All 24 times Damon was mentioned in the Vampire Diaries season premiere (VIDEO)

The Vampire Diaries season premiere was on Damon overload last night.

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Sure, he’s technically gone, but he’s long from forgotten, especially with all those crazy Elena (Nina Dobrev) hallucinations. The show is not letting the handsome vampire slip from our minds for even a moment. They mentioned him 24 times on last night’s Season 6 premiere episode!

We think the best Damon (Ian Somerhalder) mention moment happened when Elena was chowing down on that poor girl’s neck while her subconscious version of her dead boyfriend tried to tell her she was taking things too far. As if that girl wasn’t already freaked out enough that she was being bit, it had to be super weird that the biting creature was also talking to herself.

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Photo credit: The CW

While Damon is “dead”… for now… we don’t think it will stick for long. Our theory is that because Bonnie was the link, she was transported to an alternate reality when the Other Side started to cave. Because she and Damon were holding hands, he went with her. We’re pretty sure that hand-holding thing has some significance other than just Damon and Bonnie connecting in a way other than through anger.

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Though we’re almost positive Damon and Bonnie will return to the land of the living, things are going to be far from easy — mostly because of Elena and her idiotic not-so-brilliant idea to forget Damon. We get it, she doesn’t really know he’s gone, but she should have held out for just a little bit longer. It’s like one word from Stefan (Paul Wesley), and she loses all hope. She hasn’t even tried to find clues to bring him back herself because she’s been too busy hallucinating.

At least we’ll get to see them both fall in love with one another all over again. Maybe it’s the second chance to get things right that they both need.

When do you think Damon will return to The Vampire Diaries? Will he be able to get Elena to fall in love with him again?