Vampire Diaries 'Stand By Me' Preview

Next week's episode will introduce us to Vaughn, one of the Five hunters, played by Charlie Bewley (formerly a vampire himself in the Twilight Saga), whom we saw briefly as he attacked Damon at the end of the episode. Meanwhile, Stefan tells Elena his true feelings about the possibility of being human again, and Jeremy helps Bonnie deal with discerning what's real and what's an illusion. Shane is comforted by a mysterious woman from his past (probably his wife), which means — ugh — he's still alive (for now). Naturally, there's a game-changing piece of information revealed about the cure that shakes things up yet again.

Tyler and a now-healthy Caroline (except for the whole 'being a dead vampire' thing) are home in Mystic Falls trying to translate the code on the Hunter's Sword, with no help from Klaus. Evil K must still be miffed that he had to admit to himself that he, like, tooootally loves Caroline and couldn't bear actually killing her.

In "Stand By Me," Stefan, Elena, and Jeremy head back to Mystic Falls, where Caroline worries about Elena's state of mind. Stefan reaches out to Dr. Fell (Torrey DeVitto) and Matt (Zach Roerig) for help. Despite Somerhalder's bad luck with fictional islands (RIP, Boone), judging from the photo, it appears he'll get back safely...eventually. But at the beginning of the episode, he's still on the island and must relay the news to Rebekah that Elena is in some sort of danger. Later on, everyone freaks out when Bonnie tells them the rest of Shane's plan.