A/N: Thank you guest Kathy again for reviewing (this story and "Sundry Villains")! I am sorry to say, though, that this is the last chapter to this sequel. But it's a long chapter, so hopefully filled with lots of goodness. :)

Chapter 4

The Winchesters stayed the weekend, but after that they had to get back out there, hunting monsters and saving the world. And life at Jody's went back to normal. Well, mostly. Claire still seemed stuck in limbo, staying yet not fully integrating herself into their routines. It would take time.

At least the boys' visit appeared to have helped. They were able to talk to Claire about Castiel in a way Jody wasn't able to, as she'd never had the chance to meet the grown angel. And hopefully Sam and Dean had some good advice for her about not going off on her own again.

"Jody! Jody! We're going to be late!" Cas exclaimed, hurrying into the kitchen and grabbing the hem of her jacket to tug on it.

"Hey, no running in the house," she responded. "And the carnival is open all day, sweetie. We're not going to miss it."

He was practically bouncing at her feet with excited energy. Granted, he'd been looking forward to going to the carnival for several weeks, so Jody could hardly blame him. But he was acting like a kid on a sugar high, and he hadn't even eaten any cotton candy yet.

Her cell phone rang, and a quick glance showed the station's caller ID. Jody grimaced. Uh-oh… "Hang on, I have to take this."

Cas sighed dejectedly and turned to go back out to the living room.

"Hello?" Jody answered.

"Sorry to bother you, Sheriff," one of her deputies started. "I know you took an early day."

"Yeah, so this better be really important…"

"It is. We've got a body."

Jody closed her eyes. Of course. "How bad?" she asked, already having an inkling of the answer; otherwise, they wouldn't have called her.

"Pretty brutal killing."

Jody groaned internally. Crap. "Okay, text me the address and I'll be right there." She hung up. Sometimes she had to put her family above work, and sometimes she had to do the opposite.

She headed into the living room where Alex was helping Cas into his coat. Claire was lounging on the couch, flipping through a magazine.

Cas's eyes lit up. "Now can we go?"

"Um, here's the thing, kiddo," Jody said apologetically, "I have to go into work."

His face fell. "But what about the carnival?"

"You can Alex can still go." Jody paused, and then threw out on a whim, "And maybe Claire can go in my place."

Claire looked up with a frown. "What do you have to go in for?" She set the magazine aside and straightened on the couch. "If they need you on your afternoon off, it must be big. Is it a murder? Something that sounds unnatural?"

Jody gave her a sharp glower. "Ix-nay on the murder talk," she hissed, pointedly flicking her eyes toward Cas.

"Sorry. But maybe I can help," Claire went on, getting to her feet.

"You are not a cop—yet." Though, Jody was starting to wonder whether offering to train Claire as one hadn't been the best idea. But they did not have time to discuss it right now.

Jody went to the hall closet to get her gun out of the lock box. "Just go to the carnival with Cas and Alex, okay? Get out, have some fun. You've been cooped up here all week."

"But—"

"Nope!" Jody cut her off. "You want to be involved in cases, we can talk about that later. But no shortcuts." She stopped by Cas to bend down and give him a quick hug, then smiled at Alex. "Have fun."

Then she was out the door before Claire could try arguing further.

The crime scene was across town in a dumpy alley behind a laundromat. Deputy Saunders was waiting for her, and gave her a regretful look as he lifted the police tape for her to duck under.

"Sorry again to pull you away from your family, especially for something so gruesome."

"That's the job," she replied. "So what do you got?"

"Victim is male, late thirties. Driver's license says Harold Phillips, though we're not able to get a visual confirmation."

Jody frowned. "What? Why not?"

"Body was pretty torn up," Saunders replied, escorting her down the alley toward a row of dumpsters where a crime scene tech was photographing the scene and the coroner was examining the body.

Jody pulled up short and took a moment to collect herself. She'd seen her share of horrors, but it still threw her those first few seconds every time. The body was definitely unrecognizable, face and torso completely mangled with what looked like claw marks.

"Looks like a wild animal attack," Saunders said. "Thing is, the body was found in the dumpster." He shook his head. "Pretty sure mountain lions don't clean up after themselves."

No. No, they did not.

Jody hated having to ask this question. "Are any organs missing?"

The coroner quirked a confused look at her. "Uh, actually, yeah. The heart."

Jody's shoulders sagged.

Aw, crap.

Alex couldn't stop smiling at how captivated Cas was by all the lights and bells and whistles of the carnival. He was so excited that when they'd first arrived, he couldn't decide where he wanted to go first. Until he saw the pony rides, and then he made a beeline toward that, and then once wasn't enough; he had to go line up two more times. Alex made sure to take lots of pictures on her cell phone for Jody.

Cas came running out of the arena after his third ride. "Alex, can you please help me convince Jody to get a pony? Please, please, please?"

Alex had to bite back a laugh. "Sorry, bud, but I'm pretty sure Jody is still going to say no. A pony isn't exactly a house pet."

"But we have room in the backyard. And it can eat vegetables from the garden!"

"We don't have a stable. And ponies eat a lot. A lot faster than our garden can grow. And then we won't get to eat any of it."

Cas pursed his mouth thoughtfully. "Oh. Well, then, okay."

Alex reached for his hand. "Come on, let's go see what else is here." She glanced at Claire, who had come with them after all but had been pretty much hanging back and playing with her phone, rather than engaging with them. Alex wanted to ask why she'd bothered coming at all, but kept silent. She wanted to help Claire feel like she still had a home with them. Even if her adopted sister was not making it easy.

They moseyed through the various aisles of the carnival until they came to a game Cas was interested in, one with throwing rings onto spokes. Alex paid the attendant an absurd amount of money, and Cas got his three ring tosses, but only scored one. Alex paid again and this time helped him with the throws, winning a stuffed purple gecko.

Cas immediately handed it to her. "There. Now I won you a prize for finishing summer school. Sorry it took so long."

Alex mussed his hair and smiled. "Thank you. I love it."

He grinned back, and then turned to Claire. "Can I win you one?"

She blinked at him. "Oh. No, that's okay. I still have that stuffed cat…" Claire trailed off for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm good." She shot Alex a sharp look. "And don't you dare repeat that I kept that thing."

Alex's lips twitched, but she mimed zipping them shut.

As they turned to leave, a guy stepped into their path and shoved a flyer at Alex.

"Have you seen this girl?" he asked.

Alex started at the abrupt intrusion, gaze dropping to the sheet with a picture of a young woman and bold capital letters saying 'Missing Person.'

"Um, no. Sorry."

"Please, just take a harder look," he pressed.

Claire moved forward and took the paper. "Who is she?"

"My girlfriend. She went missing while at this carnival when it was in Stokoe County in the Spring. And she's not the only one. Several people have been reported missing in every town this carnival has stopped in over the past year."

Claire arched her brows. "What do the cops say?"

The guy let out a frustrated sound. "That there's no evidence of foul play, no leads. My own local sheriff said I should just accept the fact that she dumped me and ran off to join the circus. Can you believe that? I mean, who the hell runs off to join the circus these days?" He shook his head sharply. "And besides, we're in love. I- I was going to propose soon…"

Alex's heart twinged in sympathy for the guy. He seemed genuinely distraught, but if his girlfriend went missing in Stokoe County, then there wasn't much chance of anyone in Sioux Falls having seen her.

Claire, however, was like a dog who'd caught a scent. "Any other unusual things reported at the same time people went missing?"

Alex grabbed her arm. "Excuse us," she said to the bereaved boyfriend, and dragged Claire a few steps away. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "I thought you were over jumping at monsters that aren't there?"

"This could be a monster."

"Or a regular old serial killer." Alex rolled her eyes. "Jody wanted you to come out here and chill."

"Yeah, well, I can't just ignore when something might be up. And what about the murder that just happened?"

"Jody never said it was a murder," Alex retorted under her breath.

Claire scowled at her. "Look, I've gotten pretty good at trusting my instincts since being out on my own."

Alex forced herself to take a breath, and then shook her head. "Fine, whatever. Do what you want. But I am not gonna expose Cas to this."

She turned toward where he was standing a few feet away, expression pinched as he watched them. "Come on, Squirt." She took his hand and quickly led him away, internally fuming at Claire.

Alex understood why she wanted to get involved and help people, but why did it always have to be right away, without any thought to taking her time to figure out what she might be getting herself into?

"Alex?" Cas spoke up. "Is Claire a hunter like Sam and Dean?"

She stopped walking to look down at him, debating on what to answer. While they and the Winchesters had hinted at monsters being real, they'd never actually sat down and told Cas there were things like vampires and werewolves, just that Sam and Dean hunted things and saved people.

"Yeah, sometimes."

"So she's going to help that man find that woman?" he asked.

Alex sighed. "I think she wants to. But we're not going to worry about any of that, okay?"

Cas tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "You don't think we should help?"

Alex's expression softened. "No, sweetie. Not this time."

He seemed to accept that, and they started moving again, passing in front of a booth where a hulking brute of a man suddenly lunged forward with a snarl. Cas yelped and leaped against Alex, and even she let out a short, high-pitched scream. The people around them chuckled and sniggered, and it took her a moment to read the sign of the booth—the "Wolf Man." The beastly man's makeup sure lived up to the description—a thick, bushy unibrow and wild hair from the top of his head down his sideburns. He leaned back, eyeing Alex with a predatory gleam.

Cas clung to her leg, and she quickly ushered him away from that section and down to another game booth, this one with water squirt guns.

Claire caught up to them not much later.

"Hey," she said after she'd jogged over. "I'm gonna hang around for a bit."

Alex couldn't say she was even surprised.

"Is there a monster here?" Cas asked fearfully.

"No," Alex automatically replied.

"Yes," Claire said at the same time.

"Don't scare him!" Alex berated.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Look, why don't you two head home?" She glanced at Cas. "You've had your fill of fun, right, kid?"

Alex glared at her. "Don't you dare try to ruin this for him."

"I'm just thinking it might be safer," Claire argued. "Besides, we've been here for a couple hours already."

Alex clenched a fist, seriously feeling the urge to punch Claire right now. She shook her head angrily—either way, the evening had been ruined. Shoulders slumping in defeat, Alex looked at Cas.

"Well, buddy, how about it? You ready to go home?"

He nodded mutely.

"Okay, let's go." She took his hand and started heading back toward the parking lot. "Maybe we can come back again next weekend," she said. "The carnival should be in town a bit longer. You want to ride the ponies again, right?"

Cas remained quiet.

"We'll make sure Jody doesn't get pulled away by work, either," Alex went on, trying to coax some enthusiasm out of him. "Maybe if she sees you riding the pony, she might change her mind about getting one."

Cas's lips twitched, and his eyes started to sparkle again. "You think so?"

Alex shrugged. "Who knows?"

She rounded a corner to take a short cut between some porta-potties, but just before they were about to step out into the parking lot, something hit Alex from behind, sending her crashing to the ground. Her ears were ringing and everything looked fuzzy, but she heard Cas scream an instant before she was struck again, and everything blacked out.

After using her phone to browse through news stories about these supposed disappearances from the carnival, Claire decided to call Jody. The line rang four times before it was picked up.

"Claire?" Jody answered warily.

"Hey, by any chance was your victim today last seen at the carnival?"

There was silence on the other end for several beats. "What?" Jody finally said.

"There's been a string of people going missing in the towns this carnival has been at," Claire informed her.

Jody let out what sounded like an exasperated sigh. "Well, it's too early to know where he was last seen. But if none of the other people have shown up as murder victims, then I doubt it's linked to this one."

"But it could be," Claire pressed. "Was there anything weird about the murder?"

She could practically hear Jody grinding her teeth.

"His heart was missing," she said grudgingly.

Claire's brows rose. "So, a werewolf."

Jody made another disgruntled sound. "Why don't you guys head home."

"Alex and Cas already left," Claire replied. "I'm gonna stay, take a look around. It might not be a coincidence, the people going missing and this murder."

"Claire—"

She hung up. She was much more capable than people gave her credit for. She even had her angel sword in the small duffel slung over her shoulder, as she never went anywhere without a weapon anymore. One never knew when it'd be needed, and the nice thing about the Grigori blade was it killed just about anything.

She kept to the edges of the carnival, eyes peeled against the bustling throngs. It was after dark now, and the place was filled with bright, psychedelic lights punctuated with loud bops and whistles. It would be easy for someone to be snatched away, unnoticed, in an environment like this. Claire spotted that one guy, still handing out missing person flyers of his girlfriend, and felt a pang of sympathy for him.

She realized she wasn't going to find much out here, and so she snuck around to the back of the carnival, the behind the scenes area that was off-limits to guests. Staying crouched in the shadows, she avoided a couple of clowns heading to a trailer, but other than that, most of the activity was happening out front at the carnival's peak traffic time.

Claire debated where to look next, but then she spotted a massive figure moving across the lot. That was the "Wolf Man." Claire narrowed her eyes, something setting off her spidey senses. She slowly straightened and followed after him, as he was heading away from the center of the carnival.

Despite his large size, she lost sight of him a few times, and by the time she quickened her pace to come out at a row of porta-potties, he was gone. Claire huffed. Now what?

She half turned to go back the way she'd come, and her foot knocked against something soft. Claire bent down to pick it up. It was a stuffed toy of a purple lizard. She frowned. Just as she felt her brain trying to tell her something, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and a shadow detached from a nearby trailer.

Claire twisted away at the last second, barely avoiding getting clobbered by a hulking brute. She still got clipped, and the force of the impact sent her rolling across the ground. She rolled with the momentum, coming to a stop in a crouch, and quickly grabbed her sword from her bag. A pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the dark as the Wolf Man stepped into the halo of light from the trailer. He sneered at her, baring a row of fangs.

"Well, you're certainly one of the prettier hunters I've ever come across."

Claire arched an unimpressed brow at him. "Nice camouflage with the Wolf Man gig. Kind of cheesy, though."

His nostrils flared as he began to circle around her. Claire side stepped too, keeping pace so he remained across from her.

"Desperate times and all that," he replied. "The British Men of Letters have been trying to wipe us out."

Claire furrowed her brow. The British Men of Letters? Like that dweeb who was following the Winchesters around like an intern?

The werewolf spread his arms. "You have to admit, what better hiding place than where you're supposed to be a monster?"

She snorted. "Yeah, well, you kinda screwed up leaving that body today."

He growled and gnashed his teeth at her, still stalking in an arc. "That wasn't me," he snapped. "I'm more careful than that. But some mangy mutt was stupid and now he's brought a hunter down on me instead."

"Tough break." She tightened her grip on the sword hilt.

He finally stopped moving, lip curling upward. "Oh, but that's all right. I always take measures to protect myself." He paused, eyes glinting fiendishly. "Like how I have your friends—that delicious brunette and the child."

Claire froze. What? No, he was lying…but how had he known she'd been here with them? Her thoughts flitted back to that stuffed lizard on the ground that had looked familiar. Oh god…

"Where are they?" she demanded.

He smirked. "Safe. For now. At least as long as you let me go."

Claire gritted her teeth. She knew better than to trust a monster. If she gave in, there would be nothing to stop him from killing Alex and Cas anyway. How long since they'd been taken? Surely not long enough for Wolf Man to have transported them away from the fairgrounds and come back. Besides, this was a traveling carnival year round, so this guy wouldn't have had any place in town to stash them. No, this was his base, his home turf, which meant they had to still be here somewhere.

Claire raised her Grigori sword and charged. The werewolf twisted away with a snarl, claws beginning to grow from his fingernails. Great, a pureblood. That explained his ability to blend in at the carnival under his stage name; there wasn't any makeup involved.

He slashed at her and she ducked, following through with a thrust toward his gut. Claire only nicked him, and he howled in pain and rage. His eyes blazed with madness, and suddenly he threw himself at her head on. Claire had a split second burst of fight or flight adrenaline, but she'd been prepared. Finding her center, she stepped into the attack and plunged the sword straight through his chest and heart.

The collision of their opposing momentum jarred her balance, but she kept her feet as his body went limp on the sword, adding several hundred pounds of weight to it. Claire staggered back, wrenching the blade out. The werewolf dropped to the ground with a dull thud, wide eyes staring sightlessly at nothing.

Claire's heart was racing, and she dropped down next to him, desperate to find out where he'd put Alex and Cas, but he was already gone. There was a chain around his neck, though, with a key on it. Claire snatched at it, breaking the links. She whipped her gaze around the carnival trailers, frantically trying to determine where he might have hidden his kidnapped victims. In his own trailer? Which one was it?

Claire had to admit she was starting to panic, and she almost reached for her phone to call Jody and have her bring the whole cavalry out here, but then her gaze caught on some bright green paint staining the werewolf's pants. It was still shiny.

She remembered seeing a Ferris wheel cordoned off with signs of fresh paint, and it'd been painted the same color.

Surging to her feet, Claire dashed across the lot toward the closed ride. But Alex and Cas couldn't be on it. Maybe just nearby? As Claire sprinted around the back of the Ferris wheel, she spotted a door to a shed underneath the platform, and her heart gave a leap. She took the key and hurried forward to stick it in the lock.

It clicked, and Claire burst inside. She heard a stifled whimper before her eyes adjusted, and she saw Cas huddled on the floor, knees drawn up to his chest and his wrists bound with rope. He was sitting next to Alex, who was laying on her side, apparently unconscious.

Claire closed the few feet between them and dropped to the ground. "Hey, hey, hey, it's me, Claire."

Cas looked up at her with wide eyes, cheeks stained with tear tracks. Claire took the Grigori sword and deftly cut his bonds. As soon as his wrists were free, Cas threw himself into her arms with a sob. She was so stunned for a moment that her fingers went slack around the sword, and it clattered to the floor. But then she brought her arms up around the kid and held him close.

"It's okay. You're okay now," she soothed, rubbing his back and cupping his head as he cried into her shirt. Claire lowered her voice and whispered in his ear. "You're okay, I promise. I won't let anything hurt you."

And, she was surprised to note, she meant that with such visceral conviction, rather than as a superficial platitude for a scared child. In that moment, Claire felt a clarity that had previously been eluding her.

Castiel had once looked after her. And now it was her turn to look after him.

Flashing red and blue lights overpowered the carnival's garish displays as authorities flooded the place. Police tape was being put up in several places and uniformed officers were already examining the Wolf Man's body. Claire had stashed her Grigori sword in Alex's car prior to their arrival, and all she'd told the cops so far was that he had tried to kidnap her sister and brother, but she'd found them in the shed under the Ferris wheel.

She wouldn't be getting much scrutiny, anyway, as police had just found a bunch of bodies buried out behind the Wolf Man's trailer, proving he was a serial killer behind all those disappearances.

Claire skirted around the crime scene to the edge of the lot, and picked up the stuffed lizard. She brushed off the dirt, then turned to head back to the ambulance. Alex and Cas were sitting side by side in the back, a gray blanket wrapped around them both. Alex had a nasty bump on the back of her head and a mild concussion, but was otherwise okay. She looked up as Claire approached, offering a wan smile.

Claire held out the lizard. "I think you lost this."

Alex blinked at it for a moment before reaching out to take it. She then passed it to Cas. "Think you can hold onto this for me until we get home?" she asked softly.

He nodded, and wordlessly grasped onto it tightly. Alex drew him closer and kissed the top of his head.

Harried movement drew Claire's eye, and she looked over to see Jody pushing her way through the crowd to reach them.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked urgently, immediately scooping Cas into her arms and looking him over. He was thankfully unhurt, just traumatized, and he clung to her. Jody glanced at Alex and reached out to cup her head, gaze worriedly searching hers.

"I'm okay," Alex assured her.

Jody finally settled her gaze on Claire. "Are you okay?"

She nodded meekly. "It was a werewolf," she said quietly. "But, uh, apparently not the one that left the body this afternoon."

Jody let out a long breath. "Okay, uh, we'll deal with that later." She shook her head. "I'm sorry for not listening to you. Again," she added ruefully, but then gave Claire an appreciative nod. "You've got good instincts."

Claire's lips thinned. She'd yearned for that kind of praise for a while…but now she knew she didn't deserve it. "Maybe…but I shouldn't have gone off on my own." She flicked an apologetic look at Alex. "My snooping tipped the werewolf off, which was why he grabbed you guys in the first place." Claire shuffled her foot. "I'm sorry."

Alex shrugged. "Comes with the territory, right? And you came through for us. Thanks."

Claire's mouth quirked, and she leaned in to give Alex a side hug.

"Still," she said when she pulled back. "I admit that I could use some more training. Proper training." Lifting her shoulders with a sigh, Claire looked at Jody. "So where do I sign up to become a deputy?"

Jody gave her a small smile. "We'll get on that tomorrow. Right now, it's past someone's bedtime."

Cas's head was resting on her shoulder and his eyes were half-lidded. Kid had a pretty rough day and could definitely use some rest.

Claire offered Alex a hand to help her hop down from the back of the ambulance cab, and then they started to follow Jody toward the parking lot. Another nice perk of being with the sheriff's office—they could handle statements and stuff internally. Claire was beginning to think she could get used to that.

"Mmph," Cas mumbled. "Claire?"

She skipped a step to come up beside him. "Yeah?"

His eyelids fluttered sleepily as he gazed at her, cheek still pressed to Jody's shoulder. "Are you going to stay and keep the monsters away?"

She gave him a soft smile and reached out to stroke his hair back from his forehead. "Yes. So go to sleep. Everything's fine now, I promise."

His eyelids slid closed and stayed that way, even when Jody put him in the backseat. Claire offered to drive Alex's car home.

…Home. When Claire had first returned, everything had been so different. Everyone had moved on with their lives without her, leaving nothing but numerous complications that Claire hadn't believed she could deal with or reconcile. But that wasn't how things ended up working out. She'd found a place after all.

And all those things that had seemed insurmountable had, in fact, been stepping stones to finding her way home.