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He could no longer look away from her face as she sang so sadly and beautifully. Her hand, white with velvety skin, rested on his rough cheek. He could no longer feign indifference. He placed his own enormous hand on hers, and the other wrapped his arm around her waist. They stood together, her hand barely reaching his neck. This amused him so much that he smiled devilishly. Slowly, he felt Julia lower her hand from his cheek and move it to his muscular chest. He gently, like a frail bird, held her so tightly, so she wouldn't escape or accidentally harm her. They stood there in silence, hundreds of bright stars twinkling above them, visible between the crowns of the slender trees. Julia rested her head on his body. She wanted to absorb the energy radiating from him, because she knew he wouldn't come to her anytime soon; she could read it in his eyes. I have to leave her soon, he thought. Why did this love for an earthling happen to me? I want to feel her warmth all the time. His embrace tightened around her. She felt Demon losing control. She had to act quickly. "Demon," she whispered, and then she was screaming, "Demon! Wake up from your nightmares." He didn't hear her. The embrace grew tighter and tighter. "I can't lose her," his lips pressed together in determination. "I can't!" he repeated through gritted teeth. Julia managed to stand on her tiptoes. She was thinking fast now. She would do it, even though she had doubts. It was now or never. She gathered her courage, her lips touching his. Kissing him, she felt his grip slowly weaken. How he wished this moment could last forever, he realized he hadn't been in control, and it embarrassed him. He blushed—for the first time in his centuries-old life, he realized he'd spilled the belt on himself, and it was because of a woman! Because he could have hurt her! She saw his fear of being discovered and the obvious surprise at his own reaction. She pitied him, but she couldn't resist the irony. She couldn't, and still can't, remain silent in such situations. "Oh, my demon! You're burning! Not from fever!" Her shimmering laughter interrupted the nocturnal aria of the eagle owls. He couldn't help but laugh with her. He took her hand, and they walked together, along the narrow path, arm in arm, into the forest thicket, all the forest creatures bowing to them from hiding. "Demon! The night will be over soon; you'll disappear again. When will I see you?" Her eyes were full of tears. He felt a contraction around the lump. "Julia, you know I can't be with you often – duties. We are worlds apart – you know. Demon, is there a way for me to always be with you? You know that I belong to this world only in body, but not in soul, because it lives only for you and you," she whispered quietly, not looking into his eyes. "I love you, Demon. Julia, my love, you love me," you said it for the first time. A demonic smile appeared on his face, full of cunning, cunning, joy, and touching love. He embraced her unexpectedly and lifted her up, soThe moonlight bathed her figure in a wondrous glow. Now she looked like a mermaid, he thought, with her flowing dark hair illuminated by the silver glow, her dazzling smile, and her sparkling eyes. She laughed. He truly loved her; he hadn't rejected her. He had given her hope.

"Julia, there's only one way for us to be together forever, for you to belong only to my world," he said seriously, setting her down on the moss that covered the path they were standing on and hugging her so he could look into her eyes. "What?" she asked, looking into his eyes and struggling to wrap her arms around his waist. "You have to kill yourself. But I'll understand if you refuse," he said, hiding the hope that she would agree to it in his calm voice. "Kill yourself?! Do I have to kill myself to live???!" Demon. Her words were interrupted by sobs. "I don't know if I can. Let me think about it, give me a moment. You know I'm connected to this world by family ties, school. Do you understand? Right?" she asked pleadingly, sobbing. "I understand," he whispered, hugging her. "I will always wait for you, my love." He held her close as the stars began to fade and the moon began to fade. "I must leave soon, Julia, it's dawn already. I know," she replied sadly. The sun began to rise. "How I hate that golden glow," she thought, "that moment when my beloved demon departs." She waved him goodbye, smiling as her heart wept at the sight of his sad, dim hazel eyes and dark, Job-like smile. He seemed much older, more stooped, and weary than usual. She already knew she wanted to be with him, even at the cost of her own life.

Julia stood on the edge of a precipice. She already knew the choice she would make—reject the demon and the happiness he offered her. You probably think she was crazy to choose what she did—the gray of the morning, the sadness of the faces surrounding her, and the lack of hope for a better tomorrow. Julia knew what she was doing; she couldn't have done otherwise—it would have been easier to kill herself—one moment of pain and the end, or only the beginning of eternity?

She wasn't ready for that yet. Why? It was a strange story.

It was a day like any other, she was alone as always, her eyes fixed on the ground, her heart fluttering in the wind, and there was a warm sun that enveloped her with its rays. There was the mouse hole and its gray inhabitant, bustling within her own domain. Julia pondered when to join the demon. She would give him her answer that evening. She loved him as deeply as only she could say. She cried for how long, not even knowing what she was thinking. Her mind was blank, and only one constant thought possessed her senses—death. However, she didn't know that one more thing would happen to her, something that would change her—one that would give her hope that the demon wouldn't reject her when she turned away from him. She left, suddenly and unexpectedly, for a long time, to an unspecified destination for the Black Spirit. She won the lottery, as some say, but for her, it was a lost cause. She went to a tropical island. Completely alone with her own thoughts, but in the end, they forgave her the promised trip. Sitting on the soft sandy beach, gazing into the distance at those untamed sea waves, she felt that this was not her time, that she couldn't disappear now. The reward for a life well lived is eternity, she thought.

The next evening, the Demon appeared—he was behind a fog barrier—he couldn't approach her—and yet he asked her if she was ready. He must have sensed something, because his voice trembled. Julia, crouching down, not meeting his eyes, replied quietly, but surely it would never happen in her lifetime. He said nothing—only something like a tear glistened in his eyes, dark with pain—he turned and left. She screamed as he left, swallowing his own salty tears of despair, but he didn't hear her, or maybe he didn't want to hear her? She lay curled up for a long time, crying, knowing she could have been happy. Only the rustle of the wind and its gentle touch roused her from her lethargy. She rose and tremblingly walked toward the cliff. She stood for a long moment at the very top, watching the sunrise. She felt nothing, could say nothing. A seagull directed her gaze to the white mast of hope, its white canvas shimmering with a million bright colors, which she interpreted as an omen of a better tomorrow. But that would never come for her. The demon would never appear again. Or perhaps? Someday, when she summoned him in despair, would he appear? Or perhaps not? Perhaps he would find another Julie, one who would lose her soul for him and whom he would reject?

Two weeks later, Julia returned to her gray, miserable everyday life, from which she constantly forced herself to snatch moments of joy that were, are, and will always be, only an illusion and a foretaste of her true destiny.