(no subject)
Standard Disclaimer: The Winchesters and anything Supernatural don’t belong to me, I am just borrowing them!
Disclaimer: Lufkin, Texas exists and Angelina College is really located there, but that is where the similarities end. The lore in this story is totally made up and any similarities to real lore are purely coincidence!
September in Lufkin, Texas was hotter this year than usual. The highs were running around 110 F for the last two weeks and even at night it never cooled down enough to get any real relief. The ancient air conditioner in the run down motel room Sam and Dean Winchester called home during their latest hunt had seen better days. Much better days actually and the best it was doing right now was bringing the temperature down to 83 F at best. The best meant during the night, because it didn’t even come close to it during the smoldering daytime hours.
So it was not amazing that after arriving the day before neither of the two had spent more time than necessary at their temporary home. Even Sam had decided to move his research to the bar close to the motel, because even though it was smoky and loud, it did have the luxury of a well working climate control.
After moving back to their room at closing time, they’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, finally getting up at five. Taking a cold shower, Dean had won the coin toss and got first dips, although this time it hadn’t been about running out of hot water but rather about who would get to cool his overheated body down first. Yet by the time Sam had gotten out, the older brother had been sorry for being first because by now he was almost ready for another cool down.
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Getting into the Impala, Dean maneuvered the slick black car through the streets of Lufkin until they reached the other side of town. Finding a dinner close to their destination for today, he parked and followed his brother, who was out of his seat almost before the car came to complete stop. After waiting for half an hour to be seated, it turned out that the breakfast and especially the coffee were well worth the wait.
“So, have you changed your mind about this case?” Sam gave his brother an expectant look.
Dean hesitated a moment before he answered, “I really don’t know yet. I mean it sure looks like it’s our kind of thing, but there is a possibility it is just a serial killer with an unusual MO.”
“It could be, but it isn’t.” Sam protested, “Look, let’s go over this again. In the last two weeks two people have been found dead around here. First one was Tiffany Shultz, age 19, next was Jimmy Tyson, age 21. The girl was found in her car at one of the local parks, the guy in his back yard. From what I could find out, they had hardly anything in common and most likely didn’t even know each other.”
“See, this far it doesn’t sound supernatural at all.”
“You’re right, but now is where things get weird. Both were seen within five hours of being found dead, yet the coroner reports says, that by the liver temperatures at the time when they were found, either one should have been dead for several days.”
“So, maybe we have a killer, who likes to put his victims in the freezer.” Dean smirked.
“Yeah and he flash froze them and then dragged them back out into the heat to deposit them in the car or back yard? Come on Dean, even you have to admit this is strange!” The younger Winchester gave his brother a scolding look.
“Okay, so it sounds like you’re right. Anything else the two have in common besides dying the same way?”
“Just that both went to Angelina College and both took the same chemistry class. Tiffany on Wednesdays and Thursdays, Jimmy on Mondays and Fridays. That’s why we are going over to the college today and talk to the teacher and some of the kids today.” Sam informed him.
He glanced at his watch, it was still early and there wouldn’t be many students around the campus at this time and most teachers were probably busy preparing for class.
“Let’s find the library and do some more research. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to try and talk to anyone right now. Lunch is probably the better time for that.”
Dean mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like, “Geek boy just wants to have some fun!” But got up anyway and walked over to the counter. After ordering two large coffees to go and paying, he returned and handed his kid brother one of the cups.
“Okay, let’s do this before I change my mind.” He said good-naturedly.
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The next five hours were spent in the large library at Angelina College. With its vast array of books about the supernatural, folklore and religion, it was a paradise into which Sam immerged himself without hesitation. Although he had seen his brother do this so many times before, Dean once again was amazed at the transformation happening to the younger Winchester in this kind of environment. The ease with which he navigated through the different sections, pulling out books and reading through whole chapters in record time, while still being able to recall what he needed out of them was almost beyond belief. There was no doubting his that Sam was born for the academic life and it almost made Dean feel guilty for taking him away from Stanford. Almost was the word though, because having the kid by his side meant more than he would ever admit.
Even with the Sam’s ability it had been impossible for them to get any leads on what they were dealing with. In the end Dean decided to call on their friend Bobby Singer for help. The long time hunter had his own library plus resources in the hunting world that went way beyond the ones the Winchester brothers had access to. The older man promised to check into it and get back to them as soon as he found out something.
Flipping his phone shut, Dean turned to the younger hunter, who was still lost in one of the books, “It’s time to call it quits geek boy, we have some people to talk to!”
Slightly hesitant Sam put the book down and pulled a paper out of his pocket. Looking down on it for a moment, he finally gazed at the older man, “We got several of Tiffany’s as well as a few of Jim’s friends on here, who are in classes today. And there is also Professor Nanuq, the chemistry teacher.”
Dean took the paper from his brother and went down the list before tearing it in half and giving the upper part back to him.
Looking at it, Sam huffed, “Typical!” Before getting up and walking out of the room.
Unable to hold back a chuckle, Dean called after him, “Hey, I’m no good at talking to nerds and old spinsters, that’s your department!” getting him a scowl from the librarian and a giggle from some of the girls sitting near by.
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While Dean was taking his time with the girls, Sam made his way down the list of the guys fairly fast. It became clear to both of them fairly soon that neither one of the kids knew anything they could use, yet the older Winchester enjoyed flirting and was totally in his element by being his usual charming self.
Last on Sam’s list was the professor, which turned out to be an attractive woman in her early thirties. Standing in the doorway, the younger Winchester took in the undeniable beauty of the woman. Her dark almond shaped eyes and full lips stood out in her round face, which was complimented by smooth raven black hair, hanging down all the way to her feminine hips.
For a moment Sam pictured Dean turning green with envy, until the woman turned her attention from the computer in front of her to him. The moment her eyes met his, a shiver ran down his spine. Those eyes, although of a warm brown color were colder than ice. Almost ready to turn around, he was stopped, when she got up and walked towards him.
“Can I help you with anything?”
“Professor Nanuq?” Sam questioned, almost hoping she would deny it.
“Yes, that’s me, but everyone, including my students calls me Annie.” She said, giving him the once over, eliciting another shiver from him.
“My name is Sam Dolan, I’m a private investigator.” He introduced himself, before he continued, “My clients want to stay anonymous but I can tell you, they are the parents of one of your murdered students.”
“Yes, I heard about that. How tragic, two young peoples lives cut short in such a tragic way. Do they have any idea who killed them?”
“Not yet, that’s why I’m here. I’m trying to find out; if there is anything they had in common, beside your class.” The hunter couldn’t help but wish himself far away.
“Let me think!” She hesitated for a moment then continued, “Tiffany was an “A” student, very outgoing and bubbly. Everything came very easy to her. Jim on the other hand was quieter and had to work hard for his grades but he was a good student also and as far as I could tell, well liked with many friends.”
This wasn’t really anything different then what the other kids already confirmed to Sam. Hoping to get some more information, he asked, “Was there anything unusual the day they were killed?”
Again the professor thought for a while before answering, “I remember seeing Tiffany in class that day, but there was nothing different about her or her behavior and I don’t think Jim was killed on a day he was taking my class.”
“Well, thanks for your time, if you can think of anything else; would you give me a call?” He scribbled his number on a paper and handed it to her.
Taking it from his outstretched hand, her fingers touched his, making the young hunter feel like the blood in his veins turned to ice. It lasted only for a fraction of a second but was enough for him to pull his hand back like he got by lightning. Turning without saying another word, he scrambled out of the room, missing the glint of satisfaction lighting up the beautiful face.
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Sam didn’t stop until he reached the exit. Outside he leaned against the building and took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew somehow the professor was involved in the deaths of her students. It was time for some more specific research.
Pulling out his cell, he hit speed dial and waited until his brother picked up, “Dean,…”
“Sammy, I’m kinda busy here!” The voice of the older Winchester came from the other end.
“I think I’ve got something.”
“Good, I’m not done here, why don’t we meet at the motel in a few hours?”
Sam protested, “I really think we should meet now. How would I get to the motel from here without a car anyway?”
There was a pause, during which the younger hunter could hear Dean talking to someone in the back ground, then there was some giggling, before he returned to the phone, “Take the car, I’ll get a ride. See you later.”
Ready to protest again, Sam realized his brother just hung up on him, leaving him with the choice to either try to call Dean back or take the car. He chose the latter, knowing that another call would very likely go straight to voice mail. Obviously his brother hooked up with one of the girls he was supposed to interview. The hunter searched his pocket until he found his key, and walked out to the parking lot. He wanted to be mad at his sibling, but somehow he couldn’t really blame him for wanting some fun from time to time. After all, Dean was an excellent hunter, who devoted his whole life to saving others from the things that went bump in the night, sometimes he just needed to let loose.
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The drive back to the motel was uneventful. Walking into their room and throwing the keys onto the table, Sam noticed that it seemed slightly cooler now. Gratefully he sat down and powered the lab top up. Typing “Nanuq” into the search engine, he came up with the explanation that the word meant polar bear in Inuktitut, a variety of languages used by the Inuit people.
Suddenly a chill ran down his body and he couldn’t help the shivering. Shaking the feeling off, he continued to work, working his way through the lore and legends of the Inuit. Again and again icy shivers ran through him, increasing in frequency and power. Trying to put it off as an aftereffect of his meeting with the creepy professor, he ignored them. Immerged into his work, he didn’t realize that he was beyond freezing until his teeth chattered and he could feel goose bumps on his exposed arms.
“Darn air conditioner”, he mumbled, getting up to adjust the thermostat, “first it doesn’t work at all and now it works too well.”
To his surprise the gauge was set at 68 F, although the thermometer showed room temperature was still 89 F. Tapping it a few times without changing any thing, he pulled a hoodie out of his duffel and put it on before sitting back down.
“Guess, can’t expect anything to work right, when the room is this cheap.” He grumbled,
getting back to work.
By the time he finally found something that spiked his interest, he was wearing his coat over the hoodie and was rapped into a blanket. Still, he was freezing and his teeth were chattering no matter how much he tried to keep them from doing so. He tried to finish reading the page but found his vision started to blur and his fingers felt so stiff and numb, he couldn’t get them to work the mouse pad.
“Need to warm up!” He mumbled, stumbling over to the bed.
Using one shaky hand to brace himself on the bed, he lifted up the blankets and crawled underneath. Wrapping his freezing body tightly into the covers, he was sure this would get him warmed up in no time.
After several minutes of trembling and shifting around without feeling any different he sat back up and reached over to the other bed to pull the comforter and blanket off it and throw them over the others. Yet even this didn’t work and actually seemed to have the opposite effect. Icy stabs of pain ran through him with every beat of his heart, tearing his body up at the same time as they made his mind feel disconnected and sluggish.
Unable to think clearly, it was more instinct that made him get up to get to the table where he put his phone down. Unwrapping from the blankets proved a challenge, as his movements were uncoordinated and he didn’t seem to be able to control them. Finally succeeding, he stood and instantly tumbled forward as dizziness assaulted him. Grabbing on to the end of the bed he moved forward and was able to hold on to the smooth surface of the table. Standing on wobbly legs, he looked at his hands, feeling like he ran a marathon instead of taking a few steps. Exhausted and tired he tried to recall why he came over here. His mind was blank as the only thing that seemed to matter was the pain and iciness consuming him.
Shivering, he finally turned, again more led by the need to find warmth than by clear thought. Stiff limbed he turned, loosing his balance and this time crashed on the floor without even bracing himself. Overwhelmed he rested for a moment then pulled himself up and into the bed. Covering up, he curled up into a fetal position. His shivers seized as his body gave up the fight against the cold and he slid into a state of unresponsiveness.
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Dean was in great spirits when he returned to the motel. He’d scored a date with Jenna
Adams, a busty brunette with a great sense of humor and the brightest smile he’d ever seen. She dropped him off here and they were going to meet at a bar downtown. She promised to bring Silvana Marisi, her Italian friend with her, so they could double date. Dean had talked to Silvana at the College and thought she was perfect for his little brother. Her long wavy hair framed a face with big black eyes and perfect red lips. Tall and slim, she had just the right amount of curves in the right spots. If it wouldn’t have been for Jenna, he would have certainly liked to score with her himself. Listening to her talk, he was sure his geek brother would like her, as she probably matched him in smartness.
Unlocking the door, he pushed it open and was instantly hit by the overheated stale air. He noticed the missing noise from the air conditioner, telling him the fan wasn’t working anymore either.
“Darn, got to get a different room for tonight, this one won’t do anymore.” He mumbled to himself, before walking further into the room.
The lab top was sitting on the table, screen saver on, Sam’s phone lying beside it. Turning towards the beds, he took in the site of the blankets missing from the first one, while noting that they were piled up on the second, covering up a large lump of what he could only assume was his brother.
“What the heck, Sammy? Did you go nuts on me?”
Not getting a response, Dean stepped beside the bed, still not seeing anything of his brother. Maybe the kid was just playing with a joke on him, still upset for not going back to the motel with him earlier. After all, there was no way Sam would be able to stand the heat in this room, let alone cover up with at least four blankets. He was probably standing in the bathroom, waiting for him to pull the covers off just to come out and give him a “had you worried there, didn’t I?”
Initially Dean felt like opening the bathroom door and maybe catch his sibling by surprise but then he changed his mind. Why not let the kid win for once? Pulling on the blankets, he discovered whatever his brother had wrapped them around was heavy enough to make it difficult.
“Good one Sammy!” He said, before giving it a final, more determined tug.
This time he succeeded and found himself sitting on the floor, the blankets over his head and everywhere. At the same time there was a thump, as whatever was in the bed fell on the floor also. Finally untangling himself, all the while waiting for a laughing Sam to open the bathroom door, he was stunned by the site before him.
“Oh God, Sammy?” Dean scrambled to his brother, who was lying limply in front of him.
Reaching out to check for a pulse, his hand retracted, when it came in contact with the ice cold skin on his brother’s neck. It took only a split second though before his hand was back and to his relief found a pulse that was sluggish but nevertheless there. He took in the pale, almost grayish skin, lips and fingers bluish discolored and the slow, shallow rise of his chest, all typical signs of hypothermia.
Not having time to give in to any feelings of panic, he hauled the younger man off the floor, not an easy task as the hypothermia caused him to be extremely rigid, but finally he managed to situate him back onto the bed. Using all the blankets, he covered him again before running out to the car and getting several more from the trunk. After making sure Sam was cocooned in, he sat down and pulled his phone out. There was no time for self treatment; he needed to get the kid to a hospital.
The sound of Metallica startled him for a moment until he remembered it was his ring tone. The caller id showed it was Bobby, so Dean answered the call.
“Bobby, not now, I have to call 911 for Sam!”
Almost hanging up, he heard the voice from the other end at the last moment, “Don’t Dean, this is important.”
“Bobby, what ever caused those deaths got to Sammy.”
“That’s why you have to listen to me! Dean from what you told me, we are dealing with a “tuunbaq nanuq”, a polar bear demon.”
The older Winchester couldn’t belief his ears, “Did you just say it’s a tuunbaq nanuq? Sammy talked to a Professor Nanuq at the college.”
There was a gasp on the other end of the line, “Dean, if it got to Sam, there is only one way to save him, we have to destroy it. I got the only thing that will do that with me. I think I can make it to you in six hours from where I’m at right now.”
Dean had listened to the voice on the other end with increasing excitement, now he let out a devastated sigh, “Sam doesn’t have that much time, Bobby. His hypothermia is already moderate, getting pretty close to severe. The other victims survived less than five hours from onset.”
For a moment there was complete silence, so much that the older Winchester thought he lost the connection. Finally he heard the other man shout out, “Got it!”
“What? You know how to save Sam?”
“No, but I found a way to at least keep him alive. You have to submerge him in holy water until we can get the demon destroyed. Best would be under water with just coming up for air, but I’m guessing from how advanced his condition is that he is unconscious, so keeping everything but his face under water will have to do.”
“Oookaayy, so there is still a little problem here.” Dean couldn’t belief Winchester “luck” was hitting again, “Sam’s 6’4” won’t immerge in any bathtub around here.”
Again there was silence, this time lasting only a few seconds, “Is there a pool?”
Dean’s eyes lit up, “Bobby, you’re a genius. Gotta go, got me some water blessing to do. I’ll call you back later.”
He shut the phone, already pulling his father’s journal and a rosary out of his duffel bag.
“Hold on Sammy, I’ll be right back.” He promised, before running outside.
Throwing the rosary into the 16’x 20’ pool, the size making it look more like a large bath tub, he opened the journal, searching just for a moment for the right ritual before speaking the Latin words while making signs of the cross over the water.
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Fifteen minutes later found both brothers in the pool. Dean had reluctantly taken the time to change Sam and himself into swim trunks, feeling it would look odd enough, if he was holding his unconscious younger sibling above water, without one or both of them wearing clothes. He was glad the pool was located close to their room and that right now there weren’t any people around, because it would have really looked strange to anyone seeing him carrying the younger man to the pool and carefully getting both of them into the water.
After he made sure he had a secure hold on Sam, he picked up his cell from the concrete walk surrounding the pool and hit the speed dial for Bobby.
“Dean, did you do what I told ya?” The worry in the older man’s voice was unmistakable.
“Yeah, but I’m wondering if this is really the right thing. He is so cold and submerging him in cold water just doesn’t seem right.”
“I know, but it’s not just water, it’s holy water. It won’t reverse any of the effects of the hypothermia, but it will prevent them from getting worse. That will give us the time we need.”
“How long till you get here?”
“It will be just a little longer than I thought, gonna pick Caleb up on the way here. He is about half an hour from where I’m now. Someone has to stay with Sam and as I see it, we need at least two people to get that demon. It’s not gonna be easy.”
Dean let out a heavy breath, “Well, see you then, oh and Bobby…” He hesitated for a second, “…thanks!”
“Any time, kid, you boys are family!”
TBC
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