Mature Readers only

Ultimate Desire: Release

1955

“What if the police ever learn of… learn of this? What if they realize all these years you’ve had this person…”

“He is not a person, Paul,” Alex Burgess found himself frustratedly throwing a handful of papers at the nearby desk before turning to face his lover, Paul McGuire, to pout. Paul smiles and tries to console his lover, only to be rebuffed.

“Not now, Paul.”

“Alex,” Paul protested, “Listen to yourself. You talk about him as something of a… of a demon!”

“Not a demon,” Alex sighed and brushed a hand across his beard. His eyes seemed heavy and weary. His brows furrowed in regret, “He’s been down there, Paul. Down there for what… forty or so years now? Never eating. Never sleeping… He’s beautiful. I’ve seen him. I’ve wanted to… to touch him.” Unconsciously, Alex drew the silver heart-shaped lighter from his pocket, “And in some ways, I find myself unable to stop thinking of him.”

Paul frowned.

“The order. My father’s order was not just some party trick to make money and get laid, Paul. There are things about it which are real. Which truly boggle the mind. And I have witnessed many things which I have never told you. Things which I feel you best never experience. I love you too much to risk involving you in all this.”

“Well, if there’s anything good coming out of your mouth right now it is this, Alex,” Paul smiled and gave his lover a hug from behind, “At least you still care. Not like so many others in the rest of the world. So… indifferent.”

* * *

Desire watched as the trickle of water crept between the stone floor’s minute cracks and fissures. He watched as the water slid against the occult markings that kept his prison secure. Watched as the solvent gently… tediously.. tirelessly tore against the symbols until they began to erode.

But perhaps teasingly. Or perhaps coyly. The water would always evaporate before enough damage could be done. And another set of weeks would be needed before the trickle would reach the symbols again.

But what was time to one of the Endless?

And so Desire continued to wait.

* * *

1970

Alex Burgess was the sole owner of the Burgess estate. After many years of successful industry and business, even amidst the terrible events of a world-wide war, the sixty eight year old man found himself wealthy beyond anything he had ever thought he would inherit. With his late father having never had any other children, and his mother now long missing since she walked out on their family when Roderick Burgess, Alex’s father, passed away, Alex found himself with far too much wealth and far little health at the twilight years of his life. Thankfully, his lover and companion, still stood fast by his side.

“You have been here for many years now, demon,” Alex confronted the prostate form of Desire from outside the cage. Paul McGuire was told to wait upstairs. Alex knew better than to let the demon see his lover’s face. “As you can see now, my father’s threats of imprisoning you are sound. Are real. And if anything happens to me, you are quite possibly forever imprisoned in this mortal coil. Surely you would wish to parley now. To consider a bargain of sorts.” A bout of coughing interrupted Alex’s words. He found his mind remembering the page of Liber Fulvarum Paginarum which he had discovered correctly identified his captive: The Queen of Hearts. The King of Want. A sibling of Those Without End. “You can end this torment. End this impotence. This imprisonment. Just swear to me. Promise me you shall never interfere with my life. With my friends. My lovers. Promise me that if we allow you to leave, you shall in turn forever leave us alone.”

Desire looked up at Alex and simply stared back.

1978

The trickle had broken the sigil. A single sigil was all Desire needed for the mystical prison that held him to no longer hold any power over him. And thanks to the patient wait of decades, that mystical prison no longer held any sway over one such as himself.

And yet, Desire simply sat where he was. He looked at the fading symbol and felt the touch of his strength and domain slowly grow once again. But even though he know had enough power to leave, Desire chose to stay.

He did not deem that moment, after all, to be the moment he desired to leave.

1988

Paul McGuire shook his head and laid down the copy of Stephen King’s It on the table, carefully marking the page he had reached with a pencil, then turned to face his lover who barely could leave his wheelchair without help. Now in the ripe old age of 86, Alex Burgess was well aware death was close. All those rampant nights of carefree sex and unprotected couplings were now taking their toll on his body. His doctor did tell him, however, that he was lucky to have reached such a ripe age. Alex Burgess was signing the papers and handed them to his lawyer who then counter-signed the sheets with his own pen. Paul hated what was happening but Alex insisted on it. They were signing papers that would officially transfer all of the Burgess estate to Paul McGuire upon Alex’ demise. Having been gay and never having any children, Alex felt no one better deserved his family’s legacy… and long hidden prisoner.

“Alex, this truly feels absurd. To the least, remember we are barely a decade of difference in age. Perhaps you should bequeath part of your estate to a charity perhaps? Or a relative?” Paul tried to convince his lover even if he knew quite well such protests would fall upon deaf ears.

“No one stands in my heart more than-“ Alex wanted to finish his sentence and say the word “you” but a terrible truth rose into his awareness. Some how, after all those years of passion and love, he could not find any hint of it within his heart. Whatever powerful attachment he had for Paul all those years seemed to not even exist that moment.

“Alex?” Paul noticed Alex’ concerned expression and walked closer to see if his lover needed anything.

“More than..” Alex tried again and realized to say “you” felt like lying. The word suddenly had the same integrity as telling his father he was straight. “More than…”

“Than whom?” a third voice spoke and none save Alex heard its words. The words themselves carried not only strength but a life time of kisses, rough sex and salt-tinged embraces which Alex had always found before when looking into Paul’s eyes.

”No,” Alex cried out and began to frantically attempt to move his wheelchair towards the door. The lawyers nearby stood back, uncertain what had begun to transpire. Paul grabbed hold of the wheelchair and tried to calm Alex down by pressing his face against his shoulder. In the past, that act would always have Alex stop whatever he was doing, then turn to kiss Paul on the temple. Today, however, it merely provoked the Daemon King to shove his head against Paul’s with enough force for Paul to pull back. “I have to get down there! I have to see him! To see him!”

Like press reporters covering an event, the lawyers and Paul quickly followed after Alex, hoping that doing so would lend more sense into the events that were unfolding. Paul knew where they were headed even before Alex began fumbling for the keys leading to the basement.

“I have to see him!”

* * *

Desire wrapped his arms around his knees and waited without a sound in the prison that has long become his home. As Alex finally arrived, his wheelchair carefully carried down the steps leading to the prison, Desire slowly stood up back to full height and offered Alex the most subtle of smiles.

“I finally make your acquaintance once more, Daemon King?”

“You!” Alex screamed and though his doctor constantly reminded him not to strain his heard, the Daemon King continued to yell, demanding that the prisoner explain himself. “How are you doing this! I know this is you. I want-“

Again the words failed to form in Alex Burgess mouth. It was almost as if the whole world suddenly transformed into a buffet table ready for anyone to partake in. Only in this case, the buffet was one of knowledge and social awareness. And all seemed focused on one single woman.

“Who are you…” Paul McGuire called out from behind, standing behind his lover with both hands clamped over the chair. “How did you escape?”

“I have done no such thing,” Desire admitted and motioned towards the leak. “Save what is my place in this reality.”

Alex Burgess felt the sudden explosion of understanding that nothing he had felt for or held on to carried the emotional weight they used to. No one seemed important to him all of the sudden. No one was worth caring over. And in this confrontation of his own fears, Alex Burgess found one lone place where such a feeling of love could be retrieved again.

Desire smiled.

* *

Paul McGuire kept his hands over his face. The images of what had transpired remained seared in his brain. Desire walked over to Alex Burgess and clamped a hand over his long torpid member with one hand while the other slid against the old man’s chest. Flickering a cigarette from seemingly out of nowhere, the Queen of Hearts brought the cigarette close to Alex’ face. “Got a light?”

The vibrant hues of fiery gold and orange erupted from Desire’s bosom as the heart-shaped lighter was gently placed onto his hand. Like a volcano that erupted dancing fire works and rainbows, Desire felt the first surge of his greater potential coming back to mingle in his essence.

“Please.. I never wanted you to stay imprisoned,” Paul cried out like a child. Desire stared at him for a moment, before leaving. “I always told Alex it might be best to simply let you go and turn a blind-eye. You must believe me!” Like a half-remembered tryst, Paul felt he knew what was to happen yet prayed something else would instead. And frighteningly, he was right. Desire walked up to Paul and found him weeping at the corner, too frightening to say a coherent word. “Enough,” Desire told him, “My vengeance shall not require you tonight.”

“Why are you doing this?” Alex Burgess called out in vain.

“Because I desire to do so. Today. And none save Desire can make that decision without question,” Desire allowed a touch of his power to explode outwards, filling Alex with regrets, and showering them all with the immense realization that the night was just beginning.

- end of issue 5 -
Ultimate Desire
by Tobie Abad

Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos