[h2]Esme[/h2]
Esme hated seeing the disappointed look on Duke’s face, but she wasn’t fully turning down his idea, just asking him to wait until they made sure everyone was going to get through this. She’d never forgive herself if something happened after they left and they could have helped prevent it. When Duke swept her hair from her face and said they couldn’t leave, she let out a silent sigh of relief as her grip on his shirt loosened. She knew that deep down within himself, he couldn’t just leave those he called friends and family to deal with this without feeling horrible about it. When he looked at the wall behind her, she studied his face. It was one she knew well. He was searching his thoughts or trying to think of what to say. When Duke looked back at her, she almost held her breath as he spoke. She took in his words, feeling that this was what she felt as the pit in her stomach seemed to worsen. With his words still going through her mind, she watched him as he pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket, and just barely heard what he said next. 

Pulling herself together, she looked back at him with a small smile and nodded. “Yes, I would say that’s taking care of each other.” Her tone was soft, but showed she meant what she said. She was glad to have him at her side to help her help them through this, even if she wasn't sure just how much help she would be. She felt like her empathy got in the way of a lot of things. It made certain situations extremely complicated and nearly impossible to get through remaining conscious. Since coming into contact with Hellhounds and learning that they block her empathy, she has wondered if there was a way to put some of their essence into a wearable item that would function in the same way as being near them. If that was at all possible, it would become one of her most prized possessions. But the more she thought about it, the more of a dream she thought it was becoming, but what a wonderful dream it would be to have come true after all these years of dealing with all the emotions she felt from others around her and struggling to keep control of them. 

As Duke held out the paper, and the address became visible, the pit in her stomach grew into queasiness. Esme slowly brought her right hand up from his side to take it from him, briefly hesitating before she took hold of it. The moment her fingers came into contact with the paper, Esme let out a gasp and her body went rigid. Her eyes remained glued to the paper as a series of images flashed through her mind, resembling a skipping movie with crucial scenes omitted. The images went by so quickly; she had some trouble making some of them out. What she could make out was the inside of what looked like a barn, a pissed-off Dean talking to someone she couldn’t see, and an assortment of items in front of him that could aid in the working over of a demon. The last thing she saw before finding herself back in the room was a badly beaten Dean. Esme took a deep breath, dropped the paper, and then grabbed onto Duke to keep herself from collapsing onto the floor, her body trembling from the experience. “What in hell was that?” she asked in a breathless and shaky voice.

“Did I just see what could or will happen?” she softly mumbled. The change in Esme had brought Sarah out of her corner to come and check on Esme. Slowly stepping towards Esme, Sarah gave a small whine and nudged the back of her leg after Esme had brought a hand to her head. With her hand on her head, Esme closed her eyes to keep her head from spinning. “I’ll be alright, Sarah.” she said in as soothing a tone as she could. As she stood there, still holding onto Duke for support, she tried her best to decipher what she had just seen from grabbing the paper and what about it made those images appear to her. After a moment, she sighed heavily through her nose and shook her head. “Please tell me another ability didn’t just show itself.” she mumbled. “I don’t know how many more of those I can handle. I feel like my mind was just violated.” It took a few minutes, but Esme finally collected herself enough to stand firmly on her own two feet. She couldn't bring herself to look up and see the worried look she knew would be on Duke’s face.

She looked at the wall across from them just to have something to look at while she explained to Duke what had just happened. “You’re going to think I’m crazy when I tell you what just happened….” she started. She paused for a brief moment to gather her words to make them sound as believable as she possibly could. “When…. When I touched that paper, I was hit with what I can only describe as scenes from a movie with parts missing. The first thing I saw looked like the inside of a barn. It skipped to Dean standing in front of a table with an assortment of items you could use to torture a demon with, and he was talking to someone just out of view. He was definitely pissed off and seemed to be fighting to keep from losing control of himself…. The last thing I saw was…. Dean. He was badly beaten and bloody and looked as if he was just barely holding on to life.” She shivered as that image of Dean showed itself to her again, that was a state she never wanted to see him in. “I hardly know what to make of it.”