Vampires, humans, and werewolves, oh my! Season 4 of The Vampire Diaries premiered on the CW, Thursday October 11 at 7 pm and started with a blood-thirsty bang. Season 3 ended with Elena, the main character, and Matt, her human ex-boyfriend, being involved in a car crash. Elena sacrificed herself so Stefan, her current boyfriend who also happens to be a vampire, could save Matt. An unanticipated plot twist occurred when Elena miraculously woke up because she died with vampire blood in her system; if you watch the series then you know that Elena can never really die.

The season begins with Elena going through the vampire change with Stephan acting as her chivalrous care-taker and Damon being his usual witty, cynical self. He is still clearly in love with Elena. Elena has an unexpected flashback of Damon admitting his very personal feelings for her, a conversation he compelled her to forget.  At the end of Season 3, Elena chose Stefan over Damon which leaves Damon wallowing in vampire self-pity.

In an interesting plot twist, the pastor of Mystic Falls becomes the new vampire slayer when he kidnaps Stefan, Elena, and Rebekah and takes them to his secluded ranch in the country. Meanwhile, Elena, still in transition, has a limited time to get her hands on human blood before she dies.  Jeremy, Elena’s irrational yet handsome brother, enlists the help of Bonnie (Mystic Falls’ main witch) to help Elena remain human. However, Bonnie’s spell goes horribly wrong and Bonnie nearly dies. Elena is close to dying until Stefan and Rebekah come up with a plan and kill a human guard to complete Elena’s transition to a vampire.

The episode ends with Stefan slipping a daylight ring (this allows vamps to walk in the daylight) on the newborn vampire, Elena’s, finger. Klaus makes a triumphant return. Tyler comes back to life. The pastor murders the council members and Elena and Stefan talk immortality.  With Elena a vampire this season of The Vampire Diaries it’s definitely going to be a killer time.