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The brothers drove through the day into the night. They stopped at the motel for the night and continued into the next day.
Sam looks at the upcoming sign.
"Sioux Falls." Sam turns to his brother. "Hey we should stop by at Jody's. She will be happy to see you are back."
Dean nods. At the same time he was concerned. Whatever this source of power was it was near the people he most loved. Why did it had to be in Sioux Falls. Why couldn't it be Chicago or Indiana.
"Dean. Remember our talk."
I know.
Dean puts on a smile.
"Sure. Maybe Jody could slap up a meal. I'm starving."
The truth was Dean's level of appetite has lowered. He couldn't even get drunk anymore. His hours of sleep has increased. Maybe because he hasn't been dreaming about Hell and other bad things he had been through in his life. It was like a wall had been built in his mind to block out the most upsetting things in his life.
Michael ensured that wall stayed up.
The Winchesters drove and eventually arrived at the Mills Household. Jody already had the door open before the Winchesters parked up. She heard the familiar roar of the Impala as it pulled up outside the house.
Her face lights up when she sees Dean getting out of the car.
"Dean?"
Dean smiles.
"Hey Jody."
Dean pulls her in for a hug. Jody hugs back feeling shocked yet happy to see the hunter back safe and sound.
She pulled away and gave Sam a hug.
"Good to see you Sam."
Sam hugs her and pulls away.
"How did you do it?" Jody asked. "How did you get rid of him?"
Dean bit his lip. He didn't want to tell Jody that Michael was still here. He didn't want to worry her.
The hunter grins.
"What, me versus some ass bag archangel? Who would you pick?"
"You every time!."
Sam frowns at his brother. Dean gives him a stern look. A shut up and do not say a word look.
Ass bag archangel?
I didn't mean it. I...can't tell her. Not yet.
Jody invites the brothers in and makes them sit down. The Winchesters make themselves comfortable on the sofa.
"How are you, how are the girls?" Sam asks.
Jody puts two mugs of hot steaming coffee down on the table. She sits opposite them.
"Surprisingly good. Alex is still at the hospital; Patience is still in school, Claire's still Claire." She sighs. "I however not so good."
Dean sips the coffee and frowns at the Sheriff.
"Why?"
"Got a case. Our type of case. I would have called but Sam had his hands tied up. I didn't want to intervene..."
"Well we're here now." Dean sets his mug down. "You wanna talk about it."
"Uh..." Jody laughs a little. "I don't think you boys wanted to come down to get thrown into a case. Dean you just came back."
"No its okay we wanna help. Tell us."
Jody looks at Sam who has said nothing since the case was brought up.
"Sam."
Sam quickly nods.
"Yeah show us."
"Alright then. The files are down at the station."
"Lets go." Dean stands up before the Sheriff could finish.
"Uh okay." Jody stands up looking puzzled by how quickly Dean jumped into the case.
"Dean."
"Come on Sam. No time to lose."
The hunter opens the door and walks out. Jody's eyes go from the door to the younger hunter.
"Never seen him so excited for a case before."
Sam sighs and slips his jacket on.
Dean gets into the car and runs his fingers along the steering wheel. A case is what he needed now. He has wanted to distract himself with something since he came back.
"Dean. What are you doing?"
Helping an old friend.
Dean turns the mirror away before Michael gets any ideas.
"What about the source? Don't you think that is more important than a monster of the week hunt."
It could be connected. It could be Michael's monsters. Don't you think its weird that it's happening in the same town.
The archangel considered this. He sighed.
"Fine. This better not be a waste of time."
This is Jody we are talking about. Jody would not be a waste of time. Even if it's just a regular hunt, I would help. Dean slumped back in his seat. Would be nice to do something like the good old days when all this angel crap wasn't involved.
Dean glanced at the side mirror and saw his reflection giving him a sympathetic look. Dean's eyes roll up to the ceiling.
Now the archangel feels sorry for me to.
"Dean."
"Hey." Sam slides in next to his brother. Dean leans forward to start up the engine. "Hey you alright?"
"Yeah why wouldn't I be."
"Don't you think you are rushing into it?"
"I'm just doing my job Sammy."
Dean puts on the radio and leans back letting the hum of metallica fill up the car.
"You didn't tell Jody."
"She doesn't need to know. Not yet anyway. She has already got the girls to worry about. Please Sam."
Sam looks at his brother's attempt on doing the puppy eyes.
"Alright." Sam said with a sigh.
Sam looks at the window so Dean didn't see the worry creeping back up on him.
"This is it." Jody says.
The three of them stare at the display board. There are photos of corpses. Three men. All headless.
"What's that?" Sam asks pointing at the strange mark on one of the victim's arms.
"That is a scar." Jody answered.
"A scar?" Dean frowns. "What caused that?"
"It looks like they got stabbed by a giant meat fork." Jody tried to joke. She then shrugs. "I thought a serial killer but that was before I saw the heads." She puts a photo down. "I kept this away from the others."
The Winchesters look at the photo. On the photo was three heads. The teeth were sharper than regular teeth.
"Werewolves." Dean says.
"Yeah. But this is the part that confused me I checked those bodies. I brought tissue samples home. Alex ran them underneath the microscope. Silver... there was no reaction."
"That's his monsters."
I told you it was weird.
" Congratulations you want a medal."
Dean frowned. The hunter was certain Michael picked up his sarcasm.
"There is someone going around killing the monsters." Sam says. "Can we check out the location? See if there is anything connected to this killer."
"Sure. Might be good to have a fresh pair of eyes out there. I'm stumped."
"We'll go now." Dean quickly says.
Again Jody frowns at Dean's strange behaviour. There was something off about him but she couldn't point exactly what it was.
He has been trapped in another world for three weeks with an archangel.
Jody shrugged it off and decided to not question the hunter about it. She will wait for him to talk about it. If he wants to talk about it.
The Winchesters get into the Impala while Jody went in the Sheriff's car. The brothers follow her on the road. She leads them to a forest.
"I can feel it. It's here."
Dean looks at Sam.
"It's here. The source."
"What?"
"It hit me as soon as we arrived. It's definitely here."
"Do you think its connected?" Sam asks.
"Maybe."
"What about Jody?"
Dean shakes his head and gets out of the car. He approaches the Sheriff.
"I think we can take it from here." He says.
Jody frowns.
"You and Sam?"
"Yeah."
Jody eyes the fidgety Winchester up and down.
"Are you okay Dean?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Jody raised her eyebrow. "Seriously Jody I'm fine."
"Why do you not want me to tag along?"
Because I might do some weird freaky archangel crap by accident. He thought.
The hunter didn't have a response. He couldn't lie to Jody. She is the Sheriff she can tell a liar when she sees one.
"Nevermind." He checks his gun for bullets. "You ready?"
Jody checked her gun before putting it in her back pocket.
"As I'll ever be." She answers.
The three of them walk through the forest. Dean was speeding up ahead feeling the power getting stronger at every step he took. He had no idea what would happen when they come across this source. How dangerous it could be.
"We'll make better time if we split up." He says glancing over his shoulder as he said it. A hint of anxiety in his voice.
"No, Dean we'll be safer if we stick together." Sam says.
"If I get a vote, I'm in team stick together." Jody says.
Dean sighed when he heard Michael doing the I told you so talk in his mind.
The hunter growled.
"Fine."
Leaves rustled as something swooped through the bushes. The three hunters came to a halt.
"You heard that?" Sam asked.
Jody narrowed her eyebrows and looked around.
"Might have been a squirrel or a rabbit or any other wild life animal that lives out here."
"No."
Sam and Jody turn towards Dean. Dean stood straight and his eyes widen.
"That's not an animal." He turns towards Sam. He sees a figure jump out of the bushes. "SAM LOOK OUT!"
Sam turns and gets knocked down to the ground. The hood figure leaps over the hunter and lands in the middle.
Jody aims her gun to shoot. The hood figure swings the spear and knocks the weapon out of the Sheriff's hands. Jody ducked as the attacker swung their weapon missing the Sheriff by a few inches.
Dean comes from behind but gets elbowed in the face causing him to stumble back.
Jody grabs the hood figure by their shoulders but accidentally trips and falls. They both fall on the ground. The hood figure grabs their spear and stands up. Jody looks up. She froze when her eyes set on the attacker's face.
It can't be
"Kaia?"
Kaia spins round and blocks Dean's attack. The two fight. Kaia turns the spear side to side blocking her punch. She lowers it to block the kick. When the time was right Kaia raises her leg and kicks Dean in the stomach. Dean grunts. Kaia hits him in the back causing the hunter to groan.
Dean raises his head and the grace flashes across his eyes. Kaia's eyes widen. She flips the spear over now having the sharp end at the hunter's throat.
Dean's eyes lower on to the spear. His expression changed. The green eyes look up giving the young woman a cold stare. Kaia goes puzzled by the sudden change in the hunter.
Dean's hand goes on to the spear. He wraps his fingers around it. Kaia tries to pull back but the hunter was stronger. He tugs the spear forward bringing Kaia along with it. She flies forward and lands in a pile of leaves.
Dean drops the spear and walks towards Kaia his eyes locked on to her.
"Dean." Sam calls out.
His brother ignored him.
That's not good. Sam thought.
Kaia leaps up and spins round. Dean reaches and places two fingers on the girl's head. Kaia's eyes roll to the back of her head and her body goes limp. She falls into the hunter's arms.
Dean carefully lays Kaia down. His face calm.
"Dean!"
Dean turns around to face the two bewildered hunters.
"Not Dean." He answered.
Sam's eyes widen.
Oh no. Please no.
"Who the hell are you?" Jody asked.
The hunter turns to the Sheriff.
"Jody Mills. I believe we haven't met."
He smiles.
"I'm Michael."