The Bold and the Beautiful: A Tale Of Demons And Undying Love.

Chapter Thirteen: Zende

          "And I call this bad boy over here Horatio," Julius announced as he picked up a small copper hand gun and showed it to Rick. This had been the forty seventh gun that he presented as the three of us waited for Vivienne, Nicole and Maya to finish dressing. Usually I would have been as fascinated as Rick was to see Julius's gun collection but my mind was set on other things.

       "Horatio? As in Hamlet's friend Horatio?" Rick asked as he raised one eyebrow.

        "An interesting thought but no," Julius replied. "Horatio was my grand daddy's name. A great man he was with a love of hunting." Julius continued as Rick listened and I half listened. "Born poor and didn't have enough to afford a rifle, he used this very gun to do his hunting."

       "Seriously?" Rick asked, shocked. "With this tiny gun? I mean no offense to your grandfather's gun but that thing doesn't even look like it could shoot much, let alone animals."

       "Don't let it's size fool you," Julius answered as he gently placed the gun into Rick's hands, "even though it's small, it's powerful."

       "Amazing," Rick said in awe as he examined the gun with interest. "Wish my father had such a large collection of guns from the past. Instead he has nothing but unfinished sketches of gowns that never made it to Forrester's runway, aint that right Zende?"

      "Huh?" I asked only hearing the mention of my name.

      "The boys not even paying any attention to you," Julius stated and he was right. I wasn't paying any attention to him and my uncle. They lost my attention when Julius presented the first gun.

      "I've noticed," Rick said as he handed Julius back Horatio. "He's too busy thinking about how lovely Nicole's going to look the moment she steps through those doors."

       Far from it. I was actually thinking about Sasha and her demonic boyfriend. I wanted to know if Nicole told her what we saw the other day. I hope she did because Sasha barely listened to me when I tried to tell her myself. I knew Inari was weird but it's not everyday that I see someone transform into a hellish being. This was unnatural. He  was unnatural.

     "And speaking of my baby girl stepping through those doors, what's taking so long?" Julius asked impatiently. "It's already been an hour and I don't want to miss the party and-"

       "Relax Julius," Rick said as he fixed his purple dotted tie in the mirror, "your daughters and your wife are just taking there time to look their best for us. Trust me, I grew up with two sisters. I know these things."

      "Well they better hurry up," Julius grumped, "don't wanna miss the free food and-"

       "Is Julius bothering you two with his horrendous gun collection?" came a voice that we all knew and loved.

        Rick, Julius and I turned around to see Vivienne, Nicole and Maya standing elegantly behind us. They all looked great especially  Nicole who wore a white long dress that exposed her back and a laced bunny mask.

      "Bless my soul Vivienne," Julius breathed with love, "you define the word perfection."

      "Oh Julius," Vivienne said as Julius kissed her hand making Rick and I look dumb in front of our women.

      "You never stop surprising me Maya," Rick commented as he placed his hands on his wife's waist, "no matter what you wear your beauty is always going to capture my attention." Maya gave a short cute laugh in delight as she and Rick kissed.

     Nicole looked at me as if she was expecting me to say something sweet to her as Rick and Julius did to Maya and Vivienne. I ignored Nicole's stare because I didn't feel like being romantic.