[h2]Esme[/h2]
Esme did her best to stay aware of her surroundings while she followed along with the group, but not well enough because a female demon almost got the better of her and Duke. She barely had enough time to step back as a female demon came out of nowhere and took a swipe at Duke. She barely had enough time to lean back and take a step away before the woman came for her, which Duke blocked with his hand, causing her to wince as he cried out. Taking another step back and using her staff, Esme regained her footing. She turned to Duke to call out to him but stopped when a giant male demon entered her sight. Esme took a few steps back, holding her staff out to shield herself, causing the demon to grin. “Aww, look. A scared little rabbit to play with.” he teased in a deep tone. Esme gripped her staff tighter, glaring up at the demon, who had to have been a wrestler in a former life. “Scared rabbit? Sure.” she hissed. “I’ll show you a scared rabbit.” she breathed. Esme charged him and swung her staff, which he caught with a gloved hand.

With one quick pull on her staff, the demon pulled her off her feet and quickly wrapped a hand around her throat. “Damnaidh!” she breathed as his grip tightened around her throat. He then yanked the staff from her hand, tossing it to the side and squeezing her throat tighter. She gasped for air and tried to free herself from his iron grip, but it was useless. She looked over his shoulder and saw Duke holding his own. Then she scanned the demon’s body for any exposed skin, but all there was was his face, which she couldn’t quite reach.“How do I always get tangled up with the giant ones?” she questioned herself. Wrapping her hands around his arm, she kicked at him, but he was just out of reach. As her vision began to go hazy, survival mode kicked in, causing her to remember the salt in her jacket pocket. She plunged her hand into her pocket and pulled a handful of salt, throwing it into the demon's face. He howled,  throwing her to the ground pawing at his face. “You little bitch!” he growled, kicking her in the stomach just as she got a lungful of air.

She felt the air leave her as she grunted, then rolled to the side to dodge his foot aimed at her head. Coughing, she shakily took to her feet, holding her aching stomach. “Why don’t you just give up? You know you can’t win this.” he sneered. “Never.” she coughed. Esme held her ground, watching the demon with unwavering eyes. He then charged her. She held her ground until the last minute. She moved to the side, dropped to one knee, pulled a knife from its sheath, and threw it at his back. It struck in between his shoulder blades. His howl of pain and anger echoed through the barn. While he fought to reach the blade, Esme took this chance to grab her staff. Once her hand landed on it, the demon had abandoned the idea of pulling out the knife and charged her again. Quickly taking to her feet, Esme charged the demon, then dropped into a slide and swung her staff at his shins, sending him face-first into the ground. Standing, she looked over to check on Duke, only to realize he was not doing well. He had been backed into the barn by the female demon. 

Esme wanted to help, but her hands were full with this giant demon. Just before the demon could get to his feet, she ran over and bashed his head with her staff a couple of times. She then pulled her knife from his back and was going to attempt to plunge it through his heart, but stopped halfway through when she saw the female demon stab Duke in the stomach. “Duke!” she cried out, which gave the male demon an opening. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her off her feet. She landed hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. “Aww, the little rabbits Cowboy lost.” he chuckled as he got to his feet. Fighting for air, Esme grabbed her staff and knife, then scrambled to her feet before the demon could land another attack. Placing the hilt of the knife in her mouth, she charged the demon, barely making him out through her blurred vision. Instead of dropping low like last time, she jumped and aimed for his throat with her staff, only to have him duck and dodge her attack. “Nice try, little rabbit. You’re too slow.” he laughed as her feet hit the ground. 

Then, she heard Duke yell out for her to run, his tone sending a shiver down her spine. She spun around to see the female demon coming for her. There was no way she could fight off both on her own. Then Sarah came out of nowhere and attacked the female, sending some relief through Esme. Esme went back to fighting the male demon with everything she had. The fight had taken them around to another side of the bar. She had been thrown into some farming equipment and the side of the barn, resulting in her left shoulder being dislocated and her losing her weapons. When Sarah finished with the female, she found Esme on the ground and stood at her side protectively. “You have a Hellhound?.....” he yelled in surprise, looking as if he was ready to bolt. A smirk came to Esme’s lips at the fear she saw in his eyes. “Sarah, if you would.” she said to the Hellhound as she got to her feet. Sarah pounced on the demon and pinned him to the ground, growling.  “You’re human. How can you see it?” he yelled. “Sarah, shut him up, please.” she asked the Hellhound softly. 

Sarah leaned in, growling and baring her fangs in his face in a threatening manner. He flinched at Sarah’s actions, not daring to look her in the eyes. “How the hell did you tame it?” he asked, lowering his tone. Holding her left shoulder, Esme walked over and peered down at the demon, a smirk still resting on her lips. “Who said I did?” she responded flatly. She then turned and walked off a few steps before turning back around. “He’s all yours, Sarah.” she told the Hellhound. Turning, Esme looked around and collected her weapons quickly. As much as she felt like putting that demon through the ringer, she knew now wasn’t the time. She needed to gather her weapons swiftly and get back to check on Duke and the others. As she gathered her weapons, she could hear Sarah rag-dolling the demon and then crushing his head. Sarah made her way over to Esme and gently nudged her with a whine. “I’ll be fine. We need to group up.” she told her. Esme slipped her knife into its sheath and used her staff to steady herself. The two walked around the barn to where Esme last saw Duke. 

He wasn’t there, only a blood stain on the ground from where he had been. “Hellfire!” she hissed. “I hope one of the others found him and got him out of here.” she told Sarah. As much as she wanted that to be true, something told her it wasn’t. “Come on. We need to keep looking for the others.” Esme walked as quickly as she could, using Sarah as support and noting how quiet things had gotten, giving her a sinking feeling in her gut. The two rounded the corner of the barn, and she could see Dean just at the other end. She was going to attempt to get his attention when a rogue demon popped up out of nowhere. Sarah reacted and quickly took it out. “Nice work, Sarah.” she told her softly. Esme pushed on, and Sarah returned to her side, watching for more stray demons to pop up. They were clear the rest of the way to Dean's position, and she couldn't have been happier. “Dean! You good!” she called out when she was within earshot. As she closed the gap, Sarah slowed and hung back a bit, ensuring not to unnerve Dean with her presence. 

Once the gap between them had been closed, she stopped, stuck her staff in the ground, and held onto her left arm. She looked around; the others were nowhere in sight. “I’m assuming you don’t know where the others are either.” she sighed, looking back at him. Esme closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it through her nose to get her worry for Duke under control. “How did this go so wrong?” she said mostly to herself, opening her eyes. “We need to regroup. I hope one of the others found Duke during all the chaos. He got stabbed, and I couldn’t get to him because I was in a fight of my own.” she told him. Now that she had that off her chest, she needed to do something about her dislocated shoulder. There just happened to be an electrical pole on that side of the barn. Esme walked over to it, pulled a leather glove from her pocket, and placed it between her teeth. Then, she lined her left shoulder up to the pole. She breathed in and out, giving a few practice rocks towards it to make sure she hit on the right spot. 

Taking one last breath, she let it out and slammed her shoulder against the electrical pole, putting it back in place. Esme bit down on the glove and groaned from the pain shooting through her shoulder. She leaned against the pole momentarily before breathing deeply through her nose and pushed herself off the pole as she released it. Taking the glove from her mouth, she shoved it back into her pocket, walked back over to her staff, plucked it from the ground, and looked at Dean. “Come on. Let’s go find the others.” she almost whispered as she rolled her left shoulder back and began the search for the others.