Author Note: Sorry this has taken so long to post. It's been written but there have been some major changes here in my life. The hubby is in the military and we've had two major moves since I last posted. The entire story is written and finished, so I promise to actually get it all posted over the next couple of weeks. Hope you all like the way it ends. And, as a treat for being so patient, I'll even post a deleted scene at the very end. Consider it an easter egg. :D

Disclaimer: Bladdah, bladdah, Sam and Dean aren't mine. Genchy, Anna and Linnea are. I haven't seen an episode since the apple tree Norse god episode. How's that for a fan?

Without a word, Dean moved past Genchy and started down the stairs with Sam close behind. Genchy pulled the gun Anna had forced on him and held it point down as he followed the brothers down the stairs. His blood sang with the desire to change and fight this creature as a wolf, but it wasn't really an animal he would be facing at the bottom of the stairs - no matter what it smelled like. He fought the desire to change - the NEED to change - and kept close behind Dean and Sam.

The steps ended abruptly and opened into a basement of sorts. Dean got the feeling the cellar room was manmade but not part of the original design. It took him a moment to realize he could actually see. The darkness had ended with the stairs. After another moment he noticed the candles in every corner burning brightly and a small fire in one corner. A complicated design was drawn onto the floor and Dean was unwilling to look too closely to see what with.

"Wow," Sam said amazed. He stepped fully into the room and studied the floor. "It's a circle. I wonder why it isn't closed."

"Maybe she's missing something," Dean said, moving along the edge of the room.

"Only you."

Dean barely got his gun up before he was hoisted into the air. Sam screamed his name as Annie shouted in his ear but he was more concerned with getting back to the ground. He shoved the butt of his rifle over his shoulder. There was a satisfying crack and thud as he landed a blow to the gargoyle's face. Her grip on his jacket released and he fell into Sam's arms, both of them crashing to the ground.

"Fancy meeting you here," Dean quipped.

Sam shoved Dean aside as the gargoyle leaped from the wooden beams toward them. Her hand wrapped around his throat and Sam gripped her wrist, trying to relieve the crushing pressure.

"Where's the girl?" She hissed in his ear. Sam pushed against her, struggling for air. He couldn't have answered if he wanted to. She hissed in anger and flew off him. Gasping he watched her struggling as Genchy tried to hold her down. He winced, struggling to his feet, as Anna screamed through the ear bud.

"Dean! Sam!"

"Stay there," Dean barked at her and climbed to his feet, rifle at the ready. "Genchy! Down!"

Anna jumped at the blast from a rifle. It echoed strangely in the air and her ears rang in the silence that followed. She watched the front door, terrified. She wanted to go in but she couldn't leave Bowen alone.

"What's going on?" Bowen asked, pressing his ear near hers. She shushed him and turned up the volume so they could both hear everything.

"Where is she?" Sam.

"Did I hit her?" Dean.

"What the fuck did Mac load that thing with?" Genchy.

Anna fought the urge to sag against Bowen with relief and instead took a deep breath. Decision made she spun to him and shoved her shotgun into his hands.

"Get in the car and stay down."

Bowen nodded, feeling very out of his depth. Anna followed him to the Impala and closed the door behind him as he hunkered down in the back seat. She turned back to face the house and gripped her gauntlet, twisting it as she tried to decide what to do next. She moved slowly along the sidewalk to the house and wished she had her gun.

"Do you see her?" Dean sounded pissed and Anna froze.

"She's still here," Genchy said. Anna inched sideways on the lawn, trying to peek in a window. The door stood open but only gave her a view of the stairs that led to the second floor.

"Dean! Your left," Sam shouted.

Anna heard the staccato of gunfire, loud in one ear and muffled by the house in the other. An inhuman scream pierced her ear and she pressed a palm to the side of her head, doubling over at the sound. She backed away from the house as more gunfire sounded, multiple shooters, followed by the sounds of a struggle. What was going on in there?

"Genchy!" She was certain that was Dean, but the fighting was too loud to be sure, and growing louder. A flurry of fur and wings flew past the open door and burst through a window. Anna backed quickly away and was almost to the cars when the gargoyle took flight. She climbed into the sky with Genchy in wolf form gripping her side in his powerful jaws. Anna's jaw dropped at the sight. Linnea wrapped her legs around Genchy and began beating her fists against his muzzle, trying to make him let go. She scratched her claws across his muzzle and with a pained yelp he released his hold.

Anna screamed and Linnea turned, releasing Genchy like a projectile at Anna. Anna wrapped her arms around the wolf as he slammed into her and felt a very human form wrap his arms around her, turning their bodies so his body took the impact as they crashed into the hood of his car. Anna groaned in pain and looked over her shoulder at the grinning Linnea hovering above them.

"Bitch," she spat and rolled off Genchy, falling off the car to the ground. She could hear Dean and Sam in her ear, but when Linnea moved she tuned them both out. "Off your ass, John!"

Linnea perched on the roof of the house, waiting to see what the girl would do. She should have taken care of the girl first. She wanted Anna as badly as Anna wanted her and the beast inside roared to be set free. Not yet though, Linnea decided. As it was, she would have to incapacitate the men before she could play with the girl. Otherwise they might interfere. But not dead. She wanted Dean, and maybe even Sam, very much alive. She backed away from the front yard and crept along the roof toward the back of the house. The circle in the basement was ruined, and not worth the effort to salvage. She could work out something new, though. And with the girl dead and the men captured, there would be time. Plenty of time.

Dean reached the foyer in time to see Anna crossing the yard, headed for the house. Her sunglasses hid her eyes, but he didn't need to see them to know she had shut down for the hunt. He hated her like that. Steeling himself for the confrontation he stepped out onto the porch, physically blocking her way.

"Stay outside," he said.

"Move or I'll move you," she replied.

Dean studied her face, torn, and did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her. He reached out, grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her to him, crushing her mouth beneath his. She gasped in surprise and he took advantage, slanting his head to deepen the kiss and truly tasting her for the first time. The moment she softened under him with a soft sigh he pulled away, only God knows how, and spun her away from him.

"Go back to the car," he said softly in her ear. He tried to pretend his voice wasn't shaky and prayed his knees wouldn't give out. Annie took a few dazed steps toward the car and down the stairs, then froze. Slowly she pivoted on one heel and turned back to face him. Dean tensed. Without a word she spun away and returned to the Impala, ignoring Genchy as he passed her on his way back to the house.

"Ballsy," Genchy said to Dean as he climbed the stairs.

"Worth it," Dean said, staring at Anna. Behind him Sam grinned at Genchy. Dean turned back to the house and rolled his eyes at Sam's smile. "Come on."

Once the men were back inside, with the door closed this time, Anna pulled out her phone and hit the mute button. She leaned against the trunk, trembling, though from what she was afraid to consider. She listened to them moving through the house, staring in the attic and moving down through the house in the hunt.

"That was worth being forgotten."

Anna yelped and jumped away from the car. Bowen grinned from the window and Anna's hand moved to her throat as she tried to settle her racing pulse.

"Sorry," he said, obviously lying. "But that was amazing. Like something out of a movie." Anna stared at Bowen, dumbstruck, but he just continued, oblivious. "Did you see the way she moved? That wingspan! I wish I'd had a camera for that."

Anna smiled and shook her head. She opened the trunk and surveyed the remaining weapons. She hadn't expected Linnea to look like that during the day and suspected trying to land a punch would just get her sore knuckles. A length of rebar peeked from beneath a duffel and Anna's brows shot up as she pulled it free. An unusual choice, but functional. She hefted it, testing its weight and became conscious of an ache in her shoulders and back. Probably from the fall.

She closed the trunk and walked toward the side of the car.

"What do you think, Phin?"

Bowen studied Anna as she brandished the rod like a claymore. "Well, Anna," he said resignedly. "There can be only one."

Anna turned to him, beaming. She moved forward to the hood and climbed up to sit. She pressed the mute button once more so the guys could hear her and settled down to wait. The music still played in the car but Anna tuned it out, focused on the house.