A Present

Chapter 16

“What the fuck do you grow in your garden?” Julian yelled when he saw the Russians cars drive away. “If you wanna do weed. Say it in advance! Dammit!”

“Those herbs would have never been my first choice, but it is you the one who has the privilege to do it,” Orion replied unimpressed by the boy's display of anger. “Rosemary is normally used for keeping the spirits away. I was not expecting we would be shown a slightly different scenario. But in a way, it fits to this society's high doses of narcissism. Anybody can die or suffer as long as it is not me.”

“You're crazy!” Julian roared and pushed the studio door open. “You're driving me crazy with all the shit you take!”

“The vehicle was your choice, not mine.” Orion shrugged and sat behind his desk, not paying more attention to Julian's “tantrum”.

“My choice? You planted that garden and I suffered that trip! This was no fucking rosemary at all! It's all a fucking lie!”

“If so, why did you provide those men with so much information?”

“I was following your game! What did you want me to do? Shout and tell that you were duping them?” Julian shouted out of himself. “Do you think I'm an idiot? You should have told me you wanted to... play the gypsy!”

Orion didn't bother to answer as he busied himself searching for paper sheets and a fountain pen inside his drawers.

“Do you hear me?” Julian roared as the man ignored him totally, only writing with his strange characters.

“Walk Lýkos out or work in the library,” was Orion's sole answer.

“What? You just predicted mankind's total annihilation and you can only write?”

“I should prepare my next show, Julian.” Orion replied softly but with an edge to his voice. “Anyway, if this is just a product of your imagination, why do you shout so much?”

“It is not true! Nobody sees the future and I'm sick of having you and your dog getting inside my mind!”

“Do you realize the inner contradictions present in your speech? You stand in front of me, accusing me of being a fraud and yet you are terrified of what you have seen, thanks to “my drugs”. Interesting.”

“You did something but I still don't know what it was! It was a drug-induced dream! That plant wasn't rosemary!”

Orion chortled. “Such substance does not exist, Julian. I cannot tell you what to dream or see, and certainly, nothing can make two people share a vision.

“You witnessed what you had to. Nothing else.” Orion added with a unnerving seriousness.

“This is not true,” Julian said stubbornly. “It can't be true.”

“I was never known to have made a mistake, Julian,” Orion said softly. “This is the reason behind so many people trusting my words.”

Julian crossed the room and sat where Orion had occupied before. The young man was silent for a long time, his eyes lost in the slightly dirty water inside the silver plater. The only sound he could hear was Lýkos rhythmical breathing as the wolfdog slept at his feet or Orion's pen scratching against the paper.

“Why do you refuse to help them? There must be a cure or something to be done.”

“There is something to be done, indeed. The best strategy to deal with the outcome of this new tribulation was charted years ago. It was their decision to follow my advice or not. Some have, some others not. Tears and threats will not delay or solve this problem.”

“If the food is contaminated, then we all are screwed up,” Julian gathered his thoughts very slowly. “If we don't die gasping for air like fishes out of the water, then the infections caused by the unburied bodies will do it. There will be no food.”

“There will be food. There always was food, but not as plenty as today. The weather conditions will not be so hard as before.”

“Don't you see that we all will be dead?”

“All humans die at some point. Like all animals,” Orion replied. “No, I don't think you'll be affected.”

“I used to eat before I met you.” Julian retorted ironically. “The only one safe here is Lýkos.”

“Nothing will happen to you. Over the years, you have purged yourself of all the... chemicals that are inside modern foods.”

“What? If you don't eat corn at all, you can get rid of it?” Julian asked, hoping that there was a cure.

“No. It's already inside you. Besides, do you plan to force people to stop eating carbs or go to the ecological store? There will never be enough food for today's world population. My thought is that you will have no problems to adapt yourself to a new diet.”

“Diet my ass,” snorted Julian. “If it is inside me, I hope you don't toss my ass to the forest when I start to drool.”

“You will not get sick, nor I or Lýkos,” Orion said softly, leaving his pen aside. “Disease can not touch you now. Death has forgotten you.”

“And you dreamed that too,” Julian spat the words with contempt.

Orion didn't replied to the taunt. “I understand you are upset. Walk Lýkos now, Julian.”

Incensed, Julian roughly pulled from Lýkos choke collar and the wolfdog growled at being so brutally woken. “Don't give me that, Lýkos,” barked Julian and the animal seemed to be taken aback by the harsh tone the boy had used with him.

With a timid wolfdog -scurrying himself to the corridor- at his side, Julian walked towards the door and stopped. “Why are you so certain I will not die?” he asked without turning his face to Orion.

“Because of what happened at the cave, Julian,” the man answered after a long pause. “You crossed the gate and returned to us. That is what makes you a Guardian.”

“Guardian of what?”

“You allowed the men to cross the gate and see what we saw. You cast the doubts away, Julian.”

“Guardian of what?” the boy repeated.

“I told you this is tiered universe, Julian. You can travel to the underworld and return. You bring the memories of its inhabitants to this world. You allow other people to go and return from the underworld. Perhaps this is the reason why you can relate with the people you saw in the future. I cannot see them individually. I never could or ever will,” he confessed. “Nor I can show other people what I see or what is in store for them.”

“You do contradict yourself, Orion. I bring back memories from the future?”

“In the underworld there is no such thing as future or past; only those who are there.”

“You make no sense at all.” Julian shook his head and let a dry laugh out. “This is all a lie.”

“Then you should not be concerned at all.”

“I don't like lying to people. It's wrong what you do. All of us dead because of a bug? Couldn't you tell them something like nuclear war? That's more feasible. What is your big plan? Don't eat bread any more?”

“Two thirds of the European population died in the XIV Century,” Orion answered tiredly, slightly offended by the boy's full of irony words.

“You are not an advisor like I, Julian. You can only open a path for other people to see what I let you see. The vultures showed you that power in your death and Lýkos helped you to return.”

“And Lýkos is our guide in our descent into hell?”

“He is your guide for the time being, not mine. He will fight for you should you meet any danger.”

“I'm not surprised of that. You never lift a finger for anyone,” Julian retorted sarcastically.

“Are you done?” Orion asked now openly upset. “You may choose not to believe in what you saw or did today, but we -he pointed at Lýkos- are impressed by your skills.”

“I'm not mad.” Julian retorted seriously. “You are the madman here, Orion. I swear that if you ever come again with one of your “herbs”, I'll leave you stranded in the “underworld”. Forever.”

“Very well. Go out with Lýkos and think on all what has happened since you came here. The visions will not go away, Julian. They are not the product of a large intake of drugs, as you are bound to believe. They are inside you and will come to you whenever they need to. That part of your brain is awoken and will never go back to sleep, Julian. You should be proud of it. Not many had been able to receive the gift of the Moon-God and stay in this realm.”

* * *

Like a whirlwind, Julian left the house, slamming the kitchen door behind him. He was utterly furious with Orion, more furious than he had ever been with any lover he had had before.

Ahmed had been an asshole, but a decent one. At least he was not trying to manipulate him and force him to live in the land of the lunatics.

'That's right, lunatics... The Moon-people.' he realised as he strode through the gravel path that lead to the well, followed by a trotting Lýkos.

“Hey you, don't you have to guard Gates of Hell, Cerberus?” he said to the wolfdog vulgarly.

And Lýkos showed him his fangs and growled in a way he had never done before. Julian's heart nearly stopped at the sound and watched the drooling fury standing tall in front of him.

“Sorry. Don't take it so bad.” He used a very soft voice trying to calm him down. “Forgive me, Lýkos,” he added even softer, doing his best to avoid eye contact with the animal and look humble.

Lýkos relaxed his stance and continued to jog towards through the path as if the boy's outburst were of no importance. Julian sighed relieved and watched the retreating form.

'What the fuck am I doing? Going again to that god-dammed well? I had enough of this shit!'

“I'm going back to Madrid!” he decided in a brink. “Fuck Orion.”

“And fuck Carlos, too,” he mumbled as he remembered his working at the house brother. “He can get another job. Not that he's going to do much for me, anyway.”

He turned around and walked towards the forest, in opposite direction to the well, trying to put as much as possible distance between he and the house. He didn't want to be there any longer.

He wanted to be free and carefree again.

He walked and walked, only wanting to get lost in the forest but knowing it was impossible.

Lýkos or Orion would always know where he was.

He was a part of them now; a part that could not be severed.

His shoes got muddied and he felt drained beyond any reason. Dizziness made him feel like puking and he needed to rest for awhile.

At the distance he saw his brother's newly built fence and walked towards it. He rested his elbows on the wood and closed his eyes to calm the dizziness down. The smell of the wet earth helped him to relax and he closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to quieten his heart.

The quarrelling chant of the birds before sunset forced him to open his eyes and see the starting to fade lights. Time made not much sense today as he wondered how the day could have vanished so quickly.

Julian leaned over the fence and watched the plants under him, enchanted by the thousands of tiny rainbows forming in the water drops laid over a fern. This was real, not the dreams of utter extermination.

“Nice job done,” the police inspector's voice startled Julian. “Any kind of evidence that might have survived is now destroyed with the new bridge.”

“It's not a bridge. It's just a fence to avoid people falling. Tourists.” Julian answered back. “My brother built it.”

“Yes, funny. An ex-con decides to join the building business in a crime scene.”

“He was in the building sector before he had troubles,” Julian retorted.

“I wanted to pose some questions to Koiranos, but the house is surrounded by apes today. You will do.”

“As I told you, I know nothing. Just found the body.”

“How was it placed?”

“I don't know. I just saw an arm... I don't remember what I saw. I nearly puked and ran away.” Julian answered.

“With the dog along? Where's the monster today?”

“With Lýkos. He's away. Somewhere.”

“Should I be concerned about another surprise here?”

“Do you investigate the deaths of the local rabbits too, inspector?”

“Strange that you got the late Dr. Morgenthau's job. What qualifications do you have?”

“More than yours for this job.”

“Yes, it's funny. Bye bye Morgenthau, and you come along here...”

“I was not even aware that there was a country named Portugal at that time, sir,” Julian replied ironically. “I was in high-school, doing my best to not to fall into a coma.”

“Yes quite a score you have after you turned 18. Pity we can't see what you were doing before. Working in nightclubs and your former employer said you were also putting extra-hours with the customers. Male customers.”

“Yes, I have a sex life. Can you tell the same, inspector? It's not a crime to be gay. Bigotry is.”

“Your former boyfriend also fell down the stairs. Your brother pushed him and look where he is now. The coincidences of life.”

Julian blinked several times as he understood what the man was suggesting. “If you are suggesting that my brother came from Spain to kill a librarian so his little faggot brother could fuck with a rich man for five years, and then he will get a dream job as gardener helper, you know shit.”

“Both crimes' circumstances are very similar, Mr. Santos.”

“Yes, Ahmed was drinking like crazy before he fought with my brother. He's Muslim! I swear he never drank anything! This other guy was coming home drunk, wanted to take a pee and got the wrong way! I nearly broke my neck there too!”

“Are you in a relationship with Mr. Koiranos too?”

“What does the “too” mean?”

“Like Dr. Morgenthau was.” The man played his favourite ace; jealousy.

“Define “relationship”, sir,” Julian mocked him. “I'm in a working relationship with Mr. Koiranos.”

“Sentimental.” the man punctuated every syllable.

Julian opened his mouth and didn't know what to answer. “Perhaps.”

“You are not very enthusiastic about it.”

“Are you questioning me? If so, I want a lawyer and a Human Rights group to sue your hide for harassment.”

The policeman chortled. “You have a lot of spirit...”

“For a gay?” Julian challenged him.

“For someone so young,” the man smirked. “I'll go to the house now.”

'Yeah do it, give Orion a hellish afternoon,' Julian thought evilly as he made a face as a farewell. 'Idiot.'

The day couldn't get worse in Julian's view. 'Only my brother's remarks are missing to make it truly hellish. Russian cuckoos, rosemary-speed, underworld realms, drooling zombies, wolfdogs and a long etc.

'Orion is as mad as the Hatter and the March Hare together.'

“I'm only missing you, Dr. Morgenthau's ghost,” Julian said out loud, peeking his body over the fence. “Would love some advice on how to live with Orion... Or where you left your notes for the library.”

'Maybe the annihilation of the human race is not such a bad idea. The Chronodolphins could take over as the superior mammal.' He smiled at the memory of the super-evil dolphin that starred the “Penguins of Madagascar” cartoons.

“You may believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast, Orion, but with you, I live them before lunch,” he mumbled before he turned around to return to the house, to walk at a brisk pace as it was getting colder with the dying sun.

'Why is he always quoting “Alice”?' he wondered when he remembered Orion's words before he brutally pushed him inside the cave. “Down the rabbit hole.”

* * *

In the kitchen, Lýkos was dozing next to the oven as usual. In his “half-vigilante” state, he checked every move Lucia made to prepare his dinner. The young guardian was shocked but it wasn't nothing he could not overcome. The old wolfdog knew very well that despite his alleged frailness, the youth was fearless.

He would not be the best choice to have beside him in wartime, but he would not run away or betray them in any way. He would stay beside them and do his part when needed.

All creatures were mortals and he should learn it.

Lýkos would never change his mind about bringing the boy home. He had been right and the young pup had passed an initiation rite where many had failed. Today's tantrum to the Seer had been only that; the result of seeing what was in store for this decadent breed of humans, nothing that could be compared to the five races from before.

“Oh, Mr. Koiranos. Is there something I can do for you?” Lucía's voice startled the wolfdog and he rose his head to watch the woman nervously drying her hands with a dishcloth. Koiranos was never visiting the kitchen.

“Yes, there is in fact. Nullify all my appointments.”

“For next week, sir?”

“All of them, Mrs. Pereira.” She gaped at him, unable to believe the order. “I wish to see nobody.”

“What should I tell these people, sir?” She asked dumbfounded. “All of them are so important and people like these are very touchy.”

Orion smiled at her for the first time in many years. “Tell them, it is my wish. They will understand it.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Where is Julian?”

“He must be with his brother, at the library, sir. I heard them talking half an hour ago. Should I call him?”

“No. Tell him to serve dinner at nine,” Orion ordered dryly and Lýkos rose his head. There was something amiss between the two humans.

* * *

The sight of a steaming, lonely roast beef set on the white china made Orion's blood boil. Serving dinner included that Julian sat with him to share the food; not leaving it there and running away to hide.

He didn't even sit at his table, walking in direct line towards the kitchen.

“I think I said very clearly since the first day we met that you dine with me,” Orion barked to the boy sitting at the kitchen table with an empty yoghurt and a half asleep wolfdog at his feet.

Morosely, Lýkos rose to his feet and walked out the door.

“I don't think this is a good idea,” Julian replied slowly.

“Come with me,” Orion steered Julian with a firm grip from his biceps, forcing to rise from his chair.

“I don't want to be with you!” Julian shouted back.

“But I do want.” Orion huffed. He pulled Julian against his chest and grabbed his chin to kiss him on the lips.

Julian tried to shove Orion away, but the man was very heavy, as if he were built in marble. He revolved in the man's grip but it was useless as Orion's lips collided with his and the passionate kiss made him burst into flames.

Julian kissed Orion back, loving the feeling of being powerless he felt when the man held him. Orion kisses were like ones from a hungry animal, and the two arms that embraced him were heavy like two iron bars, knocking the air out of him.

He slightly complained when his back hit the wall but he held unto Orion's neck to prevent him from moving back. In that moment, Julian knew with a clarity he had never experienced before that he didn't want to leave Orion, no matter how demented he could be.

Without saying a word, Orion took Julian in his arms and walked towards his bedroom, pushing the door open with a kick.

Both men landed on top of the fur covered bed and Julian only stopped his kisses to readjust his position on the bed, letting Orion crush him under his weight. The young man didn't let Orion to take the lead and he also began to tear his lover's clothes off.

“Fuck me,” Julian whispered in Orion's ears and the man shuddered under the hypnotic effect of the voice so laced with desire.

He renewed his attack with kisses as his hands fumbled with the boy's belt and clumsily pulled the trousers down. Orion felt a set of silky hands that opened his fly and took his rigid member and that was enough for him.

He penetrated the boy without any preparation and heard him cry in pain. Frightened that he might have hurt him, Orion removed from him but two legs intertwined over his pelvis kept him firmly in place. He knew he should wait until Julian would grant him permission to continue.

Once more the soft hands caressed his check, encouraging to continue, and Orion felt warm inside. Loved like had not been in a long time. Carefully, knowing that any of his moves would be painful for Julian, he began to pound the young man. The soft moans he heard helped him to regain trust and increase a little the pace he had set.

Orion let himself go in Julian's arms, enjoying the spidery sensation of the small hands that travelled across his back, lovingly caressing him.

The Guardian was the oak tree that tied him down to this earth. Julian's arms and caresses were binding him to more and more back to the men's realm with each thrust he gave in the young body. Once more, Orion was feeling part of something as his solitude was swallowed and dissolved into the boy's soul.

It was like falling into the abyss of men, but this time there was nothing to be lost and much to be gained. “Moon child,” he whispered as he emptied himself inside the flesh cave that trapped him.

Exhausted, Orion fell to the side of the bed.

“My wolf,” Julian replied as he half lifted his upper body to rest his head on Orion's chest. The boy squirmed in the bed until he found a comfortable position to nest his head in the crook of Orion's shoulder, the hands tightly holding the man by his waist.

* * *

“Orion, I want to stay with you and that we live together, but if you try again once more slipping drugs into my food or anywhere else, I'll go home,” Julian stated very seriously not a second after both men woke from their slumber.

“Home? You are at home.”

“Home with my mom.” Julian retorted beginning to feel the well known anger rise inside him.

“I understand that you're confused because of what you saw today...”

“I saw nothing today.” Julian rejected Orion's words stubbornly. “Nothing real at all. Everything was the product of a bad trip. It's just ridiculous! People eat carbs and turn into zombies? Overnight? Nothing like this exists or can exist.

“I don't want drugs in my life. I wasn't always so responsible as now, Orion. Nothing big, of course -Julian added hurriedly- but big enough as to visit the E.R. a few times. I don't want to repeat it. Please, understand me.”

“As I said, drugs are not the cause of your visions.”

“Also seeing your friends, customers, patients or whatever they are is nothing for me. I'm not half educated as you are, and there's my brother too. What you do for a living is not fine for me. I don't like it and I don't want that we get into more troubles,” Julian said.

“I will not receive them ever again, if that is your wish. I'm frankly tired of their questions, lack of wisdom and greed,” replied Orion and Julian gaped at him.

The man rose from the bed and quickly disentangled himself of the few clothes he was still wearing, throwing them in a heap in one corner of the room. Julian watched his body with admiration, wondering how he could be so tall and powerfully built if he never exercised or was out of the house. Orion moves were fast and precise; his pose always reminded him of a hunter or Lýkos in the way the wolfdog hunched his head between his shoulders and intensively watched you before making his decision and jump over you.

“How will you make a living?” he shouted to the man walking towards his dresser.

“I have no need of them.” Orion replied from the distance and Julian heard him opening a drawer and the soft beeping of a combination being typed.

“You can't say no to a millionaire or to a Prime Minister,” he commented as a matter of fact.

“You are more important to me than any of them. If you don't want them around, they will go away,” Orion said firmly as he returned to the room and took his place in the bed, sliding under the covers. “Lýkos also hates them,” he added with a mischievous smile.

Julian was speechless. Nobody in his entire life had given up anything for his sake. “That's...”

“Maybe biting all his previous care takers was a carefully elaborated plan to make you come here.” Orion said with a smile as he moved the covers to let the boy slide under them too.

Julian laughed happily, all his fears and sorrows cast away. He came closer to Orion and kissed him on the cheek. “No, I got the job because I tried to bribe him with my lunch,” he whispered secretively. “But he didn't touch it.”

“I'm more and more convinced Lýkos planned it all. How did you come to Sintra?” Orion asked as he unrolled the soft beige leather that covered a ten centimetres leather pouch.

“Through that man we met in Paris, Oliver. He spoke only good things about Sintra. He was from here,” Julian answered with a giggle. “Coming to think, he might have met Lýkos, and he sent him to look for a proper dog-sitter,” he added with a big grin. “One befitting to his royalty,” he added playfully but Orion didn't follow along with his joke.

The man was pensive as he looked at the leather pouch.

Julian watched how Orion fingers finally loosened the ties that closed the pouch. He unpacked a small figurine and shyly offered it to Julian.

The boy took the ivory-like no longer than five centimetres figurine. It depicted a strange looking leopard crouched on its fours legs, all his body in tension, as if it were ready to jump on its prey. Julian admired the delicate way the head was carved, showing the squared jaw, the sharp teeth, the slightly pointed eyes and powerful, wide nose.

“It's wonderful,” Julian said baffled as his finger caressed the back of the animal. “Is it a leopard?” he asked.

“It´s a cave lion. They were slightly bigger than modern lions and their manes were very small. Almost imperceptible. The ears were rounded and protruding. The back had long dark brown stripes like tigers and ended in a tufted tail. Cave lionesses rose their cubs inside the caves and let nobody enter there, fighting with bears and men alike,” Orion explained him gently.

“It's good to have one on your side if you want to defend your house,” he added as Julian was more and more spellbound by the figurine. “It's supposed to be worn around the neck.”

“Where did you get it? Is it ivory?”

“No, it's antler... and I made it.” He took the item from Julian's hands and smoothed the imaginary wrinkles in the leather cord that held it from the rear. “It's for you,” he said as he put it around Julian's neck.

“You made it for me?”

“I made it long time ago. For someone special.”

“Am I special for you?”

“I don't want to lose you,” Orion confessed embarrassed as he wasn't used to such verbal displays of affections. For him, it was enough to see the way the boy touched and watched in awe the lion now pending from his neck. “It's for protection, if the people who were here make you uncomfortable.”

Julian jumped at Orion's neck and kissed him mad with true happiness. “Nobody ever cared so much for me.”

“We are together now,” Orion laced his arms around his new anchor to life. His own tree of salvation, no matter how young and frail it still was.

“Is it true?” Julian asked softly. He didn't need to tell what he was thinking about.

“Could be. What do you think?”

“And then?” Julian didn't want to think on the answer.

“Everything will start again.”