Hey there, folks! I promised I'd be back :) Here's the second chapter. Thanks for the response this story received. Yes, we're un for a wild ride. More notes at the end.

Chapter 2

It took three days for Ketch to find them a suitable identity and a good flight to Finland. According to him, their cover was foolproof, and there would be no questions asked.

"Couldn't you have tried harder to find us something different?" Dean had grumbled. "Like a boat or…I don't know, some magic transportation stuff. Don't you Brits have those?"

"I no longer work for the British Men of Letters, remember?" Ketch drawled and they could hear his contempt from the other side of the ocean. "I don't see why you're complaining, anyway. I've booked you on a perfectly good flight."

"It's the flight bit that bothers me," Dean had felt the need to point out.

Apparently, the thought of flying made Dean revert to childhood. Or maybe not, Sam corrected himself. Dean would have never allowed himself to act like that when he was a child, he would have never felt comfortable showing that kind of vulnerability to their dad. He apparently seemed to trust Sam enough, consider him enough of an equal partner to show it to him. It was what kept Sam from teasing Dean about the whole fear of flying thing. He also bore Dean's complaints staunchly, from the airport right into the plane.

"Maybe you should have taken something to put you to sleep," Sam suggested as the plane was taking off and Dean was sitting ramrod straight and tense in the aisle seat.

Dean shook his head quickly.

"No way in hell am I putting myself out under these circumstances."

Sam nodded sagely. He had expected that.

"Figures."

Dean turned his head towards him.

"What the hell are you trying to say?" he challenged.

"Fear of flying is usually linked to fear of losing control," Sam explained. "Meaning that what you're actually afraid of is not the plane crashing but you being trapped in a place you can't escape from where every decision is taken by somebody else and is out of your control. That kind of explains why you won't let me drive more often – and why you're such a terrible backseat driver."

Dean glared at him.

"Sam, if I wanted to be psychoanalyzed, I'd have gone to that hot shrink…you know, the one with the haunted practice a few years back…"

And Sam did know when to shut up. He had made his point, anyway.

As a matter of fact, Dean did fall asleep at one point, his head tilted to the right, leaning heavily on Sam's shoulder. That would have been blackmail material under normal circumstances, but now Sam was just pleased Dean was comfortable and not having a panic attack in the restroom. He was also beyond humbled to find himself so trusted by Dean, after all this time. Sam himself did not sleep, perhaps thinking he owed Dean not to let his guard down when he was in such a vulnerable position.

The flight was smooth, all in all, and they landed in Helsinki the next day, from where they took the train to Tampere.

"What?" Dean had exclaimed when he had been informed of their itinerary. "The train, Sam? Seriously?"

"This is Europe, Dean. Everyone takes the train. Besides, it's only an hour from Helsinki."

Dean had continued grumbling at that, apparently still upset that he could not give Finland a taste of his '67 Impala, although Sam had reasonably pointed out that there was no way they could transport the car there and back.

"Trust me, it's safer there. Mom will come keep it company, if you think it'll get lonely."

Now that they were on the train, Dean still looked as if he was missing his Baby. Sam suspected this was partly linked to Dean's unwillingness to give control to someone else – just like his fear of flying – but he did not point that out a second time.

They were tired when they finally reached their destination. Helmi was waiting for them outside the small station.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Dean commented, returning her hug. "I was hoping you wouldn't be involved."

"Well, I am," Helmi pointed out turning to hug Sam. "Besides, for the moment, I'm just your host."

Dean looked surprised at that.

"Really?"

He turned to Sam, but Sam had not been aware of this plan, either.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Helmi?" he asked cautiously.

She shrugged.

"We've got this guesthouse so it's the perfect place to put you up," she said. "Plus hubby's on tour and my kid's dying to meet you two. I told her you were like the Avengers, only way cooler."

She led them to her car as they were talking.

"It's only a short drive," she told them, indicating for them to get in. "But I figured you'd be tired from all that traveling. How was your flight?"

Dean scowled.

"It was flying," he said curtly, opening the door to the front passenger seat.

Sam had to resign himself to the backseat of a car that was way smaller than the Impala – not that he had expected any different, Dean was always going to take the front seat. He met Helmi's puzzled eyes in the car mirror and grinned.

"Dean and planes don't really mix," he said.

"It's a control thing," Dean added, smirking in Sam's direction.

"Well, you're here," Helmi said. "It's much appreciated."

"How is Elias?" Sam asked. "I was sure he would be the one meeting us."

Helmi's face turned grim.

"He's with Pekka's lawyers in Helsinki. Apparently, Elias was named in his will for some thing or another. We don't know yet, but it's rather strange. The guy who ups and leaves putting you in his will isn't done, is it?"

"What exactly happened?" Dean prompted. "He wasn't that coherent on the phone."

For a while, Helmi kept her eyes on the road.

"It was after our rehearsal. I had already gone home. I think most of us had, except Elias, but that wasn't unusual. Then Elias calls me all in a panic saying he got word Pekka had died the night before. Animal attack they were saying, but Elias managed to send a hunter at the apartment. There were clear signs hiidet had been there. Which is worrying. I mean Luohi is dead, isn't she?"

Sam and Dean exchanged troubled looks.

"Yeah, she probably is," Sam said at length.

Dean glanced at Helmi through narrowed eyes.

"And you?" he demanded sharply.

"What about me?" Helmi asked.

Sam cleared his throat. Dean had a tendency to act as a sort of stern father to the people he considered part of his adopted clan (never mind the fact that Helmi was close to his age). Still, he was sure she would not appreciate Dean's brand of lecturing.

"What Dean means to say is we're surprised you're involved," he said placating.

Dean rolled his eyes, casting Sam a dirty look.

"Dean knows quite well what he meant to say, Sam," he pointed out, then turned his attention to Helmi. "I thought you said you wouldn't get involved in hunting."

Helmi huffed.

"Look, it's not like I'm dying to get involved. But Pekka was my friend, too, so I'm involved."

"Why did he leave the band?" Sam asked.

Helmi's mouth was tight.

"Check our website. There's a statement on it. His and ours."

"Come on, Helmi," Dean urged her. "If his reasons for scarpering had to do with him finding out his boss's parents hunted monsters you're not gonna put that on a public website."

Helmi hesitated.

"Look, all I know is what Pekka said, and he emphasized several times it had nothing to do with finding out Elias had been keeping secrets from him for more than a decade."

Dean snorted.

"If he put it like that, I think that's exactly why he left."

Helmi ran a weary hand over her face.

"If there's more to it you'll have to ask Elias," she said firmly.

Dean turned his head briefly as if to check on Sam. Their eyes met and Sam bowed his head slightly. Dean turned his attention back to the road. So Sam had caught the hesitation in Helmi's voice too.

xxxXXxxxx

Dean woke the next day to the sound of something banging against something else. It took him a few minutes for reality to catch up with him and realize that he was actually hearing someone knocking at their door. He opened one eye and frowned at the unfamiliar room with wooden walls and ceiling before he remembered that was where Helmi had put him and Sam up for the night. Sam was currently striding to open the door, already dressed and apparently wide awake. Dean snorted in his pillow. It figured that Sam would have no trouble adjusting to jet lag, the bastard.

Dean had half-expected Helmi (had actually been hoping it was Helmi with coffee) but instead what he got was a small girl with pink jeans and a Wonder Woman T-shirt, carrying a ginger cat that was almost as large as her with a bright pink bow tied round its neck. She deposited it on Dean's bed without warning.

"This is Tuu-tikki" she said abruptly. "You're in his bed."

Dean gaped at the cat who was making his way towards him.

"It's my bed right now," he said lamely.

Sam snorted.

"You're Brita, right?" he asked the girl. "Helmi's your Mom?"

She nodded solemnly.

"Mama says you're superheroes," she remarked her flat tone belying her skepticism.

"Yeah, well, your mother wouldn't lie to you, would she?" Dean pointed out. "And you came to see for yourself if we are?"

Brita shook her head vehemently.

"Tuu-tikki wants his bed," she repeated, then turned and left, not taking the cat with her.

Tuu-tikki had made his way to Dean's lap and decided to settle there. Dean was staring at the gigantic cat bemused, not really knowing what to do with a purring monstrosity wearing an equally monstruous bow. A click to his right had him tensing. He glanced at Sam and, sure enough, his brother had his phone in his hand, wearing a devious grin.

"Sammy, if you've taken a picture…"

"Of the great badass Dean Winchester holding a cat with a pink bow?" Sam asked. "How could I miss such an opportunity? I want this memorialized."

"Yeah, well, keep the memory to yourself," Dean added. "This is not doing any good to my reputation."

Sam's snicker was warning enough.

"Sam," Dean began threateningly, although he had to admit he probably did not look too frightening right now.

"Hey, Cas and Mom want an update on what we're doing here," Sam said innocently. "I'm just sending them proof that we're both fine."

"You're not the one with a pink-bowed cat in his lap," Dean said.

Sam was watching him with raised eyebrows. It was only then Dean realized he had actually started to stroke the damn thing, which of course only increased the purring. But really, Dean thought, what else was he supposed to do with a cat?

"I'm not the one sleeping in the cat's bed," Sam pointed out. "You were pretty adamant that's your place. I wanted to sleep there, remember?"

Dean frowned.

"Dude, it's the bed closest to the door," he said and he knew Sam was aware that no amount of growing up would ever earn him the privilege to sleep in the bed closest to the door. That was always going to be Dean's post.

Sam shrugged easily.

"Well, if Cas or Mom reach out, tell them you're not in any danger."

Sure enough, not ten minutes later his phone buzzed twice. Mom's text was a string of hearts – much more than Dean thought necessary. Castiel's message was different: Is that what you are hunting? For the life of him Dean could not tell if the angel was serious or just yanking his chain.

xxXXXxxxx

Helmi lent them her car so they could meet up with Elias at a warehouse on the other side of the town. Apparently, Pekka had owned it, although no one had known about its existence. Now it had been willed to Elias.

"Just sent him my way after he's done briefing you," Helmi asked before they left. "He needs time away from all this."

Dean drove to the warehouse, looking relieved to finally find himself behind the wheel. Of course, Helmi's car was not his own baby and he thought it felt too much like some car used to drive kids to kindergarten for him to be truly comfortable in it.

"Probably because Helmi does use it to drive her kid to kindergarten," Sam said drily, pointing to the Frozen backpack in the backseat.

Dean eyed it in horror, as if he was being emasculated just by finding himself in the same car as it. Sam snickered.

"I could take another picture," he offered. "I'm sure Cas would love a follow-up of this morning's horror story with the cat."

"You are aware I spend most of my life two feet away from you, right?" Dean pointed out. "There's no telling what I can do to you if I catch you with your guard down, and I will. You can't be suspicious forever."

"I'm always suspicious when I'm around you," Sam deadpanned. "I know how your mind works."

"Yes, but you've got to sleep sometimes, Sammy," Dean pointed out smirking.

Sam rolled his eyes. He gave up taking pictures of the backpack, though, deciding to take Dean's threats to heart.

. Elias was waiting for Sam and Dean outside the warehouse. He must have heard their car arriving. As soon as they were out, he strode towards them.

"I'm really glad to see you," he said, shaking hands with Sam, then Dean. "I can't begin to thank you for being here."

Dean nodded quickly at that, neither he nor Sam ready to reveal the part about Mielikki just yet.

"Don't worry about that. How're you holding up?"

Elias shrugged.

"Pekka was a close friend. How am I supposed to be holding up?"

Dean accepted that.

"Good point. So what happened?"

Elias ran a hand over his face.

"I got a call three days ago. Apparently I was Pekka's next of kin so I was one of the first to be called."

"Isn't it strange?" Sam challenged. "He leaves your band, he still keeps you as his next of kin?"

"Did you know you were?" Dean added.

Elias shook his head.

"No, he never said anything to me. I mean, I think he's got siblings of his own so I have no idea why I was on his list in the first place. Anyway, he was killed in his apartment. He was found because neighbors reported a disturbance or something. Police are baffled. The official line is feral dog but there's no way a dog got inside his apartment. The doors were locked."

"And the unofficial line?" Dean prompted.

"I talked to my Dad, he says hiidet. Which is strange since Luohi is supposed to be dead…"

"We'd like a look inside the warehouse," Sam said. He paused and looked thoughtfully at Elias. "You don't have to come with us. Helmi wants to see you anyway."

"Yeah," Dean agreed pointedly. "Something about your day job? Don't you have rehearsals on the way?"

Elias, however, shook his head.

"They can start without me."

"You're the band leader, man," Dean protested. "What example would you be setting if you're slacking off?"

Elias waved that aside.

"I still think I should come with you. I want to hear your input, and you might have some more questions."

Sam looked at Dean as if to check with him. Having a civilian around at crime scene was never something they were comfortable with. But Elias had proven his worth before, besides, Pekka had been his friend. They knew he would want answers.

"All right," Dean said. "Lead the way."

xxXXxxxx

The warehouse wasn't very large. It was stuffed full of boxes. Several were open, their contents scattered all over the floor. The brothers noticed some decorative objects, statues and pictures, although none of them looked dangerous.

"They're stuff bought from all over," Elias explained, shrugging. "You know, from the places we toured. I had no idea Pekka is such a packrat…was such a packrat."

Sam was not really paying attention to the conversation. He had found a photograph in one of the boxes. It was with Pekka and a young woman. He had no trouble recognizing her.

"Dean," he said, "Come take a look at this."

Sam tapped the picture, pointing to the woman.

"Well, I'll be damned," Dean said. "It's her, isn't she?"

Sam nodded quickly, his eyes on the photograph.

"It has to be."

"Who has to be what?" Elias asked, approaching the two and frowning at the photograph.

"Do you know this woman?" Sam asked.

Elias hesitated. Then, he nodded.

"Yeah, at least, I think it's her."

"Who exactly do you think this is?" Dean prompted.

Elias shrugged.

"It must have been at the start of our 2013 tour. Here, in Finland. She was at a few gigs, always in the front row. She was even at a meet and greet, I think." He huffed. "She was all over Pekka. Never thought Pekka was all over her in return, but it does happen, you know."

"And he never told you who she was?" Sam insisted.

Elias took a step back.

"Guys, you're really scaring me here. What are you trying to tell me?"

"We're just wondering if Pekka happened to mention to you that he was this cozy with Mielikki," Dean said.

Elias allowed the photograph to drop from numb fingers.

"What did you say? That can't be…it's not her. Maybe you're wrong."

Sam picked up the photograph.

"We're not mistaken, Elias. In fact, it is part of why we're here. Mielikki's third favor. She did not tell me what that is yet, but she hinted heavily it has to do with Pekka's death."

Elias looked stunned. Then he huffed, shaking his head.

"I should have known you wouldn't come all the way to Finland just to see me."

"Tell us about Pekka," Dean urged. "He wanted you to see this, so he obviously knew this was a picture of Mielikki. Didn't he give any indication to you that he might be familiar with the supernatural?"

"No!" Elias replied firmly. "In fact, when I told my band two years ago after the incident with Piru, they were all quite surprised. Then for a while things were awkward."

"And in Pekka's case they stayed awkward?" Sam pressed on. "I mean, he left the band…"

"And no one can give us a straight answer about that one," Dean added.

Elias shook his head. He moved to another box and picked up a folder from it.

"I really don't know anymore than the rest of the world about that," he said, as he opened the folder.

His gasp drew Sam and Dean to him.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Elias pointed helplessly to the first page in the folder. Sam frowned. It was handwritten in Finnish and he certainly did not know enough of the language to translate. He did catch the name "Elias" several times, although the surname appeared to be Rautio and not Tahtinen. Then he remembered something Elias had said the first time they met. When his family had died, his hunter guardian had adopted Elias and changed his last name.

"It's about you, isn't it?" he asked, looking carefully at Elias. "What does it say?"

Elias dropped the folder.

"Just…stuff. A description of my family. Where we lived. How we all disappeared without a trace. I don't even know if a Hunter wrote this or if Pekka hired a private investigator to check into my past. It probably doesn't matter now."

"Oh, it does," Dean said. "He gave you this place. He wanted you to see this. And he knew Mielikki. And I'll say all this is tie to you – or to your past."

"Your family went on a Hunt following the instructions of the British Men of letters," Sam completed. "Faulty instructions, as it turned out, which led to their death. Tell us what happened, Elias. Because whatever your parents stumbled into, whatever Pekka stumbled onto, it's tied to Mielikki – and wherever this thing leads, it's not good."

Elias turned his back on them.

"What do you want to know?" he asked tightly.

However, before Sam could answer Dean suddenly made a curt gesture with his hand for him to keep quiet. He pointed tersely to somewhere in the shadows of the warehouse. Sam nodded once. He had heard it too, a thin, scraping sound, coming from something too large to be a rat. His hand moved to his weapon, while he gestured to Elias to get behind them.

"What the hell, guys?" Elias began but bit his tongue at Dean's look.

The tower of boxes on their left tumbled to the ground. Several hiidet sprang up from behind them. Sam and Dean fired in unison. One hiisi fell. The others kept going. Four others appeared from their left. Sam and Dean started backing away.

Two more shots fired. Two more hiided fell, one pretty close to them. They were now nearly at the door. Sam pushed Elias out, then turned to back up Dean.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Dean grumbled reloading his gun.

Sam pulled at Dean to have him get a move on. Dean held his ground.

"We should capture one," he said. "Find out who they work for this time."

"We're not ready to handle them now, Dean," Sam said, dragging Dean with one hand and firing at a hiisi that was seconds away from sinking his teeth into his brother's arm with the other. "Not well armed enough. Now come on!"

Sam was glad when Dean finally seemed to see sense. They turned on their heels and ran out, heading for Helmi's car. Elias climbed in the back, while Sam took the front passenger seat. He looked back to spot several hiidet already gaining on them.

"Go! Go! Go!" he urged Dean.

Dean slammed his foot on the pedal and the car lurched forward and gained speed just as the nearest hiisi slammed into it. Dean pushed the car to go even faster. He did not dare to look back.

"Are they still after us?" he shot at Sam.

Sam shook his head.

"No," he said relieved. "No, I think they've given up."

"For now," Elias added.

Dean slowed down only fractionally. He glanced at Elias.

"Care to explain why your former bassist left you a warehouse full of hiidet?"

Elias glanced back.

"I don't think he knew there were hiidet inside. Either that or they weren't inside when set the place up."

"Well, however they got there, we're screwed," Sam said.

Dean turned his attention to him.

"How do you figure that?"

Sam's look was grim.

"Because whatever Pekka wanted Elias to find – they, and whoever they work for, now have access to it."

-Tampere is the third largest city in Finland (about an hour and a bit/ two hours train ride away from Helsinki). It's a lovely town with a bit of everything and a lot of bodies of water.

-Tuu-tikki is the name of a character from the children's book series The Moomintrolls. And I know there was that one episode when Dean was supposedly allergic to cats, but and obscure cannon fact was not gonna stop me from giving you the mighty Dean Winchester holding a ginger cat with a pink bow. Seriously, who'd wanna miss that ;) You're welcome, by the way.