╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡

𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘗𝘖𝘚𝘚𝘌𝘚𝘚𝘌𝘋 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

"Hey, Ellen, it's Dean... again. Any chance you've heard from Della? I swear it's like looking for Dad all over again. Sammy and I are losing out minds here," Dean huffed, running a hand down his face. It's been a whole week since him or Sam had seen Delaney and it was starting to really scare the two boys. The reminder of Delaney possibly going dark side lingering in the back of their minds and it only made the situation worse. 

"No, Sammy and I have called her a thousand time and we both got the voicemail every damn time. I don't know where she went or why, but Delaney is just gone."

Sam fumbled in his pocket when his phone began to buzz in his pocket and he quickly answered it when he saw it was Delaney. "Delly, hey, where are you? Are you okay? Just calm down and text me where you are. Dean and I will come to you. Just stay there, okay, Delly? Okay, I promise we'll be there as soon as we can. Take deep breaths and don't panic. Yeah, love you too, little one."

The two brothers immediately hopped into the Impala and sped off towards the motel that Delaney sent to Sam's phone. It only took the boys a little less than an hour to get to the motel, but it felt way longer than that to the two of them. Neither one knew how Delaney was doing or what state she was in, so they couldn't get to her soon enough. 

Sam lead Dean up to the room that Delaney mentioned staying in and he frantically knocked on the door to Delaney's motel room, not receiving a response which only made the two boys worry even more. Dean pushed his brother out of the way and tried to doorknob and thankfully the door was unlocked. 

The door slowly pushed open and the two brothers slowly stepped into the room, noticing Delaney sat stock still on the bed with her head bent low and staring at the ground with a face void of expression.

"Hey, boys."

Dean knelt on one side of Delaney while Sam knelt on the other, taking Delaney's bloodied knuckle into her hand and examined it. "Are you bleeding?"

"I tired to wash it off," Delaney monotonously replied, letting her brothers fuss over her as they took in her entire person.

"Oh my God!" Sam gasped when he noticed the large blood stain on Delaney's white t-shirt and on the edges of her flannel. He quickly checked her over for injuries, but couldn't find anything on her. He didn't know if that thought made him feel better or worse.

Delaney finally seemed to snap back into reality and she glanced down at her flannel and white t-shirt, a look of anxiousness crossing her features. "I don't think it's my blood."

"Whose is it?" Dean asked, relaxing only slightly when he realized Delaney wasn't injured. Minus the small cuts on her knuckles.

"I don't know."

Dean grabbed Delaney's face and forced her to look at him. "Della, what happened?"

Delaney's eyes welled with tears, her anxiety starting to take over as her breath went unsteady and her eyes grew wider. "I... I don't remember anything."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look, not knowing what to make of this whole situation. They hadn't seen Delaney in a week and now they find her with blood on her knuckles and clothes with no explanation to how it even happened. This was so far out of Delaney's character that neither boy knew how to react to any of it.

While Sam stayed with Delaney as she showered and changed, Dean ran out to figure out what he could from the motel clerk downstairs and get the three some food. Neither boy ate and Dean was pretty sure that his baby sister didn't eat anything either. She seemed healthy, but looks were deceiving and he wasn't taking chances with her. Better to be safe than sorry.

Dean returned to the room around an hour later and Delaney was finally changed into new jeans, t-shirt and one of Dean's old flannels that had shrunk in one of the motel rooms washer. Delaney claiming it because she claimed she liked the shade of blue it was, being a color close to resemble the ocean. Delaney's favorite shade of her favorite color.

"What did you find out?"

Dean shut the door behind him with his foot and placed the bottle of soda and food he bought down on the table that was close to the motel room door. "You checked in two days ago under the name Hayley Williams. I think the scariest part about this whole thing is that you're a Paramore fan."

Delaney gave Dean a look that practically screamed if he didn't become serious then she'd punch him in the throat. "Dean."

Dean shook his head and threw his hands out to the side as if to say he didn't get it. "I don't know, Della. Your room has been quiet. Nobody has noticed anything unusual."

"You mean no one has seen me walking around covered in blood?" Delaney scoffed.

"Yeah. That's what I mean."

Delaney slapped her hands to her sides, laughing incredulously. "Then how the hell did I get here, guys? What happened to me?"

"We don't know," Sam responded from his spot where he leant against the divider between the tiny dining area and the bed in the room. "But you're okay and that's all that matters. Everything else we can deal with."

"Oh, really? 'Cause what if I hurt someone or worse?" Delaney challenged. 

"Della," Dean warned, tossing his jacket onto the chair at the table and rolled up the sleeves of his button up.

Delaney crossed her arms, face becoming stone and no emotion on her face again. That was a bit odd to the boys because Delaney's emotions tended to show a lot on her face, especially when she was really upset. "What if this is what Dad warned you guys about?"

Dean shook his head and held his hand up for Delaney to stop right where she was. "Whoa, what. Come on, baby girl. Let's not jump the gun here. We don't know what happened. We got to treat this like any other job. What's the last thing you remember?"

Delaney chewed on her lip as her mind flicked through her muddled brain. "Um... just us in that motel room in West Texas. We went out to get burgers and..."

"West Texas?" Sam gaped, standing up straight. "Delaney, that was a week ago."

Delaney shrugged and sat on top of the small dresser behind her, not having the strength to stand on her own two feet anymore. "That's it. Next thing I knew, I was sitting here... bloody. I felt like I had been asleep for a month."

"Okay, retrace your steps," Dean instructed, trying to keep the worry and fear from creeping up. He had to be strong and levelheaded - make it seem like everything was going to be okay... which he really hoped it would be. "Manager said you left yesterday afternoon and never saw you come back." He glanced out the window to see if he could find anything, but froze when he noticed a bloody fingerprint on the window.

"Hey..."

The three siblings exit the motel and they stand outside Delaney's window, ignoring the light drizzle that took over the town. The boys hoped that there was something outside that would get Delaney to remember at least something from the past week, or even the past two days.

"Recognize anything?" Sam asked Delaney who glanced around them, but no recognition crossed her face.

"Not really," Delaney replied and followed her brothers towards a parking garage in the back. She pulled on both of the boys' jackets to stop them from walking. "Wait."

"What?"

Delaney scanned the various garages and a small flicker of recognition flashed across her face. "I think I was here."

"You remember?" Sam questioned.

"Not really. It just... feels familiar, you know?" Delaney whispered and walked over to one row of garages with her brothers. "The second one." She pointed to the garage with the number two on the front.

Dean clutched the lock on the garage, showing Delaney they needed a key. He really shouldn't have been surprised when Delaney retrieved a silver key from her leather jacket pocket, but a part of him hoped she didn't have a key. This whole situation felt like a dream to him and he wanted to wake up so bad. Not knowing what happened to his sister killed him heavily. 

Once the lock was off the garage door, Sam threw the door open while Dean handed the key back to his sister. Inside the garage was an old black, filthy, beaten up Volkswagen Beetle. 

Dean grimaced at the sight of the thing and turned to his sister with a disappointed look. "Please tell me you didn't steal this."

Delaney ignored him and the three enter the garage and opened both doors with Delaney on the driver's side and the boys on the passenger side, inspecting the inside of the vehicle. She reached out and touched the real, her finger coming back wet and red. "More blood."

Sam paled when he noticed something shiny on the backseat, he peered over more and realized it was a silver knife with blood stained on it. "Delly... backseat."

Delaney picked up the knife, it making a squelching sound when she pried it off the bloodied seat. Her face fell in mortification as she looked to her brothers. "You think I used this on someone?"

Dean paused as he took time to process all the information piling up. There was no way Delaney could have done something like this. She barely had the heart to kill a fly, little lone a person. Hell, the girl didn't even kill Gordon and he tried to kill her. "I'm not thinking anything."

Sam picked up a pack of cigarettes that was underneath the passenger seat and held it up for his siblings to see. "Okay, this is disturbing. Come on, Delly. This couldn't have been you. It could have been someone else - someone who obviously liked to smoke menthol."

"Here," Delaney said, retrieving a gas station receipt from her other pocket. "Oh, hey, a gas receipt, a few towns over."

-°—✞——✞—°-

"Alright, receipt is for ten gallons at pump number two," Dean informed as he pulled up in front of the pump. "You getting any goose bumps yet, Della? God, this looks familiar, deja vu vibes?"

Delaney quietly shook her head as she looked around them, clearly not remembering a single thing.

"Maybe someone inside remembers you," Sam suggested, getting out of the Impala with his siblings and made his way into the convenience store with Dean and Delaney trailing in behind him.

The clerk at the register glanced up and seemed shocked to see the trio, mainly Delaney. "You - out of here. Now. I'm calling the cops."

"You talking to her?" Dean asked as the kid grabbed the phone behind the register.

"Yeah, I'm talking to her. Bitch comes in yesterday, stinking drunk, grabs a 40 from the fridge, starts chugging it."

Dean blinked and he jerked his thumb towards his baby sister. "This girl? Since when do you drink malt liquor?"

The clerk scoffed and nodded his head out the window next to him. "Not after he whipped the bottle at my friggin' head."

"This girl?"

"What, am I speaking Urdu?"

Delaney stepped forward and placed a hand over her heart. "Look, I'm really sorry. If I did anything - "

"Tell your story walking, sister, okay? The cops will be here in five."

Dean held his hands up in defense, stopping the kid from dialing 9-1-1. "Wait, she's leaving, okay? Put the phone down. Della, go wait in the car."

"But, Dean - "

"Go wait in the car, Delaney!" Dean barked and Delaney silently relented, walking out of the convenience store. "Okay, I just want to talk to you, man. That's all. Now, when she took off yesterday, which way did she go?"

The clerk leant his hands on the counter and gave the two boys an odd look. "Why don't you ask her?"

"Because he asked you," Sam countered, raising an eyebrow at him to show they weren't messing around. "Please, you'd be doing us a huge favor, okay?"

"Oh, do you a favor. Well, that is what I live for," the clerk remarked. "You know, your girlfriend didn't pay for the booze or the smokes, which she also illegally lit up."

Dean went to tell the kid that Delaney wasn't his girlfriend when the other part of the clerk's sentence processed. "Wait, you saw her smoking?"

"Yeah, chick's a chimney."

Sam cleared his throat and tossed a few bills onto the counter while Dean stared out the window worriedly at their sister. What was going on with her? Was this really what John had warned them both about? They really hoped it wasn't. "This, uh, ought to cover it."

"Hmm, it's, uh, it's coming back to me now. She took two packs."

Sam threw his head back as he tried to keep from screaming in frustration and tossed a few more bills onto the counter. "Of course she did."

"She went north on Route 71, straight out of town."

Dean took two candy bars from the counter, seeing as how Sam definitely gave the clerk more money than what two packs of cigarettes would be and pulled Sam out of the store after him. They seriously needed to get to the bottom of this thing.

-°—✞——✞—°-

Later that night, Dean drove down a dark road and stole a few glances at his sister every couple of minutes who sat in the front seat while Sam took the back. This was one instance Delaney was to sit in the front, especially with her being the only one that could potentially remember something and they follow her direction.

"What's going on with you, Della, huh? The smoking, throwing bottles at people - that sounds more like me than you. I know everyone says that you and I are twins, but not in that respect. So what the hell is happening?" Dean questioned.

Delaney sat up in her seat from her original slouched and brooding position. "Dee, wait. Wait. Here. Turn that down road."

Dean followed where Delaney pointed and looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"I don't know how I know. I just do."

Dean turned down a dark road and onto a private property. There was a large house with emergency lights scattered everywhere and security cameras placed around the house. They step out of the car and slowly circle around themselves to look at the property. Dean froze when an emergency light turned on, shining brightly in his face when he moved past it. "Whoever lives here, I'd say they don't like surprises."

"Should we knock?" Dean asked as they mounted the steps of the front porch and stopped in front of the front door. 

"Yeah, I guess," Delaney mumbled and rounded her brothers, inspecting the rest of the porch.

Dean knocked on the front door while Delaney continued to poke around the porch for any more clues as to why she remembered this house. When no one answered the door, Sam went to check the window and noticed the broken glass on the windowsill. "Hey, Dean."

"I'm surprised the cops didn't show. Place like this you'd think they'd have an alarm," Dean commented, shining his flashlight along the area of the broken window.

"Yeah, you would," Delaney sighed, fingering the disabled alarm on the side of the house.

The siblings entered through the front door that had been unlocked and they slowly shine their lights along the glass littered floors. A struggle had obviously gone through the home as multiple furniture and glass covered the floors leading to a back room where a body laid on its side. Dean kicked the back lightly and the body didn't move or flinch at Dean's touch.

"Hit the lights," Dean instructed Delaney, who walked over to the wall behind her and flipped the switch.

Dean and Sam knelt behind the body. Dean placed a hand on it and turned it over to reveal a middle-aged man with a deeply cut throat. He is dead clearly dead as his eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. Sam placed a hand over his own mouth in shock while Dean turned ghostly pale. Delaney at least the decency to look horrified at what she possibly did. 

"Boys, I did this," Delaney whimpered, not being able to tear her eyes away from the dead body.

"We don't know that," Dean countered, shaking his head as he pushed himself to his feet along with Sam. 

"What else do you need?" Delaney snapped, tugging a hand through her hair. "I mean, how else do you explain the car, the knife, the blood?"

Dean whirled to face his sister and threw his hands in the air. "I don't know, Delaney! Why don't you tell me, huh?" He took a minute to close his eyes and calm himself down after Sam shot him a look. It wasn't fair to Delaney because she didn't remember anything and fighting with her would do nothing to help. "Even if you did do this, I'm sure you had a reason - self defense, he was a bad son of a bitch - something."

Sam pat down the body for anything that could help them figure out who this guy even was, but he came up short. "He's got no ID on him."

"I need your lockpick," Delaney ordered and walked over to the closet directly behind Dean. She grabbed the device from him and opened up the double doors to reveal a wall covered in firearms and the other two covered in darts and clippings.

"Either this guy is a unabomber - "

"Or a hunter," Sam finished for his brother, eyes scanning the hidden weapons closet.

Delaney stumbled back and her face flushed red, her chest heaving as realization dawned on her. "I killed a hunter! An innocent hunter."

Dean scanned the room and noticed a security camera hung in the corner of the room. "Let's find out."

A few minutes later, the three siblings surround the computer in the corner of the same room, the footage that Dean found now displayed on the screen. On the tape, Delaney fought the same man who laid dead on the floor behind them. The fight moved off camera and Delaney dragged the man back into the frame and she knelt, the man pulled up against her legs, and slit his throat. 

Delaney stared in shock as Dean pulled back from the screen and stood straight, looking at Delaney. Sam sat in the chair at the computer, not being able to tear his eyes from the now paused footage on the screen before him.

Dean and Sam quickly got to work with cleaning up whatever mess Delaney left behind after her attack on the random hunter. Neither boy had never even heard of him before so how Delaney knew where to find him was beyond either of their knowledge. The amount of stress and worry the two older Winchesters were experiencing really started to ware them out and they didn't know what to do anymore.

"Sam, can you go erase the footage?" Dean asked Sam as he scrubbed the floor to rid it of the dried blood.

Sam pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the desk where Delaney still sat, staring blankly at the screen where the footage was still paused. "Delly, let me sit in the chair so I can erase the footage."

"I killed him, Sammy. I just broke in and killed him."

Dean sighed and sat back on his heels, looking up at his sister desperately. "Listen, Della, this guy is a hunter. That means that other hunters are going to come looking for his killer, which means we got to cover our tracks, okay?"

Delaney held up a letter that was sat on the keyboard and the frown reappeared on her face. "HIs name is Steve Wandell. This is a letter from his daughter."

Dean looked from Delaney to the letter, then jumped into action. He grabbed the computer, lifted it above his head, and smashed it to the floor, stomping it with his boots for good measure. He turned back around and tossed his two siblings a rag each from the bed nearby. "Wipe your prints, then we go."

-°—✞——✞—°-

"Alright, we get a couple hours of sleep and then we put this place in our rearview mirror," Dean said as the three siblings made their way into the motel room and he dropped the duffle down onto the bed. He glanced up to see Delaney having an unreadable expression on her face. "Look, I know this bad, kiddo, okay? You got to snap out of it."

Delaney rubbed her temples as she squeezed her eyes shut, pacing the length of the room.

"Delly, say something," Sam pleaded since she had been silent ever since they left Steve Wandell's house.

"Just get some sleep and leave in the morning? Murder, guys - that's what I did."

"Maybe, okay? Hey, we don't - shapeshifter," Dean suggested, even though he knew full well it wasn't a shapeshifter. However, he wanted to believe that this wasn't Delaney and something else did it. This wasn't like her and the thought of having to possibly kill her if he nor Sam could save her, flashed across his mind. The one thing he didn't want to happen ever and he'd make sure of that. 

Delaney scoffed and crossed her arms. "Oh, lay off it, Dean. You know it wasn't a shapeshifter. You saw the tape. There was no eye flare, no distortion."

"But it wasn't you, alright?" Dean argued, placing his hands on Delaney's shoulders and shaking her slightly. "Yeah, it may have been you, but it wasn't you."

Delaney was silent as she removed Dean's hands from her shoulders and stepped away from him. "Well, I think it was. I think maybe more than either one of you know."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, watching as Delaney sat on the bed across from him.

Delaney fiddled with her fingers and exhaled heavily, avoiding both of her brothers' gazes. "For the last few weeks, I've been having... I've been having these feelings."

"What feelings?" Dean questioned, sitting down next to Sam on the bed so they were both across from their baby sister. "What are you talking about?"

"Rage... hate, and I can't stop it," Delaney explained. "It just gets worse. Day by day, it gets worse."

Dean and Sam exchanged an uneasy and worry filled look before they both glanced to Delaney who still avoided their eyes. "You never told us that."

"I didn't want to scare you guys."

Dean scoffed and stood up from the bed. "Well, bang-up job on that, baby girl," he retorted, patting her back as he walked back over to his duffle.

"Guys, the yellow-eyed demon - you know he has plans for me. We all know that he's turned other children into killers before, too."

"No one can control you but you," Sam countered softly.

"Sure doesn't seem like that, Sammy. It feels like no matter what I do, slowly but surely, I'm just becoming - "

"What?" Dean harshly cut across his sister, not liking the way she was talking one bit. It was almost as if she were giving up.

"Who I'm meant to be," Delaney answered, finally lifting her eyes to meet both of her brothers who seemed to both grow pale at her response. "You said it yourself once, Dean. I got to face up to who I am."

"I didn't mean this!" Dean yelled.

Delaney stood up from the bed and walked over to where Dean was by the duffle, Sam quickly rushing over to stand next to Dean. "It's still true. You know that. Dad knew that, too. That's why he told you if it ever came to this - "

"Shut up, Della."

"Dean, you promised him. You promised me," Delaney stressed, pressing her hands to her chest.

Dean shook his head and went back to rummaging around in the duffle bag on the bed. "No. Listen to me, we are going to figure this out, okay? I mean, there's got to be a way, right?"

Delaney was silent for a long moment as she licked her lips, nodding. "Yeah, there is," she whispered and reached into the duffle bag, placing a handgun into Dean's palm. "I don't want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to hurt either of you."

Dean's eyes trailed to the gun pressing into his palm. "No, you won't. Whatever this is, you can fight it."

"No, I can't... not forever. You got to do it."

The three siblings stared each other down, Delaney's eyes welling with fresh tears. Dean twisted the gun in his hand with a heavy sigh. "You know, Sammy and I have done everything to keep you safe."

"I know..."

"I can't. I'd rather die," Dean denied, throwing the handgun into the duffle and shouldering past Delaney to walk over to the window.

Delaney's eyes flickered to Sam who shook his head to tell her he wasn't doing it either. He'd die first before he ever put a bullet in his baby sister's head. They could still save Delaney, he just knew it. They just needed more time.

"No. You'll live," Delaney stated as Sam walked over to Dean to make sure he was okay, because judging by his tense shoulders he felt just as awful as he did. "You'll both live to regret this."

Before either boy could turn around and ask Delaney what she meant by that, they were both hit over the head and knocked into the darkness.

-°—✞——✞—°-

The sound of knocking on the motel room door awoke the two older siblings. They groaned and pushed themselves into a sitting position, rubbing their sore heads as the motel room door opened with the manager stepping inside.

"Hey, fellas, it's past your checkout."

The two brothers grunted as they stood up and followed the manager over to the door, squinting at the bright lights from the hallway. How long had they been out?

"I got a couple here that needs your room," the manager informed, gesturing to the couple that stood to the side. A guilty looking businessman with a hooker not being able to keep her hands off him.

"Sure do," Dean grumbled, glancing back to the manager. "What time is it?"

"Twelve-thirty," the manager replied.

"The young girl that was with us - have you seen her?" Sam asked the manager, still rubbing the sore spot on his head where Delaney hit him. For a small girl, she really did pack a hit.

"Left before dawn in your car, should have gone with her because now I have to charge you extra."

Dean and Sam exchanged a disbelieving look and the two groaned quietly to themselves.

"It's just policy, sir."

"I need to use your computer," Dean told the manager. They didn't know where Delaney went and Dean had never been more happy for GPS in cellphones because it made it that much easier to track down their rogue baby sister. He just hoped she was okay.

"Why would I let you use my computer?"

-°—✞——✞—°-

After bribing the manager with some extra cash, Dean used the computer to track down Delaney's phone and found out she was in Duluth, Minnesota. Neither boy knew what was in Minnesota, but they just knew they had to get there before Delaney got herself into any more trouble than she already had. They were sure that sooner or later the friends of Steve Wandell would find him dead and they would begin their hunt to find who or what killed their buddy. Sam just hoped they covered their tracks well enough so they wouldn't be able to pin it on Delaney.

It took them a good two hours to get to Minnesota, but they stopped outside of a bar with no cars outside which lead the brothers to assume it was closed. Why Delaney was even still there made no sense, but they got out of the car and made sure to take their guns with them in case of anything.

Sam burst in first with Dean following him, guns raised as they entered the bar and saw Delaney tying Jo up to a wooden pole with a gag in her mouth. "Delly!"

Delaney grabbed the knife from the bar and held it up to Jo's throat, who tried to turn her head and look at Sam and Dean. "I begged you to stop me, boys!"

"Put the knife down, damn it," Dean barked at his sister.

"I told you I can't fight it!" Delaney continued as if Dean hadn't spoken at all. "My head feels like it's on fire, alright? One of you kill me or I'm gonna kill her. Please, you'd be doing me a favor. Shoot me."

Dean and Sam flinched when Delaney stepped back from Jo and threw her hands out to the side, yelling for the boys to shoot her. The boys noticed that Jo shook her head out of the corner of their eyes, shooting them a look to say that this wasn't Delaney. It was something else. It was her, but there was something off. They had silent conversation before both boys focused their gazes on Not Delaney.

"No, Della, come on," Dean whispered, silently begging her to fight against whatever was inside her. He and Sam both lowered their guns, turning away to close their eyes and try to sort out a plan.

"What the hell's wrong with you, boys? Are you both that scared of being alone that you'd rather let Jo die?!"

Sam reached into his pocket and retrieved the flask of holy water he always kept in the inner pocket of his jacket. He whirled around and splashed Not Delaney in the face, the skin sizzling and smoke emitting from where the water hit. "That's holy water, you demonic son of a bitch!"

Not Delaney growled as she glared at Winchester boys, her eyes going from the green that matched Dean's to full black. The sight was unnerving to both boys, but they kept their cool because they needed to get this thing out of their sister. She stumbled back when Sam threw more holy water at her and Not Delaney jumped out the window to escape.

Dean rushed over to Jo and quickly helped her untie from the wooden pole. While Dean did that, Sam rushed over to the window to see which way the demon ran in, but Not Delaney was nowhere in sight. They had lost her once again.

"Delaney was possessed?!"

The two boys shot Jo an apologetic look before they rushed out of the bar and out onto the pier connected to it on the other side of the building. There was a large warehouse a few feet away and the brothers quickly rushed into it, keeping their guns at the ready. They wouldn't shoot to kill, but they'd at least hit a leg if they needed to. Delaney could heal from a wound shot, but she couldn't necessarily heal from death.

Movement to their right alerted Dean and Sam and they stealthily crept in the direction, hiding behind a pile of boxes as they continued to scan around the room for where Not Delaney went. 

"So, who are you?" Dean asked into the open.

"I've got lots of names."

The boys followed the sound of the voice and hid behind another stack of boxes. Sam peeked around the side of the stack and still didn't get a sight of Not Delaney. "You've been in Delaney since she disappeared, haven't you?"

"Should have seen your faces when you thought she murdered that guy. Pathetic."

"Why didn't you kill us? You had plenty of chances," Dean questioned next as him and Sam knelt next to a wooden row boat, making sure to keep their heads ducked in case Not Delaney spotted them and shot the handgun she stole at them. A thud to the right caused both boys to look in that direction.

"No, that would have been too easy. Where is the fun in that? See, this was a test. I wanted to see if I could push you far enough to waste Delaney. I should have known neither one of you would have the sack. Anyways, fun is over now."

Sam snorted as the two boys continued to run along the warehouse, knowing Not Delaney had to be close since her voice sounded clear and close. "Well, I hope you had your fun then, pal. You're gonna pay hell for this. We're gonna make sure of that."

"How? You can't hurt me without hurting your baby sister, Sammy Boy."

Dean and Sam glanced at each other, putting their guns away while Sam got out his flask of holy water. They both had the silent agreement to wait and be quiet, letting Not Delaney think they had run out of the warehouse.

"See, I think you're both gonna die. You and every other hunter I can find. One look into Delaney's big, innocent green eyes and I'll be let right in the door."

Not Delaney exited the warehouse and the brothers quickly followed her outside the warehouse.  They stepped out on an open-air dock. Once Dean and Sam are out in the open, looking around at the water, Delaney stepped out and shot Dean and Sam in the shoulder. They are knocked into the water with a splash and the Sam gets the two to the other side, tugging his brother out of the water and onto the lower docks with his good arm.

"Dean! Sam!" Jo yelled as she ran over to the two and looked over their wounded shoulders.

"Where's Della?"

"I don't know. I've been looking for you two," Jo replied, helping Sam get Dean to his feet. "Come on, let's get you both stitched up."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean sat at a table in the bar Jo worked in, gripping the edge with his right hand as Jo dug the bullet out of his left shoulder, groaning loudly as the bullet is removed from his shoulder. "Oh, don't be a baby! Sam didn't even flinch when I took his out." She placed a gauze over Dean's wound, pressing it to the wound and placing tape along the outside so it can stay.

"You're welcome," Jo sarcastically remarked, pressing Dean's wound which earned a hiss from the older man.

"Ow, Jo!" Dean groaned, rubbing the gauze covered wound.

"So, how did you guys know that she was possessed?" Jo asked, glancing between the two brothers. "My face really gave it away?"

Sam shook his head and took a sip from his beer, allowing the alcohol to help relax him slightly. "No, uh... just kind of had a hunch that it couldn't be Delaney. No way she could do the things she was doing."

"Um, boys, I know demons lie, but... do they ever tell the truth, too?"

"Uh, yeah, sometimes, I guess. Especially if they know it'll mess with your head," Dean replied, taking a sip of his whiskey. "Why do you ask?"

Jo shook her head as she cleaned up the first aid kit. "Nothing.  It doesn't matter. So, do you have any idea where she's headed to next?"

"Well, she's been going after the nearest hunter, the closest one that we know is in South Dakota."

"Okay, good. I'm done. Let's go."

Sam and Dean immediately shook their heads and Sam pushed Jo back down onto her stool. "No way.  You're not coming, Jo."

"The hell I'm not. I'm a part of this now."

Dean licked his lips and grabbed his jacket from the top of the bar. "I cannot say it more plain than this - you try and follow Sammy and I, I'll tie you right back to that post and leave you here. This is our fight, not yours. Not getting your blood on our hands, Jo. That's just how it's gonna be."

Jo huffed as the boys made their way towards the exit and yelled out to them. She grabbed the pill bottle on the bar and tossed it to Dean who caught it with his good hand. "Take those. It'll help with the pain."

"Thanks, Jo," Sam said before pushing Dean out of the door so they could get to South Dakota before it was too late. "I'll call Bobby, you drive."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Dean and Sam made it a few hours later and Bobby already had Not Delaney tied up to a chair in the study, underneath the devils trap. Much like the way they had Mason set up a few months ago when they tried to find out where they kept John. 

"Hey!" Dean yelled, lightly kicking Not Delaney's shin and awakening the demon. "Rise and shine." His eyes flickered to the ceiling and Not Delaney followed his line of sight, sighing.

"Dean and Sam, back from dead I see. Getting to be a regular thing for you, Dean, isn't it?" Not Delaney smirked darkly at the eldest Winchester. Dean didn't even know Delaney's face could seem dark, but then again... he never expected his baby sister to be possessed either. "Like a cockroach."

"How bout I slap that smartass right out of your mouth?" Dean threatened.

Not Delaney faked a pout as she stared up Bobby, Dean and Sam who stood in front of her. "Careful now, big boy. Wouldn't want to damage this fine packaging."

Now it was Sam's turn to smirk at the demon. "Oh don't worry. This isn't gonna hurt Delaney too much. You on the other hand..." He trailed off as he grabbed the bucket behind him and tossed the holy water inside at Not Delaney, who yelled out in pain as smoke emitted from her body. "Feel like talking now, hot shot?"

Not Delaney's eyes squeezed shut, fists clenching on the arms of the wooden chair she was strapped to. "Delaney is still my meat puppet. I will make her bite her tongue off."

"No, you won't be in her long enough," Dean countered and turned to Bobby who had a book opened to an exorcism held in his hand. "Bobby."

As Bobby began to read, Dean and Sam smiled triumphantly at Not Delaney as she twisted this way and that in the chair. "You see, whatever bitch-boy master plans you demons have cooked up? You're not getting Della. You understand me? 'Cause Sammy and I will be killing every single one of you first."

Not Delaney struggled painfully, then threw back her head and laughs maniacally causing Bobby to cut off in surprise. "You really think that's what this is about - the master plan? I don't give a rat's ass about the master plan."

Bobby went to continue reading the exorcism, but Not Delaney merely feigned a look of shock. "Wow, would you look that? It seems to not be working any more. See, I learned a few new tricks." She bowed her head and began to growl in Latin.

"Bobby, this isn't going how I pictured!" Dean yelled as the wind in the room picked up, flinging around loose papers and opening up books that Bobby had on the desk. "What's going on?"

Bobby noticed something on Delaney's arm and pushed up the flannel sleeve to reveal a burn mark with a part circle and a line going through the top and into the middle of the circle. "It's a binding link! It's like a lock. It locked itself inside of Laney's body."

"What the hell do we do?" Sam yelled.

"I don't know!"

Not Delaney let out a shout and the ceiling cracked down the middle, breaking the devils trap. The three boys stared at each other in horror because now Not Delaney was free. "Ahh, that's better." She jerked her head left and Bobby went flying into the bookcase on one side of the room. She jerked her head right and Dean and Sam went flying, landing heavily against the far wall behind them. They both groan in pain as they land on their already wounded shoulders.

"You know when people want to describe the worst possible thing? They say it's like hell," Not Delaney said as she freed herself from the chair and crouched in front of the brothers, fisting both of their shirts in her hands. She forced both boys against the wall with an invisible forced and clocked them both in the face with a right hook.

"There's a reason for that. You see, Hell is like, um..." Not Delaney trailed off and punched both boys again in the face, blood pooling out of their noses. "Well, it's like hell, even for demons" punch "It's a prison made of bone and flesh and blood and fear" punch "You three sent me back there."

Dean glared at Not Delaney, spitting the blood in his mouth onto the floor. "Mason."

"No...not anymore. Now I'm Delaney. You know, when I was in Mason I always thought about what it would be like to be inside your sister, but I think this way is a lot better than the other way if I do say so myself," Not Delaney punched both boys again before pressing a thumb each into the boys' bullet wounds, both boys gripping onto her wrist to try and pry her from their wound. "By the way, I saw your dad and he says howdy." She dug her thumb in deeper and Dean and Sam both cried out in pain. "All that I had to hold on to was that I would climb out one day and that I was gonna torture you, nice and slow, like pulling the wings off an insect. See, your sister is safe because boss man doesn't want his special princess to be harmed or dead, but you boys are fair game.

"However, whatever I do to you, is nothing compared what you boys do to yourself. I can see it in your eyes, Dean and Sam. You're worthless. You couldn't save your dad, and deep down, you know that you can't save your precious baby sister. The two of them would have been better off without either one of you."

Not Delaney reared back to hit the boys again and, suddenly, Bobby is behind her, grabbing Not Delaney's arm. He pressed a hot poker into the mark on Not Delaney's arm and she screams in pain, then screamed again as black demon smoke billows out of her and up the chimney. Dean and Sam pulled themselves up to a sitting position painfully. 

Delaney fell back and then comes to herself. She scrambled up and looked around in confusion, then grabs her arm in sudden pain as the burning sensation hits.

"Delly?"

"Did I miss anything?" Delaney breathed, collapsing back against the desk behind her.

"Yeah, your chance I gave you to hit me in the face is now gone. You got enough of those in for a life time," Dean huffed, spitting more blood out on the floor.

-°—✞——✞—°-

A bit later, the siblings sat in Bobby's study with Dean sat in the desk chair, Delaney sat on top of the desk with her legs crossed and Sam sat on the other end of the desk. The two boys held an ice bag to their faces while Delaney's eyes bounced between them guiltily. "Boys, you both look like crap."

"Yeah, right back at you, baby girl," Dean replied, pressing the bag into his bruised eye more.

Sam offered his sister a small smile, rubbing her knee softly to assure her neither one of them were mad at her. It wasn't her fault she got possessed.

Bobby walked back into the study, fiddling with the flip phone in his hand. "You three ever heard of a hunter by the name of Steve Wandell?"

Dean and Sam subtly glanced at each other before turning to look at Bobby. "Why do you ask?"

"Just heard from a friend, Wandell's dead - murdered in his own house. You wouldn't know anything about that."

Dean removed the ice bag from his eye and shook his head. "No, sir. Never heard of the guy."

"Dean - "

"Good," Bobby cut Delaney off, who felt guilty for lying to Bobby. She had been awake for some of the time she was possessed and she knew for a fact that the demon that was in her had killed Steve Wandell. "Keep it that way. Wandell's buddies are looking for someone or something to string up. They're not gonna slow down to listen to reason. You understand what I'm saying?"

Dean pushed himself to his feet and Delaney and Sam slid off the desk. "Well, we better, uh, hit the road. If you remember where you parked the car."

Delaney shrugged and furrowed her eyebrows when Bobby held out a small metal charm to each of them. "What is this?"

"Charms. They'll fend off possession," Bobby explained, gesturing to the small charms in the Winchesters' hands. "The demon's still out there. This will stop it from getting back in you, Della, or into one of your brothers."

"That sounds vaguely dirty, but, uh, thanks," Dean said, pocketing his charm into his jacket.

"You three be careful now."

The three siblings bid their goodbyes to Bobby and got into the Impala that was parked a few feet away on Bobby's lot. Dean hugged the steering wheel, happy to have Baby back and peeled out onto the dark, empty road ahead.

"You okay, Della?" Dean asked Delaney who sat in the front next to him, Sam allowing her the front seat so he could lay across the back seat. Hitting the wall really did a number on his back. Dean smiled as he poked his sister's side when she didn't respond. "Is that you in there, baby girl?"

Delaney tried to smile back at Dean, but couldn't find it in her to smile right now. "I was awake for some of it, boys. I watched myself kill Wandell with my own two hands - watched the light go out of his eyes."

"That must have been awful," Sam whispered, rubbing his sister's back comfortingly.

"That's not my point," Delaney sighed, running a hand through her tangled curls. "I almost carved Jo, but no matter what I did, neither one of you shot me."

"It was the right move, Della. It wasn't you."

"Yeah, this time," Delaney argued, glancing to Dean. "What about next time?"

Dean sighed and ran a hand over his face, feeling the weight of the past two days wearing him down. He just needed to get to the next motel and sleep for at least a year. "Della, when Dad told Sammy and I that we might have to kill you, it was only if we couldn't save you. Now, we are going to save you if it's the last thing we do." 

After a moment, Dean laughed softly.

"What, Dean?"

"Nothing."

"No, what?" Delaney pried, pushing Dean's arm to get him to talk.

Dean chuckled again, clearly finding whatever he thought amusing. "Della, you like full-on had a dude inside of you for like a week."  He chuckled again at the thought, smirking at his sister. "That's pretty naughty."

Delaney rolled her eyes and playfully pushed her brother's head to shut him up. She was just glad to finally have control of her body once again. In that moment, Delaney had never been more appreciative of her brothers. Knowing that the two wouldn't stop until they saved her gave Delaney some sort of hope that maybe... just maybe... she could make it through.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

We are officially down to EIGHT CHAPTERS LEFT of this book before we move on to book three. Delaney had a wild week and the boys, as usual, came to her aid and saved her. These boys will not stop fighting until they save her... good luck with that one, boys.