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Dawn wasn't quite sure how she'd even gotten the slip of paper she was holding. It just seemed to be in her hand. It had an address written on it, but no city. She looked around and suddenly realized she didn't recognize where she was, let alone where she was supposed to be going.
But in getting her bearings, she noticed a door set into a brick wall right in front of her. The number above it matched the one on the paper.
She walked in and descended the steps into a somewhat dark room, which seemed to just have dim red and yellow light all around, but not visible lamps, as if the light was just there. She looked around at the odd assortment of people, a term that only loosely described those sitting at the small tables, many of whom she was sure were demons.
A short man with an Irish accent and terrible fashion sense was standing on a stage in the distance, belting out a badly off-key rendition of a song he seemed to know only half the lyrics to.
A voice greeted her: "Welcome to Caritas, Dawnie! We've been expecting you."
A tall man, unmistakably a demon, with green skin and short, red horns, and a style that was the polar opposite of that of the man on stage, stepped into her path between the bottom of the stairs and the bar. Looking more closely, Dawn could also see he was also wearing a not insignificant amount of makeup, and his eyeliner was flawless.
"Ex-expecting?"
"Got a heads up you were coming. Well, not so much a heads up as a headache. The Powers have a pretty weird sense of humor sometimes."
Dawn was still confused, and didn't find any of this humorous. She found it even less so when a tall, familiar-looking man stood up and walked over to her, holding out his hand.
"Ethan Rayne?" Dawn asked incredulously. "What are you doing here? Buffy said the Army guys arrested you like… years ago!"
"Yes, well, funny thing, you see, some cells just aren't very good at holding me." He rubbed his hands together as he spoke.
Dawn glared at him, unsure of what to say or do — she knew she wasn't strong like her sister, and couldn't possibly take him — when the green demon spoke again. He seemed aware of Dawn's discomfort.
"Now now, nothing to worry about here, there won't be any funny business." He turned his head towards Ethan as he said this, emphasizing the funny business as if it was some kind of inside joke between them.
"It was a pleasure to see you again, Miss Summers," Ethan told her.
"Oh, yeah, a pleasure, like that time you turned me into a literal owl when I was 11? That pleasure?"
"Oh please, you enjoyed it, and no one died! Well, no one you know anyway."
Ethan grinned awkwardly at his own story. Dawn folded her arms and lit into him.
"I'm pretty sure I ate a mouse! What if that was someone I didn't know anyway?"
Dawn considered for a moment that this hadn't actually happened, and she was never in any real danger herself, and never even posed a threat to anyone else. But Ethan didn't know that, and she was on a roll now.
"And I was perched on our roof when the spell was broken! I could have fallen. And then explaining to Mom why I was up there in the first place?"
Ethan recoiled slightly, which pleased her. She may not have had Buffy's Slayer strength, but she clearly still had power.
"Right. Well, I'll still be here anyway," he replied awkwardly before turning and walking back to his table.
The man on stage had stopped singing, and the audience was giving him rather tepid applause, but roared with cheers when he shook his head and his face suddenly had spikes sticking out all over it. He shook his head again, returned to a more human appearance, and left the stage.
Dawn twitched at his transformation and turned quickly back towards the green demon.
"You'll have to forgive Ethan, it's been a while since anyone new showed up, and well, he knew you, you know?"
"I guess?"
"Tell you what, first drink is on me, have a seat on my favorite couch — I just had it re-stuffed, it's like sitting on a cloud."
His voice had a calming lilt to it that set her more at ease. He continued.
"I'll cue you up a song if you want, what do you like, something Spicy, if you catch my drift?"
She did not catch his drift, and definitely did not want to sing.
"I'm not a singer."
"Yeah, well, neither is Doyle over there, but that didn't stop him, did it?"
Dawn looked back at the stage, where another man had stepped up in Doyle's place, and she did a double take when she heard someone singing who looked and sounded a lot like Ted, the robotic serial killer who once dated her mother.
"But how did I get here? Why are there all these other people here I kind of recognize? And where's Buffy?"
"Your sister's not here yet. She will be eventually. Everyone comes here eventually. As for how you got here, I think you know."
Dawn shook her head. She had a feeling, but didn't want to say it out loud. Instead she just asked, "What is this place?"
"This," the green demon said with a sweeping gesture towards the room, "is a sanctuary."
He leaned forward and pulled her into a warm embrace.