He is in... Chinatown? ...China? One of those.

That was not where he was. Chinatown is on the other end of Manhattan. Um. Well, okay, magic could theoretically do this...

For lack of a better idea, he stands up and keeps walking.

He doesn't seem especially remarkable to the denizens of China(town). It does eventually prove to be a Chinatown, there are too many English speakers and white people and, later, English signage, for it to be China proper; but not the one in Manhattan.

He checks his phone to warn his cousin about whatever this was. It tells him he doesn't have an active plan and he can't do anything but emergency calls. But, English. Do they sound like Brits? Aussies? This is still remotely possible, but seeming more remote by the minute.

They sound American. He can eventually discern by accumulated clues that this is San Francisco.

He is in San Francisco. But if he was in San Francisco he would have cell service. Therefore, this is somehow a wrong San Francisco.

The spell to detect vampires expires. He finds a stoop in an alley, out of plain view, and casts the magic-detection variant. Is he going to go toward it, or run away, if he sees something? Good question, but reply hazy, ask again later.

Nearest magic is back in Chinatown whence he came!

Hmm. Maybe whatever dumped him here is still going. Let's go toward that, and if it seems like it's moving like a predator (well, like the kind he knows, which are vampires), he can change course then.

The nearest magic is: the entrance to this unmarked sketchy looking building near where he appeared.

...Eh, what the hell, he's hard to hurt. Sure, let's see what's in there.

A flight of stairs down into the dark.

A - security person? - turns an indistinct, shadowed face toward him, plants a hand on his chest, and shoves him firmly back out onto the street. The door shuts behind him.

Rude.

Also, interesting.

Is there any space on the ground floor here, that a human couldn't get through, but a snake that's only a couple inches across could?

It looks like there should be - the place is shabby - but on closer inspection, there actually isn't. Place might as well be hermetically sealed.

Herpetically sealed, even. Inconvenient.

Hmm. Someone messed with him, somehow. Someone, possibly the same someone, doesn't want him in this shabby basement that is taken care of too well to be neglected. He is stuck in a wrong San Francisco and has no idea what's going on.

If there's a takeout place within sight, he'll go try his credit card and get some food (with cash if, i.e. when, that doesn't work). But if he can't, or afterwards, he will probably do a stakeout as a rattlesnake. Snakeout.

The card is declined but the cash is accepted. Armed with dumplings, he can surveil the magic building.

Someone comes out of it, eventually. Fellow in a long black coat, walks down the street.

He didn't actually plan ahead very well. Probably because he's still off-balance from the sudden wrong San Francisco situation.

Tailing someone as a snake in a city is not going to work. And he's not actually any good at tailing someone stealthily as a human. He's a lawyer, not a detective.

Let's follow the guy without trying that hard to be stealthy, and see what happens. That seems legit.

The guy exits Chinatown and gets in an Uber.

He's pretty sure "Follow that car" (a) never worked very well outside movies, (b) requires a hailable taxi, and (c) would be expensive even if it did work. So that's a bust. (Though did the guy ping as magic?)

Back to his snakeout, he guesses.

The guy actually did not seem to be magic.

People sometimes go in and sometimes go out of the door. Nothing else of note occurs and none of the people are magic.

Well. He's probably screwed for trying to figure out what got him here. Is it getting late?

It's past dinnertime but not super late.

He technically does not need a hotel room but sleeping as a snake isn't comfortable and also doing that in a city sounds like a good way to get attacked by animal control. He notes down the address of the sketchy magic basement and goes looking for a cheap place to stay and somewhere to get a burner phone. Still keeping the magic detection up, because the pain is bearable and the confusion is less so.

Thataway there's some more magic! This one is moving.

Possibly he's about to run into a vampire, so he'll approach it relatively slowly, but honestly finding someone here who he can ask what the hell seems more important right now. Scrounging can wait.

Not a vampire. Exhibits no vampire characteristics. Appears to be a girl in her late teens with a mesh bag full of recyclables, peering into trash cans.