It all started with a morning walk.
Jeremy had never been a fan of waking up early, but that day, he couldn't sleep. His thoughts circled Julie, as if his mind had chosen its path to follow. He dressed carelessly, as usual: a black hoodie, dark pants, messy hair. He stepped out of the house and walked without direction.
They met by chance. Julie was sitting by the fountain in the city center, wrapped in a cream-colored scarf, a cup of coffee in her hand. Her red hair was wilted from the morning mist, but her smile was so warm, it made everything feel brighter.
Jeremy stopped. After a moment, he sat next to her without asking. Julie looked at him, surprised but unafraid. She always looked at him like that — as if nothing scared her, not even his darkness.
"I thought you'd still be asleep," she said, glancing at her watch.
"I couldn't. My brain likes to mess with me first thing in the morning."
She smiled softly and took a sip of her coffee.
"Then you're in the right place. I like to think here, too. It's like everything slows down for a bit."
Jeremy watched her face. Despite the pink blush on her cheeks and her frozen hands, she looked stunning. She was so easy to love, and so difficult to hold on to.
At one point, their eyes met. Their gaze lingered longer than it should have. In that silence, words weren't needed. Something between them was growing — slowly, gently, but relentlessly.
"You know you're… different?"
"In a bad way?"
"In the most interesting way I know."
He moved a little closer. Julie didn't move away, not even an inch. He could smell her — soft, floral, completely improper on a gray morning. His heart beat faster. Something was changing. He felt it inside.
Their hands barely brushed in the air, but that touch left more than just a trace on his skin.
And then, Rosalie appeared.
She stood on the other side of the square. Watching them like a shadow that couldn't be shaken off. Her eyes burned with pure jealousy, her smile was too calm, too sure of itself. Jeremy shivered at the sight of her in the background. Julie hadn't noticed her yet.
But that moment was theirs. Before the shadow would take over again.
Rosalie didn't move an inch. She stood still, arms crossed over her chest. Her gaze was heavy, crushing. Someone might have thought it was a coincidence — that she was just passing by. But Jeremy knew she had been looking for them. That she had been watching all along.
At night, she would send him messages he never opened. Words that disappeared before he could read them. Occasionally, he found notes by his locker. Handwritten, unsigned, but always with the same message: "I see you."
Julie didn't know anything about it. And Jeremy had no intention of telling her. Not yet. Not now.
Because Rosalie was like fog — the more he tried to understand her, the less he could see. But he knew one thing: she wanted something. And she wouldn't let go.
Not of him.
Not of Julie.
*
Rosalie didn't need to be close to feel everything.
She was like darkness lurking just beneath the skin — relentless, cold, but alive. In her world, nothing happened accidentally. Every whisper, every gesture, every glance Julie gave Jeremy — she absorbed it like hunger. Because Julie had something that was hers.
Rosalie had known Jeremy longer. She knew things about him that even he wasn't aware of. She could read his mood by the way he ran his hand through his hair. Furthermore, she could tell when he was angry, when he was lying, and when he wanted something. Oh yes, she knew his desires. Some of them, she had planted herself.
Because she had access to dreams. She could slip into his subconscious and whisper the things she wanted. Dreams filled with fire, shadows, and kisses that left a mark after waking. She was the daughter of Lucifer — boundaries didn't apply to her.
Watching him from the shadows, she held herself back from reacting. Not now. Not yet.
She had waited too long for her turn.
Her dark eyes — far too piercing for an ordinary teenage girl — gleamed beneath the trees. She didn't move, not even when Julie and Jeremy stood up and slowly began to walk away. She knew Julie was already sensing something. Women always did. Instinct.
But instinct wouldn't be enough to protect her.
Rosalie smirked to herself. The real game was only just beginning. And she… she was a master at tearing bonds apart.
"We'll meet again, Julie," she whispered into the emptiness.
And she followed them. From a distance — but close enough that they'd never truly lose sight of her… even if they weren't aware of it yet.
*
Julie couldn't stop thinking about that touch.
Jeremy's hand had been cold, but not in the usual way. It wasn't the chill of the morning — it was like touching the air just before a storm. The energy that surged through her body left her trembling inside. She went home with her head full of questions, but not a single answer came.
Jeremy, on the other hand, felt something more.
In the mirror, his pupils dilated too quickly, as if light no longer had any power over him. The skin on the back of his neck itched, as if something was trying to break free. He looked at his hands — his nails, though trimmed, had a darker hue, as if a different kind of blood ran beneath them.
Rosalie was already inside his head. She had whispered to him in his sleep, but now… presently she had begun whispering while he was awake. Her voice was like the rustle of leaves at night — impossible to silence.
"She doesn't understand you. But I do."
Jeremy shut his eyes and shook his head, as if he could shake the echo of her voice loose.
But he couldn't.
*
Julie was walking home from school, taking a shortcut through the old cemetery. It was supposedly dangerous, supposedly improper — but she wasn't afraid of the dead. The living scared her more. At least until now.
She didn't notice she was being watched.Rosalie followed a few steps behind, like a shadow that blended into the world. Her shoes made no sound, and her gaze was still — empty.
"You know he doesn't belong to you, right?" she said suddenly.
Julie spun around. Her heart raced, but she didn't let fear take over.
"Excuse me?"
"Jeremy. You think he's just some ordinary guy? "Rosalie raised a brow, closing the distance between them step by step." He's not from this world, Julie. And soon… you won't be either."
Julie took a step back. Then another. There was something in the girl's eyes that wasn't human. Cold. Deep as a chasm. And familiar… as if she had dreamed of her before.
Rosalie stopped and smiled.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of you. I'll do it out of love."
Before Julie could react, Rosalie vanished. As if she had never been there. Only the echo of her words remained — sounding like a curse.