[h3] Cason [/h3] Cason was a bit relieved that Esme just spoke to him as if they didn’t have a past or he wasn’t a demon who could never understand human emotion. Considering she had tried to kill him after Duke died, it was more of a surprise to Cason than he would speak out loud. When she explained that she could feel a bit of emotion from him, he furrowed his brow. But in that moment, he was attempting to keep yet another human in the house safe, and make them rest. So, he softened his face and shrugged his shoulders at Esme’s assumption that she might not be able to sleep. “I get that. There’s a lot of…stuff going on.” He grumbled, staring at the grass in front of him for a moment. He chuckled softly but felt a bit of a flutter in his head when Esme confirmed that having Sarah around had actually been beneficial to her. It was something he hadn’t thought of when he gave Esme a Hellhound, mostly just wanting to keep Esme safe. But if he thought about it hard enough, keeping her mental health in check was…keeping her safe. Cason’s attention piqued outside of his own thoughts once again, when Esme stated that she HAD heard of what he was experiencing. The searing pain was something that had plagued the majority of his thoughts and gave him an uncomfortable brand of anxiety. It made him leave the presence of the humans around him, just to get a bit of a break from it, specifically the humans that he “cared for”. He leaned back on his hands, crossing his legs again, and glanced over at Sarah, as she began trying to force Esme to rest. At Esme’s offer, Cason nodded. “Yeah. I’d like to at least try and understand it. If anything, it would clear up a lot of…things and would make it easier to explain to Nat. If there’s any information, I kind of need it.” He muttered, his voice flat and annoyed. He didn’t like the human side of whatever the feeling was, but it seemed to keep Nat close to him, at the same time. It was the most annoying give and take he had experienced in over a century. Esme’s voice drew him out of his thoughts once again, when she asked for his help, causing Cason to raise his eyebrows in surprise. But he nodded. He turned his eyes from her and narrowed them, staring at the moon for a moment as she explained the favor. Of course it was a demon deal, something that he would have access too, but usually didn’t lead to anything good for humans. The name Ryker floated around in his head, and he could almost see a face. It stung as familiarity but he couldn’t quite place where he had heard or seen the information. But if this ‘Ryker’ was involved with the asylum, Cason wanted to help, if not just for vengeance. He frowned and cleared his throat, bringing his hands back to his lap, “I can ask around my circles. The name sounds familiar enough. I’m sure I’ve heard it because of the crew that ran that stupid asylum…” He paused for a few moments, his mind rattling over the possibility of any of the girls being targeted by another demon from that place coming for Esme…or Nat…and a soft growl left his throat. But as he opened his mouth to speak again, he caught Esme’s gentle breathing, and realized she was asleep. It was his cue, and after a few moments, he pointed at Sarah, before disappearing. “Watch over her. I’ll be back soon.” [h3] The Next Morning [/h3] [h3] Cason [/h3] Cason had stood by the fence line, having interrogated sources for a few hours. If anything, it was something to do. But now, the sun was coming up and the roughness of the day was peeking over the horizon. The whole lot would soon be full of mourning and pain that Cason wasn’t fully prepared to deal with, but for once, he wasn’t going to just disappear. Nat needed him, if nothing else. Turning from the fence, he snapped his fingers at Sarah, “Hey. Get her up. I have to go check on Nat, alright? Be gentle.” After giving Sarah a look to make sure she knew he was serious, he disappeared and reappeared in the bedroom, back to his position on the bed next to Nat. He sank into the mattress and reached over, and brushed a strand of hair from her face, trying to gently wake her for what would be an emotional day, “It’s morning…” [h3] Anna [/h3] Anna stirred just a bit when Sam first sat up, reaching out for him absentmindedly. She found his thigh in her sleep, and it was just enough for her brain to register that he wasn’t asleep with her. As she patted around on his thigh, her eyes fluttered open and she glanced up at him, closing one eye in the sunlight, “It’s morning…” Letting him go, Anna rolled a bit onto her back, scooted down and then sat up beside him, before reaching out and toying with the curl that sat against his forehead, “Did you get any sleep at all? You don’t look terrible at least…” She smiled softly, pushing the curl behind Sam’s ear before dropping her hand to her own knee, in case he didn’t want to be touched. Judging by his heartbeat, he was beginning to think about the weight of the day, something she had hoped they could avoid for a bit longer, but…it was coming like a storm. [h3] Dean [/h3] Dean slept like the dead, after downing a pain pill that Bobby had forced on him. But as the sunlight peeked into the living room, he was dragged out of pleasant dreams into the real world. Almost instantly, his stomach lurched, cramped, and he was reminded of reality. As if Bobby could read his mind and his emotions, he appeared in the living room, holding a coffee mug. Bobby didn’t say anything at first, just holding the mug out to Dean as he sat up on the couch. “I made it Irish. Figured you might need it.” Bobby grumbled, handing off the mug before taking a drink of his own coffee and walking over to his desk. Bobby sighed as he sat down in his chair, and propped his feet up on the desk, “So, you learned the hard way that your adopted brother is a bit of a scrapper when he’s upset, yeah?” “Not really how I want to start my morning, Bobby, considering…” Dean sighed, waving his hand around in front of his bruised and battered face, before taking a drink of his coffee. “Well, you’re gonna talk about it. I won’t push it, now, but I’m worried about you, especially now.” “I’m fine. Duke is fine. I don’t want to talk about…the rest.” Dean attempted to be as stoic as possible, not looking up at Bobby, who’s body language was projecting some intense annoyance. “Fine. You’re fine. You’re always fine. For now? I’ll accept that. But you don’t go runnin’ off in your head. Say what you want about Duke, but you’re just as bad and you know it. So, drink your coffee…It’s gonna be a long day.” Bobby lectured, before he himself turned inward and opened a book in front of him, burying himself in work. Dean sighed, taking another drink of coffee, before he glanced over at the basement door and his stomach cramped painfully. This wasn’t going to be the end…whether the rest of the group liked it or not… [h3] Duke [/h3] Duke awoke with a start, his head instantly feeling like it weighed a ton. As his brain pulsed painfully, he reached out and patted the bed beside him, frowning at the fact that Esme wasn’t there. She wasn’t one to run off, and he couldn’t imagine her having any reason to just…not be there. When he fell asleep, she was right there. Throwing his legs over the bed with a groan at his own soreness, Duke shoved his feet into his boots, not bothering to get dressed as he stomped toward the door of the RV, and then out onto the lot. He barely even noticed the limp in his own footsteps or how sore his entire body was, or that he had ripped the glue that had been used to patch up his throat, causing it to bleed a bit. He couldn’t see Sarah. He had no idea where Esme had gone and the fear of her running off, or being snatched for some unknown reason was tearing at his stomach as he limped around the lot. He limped across the lawn to the shooting range, hoping that maybe she was just sitting out there like she used to, enjoying the morning sun before the inevitable. But he didn’t see her there either. “Esme?!” He called out across the lawn, a bit afraid he would scare the whole house if he yelled too loud. But the care of waking others was fading with every second that his heart rate increased.