Chapter 1

3 years ago …

Bobby watched from the doorway. He saw her curled up in the corner, knees hugged to her chest. She was young, small, and scared. A twelve year old little girl with a mop of tangled blonde hair and wide blue eyes filled with a fear that nothing could erase.

"She's been like this for a while," the doctor explained. "None of the drugs are helping, neither is any kind of therapy we give her. I honestly don't see how you could help her, but my bosses have told me that we have to give it a try."

Bobby nodded. "All I ask is a little privacy. Doctor-patient confidentiality and all. Anything she might tell me stays between me and her. I'm sure you understand?"

The doctor smiled and stood back, reaching out to open the door. "Of course, Doctor … Merton, was it?" He opened the door and Bobby stepped in. The girl didn't even look up, not even when the door swung closed with a loud bang.

"Verity?" he called softly. "My name is Doctor Merton, I'm a psychiatrist."

"Why are you here?" she demanded. "I know that you'll walk out of here thinking that I'm crazy, just like the rest of them. You might as well as just go back out and say there's nothing you can do, that I'm too far gone to save and let them write me off."

He approached her and sat beside her. "I believe you, Verity. I'm a different kind of psychiatrist. I've seen a lot of things. I know what you said. About your dad, that is. About his eyes. They were black, weren't they?"

She nodded, gulping. When she looked up, Bobby saw the tears in her eyes. "Yeah. They were blacker than anything I've ever seen. I know it wasn't a trick of the light, and it wasn't me being traumatised. They were black!" she insisted. "I'm not crazy like you think."

"I don't think you're crazy. I deal with these sorts of things all the time. You know what I think happened?" he said. She shook her head. "I think your dad was possessed by a demon and that made him kill your mom. What you saw was real. I'd like to help you, but I can't do that with you in here, so I need you to do something for me, okay?"

"What do I need to do?" she whispered.

"Don't mention the eyes. Pretend the drugs work, pretend my talks work and eventually you'll get out of here. When you do, I can protect you. You think you can do that for me?"

She was silent for a few moments and then, with a determined grin, she nodded. "I can do that. This talk was very helpful, Doctor Merton. Thank you."

He rose to his feet and patted her shoulder, before trailing over to the door. "Don't worry, kiddo," he said. "Everything will work itself out, I promise you."

And when he left that room, that scared little girl felt safe again, and Bobby felt happy knowing that she was one step closer to becoming whole again, all because of him, and his assurances that she was not alone and that he would get her out. Which was exactly what he planned to do that day three years later.

Now …

Dean glanced at Sam urgently. They had gone to Glenwood Springs Psychiatric Hospital with two goals in mind. One: to help Martin and gank whatever was killing people. Two: to locate one Verity Greene and get her the hell out of dodge. The first goal, however, would have to be put on hold until they found Verity. There would be no way of getting her after they killed the monster.

Currently, they were waiting for the nurse to leave her room so that they could sneak in and grab her. Finally the door opened and out stepped the nurse. She smiled at the girl in the room. "Don't worry, Verity," she called. "You'll be asleep in minutes. No more nightmares tonight."

After pulling the door shut and locking it to keep the girl in, she pushed her trolley off down the hall, whistling to herself. Dean nodded and Sam darted forward, peering through the window. Verity was sitting on the edge of the bed, arms wrapped around herself. Sam pulled his own stolen key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock. She looked up as the door opened.

"Who are you?" she demanded, voice filled with fear. She jumped to her feet and backed away.

"Verity … Eri … calm down, okay? My name's Sam, I'm a friend of Bobby's. He sent me and my brother here. We're here to bust you out, you understand?" he whispered hurriedly.

She frowned, eyes narrowed. "You know Bobby?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm a hunter too. Come on, we don't have much time. We have to go now. There's a monster in this hospital and before we leave, we have to kill it." She didn't move. "Verity, please. You have to trust me."

Finally she nodded and walked towards him. He held out a hand as she neared. Reluctantly, she reached out and took it. She almost laughed at the different between the size of their hands. Before she could say anything, Sam had pulled her out of the room and over to Dean.

Dean smiled briefly. "Nice to meet you, Eri," he greeted. "You ready for your first hunt?" She shook her head wildly. "Don't worry about it, it'll be a breeze. After all, you've got me and Sam here. We'll be doing most of the work, you just have to jump in if things get desperate, okay?"

She laughed then, earning surprised looks from the brothers. "Sorry, it's just that you two are in here, of all places. I guess that means you're meant to be crazy too, right? Three psychiatric patients hunting a monster. That's going to go down, well, huh?" she said. "I just hope we don't get caught, because we'll have a hard time explaining this."

"Yeah, I guess. Come on, let's get out of here, we have to find out who did this."

The three of them hurried off the ward. As they were heading to Martin's room, they heard a scream and exchanged a look.

"It came from that way," Sam declared, pointing in the direction of the noise. Immediately, they took off running and found themselves bursting through the door of Wendy's room. Eri let out a shocked cry at the figure leaning over Wendy's body. Her wrists had been sliced open and blood was running down her arms, staining the bedsheets.

Karla stood up with a grin on her face. "Surprised? Well, I sure am. Verity, however did you get off the ward?" she asked, walking towards her. Dean pulled a silver letter opener from his pocket as she neared. "Dean, really? That's how this is going to be?"

"What are you?" Eri questioned quietly. Karla laughed and then threw herself forward, knocking Dean aside as the letter opener fell to the ground. She swung out, hitting Sam, who was thrown backwards against the wall, leaving Eri to fight the battle alone.

"You don't even know what you're going up against? What, those two didn't tell you?" she said, getting closer and closer until she had the young girl pinned against the door. "I'm a Wraith, sweetie. I feed off the crazy, and I can just feel it radiating off you. I know what you've been through and what you saw. You're going to be a great dessert."

She grabbed Eri's head, and she felt the spike start to emerge, piercing her skin as it did. A scream ripped from her throat and her heart started pounding in her chest. She willed her hands to move, to do something, but it was like she was frozen in fear. The pain in her head was intense, blindingly so. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and then Karla gasped and looked down at the letter opener sticking out of her chest. She crumpled, falling to the floor, the spike sliding out of her head.

Dean caught her before she hit the ground and a weak smile came over her face as she breathed, "Thank you." He scooped her up in his arms, holding her tightly to his chest.

"Sammy, come on!" he urged as his brother groaned, pulling himself to his feet. "We've got to move now! Guards will be here any minute and I can't move as fast as usual. Damn it, she's heavy."

"What about Wendy?" Sam demanded. They glanced over to her. Her chest was rising and falling gently.

He firmly replied, "She'll be fine, but we have to go now!" He barrelled out of the room and down the hall, hearing Sam's footsteps behind him as he rushed to get out of the hospital. Eri was unconscious by that point, her head lolling against his arm. He was just thankful that the hard part was over. It didn't take long until they were outside, basking in the cool night air, and the alarm was sounding their escape behind them.

Dean let out a sigh of relief and slowed as they reached the car. "Looks like Tom Cruise was right, shrinks suck," he declared, nodding for Sam to open the back door so he could slide Eri in. "What is it about this kid, anyway? Why was Bobby so desperate to get her out of there? I mean, he was practically begging us to do it."

"I'm just as clueless as you are," Sam muttered. Dean gave him a look.

"What's the matter with you? We ganked the monster, we saved the day, why do you look so damn depressed?" he asked.

He sighed. "When I was reading up about Wraiths, I found something out. They don't actually make you crazy, they just build on what's already there. The rage, the fear, all of it. And Dean, it makes sense. It's true. Most of the time, I can hide it, but I am angry. I used to be mad at you and Dad, and then Lilith, and now Lucifer. I make excuses. I blame Ruby or the demon blood, but it's not their fault. It's not them, it's me. It's inside me. I am mad all the time, and I don't even know why," he explained. He stopped, stared at Dean, chest heaving.

"Stop. Stop it," Dean ordered. He stepped closer. "So what if you are? What are you gonna do, take a leave of absence? You gonna say yes to Lucifer? What?"

He throw his hands up in the air. "No, of course not, I -"

Dean cut him off. "Exactly. And that's exactly what you're gonna do, you're gonna take that crap and bury it. Because that's how we keep going! That's how we don't end up like Martin. Are you with me?" Sam stared at him. "Come on, man, are you with me?"

"I'm with you."

"Good. Then let's haul ass back to Bobby's and forget that we ever had this talk," he said, making his way to the car. He looked into the backseat, where Eri was still out for the count. "I cannot wait to find out what the deal is with her."

Bobby was sitting on the front porch when they arrived, waiting anxiously. Eri, now wide awake despite the giant headache, clambered from the car. A grin spread across her face.

"Bobby, it really is you!" she cried, running up the porch steps and throwing her arms around him. "It's been months!" She looked down and her face fell. "Oh, God, what the hell happened to you, old timer?"

"Demon got up inside me," he replied gruffly. "I fought it off and wound up with a knife in my gut and legs that don't work anymore. But never mind me, how are you holding up, kiddo?"

She smiled and looked around her. "Well, I'm out of the crazy farm now, so I'm actually not too bad. You mind explaining why you had those two carry out the great escape though, because much as I'm happy to see you, I'm also a little confused."

He sighed and signalled for Eri, Sam and Dean to follow him inside. "It's the apocalypse, Eri. It's happening now, the Devil is free and wandering around God's green earth, and he wants to wipe out the whole human race. He already went after a cambion because of his powers, and with you being what you are, I didn't want him getting his hands on you. A Wraith already got into the hospital, I don't doubt that a demon could get in too."

"Wait, with what she is?" Dean repeated. "What is she?" Eri shuffled her feet, chewed her lip and avoided his gaze. "Somebody tell me what the hell is going on around here!"

"I'm Nephilim," she answered. "Half-angel, half-human. I didn't know until my mother was killed. My parents weren't actually my real parents, so I didn't have a clue what I was. And then I started talking about demons and Bobby found me. He figured it out about a year ago and told me what I was. Guess it makes sense that the Devil would want me. A Cambion and a Nephil together? You'd have two powerful weapons."

Sam rubbed his jaw. "Well, that explains a lot. Bobby, why didn't you tell us?" he demanded.

"Hell, Castiel wanted to kill that little boy, I guessed he would have no qualms about killing her too. She's probably considered an abomination to his kind! I couldn't risk her getting hurt," he replied. "But now I don't have much of a choice. I couldn't risk a demon getting her, and I can't protect her myself. I'm asking you boys to take her with you, keep her close and protect her. You can probably do a better job than me right now."

Dean nodded. "I'm guessing she has powers then?"

Eri laughed softly. "That's a dumb question, of course I do. Using them though? Different story. The hospital wasn't the best place to practice them, so they're a little wild sometimes. But I can learn if I'm careful. I can help you guys on hunts."

"Okay, Bobby. We'll take her with us. But for now, we don't tell Cas anything. We don't risk him finding out about her, the last thing we want is a repeat of Jesse." He turned to Eri. His next words made her smile.

"Welcome to Team Free Will. You're in for a hell of a ride."

Tada! Faciem Veritas rewritten. I had no inspiration for the last one, so I wanted to switch things around and bring Eri in for the apocalypse. I know there was a bit of an info-dump there, but I think I should explain that basically, Eri's mother was killed by her dad, who was possessed by a demon. They weren't her real parents so she didn't know what she was. Her dad escaped and she was sent to the psychiatric hospital, where Bobby found her. He knew she was different but not how until he met Castiel and figured it all out. Now Lucifer is free and he's worried so he had her busted out.

Shit's gonna go down. I hope you enjoy this, please let me know what you think, et cetera, et cetera. I love you guys and I'll try to update soon, but please bear with me.

Love Beth xxx