I. In the Beginning

Marlene Fisher slumped down onto the floor, leaning her head back against the cold,wet wall. Her aching fingers clenching and unclenching in her pockets. She knew that she'd be better off moving around, walking, running or just jigging about, but she was tired and even though may of been a freak, even she couldn't sleep standing up. People walked up and down the street beside her, not casting the messy girl a glance. Marlene could of laughed is she wasn't so cold.

Just three months ago she was safe and warm and with her family. Then her mother found out and Marlene's life seemed to blow away like dust. Now she was curled up in an alleyway, a bag full of clothes on her lap, twelve dollars in her pocket and her dad's hunting knife tucked into the side of her boot. She'd tried to return a few days after her mother had chased her out the house, but the woman had just run at her daughter with a broomstick, screaming and shouting and cursing. Marlene had panicked and run into the garage with the hope of finding her father in there, but he was working. She did manage to get hold of his hunting knife and scare her mother away though. She wanted to laugh because of her own misfortune - one minute she was a college student at the University of Chicago,the next she was living on the streets wandering from motel to motel looking for a place to stay and having to carrying a knife with her everywhere she went if she was attacked! On many occasions Marlene had envisioned her future, and falling asleep down an alleyway in the rain was not how she had ever pictured herself.

It had all started about a year ago. Marlene had started to get headaches. Some of them weren't so bad and she'd just take some antibiotics and carry on with what she was doing, but sometimes her brain felt as if it was being squeezed so hard it would burst and Marlene was forced to shut herself away in darkness. Then she started to have nightmares, she was watching people die, hearing things scream and more often then not she was visited by a yellow-eyed man and he'd ramble on about how she was one of the "special ones" and that he had a plan for her and others like her. She thought nothing of it as they were just dreams. But she started seeing things during the day as well. Marlene would be sitting in class one minute, then it was as if she was watching someone else's life. It was usually the life of a tall,twenty-something year old man and his brother. She never caught their names, but they had seen some strange stuff. Ghosts, demons, werewolves- you name it, and these two men seemed to have seen it. Of course, she just assumed she was hallucinating. Stress, period, headaches, tiredness; Marlene tried to come up with some explanation, but what she was seeing was too real to be just a hallucination. Things went downhill pretty quickly from there.

She was visiting her family, she was only going to stay a week or two. It had been so long since she'd seen her mother and father, and her brother was going to be there too. Marlene was looking forward to her family being together again- they'd all be too distant from each other; her parents worked, her brother had moved to New York and she was at college, so they hadn't spent much time together in a while. Naturally, she pulled her brother in for a hug when she saw him, but she only had to put her hand on his shoulder to see everything. It was as if she was inside his head. She could hear what he was thinking and she could see his memories. Marlene was literally reliving her brother's life in a matter of all flashed by so quickly, but she saw and heard it all. Right from when he was a baby to him standing in front of her, a puzzled look on his face. A few days later she decided to tell her mother about it- about all of it. The headaches, the hallucinations, the nightmares- the mind reading. "Devil child! Devil child!" Her mother screeched,backing away from her daughter as if she was a monster. "Oh God it's happening. Dear God,forgive me. Forgive me!" She muttered as she shoved Marlene's clothes into a bag. Marlene reached out a hand to touch her mother, but she smacked it away."Don't touch me!" She screamed, her whole body shaking. Her mother threw the bag of clothes at her,gave her two hundred dollars and pushed her out the door as if Marlene was nothing but an animal.
She hadn't heard from her parents since.

Azazel looked at the girl. She didn't look like the kind of soldier he'd envisioned. She was curled up asleep,her bag full of belongings clutched tightly to her dirty blonde hair was tangled and damp and she was frowning even as she slept. She was the last one he had to collect, and he honestly didn't think she'd survive very long- not with that Ava still lurking around. She surprised him. Out of all his special children Azazel thought Ava would be one of the ones to go first but five months later she was still here. Although, now he had Sam he doubted that Ava would last much longer. The girl in front of him- Marlene Fisher- had proved to be more trouble than she was worth. Back in 1973, he'd cured Marlene's father of cancer in exchange for permission. Of course, Mrs Fisher had said yes. Ten years later little Lena was six months old and Azazel was upholding his end of the deal. Fortunately for Mr and Mrs Fisher, he was feeling generous and didn't kill them in a blazing demon inferno as he had done with Mary Winchester and a few others. But, when Marlene's powers had started to kick in and Azazel's excellent plan was in motion Mrs Fisher had to turn the other cheek and looked to God for guidance. The whiny bitch kicked her daughter out a few months ago and then had the guts to summon Azazel. He smiled as she and her husband begged and begged for him to take Marlene's gift away."I can't do that, you see, she's so special." He told them before he burned them alive. Poor little Marlene didn't even know her parents were dead. Azazel was sure she'd find out eventually, but for the time being he had work for her. Marlene was in his last batch of children.

He smiled as he crouched beside the sleeping girl and pressed two fingers to her forehead.