He wasn't sure what woke him up. It could have been the air-condition kicking on, it could have been something from the baby monitor, it might have even been his wife rolling over next to him, it didn't matter, it just didn't feel right. The gun in his nightstand was cold and almost unfamiliar in his hands, it had been years since he last felt the need to use it, years since the hair on the back of his neck stood up straight, years since his chest felt cold and numb.

The wooden floorboards creaked underneath his bare feet, the air in his lungs contracted at each sound. His wife made no move though, just slept soundly under the covers, not noticing her husband's absence. He cleared the hallway, the kitchen, the living room, the staircase that led to his daughter's room. Every time a room came up clean, he felt the pressure in his heart lessen, the grip on his gun lighten up. It wasn't until he made it to his daughter's door and pushed it open to find his child sleeping soundly in her crib that he allowed himself to laugh at his own paranoia, he let his arm fall to his side with the gun.

"There's only one way out." The voice behind said, he turned around, but he didn't have time to raise his arm before the intruder pulled the trigger on his shotgun.

0000

"I don't understand." Cas's voice made my jump as I poured the rest of coffee pot into my mug. The bags under my eyes were heavy enough to weigh my patience down.

"What don't you understand?" I asked, wrinkling my nose as my gaze caught stained vomit at the bottom of my shirt.

"How something so small can expel so much puke." He turned on the kitchen sink, drowning his hands in dish soap before scrubbing them. I scoffed, ignoring the burning pain in my mouth as I greedily drank down the coffee.

"Did they wake up?" I glanced at the clock over the stove, 8:30. Half of my brain wanted to pass out on the kitchen floor and the other half of my brain wanted to pop open a bottle of Gin.

"No. I was cleaning up the bathroom floor."

"Thank you." He grunted.

"Are you going to school today?" He asked. Sitting down at the small dining room table, watching me as I drank my coffee.

"Nope. No classes and I don't work. Figured I'd try and clean out the boy's closest, but it doesn't seem like I should be rooting around all through their stuff while they're sick." I took another sip, "and I need some sleep." The angle nodded like he understood the need for sleep.

"Then why are you drinking coffee?" His expression never changed. I shrugged.

"Not sure. Imma take a shower and pass out. If you need me…please don't need me." I kissed him on the cheek as I passed the table to pour out my coffee. "Wake me if the boys wake up."

"Okay."

My bedroom and bathroom were larger than some of the motel rooms that we stayed at while I was growing up. I knew that I didn't need this kind of space, it actually stressed me out a little. I did my best to fill it with pictures and furniture, but I just didn't have enough stuff.

I had thought a nice big house, one with enough room for me, Cas and the Boy's would be enough to make me happy, I knew this is what Dad wanted for me, but it didn't even make a dent in the hole in my chest. I had used the majority of the money Dad had left me to buy it, the rest of it went towards college and just over all expenses. While I was thankful that dad had put all that money away, for a man that only thought about three days at a time, yesterday, today and tomorrow, he definitely had a plan ready for me if things ever went sour, and they did.

The second I reached for the dial on the shower head, I head the distant sound of sound of someone knocking on the front door.

"Son of a…" Frowning at the tile walls of the shower, I shut the shower door and moved towards the door of the bathroom. I distantly heard Cas's voice calling my name, and I sighed.

I caught my reflection in the mirror, my hair was a mess, my face had left over remains from yesterday's makeup, my shirt was covered in vomit from two three-year-old toddlers, my scars were on full display, overall, not in the mood for visitors. "Somebody better be freaking dead." I thought about changing really quick into something a little more presentable but thought better of it, maybe I could get whoever it was out quickly. No need to extend their stay.

"Some men from the FBI want to speak with you." Cas said when I made it down the stairs. He was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps. He looked confused and slightly concerned.

"They say what they want?" I asked, I didn't think I was supposed to be at the academy today, but it wouldn't be the first time I got my days mixed up. Normally I could catch it before I got in any kind of trouble. Cas shook his head. I sighed.

"Okay, thanks." I instantly regretted not changing my clothes from the pajama bottoms and tank top, but it was too late now.

"They're in the kitchen." He said and then moved towards the living room, more than likely heading to his own bedroom. I looked down at myself one last time and used the hair tie around my wrist to put my hair up as I walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, Hi." There were two men, both of them were facing the opposite way from where I came in until I spoke. One of them held a file. I recognized one of them as David Rossi from the books I've read, but the other one was unfamiliar to me. "I wasn't supposed to be at the academy today? Was I?"

"No." Agent Rossi said, extending his hand. I reached for it automatedly. "Agent Winchester, I'm SSA David Rossi and this is SSA Aaron Hotchner." I nodded, filing the names away in my head.

"Nice to meet you. Sorry," I gestured to my pajamas, "I would have put on something more…presentable if I had known…I've been up with my kids all night."

"Nonsense." Agent Rossi said, "we're in your home."

"We would just like to ask you a few questions. We'll try not to take up too much of your time." Agent Hotchner said, his eyes were on my exposed arms, his face reminding me of Cas, completely void of emotion.

"Of course." I sighed, gesturing for them to sit at the kitchen table. It wasn't the first-time agents came to speak with me about my childhood and family. Not that I could really blame them, when your father and uncle make it to the top of FBI's most wanted list, then you sign up to join them, naturally there's going to be some questions. I was just hoping that people would stop coming to me for answers about my family and start coming to me for my accomplishments in the academy. I guess today's not that day.

I poured myself another cup of coffee, offering them some as I did it. Agent Rossi accepted. "Sorry. I don't keep any creamer in the house." I said as I set the mug down in front of him.

"Coffee's not supposed to taste good." I smiled at his answer, sinking down in the chair across from them. "The man that answered the door-"

"He won't come out of his room unless I call him. Pretty sure he's in the middle of watching The Office." I said, assuming he didn't Cas to overhear the conversation. "He's been on a Steve Carell kick lately." I pulled my leg underneath me. Both agents shared a look. "What can I help you with?"

"I understand you have an…interesting outlook on the occult and satanic practices." Agent Rossi said, "we were told that you might be to assist us in a case." He pushed the file forward on the table. I was expecting him to speak a little more but the look on his face said otherwise.

I pulled the file closer to me, taking a deep breath as I opened it. I felt myself let out a low whistle as my eyes landed on the first photo. It had been awhile since I had seen something so graphic, it took my brain a second to make sense of what it was. The first picture looked to be of someone's living room, blood splattered the walls and the carpet, they looked like splatter from gunshots, a shotgun to be more specific. I might have even thought the victim/victims were bludgeoned to death but there were clean areas on the carpet that made me think they were kneeling.

The next photo was of four pyres, three of them were burnt, one of the looked clean, unlit. I glanced up at the men quickly, suddenly understanding where my part came into play, both were watching me closely. I sighed and flipped through the next photo. It was information on one of the victims, Kyle Ellington, I scanned through the information, but nothing really stood out. The next three pages were on the other family members, the autopsies proved my earlier idea of them being shot. After I passed the last victim there was another crime scene, different state, looked eerily similar except it wasn't in the living room, it looked like it took place in a nursery. After that there were more pyres, three, but this time only one of them had been burned. I was ready to close the file, expecting the next page to be about the victims but was surprised to find a picture of an arsenal. I easily identified an angle blade and several hex bags as well as a journal and two or three lore books just from the picture, the next page documented everything found in the stash.

When I finally made it to the victimology, I knew I shouldn't have been surprised but the names made me take a sharp intake of breath. Mackey and Mallory Baker, both hunters that were rather close to Bobby, I hadn't known them well, but I had met them a few times growing up.

"In the first…crime, which victim wasn't burned?" I closed the file, before thinking better and reopened it.

"The father." Agent Hotchner said. "Only the child was burned in the second set of murders." I chewed on the inside of my lip. The idea that the unsub didn't even give them the respect of a hunter's funeral pissed me off, he went to all the trouble of building the pyres, not finishing the job didn't make sense…unless he did it on purpose. I knew Mackey had retired and I'm sure if Kyle was probably a hunter as well and based off his full-time job and family, he too was probably retired.

"Did you know the second set of victims?" Agent Rossi asked after I opened them and relooked over everything. I looked at him for a long moment.

"I met them once or twice as a kid…" I knew lying wasn't smart.

"We thought you might. Your father's name and contact information was found in Mr. Baker's journal." And that is why I try not to lie.

"Which is why you came to me." I nodded, leaning back in my chair. "Thanks for the warning." I said before continuing, "he burned the body of the wife in the first set but left the second wife's body unburned…"

"Is the burning significant?" Agent Hotchner asked. I resisted the urge to give him an exasperated look, of course the burning was significant, who builds pyres without a meaning behind it. I reminded myself he was just prompting answers from me.

"In my experience, burning the bodies signifies releasing the soul, any physical remains that are left over gives the spirit something to hold on to." I said, pushing the file back towards them. "If I'm going by that logic, the children weren't the targets, neither was the wife from the first set of murders."

"Then why kill them?" I chewed on the inside of my cheek.

"Collateral damage, witnesses, didn't wanna worry about them looking for revenge down the road. There could be a lot of reasons." I shrugged, attempting to fight off the yawn, but it won. "Sorry." I took a few gulps of my coffee and tried to shake the sleep out of my eyes. "Uh…the witness thing is probably the most likely scenario."

"We also found several other names and contact information in his journal, but the names and numbers led to dead ends. Most of them were aliases and the ones that led to real identities have death certificates or have been missing for quite some time." Agent Hotchner said. "I understand in some of your pervious interviews, you explained that your father worked within a community of people who tracked down killers and other offenders underneath the radar." I nodded as he spoke, that's the story.

"That's right."

"Was Mr. Baker a part of that community?" I nodded.

"His wife too, but they were retired, I don't know about Ellington, the name sounds familiar but…" I said, "I would have to do some digging." I nodded my head back and forth as I thought about it. I opened the file again and looked at the photo of the living room, trying to ignore the idea of the children's blood on the walls and floor. I searched the photo for anything that might look hunterish. "Did Ellington have any tattoos? His wife? Did they have an excess number of guns? Silver or Iron knives?"

"We didn't find any weapons except two handguns and a shotgun. All of which were registered." I chewed on the inside of my lip. "He didn't have any tattoos." I wrinkled my nose.

"Can you elaborate on retired?"

"Um, basically it means that they decided they wanted to live a normal apple pie life. I would be considered retired."

"Mama?" Eli's voice made me jump as the three-year-old ran into the kitchen. I quickly shoved the blood photo underneath the file and stood. Scooping the child up before he made it to the table, my arms were stiff and the pain dull pain prickled at various parts of my back, I hadn't stretched yet today and the scared skin on my arms and back made sure to let me know.

"What are you doing out of bed?" I sent another apologetic look to the agents and moved out of the kitchen.

"I, I, I…" He said as I moved towards Cas's bedroom. "I'm hungry."

"I'll bring you some soup in a little bit. Why don't you sit with Uncle Cas until then? Okay?" He started whining, shaking his head back and forth. "Just let me finish up with my friends, okay?" I knocked on the bedroom door before opening it. I had been right, the opening song for the Office was playing. Cas looked at me from where he was leaning against the headboard on his bed. "Can you watch him for a few minutes?"

"Of course." I set the now crying toddler on the bed. Cas pulled Eli closer to him. Doing his best to calm the child.

"Thanks." I shut the door behind me. When I made it back into the kitchen, another apology on the tip of my tongue. I caught sight of Eli's twin Emmett standing rather close to Agent Rossi.

"Emmy, go sit with Uncle Cas." I said, pulling him gently out of the other man's personal space.

"But."

"No buts. Come on, I'll make you and your bother some soup."

"I don't want soup!" He said, both him and his brother had pretty advance vocabulary, thanks to Cas and all the documentaries and books he liked to show them while he babysat, but their voices could be hard to understand at times. I could tell by Agent Rossi's face that he was having some difficulties. Agent Hotchner seemed to be amused, an expression that I hadn't expected him to sport.

"Then you don't have to eat it. Either way, go to Uncle Cas's room." I tried leading him towards the bedroom. But like his brother, he was rather cranky, and I could see a meltdown approaching.

"No!"

"Tell me 'no' again." I scooped him up as well. The lack of sleep along with not wanting to waste the time of the two men at the table, I didn't have any patience. Cas had Eli giggling by the time I opened his bedroom door again. "Sorry, here's the other one."

Agent Hotchner and Agent Rossi were speaking quietly when I made it back into the kitchen for the second time. "Sorry about that. you would think they wouldn't have any trouble sleeping after keep me up all night." I grabbed a can of soup from the pantry, opened it and poured it into a pot before turning the heat on the stove on high before sitting back down across from them.

"Would you be able to act as a consultant on this case?" Agent Hotchner asked.

"Isn't that what I'm doing right now?"

"He means we would like you to accompany us to the scene. We believe that you would be more helpful in navigating the potential victim pool, I'm sure these people would be more apt to speak with a familiar face." Agent Rossi elaborated. "We can get everything straightened out with your instructors." I looked towards Cas's bedroom. He would be able to watch them, but I didn't want to leave them while they were sick like they were. Agent Hotchner's phone began to ring and he excused himself.

"I don't know…" I licked my lips. "They…my name is only going to get me so far. My father was well respected because when people messed with him, with us, they wound up dead. This…community, they aren't forgiving and if I start handing out names… you ever hear the phrase snitches wind up in ditches?"

"Even if you're trying to help? Trying to stop them from being murdered? I'm sure you still have connections within…" He had an easy going smile on his face and my frown deepened. I really didn't like the idea, but image of Mackey's body, of the burned remains of his children pissed me off. He didn't deserve that; they didn't deserve that; Dad would have already signed up to help the moment he saw the pictures. Agent Hotchner came back in.

"Do I have time for a shower?"

0000

The elevator ride up felt longer then it was, it gave me just enough time to think about what I just got myself into. My shower had woken me up enough to where I didn't feel like I was going to pass out every time I took a step.

It had to be another hunter that killed them. Monsters don't shoot people and they don't take the time or care enough to build pyres. Thanks to Dad and uncle Sam, I could rule out Demons, there hadn't been any sightings in the last seven years since they closed the gates, even monsters were starting to go extinct. After the gates closed, suddenly hunters were able to focus more on the regular monsters. It got to the point that when a monster showed up, three or more hunters would roll into town to handle it. When it became clear that there were more hunters then monsters, a lot of them hung up their guns and traded the life for wives, husbands and kids.

I just couldn't understand why a hunter would slaughter families like that, did he run out of monsters? Got bored and started offing his old 'coworkers?' It wasn't uncommon for hunters to beef it out but there was an unspoken rule that you left their families alone, especially kids. Granted, Gordon Walker had no issue with using me a bait, and Roy and Walt only had slight reservations in shooting me along with the rest of my family, so maybe that rule was starting to fade.

I felt a little lost as I stepped out of the elevator, all the people moving around, no one gave me a second glance. It was a nice break from all the attention I got at the academy. I almost regretted not changing my name, it would have made things so much easier, no one would have blatantly stared at me while my instructor went over serial killers. I always did my best to take the high road and then beat their asses in hand to hand, outperform them in the obstacle courses and anything else the academy threw at me.

"Agent Winchester." Agent Rossi's voice sounded behind me, effectively cutting me off from my thoughts. He was walking towards me, another guy next to him. "This is SSA Derek Morgan, Morgan, this is Agent Cordelia Winchester." Agent Morgan faltered at my name, but he still extended his hand for me to shake.

"Winchester, as in…?"

"Dean Winchester was my father, Sam, my uncle. And please, call me Lia." I smiled softly. Agent Morgan looked to Rossi.

"She will be assisting us on a case." His tone told me that he hadn't been briefed on any of the details. They probably had come to speak with me before they presented the case to their team. I let Agent Rossi lead me towards the bull pin. I was introduced to three more agents, Jareau, Reid and Prentiss as well as their technical analyst. All of them had similar reactions to Agent Morgan, but none of them questioned it in front of me, I did hear Agent Prentiss question Rossi when I was led towards what the briefing room by Agent Jareau who quickly instructed me to call her JJ.

"How far along are you?" I asked, nodding to her swollen stomach.

"Almost 6 months." She smiled, gesturing for me to sit down in one of the chairs. The other agents started filing in quickly. Agent Hotchner was the last to come in. He nodded to me in greeting.

"Thank you for joining us." He said.

"Of course." I brushed my hair behind my ear. I could feel my teeth grinding the skin of my cheek as I prepared myself for what I was about to see on the screen.

"Everybody ready?" JJ asked, handing out files to everyone, myself included. There were a chorus of yeses and she turned towards the screen, remote in hand. The same pictures I saw from the first set of murders all popped up. "Kyle and Madison and their children , Tyler and Mason, were murdered in their home six nights ago. Their bodies were later found on pyres, the children and Madison's bodies were burned, Kyle's pyre was left untouched. Four days later, Mackey and Mallory Baker along with their newborn daughter were killed in their homes. Their bodies were also found on pyres, this time only the daughter's body was burned. The coroners say it's safe to assume they were all killed the same away, a single shot gun blast to the chest."

"In most religion, or belief systems, burning of the body signifies releasing the soul so it can move on." Agent Reid said.

"So, he released the wife and the children and left the husband's body untouched." Agent Prentiss said.

"If he wasn't going to burn it, why take the time to build the pyre?"

"It's demeaning." I said, pushing down the anger in my chest. All eyes turned to me.

"How?" Agent Morgan asked.

"Mackey and his wife were…members, for lack of better term, of the community that my father was a part of. Generally referred to as 'hunters', when a hunter is killed they are given what is referred to as a 'hunter's funeral' where a pyre is built, and their body is salted and burned. Basically, this guy is saying that they didn't deserve that." I tried to keep the anger out of my tone as I looked at the pictures.

"You knew the victims?" Agent Reid asked.

"I had met Mackey once or twice as a kid. I don't know anything about Mr. Ellington."

"So, you think this is another 'Hunter' that killed them?"

"It has to be, hunters aren't easy to spot, especially retired ones, like Mackey was and I'm going to go out on a limb as say Ellington was too. I also know Mackey wasn't too well known throughout the community, he kept to himself."

"What do you mean by 'retired? Kyle was only 25, Mackey in his late 30s." Agent Reid asked.

"It doesn't matter what age a hunter retires; all it means is that they stopped hunting and put down roots. Not many hunters retire, in fact 30s is considered middle age for hunters. They don't have a long-life span." I explained, "the majority of the kids I met growing up all died before they even reached 18. It's brutal lifestyle."

"What do they hunt?" Penelope Garcia asked, her face looked horrified. She didn't seem at all like the other agents. She reminded me of Charlie.

"The Winchesters Believed they were hunting down monsters-" Agent Prentiss elbowed him and gestured for me to answer. I smiled tightly.

"Hunters hunt down killers, or anything that seems….suspicious. They generally get their information or their 'cases' from news papers or through word of mouth, some of them have hacked into the police database and get their information from there. It varies by person. Think Vigilantes." That was the best way I could think to describe them.

"Is it normal for them to turn on one another like this?" Agent Rossi asked, I shrugged.

"It's happened to me three times, but my dad wasn't like the other hunters. Him and my uncle pissed off a lot of people." I scoffed, that was an understatement. "But not really, they might get into drunken bar fights with one another, but they don't kill each other unless something big happens. Even then, they leave the families alone. This guy isn't your average run of the mill hunter." I shook my head.

"What are the chances of you knowing the unsub?" Agent Morgan asked. There was an edge to his tone and the look on his face told me he didn't like was I was saying.

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know." I shrugged, "my dad kept to himself, he didn't trust them. After he died, I cut off most of my contact with the-"

"Most?" Agent Morgan cut in.

'Yeah, 'most', so there's a pretty big chance that I'm not going to know this guy personally, but there's an 100% chance he knows of me."

Please let me know if you would like me to continue! thanks for reading!