Her Forever

Hades’ POV

“What do the f**k do you mean Gwen can’t stay here?” I growled out. I could feel my black knit shirt ripping from my slow, heavy breathing. After sitting behind Gwen, my joggers weren’t much better for wear, and her delicious a*s kept rubbing up against it. She was innocent to the whole thing but damn, she gave me blue balls like a mother fucker.

“I mean what I said,” Nero spoke cockily. “Part of the Underworld guidelines is that you bring no living soul here into your domain. You are breaking code written by the gods, you being one of them. You need to put her back on Earth or let her come with me, and I can bring her to Zeus. We can figure a way to keep her safe until your trial,” Nero looked at his fingers as he picked the dirt underneath.

“s**t,” Vulcan whispered as Ares walked up. I heard the nails of Cerberus tap across the floor behind me. Gwen is starting to become bratty if she thinks she can come in here. “Cerberus, get her out of here. Go to the Darkened Forest and keep running. I’ll find you when I’m done. Protect her.” Cerberus didn’t respond, but I heard him pulling at Gwen’s shirt, who now was running down the hallway.

Now that Gwen was going to be safe, I could unleash something more lethal. “Tell me why you are here, Nero. I’m not in the mood for games.” Several angels spread about the room, some ducking into nearby hallways to look for Gwen. “Run, Cerebrus.” I beckoned him, and a loud howl left his jaws. No angel would be able to keep up with his proper complete form and height.

“I don’t know what you could possibly mean, Hades,” Nero mocked. “I’m just doing my duty as an angel and making sure laws are abided by.”

“That law hasn’t been enforced in thousands of years, and you know it,” I stepped forward, leaking my whisping smoke on the floor. “If we summoned Zeus right now, what would he tell me about this little act you are doing?”

As much as Zeus got on my last cranial nerve, he was an overall good god. He was just and did things fairly amongst us. A god-whore he was but weren’t the lot of them? He was younger than me and took place in the sky that I could have quickly taken, but I preferred to be away from the chaos. Zeus took pride in his work. If Zeus knew that Gwen, a human, was my mate, he would have never summoned Nero to take away something so precious. Especially when he had not been granted one.

“Go ahead,” Nero crossed his arms. “I have time.” I felt Nero’s heart-pounding, for being such a lowly enforcer angel, he certainly was putting up a fight. Vulcan, who could sense it as well, smirked as he willed a glass of scotch from his hand.

“Drink?” Vulcan offered. Nero looked between the drink and me, warily weighing his options, when we heard a loud crash at the far end of the palace. I chuckled darkly and grabbed Nero by the neck with one quick swipe. Other angels enter the room in a rush as they watch me slowly choke the life out of Nero. His hands gripped my clawed hands as the nails pierced his neck.

“Lord Hades, please!” Several of the angels pleaded. Many went on their knees as their wings touched the floor. A sign of total respect to a god. Nero’s light that embodied him started to fade, now looking nothing more than mortal.

“Please, my Lord!” An angel known as Thebes spoke. This had always been a follower, a sheep that would follow a wolf into its den.

“Speak Thebes because Nero has a short time to live.” My smoke started to go through his nostrils, stealing the light inside of him.

“Nero told us to come here, that Gwen was in horrible danger being in the Underworld. She would lose her life here as the fumes of Tartarus slowly suffocate her until she would no longer wake from sleep.”

Ares started snorting in laughter while Vulcan elbowed him in the ribs. I sighed heavily. “And you believed the s**t that he spewed?” They all the angels nodded their heads. “Nero said you wouldn’t understand because you never have humans come down here. A god that doesn’t spend much time with human mortals would have surely forgotten the harmful effects it could have for anyone that visited.” Thebes looked around as the other angels nodded. “Plus, it is in the great law book.”

Sure, it was in the Law Book of the Gods. I put it there to keep all those damn heroes out. Hercules is one of them, the cocky bastard. Give him a bit of strength, and he thinks he owns both heaven and hell. Deities couldn’t even step foot down here; I’d burn them alive and feed their carcass to Cerebrus if I wanted. I was the enforcer; I was there when it was written. If Nero had read the fine print beneath it, he would realize I could have anyone down here that I wanted. No other god had dominion over overruling or carrying out such discrepancies over my world.

I gave an evil grin and threw my head back, and laughed. It was not a laugh that I would have with my mate, but a laugh of the ridiculousness that Nero would instill in a bunch of weak, pathetic angels. “I guess the rumors are true; Angels will believe in anything some higher being will spout!” Turning to Vulcan, I said, “I guess I need to stop calling Gwen my angel; it is, in fact, an insult!”

Tossing Nero to the floor, he sputtered as the outside light covering his celestial body began to glow again. As he rubbed his neck, I waved my hand, setting fire to his wings, turning them into a charred black. His screams only fuel my fire of revenge for him, even looking at my sweet mate the night of the auction. I wanted him to remember never to look or touch what was mine.

Other angels go to his aid, but I waved my hand for them to fall on the floor like a bunch of bowling pins. Once the fire had consumed, which was rather quickly, he was left charred wings of black soot. It would take time for him to heal from this one. My darkness beckoned me to finish him off, but there is a chance he may know where Selene and Hecate are. Call it intuition, but I can’t rule out all options.

Summoning my torture demons from beneath the palace, they immediately came forth. Their bodies were full of black tar, hunched shoulders, and two large ram horns on either side of their heads. Nero continued to wallow in pain as the other angels sat in shock.

“Take Nero, put him in some…comfortable quarters,” I spoke lowly.

The torcher demons bowed as each one of grabbed a limb, tugging and pulling at his wings all the while. “Hades! You will regret this! You are making a mistake!” I hummed while rubbing my thumb to my lips.

“I’m sure I am,” I whispered, be he heard me. “Ares? Ready to have some fun?”

“With pleasure,” he rubbed his hands together.

…

We traveled down the deepest part of the dungeon. Down deeper in the cold, wet walls, we found Nero chained and defeated. His legs were spread as his wings drooped. Nero’s fellow angels were sent back with a message of staying the f**k away from me, and my mate or inevitable repercussions will be handled forthwith. They will learn from their grave mistake of trusting in an old senile angel.

“I’ve got some questions, Nero, and I need them answered swiftly. Otherwise,…” Ares stood tall with a metal ball with spikes on a chain. His beef, macho self stood tall. If I didn’t know any better, you would have thought he was on steroids, but no, it was all him. Probably had a small d**k too.

“You get the idea; he’s become quite a big help around here.” Dragging the chair in front of the bastard, I turned it, so I was straddling it. My arms were resting on the chair while I tilted my head innocently. Learning a few tricks from Gwen might pay off.

“So, why do you really want my mate?” Nero scoffed and looked away. A few feathers fell to the ground. “I ain’t telling you s**t,” he spat at the dirt before me. Ares came over and slammed his mallet on one of the damaged wings with a light gruff. Nero screamed while I willed myself a latte and sipped it like some elegant aristocrat.

“It’s starting to smell like fried chicken in here, isn’t it, Ares?” I cleared my throat as my miniature dragon, Hellbones, slithered to me up. Ares was in his battle mode, so getting a response from him was slim. He was the runt of his nest, and I didn’t have the heart to send him away and be tormented by his siblings. The rest flew to an island in the land called Bergarian. The island was home to all dragons, but they only nested in the Underworld.

“What do you think, Hellbones? Does he smell like chicken?” He licked his lips as he went to smell Nero. His tiny teeth were razor-sharp, but his mouth wasn’t big enough to swallow him whole. He would have to eat him piece by piece. Nero backed away as his bleeding wing shuttered.

“No wonder everyone hates you, you a sadistic f**k,” he rasped.

“Only to those that deserve it.” I placed my latte on the saucer and willed it away. “Now, give me answers.

Nero looked to Hellbones and back to me. “I don’t think you want to do that,” Nero licked his lips. “In fact, I think you should let me go.” Raising my eyebrows, I paced around him while Hellbones waited for the snap of my fingers. One snap is all it takes.

“And why is that?”

“Because Persephone might be sore with you if you end up hurting her mate. You do know she can feel every bit of pain you inflict on me, right?” I twisted my fist and heard the knuckles pop. Even though the infatuation I had with Persephone was not love, I didn’t want her to suffer more than she did. Knowing what it is to have a mate and that power of emotion and attraction towards another soul made me guilty for holding her so long. However, I was intrigued still using his own mate as an excuse.

“Rumor has it, you aren’t even Persephone’s mate at all,” I taunted as I bent down to remove a feather that landed on his head. “That it is, in fact, Gabriel.” Nero’s eyes dilated, but the rest of his body showed no signs of faltering. “Now, why would that be?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Persephone is my mate! I came to hell while you threw your hissy fit and took her with me. You are out of your damn mind!” Nero’s teeth gritted Hellbones started to get antsy.

“Hades, I need you to feel,” Vulcan spoke as he put his hand on my shoulder. I had been so caught up in my interrogation that I didn’t feel his presence. “All I feel is anger and rage, Vulcan I suggest you-“

“Feel with your heart, Hades,” I growled out and ripped my shoulder from his grasp. I was about to slice up Nero’s torso when I felt it. The pang of worry. This worry wasn’t of my own but of someone else’s, Gwen.

f**k. I got so caught up in rage that I forgot. “It’s passed sundown; the threat is gone. You need to get Gwen where ever they may be. They could still be running.” I growled as I pushed the chair away.

“Give him something to think about Ares and call it a night.” Ares cracked his knuckles as I ran up the stairs.

Gwen’s POV

My bare feet felt the old broken leaves. They crunched softly until I hit the smooth sand. One hand was on Cerberus, and the phantomtails tails glowed for a perfect path for us to follow. The cave was dry and dark, but it was engulfed in the light once our friends flew in. Tiny water drops would fall to the rocks, but it wasn’t wet enough to be uncomfortable.

Staring a fire would be nice, but the nagging in the back of my head said it might not be wise. I wasn’t sure what animals were out in this wilderness, and Cerberus was huffing out all the lights of the phantomtails. They chittered at him, almost arguing that it was okay, but he wasn’t convinced.

I never thought the Underworld would be cold. The talk of fire, brimstone, lakes of fire, and overall heat that tried to consume your sins is what I thought it to feel like. Here, it was cold and lonely, even with all my furry friends around.

Sensing my distress, Cerberus came around and curled around me. He was in a bit larger form as I leaned my head on his torso while he laid down. His face wrapped around me and his tail tucked my legs into the fetal position. The rest of the phantomtails came to sit on me like a blanket, covering me with their balls of warmth. It worked; it kept me warm, but my heart felt empty with Hades not around.

I hadn’t slept without him since he charged into my life. Anytime I did sleep, I was haunted by nightmares. I forced my eyes to stay open as I remembered the promise to myself outside the cave. To pray, pray to a god for help.

I had prayed long before I came to the Underworld; I prayed for salvation, a hero to save me from the nightmare I lived. It never came, and a nagging feeling always told me that I should have never been there in the first place.

Closing my eyes, I put my cold hands together like I had seen the little children do on television when their parents put them to bed. In my mind, I called out to the one person I didn’t know much about, the Goddess Selene, the goddess of mates. If she was listening, surely she would help, right?

I called out to her, begging for Hades to be alright. My worried soul was restless as I prayed, begging for him to be safe from any harm. He may be a god, the God of the Underworld, but sometimes even a god needs saving.

As I continued to pray, my thoughts started to haze, and my consciousness faded out.