𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍

𝘜𝘗 𝘐𝘕 𝘍𝘓𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘚

━━━ DELANEY FOUND HERSELF STOOD IN THE MANSION THAT BELONGED TO A DEMON NAMED NONE OTHER THAN CROWLEY. Her and the boys had been tracking down the demon ever since Becky and Chuck had given them all the information they needed regarding the Colt, their possible only saving grace in taking down Lucifer once they tracked him down. They even had recruited Ellen and Jo Harvelle's help in their little breaking and entering escapade, the two women helping them get into the darkened mansion, the only lights being from candelabras placed sporadically throughout the place.

A creak in the floor purposely caused by Delaney had them waiting with baited breath for the demon they were looking for to appear from the den they had heard Crowley in, watching an old time movie. The creak was so loud that Delaney was sure that Crowley had no doubt heard it and her suspicions had been made true when the demon walked out from the room he'd been previously relaxed in. He wore the meat suit of an averaged height male, brown cut close to his scalp and a hint of a five o'clock shadow appeared around his chin while he wore a black suit with a black button up shirt beneath it.

"It's Crowley, right?" Delaney asked, grip on her weapon tightening while she watched the demon stop a few feet from her, Dean, Sam and Theo.

"So . . . the Mystery Inc squad finally found me. Took you long enough," Crowley said in a bored, British accented tone as he rolled his eyes at the four before him. He took a few more steps towards the four hunters, but paused at the edge of the rug and crouched before it to inspect it as if he suspected a devil's trap to be there. "Do you have any idea how much this rug costs?"

With a barely there flick of his wrists, all four hunters were grabbed from behind and held back against the strong chest of Crowley's demon croonies. Delaney struggled against the muscle of her own demon, but it was no use as he made sure to put extra strength on hers with a wicked smirk. Part of her wanted to make a snarky comment about hurting Hell's merchandise, but she didn't think her brothers or Theo would find it very funny. 

"This is it, right?" Crowley questioned, gaining the hunters' attention again to see the Colt suddenly appeared in Crowley's grubby hands. "This is what it's all about, innit?"

Not giving the Winchesters and Theo time to react, Crowley lifted his hand as if to shoot the four of them. However, at the last second, Crowley sent a round into each of his croonie's foreheads and sent them crashing to the ground, dead. Seemingly satisfied, Crowley lowered his hand once again and barely even gazed at the hunters' confused expressions.

"We need to talk. Privately," Crowley said after a long, tense moment of silence. He turned on his oxford covered heels and lead the four hunters right into the room he had been previously been in, fully ignoring Dean's demanding of answers of where they were. "Do you know how deep I could have buried this thing? There is no reason that you or anyone should know this even exists at all, except that I told you."

Sam rose his eyebrows in confusion and contemplation as he stared down the demon before him. "You told us?"

Crowley shrugged nonchalantly and ran his fingers delicately over the barrel of the Colt. "Rumors, innuendo . . .  sent out in the grapevine."

"Why? Why tell us anything at all? Don't demons usually like to watch people scramble and run around in all their chaos," Delaney quipped, narrowing her green eyes at Crowley as she had bad feelings bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Something told her to keep her guard up.

"I want you to take thing to Lucifer and empty it into his face."

Dean scoffed softly and crossed his arms across his chest. "Uh-huh. Why exactly would you want the devil dead?"

"It's called . . . survival," Crowley responded to Dean shortly, placing down the gun once again on  the desk he stood near by. "But I forgot — you three, and your new little blue eyed pet, are functional morons at best."

"I'm not a pet!" Theo retorted and Delaney had to shoot her hand out to keep Theo from taking a step toward Crowley and making a situation worse. "Besides, you're functioning morons."

Crowley sighed and shook his head, eyes falling towards Delaney with a pitying frown. "Delaney, sweetheart, I'm so sorry your destined lover is such an idiot. Lucifer really could have picked someone better for you, but alas . . . we don't all get what we want. And as you all know, Lucifer isn't a demon, yes? He is an angel — an angel famous for his hatred of humankind. To him, you're just . . . filthy bags of pus. If that's the way he feels about you . . . what can he think about us?"

Dean appeared to grow more and more confused by the minute and she shifted on his feet in his spot between Sam and Delaney. "But . . . he created you."

"To him, we're just servants," Crowley replied sullenly, snatching up the empty glass on the table and filling it with scotch before taking a hearty sip. "Cannon fodder, if you will. If Lucifer manages to exterminate humankind . . . we are next. So . . . help me. Huh? Let's all go back to simpler, better times. Back to . . . when we could all follow our natures. I'm in sales, damn it! So, what do you lot say? What if —" — he broke off to turn and snatch up the Colt once again — "— I give you this thing . . . and you go kill the devil? Would set your baby sister free, would it not? And the rest of mankind for that matter."

Delaney frowned when the gun was extended to her, but she slowly took it in the chance that Crowley suddenly tried to pull a fast one on them. He was a demon, after all, and Delaney had dealt with enough of them to never trust them as far as she could exorcise them with her mind. Her hand gripped around the handle and she took it from Crowley without any sort of issues, not that that stopped her anxiety coming up with all the possibilities on how this very thing could go wrong. As if she wasn't already aware of all the bad scenarios.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the devil is . . . would you?" Theo asked the question that had been on all the Winchesters' minds the second Delaney had the gun in her possession once again. It was a shock Dean hadn't tried to snatch it out of her hand and hold it protectively to his chest like he had done so the last time they were in possession of the pistol.

"Thursday. Birdies tell me . . . he has an appointment in Carthage, Missouri," Crowley informed the crew and noticed the gun waver in Delaney's hand, the youngest Winchester having half a mind to shoot Crowley in the head just to be safe. However, Delaney knew better than to shoot the demon right now. "Right, you're gonna need more ammunition."

Dean's green eyes followed Crowley as the demon moved once again to file through the desk for more bullets for the hunters to take. "I'm sorry, but aren't you basically singing your own death warrant? I mean, what happens to you if we go up against the devil and lose?"

Crowley huffed and stopped his rifling to shoot Dean a fixated, deadpan expression. "Number one — he's gonna wipe us all out anyway. Two — after you leave here, I go on an extended vacation to all points nowhere. And three — how about you don't miss, yeah?! Morons!"

A small casing with multiple bullets placed inside of it was chucked at Dean's chest seconds before the demon vanished from the four hunters' sights. 

"It has to be a trap, right?" Delaney asked Dean, chewing her thumbnail as she paced back and forth in Bobby's study. Ellen and Jo's laughter could be heard from the kitchen as they tried to get Castiel drunk — or at the very least tipsy — and were failing epically. The angel had already done eight shots and barely slurred a word.

Dean chuckled softly and whistled, lazily flicking his eyes around the map in his lap while he rested back against the chair behind the desk. "Delaney Elizabeth Winchester having trust issues with a demon. Well, you know, better late than never, baby girl! Glad you learned your lesson."

Delaney paused in her pacing and shot a pointed glare to her eldest brother. "Stop throwing Randy in my face, Dean. What happened to you and Sammy being supportive?"

"Hey, I haven't even said anything!" Sam chimed in, waving to himself next to Dean where he read through another lore book with Theo. The two had been taking turns taking notes from the massive book on the desk.

"And this is me being supportive!" Dean argued back, placing the map on the other side of the desk and sitting up in his chair. "Besides, trap or no trap, we got a snowball's chance, we got to take it, right? I also am not sure if this is a trap. Check it out. Carthage is lit up like a Christmas tree with revelation omens. And look at this. There's been six missing persons reported in town since Sunday. I think the Devil's there."

Delaney hummed and picked up the small stack of missing person's flyers that Dean had printed out and flicked through them, all the missing persons varying in gender and age. "Yeah, okay."

Dean exhaled heavily and raised his beer bottle to his lips before fixing his gaze on Delaney. "Look, Della, when you think about it . . . you can't come with." He held his finger up when Delaney opened her mouth to argue with him about going. "Listen to me, Delaney Elizabeth. Sammy, Theo and I go against Satan and screw the pooch . . . okay. We lost a game piece. That, we can take. But if you're there . . . then we are handing the Devil's vessel right over to him. You are literally the Devil's Keeper and that's not smart for you to be there."

"Since when have we ever done anything smart, Dean?" Delaney quipped, tossing the small stack of flyers back onto the desk and placed a hand on her hip.

"Dean's right, Delly," Sam spoke up, looking up from the sheet of paper he'd been writing all his notes on. "If you're there, whose to say Lucifer won't just grab you and run? Huh? What if we lose you and don't even get the chance to take him down?"

"I'm serious, guys! Haven't we learned a damn thing? If we're gonna do this, then we're gonna do it together."

Dean exhaled heavily, his green eyes flitting over to Ellen, Jo and Castiel who continued to laugh and drink over in the kitchen. He was clearly in deep thought and took another long sip from his beer bottle, needing the burn the alcohol brought him. "Okay . . . okay. That's a stupid friggin' idea, but fine."

Delaney raised an eyebrow when she noticed Dean's eyes linger on her side again and she followed his gaze to see him staring point blank at Jo. She snorted softly and pointed her finger in Jo's direction. "Now that's a bad idea."

"Shut up. No one asked you."

"Alright, everybody, get your asses in here. It's time for the line up," Bobby called out from his study about an hour or two later. 

Everyone had merged into the kitchen to hang out while Bobby worked out a good enough plan for them to work with once Dean had mentioned what they were ready to do. Delaney had sat nearby Jo and Ellen, the three girls smiling and laughing as they caught up with each other after being apart for months. Delaney had even broken down to Ellen and Jo about the whole Lucifer situation and they were the first two to not look at her with pity. Ellen had promised Delaney that she'd do everything in her power to make sure she was good back up for the boys so they could get rid of the Devil and he wouldn't hurt her, the boys or anyone else. It warmed Delaney's heart and Delaney could honestly say Ellen had quickly become like a mother figure to her, even though they barely got to see each other. The few moments they did have like this really showed how deeply Ellen cared for Delaney and her brothers.

"Oh, come on, Bobby," Ellen complained, freezing in the study with everybody when she noticed Bobby setting up a camera instead of readying them with a plan like they had all been thinking when first stepping in. "Nobody wants their picture taken."

"Listen, any other day I wouldn't care . . . but today I care," Delaney chimed in, scrunching her nose up at the thought of her photo being taken at the moment. "The bags under my eyes are unfortunately not Prada, Uncle Bobby."

"Hush up, you two. You're drinkin' my beer. The least you could do is take a stinkin' picture," Bobby wheeled his wheelchair backwards so he was parked right in front of Jo and Delaney who stood closer to the front since they were the shortest. Dean, Sam and Theodore stood behind them with Castiel and Ellen had stopped herself at Bobby's side so she was in front of Castiel. "Besides, I'm gonna need this to remember your sorry asses by."

Ellen let out a short laugh and nudged the back of Bobby's head playfully. "Always good to have an optimist around."

"Bobby's right. Tomorrow we hunt the Devil," Castiel said in his usual deep, raspy tone while his blue eyes focused on the camera up ahead. "This is our last night on Earth."

"Thanks for that, Cas."

The next morning, the rain was relentless as it fell down harshly from the sky and was almost like an omen for the day the hunters and Castiel were about to have together. Delaney had rode in Baby with Dean, Sam and Theo while Ellen, Jo, and Castiel rode in Ellen's red pick up truck. Though, they seemed to be the only two girls actively roaming about in the town as all the others cars were abandoned and no one roamed the streets. Even their cell phones had suddenly lost their signals the second they entered through.

"This place seem a little empty to you?" Ellen called, pulling up next to the Impala in the middle of the road, rolling down her window so she could properly talk to Dean.

"We're gonna go check out the PD. You guys stay here — see if you can find anybody," Dean instructed, pulling away when Ellen gave her nod of approval.

After searching all over the town, it was apparent that they truly were alone in the town. Maybe exactly how Lucifer wanted it so there'd be no witnesses. Once they realized there was nothing, the Winchesters and Theo made their way back towards Ellen and Jo and found out they'd seen no one around either. It was practically a ghost town.

"Have you seen Cas?" Ellen asked, poking her head out of the window to look up at the Winchesters and Theo who stood in the street.

"What? El, Castiel was with you," Theo responded, furrowing his eyebrows at the woman that had been like a second mother to him. His parents had not only been close to Bobby, but Ellen as well and Theo would see Ellen on the random occasions his parents actually went out to the hunter's bar when they were through with a case. Most of the time, they picked up Theo from Bobby's and brought him with them to visit Ellen and Jo. The woman had practically helped raise him when Bobby couldn't.

Ellen shook her head and scanned the area around them in search for a peak at the blue eyed angel. "Nope. He went after the reapers."

Delaney balked at the mention of the reapers and exchanged a look with her brothers and Theo before focusing back on Ellen. "Wait, he saw reapers? Where?"

"Well, kind of . . . everywhere," Jo replied, grimacing slightly. 

Once all the hunters had rounded up their weapons, they stalked through the town in search of Castiel. He'd been missing for far too long and Delaney had begun to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach again over the fact that Castiel still hadn't returned. If he was only going to figure out why the reapers were here, why hadn't he been back now? Surely talking to a Reaper wouldn't take that long . . . would it?

"Well, this is great. We've been in town for twenty minutes. We already lost the angel up our sleeve," Dean complained, gripping to his rifle as he squinted against the sun that had now come out to try and scan around for any hint of where Castiel could be.

"You think, uh . . . you think Lucifer got him?" Delaney inquired worriedly, chewing her lower lip nearly raw. Her nails practically dug into her own weapon and she tried to fight down the anxiety that clawed at her lungs. If anything were to happen to Castiel . . . she didn't know what she do.

"I don't know else what else to think," Dean remarked.

"There you are."

The group whipped around at the new male voice, all rifles raising up to point at the brunette male decked out in a leather jacket and tight skinny jeans. A breezy, coy smile was on his face as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and rocked back on his heel. 

Delaney's jaw ticked when she realized who the demon was before them and growled. "Mason."

"Hiya, baby Winchester. You know . . . you really shouldn't have come here," Mason tsked, shaking his head and causing his hair to swish slightly from the motion. He smirked when Dean stepped forward with the Colt raised in a position to shoot him, dark look on his face. "Aww, it's real cute how you think I'd come here alone, Dean-o." 

The water next to Mason's boot splashed as if someone stomped down on it and was followed by an echoing growl. It didn't take a genius to know that Mason had brought Hellhounds with him to be his little guard dogs. 

Dean's green eyes wavered slightly as he glanced around them even though the Hellhounds were invisible to all of them. No doubt the memories of the Hellhounds tearing into his flesh nearly two years ago now plagued his mind. "Hellhounds!"

Mason chuckled and nodded, gesturing one hand to the invisible dogs around him. "Yeah, Dean — your favorite. I brought 'em just for you, big boy! Now, come on. My father wants to see you."

"Yeah, I'll think we'll pass, Mason. Thanks for the offer. Why don't you go crawl back into whatever corner of Hell you managed to crawl out of?" Delaney quipped, glaring daggers at the demon over the barrel of her pistol.

"Your choice, baby Winchester. You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard."

Dean hummed and glanced over his shoulder to those around him, each of the hunters all silently agreeing they wouldn't be going down without a fight. "When have you ever known us to make anything easy?" 

Without warning, Dean turned suddenly and shot at the Hellhound to Mason's left and sent a small spray of blood out before the deadly whimper from the Hellhound sounded. He turned on his heel and pushed for the others behind him to start to run. The sounds of the Hellhounds were loud behind the group of hunters as they ran. They only grew louder by the time they caught up to Dean and tripped him up, just seconds before he could catch up with the others at the convenience store that had been left open and abandoned.

Jo cried out for Dean, rushing towards him as he tried to fight off the Hellhounds. Dean tried to tell Jo to stay back and out of the way, but the blonde Harvelle didn't listen and fired off round after round at the Hellhound that had attacked Dean. It took several rounds, but Jo eventually got the Hellhound to stay down. However, the moment of peace didn't last as she was knocked to the ground by another Hellhound, the dog ripping in her shirt and flesh.

Delaney shot at the next Hellhound while Dean scrambled up to his feet once again, scooping Jo right into his arms and ran towards the convenience store while Delaney continued to fire. Her boot covered feet moved her backwards towards the convenience store and stumbled inside behind Theo, slamming the door closed once everyone was safely inside. Dean ran towards the back of the store to a heavily bleeding Jo down safely while Theo, Delaney and Sam all rushed to pour salt around the perimeter of the store to keep the dogs back and away from them for the time being.

Thankfully, the store had all the items they'd need to patch Jo up and Ellen was able to bandage up Jo's torn up side, apologizing every now and then when she pressed too hard in a certain spot on Jo's injured side. Dean had hidden himself away from Jo's injured form, busying himself with something on a shelf on the other side of the store, stealing glances to the blonde every now and then to make sure she was still okay while also sticking to himself.

"How she holding up?" Dean asked Delaney as she walked over with Sam and Theo after doing what they could with Jo and Ellen. 

Delaney offered Dean a pitiful smile, knowing she couldn't lie to him as Jo was badly hurt. They all knew the bandages would only do so much good for so long until they could get her better materials to hold her up for longer. "Well, the salt is holding up. We're safe . . . for now. Or, I guess we're more trapped like fucking rats."

Dean stopped playing with the video camera and slammed it back down on the shelf, shooting Delaney a stern expression. "You heard Mason, Delaney. Her father's here. This is our one shot, okay? We have to take it, no matter what."

"Delaney, sweetheart, can you come help over here, please?" Ellen called before Delaney could offer Dean a response and the youngest Winchester rushed over to the two Harvelle women to help Ellen out.

While Delaney helped Ellen to patch Jo up a little better, Dean figured out some way to mess with the video camera and radio on the shelf he'd been stood by. Somehow he'd gotten it to work like a real, live radio and he explained everything to Bobby about what happened between Castiel and Jo.

Bobby had eventually helped Dean to figure out what Lucifer had been doing in that town and why Castiel may have disappeared along with why there were so many reapers summoned. Lucifer was in the process of trying to call upon the Horseman, the angel of death. Delaney couldn't hear much but she heard some rambled descriptions of what Dean and the others could do to save themselves and it wasn't long before Dean was closing off the conversation with Bobby.

"So, now we know where the Devil's gonna be, we know when and we have the Colt," Dean was saying to Sam and Theo when Delaney finally walked her way over to them, dusting her hands off of Jo's blood that stained her hands. 

"Yeah . . . we just have to get past . . . eight or so Hellhounds and get to the farm by midnight," Theo deadpanned, gesturing his hand to the outside where the Hellhounds still growled and barked dangerously. "Easy peasy, right?"

"And that's after we get Jo and Ellen the Hell out of town," Sam added on, crossing his arms across his chest. "No way they'd be safe in here forever while we're off taking down Lucifer. We need to figure out how to get them out and fast. It won't be easy."

"Stretcher?" Dean offered lamely with a shrug.

Before anyone could offer to go look for a stretcher for Jo, the woman in question shakily called for everyone's attention. She shook slightly from the injury, face contorting when Ellen pressed down on her wound and Delaney frowned at how pale and weak she looked at the moment. "Guys, stop, would ya? Can we, uh, be realistic about this, please? I can't move my legs. I can't be moved. My guts are currently being held in by an ace bandage. We got to . . . we got to get our priorities straight here. Number one — I'm not going anywhere."

Ellen gasped at her daughter's words, words that only someone would give in their final hours. "Joanna Beth, you stop talking like that —"

"Mom," Jo cut off her mother weakly, dull eyes drifting over to Ellen as her head rested back against the counter behind her. "I can't fight. I can't walk, but I can do something. We've got propane, wiring, rock salt, iron nails — everything we need."

Theo licked his dry lips and shook his head, not wanting to believe whatever it was Jo was thinking of doing. "Jo, no! You can't — "

"We're building a bomb, Theodore," Jo snapped, the fire returning to her tone for a brief moment. "If anyone's got another plan, please let me know. Those are Hellhounds out there, guys. They've got all our scents. Those bitches will never stop coming after you. If we let the dogs in, you guys hit the roof, make a break for the building next over, and I can wait here with my finger on the button. Rip those mutts a new one. Or at least get you a few minutes' head start, anyway."

A sob broke through Ellen's lips and she clutched to Jo's hands. "No, I . . . I won't let you."

Jo's own eyes welled with tears at the sight of her mother crying, though that didn't stop Jo's determination. Joanna Beth Harvelle was anything but a quitter and she'd do whatever it took to save those she cared about. Even if it meant her own death. "This is why we're here, right?"

"If I can get us a shot on the devil . . . " Jo trailed off and she looked over to Dean who shifted on his feet, clearly not liking this plan much either. "Dean, we have to take this chance. This might literally be my mom's last chance to treat me like an adult. Tell her she might want to take it."

Ellen had given not long after that and Delaney and the boys quickly got to work on getting all the items they would need for Jo's bomb idea. It took some time and every hand to put together all the bombs with Jo's help on how to set them up, but they eventually got it all set up. 

Delaney had drifted over to Jo while the boys worked and she wrapped the girl up in a hug the best she could. She couldn't leave Jo without letting the girl know how much she'd appreciated her. "You don't deserve this, Jo."

"If it saves your asses, I'll do whatever it takes," Jo whispered to her weakly, holding Delaney the best she could in her injured state. "Just give Lucifer a taste of his own medicine for me, okay? You're the strongest person I know, Delaney. So I have all the faith in you . . . always."

Delaney sniffled as she pulled back from Jo and offered the best smile she could muster as Dean walked over with the detonator button. "No, you're the strongest person, Jo. I'll tell you all about how we saved the world one day, okay?"

"I'll hold you to that in the after life," Jo laughed wheezingly, squeezing Delaney's hand that had fallen into hers.

Theo crouched down next to Delaney after that, pulling the girl into a hug and holding her against him. "See you on the other side, JoJo. Don't do anything stupid until i come to you, you hear me?"

"I'll think about it," Jo whispered to him, clinging to the front of his shirt. "Also, if you want to keep a girl like Delaney, maybe try talking to her and apologizing. You were kind of a dick."

"Ah, words every guy likes to hear before his best friend does something insane," Theo mused, earning another weak laugh from the injured girl. The two somehow always found a way to joke in every situation, always wanting to bring light to anything they could in a sense of self-defense mechanism. "But . . . I already know, JoJo. I'll do it, I promise." He then placed a soft, platonic kiss to the girl's forehead and stood up to make his way over to Sam with Delaney in tow to give Dean and Jo a moment alone.

It had come as no shock when Jo had eventually brought Dean's face down to hers and kissed him softly and sweetly in a sweet goodbye. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but when the two pulled away both of their eyes were flooded with tears and Dean had to physically force himself to move when Ellen took over his spot and crouched by her daughter.

The two Harvelle women exchanged a few words with Ellen making sure Jo knew that she wasn't leaving her side. She'd be staying behind with Jo to take down the Hellhounds as someone needed to stay and open the doors to let in the Hellhounds since Jo couldn't stay up on her own. The Winchesters and Jo both tried to convince Ellen to go with them, but she wouldn't budge as she wanted to stay with her daughter.

With reluctance, the Winchesters and Theo all forced themselves away from the two Harvelle women. They rushed their way throughout the store and up to the roof where they'd take the fire escape in the back down and back onto the street. Delaney had been the first one out and down, running as far as she could to put distance between herself and store. Dean and Sam had made it to either side of her before the store exploded and the place went up in flames.

Delaney whirred around at the sound of the explosion and a sob wracked through her chest as she knew Ellen and Jo were gone. Her eyes lingered on the burning building, dark smoke and fire encasing the entire structure as glass came down on the street like a glistening rain. However, the one thing missing on the street was Theo and Delaney's green eyes frantically searched the streets for him.

"No, no, no. Theo?!" Delaney shouted, frantically looking this way and that in hopes of seeing him. Her chest caved in when there was no sign of him and turned to Dean and Sam with wide eyes. "Did — wasn't he right — "

"Delaney, we — "

Before Sam could finish his sentence, a strangled cough was heard from behind them and they all turned to see Theo stumble out from a near by narroway between two other buildings. Soot covered the side of his face and he must have just escaped just seconds before the explosion. He dusted at his clothes as he coughed, trying to rid of the smoke from his lungs. 

"Theo!" Delaney cried, running at the boy and throwing herself at him as his arms instantly wrapped around her as her body crashed into his. "I thought you didn't get out in time. I —"

"I'm okay, Del. I'm okay," Theo promised quietly, one hand running over the back of her head as he felt her physically relax against him in relief. Something that honestly secretly shocked him since she'd been giving him the cold shoulder since he arrived. Something he knew he deserved anyway.

"Not to break up the chick flick moment, but we have an angel to go kill, people!" 

Delaney pried herself away from Theo as if he had burned her and cleared her throat, tucking her curls behind her ears and nodding to Dean's words. They needed to take down Lucifer . . . and quick.

Delaney and the boys made it to the farm fairly quickly, which was a relief as midnight was growing closer and closer at a rapid rate. In the middle of the farm, half the townspeople stood around the area that Lucifer dug up, all staring blankly as if they had no control over their own bodies. Delaney could only assume that really didn't have control over themselves and Lucifer was controlling every single thing they did.

Knowing she had to be the one to go up against Lucifer first to distract him, Delaney shot Dean and Sam both the most encouraging smile she could before she rushed out into view. She pushed her way through the crowd of people and forced herself to the front, standing with her head high and showed no fear in the presence of Lucifer. "Hey! You wanted to see me!?"

Lucifer's blonde head shot up at the sound of Delaney's voice and he dropped the shovel that he used to dig up whatever it was he needed. He smiled at the sight of her and dropped himself down from the small pile of dirt he'd placed himself on. "Well, Del, you don't need that gun here, you know. You know I would never hurt you. Not really."

"Funny, I heard that line once before and it got me to letting you out of the cage," Delaney sassed, eyeing Lucifer up and down with an icy cold smile. "Sorry if those words hold very little meaning to me."

The Colt clicking into place was heard next and Dean appeared on Lucifer's blind side with Sam and Theo in tow. "Yeah and . . . I'd hurt you. So suck it."

Lucifer dropped to the ground as the Colt fired off, a bullet hole forming in his forehead. He was limp for all of ten seconds before he sucked in a harsh breath, quickly dissolving whatever victory dance Dean was about to do with his siblings and Theo. A grunt fell past his lips as he pushed himself back to his feet and he rubbed at where Dean had shot him. "Where did you get that?"

Dean was stunned into silence, but he wasn't given much time to respond anyway because Lucifer growled and gave him a right hook to the jaw. That sent him flying backwards and slamming into a tree with Sam and Theo rushing after him to make sure he was okay and just knocked out.

"Now . . . where were we?" Lucifer mused, turning back to Delaney who glanced between her unconscious brother and the angel that wanted to ride her body like a roller coaster. "Don't feel too bad, Del. There's only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill and . . . I just happen to be one of them. If you give me a minute, I'm almost done. You know . . . I don't suppose you'd just say " yes " right here and now? End this whole tiresome discussion? That's crazy, right?"

Delaney barked out a sharp laugh as Lucifer turned to pick up his shovel once again. She moved herself closer to him and had half a mind to shoot Lucifer again just for the hell of it. "Did you hit your fucking head when you leapt out of the cage? It's never gonna happen! No matter what you do."

"Oh, I don't know, Del," Lucifer hummed, turning to continue digging at the hole he had been earlier. "I think you will. I think it'll happen soon — within six months. I think it'll happen . . . in Detroit."

Delaney grit her teeth and her hands clenched tighter around her weapon in anger. "You listen to me, you son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill you myself. Much like I killed Lilith and Alastair, you hear me? I'm going to rip your heart out!"

Lucifer whistled mockingly at Delaney and had the audacity to laugh like it was all some joke. "Ah, yes, keep saying things like that in front of your soul mate and big brother, Del. I'm sure they love hearing you speak like that. Just keep fanning all that fire in your belly — all that pent-up rage you have at me. At Randy. At everything. I'm gonna need it."

Delaney's eyes drifted around her to the poor townspeople that were stood like statues around them, frowning at the sight of them. "What did you do? What did you do to this town?"

"Oh, I was very generous with this town. One demon for every able-bodied man. For those who aren't able bodied?" Lucifer trailed off, jerking his chin towards the ditch he was in the process of making. He scrunched up nose at Delaney when her face fell at the information. "I know — it's awful, but . . . these horsemen are so demanding. So it was . . . women and children first. I know what you must think of me, Del. I have to do this. I have to. You, of all people, should understand."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Lucifer sighed and chucked the shovel into the ditch and turned to Delaney again. "I was someone's kid once. A sibling, much like you. A younger sibling and I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. One day I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael . . . he turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. Then he beat me down. All because I was different and had a mind of my own. Tell me something, Del. Any of this sound familiar at all?"

Delaney sniffled and refused to open her mouth and respond to Lucifer. They weren't the same. They just couldn't be the same. Sure, Dean had turned and called her names and tried to beat her down whenever she tried to use her abilities for good. However, that's the difference between her and Lucifer. Delaney tried to do good with what she was given while Lucifer only tried to bring chaos and strife in his path.

Delaney and Lucifer weren't alike and Delaney wouldn't even begin to believe it.

"Anyway . . . you'll have to excuse me as midnight is calling and I have a ritual to finish. Don't go anywhere. Not that you would if you could," Lucifer stated, strolling away from Delaney once again to finish up his ritual.

Delaney stumbled back towards Sam, Dean and Theo while Lucifer stood himself up on the mound of dirt and began to chant to the townspeople. He had them repeat some words after him, finishing off the ritual once and for all as Dean slowly began to come to again. His groans were heard just as the townspeople began to drop one by one after a flash appeared behind their eyes and mouths. The ground beneath them began to shake with the crackling of something and a bright light flared again from somewhere that the hunters couldn't see.

By then, Castiel had finally arrived to them once again and hid behind the hunters, shushing them to keep them from letting Lucifer know Castiel was there.

However, it was too late and Death had been summoned.

The Winchesters were too late once again.

word count: ( 6.6k )

— so i'd like to give a formal apology to -Winchessster and Hellstarshipper for this chapter. anna still might threaten to send me down to the cage but it's fine . . . i'm still sorry. i uh . . . um . . . at least theo is still breathing? and you cannot blame me for Ellen&Jo that's all SPN so don't yell at me!!!

— we at least got delaney being a baddie to lucifer and right out refusing him. also CROWLEY IS HERE AND IM JUST . . . I LOVE HIM IM READY!