Title: What Lies Beneath
Author: Michealangela
Rating: T (for some cursing)
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own these guys. (

A/N: Ok hi everybody!! this is my first fanfiction thing ever!! Ahh!! I am a total supernatural nerd! Haha. I am extremely excited and nervous at the same time...its insane!! I love it! SO i would absolutely love it if you all could read and leave me a review...just a quick thought or anything. I wanna know how i am doing so i can work on future stories. This is just chapter one...
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WHAT LIES BENEATH

--CHAPTER ONE—

Sam held tighter and tighter to the docks ragged edge. His knuckles were white with fear, his face only mere inches from complete submersion. He could feel his body being drawn under as though the lake were trying to swallow him entirely. He knew that the only remaining link between life and death was his weakening grip. Sam didn't know how much longer he could remain in this dire position but he was sure it could not be more than a few minutes, tops. Sam lifted his head in desperation, eyes searching frantically for his brother, Dean. If he could find Dean, he would be okay. If he could find Dean, this nightmare would be over. But as he continued to look, no sight of Dean reached Sam's eyes. Sam began to feel Death's eminent grip slowly curling its fingers around his life. He needed Dean. Tears started to blur his vision as his arms began to shake. Nothing but deadly silence pierced through him as he clung to the dock, waiting painfully for death… "DEAN!!"

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4 Hours Earlier

Dean pulled the Impala into the empty parking space in the abandoned lot. Seeing as the Impala was his most prized possession, he refused to park it next to anything that may threaten to scratch its fine exterior paint job, including the many trees that were present. A little extra walking never hurt anybody, especially not Sam. Sam, however, begged to differ. He gave Dean an incredulous "Are you friggen kidding me?!" look. Dean simply grinned at Sam in response, and then shut off the engine, pocketed the keys, and hopped out of his baby. After all, it was Dean's car. Well, in theory anyway.

Sam begrudgingly hopped out of the car. He could already sense that this was going to be a long day. Sam rolled his eyes as he shut the car door and waited for Dean to unload the necessary gear from the trunk of the Impala. He watched as Dean's eyes shot to the back left corner of the trunk, as if desperately wishing the Colt would somehow appear. That was one of the main reasons Dean was so resistant in coming to Champlain, Wyoming in the first place. It was a long drive and with the Colt missing, all Dean wanted to do was locate Bella and give her a piece of his mind. Sam wanted the Colt as well but after searching for what seemed like an eternity and coming up completely empty handed, Sam figured they might as well take out a couple of evil son-of-a-bitches along the way. Even if it didn't help them find the colt, at least it let them blow off some steam.

"Remind me again why we are here--in the middle of freakin' no man's land?" called Dean, preoccupied with checking and rechecking all of the gear and weapons in the process. Dean DID NOT want to be here in Champlain, Wyoming. Hell, he'd rather be anywhere but here! There wasn't even a decent bar within a thirty minute drive of their crappy motel. This whole damn hunt was Sam's idea. And yeah, alright. So Dean knew that Sam was only dragging his ass on this hunt because Sam was highly concerned about Dean's sanity and Dean recognized the effort for all it was worth, but seriously… Couldn't Sam have found anywhere better than this craphole of a town? Dean slammed the trunk shut and started off towards the trail that would lead to the lake.

"Well in the past few weeks, there have been a couple of weird deaths that have occurred… Three to be exact. All of these incidents took place in the same location, Lake Champlain. The first victim was this man who was said to have mysteriously drowned in the lake even though he was an expert swimmer training for the Olympics. The second victim, also male, just dropped dead on the shore. The strange thing is that the autopsy revealed his lungs were flooded with water. However, all of the witnesses claim that his entire body was dry at the time of death and when he dropped, he collapsed a good twenty feet from any surrounding water. And then, just last week, a guy was found washed up on shore after somehow being impaled by a very dull, half rotted piece of wood off of a nearby dock. The authorities are claiming that there is some freak chemical in the lake or that a group of rowdy teenagers is up to no good. I say that is a load of crap." Sam knew that incidents like these just didn't happen because of 'some freak chemical' or 'a group of rowdy teenagers'. No. Incidents like these were part of his job description.

"Sounds pretty fishy to me," said Dean, with a half-cocked grin spread wide as he chuckled to himself. Sam merely rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. That was typical Dean. He always managed to find the sarcasm and crack a joke no matter what the situation. Funeral, baseball game, dinner time, you name it. Dean always had one up his sleeve.

"Okay then smartass. You want me to finish or not?" The things Dean could come up with sometimes…

"Yeah, yeah. Calm down Sammy. Don't go getting you panties all in a knot. Geesh." Dean knew it had been a long couple of weeks for the both of them with the colt missing and all. Although the stress wasn't really getting to Dean (at least not on the surface or in any matter that would be readily detected by Sam), Dean could tell that everything was starting to take its toll on Sam. Sam always had been the brother to express his feelings and wear his heart on his sleeve. Dean was only trying to lighten the mood with his joke, and, seeing as Sam had tried to hide a small grin unsuccessfully; Dean could tell his tactic had worked.

"Alright, so anyways…these three guys all died in the past few weeks. And of course, they all had some things in common. Like I just said, each death occurred at the same lake, Lake Champlain. Each victim was also the youngest male in their family and in their twenties. Then I checked things out online and I found this." Sam dug the newspaper article out of his pocket and handed it to Dean. He watched Dean's eyes skim the article as quickly as possible. The article showed a picture of Lake Champlain with a mourning family standing beside it near a dock. "Micheal Pristine," continued Sam, "Died a little over a month ago on a fishing trip. According to his friends, everyone was standing on the shore when the boat Micheal was using just exploded and everything burst into flames, Micheal included. Authorities go to look for a body and they can't find anything, not even a single bone."

Dean looked at Sam skeptically. Normally for a spirit to haunt something, a piece of the spirit has to be remaining, such as a bone or a strand of hair or even blood. Sam had clearly just stated that the police hadn't discovered anything of Micheal's remains. How in the hell could this guy be haunting the lake if there was nothing left of his body to haunt?

"Okay—so you think this Micheal dude is our spirit?"

"Well yeah. I mean it all fits. Plus, I did a little further research on Micheal and I found out that he was the youngest in his family at the age of 26. This fits our spirit's victim preference. And when I went to check the previous month's records to ensure that Micheal wasn't just another victim, I came up with squat. Absolutely no records match anything close to this case. It has to be Micheal."

Dean stopped for a minute to digest what Sam had just said. He knew that Micheal really did fit the pattern and that, when it came down to it, Micheal was probably the culprit behind the attacks. But something was still bugging him. Something just felt…off. And then, suddenly, the reasoning behind his concern became clear. Dean glared crossly at Sam. God that kid could be so fucking stupid sometimes!

"Dude, time out. The spirit goes after guys that are the youngest in the family and in their early twenties?"

"Uh yeah. So what?" Sam was extremely confused. Dean had gone from just sorta pissed at the whole world to full blown rage at him. There wasn't anything abnormal about the victim preference. Spirits usually have a certain type of person that they are keen to haunt. Some seek revenge, some seek pleasure, and some, well , some are just plain complicated. Sam didn't understand why this spirit was any different, yet the intensity of Dean's defiant stare told him he should be thinking otherwise.

"So what?! Are you kidding me? Hmm, Sam. Let's think here. Guys in their early twenties that are the youngest in the family…fit anyone we know?! Do you want this damn spirit to come after you or what? It's like you are signing your own friggen death certificate or something." Dean was already in the process of returning to the Impala. Sam could practically see the anger emanate from him.

"Dean! … Hey, Dean! Wait a second, man." Sam was not surprised when Dean didn't even do so much as nod in his direction or throw some nasty comment back at Sam to acknowledge him. Dean wasn't the type to mess around with this shit. They already had enough to deal with as it was, let alone a spirit that was hell bent on killing people, one of whom could very soon be Sam. Nope, a hunt like that was just not gonna happen. Not on Dean's watch anyways. There were too many risks involved for his liking. Unfortunately for Dean, Sam was taller and therefore had a longer stride making it a breeze for him to catch up to Dean. He was by Dean's side in no time. "Hey, would you stop a second so I can explain?" huffed out Sam. It became obvious that Dean had no intention of stopping. Nevertheless, he was forced to concede rather abruptly when Sam grabbed him by the arm, pulling him so they were face to face.

"You didn't let me finish. So this Micheal guy goes after all of these guys, right? Well, so far all the victims have only been attacked on Tuesdays, with no other mysterious sightings or suspicious attacks throughout the rest of the week. And seeing as today is Thursday rather than Tuesday, I think I will be just fine." Sam paused and hesitated to go on, studying Dean for any hint of emotion to breech the surface. He wasn't exactly surprised when Dean showed no external change at all. After all, Dean wasn't exactly the touchy feely type of guy. Sam concluded it was safe to continue on after a moment of silence from both brothers. "So are you still up for killing this evil bastard or am I gonna have to do this all by myself?"

After a couple more seconds, Dean's glare began to subside a considerate amount. The information that Sam had just relayed over helped to ease his mind a little but it didn't change the fact that he still didn't like the idea of this hunt. The possibility remained, no matter how remote, that Sam could be attacked by this spirit. But instead of arguing, Dean let the issue rest for the time being. "You? Kill something by yourself? Ha! Good joke, Sammy. Helen Keller could probably kill this spirit better than you and she was even handicapped. You know, I bet her aim was better than yours too…"

Sam felt relieved and yet slightly annoyed at the same time. He could manage on his own just fine. Okay, well pretty fine anyways. Besides, he knew Dean would never permit him to go on a solitary hunt. Sam considered Dean watching over him as Dean's full-time job. Dean, on the other hand, considered it his way of life. Sam let out a sigh. "Jerk."

"Bitch." Dean grinned as he replied back. To the average onlooker, these comments might have been viewed as spiteful and insensitive. But to Sam and Dean, this was the equivalent of saying 'I love you too.' Dean looked around at the scenery as he changed his direction from the Impala back towards the lake… They were in the middle of the woods, and as far as he could tell, there was zero sign of a lake in the near future. "So where is this damn lake anyways?"

Sam didn't reply but continued to stare off at a distance. Dean snapped his fingers in Sam's face, causing Sam to jump and rather abruptly come back to reality. Dean chuckled. "Geesh, were you sleeping over there or what?"

"What? Oh—uh sorry. Right. Um, the lake? It's a pretty short hike from here. Nothing too extreme."

"Alright then. Let's go," said Dean as he let Sam take the lead.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Alright...so thats it! thats chapter one! Oh god. i am so nervous! I hope you enjoyed it...leave me a review if you can. Chapter 2 is coming soon and i promise there will be some more action.