A/N One of Dr. Strange's abilities is the ability to sense power in others, so Xander should be able to sense power too.

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"Why don't we ever come out where Dawn or in this case, Buffy, comes out?" Cordelia asked as the portal deposited them on a dirt road. It was dark and the moon was just starting it's climb. The air felt muggy.

"Because other realities don't stand still." Xander told her. "Just like time doesn't stand still in other dimensions. And Dawn's portals are unstable anyway, like the end of a whip. The handle moves a few inches when you snap it, but the tip moves several feet."

"Translating that to a transreality portal means we could end up miles from Buffy or Dawn."

"Yeah, the longer it takes for us to even know there's a problem, the more distant they could get too. There's no telling where the end of a portal is going to land."

"Dawnie can't go on like this, this randomness." Cordelia said seriously as they walked along the dirt road, they seemed to be in a small town with rundown buildings around them. "It's not going to help her gain control if she's so stressed she's accidentally creating portals all the time."

"You're right, she needs to be able to experiment in a controlled environment to get control. Problem is, the only options I can offer her are binding or stripping her power completely and Mrs. S might welcome that, but I honestly don't think Dawnie would. She wants to be able to use her power to help people, like we do."

"Her bad luck being born into a group of people who saw the monster and decided to kill it instead of running away from it."

"Long before we had powers." Xander agreed, flashing a grin at his girlfriend.

"But the sling ring is different."

"Yeah, it has a fine control over portals. I can save coordinates in it and it will compensate for the drift of other realities. It's control is so fine I can use it to travel within the same reality."

"Which if we can get a lock on Buffy means we can portal right to her."

"Yep, I need a map of wherever we've landed to do a locator spell and then we can go get Buffy. I'd like to hope she's staying out of trouble, but none of us are good at doing that."

"Ha! So very right." Cordelia agreed.

"Look, there's a place where we can ask some questions." Xander pointed at a neon sign that said Merlotte's Bar and Grill. The dirt parking lot in front had parking spaces marked by logs.

"Talk about rural." Cordelia muttered as they approached the front door. Xander paused for a moment and looked through the window, neon signs within the establishment glowed as well. "They look busy, must be a fairly popular place. We just need to ask where we can get a map, like a gas station or something." He looked concerned and Cordelia nudged his side with her elbow.

"What's wrong, Doofus?"

"Someone in there has power, I can sense it. Which means they may be able to sense us too." He was troubled by that. "We have no idea if they're a good guy or a bad guy." He eyed the people he could see through the window. "The blond waitress, I'm pretty sure she's the source of the power I'm sensing."

"Anyway to keep her from sensing us?"

Xander ran though the spells he knew. "I don't know, I know some concealment spells but they conjure mist or rain to help hide us from view. A glamour would hide our faces, but unless we exist in this reality and they just happen to know us, is unnecessary. I think we're just going to have to take our chances and hope she's a good person or at least has no reason to try to attack us. But let's stay out of her way if possible and ask one of the other waitresses for directions to a gas station. I have a limit on how far away I can sense and she probably does too, if she can sense us at all."

"Good idea, it'll be good to get out of this muggy air for a minute. The air feels different from Sunnydale."

"I notice that too, heavier somehow, if that makes sense." He held the door open for her and followed her in, letting it close behind them. They waited for a waitress to approach them, an older woman with red hair glanced at them before moving to the blond waitress and asking her something they couldn't hear. The blond glanced at them and then frowned, before looking a little puzzled and shaking her head. The redhead then moved to greet them.

"Hi! So, we do serve vampires and we keep Tru Blood on hand. Would you like a table?"

Oookay, what the Hell?!

"Uh, no, just directions to the nearest gas station. We need to get a map, we're a little lost." Xander managed, trying really hard not to ask what kind of bizarre reality they'd ended up in. And why did this lady think they were vampires?! Agggh!

"Out the door, to the right, down the block at the intersection." She told them.

"Thanks."

"No problem, come back any time, we're open 'til one every night except Sunday." She watched as they left before turning to her fellow waitress.

"You're sure they're vampires, Sookie? They've got tans."

"If they're not, than there's something out there besides vampires who's minds I can't read." She replied. "I noticed the tans too, maybe they're spray on, who knows. Unless they cause a problem I don't think it's anything to worry about. Their minds must be awfully different though if I can't read them."

"You're probably right, not a big deal." They went back to work and soon forgot about the strangers.