Help reading a number over serial?

Try something like this:

// code for receiving a value followed by a letter
// that writes the value to an analog pin corrosponding to that letter

int analogPins[] = {3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11};  // 'a','b','c','d','e','f'

void setup() 
{ 
  Serial.begin(9600); 
} 


void loop()
{
  serviceSerial();
} 

// serviceSerial expects data in the form:
// "255a"  - analog writes 255 to pin 3
// "127c"  - analog writes 127 to pin 6
// "0f"    - analog writes 0 to pin 11
void serviceSerial()
{
  static int val = 0;

  if ( Serial.available()) {
    char ch = Serial.read();

    if(ch >= '0' && ch <= '9')              // is ch a number?  
      val = val * 10 + ch - '0';            // yes, accumulate the value
    else if(ch >= 'a' && ch <= 'f'){        // is ch a letter for one of the analog pins?
       int pin = analogPins[ch - 'a'];      // use the letter to index into the pin array 
       analogWrite(pin, val);               // write the previously received val to the pin   
    }
  }
}

sending a value followed by a letter writes the value to an analog pin corrosponding to the letter :

send: "255a" to analog writes 255 to pin 3
send "127c" to analog writes 127 to pin 6
send: "0f" to analog write 0 to pin 11

I have not run the code but it should get you going in the right direction.

Have fun!