CHAPTER SEVEN: PINK

Daniel couldn't say exactly how long he and Stephen had been voluntarily trapped in Quortoth.  He smiled as he saw Stephen enter the small living area of the makeshift hut he had created to protect the young boy.  He looked to be about eighteen, the only indicator of how long they had truly been in this dimension.

In those eighteen years, he had had to defend himself, his house and his son on more occasions than he could count.  From the age of about seven, Stephen had begun to learn to fight for himself.  By ten, he was winning more battles against the demons, but still getting injured. 

By sixteen, he had learned that as invincible as he thought he was, he was still a mortal.  A damageable mortal at that.  And if he died, he would be leaving his dad all alone in a hell dimension.

For the last eighteen years, he had been told about what the world was really meant to be like.  Blue sky, blue waters, an endless ocean, people; billions of people.  The exact opposite of this hell that his father had been forced into because of a demon's brutality.

He had heard the stories.  He was the biological son of a vampire, not the son of his beloved dad, Daniel Holtz.  He scowled angrily at the thought.  He wasn't a demon!  He had come across thousands of demons in this dimension, and he knew enough about them to know that he wasn't a demon at all.  He had a soul, he had feelings, he wasn't evil.  Everything else in this dimension was.

"Are you heading out son?" came his dad's voice from inside the small hut.

He turned and gave his dad a small smile, nodding.

"We're nearly out of water.  I was just about to head down to the water hole," he explained, holding up the bucket that sat at his feet.

Holtz merely nodded, feeling far older than he should have felt.  The hell dimension was wearing on him heavily and he was concerned for his son.  The demons had begun getting more violent of late, and there had been many close calls.  Holt could no longer protect his son, and more often then not, he had relied on Stephen to get him out of trouble.

"I'll be back in an hour dad," Stephen said quietly, breaking Holtz out of his reverie.

"Be careful," Holtz said affectionately.

Stephen grinned and held up the home-made weapon that Holtz had crafted in their first year in Quortoth.

"Always."

------------------------

Buffy had been walking since the sun had risen that morning, spurred to begin another trek by who knew what.  She couldn't explain why she felt the need to walk in that particular direction, but she knew to trust her instincts.  After several centuries in a hell dimension, her senses were finely tuned in with the evil that lurked. 

In the distance, she could see a small figure moving to what she sensed was a water hole.  For a demon dimension, there seemed to be an abundance of water that seemed to be alright for consumption.  In fact, it was where most of the battles took place.  Demons tried to protect their water supply by attacking any intruders.

Of course, none of the demons ever really counted on being beaten by the tiny blonde girl. 

She watched the figure gather water in a wooden bucket and suddenly tense as though he could sense something else present.  She crept in closer and felt her heart begin to race as the figure came into focus properly.

It wasn't a demon.  It was a human.  From what she could see, it was a boy who looked no older than nineteen.  She rubbed her eyes, fearful that she was just seeing things.  Though why she would see anything now was just beyond her.

She opened her eyes and did a double take.  It was indeed another human, and not only was it another human, his fighting skills were amazing.  He fought with no real technique, no exact style.  He fought to win, taking risky shots and getting hurt for them.  She winced as she saw him fall to the ground and falter there for a moment.

She moved closer, within distance in case it got a little too hairy for the boy. 

Stephen jumped to his feet and kicked the creature back, taking it away from the water supply that it was trying to protect.  He never understood why the demons were so protective of the water, but it made it hard to get a steady supply of it.

The demon stumbled back but quickly regained balance.  Before Stephen could even regroup enough to strike again, the demon struck out at him, sending him crashing to the ground ten feet away.  The creature stepped towards the fallen boy and went to crush him with a large foot, but before Stephen could even roll away, the demon was tackled from the side.

Buffy hadn't even hesitate as she jumped into the fray, punching and kicking the demon with the speed and agility that can only be mastered with centuries of fighting.  Within seconds, she had moved the demon away from the boy, away from the water and had beaten it into submission.  With a home-made axe, she hit it directly in the heart.  The creature cried out in pain and made it final move, sending a large spike from its arm through her stomach.

She fell to her knees, clutching at the wound, the blood seeping through her fingers.  She was loosing blood far too quickly and the world was beginning to go black.  All she saw before the world was swept into darkness was the fading pink of the sky as the sun went down.