"𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙚."

Delaney sighed as she tossed and turned in her motel room bed, trying to fall asleep but finding it hard. Sleep had been evading her the past week she'd been away from Dean and Sam and it didn't help that she hadn't even spoken to them much since she walked away either. It felt like she was right back in Stanford again with next to no communication with them unless they were coming to see her or doing one of their random pop ups. Not speaking or seeing them every single day felt odd now that it had been a constant thing the past three years to see both of her brothers consistently. Minus the four months Dean was in Hell and Delaney had gone off on her own, of course.

Turning over in her bed, Delaney hoped the new position would at least help get her some sleep because she had to do her job tomorrow. Luckily for Delaney, the nearby small bar was hiring and the owner had hired Delaney in a heartbeat when she was all but willing to help wait tables and be a bar tender. It would be a good way to try and be normal for a bit until Delaney felt she was fully herself again and if that meant acting like she had when in Stanford, then so be it. At least, it would give her something to do in the meantime and actually make money on the side while she did so.

"Hey, baby."

Delaney's eyes snapped open and she scrambled up in bed when she saw Will laying in the bed next to her. His blue eyes lit up the way they always had when taking in the sight of her and his tousled raven hair looked like he had ran through his hands through it a few times. She had to pinch herself a few times to see if she were dreaming or not because if Will was a ghost right now then Delaney was pretty sure Dean would have been right about her horrific love life would come back to haunt her.

"I missed you," Will continued when Delaney didn't make a sound or move an inch as she stared at him in a daze. He scooted closer to her in the bed and cupped the side of her face gently, stroking her cheek lovingly as he always did. 

It took Delaney a solid minute to snap herself out of her daze and blink away the shock in her expression. "I - Will . . . I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

"I did always tease you about being my dream girl. Now I guess you can say I'm your dream boy," Will mused in a light tone, his pearly white teeth on display as his charming smile took over his features. "Match made in Hell, baby."

Delaney smiled back at Will and allowed herself to enjoy this dream because it was probably the best dream she'd had in a long time. Hell, the best dream she'd had since Will died right before her eyes. Her hand reached up to the hand that cupped her cheek and held onto it tightly, memorizing the touch and ingraining it to her brain so she'd never forget it. "I miss you so much, Will. You have no idea."

Will's eyes flitted across Delaney's face as he exhaled softly, a soft yet serious look now adorning his features now that the formalities were out of the way. "Baby, what are you doing? Running away. Haven't we been down this road before?"

"No, Will, it's different now. I'm just staying on my own so I don't put Dean and Sam in danger. You know how important they are to me. I couldn't slow them down right now because we can't afford to be slowed down. Not with everything going on around us. I'll join back up with them when I feel I'm better," Delaney explained to her late almost fiancè. "Last time it was because I needed to track down Azazel and kill him for what he did to you. Now . . . now I just know I'm a freak and need to work on it."

Will chuckled softly and his thumb started its smooth pattern across her cheek again. "Well, that sucks because you're my freak so I don't think you should be going off and changing yourself. Even at Stanford you knew you were a freak, Laney. You also knew there was something dark inside of you and I know you had nightmares about my death every night leading up to it. Deep down you knew when the boys showed up at your dorm that the dark feeling you'd started to feel at school wasn't just your imagination. I was dead from the moment I laid on my eyes on you and neither one of us knew it. You just can't run from yourself, baby. Why are you running now?"

Delaney shoved the tears that wanted to escape back and coughed quietly to ease the burning that took over her throat. She hated hearing those words come from Will. The one person that, like her in the beginning, didn't know a single thing about the supernatural. Then he succumbs to the life she had barely just started to learn about herself on a two day trip with Dean and Sam. To hear all her insecurities in the beginning come from his mouth was just heart wrenching. "Why are you here, Will?"

"Would you believe that even from the basement I'm actually trying to protect my girl? Laney, sooner or later the past is gonna catch up to you, like it always does. You know what happens then? People die. Baby, the closest people to you die."

Delaney's jaw ticked and she shook her head, bits of hair framing her face from the messy pony tail she'd put her hair in before crawling into bed that night. "Well, don't worry because I won't be making that mistake again."

Will offered Delaney a sad smile and he dropped his hand from her face and down to the mattress beneath him and Delaney. "Same song, difference verse. Things won't change with you, Laney. Ever. You have to learn to accept yourself and accept whats going on or you're just going to make yourself sick and crazy."

Delaney squeezed her eyes shut to try and fight off the next onslaught of tears, taking a steadying breath. When her eyes blinked open again, Will was gone from sight and she was left alone in her motel room once again.

The next night at work, Delaney stood in the now empty bar with her two co-workers. One was a cute blonde girl with a perky attitude named Kathy and the other was a man in his mid-forties named Brad who was the co-owner of the bar and helped his brother run the bar any chance he got. Brad had been there every day since Delaney started and he had made the joke that he might as well just own the bar at this point since he'd been there more than his brother lately besides the one day he actually came in to give Delaney the job.

"Hey, Elizabeth, you play?" Kathy asked Delaney, throwing a dart at the dartboard on the wall and just missing the bullseye. 

"That depends - what are we playing for?" Delaney countered teasingly, organizing the glass cups on the tray before her. 

"Mmm, world peace?"

Delaney giggled and turned her attention to Kathy with an amused grin on her face. "Oh, is that all? That's chump change for me."

Kathy laughed back at Delaney's response and turned away to walk over to the dartboard and take down the dart from the board along with the other two she'd thrown previous to that. "Can I ask you something? Did you finish that, uh, crossword puzzle in the kitchen?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Why?" Delaney furrowed her eyebrows, handing Brad the tray of glasses to bring to the kitchen and rounded the bar to sit on the stool.

"The New York Times Saturday crossword?" Kathy continued with a tone as if she were analyzing Delaney's every move. Which she kind of was because the girl was fascinated with the sudden appearance of Delaney in the small town. "You blow into town last week. You don't talk to anybody. You are obviously highly educated. You're like this . . ."

"Riddle wrapped inside an enigma wrapped inside a taco?"

Kathy smacked her lips together and shot Delaney a challenging look, pointing one of the darts at her with a smirk. "Okay, here's what we play for. When I win, we have a girls' dinner and you tell me your life story so we can become best friends."

Delaney considered the terms for a minute and shrugged, knowing she could play darts well thanks to Dean. She'd never been more grateful for Dean teaching her such a meaningless game like darts or pool in her life. "Sure, sounds fair."

"You first, Liz."

Delaney slid off the bar stool and took the darts from Kathy, standing in the spot Kathy had been in previously when throwing the darts. She threw each dart expertly and one landed in the bullseye while the other two landed in the small green circle around the bullseye. She turned to Kathy with a triumphant expression while Kathy stared at her in awe. However, before Kathy could give Delaney any compliments, the news kicked on the TV hung above the bar behind Kathy and Delaney.

"Freak, hail, lightning strikes - locals say what started as a torrential hailstorm late this afternoon suddenly turned to massive lightning strikes. That triggered the fire now consuming more than twenty acres here along the Route 17 corridor. County officials are advising all Hawley residents to prepare for what could become mandatory evacuations."

Brad, who had come back from the kitchen in time to see the news, had turned it off and whistled lowly to himself. He turned to face the girls and braced his hands on top of the bar with raised eyebrows. "Is it me, or does it seem like the end of the world here?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Delaney mumbled to herself, her eyes fixed on the now dark screen of the TV.

Delaney sighed as she sat at the table in her motel room that night after work and ran a hand through her tousled curls. Her laptop was opened up in front of her on the table and she'd been going through a bunch of Revelations passages the past hour and it was only worrying her more about Lucifer being out of the cage. She picked up her phone out of reflex to call up Sam or Dean but she'd paused when she'd scrolled down to Dean's name in her phone, frowning at the sight of it. Thinking that Dean wouldn't even answer her, Delaney scrolled up to Bobby's contact and called him instead.

"Hey, sweetheart. You okay?"

"I should be asking you that, Uncle Bobby," Delaney replied, leaning back in her chair and slouching down. "How are you doing?"

"Well, I ain't running marathons, but . . . I'll live. Where are you?"

"Uh, Garber, Oklahoma. I found a town up the road showing some Revelation omens. Listen to this, and upon his rising, there shall be hail and fire mixed with blood."

Bobby snorted on the other end and Delaney could hear Bobby's wheelchair groan as Bobby probably shifted in his seat. "Well, ain't that delightful."

Delaney chewed on the inside of her lip and glanced out the window of her motel room to see a perfectly clear sky up above. "Yeah, we already got the hailstorms and fires. I'm guessing the blood can't be too far behind."

"Is there a reason you're calling about this, Lane?"

"Dean didn't tell you?"

"Oh, he told me alright. Theodore even stayed with your brothers to help them out. Said that he promised to help them out and so they had a third hand in case of anything with you gone."

Delaney huffed, knowing that Bobby asked her that question specifically to get her to talk about the situation between her, Dean and Sam. Not that she'd be doing that anytime because she was stubborn as heck and refused to talk about it right now. She was happy to know that Theodore actually had done what she said and stuck by Dean and Sam to help them out. "Yeah, well . . . so I just thought you might want to find out who is in the area and put a man on this."

"Okay, let me see if I can think of the best hunter who might in the immediate vicinity. Oh - that'd be you."

Delaney frowned and shook her head even though Bobby couldn't see the motion. "I can't, Bobby. I'm sitting this one out. Look, I have to go. I'll call you later." She hung up the phone with Bobby and tossed the phone onto the table in front of her. Her hands pressed to her face as she let out a quiet scream into them.

Sadly, not even screaming out until her lungs cried out got rid of the never ending weight on her chest. At this point, Delaney was pretty sure this feeling was never going away.

The next night at the bar, Delaney had all but drowned herself in the work so she wouldn't think about the impending doom in just a town over. She wanted to focus on getting over her demon blood side and going back to her brothers as soon as she possibly could. If the rest of the world would be catching up to Hawley, then Delaney really needed to buckle down and get herself back on track. Though, it seemed her relaxation and time of peace wouldn't be lasting long when three hunters that used to hunt with John walked in. They had even called out Delaney's name right in front of Kathy.

"Delaney? What happened to Elizabeth?" Kathy inquired, hopping off the bar stool she sat on and walked over to her with her arms crossed. "He called you Delaney."

"Yeah, uh . . . Delaney's my middle name," Delaney swiftly lied, turning away from the table she'd been cleaning up when Kathy and the hunters walked over.

"Elizabeth Delaney?" Kathy laughed quietly while Delaney merely shrugged in response sheepishly. "I'm so sorry. Are you guys friends?"

"Huntin' buddies with her daddy, but Delaney here is quite the hunter herself," the shortest hunter of the group said, stuffing his hands into his green jacket that nearly resembled the one Dean always wore.

Kathy turned to Delaney with a stunned expression, clearly not expecting the tiny and small Delaney to be into hunting. "You kill deer and things?"

The hunter that was closest to Delaney with a beard and vest on smirked at Kathy's wording. "Yeah, and things."

"Uh, why don't I get you guys some drinks?" Delaney suggested and walked away to grab three beer bottles for the hunters that came in. She popped off the caps and then walked them over to where the three hunters sat down.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to bust you back there," Tim, the bearded one with the vest, apologized to Delaney as she took a seat across from the three hunters. 

Delaney waved her father's old friend off to show him it was okay and that she was over it. Nothing she could really do about it at this point if she were honest. "No, you're okay. So, what's up?"

Tim took a swig of his beer before he placed it back down on the table. "Well, Bobby called us after you called him. You were right - major demon block party going on. Bobby told us that you were off limits. Is that true?"

Delaney ran a hand over her mouth as the three hunters all stared at her and a certain air took over the room that Delaney couldn't exactly describe herself. "Uh, yeah that's right."

"Well, that's fine in theory and all, but we could really use all hands on deck here," Tim said, leaning forward to prop his arms up on the table. "Why did you take a step back? From what John said about ya and Bobby, you wouldn't even think to leave Dean and Sam's sides ever."

"It's . . . personal," Delaney trailed off, not knowing how else to say it without actually telling the three hunters why she wasn't hunting at the moment. Not that she really owed these guys an explanation in the first place. Or anyone that wasn't part of her inner circle of people she trusted.

"Look, Delaney, no offense, but uh, what baggage is so heavy it can't be stowed away for the freakin' apocalypse, huh?"

Delaney picked at a frayed piece of wood on the table and shook her head, really not giving in to Tim, Reggie or Steve about what she'd been doing and why she wasn't hunting. "Like I said . . . "

"You're sorry," Reggie, the dark skinned and dark eyed man in a trucker hat to her right, finished for Delaney with an unamused expression. "Heard you the first time, kiddo."

Tim sighed and threw back the rest of his beer, slamming it down on the table once he was done and pushed up from his seat. "Hey, don't even worry about. With you not there, that just means more for us, then, right? But, hey, beers are you on you when we get back, kiddo."

"Yeah, anything for you, Timmy," Delaney replied, waving to the three hunters as they left the bar to head back towards the town. She turned to bring the three empty beer bottles to the bar when Kathy stood in her path with an amused smile.

"So, your parents named you when they were drunk and you shoot Bambi now? Liz, enough with the kung-fu, wandering-the-Earth thing. I'm going to buy you dinner during our break and we're gonna talk. I don't care what you say."

"Kath, I can't."

"No. The only way to avoid bloodshed is to say yes."

Delaney puffed out her cheeks and slapped her hands to her sides, mentally counting to ten. There was no way she'd be getting herself out of this one so she might as well just do the dinner with Kathy and get it over with. "okay, fine. See you at eight."

"So, you gonna tell me who those guys back there really were?" Kathy asked Delaney later on that night as they both sat in the nearby diner to the bar. It was fairly empty besides two other occupied tables that were on the other side of the space. It gave the two girls all the privacy they could need to talk about Delaney. "And don't say hunting buddies."

"Okay. Um . . . we used to be in the same business together," Delaney vaguely replied, taking a bite of her steak she'd ordered. 

"What business?" Kathy perked up as she saw Delaney go silent at the question. "You're mafia, right?"

Delaney giggled at the thought of Kathy thinking she were part of the mafia. "I'm not the mafia, Kathy."

"Okay. I get it," Kathy said, holding her hands up in defense to show Delaney she was backing off a bit. "I don't mean to pry. My bad."

"I used to be in business with my big brothers. Truth is, I was . . . pretty good at the job, but . . . I made some mistakes. You know, I - I did some stuff I'm not too proud of and people got hurt. A lot of people," Delaney admitted in the most vague she could, but also giving Kathy at least the tiniest bit of truth as well.

"What was your poison? I mean, you were hooked on something, right? I know the look," Kathy responded, reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a tiny gold coin. "Three years sober."

Delaney felt a small smile grace her lips at Kathy trying her best to try and make Delaney feel better. She knew that alcohol and demon blood definitely weren't the same in the least bit when it came to addiction, but the after effects reminded Delaney of what she'd heard of drug and alcohol withdrawls. It was just nice to know that she wasn't alone in the struggles. "Kathy, you work in a bar."

Kathy scoffed in feigned offense and leant her arms on the table with a disbelieving look. "Uh, so do you, sister. Look, Elizabeth, I don't know you and I am probably the last person to be giving advice, but I do know that . . . no one has ever done anything so bad, they can't be forgiven. That they can't change."

Delaney was quiet as she considered Kathy's words for a minute and frowned slightly to herself at the thought of being able to retrieve forgiveness. She knew that she wanted it from her brothers because she hated the tension and awkwardness currently surrounding her and her two best boys. She wanted more than anything for things to go back to normal and she was going to work for that forgiveness that Kathy said she deserved.

Even if part of Delaney knew that she probably didn't deserve the forgiveness.

Delaney wiped down one of the final tables in her area and she was just looking forward to crashing on her bed back at the motel room. She had never felt more exhausted and she wanted nothing more than to just crash until the next morning. The bell above the door alerted Delaney and she yelled over her shoulder that they were closed, not even bothering to turn to see who had walked in.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Delaney?" Tim called, walking over to the youngest Winchester who turned to him with a confused look. 

"Uh, no," Delaney replied, eyeing Tim who seemed to be pressing a hand to his chest and nursing another hand that he must have hurt while dealing with the other town. "Are you okay? Where are Reggie and Steve?"

"Oh, Steve's good. He's, uh . . . his guts are laying roadside outside the Hawley five-and-dime."

Delaney felt her heart drop to her stomach as she realized that Hawley must be really horrible at the moment if Steve had lost his life. "I'm sorry, Tim."

"Sorry don't cut it, Delaney. I want to hear the truth," Tim demanded, scoffing when Delaney just kept her mouth shut and didn't even so much as make a move. "Okay, fine. Let me give you some of own, then. We go into town, we capture ourselves a demon, and we get jumped by ten more. Steve bought it. You see, this demon, he, uh . . . he told us things. Crazy things. Things about you, Delaney."

"Demons lie," Delaney defended, not giving away a single thing to Tim that whatever the demon told him was true. The demon probably did give them the full truth with a bunch of added twists to it because he knew it would get Delaney sent right down to Hell. Hell had been gunning for her ever since she found out about this life, especially more so now that she had her fair share of demon blood and killed not only Alastair, but Lilith as well.

"Yeah? I'm gonna ask you one last time. The truth. Now!"

As if on cue, the door opened once again and Kathy struggled in Reggie's grip. He gripped onto Kathy's bicep tightly as he kept her pressed against him in the entrance way to the bar. His other hand lifted up to press a silver blade to her throat, practically threatening Delaney with Kathy's life.

Kathy panted as she tried to fight out of Reggie's grip, but it was no use because the man was much stronger than she was. "What's going on, Delaney?"

"Tim, let's just take it easy, okay? Put the knife down," Delaney pleaded with the hunter and relaxed the tiniest bit when Tim jerked his head for Reggie to place down the knife. She eyed the man as he tugged Kathy over to the bar and placed the silver knife down on the bar top but didn't move away from it in the chance he'd need to pick it back up. "Okay, what the demon said - it's all true. I don't know what else you want from me."

"I want you to say it," Tim ordered, his fists clenching at his sides now as he narrowed his eyes dangerously at Delaney.

Delaney poked her tongue into her cheek and flickered her gaze over to Reggie when he made a gesture to the knife that he would be picking back up again to use on Kathy. Her jaw ticked as her gaze went back over to Tim and her hands flexed, fighting the urge to punch Tim and Reggie to save Kathy. "Fine, I did it. I started the apocalypse."

Tim's lips twitched up into a smirk and he pulled out a small vial of demon blood, holding it up for Delaney to see. She took a step back from the hunters as if the one step distance would do her any favors. Just the sight of the blood alone sent her nerves on haywire and her blood thrummed in her body, practically crying out for just a drop of what was in the vial. "What - what is that?"

"What do you think it is? It's go juice, kiddo," Tim taunted, waving the vial around in front of him.

"Get that thing away from me," Delaney demanded, trying to keep her voice strong and kept her hands up in front of her.

"Away from you? Wrong. This is for you," Tim answered, walking closer to Delaney who took a step away from Tim with every step he took. "Hell, if that demon wasn't right as rain. Down the hatch, sweetheart. Look, here's what is gonna happen. You're gonna drink this, Hulk out, and you're gonna waste everyone of those demon scum that killed my best friend. Or your new bestie dies."

Delaney gulped quietly as she watched Reggie handcuff Kathy to the gold handle on the bar and walk away to stand with Tim. The two hunters stared down Delaney like she was a deer in headlights and her face paled significantly as she realized what they wanted her to do. "You wouldn't do that."

"It's funny how watching your best friend die changes all of that. Come on. You know you want it, Delaney. Just reach out and take it from me."

Delaney could hear her blood pumping in her ears as her eyes landed on the vial of dark blood again. It was like a siren's call to her and she had to fight off the urge to reach out and take the vial from Tim. She was stronger than the demon blood and she could fight off the desire because she was strong. However, it seemed her hesitation angered Reggie because he charged at her. She wrapped her arms around his middle and flipped him over onto the table behind her and threw a fist his way.

Tim caught Delaney from behind after she got two hits in and tackled her to the ground. Delaney elbowed Tim in the face behind her and was quickly caught up by Reggie. He held her head in a headlock while Tim struggled back to his feet after the blow to the head. While Tim unscrewed the vial of demon blood, Reggie forced Delaney's jaw open and kept her mouth open enough so that Tim would be able to pour the demon blood in. The demon blood hit Delaney's tongue and it was like her body was a lit once again, but she didn't swallow any of it. Even with Reggie keep a heavy hand over her mouth so she couldn't spit it out, she still refused to swallow the thing that ruined her life once already. 

Reggie eventually shoved Delaney to the ground and he got to his feet with Tim at his side. The two hunters grinned down deviously at Delaney as the girl pulled herself back to her feet with the help of the pool table next to her, blood smeared across her face. Still not a single ounce of demon blood swallowed either. "See? Now was that so bad?"

Delaney glared darkly at the two hunters and spit the demon blood right in Tim's face. She fought off Reggie when he charged at her and sent the man crashing to the ground. When Tim tried to attack her next, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shoved him to the bar top. She grabbed the knife on the bar and held it up to Tim's throat until he finally gave up on the fight. Once Delaney knew Tim wouldn't be fighting any longer, she threw him back towards the floor where Reggie was now getting up. 

"Both of you get out of here," Delaney ordered to the two men, pointing the blade in their direction threateningly.

"Don't think we won't be back," Reggie growled at Delaney.

"Wow, I must have really hit your head hard enough if you really thought I'd still be here for you to come back, Reggie Boy," Delaney grit out through her teeth at the hunter as he ran out of the bar with Tim in tow. She turned her attention back to Kathy who pressed herself closer to the bar, staring at Delaney in fright.

So much for having her little detox vacation.

"Laney. Laney!"

Delaney's eyes snapped open and she saw Will laid in the bed next to her so she instantly knew she was dreaming once again. She scooted closer to the athletically built boy and found the comfort she needed in his embrace as his arms wrapped around her comfortingly. She closed her eyes and tried to forget the events that happened that night and how Kathy hadn't gotten away from Delaney fast enough after Delaney released her from the handcuffs. 

"So . . ." Will whispered, his lips brushing softly against Delaney's forehead. "This is your life now? You think you can just live forever with your head buried in the sand?"

"I love you, Will," Delaney sighed heavily, rolling away from Will's touch and pushing herself to the end of the bed to run her hands through her hair. No matter what she did, it will always be Will in her heart. She could meet a million men and none of them would ever compare to the love she'd felt for Will. Sure, Delaney thought she'd find someone else eventually and they would make her happy, but nothing would ever compare to the first ever true love of her life: William Anderson. "God knows how much I miss you, too. I know you hate hearing this, but you're wrong. People can change. There is reason for hope."

Will frowned and reached forward to run his hand over Delaney's hair from behind where he sat kneeled behind her now. "No, baby. There isn't."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you freed me."

Delaney's eyes blew wide and she she slowly turned her head to see a blonde haired and blue eyed man with light blonde stubble now sat in Will's place. She let out a scream and scrambled away from the bed, her chest heaving from fright as she stared at the man behind her. The man who now Delaney was starting to realize was Lucifer.

"That's right," Lucifer whispered to Delaney as the girl took steps away from him until she was stood in the small kitchenette a few feet away from the bed. "You know who I am."

"Lucifer," Delaney breathed, gulping quietly to herself as her brain tried to keep up with what was happening. Lucifer was literally sat right before her and she didn't even know what to do about it. She didn't even have Randy's demon knife on her because she left it with the boys. Though, it probably wouldn't work anyway since Lucifer wasn't a full fledged demon.

"You are a hard one to find, Dels. Harder than most humans. I don't suppose you'll tell me where you are?"

"What do you want with me?" Delaney demanded, wanting answers before she even thought about answering anything Lucifer asked her.

Lucifer's face dropped into an easy smile and it was almost like he was talking to an old friend. He didn't even appear to be threatening, just like he was an old pal that had dropped by to say hello at three am. "Thanks to you, I walk the Earth. I want to give you a gift. I want give you everything, actually."

Delaney's lip curled back in a snarl and she clenched her fists tightly at her sides. He really had the balls to sit there and try to offer Delaney shit on a silver platter. Like his presence didn't cause her and the world unnecessary drama. "I don't want anything from you."

"I'm so sorry, Dels. I - I really am, but Nick here is just an improvisation. Plan B, if you will. He can barely contain me without spontaneously combusting."

"What are you talking about?" Delaney asked cautiously, eyeing the fallen angel warily before her. She already knew that she wasn't going to like what Lucifer was going to tell her.

Lucifer pushed himself up from the bed and walked closer to Delaney who took a cautious step back from him. "Why do you think you were in that chapel? You're the one, Dels. You're my vessel. My true vessel."

Delaney felt like a freight train had rammed into her and her stomach dropped to her toes, literally feeling about thirty seconds from throwing up. Her skin went ghostly pale and her hands clammed up with anxiety over what she'd been told. Her? The vessel of the Lucifer? "No, but I'm a - "

"Girl? Dels, you should know by now that none of that matters. It's just whether the vessel can handle my visage or not. You're the one true vessel and have been ever since Azazel bled into your mouth when you were just six months old," Lucifer explained to Delaney, only causing for the girl to go even more pale if that were even possible. "I'm sorry it had to be like this, Dels. I will find you and when I do . . . you will let me in. I'm sure of it."

"You need my consent? Like Michael?" Delaney asked the fallen angel, circling him when Lucifer tried to get closer to her once again and now stood by the bed. 

"Well, yes, like my brother . . . I'm an angel still."

Delaney laughed dryly and a dark look crossed her features, so dark that even Lucifer was shocked by it. The youngest Winchester really was a force to be reckoned with and that's why he would fight to get his true vessel. "I will kill myself before I let you anywhere near my body."

Lucifer smiled sadly at Delaney and crossed his arms, shrugging lamely. "I'll just bring you back. Look, Dels . . . my heart breaks for you. It does. The weight that is constantly on your shoulders. What you've done. What you still have to do. It is more than anyone could bear. If there was some other way . . . but there isn't. I will never lie to you. I will never trick you, but you will say yes to me."

Delaney clenched her jaw and shook her head defiantly, rather being in the presence of Lilith again than even think about letting in Lucifer. "You're delusional, buddy."

"I'm not. I think I know you better than you know yourself."

"Why me?" Delaney croaked, feeling the emotion slowly start to clog up her throat at the thought of being Lucifer's vessel. His true vessel of all things. Her body was to be used to bring on the end of the world.

"Because it had to be you, Dels. It always had to be you."

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. THE CHAPTER I HAVE BEEN DYING TO WRITE SINCE HIGHWAY TO HELL IS FINALLY FREAKING HERE, FOLKS! You guys literally have no freaking idea how long I have had that final bit written in my head for. I think I've ranted and cried about it to -winchessster an unhealthy amount of times by this point. The way I am so ready to get into the DELIFER plot line is just astronomical. Welcome to the good shit, peeps. We've been waiting a long time for this bad boi.