It was supposed to be a simple salt-and-burn ghost hunt. Something to get the kids eased into the hunting lifestyle without overtly affecting their schooling and would act as an interesting family trip.

While it was still somewhat awkward being around their father, the two older boys took to Adam almost immediately. Sam was all too happy to dump some of Dean's mother-hen tendencies (which he would loudly and profusely deny, being the oldest at fifteen) onto Adam whenever he felt the need.

Loki, being the pain in the behind that he was, still continued to show up at random. After a certain point, Mary just roped him to act as an unofficial babysitter as the worst he would do is drag them into a little chaos.

By this point Gabriel had taught Sam a lot about his new angelic powers...and how to hide himself so that other angels wouldn't notice.

Mary had done her due diligence...and had Sam investigate the area for the past seventy years just to be safe. He had a real knack for figuring out what they were hunting within a short time frame.

From all appearances, it looked like the home owners had disturbed something they shouldn't, and it had pissed off the ghost of the person who used to live there. Fairly straight forward, and a salt and burn would deal with the situation within a few hours.

That is until Sam stepped foot inside the house, pretending that he had forgotten something important and needed to call his mother who should be 'at work and close by' after quickly befriending the victim.

It took all of two seconds for him to sense a major problem and to hold back swearing.

One of the things Gabriel had cheerfully taught him...through trial and error...was how to tell what the actual threat was. Angels, by and large, were sensitive to the presence of demons. Sam had mostly gotten used to seeing the true form of them by now, though it still gave him headaches and he had learned how to turn it off just to maintain his sanity.

Whatever was in the house and latching onto the girl was not a simple ghost. Sam knew for a fact that the really bad ghosts were often targeted by Reapers with extreme prejudice...even if he had to kick Gabriel for nearly DYING of laughter after the fright he gave that poor reaper girl.

Sam called Bobby, made a random conversation, then headed straight for his mother and said bluntly "There's a demon possessing the house."

Dead silence.

"Are you sure Sammy?" said Mary. The fact she didn't dismiss him said far too much.

"Positive. Loki taught me how to detect their presence and if there is a ghost it's being used as a cover for the demon."

Mary was not happy.

"Loki?" she asked.

Sam shook his head.

"Last I checked he was up to his usual antics, which means he won't be available unless we really screw the pooch," said Sam.

Mary was not happy, but she had learned to turn a blind eye to his behavior as had Bobby and John. While he might be a pain in the ass, he was genuinely protective of the boys which was all they cared about.

To that end, the boys were armed with anti-possession amulets, and the adults were going in armed for the worst. Discreetly of course.

Since the house was in a cul-de-sac, they couldn't exactly storm the place and deal with the issue.

(They were also part of an HOA, who had been giving the family an extra level of hell complaining about the children being 'too loud' while the demon harassed them. Sam had to wonder if his choice of victim and location was deliberate or coincidental.)

To that end, Mary posed as someone who was scouting the lone house on the block for sale. She wanted to learn more about the neighborhood and who better to 'ask' than the parents of the girl being targeted.

Sam and Dean went into the house, mostly to 'make friends' with the older brother and the younger sister.

Almost immediately, the girl recognizes Sam.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had to call your mom?" she said baffled.

Sam internally winced. This almost never ended well, but he had to go through with it anyway.

"We know what's been haunting you. It's not a figment of your imagination and your family is in real danger," said Sam, deciding to be blunt.

The girl looked terrified. Her brother looked pissed.

"Look here you shit," he started.

"The crosses don't work, do they?" interrupted Dean. That shut the brother up, as he looked fervently for a camera or other sign this was a hoax.

Their mother showed up, looking pissed and afraid. Mary had a firm expression on her face.

"Get out of my house," demanded the mother, though it was mostly out of fear.

"Do you want this thing to go away? I know for a fact the Church won't get involved unless they absolutely have to or you get someone with some pull to put in a good word for you," said Mary.

The mother looked utterly defeated. The father had long since left, as he was fed up with being unable to help his children.

"How can you help us?" asked the mother tiredly.

"We're hunters...this is what we train for," said Mary simply.

"Hunters?" said the brother.

"Long story short, the supernatural exists and we're the sort of people who find the things that hurt humans and put them down...permanently," said Sam.

Seeing the pained hope in their eyes was almost painful. Since the ghost was being used as a shield, Adam and John would go to the cemetery to dig up, salt and burn it. Mary, Sam and Dean would stay with the family in case the ghost or more likely the demon Sam sensed, decided to ramp up their attacks.

Sam knew everything was going to go to hell in a handbasket when the crucifix began to move. The girl began to tremble, but Dean look at his brother and immediately poured a second line of salt around them. He was armed with an iron crowbar. Sam had a well thumbed bible in his hand, while Mary was armed with the shot gun.

The energy in the room became terrifying and dark. Things flew and smashed into the wall. The family cowered in fear, and the sound of destruction was broken not by the sound of a gun, but the sound of a scoff.

"Really? It's bad enough you targeted someone stupid enough to join an HOA, but trying to rip off the Poltergeist and the Exorcist is just bad taste," drawled Sam.

Dean couldn't help the snicker. He knocked away a vase that nearly beaned the older brother.

Sam rolled his eyes at the ridiculous attempts of intimidation and pulled out the book in his hands. He completely ignored the demon's antics and calmly began reading as Dean played baseball with anything thrown their way.

Out of the group, Sam was the best at exorcisms and he was able to read and write Latin fluently.

The demon became panicked and tried to rush the girl. The salt line held, despite the girl's screaming.

Sam finished with a loud flourish, sending the demon straight back to hell.

You could feel the difference in the air.

Before any of them could breath a sigh of relief, there was an angry banging on the door.

Rather than let the poor family deal with it, Sam opened the door to a very bitchy neighbor.

One that would later be dubbed a Karen, not that anyone would get the reference yet considering it was a term from at least twenty years from now.

Sam thought about how to handle this...before he realized he spent entirely too much time around Loki. Honestly, there was only one way to deal with this hag.

Besides, this was the age before social media and the inter connectivity that came with it. Facebook wasn't even a thing yet.

Dean watched in horrified awe as Sam had the woman fleeing the house rather quickly with a grossed out look on her face.

"Dude...that was awesome," said Dean.

"Yes, and highly disturbing. Why on earth did you go into such much detail about menopause and ask her questions like that?" said Mary, though she was more amused than annoyed.

"Loki," said Sam, shrugging.

The two didn't say another word, silently accepting the 'explanation'.

Fortunately the family was able to move out in peace a week later.


Gabriel was howling when he heard the story.

"You literally asked her why a clearly menopausal woman was banging on their door that late at night, and then went into detail about the physical and highly graphic aspects of it?" said Gabriel, cackling.

"I even went into a few details about how periods worked...she couldn't leave fast enough," said Sam.

Gabriel laughed harder. That was a quick, if highly graphic way to shut some entitled hag down.

In Sam's lap was his dog, Bones. After a lot of coaxing, begging and pleading, his parents and Bobby let him get a dog.

Then he made the mistake of mentioning this to Gabriel, who took him to a weekly poker game he often frequented.

Sam...still didn't know how to tell his parents that the dog he got was really a hellhound he won off Crowley of all people.

Luckily the demon didn't know about him yet, and Gabriel had introduced him as his "highly intelligent, yet also devious minion" Moose.

Sam scratched Bones' ears, the hell hound whined happily. He looked like a golden Labrador, but those with Sight saw his true infernal form.

He really did spoil his dog.

"So what happened next?" asked Gabriel, drinking his beer.

"We gave them Bobby's number, directed them to one of the priest's in the know should it happen again, and went home. Mom was pissed because it wasn't a simple hunt," said Sam. "But there was an upside."

"What happened?" asked Gabriel.

"We went to eat at the local diner, and ran into the Warrens."

"Wait... as in those Warrens?" said Gabriel staring at him. "I thought they were dead already."

"Nope. Apparently someone from the Church convinced them that there was a serious issue and they came to investigate. We ran into them while they were getting breakfast and I overheard them talking. Should have seen their face learning that we had already taken care of it," cackled Sam.

Ed and Lorraine Warren were known as "trustworthy sources" to Hunters, but they rarely interacted with them. Too dangerous considering how often they were in the spotlight.

Lorraine had confirmed there had been demonic activity, but it was over with.

Plus side, Sam got their autograph.


Sam looked at the actual priest, and then at his mother. Their last hunt (which had netted him an autograph he had immediately put in a picture frame) had put them on the Church's radar for troubleshooters.

Sam in particular, seeing as how he had successfully performed an exorcism without any formal training for it. Honestly, anyone could do it if they could properly read Latin and knew how to do it while things were being thrown at them.

"So let me get this straight. Due to the Warrens and other 'official' Demonologists going into retirement, you want us to take up the slack," said Mary slowly.

"More specifically the Church's investigators notice someone has been mobilizing the Hunter community in an efficient enough manner that we could use them to deal with the...less savory...aspects of our calling that most faithful would be unable to handle," said Father Anderson.

"Uh-huh... The Church was hoping that the American branch of the Men of Letters had been reinstated," said Sam dryly.

Then again he had been tracking down all the still usable contacts for the Men of Letters to try and get it reinstated on an unofficial level.

So far the hunter's community had been making discreet safe houses for their own on top of establishing some new hot spots for them to chat and gather intel thanks to his efforts. It was still slow going as again, the internet wasn't as fast as he was used to and social media wasn't even a concept yet.

Father Anderson smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes as it was clear that Sam had hit that nail on the head.

Sam went upstairs to get something. There was no way in hell the Catholic Church would fund them...at least not until they had something more substantial up and running. But they could support them in other ways.

Father Anderson looked at the rather neat handwriting in the notebook Sam had handed him.

"What is this?"

"I've been attempting to bring back the Men of Letters through a bunker I found, but the supplies in it are outdated, expired or just straight up missing. Supplies that I'm sure the Church could resupply discreetly without raising any suspicions of collusion," said Sam bluntly. "Supplies an eleven year old can't order without people asking awkward questions about their purpose."

Father Anderson looked at the list. It was fairly comprehensive, and had a few things on it that would raise more than a few eyebrows among the civilians if a child had their hands on it. However it was also cheaper than giving hunters actual money to fund their efforts and meant more inhuman things would soon be on the wrong end of an indirect agent of the Church.

He noticed that there were no guns or ammunition on it. Not that they would have handed such things over, that would have drawn attention.

"And where are we supposed to deliver half of this?" asked Father Anderson.

"There's an address and a map on the final page," said Sam.

Anderson looked and there was a comprehensive map that even an idiot could follow.

"So you're saying that if we supply these...items...you'll agree to work for us?"

Sam calmly turned the page past the map and supply list to what looked like an official contract in proper legalize.

Father Anderson...was disturbed and impressed as it was far about what a child should be capable of. It almost looked like a demon contract in some ways.

(Sam mentally thanked Crowley for jokingly letting him see what a standard demon contract entailed after that poker game. The future King of Hell had been so amused that he had almost let the kid keep it after Sam actually managed to read the thing and understand over half of it.)

Father Anderson took the copy of the notebook Sam had made with him. He would have to talk to the higher ups about this.

Two months later, the Church had an unofficial contract with the Winchester family and a few other hunters.