Alone with his brother, Stefan tells Damon they need to talk. Damon laughs off the idea of Elena being sire bound to him. Stefan tells Damon to ask Elena to drink from a blood bag, tell her it will make him happy and see what happens. If her body doesn't reject bagged blood, they'll have some proof she's not sire bound.

SNAKE WATCH: Elena's former and current lovers agree to keep secret from Elena a very important fact about Elena. This is the same kind of two-headed Don't bother her pretty little head about it snake we've already seen in this episode. This time though, both heads are male.

School. Bonnie, Caroline and Elena catch up on Elena's living situation. Elena proposes a girls' night. Bonnie mentions that Shane is teaching her spells. Caroline gets judgmental. Elena calls her on it. As they firm up their plans, Elena spots Damon down the hall.

Elena finds Damon in what appears to be a biology classroom. I object. All of Damon's scenes at MFHS should involve Alaric's classroom. That's not a snake, it's just a gnat. Damon gives Elena a blood bag and suggests she gives it another try. He really thinks it will work. When she's hesitant, he cocks his head and says, "Please, for me." Elena drinks. The blood tastes like blood rather than hot garbage this time. Elena is overjoyed she no longer has to hurt people in order to feed. She throws her arms around Damon's neck and thanks him. He looks properly disturbed. Before we get to the snake, is that another gnat I see? I need to re-watch and haven't had time to, but when Elena drank Damon's blood a few weeks back, why did she puke it up? After all, she drank his blood at his urging.

SNAKE WATCH: The obvious snake here is the sire bond, rearing its ugly head. As I said earlier, I don't consider it venomous in and of itself, because that's the point of this storyline -- exploring what the sire bond does to a vampire. The hidden snake in this case -- as in most of the other male/female interactions in this episode -- is the male who is in control. There's too much of that here for me. Had there been some balance (and I pray it comes later in the season), I think this episode would have tasted less like hot garbage to me.