chapter three, act one
once upon a time

After nearly two days on the road, with a few stops for sleep and food, Freya was beginning to regret her decision to go with the Winchester brothers. Dean hated airplanes and loved his car, so the trips had to be by road. Something she wasn't used to.

That was precisely why they had stopped at another gas station.

"I don't understand, Dean. Why not?"

"Because I said so." He answered, looking through the window, hoping Freya wouldn't take long to get back to the car so they could finish that conversation.

"We got the Colt now!" Sam insisted, frustrated by his brother's refusal.

"Sam..."

"We can summon the Crossroads Demon..."

"We're not summoning anything."

"...pull the gun on her, and force her to let you out of the deal!"

"We don't even know if that'll work!" Dean exclaimed, hoping his brother would drop the subject.

"Well then we'll just shoot her! If she dies then the deal goes away!"

"We don't know if that'll work either, Sam!" He said, looking back at him. "All you're pitching me right now is a bunch of "ifs" and "maybes" and that's not good enough, because if we screw with this deal, you die!"

"And if we don't screw with it, you die!"

As she approached the car, Freya could hear them both yelling at each other. She was glad that the parking lot of that gas station was completely empty, or people would think they were crazy by talking about demons and death.

"Sam, enough! I am not going to have this conversation."

"Why, because you said so?" Sam scoffed, not noticing Freya getting back inside the car.

"Yes, because I said so!"

"Well you're not Dad!"

Freya felt how the tension increased after Sam's answer. That conversation couldn't end well and she couldn't say anything either, since it wasn't her place.

"No, but I am the oldest." Dean answered him, trying to remain calm. But this didn't last very long as his voice raised back. "And I'm doing what's best. And you're going to let this go, you understand me?"

After looking at each other angrily, Sam turned his gaze away looking out the window. That's when Freya noticed Dean's eyes landing on her through the rearview mirror.

Just after a few seconds of silence, he cleared his throat.

"Feeling better?" He asked, concerned.

Freya frowned. The argument between the brothers had almost made her forget the real reason she had gotten out of the car. She had gotten dizzy once again after four hours of nonstop driving.

"Yeah. Much better." She nodded with a slight smile peeking through her lips.

"Did you bring the food?"

"Yeah, I brought fries, some burgers and pie." She answered, setting the food bag between both of them. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Everything is fine. Right, Sammy?" Dean answered quickly, pulling out one of the burgers. "Thanks for the food, sweetheart."

After that the car went completely silent again. Only the sound of the engine could be heard as the three of them ate and Dean continued driving.

Feeling somewhat nostalgic and uncomfortable with the tension between the two brothers, Freya decided to put on her walkman headphones to listen to one of her favorite music albums, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac. She could feel Dean's gaze falling on her from time to time through the rearview mirror, but she still decided to ignore it.

Truth was that, since they had begun the drive, Dean had once again pulled away from her. Freya didn't blame him. Everything was so much different than the last time they had seen each other. Dean had seen his father die, he had seen his brother die, and he himself had made a deal with hell. Freya didn't seem to have changed much, but that wasn't the reality. Deep down she was a different person too. And Dean could feel that as he looked back at her.

As she listened to one of her favorite songs, a thought flashed into Freya's mind. Maybe they were just meant to be friends. And if she was honest, she was happy with that.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Investigating what appeared to be a werewolf attack, since it fit the lunar cycle, Sam, Freya and Dean headed to the town hospital where the only living victim of the attack was being treated.

"I'm Detective Plant, this is Detective Page, and Detective Jones. We're with the County Sheriff's Department." Dean said as the three of them showed their badges to Kyle.

"Yeah, uh, I've been expecting you."

"You have?" Dean asked in confusion.

"All morning." He nodded. "You are the sketch artists, right?"

"Uh..."

"That's exactly it." Freya exclaimed with a smile shining on her face.

"Yeah." Dean nodded, looking at her. "That's her specialty. The things she can do with a pen...." He chuckled nervously. "But, listen, before we get started on that, I wanted to ask you, uh, how'd you get away?"

"I– I have no idea. I was hiding, and he found me. He was coming right for me and then he just... stopped. He stared at me with this blank look. And after that, he just took off running." Kyle explained.

"Okay." Freya nodded slightly, opening the small notebook in her hands. "Um, I'm going to need as much physical detail as you can remember."

"Uh yeah. Uh, he's about six feet tall..." Kyle tried to remember. As she listened to him, Freya began to sketch under Dean's watchful eye. "Dark hair..."

"Uhm, what, what about his eyes, what color eyes did he have?" She asked, looking up at Kyle.

"Maybe... blue?"

"Blue?"

"It was dark." Kyle shrugged.

"Did they seem..." Dean began asking but stopped to clear his throat before finishing his question. "Uh, animal-ish?"

"Excuse me?" Kyle looked at him with confusion painted all over his face.

"What about his teeth? You notice anything... strange about 'em?" Sam asked.

"No, they were just teeth." He answered shaking his head as Freya continued drawing in her notebook.

"Teeth, okay." She mumbled.

"How about his fingernails?"

Dean's question seemed to annoy Kyle. "Okay, look, he-he's just a-a normal guy, with normal eyes a-a-a-and teeth and fingernails." He said.

"Look, sir, it's okay if-"

"No." Kyle cut him off, his voice breaking on the verge of tears. "No. Those were my brothers. This guy, he-he killed my brothers. How would you feel?"

Freya could feel a lump in her chest at such thought. To lose Peter would be to lose a part of herself.

"Can't imagine anything worse." Sam admits, taking the words out of her mouth. Dean's eyes quickly fell on his brother as he nodded in agreement.

"I know this isn't easy but if you could remember any more details..."

"Th-there was one more thing. He had a-a tattoo on his arm of a cartoon character. Umm... it's, uh, it's the guy who's chasing the Road Runner."

"Wile E. Coyote." Dean exclaimed with a proud smile of his own as Kyle nodded.

"Yeah, that's it."

Freya continued with her drawing as a doctor entered the room.

"Kyle?"

"Dr. Garrison."

"How you holding up?"

"Okay, considering."

"You're, uh, Kyle's Doctor?" Pulling out his badge, Dean looked at the man dressed in a white coat.

"Yes." He nodded, looking at the three of them.

"Can I just ask you a few questions?" Dean asked.

"Sure." The doctor nodded, walking out of the room with him, leaving Sam and Freya with Kyle.

"Don't I get to see it?" Kyle pointed to Freya's notebook, who was just finishing the last touches on her sketch.

"Uh, yeah. Well, it's a, you know, a work in progress." She apologized, handing him the little notebook under Sam's watchful eyes, who raised his eyebrows in surprise at how good the sketch looked.

"Hm. It-it's really... good." Kyle said, earning a smile from the girl.

"Thanks." She answered. "And thank you for your time. I'm sorry about your brothers." Kyle appreciated Freya's sympathetic glance, giving her a small smile in return.

Sam and Freya left the room seconds later, joining Dean in the hallway. As they reached his side, Dean was quick to grab the notebook from her hands to look at the drawing.

"Art student, no doubt." He nodded, handing the notebook back to her. "It's pretty good, sweetheart."

"I told you that wasn't a lie." She noted, tucking it back into her jacket.

"You studied art?" Sam looked at her in surprise.

"Yeah, at a very prestigious school in California. I got a scholarship." Freya smiled, looking up at him. Sam nodded, sharing an amazed look with his brother.

"Impressive."

"So what did the Doc have to say about Kyle's brothers?" Freya asked, changing the subject as they left the hospital.

"Not much, they were D.O.A. at the scene. He did give me the lowdown on the coroner's report."

"Lemme guess, their hearts were missing?" Sam asked.

"Nope." Dean answered, which caused Freya to look at him in surprise. "But chunks of their kidneys, lungs and intestines."

"That's just gross." Freya said with a grimace.

"Yeah, also definitely not werewolf behavior." He noted.

"So, what?" Sam asked. "Demon? Attacker could've been possessed."

"Why would a demon stop halfway through an attack?"

"I think that, uh.. Could've... Yeah, I got nothing."

"Me neither." Freya signed. "Guess we'll have to figure out before someone else gets hurt or killed."

"You really got nothing?" Dean asked her as they approached Baby. "I thought you would have some idea having studied supernatural creatures all your life."

"Okay, first of all, that's my father's thing." She noted, opening the door to the backseats. "And Peter, because he's obsessed with horror movies. I never paid attention. When I started hunting, all the creatures I came across were ghosts, vampires, witches or werewolves. You know, the usual stuff."

"So you have never hunted a wendigo or a shapeshifter for example?" Sam asked.

"No. Why? You two have?"

"You'd be surprised, sweetheart." Dean smirked, causing Freya to roll her eyes at him as she got inside the car. Quickly followed by the two brothers.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

It didn't take long for Freya and the Winchester brothers to return to the hospital. They had barely begun to search for information about supernatural beings that might fit the case when they were informed about another victim.

"Detectives." Dr. Garrison greeted them in the patient's room.

"Dr. Garrison."

"What the hell is going on here?" He asked with concern. "My whole town is going insane."

"We'll let you know as soon as we do." Sam assured him as they enter the room. The doctor nodded, leaving the room to let them talk to the victim.

"Miss Watson?" Freya approached her as she flashed her detective badge. "Hi. We just need to ask you a few questions."

"Do we have to go over this again? Now?" She asked, tired and affected by the situation she had experienced.

"We'll try to be brief." Freya assured with a small, sympathetic smile. Giving them a little nod, Julie invited them to speak.

"Miss Watson, can you tell us how you got away?" Sam asked.

"I didn't eat as much as Ken did, so I wasn't as out of it. And, when the old woman was... carving up Ken, I shoved her, and she fell. Cracked her head on the stove." She paused, looking down to her hands and taking a few breaths before looking back at Freya. "She's dead, right? I-I killed her?"

"Do you have any idea why she'd do this to you?" Dean asked this time.

"No! One minute she was a sweet old lady and the next she was, like, a monster."

The case was getting more and more complicated, but it also seemed more familiar. At least to Sam. The young Winchester couldn't help but notice the similarities of what Julie had experienced to a story he had read.

"Can you remember anything else?"

"Um, yeah. Did you find a little girl there, by any chance?"

"A... little girl? At the house?" Freya looked at her in confusion. Julie nodded.

"I thought I saw her outside the window. She, she just disappeared. Just vanished, into thin air." She explained. Sam and Dean looked at each other. "It m-must've been the drugs."

"This disappearing girl, what did she look like?" Freya asked then.

"Does it matter?" She frowned.

"Yes. Every detail matters."

"She had this dark, dark hair and really pale skin. She was around eight. She was a beautiful child. It was... odd to see her in the middle of something so horrible." Julie explained with a sigh.

"That's really helpful, thank you." Freya gave her a soft smile. "We're sorry for the loss of your husband."

"Thank you." Julie mumbled before they left the room.

"Okay. Any ideas? Because I got nothing." Freya said as they went back to the car.

"I think we should check the house." Sam answered. "Maybe we could find something there."

Dean nodded in agreement, climbing into the driver's seat. Freya settled back into the back seats, pulling her hunting journal from inside her backpack.

"Do you keep a record of everything?" Sam asked as he looked back at her.

"It's a habit." She shrugged. "Besides, this way I don't forget the details for when I tell Peter. It's also good for future hunts. You never know."

At her response, Dean and Sam couldn't help but share a look. It was impossible for both of them not to see how that was something Freya had in common with their father.

"So, what do you think? A demon? A ghost?" Freya asked after a few minutes.

"I literally have no idea." Dean admitted. "All of this seems so odd. We might need to call your dad or Bobby."

Freya nodded, getting lost in her own thoughts and in the words written in her diary.

The drive to the old lady's house where Julie and her husband had been attacked didn't last long. Freya and Dean separated into difference rooms in search of any demonic signs while Sam check the EMF for any ghost.

"Well, there's no sulfur anywhere." Freya said after some minutes. "How about the EMF?"

"Yeah, it's going nuts. When I went over here by the window... There's definitely a spirit here."

"Who stood outside the crime scene and watched." Dean pointed out.

"Looks like."

"What the hell do you make of that?" Freya asked, confused.

"Actually, I do have a theory. Uh, sort of." Sam said, gaining her and Dean's attention.

"Hit us."

"Well, thinkin' about fairy tales."

"Oh that's—that's nice. You think about fairy tales often?" Dean teased him. Freya smiled with amusement.

"No, Dean, I'm talking about the murders." Sam insisted. "A guy and a girl? Hiking through the woods, an old lady tries to eat 'em? That's Hansel and Gretel. And then we got three brothers, arguing over how to build houses, attacked by the Big Bad Wolf."

"Three Little Pigs."

"I'm sorry, those are supposed to be fairy tales for kids?" Freya frowned, looking completely lost in the conversation.

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "You've never read them?"

Freya shook her head.

"I thought you had the white picket fence and apple pie kinda life." Dean commented, looking back at her.

"Okay. Yeah. I did. But... I was never interested in fairy tales. Sorry."

"Can we go back to my theory?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, sorry." Dean nodded. "I thought those things ended with, uh, everybody living happily ever after?"

"No, no. Not the originals. See the Grimm Brothers' stuff was kinda the folklore of its day, full of sex, violence, cannibalism. Now, it got sanitized over the years, turned into Disney flicks and bedtime stories."

"So you think the murders are uh, what? A re-enactment? That's a little crazy." Freya said.

"Crazy as what? Every day of our lives?" Sam looked at her.

"Touché." She sighed.

"How's the creepy ghost girl involved?" Dean asked.

"Uhm... Well, she must've been here for a reason. I'm willing to bet you top dollar she was at the construction site too." His brother answered him.

"We gotta do research now, don't we?" Dean groaned.

"I'm afraid so." Freya sighed.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Freya had lost track of how much time she and Dean had spent inside the town's public library. He was sitting across from her, looking through the computer as she went through the police reports filed the last few years.

Exhaustion was beginning to get the best of her, but Freya did her best to stay awake. Dean's hand touching hers was what snapped her out of her thoughts, bringing her back to reality. Her eyes quickly met his. His green gaze watching her with a gleam of concern and fondness.

"Did you find anything?" He asked.

"What do you think?" She sighed, straightening up in her seat.

"Yeah, I thought so." He sighed, standing up and grabbing his jacket. "Come on, let's go. We'll go get some coffee and meet up with Sammy."

"Yeah. I do need a coffee." Freya admitted, picking up the files.

"I know you do." Dean softly smiled at her.

Freya didn't seem to notice how his eyes followed her as she put the files back in place.

"You think it's weird that I've never read any of those fairy tale books?" She asked as she grabbed her jacket before they both headed for the library exit.

"Why would you think that?" Dean frowned.

"I don't know. Kids are cruel sometimes, you know, and I never really fit in at school. I didn't have the same interests as the rest. Princesses weren't my thing, but neither was playing sports. I used to spend recess reading ghost stories, obsessing about monsters and unsolved crimes. My teachers thought I was crazy, that one day I'd snap and commit some crime or something." She explained.

"Is that why you started acting like other girls?"

"I guess." She shrugged. "No one besides Peter seemed to understand me. Until I met you." Her eyes looked up at him, finding he was already looking at her. Silence settled between them, but it wasn't an uncomfortable or awkward silence. It was a pleasant one, familiar even.

"Freya, listen..."

"Hey, guys. Find anything?" Sam interrupted as he approached them, snapping them out of that connection.

Dean sighed and he shook his head as he looked at him.

"We checked every record they had. Found the usual amount of violent childhood deaths for a town this size." He answered as the three of them started to walk across the road toward a park.

"Okay."

"Wanna know how many were little girls with black hair and pale skin?" Freya asked.

Sam narrowed his eyes, resting his gaze on her.

"Zero."

"Zero! You wanna know how many little girls with black hair and pale skin that have gone missing? Right again. Zip. zilch, nada." She answered with frustration. "Tell me you've got something good 'cause we've totally wasted the last six hours."

Sam sighed.

"Well, you ever hear of Lillian Bailey?" He asked. Dean and Freya shook their heads in response. "She was a British medium from the 1930s."

"She got a thing for fairy tales?" Dean asked, confused.

"Nah, trances. See she'd go into these unconscious states where, uhm, get this, her thoughts and actions were completely controlled by spirits."

"A ghost puppet master."

"Yeah."

"Think that's what this kid is doing? Sending wolfboy and grandma into trances, making them go kill-crazy?" Freya questioned.

"Could be." Sam shrugged. "You know, kinda like uh, uh, spirit hypnosis or somethin'."

"Trances I get, but fairy tale trances? That's bizarre even for us." Dean commented as they continued walking through the park. But at that moment Freya stopped in her steps, causing them to imitate her. Their eyes meeting a frog on the ground in front of them.

"Yeah, you're right. That's completely normal."

"All right, maybe it is fairy tales." Dean admitted. "Totally messed-up fairy tales. I tell you one thing, there's no way I'm kissing a damn frog."

"Me neither." Freya mumbled.

"Hey. Check that out." Sam caught their attention, pointing to a house across the street. Pumpkins on each side of the porch, decorating it.

"Yeah? It's close to Halloween." Dean pointed out.

Sam shook his head.

"You remember Cinderella?" He asked. "With the pumpkin that turns into a coach, and the mice that become horses?"

"Wow. You do know a lot about fairytales, don't you, Sammy?" Freya looked at him with amusement, causing him to roll his eyes. "At least I do know that one. Come on." She said, walking toward the house.

Without missing a beat, Sam and Dean followed close behind, letting her lead the way. Arriving at the door, Freya didn't hesitate to ring the bell, hoping someone would open it. But seeing that no one did, Freya grabbed the handle, finding that it was already open. After sharing a look with the two brothers, the three of them walked into the house.

"Well who knows, maybe you'll find your fairy godmother?" Dean looked at his brother in amusement, causing Freya to chuckle. Sam on the other hand gave him an annoyed look.

As they began to spread out through the house, a noise caused them to draw their guns. Sharing a glance between the three, Freya signaled them to head silently to the source of the sound.

"Help. I'm in here!" A female voice called out from the kitchen.

Sam was the first to reach her, finding her handcuffed to the oven.

"Hey! Hey. It's okay. We're here, we're here. We got you." He said as he opened his lock pick kit.

"You have to help me. She's a lunatic." The young woman spoke in an alarmed voice

"What happened?" Dean looked at her in confusion.

"My step mom, she just freaked out, screamed at me, beat me. Chained me up."

"Where is she now?" Freya asked, looking around the house with her gun still in her hands.

"I don't know." She sobbed, relieved to be released from those chains.

Peering through both kitchen doors, Freya spotted a dark-haired girl on the other side of the hallway. She was just as Julie had described her.

"Guys."

Looking in the same direction, the Winchester brothers spotted her as well. But as their eyes found her, the girl turned around, walking away. Freya rushed in her direction, past the entryway and into the living room. But the girl had already disappeared. After looking around for a few seconds, Freya turned around to go back to the kitchen seeing then how the girl reappeared in front of her.

"Who are you?" Freya asked her.

The girl remained silent, flickering several times like spirits do before disappearing. Freya's eyes then travel to the rug, where she found a red apple. Dean reached her side once she took it in her hands, looking at it in frustration.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Leaning on the hood of the Impala, Freya reviewed one of her diaries while fiddling with the red apple in her other hand. Sam and Dean talked to the paramedics that had helped the teenage girl before meeting with Freya.

"So... Little girl, shiny red apple. I'm guessing that means something to you, fairy tale boy?" Freya asked, tossing the apple to Sam.

"Yeah, actually. I think it's Snow White." He answered, looking down at the apple.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. My mother actually read that one to me as a child." Freya said, closing her diary.

"Snow White?" Dean frowned. "Ah I saw that movie. Or the porn version anyway, 'cause there was this wicked Stepmother? Woo, she was wicked." He said with a grin, causing Freya to roll her eyes.

"There is a wicked Stepmother. And she tries to kill Snow White with a poison apple." Freya said, catching the apple when Sam threw it back to her.

"But the apple doesn't actually kill the girl, right?" Dean asked, looking at her.

"No. It puts her into a deep sleep, so deep it's almost like she's dead." Sam answered.

"Almost." Freya repeated thoughtfully. "So maybe this girl isn't actually dead and that's why there are any records. Maybe she's... I don't know, in a coma?"

"That would make sense."

"So back to the hospital, right?" Dean sighed.

"Looks like it." Freya nodded, getting inside the car.

Just like that, for the third time that day Sam, Dean and Freya were at the town hospital, asking a nurse about their latest lead in the case.

"No, sorry. We don't have any comatose little girls." She answered them.

"You sure?" Sam frowned.

"Totally." She nodded as she put some papers in a file cabinet. "It's mostly old guys. And, well... Callie. She's been around since before I started here."

"Callie?"

"Yeah, it's so sad. And poor Dr. Garrison, he just... won't give up on her."

"Is Callie one of his patients?" Freya asked.

"No. His daughter." She explained.

"Do you know Callie's room number?"

"Of course." She nodded, before pointing. "It's the second door to the left, down that hall."

"Thanks." Freya smiled slightly toward the kind nurse before following the brothers to the room.

Leaning against the doorway next to Sam, Freya and both Winchester could see how Dr. Garrison was sitting in a chair reading stories to an unconscious young girl. She was a few years older than the ghost girl they had seen, but her hair was just as dark and her skin just as pale .

"The Huntsman stepped inside, and in the bed lay the Wolf. So the Huntsman took a pair of scissors and cut open the Wolf's belly."

As they shared a glance Dr. Garrison couldn't help but notice their presence. Closing the book in his hands to approached them.

"Detectives." He cleared his throat. "Can I help you?"

"We just... heard that Callie is your daughter." Dean answered.

"And we wanted to say how very sorry we are." Sam added.

Looking down for a few moments, Dr. Garrison nodded before answering them.

"Well, uh. Thank you. If you'll excuse me." He said walking past them to leave the room.

"Oh, heading this way? We'll walk with you." Dean said following his steps. "How long's Callie been like that?"

"We don't mean to intrude." Freya was quick to speak up, annoyed by Dean's lack of tact. "We can't possibly understand how hard it must be for you seeing her like this."

"It's not easy." He admitted, looking back at her. "She's, uh, been here since she was eight years old."

"That's when she was poisoned?" Sam asked as they continued walking down the hallway.

"Yes, swallowed bleach. Never figured out how she got her hands on the bottle. My wife found her, brought her to the ER. Here, and I was on call."

"You're wife was uh—? Was that Callie's stepmother?" Dean asked.

His question causes the doctor to stop walking, his eyes locked on Dean with confusion.

"Actually, yes. How'd you know that?" He frowned.

"Lucky guess." Dean shrugged.

"Well, Julie was the only mother that, uh, Callie ever knew. My wife passed away last year and, uh... it's just my daughter and me now." Dr. Garrison explained. "She's all I've got left." Sensing how his emotions were getting the best of him, the doctor turned his gaze away from them. "Uhm, excuse me. I've gotta get back to work."

"Yeah. Right."

"Well you're right. It's Snow White in spades." Freya commented as they started walking towards the exit.

"Yep. Step-mom poisons the girl, puts her into a deep sleep." Sam nodded. "What's the motive, you think?"

"Could be like Mischa Barton." Dean answered, gaining a confuse look from both of them. "Sixth Sense, not The O.C."

"What?" Sam frowned.

"Hey, you know fairy tales, I know movies."

"Oh, wait. Yeah, I remember now. She played the pasty ghost." Freya commented.

"Yeah. You know the, uh, remember the mom had that thing, you know, where you keep the kid sick so you get all the attention?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Munchausen Syndrome by proxy." Sam pointed out. "Huh, could be."

"So say all these years, Callie's been suffering silently because nobody knows the truth about what mommy dearest did." Dean said as they walked into the reception area of the hospital.

"And after all this time, her spirit just gets angrier and angrier, until it finally just starts lashing out." Freya added.

"Right." He nodded, looking back at her. "Meanwhile, she has to listen to Dad tell her these deranged stories about a rabid wolf or a cannibalistic old lady. It's enough to drive anybody nuts."

"Okay, but how are we gonna stop her?" Sam asked. "I mean Callie's stuck here. Her father's keeping her body alive."

"It does make it a bit hard to burn the bones."

"You think?" Sam raised his eyebrows.

Before Freya could say anything, the ER door opened, welcoming paramedics dragging a stretcher.

"Coming in!"

Stepping back to make room for them, Sam, Dean and Freya looked at the patient on the stretcher, an elderly woman with scars all over her body and face.

"What's her status?" A doctor approached the paramedics, ready to treat the patient.

"Seventy-two year old female. Sustained multiple lacerations and puncture wounds. BP is 80/40 and falling. Sinus tachycardia."

"Is that a bite?" He asked, looking at the woman as they enter the ER room.

"Looks like she was mauled by a mad dog or maybe a wolf?"

Freya and the Winchester brothers listen to them from the reception.

"What was the last story Dr. Garrison was reading Callie?" Dean asked his brother in a hushed whisper.

"Little Red Riding Hood."

"Yes, that will do it." Freya sighed. "I'll go talk to the paramedics."

"I'll go with you." Dean said as he followed her steps to the reception desk, where the paramedicts had headed after leaving the victim with the doctors.

"Excuse me." Freya was the first to speak, showing her badge to the EMT. "Was she the only victim?"

"She was found by the side of the road, barely alive. Alone." The man answered her.

"We need to find her next of kin." Dean explained then.

Letting out a sigh the EMT looked down at the paperwork on his hands.

"She has a granddaughter." He informed them.

"Do you have an address?"

He nodded, handing a sheet of paper to her.

"Thank you." Freya said, walking away from him to reunite with Sam.

"The woman is dead." The young Winchester informed as his brother and her aproached him.

"Okay. Freya, you go find a way to stop Callie, all right?" Dean stated.

"Wait, What? What about you guys?" Freya looked at him in confusion.

"We're gonna go stop the Big Bad Wolf." Dean answered, taking the sheet of paper of her hands. "Which is the weirdest thing I've ever said."

Sam let out a sigh, sharing one last look with Freya before following his brother.

Not quite sure where to start looking for Dr. Garrison, Freya began to feel the nerves invade her body. She had done many hunts on her own before this one, but now Sam and Dean's lives depended on her managing to stop Callie herself.

She knew what the girl had been trying to do all this time by recreating the stories her father read to her. She wanted to get his attention, to make him listen to her. Children were like that, Freya was very good at understanding them thanks to the fact that she had practically raised her own little brother.

Going back over her steps, Freya searched for the doctor with her eyes. Minutes had passed and she still couldn't find him. Her nerves were growing on her at the thought of Dean and Sam being in danger.

"Dr. Garrison! I need to speak with you." She exclaimed when she found him in one of the hallways.

"Detective. What can I do for you?" He asked when she came in front of him.

"Well, uhm... it's about Callie." She said, trying to catch her breath and remain calm.

"My daughter? What about her?" He asked with confusion written all over his face.

"You know maybe, maybe could we sit down for a minute?"

"No. What about her?" He insisted, annoyed.

"Okay, well, this isn't gonna be easy. What happened to Callie was not an accident."

"Excuse me?" Dr. Garrison scoffed.

"I'm sorry, but it's true."

"You have no idea what happened to my daughter." He declared, turning angrily to walk away from Freya, but she quickly followed him.

"There are things you don't know, Doctor, about your wife."

"My wife?" He frowned, looking back at her for a quick second.

"Doctor, your wife poisoned Callie." Freya finally said.

Stopping his steps, the doctor turned back to her, clearly upset.

"Why would you say something so horrible to me?" He looked at her with pain in his eyes.

"Because I need your help."

"You stay away from me and from my daughter, you understand?" He declared, walking into his daughter's room and closing the door in Freya's face. The dirty blonde haired girl rolled her eyes before opening the door and walking into the room after him. "I'm calling Security." He threatened her, reaching for the internal phone on the wall. But Freya moved swiftly, closing the door behind her, and placing her hand over his.

"No, listen. I don't have time to do this gently. If you don't listen to me more, people are going to get hurt. Because Callie is going to hurt them." Freya tried to make him understand.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"You're gonna think I'm crazy, but just understand me. Your daughter, Callie, is still here. She's a spirit."

Dr. Garrison's response to her words was not what Freya expected. His eyes travelled to his daughter lying in the hospital bed, his gaze becoming sadder before he asked. "So you've seen her too?" Freya opened her mouth to respond, but she was so surprised that no sound came out of her. "I sensed her... Callie. Her presence, her scent. I even saw her standing at the foot of my bed but I never... believed it, I thought I was dreaming, I..."

"It wasn't a dream." Freya assured him. "She looks like she did when she was eight. White dress. Red ribbon in her hair. She's been trying to talk to you."

"You're not a cop are you?" Dr. Garrison asked with a sigh.

"No, I'm not."

"Then who are you?"

"That's a very long story. But all you need to know is that I'm someone who knows a little bit about this kind of thing."

"But what you said about my wife poisoning Callie, that's..."

"Callie told us." Freya explained.

"What?!"

"Not with many words, but in her own way. She told us."

"My wife loved Callie." He said, shaking his head in disbelief. "So how is – how is that possible?"

"I don't know. But it is."

"No. No I – I don't believe you."

"I don't care if you don't believe me, you need to." Freya said, shifting with desperation. "Look, Callie is killing people. She's angry. She's desperate, because nobody will listen to her. So you have to listen to her. Please, listen to your daughter."

It was the look in Freya's eyes what made Dr. Garrison to finally believe her. The tone of her voice sounded as if she was asking to be heard herself. His heart ached at the thought of his daughter possibly feeling so helpless for him to listen.

"Callie? Callie, it's Daddy." He said, looking back at Callie. Suddenly, her spirit appeared in the room, standing behind her father. "It's me, Daddy. Is it true? Mommy did that to you? I–I know I wasn't listening before, but I'm listening now. Daddy's here. Please honey, is–is there anyway that you can tell me?"

"Doctor..." Freya called him, gaining his attention and pointing behind him. Just like that, he turned around, his eyes finally meeting his daughter.

"Is it true?" He asked and she nodded in silence. "Oh, I'm so sorry, baby. But listen to me. You gotta stop what you're doing, okay? You're hurting people. I know everything now. I know the truth. It's time for you to let go. It's time for me to let you go."

Turning to look at his daughter's body, Dr. Garrison placed a kiss on her forehead. The machines monitoring her vitals began to beep, a straight line appearing on them and announcing her death. Freya's eyes filled with tears, but her heart felt at peace knowing that Callie could now rest.

Freya stayed with the doctor while Dean and Sam returned to the hospital after confirming by message that everything was over.

"And the girl's okay?" Dr. Garrison asked after hearing Dean and Sam's explanation of the recent events. Dean nodded. "So. It's really over?"

"Yeah. All thanks to you." Freya said, giving him a small smile.

"Callie was the most important thing in my life. But I should've let her go a long time ago." He admitted with a sigh. "Thank you." He looked at Freya again with fondness and then patted Sam and Dean on the shoulder before walking away.

"You know what he said? Some good advice." Dean commented as the three of them were left alone.

"Is that what you want me to do Dean? Just let you go?" Sam looked at him angrily. But when he didn't get a response from his older brother, he simply walked away.

"I don't know if you really thought I wouldn't do anything to help you when I promised you so you would let me tag along. But, Dean, I've lost too many important people in my life. I lost you once. I won't let it happen again." Freya stated before following Sam's steps.

Dean followed her with his eyes, surprised and frustrated by her stubbornness. If Sam was already difficult to convince to let him go, Freya would be a real pain in the ass. And as much as he knew her, Dean didn't know how far she was willing to go to save the people she loved and cared about.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

While Dean and Sam slept in their respective beds in the motel room they had booked, Freya was sitting on the edge of hers. In her hands the gift her father had left in her backpack, a cross necklace that had previously belonged to her mother. Tears welled in her eyes at the memory of the night Laurel Holloway had lost her life and she herself had found her dead body, surrounded by a pool of blood in the kitchen of their family house. The necklace still around her neck, reflecting the moonlight coming through the window.

The memory of her mother's death was enough to wake Freya's anger once again. A demon had taken her away from her and now they wanted to take Dean from her. But she couldn't let it happen. She couldn't let Sam lose his older brother the same way she had lost her own older brother all those years ago.

So, grabbing the Colt and car keys from Dean's bag, Freya left the motel room making as little noise as she possibly could and headed toward a crossroads.

She was well aware of the ritual necessary to make a crossroads demon appear. She had grabbed a prepared box from inside her closet before starting her trip with the Winchester brother. At first she didn't think she would need it al all, but now she was glad she had it with her. She just needed to put her ID in it and bury it in the center of the crossroads.

It wasn't long before a woman in a black dress and red eyes appeared by her side.

"Well. If it isn't little Freya Holloway. I'm touched. I mean... I've met your parents and older brother before, but you? I never had the pleasure." She said, looking her up and down.

Freya did her best not to look surprised at her words. But she was surprised. She never thought any of her relatives had ever tried to make a deal with a demon. Least of all her father, who was very insistent that she never do so. No matter what.

"What can I do for you, Freya?" The demon asked, taking her out of her thoughts.

Without a word, Freya extended her hand toward her, pointing the Colt at her.

"You can beg for your life." She then answered.

"We were having such a nice conversation. Then you had to go and ruin the mood." She said, without flinching. A smile still shining on her lips.

"If I were you, I'd drop the wisecracks and start acting scared."

"It's not my style." She replied, admiring the weapon in her hand. "That's not the original Colt. Where did you get that?" Before Freya could react to her question, the demon herself answered. "Ruby. Had to be. She is such a pain in my ass. She'll get what's coming to her... you can count on it."

The Holloway girl didn't know this Ruby, but it didn't matter in that moment either.

"That's enough. I came here to make you an offer." Freya finally said, gaining her full attention.

"You're gonna make me an offer?" She questioned in disbelief. "That's adorable."

"You can let Dean out of his deal right now. He lives, Sam lives. You live. Everyone goes home happy. Or..."
Freya cocks the Colt. "You stop breathing. Permanently."

"Oh." She laughed. "All this tough talk. I have to tell you, it's not very convincing. I mean, come on Freya. Do you even want to break the deal?"

"What do you think?" Freya frowned.

"I don't know. I mean he left you." The demon said. "This is your perfect opportunity. Take his beloved car and the Colt, and go after the demon that killed your mother. Dean will go to hell in a few months, you'll just have to deal with Sam. And, come on, we both know you're a better hunter than him."

Freya clenched her fists and jaw in frustration. She knew the demon was right. This was her perfect opportunity to carry out her revenge and in turn repay Dean for the pain he'd put her through years before. But Freya wasn't like that. Loyalty was one of her greatest qualities.

"You know, I've had enough of your crap. You let Dean out of his deal right now." Freya commanded.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but your boyfriend's an adult. He made that deal of his own free will, fair and square. It's iron clad."

"Every deal can be broken."

"Not this one."

"Fine." She accepted. "Then I'll kill you. If you're gone, so's the deal."

"Guess again." The demon laughed.

"What?" Freya frowned.

"Freya, I'm just a saleswoman. I got a boss like everybody. He holds the contract, not me. He wants Dean's soul, bad. And believe me. He's not going to let it go."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I? Shoot me, if it'll get you off. But the deal still holds, and when Dean's time is up, he's getting dragged into the pit." She assured.

"Then who's your boss? Who holds the contract?"

"He's not as cuddly as me, I can tell you that."

"Who is it?" Freya insisted, tired of the lack of an answer to her question.

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry, Freya. But there's no way outta this one. Not this time." She stated. "Unless, of course..."

"Unless, what?" A glimmer of hope flashed in Freya's eyes.

"Unless you give him your brother."

"I'm not gonna give you Peter." Freya scoffed.

"I'm not talking about Peter."

"You want Carter? Don't you think you've done enough to him already?"

"Why do you care so much, Freya? He killed your mother."

"No. He was possessed. A demon killed my mother." Freya stated. "Besides, I don't even know where Carter is."

"That's a shame." The demon said with a sigh. "You should really talk to your father, sweetie. I'm sure he knows exactly where he is."

Freya was getting tired of the sound of her voice. And knowing that now their conversation and her plan were going nowhere, she finally pulled the trigger. A bullet slipped between the demon's eyes, killing her in an instant.