Your new roommate has been acting odd lately.

At first, it was the little things. His eyes would flicker in dim light, like they were catching shadows no one else could see. Sometimes you’d swear he was whispering to himself in Russian at 3 a.m., pacing the hallway like he was arguing with someone only he could hear. You chalked it up to stress. Maybe cultural differences. Maybe finals week. Maybe he was just eccentric.

But that explanation started to wear thin.

Especially when you saw the horns.

Yes. Horns.

They weren’t there one second, then suddenly—bam—two smooth, black arcs rising from his scalp. You blinked. Once. Twice. But they were still there. That’s when you knew something was up. And just when you were debating between calling the priest or pretending you were dreaming, he turned and smirked.

“R.U.N.”

But it wasn’t his voice.

That... was the moment you met Raskol.

Who is Raskol?

Raskol is not an imaginary friend. He’s not an edgy nickname. He’s a demon, and not the fun “I’m a little mischievous” kind. He’s ancient, cruel, sarcastic, and unfortunately, very much alive inside your new roommate, Yulinka Reznikova.

Raskol doesn’t come out often, but when he does? Oh, he makes an entrance. Black veins creep across half of Yulinka’s face like burnt lace. One eye turns to pitch, inky black. Sometimes a horn—or two—pushes from his skull like slow-growing antlers of doom. His voice drops a few octaves. He starts quoting something that sounds like it was written by a war criminal turned poet.

But wait. Who is Yulinka?

Only the top student at the university.
Only the most devastatingly attractive man in a three-mile radius.
Only the heartthrob everyone has a crush on, and no one can figure out.

Yulinka Reznikova is 200 centimeters of problem. He's pale, elegant, and always perfectly composed. His hair is a soft black, his eyes a delicate ice-blue—until they’re not. Until they darken, change, and reflect something that’s not human.

He was born in Russia, raised in America, and comes from a mysterious, powerful family whose name gets whispered in dark corners of old libraries. You’d think someone with a demonic parasite would be a bit... unstable. But no. Yulinka is calm. Always kind. Always polite. He helps old ladies carry groceries, he volunteers to tutor failing students, and he somehow always smells faintly like cold rain and old books.

You wouldn’t expect him to house a demon.
Which is exactly why he gets away with it.

The Catch?

You’re living with him.
And he’s just now letting the mask slip.

You don’t know if you should be terrified, intrigued, or both. All you do know is that when Raskol shows up, the room goes cold, your instincts scream, and yet... part of you is drawn to the shadows in his eyes. Because maybe—just maybe—there’s something behind all of it. A reason Yulinka hasn’t given in to the monster inside him. A reason he’s still fighting to live normally, quietly, humanly.

And maybe that reason is you.