August 1989

To occupants, one male, one female, were arguing over the body of a young girl that was tossing and turning on a small cot her pale blonde hair a halo around her head.

"She's waking up."

"You shouldn't have brought her here."

"She gave me her permission, she agreed to this."

"She's only ten, she doesn't understand what she agreed to."

"I don't need your help with this, so if you aren't going to be any help then go."

The male frowned before he disappeared to the sound of wings flapping. Turning to the now wide-awake young child the woman knelt down and smiled reassuringly.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

Katriel sat up in her bed watching as her mom brought out something previously hidden behind her back. It was a stuffed teddy bear a gift that she would have been overjoyed at before her kidnapping and subsequent rescue. Now though it seemed of little import.

"I got you this, his name is Ted and he's gonna keep watch and protect you while you sleep, so you don't need to be afraid of the dark anymore. Not with your night light and Ted to keep watch." Her mother said.

"How is a toy going to protect me from the things in the dark?" Katriel asked.

"Kat, I thought you loved teddy bears." Her mom said pointedly ignoring Kat's question.

"I do love them mommy. I just don't understand how a teddy bear is going to protect me."

"He's a magic teddy bear, that's how." Her mother said before bending over and placing a kiss on the top of Katriel's head. Kat took the bear when her mother handed it to her the second time because she could see how important it was to her mother that she at least pretend to be the same normal kid. Kat could see how the recent events had worn her mom down. Her mother had dark circles under her eyes and had lost too much weight; she seemed so fragile.

"Your dad and I love you so much, you know that right?"

"Yes, mom. I love you too."

"Good night honey."

"Good night mom."

After her mother left Katriel's room Kat waited until she was sure her mother wouldn't discover her and quietly opened the door to her room. Making her way down the stairs she stopped a few steps from the bottom and listened to her parents arguing in the kitchen.

"Its just, something is wrong, she isn't the same little kid." Her mother said

"Molly, honey, of course she's changed a kidnapping will do that to a child. The doctors have said that her memory will comeback; all we can do is be grateful she remembers us." Her dad answered trying to calm her mother.

"Why did this have to happen to her, to us? It isn't fair she was such a sweet child and now she's so cold."

"Give her time she'll come back to us, you'll see."

Before she could hear anymore Kat snuck back up the stairs and into her room. She was shaking and her cheeks were wet, Kat didn't remember starting to cry. She knew she was acting different even if she couldn't remember how she had acted before her rescue. She didn't feel like a ten-year old; she felt so old and so tired. Crawling back under the covers Kat grabbed a hold of Ted and held him close crying silently until she finally fell asleep.

July 1991

It was the night before her twelfth birthday and Kat could hardly wait. It wasn't because of the party her parents were throwing her tomorrow; it was because of her mysterious gift giver. On her eleventh birthday a present had shown up on her desk that neither her parents had claimed to have given her. Kat had known they were telling the truth as when she went and touched it she had an overwhelming feeling of goodness. She had seen in her minds eye the shadowed face of a man smirking mischievously and the smell of chocolate nearly overwhelmed her.

On the anniversary of her kidnapping Kat started to develop abilities. Shortly after her kidnapping Kat had begun having visions of monsters that she had previously thought weren't real. About a year later she had become psychometric or in short she had gained the ability to learn about people and objects by touching them.

She was hoping that she wouldn't develop any new abilities this year because her visions gave her nightmares and not everything she learned about people through psychical contact were pleasant. However her excitement to see if she would get another gift from the mystery man superseded her fear that her abilities would grow. Kat was going to try and stay up until whoever or whatever gave her the present showed up, however she fell asleep before he showed.

The next day, just like last year, a present showed up on her desk. This time it was a huge gummy bear and two journals. Kat got the same feeling from the gifts as she had last year. Kat could swear that whoever was giving her the presents must wish her to die an early death from diabetes with how huge that gummy bear was. It was yellow, her favorite type of gummy bear.

She whispered a quiet thank you in the hopes that it was somehow heard. She opened the first journal, on the inside was written property of Alexander Marcus; whoever that was. Flipping through it she almost squealed in delight. It was a hunter's journal, how her mystery man had gotten it she didn't know, all she cared about was that she could finally learn more about the monsters in her dreams. Opening the next journal a note fell out.

Kid, don't get yourself killed hunting down the things that go bump in the night. Be smart; learn all you can and hopefully you'll change your mind about becoming a hunter. Seriously you're much too clever to hang around that bunch. If you still want to become a hunter don't do it for revenge or vengeance; find some other reason, some healthier reason.

Feeling happier than she had in a while she hid the two journals from her parents. The other journal had also been Alexander Marcus' she hoped he wasn't too inconvenienced by the two missing books. Running down the stairs she crashed in to her dad causing him to take a couple steps back before regaining his balance.

"Wow there tiger, someone must be excited for her party."

"Yep," She said popping the p "I can't wait its going to be so much fun, just so long as there's no clowns." Kat shuddered; she hated clowns with a passion. They just freaked her out.

"No clowns I promise."

"How's the birthday girl?" Her mom asked seeing she was up and about. "I made your favorite, blueberry pancakes and sausages."

"Thanks mom that sounds super yummy." Over the years Kat had regained the liveliness and cheerfulness of someone her age. She still was more mature and definitely stranger than other kids her age, but she no longer worried her mother.

The party was more annoying than fun for Kat, though she knew it was going to be. She had maybe one or two friends that she got along with. The others thought she was strange and most had come because her parents were rich. The most unusual thing was one of the caterers. If she looked hard enough she could swear he had wings. He saw her looking and gave her a wink and a smirk before disappearing in to the small crowd.

July 1995

Katriel woke up the morning of her birthday stuffy nosed and red eyed. She was turning 16 and her mother was dying. She had gotten breast cancer a year ago and the doctors had been positive about her mother's possible recovery; now however, things were looking worse. Kat was so upset that she didn't notice the gift waiting for her on her desk until later that night.

Last year Kat had gotten a note explaining that since she still was determined on being a hunter than she might as well learn how to fight and gave the address of a man she was told was ex-special forces who would train her. She had long stopped questioning how her secret friend got his information. And after a year of training she had felt positive that by the time she started hunting she would be able to handle the harsh lifestyle.

This year she had gotten a giant Hersey's Kiss, a book on pranks with notations from her mystery friend himself, and a necklace with an amulet that she had never seen before dangling from it. Kat smiled from the feeling she got when she touched the amulet her friend always made her feel better even if it was only an after image from an object he had touched.

The next day Katriel went with her dad to sit with her mom at the hospital. The family talked of things of little import and her mother gave Kat her presents. When visiting hours were coming to a close her dad left Kat and her mother together so they could have a private chat.

"You were always so special Katriel; different even before the… kidnapping. So knowing, I know that you'll get along just fine without me."

"Mom, don't talk like that, please. You're going to get better. You have to." Kat said tears falling from her eyes. Her mother smiled sadly up at her from her hospital bed.

"You're smarter than that. I not getting any better, I'm dying like it or not. You need to take care of your father; he isn't as strong as you are," her mother said leaning up and wiping the tears from Kat's eyes.

"I don't want you to go." Kat whispered.

"I know, honey, I know. I'll always be with you, watching over you. Maybe I'll finally get to know the secret you've been keeping from us for so long."

A nurse came to the door and pointed at her wrist giving a silent signal that time was at an end. "I love you so much, mom. I'm sorry I haven't told you everything I just didn't think you'd believe me."

"Knowing the kind of trouble you get into I probably wouldn't have. I love you too baby."

Katriel kept it together until her and her dad reached the car where she broke down sobbing. Her father grabbed her into a hug and Kat could feel his tears running down his face as they hit her head. They stayed there for a moment before getting in the car and driving home. A week later her mother Molly Manning died in her sleep.

August 1997

Katriel wiped the sweat off her brow after a particularly hard round of sparring between her and her teacher ex-special forces Kyle Brown. She had been training with him since she was 15 and had even gotten weapons training out of him. He had been reluctant at first even with the favor he owed her friend, whom he wouldn't tell her anything about. But after a year of wheedling she finally got him to teach her how to shoot and how to properly fight with knifes. She also convinced him to teach her everything she'd ever need to know to be a thief as those skills were useful to a hunter.

"So, teach, what do you think am I good enough to start hunting?" She mocked as Kyle had gotten his ass handed to him.

"I don't ever want you hunting, but there isn't anything more I can teach you. You're too damn stubborn for your own good." He said before he lashed out with his legs sending them knocking into her own causing her to crash to the ground.

"Don't get too cocky kid it'll get you screwed in the line of work you so desperately want to get into. You've never fully explained why you want to be a hunter even with your visions you could make do with helping hunters research and sending them in the right direction." Kyle pushed himself off the ground and reached a calloused hand to help Kat back on her feet.

They were an odd pair. A tall balding man, muscular despite his older age and a young woman all platinum blond hair and blue eyes the picture of an all American girl. Well, if you discounted her ripped band t-shirt, the huge smirk gracing her face, and the bandages wrapped around her hands to protect them while the two sparred.

The two had started out awkward around each other neither one knowing what to think of the other. Over the weeks as the two started to train together and Katriel showing herself to be an eager and promising student a friendship had developed. The older man had taken to looking at Kat like she was his own daughter and that was what had him wanting her to stay out of the hunting lifestyle. Kyle had never told Kat why he had started hunting and she had never asked. It was a sort of mutual understanding between the two.

"Well it's kind of odd but ever since I was a kid, when I first started getting visions I would see this family. Two boys and a father hunting together, well when the two kids were old enough to hunt that is. I've always felt a connection to them and I admired what they were doing, helping people."

"So because of this family raised, in what I would say is an entirely unhealthy way, by a father that puts his need for revenge before his sons, hunts you got it in your head that you want to as well."

"Hey, don't speak about John that way!" Kat snapped before she could help herself. She had been having visions about them on and off over the years and after witnessing a particularly painful vision of John's wife dying she had always felt like she knew them. Even having never met them she still jumped to John's aid, not liking him being called a shitty father.

"John, as in John Winchester?" Kyle asked. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Yeah how do you know them?"

"Damn it Kat, why couldn't you have visions of normal families. You don't want to go getting yourself involved with the Winchesters, they are major trouble for anyone that gets too close." Kyle wanted to grind his teeth. He had worked a hunt with John once and hadn't liked the guy, his recklessness or the way he treated his kids.

"I never said I was going to get involved with them. What would I say to them, oh yeah I've been having visions about you guys for years lets form up our own weird version of the Scooby gang."

"You did say those visions were why you wanted to hunt." He said a little petulantly especially for someone his age not wanting to have made a huge deal over nothing.

"Well, seeing them hunt made me realize that I didn't have to spend my whole life afraid of what was in the dark or my visions. That I could do something to help people."

"You can help people as a nurse." He grumbled out.

"Yeah, but I'd be itching for a fight after too long. I wasn't made for a normal life."

"You're eighteen you can do what you want, just don't go getting yourself killed. What are you going to tell your father?"

"That I'm going on a road trip and then who knows I'll think of something."