Staring at the ceiling was boring, but counting the crystals on the ridiculously sparkly lampshade in the middle of it eventually allowed Damiano to slip into sleep. He was still tired even after his afternoon nap, which was the only reason he managed to fall asleep at all, alone, in a bed that felt far too big. It felt wrong and lonely.

He had no idea how long he had been asleep when something woke him. The moon was bright and filled his room with enough light that he would have been able to see easily, even without sharpened vampire senses. Even as he looked around he had a sinking feeling as his mind woke up just enough to inform him getting back to sleep was going to be a pain in the arse.

Sighing and mentally swearing to himself, he sat up and reached for his phone. Some mindless scrolling might help him quiet his thoughts down again. Just as his fingers closed over the device he heard a squeak from the landing somewhere outside his room and he aborted the gesture. It sounded like one of the others was having trouble too.

Pushing the duvet back, he climbed out of bed and padded towards the door. A little company might help him and whoever it was wrestle their insomnia into submission. Normally he would have put a bet on it being Thomas, but with everything they had been through, it could have been any of his friends having trouble sleeping.

He opened the door and stepped onto the landing, looking towards the stairs where he was pretty sure the noise had come from.

Every muscle in his body froze.

It wasn't Victoria or Ethan or Thomas. It was a vision from hell.

He only recognised the creature standing there as Tera, because he had seen her wearing those same clothes through Victoria's eyes. There was barely anything human about her at all. One eye glowed that bright, insane red, locking him in place so he couldn't move or speak. The other was a black hole of nothing.

Her face was twisted, like a demonic thing, lower jaw jutting forward and mouth full of sharp, crooked teeth. Her hands were distorted, overly long fingers tipped with curling talons, bent together as grasping claws. All down her right side there were burns and half her hair was missing, while the rest was singed and wild.There were huge unhealed, gaping wounds on her body, crusted with dried blood and dirt.

All Damiano could see was madness in the thing stalking towards him, even as his mind screamed in denial and terror.

His whole body was trembling as his instincts fought the power demanding his obedience, but it was no use. What was left of Tera came right up to him, stroking his cheek with one of those terrible claws.

"Ah, Caro," she whispered, "so pretty, so strong. Do you understand how you could never win now?"

He could barely breathe.

"They killed my beautiful Rex," she told him. "Nothing but ashes left. I'm going to need someone to take his place."

Her foul breath assaulted his senses with every word she spoke.

"This time we'll do it right from the start," she said, running one of her monstrous fingers down the side of his neck, over the scar she had left there last time.

Her movements were so slow they were agonsing as she went up on tiptoe and leaned in. He couldn't even whimper as her jagged teeth slid into his flesh, each a pinpoint of excruciating pain. But what was worse was the insanity and hate that came with the agony. It slithered into his body and mind like a parasite, trying to wipe away all that he was. In this he could fight, but it was like one man against an army.

As she drank and drank, he fought, but even as his body failed and she lowered him to the floor, he could feel his sense of self being eroded, attack by attack.

By the time the demon from hell drew back, any external pain was irrelevant. All that was left was the battle for his mind.

"When you wake next time, caro," she told him, holding his chin so he was staring straight into her eyes again, "you will be all mine."

She let him go and his head flopped to the side, all movement beyond him. Darkness played at the edges of his vision even as he stared blankly at Tera's feet.

"Now for my other children," she said, stepping down the hall to the others' closed doors.

Damiano screamed in his mind, but his body lay there, impotent and helpless as death walked down the corridor towards his friends. That was worse, so much worse than any pain he was feeling. They were sleeping, totally unaware of the danger coming for them and he couldn't even call out to warn them. He tried to breathe in, desperate to make any sound, but his chest was so tight he couldn't even do that.

"Damiano."

He heard his name, but he didn't know where it came from.

"Damiano," it came again and with it there was a high pitched whining sound.

"How is he making that noise? Is he even taking a breath?"

"I don't know."

It was the pure panic in the last statement that yanked him back to reality. He found himself curled in a ball, every muscle so tight it hurt.

"It's stopped."

That came from Thomas.

"Quick, get him up," Victoria said even as Damiano completely failed to comprehend what was going on.

Strong arms lifted him into a sitting position, but he couldn't do anything to help. His chest was burning, but he couldn't force himself to take a breath.

"Damiano," Victoria said, taking his face in her hands, "you're having a panic attack. I need you to breathe with us okay?"

If anyone would know about panic attacks it was Victoria.

She took one of his hands and placed it against her chest. Thomas took the other and did the same thing, while he was pulled against a broad, strong torso from behind, which had to be Ethan. They all breathed in deeply and slowly at the same time.

Damiano tried to do the same, he really did, but it was so difficult.

They didn't give up though, even as he failed. They breathed, he tried to copy and Victoria bathed him with words of praise.

It felt like an age, but gradually each breath was easier and reality reestablished itself as he slowly calmed down.

"Hey there," Victoria said when he finally had enough presence of mind to feel ridiculously embarrassed.

"Sorry," he said as it dawned on him he must have dragged all the others out of bed because he was having a nightmare.

"No need to apologise," Ethan said quietly, but firmly.

"I'll get you some water," Thomas said and disappeared quickly towards the bathroom.

"How are you feeling?" Victoria asked.

"Wrung out and stupid," he replied.

"Want to talk about it?" was her next question.

He shook his head, doing his best to push away his terrible dream. Maybe in the light of day he would be able to face it, but he didn't want to yet.

"Let's watch some TV," Thomas suggested as he returned, passing the small glass he was carrying to Damiano.

"Small sips," Victoria told him.

"Sleeping alone was a fucking stupid idea," Thomas said as they rearranged themselves on the bed, or rather the others rearranged themselves and made sure Damiano was comfortably ensconced between them. "I haven't slept a wink yet."

There was a large TV in every bedroom as well as the huge one downstairs in the lounge, so once they were settled, Ethan used the remote to turn Damiano's one on. Damiano kept on sipping his water silently while the others argued over what to watch. He felt all off kilter, halfway between reality and what was in his head, but the normality of his friends was beginning to help. He doubted he would be able to sleep again, but he hoped he would at least be able to rest.

In the end he woke up late morning, surrounded by Ethan, Victoria and Thomas, surprised he had fallen asleep at all. He couldn't remember falling asleep, or anything he might have dreamed. The echo of his nightmare was still there in the back of his mind, but it was distant enough now that he could look at it objectively. Tera was dead, but clearly his subconscious didn't quite believe it. He hoped he could convince it of the truth sooner rather than later, because he did not want another night like the previous one.

He considered going back to sleep, but then his bladder made itself known. Probably what had woken him in the first place. Now he was faced with the delightful task of extracting himself from the pile of limbs around him, without waking any of the others. He suspected it was a fruitless task, but he had to try, after all he was the one who had woken them all up in the middle of the night.

~*~

"My angel," Victoria said when Damiano handed her a cup of coffee.

He gave her a half smile for that and went back to chopping fruit for their breakfast. It was a nice repetitive task that was letting him keep his deeper thoughts at bay.

It had proved impossible to make it to the bathroom without waking everyone else on the bed, but they'd all decided it was probably time to get up anyway. Damiano had taken a fast shower and made it downstairs first, so he could put the coffee on and get breakfast ready. It helped assuage his guilt at interrupting everyone's night's rest. Not that he thought there would be any recriminations, but he felt better at least making an effort for them.

"You know," Victoria said as he worked, "I think you may have saved me from a nightmare last night too."

He looked over his shoulder with a small frown.

"How so?" he asked.

"When you woke us up, I think I was in the beginnings of one," she told him. "You know I used to get them a lot?"

He nodded.

"Well I don't remember anything of what I was dreaming, but I know the signs," she explained.

"But you were okay afterwards?" he asked.

She gave him a smile as she sipped her coffee.

"Fine," she replied. "I think Thomas has a point, sleeping alone is dumb. I know we will need to get back to our own lives eventually, but we've been through some serious trauma and we're clearly getting comfort from each other. You had a nightmare bad enough to give you a panic attack, I was about to have one, Thomas couldn't sleep at all, and we'll have to ask Ethan, but..."

"I was restless too."

They both turned to find Ethan in the doorway to the kitchen.

"I rest my case," Victoria said.

Damiano couldn't argue with her logic and he didn't want to. Everything last night had felt wrong, up to the point where he had fallen asleep with the rest of them. He glanced at Ethan, who just nodded.

"Oh, thank god, coffee," Thomas said, walking in, "and I vote yes for the whole bed sharing thing. I'd like to get some more sleep this week."

Clearly he had heard the conversation before he arrived.

"Looks like that's settled then," Damiano said, "but just so we're clear, if anyone needs their own space, say so. There will be no judgement either way."

"Definitely," Victoria agreed.

Damiano put the plate of fruit slices on the counter and turned to the oven to check on the frozen pastries he'd thrown in there a few minutes before. Given the kind of night he'd had, he was feeling surprisingly relaxed as he pulled them out and slid them onto a plate.