Jeremy felt that something was coming.
His dreams had become more intense, and the line between sleep and wakefulness was growing thinner. Every night, Rosalie came closer. Not as a shadow, not as a whisper. Now, she touched him. She left a mark on the back of his neck, as if sealing his skin with something invisible.
This time, he hadn't fallen asleep in his bed. He was dozing off at school, in the library, in the back of the computer lab, on the subway. And every moment of closed eyes was like a descent into a separate world where Rosalie was the only rule.
He found her once at the edge of the forest.
It was too quiet. The trees didn't move in the wind, the moonlight felt fixed like a theater stage. Rosalie stood in the middle of this stillness, wearing a dark coat that reached the ground. Her hands were bare, and her eyes glowed with a familiar light — the light of Lucifer.
"Jeremy," she said his name with such calm, as if she had always known it. "Do you see who you are now?"
He stepped closer, uncertain. He could smell ash and sweet myrrh. Furthermore, he couldn't look away.
"What did you do to Julie?" he asked softly, barely moving his lips.
Rosalie raised an eyebrow.
"Not yet anything. But since you ask... maybe you're ready for a deal."
She raised her hand. Between her fingers hung a red ring with a symbol he recognized from one of his old dreams. A seal. A bond. Power.
"What is that?"
"Something that can bind us. Forever. Or until you decide otherwise." She smiled lazily. "But be careful, Jeremy. You have darkness in your blood. And you might love it more than you love Julie."
He stepped back. For a moment, he felt the earth tremble beneath his feet. As if the world was warning him.
But Rosalie only laughed.
"You'll come back. You always return to the source."
*
Julie ran out of the classroom, leaving her notebook and backpack on the desk. Her breath was quick. Something was wrong. Her heart pounded wildly, though she couldn't say why. Instinct screamed for her to move. To find Jeremy.
She found him on the field. He was standing alone, staring into the distance, as if he was listening to something.
"Jeremy!" she shouted, and her voice echoed.
He turned. There was something new in his eyes. Something strange. As if he saw her and didn't see her at the same time. As if he were fighting something inside.
"You have to trust me," he said quietly when she reached him.
"What's going on?"
"Rosalie. I'm trying to..." he stopped. "She doesn't stop. She creeps into dreams. Into thoughts. Now I even feel her when I'm near you."
Julie grabbed his wrist.
"You're here with me. And you're not going anywhere."
Suddenly, the wind picked up. The air thickened. A cracking sound came from behind them. Like the earth splitting open. Jeremy turned sharply — behind the school building, a dark figure emerged. Rosalie. She didn't walk. She glided. Shadows swirled around her. The grass withered beneath her.
"Well, we've got a problem," Jeremy said, pushing Julie behind him.
"You can't run, Jeremy," Rosalie called. Her voice was calm, yet disturbingly loud. "You've already made your choice. And it will find you, even if you pretend you want otherwise."
A faint blackness began to seep from his hands. Julie froze.
"Jeremy... your hands."
He looked at them. Smoke. Power. His blood was no longer dormant.
Rosalie smiled wider.
"It's beginning."
Jeremy stood between Rosalie and Julie, feeling his body stretch to its limits. The smoke rising from his hands coiled, wrapping around his wrists like it wanted to pull him inward — into himself. Into the place where the truth about who he was lay hidden.
"You don't have to do this," he said to Rosalie, though his voice was hoarse. "It doesn't have to end this way."
"Oh, but it does," she replied, stepping closer. Her feet didn't touch the ground. "You see, Jeremy... I'm the only one who doesn't want you to pretend you're someone else. With her, you'll be no one. With me — you'll be everything."
Julie stepped forward, ignoring the warnings in her head.
"He'll decide who he becomes," she said firmly, though she trembled.
Rosalie looked at her coldly. Instantly, the wind howled again, and the sky turned gray. Everything around them was soaked in chill, as if shadows had sucked the light out. Her eyes flared red.
"You understand nothing, girl. He doesn't belong to you."
Jeremy felt his heart pounding, but this time not from fear. From fury. He stepped in front of Julie, raised his hands. Darkness swirled, pulsing like a heartbeat. His breath quickened, and his eyes darkened.
"Don't you dare touch her," he said. "I'm not your weapon."
Rosalie laughed, short and scornful.
"Not yet. But you're getting closer."
She extended her hand, and a shadowy streak shot from her fingers toward him. Jeremy instinctively repelled it with a wave of raw energy. The air exploded, the earth trembled. Julie screamed and jumped back, shielding her face.
Rosalie took a step back. For the first time, she looked surprised.
"You have more than I thought," she murmured. "And that's precisely why you must be mine."
Jeremy felt something opening inside him. As if a seal had broken. His body was enveloped in a hot aura, energy pulsing between his fingers. He looked at Rosalie, then at Julie.
"I'll never let you control her again."
He started walking toward Rosalie. With each step, his power grew, and the ground beneath him cracked with thin veins of energy.
Rosalie looked at him with a mix of awe and fear.
"We'll see, Jeremy," she whispered. "We'll see who's left on your shoulder when everything else is gone."
She vanished instantly. Swallowed by shadow, as if she had never been there.
Silence fell. Only Jeremy's heavy breathing and Julie's trembling figure remained on the ruined field, under a pale sky that just moments ago had been full of light.
Jeremy dropped to his knees. The smoke disappeared. His eyes returned to normal.
Julie came closer, knelt beside him.
"You're not alone. Even if she comes back... you're not alone."
She embraced him. And for the first time in many days, he allowed himself to close his eyes — without fear.