Damon and his best friend Bonnie are going to have a tricky relationship when "The Vampire Diaries" returns to the CW on 8 October.

Although he is happy to have her around, Bonnie's (Kat Graham) presence is going to make him realise how much he misses Elena (Nina Dobrev), his girlfriend who had to be locked away in a coffin after Kai cast a sleeping spell on her and linked her life to Bonnie's, preventing Elena to waking up as long as Bonnie lived.

"Every time he looks at Bonnie, he only sees NOT Elena," Ian Somerhalder, who plays Damon Salvatore, told Just Jared. "He does love her and it's an unfortunate situation that they find themselves in because it's that thing of every time he looks at her, 'Oh, if I just push her off the side of this building, I'd get Elena back'…It's this volley between 'I love this woman as a friend, but if something happens to her, I get my girl back.'"

In the season 7 premiere episode, viewers will see Damon, Alaric and Bonnie in Amsterdam trying to deal with the loss of their loved ones. While Damon and Bonnie lost Elena, Alaric watched helplessly as Kai killed Jo and their unborn children in the season 6 finale.

Viewers will also see Alaric and Bonnie spending more time together, as the synopsis for "Never Let Me Go", the second episode of season 7, reads: "After returning to Whitmore College, Alaric turns to Bonnie for help with a mysterious and potentially dangerous artifact he has obtained."

This has further sparked rumours that Alaric could be Bonnie's love interest, as both of them are currently single.

The season 7 premiere is entitled "Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take" and it will see Bonnie acting as Damon's "moral compass and keeps a close eye on him as he, in turn, cautiously keeps tabs on Alaric, following the loss of his fiancée Josette Laughlin."

Viewers will also get to see how Lily and her family, the Heretics, have destroyed Mystic Falls.