[h2]Esme[/h2]
Hearing Duke laugh at her statement before Anna showed up brought some relief to Esme. If she could make him laugh at a time like this, it showed her that he wasn’t too far gone mentally, like she feared he might be. His reply caused her to hold back her laughter a little. She could see herself positioned between Duke and the others, and fighting anyone who got too close to her or took a swing at Duke. She didn’t like the idea of taking on any member of their group, but she definitely would if she had to. Which made her slightly wonder, who would look the worse after a fight like that, and if any of them would actually take her on. She had quickly shaken the thoughts from her mind as Anna approached and spoke to them. Esme watched Anna’s movements and the way she avoided looking her in the eye, but at least she answered her question. She also took note of how she briefly made eye contact with Duke, telling her that Duke hadn’t scared Anna as much as they had thought. But her using magic and everyone knowing she was human seemed to hit quite differently. 

Esme couldn’t help but let this bother her a little, even though Anna had every right to be wary of her. She sighed inwardly, just barely catching the words spoken between Duke and Anna. Her mind had begun to wander as she stood there. She knew Duke accepted her, and Dean had shown he did too, but what about the others? What did they truly think about her now that they knew? Esme was pulled back to the conversation when Anna addressed them both, and then her. She nodded softly after finally making eye contact with Anna. “He’s lucky to have you, Anna.” she started softly. “Of course, I’d like that…. And yes, we’re good.” Esme smiled warmly at Anna, doing her best to show she meant what she said. She would hate it if anything came between their friendship. In the short time they had known each other, she had grown quite fond of the girl. If they spent more time together, she could see their friendship blossom into a more sisterly bond. Esme didn’t turn back to Duke until Anna left to go back to Sam. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily as she shook her head.

“Looks like I was the scariest out of the two of us this time.” she said softly to Duke. “It’s a strange feeling having someone other than a demon be afraid of me…. I guess my actions at the warehouse affected her more than I thought.” Esme’s voice trailed off a bit at the end of her sentence. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Duke, a small, slightly forced smile resting on her lips. “I’ll explain later. Let’s grab some clean clothes and get cleaned up first.” She fully intended to explain everything to him, even if she was a little nervous about how he’d take the news, but she wanted to get the remnants of their bad night off of her first. Without another word, Esme took Duke’s good hand into hers and led the way to the RV to gather their clean clothes so they could take a shower. Other than wanting to shower, she wanted this night to be over; she also wanted to forget about everything that had happened the past three or four days, but that wasn’t happening. There was no way she could forget about any of it, especially the fact that they had lost Mika and the news she had received from the demons. 

It was all etched into her memory, and the words of the demons continued to ring in her ears. There was no escaping any of it. Esme still wasn’t sure just how much of what they said she truly believed. She still needed to talk to her godmother about it all, but she was hesitant about that as well. She knew the woman would want to take her and lock her away from the world to keep her safe, just like she did after pulling her out of the asylum those years ago. When Esme and Duke were just feet from the RV, Esme let go of Duke’s hand and turned when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps quickly coming at them, and held up her hands in front of herself. “Sarah, slow down!” she said to the Hellhound. But it was too late, Sarah came sliding across the gravel and slammed into her. Esme hit the ground with a grunt and groan as Sarah landed on top of her. Sarah then proceeded to nuzzle Esme’s face as she whined, happy she was back. Esme groaned as she placed her hands on Sarah and patted her sides as she lightly laughed at the Hellhound’s affection. 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry I worried you, girl.” Esme said in a slightly strained soothing tone. “Next time we go on a recovery mission, you can go with us.” she whispered to Sarah. “I could have really used your help tonight.” Esme then moved her hands up to Sarah’s head and scratched behind her ears and the top of her head. “If I had you there tonight, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up in such a rough state.” Sarah gave a light growl in response and laid her head on Esme’s uninjured shoulder and nuzzled into her once more. “I’ll keep that in mind for the next time.” Esme laughed softly as she patted Sarah’s head.