On the Nov. 12 episode of The Vampire Diaries, Stefan and Damon argue over killing Julian, while Bonnie and Matt discover a mysterious gathering of residents, and Alaric reaches his breaking point with Jo.
Three years in the future, Damon warns Rick that his fiancée, Caroline, will be used as bait to lure Stefan out of hiding. She then appears on the news with a message for Stefan.
Caroline finds out that Valerie stayed the night at Stefan’s. Valerie has no place to go after making an enemy of Lily. Valerie tells them that the Phoenix stone turns people mad.
Lily invites her sons to a dinner party in honor of Julian. She wants to make peace. Damon wants to skip the party and kill Julian in six months after their mother feels secure, but Stefan wants to kill him tonight.
Bonnie calls Rick and asks him to come keep an eye on Jo at school. He needed a break when he found out the soul wasn’t Jo’s. Bonnie has to leave for the party.
Valerie tells Caroline that once Stefan kills Julian, she can put the whole mess behind her. Caroline asks what mess. Valerie teases her that Stefan is keeping a secret from her.
Nora complains to Julian that Lily is keeping them trapped in Mystic Falls. Julian says he’ll talk to her. Mary Louise comes in to tell them that guests are arriving. Nora sneers at her dress.
Stefan enters the Salvatore house. The house is full of residents from neighboring towns to show that Lily means to live peacefully. Damon appears at the party and tries to convince Stefan to change his plans.
Matt tells Nora he wants the town back before anyone else dies. Mary Louise appears in a new dress and jokes about the guests being the dessert course. Nora snaps at her.
Enzo and Bonnie arrive at the same time. He asks her to pretend to be his date.
Stefan plays pool with Julian. Damon tells Julian a story about someone staking a vampire during a game of pool. Stefan’s plan is foiled.
Rick finds Jo at the school café. A student notices she has a nose bleed. She goes to get napkins and Jo coughs up blood.
Julian asks Beau to find Oscar’s automobile. Something of value to Juliet is inside. Enzo overhears.
Julian mistakes Enzo for the help and Bonnie tells him to have some dignity. Enzo tells her that he plans on finding Oscar’s car first. Bonnie fixes Enzo’s tie to make Lily jealous.
Caroline tries to give Jo her blood to heal her, but she coughs it up. Valerie says the vampire soul isn’t a match for Jo’s human body and that her corpse should have stayed a corpse. Caroline yells at her for being so blunt in front of Rick who has to lose her all over again.
Mary Louise tells Julian she feels like a fool for trying to impress her own girlfriend. Julian compels a waitress to be still and quiet and tells Mary Louise to drink. He says she used to have swagger. She takes him up on it, then finds Nora and drags her upstairs.
A waiter asks Bonnie where the high school is, repeatedly. She asks him who he’s been talking to, but he says he can’t say, then leaves. Bonnie tells Matt they should follow him. Matt says he’ll meet her at his truck.
Stefan tells Damon that he needs to help him kill Julian or leave. Damon still wants to strike after Lily is happy. He asks why Stefan is so set on killing Julian, but he says it’s not his secret to tell. Matt comes in and hands Damon a bottle of alcohol. When Damon drinks, he realizes it’s been vervained. Matt then injects him with more to knock him out. Stefan tells Matt to take Bonnie and leave.
Stefan stabs Julian who fights back. Stefan throws him in the fireplace where he catches on fire until Lily puts him out.
Damon wakes and finds Stefan in a standoff with Lily. He tries to convince Stefan to leave, but Julian tells them to sit. Julian says the stone was like his soul’s personal hell where he killed Lily every day. He says his mind fought it so he wouldn’t become a monster. He then tries to kill Damon and Stefan, upsetting Lily. She stops him and tells her sons to leave.
Jo says she remembers a woman pierced her heart with a metal sword. It shouldn’t have killed her, but it did. She says her name was Florence when she was a vampire. She tells Rick that Jo was a lucky woman; that he would have made an amazing husband. He thanks her for letting him say goodbye. She dies.
Matt and Bonnie search the school and find a room full of people attached to IV stands. Matt tries to tell them they can leave, but they’ve been compelled not to respond.
Valerie is watching Rick’s wedding video. She hears the Gemini witches saying their spell after the explosion. She tells Rick they were trying to save Jo’s babies.
Damon and Stefan argue about the night’s events. Damon badgers him into telling him Valerie’s secret. Stefan was afraid that Damon would just brush it off, but he understands because he and Elena discussed family when she took the cure. Damon says he’ll help kill Julian.
Lily yells at Julian for starting a new feud with her children. He apologizes, saying the stone affected him. She tells him the heretics will help him fix it, but he has to promise not to hurt her boys.
Valerie does a locator spell to find the babies. The spell goes haywire and Valerie realizes the twins are inside of Caroline.