Handlung

On campus, Elena is touched by a sad and secretive student named Aaron. Elena and Damon attend the Whitmore Historical Ball dressed as Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. At the ball, Elena shares a dance with Dr. Maxfield, who has a disturbing message for her. Caroline's evening at the ball takes her from happiness to heartbreak. Meanwhile, Nadia reveals her surprising history to Katherine, and Damon tries to make a deal with Silas. But when Silas demands that Damon commit an unthinkable act, it leads to a violent confrontation.—Anonymous

Dr. Maxfield wakes up new-vampire Jesse by letting him smell a petri dish of blood. He records his findings, he's been studying Jesse for three days. Jesse keeps saying he's hungry, but he has no idea what's going on. Maxfield concludes that Jesse is the perfect candidate.

Elena is back at college, like Bonnie wanted. Caroline is distracted by Tyler's return. Elena is determined to figure out why Maxfield covered up her roommate's vampire-caused death. Ghost Bonnie hovers over Elena reassuringly.

Elena ignores Damon's call, but he walks up behind her. He's had one text from her in three days, inviting him to the costume ball tonight.

Caroline and Tyler make up for lost time in bed. She's excited he'll be in school, majoring in sociology. She tells him about the Whitmore historical ball, they're going as Bonnie and Clyde. She's still miffed he ignored her for months, but he says he was helping a werewolf pack and didn't have cell reception.

Walking across campus, Elena sees a boy at a shrine for her dead roommate Megan. He says he knew her growing up. He doesn't believe she killed herself. But he isn't exactly forthcoming with suggestions, or his name.

Stilas calls Nadia, wanting her to turn over Katherine and saying he's learned how to track her cell phone.

Nadia explains to Katherine that Silas needs all of her blood to cure himself of immortality.

Damon talks to Jeremy and Ghost Bonnie about the beginnings of a plan. He happens to know a supernatural being that wants to die, and he doesn't think a perfectly good death like that should go to waste.

Cut to Damon meeting with Silas-as-Stefan at the Grille.

Damon wants to use Silas's death to bring Bonnie back. If he dies as a witch, he'll be stuck on the other side, so he must have a plan B. Bonnie theorizes that he wants to destroy the other side.

At the Grille, Stilas explains that Qetsia/Tessa bound her spell to a "mystical anchor" -- he wants to destroy it, she wants to protect it. She's the only person who knows where it's hidden. But she'll be at the ball tonight.

Damon asks Bonnie via Jeremy if it's "supernaturally possible" for Silas to swap himself for Bonnie when he's ready to kill himself. Bonnie thinks making a deal with him is a terrible idea, since he's ruthless. She says definitely not. Jeremy translates this as: "She's in!"

At the Grille, Stilas lays out his terms for Damon: He wants Damon to kill Stefan.

Over breakfast, Nadia tells Katherine she'll let her go in exchange for a few answers. Nadia had herself turned into a vampire to track Katherine. In Paris in 1645, her mother Lilia Toma took Katherine in, but when Klaus' minions came for her, she said Lilia was Katherine and they took her away. Katherine realizes Nadia was never going to let her go.

When they get up to leave, Katherine grabs a man's cane, breaks it, stakes Nadia and runs.

Bonnie tries to convince Jeremy that making a deal with Silas is a terrible idea, but he's tired of not being able to touch her.

At the Whitmore ball, Stefan (dressed as James Dean), asks Caroline to dance. Elena is dressed as Anne Boleyn, with Damon as King Henry XIII. He asks what's up; she's feeling guilty about not realizing Bonnie was dead and spending a great summer with him. She's determined to make-up for it by solving the mystery of Megan's death.

She sees Megan's mystery friend across the room and goes to talk to him. She compels some answers and learns that everyone around him dies. His name's Aaron. She compels him to forget her questions.

Tessa comes in dressed as Cleopatra and introduces herself to Stefan, but Damon pulls him away to talk to Silas. Then Damon snaps Stefan's neck.

He asks Silas why he just killed Stefan. Stilas takes Stefan's costume and explains that killing Stefan severed their psychic link, so now he has his powers back. He wants to go read Tessa's mind to find out where the mystical anchor is, all Damon has to do is keep Stefan dead. He thinks a woman never forgets her first love, no matter how badly it ended.

He joins Tessa at the bar for shots and flirts her up.

On the dance floor, Caroline suggests to Tyler that they get out of there. He has something he's trying to tell her, but can't seem to get it out.

On the dance floor, Silas-as-Stefan reveals himself to Tessa and uses his powers to ask where the anchor is. She doesn't know, she's looking for it, too. The Travelers move it constantly. Her pendant is in one of the Whitmore displays and she needs it to increase her power so she can do a locator spell on the anchor.

Stefan comes back to life with a crick in his neck, which Silas feels. Stefan accuses him of being desperate to prove to Elena that he's a worthy boyfriend. Damon happily snaps his neck again, buying Silas more time.

Katherine finds Nadia in an alley with the cane stake lodged next to her heart. Katherine asks her why she made up the story about her mother -- Katherine knows Klaus's minions wouldn't have mistaken anyone for her.

Nadia admits it was a test, but says Katherine really did kill her mother -- in 1492 in a cottage in England, where she had been exiled by her family. She put her neck in a noose and stepped off a chair.

The story is all-too-familiar to Katherine, who recognizes it as the story of how she turned. She demands to know who Nadia is. She's Nadia Petrova, Katherine is her mother.

Elena asks Dr. Maxfield to dance to talk with him. He tells her he thinks a vampire hunted Megan down and killed her. When she asks what he knows about vampires, he tells her it doesn't matter, because there are people watching her and her friends and she needs to drop out and return to Mystic Falls.

Caroline finds Tyler drinking alone. He tells her he can't do "the college thing." He can't get over the fact that Klaus killed his mother and got away with it, and the only reason they're together is because Klaus allowed it. He wants to find a way to destroy Klaus' life like Klaus destroyed his. Caroline points out that Tyler sounds an awful lot like Klaus, and walks away.

Tessa finds her pendant and Silas joins her. He's using his powers to learn the location of the anchor when Stefan wakes up again, crippling Silas. Except that Stefan plays dead so Damon can't tell if he's awake or not. Damon gets in close to inspect and Stefan takes the opportunity to spring up and snap Damon's neck.

Tessa is wondering what's going on, when the real Stefan comes in and decks Silas. He takes his ring back and tells her he was working with Damon.

Stefan leaves him there with Tessa, who reaches into his chest and wrings the blood from his heart, essentially freezing him in place.

Dr. Maxfield, stops Aaron on the way out to take his keys. He's Aaron's legal guardian and manages his trust. He warns him to stay away from Elena.

Nadia wakes up in a nice hotel room, with the stake removed. She's not worried about running from Silas until he finds the anchor, because he can't die for good until then, and has no use for her before that. She wants to know where Nadia was in 1498, when Nadia was eight and Katherine had escaped the people that were chasing her and searched Bulgaria for her. Nadia is surprised. "It's nice to meet you," Katherine says.

Caroline finds Tyler packing up. She asks him to stay. "Just love me more than you hate him," she says.

Tyler says he can't and starts to leave. She tells him if he walks away, they're really done. Tyler walks out, leaving Caroline alone and crying.

Elena and Damon regroup at his house, with desiccated Silas on the couch. The only way Silas to trade his life for Bonnie's is if he's a witch, but the only way to become a witch is to have the cure.

There's a knock at the door, which Damon was expecting. It's Katherine, and she's very excited to see kinda dead Silas. At least until she realizes what Damon has planned. Damon bites her neck. She pleads with him, saying she doesn't want to die.

"Good-bye, Katherine," he says. He holds her open neck to Silas's neck and watches as he slowly comes back to life. Katherine drops to the floor.

But after a long minute, Katherine opens her eyes again. "You've got to be kidding me," Elena says. "Takes a licking, keeps on ticking," says Damon. "Am I in hell?" asks Katherine.