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SEASON 01, EPISODE 21
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"So, this is it. This is everything I know," John said and motioned around the motel room where multiple newspaper clippings and John's notes were taped to the wall, making it seem like some type of serial killeresque wallpaper. Sam's laptop was opened in front of him with a few post it notes stuck the top of it. "Our whole lives we've been searching for this demon, right? Not a trace, just nothing. Until about a year ago. For the first time, I picked up a trail."
"That's when you took off," Dean noted from where he was leaned against the wall by the desk John and Sam sat at.
John ran his thumb along his bottom lip and nodded. "Yeah, the demon must have come out of hiding or hibernation.
"So what's the trail you found?" Sam questioned.
"It starts in Arizona, then in New Jersey, California," John listed off as his eyes bounced between his three kids. "Houses burn down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us."
"Families with infants," Delaney added quietly, crossing her arms as she leaned against the dresser across from where her brothers and John were.
John nodded and leaned leaned his arms on the desk. "Yeah, the night of the child's six month birthday."
Delaney blinked and she straightened up at the new information. She knew she was a baby the night her mom died, but she hadn't realized how young she actually was until now. "I was six months old that night?"
"Exactly six months."
"So this demon is going after these kids for some reason," Delaney paused as she scoffed at the thought of it all. It was such a terrible thing and to find out more babies than just her and Max had been targeted, their families paying the price in the process. They didn't even know what this demon wanted from her or any of the others and that set a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Same way it came for me?"
John rolled his lips into his mouth and ran his hand over it, clearly not wanting to answer Delaney's question.
"So Mom's death, Will - it is all because of me?"
"We don't know that, Della," Dean replied, giving her a look to not go down that road again.
"I'd say we're pretty damn sure, Dean!" Delaney barked, pushing herself off the dresser and walking closer to her brothers and John.
"For the last time, Delaney, what happened to them is not your fault," Dean argued.
Delaney slapped her hands to her sides and bitterly laughed. "Yeah, well, it's still my problem."
"It's not your problem, it's our problem," Sam corrected.
"Boys, lay off your sister," John cut in and both boys quickly shut their mouths. He pushed himself up from his seat and walked around the desk to lean against the front of it.
Delaney huffed as she walked back over to the dresser, staring out the window for a long moment in deep thought. This demon clearly had a plan for her and these other kids, but Delaney couldn't even begin to imagine what this thing wanted. "So why is it doing it? What does it want?"
"Look, I wish I had more answers. I do. I've always been one step behind it," John answered, running a hand through his hair. "I have never gotten there in time to save..."
Delaney frowned at John's unfinished sentence, her brain filling in the blanks on her own. Her father had been trying to save these other families this whole time and he hasn't been able to save any of them. Every single one of them having to go through what her family did and she wouldn't even want to wish that on her worse enemy. No one should ever have to go through something so tragic and evil.
"Alright, so how do we find it before it hits again?" Dean inquired, leaning his hands on the desk where he now stood next to Sam that sat in his chair running a hand over his face as he tried to process all of this information.
Delaney could see the worry and anxiousness on both of her brother's faces and she hated every second of it.
"There are signs. It took me a while to see the pattern, but in the days before these fires, signs crop up in an area - cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms," John informed. "Then I went back and checked, and..."
"These things happened in Lawrence," Sam finished for John softly as his hand limply dropped into his lap as his body visibly deflated.
John looked down to the dirty, stained carpet of their motel room, not being able to look any of the kids in the face. "Yeah... all the week before your mother died." His gaze flickered up to Delaney who paled as if she had seen a ghost. At that point, she would rather deal with a ghost than have this conversation. Killing off the ghost would be a lot easier than this. "And in Palo Alto... before Will. These signs - they're starting again."
Dean and Sam both glanced at their sister and Delaney half wanted to yell at them to stop looking at her as if she was going to combust within the next few seconds. As much as she wished she would, it wasn't going to happen and Delaney just wanted the three boys in front of her to not treat her as weak because she already felt herself becoming vulnerable to all of this. She needed to be strong and if the boys kept this up, Delaney could already see herself beginning to doubt herself.
"We're headed to Salvation, Iowa, kids."
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Delaney stood outside the hospital in Salvation with Dean as they stared up at the building. On their way into the town, John had received a call from his friend Caleb to inform John that Pastor Jim had passed away. He was the man that would watch over Delaney and her brothers anytime that their Uncle Bobby couldn't and John would be away for a longer period of time than usual. John couldn't expect Dean and Sam to watch over her for too long alone since they were both kids still themselves.
Dean was sure that it was the demon and John had everyone split up to grab documents from the two hospitals and one health center that were in the county to find any infant that was going to be six months within the next week. John took one of the hospitals, Sam took the health center and Dean and Delaney teamed up to go to the second hospital.
"Come on, Della," Dean whispered and tugged on his sister's arm to follow after him into the hospital.
To their right once they entered was a reception desk where a beautiful dark haired and blue eyed girl stood. She smiled politely at the two siblings as they approached the desk. "Hello, can I help you guys with anything?"
"Oh, God, yes," Dean breathed as he grinned at her.
Delaney elbowed her brother hard in the ribs and smiled innocently when he groaned at the sudden pain, a hard glare on his face as he looked to his baby sister. "Sorry about him. We were just wondering if we could have a look through some of your infant records," she explained, flashing the girl her fake FBI badge. "It's for a case we're working on."
The receptionist guided Dean and Delaney to a small office that was empty and placed a box of documents on the desk in front of them as they sat down. "Just let me know if you guys need anything else."
Delaney reached for a stack from the box while Dean took the other and they both began to flip through them, writing down any of the infants that were to turn six months on a small pad they both stole from motel room.
Half way through scanning one of the files, Delaney felt a sharp pain shoot across her eyes and right above her eyebrows. She gasped and pressed a hand to her head as the other gripped Dean's jacket sleeve, startling him out of his focused attention on the file. Delaney had to remind herself to relax and just let the images play to make the pain go away quicker instead of fighting against it.
Flashes began to play across her mind of a baby girl's nursery with her mother placing her gently in the crib, kissing her forehead. A train horn was sounded outside the window and the mother glanced outside the window to the train before shutting the curtains and walking out of the room. When she returned, there was a shadowed figure stood above the baby's crib.
"Hey, baby girl, hey, look at me," Dean whispered as he knelt in front of Delaney's chair and guided her hands away from her face. His eyes analyzed her face and relaxed a bit when he saw she seemed okay. "What did you see?"
"Train," Delaney mumbled and, without warning, shoved her hand into Dean's jacket pocket and tugged out the map of the area. She spread it out on the desk as Dean slowly stood to his feet and looked over her shoulder in curiosity. Her eyes landed on train tracks in the map and she sprang out of her chair. "Dean, drive me there."
Dean was all but dragged out of the small office and back into the Impala. He didn't ask any questions because he knew once Delaney saw what she needed, he would be able to find out more information then. They only drove for about five minutes before Delaney was telling him to park across from a white house with a grassy lawn. All it was missing was a white picket fence and it'd be your typical average family house.
"This is what I saw," Delaney said, pointing across the street to the house from her vision. "I - I saw a baby girl and her mother. I think this is the family that's getting attacked next."
"Della, you're sure?"
Delaney gave Dean a deadpan expression. "Have my visions ever been wrong Dean?"
Dean opened his mouth to respond, but Delaney noticed the mother and baby from her vision and was flinging herself out of the car. He quickly turned the car off and rushed after his sister to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.
Delaney forced herself to calm down and casually walked up to the brunette that was pushing the red carriage, struggling to close her umbrella as she juggled plastic bags in the other that still held onto the handle of the carriage. "Hey, let me help you with that."
The woman smiled gratefully at Delaney as she held onto the carriage for her while she was closed up her umbrella, the rain that had been coming down on the county had finally stopped just leaving behind gray clouds above. "Thanks."
"Your daughter is gorgeous," Delaney gushed as she stared at the infant in the carriage who was chewing on her plastic key ring. The baby was even more beautiful in person and Delaney felt her heart squeeze at the sight of her. She pictured herself when she saw the baby and that only fueled her more to make sure this sweet, innocent child was able to grow up.
"Della..."
Delaney blinked and realized she had been staring at the baby for a bit too long. "Um, I'm sorry. I'm Delaney and this is my brother Dean, we just moved in up the block from here."
"Oh, hi, I'm Monica," Monica introduced as she shook both Dean and Delaney's hands. "This is Rosie." She moved the hood back on the carriage to allow Delaney to play with Rosie a little better.
"She's such a good baby," Dean commented as he watched his sister play around with the infant in the carriage.
"Yeah, she like never cries. Just stares at everybody," Monica replied with a smile. "Sometimes she looks at you and I swear it's - it's like she's reading your mind."
Delaney felt her heart swell when Rosie reached out and gripped her finger that had been playing around Rosie's tummy to get her to laugh. "Um, have you lived here?"
"My husband and I, we bought our place just before Rosie was born," Monica explained, pointing to the house from Delaney's visions. "She just turned six months today."
Delaney eyes widened and her whole body tensed, her eyes snapping to Dean who seemed to keep his cool at the information, but she knew her brother well enough. She could practically see his green eyes that matched hers, darken in worry as he looked over at his sister.
"It's big, I know," Monica laughed softly, mistaking the two siblings' reactions as a bit of shock instead of them being frightened. "Growing like a weed."
Delaney sobered up and gently took her finger out of Rosie's tiny hand, standing up and dusting herself off. "Monica... just take care of yourself, okay?"
"Yeah, you guys, too!" Monica replied and began to push Rosie towards the house. "We'll see you around."
Delaney stood on the sidewalk for a moment longer with Dean while they watched Rosie's father pull up in his car and greet Monica with a gentle kiss before bending down to excitedly greet his daughter. She felt Dean drag her back over to the car and just as she was about to pull open her door when she felt the familiar pain behind her eyes and above her eyebrows again.
The flashes from earlier now fully molded together and after Monica noticed the figure stood above her daughter she gasped. The demon turned his head and flung her against the nursery wall with an invisible force, dragging her up to the ceiling where she cried for Rosie. Her stomach immediately was cut open at the middle and a fire took over the nursery.
"Della!" Dean yelled as he shook her gently at the shoulders as she slowly came to.
"Call... Dad and Sam," Delaney breathed as she tried to steady her breathing.
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Delaney sat at the table in their motel room in Salvation, her head in her hands as she tried to keep her anxiety from rearing its head. Having an attack right now wouldn't help any of them, especially not Monica or Rosie who needed her help right now. It was just extremely hard to explain all of this to John who seemed to pale more and more with each word she spoke.
Sam sat in the chair next to her as he rubbed soft circles into her back as he tried to keep her from having a full blown freak out while Dean and John sat on the two bed that were next to the table.
"So... visions?" John asked after a long, tense moment of silence.
Delaney weakly nodded as she pressed her hands harder across her head, hoping the pressure would get rid of the migraine that was quickly coming on and this time it wasn't from a vision. It was from the stress that was taking over her. "I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling."
"And you think it's gonna happen to this woman you met because?" John prodded, seeming to either not understand or not believe a word she said even though not even five minutes ago he looked like he was about ready to shit his pants at the mention of her having these visions.
"These things always happen the way I see them," Delaney replied, dropping her hands from her face and onto the table in front of her.
"It started out as nightmares and then she started to have them in the middle of the day," Dean added as he stood from the couch with his coffee mug in his hand, walking over to the small kitchen area in the room and adding more coffee to it.
Delaney sighed and leaned back in her seat, causing Sam's hand to fall from her back and into his own lap. "It's like the closer I get to anything involving this demon, the stronger the visions get."
John looked to Dean and Sam with a hard expression. "And, boys, when were either one of you going to tell me about this?"
"We didn't know what it meant," Dean defended, looking over his shoulder to John.
"Something like this starts happening to your sister, you pick up the phone, and you call me," John scolded the two boys.
Dean chuckled darkly and slammed the mug onto the counter and Delaney was shocked it hadn't broke into a million pieces. "Call you? Are you kidding me?"
"Dean..." Delaney whispered, not wanting him to fight with their dad right now. It wasn't the time, but it looked like Dean wasn't listening and his bottled up resentment towards John was finally bursting out.
"Dad, I called you from Lawrence, alright? Delaney called you in freaking tears when I was dying and almost had a heart attack herself when her anxiety got worse - thanks for telling Sam and I about her having anxiety, by the way. Getting you on the phone - I got a better chance of winning the damn lottery."
John's face seemed to soften at Dean's rant and his eyes bounced between the three siblings, his eyes staying on Delaney for a second longer than either Dean or Sam. "You're right. Although I'm not real crazy about this new tone of yours, Dean, you're right."
"Look," Delaney cut in before Dean could open his mouth and make it any worse for himself. "Vision or no vision, we know the demon is coming tonight. This family is gonna go through the same Hell we went through."
"No, they're not," John replied, shaking his head. "No one is... ever again."
Delaney's phone going off ended the conversation and she picked it up, even though she didn't know the number. "Hello?"
"Delaney?"
"Who is this?" Delaney questioned, not recognizing the voice for a minute.
"Aw, baby, it pains me that you forgot all about me. Just think real hard. It'll come to you."
Delaney sat up straight in her seat as her eyes snapped to both Dean and Sam who eyed her suspiciously. "Mason, last time I saw you, you fell out a window."
"Oh yeah, thanks to you. That really hurt my feelings, by the way."
Delaney scoffed, running a hand through her hair. "That was a seven story drop."
"Let me speak to your dad."
Delaney licked her lips as she looked to John who had stood up and walked over to stand by the table by Dean who had moved closer once he heard who was on the other line. "My dad? I don't know where he is."
"It's for the grown-ups to talk, Delaney. Let me speak to him now."
John held his hand out for the device and Delaney slowly placed it into his hand with a frown. He wrapped his hand around the phone and placed it to his ear. A few words were exchanged back and forth before a name escaped from John's mouth catching the attention of the three siblings.
"Caleb? Listen here, he's got nothing to do with anything. You let him go," John demanded, his grip on the phone tightening.
The phone call went on for another minute while John spoke about bringing the Colt to Mason, but not being able to make it in the time he needed John to meet him. He eventually hung the phone up and placed Delaney's phone back on the table. "He's a demon."
"A demon?" Delaney echoed with furrowed eyebrows. She knew something was up with him, but she just thought Mason got into some dark shit and was helping out whatever thing he had been talking to the entire time. Boy was she off.
"Either that or he's possessed by one," John explained. "It doesn't really matter."
"What do we do?" Sam asked.
John shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "I'm going to Lincoln. It doesn't seem like I have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people will die. Our friends die."
"Dad, the demon is coming tonight for Monica and her family," Delaney argued. "The gun is all we got. You can't just hand it over."
John raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "Who said anything about handing it over? Look, besides us, and a couple vampires, no one's really seen the gun. No one knows what it looks like."
"So what? You're just gonna pick up a ringer at a pawn shop?" Dean remarked, crossing his arms as he stared at John in disbelief. "You're gonna hand Mason a fake gun and hope he doesn't notice?"
"Look, as long as it's close, he shouldn't be able to tell the difference."
"Yeah, but for how long? What happens when he figures it out?" Dean challenged.
"I just - I just need to buy a few hours, that's all."
Delaney glanced at her brothers as her mind put together the pieces John wasn't saying out loud. He wanted them to get rid of the demon themselves while he distracted the other demons that were with Mason. "You mean for Dean, Sam and me? You want us to stay here and kill this demon ourselves."
"No, Laney, I want to stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school and be normal again. I want your brothers to have a home." John turned his back on his kids as he took a few steps away to compose himself as he visibly worked himself up over everything that was piling up around them. His shoulders shook slightly as little sobs escape his mouth no matter how hard he tried to fight them off. "I want Mary alive. I just..."
Delaney's heart shattered into a million pieces when he turned back to face her and her brothers. She had never seen her dad look so broken in her life. Her own eyes started to tear up at the sight.
"I just want this to be over."
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"Did you get it?" John asked as her and Sam walked over to him and Dean at the side of the train tracks. They found a hidden area just below the train tracks in a dirt area that vaguely reminded Delaney of a desert.
Dean exhaled heavily as he removed the fake Colt that was wrapped in a brown paper bag from his inner jacket pocket and placed it into John's awaiting hand. "You know this is a trap, don't you? That's why Mason wants you to come alone and not with us."
John removed the fake Colt from the bag and examined it. It was a pretty close replica if Delaney did say so herself. She was pretty proud of herself for pointing it out once she and Dean made it into the antique shop that John told them about while him and Sam would go to the area they agreed to meet up in to get John's equipment ready for when he would go to Lincoln.
"I can handle him," John assured Dean, placing the gun back into the brown bag. "I got a whole arsenal loaded - holy water, Mandaic amulets - "
"Dad," Dean cut John off mid-sentence. "Promise me something."
"What's that?"
"This thing goes south, just get the Hell out. Don't get yourself killed, alright? You're no good to us dead."
John dropped his head as he tried to control his emotions, trying not to look scared in front of his kids. He eventually picked his head up and gave all of his kids a stern look. "All of you do the same, you hear me? Listen to me, they made the bullets special for this Colt. There's only four of them left. Without them, this gun is useless. You make every shot count."
"Yes, sir," Delaney whispered and took the Colt from John's hand when he held it out to her after retrieving it from his coat pocket.
It was quiet between the four besides the train horn whistling in the distance. They all were too deep in their thoughts about what was to go down within the next few hours.
"I've been waiting a long time for this fight. Now it's here, and I'm gonna be in it. It's up to you boys now. It's your fight. You finish this," John instructed the siblings. "You finish what I started. You understand?"
Sam took a deep breath to steady his heart while he looked to their dad. "We'll see you soon."
"I'll see you later," John promised before hopping into his truck and driving off down the muddy road. Leaving his kids behind and hopefully it would be for the last time and then they could be together again for real. With no more worries.
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The three siblings sat across from Monica's house with the car switched off to hide in the dark of the Impala. The boys sat in front with the map of the town and the Colt on top of it while Delaney sat in the back, her arms leaned on the back of the front seat and her head laid on her hands.
"We could tell them there's a gas leak," Delaney suggested. "It could get them out of the house for a few hours, no?"
The three had been discussing how to get Monica, Rosie and Monica's husband out of the house so they could tackle the demon without them being in the house. Monica knew what Delaney and Dean looked like so they needed a really good excuse to evacuate the family without raising suspicion of anything going on. Monica didn't know what they did so they could pretty much tell her they worked for anywhere, but they needed a good enough explanation of why they needed to get out of the house.
"Yeah, and how many times has that actually worked for us?" Dean retorted.
Delaney huffed and rolled her head so her forehead now rested on her hands, feeling another migraine coming on.
"Could always tell them the truth," Sam offered with a shrug.
"That idea is worse than, Della's," Dean responded, earning him a soft punch to the arm from Delaney.
Sam groaned and lowered himself in his seat. "I know, I just - with what's coming for these people - "
"We only got one move and we all know it, alright? We have to wait for that demon to show itself, and then we get it before it gets them."
Delaney chewed on her lip as she lifted her head and looked into the front window of the house to see Monica and her husband clearing the table after finishing up their dinner. Rosie was sat in her high chair as her little hands shoved cereal into her mouth with one hand and the other playing with the remaining cereal in her little tray.
"I wonder how Dad's doing," Delaney voiced as she finally tore her eyes from the family. "I would feel better if we were there to back him up."
Sam chuckled softly and glanced out the windshield that faced down the deserted area now that it was dark out and families were either eating dinner or getting ready for bed. "I would feel a lot better if he were backing us up."
Delaney and Dean silently agreed with Sam before they fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to keep watch on the house. Monica and her husband didn't stay up much later than that. They watched TV for a bit with Rosie in Monica's husband lap as he bounced between watching the TV and playing with his babbling daughter. Eventually, Monica took Rosie from her husband's hands to bring her up while he went to close the curtains in the living room. The Winchesters officially sight of the family downstairs and now it was just a waiting game for Rosie to be placed in her crib and for the demon to pop up.
"This is weird," Delaney mumbled, causing both of her brothers to look at her curiously. "After all these years, we're finally about to take down this thing. It doesn't seem real."
"We just got to keep our heads and do our jobs like always," Dean reminded Delaney before looking back to the house even though they couldn't see anything right now.
"This isn't like always," Delaney whispered and Dean nodded as he knew she was right. "Boys, um... I want to thank you."
Sam turned in his seat so his back leant against the door as he looked down at his sister who was staring up at both her brothers with big, green eyes. For a second, she looked like the innocent little girl Sam remembered who would run to him when Dean was being too hard on her and he would make her feel better by playing with the one doll she had that John had bought her as a fourth birthday present or watching one of her children's shows with her, singing the songs to her to get her to laugh.
"For what, Delly?"
Delaney sat up in her seat, her head still in between the boys in the front. "For everything, you know? You both have been there for me my whole life. Scaring off boys that so much as breathed near me or defending me when I wanted to go away for school even though you both weren't comfortable being so far away when I didn't know what went bump in the night. You guys would lay with me after a nightmare until I fell asleep, singing one of Mom's many lullabies. Even when I couldn't count on anyone, I could always count on my two big brothers - even though I wanted to strangle you for being a bit too overbearing sometimes. Now I just wanted to let you know... in case."
Dean whipped his head so quick to look at Delaney she wondered how he didn't get whiplash. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you kidding me?"
"What?" Delaney asked, furrowing her eyebrows at Dean.
"Don't say just in case something happens to you," Dean snapped. "I don't want to hear that freakin' speech, Della. Nobody is dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody... except that demon. That evil son of a bitch isn't getting any older than tonight. You understand me?"
Delaney rolled her lips into her mouth and nodded silently. She wanted to say he gave her that speech when he was on his legit death bed when he got electrocuted, but she knew now was not the time to start a petty argument over nothing.
"You think Dad finished by now?" Dean asked as he pulled his phone from his pocket to dial John's number.
"Only one way to find out," Delaney replied.
After a minute of silence, Dean huffed and ended the call. "He's not answering."
"Maybe Mason was late," Delaney suggested.
"Maybe cell reception's bad," Sam added with a shrug.
The radio produced a loud static sound, causing Delaney to jump at the sudden screeching sound. "Um, boys..." She reached forward to turn the radio up a bit where the radio was a jumbled mess of words and static. It sounded like someone was on a phone with horrible reception and they kept cutting out. The wind picked up around them, the leaves and trees blowing in the harsh breeze. The lights in the house started to flicker and Delaney exchanged a look with Dean and Sam.
"It's coming."
The three Winchesters rushed out of the car and across the street to the front door of Monica's house. Dean picked the lock in record time and quietly pushed it open to step into the darkened downstairs of the house with Delaney and Sam right behind him.
Delaney quietly walked through the house with her brothers as they looked around for any sign of the demon. A scream being heard caused Sam and Delaney to jump and turn to see Monica's husband swinging a bat at Dean, knocking over a lamp as it crashed to the floor.
"Get out of my house!"
Dean expertly ducked out of the way of his swings and grabbed onto the bed, spinning around and pushing Monica's husband against the wall behind them, holding the bat up to his chest.
"Mr. Holt, please," Dean begged as Mr. Holt looked between the siblings with wide eyes. "Listen to me, we're trying to help you, okay?"
"Charlie, is everything okay down there?" Monica yelled from the stop of the stairs.
"Monica, get the baby!" Charlie screamed to Monica.
Delaney gasped as she was rushing up the stairs without a second thought, the Colt gripped tightly in her hand. "No don't go in the nursery!" She ran around the corner at the end of the hall and stumbled into the nursery to see Monica already at the top of the wall where it met the ceiling and the dark figure turned to look at her, yellow eyes shining in the light and the only things she was able to see on him in the shadows.
Not wasting a second, Delaney fired the gun and the demon disappeared into smoke just before Monica fell to the ground from the wall. She looked around the room, but didn't see it anymore. "Where the Hell did it go?"
"My baby!" Monica cried as Delaney bent down to help her to her feet.
Dean and Sam burst into the room and saw it was empty, save for Delaney, Monica and Rosie. "Della, get her out of here! Go!"
"Rosie!"
"It's okay. Dean and Sam got her, come on!" Delaney assured as she dragged Monica out of the room and back down the stairs as Dean wrapped Rosie in the blanket and picked her up.
The smoke quickly spread throughout the whole house and Delaney had to hold onto Monica so she could be lead out through the front door. All she could see was thick, white smoke around her and it filled her lungs the longer she stood in it. Thankfully, the front door wasn't too far from the steps leading to the second floor so Monica and Delaney were out of the house in just under a minute.
Delaney practically heard her lungs cheering when she stepped out of the house and into the fresh air. Monica ran over to her husband while Delaney stopped a few feet from them with her hands on her knees, trying to get regular air back into her lungs to replace the smoke that entered them.
"You stay away from my family!" Charlie yelled at Delaney as her two brothers ran out of the house just a few seconds later.
"No, Charlie, they saved us," Monica said and took Rosie from Dean as he approached her, hugging the infant to her chest. She looked to the three siblings with a grateful smile. "Thank you."
Delaney nodded and turned to look back at the burning house and froze when she noticed a figure stood by the nursery window, surrounded by the flames of ever growing fire. Her eyes widened as her hand gripped the handle of the Colt that was still in her hand. "It's still in there."
"Della, no!" Dean yelled as he instantly reached out, wrapping his arms around her waist and held her back from going into the burning house.
Delaney fought hard against her brother's grip as she tried to get to the house. That bastard still stood and she would be damned if she let the thing that killed her mother and Will go again. It was time to end this thing and it was just feet from her. She could end it once and for all if Dean would just let her go. "No! Dean, let me go! It's still in there! I have to kill it."
Dean growled and forcefully pulled her back, dropping her behind him so she was stood between both him and Sam. "It's burning to the ground - it's suicide!"
"I don't care!"
"We do!" Sam yelled over the roar of the fire that continued to burn in front of them.
When Delaney looked back up to the window, the demon disappeared into smoke once again and she deflated. The demon was gone again and so were her chances of taking the bastard down.
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Dean paced the room as he held his phone to his ear. Sam sat on the bed next to Delaney who was glaring a hole into the carpet beneath their feet, her hands in her lap as they fidgeted slightly. "Come on, Dad. Answer your phone, damn it!" He threw his phone on the bed next to Sam and Delaney when it went to voicemail for the third time. "Something's wrong."
Sam sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair as he pushed himself off the bed and made his way over to the kitchen to get himself coffee. As if that would make John suddenly appear and make the demon dead.
"Delaney, you hear me? Something's happened," Dean snapped when Delaney didn't so much as flinch when Dean mentioned something being wrong.
"If you had just let me go in there, I could have ended all of this," Delaney monotonously replied.
"Della, the only thing you would have ended was your life," Dean countered softly as he walked over to his baby sister who looked like someone had just kicked her puppy.
Delaney lifted her head, shaking it slightly. "No, you don't know that."
"So, what? You're just willing to sacrifice yourself? Is that it?"
Delaney stood up from the bed and slapped a hand to her side, shrugging. "Yeah maybe I am, Dean."
"That's not gonna happen - not as long as Sammy and I are around."
"What the hell are you talking about, Dean? You guys have been after this thing your whole life. I may have only just found out about all of this, but that doesn't mean I will just let it go now that it's rearing its ugly head in my face. It's the only thing I have cared about since Will died."
Sam walked over to his siblings and stood to the side of Dean. "Delly, we want to waste this thing as much as you do, okay? It's just not worth risking your life over."
"If hunting this demon means you getting yourself killed, then I hope we never find the damn thing," Dean added in a harsh tone.
Delaney glared at Dean as she could feel her anger spiking. Was she seriously the only one that actually cared about any of this? Why didn't they want to go guns blazing all of a sudden? "That thing killed Will. That thing killed Mom."
"You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone and they are never coming back," Dean bit back.
Delaney growled as she went to jump at Dean, but Sam was holding her back before she could lay a hand on him.
The older Winchester stumbled back a few steps in surprise since he had never seen her this pissed at him. Never once had she went to attack him unless it was in a playful manner when they would wrestle each other as kids. He could practically see the fury coursing through her shaking body as she continued to wrestle against Sam's hold to get at Dean. He definitely chose the wrong thing to say.
"Don't you say that!" Delaney cried as her fight against Sam seemed to slacken a bit as she fell back against Sam, a small sob escaping her throat. "Not after all this, don't you say that."
Sam held Delaney against him as her fight officially gave out and she collapsed softly, bringing them both gently to the ground. Tears streamed down her face, the dam of emotions finally bursting open and letting all her emotions that she had been holding back free. "Delly, just listen to us okay?" he cooed softly as he stroked her hair gently and kissed the side of her head. "The four of us - that's all we have right now. We can't lose you too."
Delaney sniffled as she lifted her head off Sam's chest to look up at Dean with red rimmed eyes and wiped at the tears that still lingered in her eyes.
Dean slowly walked over and sat down on the ground so Delaney was squished between her two brothers. "Della, we can't be running in guns blazing with this one. This whole hunt is different to the usual ones we have. If I would have lost you when you ran into that burning house... I - I don't even know what I would have done. I barely feel like I'm holding it together as it is, Della. Without you, Sammy and Dad..."
"Dad..." Delaney sat up as if her mind had finally caught up to Dean's attempts at calling their dad earlier. "He should have called by now. I'm gonna try to call him again."
Pushing herself to her feet, Delaney dried the tears from her face with her sleeve as she got her phone from her and Dean's bed, dialing John's number and placing it to her ear. It rang for a long time before it finally picked up on the other end, relief flooding through Delaney. "Dad?"
"Oh, baby, Johnny can't come to the phone right now," came Mason's dark chuckle from the other line, any relief Delaney had felt quickly dissipating. "You Winchester kids really screwed up this time."
Delaney felt like the air in her lungs was being squeezed out of her as her heart picked up its pace. She could feel the claws of her anxiety fighting its way out once again as her hands began to shake and both boys scrambled to their feet, rushing over to her as they could already tell something was wrong with just her reaction alone.
Delaney took a steadying breath so she could speak without sounding as weak as she currently felt. "Where is he?"
"You're never gonna see your father again."
authors note
Hi hey hello!
CHAPTER COUNTDOWN: 1 MORE TO GO!
Wow, okay, so like I cannot believe we are just ONE final chapter away from this book being over. It's just so bittersweet to me because I've been working on this book for two years now and I have loved every single moment of doing so. I am so excited to move onto Season 2/Book 2 because I'm already having ideas for that, but first we must end this book. The final chapter will either be out this weekend or sometime next week!
Delaney almost killed the demon, but as Winchester has it... that didn't work out well. She tried to play hero by running back into the house which Dean immediately put a stop to because we all know she would have never survived that nor would she have killed the demon. Just not logical at all if that had happened. John is missing... AGAIN... so now we have yet another rescue mission to go on! AND WE MEET BOBBY NEXT CHAPTER GUYS. SO READY FOR MY PURE BEAN TO BE INTRODUCED!!!
ANYWAYS, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE & COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS. I LOVE HEARING WHAT YOU GUYS THINK AS THE STORY GOES ON AND WHAT YOUR THEORIES OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT ARE!