By now, the day was coming to a close. The daylight had slowly began to dull into a cloudless night. Half way to her house Elena's phone clicked on from the car charger. Quickly, she grabbed it and sent Caroline a text.

My house. ASAP.

She wasn't sure she could handle it alone, but then again she wouldn't have to. Caroline was always there wherever and whenever she could possibly need her. Sure, she was pretty neurotic and suffocating, but it was only because she cared so much. Elena understood that. By the time she pulled into the driveway her phone beeped.

Ok. Be there in 10.

Great. Now this was a big decision. To wait, or not to wait. She could probably handle this on her own, but what if she couldn't? What if she had a massive breakdown right there in the living room floor? She would be trapped there alone for a good ten minutes until Caroline got there. The normal Elena sure wouldn't be able to function through this, so why did she think she could now?

Elena sat in her car trying to distract herself with the music for now. Ten minutes came and went. Twenty minutes. This was very unlike Caroline to be late. Her near perfect life would never allow this. She picked up her phone to call, three rings and then voicemail. Now she was dodging her calls? Fine. Guess this will have to be done alone, so much for reliable.

Elena shut off the car engine and fumbled through her keys before stepping out of the car. With her house key in her hand, she got out. She was suddenly paranoid. Ridiculously, she had convinced herself that someone was watching her intently. She picked up her pace and shuffled to the front door. The key was hit and miss. Her hands were shaking too nervously to get it in the lock. Finally, she got it and the lock clicked over. Elena burst through the door and shut it quickly behind her. She laid her back against the wood. Her breathing started to slow. The paranoia she held outside still remained.

Her hands found the light switch and flicked it up. Still no power. The light from the full moon shone in through the windows, but it still wasn't enough to illuminate the room. As a last ditch effort she turned her cell phone on and pointed it downwards towards the floor. She was starting to second guess her idea of wanting to revisit this so soon.

Small noises came from down the hall. Paranoia, she thought. Nothing was here, her mind was just creating reasons to be scared. She made her way into towards the living room. More noises. Elena was hardly holding herself together now. The light from her phone was shaking intensely from her hands. She shouldn't be here alone. Her family was just murdered here last night, what if the culprits came back because they realized they had missed one? The noises got louder. Footsteps, they were footsteps she was sure. She could place them now. The kitchen. Elena heard a sudden hiss and then a deep guttural laugh. Two. There was two separate snide laughs. They were mocking her, enjoying her fear.

This was enough. She hadn't even looked around to investigate yet and she had already had enough. She needed to get out of here, and fast. Steadying her shaking body, she crept towards the door. One single step at a time, ensuring she wouldn't make much noise. The footsteps sounded again. Swoosh. A hand caught her arm roughly and she snapped her head to the side to see her attacker. Nothing there. Swoosh. Elena whipped quickly around, ready to run. She pushed off her foot and into an open run only to run straight into her captor. A steel embrace held her.

"Now, now darling. Don't make this harder than it should be. Actually, yes. Run for it, it only makes it more fun," His thick accent rung in her ears. She hit her fists against him with enough power to knock over a normal person. This was not a normal human, it had felt like she punched a brick wall. There was no reaction by her assailant. He laughed. Headlights flickered across the windows outside. Soon after a car door slammed shut. Two. Three. This couldn't be Caroline, too many people. Maybe this guy had invited friends to help tear her apart. She fell to her knees and screamed at the top of her lungs as a last ditch effort.

The man in front of her let out a menacing hiss as he flicked away. The door swung open and someone had run in and dropped to the floor beside her.

"Elena, Elena are you ok. Are you hurt? What's going on," The voice was male. It was panicked, but serious.

"Where is she? What's going on? Elena," Caroline's voice was familiar. Elena looked up, straight into ice blue eyes. Damon was here. He was on the ground next to her, his arms wrapping around her protectively.

"They were here. The ones who killed my family. They were going to kill me next. He told me not to run, but then said it'd be more fun if I did. I almost died," Elena's voice was a whimper.

"He was very fast, he was everywhere. I hit him, but it was like hitting a brick wall. He didn't even flinch. There was two of them. They were laughing, hissing it seemed like," Elena was blubbering through sobs.

"Elena, it's ok. Nobody is here, but us. Everything's going to be okay. I promise," Damon spoke steadily. He rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. She was terrified. Caroline was silent. She must still be taking this in. The lights powered back on. Everyone winced their eyes to adjust to the new brightness in the house.

"The breaker box was tripped, just had to flip the switch and boom-on," A new male voice called. Stefan strolled in through the front door casually. Concern spread across his face as he saw Elena and Damon on the floor. Caroline wrapped her arm around his waist and pulled herself close into his side. She was scared too.

"Stefan, she said those people, they were here."

"That's not possible Lena, we didn't see anyone as we pulled up. They couldn't have gone out the back, I was out there at the breaker box."

"Stefan, I know what I saw. What I heard. These two people were mocking me, then he grabbed me. I wasn't imagining anything." On her arms, red splotches were starting to appear on her arm where the hands had taken ahold of her. Damon's body tensed beside her.

"They better be glad I wasn't here for that, I would've ripped them to shreds for even coming near you," Damon's voice was menacing.

"Damon, these weren't normal people. They were too fast, too strong. They weren't human."

"That's crazy talk Elena. They had to be human, there's nothing else they could be," Damon looked to Stefan for backup.

"He's right Elena. What doesn't make sense to me though, is why they were here. Nobody knew except for Caroline and us that you would be here. So they couldn't have been planning an attack."

"Maybe, it was just a sick joke to them. They had to come revisit what they had done to my family. They had to have a good laugh about it obviously," Elena was furious now. She was still shaking under Damon's hands.

"Well whatever it is. It won't happen again. You aren't leaving my sight. Come on we need to get out of here," Damon said as he was pulling Elena to her feet. She stumbled around a bit at first, but steadied herself against him. Caroline and Stefan looked paralyzed as they stood in the hall, staring into the living room. Elena hadn't even gotten a chance to really look around in there yet. By the look on her friends' face, she wasn't sure she wanted to anymore. She moved towards them.

"No, Elena you don't need to see this. Come on. Let's get you to my house. You don't need to be alone tonight," Caroline said dryly.

"I need to see it, Caroline."

"No, please don't. Damon get her out of here."

Before Damon could lead her to the car, Elena ran off towards the living room doorway. The color drained from her face when she saw it. She had not seen it in her first trip through the living room when her attackers were there. Granted, at the time it was nearly pitch black. Now, she had wished for the darkness to hide this again. She should have listened to Caroline. She shouldn't have seen this, it was sure to bring her nightmares. Beyond the police tape, and red stained carpet. There across the wall, was streaky, blood smeared numbers. 21051-21050-21049.

Damon lightly grabbed Elena's shoulder and directed her through the front door. She made no protests. Caroline was next. Stefan was the last one out. He turned off the lights and turned the lock behind him.

"What does that mean," Elena whimpered.

"I have no idea Elena," Damon lied. He knew exactly what it meant, but not how it fit with her or her family. Elena could not find out. That would blow his cover. Stefan, even, could not find out. He wouldn't be able to handle the guilt. There was no doubt in his mind who and what those numbers that referred to.

Damon Salvatore had been number 21051.