keeper (d. Hale)

one of theirs.

Delilah broke Derek's grip on her hand and as she pushed around Melissa to the door.

She grasped the handle and pulled it open fully.

It was dark outside and quiet. The sky was empty of any clouds, allowing for the crescent moon that hung above the tree line to shine brightly across the house. It illuminated the yard and the resulting shadows cast by the swaying tree limbs.

Melissa's car was the only one in the drive and someone was leaning heavily against the trunk. Their back was to the house, hunched over and curled in, in what looked like an effort to keep warm. The lit end of a cigarette glowed before fading off in a knock of bright orange embers as they fell to the gravel beneath their feet. 

Delilah wasn't a fan of cigarettes. They tended to hurt her nose with their acidic burning smell. If she were to be completely honest with herself, she was surprised that she hadn't encountered more people who smoked in the small town. Delilah guessed that maybe she had moved to town with a stereotyped misconception that that was what people in small towns did, but Beacon Hills seemed to be different.

It was always different.

The cigarette lit up again and the smoke curled up into the dark sky before disappearing into the late evening mist.

Delilah e tightened the cardigan around her as approached the car. Her bare feet crunched lightly, a sound she allowed to be heard. 

"Chris?" She asked a bit unsure.

He turned his head slightly to acknowledge he had heard her. She couldn't see his eyes, only the smoke coiling with his sharp exhale.

"Where's Issac?"

There was a pause as he inhaled again, the cigarette glowing.

"With Scott," he breathed out in a cloud of smoke. It almost engulfed him before fading away.

Delilah took a step closer to him. 

"And Peter?" She gulped.

"Scott."

He raised the cigarette to his mouth and breathed in deeply. Delilah could see the shake of his hand as it brushed against his rough cheek.

"Christopher," Delilah asked quietly, breaking the moment of silence that had settled. "Where is Allison?"

She watched as another flick of embers from the cigarette fell to the ground at his feet. She heard his sharp in take of breath as his heart rate increased.

"Christopher?" She tried again. 

Delilah took a small, deliberate couple of steps as she slowly rounded the back of Melissa's car to face him.

Chris kept his head down as he slid down the car to rest on his knees. The cigarette in his hand had burned down to the filter and threatened to singe the skin on his hand. She quickly plucked the end from his fingers and dropped it onto the driveway. Its glow faded before it became lost in the gravel. 

With his hands free, he threaded them aggressively through his hair.

Delilah watched him for a moment, before kneeling down to his level and gently lifting his chin to see his eyes. They were glassy and unfocused; threatening to spill the tears she knew would never actually fall. 

Delilah knew Christopher better than that. He may not believe in his fathers ideals but he was a hunter, blood in and blood out. They knew crying wouldn't change what they couldn't control.

She looked away and over his shoulder to where Derek stood in the doorway of the house. He was watching her with his arms crossed and a hand covering the bottom half of his face.