On July 7, 1977, John and Mary Winchester welcomed their first child into the world. They decided to name their baby daughter Hadley Rose and doted over her day and night. As she approached four months old, her eyes were already a vibrant hazel-green that contrasted beautifully with her dark brown hair. She was her parents' pride and the Winchesters were always showered with praise from friends and neighbors. Mary would often take walks in the evening with Hadley in a stroller and never failed to receive compliments about the girl.
One night, Mary was out walking when she came across a strange man she had never set eyes on before. The man peeked into Hadley's stroller and cooed to get her attention. As soon as Hadley laid eyes on the man, she wailed loudly and proceeded to scream uncontrollably until the man was out of her sight. Mary apologized profusely to the stranger and picked Hadley up out of her stroller to hold her and soothe her. Hadley gradually calmed down enough that Mary could put her back in the stroller and take them both home.
Things remained uneventful for the next few weeks, but when Mary took Hadley out again in mid-December—they had hit a warm spell and it was a nice evening—they happened across their neighbor, Amelia Harris. There had been several times Amelia had come over for dinner at the Winchesters' and she had spent several minutes each time making faces at Hadley while the baby girl giggled happily. Mary waved at her friend and steered Hadley's stroller over so they could talk. When Amelia waved at Hadley, the baby shrieked in fear and started a shrill, wailing cry that was nearly deafening. Mary quickly got her daughter out of the stroller and started stroking her back to calm her down. Every time she came close to soothing Hadley to silence, the girl would glimpse Amelia and start crying again.
"I don't know what got into her, Amelia. I'm really sorry. She loved being around you last time you came over."
Amelia watched Hadley carefully, a strange, thoughtful expression on her face. She moved herself into Hadley's path of vision again and watched as the little girl grew terrified and upset all over again.
"Amelia, I don't want to be rude, but maybe it would be better if you went somewhere else. I'm going to try to get Hadley back in her stroller and take her home. Maybe she's getting sick."
"Better keep an eye on that little one. There are a lot of dangerous things out there that want her dead."
Mary snapped her head to look at Amelia. "Are you threatening my child?" she asked icily.
Amelia closed her eyes, opening them up to reveal solid black. "Mary Campbell. I never forget a face. Looks like you went and got yourself settled. Had a little brat. Congratulations."
Mary clutched Hadley tightly against her chest. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus—,"
Amelia chuckled. "That's hardly necessary, Mary. I'm not here to hurt you or your baby. I'm just a scout."
Mary quit chanting. "A scout for what?" she inquired.
"Your daughter."
Mary started backing up. "What do you want with Hadley?" she demanded. "It can't be…I still have six more years…"
"It's not for Azazel, doll. I'm scouting for someone else. Someone who knows your daughter's potential and wants to see if she'll be a threat to us."
"She's five months old! What can she possibly do to harm you?"
"She can see us." Amelia threw her head back and the demon flew out her mouth without another word. Mary didn't stop to see if Amelia was okay; she quickly strapped Hadley back in her stroller and ran them both home.
Telling John that they had been scared by a stray dog, Mary triple checked that the doors were locked and brought Hadley's crib into their bedroom. The next day, when John went off to the garage, Mary called a hunter she used to work with on the phone and talked to him about the demon she had run into.
"It said your daughter could see them?"
"Yes. And I don't think she just meant the black smoke and black eyes."
There was a pause as Reilly thought. "I've heard that such things were possible, but I didn't honestly believe in them. Supposedly, there are some people—an almost nonexistent number there are so few—who can see a demon's true form even if it's possessing a human. If what this demon suggested to you is true, your daughter is in grave danger. Every demon in hell and on earth is going to be searching her out to kill her so she can't give them away."
Mary clutched the phone tightly in her hands. "What do I do then? John's got a partnership in a business here. I can't just tell him we have to move."
"Then you'll have to tell him what you were before you married. Otherwise, there are going to be a lot of questions when the demons start laying siege to your house to get to your baby."
Mary bit her lower lip. "What if I could find somewhere to send Hadley where she would be safe?"
"Where would you send her?"
"I don't know…a hunter refuge? Find some relatives who still hunt?"
"That would bring Hadley in contact with more demons. You need her to be as far away from them as she can be."
"Do you have any suggestions?" Mary asked hesitantly.
"Since you're so opposed to telling John about your past, there is no way you can protect Hadley at home. I know of a group of hunters in Europe who specialize in protecting children such as your daughter; I would be willing to take her there myself and watch over her. But you have to find a way to convince John to let her go."
Mary glanced over at Hadley who was napping in her crib. "Give me until tomorrow. I'll call you when I get things worked out."
Reilly wished her luck and hung up.
When John arrived home for dinner that evening he was concerned to see Mary looking worried and stressed. Kissing her on the cheek, John asked what was wrong.
"I found out Hadley has…has…she has a condition. The doctor said it's not life-threatening right now, but left untreated it could kill her."
"Then we'll do whatever it takes to make her better. Did the doctor have any recommendations?"
"He said he knows a doctor in Europe who can take care of Hadley."
"Then we'll move to Europe so she can—,"
"John." Mary gently chided her husband. "You can't leave the garage; you've got too much invested in it. Besides, I found an uncle of mine who's willing to take Hadley with him to Europe when he goes to visit some of his friends."
"How long will she be gone?"
"The doctor wasn't specific, but he suggested we wait to take Hadley back until she turns eighteen."
"Eighteen? We can't abandon our daughter like that!"
"By then most of her hormones will have sorted themselves out. He promised that any possibility of the condition coming back or getting worse would be gone by then because her body could cope with it."
John went over to Hadley's highchair and picked her up. "You get to go on an adventure, Had," he whispered in her ear. Kissing her on the forehead, John added, "Be careful. Your dad's going to want you safe and sound when he gets you back."
It was an emotional evening in the Winchester household. Mary and John were busy putting together everything Reilly would need when he came to pick up Hadley the following afternoon. At separate times, each of them had run off into town to obtain something for their daughter. John carefully packed a gorgeous locket bearing a rose on the outside. He had placed a picture of the three of them—a smiling John and Mary with baby Hadley in the middle—inside the locket for Hadley to remember them by. Mary had gone to her safe-deposit box at the bank—she had some old hunter items there—and had removed an antique key from the contents. It unlocked a storage shed out in Iowa where some very valuable and very dangerous items were stored. She left a note for Hadley to open when she turned eighteen, telling her what the key was for—she knew someone with gifts like Hadley's was destined for a life of hunting and figured such things would come in handy.
The following day, at three o'clock precisely, Reilly showed up in a battered pickup truck in the Winchesters' driveway. While Mary secured Hadley's car seat in the back seat of Reilly's truck, John helped Reilly load all of Hadley's things in the tool box in the truck bed. In less than twenty minutes, the three of them finished what needed to be done and Reilly climbed into the driver's seat of the truck.
"I'll make sure she arrives safely," he promised. "I'll try to send word when we're at the doctor's, but I don't know what sort of postal service they have out there."
Mary and John thanked Reilly profusely for all his help and waved a tearful goodbye to him and Hadley as they drove out of Lawrence.
Reilly pulled into the Kansas City Airport about an hour after leaving Lawrence. Packing all of Hadley's stuff into his industrial-sized suitcase, Reilly hauled the suitcase behind him with one arm while carrying Hadley with the other. He had purchased tickets the day before and picked them up from the ticket window at the airport. They settled down outside the gate to wait for their flight at 6:15. Reilly started nodding off with Hadley in in arms when she began fussing. A shifty-looking passenger was walking past the two of them, his hands shoved in his pockets as he glanced sideways at Reilly. Clutching Hadley close to his chest, Reilly pulled a water bottle out of his jacket pocket and slowly unscrewed the lid.
The stranger took a seat to Reilly's left, placing him too close to Hadley for Reilly's comfort. He shifted the girl so she rested on his other side and struck up a simple conversation with the other passenger.
"Pretty nice weather for December, isn't it," he remarked.
"A little chilly for my taste," the man replied gruffly.
"Where are you flying to?" Reilly asked, trying to keep the man occupied.
"None of your business." The stranger leaned forward and turned his head to look carefully at Hadley, who was curled up against Reilly's shoulder. Reilly turned his body to place himself between the man and Hadley, his intuition telling him something was wrong.
"Christo," Reilly said suddenly, watching for a reaction from his seat partner.
The man flinched, his eyes changing from a faded blue to solid black. He lunged at Reilly, but the hunter splashed the contents of his water bottle on the man's face, causing it to smoke and steam painfully.
"Exorcizamus te, Omnis Immundus Spiritus," Reilly began chanting quietly but forcefully. "Omnis Satanica Potestas, Omnis Incursio Infernalis Adversarii, Omnis Congregatio et Secta Diabolica, Ergo Draco Maledicte, Ut Ecclesiam Tuam Secura." The demon tried to get away, sputtering black smoke, but Reilly yanked him back into his seat with one arm and finished, "Tibi Facias Libertate Servire, Te Rogamus, Audi Nos!"
Black smoke poured into the floor until the demon was completely exorcised and gone. Thankfully, no one else had been around to witness the occurrence. Reilly put the cap back on his water bottle and stood up with Hadley to walk to the boarding gate. The stewardess called for passengers to board at 6:00 and Reilly nervously took his place in the middle of the plane. With help from the flight attendant, Reilly set up Hadley's car seat in the plane seat next to him and placed her in it before buckling her in tightly.
He carefully surveyed the other three passengers who got on board, hoping that they were not more demons coming after Hadley. He had only half of a water bottle left with holy water and two pockets full of salt to repel them if they were. Through all three layovers and fifteen hours of flying, Hadley slept peacefully but Reilly found it impossible to relax. Finally, they coasted into the Thessaloniki Airport and the flight attendant announced that it was time to disembark.
After managing to carry both the car seat and suitcase in one hand, Reilly went to the outside of the airport to wait for Damon, a Greek hunter, to come pick him and Hadley up. Several minutes went by before an old jeep rattled up to the front of the airport with a young man in the driver's seat.
"Damon?" Reilly ventured to ask.
"Yes. You are Reilly, then?" Damon replied, his English thickly accented. He motioned for Reilly to step into the passenger side of the jeep and wasted no time in loading the luggage in back. Reilly buckled a rather loose safety belt around his waist and situated Hadley firmly in his arms. Damon took off in the jeep, jolting over rugged country roads as they went north.
"How far?" Reilly asked loudly over the growl of the engine.
"25 kilometers," came the shouted reply.
Thirty minutes later, they came skidding to a halt outside a medium-sized stone house. Damon turned off the jeep and climbed out, going immediately to unload Reilly's luggage. A few people—four men and a woman—came filing out of the house to greet the two Americans. They all shook hands in greeting before the oldest man spoke up.
"My name is Acheron," he said. "This is Draken, Kiril, Theron, you met Damon already, and my wife, Mya. Now, you must be exhausted. A flight from the Middle United States is long and tiring; come inside and Mya will show you to your room."
Damon and Draken picked up Reilly's and Hadley's luggage and hauled it inside while Mya ushered Reilly to a small chamber on the far side of the house. "It is not much," she apologized, "but it is the best we could offer."
"Thank you. It is more than I could have asked for." Reilly went to put Hadley down in the small crib in the corner of the room, buy Mya offered to take the child.
"She must be hungry. I will care for her." Mya whisked the child away to the kitchen where she pulled out a jar of applesauce and began feeding Hadley. Acheron came into the room and put his arm around his wife's shoulder.
"So this is the child who can see demons," he mused. "We are quite blessed indeed to have such a powerful girl in our care."
"How much demon activity do you see on average?" Reilly asked, entering the kitchen as he pulled on a clean shirt.
"None around here," Acheron replied. "We keep an eye on most of Central Macedonia—news reports, rumors, you know the deal—and sometimes get called out to other parts of Greece to handle larger issues. Your daughter will be safe here."
"She's not my—,"
"Acheron? Murder out in Xanthi," Damon interrupted.
"Chest cracked open, torn apart, they're saying wolf or bear," Draken added.
"You boys know the drill; we have some blessed silver knives in the dining room," Acheron ordered. "Take the jeep; it'll handle the dirt roads to Xanthi better."
"Blessed?" Reilly inquired. "I thought plain silver worked for werewolves."
"Oh we don't usually run into werewolves this far north. It's lamias that run loose around here. But we've got enough priest-blessed silver knives to take care of them," Theron explained.
"Lamias? Fascinating. I thought they were just a myth," Reilly mused.
"We have much more wild monsters here in Greece than you have back in pampered America," Mya remarked proudly. "It'll take some getting used to."
"I'm an accomplished hunter and I learn fast; just teach me what I need to know. All I ask is that you help me keep Hadley out of harm's way."
"That's why we invited you here," Acheron reminded Reilly. "You're in very capable hands. She is not the first gifted child we have had under our care."