She drove. The mustang purred across the open road.

It was not the first time John had ridden in this car. The first was when she demonstrated her remarkable skill at drifting. Delphi thought it might impress him, and it did, but John was not the type to pay many compliments. When she had finished her turn, he simply exited the vehicle and walked over to the driver's side, waved her over, and took a seat on the navy blue interior. He started with a 180. Delphi whooped and laughed the entire ride.

Tonight's drive was not at all like that. At first, she was very quiet. They stopped at a gas station. She asked John to stay inside the car, something he knew was so that they remain inconspicuous, but did not particularly appreciate. Delphi filled up, and then went inside to pay. She had been gone for about 10 minutes, causing John to become uneasy. He opened the passenger door and stood, peering into the glass storefront. Delphi was deep in conversation with the cashier, but she caught his eye. John said nothing when she got back in the car.

"You aren't much of a rule follower, are you?"

John did not favor that question with a response. He stared blankly out the windshield.

Delphi smiled as she twisted off the top of a soda and handed it to him. "Couldn't even stay in the car."

"I don't like when people tell me what to do." John said, taking a drink. He drank soda now.

Delphi turned the key and the engine came to life. She put one hand on the shifter, the other elbow propped on the window. "Me neither." She confirmed as she pulled out of the station.

Four hours in, her audio book, "Far from the Madding Crowd," ended and she turned on the radio. It was a high pitched yowl that John couldn't stand. He toggled the channel over to jazz. Delphi hated jazz. She moved it to country. John ended up turning off the radio.

"How do you know those girls?" John led.

"They're my sisters." She said solemnly. The words felt heavy on her tongue. She had not spoken of her family in a long time. But if John was coming along, he had to know the story. Or at least, the parts of it she was willing to tell.

"Were they in too?" He asked.

"Sort of. We all had different skill sets. They were still working when I left."

"Did you get your degree before or after?" John said.

Delphi smiled malignantly, "How do you think I afforded it?" She chuckled."You're awful hung up on that diploma." Delphi giggled again, still tickled from his question. The ghost of a grin appeared on John's face, and it put Delphi at ease, if only for a moment. "Does it surprise you?" She continued.

"You've surprised me a lot recently." He answered, and it was true. She was not as simple as she appeared, but he had known that for a while now.

She laughed. "You knew."

"I suspected." John let her laugh again. It was too sweet of a sound to interrupt. He first suspected when he saw the way her eyes froze at their initial meeting. He suspected her again by the way she was so completely thorough in any task she took on. He suspected her the most when she beat him at darts. No one ever beat John at darts.

Delphi had mentally prepared for John to kill her that night. But she knew that if he was coming for her, she was already dead, so instead of hiding she just spent the night in the greenhouse, prepping for a wedding she was doing that weekend.

She was perplexed when he never showed.

He was perplexed that he didn't show.

"Why are they after you?" He asked slowly.

Her smile disappeared. "Oh they ain't after me. I'm coming for them." She answered.

A few hours later, John woke up. They were parked. She stood near a field, phone up to her ear.

"Is it safe?" She asked, her voice softer than he had ever heard it. She paused a moment. "Thank you."

John had exited the Mustang and was now standing beside her. She felt him looking at her inquisitively.

"You lose something over here, hoss?" She drew, eyebrows arched.

"What is safe?" He queried.

"The only thing I've got left." Delphi tossed him the keys. "You drive. Wake me when we get there."

They entered the Continental approximately 14 hours apart. Delphi first, then John. They had come to the conclusion that he would cause much more of an uproar. They were correct. Hardly anyone noticed the red headed woman.

Hardly anyone excluded Winston, the hotel manager. He had, of course, noticed Delphi's presence. As he had also heard of the business with her sisters.

Winston sat at his usual booth in the lower level of the Continental, pen in hand, eyes roving painstakingly slowly over the ledger. John approached him, a motion that felt more and more natural these days.

Delphi sat at the bar talking to Addy, the friendly bartender. John noticed that her hair was curled and she was wearing a dress, something out of place for her. Still, she did not stand out.

"Who is that?" John asked after he and Winston had exchanged greetings. He flicked his eyes towards her. For a moment he wondered if he was truly asking as a charade, or because he was curious. It unfolded a tiny part of his soul that he had forgotten about. John Wick had not been curious in a long time.

"Delphi Kane." Winston answered. "Her occurrence here is unsettling."

John looked back at Delphi, situated at the bar. There were now at least three other people gathered around her. She spoke and they laughed.

"She seems pretty popular." John muttered.

"And how would you know what that is like?" Winston grinned wryly as he looked over at his friend.

"I watch a lot of TV." John shot back. He took a drink. "Why have I never heard of her?"

"She was notorious for that. One minute she was here, then gone the next. She was well liked but knew how to keep her head down. That's why her relation with the others is so shocking." Winston carried on. "Her sisters are…quite different." He finished.

"I don't see any sisters." John said.

"No one else has for a while. That seems to be the problem." Winston looked up from his book. "I'm sure that's why she is here. Are you trying for the contract?"

John looked at Winston as an answer.

"4 million is a little low for her, no one here will try it, I'd say they placed it just to let her know they're watching her. She's more of a big game item. A lot like someone else I know." Winston looked John in the eye and then went back to counting. "I trust you'll have no problem with her, but a word of warning. Don't let her appearance fool you. She is a savage."

"What makes you say that?" John contested.

"Just recently she sent back some men back piece by piece."

"Whose men?"

"The Aalders brothers." John knew them by their call sign, the Dutchmen. "They worked together once. She was a favorite. Something must've gone awry though. After her last job with them she left everything and everyone behind." This news saddened John. He knew what it was to be lonely. Though the symptoms he displayed were quite different than those of Delphi. She had moved to the dance floor. A man John knew as Tungsten had one hand on the small of her back. They seemed to be chatting and swaying happily.

"Johnathon." Winston beckoned after his friend had stood. "Don't let her seduce you."

John turned up an eyebrow.

Winston proceeded, "She is quite charming. It's that charm that gets people killed."

John left the club, Delphi still on the dance floor.