Again, big thanks to FictionalNutter for beta reading!


Under the Larches

Chapter 1

The early spring sun didn't give much warmth, but when it was beaming down on the black roof of the car, it felt almost like summer inside. Dean opened his eyes and immediately closed them again, blinded by the light. Finally, he brushed off the feeling of sleepiness and sat up, accidentally throwing the leather jacket that was covering him to the floor. Sam was still asleep in the back seat. The creaking door would have woken him inevitably, and Dean thought they had spent the night intensively enough to deserve some rest, so he stayed where he was, only reaching for a bottle of cola stuck under the seat. Feeling refreshed by the cool beverage, he stretched his muscles and shifted his position to avoid the bright sunrays dazzling him. He fixed his gaze on the landscape spreading in front of the Impala. The sun was already high in the sky, telling him without looking at his watch that they had slept most of the morning. The lake a couple of yards away was sparkling in the sun, snow-covered mountaintops reflecting in its waters, and trees encircling them moving lazily in the wind with a gentle rustling sound. Dean wasn't usually the one to pay much attention to the aesthetic value of the surroundings he worked in; this time though he had to admit that the landscape was breathtaking.

The regular breathing coming from the back of the Impala turned into a groan when Sam, trying to stretch in his sleep, hit the door with his head.

"Mornin' Sunshine!" Dean grinned, turning to face his brother. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"Ugh, now I know exactly how sardines in a can must feel," groaned Sam in response, sitting up and massaging the hurting spot on his head.

"You wouldn't if you'd respected the laws of nature and hadn't grown so friggin' big." Without the risk of waking his brother now, Dean grabbed his jacket and opened the door. Cool air immediately filled the Impala and Sam moaned again, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

"Close the door, it's friggin' cold!"

"What did you expect? It's Alaska, man!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" muttered the younger of the brothers, eventually deciding to leave the snug but confined interior of the car. "What's the plan for today?" he asked, stretching his long limbs, hoping to get the circulation flowing again despite having spent the whole night in the backseat of the Impala.

"We don't have much to do right now. The nymph won't show up till sunset anyway."

"As if it was so different after the sunset," Sam snorted.

"Aw, someone here got up on the wrong side of the bed today," laughed Dean, siting down on the hood of his precious car.

"You planning to stay here?" asked Sam with surprise.

"Why not? There's only a couple of hours left till the dusk, we've been sleeping so long. We have here a nice landscape, fresh air, food...

"You call Lays and Coke food?" Another snort, this time accompanied by the famous Sam Winchester bitchface.

"We also have cookies. With chocolate, I know you love them," Dean didn't stop tempting. " In the trunk!" he added, seeing that Sam immediately moved towards the car.

"You want me to to take the Lays too?" Sam apparently had given up.

"No, leave them for supper," Dean decided, reaching for the bag of cookies his brother handed to him.

"Yeah, 'cause the smell of onion on your breath is so going to attract the nymph." Sam closed the trunk and joined Dean. "It's been three nights since we got here and still we have nothing. Maybe we've overlooked something?"

"Or maybe you're not the Little Mermaid's type?"

"Oh, great. So maybe you spend the next night chasing her, since no girl can resist your charm, and I'll finally have a good sleep," Sam grunted.

It was obvious from the tone of his voice that his brother hadn't had enough sleep that night, and he was not in best mood as a result, so Dean decided to drop the topic. Instead, he sat back, leaned his back on the windshield, and put his face to the sun.

"Are you going to sunbathe?" Sam sent him a mocking smile. "Dude, it's only April and we're in Alaska!"

"So what? A little bit of vitamin C won't hurt me."

"D."

Dean threw his brother a surprised glance, wrinkling his forehead when the sun rays pierced his eyes.

"It's vitamin D you get from the sun, not C. D3 to be precise," explained Sam patiently. "Okay, you sit here and catch your vitamins, I'm going for a walk."

"Just be careful with the bears," Dean teased. "And leave the cookies!" he added after a moment with a mock terror, as the younger Winchester rose, taking the bag with him. Sam laughed wholeheartedly for the first time since he woke up, grabbed a handful of cookies from the bag and passed it on to his big brother.

"You better be careful too, dude. It says on the bag that there's honey in these, and you know bears love honey."

"You watch too many cartoons, Samantha!"

Sam shook his head with amusement and headed towards the forest.

5 days earlier

Dean stopped the Impala on the main street of the little town, just in front of the bar.

"Look, man, real Alaska!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "This place looks just like Cicely!"

"Dean, you know Northern Exposure was filmed in Washington state?"

"What?" Dean's expression reminded Sam of a five-year-old who has just learned that Santa wasn't real.

"Yeah. I've read about it somewhere."

"Thanks, Sam, you've just ruined my childhood!" growled Dean, getting out of the car.

"As far as I remember, when that show was on, you not only claimed that you were a big boy, but you also forbid me to watch, saying it wasn't suitable for children. I still don't know why, by the way." Sam pointed out, laughing, as he followed his brother inside the bar.

The interior was kind of nice, especially if you liked the Wild West style; the walls were covered with bear skins and colorful blankets, and huge moose antlers hung over the bar. There weren't many customers inside. The bartender, an elderly man who looked like a real trapper, nodded his head as they entered, then turned his attention back to the young slim blonde girl sitting at the bar with a beer in her hand.

"Look, Sam, it's Holling and Shelly!" Dean exclaimed with delight. He was answered by a quiet snort coming from the nearest table.

"A Northern Exposure fan?" A young dark haired man with distinctly native features asked him with a friendly laugh.

"I've seen a couple of episodes," Dean answered with a grin. "I'm Dean, this is my brother, Sam. We're Chad Adam's cousins."

"Oh, you came because of his disappearance?" guessed the man. "Sad story..." He shook his head. "My name's Ed." He offered his hand to the brothers. "Yeah, you heard right," he added with a loud laugh when he saw Dean's expression. "But I'll have to disappoint you. I'm not particularly interested in cinematography and I was raised by my real parents, so no parallel with Northern Exposure's Ed, sorry. Oh, and your Holling and Shelly, in other words, Mick and Mandy are just a father and a daughter. Besides, we don't even have a moose here in town."

"Doesn't matter. I brought my own moose with me." Dean's grin became even wider as he tried to ignore Sam's murderous glance. His brother sent him a stealthy kick in the ankle, then turned back to Ed, his expression never changing from deadly serious.

"Did you know Chad?"

"It's a small town. Everybody knows everybody here. Poor Sophie." Ed shook his head again.

"Sophie?"

"Chad's girlfriend. She's completely broken. They both loved Alaska, worked hard to protect the wildlife, and suddenly something like that happens..."

"Exactly," Dean took up. "They say it was a bear."

"Yeah, they became somehow more frequent these last few months. Which is a bit strange, if you ask me. I mean, there's not even many bears here and they usually keep their distance. They already looked for the beast, but they didn't find anything."

"There was no body found, was there?" Sam continued the interrogation.

"No. The previous guy's neither," answered Ed. "But it's an old, thick forest. It's hard to move through some parts of it, so it'd probably be even harder to find someone if the bear dragged him deep enough," he explained, but it seemed somehow half-hearted, as if he was trying to convince himself as well. "Why don't we sit down?" he invited after a short moment of silence, pointing to the empty chairs around his table.

"No, thanks," refused Sam before his brother even got a chance to speak. "We'd like to see Sophie, could you please tell us where she lives?"

"Yeah, sure. She lives in Chad's house. The same that belonged to his parents."

"Sure." Dean flashed him another wide smile. "But you know, we haven't been here for a couple of years now..."

"Not much has changed, just a bit of new paint on the old buildings," laughed Ed. "But yeah, you probably haven't visited too often, cause I don't remember meeting you two, and it's hard to hide things like family visits here. Two handsome cousins, I'm sure I'd have heard of you. Well, you turn right next to the church, then the second street left. It's a green, two-store house, fourth in the row, I guess," he explained.

"Thanks for your help. See you later!" Sam offered the young man his hand and then nudged his brother, whose attention was focused entirely on the girl at the bar. Dean sighed, sent her one last glance and obediently followed his brother out of the building.

"Dude, local Shelly is so hot!" he said in a dreamy voice when they were back on the street.

"Hotter than in the show?" asked Sam jokingly.

"Hmm..." Dean scratched the top of his head with a serious expression on his face.

"Don't answer," snorted Sam. "You've always been her fan."

"Yeah, I still remember you preferred Maggie."

"I had to show that I had better taste than you," Sam laughed out loud as he opened the car door.

"To tell the truth, I loved them both. Totally," admitted Dean sincerely, putting the key in the ignition. Sam shook his head with a mock contempt.

"OK. Let's sum up what we know," he said, back to seriousness, when they found themselves on the road again. "Four men vanish without a trace in only a couple of months. All of them last thought to be going to the forest, near the lake. No sign of them since, no bodies, nothing. Too many questions to blame it all on the bear attacks or drowning."

"From what we've found, there were no violent deaths here before, at least none that made it to the records. Any ideas what it could be?" Dean's eyes fixed on the left side of the street to find the right turning.

"It depends on whether it attacks from land or from the lake. If land, maybe wendigo. If water, kelpie, kappa or some kind of water nymph?"

"Like Little Mermaid?" Dean grinned, turning left and starting to count the houses.

"No, like a succubus that lives under the water and seduces men only to get them drowned. It's even possible, I mean, look at the victim choice. All of them were fairly young and handsome."

The conversation ceased as the Impala stopped in front of a neat white fence.

"I think it's here. A green house, fourth in row," said Dean, switching off the engine.

"Just, Dean..."

"Yeah?"

"Don't overdo it. That girl must be in a pretty bad shape."

"Who do you think I am, Sammy?" Dean winked at him and walked to the front door.