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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳

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Delaney huffed as she pushed herself away from the large door of the panic room, turning away from it to scan the space around her. The only sound that filled the room was the low hum from the large fan above her head that had a devil's trap made into the cage below the large blades. It was almost ironic that Delaney was stood right beneath it considering how much demon blood now pumped through her body. She wasn't even sure how long she'd been in the panic room at this point since there was no clock in the room with her.

The sound of the small door over the bars on the door opened up to reveal Dean and Sam's faces on the other side. Delaney sighed in relief, hoping it meant the boys decided that they could let her out. That she wasn't a threat to them because she wasn't evil or had gone dark side. She was still Delaney. 

"Okay, you two had your laughs. Now let me out. This isn't funny."

"Damn straight," Dean replied gruffly, crossing his arms across his chest. The sharp lines in his face told Delaney he was anything but happy with her in the moment. A look that always shot a pang of pain through Delaney's chest. Disappointing Dean and Sam was always the last thing that Delaney ever wanted to do.

"Boys. Come on, this is insane."

Sam shook his head, standing his ground much like Dean was. Dean and Sam were both worried over their baby sister, especially with John's words about needing to kill Delaney if she went dark side echoing around in their skulls. They would take every precaution needed to stop Delaney from switching sides. "Not until you clean out, Delly."

Delaney puffed out her cheeks and slapped a hand to her side, still finding the whole thing ridiculous. She knew the boys were still upset with her that she'd lied straight to their faces for so long. However, much like they treated her, Delaney was lying to them to protect them. They didn't need to get involved with her drama with Randy and Delaney wanted to take Lilith down herself. The demon had it out for her, not for Dean and Sam, and Delaney would be damned if she let the boys step in front of danger. 

Not when they were the only people she had left.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you guys. Just . . . open the door."

"It's okay. You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault. It's not your fault that you singlehandedly lied to Sammy and I over and over again. I get it now. You couldn't help it."

"What? Dean, you're acting like I'm addicted to crack or something. I'm not a junkie."

Dean scoffed and rose his eyebrows at Delaney, his green eyes darkening in annoyance and disappointment over his sister. "Really? I guess I've just imagined how strung out you've been lately."

Delaney barked out an incredulous laugh as she shook her head at the boys, turning away to tug her hands through her brown curls. Her hands dropped to her sides loudly and she trained her eyes to the fan above her head. "You are actually trying to twist into some kind of ridiculous drug intervention?"

"If it quacks, Delaney," Sam retorted.

"Oh my, God! Boys, I'm not drinking the demon blood for kicks. I didn't even want to do it at first because I knew it was dangerous and that you both would be disappointed in me. Though, I'm getting strong enough to kill Lilith."

"Strong?" Dean repeated with a humorless laugh. "It's about as far away from strong as you can get. Try weak. Try desperate. Pathetic."

"Killing Lilith is what matters or are you too busy being self-righteous you forgot about her? Forgot about how she killed you? Forgot about how she wants to kill me next and then drag you down right after leaving Sam on this Earth without you and me in it?" Delaney growled through gritted teeth, her tolerance level for her brother quickly depleting.

Dean nodded and flashed Delaney a tight lipped smile. "Oh, don't you worry about that. Lilith is gonna die and Bobby, Sammy and I will kill her, but not with you. Congrats, baby girl. You just bought yourself a benchwarmer seat to apocalypse."

Delaney glared at her brother and stepped closer to the door when Dean and Sam barely gave her another glance, shutting the small door once again. She pounded on the door and tried to push on the bolted door, even though Delaney knew it wouldn't budge anytime soon. Her vision began to go sideways, causing her to stumble away from the door. She pressed her hands to the side of her head as the room began to distort and spin around her, suddenly making her feel nauseous at the motion of the room. 

The lights above her head began to flicker and crackle, gaining Delaney's attention that suddenly snapped back into focus. A cold chill went down her spine and her breath could be seen in the air as the temperature in the room dropped. Her hand went to the waistband of her jeans out of reflex, but realized that she didn't have her gun on her. She was in the panic room defenseless against whatever was in the room with her.

"Guys! Get down here! Something's coming!" Delaney yelled, but it quickly died in her throat when she spun around and saw Alastair stood behind her. She let out a small scream at the sight of him and stumbled back a step, her foggy brain trying to work out how he was stood behind her when he was supposed to be dead. Plus, this room was supposed to be demon proof and Alastair shouldn't have been able to get in the room in the first place.

"Hello, Baby Winchester. It's a pleasure to see you again. Looks like I have you all to myself here. Goodness. How will we pass the time?" Alastair mocked in that annoying voice of his, running the thin blade in his hand along his throat.

Before Delaney could even fully comprehend what was happening, she was suddenly strapped down to a table that looked like a cross. Binds were secured over her wrists, chest and thighs and another piece was secured around her chin to keep her head still. She stared wide eyed up at Alastair as she fought against her binds. "No, no, don't. Don't." 

Alastair ignored Delaney and began to cut into her flesh, earning a cry of pain and agony from the youngest Winchester. He hummed a merry tune while Delaney cried and pleaded for Alastair to stop. Even going so far as to say please a few times, as if that would deter the demon any. He stopped his actions and smiled tauntingly down at Delaney. "So polite all of a sudden. Very nice. I appreciate that. Hmm?"

Delaney was going to have a long night.

However, when Alastair went back to his ministrations Delaney was only shocked into pain for another few minutes before suddenly everything disappeared. Delaney shot up to see she wasn't laid out on a table, but the bed in the panic room Bobby had left for Delaney to lay on so she wouldn't have to sit on the concrete flooring. She breathed heavily for a few seconds, patting her hands down her side where Alastair had surely cut into her skin.

Was she hallucinating.

"The answer is yes. You're hallucinating," a voice said, causing Delaney to whip her head around to see the thirteen year old version of herself. Her brown, curly hair fell down her back and she wore a purple tank top with a jean jacket over it and dark blue jeans, her favorite purple sneakers adorned her feet. Her green eyes sparkled in the faint sunlight that trickled in from the opening above in the ceiling where the fan was. "That's right. It's me. Or . . . I guess, it's you."

Delaney gulped and she could practically feel the sweat begin to trickle down her forehead as she stared at her younger self. She blinked a few times in the hopes it would make her younger self disappear, but there she continued to stand as if she were real. "I'm losing my mind. What do you want?"

"An explanation would be nice. How could you do this to me? I know we didn't know about any of this, but you know what you were getting into with Randy. Yet, you let it spiral out of control."

"I tried. I did. It didn't pan out that way. Sorry, kid."

Younger Delaney scoffed and stopped before Delaney with an incredulous look. "Sorry, kid? That's what you have to say? You knew that Randy was a demon and that he couldn't possibly be different from the other demons. Yet, here you are, in love with the guy as if he hadn't done anything but ruin our life since he stepped into it. He's the reason you're even in this predicament in the first place!"

"Look! I lost Will and then Lilith killed Dean, okay? Lilith deserves to rot in Hell for the rest of time," Delaney snapped at her younger self, still feeling extremely weird that she was having a conversation with herself. 

"You think Will would have you wanted you to become this? Will was in love with you. Hell, he was going to propose soon if he hadn't been killed by Azazel. You think he would be happy that you've been using him as an excuse for everything the past three years? I don't think so."

Delaney's jaw ticked, hating that she was being scolded by her thirteen year old self. Her old self that didn't even know what was coming for her in the upcoming years. Her old self that didn't understand because she hadn't lived through what Delaney had lived through. "I'm sorry, I am. However, life doesn't turn out the way that you thought it would when you were thirteen years old. We were never supposed to be normal. Azazel ruined every single chance of that. We didn't get to have what Adam did. Grow up."

"Maybe you're right . . . " Younger Delaney sighed, suddenly behind Delaney now and causing her to spin around to face her younger self still. "Maybe there's . . . no escape. After all . . . how can you run from what's inside of us?" Her face took on a deadly sort of expression as her eyes changed from green to the yellow of Azazel's eyes. 

This sucked.

Delaney wasn't sure how much time had passed since Younger Delaney had vanished from sight. She sat with her back against the bed Bobby provided to her as her body shook and a layer of sweat took over her. Her head spun dangerously as waves of nausea continued to crash through her like tidal waves. Her mouth was extremely dry and Delaney panted as her head swiveled over to the small table in the corner of the room where a pitcher filled with water and a small glass rested. Her vision doubled and swerved as she tried to twist herself around to push herself to her feet once again, but collapsed against the thin mattress with a huff when she couldn't keep herself up.

"Poor baby," a new voice mocked, causing Delaney to snap her attention to her right to see Mary in her white nightgown, a blood stain in the middle of it where she had been ripped open the night of the fire. "Hiya, Lanes. You look just awful."

Delaney struggled to her feet while her eyes stayed trained on the beautiful face of her mother. Her blonde hair fell flawlessly down her back in ringlets and her green eyes were bright and vibrant, much like Delaney's always had before she was succumbed to this life. She tilted her head at Delaney with a look that reminded her too much of Sam and Dean: disappointed. "Let's hear it, Mom. Go ahead. I know you're disappointed like Dean and Sammy. You never thought I'd . . . turn out this way. I'm a . . . shit excuse of what you thought your little princess would be. Your heart is broken. Am I close?"

"Not at all. You're doing the right thing, Lanes. What you're doing is brave. You're not being crazy. You're being practical. Sweetheart, I am so proud of you," Mary said gently, walking closer to Delaney and having the girl sit down since it was obvious Delaney struggled to hold up her own weight.

Delaney exhaled sharply and stared up at her mother who stroked her hair soothingly, a warm smile adorned on her face. She truly did look like an angel and Delaney just hoped that her mother was okay wherever she was. "But . . . but . . . Dean and Sammy."

"Your brothers don't understand, especially not Dean who feels he needs to protect you no matter what it takes. I was raised a hunter, from a long line. We understand that there are gonna be hard choices," Mary responded, sitting down next to Delaney and not stopping her hand motions through Delaney's sweaty curls. "Sweetheart, we do what we have to in order to get the job done. Yes, our family is cursed, but you . . . you have the power to turn it into a gift. You can use it against them."

"For revenge?" Delaney whispered, feeling herself relax in the presence of her mother. Her mother who she didn't even get to meet and now only gets to see her during a hallucination of all things. She hated that she never got to have these kinds of conversations with her mother. The ones where she'd give Delaney advice on anything and everything. 

"No, for justice. I know how scared you are, Lanes."

"What's . . . in me . . . it's ━ "

"Evil and you know it," Mary finished for Delaney, brushing her thumb gently beneath Delaney's eyes to catch the tears. 

Delaney sniffled quietly, not even realizing she'd started crying until Mary had to dry up her now rosy cheeks. Everything Mary had said was exactly how Delaney felt. Sure, part of her wanted revenge for Dean's death regardless of him being alive again or not. Lilith was still supposed to get what was coming for her and Delaney wanted to be the one that brought that justice for Dean and herself. "What if it's stronger than me, Mom? Look at me. What if the boys are right?"

Mary shook her head with a fond smile, dropping her hand back into her lap. "Sweetie, your brothers can never know how strong you are . . . because they're both weak. Look at what they've done to you, especially Dean who's made you feel guilty over and over again. Sam didn't even try to stop Dean from locking you in here like a caged animal, even though he's always claimed to be the nice one. They're both terrified. Your brothers are in over their heads. You have to go on without them. You have what it takes and you didn't want them involved with the Lilith situation anyway. So you need to find a way to break away from your brothers, Delaney, and kill Lilith. Find Randy and get him to help you."

"Even if it kills me," Delaney agreed, breathing out a heavy sigh as she knew that Mary was right. That she even felt the same way that Delaney did about everything. She needed to figure out how to break off from Dean and Sam. Only long enough to kill Lilith without them getting in the middle and getting hurt. 

"I'm counting on you, Lanes. Make my death mean something and don't let anyone get in your way. Not even your brothers so you can keep them safe."

Delaney closed her eyes when Mary wrapped her arms tightly around Delaney's small frame. She mumbled encouraging words into Delaney's ear until eventually her hallucination disappeared, leaving Delaney alone once again.

Time passed agonizingly slow while Delaney was holed up like a common criminal. The night turned to day as if a snail were pulling the veil over the world from the darkness outside to the light that shimmered through the hole in the ceiling. Delaney hadn't slept a wink, not with her body aching and everything feeling like it was about to come crashing down on her. She could already feel her strength diminishing and soon enough, her blood would be back to how it was before. It would leave her too weak to even exorcise a level one demon and she'd never be able to save herself or Dean from going to Hell. 

A sudden jolt of hot pain shot up Delaney hand, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked down to her hands to see black veins trickling up her hands and into her arms. It was like a feeling of someone digging a needle into every inch of her skin and Delaney stumbled over to the mirror that was propped up on the wooden table to see black veins beginning to form on her face. She stumbled back and away from the table, collapsing onto her ass when she was on the other side of her bed as her body seized. 

The last thing Delaney remembered besides her body tensing up was being flung up against the iron wall of the panic room and getting a flash of Sam, Dean and Bobby rushing in to help her out. The second Dean and Sam's hands grasped onto her arms to get her off the wall, her world went dark.

Delaney's eyes slowly blinked open and she startled when her eyes focused on the handcuffs around her wrists with the towel beneath them that Dean had put there so Delaney wouldn't get hurt from the cuffs. She sat up when she heard the jingling from her ankles as well, her eyes snapping up to Dean and Sam that stood at the foot of her bed. Both boys wore a pained expression as the sight of their baby sister all chained up.

"We had to," Sam explained, noticing the questioning gaze that mixed in to the disoriented glaze that coated over Delaney's eyes. "The demon blood was flinging you all over the room."

"Tell me something, Della, why did you do this to yourself?" Dean asked, the pain seeping into his tone as he stared at his baby sister. Seeing her like this was killing him and he couldn't even do anything about it. Not until all the demon blood cleared out of her system and she was fully herself again.

"You both know why."

"Right. Kill Lilith. The big excuse, but why? What, revenge? For what? For sending me to Hell? Did you happen to forget I came back? I'm standing right in front of you, Della. Your big brother is still alive and yet you still want to go after this demon bitch. What's the point? You have both Sammy and I still," Dean reminded, throwing his hands out to the side to show Delaney he was still alive.

"The point?" Delaney repeated, her handcuffs rattling when she went to move her hands around out of reflex. She dropped her hands back to the mattress with a sigh. "How about stop the damn apocalypse? 

"Our gig, Della! Not yours!" Dean snapped back, gesturing between him and Sammy who had been the ones getting visited by angels. Not Delaney. "The angels even said so, remember? God brought me back from Hell to help Sammy out in whatever plan he's got. So, have you got any other fantastic excuses? Hmm?"

Delaney huffed and collapsed back on her bed, banging her head back against the pillow. She could hear her heart racing in her ears as the boys' words echoed around in her skull. The argument barely even started and Delaney could feel the faint twinge of pain that shot through her heart at fighting with the two most important boys in her life. The only two boys that had been there for her through everything.

When did her life get so complicated?

"We know why you took the demon blood, Delly," Sam announced, beginning to circle the bed with Dean, the both of them circling in different directions. "Makes you feel strong and invincible. A big bad wolf in a world of little pigs."

"No, you're wrong, Sam."

"It's more than that, isn't it? It's because your whole life, you felt different. Even before you knew about this life. Not different because you were this average little girl or because of your weirdo family ━ "

"Stop it," Delaney growled at Dean.

Dean tutted at Delaney and stopped near her head, bending down so their faces were mere inches apart. "Because you're a monster. You were always a monster, baby girl. You only feel right when you're sucking down more poison and more evil!"

"Monster, Delly," Sam's voice appeared near her ear next and both boys' face were over hers now. "You're a monster."

Delaney's eyes welled with tears, a shockwave of pain crashing through her at her big brothers' words. It was the words she'd always feared to come out of their mouths since they'd only ever either been quiet or really reassuring that everything would turn out okay. "No, you know that's not true."

"I tried to hard to pretend that we were brother and sister, that you weren't one of the filthy things that we hunt. We're not even the same species. You are nothing to me or Sammy."

"Don't say that to me," Delaney cried, shaking her head as her wide green eyes stared up into Dean's face. The same face she'd always look for in a crowd of people when she was hurting and needing one of Dean's bear hugs that he reserved only for his baby sister. Or to Sam and his kind and soft spoken words, always trying to throw in a joke or two to get her smiling and laughing again. "Don't you say that to me."

Delaney's eyes squeezed shut as more tears pooled out of her eyes, her heart feeling heavy in her chest. It squeezed and tugged in various directions at her brothers' harsh words. A part of her knew that she deserved the harshness from her brothers. She deserved to be chewed up and spit back out by them because they were hurt and she'd fucked up. However, there was also another part of her that tried to remind her she did all of this for them. To save them. To protect them. 

When Delaney's eyes finally opened again, Dean and Sam were both gone and the door to the panic room was sealed shut as if the boys hadn't even been there. It took Delaney a long minute to shuffle through her muddled brain and realize that she had just had another hallucination. The boys didn't actually say any of that awful stuff to her and it was all in her head. Almost as if her conscience was trying to tell her something that she wasn't listening to.

Delaney wasn't given much time to really worry about the hallucination of Dean and Sam when her handcuffs popped open. She sat up in her bed, running her fingers along the smooth skin of wrist with furrowed eyebrows as her ankles were released next. Almost like she'd done with her mind when Delaney knew she didn't have the power do that. To add onto her confusion, the panic room door creaked open next as if someone on the other side had propped it open just for her. 

"Hello?" Delaney called out, slowly standing up from the bed and creeping closer to the propped open door. She reached out her hand and pressed her palm to the door, pushing it open all the way to reveal the darkened basement beyond the door. "Anyone there? Dean? Sammy? Bobby?"

When no response was uttered, Delaney stepped out of the panic room and rushed her way down the small pathway that lead to the creaky wooden stairs that lead up to the first floor of the house. She kept her footsteps light while she made her way from the basement door and over to the coatrack in the hallway where she grabbed her leather jacket, slipping it on. She froze in the archway between the foyer Bobby's study to see Bobby passed out on the desk while Dean was passed out on the couch and Sam passed out in the chair next to the couch. 

After muttering a sorry to her three boys, Delaney quietly exited Bobby's house and found the closest car she would be able to get open and hot wire so she could get away from the Singer household. She couldn't necessarily start up the car since it was right in front of the house and would wake up the boys, but she still needed to open the car so that she could push it far enough down the lot that she could pull off without alerting Dean, Sam or Bobby. 

The cocking of a shotgun behind her froze Delaney in her motions to get the car ready to be pushed out without anyone noticing. She slowly turned around to see Bobby stood behind her with the shotgun in his hand, though she knew Bobby didn't intend to use it on her. "Laney, the only place you're going is back inside with me and your brothers."

Delaney's hands clenched and she felt her eyes well with tears for the umpteenth time that night at the look on Bobby's face. The man had never looked at her with such disappointment before. He'd always taken her in whenever John asked and she was always treated as Bobby's own blood. "I'm sorry, Uncle Bobby. I can't."

"Damn it, sweetheart."

"You won't shoot me, Uncle Bobby. You won't do it," Delaney accused, walking closer to the older man until the tip of the barrel pressed to her heart. She cleared her throat of the tears and emotions that clogged it, trying to ignore the pained expression on Bobby's face. "You can't do it."

Bobby breathed shakily as his own eyes began to well with unshed tears. He couldn't even fathom the thought of Delaney becoming what she had. Her pale face and her dark purple bags under her eyes was enough to make the man weak in the knees with emotion. The bright, happy little girl he'd helped raise whenever John threw her on his doorstep was now stood before him, looking like someone he didn't even recognize. "We're just trying to help you, Lanes."

Delaney let out a small whimper as her hand gripped around the barrel and moved the gun up higher on her chest, earning a stunned expression from Bobby. "Then shoot me, Uncle Bobby." She stared down Bobby for a long moment who didn't move to shoot her before she swiftly tightened her grip on the gun, tugging it from Bobby's hands and slamming it down onto his head which knocked him out. She sniffled as she dropped the gun next to her passed out uncle. "I'm sorry."

It took Delaney all of two minutes to get the car near her hot wired and ready to pull out of the lot, leaving behind her brothers and uncle.

Delaney had found a hotel miles away from Bobby's house to hide and Randy had been the first person she'd called once she was tucked away safely in the honeymoon suite she'd gotten. Her body was still shooting shockwaves of pain or shakes through her as her body practically screamed for demon blood. It wasn't a feeling that Delaney hated, but she also knew that she needed more, especially if she was going to be taking down Lilith. It wasn't a feeling that Delaney looked forward to going through again once she did kill Lilith and didn't need the power anymore.

A knock on the door alerted Delaney and she stood up from the couch to walk over to the door and open it, revealing her beaming boyfriend clad in his usual leather jacket, black t-shirt and black jeans. He stepped into the room as his eyes scanned around the expansive room with his gray, fancy tiles and expensive looking lamps and bed.

"Aww, princess, I'm flattered. You got the honeymoon suite."

Delaney rolled her eyes at Randy, shutting the door behind him as he walked over to the couch to drop his jacket and bag down. "Did you bust me out of that panic room?"

Randy furrowed his eyebrows and turned to face Delaney and she hated that her heart still did a small flutter at the sight of him. She should hate him ━ which she did, at least a little bit ━ and be appalled by the sight of him and yet his charming smile and soft eyes that stared back at her still sent a wave of something through her. Maybe it was just the loss of demon blood. "Babe, how could I have done that? The whole thing is engineered to bite me in the ass. What matters is that you're out now. I'm glad you're here."

Delaney barked out a laugh and crossed her eyes, narrowing her gaze at Randy as she was still annoyed that he'd never even responded to her calls. "Funny coming from you. Where the hell have you been, Randy?"

"You realize I dropped everything to come here when you called me, right? I got here as quickly as I could. I'm a demon, but I can't just snap my fingers like the angels and appear places, babe," Randy quipped.

"Not what I mean, Randy! I meant the past three weeks! I've been calling you and you just keep ignoring me," Delaney argued back, following Randy through the room towards the bed that he stopped in front of.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Delaney. I've been deep in your mess with Lilith and I can't always check my voicemails," Randy snapped back, but quickly regretted it and stepped closer to Delaney. His eyes were soft and loving as he tucked a piece of brown, curly hair behind Delaney's ear and cupped her cheek gently. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry you're hurting and that I wasn't there. I am. I had no idea that Dean and Sam would do that to you."

Delaney sniffled quietly, fighting off the moisture that threatened to spill again as her throat burned from the action. "Yeah, you and me both."

Randy sighed sadly, hating the distraught look on his girlfriend's face and stroked her cheeks gently in the hopes it'd help make her feel better. "I want to assume you didn't book this place just to impress your boyfriend."

"The boys are gonna come after me and they know my habits, my aliases, everything. Dean and Sam know exactly which motel I would have picked. I did this to shake them both since you know I don't want them involved in this mess," Delaney explained.

"Well, it won't be easy, princess. I mean . . . they know you better than anyone, especially Dean. He's good at reading people it seems," Randy responded, dropping his hand from her cheek to drop down to waist and tugging her closer. His thumbs caressed her sides now and thankfully missed the small flinch from Delaney at their close proximity as she silently struggled to keep up the girl in love act. "It's just really sad that things have gotten this bad between you guys."

Delaney growled quietly as she couldn't ignore the closeness of the demon blood to her and flipped Randy onto the bed, straddling his waist as he grinned deviously up at her. He knew exactly what she was doing when she reached down to the small blade he kept strapped to his ankle, holding it up so shined in the bright light. 

"Mmm, princess, I like when you take control like this," Randy mused at Delaney as the youngest Winchester made a small cut in his forearm. A sharp inhale released from Randy as he allowed the girl to take whatever she needed from him. It had been a while since Delaney had any blood and he knew that the girl would be taking a lot more than she typically did from him.

Delaney felt the strength slam back into her body as Randy's blood splashed down her throat and filled her system up again with the power and strength she'd gotten used to. She sighed in relief as her body slowly begin to right itself again and the dizziness, shaking, nausea, and pounding head washed away like a breath of fresh air. It wasn't long before she finally felt right again and she slowly raised herself up from her hunched over position, licking the excess blood from around her mouth. 

Randy pushed himself up the bed, keeping a firm grip on Delaney's waist as he propped himself up against the headboard. He dried the last of the blood on his arm on his jeans that he made a mental note to clean later and slouched as he felt his head spin slightly from the loss of blood. "Someone's appetite is strong today."

"What?" Delaney blinked, already feeling much better than she had the past twenty-four hours. "What are you talking about?"

Randy chuckled and squeezed Delaney's waist gently, showing her he was just teasing her. "Princess, relax. It's okay. It's good. I just means that my baby is getting strong enough to kill Lilith, that's all. It's actually kind of hot."

Delaney shot Randy a look to which he merely shot her innocent smile as he grabbed her by the back of neck, bringing her lips down onto his. No matter how badly she'd wanted to pull away, Delaney give into the kiss, letting hers move with Randy's for a few moments. He didn't know that she knew he'd been going behind her back and giving her the demon blood. He didn't know that she knew he was the reason she'd spiraled in the first place. So, Delaney had to act like she had before so he wouldn't suspect that she was onto him. 

It just sucked that his kisses seemed genuine. That his soft and longing looks he gave to her seemed genuine. He seemed so genuine.

"Besides, you're just in time," Randy said, pulling away from Delaney's lips slowly. "The final seals are breaking."

Delaney sighed and pressed her forehead to Randy's shoulder, not even wanting to begin to think about the seals breaking and how many were left. "How many are left?"

"Three? Two?"

Delaney's head snapped back up as her eyes met with Randy's dazzling brown ones, her heart hammering in her chest. Lilith had already broken sixty-two seals? Did she really take that much longer to find Lilith than she thought? How many had Lilith broken already when she'd appeared to Delaney when she first met Chuck? "What?! Well, where are the angels?"

"Screwing the pooch, wherever they are. The point is, it's looking more and more like we're getting down to the final seal and I found out something big. Seal sixty-six? It can't be broken by just any demon. Apparently, only Lucifer's first can do it," Randy informed, his absentmindedly rubbing Delaney's thighs that were pressed to his sides.

"Lucifer's first? Who's that?" Delaney inquired, never hearing of anything about a first for Lucifer before. She didn't even know demons could have a first. Then again, Lucifer was a fallen angel so he'd be different to the other demons that Delaney had come into contact with.

"Demon Sunday school story. God prefers humans to angels. Lucifer gets jealous and then he gets creative. He twists and tempts a human soul into the very first demon ━ as a screw you to God. It's what got him locked up in the first place."

Delaney balked as she realized just who Randy was talking about. He meant Lilith was the key to the final seal and she needed to get to her before that final seal got broken by her. Knowing Lilith, she'd drag out that final seal until Delaney finally showed up to her side again so she could watch her break it as a torture method. Even more of a reason for Delaney to make sure she was strong enough to kill the demon bitch. "That's Lilith?"

"She's way older than she looks."

"Wait, so . . . if Lilith is the only one who can break the final seal, if I get to her in time . . . "

"Then Lucifer never busts out of his cage ━ exactly," Randy finished for Delaney with a proud grin on his face. He reached up and jokingly pinched Delaney's cheek. "Look at my beautiful girl having a bright brain in that pretty head of hers."

Delaney laughed and whacked Randy's hand away, suddenly feeling a strong sense of determination course through her as she knew what she had to do now. "Great. You figure out where she is?"

"The bitch can hide, I give her that. I think I finally have a lead on someone who might be able to help us. I closed in on a member of Lilith's entourage. You might call her a . . . personal chef."

"Chef? What does she eat?"

Randy chuckled and shifted where he was leant up against the headboard to make himself more comfortable. "Trust me, princess. You don't want to know the answer to that. Now how about you go shower so you can relax a little bit. I think you deserve it, baby."

After Delaney had showered and changed her clothes to a white t-shirt, her leather jacket, dark blue jeans and her usual black boots Dean bought for her, she stepped out into the room where Randy lounged out on the couch. His eyes lit up at the sight of her as he always loved when she looked badass the way she did right now. She removed her curls from the inside of her shirt and let it flow down her back in soft waves again, making sure she looked human again and not like a walking corpse.

"So, this demon nurse . . . you sure she'll come?" Delaney asked, freezing in front of Randy who had moved to the edge of the couch as she approached.

"She'll be there, Lane. Graveyard shift. Tomorrow night. In the mean time, if you're gonna be strong enough to kill Lilith, you're gonna need more than I can give you now, princess," Randy informed, frowning when Delaney huffed in response. He pushed himself up from the couch and offered Delaney an encouraging smile. "Baby, come on. It's okay."

Delaney nodded slowly, playing with the loose string on the front of Randy's t-shirt. She knew she needed more blood if she were going to tackle Lilith and stop her from starting the apocalypse. That didn't make it any easier on her. "I know, Ran, I need more. I - I get it. I know it's okay. I just . . . I wish my brothers would trust me, you know? I miss them, Randy. I miss how it used to be."

Randy's heart broke in half when he saw the torn expression on his girlfriend's face and pulled her into him, hugging her closely as he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. He leant his chin on the top of her head and rubbed her back comfortingly as he swayed her slightly side to side. "I'm sorry, baby."

"I just hope, you know, when all this is over . . . I hope we can fix things. I hate disappointing them."

"You'll figure it out, princess. You always do."

God did Delaney hope he was right.

It was a bit later when Delaney decided she'd run out to get food for her and Randy since she also needed some actual food after not really eating all that much in over twenty-four hours. She had gotten half down the hallway that lead to the elevators when she realized she forgot her wallet. Mentally kicking herself, Delaney made the trip back over to the motel room and opened it up to see Dean holding Ruby up against the wall with the demon knife nearly pressed into her boyfriend.

"Dean!" Delaney yelled, rushing over and pulling Dean off her boyfriend, causing the eldest Winchester to stumble back into Sam who'd stood off to the side. She stood between her boyfriend and two brothers with hand held out to keep her brothers back. "Just take it easy, okay?"

"Some party you two must have had going on since you made it so hard for Sammy and I to crash it. Well, solid try, but . . . here we are," Dean rasped, throwing his hands out with a fake smile.

Delaney slowly lowered her hand back to her side and tried to not focus on the displeased expressions on Sam and Dean's faces. "Boys, I'm glad you're here. Look . . . let's just talk about this."

"Soon as he's dead we can talk all night if you want," Sam chimed in, pointing a finger in Randy's direction who stood directly behind Delaney.

"Ran, get out of here," Delaney instructed her boyfriend, needing this conversation to be between her and her brothers. Not her, her brothers and Randy. He didn't need to be there if things went south fast.

"No, he's not going anywhere," Dean snapped before Randy could so much as take a step back towards the motel room door. He growled in frustration when Randy merely shot him a wink and exited out the door to leave the siblings to it. "Your boyfriend is poison, Della!"

Delaney rubbed her hands over her face, trying to find the best way to word her next sentence. She knew Randy was bad and that she couldn't trust him. Though, Dean and Sam couldn't know that she knew that because she needed to keep up the facade that she was still happy with Randy. She would rather die than have Dean and Sam get in the middle of the crossfire with Lilith. "It's not what you think, boys. I promise."

"Look what he did to you, Delaney! Well, he up and vanishes, weeks at a time, leaves you cracking out for another hit!"

"Randy has been looking for Lilith! You know, the main problem here!"

"That is French for manipulating your ass left, right and center!" Sam corrected his baby sister, trying to get through to her. He knew that he and Dean shouldn't push her away from them if they expected to get her back, but never lasted too long when it came to a Winchester showdown. 

"You're wrong. The both of you," Delaney denied, even though she agreed in her heart that Randy was manipulating her. Pamela had even said it herself to Delaney just weeks ago before she died trying to help them. Now it was just a matter of manipulating Randy right back and Delaney intended to do that alone for the safety of Sam, Dean and Bobby. 

Dean laughed hoarsely and slapped his hand to his sides, staring at her sadly. His heart was practically breaking visibly for Delaney's eyes to see. Which only made it harder for Delaney not to just spew out her plans with Randy to her brothers. "Baby girl, you are lying to yourself. I just . . . want my baby sister to be okay. You would do the same for Sammy and me. You know you would."

Delaney stared pleadingly up at her olde brothers who now stood mere feet from her. Her body screamed for her to leap into their arms and apologize for the next four hours and tell them everything. However, Delaney couldn't let herself be selfish and put her brothers in danger. They would never do that to her and she wasn't about to do that to them. It was like Mary said, she'd need to put distance between her and the boys if she was gonna keep them safe until she finished off Lilith and could go back to them. "Just listen for a second, please. Randy got a lead close to Lilith and we can take her down . . . together."

"That's great. As long as it's just you, Dean and I, Delly. No Randy. You kiss him goodbye and we'll go right now," Sam chimed in, feeling hope flood through him that maybe Delaney would go with them and leave Randy behind: dead or alive.

"I meant just Randy and I," Delaney corrected, flinching at the stone hard gazes that she received in return for that statement. "I need him ━ to help me kill Lilith. I know you guys can't wrap your heads around it, but it needs to be Randy. I'm the only one who can do this and I  know one day you'll both understand."

"No, you're not the one who's gonna do this, Delaney Elizabeth."

Delaney nodded her head mockingly and crossed her arms across her chest. "Right, Dean. I forgot. The angels thinks it has to be you and your little sidekick Sammy."

"You don't think Sam and I can?" Dean challenged.

"No, you can't. You guys aren't strong enough, especially not you, Dean. You're still weak from Hell."

"And who the hell are you?" Sam retorted back, his hazel eyes darkening in anger and frustration. Just when he thought they finally had Delaney back, she takes another four steps back. 

"I'm just being practical here. I'm doing what needs to be done for the protection of everyone."

Dean ran his tongue over his teeth as his jaw worked, a sure sign that his anger was rising dangerously. "Yeah? You aren't gonna do a single damn thing."

"Stop bossing me around, Dean! I am not a baby anymore that you get to tell what to do! You aren't Dad!" Delaney bellowed, her chest heaving as she tried to calm herself down. "Look. My whole life, you boys took the wheel, you called the shots. I trust you because you are my big brothers and always wanted what was best for me. Now, I am asking you, for once in your lives . . . trust me."

"No," Sam immediately denied, shaking his head in response. "You don't know what you're doing here, Delly."

"Yes, I do. Look, I'm telling you ━ "

"It's not something that you're doing! It's what you are!" Dean yelled over Delaney, creating a heavy tense over the room at his words. He went dead silent when he realized what he'd actually said and he couldn't take them back. Not now. Not ever. His words hung in the air like sharp knives just waiting to crash down on Delaney who stared at her brother out of hurt.

Delaney knew that Dean and Sam were angry with her and she knew that she had to push them a little bit just so she could get off on her own and finish this. Finish this whole thing and get rid of Lilith and then Randy. Finish this whole thing so she could get back to how things were with her brothers. Now . . . Delaney knew her brothers' true feelings towards everything that's been happening. Towards her. "What, Dean? Go ahead, say it. I dare you."

"It means that you're a monster."

Delaney felt the anger crash into her like a freight train and she sneered at him, rearing her arm back and sending a solid punch across Dean's face out of her anger. She didn't even really register she'd done it until she felt pain in her knuckles and heard the sound of Dean's ass hit the carpeted floor of the motel room with a low thud. She had never hit either of her brothers before besides the usual playful tap when they were joking. Never had she actually given it all her strength and actually hit Dean or Sam. She'd always saw it as disrespectful because they had both raised her and she was a girl. They couldn't hit her back, even if they wanted to in retaliation. 

However, at the moment, Delaney didn't even care she'd just punched her eldest brother and his look of hurt didn't phase through her like it normally would. Him calling her a monster echoed in her mind over and over like a taunting song and she took steps away from her brothers while Sam helped Dean back to his feet, a look of shock on his face as he'd never seen it get this bad before. Delaney and Dean could have pretty bad arguments, but never to this extent. He didn't even know what to think of the situation or Delaney at the moment because that wasn't Delaney stood before him right now. 

Delaney flexed her aching hand to stretch it out and didn't even give her brothers a second glance as she stormed towards the motel room door. Her hand wrapped around the brass knob when Dean called out for her.

"Delaney Elizabeth Winchester, you walk out that door . . . don't you dare come back."

Delaney's heart froze in her chest as the exact words that John had said during their fight back when she wanted to go to Stanford hung in the tense air. It was a sentence that still sent pangs of pain through her chest and it was a sentence that Delaney would have expected Dean to never say to her. It only made her drive to leave Dean and Sam's sight that much more strong. She glanced over her shoulder at Dean and Sam ━ one wearing an expression he'd only ever looked at demons or enemies with and the other wearing a torn expression since he didn't know what to do ━ and glared darkly at Dean.

"You know what, Dean? I was wrong. You are just like Dad," Delaney remarked sharply, her tone being sharp enough to cut through just about anything. More specifically, Dean's heart. She didn't stay to hear her brothers' response and slammed the motel room door loudly behind her, storming towards the elevator to go find where Randy had gone.

Each step she took adding another crack to her heart.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

I PROMISED THE ANGST AND YOU PEEPS GOT IT HARDCORE! Delaney tried so hard to keep Dean and Sam out of her plot against Randy that it just spiraled out of control. She thinks what she's doing is right, even though she had to make it seem like she was choosing Randy over her own brothers. Little did she know it'd spark something she wouldn't know how to get herself out of. FUN TIMES FOR THE WINCHESTERS!

THE NEXT CHAPTER IS FINAL ONE FOR THIS BOOK! I will be posting the final chapter tomorrow (July 8th) if I can so I can get that and the intro for the fifth book out there. I am so excited for Book Five because we'll be meeting a new character who will quickly become a main character alongside Dean, Sam and Delaney!