[h2]Esme[/h2] 
Esme sat silently in Duke’s truck, her arms crossed over her chest, her head leaned back against the seat, and looking out the passenger window as Bobby reinstalled the starter relay. She was more hurt than angry at Duke for attempting to leave her behind after agreeing to let her back him up. She fully understood his want and need to protect her, but they weren't dealing with your garden variety monster this time. They were dealing with freaking angels. There was no way in hell she was letting him go this alone, and Duke should have known that. He should have known she’d find a way to follow him if he left her behind. How could Duke even think she’d be okay with him leaving her behind with angels involved? At the sound of the hood slamming, Esme was pulled out of her head. She looked out the windshield and gave Bobby a thankful nod before returning her gaze out the passenger window. Esme remained silent as Duke started the truck, drove the semi-circle, and through the slow drive to the gate. When Duke broke the silence, she sighed silently but didn’t look over at him, just listened to him talk. 

She took note of his pause and saw him pull his phone and look at it from the corner of her eye. Cason must have sent him to address at some point, and that’s what he was looking at. Before Duke started talking again, Esme shifted her gaze out the windshield, catching the brief look Duke gave her out of the corner of her eye. He was right; she did want to take a swing at him right now, and he was right about saying sorry wouldn’t fix it. Esme closed her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw and fists as he continued. ”Of course, you're not sorry for trying to keep me out of it.”  she said in the softest of whispers so he couldn’t hear her. After a moment, she took a deep breath through her nose and slowly let it out through her mouth. “I’m not upset with you wanting to keep me safe, but did you ever stop to think how it would affect us if anything happened to you?” she questioned, her tone still angry. “Did you think about how we would get through losing you?.... I’ve lost you once, Duke. I won’t sit on the sidelines and let it happen again if I can help it.”

Esme raised a hand to her chest to fiddle with the pendants on her necklace, pausing her words momentarily, and sighed. The memory of the nurse telling her that Duke didn't make it came back to her briefly caused her tightly closed eyes to burn with tears threatening to fall. She pushed back the tears and mentally shook the memory away. She wasn't going to lose him tonight, not if she could help it. Esme was going to bring him home along with Dean, Mika, and Anna. They were all going to come home. Opening her eyes, she looked out the windshield. “You heard how well I took losing you last time. Can you imagine how bad it could be if I lost you again? How much more damage could I cause?....” she sighed heavily through her nose, shaking her head. “Plus, you know as well as I do that this isn’t a one-person rescue mission, even with Cason planning to pop in later. As good of a hunter as you are, no one would have let you go alone.”


[h3]A Little Later[/h3]
After Duke pulled into the lot and turned off the engine, Esme took a deep breath and slowly let it out to collect herself, which gave Duke enough time to jog around the truck before she opened the truck door. As soon as she climbed down, Duke took her hand, and she looked up into his face as he spoke. “That sounds like the best way to do this.” she said before Duke took her face into his hands. As he stared into Esme’s eyes, she stared back into his, her features softening as he spoke again. She may have still been upset with him, but she knew she couldn’t go in completely mad because she knew there was a chance neither one of them would come out of this, but she tried to stay positive. Bringing up her hands, Esme rested them on the sides of Duke’s neck. “I’ve always known, and I love you, too. There’s nothing that I love more than you. Nothing.” she told him. Before she could say much else, he pulled her into a rough and passionate kiss that she quickly returned. When Duke pulled back, Esme saw the resolve in his eyes before he nodded to her. 

She nodded back, seeing his eyes light up with mischief, and then reluctantly let him step away from her. She watched him grab his backpack, toss it onto his back, jog off towards the warehouse, and disappear into the shadows. “You better come back to me.” she whispered. Taking a deep breath, Esme jogged towards the warehouse and into the darkness, looking for a way into the building. After finding a way into the warehouse, she looked around with a flashlight she pulled from her pocket before concentrating on everything she could feel in the building, trying to hone in on just Anna’s emotions. Dean’s emotions were the first and the strongest, and if she was honest with herself, they scared her. She had never felt anything this intense come from him. Yes, she had always known he felt things more intensely than most, but this was new to her, telling her they hadn’t made it there in time to keep him from having to torture Alastair. Esme moved on from Dean, brushing over Alastair because she didn’t like what she felt from him. She then felt Mika’s worry for Dean and her distrust of Castiel, followed by Castiel’s doubt. 

“Where are you, Anna?” Esme mumbled. She briefly picked up on Duke before she felt Anna, and a small, relieved smile came to her lips.  “There you are.” she sighed. Concentrating harder on Anna’s emotions, Esme could feel Anna somewhat close. She was led to a room in one of the far corners of the warehouse. Carefully looking through the window on the door, she could see Anna sitting on the floor and chained in place, and she was alone. Trying the doorknob, she found the door locked like she figured it would be. “Don’t worry, Anna. I’m going to get you out.” Esme told her through the door, looking at her through the window. “Are you alright?” Esme then moved from the window, knelt in front of the door, placed the flashlight in her mouth, and pulled her lock kit from her breast jacket pocket. After several failed attempts, she sighed heavily through her nose in frustration. Just when she thought she had it, something prevented the lock from turning. Taking to her feet, she returned the lock kit to her pocket and studied the door as she removed the flashlight from her mouth. The door was solid, and it would take quite a bit to break it down.

Esme still attempted to ram the door and kicked it a few times, but not much happened. She wasn’t giving up yet. She still had one more option in her tool box. It was one option she didn’t use very often, but she saw no other way that would get the damn door open other than shooting its hinges or lock. Placing her flashlight between her neck and shoulder, Esme took a breath and rubbed her hands together while whispering, her eyes lightly glowing a light purple. She then hovered her hand over the doorknob; it glowed brightly and melted beneath her hands. Pushing the door open, she ran to Anna's side, dropping to her knees to look her over quickly. Being this close to Anna, she could tell she had drank demon blood, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” Esme told her. “Now, let’s get you out of the chains and meet up with the others.” Looking away from Anna’s face, she looked down at the handcuffs and chains on Anna. Esme placed one hand on the handcuffs and her other on the chains on Anna’s ankles, being careful not to touch Anna’s skin, then softly mumbled some words, causing her eyes to glow lightly once again. 

After a few seconds, the handcuffs and chains crumbled away under Esme’s hands. Looking back into Anna’s face, the glow faded from her eyes as she pulled her hands away. “Are you good to walk out of here?” Esme asked her. “We need to get down to the basement.” She scanned Anna’s face briefly before taking to her feet, then held out her hands to help her off the floor.