Chapter 18- Party's Over

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I've been at SFA working on a fic with another author there, and now that fic has been posted here. It's Soak Up the Sun by VampGrlz, you're welcome to check it out...please do! And...yeah D

Dawn looked herself up and down in the full length mirror by her dresser. She smiled approvingly. She looked hot. But she still needed to find a pair of shoes. She didn't buy any at the mall for two reasons:Money, and she thought she already had a good pair. That good pair was no where to be found. Dawn checked under the beds, under the dresser and in the closet. She sighed in defeat. She could 'borrow' a pair of Buffy's heels, but decided she wanted to live past fifteen. Buffy was out patrolling with Angel and Willow was in the library studying with Oz.

If that's what she wants to call it. She thought with a grin. She knew the red-headed couple would be doing everything but studying.

She picked up a pair of slightly worn purple and blue flip-flops and eyed them critically. They were sort of thick and would give her some height.

These are no Guccis, but they'll have to do. Hey, atleast they match my outfit.

Dawn slid her feet into the shoes.There was only one more thing she needed to make her outfit perfect. She pulled open the top drawer of the dresser and lifted up the pile of clothes in the very left with one hand and grabbed the ring with the other. She slipped it on her finger and admired the way it shone so beautifully. Tearing her eyes away from the ring, she glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was 8:50P.M. Her friends would be knocking any minute now.

As if on cue, there was a loud rapping on the door. Dawn opened the door and greeted the three girls.

"Hey!" She said, smiling.

"Hey" Jamie replied. There was a moment of silence when the girls looked over Dawn's clothes, and she took in theirs.

Jaime was wearing a beaded cami that was a forest green with hints of golden yellow and a pair of dressy jeans. She also had plenty of accessories, including those pretty gold dangle earrings she bought at the mall. Shauna had on a lavendar halter top with a pink, purple and white striped skirt. Casey was wearing a tight, brown, lacy shirt with a destroyed denim mini-skirt.

"You guys look great!" Dawn said, smiling.

"You too." Casey replied.

"Nice ring." Jaime said, admiring the ring.

"Thanks. I found it actually." Dawn replied, smiling.

"Now, c'mon, we're keeping everyone waiting." Jaime said tugging on Dawn's arm. Dawn gave her a confused look.

"A party's not a party without us!" Jaime continued to pull Dawn out of the dorm until she was walking beside them. She walked through halls, into branching halls, into halld branching from those, until finally they were in a dark and almost forgotten looking hallway. At the end of the hallway there was a gray painted wooden door. Dawn could hear strains of an upbeat song coming through the walls if she listened hard enough.

"This is it." Jaime said, confirming to Dawn that this was the spot. She opened the door and led the way to the bottom of the twisting stairs until the full basement was in sight. There were colorful streamers hanging from the ceiling and strung across walls. Some alternative music was booming from the speakers. It sounded like Green Day. It was pretty loud too. Dawn wondered why the faculty never stopped the parties- they must hear the music playing so loud... . There were freshman everywhere. Some dancing, some talking, some getting punch, some making out. Dawn felt a flutter of nervousness in her stomach, but Jaime had a hold of her arm again and was gently guiding her into the crowd.

"Look!" There's Dave!" Shauna half-shouted over the noise. Sure enough, there was Dave standing by the punch bowl surrounded by drooling freshman girls.

"C'mon." Jaime said, once again pulling Dawn. This time they were heading towards the punch bowl and the group of girls.

"But-" Dawn protested to no avail. Soon they were right in front of Dave and in the middle of the group of gaggling girls.

"Hey, Dave." Jaime said, batting her eyelashes and moving closer to Dave.

"Hey..." But Dave wasn't looking at Jaime. His gaze was fixated on Dawn, who was looking around, trying to avoid his gaze.

"Who's your friend?" Dave asked Jaime.

"Who? Her?" Jaime motioned towards Dawn. She tried not to sound upset that he wasn't staring at her like that.

"Yeah."

Jaime reached back and pulled Dawn up next to her.

"This is my friend, Dawn. Dawn, this is Dave." Jaime smiled through her teeth before briskly walking off to join Casey and Shauna by the punch bowl.

"Uh...hi." Dawn replied awkwardly.

"Hey." Dave returned. He offered her a cup of punch. She took it reluctantly, almost afraid it was drugged or something.

"Wanna dance?" Dave asked suddenly.

"Sure..." Dawn said. He led them both out into the middle of the room where other couples and friends were dancing. An upbeat song was playing and she and Dave got into it pretty quickly. Dawn could almost feel Jaime's icy glare on her. She was having such a good time with Dave...But she didn't want her only friends to get mad at her. So she ended the dance and told Dave she'd see him around.

"Hey, guys." Dawn said as she walked up to Jaime, Casey and Shauna.

"Hey." Casey replied, smiling. Jaime seemed to be the only one upset about Dawn and Dave's dance. "I guess both Shauna i and /i Jaime lost their bet to dance with Dave." She pointed out.

"The night's not over yet." Jaime replied, heading back over to where Dave was.

Shauna, Casey and Dawn just shrugged. Jaime just needed her alone time they guessed. The three girls headed to the center of the room and danced together for a while before getting a drink at the punchbowl. Jaime was in the center of the circle of girls around Dave and she was doing some serious flirting. Dave seemed unphased, though. When he saw Dawn he gave her a small smile. Jaime was upset and turned to see who he smiled at, but Dawn was already back on the dance floor with Shauna and Casey.

Dawn looked over and saw a odd looking guy take a girl into a dark room and close the door behind them. They're probably going to make out Dawn thought. But that guy did seem pretty weird...For one thing, he needed a tip on style. His clothes looked like they came from the seventies or something...She felt strangely obligated to make sure everything was okay in there. My sister's the one who's the Slayer, not me Dawn reminded herself.

Still, she decided to check it out.

"I'll be right back." Dawn told Casey and Shauna, who were too busy dancing wildy for all the guys there to really care. Dawn drifted over to the room. She suddenly realized how bright the lights were and how loud the music was...It was giving her a head-ache. When she reached the room, she leaned on the door and listened for any voices. She heard some scuffling around and things moving, scraping on the floor. She heard a female voice whimpering.

They were either doing some serious making out, or something was seriously wrong. Dawn knocked on the door and listened for a response of any kind. There was nothing but silence. Then there was hurried scuffles and noises. The creepy guy opened the door and peered out.

"D-do you need something?" He asked.

"Well, I know the girl you took in there, and I wanted to talk to her." Dawn lied.

"Oh, you know Jackie?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah." Dawn peered into the room, trying to look past him.

"Is she in there?" Dawn asked.

"Uhh...yeah. You can come in." The man said.

Dawn's instincts were screaming at her to get the hell away from this guy, he's not normal. But she thought she saw a huddled form in the corner of the room. She had to help that poor girl. So Dawn entered the room, immediately heading toward the figure in the corner.

"Where are you going?" The man asked. The light in the room was decreasing as he slowly closed the door, trapping them in the room. The man walked closer and Dawn could see his fangs. And that's when she realized that she didn't have a stake. She didn't have any type of weapon for that matter.

"Damn." She cursed under her breath. She was going to make a run for the door, but the man leapt forward and grabbed her by the hair, tilting her neck towards his face. She could feel his fangs brush against the skin on her neck. For a moment, she thought about screaming, but she knew no one would hear her over the music.

She whimpered as the fangs dug into her neck. Her last thought before losing consciousness was how badly Buffy would feel, having her own sister die of something that was her destiny to destroy.

Sorry it was so short! Ozlover