[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]
Esme watched Duke as he spoke, then cut himself off as if he was interrupting her. She tried to ignore the emotions she felt coming from him, but it was a laborious task as she waited for him to continue speaking. She watched as he seemed to think back on a moment that she could only assume that it was about Cason, since that was who they were talking about. At his words, she dropped her gaze to the bed and sighed inwardly with a shake of her head. Duke wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know about how Cason felt about her. She could feel every time he got close to her. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know if his feelings were all because of what she had done for Annabeth or if there really was more to it than that. The more she thought about it, the more it made her head hurt and spin with slight confusion. She soon pushed the thoughts from her mind and sighed heavily as she ran her free hand through her hair. Looking at the slice of pizza in her hand, that was only the crust now, she tossed it towards the end of the bed to Sarah, who caught and ate it. 

Lifting her gaze slightly, she sighed once again. “You never were one to pry.” she breathed as she closed her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend, though you are right. I can honestly admit I don’t really know how I feel about him. Maybe it's because I’m still trying to process that we have teamed up with a demon instead of sending them back to Hell. Any other hunter would have sent them back to Hell in a heartbeat without a second thought.” Bringing up her knee, she leaned forward a bit and rested an elbow on it and leaned her face into her hand. “I’ve always seemed to attract strange individuals but a demon being drawn to me, that’s still a little hard to swallow, especially with one giving me a Hellhound as a bodyguard.” She fell silent as many things rolled around in her mind, many of them sending a shiver down her spin. After a moment, she broke the silence by clearing her throat as she gently shook her head clear of the thoughts invading it. “Am I crazy for feeling comfortable having a Hellhound around?” she said in a hardly audible whisper, which was more of a thought than a question to Duke. “Are we all crazy for teaming up with a demon?” she said, thinking out loud again.

Falling silent once again, Esme shook her head in her hand, releasing her sigh through her nose. She couldn’t help but think of what would have happened if she would have just stayed in her room that day and hadn’t ventured to the room down the hall where all the commotion was coming from. For one, she would have never heard the name Winchester. Two, she would have never met up with a demon and the girl that was his girlfriend at the time. Three, she would have never learned that Dean had come back from the dead. Four, she would have never been a part of what followed afterwards, found out she was psychic, and would have more than likely missed her chance at meeting up with Duke again. Was it fate that it all happened? Or was this all some sort of dream and she would wake up to being alone once again? Would she have the rug pulled from under her crash back into reality? All these thoughts were making her head spin and hurt, her stomach to knot, and her chest tighten as well. As she sat there next to Duke, a part of her still wondered if she should have stayed away and not followed Natalia back to where Sam had been staying.

God! Now she felt like she needed a good drink at that moment. She was being overtaken by her own emotions, which was something that rarely ever happened to her. It was always the emotions of others that overwhelmed her. “Hellfire. A bheil mi truagh an-dràsta no dè?” she breathed to herself with a quite forced laugh. “Tarraing thu fhèin còmhla. Tha thu nas fheàrr na seo. Na leig leat fhèin tuiteam às a chèile a-nis, às deidh na h-ùine seo.” For a ‌moment, she had completely forgotten that Duke was there and was witnessing her fighting with her own emotions. Lifting her face from her hand, she ran her hand through her hair, then rested her arm on her leg. “I’m sorry, Duke. Don’t mind me and my incoherent rambling. I’m mentally tired from everything that’s happened the past few days. I need ‌to forget about it and keep it from lingering in my thoughts.” she told him as she opened her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him after her minor breakdown. So instead of looking at Duke, she looked at Sarah, who had her head resting on the end of the bed and was now intently staring at her. It was evident that Sarah knew exactly what she had said and was now speaking to her with her eyes, which made Esme smile slightly. [i]I should’ve known she’d understand.[/i] Esme thought to herself.