Evelyn made her payment to The Devil .....

As soon as I close my eyes to sleep next to my snoring husband, I'm instantly back there in that god forsaken place, back where it all started, the smell of pig shit stinging my eyes as I muck out their pen, how I hate these beastly animals, with their foul stench and revolting noises.

This is my job on my family farm, bequeathed to me by my retched step-mother, she told my father it would build character but I know she only put me out here to prove a point - she's now in charge.

My step brothers love to tease me as I work "ohh ladyship of the sty" they call out "how is your kingdom of shit today", I sling a shovel of steaming shit in the morons direction but they simply laugh - they didn't inherit their mother's cunning disposition, they are hapless fools, who should have been drowned at birth.

My only moment of peace from this hellish existence is when I slink off to meet my blood sisters by our tree.

My mother, before she died, was the head of our coven, blood sisters.

From birth she taught me the ways of magic, she was a gifted witch who was respected throughout the land, she worshiped the earth and the elements, taught us all to be careful with our secrets and above all to only cast with a pure heart and never mix with the dark side.

Where did her Nobel behaviour get her.... six feet under, her husband re-marrying the town slag and her only child shovelling shit .... I'll be dammed if the same fate is passed on to me.

That's why when the moon had been full six months ago, I called out to the one, that all witches fear and god herself had cast out. I creep out whilst everyone is a sleep and I light a black candle made of wax and the bones of a black crow, I dance naked under our tree, I slaughtered my father's prized goat as tribute, then bath in his blood to prove my alliance.

I wait there until sunrise but he never appears, enraged I stormed home convinced that even Devil himself wanted nothing to do with me. I was to be condemned to this life.

Broken and disheartened, I bitterly accepted my fate, until the following month, when the moon was full and at its strongest he came a knocking.

As the darkness washes over our farm, then the rain began to fall as if intended to wash away all of humanity. Unable to sleep I watch on, praying everything would be taken away by a great flood, that I'd wake to carnage and chaos and laugh in their faces as they mourn the loss of this shitty hellhole.

My wonderful daydream is broken as I hear the sudden high pitch squeals, that pierce my brain from the pigs pen. They are not normally loud creatures just a revolting snort here and there, to hear them squeal like this is unheard off.

Curiosity creeps over me, what has terrified these mindless creatures. I sneak out in the beating rain, praying they'd all been devoured by a wild beast so I'll never have to muck out their disgusting pen again. As sly as a fox, I tread closer, excitement bubbling through my veins as I venture closer to the gates.

Even my wildest imagination could not have prepared me for the bloodshed that laid before me, the muddy sty is crimson red as the blood mixes with the rain, scattered everywhere is half devoured carcasses and limbs. A pigs head that had been ripped from his body lay in a muddy blood puddle, his eyes glassy staring at the night sky with fear imprinted on his bewildered face.

I shuffle back not wanting to meet the beast that was capable of such a brutal carnage.

I turn to run then hear his voice call my name on the whistling wind "Evelyn", I freeze by the familiarity of his tone. I turn to watch as the blood soaked ground shakes with unbridled rage, the rain that mightily poured down with such force starts to retreat and go back up to the sky in reverse as if the clouds were calling it home.

Hooves squelch in the blood soaked ground as whatever massacred the pigs slowly approaches from  around the corner from behind the hay bail, a deep animalistic growl snarls venomously in my direction.

Frozen, I quiver with fear, my drenched clothes clinging to my shaking body, I'm unable to move.

The shadow of a 6ft beast half man half goat emerges towards me at my feet, I turn around looking for the owner; the body of this shadow but there is nothing, the dark reflection that cast this evil shadow that's before me.

"Where are you?" I whisper into the darkness.

Laughter erupts around me so loud, I feel cornered, as if I was a performer on a stage while the audience mock me "I'm here Evelyn, you called and I came, what is it you want from me little girl?"

The air around me is stale, with death lingering. The moon illuminating the pig sty, is the only light and seems to shine brighter than I ever noticed before. I ease backwards ready to run as far and fast as my legs will take me.

"I wouldn't do that" the voice growls as if he has read my thoughts.

But nevertheless I turn on my heals, ready to run for my life but before I had the chance to put one foot in front of the other, a searing pain rips through my back as he claws away at my flesh from my left shoulder to my right hip. It's burns as if I'd been set on fire as the cold air hits the gaping wound. I fall to my knees as I scream out to the heavens in agony praying the prayer of a desperate lost soul - sanctuary from the devil.

"They don't hear you, they don't care for the turmoil and misery of the human life up there, pray all you like it falls on deaf ears. I'm sorry for my rash actions but you did rather force my hand little girl, let's start again - why did you call me?"

"I'm sorry, so sorry I made a mistake" I plead.

"There is no mistake, you and I know you are living a life not fit for purpose, you want more and why shouldn't you? Why should you hide your true powers and bend a knee to others when you and I know you are destined for so much more than these bags of rotting flesh could comprehend".

My head jolts back as my bloodied locks are yanked so my head is facing the night sky, with the thousand sparkling stars that look down at my pitiful state, he leans in and growls in my ear, his stench is overpowering he smells like a thousand decaying corpses, "I can give you everything you desire, all you need to do is ask but bear in mind... everything comes, little girl, at a price".

"What would you want?"

"It's not what I want but what I can give you, that you should be concerned about; eternal life and beauty, unrestricted power not tied to the laws of man or witch but harnessed from the pits of hell, you would walk this land unstoppable".

He releases my hair and runs his heavy calloused clawed hand through my matted locks, like a mother does when she's trying to soothe her child.

"What do I need to do?"

"You will get a job within the house of master Alexander, his wife is to become very unwell, upon her death you will take her place. You will shortly become with child a little girl, this act will unite his heart and loyalties to you, one week after the child is born you will take that child in to the shadow of night, seen by no one and burn it in the woods underneath your tree. You will convince your husband that witches are responsible for your child's untimely disappearance and that you believe it was the blood sisters".

"I can't, I couldn't possibly do that to my child or my sisters!"

"It is your choice but my offer will expire, if by the next full moon you have not seduced master Alexander, you will live and die the rest of your life in this pig sty. Think carefully little girl, do you think your beloved sisters wouldn't burn you at the stake for unlimited power, money and beauty if I offered them my help".

"They wouldn't do that".

"Ohhh little naive one, every human that walks this land sins, if they didn't there would be no need for me but very few have the good sense to barter for the best price for their soul".

My body jolts up, heart pounding, as my mind jumps from sleeping state into awake, disjointed and disorientated but relieved I'm no longer there, in that time, in that place. It was a memory.

My nose and throat burns from the memory of the smoke I inhaled from my decision I made 313 years ago, the decision to sacrifice my first born daughter to preserve my future then my sisters, I know that my punishment is to be haunted by her death as long as I walk this earth.

My mind will never let me forget her desperate screams as I threw her on to the flames or how her skin crackled and blackened in the fire that devoured her - the image of her little charred remains as the smoke surrounded me in a death vail - this aura has continually clung to my tainted soul ever since.

I regret very little but that - But a decision was made and I now have to live with it.

Eternal life, beauty and power comes at a price.