Author's Note: There has been some changes since I last updated this story. As I said in an author's note (that this chapter replaced) I had been debating bringing A Rei of Light into my Dawn of the Caribbean Series. Since then I did some more debating. Originally this was going to be the third and likely final story in the series. As you can see it now is the first story in the series and the original Dawn of the Caribbean is now Dawn of the Caribbean 2: A Dawn in Time. This way each story picks up a point in the previous story. DoTC 2 will tell of Dawn's travel to the past at the end of the Gift and tell of Buffy and Dawn's trip to the past at the end of Chosen (which in that story that chapter is titled The World). DoTC 3 picks up 230 years after DOTC 2 and will finish out the series as will bring everything back full circle.

The other thing. Chapter 1 and 2 have been rewritten and new items written in. So you might consider going in and rereading them before you start on this chapter.

Chapter 3: Welcome to the Hellmouth Part 3

A good-sized crowd milled aimlessly around the Bronze.

It certainly wasn't a fancy place, Buffy and Faith saw at once but there was an appealing sort of earthiness about it that seemed to go with the high-school-and-older crowd standing in line.

They moved their way up the line, scanning about for a familiar face. There was no one here they recognized. Inside, the place was dark and noisy and absolutely packed. A band blasted wildly from the stage up front, yet the crowds seemed relatively well behaved.

The sisters pushed their way through, still looking around for someone they knew and eventually spotted Willow at the bar. The girl was shyly ordering a soda, and the sisters hurried over to join her.

"Hi!" Buffy smiled.

"Oh, hi!" Willow looked surprised and pleased at the same time. And very out of place in her Peter Pan collar and sweater. "Hi."

"Are you here with someone?" Faith wondered.

"No, I'm just here. I thought Xander was gonna show up . . ."

"Oh, are you guys going out?" Buffy asked.

"No. We're just friends." Willow thought a moment, then added, "We used to go out, but we broke up."

"How come?" Faith asked out of curiosity.

"He stole my Barbie." As the sisters gave her a strange look, Willow explained, "We were five."

"Oh," Buffy and Faith said simultaneously.

"I don't actually date a whole lot . . . lately."

"Why not?" Buffy asked.

"Well, when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool or witty, or at all . . . I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."

Faith and Buffy couldn't help laughing. "It's not that bad," Faith said.

"It is. I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."

"You really haven't been dating lately," Faith said.

"It's probably easy for you two."

"For me," Buffy said with a shrug. "Not really, I'm more into girls."

"Translation Buffy's gay," Faith said. "Me on the other hand, yeah it's easy."

"I didn't think either of you seemed shy."

"Well, our philosophy is—" Buffy broke off. "Do you wanna hear our philosophy?"

"I do," Willow said eagerly.

"Life is short," Faith said.

Willow fixed them with a steady gaze. "Life is short."

"Not original, we'll grant you," Buffy shrugged. "But it's true. Why waste time being all shy? Why worry about some guy or girl and if he or she is gonna laugh at you? You know? Seize the moment. 'Cause tomorrow you might be dead."

"Oh . . ." Willow smiled. "That's nice . . ."

Buffy's glance went quickly around the crowds. As she spotted someone moving about on the balcony above them, her brow creased in a frown. She nudged Faith who followed her gaze and nodded.

"We'll be back in a minute," Faith promised.

"That's okay," Willow assured her. "You two don't have to come back."

Smiling at their friend's self-effacing attitude, Faith said again, more firmly this time, "We'll be back in a minute."

Buffy and Faith weren't sure if Willow heard. The girl's head was lowered and she was murmuring to herself, "Seize the moment . . ." while the sisters took off again through the crowds.

It didn't take them long to find the stairs. They pushed their way up and onto the balcony and noticed that Marie, Savannah and Giles stood fairly close to each other. The sisters managed to find room next to Giles against the railing.

"So, you like to party with the students?" Buffy teased Giles and Marie. "Isn't that kind of skanky?"

Giles's tone was withering. "Right. This is me having fun."

"More like," Marie said. "I'm here spending time with my niece."

"Watching Clown-hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party," Giles continued. "I'd much prefer to be home with a cup of Bovril and a good book."

Faith rolled her eyes. "You need a personality, stat."

"This is a perfect breeding ground for vampire activity," Giles admonished Faith.

Buffy and Faith looked at each other and then at Marie and Savannah and wondered how come the mention of vampires hadn't surprised either of them.

"Dark, crowded," Giles went on, "besides, I knew you two were likely to show up. And I have to make you understand—"

"That the Harvest is coming, we know, your friend told us," Buffy said.

Giles seemed completely thrown off by this remark. He shot Buffy an anxious glance. "What did you say?"

"The . . . Harvest," Buffy said carefully. "That means something to you? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank. Faith?"

"Me too," Faith said.

"I'm not sure. . . . Who told you this?"

"She said her name was Rei Mori," Faith said. "About my height, Japanese, said she was immortal and had at one time been a Slayer."

Giles eyes went wide. "She contacted the two of you?" he asked.

"You know who she is?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Giles said. "She was a Slayer at the end of the sixteen hundreds, when she died. She's now immortal. The Watcher's Council no longer considers her an active Slayer. What did she say, exactly?"

Buffy looked to Faith. "She told us she was immortal. For us to ask you about her and that you should have received a call from someone named Joe Dawson."

"I know of him," Giles said. "Joe Dawson is part of the Council that chronicles the immortals lives. Though I was under the impression he was Duncan Macleod's Watcher."

"Duncan Macleod?" Savannah asked.

"An Immortal," Giles said. "Slightly older than Rei Mori. He was the first immortal that Rei Mori came in contact with if I am not mistaken."

"So she was telling the truth?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Giles said.

"Buffy," Faith said drawing Buffy, Giles, Savannah and Marie's attention and causing them to follow her gaze. "Isn't that Willow?"

Buffy looked down and saw Willow talking to a good-looking guy. He was dressed as if it was still the nineteen seventies instead of the nineteen nineties. "And the guy she's with is a vampire."

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

It wasn't Buffy or Faith who answered but Savannah. "Look at his jacket," she said. "He's got the sleeves rolled up. And the shirt . . . it's carbon dated!"

"Savannah's right," Buffy agreed. "Only someone who's been living underground for ten years would think that was the look. Oh no …"

The vampire motioned for Willow to come with him and Willow began to follow.

"What is she doing?" Giles asked.

"Seizing the moment," Faith threw back at him as she and Buffy started for the stairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Not far away Rei had been watching the exchange. She too was puzzled on why Giles, whom she had quickly identified as Buffy and Faith's Watcher, would mention vampires around civilians. She wondered if Giles knew something about Marie and Savannah that she did not. She did not recognize either of them. Instead of following Buffy and Faith she followed Marie and Savannah out the door of the Bronze as they too went in search of Willow and the vampire.

Rei watched as Marie sniffed the air and frowned.

"To many humans," Marie said to Savannah, who nodded. They ran around the Bronze and down a side alley and Rei followed at a distance.

Rei's eyes went wide at what she saw next.

Marie, once she and Savannah were away from the crowds, removed her clothes and then began to change.

Rei watched as Savannah stuffed Marie's clothes in a backpack as Marie changed from human to wolf and then they took off at a run, Savannah obviously having no trouble keeping up with Marie. "So that is likely what the Watcher knows."

Rei took off following Savannah and the now transformed Marie. She stayed far enough away and downwind so that Marie would not smell her. They eventually arrived at a mausoleum and both Marie and Savannah paused at the door.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Who the hell are you?" Darla growled as she looked at Buffy and Faith who stood close to the door of the mausoleum.

"Wow, you mean there's actually somebody around here who doesn't know already?" Buffy tossed back.

"That's a relief," Faith added. "I'm telling you, having a secret identity in this town is a job of work."

As the sisters held their attention, Xander moved in between the two vampires. Nothing had quite prepared the creatures for this unexpected turn of events, and they slowly loosened their grips on Willow and Jesse.

"Faith, Buffy, we bail now, right?" Xander prompted, but Willow's date had managed to recover himself a little.

"Not yet," he snarled.

"Okay, first of all, what's with this outfit?" Buffy baited him. "Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge."

Faith looked at Darla and added, completely unperturbed, "Now, we can do this the hard way, or . . . well, actually, there's just the hard way."

Darla stood her ground. "Fine with me."

"You sure?" Buffy said. "It's not gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content."

Even as the sisters spoke, Willow's date rushed Buffy from behind, charging with lightning speed. With one graceful motion, Buffy whipped a stake out from beneath her jacket and stuck it out behind her. There was a dull puncture sound as the creature impaled himself. He stopped, eyes round with surprise, and then he thudded to the floor.

Faith nor Buffy even looked at him.

As he hit the ground, his body crumbled to dust.

"See what happens when you roughhouse?" Faith told Darla.

Xander and Willow were speechless. All they could do was stare at the cold, empty floor where a body had lain only seconds ago. Darla, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and wary, but definitely not cowed.

She moved slowly around Faith and Buffy, preparing to fight the girls herself.

"He was young," Darla said in disgust. "And stupid."

"Xander, go," Buffy ordered.

"Don't go far," Darla echoed.

Without warning Darla lunged at Faith. Faith met her head-on, parrying Darla's blows with martial arts precision, while Xander herded the others out.

The three ran as quickly as they could through the woods, Willow and Xander half dragging, half carrying Jesse past Marie and Savannah, who they did not even notice were there.

"You know, we just wanted to start over," Buffy said peevishly as Faith planted one foot on Darla's chest. "Be like everybody else. Have some friends, maybe a dog . . . but no. You had to come here. You couldn't go suck on some other town."

"Who are you two?" Darla glared up at her, fury in her eyes.

"Don't you know?" Faith wondered.

But before Faith could go on, a hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her bodily from the ground. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Buffy was in the same predicament.

"I don't care," Luke said slowly.

They hadn't sensed him behind them. Luke tossed the sisters into the air with no effort at all, hurling them a good fifteen feet. They landed badly and hit the wall with their faces.

Luke turned on Darla, who was struggling to get up.

"You were supposed to be bringing an offering for the Master," he berated her. "We're almost at Harvest, and you dally with these children?"

"We had someone." Frightened now, Darla tried to defend herself. "But they came and," she pointed at Buffy, "she killed Thomas," she now pointed at Faith, "and Luke, she's strong."

Luke fixed her with a contemptuous stare. "You go. I'll see if I can handle the little girls." He closed in on the sisters and grabbed them. He'd counted on them being stunned, but they were ready for him this time. They knocked his arms away, then kicked him smartly in the face. It sent him back just a little, but he recovered himself almost instantly, landing a solid punch to each of their jaws.

"You both are strong," Luke muttered. He slammed them back to the ground and gave a throaty laugh. "I'm stronger."

Buffy and Faith wrestled away from Luke and got to their feet and circled slowly around the tomb, keeping it safely between them and Luke.

"You two are wasting my time," Luke said calmly.

"Hey," Buffy retorted, "we had other plans, too, okay?"

Luke shoved at the lid of the tomb. As the heavy stone slab flew straight at the sisters, they leaped over it and jumped on top. With one swift movement, they flipped over and planted both feet solidly on Luke's chest.

The momentum caused all of them to fall, but Faith and Buffy managed to get up first, pulling out their stakes and driving them toward his chest. Luke's hands shot out and grabbed them just before they made contact.

"You two think you can stop me?" Luke's face was twisted with rage. "Stop us?"

He squeezed his fist. The stakes splintered like a matchstick in his powerful grip and he punched Faith and Buffy violently, knocking them backward.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," he snarled.

Victorious now, he stood over them. His voice lowered, and he began to intone the sacred text.

"And like a plague of boils, the race of man covered the earth. But on the third day of the newest light will come the Harvest . . ."

Faith noticed that Buffy looked like she was out of it. She was about to take the fight back to Luke when she heard a roar. She looked up as a wolf crouched at the door of the mausoleum.

And then the wolf leapt.

Author's Note: Hopefully by now you have figured out who Anne and Marie are in reality. They are being referred to Anne and Marie in this story to keep confusion down to a minimum. Their inclusion as I stated in the author's note back up top is to bring their story to a conclusion. In another words DOTC leads into DOTC 2. DOTC 2 leads into DOTC 3. And DOTC 3 leads back into DOTC 1. So Anne and Marie of DOTC 1 are Buffy and Dawn of DOTC 3.