After the strategy session with Gabby, I flew back to Bobby's house, finding the brothers and Bobby in the older man's study.

Dean sighed, not noticing me in the doorway "Look, all I know is I was not groped by an Angel."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," I pointed out "I mean, why would he be lying about being an Angel?"

"Maybe he's some kind of demon," Dean shrugged "Demons lie."

Sam looked at his brother weirdly "A demon who's immune to salt rounds and devil's traps… and the demon-killing knife we have? Dean, Lilith is scared of that thing."

I nodded in agreement "Also, no demon would go around claiming to be an Angel. They hate those bastards too much."

"Don't you think that if Angels were real, that some Hunter somewhere would have seen one… at some point… ever?" Dean demanded, looking from Sam to me and back.

"Dean," Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair "We have a theory."

The older of the two rolled his eyes "Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it, please." I bit my lip… This was the perfect moment for me to tell them but… I was sure that someone was watching and I couldn't risk revealing myself yet. Not with the Angels coming back into the equation. Gabriel had agreed with me, telling me to keep assisting the Winchesters, while also keeping a bit of a low profile. Maybe I should go and ask Chuck… Dad… whatever. Although the problem was that he was being watched as well.

Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair "Okay, look. I'm not saying we know for sure. I'm just saying that I think we…"

"Okay, okay," Dean rolled his eyes "That's the point. We don't know for sure, so I'm not gonna believe that this thing is a freaking Angel of the Lord because it says so."

Bobby threw a book onto the table, causing the three of us to jump "You chuckleheads want to keep arguing religion or do you want to come and take a look at this?" I followed Sam and Dean to the older Hunter "I got stacks of lore – Biblical, pre-Biblical. Some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an Angel can snatch a soul from the pit."

"What else?"

Bobby raised an eyebrow, looking up at Dean in annoyance "What else, what?"

Dean squinted "What else could do it?"

"Nothing," I pointed out "Face it, Dean. The only way you can get out of Hell is if someone from the Host gets you out."

"Dean, this is good news," Sam cut in before his brother could open his mouth.

Dean shook his head "How?"

"Because for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap," Sam explained "I mean, maybe you were saved by one of the good guys, you know?" I grimaced at the thought. Angels might still have the general reputation of being amazing but within the Supernatural world, they were known as being cruel and merciless for the most part. They weren't 'evil' like demons, rather they were cruel because they thought it was the right thing to do. Back when I was still home, it was different. Dad was still there and he would look after everything. I think it only changed when Michael put Zachariah in charge… According to what Gabriel told me.

The older Winchester still looked uncertain "Okay. Say it's true. Say there are Angels. Then what? There's a God?"

Bobby looked up "At this point, Vegas money's on yeah."

"I don't know, guys," Dean sighed.

"Okay, look," Sam murmured "I know you're not all choirboy about this stuff but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof."

Dean snorted out a laugh "Proof? Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry but I'm not buying it."

"Why not?" the younger brother demanded.

"Because why me?" Dean shouted "If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?" He shook his head when Sam went to say something "I mean, I've saved some people, okay? I figured that made up for the stealing and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy."

Sam rolled his eyes "Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs."

"Not upstairs anymore," I breathed lowly, making sure that neither of the Hunter with me could hear.

"Ray, what do you think?" Dean turned to me, eyes begging "Is there a God?"

I sighed "There's a God, yes." When he looked at me in surprise, I shrugged "Look, I have practically lost all the faith I had but… I know that God exists. How do you think demons came into existence?"

"I don't know," the older brother groaned "And to be honest, I don't even want to know."

"Okay," I murmured, walking over to Bobby's bookshelf. My hand trailed over the titles until it came to a very dusty copy of the bible. I leafed through the book until I reached the part that I was looking for "Castiel is the Angel of Thursday. His name actually means 'shield of God' or something of that sort."

Sam tilted his head "So you really believe that he's an Angel?"

"Yes," I nodded "I do believe that but… as far as I know, no Angel has been on Earth for the past millennia or so… If they really are back now. God help us all."

"How do you know that?"

I leaned against the desk next to where Bobby was sitting, still looking down at the bible. How the humans managed to get everything this wrong. Bit right but mostly wrong is beyond me "I've been around for a while, Sammy. You heard things… Rumours and stories. Whether they are true or not, I don't know. We'll just have to see, won't we?"

Dean huffed "Fine… What else do we know about Angels?"

Bobby picked up a pile of fat, weighty looking books and put them down in front of Dean with a thump "Start reading."

"You're gonna get me some pie," the older Winchester pointed out, looking from the books to Sam and back.

Sam rolled his eyes but grabbed the keys of the Impala out of Dean's hand "Fine. Ray, want anything?"

"No, thanks," I declined, looking down at my phone to see ten texts from different Hunters. All of them read one word 'SOS' "There's actually something I have to check up on. I'll be back soon." Dad had said that I would be able to stop Lucifer in his revenge but I hadn't imagined the Apocalypse to start this soon and especially not with Sam and Dean Winchester in the middle of it. Oh, who was I kidding… Of course, the two idiots were in the middle. They always were… Anyway, if Dean was alive again and Angel's showed up, that would mean that the first Seal was broken. That was also part of what I discussed with Gabriel. He implied that originally the first Seal was supposed to be the oldest Winchester – John – but Dean was the next best. I flew to the house of the first Hunter who texted me. His name was Mason and he had only joined the ranks a few years ago after his daughter was killed by the Spirit of a former house owner.

When I landed, I immediately slipped and lost my balance. I glanced at the ground and saw a pool of blood across half the living room floor "No, no, no, no," I mumbled, seeing Mason's body lying behind the couch. His complete ribcage had been ripped open and his heart was missing, thrown to the other end of the room. A figure flickered into existence not too far from me and I gasped. It was Mason's daughter and she was glaring down at her father's body with hatred in her eyes "Why?" I asked her.

"It's his fault," she hissed, her voice a breathy whisper "He killed me."

"Annie." I got up, taking a step closer to her "He was your father and he loved you so very much. I'm sure you know that, right?" As soon as I was close enough, I could see the symbol on her hand and groaned "Of course…" The Rising of the Witnesses… Great! And if I was right, I now had to watch what I was doing. The only reason, I could still fly around was because I hid my grace, relying more on Death's powers inside of me. For everyone who didn't know me, it looked like the teleporting that some other Supernatural creatures could do "Annie, please? Listen to me, alright? You took your revenge… You're free now, aren't you?"

She blinked at me a few times, the murderous glint escaping her eyes "Daddy." With those last words, she disappeared, leaving me alone with a dead body again.

"Dammit," I cursed, throwing a vase against the wall in fury. It was then that my phone decided to ring with another SOS text. This time from a Hunter called Jed 'Where are you?' I texted back quickly.

'Home'

I closed my eyes 'One second.' Just after I hit send, I was standing in Jed's house. It already looked like a battlefield but I could hear Jed fighting a room over, in the kitchen "Jed," I called, running to where I could hear him. After I entered the kitchen, I spotted two ghosts and immediately hit them with the poker of the fireplace that I picked up on the way "Get the salt. I'll hold them off."

"How are they not attacking you?" Jed gasped, holding a hand to his bleeding torso.

I barely turned my head, instead focussing my senses on feeling the ghosts "They're not after me. They're not my witnesses. Get. The. Salt." In the other room, I could hear the phone ringing. As soon as the Hunter had finished the salt, I made sure to salt the windows, so they wouldn't be able to open them "Hang tight, alright? I'm going to see who called you."

"Ray?" Jed called out, sinking to the floor "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," I gave back grimly "This isn't over yet."

He looked up at me "You know what this is, don't you?"

"Yes," I nodded, making my way toward the phone when it started ringing again.

Just before I could reach it, the answering machine started up "Yeah, this is Jed. I'm not around. Uh, leave a message."

"Jed, Dean Winchester again – friend of Bobby Singer's. Look, we think something's happening…"

I grabbed the phone and held it to my ear "Dean, it's me."

"Ray? Why are you there? I thought you wanted to check on something."

"I did," I muttered "And I found out that quite a few Hunters are already dead. Jed is alive for now."

Dean sighed in relief "So he's fine?"

I glanced over my shoulder to see Jed leaning back against the counter, his head on his knees "Yup."

"Okay, Sammy and I are on the way. We'll be there in about half an hour…" Dean told me "We'll pick you up and go back to Bobby's."

"Alright," I shrugged "I'll make sure that nothing happens here in the meantime." I hung up the phone and went back to the kitchen to check up on the salt lines. They seemed to be fine but just in case, I quickly filled up a glass with water and poured in some salt. I had used this method a few times before when I was trying to get someone extra protection. Spreading the salt water on the wood of the doorways would help keep Spirits away and they wouldn't be able to open the doors or windows that were coated. When the water dried, the salt would still stay on the window for a few days.

"Ray?" a voice called from the front door when I was finished.

"Give me a minute, Dean," I called over my shoulder "Or actually… Can you get me the shotgun and a few cases of the salt bullets behind the bookcase?" When I heard the two boys move around, I knelt down in front of Jed "I'll try to figure out how to stop this, okay? Can I trust you to stay in here?"

He nodded "Yeah, sure."

"Do you need anything else before I leave?" I questioned, accepting the things from Sam "Here. Don't listen to what they say, okay?"

"Thank you, Ray," Jed smiled shakily "Can you maybe grab me a bottle of water or something?"

I nodded and got up, quickly grabbing the requested bottle from the fridge "Here you go. Take care, Jed." I walked after Sam and Dean out of the door.

"We're in Jackson," Dean spoke into his phone. Bobby had called him a moment earlier "He's still alive thanks to Ray… What about you?" He listened to what the older Hunter was saying for a moment before he ran a hand through his hair "What the hell is going on here, Bobby? Why did a bunch of ghosts suddenly want to gank off-duty Hunters?" Dean fell silent again and nodded "We're on our way."

In the car, I curled up on the backseat with Dean in the passenger seat and Sam driving. A part of me was exhausted and I could see that the older brother was close to falling asleep as well. Maybe I could rest my eyes for just a moment? I jerked awake when the car stopped and looked around blearily "Where are we?"

"Service Station," Sam replied quietly, getting out of the car. I followed him, stretching my legs "I'm just gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I nodded, leaning back against the side of the Impala, scrolling through the contacts in my phone. I pressed on Elijah's number and held the phone to my ear. It's been a few days since I last saw him and while it was pretty late, I didn't really care. The phone rang once before it went to voicemail. I frowned down and texted him to call me once he got the message. My head turned in the direction of the bathroom… Sam still wasn't there, so I knocked on Dean's window lightly "Sam has been in the bathroom for ten minutes."

"I'll go check," Dean nodded immediately, jumping out of the car to grab a gun. A few moments later, I heard a gunshot and saw both brothers coming back towards me.

I raised my hand to the bruise forming on Sam's face and winced "That looks painful."

"Yeah…" he mumbled, getting into the passenger side.

A couple of minutes later, we were on the road again "Dammit, Bobby," Dean cursed "Pick up." He turned his head to look at his brother "How you feeling, huh? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"None," Sam grumbled "I'll be fine, Dean."

Dean raised his eyebrow "Henriksen?"

"Who is that?" I questioned, the name not ringing a bell.

"He was an FBI agent that hunted us a while back…" Dean explained "He died when Lilith blew up a small police station he was in."

I closed my eyes "I think I heard about that… You were there, weren't you?"

"Yup. Fought a couple hundred demons with a group of people who had no idea about the Supernatural."

"That sucks," I snorted "Let me guess, he wanted revenge."

Sam looked at me in surprise "Yes. What do you know about what's going on?"

"Way too much," I groaned "I'll tell you when we're at Bobby's. There's something wrong."

Dean turned his head to me for a moment before accelerating. It didn't take long for us to reach the junkyard and when we entered the house, guns cocked, there was nothing "Bobby?" Dean called. He stumbled over an iron poker that was lying on the ground "Dammit. I'll go up. You two check outside."

Sam and I nodded, heading outside "You go that way," Sam gestured quietly.

I saluted playfully, hurrying around cars. Where are you, Bobby? I listened intently to any sound that was out of the ordinary. There was only silence and it didn't take long for me to run into Sam again. I shrugged helplessly before I perked up "Over there," I breathed.

"Bobby?" Sam shouted walking over there "We're here, Bobby."

I climbed up a pile of cars close to Sam and ripped the back door open without a problem. Inside, I saw Bobby being held down by two little girls. When they went to attack me, I quickly threw a screwdriver at her. Why there was a screwdriver next to me, I didn't know… Bobby jerked up, using a crowbar to fight the other girl. Once they were gone, the older Hunter breathed a sigh of relief "Thank God."

I held out my hand "Are you okay, Bobby?"

"As much as I can be," he panted, climbing down from the junk pile. I jumped after him.

Soon, all four of us were in Bobby's study, standing around a table. Sam ran a hand through his hair "So, they're all people we know?"

"Not just know," Dean denied "People we couldn't save. Hey, I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"

"I think I can shed light on this," I murmured, looking at Bobby "It's the Rising of the Witnesses."

Bobby frowned "I've heard that before… What is it again?"

"The symbol that's on their hands is the Mark of the Witness," I explained, following them down to the basement. Bobby had grabbed several books and lead us somewhere "All of the Witnesses died of unnatural reasons. They were forced to rise… Woke up in agony and now they're a bit like rabid animals. They want revenge… Whoever had a hand in raising them wanted to kill Hunters and a lot of them."

"Who?" Sam frowned.

I shot him an unamused look "Do I look like I know? I only know that it's part of a prophecy."

Dean stared at me "What prophecy?"

"The Rising of the Witnesses is said to be one of the seals… Book of Revelations, you know?"

Bobby inhaled sharply "Then this is a sign?"

"A sign of what?" the two brothers chorused.

I looked at Bobby and he nodded at me "The apocalypse."

"Apocalypse?" Dean clarified "The apocalypse, apocalypse? The Four Horsemen, Pestilence, $5-a-gallon-gas apocalypse?"

"That's the one," Bobby shrugged "As Ray said. The Rise of the Witnesses is a – a mile marker of sorts."

Sam sat down on one of the beds, burying his head in his hand "Great… So, how do we stop it?"

"The apocalypse or the Witnesses?" I questioned.

"Either? Both?" he murmured.

Bobby grabbed one of the books and leafed through it "It's a spell," he indicated to the paper in front of him "To send the witnesses back to rest. Should work."

I glanced over his shoulder "It does."

"How the hell do you know that much, Ray?" Dean demanded angrily.

"Does it matter?" I asked "In case you haven't noticed, I'm helping you here. I could leave you to face all this shit on your own if you want to… Not like I don't have anything better to do. The more you argue, the more Hunters are going to die. Is that what you want?"

The older Winchester deflated "No. Sorry, Ray." He turned to look at Bobby "Do you have the stuff you need for the spell in here?"

"So, you thought our luck was gonna start now all of a sudden?" Bobby snorted "Spell's got to be cast over an open fire."

Sam closed his eyes "The fireplace in the library."

"Bingo."

"That's just not as appealing as a – uh – ghost-proof panic room, you know?" Dean muttered.

Bobby turned back to us just before we exited the room "Cover each other. And aim carefully. Don't run out of ammo until I'm done or they'll shred you. Ready?"

We made out way out of the room, heading toward the stairs. A ghost was already waiting on us there… He was a young man in his early twenties with curly hair "Hey, Dean. You remember me?"

Dean laughed nervously "Ronald, huh? With the laser eyes? I wish I could say it's good to see you."

"I'm dead because of you. You were supposed to help me," he accused, only to get shot by Bobby.

"If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk," he grumbled, walking up the now empty staircase. In the living room, Sam immediately created a salt circle while Dean started the fire. I ran over to the sink to repeat my trick with the salt water on the window. This was too delicate for mistakes "Upstairs," Bobby said to Sam "Linen closet – red hex box. It'll be heavy."

Sam nodded "Got it."

The two girls from outside reappeared in the room, close to the salt line "Bobby." They couldn't get out more before Dean and I took a shot at them.

"Kitchen. Cutlery drawer. It's got a false bottom. Hemlock, opium, wormwood," the older Hunter told Dean.

Dean stopped and stared at his father-figure "Opium?"

"Go," Bobby snapped, starting to draw what he needed for the spell on the desk.

As soon as Dean was gone, the girls reappeared "Bobby. You walked right by us while that monster ate us all up," one of them tutted sadly "You could…"

I shot at them, looking at the other Hunter "Hurry it up, will you? I'll go help Dean." I passed Sam on the stairs and told him to stay with Bobby. The ghosts wouldn't harm me. They wouldn't dare. Had I been anyone else, my ghosts would have appeared as well but they didn't, so I could focus on the people I tried to protect "Dean," I called, seeing him struggling with a tall dark man in FBI uniform. He must be Henriksen… I quickly shot the ghost and helped Dean to gather the ingredients Bobby needed "Let's go."

Back in the library. Bobby had already set everything up. The older Hunter had just started the Latin incantation for the counterspell when all the ghosts appeared all throughout the room. The boys and I shot them one after the other, trying to buy Bobby enough time. We fired round after round and just when we were about to run out of bullets, Bobby threw the bowl of ingredients into the fireplace. The fire turned blue and suddenly all ghosts disappeared, causing us to breathe a sigh of relief "Bobby?" Dean asked, seeing the older man leaning against the table tiredly.

He nodded, indicating that he's okay "I'm fine. Need some sleep though."

"That's probably a good idea," I nodded at him and put my hand on his shoulder "Mind if I stay here?"

"Not at all," Bobby shook his head "You can take the guest bedroom. The two idjits can take the couch and the floor."

I snorted at the boys' faces and nodded "Thanks, Bobby. Night."