╔⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷╗

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞

𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘨𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺

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"Dad, are you hurt?" Delaney asked and scrambled out of the bed with Dean to crawl into Sam's and try to wake him up since Dean slept like a damn log. "We've been looking everywhere for you. We had no idea if you were okay or where you were."

"I'm alright, Lane," John Winchester assured in a soft voice. "What about you and your brothers?"

Delaney gently shook Sam who groaned and lightly slapped her hand from him. "The boys and I are okay. Dad, where are you?"

"Sorry, sweetheart, I can't tell you that," John responded.

"What? Why not?" Delaney argued and sat back on her feet as Sam stared at up her with a curious expression on his face.

Dean seemed to have heard her talking because he was leant up on his elbow also staring at her. "Is that Dad?"

John quietly sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "I know this is hard for you to understand. You just have to trust me on this one, Lane."

Delaney was silent for a long moment as she processed whatever her dad wasn't saying outright. There had to be a serious reason he didn't want any of his kids to know where he was. As usual, John Winchester had to be doing something dangerous and he didn't want the kids helping him or getting in the way. "You're after it aren't you? The thing that killed mom?"

"How do you know about that?" John questioned. He didn't know yet that Delaney was clued to just about everything that was happening right under her nose her whole entire life. He probably wouldn't be too thrilled the boys told her everything, but she would have found out about it anyway. With Will dying right in front of her face in such an odd way, it would have come up anyway.

Delaney glanced back at Dean and chewed on the skin of her lower lip. "Dean told me, Dad. Your little secret has been let out of the bag."

"Okay, fine, yes. I'm looking for what killed your mother. It's a demon, Lane," John explained sadly.

Delaney's breath caught in her throat and she struggled for a second to breathe properly. So, a demon was the reason her mother and her boyfriend were dead. Honestly, she should have guessed it was a demon because of how morbidly the both of them died. She knew only a demon could have done something like that.

"A demon? You know for sure?"

"A demon?" Dean cut in, scrambling out of his bed and sat down on the bed with Delaney and Sam. "What's he saying, Della?"

"I do. Listen, Lane, I... I also know what happened to Will," - Delaney flinched at this and had to struggle again to steady her breathing - "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I would have done anything to protect you from that."

Delaney was stunned into silence again. She didn't know how her father knew about Will's death, but he did and he also knew where the demon was. He had to if he had called her and her brothers. If they find their Dad now, she'll be one step closer to taking down the demon that ruined her life.

"You know where it is?"

"Yeah, I think I'm finally closing in on it."

"Let us help," Delaney said, looking between her two brothers who still were staring her down, trying to figure out what was going on.

"You can't," John immediately shot down and Delaney gripped Dean's phone harder. So hard she thought she might snap it in half. "You can't be any part of it."

"What? Why the hell not? We're just as much part of the whole thing as you are," Delaney snapped.

Dean stuck his hand out for his phone and Delaney slapped his hand away. No way she was giving the phone up. She knew the boys wanted to talk to him too, but here John Winchester was again shooing her away like it was nothing. The sole reason she left school to go with her brothers was to find their dad and that demon that killed Mary and Will. If she couldn't do either one, it would be like she left school for nothing. Like she only left to go on some wild goose chase that had no ending.

"That's why I'm calling. You and your brothers, you've got to stop looking for me. I need you to write down these names."

"Names? What names, Dad? Talk to me for once. Tell me what's going on instead of just shoving me to the side."

John huffed in annoyance at Delaney. "Delaney, we do not have time for this. This is bigger than you think. They're everywhere. Even us talking right now. It's not safe."

"No, Dad. No way," Delaney refused and shook her head.

"Give me the phone," Dean ordered and stuck his hand out again. Delaney just stared her brother down, not moving an inch. Sam sat next to Delaney in silence, not really knowing what to do right now. He couldn't hear what their dad said so he couldn't make a judgement on what to do right now.

"I've given you an order, Delaney Elizabeth," John thundered from the other end. "Do as I say. Stop following me and do your job. You understand me? Now take down these names."

Her job? This was never her job. Not up until six months ago at least. Not until she was practically thrown into the job without a choice. Her boyfriend was literally murdered right in front of her and she had no choice but to hunt the thing down. It would have kept her up every night if she didn't follow her brothers. She wouldn't be in this situation right now if it weren't for that.

Dean seemed to have enough with Delaney disregarding him and snatched his phone out of her hand, earning a gasp of shock from her. "Dad, it's me. Where are you?"

Delaney scoffed as Dean talked to their dad as if he was actually a drill sergeant. He called him sir and did whatever John said to him over the phone. He grabbed a pen and piece of paper, writing down whatever names their dad had given to him. Dean listened to their dad for another few seconds before reluctantly saying good-bye and hanging up.

"Well?" Sam prodded once Dean placed his phone on the nightstand between the two beds. "What did he say?"

"We're going on another hunt, kiddos!"

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"So, the names Dad gave us - they're all couples?" Sam questioned from the driver's seat while Dean sat in the passenger seat, reading over the map that was in his lap with a small flashlight. Delaney sat in the back silently fuming over the fact they were actually doing this and not searching for their dad.

"Three different couples that went missing."

"They're all from different towns, different states?"

Dean picked up the piece of paper he wrote down all the information on given to them by John. "Uh... yeah. Washington, New York, Colorado. Each couple took a road trip cross-country. None of them arrived at their destination. None of them were ever heard from again."

"Well, it's a big country, Dean," Delaney grumbled from the back. "They could have disappeared anywhere."

Dean ignored the attitude in Delaney's tone and just decided to answer her. "Yeah could have. However, each one's route took them through the same part of Indiana. Always on the second week of April, one year after another after another."

"This is the second week of April," Sam noted.

"Yep."

Delaney chuckled humorlessly. "So, Dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something before another couple vanishes?"

"Yahtzee!" Dean yelled and continued to scan through the map and information placed in his lap. "Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? The different obits Dad had to go through - the man's a master."

Delaney glared at the back of Dean's head. He couldn't be serious. He'd rather do this hunt than go search for their dad and the demon? There were other hunters out there, they could easily call one of them and have them do it. If Dean didn't want to find their Dad, then fine. He didn't have to. She would.

"Sam, pull over."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Delaney in the rearview mirror. "What?"

"You heard me," Delaney said shortly and once Sam pulled over to the side of the interstate she pushed herself out of the car. She closed the door just as both of her brothers got out of it.

"Delaney, what in the hell are you doing?" Dean asked, not looking happy at all with her. Ever since the phone call he'd been pissed at her because she hadn't listened to him or John. It didn't bother Delaney much though because they were both reacting to this whole thing horribly.

"I'm not going to Indiana, Dean. I'm going to California. Dad called from a payphone - Sacramento area code."

Sam let out a deep breath through his nose. He knew Delaney wanted find their dad, but what were they supposed to do? He didn't want them finding him and it wouldn't exactly be easy to do it if he didn't want to be found. "Delly."

"Guys, if this demon killed Mom and Will and Dad's closing in, we got to be there," Delaney stressed, running a hand through her hair. "We have to help him."

"Dad doesn't want our help," Dean argued.

"That's nice, but I don't care," Delaney crossed her arms across her chest, standing her ground. No way were either one of her brothers going to convince her to not go off to California. They could either join her or she would be going alone. Either way, she would not be setting foot in Indiana.

Dean's jaw twitched, a dangerous sign that meant Dean grew increasingly angry with his sister. Usually, Angry Dean intimidated Delaney, but right now it was not phasing her in the slightest. "He's given us an order, Delaney."

"I don't care, Dean!" Delaney snapped, slapping her hands to her sides. "We don't always have to do what he says."

"Delaney, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives. It's important," Sam defended Dean. It shocked Delaney slightly because usually Sam was on her side with this sort of thing. Her and Sam had the same thought process most of the time so the fact he sided with Dean was slightly off putting.

Delaney ran a hand over her face to try and keep herself from lashing out on her brothers. "I understand all of that. Believe me. I'm just talking one week here, boys, to get answers. Something. To get revenge."

"Look," Dean sighed as he leaned against the roof of the car. "I know how you feel."

"Do you?" Delaney challenged. "How old were the both of you when Mom died - six and four? Will died six months ago, Dean. How the hell would you know how I feel?"

Dean stared at Delaney for a long, tense moment. Delaney internally prepared for the wraith of Dean to just descend upon her and swallow her whole. She was pretty sure this was the first time in her whole life she didn't at least try to see Dean's view.

Delaney was sick and tired of Dean always doing exactly what their dad said. Whether it was actually good for them or not. He just immediately dropped his life any time John said and did whatever order he had. It baffled her how Dean still didn't understand why she went away once she was ready to go to college. She couldn't deal with being treated as if she were an army person and John was the drill sergeant. She always got it worse than the both of her brothers combined.

Granted, now Delaney knew why he was so hard on her. He wanted her to be the first Winchester to actually have a life. Looks like that blew up in his face now since no matter what... a Winchester will never be normal.

"Dad said it wasn't safe for any of us," Dean finally said, cutting off the thick silence surrounding the siblings. "I mean, he obviously knows something that we don't. So if he says to stay away, we stay away."

Delaney shook her head and crossed her arms again. "I really do not understand the blind faith you have in the man, Dean. I mean, it's like you don't even question him."

"Yeah, it's called being a good child and doing what their parent says," Dean shot back and Delaney visibly flinched at the harshness of his tone.

Delaney scoffed and stormed over to the trunk, opening it up. She wasn't going to stand here and let Dean belittle her. It was just getting in the way of her finding John in Sacramento. The longer she stood arguing with him, the further their dad would get. She had to leave now or it would be too late.

"You're a selfish brat, you know that?" Dean snapped as he circled the car and stood in front of Delaney who was grabbing her duffle bag and book bag, stuffing her fake IDs and one of the credit cards Dean got for her. "You just do whatever you want. You don't care what anybody thinks."

Delaney slammed the trunk closed once she was satisfied and turned to face her brothers. Sam looked like he wanted to jump in and defend her now because Dean had gone too far, but he knew it would just end up on deaf ears. Dean was now in the mood where he only wanted to hear what he wanted to hear and nothing else. Defending Delaney would be useless and Delaney understood that so she didn't hold it against Sam to be quiet during this argument and just let it go.

"That's what you really think?"

"Yes, it is."

Delaney shrugged and fixed the strap of her duffle bag. "Well, this selfish brat is going to California." She gave Sam an apologetic look before she shoved past both of her brothers.

"You're not serious, Delaney, " Dean called to Delaney as she continued to walk down the dark, quiet road.

"I am serious."

"It's the middle of the night," Dean said but Delaney only ignored him and kept walking. "I'll leave your ass behind, Delaney!"

Delaney stopped walking and turned to face Dean. "That's what I want you to do, Dean. Go off and do whatever you want. I'm going to find our dad which is our actual mission. If you need me, you know my number."

Dean and Delaney stared each down for what seemed like hours, but was only about a minute. He eventually tore his eyes from and began to walk to the driver's side. "Bye, Delaney."

Sam stood in his place and gave Delaney a broken expression. Any other time it would have worked on her, but right now Delaney had to follow her instincts. She needed to find this demon and their father. She needed her revenge. Now.

"I'm sorry, Sammy," Delaney whispered and tightened her grip on the duffle bag strap. "I love you."

"I love you too, little one." Sam finally broke eye contact and slowly walked back over to the passenger's side and got in before Dean started to drive off towards Indiana without him.

Delaney was officially alone again after six months.

𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘

𝐇𝐈 𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎!

𝐒𝐨 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟏 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥.

𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 - 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 - 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐎 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐎 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧.

𝘈𝘕𝘠𝘞𝘈𝘠𝘚, 𝘐 𝘏𝘖𝘗𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘈𝘓𝘓 𝘌𝘕𝘑𝘖𝘠𝘌𝘋. 𝘋𝘖𝘕'𝘛 𝘍𝘖𝘙𝘎𝘌𝘛 𝘛𝘖 𝘝𝘖𝘛𝘌 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘊𝘖𝘔𝘔𝘌𝘕𝘛!