On this episode of The Vampire Diaries...

- Esther is determined the turn Alaric into the ultimate hunter, which involves actually making him into a vampire. She traps all other vampires at the Decade Dance and steals Elena away to accomplish this mission. And it works, except... Alaric stakes Esther and killer her when he first wakes up.

But he knows it's just a temporary return to his normal self and volunteers to die before turning and killing everyone he loves. There's an emotional scene where he does just this, saying farewell to the Mystic Falls gang - except Esther then inhabits Bonnie's body, walks her into the cave where Alaric was about to perish and awakens him with Bonnie's witch blood.

The final scene of the episode of Alaric as a vampire, grabbing hold of the white oak stake.