"Remember this: you may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves." -Optimus Prime; Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Clary was accustomed enough in the hunter life. It wasn't like it could be avoided. Her family had been hunters, so anything regarding the supernatural had been in her life for as long as she could remember. Werewolves, vampires, demons, vengeful spirits — it was very natural for Clary, those kinds of subjects. For anyone else — the ordinary humans — they would only see it as something in horror movies. Something of fantasies. But...Clary knew better. She also knew better than to tell someone who wasn't a hunter about the supernatural. Anyone would think she was crazy if she started blabbering about exorcising demons, banishing vengeful spirits, or killing a vamp on a good day — or night, rather. In some way, Clary wished she had more people to talk to about what she did. Even with an entire family of hunters, Clary felt as if she couldn't talk to anyone.

But, evidently, she knew she'd have to suck it up. Spending most of her time complaining wouldn't keep people safe. It wouldn't stop monsters from doing the horrific things they did. Clary's job was simple: find somewhere that's displaying some kind of unnatural phenomena, figure out what's causing the problems, kill it, and leave. A hunter's work never got any kind of acknowledgement. It was kept as discreetly as possible. Besides, people were capable of coming up with their own solutions anyway. Ordinary humans seemed to find comfort in solutions that made sense to them. Even if the idea of a federal agent looking into the death — or deaths — seemed a little odd, their solution went unwavering.

But who was Clary to judge?

! ! ! !

Was there any reason why Clary's family were hunters? Many hunters go into the life simply out of vengeance for some monster that wronged them in one way or another. Some were simply born into a long line of hunters. It wasn't like they were given much of a choice, it was just what happened. Clary had been one of those who had been born into a line of hunters — given, it wasn't a very long line. But there was a reason her family started hunting monsters. From what Clary had been told — mostly by her mother, Esther — Clary's family had been supposedly "cursed" by Clary's great-great-grandmother, Delilah Montgomery.

Stories had been told about Delilah in the Montgomery family. Apparently, Delilah's husband had been abusive, hurting his wife and their four daughters, Bethany, Faith, Grace, and Victoria. Delilah, despite having been a devout Christian her entire life, summoned a crossroads demon. The supernatural had been something Delilah was faintly familiar with, especially when it came to demons. That had been the one thing she seemed to know the most. When Delilah summoned the demon, she wished herself and her daughters had the strength to stand up to their abusive husband and father.

"What kind of strength?" the demon — who had taken the form of a young woman — asked, its red eyes looking at Delilah amusedly.

Swallowing thickly, Delilah straightened her shoulders, looking at the demon as calmly as possible. "The same kind of strength you demons have," she requested. "I need to be able to protect my girls and myself."

"That's a risky request." The demon arched a brow, smirking. "Are you sure you wanna do that?"

"Whatever it takes to protect my family."

The smirk seemed to widen on the demon's face. "Well, Delilah," it responded, "who am I to refuse something so...selfless." Before Delilah could even think of reacting, the demon was in front of her in the blink of an eye. "But," it went on, "there's always a price. Yours will be paid in ten years' time."

Pulling her forward, the deal had been sealed with a kiss.

That had been what Clary had been told. Delilah's will to protect her daughters and herself from the abuse had been so strong, she decided the only way to protect her family was through the use of a demon.

And, in the end, Delilah's plan did work. She managed to get rid of her husband — in other words, kill her husband — and try her best to raise her four daughters on her own. Eventually, as the years went by, all four girls managed to find husbands of their own, despite Delilah's uncertainty on the matter. What if their husbands ended up abusive like their father had?

"We're stronger than you give us credit for, mother," Faith had responded.

"You gave us the strength to protect ourselves," Bethany had laughed.

"Do you really think so little of us?" Victoria had chuckled.

"You need have more faith in us," Grace had sighed.

Bethany and her husband had one son and three daughters.

Victoria and her husband had three sons and three daughters.

Faith had twin sons and one daughter.

And Grace, after suffering three miscarriages, had one daughter.

That was when things were starting to change. Following Delilah's death, the sisters started becoming increasingly violent. Their grief over their mother's death took the biggest toll on them. Grace had been hit the hardest. Grace felt as if she were closer to her mother than her sisters, and when Delilah died — unknown to the four sisters, by hellhounds on the day Delilah's ten years were up — Grace fell into a deep depression.

Until Victoria found Delilah's journal. Which talked about a pretty woman in a crossroads.

(A/N):

If you can forgive me for having this chapter up so late, that would be appreciated. I would've had it up sooner, but I got sidetracked with homework and I was put even farther behind by internet problems, that I wouldn't have gotten this up quick enough even if I tried. Not to mention I was trying to figure out a good way to write this first chapter in a way that might be a little interesting. I know it probably isn't, but hopefully someone actually does like it just a bit.

Do I own SPN? No. No I don't.

In case there's any confusion on this chapter: Clary comes from a family of hunters; her great-great-grandmother, Delilah Montgomery, made a deal with a crossroads demon to make herself and her daughters stronger because of Delilah's abusive husband; Delilah ended up killing her husband; the daughters — Faith, Grace, Bethany, and Victoria — did get strong because of Delilah's deal with the demon, but I haven't written exactly what they're capable of yet. The sisters eventually married and had children, after Delilah died — ya know, by hellhounds and everything — the sisters started to become violent as a result. Their way of dealing with the loss. They didn't know about the deal with the crossroads demon. Grace fell into a depression since she felt like she was closer to her mother. Victoria found a journal of Delilah's, mentioning the crossroads demon.

Clary's family, especially her mother, blames Delilah for a supposed "family curse", which will be explained later.

Sorry for the delay on this chapter, don't get mad at me, OK? I tried getting it up sooner.

Thanks.

Bleu