Can we imagine if when Elena realized she was linked to Alaric in S3 she made a deal with Klaus? He wants her human, she wants be human, kill her, Alaric dies. So in exchange for him killing her(again) he will use one of his witchy contacts to bring her back to life and he gets a supply of blood with no complaints and her friends live. No one realizes what she did until Alaric drops dead and when they go in search if her they find her being brought to life by Klaus' witchy contacts.
Elena decides she wants to explore her life her way, so she breaks up with Stefan and makes it very clear to both Salvatores that she will not chose either of them. There's no sire bond or cure bullshit, although the hunter does appear he is still killed by Elena bc surprise surprise dying twice had its consequences and her's are that she can now access her magic. So Elena bonds with Kol due to his knowledge of her heritage as a traveler witch.
skinny tea is absolutely the worst thing ive ever tasted, to the point i make it concentrated and drink it like a shot and still almost throw up after, but hooooly shit does it work wonders