Elena marches to the front door and whips it open. Kim and Adrian are on the other side. They rush in and grab Elena and Caroline. Bonnie tries some magic, but all it does is make lights explode. I figured it would at least elicit some high pitched squeal that would drive the hybrids crazy, but no. Because hybrid (and werewolf) bites are fatal to vampires, Kim and Adrian have the upper hand. Bonnie stands down and stops her useless magic. The hybrids whisk Caroline away. Oh great. You know what that means, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

New Orleans. Out in the street, Damon insists Nandi is lying when she claims not to practice magic. Stefan asks if Damon killed the 12 people back in 1942. Damon did it and would do it again if it meant saving Elena. He asks Stefan if he's going to help him good cop/bad cop Nandi.

PLOT WATCH: It makes literally no sense that Stefan (particularly because he's objecting to the human sacrifice angle) doesn't ask Damon this: if the spell is so good, why did Charlotte spend the last 70 years counting bricks? I mean, we know the answer, because we watched the episode, but Stefan's still in the middle of it.

Mystic Falls. Woods. Tyler and Elena head to the ranch. Tyler explains that Kim is challenging him as an alpha. He needs to make her submit. Yeah, he says "submit," and it's not the only time he'll say it. Talk turns to Adrian's sire bond, which gives Tyler an opportunity to ease Elena's mind (and mine and yours, my daughter), a little. "Being sired doesn't mean you feel differently about someone. I hated Klaus, but I still did everything he said. The bond affects how you act, not how you feel." At least Elena has that.

New Orleans. Damon returns to the shop and calls out Nandi. He knows she's not Valerie's great-granddaughter, but rather her daughter who was present in the shop, when he sought the original spell from Valerie. We cut to a shot of little-girl Nandi writing her name on the paper. Back in the present, when Damon tries to get tough with 80-looking-50 Nandi, she inflicts him with a mystical migraine and despite the fact that I want Elena free of the sire bond, I'm so glad that this witch isn't letting Damon use her as his tool.

Stefan plays the good cop role and appeals to Nandi's better angels. They just need her help. Nandi says she cannot help. Valerie practiced an art way darker than magic. Witches call it Expression. It channels the power of human sacrifice, which calls on darkness that can't even exist in this plane without swallowing "it" whole. Valerie used Damon to get the power of the 12 sacrifices for her own purposes.