Chapter Twelve

Gabriella woke with a yell, her body coated in cold sweat so that her pyjama's clung to her skin. She was briefly relieved that she was in her own bed until the memory of her nightmare came flooding back and she began to cry. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she buried her face in her knees as loud sobs wracked her small frame.

The fact that her father hadn't come running when she woke up screaming, and that it was three in the morning, told Ella that he still hadn't returned. When she had gotten home after the dance she'd noticed she'd had a voicemail from her father telling her that he would be late getting home and that he hoped she had a nice time at the dance.

Knowing that he wasn't home made Ella feel worse, she felt alone and scared. The house was so dark and quiet and every shadow held untold dangers. Her nightmare was the same as the previous night, but also different. Running through the trees this time she had felt that she wasn't alone, she had moved at an unusual speed as she raced through the dark.

Her pulse had raced as she had run for her life before finally breaking through the trees and into the old cemetery. The shadows that hunted her not far behind and then there was Damon, a welcome shadow in the dark. This time however he hadn't been bleeding, but he still smiled like last time. In this dream, Ella hadn't been afraid of him, she'd been relieved to see him because now she knew that he'd never meant to hurt her.

"Who are you?" Someone asked again, but it wasn't Ella. The voice came from behind her and was distinctly male.

"Your worst nightmare," Damon answered again before racing forward.

He flew past Ella, at a speed she would have never believed possible, and tackled one of her pursuers to the ground. It had been then that Ella felt the hands clamp around her throat, squeezing the life from her before the white hot pain as something sharp penetrated her soft skin. That was when Ella had woken up screaming.

It had felt so real that as it replayed in her mind, Ella's hand instinctively went to her throat to check for blood. Of course there was nothing there, it had only been a dream, or at least that's what Ella would have believed a day ago. Now she knew different, she knew that it wasn't a dream at all, it had been a vision. Someone was going to kill her and Damon would be there to save her, but the question was would he get there in time?

Lifting her head from her knees, Ella looked up at her window and screamed. Staring at her through the window were a pair of dark eyes. She couldn't see the face that they belonged to, only the shape of a man perched on the roof outside of her window. Still screaming, Ella scrambled backward and grabbed for her phone on her bedside table. Outside the window there was a flash of white, lips stretching over teeth in a cold smile and then the figure was gone.

Her hand was shaking as Ella lifted the phone to her ear, having picked the number of the one person she knew that she could trust.

"Ella? What's wrong it's three in the morning?" Caroline asked when she answered the phone on the fourth ring. Her voice was thick with sleep and Ella knew she'd woken her friend.

"There's someone here," Ella whispered into the phone. She was too afraid to make too much sound.

"What?" Caroline demanded, all traces of sleep now gone. "What do you mean someone's there?"

"I woke up and there was someone watching me through my bedroom window," Ella explained, she was struggling to keep the fear out of her voice.

"I'll be right there," Caroline said and then she was gone.

Ella was too afraid to move, she knew that if it had been a Vampire outside the window then they couldn't come in unless she invited them. If it hadn't been a Vampire then there was nothing to stop them from getting into the house, they could be in the house now. The thought terrified her and she remained frozen on her bed, shaking from head to toe.

Luckily it didn't take long for Caroline to arrive, and she wasn't alone. She burst into the room with Bonnie and Elena a few seconds behind her and went straight to her friend. Ella was so grateful to see her friends that she burst into tears for the second time that night as Caroline sat on the bed and put her arms around her.

"It's all right," she soothed her distraught friend. "We're here now; no one is going to hurt you."

"The guys are here too," Elena explained, sitting on Ella's other side while Bonnie sat in front of her. "Stefan, Alaric, Tyler and Jeremy are all looking around outside. Even Damon's here."

"Thank you," Ella whispered. She pulled away from Caroline and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"We'll always be here for you," Caroline told her. "All of us."

"I didn't know what else to do," Ella told them. "I was so scared and my Dad got caught up at work and isn't home yet."

"You did the right thing," Bonnie assured their scared friend. "And we're going to stay right here with you until your Dad gets back, ok?"

Ella nodded. "Thank you."

"Ella?" Jeremy's voice called out from the hall.

"We're in here Jer," Elena shouted to her brother.

A few seconds later he was standing in the doorway. His gaze went straight to Ella and she could feel his fear and concern mixing with that of the girls. There was something grasped tightly in his hand.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Ella smiled weakly. "Did you find anything?"

"Whoever was here is gone now," Jeremy explained. "Alaric, Damon, Stefan and Tyler are just having one last look around, but whoever it was, they left this on the doorstep."

Jeremy handed Ella a sheet of white paper that had been folded over. Gingerly, as if the paper could somehow cause her paid, Ella reached out and took it. Her hands were still shaking and she found it difficult to unfold the paper, especially as she had to resist the impulse to run into Jeremy's arms where she knew she'd feel safe.

When she did finally unfold the note, there were only three words printed in black ink.

See you soon...

TBC...