The Vampire Diaries (season 7)

Damon, Bonnie & Alaric have been spending the summer in Europe while Stefan, Caroline & Matt make a deal with Lily & her Heretics when they failed to defeat them. Stefan & Caroline evacuate the whole town to protect them from the Heretics but agree that anyone who passes the border will be Heretics' blood meal. Alaric consults psychics about his dead wife. Damon rescues Bonnie from a car accident but only at the last minute. When the trio get back in town, they discover about the deal with the Heretics. Damon & Bonnie make their own plan and kill a Heretic. When Lily learns about the death, she attains revenge by kidnapping Caroline with the help of Enzo.

In present day, Caroline is held prisoner by vervain soaked ropes but escapes from Enzo, only to get recaptured by the Heretic girls. The girls torture her. Valerie seems to be good to her by putting a spell on her which keeps her away from other vampires. Damon & Stefan rescue Caroline from the house which was made easy to enter by making Matt's heart stop temporarily, as Matt was made owner of the house. In the last minute, Stefan is pulled out of the house & Damon is told by Enzo that the Heretics have Elena. Lily & the Heretics perform a funeral ritual for their fellow dead heretic and the love of Lil's life. Lily threatens Damon into admitting to the murder of the Heretic & tells him to keep away from Mystic falls. Meanwhile, Alaric tests the Phoenix stone on a corpse in the morgue.

Damon sets off on a road trip with Bonnie and Alaric in search of leverage they can use against his mother. The trio search for and meet the last heretic, Oscar, who defected from Lily's group. Damon asked for Oscar's help in siphoning magic from Bonnie who was getting horrible visions after touching the Phoenix Stone, but Oscar refuses when he finds out about the stone, knocking Alaric & Bonnie unconscious and breaking Damon's neck. The trio then capture Oscar and make a deal with Lily for Elena's coffin. Meanwhile, Caroline, still being held hostage by the Heretics, learns some information about Valerie's past. Flashbacks to 1863 show Valerie meeting Stefan for the first time and showing how they fell in love. In actual fact, Valerie was sent by Lily to watch out for her son but they fell in love. When Valerie planned to run away while pregnant, Julian beat her & brought her back to the ship. There, Valerie killed herself which turned her into the very first heretic as she had died with Lily's blood in her system. At the same time, Stefan learns a few unexpected details about his own past from Lily about how she first met Valerie. Also, Alaric turns to Bonnie for her help after coming clean that he has the Phoenix Stone which can bring the dead back to life. Lily sets Caroline free out of admiration for Stefan's honesty with her.

Just as Damon thinks he’s gained the upper hand in his fight against Lily, an unexpected turn of events leaves him scrambling for a plan B. Elsewhere, when the fallout of Damon’s actions gain the unwanted attention of Mary Louise and Nora, Stefan and Caroline are forced to spend the night distracting the girls at Whitmore College’s Heaven & Hell ball. The two girls threatened to kill a Whitmore student every hour if Damon did not comply with the deal and bring back Oscar. Damon, Bonnie & Alaric bring Oscar back to life with the Phoenix stone. Damon exchanges Elena's coffin for Oscar, who then goes on a killing spree in Mystic Falls. Damon break Oscar's neck & Lily returns Elena to his care. Damon sorrowfully writes in a journal for Elena and he sends her away in Tyler's car. Finally, after suspecting that she’s up to something, Enzo sets off on a mission to find out what Valerie is hiding, while a plan set by Alaric and Bonnie leaves their worlds turned upside down as Jo comes alive with the magic of Phoenix stone.

Damon & Stefan team up with Valerie, who is searching for Julian's coffin to destroy it. Meanwhile, Rick is dealing with Jo to cope things after she becomes alive again. Bonnie goes to the Salvatore manor to ask Oscar, who is under Enzo's watch, about the Phoenix stone but unfortunately, gets attacked by him. Enzo gets the Phoenix stone as Bonnie loses it when she tries to run away from Oscar. Enzo then stabs Oscar when he goes crazy. When the Salvatore brothers and Valerie reach their location, she explains that the Phoenix stone does not bring people alive but it transferred vampire souls imprisoned in the stone into a body. Just as Valerie tries to burn Julian's corpse, Lily & the heretics arrive & rescue him. Valerie, who for her actions are left alone by the heretics, tells Damon that it was Lily's plan to make Elena sleep as long as Bonnie is alive. Damon tries to murder Lily but they escaped by making coffins explode & injured Stefan, Damon & Valerie. Back in the Salvatore house, Enzo, in possession of Phoenix stone, makes Lily choose between him & Julian but Lily chooses the latter and disappointed, Enzo gives her the stone. With the stone, the heretics revive Julian. Bonnie sadly informs Rick about the stone and that Jo's body might not have his wife's soul. Bonnie is joined by Damon who vows to get revenge on Lily who destroys everything that makes him happy.

Lily & the heretics throw a party at Salvatore manor which Stefan & Damon also attend. Bonnie arrives with Enzo & she tries to make Lily jealous for Enzo. Meanwhile, Rick deals with Jo and her suddenly declining health. Valerie & Caroline arrive there, where Valerie explains that Jo was human and the vampire soul is not compatible with her body which meant that she was as good as dead. Back in the manor, Julian & the Salvatore brothers get into an argument which brings them to fight until Lily intervenes & says she will never let her children suffer. Rick has to let go of Jo but Valerie finds out the twins are still alive. They then make a locator spell which seems to points nowhere but shockingly Valerie deduces that the twins are inside Caroline's body.

Lily & her sons plot to kill Julian which requires unlinking with the help of heretics. Valerie discloses her secret to the rest heretics who now side her except Mary Louise. Caroline informs Stefan about her pregnancy who finally comes to term with it. Enzo warns Lily of impending threat to her life & they share a moment. Later, Enzo gets kidnapped by Matt & his new troop. Valerie & the Salvatore brothers corner Julian but are interrupted by Mary Louis. Julian forces Lily to choose between killing Valerie, or Damon. Unaware that the unlinking's already done, Lily stakes herself. Nora breaks up with Mary Lou as the latter sided with Julian instead of Lily. Everybody bid heartfelt goodbyes to a desiccating Lily while Damon bid the rudest bye, "You made your bed. Have a nice nap!"

Lily is put to rest. Stefan and Damon's search for Julian leads them to a bar filled with dead Santa's, outside of Mystic Falls. As Julian arrives with his minions, the two parties tiff up which later aggravates back home. Nora & Bonnie become friends during a toy drive. Caroline's struggling with her pregnancy as her feeding urges keep her on the edge; she visits her mom's grave for some peace. The fight between the Salvatore brothers and Julian finally leads to him staking Damon with the Phoenix sword, ergo trapping his soul inside the Phoenix hell-stone. It is shown that Damon is back to his Civil War days, injured and scared. When Nora learns that all this time Bonnie was simply stalling her from saving Julian, she siphons out Bonnie's magic and stakes Stefan with the Phoenix Sword as well.

Damon saves Matt & Bonnie as Caroline stealthily injects him with vervain. Stefan's having disturbing post-hell hallucinations of him & Damon underwater with the latter drowning. In his hallucinations, Damon even posed a threat to his & Caroline's relationship. (Damon kept Stefan from escaping hell-world, so in order to escape, the latter had to let go of him). A chained Damon assures Stefan that he won’t have a psychotic break. Soon, Henry’s spirit starts haunting Damon. Tyler shows up for Caroline’s baby shower. Under Julian’s leadership, Mystic Falls is now a shoddy home to his vampire mates. Its revealed that Alaric will move to Dallas and Caroline finds it hard to accept that she has to eventually part with the twins. Matt is arrested by a lady cop named Penny for DUI who later questions his wooden weapons. Nora & Bonnie anxiously plan to face a ruthless legendary vampire huntress (she hunts down any Phoenix sword-staked vampire) after Nora receives an X-marked envelope i.e. warning of her arrival. Damon meets up with an apprehensive Tyler forcing him to take him to see Elena. As Damon opens Elena’s coffin, he finds Henry. He charges at a prepared Tyler but eventually bashes him against concrete. Henry here advices Damon to attain liberation by letting go of what holds back his true monstrous nature. An exasperated Damon attempts to finish off Henry by letting the coffin on fire. As he watches it burn, Henry reappears telling him that he burnt her for good which leaves him devastated. Back home, Stefan assures Damon that he'll always have his back who is at a loss of words, unable to reveal that his reason to breathe & live is no more... He killed Elena

Back in Whitmore, Caroline's supernatural pregnancy is affecting her as the babies are siphoners who keep siphoning away her vampirism magic causing her to desiccate inside out. Valerie tries swapping their magic source for a magic-filled talisman for a while, but eventually the twins desiccate Caroline faster than ever. Officer Penny learns about Mystic Falls brimming with vampires from Matt. Bonnie, Mary Lou and Nora search for Reyna Cruz, The Huntress finding her old & feeble in a psychiatric ward. Puzzled, the heretics carry on their search when suddenly, Reyna attacks Bonnie who's saved just in time by Enzo who kills off Reyna. It revealed that Enzo sent the 'X' cards to track Reyna; he burns her to ashes only to revive her back in her young true self. Elsewhere, Damon returns back to his road-kill antics, picks on Julian & indulges in dangerous games with his mates (Julian encourages Damon to deal with his pain in this way). The fight gets nastier with Julian stepping up to fight him. By this time, Stefan has reached the spot and begs Damon to stop who gives him a deaf ear continuing to fight as if he had a death wish - after a while, Damon begs Julian for death. Stefan interferes and finally gets Damon to walk off the ring who is pissed that Stefan's always saving him even though he doesn't deserve it. Stefan here has no idea what's gotten into him forcing him to reveal that he killed Elena. Stunned & hurt, Stefan beats him up abandoning him & breaking down himself, fuming with rage against Julian. Damon looks on as he stands there taken over by remorse & bleeding profusely. Back in Mystic Falls, Valerie & Stefan finally take on Julian as Stefan catches him off guard & stakes him while Valerie keeps them cloaked. Back in Salvatore boarding house, Damon gets an unexpected visitor, a brunette (she saved him during one of the ring fights) who comes in and kisses him. Wallowing in emptiness, Damon gazes into her eyes accepting the bitter truth of fate & as a final jolt of mental agony, he bends down to kiss her back.