Her Forever

Niko’s POV

“Have you gathered enough information about this strip club,” there was a pause from Vulcan, “Olive and Twist and Strips?” He laughed at the name.

“Yeah, I have.” I threw the paperwork on his desk. I had everything, down to the last picture of girls entering the club, bagged, and gagged and often leaving the club with different men. They never return when they leave and where they go was a mystery since I haven’t been given enough personnel to follow. I’d help but Hades was only willing to give so many resources.

I was Hades’ 3rd degree b***h. Anytime he felt like something needed to be investigated when regarding a high-class, low class or even a demigod I had to step in and check it out. Hades doesn’t leave the underworld much, ever since Persephone left.

All and all it was a good thing for me, I could spend more time on Earth in his penthouse he never uses and have a little fun with the willing girls. A vacation from hell, not bad if you ask me.

“Alright,” Vulcan spoke, I’ll contact Hermes so he will be the witness and Ares for the manpower. Do you really think a god is involved in this though? Seems a bit human activity to me,” Vulcan rubbed his eyes. He had spent way too much time forging relics for the higher ups, now he transferred out so he could do something different along with taking on his nickname-Vulcan. It took a lot of pleading from Hera since she was her son and her favorite. Vulcan was one of the most generous and kinder of the gods, even though he was not considered the most beautiful. To any human he would still be a catch.

“That’s what I thought too,” I pulled out a folder an opened it up to page 87. “This here gives me a feeling in my gut.” I had circled an item that was being held by the owner of the club, John Oliver. It was a large helmet, one that could have been easily mistaken for just an acting prop, but it wasn’t.

“This isn’t,” Vulcan spoke in shock.

“It is!” I said with excitement. “The Helm of Darkness.”

“Hades needs to know about this,” Vulcan stared at the picture in disbelief. The Helm of Darkness was Hades’ way of making himself invisible, only a few had dared to wear it, those that wear it without permission became dark from the inside out and there would be hope to gain mercy back from the gods.

“I agree, will you call him?” I begged.

“The f**k, no!” Vulcan said exacerbated. “We have been friends for ages but each day he gets worse and worse. I can hardly keep my own calm demeanor around him. He just reeks of hatred. I don’t like to associate myself with that.” Vulcan sat back and drank a sip of his coke. “I love the guy, but it isn’t healthy for me, even my therapist said so.”

“Therapist?” I said sarcastically. “You are such a p***y.”

“I’ve had a lot on my plate right now, you leave my therapist out of this!” he yelled as he pointed his worn finger at me.

Just then, Hermes and Ares walked into the door. Hermes’ blonde shaggy hair was unkept as always. His boyish features evident and he pranced over and hopped in the chair. Ares looked stoic, only his close friends like us knew his playful nature.

“Glad of you all to show up,” I spat playfully and gave them pats on the back.

“We’d been here sooner but Hermes has started to lose his touch,” Ares eyes lingered on Hermes. Hermes held his hand to his chest. “I can’t help it that you weigh 300 some pounds of muscle, I’m not meant to carry that much. Messages people, messages. I am the MESSENGER. Not a freaking taxi.” Ares laughed out loud as he slapped his leg.

“Alright, enough, down to business. The club we are going to opens in a few and we need to give you the run down what’s going to happen.” I quickly explained to Hermes and Ares the background on how the Helm of Darkness was being used in a human trafficking/strip club. They were shocked, they had frequented the club many times and never caught a thing. I was to only monitor several strip clubs in my region for any fishy behavior of gods or demigods taking advantage female humans. I never thought I would stumble on this.

“I have contacted Hade’s assistant and he will meet us at the club at 10.”

“Couldn’t talk to him directly, could ya Vulcan?” Ares teased. “f**k off man.”

All four of us entered the club and sat down at my usual spot. I was waiting for my favorite waitress to show up. Even though I knew the girls here were being forced to use their bodies, I knew this girl was different. There was something about her that kept me coming back to make sure she was alright, and she didn’t get sold off anytime soon. There were nights I would sit outside the club at the back, waiting for them to take the girls out and made sure she wasn’t one of them.

“I want you guys to meet this girl. She’s sweet, kindhearted even. Not an evil bone in her body.” Hermes laughed in his new body form. Ares, Vulcan and Hermes always changed their form since they were the more popular gods. We couldn’t afford anyone to take notice of us and blow our cover.

“Sounds like a crush?” Hermes teased.

“No, no, more like a sisterly thing. She’s real timid though. Took me months to get her to open up a bit.” I scanned the lounge waiting to see her, and there she was. Her light hair and her short stature were easy to pick out of a crowd. She really was a woman in a teenager’s body. “Hey Gwen! Over here!” Gwen waved and held up a finger to let me know she was coming.

“Be nice guys, she’s shy. She’s been here for a while, I’m not sure why but she’s held out long enough. This all ends tonight when Hades gets here.”

“Maybe Hades will just blow the place up and we don’t have to deal with it at all.” Ares propped his leg up on his thigh.

“The least amount of b***d the better, brother.” Hermes said as he straightened up as Gwen came over.

Once I introduced her to the guys, Vulcan had to ask the dumbest question. “Aren’t you a little young to be working here?” Gwen’s face flushed bright red as she looked down at her notepad.

“Oh, I’m 20, I just have good genes I guess.” She tapped her foot a few times before she excused herself to get our drinks. Vulcan straightened his posture, a frown on his face. “She’s 20 years old, underfed, her growth was stunted,” he growled. “Her eyes are sunken in, and I could even see a faint mark of a handprint on her upper arm! You let this go on for months?”

“What the hell was I supposed to do? We can’t interfere with humans, now that I have my reason to intervene, we can get all the girls rescued, even her. I’m going to help her get a fresh start. I’ve got an apartment close to the penthouse.”

“Why do you care about that one?” Ares pointed as Gwen put in our drink orders. “Why not get all the girl apartments?” I shook my head back and forth and rubbed my stubble.

“I just have a strong urge to protect her. I don’t know why,” I looked to the door, waiting for Hades.

“Is she your mate?” Hermes leaned in to listen.

“No, definitely not. I wouldn’t have mind it one bit if she was though,” I smiled. Gwen was gorgeous, her long locks of blonde hair, her green eyes, and her dark lashes. She was certainly graceful and kindhearted, a bit skittish but considering her circumstances I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Gwen came back over and began to lay our drinks down as the front door opened. A dark god-like cloud descended on the whole club. The aura that Hades was giving off was scaring the lesser demons to their knees as he walked in. Luckily, humans wouldn’t know the stifling atmosphere, but it worried me that the god we were searching for would notice. As Hades walked closer, he felt my fear of being given away and quickly reeled in his oozing authority. Now he just gave off an expensive CEO vibe that doesn’t take s**t.

His steps were slow as he fixed the cuffs on his suit, the music was now only in the background because now because his shoes were the only noise we could hear. The coldness rushed in as he finally reached our table and stopped immediately and stared down at Gwen as she placed the last drink on the table. She smiled but stiffened when she turned around and strained her neck to look at the God of the Underworld.

Both locked eyes while me and the men just sat there, barely breathing. Was he going to push her to the side for getting in his way? Turn her into some hog-like creature? I’ve seen it too many times and I worried for the innocent child in front of me. Before I could speak, the owner of the club, John Oliver came by, breaking the long eye contact.

Hermes was whispering to Ares and my heart finally started beating again. “Gwen! What did I tell you about getting in the customer’s way! Mike, take her back to get her ready for the VIP’s.” Gwen’s face fell and looked at me and gave me a small wave goodbye as the tears started to well up into her eyes.

She was getting sold tonight, and she had no idea that I knew.

“Ah, gentleman,” John rubbed his hands together. “I heard you were wanting more of a ‘hands on’ experience.” John sat down without asking and Hades continued to stand. His eyes were still staring at the spot where Gwen was standing.

Hermes cleared his throat, “yes, we were. When does it start and where? Money isn’t an option; we want the best.” Hermes said smugly. John’s eyes twinkled in excitement and Hades finally sat down beside Hermes.

“Tonight, is your lucky night, gentleman. I have nothing but the best, especially tonight. In fact, I have a 20-year-old virgin that looks like she barely graduated high school. Fair skin, long hair and a great tolerance to pain.” My heart hitched thinking he was talking about Gwen, she fit the description perfectly. Before speaking, I could hear Hades’ growl beside Hermes.

“Ah ha ha! That’s the spirit. The auction is in,” he glanced at his watch, “20 minutes. I suggest you head over there now for a good seat. A lot of men are coming tonight so have your wallets ready.” John left the table and we all stared at Hades.

The god was good at keeping his emotion in check but the way he growled at a human was unlike him. “You alright, brother?” Vulcan asked in concern. “Would you like me to get you a drink?” Hades shook his head in response and leaned back and pulled out a cigar to light. Taking a long drag he looked at the cigar and looked back at us.

“Let’s get to work,” he growled and headed back to the VIP section of the club.