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SEASON 01, EPISODE 16

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"I cannot believe you actually convinced me to wear this stupid costume," Dean complained as the three siblings crossed the street to an apartment building where a girl named Meredith had been murdered. The way the article explained it with the alarm not being triggered or any sort of break in sounded like their kind of gig so Delaney had brought it up to her brothers. They decided to check it out since they weren't all that far from the area when Delaney saw the article. "I feel like a high school drama dork."

Delaney teasingly pinched his cheek and he slapped her hand away with a glare. "I think you look adorable in your little repair man's jumpsuit. However, these things are annoying and I don't understand how other girls wear rompers. I feel naked under this thing."

Dean chuckled and messed around with the tool box in his hand. "What was that play you did when you were in elementary school? Our Town? Yeah, you looked real cute up there on that stage."

Sam nodded in agreement and laughed lightly at the memory. "Remember we bought her those flowers and they were so much bigger than she was so the flowers looked like they sprouted legs as she walked around."

"I still can't believe her little friends thought you were a tree because of how abnormally tall you were," Dean teased.

Delaney just shook her head at her brothers and focused back on the reason they were here. "Look, if you want to pull this off we need to look the part."

"I'm just saying these outfits cost hard-earned money," Dean retorted with a small huff.

Delaney scoffed and turned to Dean before any of them could enter the apartment building. "Whose, Dean?"

"Ours. You think credit-card fraud is easy?"

"Dramatic."

Dean glared at Delaney as she entered the building, not even bothering to wait for her brothers and waltzed over to the owner of the apartment building who was at the front desk. "Uh, hi. We're here to look at the faulty alarm that was in a woman named Meredith's apartment?"

The small woman looked up from her paperwork and eyed Delaney for a second, her eyes shifting to the two boys that now stood behind her and eventually nodded. She motioned for the siblings to follow her up to the third floor where Meredith's apartment was and unlocked the door for the siblings.

"Thank you for letting us in and letting us look," Delaney politely said as she stepped into the apartment, followed by her brothers. Blood littered the ground around them, staining the white rug and wooden floors of the apartment. A splat of it decorated the white wall by the windows.

"The police said they were done with the place, so..." the building owner responded, pulling the key out of the doorknob and lead the three into the apartment, Dean closing the door behind them. "You guys said you were with the alarm company?"

"That's right," Dean replied as he scanned the living room they stood in currently.

The small woman turned to them, giving them all a pointed look. "Well, no offense, but your alarm is about as useful with a man with boobs."

Delaney snorted as both her brothers looked down at their chests before looking back to the building owner who merely shrugged at them.

"Now, ma'am, you found the body?" Delaney questioned the woman while she let her brothers look around the apartment for anything that could clue them in to what did this.

"I found Meredith a few days after it happened. Her work called and said she didn't show up for her shift that day. I knocked on her door and that's when I noticed... the smell."

Delaney scanned the room, but saw nothing that looked like it was out of place or moved. "No windows were open or any sign of break in?"

The smaller woman shook her head and lifted her hand to motion towards the windows and doors. "No. Windows were locked. Front door was bolted. Chain was on the door. We had to cut it to get in."

Delaney noticed the broken chain that hung from the front door and looked back to the small woman next to her. "The alarm was still on?"

"Like I said. Bang up job that company is doing," the woman sassed and Delaney rose an eyebrow at her. She almost wanted to laugh at the woman's sassy attitude.

"Did you see any overturned furniture, broken glass, signs of struggle?" Dean listed as he stepped away from the windows and furniture that he could get his hands on.

"Everything was in perfect condition... except Meredith."

Delaney exchanged looks with her brothers before she turned back to the building owner. "Do you mind telling us what condition she was in?"

"Meredith was all over, in pieces," the woman recounted and visibly shuddered at the memory of it. "The guy who did it must have been a whack job. I tell you, if I didn't know any better, I'd have said a wild animal did it."

"Ma'am, you mind if we take some time to give this place a once over?" Sam politely asked and the woman nodded, leaving the Winchesters to do whatever they needed.

Dean waited for the woman to leave before he walked over to the toolbox he brought with them and took out the EMF reader. "So the killer walks in and out of the apartment - no weapons, no prints, nothing."

"Why do you think I brought this up to you, Dean? It seemed extremely bizarre to me how there could be no struggles and the alarm being in tact." Delaney grabbed the EMF meter from Dean and switched it on. It instantly blinked red and made a whirring sound as it continued to scan the room.

"I think the meter agrees with you, kiddo."

"Did you talk to the cops?" Delaney asked her brother as she walked along the room with him, inspecting it to see which areas were more dangerous than the other.

Dean breathed out through his nose with a small grin. "Talked to Amy - a, uh, charming perky officer of the law."

Delaney decided to ignore his description of the cop and just asked him her next question, "What did you find out?"

"Well, she's a Sagittarius. She loves tequila. I mean... whew. She even has this little tat - "

"Dean!" Delaney snapped at him and he blinked at the deadpan expression she had on her face. "I don't care. What did you find out about the case, stupid?"

Dean sheepishly smiled at his sister and scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, one thing that the paper didn't write about. Meredith's heart was missing."

Sam turned around at that point, his own meter in his hand as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Heart?"

"Yeah, her heart."

"Do you know what did it to her?" Delaney questioned as her and Dean met Sam in the middle of the room again. 

"Well, the landlady said it looked like an animal attack," Dean recalled. "Maybe it was. Werewolf?"

Delaney thought about it for a second, but shook her head. "The lunar cycle doesn't match up to that though, right?" 

Sam nodded his head, proud that his sister knew that. "Plus if it was a creature, it would have left some kind of trace. It was probably a spirit."

Dean tilted his head as he inspected the blood that splattered the white throw rug in the middle of the living room. "Della, grab me tape from the toolbox."

"Um, okay?" Delaney trailed off and grabbed the roll of masking tape from the box and handed it off to her brother.

Dean knelt down on the ground and ripped multiple pieces of tape from the roll and started to connect the blood spots on the rug with them. By the time he was done and stood in between his siblings, he had made a symbol that resembled a circle with two lines coming out of either side, curling at the ends.

"What's that symbol?" 

Dean shook his head as he tried to figure out what it was, but failed. "No idea."

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Delaney skimmed over the two articles in her hand: one being Meredith's and the other being a man named Ben Swardstrom. Dean was at the bar trying to get information on Meredith from the bartender and Sam was sat next to her as he helped her leaf through their dad's journal for any information, but they were hitting dead ends with it.

"I talked to the bartender," Dean announce as he sat across from Delaney at the high-top circular table her and Sam sat at.

Delaney didn't even look up from the articles in her hand. "Did you get anything... besides her number?"

"Della, I'm a professional. I'm offended that you would think that," Dean tried to pull an innocent face but Delaney just stared at him until he finally held up a napkin with the woman's number on it. He smiled innocently at his baby sister. "Okay, I got it."

Sam raised his eyebrows at his brother, wondering how he always seemed to get girls' numbers even when they were on hunts. "You mind doing a little bit of thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?"

"Oh come on. There's nothing to find out," Dean groaned and slipped the number into his pocket. "Meredith worked here. She waited tables. Everyone here is her friend. Everyone says she's normal. She didn't do or say anything weird before she died." He shrugged and looked between the articles and their dad's journal. "What about that symbol? Did you guys find anything?"

Sam shook his head and closed their dad's journal with a frustrated huff. "Nope. Nothing. It wasn't in Dad's journal or in any of the usual books. We just have to dig a little deeper, I guess."

"Well, there was a first victim, right, before Meredith?"

Delaney handed Dean the article that spoke about Ben's death. "Yeah, his name was Ben Swardstrom. Last month he was found mutilated in his town house. Same deal. The door was locked. Alarm was on."

"Is there any connection between them?" Dean asked, cutting Delaney's list off.

"Nothing I could tell. I mean, at least not yet. Ben was a banker. Meredith was a waitress. They never met, never knew anyone in common, they were practically from different worlds," Delaney informed her brother, slightly conflicted what could be going on. Usually there were connections with the victims of their cases, but not this one and it was throwing Delaney off.

"So to recap," Dean said, tossing the article back towards his sister. "The only successful intel we've scored is that bartender's number."

Delaney sighed and looked over her brother's shoulder to scan the bar for maybe a lead they could use to help them, but froze the second her eyes landed on a familiar head of blonde hair. Her eyes widened and she tilted her head to the side while she tried to figure out if it was truly the person she thought she was seeing. His back was to her, but Delaney knew the back of his head well even if she was with him for a little less than a day.

"What?" Sam asked, following his sister's gaze to the blonde haired boy sat across the bar.

Alarm bells went off in Delaney's head and she quickly slipped off her stool and pushed her way to the other side of the bar, ignoring Dean and Sam's calls for her. She knew that she shouldn't just be running off, especially since both boys were still a little shaken up from when she got captured on their last hunt. However, she learned being on the road that she should never ignore her alarm bells and she was going to face them head on. Time for information.

Delaney reached out and tapped the boy on the shoulder, he turned around and Mason's charming smile spread across his face instantly at the sight of her. He almost looked a little too happy to see her. That only made her alarm bells go off even louder. "Mason, hey."

"Delaney, is that you? Wow!" Mason chuckled incredulously as he jumped up and wrapped his arms around her in a tight, welcoming hug. He pulled away and placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them gently. "What are you doing here?"

Delaney smiled at him, deciding to act like she wasn't completely suspicious of him right now and that she was just as happy to see the boy. "I'm just in town - visiting some friends."

Mason's eyes scanned the bar and when he didn't see anyone with her, he focused his confused expression on her. "Where are they?"

"They're not here yet, but what about you, Mason? I thought you were going to California."

Mason beamed and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Oh, I did. I came. I saw. I conquered. Oh and I met what's his name - something Michael Murray - at a bar."

"Chad Michael Murray?" Delaney informed, remembering the name from that one Hilary Duff movie she had watched with a few of the girls in high school.

"Yeah, him!" Mason snapped his fingers and pointed at Delaney. "Anyways, the whole scene got old to me, so I'm living here for a while."

The sound of a throat clearing next to her caused Delaney to jump slightly and she noticed her brothers stood on either side of her, eyeing the boy she was talking to. Dean looked like he wanted to jump the kid for talking to her and Sam had a protective look on his face, but also seemed to be trying to figure the kid out like Delaney was.

Delaney ignored Dean's throat clearing as her mind registered what Mason had said. "Wait, you're from Chicago?"

"Oh, um, no. Massachusetts... Andover." Mason's smile only seemed to grow wider as he took in the shorter girl in front of him. The look throw her off and she didn't like the warning bells that kept going off either. "What are the odds we'd run into each other?"

Delaney rocked back on her heels and laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah. I thought I'd never see you again."

Mason bit his lip and stuffed his hands into his back pockets. "Well, I'm glad you were wrong."

Was he flirting with her? Okay, this officially hit weird for her. He was flirtatious the last time they were together, but this was just odd. Dean cleared his throat louder this time and Delaney glared at him for being annoying.

"You might want to take something for that," Mason suggested, seeming a little annoyed like Delaney that Dean kept clearing his throat.

Delaney ignored the dark look Dean was giving her and she turned back to Mason. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about him. These two boys, um - these are my brothers Dean and Sam."

Mason's eyes widened and her looked between the two taller boys flanking both of Delaney's sides, looking at him as if he were a criminal. "This is Dean and Sam?"

"So you heard of us," Dean boasted, a smirk gracing his face but it was definitely not a friendly one.

Mason crossed his arms and gave Dean a once over. Delaney could tell before Mason even opened his mouth that this would not end well. "Oh, yeah, I've heard of you. Nice - the way you treat your sister like luggage."

Delaney choked on her air and tried desperately to avoid Dean's heated gaze on the side of her face. 

"Why don't you let her do what she wants to do? She's a grown adult, you know. Stop dragging her over God's green Earth."

"Mason," Delaney cut Mason off before he could say anything else and literally get her even more of a lecture than she was going to get from just speaking to him. Now he was just adding more fuel to Dean's fire. "It's okay. Seriously."

Sam quietly excused him and Dean, pushing him in the direction of the bar. He gave Delaney a look over his shoulder that told her that this conversation would be continued later when they left the bar. She squeezed her eyes and willed herself not to find the nearest hole and hide in it.

"I'm sorry," Mason said, snapping Delaney out of her thoughts. "It's just, the way you told me Dean treats you, if it were me, I'd kill him. Then Sam is just so quiet about everything so you have to fend Dean off yourself. It's just wrong."

Delaney shook her head, feeling a strong urge to defend both of her brothers because Mason didn't exactly know the full context of why her brothers were the way they were. "Dean means well, honestly. Sam just knows I can fight for myself against Dean and he feels he shouldn't get involved in our arguments unless it gets bad, which it usually never does so..."

Mason nodded even though he seemed like he didn't necessarily believe her. "Well, we should hook up while you're in town. I could show you a Hell of a good time."

"Yeah that sounds great," Delaney responded, forcing a fake smile onto her face as she took down Mason's numbers and he took down hers. "You better call and not be that guy that takes the number then dips."

Mason faked a gasp and placed a hand over his heart. "It pains me that you think of me like that."

Delaney chuckled for real that time and crossed her arms. "I never actually got your last name."

"Masters."

Delaney took a mental note of the last name to give Dean before she waved goodbye to the blonde haired boy, meeting her brothers outside. She grabbed them by their sleeves and took them over to the Impala. Before she could open her mouth and voice her suspicions, Dean whirled on her and he looked the furthest thing from happy with her.

"Who the Hell was he?"

"Whoa, okay, Dad," Delaney rolled her eyes and mimicked his stance. "His name is Mason. I only met him once. Meeting up with him again? That just rubs me the wrong way."

Dean narrowed his eyes at her and Delaney could see the lecture looming in the distance. "What was he saying - I treat you like luggage? You were bitching about me to some random dude?"

Delaney sighed and dropped her hands to her sides. "I'm sorry, Dean, okay? It was right after we had that huge fight where you called me a brat and I walked away. When I was in that bus stop in Indiana. However, that's not important."

"Is there any truth in what he said? Are we keeping you against your will, Delaney?" Dean snapped, cutting her off.

Delaney groaned and rubbed her hands over her face, frustrated because her brother wouldn't let her speak. "Dean! No you're not now can you just listen to me?"

"What?!"

"I think there's something strange going on here," Delaney admitted, looking between both of her brothers who looked equally confused.

"Why do you say that?" Sam inquired, leaning against the hood of the Impala.

Delaney scoffed slightly and gestured to the bar behind her. "I met Mason weeks ago literally on the side of the road. Now I run into him at a random Chicago bar - the same bar where a waitress was slaughtered by something supernatural. Neither one of you find that weird?"

"He did give me weird vibes," Sam agreed with his sister, but Dean looked like he was still skeptical.

"I don't know. This kind of stuff happens, Della. Random coincidence."

Delaney gave her eldest brother an odd look. "Have you met our family, Dean? Random coincidences don't exactly happen to us. Look, I could be wrong. I'm just saying there's something about that kid that I can't quite put my finger on."

Dean crossed his arms and smirked. "I bet you want to. Maybe she's not a suspect. Maybe you got a thing for him, huh? It's been months since Will so no one will judge you if you are. Though I will have to break his legs if he tries anything with you."

Delaney looked to Sam for help and he quickly reacted by slapping Dean upside the head. "Thank you, Sammy. No I'm not into him, Dean, okay? Just do me a favor. Check and see if there really is a Mason Masters from Andover, Massachusetts and see if you can't dig anything up on that symbol while you're at it."

"What are you gonna do?" Sam asked, noticing Delaney didn't give herself a job.

Delaney grinned innocently at Dean and rocked back on her heels. "I'm gonna take the Impala and keep an eye on Mason."

"You are not taking my car!"

"Really that's the part of the sentence that threw you off?" Sam looked at his brother in disbelief.

Delaney held her hand out for the keys. "You taught me how to drive, Dean, unless you forgot. So I will only drive Baby the same way you have been this whole time."

Dean groaned and shoved the keys into her waiting hands. "I swear to God, Delaney Winchester, if I see even a scratch on her I'm grounding you for the rest of your life."

Delaney smirked and closed her hands around the keys and winked at her brother. "No promises, Dean."

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Delaney slowly pulled up in front of the house that Mason had been living in while he was in town. She had weaseled it out of Mason as she texted him before she drove over. She turned the car off and lowered herself in her seat so it wouldn't look like anyone was in the car. Her phone going off scared her slightly but she quickly picked it up.

"Dean?"

"Let me guess, you're lurking outside that poor kid's apartment, aren't you?"

Delaney exaggeratedly scoffed and bit her nail as she looked through the windows, but didn't see any sign of Mason. "Um... no. Why would you even think such a thing, Dean?" When she was met with silence on the end, she sighed and and mumbled how she hated Dean.

"You've got a funny way of showing your affection, kiddo. Is this how you got Will?"

"I'm going to hang up on you in two seconds, Dean," Delaney warned. He should count his lucky stars she wasn't with him because if she were anywhere near him, he'd get a killer punch to the arm. "You find anything on Mason?"

"Sorry, Della, she checks out. There's a Mason Masters in the Andover phone book. I even pulled up his high school photo. Now, look, why don't you go ring his doorbell and take him out to a poetry reading or whatever it is you young kids do?"

Delaney rolled her eyes even though Dean couldn't see her and resisted the urge to hang up on him. "Did Sam find anything out about the symbol?"

"I did," came Sam's voice and Delaney was glad she wouldn't have to listen to Dean anymore torture her about Mason. "I actually had some luck with it. Turns out it's Zoroastrian. Very, very old school, like two thousand years before Christ. It's a sigil for a Daeva."

"What's a Daeva exactly?"

"It translates to demon of darkness - Zoroastrian demons, and they're savage, animalistic, nasty attitudes - kind of like demonic pit bulls. I couldn't find anything on my own so I called Dad's friend Caleb up and he was able to explain it to Dean and I. Anyway, these Daevas, they have to be summoned."

"So someone is controlling it?" Delaney asked in confirmation.

"Pretty much," Sam confirmed with a sigh. "From what Dean and I could gather so far, it's pretty risky business, too. These suckers tend to bite the end that feeds them... and the arms and the torsos."

Delaney leaned her head back against the back of her seat and closed her eyes. Why couldn't these things ever be easy? "Okay, well, what do they look like?"

"Unfortunately, that part I don't know. Nobody has seen them for a couple of millennia. Summoning a demon that ancient, someone really knows their stuff. I think we might have a major player in town."

Delaney noticed the light in Mason's apartment turn on and she said a quick bye to her brother before tossing her phone back into her pocket. She watched as Mason came into view through the window, shirtless and his boxers. Her face instantly heat up in embarrassment at seeing him like that and hid her face for a few minutes until she was sure he was dressed.

When her gaze traveled back to the window, the lights were off again and she saw Mason walking out of the apartment building. Delaney quickly laid across the seat and waited for a few moments before poking her head out, seeing Mason walking down the sidewalk like he was in a rush. Slowly sliding her gun into the back of jeans waistband, she quietly got out of the Impala and followed after Mason.

Delaney followed Mason to a a deserted part of the town and snuck in behind Mason through a metal door that had a sign that read DO NOT ENTER on it. She quietly shut the door behind her and looked around the darkened space around her. The place itself gave her creepy vibes as she quietly crept around towards a set of metal stairs, a door at the top. Of course with the Winchester luck, the door was locked.

Cursing quietly to herself, Delaney scanned the area and noticed a caged elevator and quietly jogged down the metal steps and over to it. She pulled the door to the elevator behind her and looked up. The building seemed to go up quite a few floors and since the elevator would be loud, she couldn't exactly use it to go up. This meant she had to climb up the walls of the elevators. She was just glad she was used to climbing because that was all her gym teacher in high school had the kids do. Instead of climbing a rope like in school though, she'd just be scaling the side of the elevator.

Once Delaney reached the top, the first thing she saw was a table with a bunch of dark candles and other objects scattered on top of it. It looked like the table that the woman had to call upon the Reaper when they thought Dean was going to die from being electrocuted. At least she found where whoever was summoning these demons were doing it from. 

Not much to her surprise, Mason walked out of a room on the other side and stopped in front of the table. He reached out and grabbed the golden goblet that was in the middle of the table and began to circle his hand over the rim of it, reciting something in an ancient language. Delaney wanted to assume it had to do with whatever these Daeva things were from.

"I don't think you should come," Mason spoke into the cup like there was a person in there. "That girl and her brothers - they're in town. I didn't know that - " He cut himself off as if someone had said to something. "Yes, sir. I'll be here... waiting for you."

Mason lowered the goblet back down onto the table and blew out all the candles before turning on his heel and stalking out of the room, locking the door behind him.

Once Delaney was sure he was gone, she climbed her way into the room and rushed over to the table, freezing when she saw the symbol from Meredith's apartment drawn in blood on the table. 

"What the Hell?" Delaney breathed as she took in the sight before her.

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Delaney rushed into the motel room and scanned the room for her brothers. Sam was sat at the table with his head in his hands and Dean had just exited the bathroom.

"I need to talk to you," Dean and Delaney said to each other the same time. 

"What do you need to tell us?" Dean questioned and sat down at the table next to Sam who had lowered his hands from his head to look at his sister.

Delaney stood in front of the two of them and divulged into how she had followed Mason and how he was the one that's been summoning the Daevas the whole time. "I told you I had a bad feeling about him."

Dean sat back in his seat and ran a hand down his face. "So... Mason is summoning the Daeva?"

"It looks like she was using some black altar to control the thing."

Dean smirked and crossed his arms across his chest. "Who knew that Delaney had a thing for bad boys?"

Delaney shot a look to Sam who slapped him upside the head again and Delaney grinned in satisfaction at the sound of Dean groaning in pain.

"So, what's the deal with the goblet thing again?" Sam questioned, ignoring Dean who was complaining to him about hitting so hard.

Delaney shrugged her shoulders and slapped her hands to the side. "I don't know. It was like... he was talking into the thing. Kind of like how a witch would speak into a crystal ball or something. He was communicating with someone."

"With the Daeva?" Dean asked, still rubbing the back of his head with a grimace.

"No, Sam said those things were savages. This was someone different, someone who was giving him orders. Someone who is going to that warehouse he was in."

Dean perked up at that and instantly grabbed the gray folder in front of him, opening it and reading the top page inside. His eyes widened and he closed it, his eyes training on Delaney. "Holy crap. The thing I was going to tell you when you first came in? I pulled a favor with my..." He trailed off and cleared his throat, fiddling with the folder in his hands. "Um... my friend Amy over at the police department. Complete records of the two victims. We missed something the first time."

Delaney slowly made her way over to the table and sat down in between her brothers, knowing fully well that if she stood for this information she'd probably collapse at the information with how Dean was looking at her and Sam. 

"The first victim - the old man? He spent his whole life in Chicago, but he wasn't born here. Look where he was born."

Delaney tilted her head as Dean pushed the file closer to her and she froze when she saw his birthplace. "Lawrence, Kansas," she whispered.

"Mmm-hmm," Dean hummed and flipped the page to the next file. "Meredith - the second victim? It turns out she was adopted. Guess where she's from?"

Sam licked his dry lips and ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Holy crap."

Delaney dropped her head to the table and banged her forehead against a few times. Sam put his hand under her forehead so she wouldn't hurt herself. Did everything with the Winchesters always have to be complicated? Couldn't anything just be simple? Eventually, Delaney pulled her head back off the table and lowered herself in her seat. 

"I mean... that is where this thing killed mom, right? That's where this whole messed up situation started. You think Mason's tied up with the demon?"

"It could definitely be a possibility," Sam responded.

"I just..." Delaney sighed and cut herself off, trying to form her thoughts properly. "What's the significance of Lawrence and how do these Daeva things fit in?"

Dean shook his head with a shrug. "Beats me. I say we trash the black altar, grab Mason, and have ourselves a friendly little interrogation."

"No, we shouldn't tip him off," Delaney countered, looking between her two brothers who both looked ready to just jump and rip Mason's head off. "We've got to stake out that warehouse. We've got to see who... or what is showing up to meet him."

"I don't think we should do this alone," Dean said and leaned his elbows on the table. 

Delaney sighed because she knew Dean meant their dad and watched as he pushed himself away from the table to call John. She felt Sam's eyes on her and she furrowed her brows at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sam looked like he wanted to say something but just shook his head as if he thought against it and mumbled something about going to the car to grab stuff. 

Delaney watched as Sam closed the motel room door behind him. She'd never seen Sam act so weird around her before. Usually he'd always tell her what was on his mind, but now he was suddenly bottling it up? Delaney was aware that was a Winchester trait, but never between the two youngest Winchester siblings. That only sent worry coursing through her veins at what he wanted to tell her.

"Dad, if you get this, just please get to Chicago as soon as you can," Dean whispered into the phone before hanging up.

"Voice mail?" Delaney asked and stood up, walking over to Dean who nodded. "I can't say I'm surprised."

Dean eyed his sister for a moment and she crossed her arms as she waited for him to say whatever it was he wanted to. "I just... I wanted to say I'm sorry for not believing you about Mason. I should have seen the creeper signs when I saw him at the bar like you had. I guess you're grasping onto this hunting faster than I thought."

"Who knows? Maybe I'll become even better than you," Delaney mused and giggled when Dean glared at her and threw her onto the bed next to him. "Don't be a hater."

Dean rose an eyebrow and reached to tickle her sides, causing her to screech in surprise and try to push Dean's hands away.

Sam walked back into the room and froze by the bed as he watched his brother and sister for a second. "You guys are seriously the oddest people I have ever met in my entire life."

Delaney eventually pushed Dean's hands away from her and watched as Sam dropped the duffle bag between the two of them. "What did you do, Sam? Take the whole damn trunk?"

"Well, I didn't know what we were dealing so might as well prepare for everything, right?"

Dean nodded in agreement before he started to check all the weapons inside the duffle with Sam. "It's a big night."

"Are you guys nervous?" Delaney asked, feeling a little nervous herself but trying to not show it to her brothers.

"No."

"No way.

"Liars," Delaney mumbled and ignore the glares they both sent her.

Sam tossed the gun he had just checked into the duffle and chuckled softly. "God, can you guys imagine fi we found that damn demon?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, alright?" Dean countered, holding his hand up before Sam could continue. 

"If it ends tonight, I'll sleep for a month," Delaney voiced, desperately missing the sleep she had been missing out on since she joined her brothers. "Go back to school, just be freaking normal again."

It seemed to be the wrong thing to say because Dean's actions stopped at the mention of her going back to school. "You want to go back to school?"

Delaney shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I mean. Once we're done hunting this thing and kill, why not? Is there something wrong with that, Dean?"

Dean didn't even bother looking up from his weapon and continued to make sure it was set up properly. "No. It's great. Good for you."

Delaney narrowed her eyes at Dean and crossed her arms. "Oh, and what are you going to do once it's all over, Dean? Huh?"

"It'll never be over, Delaney, don't you get it?" Dean retorted, tossing the weapon into the duffle. "There's still going to be others. There's always going to be something to hunt."

"There's got to be something you want when this is done," Delaney argued.

Dean finally turned to her and Delaney almost flinched at the intensity of his gaze. "Yeah, I don't want my baby sister to leave when this over." He walked away from her and over to the dresser, pretending to fiddle with something that was on top of it.

"Neither do I," Sam agreed with his brother.

Delaney was quiet for a long moment as she glanced back and forth between her brothers. Dean leaned his hands against the dresser to her left, his head bowed as he tried to calm himself down. Sam was now sat on the bed and trying to avoid her gaze so she wouldn't see the wetness building up in them.

"Am I missing something? What's wrong?"

Dean took a deep breath and finally leaned his back against the dresser so he could look at his sister. "Why do you think Sam and I drag you everywhere, huh? Why do you think we came and got you from school?"

Delaney only felt the confusion intensify inside of her at Dean's response. Wasn't that answer clear? " 'Cause Dad was in trouble. 'Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom."

"It's more than that, Delaney!" Dean yelled and threw his hands in the air. "You, Sammy, Dad and me - I want us to be together again. Sam wants us to be together again."

"It would just be nice to be a family again," Sam spoke and blinked the tears from his eyes. "I hate that you left, Delly, I really do. It wasn't the same once you left for school, you know? Dad was worried all the time because you were alone and didn't know what crept in the dark. Dean didn't show it, but he would make excuses to swing by your school just to see if you were okay. I didn't sleep because you were never on your own before and I was scared something would happen to you and I wouldn't be there to protect my little sister."

Delaney felt her heart strings tug at both of her brothers' confessions. It was the first time in a while that Delaney actually saw Dean kick down his wall and actually speak his feelings for his once. She also knew now why Sam decided against telling her this earlier. It was a lot and it was heavy. Honestly seeing her brothers like this made her want to cry.

"Boys, come on. We are a family. I'd do anything for either one of you, but we all know things will never be the way they were before."

"They could be," Dean mumbled.

"Dean, I love you both more than anything on this planet, okay? I just... I'm not going to make this life forever. I will always be here if you guys need me or call me, but you have got to let me do my own thing once this is over. You guys can visit me at school the rest of my last year and then when I'm in law school you can visit me there."

Dean stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head and mumbling that they should go.

Delaney frowned as she watched him grab the duffle and his jacket before walking out of the motel room. She sighed and looked to Sam. "He hates me."

Sam smiled sadly at Delaney and pushed himself off the bed. "Delly, Dean could never hate you. Trust me when I say you are the most important person to him out of us and Dad. He pretty much raised you unless you forgot, so never think that. Neither one of us could hate you, Del, okay? It's just hard being away from you and not always knowing if you're okay."

"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself, you know," Delaney reminded Sam as they made their way out of the motel room and down to the Impala.

Sam wrapped an arm around Delaney's shoulders and kissed the side of her head. "I know, kiddo, I know. Doesn't mean your two older brothers won't worry or care about you. Just remember that."

◆ ◇◆ ◇

Delaney led her brothers up the wall of the elevator like she had done earlier that day. She quietly crawled into the room as Mason had his back turned, chanting something in that ancient language again. Her two brothers followed after her and the three of them quietly crept to the back of the room, ducking behind wooden crates as Dean tossed the both of them different weapons.

"Guys. Hiding is a bit childish, don't you think?" Mason taunted, looking over his shoulder slightly at them.

"Well, that didn't work out like I planned," Dean grumbled, deflating visibly.

Mason turned to face the trio and smirked wickedly at them. "Why don't you come out then?"

The three Winchesters slowly stood to their feet and rounded the piles of crates they hid behind, all of them keeping their guns pointed at Mason who slowly made his way over to them, meeting them in the middle of the room.

"Delaney," Mason greeted, his eyes raking over her as if she were a slab of meat. Delaney felt Dean tense behind her at his actions. "I must say, this puts a real crimp in our relationship."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Delaney growled as she clutched her shot gun tighter in her hands.

"So, where's your little Daeva friend?" Dean questioned, not seeing a sign of the beast anywhere.

Mason turned his gaze and Dean and gestured to nowhere in particular. "Around. You know that shot gun won't do much good."

"Oh, don't worry, dude. The shotgun's not for the demon."

"Who is it, Mason? Who's coming?" Delaney asked, having Mason focus his attention on her again. "Who are you waiting for?"

Mason smiled the type of smile that would send shivers down even the toughest guy's spine. That wasn't good. At all. "You, darling."

Delaney faltered as she took in Mason's words. Suddenly, she felt like something scraped its claws across her face and it flew her across the room. It proceeded to fling Dean and Sam into the piles of wooden crates they previously hid behind, the two boys groaning in pain. Delaney felt the force slam into her again before her whole world went dark.

◆ ◇◆ ◇

Delaney let out a small whimper as she came to. She blinked her eyes open and when her eyes landed on Mason who was smirking at her again, she went to jump at him but was pulled back by the ropes tying her to the pole behind her.

"Della," Dean called and she glanced to her left to see Dean and Sam tied together to the pole a few feet away from her. They were both sat on the floor while she was stood up. She wasn't sure if there was a significant reason for that but she decided to ignore that. "Don't take this the wrong way, but your boyfriend... is a dick."

Delaney decided to ignore her brother and turned her head slowly back to Mason. "This whole thing... it was a trap. Running into you at the bar, following you here, hearing what you had to say - it was all a set up, wasn't it?"

Mason merely chuckled, which was answer enough to tell Delaney she was right. 

"Also, that the victims were from Lawrence?"

"It doesn't mean anything," Mason spoke. "It was just to draw you in, that's all."

Delaney glared darkly at Mason, wishing desperately that she was bound to a wooden pole so she could sock him right in the face. "You killed those two people for nothing."

"Oh, baby, I've killed a lot more for a lot less."

"You trapped us," Dean cut in, shifting around awkwardly on the ground - visibly uncomfortable in his position. "Good job. It's Miller Time. Why don't you kill us already?"

Mason looked bored at Dean's response. "Not very quick on the uptake, are we, Winchester?" He leaned forward, his elbows leaning on his legs. "This trap isn't for you."

Delaney tensed as she realized why the three of them were here. Mason would have killed the three of them already if he really didn't need them. "Dad."

Sam and Dean's widened eyes snapped over to Delaney.

"It's a trap for Dad."

Sam chuckled sarcastically. "Oh, dude, you're dumber than you look then. 'Cause even if our dad was in town, which he is not, he wouldn't walk into something like this. He's too good."

"He is pretty good, I'll give him that much," Mason agreed and pushed himself out of the chair he had been sitting in. He slowly walked over to Dean and Sam, crouching in front of them. "But you see... he has one weakness."

"What's that?" Dean challenged.

"You three. He lets his guard down around his boys and his precious baby girl, lets his emotions cloud his judgement. I happen to know he is in town, and he'll come and try to save you. Then the Daevas will kill everybody nice and slowly... and messy."

"Well, I've got news for you..." Dean whispered, looking directly into Mason's eyes. "It's gonna take a lot more than some... shadow to kill him."

Mason pat Dean's check mockingly. "Oh, the Daevas are in the room here. They're invisible. Their shadows are just the only part you can see."

"Why are you doing this, Mason?" Delaney snapped, sick of his taunting already. "What kind of deal you got worked out here, huh... and with who?"

"I'm doing this for the same reasons you do what you do - loyalty, love, like the love you had for mommy... and Will."

"Go to Hell," Delaney seethed at Mason. If looks could kill, Mason would have been dead right on the spot.

Mason grinned at Delaney. "Oh, gorgeous, I'm already there." He slowly pushed himself to his full height and stalked over to Delaney, running a hand down her cheek. Delaney ducked her head so his hand fell from her face. "Oh come on, Lane. There's no need to be nasty."

Delaney was forced to look at Mason and no matter how hard she fought, she could get out of the grasp he had on her chin. 

"I think we both know... how you really feel about me," Mason whispered into her ear, kissing the spot just below it and it only made Delaney try to fight out of it, but it was still no use. "You know, baby girl, I saw you watching me... changing in my apartment. Turned you on, didn't it, sweetheart?"

Delaney gritted her teeth as she glared at him. "Last time I checked, I covered my eyes the second I saw you were shirtless."

"Get a room you two," Dean huffed and looked away from the scene.

"I didn't mind," Mason continued as if neither Delaney or Dean spoke. "I liked that you were watching me. Come on, Lane, you and I can still have a little dirty fun, right?"

Delaney smirked as Mason went to kiss down her neck. "You want to have fun, big boy? Go ahead, then. I'm a little tied up right now."

Mason didn't have to be told twice as he continued kissing her neck, but froze when the sound of a blade clinked open. Delaney tensed under him, knowing that it was Dean trying to get out so he could free the three of them. Mason slowly pushed away from Delaney and walked over to Dean, ripping the blade out of his hand and tossed it to the side. 

Dean innocently smiled at Mason who barely gave him a second glance before he walked back over to Delaney. 

Mason trailed a hand down Delaney's cheek again, a frown on his face. "Baby, were you trying to distract me while your brother cuts him and Sammy free?"

"No," Delaney spoke and tried to keep Mason's focus on her as she heard the faint sound of Sam cutting himself free with his own knife. "It was because Sam had a knife of his own."

As if on cue, Sam cut himself free and tackled Mason to the ground while Dean shimmied out of this ropes and rushed over to Delaney to cut her out. "Della, go get the altar."

Delaney didn't have to be told twice before she ran over to the altar and flipped it over. At the sound of Mason's screams, she turned her head to see two Daevas swooping down and dragging him by the ankles, flinging him out the window. Delaney exchanged a look with her brothers before the three rushed over to the window and looked down at the sidewalk where Mason's limp body laid.

"Guess those Daevas don't like to be bossed around," Dean commented as his eyes focused on Mason.

"Guess not," Delaney quietly agreed, feeling relief that they finally got rid of Mason.

"Del?" Dean said and she turned to look at him. "Next time you want to like someone, make sure the guy isn't freaking batshit crazy please."

Delaney playfully pushed his chest as he laughed and the three Winchesters took one final look at Mason before heading back to their motel.

"Dude, just leave that duffle in the car," Dean groaned as Sam carried the duffle in his left hand.

"I said it before and I'll say it again - better safe than sorry," Sam defended as he Dean opened the door to the motel room.

Delaney pushed the way into the room and froze when she saw someone stood by the window. "Hey!" She flicked on the light just as the man turned around and her whole body tensed up at the man stood in front of her. "Dad."

"Hi, sweetheart," John turned to Dean and Sam who stood frozen behind their sisters and smiled at them. "Hey, boys."

Dean quickly moved around Delaney and rushed into the open arms of their dad as they both met in the middle. She watched as Sam followed next and hugged their Dad so tight she thought he was going to suffocate him. Delaney tentatively moved over to her brothers and stood next to Dean.

John pulled away from Sam and turned to his only daughter, smiling at her. Something she rarely saw, but wasn't going to comment on it. "Hi, Laney."

"Hi, daddy," Delaney whispered, still not believing that she was stood in front of her dad again after being away for so long. Neither one moved to hug the other though. She could feel the expectant gazes of her brothers on her but it wasn't going to happy. She was happy to see him - well, sort of - but that didn't mean she was ready to jump into his arms and hug him like her brothers did.

"Dad, it was a trap," Dean rasped after a long moment of awkward silence. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

John waved his hand at Dean as if to say it was okay. " It's alright. I thought it might have been."

"Were you there?" Sam asked .

"I got there just in time to see the kid take the swan dive. He was the bad guy, right?" When his three kids nodded, John seemed to relax slightly. "Good. Well, it doesn't surprise me. It's tried to stop me before."

Delaney blinked at her father. "Wait, the demon has?"

"It knows I'm close," John explained. "It knows I'm gonna kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to Hell, actually kill it."

"How?" Dean whispered, hoping for at least some answers.

"I'm working on that."

Delaney chewed on her lip as she exchanged looks with her brothers. "Well, let us come with you then. We can help."

"No, Lane," John instantly shot down and it took everything in Delaney not to scream. She really shouldn't have been shocked at the response. "Not yet. Try to understand. This demon is a scary son of a bitch. I don't want you caught in the crossfire. I don't want you hurt."

"You don't have to worry about the boys and I," Delaney argued.

"Of course I do," John assured and looked at Delaney with a soft look, something she wasn't exactly used to since he usually was yelling at her for something or other. "I'm your father. Listen, baby, the last time we were together, we had one Hell of a fight."

Delaney scoffed and crossed her arms. "Tell me about it."

John's eyes welled with tears and it threw Delaney off for a second. He looked down at the ground as he blinked his tears away before lifting his head again. "It's good to see you again. It's been a long time."

Delaney felt herself soften at his words. She wasn't sure what it was, but she saw something different in John Winchester and she couldn't exactly put her finger on it. Maybe it was the time away from each other that got him to see what he was doing to her throughout her life. "Too long."

John opened his arms and Delaney didn't waste a second to rush into his arms and hug him tightly, his arms wrapping tightly around her shorter frame. He still smelt of the same cologne he had been wearing her whole life and it was almost nostalgic to smell it again after all these years of being away from him.

However, their small family reunion was cut off as John was flung across the room, causing Delaney to stumble back. Dean quickly put his arms out to catch her under her armpits and the three of their eyes widened as they saw Daeva pin John to the cabinets of the small kitchen with one claw and scratch his face with the other.

"Dad!" Delaney yelled before she was flung across the room and was held up by an invisible force. She groaned as the force grew heavier and heavier as she struggled to breath. "Dean!"

Dean and Sam were flipped onto their backs and slashed across their faces and chests over and over. Sam fought his way out of the grasp of the Daeva and reached into the duffle bringing out a small flare.

"Cover your eyes! These are shadow demons, so lets light 'em up!" Sam yelled before lighting up the flare and tossed it in the middle of the room. The bright light could still be seen behind her eyelids, but the force was gone with a screech of the Daeva and she dropped to the ground with a groan. 

"Delly, are you okay?" Sam asked as he crouched next to her.

Delaney weakly nodded and struggled to her feet. "Just lightheaded."

"Come here," Sam ordered and lifted Delaney into his arms bridal style as he rushed out of the motel room after Dean and John. Once the four were by the Impala, he lightly placed Delaney onto her feet. 

"We have to hurry. As soon as the flare's out, they'll be back," Delaney mumbled as she tried to regulate her breathing again. Stupid demons.

"Wait, wait!" Dean yelled and Delaney looked at him oddly. "Della, wait, okay? Dad, you can't come with us."

Delaney gasped and pushed herself off the Impala, which was a mistake because she slightly stumbled and Sam was quick to wrap an arm around his dizzy little sister. "What? What are you talking about? Did you get one too many slashes to the face there?"

"You guys - you're all beat to Hell," John argued next.

"We'll be alright," Dean assured their dad, clearly not wanting this to be an argument.

"Dean, we should stick together!" Delaney cried and ignored the shock expression on Sam's face at her wanting their dad to stay. "We'll go after those - "

"Delaney Elizabeth, listen to me!" Dean barked and she flinched at his harsh tone and the use of her middle name. That's when she knew he was pissed off. "We almost got him killed in there. Don't you understand? They're not gonna stop. They're gonna try again. They're gonna use us to get to him. I mean, Mason was right! Dad's vulnerable if we're around. He's... he's stronger with us around, Della, okay?"

Delaney's lower lip trembled slightly as she looked at John who had gone suddenly quiet, as if he were agreeing with his eldest child.  "Dad... you don't agree with him, do you? After everything, after all the time we spent looking for you, please. I've got to be a part of this fight. 

"Laney, this fight is just starting, and we are all gonna have a part to play," John said, his eyes bouncing between each of his kids. "For now, you've got to trust me, baby. Okay? You have got to let me go."

Delaney whimpered at the thought of him leaving, the thought having too many memories of him walking away from her during their arguments. Or him practically forcing her to stay away if she had left for college. They finally had him back and now he had to go again? It wasn't fair. 

John kissed the side of Delaney's head and pat both of his sons on the back before he walked over to the truck that was parked in front of the Impala. He stopped at the driver's side and stole a glance at his kids. "Watch over your sister, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Dean quietly responded and John nodded before hopping into the truck and driving off.

"Come on," Sam sighed and helped Delaney into the backseat before sitting down in the front with Dean. 

Delaney sat in the back with her arms crossed and pouted like a three year old. "I cannot believe you let him walk away."

"Delaney, shut it," Dean ordered and pulled out of the parking spot and back onto the road.

Without their father. Again.

authors note

Hi hey hello

WOOO ANOTHER CHAPTER THAT INCLUDES THE WHOLE EPISODE! I think for the rest of the episodes I'm just going to put them all in one chapter so these come out quicker. They'll be longer, but I think it'll work out better for me this way. 

SO!!!! Mason turned out to be a jerk and an actual weirdo. John Winchester popped up for a hot second. Delaney softened up towards John and actually wanted him to stay instead of leaving like Dean made him. ALL THE DRAMA AND I LOVE IT!!! 5 episodes to go people and I am not ready but I also am. LET'S FREAKING GOOOOOO!!!

ANYWAYS, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS. LOVE HEARING WHAT YOU GUYS THINK AS THE STORY GOES ON!