[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

Esme was scanning the room when Natalia replied to her question, a small smile making its way to her lips. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do till you get back with the supplies.” she said as she watched Natalia go to the door. After she left, Esme walked over to the door and grabbed the small trash can, then walked back over to the table. She then cleaned off the table first before moving to the rest of the room. She worked on getting the bigger pieces of the mess cleaned up first, tossing what she could into the small trash can, then making a pile with what wouldn’t fit. 

She looked up from her cleaning when Natalia came back into the room. Upon her entrance, a terrible feeling hit her square in the gut. Esme couldn’t quite figure out what had caused this feeling, but little did she know it was about to become clear. There was a knock at the door. Being rooted to the spot, she couldn’t move. She watched Natalia walk to the door and open it. The feeling in her stomach grew stronger at that moment, and the answer she was searching for revealed itself. She couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her lips when Sam walked in carrying AnnaBeth, causing her to bring her right hand to her chest while the other rested on her stomach. 

She watched Sam cross the room, hardly noticing Cason, and lay Annabeth's body on the bed. She took a few steps forward just as Sam spoke in a tear filled tone to Annabeth, but dared not get any closer. Esme fought against the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, but couldn’t stop them from welling up in her eyes. Yes, she hadn’t known the woman long, but she had felt some sort of connection to her. She wanted to ask what had happened, but she couldn’t get any words to leave her lips, as if what she wanted to say had caught in her throat. 

Her eyes cut over to Cason as she spoke to Sam. As she stood here, many thoughts ran through her mind as she took in their appearances and continued to fight the tears that threatened to fall. She swallowed hard before taking a deep breath, then forced herself to speak. “Wh...What happened?” she asked, her tone coming out softer than she intended to. But before anyone could answer her, the flutter of wings caught her attention. Esme almost jumped at the sudden appearance of Samael. A glare overtook her softened features as the man glared at each person in the room and spoke. 

Esme clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her shirt with both hands at the words coming from Samael’s mouth. Other than being able to move her hands, she felt paralyzed as she watched and listened to Samael. She couldn’t even open her mouth to speak. She barely managed to bring her hand from her stomach to her now pounding head. [i]What the hell is this guy.[/i] she thought to herself. Her thoughts went to what she heard upon his entrance and her eyes widened. [i]Could he be? No, that’s not possible.[/i] she thought to herself.