The season 3 premiere of The Vampire Diaries ended with Stefan calling Elena.  But he didn't speak, he only listened while she told him that she loved him (despite the crazy things he was doing) and to "hang on".  Other revelations concerning the Salvatore brothers were exposed in the season premiere.  Elena now knows that Damon was conducting his own search for Stefan and hid it from her, in hopes that it would protect her from Klaus.  And Stefan proved that he can be a very bad boy by killing Andie in order to scare Damon into giving up his search - and his brother.

But Elena has no desire to give up.  In a new episode of The Vampire Diaries airing this week on September 22, Elena is determined to head out of Mystic Falls to track Stefan down and Damon and Alaric reluctantly agree to help her.  Back home, Jeremy again reaches out to Matt in hopes of understanding why the ghosts of Vicki and Anna are haunting him.  Tyler, unaware that Caroline needs saving from his mother, has an emotional heart-to-heart with Mrs. Lockwood while Caroline is still in danger.

Below is a sneak peek from the September 22 episode of The Vampire Diaries.  You can also view a promo for the episode here and photos here.