'The Vampire Diaries' season 8 episode 7 spoilers: Stefan and Caroline's Christmas Eve dinner takes dark and twisted turn

The devil from Christmas past emerges in the upcoming episode of The CW's hit supernatural drama "The Vampire Diaries" season 8.

Titled "The Next Time I Hurt Somebody, It Could Be You," next week's episode will see the characters celebrate the holidays. According to the official synopsis for episode 7, Stefan's (Paul Wesley) previous encounter with Cade (guest star Wole Parks) makes him determined to have at least one thing to go right—a Christmas Eve with Caroline (Candice Accola).

Unfortunately, things immediately take a dark and unexpected turn when Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Sybil (guest star Nathalie Kelley) crash their Christmas Eve dinner. To make matters worse, the two characters are accompanied by Alaric (Matt Davis), Matt (Zach Roerig) and Peter (guest star Joel Gretsch). In a series of flashbacks featuring Stefan's past, he is forced to make an unimaginable decision when Cade attempts to entice him with a mysterious agenda.

In the latest episode of "The Vampire Diaries," Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig) reunited with his estranged father. After seven seasons, Matt's dad finally started to understand the depth of what he's going through. The emotional episode certainly marked the beginning of the Donovan men's long road to recovery.

Speaking with TV Line, executive producer Julie Plec explained why they decided to let the two characters have an emotional reunion. "Giving Matt those answers—Who is his father? Does he even exist? Why did he leave?—was important to us, because it was a dangling thread we'd never been able to tell a story about," Plec said. "I swear, all Zach Roerig does this season is cry, at least in his first few episodes."

Roerig, who was also present during the interview, added that everyon always wanted to see Matt find closure. "Matt's a good dude," the actor said, "so I'm sure it's hard for him to think, 'Why wouldn't my dad want to be a part of this? I'm badass!'"

"The Vampire Diaries" season 8 airs every Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.