Warning(s): Set in season 1 of Supernatural (Slight AU. The Season 2 episode 'Simon Said' happened already before Season 1 episode 'Home'), and Book 2 of Cirque Du Freak.

Author's notes (4/17/13):I went ahead and pretty much crammed chapters 1 & 2 together to make it longer. I've decided to try and make the chapters longer and it just wouldn't look right to have the first two chapters short while the rest of the chapters much longer. It's just a personal taste I suppose.

NIGHT HUNTER

CIRQUE DU FREAK Crossover: An odd circus comes to Lawrence, Kansas, and Dean and Sam find themselves unknowingly tossed in an ancient Vampire war. Set in season 1, & book 2.

.

LAWRENCE, KANSAS

2005

THE hunt for John Winchester was put on hold when a premonition brought Dean and his brother, Sam, back to Lawrence, Kansas. Dean heaved a sigh as he stood at the threshold of the old Winchester residence before he turned to look at Sam. The younger Winchester was oddly quiet, an inquisitive look formed on his face. He hadn't so much as uttered a word the entire drive, though Dean had a feeling his brother was thinking about the premonition as much as he was. As much as Dean didn't want to be here, to be reminded of the painful memories, he couldn't exactly ignore it when someone might be in danger, especially if they were living in his old house. Regardless that the Winchesters no longer lived in the house, Dean still felt a small trace of obligation for anything that happened to the occupants that lived there now. He seemed to feel responsible for a lot of things these days, but guilt came easily to Dean. Whether it was because John Winchester conditioned his son that way or it was just in Dean's nature to care too much, too easily, for other people, he didn't know. Though he leaned toward the latter, Sam thought it was just his brother's insatiable need to play the hero.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Dean? An invitation? Knock on the damn door," Sam finally said, bringing Dean's thoughts to a halt. His brother stared at him, eyebrows raised when Dean all but stood rooted to the spot, as if his body had been frozen there. With a half-hearted sigh, Sam took a step around his brother and gave the door a few hard raps, then stood back on his heels and waited patiently as the door slid open to reveal the woman who had been in Sam's recent premonition.

"Hi," she said slowly, looking from one brother to the other, "and who are you?"

Dean smirked and began to take out his badge, but Sam moved to hastily intercept him and blurted out, "I'm Sam Winchester and this is Dean, my brother. We were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd check out our old house." He then gestured widely to the door and watched as the woman let out a soft gasp, ignoring Dean's annoyed scowl.

.

ONE

.

It turned out that there really had been a threat looming over the poor woman and her little girl that recently moved into their old house. While it wasn't what killed Mary Winchester in 1983, Dean had no problem whatsoever with gankin' a powerful, nasty spirit. Well, no, that was a lie (not the part that he had no problem, 'cus he didn't). They didn't actually gank anything. It was too powerful, so the brothers went to pay a visit to ol' Missouri, the one that John included in his journal that Dean mistook for the state.

They found out she was a psychic that still lived somewhere nearby, a powerful one too, and crazy, Dean had added in his head. But soon after recruiting Missouri to take a look at the former Winchester residence and let her do her 'lil psychic mojo to ward off angry spirits, it proved that there were greater forces at works that even Missouri couldn't seem to handle.

No, there hadn't been any ganking, not really. At least not done by anyone human, alive. It took Mary Winchester's lingering ghost to gank it, and after the ordeal was all over, after the woman and child returned to the house and thanked the two brothers, Dean still wasn't sure what to make of the encounter. His mother, his poor, dead, sweet mother had been there in all her beautiful glory, and saved them. She had done their job for them from beyond the grave. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"Well, Sammy, where to now?" Dean was packing up as he spoke. It was the morning after and Sam stood on the other side of the room, packing as well. He didn't answer for a moment, seemingly lost in his own head. Dean was kind of worried. These premonitions happened more often lately and Sam always seemed sort of out of it after he got them. Dean figured part of that had to do with the yellow-eyed demon, the one that killed Mary when Sam was only six months old.

"Hello, earth to Sam," Dean tried, twisting around to face his brother.

Sam finally paused in the midst of his packing and looked up, "What is it, Dean?"

"Was just curious as to where we go from here," Dean said with a shrug.

"Are you trying to ask me if I had another premonition last night?" Sam asked, his lips quirked in a smile.

Dean shrugged again, trying to keep his anxiety from showing. It was a curious thing, that though Dean was adamant on trying to make his brother feel less freakish as possible, he seemed to have no problem using him as a supernatural, freak compass if it was necessary. Day by day, they seemed to be getting closer to their demon killer. Dean felt sure of it. And if that was true, they were also getting closer to finding John Winchester. Following Sam's premonitions had Dean on edge, while it seemed to make Sam almost, giddy.

"Did you?" Dean asked.

Sam frowned and shook his head before getting back to folding his clothes. "It doesn't work that way, Dean," he chided gently. "I don't get them every night, or after each person we manage to save."

"But they fit the yellow-eyes pattern, right?" Dean said, his expression darkening at the thought of the monster that killed their mother.

Dean saw Sam's hands clench tightly on the white, collared shirt he was putting away. "Yeah," he murmured. He said nothing more, and the rest of the morning was spent packing in silence, both brothers thinking along the same train of thoughts.

When they had finished packing the Impala, Dean felt starved. He realized neither he nor Sam had breakfast yet, and decided to go to a local fast-food joint right across the motel. Dean ordered a couple breakfast biscuits and a cup of coffee, while Sam got some eggs and bacon, along with a cup of coffee as well.

While Dean bit into one of his biscuits, he noticed Sam picking at his eggs and snorted, "You're so normal, dude."

Sam glanced up at his brother, brows furrowed, slightly perplexed. "What?"

Dean then gestured at Sam's plate. "Eggs and bacon? Come on. Everyone gets that. You get it all the time."

"Yeah. So?"

"Where's your sense of adventure, Sammy?" Dean asked as he shoved the rest of the biscuit into his mouth.

Sam snorted and shook his head, not wanting to believe his brother was honestly trying to get into an argument about what he was eating for breakfast. "You're such a freak, Dean. It's just food."

Dean just grinned cheekily at him and grabbed another biscuit from his plate. He was about to stuff it into his already half-filled mouth when something out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Taped to the wall across from the brothers' booth was a piece of paper, fluttering in the air-conditioned breeze. He squinted slightly, trying to make out the bolded, capitalized letters on it.

Dean had the sudden urge to get up and take the paper from the wall. He rose to his feet slowly, ignoring his brother's curious gaze as he watched Dean walk over to wall to take a good look at the paper. It read 'CIRQUE DU FREAK' when Dean was able to inspect it up close. Under the bolded text, were a few pictures that Dean hadn't expected at all.

There was a picture of a woman just underneath 'Cirque Du Freak' and Dean thought she would've been real pretty if it weren't for the long beard that came down from her chin to curl around her feet on the floor. Underneath the picture, he read 'The Bearded Lady'.

Fitting, he snorted.

Though it was pretty strange to see a 'bearded' woman, Dean's attention was on the only other picture printed on the advertisement. Starring in it was a man, well, a very hairy man, a very furry man. Dean knew a werewolf when he saw one. The captions under the picture read 'The Wolf Man'. He snatched the paper off the wall and turned back to the table. Sam was staring at him, his brows raised in question.

Dean sat back down and slammed the advertisement for the circus onto the table in front of his brother, declaring loudly, "Change of plans, Sammy. How do you feel about staying here a couple more days?"

Dean Winchester was a monster expert. After all, he was a hunter. It just came with the territory. He knew a werewolf when it was staring him in the face, and the hairy dude on the Cirque Du Freak pamphlet? That dude was definitely not a hairy dude. It was a monster. Convincing Sammy took a lot more than he thought it would. Sammy actually thought it was hilarious when Dean showed him the picture.

"Dean, don't you know what this is?" Sam said in that slow, condescending tone he always used when he thought Dean was being super slow. Then he started pointing at the words at the top and Dean had to suppress a groan. "This means Circus of Freaks. Circus, Dean."

"So?" Dean said with his arms crossed over his stomach looking highly unimpressed with his brother.

Sam pretended not to notice. "So…it means that more than likely, your guy," he then proceeded to point at the hairy werewolf in the middle picture, "is a fake."

Dean scowled and snatched the paper back. Why did he even bother? "Just humor me, OK, Sammy?" he said, watching as Sam just shrugged.

A few hours later found the two brothers unpacking the Impala and in another dingy, run-down motel. Dean was determined to find the circus and Sam took a little interest as he tried to find some kind of information on the supposed Cirque Du Freak on his laptop. Dean flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He knew deep down Sammy was probably just as intrigued as he was but Sammy also had a fear for clowns when he was little. It was possible he still had it, as irrational as that fear may be.

Dean pulled out the circus pamphlet and stared at the pictures again. Sam could be right and the dude might be a fake. He shook his head. But it definitely didn't look like a costume. If it was, it was a really, really well made one. But why would people dress up as the supernatural? It sickened Dean to think of all the people pretending to be the actual stuff that eats people. He turned the pamphlet over after a moment.

"Huh, I didn't see that," the hunter muttered as he sat up. He heard Sammy turn to look at him. Dean turned it so that the back was faced toward Sam as he explained, "That's the location on where the tickets are sold."

There was a beat of silence before Dean suddenly grinned. "Let's go, Sammy."

Sam nodded in agreement and closed his laptop down.

It was the alleyway next to the diner they ate at that morning and Dean thought this was a crummy place to be selling tickets to some weirdo traveling circus that featured real monsters. It felt like Dean and Sam had crossed into some, stereotypical horror movie. All they needed now were rain and thunder and it'd be a perfect setup for a horror film. Dean frowned as they walked into the alley together. He turned to see that his brother was just as perplexed as he was.

Just as Dean thought maybe this was all a hoax like Sam had thought, he heard movement from further into the alley. Dean looked around cautiously, hand inching slowly at the knife tucked in the back pocket of his jeans. Then something suddenly darted out from the shadows and launched itself to Dean's right. The hunter heard a surprised yell and turned to see Sam stumble back from the head on collision with the…whatever the hell was under the cloak.

"Sam…Sammy?" he rushed over to help his brother up and the two backed away from the cloaked thing. "You OK, man?"

Sam nodded; his eyes wide in bewilderment as the cloaked thing got up, staggering forward a little from the impact. Dean could see blue skin poking out where the cloak didn't cover. He felt the familiar handle of his knife and tried to relax a little.

"Stay the hell away from us," he told it; grabbing hold of Sam and pulling him along as he took another step back.

The cloak seemed to ignore Dean as it followed the two hunters to the entrance of the alley. It started to extend a blue clawed hand out and Dean wasn't sure what that meant. Was it going to attack them if they tried to run? He took another stumbling step back, suddenly determined to get away. Well…he wanted to anyway. Sam wasn't budging though.

"Come on, Sammy," Dean hissed, tugging Sam's arm.

Sam shook his head slowly and stood his ground, eyes fixated on the hooded creature. "Dean, I don't think it's gonna hurt us," he said in a loud, confident voice.

"Well that's all good and–wait, what?" Dean said through clenched teeth. Had he really heard that right? "What the hell are you on about?"

"I think I know what it wants, Dean." Sam spared Dean a glance and held out his hand the same way the monster did in front of them. Dean hesitated a moment before fumbling for the pamphlet he had tucked in his pocket. He handed it over and watched in muted shock as his brother walked over to the blue skinned monster and placed it into its claws.

The monster looked the paper over and then seeming satisfied, nodded and tucked it into its cloak before producing two small tickets and handed them over to Sam before it slinked slowly back into the shadows. Dean gaped as Sam turned to him with a grin.

"So the tickets say the show's tomorrow night at midnight," Sam said, eyes glued to the screen of his laptop.

After the odd meeting with the hooded monster…thing slash ticket seller, Dean and Sam had silently made it back to their motel room. Dean had been sullen and moody while Sam radiated excitement. It was a weird turnaround for the brothers but Dean supposed once Sam got over the fact that the circus was fake or not, he had nothing to really be moping about and a lot more to be excited for. Dean sorta wished he had killed the thing…whatever it was when he had the chance. He knew John wouldn't have hesitated.

Dean squinted down at his ticket. It was blue colored and said Cirque Du Freak in all capitals. When he turned it around, it had the date and location of the show stamped on it. Midnight was awfully late for a circus but then, the Cirque Du Freak probably wasn't meant for kids.

He blinked when he reread the location of where the show was supposed to take place tomorrow night. The church sounded awfully familiar. As if Sam had read his mind, the taller brother turned around and said, "Remember that church we drove past on the way to visit our old house?"

Dean shuddered at the thought. The house still brought up some bad memories even if they had just put Mary Winchester to rest. "Let me guess, that's where the show's gonna be at?" Dean said as he tucked his ticket back into his back pocket.

Sam nodded and turned his attention back to the computer screen. Dean got up from the bed and walked over so that he was leaning over his brother's shoulder to take a look at what Sam was searching up. He almost laughed at what he saw. The words 'Cirque Du Freak' really was going to haunt his dreams tonight. "Haven't you already tried to look it up earlier? Give it a break, Sammy," Dean said.

Sam let out a frustrated huff. "It's a weirdo, supernatural circus that travels all over the world, Dean. Someone out there's gotta know something about it," he exclaimed. "Circuses can't just vanish and then reappear where ever it wants to."

Dean shook his head with a grin, and joked, "Maybe this one can."