Last week's Vampire Diaries episode provided plenty of fodder for our Round Table team, as always.

Will Damon set Elena free? Are you buying the sire bond story? Below, Leigh Raines, Carla Day, Steve Marsi and Miranda Wicker join newcomer Alena Chandler delve deeper into "We'll Always Have Bourbon Street."

With another Delena sex scene, more sire bond mysteries and flashbacks on tap, let's get to it!

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1. Delena sex scenes thus far on a scale of 1-10 (1 being a cold shower, 10 setting the house on fire):

Carla: 10! That was hot. Now, I get why Delena fans have been clamoring for the couple to get together.

Miranda: 9, because they keep getting interrupted by Stefan and Caroline's whiny conversations about the sire bond.

Alena: 11. I have been waiting for the passion, and it didn't disappoint. They are so hot together!

Leigh: It was so so hot but I'm going with 8. Minus 1 for the way it was cut up with Caroline and Stefan's convo, because who wants to be interrupted during that? And minus another 1 because I could physically hear her nails cutting through the skin on his back drawing blood. However I have no doubt that Ian and Nina's real life sex life is probably a TEN.

Steve: 7.5. Not sounding any alarms just yet, but certainly fiery enough for me to make sure my homeowner's insurance policy provides adequate fire coverage.

2. Is Caroline justified in her whining?

Carla: She came right up to the point of annoying, but didn't cross it. From a factual point, she's right and as Elena's friend, she has a reason to be concerned. At the same time, her whining didn't help the situation. 

Miranda: No, and I know there are flames coming about this. Tyler was a total jerk when the show started. He's changed. Stefan has been a "cocky ripper douche" within the past year. Both of them have been forgiven for their actions. Damon has changed, too. If Caroline hates Damon because of the way Damon used her as a blood bag when she was human and that's the reason she doesn't want Elena to be with him, then she needs to vocalize that. She needs to stop whining "Damon bad!" and have a conversation.

Alena: Oh Caroline, she just doesn't stop. And she's been one of my favorite vamp's since she was turned, but it drives me crazy how she rags on Damon non-stop but can justify everyone else's actions. There are worse guys in town than Damon (Hello, Klaus!) that she manages to not complain about all the time. Just because she doesn't want to see the good in Damon, doesn't mean it isn't there.

Leigh: I normally love Caroline. In fact she is probably a fave over here at TV Fanatic. I do understand her reasons for disliking Damon, but all of these characters have flaws some worse than others. I wish she'd just try and have a conversation instead of screeching at her. Also it'd be nice to have a sex scene without her complaining intercut with it.

Steve: Since when does a woman have to be justified to start whining about stuff guys do ... am I right ladies??! But seriously now. I don't blame her for harboring ill will towards Damon. How can you not, honestly, given the guy's track record. That said, her opposition was so vehement this week that it felt forced to me at times.

3. Why does Professor Shady... I mean Shane... need 12 Hybrids instead of just 12 humans for his sacrifice?

Carla: That's the question, isn't it? Hybrids haven't been a known creature for long, so why does he want them? My only guess is that sacrificing the Hybrids will provide the ability to rid the world of vampires and werewolves. The evil power would either eliminate them from existence OR more likely tie into the Hunter's Mark and the cure.

Miranda: I'm guessing it has something to do with undoing the magic that entombed the big scary dude he's trying to untomb. Like, only the death of the most unnatural of unnatural beings can get Bonnie to express herself fully. (And I've got a whole rant worked up in my head about the Evil Bonnie just waiting to be unleashed. Maybe I'll leave it in the comments.)

Alena: Who can think about unsired hybrids when there's hot DELENA hooking up happening??? I kid (sort of, not really) I think the 12 unsired Hybrids have something to do with Klaus and whatever ugliness is buried out there that he seems to be plotting on and on about. When the pastor killed himself his note said a greater evil was coming, whatever dark evil magic he's planning on bringing is going to be a total game changer. (But let's hope that it's happening while Damon and Elena are still hooking up. Because, FINALLY!)

Leigh: Noticed in the comments that maybe we should be paying closer attention to the people who were blown up in that house by the pastor. Were there 12? Maybe sacrificing 12 humans didn't do enough for Professor Shane. Maybe unsired hybrids bring more power? Also Miranda's comment about Bonnie "expressing herself" has now put Madonna in my head!

Steve: Leigh and our readers make a great point about the 12 council members. Obviously, the number is not a coincidence, and whatever power he's trying to harness is designed to end vampirism as we know it.

4. How much do you truly believe in the vampire sire bond after everything we've heard?

Carla: I believe in it. Charlotte and her "Literally, every brick" state proved its existence to me.

Miranda: Ergh. Ugh. Bleh. I hate it. Damon says it happens once in a million years and it's happened to him twice in 160? Why was neither Salvatore sired to Katherine? Totally hate it.

Alena: I thought it was all crap until Charlotte. I don't understand how it has happened to Damon twice if it's supposedly so rare? Twice to the same vampire, seems not so rare. My heart started beating faster, and I maybe cheered when Tyler told Elena that it doesn't change feelings. Sure, maybe she's sired, and maybe he'll have to be more careful with what he says to her. But to break her heart, knowing that her feelings are real and her own and true, seems like torture just for the sake of breaking a sire bond.  I hope Damon is selfish and just slams her up against the wall and they have hot vamp sex at the start of next episode. TAKE THAT VAMPIRE SIRE BOND!

Leigh: The vampire sire bond seems less definitive than the hybrid one. I feel like there are loopholes. Charlotte was definitely an extreme case. Elena always had a habit of making her own decisions regardless of pissing off the Salvatores, before she was turned. That said, it's kind of a big annoying roadblock.

Steve: As Alena says, if it happened to Damon so easily twice, how can it also be so rare? And wouldn't some other vampire have tried to dispatch a clingy sired vamp through these means already? As Carla said, I liked that this week better explained it, but it still feels like something of a contrived plot device to me.

5. Is Damon going to set Elena free?

Carla: Yes. He has to for both of them. He won't be happy knowing that she may not be there of her own will. Though, I suspect he will free her in a different way then he did Charlotte. He will find a loophole of sorts that will give her free will without forcing her to forget him forever.

Miranda: I think he will. And I think I'll cry. Why can't he just NOT suggest things to her? I don't need them to talk, you guys. I just need them to have more scenes like the ending of last week and the beginning of this one.

Alena: Clearly, I hope not. I have been waiting for Damon to FINALLY get the girl. If he walks away from her it will break him. After his history with Katherine, I don't think he could survive another devastating heart break (I mean clearly he'd SURVIVE, he's a vampire).

Leigh: Damon loves her enough to try not to be selfish about her, but he also loves her so much that he will try and find a loophole so they can be together. Who's to say that if he releases Elena her feelings will die? It's not like he's going to tell her "don't fall in love with me."

Steve: As Leigh mentioned in her Vampire Diaries review, can't he just order her to do something along the lines of "stop listening to me and following my advice verbatim, but feel free to be incredibly attracted to me still." Best of both worlds if you ask me.

6. Matt and Jeremy were MIA this week. Did you miss them?

Carla: I realized they weren't around, but I didn't miss them. They didn't have anything to add to this particular story. 

Miranda: Matt's growing on me, so yes, I missed him. He and Jeremy must've been pulling doubles at The Grill to pay for that house.

Alena: I didn't so much miss Jeremy, I'm not a big fan of Hunter Jeremy.  But I did miss Matt, I really feel for him.  He is left out of most of the major story lines.  Poor guy.

Leigh: The only character whose presence I always and forever miss is Alaric. Good thing Cult got a premiere date!

Steve: LOL @ Miranda. Those guys have been great this season, and I've enjoyed their storylines more than in the past ... but I admit that I hadn't thought about either until reading this question.