?The Vampire Diaries? Season 3, Episode 21 Recap: Elena Collapses After Talking To Damon And Stefan About Their Love Triangle

If Vampire Diaries fans thought that crazy-eyed Alaric (Matthew Davis) was bad, wait until they see crazed vampire Alaric.

Last week Alaric decided to let himself die rather than complete the vampire transformation. Unfortunately Esther's (Alice Evans) ghost decided to force him to go through with the original plan, and used magic to force Bonnie (Kat Graham) to feed him her blood, completing the transformation.

This week's episode kicks off with Mystic Falls latest vampire plotting in the high school. Caroline (Candice Accola) just so happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when she comes to the high school to help Rebekah (Claire Holt) clean up the gym after the Decade Dance. Usually enemies, Rebekah and Caroline join forces to stake Alaric...the only problem is that Esther made Alaric a super vampire, immune to stakes.

As the girls escape outside, Alaric follows, but as a ring less vampire is burned by the sun. Alaric's craziness wins the battle with his burning flesh though, and he manages to snap Caroline's neck and drag her back inside before he bursts into flames. Of course the teamwork between Caroline and Rebekah is gone in a simple second of fear. The only female original vampire runs back to tell Klaus (Joseph Morgan) that even though their mother is dead, they still have a threat with Alaric.

Klaus and Rebekah decide to skip town to avoid a potentially deadly encounter with Alaric. Klaus doesn't plan on leaving empty handed though, as he tells Rebekah that first he must go collect Elena. With fear of death being the only thing on her mind, Rebekah tells her brother that she won't wait for him to get his doppelganger, and that she's leaving now. Klaus doesn't care though as he thinks he still has Tyler(Michael Trevino), Caroline's boyfriend, under his sire bond.

Meanwhile at Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Jeremy's (Steven R. McQueen) house, they are working through their grief by painting Alaric's old room. Of course their time to grieve is short lived as Stefan (Paul Wesley) shows up with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and a bleeding Bonnie shortly behind.

While the Salvatore brothers assess the latest threat to Mystic Falls, Elena receives a phone call from Alaric, who threatens to kill Caroline if Elena doesn't come to the high school...alone.

Never seeming to waste any time running into danger, Elena flees her house to come to Caroline's rescue. This time it happens to work out for Elena, as Klaus shows up to collect.

Just getting my road trip necessities, he tells the Salvatores who answer the door behind Jeremy. Spare time, flash light, doppelganger...

Sometimes not having the brightest ideas, Damon and Stefan just decide to close the door in Klaus' face. Klaus is very much like the big bad wolf though, in that he will huff and puff until he blows the house down.

A little short before burning the house down, the men always fighting over (and for) Elena, realize that she's gone, and deadly Alaric has her.

As usual, Bonnie manages to have a spell in mind that will save the day (and Elena). While the gang figures out a move that won't get any of them killed, Elena is being lectured by Alaric about vampires.

How many times do I hahe to tell you to stop trusting vampires? he asks Elena as she sits next to Caroline who has pencils jammed through her hands. Remembering the time when he used to train Elena to fight vampires, he tells her that this is what he's been training her for...to kill Caroline.

Meanwhile, the gang has split up, with Stefan going with Klaus, and Damon and Bonnie waiting at the Salvatore house for help from Bonnie's mother, Abby.

Alone with Stefan, Klaus has his usual heart-to-heart, trying to get Stephen to turn against Damon. Always wishing for Stefan to come with him, Klaus might actually get his wish when Stefan says that if the original vampire takes Elena with him, he will come along too.

Back at the Salvatore's, Abby tells Bonnie that in order to stop Alaric, she has to stop a human heart. With Bonnie always being the good hero, the fact that she must kill someone to save vampires comes as a shock.

Per usual, the Vampire Diaries manages to throw in a twist so that Bonnie isn't corrupted by dark magic. Taking advantage of Jeremy's magic ring, Bonnie decides to stop his heart so that his ring will bring him back.

As the group reunites outside the high school to take on Alaric and save Elena, Klaus drops a massive secret that has had Vampire Diaries fans curious for weeks. Klaus reveals that he is indeed the Salvatore brothers bloodline. If he dies, so will Stephen, Damon, Caroline, Tyler and Abby.

Inside the high school, Elena is planning her own escape, but unfortunately it fails. As Caroline manages to escape into the hall, Alaric grabs hold of Elena.

Viewers were shocked though when Klaus whisks into the hall and shows something very similar to kindness towards a frightened Caroline. Klaus tells Caroline to run home and stay inside while he saves Elena.

While Klaus is saving Caroline, Elena is telling Alaric to kill her. Alaric won't though, and it's soon revealed why. Sending Caroline home, Klaus then moves to attack Alaric, but it's obvious that Alaric is stronger due to the magic backing him. In order to stop Alaric from killing Klaus (and possibly her friends) Elena comes to an important conclusion. When I die you die too, Elena tells Alaric, realizing that Esther bound their lives together.

Similar to a situation last season, Elena threatens to kill herself. Not being taken seriously by Alaric, she begins to start cutting her throat. Seeing she's not bluffing, Alaric quickly releases Klaus who in a flash steals Elena away.

Realizing that Elena is his key to kill his only death threat, Klaus decides to drop the plan of taking Elena with him. Instead Klaus begins to drain her of all of her blood.

It's amazing that Klaus thinks that he would be able to get away with slowly killing Elena when she has the Salvatore brothers watching her every move. Fortunately for Elena there was someone closer by, Tyler. Tyler finally reveals to Klaus that his sire bond is broken when they get in a struggle over him untying a weak Elena.

As the fight gets dirty, Elena is flung towards a table, and hits it in a frightening (and potentially fatal) way.

The Salvatore brothers show up just in time to help Tyler pierce Klaus's chest, the original plan for Alaric. With Klaus's chest pierced, Bonnie does her magic spell, stopping Jeremy's heart. As Jeremy's heart stops, so does Klaus, and they realize they might have finally succeeded in defeating the original vampire. While it looks grim for Klaus, Jeremy manages to wake up from having his heart stopped.

Before disposing of Klaus's body in the Atlantic, Stefan and Damon take Elena home. It's at her front door that she tells the brothers that she can't choose one, because of the risk of losing the other. I've lost so many people, I just can't bear the thought of losing one of you, she tells them before going inside.

After a near death experience, Elena walks into her house to find her friends ready to celebrate the demise of Klaus. The celebration looks like it will be short lived though, as Alaric calls an emergency council meeting where he tells members that Caroline and Tyler are both supernatural.

Meanwhile Damon and Stefan have gone off on their road trip to dispose of Klaus, and of course the subject matter of the car ride is Elena. Both agree that they would leave town if Elena chooses the other, but Elena might not get that far, as the episode ends with her collapsing.

Next week is the season three finale of the Vampire Diaries. Will Elena survive? Will Alaric be defeated? Or will the original vampires come back to town?