(flash back)

Hellen was just a girl when Salem hunted down her neighbors and claimed they were witches. Her own mother fell victim to a petty feud and was burned at the stake. However, her mother wasn't a witch and neither were many of the others that died. Her father was a drunkard and Hellen had suspicions that it was really him that turned her mother into the authorities. In the early 1700s, a decade after the last trial, Hellen's hatred for religion and persecution grew. She reached young adulthood and studied witchcraft secretly. Nothing she tried measured up to the wild claims that people made that resulted in those women being tried as witches. She found a ritual that looked dark enough to be real. She gathered the ingredients and snuck off into the trees after her father passed out for the night.

Hellen knelt on the ground and read the words on the paper. She heard an odd noise and jumped. "Hello?"

A woman approached her. "You summoned me?"

"Satan?" Hellen asked.

The woman laughed. "No. He is a little busy, dear."

Hellen was scared. "Who are you?"

The woman's eyes turned black. "The name is Abaddon." She rolled her eyes back to a normal color.

Hellen couldn't speak. She had heard stories of demons with black eyes. "Are you a demon?"

Abaddon was losing patience. "Yes. Why have you summoned me?"

Hellen explained what had happened to her mother. She said that she was bitter and the men needed to pay. "None of my spells have proven useful."

Abaddon thought that Hellen was bright but also easily manipulated. She gave Hellen the deal of a lifetime. "You will siphon power from me. You will be powerful and unstoppable."

"You'd do that for me?" Hellen asked.

"Not without an even trade. I need just one thing, your soul."

Hellen gasped. "I cannot give you that."

"Sure you can. I'll make the deal sweeter. You pledge your soul to me and I'll allow you to live for centuries. All you will have to do is replace your soul with someone else's." Abaddon said. "You could start with your father." She gave Hellen detailed instructions and vanished into the night.

Hellen gathered the spell's ingredients in her apron and ran back to her cabin. She drew a sigil on her father's forehead with goat's blood and plunged a knife into his chest. A wisp of blue light seeped out of his mouth and flowed into her own. She felt a rush of power and grabbed her belongings. She held her hand out and cast a flame into the middle of the cabin. She was passing the confines of the village by the time that others begin to wake and yell for help. She could see the glow as the fire grew but didn't have time to watch it. She ran until her legs gave out and collapsed in the middle of the forest to sleep for the night.

Hellen fulfilled her end of the deal each decade She would find a man and steal his soul, siphoning part of the power before sending it straight to Abaddon. As time went by, she craved more power and stole more souls. She did not age due to the power that the souls gave her. She moved around America, never settling somewhere more than a decade. She was powerful, yet lonely.

Abaddon had been in search of something. Just when she thought she found it, it was then moved and she lost the trail. Demons whispered and gossiped about a human organization that had discovered some of their demonic secrets. Demons were trapped and tortured and sent back to hell. This organization had members that figured out how to do that, as well as repel them from buildings. Abaddon learned that this organization was called the Men of Letters and they were proving to be a problem. She also found out that they had possession of the thing that she wanted and were holding it in warded houses and chests. These men were smart and much harder to fool so her attempts at gaining entry into their bases were not successful.

Abbadon visited Hellen. She was pleased with the souls that were being sent on her behalf but she needed more. "You will infiltrate this secret society and retrieve the book."

The task was simple enough but Hellen would fail over and over again for many years. Abaddon did not tell her what the book was or why she needed it. She didn't understand what could be so important that a powerful demon was chasing it for hundreds of years. She asked but was not given an answer. Her working relationship with Abaddon was strained but she was unable to get out of her deal. So, she chased the book for Abaddon and enjoyed her powers.

Abaddon eventually tracked the book to Lawrence Kansas. The year was 1940 and the book was housed inside a Men of Letters bunker. She was very familiar with the organization and hated them with every ounce of her twisted soul. She took out members when she found them. She tortured them but none of them would give up the location of the book or tell her what was in the book. She had the ability to see through their eyes, and somehow, none of them honestly knew. One man was elusive enough that the other members thought he may know something. She could not track him down and could not get him away from his warding. However, she was able to infiltrate the organization by possessing a female named Josie. Josie's partner, Henry, was different in some way. She attended a ceremony one night in 1958 and slaughtered every man in the room. However, as she waded through the bodies and checked for the identities of the men, she did not find the one man that she was searching for. Francis Singer had escaped and Henry Winchester was nowhere to be found. She set the building on fire, angry that the elusive man and the man that was different had escaped her wrath. She search the earth for the two men and could not find them. They weren't just hiding, they were gone.

Hellen was visited again by Abaddon and given a new order. She was to track the young son of Henry Winchester, in hopes that his father would return.

So, Hellen did track him. She learned of Azazel's plans many years later. She was unsure why he chose the same man that Abaddon had. She watched as he fell in love with a Campbell girl and live blissfully until the night that Sam's nursery caught fire.

Abaddon unearthed everything she could find to figure out why Henry was different. She never got close enough to John to know that he was too. An impossible puzzle started to be pieced together but there were too many gaps to clearly see the picture that it painted.

Hellen studied and tracked the family. She got word that a young girl was causing a stir. She had been altered by Azazel's blood but she too was different.

Abaddon wanted the girl. She couldn't get close to her though.

Hellen found a way into the girl's life and claimed that she was helping get her father out of a demon deal. The girl was gullible and often fought against the systems that were keeping her safe from Abaddons reach. As she got to know the girl, she realized just how powerful she was. She had been working with a man on breaking demon deals. He had developed a theory that a creature could protect them from the hellhounds and demons and then, they could live out their lives. Many of his trials were unsuccessful. Hellen knew that the girl may be the key to the creature. They could take pieces from her and make something that no demon or hellhound could survive. So, she had to work in secret against Abaddon. She deceived the girl and set her up to think she was being helped. On the night that her father's soul was taken, she was to bring the vial to Hellen, and then Hellen would capture her. The girl was far wiser than Hellen assumed and double-crossed her, setting her house and body on fire with a faulty soul.

As she turned to ashes, Abaddon pulled her from the fire and demanded to know what had happened. She was infuriated that Hellen had been working with this man, as well as Azazel. She returned her body to the ashes and pulled her soul back into the vail. "You will fix your mistakes and bring the girl to me."

Hellen had no choice but to comply as she was a disembodied soul with an express ticket to hell. She was weak without her powers and was unable to grab the girl when she returned to the charred house. She tried several more times, but the guardians that the girl had were hunters and watched her closely. She was able to travel through the vail and not be tied to her house so she visited the house of the man that had been working on the creatures.

The man had lost control of his experiment. He used a live human, his research partner, as his next subject. He injected him with a mixture of supernatural substances and for once, the subject didn't die. As the subject changed from human to creature, his cognitive functions also became more creature-like. Hellen knew that things were about to spiral and visited the subject in his cell. She possessed his body and gave him his last human thoughts. 'Find the girl and kill her.'

Soon after, the creature trashed the lab and escaped through a heavy metal door, leaving the man to hide away behind symbols and warding as his creation was set loose on the local community.

Hellen tried to keep track of the creature but it was erratic. Mutations started to arise and turn into the freaks that Caleb and Dean had encountered. As she could not control the creature, she had to go back to Abaddon with a new plan. If they could not attack the ones closest to the girl, they would have to start a bit farther away and hurt them in other ways.

(Jamaica, June 2002)

Martha and Ross were sitting in lawn chairs underneath the shade of tropical trees. The cruise ship had docked for a few days to allow the passengers to enjoy beautiful Jamaica.

Martha and Ross had been arguing for months. Finances were getting tight due to Ross's gambling problem. Of course, Martha's spending problem didn't help. Martha wanted more and became bitter. Jess had changed since dating Sam and she wasn't happy about it.

Ross quickly tired of Martha's bickering and left the shore to check out the bars.

Martha rolled her eyes as the chair beside her shifted. "You're back already."

A woman crossed her ankles and leaned back in the chair. "Is this seat taken?"

Martha looked at her. "Oh, I thought you were my husband."

The woman chuckled. "This beach would be so much better without those pesky husbands."

Martha found the woman charming and spent hours chatting with her, not caring that Ross was probably gambling away the rest of their money. The woman told her of an option that would fix her problems.

"All you have to do is draw this symbol on his forehead with this special ink. Say the words on this slip of paper and all of your problems will just go away." The woman said.

Martha thought it was too good to be true but she nodded her head. It was as though she had been put into a trance. "I didn't get your name."

The woman extended her hand. She smiled wickedly. "Abadd.. Abigail."

(Bobby's living room)

Kate's head was spinning.

Jess touched her. "Kate, what is going on?"

Kate took a deep breath. "When I would speak to Hellen on the phone, I would hear voices. With her, it was loud and confusing. When your mom was talking, I could hear someone else's voice. He just kept saying 'Martha please.' over and over."

Jess let tears drip down her face.

"I don't know. I can't know for sure. I'm sorry. With Hellen, the voices were the souls that she consumed. It was as if their last words were on a loop." Kate said.

Jess started shaking. "You are saying she ate my dad's soul?"

Kate held her head in her hands. "I don't know."

Sam wrapped his arms around Jess. He couldn't soothe her and tell her it was going to be okay. He couldn't promise her that she would get her parents back.

John sat down on the coffee table. "Kate, are you sure?"

Kate sniffled. "No."

He took a slow breath. "Jess, do you know where they are?"

Jess hid her face in Sam's chest. "They went on a cruise."

John sighed. "I'm sorry. I am going to need some information. I'll make some calls and try to track them down."

Jess gave him a paper that her mother had given her that had the stops and contact information for the cruise line.

John stepped outside to make those calls.

Dean took Kate's shoulders and steered her to the side room. He shut the door behind him and sat Kate on one of the tables. "Kate, look at me."

Kate looked up through heavy-lidded eyes.

"If this has something to do with Hellen, you cannot go rogue. You cannot go after her." Dean said.

Kate looked away from him. "If this is Hellen, it is my fault. It is all my fault."

"No, it isn't." Dean said. "She was an evil person. We do not have proof yet. I know you, Kate. Look at me. You have to stay with us."

Kate broke down and cried into her hands. "Yet another person gets hurt because of me."

Dean tilted her chin. "This wasn't because of you."

Kate pulled her chin away from him and hopped off the table. She paced back and forth. "Stupid freaking dominos." She clawed at her arms, trying to make the tingling dissipate.

"Kate, stop." Dean said.

Kate took several steps back. "No! Jess's parents are in this situation, probably because Hellen went after them. It is my fault. I wish my dad had let me die, then no one would be hurt."

Dean moved quickly and grabbed her arm, pulling her over to a chair.

"Wait, Dean, I didn't mean it." Kate squeaked. She grunted as the air was knocked out of her from her stomach hitting his legs.

Dean brought his hand down with force. "You do not say things like that."

Kate tried to push away from him. "I didn't mean it."

Dean scalded her backside with a flurry of swats. "You will not go down a rabbit hole and hurt yourself or put yourself in danger because of your own self-hatred."

Kate sobbed. "I won't."

Dean gave her another round and then scooped her into his arms. Part of him was terrified that she would put herself in the middle of it. That was how it always started. She blamed herself and that lead to her throwing caution to the wind to remedy a situation that she had no business even trying to take on. Her big tango with Hellen ended with her almost dying from a hellhound. This was a dark road that he didn't want her to go down. He couldn't let her tear into her arms again. He couldn't let her fall into a trap and get taken away. "I am serious."

Kate nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."

He got her to calm down and walked her back to the living room. "Has anything been figured out?"

"Your dad is calling around." Jess said. Her breath hitched. "I did this. I ignored their calls."

Sam squeezed her. "This wasn't your doing."

Jess felt guilty although she didn't know what had happened. If she had called them back.. if she had gone with them...

John opened the door. "The cruise line reported that both of your parents are off the ship. They are staying in Jamaica for a few days."

Jess crumbled. "I'm a horrible daughter."

Kate scoffed. "Be careful saying things like that, Dean will just try to beat the morale back into you."

Dean put his hand on the back of her neck. "Katelyn."

John gave Kate a hard look. "Do you and I need to step outside?"

Kate whimpered. "No."

Jess looked up at John. "Can I talk to her?"

John nodded and Dean let Kate go.

Jess patted the couch beside her. "I know you are upset. I'm upset. Sam told me why Dean talked to you. I want to figure this out. I just need you to be careful for me. If you got caught up in this and got hurt, I'd feel even worse."

Kate slowly nodded. "I understand. I promise that I will not do anything."

Dean rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and took a deep breath.

Kate dropped the attitude. She knew that it was due to Hellen and no one needed to get hit by it. "What are we going to do?"

John sighed. "I think our best bet is to have Castiel to check it out."

Dean nodded. "I'll get on that."

"If Hellen has something to do with this, we have to assume it is a trap. That means no one goes anywhere alone." John said.

As much as Kate wanted to zip to Jamaica and destroy Hellen, she knew that John was right. Dean was right too.

Dean told them that Cas was on board and would show up when he had answers.

"Now, I will be staying up. Right now, nothing is known and this is going to be a long night. Sam, you need to take Jess and go to bed for a while. Kate, Taylor, same goes for you."

Jess stood up quickly. "I didn't say I wanted to go to bed. You can order other people around but it isn't going to fly with me. My parents may be dead or worse."

John held his hand up to placate her. "No, I can't order you around. I have been doing this for a very long time. Right now, all we know is that something is fishy. If we find out something troubling, you are not going to get any sleep whatsoever. So, it is best to sleep while you can. I'm assuming that you need a chance to process and would prefer to do that without all of us around."

Jess slowly sat down. She nodded and hid her face.

"Kate, Taylor, head to bed." John said.

Taylor moved quickly and got ready for bed. Kate was slow. "Dad?"

"I know this is a big thing for you. I need you safe and clear-headed." John said.

Kate didn't want to go to bed. "Can I tell you that you can't order me around?"

John snorted. "Not unless you want a lengthy discussion before going to bed anyway."

Kate patted Jess's arm. "I used to be his favorite."

Jess chuckled lightly.

Kate dodged John's hand before it connected. She ran up the stairs and whistled so that Millie and Liam would run up as well.

John sat back down on the coffee table. "Jess?"

Jess looked at him.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm used to stepping in and running the show. That isn't going to change but I could see how that is hard to get used to for you." John said.

Jess sighed. "I'm just scared. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"We will figure this out." John said.

Jess rested her head on Sam. "You're kind of professionals, I know."

John gave her a small smile. "We are. You will be notified if we find anything tonight."

Sam stood up and helped Jess to stand up. "Thanks, dad."

John scooted back so they could walk by. He leaned forward and rubbed the back of his head.

Dean took up a spot on the couch once they left. "You're losing your touch, old man."

John looked at him and narrowed his eyes. He sat back and crossed his arms. "Do you want to go outside?"

Dean snorted. "You know, if you killed me, you'd never be able to handle Kate."

John's eyes twinkled slightly. "As bold as you've gotten, that fact may be the only thing keeping you alive?"

Dean sat back on the couch. "Oh, is this about Pamela?"

John stood up and whacked the side of Dean's head. "Amongst other things."

Dean let his shoulders relax. He had seen a massive change in John. Maybe he was getting bold but the John Winchester he knew when he was a kid would never stand for the teasing that had been thrown his way. Yet, the man that had just walked by him was almost amused by it.

Karen went to bed and Bobby stayed up a while longer.

"If this is Hellen's doing, how is it?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know." John said.

"When we saved that kid from the familiar, he said that the body there was Hellen's," Dean said.

"Maybe this is a ghost or some kind of magic," Bobby said.

"Whatever it is, it is bad." John said. "Kate is going to be a time bomb."

"I talked to her about that. I told her that she couldn't go rogue. She feels guilty and made a comment about wishing that her dad hadn't saved her." Dean said.

Bobby and John both prickled.

"I lit her up. She is not going to be making those comments or acting on them." Dean said, firmly.

"I knew things were going too well." Bobby added.

Dean fell asleep on the couch as they waited for Castiel. Bobby went to bed and John dozed off in one of the chairs.

(Jamaica)

Castiel found Martha and studied her. She was in good health although something was off. He searched for Ross and finally found him alive but without a soul.

Martha poured herself another drink. She knew she should have felt guilty but she didn't. She felt great. She held her hand out and refilled the pitcher that had previously held mimosas. She was expecting Ross to die but after she was done with her 'spell', he got up and walked away. Abigail had not explained things very well. How were her problems fixed?

(Bobby's house, early the next morning)

Castiel appeared in the living room.

Dean startled. "Cas."

"It took a while to find them. The man is alive but does not have a soul. The woman is alive as well. I watched them." Cas said.

John opened the basement door and whistled lightly.

Sam woke up and ascended the stairs.

"Castiel is back. Both of them are alive. Her dad doesn't have his soul, though." John said.

Sam sighed deeply. "I'll tell Jess."

"Did she sleep?" John asked.

"She fell asleep about ten minutes after we went to bed." Sam said.

John nodded. "I'll make coffee."

Cas shared his findings with Jess.

"One problem is that, if he doesn't have a soul, he doesn't have anything to prevent him from harming someone," John explained.

"So what do we do?" Jess asked.

"We are still trying to figure that out. There is a dark force there, so Cas cannot simply grab him." Dean said.

Jess stared blankly at Dean.

Sam rubbed her back. "The big thing is they are both alive."

"I don't understand. Why them?" Jess asked.

"We don't know yet." John said. "It may be a way to get to this family. We were discussing it last night. We can make assumptions and guesses but right now, we just don't know."

Dean went upstairs to check on Kate and Taylor. He half expected to see Kate's bed empty.

Kate was sitting up on her bed, petting Millie. She looked at the door. "You can come in.'

Dean stepped into the room. "Cas is back. He didn't have much news. He did say that they were both alive but Ross doesn't have his soul."

Kate frowned and pulled Millie up to her chest. "What is the next step?"

Dean sat down on her bed. "We don't know yet. How are you feeling?"

Kate sighed. "I want to step in and blow everything to shreds and end it once and for all."

Dean cleared his throat.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Hellen, not me."

Dean put an arm around her. "Just making sure."

Kate let Millie hop off of her lap. "I'm not making any more suicide comments out loud." She squeaked when he flicked her. "Okay, at all."

Taylor sat up. "I'm okay too, thanks for asking."

Dean slowly narrowed his eyes. "It was you who messed with my award."

Taylor smirked. "What makes you think that?"

"You are baiting me," Dean said.

Taylor chuckled. "That doesn't make any sense."

Dean threw a pillow at him. "Am I right? Lying is bad, Taylor."

Taylor laughed. "Sadly you are."

Dean leaned back on Kate's bed. "Are you ready to go downstairs?"

Kate slumped. "I feel weird around Jess. I feel like part of her will be mad at me because of all of this."

"She won't be mad." Dean said.

Kate chewed her lip. "If Hellen is connected, I'm connected. Nothing is a coincidence. Sure, it isn't directly my fault but I am the one who blew up Hellen's house."

"You were ten. I think, right now, Jess is scared." Dean said. He patted Kate's leg. "Let's head down."

Bobby and John worked out a plan to gather more information and try to stay a step ahead of something that they weren't sure was even a thing.

Karen started breakfast. Her heart broke for Jess. She wanted to wrap her in a hug and let her cry on her shoulder but Sam was there for that.

Jess was quiet. She had so much on her mind, yet at the same time, couldn't form complete thoughts. She nudged Sam. "What about Stanford?"

"We have a few more weeks before we even have to worry about that," Sam said. He had worried about it. Would it be safe for Jess to return? What would happen to her mom and dad's estate?

Kate stayed in her own body but she did go back and think about how Hellen operated. "Can I try to do a trace on Hellen?"

Bobby, John, and Dean all said no at the same time.

Kate put an elbow on the table. "If I bring up a point, I promise I'm not arguing. I would rather be paranoid and just say stuff than shove it down and hope for the best."

John motioned for her to continue.

"If this is Hellen or someone that Hellen worked with, we have to assume that Martha and Ross were chosen to create a trap. There have been attempts at attacking closer to home but we have shut those down. I know that is a big 'if'. What if Gordon and David had assistance from someone? What if they had help putting pieces together or even just noticing Taylor in the first place? That would be an attack on someone that lead to a trap. It didn't work out in their favor so they took a step back. I worked with Hellen for a while. If this is connected, I think we should each think of people in our lives that could be used against us."

"Jo," Taylor said.

"We can call Ellen," John said.

"Caleb and Jody too," Kate said. "Those people are easy to warn and they know what to look out for. Think of anyone that wouldn't know what to do. Think of anyone that you would blindly leap to save if they were in danger, besides fellow hunters."

They each thought long and hard about who they had formed attachments with throughout their lives.

Jess could only think of her parents and a few friends at Stanford but Sam was the person that she was closest to.

Kate shifted in her seat. "I'm worried about Hannah. She helped me with my plan."

"If we are warning people, we have to be careful to make sure no one is possessed or being watched," Dean said.

"Could Kate read my mom?" Jess asked.

"No. She visited Hellen's house in a vision and a hand grabbed her. She got burned and wound up with blood poisoning. If we are dealing with the same thing here, she could be trapped using those abilities." John said.

"We could have your father arrested," Dean said. "That would keep him in one place and keep him from hurting anyone."

Jess let a few tears fall. "That would ruin his life."

"That may be the best option but it is your choice." John said.

She just nodded her head and let Sam pull her into his lap. She wanted to ask what if this has nothing to do with Hellen and he is in jail for no reason. She wanted to argue that they should wait. At least, if he was in jail for a bit, he couldn't hurt anyone. If he was loose and got mad, he could kill someone. Then, he'd be in jail for life.

"We should keep working on the house. If things go south, we may need the extra warding and rooms." Bobby said.

Taylor had been thinking the same thing. He had a deep desire to finish the basement and the extra room that was smaller but safe. He wanted secret doors and hide-aways for every situation.

Kate helped with the house so that her mind didn't convince her to jump ship. They had to be incredibly careful. She couldn't react on her own because that could be part of the trap, to leave her family vulnerable. She crawled through the crawl space and slid down into the small room. It had reinforced walls and lights. She pulled blankets down into the room and organized a shelf of supplies.

Jess fell asleep in Sam's arms so he moved her to the couch. He sat beside her and read a book. He wanted to help but she needed him to be right where he was.

Taylor outpaced Dean on getting insulation and wiring set up to the room that had been added on. He worked without breaks. He wasn't hungry or thirsty. His muscles weren't sore and the sun's heat didn't bother him.

Dean stepped inside to get a drink. "Taylor is going to have that entire side done by himself."

John went outside to look at the progress and returned to agree with Dean. "Has he taken a break?"

"Nope." Dean said. "Isn't even breaking a sweat."

Kate ran up the steps. "I need more stuff to take down. I also need the ink for the sigils."

John furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened to the stuff that was stacked up?"

"I moved it. It is organized with the system that you use." Kate said.

Karen gave her a few more things and sent her own her way.

The adults had been working too but each needed a cup of coffee and something to eat.

Dean worried with the handle of his mug. He had a thought that he couldn't quite finish. "Birds leave before a storm comes."

John put his own drink down. "What does that mean?"

"Animals. I.. I know what I mean but I can't figure out how to word it. Animals can sense things we can't so before a big snowstorm, little animals will hide food away. Birds will flee and even dogs or cats act weird."

Bobby nodded. "They have instincts that we don't have."

Dean tapped his fingers on the sides of the mug. "Have you been watching Taylor and Kate?"

John sighed. "Well, they do have instincts that we don't. You saw that when Kate disintegrated that hell hound or when she knew something was wrong with Jess's mom."

Dean leaned back in his chair. "Taylor doesn't realize how hard he is working. I tried talking to him but he is out of it. He is feverishly putting up boards faster than I'd ever be able to. Kate moved several boxes of stuff through that crawl space in record time. If a snowstorm causes squirrels to gather extra bedding and nuts, what kind of storm is causing those two kids to do this?"

The adults traded worried looks.

Dean thought back to what older Kate had told him. Things would be good and then bad. They'd be good again and then very bad. He didn't know where they were at on that rollercoaster and that scared him.

John downed the rest of his coffee. "I guess we should listen to the squirrels."