the hate for Damon, especially since he just changed her life. Bonnie intervenes and says that the new rule for the night is 'no boy talk'. She then shows them her 'spirit' tea which Caroline calls 'stoner' tea & disapproves of. Bonnie mentions Shane is helping her do natural magic without the help of the spirits and Caroline is suspicious of that. Bonnie asks her not to judge and Caroline agrees to lay off the topic of both Shane & Damon.

Stefan & Damon are in New Orleans. Damon asks him if he has been back in the city since 1942. Stefan says not since he went to fight the war which Damon backed out of. Damon reads out Elena's text stating the girls are at their place and that they got in to the dorm - he did ask Elena to make herself at home. Stefan says of course she would since Damon asked her to. Damon insists that the sire bond isn't that literal. Stefan disagrees and says there is nothing that Damon hasn't gotten that he asked Elena to do. Damon asks him why is he getting all this anger and guilt - he understands that Stefan is pissed that Elena dumped him because of Damon and he's sure Stefan blames the sire bond for it. Stefan agrees he does. Damon asks him why is it so difficult to imagine that Elena might have feelings for him? Stefan says it's difficult to imagine that she is so blind that she can't see how wrong Damon is for her. Damon is hurt and turns to walk away.

Stefan realizes his mistake & apologizes. This leads to a flashback to 1942 where Stefan is practicing an apology with Lexi, who insists it's time Stefan makes peace with his brother. Stefan approaches Damon at the bar and tells him he wants to bury the hatchet. Damon & he hug and have a couple of drinks together. Stefan mentions going to war and Damon volunteers to join him. When Stefan leaves to order another round of drinks for all of them when Lexi tells Damon that he should not go as he is not a good influence on Stefan. They disagree. Stefan returns to the bar but so does Charlotte, who was waiting for Damon for 'dinner'. She is carrying a woman with her who has a very visible neck wound and Damon is horrified. Looking at the blood Stefan begins to change in to a vampire but Lexi quickly takes him away. While leaving she tells Damon that Stefan is better off without him and so is Charlotte.

Present day Damon & Stefan reach the address of the witch but she doesn't seem to live there anymore. Stefan suggests they could contact Charlotte & ask her. Damon mentions he had met Charlotte at the corner of Bourbon & Dumont and asked her to count all bricks in New Orleans post which he would meet her there but he was gone the next day morning. Stefan suggests they go & check the place to see how literal the sire bond is.

At the Mystic Grill Hayley tells Tyler that Adrian has to break the bond and that Kim is just trying to oppose him and challenge him. At this rate Kim & Adrian will get them killed. She says that all hybrids are werewolves first and they need a pack leader - an Alpha male. Kim is just trying to stop Tyler from taking that position. Tyler gets influenced by this talk and walks over to the pool table where Adrian & Kim are playing. He asks them to leave & take rest as tomorrow Adrian has to get back to breaking the bond. Kim gets ready to fight him but after Tyler gets aggressive she backs down. Once Hayley & Tyler leave, Kim asks Adrian to join her...when Adrian asks her where they are going..she says 'to pick a fight'.

Meanwhile Damon & Stefan have another argument over the sire bond. Stefan asks Damon what they should tell Elena and Damon suggests that they shouldn't tell her. Stefan disagrees and says Damon is just thinking of himself. Damon challenges him and tells Stefan that he also has only one motive and that is to get 'Elena's original Team Stefan factory settings' back! He says he's going for a drink and Stefan should come find him once he stops acting like a dick. He walks on alone & is jumped by another vampire. Stefan hears that & comes to his rescue and throws the vampire off Damon.

They realize it is Charlotte and that she has been waiting for Damon all this while and she had counted every brick in New Orleans. Damon feels guilty and hopes she has done something else apart from counting bricks. Charlotte says of course she has - she is not crazy. Damon then asks her if she can help track the witch since she knows New Orleans so well now.

At the Salvatore house the girls are drinking, dancing & having fun. They end up in Damon's bath tub and Elena mentions why they've never come here to have fun. Caroline says it's because of all the sluts that Damon must have lured in to this place and she & Elena get in to an argument over Damon which ends with Elena letting it slip that she slept with Damon and walking out.

Damon & Stefan find the witch's shop but it is her granddaughter, Nandi, behind the counter. She tells them that she does not practice magic and that there is no spell to break the sire bond that she knows of. Damon tells her that her grandmother had asked Damon to kill 12 people for breaking the sire bond with Charlotte. Stefan is shocked to hear this. Nandi says even if there was a spell to break the bond, it was lost with all her grandmother's things in Hurricane Katrina.

Caroline and Bonnie try to tell Elena that they're just looking out for her but Elena says the party is over and they should leave. She knows that they hate Damon but she can't because she 'thinks she is falling in love with him'. Caroline can't take it anymore & ends up telling Elena that she is not in love with Damon but sired to him. Elena is shocked. She, however, gets angry when Caroline mentions that Stefan knows about this. Caroline further says that it is not Elena's fault & that Damon took advantage of Elena. Elena gets pissed and asks her to leave. When she opens the door they find Kim & Adrian at the door.

They grab Elena & Caroline. Bonnie tries to use her magic but Kim threatens to kill Caroline. Adrian drops Elena and Kim & he disappear with Caroline. Stefan asks Damon if he killed those 12 people and Damon says he would kill again if it means a clean slate with Elena. He asks Stefan to help him talk to the witch Nandi as he knows she is lying.

Elena gets Tylers' help to find Caroline. While looking for Caroline he happens to mention that the sire bond affects how one acts not feels. When Tyler was sired to Klaus he hated him but did everything Klaus asked him to. They then hear Caroline scream and follow the voice.

Damon & Stefan go back to the shop where Damon calls the witch out & tells her that he knows she is not the granddaughter but the daughter of the older witch. She should be 80 years old but looks 50 so she is a practicing witch. He asks her to hand over the spell. Nandi controls Damon's mind giving him pain, asking him to leave when Stefan comes and tries talking to her. She mentions that her grandmother tricked Damon in to killing those 12 people for the human sacrifices needed for a dark kind of magic called Expression.

Damon realizes that there is no spell to break the sire bond. Nandi confirms that the sire bond can't be broken with magic as a vampire only bonds with her sire if she has feelings for him before she turns - human feelings and vampirism just heightens those emotions. She tells Damon that if he wants his sire to be free of the bond then he needs to set her free. Tell her to live her life without him, never to think of him again, to stop caring about him & then leave her. That is the only way around a sire bond.

Kim is breaking Caroline's bones. Tyler & Elena arrive & ask her to stop as they're all on the same team. Kim says she is not on Tyler's team but her own and then all the other hybrids enter the place to surround Elena and Tyler. Kim says hurting Caroline will hurt Klaus and as she is about to stake her when Elena volunteers to swap places with Caroline stating Klaus wants Elena alive to make more hybrids and that killing Elena would be the real revenge. Kim goes for it and Tyler takes advantage of this to overpower her and thrusts his hand in to her chest & threatens to pull her heart out. He gives a speech about how he just wants all of them to work together against Klaus and doesn't want to hurt anyone - he just wants them to accept him as the Alpha male. Kim kneels before him and the others follow - Tyler is accepted as the Alpha male.

At the Salvatore house Elena & Caroline make up. Caroline apologizes to Elena and promises her never to judge again. Elena asks her not to tell Stefan anything about Damon & her, she herself will but she needs to figure some things out first. Caroline reluctantly agrees. Bonnie is happy they're friends again and Elena mentions how Bonnie is getting her magic back and how the Prof. Shane knows his stuff. Bonnie says it's been baby steps and that Shane is teaching her magic which is called Expression. Hayley tells Shane that the last hybrid sire bond is broken and that he now had 12 unsired hybrids excluding Tyler and now he needs to tell her about her parents. Shane tells her that her parents are dead but the drive has their details & her family history. She gets angry that he tricked her. He tells her that just because they're dead does not mean she can't see them again. He tells her that they're just the beginning of things to come.

Caroline & Stefan discuss the sire bond and she is surprised that Stefan feels bad for Damon. Stefan tells her that he knows Damon loves Elena and for Damon to let her go completely is sad. Caroline hopes Damon does what needs to be done. Stefan says Damon told him he will. Caroline asks him if Damon told him anything else and Stefan asks her what she means by that. She changes the topic by asking him how he can trust Damon. Stefan says that he can because he thinks Damon loves Elena just as much as him and that he cannot be selfish with her.

Elena is cleaning up when Damon comes from behind and says they need to talk. She surprises him by telling him that she knows that she is sired to him - Caroline told her. She asks him if the bond can be broken & he says 'not exactly' and that is why they need to talk. Elena says that Tyler told her that the bond affects her actions not feelings and that she still has the same feelings for Damon so nothing is changed. Damon gets angry & says everything is changed. Elena agrees that she has changed but then so has Damon. She says that she is happy just the way Damon was the day before when they did not know about the sire bond. Damon says what would make him happy is to know that all this while when he has been completely in love with Elena, what she felt for him was real.

Elena says she knows that her feelings for Damon are real and she knows what he is about to do and not to do that. Damon says," I don't want to do this Elena. I'm not the good guy remember? I the selfish one. I take what I want, I do what I want. I lie to my brother. I fall in love with his girl. I don't do the right thing. But I have to do the right thing by you." Elena takes his hand and places it over her heart and asks him," Does this feel wrong?" She then places her other hand against his cheek and repeats the question. They look into each other eyes. Damon is speechless and they share a look as the episode ends.