[h2]Esme[/h2]
Esme was fed up with demons. In less than three years, she felt she had dealt with enough of them to last her a lifetime or more. Anyone that knew her knew she was pretty good at keeping her emotions and empathy in check, but recently it felt like both were in overdrive. Anyone new would more than likely see her as nothing more than an emotionally unstable lunatic and have the men in white coats after her. This wouldn’t be the first time she was in a place like that, and it took weeks, possibly months for anyone to find her after she was taken. She still didn’t know just how long she had been there. Sure she could have asked her aunt but she couldn’t bring herself to talk to her about it, even when she had plenty of opportunities to. Even with all the time that has passed, talking or even thinking about it still took a heavy toll on her mentally. It also didn’t help that she was still slightly sleep deprived.

The rage within Esme was still growing and growing quickly, much more quickly than it had at Bobby’s and when she was here the first time. Even through the rage, she could feel Duke’s and Sarah’s nervousness at her sudden and drastic change. She could just barely hear Sarah’s barking and whining, it sounded as if she were far away making her feel somewhat alone. Her eyes then rolled into the back of her head and glowed more, she couldn’t stop the rage from taking her over and becoming too much to bear. Her head and chest both felt as if they were about to explode from the pain. When Duke came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, she flinched and her body grew tense. His voice and words got through but not enough to change her rising rage as much as he would have hoped. She was far too overwhelmed by the rage to turn the tables in her favor. 

Bringing up her hands, she placed them on his arms and held onto him. A whimper of pain escaped her as she closed her eyes, still trying to fight against it, even though she knew it was in vain at this point. “I…… Can’t stop…… It.” she told him through gritted teeth as her head dipped. She held onto him tighter as if holding him closer would help. “It’s…. Too…… Strong.” The pain and the fight to gain control were evident in her voice. She gripped Duke’s arm tighter and drew in a deep breath as her head tilted back. Sarah took this moment to run and hide behind Duke’s truck, just before Esme screamed and a psychic blast shot from her body. In the distance, screams of pain could be heard as the blast hit a few unexpecting demons that were lurking about. If she hadn’t been so wiped out, she would have smiled brightly about the screams but only a small, barely noticeable, smile made it to her lips. 

With her body now weak and trembling, and her breathing heavy, Esme’s eyes closed as her head fell back against Duke and her grip on his arms loosened just before her knees buckled beneath her. She didn’t expect to feel the ground beneath her, because she knew Duke would prevent her from falling. Whenever close enough in the past, he had always kept her from falling or smashing her head into the ground. She knew that no matter how scared or nervous he was of her at this moment, he wouldn’t allow it to happen. While Esme worked on catching her breath and collecting herself, Sarah slowly came out of hiding. First, she slowly poked her head around the side of the truck and looked over at Duke and Esme, just to make sure the coast was clear. She then slowly made her way out from behind the truck and over to Duke and Esme, giving a slight whine as she approached Esme and gave her leg a nuzzle. “I’m so sorry.” Esme managed to say in a breathless and shaky voice.

She took in a deep shaky breath and slowly let it out, feeling terrible and embarrassed that she let rage overwhelm her over the damage done to her car, knowing it could be fixed. Sure, this wasn’t the first time Duke had seen Esme pissed off but it was the first time he’d seen her lose control of her abilities. She wished she could read Duke’s mind at that moment, wondering what he was thinking about the whole thing. Though knew she had to have scared the hell out of him with what he just witnessed, she couldn’t focus on anything other than collecting herself and calming her breathing at that moment to be sure. If she could have pulled herself away from him she would have, just so she could have turned around and read his face or walk over and sit in her car. “I scared the hell out of you, didn’t I?” she asked him in the same breathless and shaky voice as before.