AN: There shouldn't be any spoilers… set sometime during early Supernatural, and after the end of Merlin's season 5. Only spoilers would really be Merlin's fate at the end of the series, the existence of the serket, and maybe a few bits from Merlin Season 2 Episode 3 and Season 3 Episodes 1 & 2

The two men sat in a small motel room at an even smaller table. The taller of the two was hunched over a laptop, and scribbling notes on a note pad. The other was leaning back on the back legs of the wooden chair, flipping through a magazine, and absentmindedly eating a slice of cherry pie.

"Find anything yet Sammy?"

"Maybe- come check this out Dean…" A muted thump ensued as the chair fell back to its intended position, and the man sitting in it, Dean, stood up and walked to Sam's side, pie plate in hand, and fork in mouth. "See here," Sam said, pointing to an article he had brought up on the computer's screen. "At least three hikers found dead in the woods- all with what look like giant bug bites of sorts- but here's the thing," Sam clicked over to the next page. "The town at the edge of the woods the hikers were found in has a local cult of 'druids' that suddenly disappeared around the same time as the attacks."

"So you found mysterious wannabee druids and giant bugs?" Dean asked, right before scooping another piece of pie into his mouth.

"Well, yeah. I did some more digging, and I found something interesting. All three victims were members of the missing druid cult."

"So we got giant bugs killing wannabee druids."

"That's what it looks like." Sam shrugged. "Wanna check it out?"

"Hell yeah. Come on Sammy!" Dean scarfed down the last of his pie, before grabbing his gun off of the table, tucking it in his pants, and racing out the door. Still sitting at the table, Sam sighed, closed his computer, and took both it and their unpacked luggage as he followed his brother out the door.


Sam and Dean stood in the middle of the dark woods, Dean eyeing the shadows suspiciously, while Sam consulted his map.

"It should be around here somewhere… this is the only place in common with all three victim's hiking routes." Sam muttered, still gazing at the map.

"Yeah well, hurry up Sammy- I'd rather not be caught unawares by whatever ugly killed those hikers." Dean felt an involuntary shudder run up his spine as he recalled the bodies from the morgue. Those had been more than just large bug bites- they were larger than Dean's fist, and only just smaller than a dinner plate. Before the mental picture could go into further detail, Dean pushed it out of his mind and examined the area around the clearing they were in. A particularly dark group of shadows caught his eye, and as he walked closer to investigate, the shadows revealed themselves to be the mouth of a cave. "Hey Sammy! I think I found its den!"

He waited a moment for his brother, and then the two of them held their guns out in front of them and journeyed inside the dark cavern. Almost immediately, the air became cooler, and the deeper they traveled, the more the darkness seemed to become something tangible. Sam pulled a flashlight from his back pocket, flipped it on, and held it next to his gun. Dean did the same, but the twin beams of light did little to combat the crushing darkness. It seemed the shadows around them were writhing- closing in, just barely held at bay by the weak light of the flashlights.

"Dean…" Sam began quietly, only to be interrupted by an explosive swear from his brother. Sam stopped and looked over at him, only to see Dean staring at the ground, his expression unreadable. Sam glanced down where his brother was looking, and his own swear slipped past his lips. There on the ground, illuminated by the beam of Dean's flashlight, was a young woman. Her skin was pale, eyes staring unseeingly ahead, and an expression of pain etched into her features. Sam crouched down next to her, and quickly confirmed what they both saw. She was dead. Sam sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. Dean soon crouched next to the girl as well, and he ran his flashlight's beam across her body, until it rested on her left arm- where an enormous bug bite- same as the ones on the three victims'- was on full display.

"Damn it. How many more do you think the cops missed?" Dean asked, not looking at Sam, but rather, the young woman's arm. When he didn't receive an answer, he looked up, only to see Sam grimly examining the cave ahead of them.

"Take a look for yourself." Dean got up and walked up to Sam, only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight before them. The beam of light from Sam's flashlight was roaming the floor ahead of them, and as it travelled, more bodies were revealed. An arm there- a torso here.

"Looks like we found the missing druid cult." Sam said, holding up a strange pendant he had found on one of the bodies. Symbols were etched into it, and similar symbols could be found on most, if not all, of the bodies. "These are definitely druidic symbols, although, I don't know what they mean." Sam said again, tossing the pendant to Dean, who caught it easily. He examined it , holding it up and shining the light on it, before grunting and pocketing it for later.

The distinctive bug-bites that marked the skin of the three victims, and now the woman, showed themselves on the flesh in front of them. As the brothers grimly inspected the bodies before them, they saw that often, these bodies had more than one bite on it. And still the worst part was yet to come. Most of the bodies looked as if they had been chewed on by some large insect. At that discovery, both brothers felt a chill run down their spine.

"Man. I hate bugs. Especially big bugs." Dean muttered. Sam remained silent, examining the bites on the newest victims.

"Hey Dean… I don't think these are Bug Bites…" Sam started, beckoning his brother over. Dean grunted and went over, looking as Sam pointed things out to him. "The more I look at these, the more they look like…well, like Scorpion stings. But I've never seen anything this size or intensity before." Dean frowned at Sam's newest discovery.

"Great. Now we aren't dealing with giant beetles, but giant scorpions. That's just fantastic. Whatever happened to a good ol' salt and burn? What I wouldn't do for a deranged ghost right now." Sam ignored his brother, and stood up from his crouched position.

"Now what? Do you want to go in further, or head back and do some research?" He asked, gazing at Dean. His older brother didn't answer right away, thinking it over.

"You know what- let's just get this over with. We've got rock salt, silver bullets, normal bullets, holy water- and I think I've got a can of OFF in Baby. Come on." The two held their guns at ready once again, and proceeded deeper into the cave, but with more caution this time.

As they slowly made their way further, the two became aware of a presence behind them. It started with the hair on the back of their necks prickling- and then they thought they heard a thump behind them. When they couldn't find anything, they just shrugged and turned back around- only to whirl around when they heard a distinctive tapping behind them.

"Show yourself!" Dean shouted, his gun aimed and ready to shoot anything that moved in front of them. Nothing happened. The tension grew as the nerves of both brothers started to act up, their fingers itching to pull the trigger. And then, they felt something jump behind them. Too slowly they whirled back around- just in time to see an enormous scorpion- easily the size of a fully grown man- jump out at them, its stinger raised and ready to strike. A shout echoed from behind them- a word that neither of them caught- and then the cave was blindingly bright and scorchingly hot. A large jet of fame rushed past them, just missing Sam's head- and engulfed the scorpion heading towards them. It shrieked and writhed in pain, before falling to the floor, dead, in a charred heap.

For a moment, nothing happened- and then Sam and Dean turned around together- guns aimed at the figure behind them. But they stopped just short of shooting at the surprise of the sight before them. Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't this. There, standing in front of them, was an old man.

His beard was long and white, is back hunched with age, and he held a large, knarled staff. Dean stared at the old man in confusion, while Sam took the innovative. "Who are you? And how did you do that?" He questioned, jerking his gun behind him to indicate the charred corpse of the giant scorpion.

The old man held his hands up in surrender, but looked oddly calm for having to guns pointed at him. "I am Emrys, and I am here to help." He stated. Dean took a step closer to him.

"You didn't answer the second question. How did you do the fire thing?" Dean's voice was hard, leaving to room for argument.

"The druids called me for help- I don't usually do this sort of thing, but serkets are supposed to be extinct- the last one died ages ago. So, I decided to intervene. Fire was the best way- it's a simple spell, really."

Sam and Dean's eyes hardened. Spell? Was this old man some sort of witch? And he claimed to be called by the druids. Sam didn't know much about the elusive people, and Dean even less, but both had decided long ago that anything unknown was dangerous- especially if it was magical. The unknown could get you killed, and the magical unknown could get you killed faster.

All three were so focused on each other that they missed the presence slowly creeping up behind the two brothers. The old man, Emrys, realized too late- and called out a warning just before another of the giant scorpions, a serket, lunged from the shadows and plunged its stinger into Dean's back.

AN: thank you for reading! This is only the first chapter, there will probably be one (maybe two) more. I have the ending all planned out, but I didn't want this one to run on forever. Please leave a review after reading! It's greatly appreciated and will encourage me to get the continuation or sooner! Next chapter will involve more Merlin, promise! And I'm thinking about a guest Bobby appearance.