High atop the tower of an old church, where time had stopped centuries ago, Rosalie sat on the cold stone, gazing down at the town stretched below. Darkness wrapped around her like a second skin. Her eyes burned with fury and humiliation.
Jeremy had rejected her.
But it didn't matter.
He was just a boy who didn't yet know the truth of his destiny. She, on the other hand, was the daughter of Lucifer — his heir.
She had time. And a plan.
Shadows swirled around her, whispering promises and curses. With her eyes closed, she listened. For decades, she had studied with the darkest infernal beings — learning how to bend reality, break souls, and forge bonds that could never be undone.
In the center of the floor, a magical circle burned. At its heart glowed a crystal orb, within which faces flickered: Jeremy, Julie, Jack, Alison. Their fates were intertwined — and Rosalie intended to pull every string.
She raised her hands and whispered in an ancient tongue. Waves of energy rippled through the chamber, turning the air into something thick and electric.
"I have to break her first," she murmured. "Julie. Once she's gone... Jeremy will have nowhere to return to."
She closed her eyes. A new vision bloomed in her mind — one where Julie lost her sanity, where her deepest fears became real, and Jeremy — too late — realized that the only one who truly understood him was Rosalie.
The plan was simple.
First nightmares.
Then illusions.
And finally, one single event that would shatter everything they had built.
Rosalie smiled and lifted the orb into the air.
"It's time to start the fun."
*
Julie woke up screaming.
Her body was drenched in sweat, the pillow crumpled, and her heart pounded as if it would tear through her chest. For a moment, she couldn't catch her breath, unsure where she was. Her room — familiar, quiet, pastel — felt foreign. Everything was too quiet. Too… unreal.
She slid her feet onto the floor and walked to the mirror. Her face was pale, dark circles shadowed her eyes — ones that hadn't been there yesterday. But the worst part was something else — the mark.
A red imprint on her neck, as if someone had grabbed her by the throat.
She touched it, a cold shiver racing down her spine. It wasn't just a dream's remnant. It was… something more.
She looked at her phone. 03:03.
Always the same hour.
For several nights, she had the same dream. The cold tower. The girl with black eyes and a smile that never faded. Julie had never seen her before, yet she felt that this being knew every corner of her soul.
"Jeremy is mine."
Those words echoed in her head every time she woke from the nightmare.
She had started to fear falling asleep. But that wasn't enough anymore.
Now, she feared waking up too.
At school, she avoided people's eyes. Jeremy noticed first — her quiet replies, the moments of distraction, the trembling hand over a page. But she didn't tell him everything. How could she? How could she explain that she feared something was entering her dreams?
That she felt something inside her slipping away?
In the girls' bathroom, right after the last class, she looked into the mirror. And for a split second — just a heartbeat — she saw something else in the reflection. A girl. The same one from her dreams. Wearing a black dress, her eyes alight with shadow.
Julie spun around.
No one was there.
But she knew it was only the beginning.
*
The school emptied faster than usual. Silence settled in the corridors, as if the walls themselves knew something was coming.
Julie had returned for a forgotten book. When she entered the biology lab, the lights flickered, and the air turned heavy, saturated with something nameless — something felt in the bones.
At first, she thought it was just stress. Sleepless nights and nightmares.
But then she heard her.
"They always choose the good girls," a whisper came from right behind her.
Julie froze. She turned sharply, heart leaping into her throat.
She was there. Not as a shadow. Not as a dream wraith. Rosalie. Real. Tangible. Her figure seemed to pulse with darkness, as though a mist surrounded her that didn't belong to this world.
Her skin had a pallor that wasn't natural. It was… unearthly. And her eyes — black as the void — reflected no light.
"Who… who are you?" Julie managed, backing toward the teacher's desk.
"Oh, but you know me well," Rosalie said, smiling slowly, deliberately, as if savoring each word. "I've been with you through many nights. And I'll be with you through many more."
Julie stepped sideways, but the door slammed shut behind her. The lights went out completely. The only glow was the reddish shimmer radiating from Rosalie.
"Leave me alone!" Julie cried, but her voice quivered.
Rosalie vanished for a fraction of a second — and reappeared right in front of her.
"I'm not here to hurt you. Not yet." Her voice was calm, even tender. "I just want you to know… you won't win. You can't have him. He's mine. He was mine long before you."
Julie trembled. But in her eyes, a spark of defiance lit up.
"He doesn't belong to anyone."
Rosalie stepped closer until only inches separated them. She placed a cold hand on Julie's cheek.
"We'll see about that."
From her fingertips, black tendrils began to seep — darkness that slid beneath Julie's skin like a shadow under flesh. The girl screamed, trying to pull away, but her body froze for a moment.
Rosalie looked at her as though she were painting something onto her soul. A mark. A bond. A warning.
And then she vanished.
The air lightened.
The lights flicked back on as if nothing had happened.
Only Julie collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath — knowing something had changed.
And that the nightmares had just crossed into reality.