Give the Devil his due

GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE:

I was driving along a dark, misty road when suddenly I realized I was lost, not just lost but totally lost. Not only did I not know where I was, but didn’t know why I was lost, or even where, how I had come to be here.
The road turned into a bumpy dirt track with no room to stop and turn back, so there was no choice but to continue.
Eventually the car came up to a large set of dilapidated iron gates, hanging at an angle. Without really knowing why I drove through and cruised slowly along a drive way. Moments later the sight of a huge mansion loomed out of the fog, right in front of me. I slammed my foot on the brakes and stared up at it.
I was looking at a three storey house, in the middle of nowhere, tall, dark, ramshackle. It didn’t look like it had been used in years, yet somehow it seemed hauntingly familiar.
I stepped out of the car and took a closer look, trying to avoid the muddy puddles, and then it came to me, this was Maria’s dream home, the house she had described for me on many occasions, the house she had one day dreamed of living in. The only problem was that the house only ever existed in her mind.
I silently cursed myself for even thinking about Maria. The Doctor had warned me to put that woman out of my mind, but how do you forget someone who you totally worship, but who disappears from your life, and I don’t mean just that she leaves you, but totally vanishes, never to be seen again. No word, no letter, no sign. Maria totally vanished almost ten years ago, in fact exactly ten years ago today.
How could it have been ten years ago? It only felt like months, maybe it was all that time spent, recovering from the breakdown. You don’t lose a woman like that without it leaving scars.
I walked up some steps to the front door, and knocked. The door swung open and I walked inside. Cobwebs caught on my face and I clawed them off frenziedly. My god what am I doing here? How did I even get here?
Glancing around me, I could see a huge hallway, with doors leading in different directions, and a mammoth staircase in front of me.
I paused, considering what to do now. This place was clearly deserted, so no chance of using a phone, calling for help. I should probably just turn around and go back the way I’d come. In fact I was turning around when I heard it. I stopped and glanced back. What was that? For a moment it sounded like a laugh, somebody in the house laughing, surely not, there could be nobody here. I must be imagining it.
There it was again, unmistakable this time, a woman’s laugh, coming from upstairs, impossible though that seems. What should I do? Go or stay.
My curiosity got the better of me and I approached the staircase.
“Is there anybody there? “ I asked loudly. The laughter stopped and suddenly I heard a loud, frenzied, piercing scream of terror.
Without hesitation I charged up the staircase, reaching the top in seconds, turning left, then right, trying to pinpoint the source of the scream. The left. I ran across a galleried landing and found myself facing a closed door. Instinct told me there was no time to waste, so I kicked it open and burst into the room.

Inside the room I could see a shape crouched on the floor, a woman, clutching her stomach. Blood poured from between her fingertips. My god what had happened here. I ran to her side and knelt down.
“What’s happened?” I asked. “You’re hurt. Let me help you. “
She looked up at me then, and I recoiled in shock as the face of Maria glared at me. I stood up, stepped back and faced her. She also stood up, took her hands from her stomach and I saw clearly a large knife protruding from her stomach. Blood oozed from around it, her garments saturated in red liquid.
“My god, Maria, I, I don’t believe it, what‘s happened here,?... where have you been? What is this place?  I don’t understand. “
“Tony, “she said in a quiet voice. “ Don’t you remember? “
“You left me, ten years ago you walked out on my life without a word, you just vanished, No one ever found out where you went. Where have you been? What’s happened to you now? “
She laughed, loudly once more and I recognized this as the laugh I had heard before. Despite the knife in her body she seemed unaffected by it.
“Good questions my love, “she said. “ Questions you deserve answers for, let me tell you what happened to me?  Are you really sure you want to know though? “
“Dear god yes, I’ve been out of my mind with worry. My life has been an empty shell since you left. I must know what happened to you, I must know everything. Tell me it all. “
“Very well dearest one, “she smiled. “ Do you remember our last night together? “
“Of course I do, “I promised, casting my mind back ten years, “we,…. We…. “I paused, but no words came out. My mind was a complete blank. I couldn’t remember the last time we had been together. “I,…. I don’t know. “
“I know you don’t “she told me. “ Let me remind you my love. “
She walked closer to me now, and I shuddered, seeing how hollow her eyes seemed, how gaunt her face was. Something terrible had clearly happened and I hoped I was strong enough to hear it.
“I come from an old family, a very old family, my ancestors date back to the 17th century, and we have always been a family that dabbled in the arts,… the dark arts, Witchcraft, devil worship. More than one of my family was burned at the stake in olden times, but you never knew that, not until that last night we spent together. “
As she spoke I felt a sudden throbbing in my head, dull but frequent. Absently I placed a hand to my temple. She giggled.
“I am a true member of my family, “Maria continued. “ Without your knowledge I carried on my family traditions. I summoned demons to me, and found myself face to face with the Devil himself, I knelt before him and sold my soul, in return for my dream, this house,…. The dream of my whole life. I had never seen it, but knew of it,.. My family ancestral home, I always wanted it, but you never understood how I could want so much, something I had never seen. I wanted it and gave everything to possess it. “
“This is insane,” I protested, but by now the throbbing in my head was building, becoming quite painful.
“I sold my soul to the devil, to be collected upon my death, a fair bargain as I come from a family who live a long time, and I believed that using some of the dark arts, learned from my family I might ensure that death would not collect me for a long time, But Give the devil his due, he sees all, he knows all and he knows how to seal a bargain.
He turned himself into a man and made love to me, mad, passionate love, filled with raptures of ecstasy I had never known before, I had never felt so out of control, so abandoned and wanton. And then you walked in.
My rapture turned to shock and then rage and I cursed you to hell, promised you eternal torments for daring to invade this moment, and then of course my new Master claimed his prize as you, in your own rage stabbed me with this very same knife, impaled me upon it and took my life, just when I was due to achieve my dream.
You killed me my love, And sent me to hell, where the master harvested my soul for eternity,… but as I died I remembered my curse. “She was now laughing maniacally.
“This is crazy, this can’t be happening, if that happened I would know it, I would remember, “I shrieked back at this crazy harpy.
“Oh that is the jest dear one, “she gloated. “ You killed me and it drove you mad, the very act, the shock of killing one you loved so much took your mind. You retreated into a shell, became a vegetable, You spent the last ten years in a mental institution, burying all memory of what happened, convincing yourself that I walked out on you,… denying your part,.. Until at last you actually believed it yourself, and finally they released you and you got into a car and came here, at my call, not knowing who or how, just that you must, because I cursed you and now is the time of  revenge,.. Here in my home, the one I wanted, given to me by the master, but of course I was dead, so I exist as a spectre in a ghostly house, waiting for you so I can complete the curse and begin an eternity of torment in the devil’s domain. “
It all came back to me now, the throbbing in my skull exploded as the barriers in my mind crumbled and I saw it happen. I plunged the knife into her body and killed the love of my life, and went mad. It came back to me with horrific clarity and I dropped to my knees, sobbing.
“I’m sorry, so, so sorry, “I croaked. “ I just loved you so much. “
“Oh I forgive you lover, “she laughed, “and just to show you how much I’m going to take you with me, You never wanted to lose me, so now we’ll be together for ever,…. In hell. “
Before I could do or say anything, the flesh fell from her bones and a skeletal shape leaped across the room, wrapping its arms around me. Withered, dusty lips locked onto mine and I tried to scream, but it was too late, ten years too late to save me now.