Those of us counting the days until the next new episode of Vampire Diaries are rejoicing now that we’re finally down to single digits. We know that in the April 7 episode, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) works with Bonnie (Katerina Graham) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) to try to find the site of the old witch massacre, and that on April 14, he and Alaric (Matt Davis) chaperone the high school’s “1960s Decade Dance” because they fear the big bad Klaus (Joseph Morgan) will make his grand entrance.

But looking farther ahead, executive producer Julie Plec says we’ll get to see Elena’s and Stefan’s reactions to Damon’s decision to use mind compulsion on local TV news reporter Andie Star (Dawn Olivieri) to make her his substitute girlfriend/blood donor. “We won’t hit that for a few more episodes, but there will be that moment when Damon’s desire to distract himself from his feelings for Elena blow up in his face, and the allure of Andie starts to leave a bit of a sour taste,” Plec says. (Before that happens, will we at least get to see Damon take another bath? “Damn, I don’t know. I might have to go back and do a rewrite,” Plec laughs. “I feel like every time we’re like, ‘Well, we could set this scene in the bathtub… Oh, wait that won’t work.’”)

The tension between the Salvatore Brothers will also continue to rise, Plec  says, as they find themselves on opposite ends of a debate about the best methods to protect Elena. “I am fully a Team Salvatore shipper. I want the brothers to be brothers, and to love each other, and to be good to each other always, but that’s part of the journey of the show,” Plec says. “When you’ve got two guys who have feelings for the same girl, that’s not gonna be easy. And it starts to become particularly complicated as we get to the end of the season.”