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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬

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"Here you go," the librarian told the siblings as she placed two big cardboard boxes in the middle of their table. "Arrest records going back to 1851."

Delaney coughed as a layer of dust flew into her face. She swatted her hand in front of her face as Dean politely thanked the woman for the records. "When was the last time these records were taken out? 1851?"

Dean sighed as he looked between the two boxes before looking to the youngest Winchester. "This is how you spent three good years of your life, huh?"

"Welcome to the education world, big brother," Delaney mused and flipped open the lid of the box in front of her.

Over the next hour, the three Winchester siblings looked over all the files that were in the two boxes provided to them. Each file had massive stacks of information that were practically useless to them. Nothing that even closely resembled anything close to the Hookman. Delaney practically fell asleep in her seat as she read through her fifth file. She glanced up and noticed Dean looked just as bored as her. This would be a lot more interesting if any of these files gave any clue to the Hookman being around here.

"Hey, guys, check this out," Sam broke the silence and Dean and Delaney got up to walk over to where Sam was stood behind the short bookcase behind their table. "1862 – a preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. He was so angry over the red-light district in town that one night he killed thirteen prostitutes."

Delaney raised an eyebrow as she looked over Sam's shoulder. "Some of the deceased were found in their beds, sheets soaked with blood, others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh," she read and shuddered. "Okay this guy was a legit sociopath then."

"Get this," Dean spoke, earning both of the younger Winchester's attention. "The murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook." He placed the page he was looking at down on the pile and pointed to a drawing of a hook on the bottom of the page.

Delaney continued to read over her brother's shoulders and froze at an important piece of information that jumped out to her. "Look where all this happened," she pointed out and motioned to where she was looking.

"Nine mile road."

"Same place where the frat boy was killed," Sam noted, running a hand through his hair.

"Nice job, Dr. Venkman. Let's check it out."

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Delaney stood with her brothers in front of the trunk as Dean dug around inside of it for weapons for the three of them. It was nighttime now, and Delaney felt nervous being on the road that the frat boy got murdered on when it was this dark. She knew Dean and Sam wouldn't let anything happen to her and she knew the basics of protecting herself. However, it didn't stop her nerves from going haywire. Not like she would let her brothers see it, but still.

"Here you go," Dean said, holding out a shot gun to Sam.

"If it is a spirit, buckshot won't do much good," Sam argued as he stared down at his gun.

Dean held up bullets to Sam as he continued to dig around in the trunk. "Yeah. Rock salt. It won't kill 'em, but it'll slow 'em down."

Delaney took the other shotgun from Dean and watched as Dean took the third one before closing the trunk.

"Della, stay behind Sammy and me okay? If this thing randomly jumps out, I don't want you being the first thing he sees, got it?" Dean ordered and Delaney immediately nodded her head.

Delaney followed after her two brothers as the three slowly made their way along the road. It was eerily quiet minus for one or two crickets chirping and the siblings' feet crunching on the gravel beneath their shoes. Delaney froze when she heard a twig snap somewhere up ahead of them. She looked to Dean to see what he wanted them to do. He motioned for Delaney to hide behind the bush next to them. She would pop out and take whatever this thing was by surprise.

Delaney crouched down behind the bush and watched as Sam slowly raised his shotgun towards the noise. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She thought she'd be used to this whole hunting thing by now, but she still got crazy anxiety when coming face to face with these demons and spirits. She wondered if she would ever be used to this whole family business thing.

"Put the gun down now! Now!" A man yelled as he slowly made his way out of the shadows of the trees up ahead. When he came into the light, the three noticed it was a sheriff. "Hands behind your head!"

Dean side-eyed his sister and conveyed a silent message to her that said, "stay there and don't let him know you're there". Delaney silently nodded and crouched lower, if that were even possible at this point.

Sam and Dean instantly held their hands up in defense and knelt in front of the sheriff. "Wait, wait, wait! Okay, okay."

"Get down on your bellies, come on!" The sheriff ordered and both boys laid on their stomachs with their hands over their heads.

"He had the gun," Dean complained into the dirt beneath his face.

Delaney groaned and sat back on her heels. How was she going to get her brothers out of this pickle?

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Delaney grinned triumphantly as she lead her brothers out of the police department the next morning. "You're welcome. I talked the sheriff down to a fine for you bozos."

"What did you even do?" Sam questioned as he followed Dean and Delaney over to the Impala parked across the street.

Delaney turned on her heel and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, dear big brother of mine, I used my womanly charm."

Dean glared at Delaney who couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.

"Okay, okay. I just told him that I was from the sorority at the university. Us girls were pranking the frat boys in a new tradition we were thinking of starting. Thought it would be fun to make you guys hunt some fake ghosts with "harmless" guns filled with rock salt bullets," Delaney shrugged as if it were no big deal. "He believed it and dropped your charges. The end."

Sam chuckled in shock. "Wait, he actually believed you?"

"Well, yeah," Delaney replied, crossing her arms across her chest. "You guys look like a couple of dumb pledges who would go along with it, so..." She smirked at Dean when he sent her another glare. "Don't hate on the truth, big brother."

Dean went to retaliate when the door to the police station burst open, a group of deputies rushing out to the two cop cars in front of the police station. They hopped in and sped out of the spots and onto the road past the siblings.

Dean, Delaney and Sam exchanged a look before they quickly got into the Impala and following after the two cars. The cars stopped in front of the sorority house where two ambulances were pulled into the driveway. Lori was sat on the back of one of the ambulances, a heavy blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She looked white as a sheet and as if she had seen a ghost. A body bag was not too far away on a stretcher, making Delaney guess it was one of the girls from the sorority.

Dean pulled into a spot around the corner and motioned for two younger Winchesters to follow after him. They ducked through a hedge on the back of the sorority house and showed up in the back where there was no one.

"Why would the Hookman come here?" Sam questioned quietly as he snuck behind Dean with Delaney. "This is a long way from Nine Mile Road."

"Maybe he's not haunting the scene of his crime," Dean whispered back as he continued to slowly move forward. "Maybe it's about something else."

"Like what? Why would he -" Delaney was cut off when two of the sorority girls exited the back door. Dean pulled Delaney behind a wall and had his hand over her mouth to keep her from continuing. Once they were a good distance away, Delaney licked Dean's hand who grimaced and wiped his hand on his jeans.

"Gross, Della," Dean groaned with a disgusted expression.

Delaney merely shrugged and rose an eyebrow at Sam trying to Spider-Man his way up the side of the house. Dean rushed underneath Sam and helped left him so he could reach the balcony above where they were hiding. Dean lifted Delaney next, who grabbed onto Sam's hand for help. Dean followed after and Sam lead the way through an open window to their right. The three found themselves on the floor of Lori and her now ex-roommate's closet.

"Try and be quiet," Delaney whispered to Dean as the three stood up.

"Me be quiet? You be quiet," Dean countered, smacking Delaney upside the head.

Sam stood between the two before they could start arguing... again. He swore they argued worse than old married couple. "How 'bout you both shut up and let's get this thing going?"

Sam slowly opened the door once he saw the deputy leave the room and go back down the stairs to go outside. He slowly lead the way out of the closet and into the room. To their right was Lori's side where the bed sheets were still in a heap from when Lori had woken up that morning to find her roommate dead. Straight ahead was Lori's roommate's bed, which was stained completely in scarlet red blood.

"Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light," Delaney read off the wall next to the roommate's bed. Well, that wasn't creepy or anything.

"That's right out of the legend," Sam commented as he stared at the wall.

Dean couldn't tear his eyes away from the note written in blood. "Yeah it's typical Hookman alright. It's definitely a spirit."

"Let the fun begin," Delaney sighed and turned her attention back to the note. "What's that symbol on the wall, Dean?" It was a cross with four smaller crosses drawn around the bigger cross.

Without responding, Dean motioned for the two to follow him back to the Impala. Once they were there, he reached into the backseat and grabbed the file they were looking at in the library the day prior. He fumbled around in the file until he found the sheet of paper he was looking for. It was the same paper that had the hook on it, a necklace wrapped around it and the symbol on the wall was drawn on the pendant hanging from said necklace.

"Seems like this is the spirit of Jacob Karns," Sam concluded as he looked over the paper in his hands.

"So, what do we do now?" Delaney asked, looking up at her two big brothers.

"Find this dude's grave. Then we salt and burn the bones, and put him down," Dean replied in a "duh" tone.

Sam shook his head and pointed to the writing on the sheet of paper in his hands. "After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North cemetery in an unmarked grave."

Dean threw his head back in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Super."

Sam pushed himself off the car and walked around to the passenger side. "Okay, so, we know it's Jacob Karns, but we still don't know where he'll manifest next. Or why."

Delaney noticed a note stuck to Dean's windshield wiper. She snatched it up and read off the note and scoffed. "I can take a guess about why."

Dean looked over his little sister's shoulder to read the note and then glanced at Sam. "I think your friend Lori has something to do with this."

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A few hours later, Delaney found herself stood in the middle of a raging college party. She awkwardly looked around as people continued to drink and laugh around her. She should be used to this kind of thing because her and Will had gone to a few of the parties thrown on campus. However, it was nothing as big and wild as this.

"You've been holding out on me, Della," Dean said as he approached Delaney and Sam. "This college thing is awesome!"

Delaney scratched her bicep and shifted on her feet. "I mean, not all college parties look like this Dean. This is like walking into some cliché college movie. Besides, Will and I didn't really do these parties anyways. We went to like two or three, but we mainly hung out in the library cramming for finals or papers."

Dean shook his head in shame at Delaney. "You disappoint me, baby sis. You get to have a normal life and you don't even take advantage of it."

"Trust me, nothing about me is normal, Dean, okay?" Delaney argued, narrowing her eyes at Dean. She hated that he would throw her so called normalcy in her face. Nothing was ever normal about her. Not her relationship with her father. Not her college experience. Not her life at this moment. Dean really had to get over her losing whatever normalcy he thought she had. Normal and Winchester did not go together.

Sensing an argument brewing, Sam decided to break it up and speak, "I did what you asked, okay? It was bugging me. How are the Hookman and Lori tied? I think I came up with something."

Dean grabbed the papers Sam was unfolding in his hands and began to walk through the party house. "1932 – "Clregyman arrested for murder."  He read off one and looked at the next article underneath. "1967 – "Seminarian held in hippie rampage.""

"There's a pattern here," Sam explained as Dean and Delaney continued to read through the articles Sam had provided. "In both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immorality, and then found himself wanted for killings he claimed were the work of an invisible force. Killings carried out – get this – with a sharp instrument."

Delaney gave Sam an odd look. This whole thing was still not adding up. "What's the connection to Lori?"

"A man of religion who openly preaches against immorality, except this time instead of saving the whole town, he's trying to save his only daughter," Sam answered, hinting at the fact that it was the reverend.

"Do you think he's summoning the spirit?" Dean asked, handing the articles back to Sam.

"Maybe," Sam whispered as he began to think things over. "Or you know how a poltergeist can haunt a person instead of a place?"

Dean nodded and crossed his arms across his chest. "The spirit latches on to the reverend's repressed emotions, feeds off them."

Delaney's eyes widened as the whole thing finally dawned on her. "Without the reverend even knowing it was happening."

Dean took a moment to let everything sink in. There was a lot of information coming out and it was a lot to take in at once. "Either way, you should keep an eye on Lori tonight."

"What about you and Delly?" Sam asked, glancing over at the youngest sibling.

"We'll go see if we can find the unmarked grave."

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Delaney followed Dean through the graveyard as he shined the light along the graves they passed by. It was pitch black in the graveyard and it creeped Delaney out. She didn't know how she felt walking over people's resting place in the dead of night with her brother. She clutched onto the shovel in her hand tighter, the feel of it in her hand calming her slightly. People walked around graveyards all the time at night, right? That's how graverobbers did their job and teenagers came here to illegally drink. So, this couldn't be that bad... could it?

A rustling sound made Dean and Delaney freeze in place. Delaney slowly raised her shovel, ready to hit whatever it was like she was Babe Ruth at home plate about to hit a homerun.

"Della, really? What is a shovel going to do against a spirit?" Dean mocked.

"It's something, okay?!"

Dean rubbed a hand over his face exasperatedly before continuing to lead the way through the graveyard. After a few feet, Dean stopped short which caused Delaney to crash into his back. She groaned as the shovel hit her in the shin. She glared at Dean's back as he looked to their right and he seemed to brighten at what he found.

"Bingo!" Dean cheered as he made his way over to what he spotted. He shone his flashlight over a grave with the exact same symbol as the one back at the sorority house.

"Now what?" Delaney questioned as she looked around them as if someone was going to come out and see them.

"I dig, you hold the flashlight," Dean stated as he dropped the duffle bag on his shoulder and swapped the shovel with the flashlight. "If you hear something, let me know, okay?"

Delaney nodded and watched as Dean shrugged off his jacket so he was just in his t-shirt. He struck the ground with his shovel and began to dig a hole right where they stood. After a while, she wound up getting bored and laying on the ground by the hole and shining the light into it.

"Next time I get to watch the cute girl's house," Dean panted after a few minutes of silence between the two.

Delaney leaned her chin on her hand and laughed at her brother. "Aw but, Dean, if you weren't doing this we wouldn't be bonding right now. I'd be bonding with Sam instead."

"What a tragedy," Dean remarked as he stopped for a second to breathe. He had been digging for about ten minutes now and it was probably the most exercise he had done in about ten years.

"Don't act like you hate being around me," Delaney teased as she playfully pushed Dean's head with a laugh. "I'm your favorite sibling and you know it."

Dean playfully rolled his eyes at his baby sister. "I guess you're not terrible, Della."

Delaney gasped and held her heart in mock offense. "You guess?"

"Shut up," Dean laughed as he went back to digging and stopped when his shovel hit wood. "Finally!" He broke through the top of the wooden box and stared down at the pile of bones and cloth that used to be Jacob Karns. "Come help, Della."

Delaney pushed herself off the ground and followed Dean over to the duffle bag where he took out salt, gas and a match. He handed Delaney the salt and she began pouring half the can over the bones before tossing it back into the bag. Dean poured the bottle of gas over the bones and lit a match.

"Goodbye, Preacher," Dean said before he dropped the match onto the bones which immediately ignited into flames. The two siblings exchanged high-fives before walking back to the car so they could let Sam know this whole thing was over.

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Unfortunately, this thing was not over. They wound up having to meet Sam at the hospital because the reverend had been attacked by the Hookman. Sam wasn't able to get to him in time to get rid of him.

They were stopped by two deputies guarding the corridor of the room the reverend was being held in. Delaney noticed Sam talking to the sheriff and pointed to the two. "That's our brother over there. We're with him."

"Sam!" Dean called as he waved his arms frantically to get his brother's attention.

Sam and the sheriff turned to see the two Winchester siblings standing there awkwardly waving.

"Well, let him through, boys," the sheriff commanded and Dean smiled politely at the deputies.

Delaney rushed forward to hug Sam tightly. She had been worried the whole way to the hospital that he had also somehow gotten hurt.

Sam placed a soft hand on Delaney's head and stroked it. "I'm okay, kiddo. I'm okay."

"What the hell happened?"

Sam gently removed Delaney's iron grip from around him and motioned for his siblings to walk with him down the corridor. "Hookman."

"You saw him?" Delaney asked as she slightly jogged to keep up with her brother's quick strides. Damn them for being six foot while she was only five foot.

Sam turned to face Dean and gave him a look. "Damn right. Why didn't you guys torch the bones?!"

Delaney and Dean exchanged a look before turning back to Sam. "Um, we did. You sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?" Delaney defended.

"Sure as hell looked like him, and that's not all. I don't think the spirit is latching onto the reverend."

"Well, yeah," Dean agreed as he stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. "The guy wouldn't send the Hookman after himself."

Sam waited for the sheriff to walk past them before continuing, "I think it's latching onto Lori. Last night she found out that her father is having an affair with a married woman."

"Okay, and?" Delaney challenged.

"So, she's upset about it," Sam responded. "She's upset about the immorality of it all. She was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished."

Delaney nodded her head as Sam's theory began to make sense to her. It didn't seem too farfetched. "Okay, so she's conflicted, and the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching onto her emotions and doing the punishing for her."

"Right," Sam agreed, happy at least one of his siblings saw where he was going. "Rich comes on too strong. Taylor tries to make her into a party girl. Dad has an affair."

Dean lightly scoffed and shook his head. "Remind me not to piss this girl off. But Della and I burned those bones. She buried them in salt. Why didn't that stop him?"

Sam stared out the window next to the trio as he tried to think of all the possibilities this could have gone wrong. "Maybe... you guys missed something?"

"No, we burned everything, Sammy. There was nothing else to burn once Dean and I were done," Delaney argued.

Sam moved his eyes over to Dean with a raised eyebrow. "Did you burn the hook?"

Dean's eyes widened as his head snapped over to his brother. "The hook?"

"It was the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him," Sam elaborated. "So, yeah, you should have burned it too."

"So, like the bones, the hook is part of what gives him his power to do this?" Delaney questioned, not really following the whole thing.

"Yeah, exactly. So, if we find the hook..."

"We stop the Hookman," Sam and Dean said in unison with the same goofy grin.

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Delaney and the boys found themselves back in the library for the second time as they did even more research to find out where the hook for the Hookman could be hiding.

"Here's something, I think," Dean stated after a half hour long silence.

Delaney leaned over in her seat next to Dean to see what he had found.

"Logbook, Iowa State Penitentiary. Karns, Jacob – personal affects, disposition thereof," Dean read.

Sam moved his chair closer and raked his eyes over the pages. "Does it mention the hook at all?"

Dean pointed to a paragraph on the bottom of the second page. "Upon execution, all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner's house of worship, St. Barnabas Church."

Delaney sat up straighter as a thought occurred to her. "Um, isn't that where Lori's father preaches?"

"Where Lori lives?" Sam added on.

"That's why the Hookman's been haunting reverends and reverend's daughters for the past two hundred years."

"But if the hook were at the church or Lori's house, don't you think someone might've seen it?" Sam wondered aloud as he looked over the information in the book. "I mean, a blood-stained, silver-handled hook?"

"Check the church records," Dean spoke as he got up and grabbed a book for Sam to skim through.

Sam leaned back in his seat as he quickly skimmed through the pages until he found the church's name in the book. "Yeah, here it is. St. Barnabas donations, 1862. Received – silver-handled hook from state penitentiary. Reforged."

"So, they melted it down and made it into something else," Delaney clarified with a frown. "But what?"

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Delaney, Sam and Dean exited the Impala a few hours later once night time fell over the area.

"Anything silver goes in the fire. We can't be too careful," Dean ordered as the three made their way over to the church.

"I agree," Sam stated softly. No one was around, but you could never be too sure with this town so the three were trying to keep their voices down as much as possible. "Lori's still at the hospital. We'll have to break in."

Delaney scoffed and fidgeted with the duffle bag on her shoulder. "Like that ever stopped us before."

"So, take your pick then, Della. Do you want to break into the house with Sam? Or do you want to go into the church with me?"

Delaney glanced between her brothers and chewed her lip. She hated that they were always left splitting up one and two. She didn't like that each time either Sam or Dean were alone, especially during these situations.

"I'll go with Sammy this time," Delaney finally answered and Dean nodded before running over to the church.

"Come on, kiddo," Sam began to walk over to the house with Delaney trailing behind him. "I'm surprised you chose me. You usually go with Dean."

Delaney bumped her shoulder with his. "I can't leave you by yourself all the time. I care about you too, you know."

Sam smiled and nudged her back with his arm. "Care about you too, Delly. I'm proud of you."

"Me? Why?" Delaney asked as she stopped outside of the house with Sam.

"You're handling all of this a lot better than I would have, you know? You lost Will, and then you're thrown into this whole hunting business without even knowing what it's about. You're kicking ass with barely any training. You're a strong person, Delly, and you've really been mature about it all. So... I'm proud of you."

Delaney glanced behind her at the house before focusing back on Sam. "This would be a lot cuter if we weren't standing in front of a house where we could be possibly hooked by a crazed Captain Hook."

Sam chuckled and looked down at the ground in embarrassment. "Yeah, probably the worst time to bring it up, but just thought I had to let you know."

Sam lead the way into the house through an open window on the bottom floor. The two decided to split up and search the house for any silver they could find. Delaney promised to scream as loud as she could if she were to come face to face with the Hookman.

After being split up for about ten minutes, Sam and Delaney met each other back in the living room before running down to the basement of the church where Dean threw everything into a salted fire.

"We found whatever we could that was silver," Sam dropped both his and Delaney's pillow cases full of silver items onto the ground next to Dean's feet.

"It works," Dean assured them both before dumping the silver items out and tossing them into the fire pit.

Delaney slowly looked up at the ceiling above as dust rained down on them. The sound of footsteps creaking along the floorboards could be heard as all three seemed to freeze in place.

"Move, move," Dean quietly ordered before he grabbed his gun and rushed up the stairs with Delaney and Sam behind him. They made it up the stairs and slowly into the church, only to see Lori sitting in the front pew on her knees in prayer. She quietly sobbed to herself as she most likely prayed for her father to make it through whatever injuries he sustained from the Hookman.

Dean gently pushed Delaney forward and motioned for her to comfort the girl while him and Sam were to go downstairs and finish burning everything.

Delaney licked her lips and slowly made her way over to the girl. "Lori?"

Lori looked up at Delaney with tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"More like what are you doing here? Are you okay?" Delaney countered as she sat next to the girl on the bench.

"I'm trying to understand what's been happening, why," Lori's voice shook as she explained. "Now I know, so I'm praying for forgiveness."

Delaney furrowed her eyebrows at the girl. What would she need forgiveness for? She was a sweet girl who didn't seem like the type to do anything wrong. "For what?"

"Don't you see? I'm to blame for all of this. I'm sure your brother Sam has told you," Lori sniffled as she wiped her eyes with her sweater sleeve. "I've read in the bible about avenging angels."

Delaney shook her head and placed her hand on Lori. "Lori, trust me, okay? This guy – he's no angel."

"I was so angry with my father," Lori continued as if she didn't hear with Delaney said. "Part of me wanted him punished, and then he came and he punished him."

"It's not your fault," Delaney assured as she rubbed the distressed girl's arm.

"Yes, it is!" Lori cried as she threw her hands in the air. "I don't know how, but it is. I killed Rich. Taylor, too. I nearly killed my father."

"Lori," Delaney urged, making the girl look her in the eye. "You didn't do anything to anyone. None of this could have been your fault."

Lori laughed humorlessly and looked down at her lap. "I can see it now. They didn't deserve to be punished. I do."

Delaney went to argue – yet again – when the sound of air whizzing by her made her freeze. Her head slowly turned in the direction the air blew in. When she heard the sound of chains, she quickly got out of the bench and dragged Lori with her.

"Delaney, what's wrong?" Lori asked in concern, her problems seeming to vanish at Delaney's sudden fright.

The candles on the altar suddenly blew out and Delaney gripped Lori's hand tighter. "Lori, we have to get out of here, okay?" She began to walk Lori over to the front doors of the church. Dean left the Impala unlocked, so if the girls could get to the car and lock themselves in, they could probably be okay until Sam and Dean get out there after hearing all the noise.

When Delaney opened the door, however, Hookman waited for them on the other side. Delaney screamed as she quickly shut the door and stumbled back with Lori. She grabbed Lori's hand again and rushed them towards the back room where they kept all the wine and bread for the Communion part of mass. Delaney tried to close the inner room's door but the Hookman appeared and swung his hook through the air, hoping to hit them.

Delaney squeaked and tried to find another way out. She dodged each swing the Hookman swung at her and pushed Lori towards the next door of the back part of the church. The Hookman appeared there and Delaney quickly jumped in front of her, earning a slash to the shoulder. She cried out as she fell to the ground and held her shoulder.

Lori was pushed to the ground by an invisible force and dragged across the next room. 

Delaney scrambled to her feet and rushed over to Lori to help her off the ground. "Come on, Lori!"

The Hookman appeared again and flung Delaney across the room and into the bookcase, sending both her and the bookcase crashing to the ground. Groaning, she lifted her head to see the Hookman advancing on Lori again. She army crawled out from under the bookcase and ran up behind the Hookman.

"Delaney, drop!" Dean yelled as he ran down the hall, Sam directly behind him.

Delaney turned to see Dean holding up a shotgun. She dropped to the ground as Dean fired on the Hookman. Hearing the thing vanish, she sat up and looked at her brothers. "What the hell?"

"I don't know!" Sam growled in frustration.

"Maybe we missed something," Dean suggested as he looked around the room.

Delaney looked behind her to Lori who was still breathing erratically. "Lori, where did you get that chain?"

Lori looked down to the silver cross chain around her neck and held it up. "My father, he gave it to me."

"Where'd your dad get it?"

"It was a church heirloom or something, I don't know. He gave it to me!"

"Is it silver?!" Sam rushed as he walked over to Delaney and Lori.

Lori nodded, and Sam ripped the necklace off Lori's neck. Just as he did that, the sound of hook scrapping across wall could be heard as a line was appearing on the wall down the hall from where they were. Dean slowly turned to look at the line appearing out of nowhere.

"Della," Dean tossed her the gun and Sam tossed him the silver chain. Dean rushed off down the hall as Delaney got back on her feet and began to shoot wherever the lines on the wall appeared. Sam knelt down on the ground next to Lori as he whispered comforting words to her to keep her calm. Delaney would "aww" and tease her brother for having an obvious crush in this moment if it weren't for this damn spirit.

The Hookman appeared in front of Delaney and knocked the gun from out of her hand. She dropped to the ground and scrambled back to her brother who pushed her behind him and gulped as she watched the Hookman raise his hook to slash at the trio. Before he could get to slashing, he froze as his hook began to melt away from him and he burst into flames before vanishing right before their eyes.

Dean ran over and gave them all a thumbs up with a sheepish smile. They finally did it.

⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷

Delaney sat on the back of the ambulance as the EMT patched up the wound on her shoulder. Dean spoke to the sheriff a few feet away and Sam talked – well flirted - with Lori by the house. Lori had originally come to stay with her, but she knew how much Sam liked her and he wasn't going to have a lot of time left with her. So, she let him have the last few minutes they would be there with her. She smiled gratefully at the EMT as he told her she was good to go.

Dean walked up to her and smiled best he could once the sheriff and him finished talking. "You okay, Della?"

"Just sore is all," Delaney admitted, rolling her shoulders a few times. "Might have nightmares again, but that I'm used to."

"You still having those?" Dean questioned as he sat next to her on the back of the ambulance.

Delaney shook her head and played with her jacket she held in her hands. "No, they stopped for now."

Dean wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders and kissed the side of her head. "You did really good, baby girl. You protected Lori and put us other Winchesters to shame with your fearlessness. I'm proud of you."

"It is the family business after all," Delaney joked, nudging Dean in the side. "I learned from the best."

"I try my best," Dean joked back with a smile.

"Now that this adventure is over, it's time to go looking for dad again, huh?" Delaney asked as she slid off the ambulance and faced her brother.

"You ready to hit the road?" Dean questioned as Sam walked over.

Sam nodded and glanced at the sheriff. "Yeah, the sheriff keeps giving us the evil eyes. We should go before we turn to stone."

Delaney rolled her eyes. "I hate you both," she teased before turning on her heel and making her way over to the Impala. 

AUTHORS NOTE

Hai all. I am so sorry that updates are taking FOREVER. You guys can honestly blame school, but I only have two weeks left so expect frequent (or at least faster) updates soon!

Our girl Delaney kicked some Hookman ASS and it was BRILLIANT. I am living for my badass baby okay? I love her, she is my child.

ORIGINALLY POSTED: MAY 20TH, 2018

EDITED ON: SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2019