Katerina over Salvatore broers

Now that evil vampire Katherine is back in Mystic Falls, Nina Dobrev is getting a chance to show off her dark side — and she’s taking her rage out on Katerina Graham’s Bonnie! “It’s very odd to have one of your best friends suddenly grabbing your neck,” Katerina tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively about her face-off against Nina. “But she’s playing a character and doing a great job.”

I can imagine it would feel odd, especially considering how close all the cast members are when the cameras stop rolling! Katerina tells us she recently went out with a bunch of her co-stars — including Nina, Steven R. McQueen, Sara Canning and Candice Accola – for a joint birthday celebration (Katerina recently turned the big 2-1, while Steven turned 22.)

But there is one question even Katerina can’t seem to answer: Which Salvatore brother she prefers, Paul Wesley’s Stefan or Ian Somerhalder’s Damon!

“I like really intense, smart guys like Stefan could be,” she tells us. “But also playful, funny and sarcastic like Damon. Very daring. I’d take them both. I’m greedy!”

We certainly can’t blame Katerina for not being able to choose between the vampire brothers. Fortunately, HollywoodLifers, you don’t have to choose! You can have Stefan, Damon and the entire Mystic Falls crew when The Vampire Diaries returns for its second season at 9 p.m. TONIGHT (Sept. 9) on The CW.