Dean’s POV
So there I was.
A vampire.
Inhabiting a body
similar
to the kid’s—but not quite.
At first, I wasn’t as
solid
as I am now. No flesh. No true form. I was more like a shadow—hence the oh-so-creative name
Kane’s Shadow.
A wraith. A black smoke with a voice.
Drifting. Watching. Lurking just beyond reach, whispering into the night.
I couldn’t
touch
.
I couldn’t
feel
.
I was
there
, but not
there
. A half-existence. A curse.
Until I learned the truth.
I needed
blood
.
The moment I drank, I
became
.
The black smoke condensed, twisted, took
shape
.
Flesh. Bone. Strength.
Power.
The more I fed, the more
real
I became.
And oh—how
hungry
I was.
And where else to get the blood, if not from the
pack
?
I was careful. Precise. A little here, a little there—never enough for them to
notice
. Just enough to sustain me.
And slowly, I became
whole
.
Solid. Real.
At first, they didn’t understand. How could they? One day, I was just Kane’s
shadow
, a whisper of something they feared. Then suddenly, I had form. Flesh. A face identical to his.
Some thought we were twins. Identical. Two sides of the same coin.
Even his parents... they
allowed
me to stay. But not because they
wanted
me. No.
To them, I was nothing more than an
unwanted mistake
—a parasite they couldn’t get rid of.
They never treated me like a son.
More like a burden. A nuisance. A shadow that refused to fade.
But
Kane
?
Kane saw me differently.
He didn’t see a monster.
He didn’t see a curse.
He saw a
brother
.
And that...
that
was why I stayed.
But there was something else. Something deeper.
A bond.
It tethered me to Kane, allowed me access to his mind as if it were my own. His thoughts, his emotions—I could
feel
them all.
And for a moment... it felt
right
. Like this was how it was
meant
to be.
Two halves of a whole.
But there was more to it than just a connection. There was the
darkness
.
That malevolent force lurking within us, clawing at the edges of Kane’s sanity, whispering vile things into his soul. It was always there. And Kane, in his
innocence
, didn’t understand it. Couldn’t
control
it.
So I did.
I took it. Absorbed it. Let it
fester
inside
me
.
I made it
mine
.
Because if I didn’t, Kane wouldn’t survive it.
And maybe... maybe a part of me thought that was my
purpose
. To be his
shield
. To bear the burden of the darkness so he wouldn’t have to.
But the problem with darkness?
It doesn’t like to be contained.
Resisting it became...
harder
.
At first, I fought it. I
tried
. But it was always there—whispering, coaxing,
waiting
.
And with everything bashing me down—Kane’s parents, the pack, the constant reminder that I was an
unwanted mistake
—I found myself leaning into the darkness more and more.
It felt like an addiction.
Anytime I did something wicked—something
cruel
—the darkness would
ease
. Just a little. Like a beast momentarily
sated
after a fresh kill.
But it never lasted.
It always came
back
, gnawing at me with an even deeper hunger.
And the more I gave in, the more it
took
from me in return.
My joy. My warmth. My
humanity
.
Until all that was left was a hollow, reckless shell.
And I embraced it.
Because why the hell
shouldn’t
I?
The world had already
decided
I was a monster.
So I became one.
And I made damn sure that if they were going to call me evil—
I would give them something to
fear
.
Then, of course, there was the
hunger
.
The need to
feed
.
Unlike any vampire, my body was...
different
.
Maybe it was because I had
regenerated
it, or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, I found myself possessing abilities no other vampire had.
I could walk in the sun.
I could eat regular food.
I could pass for
normal
.
But the hunger never left.
I needed blood—at least
twice
a week—or the darkness inside me would claw its way to the surface, twisting my mind,
demanding
to be fed.
At first, it was easy. When I was still more shadow than flesh, I could sneak around, taking small sips from the pack members while they slept. A little here, a little there—just enough to survive. They never noticed.
But with a
physical
body, things changed.
I couldn’t sneak into homes anymore.
I couldn’t go unnoticed.
And the wolves... they were
too aware
. Their senses too sharp. If I took from one of them, I’d be caught.
So I had to adapt.
For a while, I lived off animals. It was disgusting. Their blood was
weak
, barely enough to keep me from spiraling. But I endured.
Until I grew older.
Until I was
strong
enough.
And then, I ventured beyond the pack’s borders.
There was a human village miles away—isolated, unaware of the
creature
running through the woods.
With my speed, the distance meant
nothing
.
And humans?
They were
easy prey
.
I learned quickly that teenage girls and women were the simplest targets.
All I had to do was pretend to be a
lost child
.
Innocent. Helpless.
And without fail, some
sweet, naive woman
would stop.
Would kneel down.
Would try to
help me
.
And that’s when I’d
strike
.
This went on for years.
By the time I reached my teenage years, I was
strong
. The weak, shadow-like form I once had was long gone. Now, I was
solid
. A true predator.
Kane and I were the same age in body—twins in appearance—but in mind?
He was still
young
. Naïve. Soft.
And me?
I was
older
.
Darker
. I had lived through things he never had to.
We were still close then. He still
cared
for me, still saw me as his brother. But that’s when things
changed
.
That’s when he started
listening
to them.
To his
parents
.
To the
pack elders
.
To all the voices whispering in his ear, telling him that I wasn’t
his brother
, that I wasn’t even a
person
. That I was the
evil inside him
given form.
At first, he ignored them.
He defended me.
But doubt... doubt is a
poison
.
And once it takes root, it spreads.
He started to
pull away
.
Started to
question
.
And eventually, he began to
block
the bond we shared—the bond that had once made us
one
.
But here’s what he never knew.
What no one
ever
knew.
The reason Kane was considered
good
, the reason he was able to be their
perfect son
, their
noble alpha
...
Was
because of me
.
Because all these years, I had
absorbed
his darkness.
All the rage.
All the anger.
All the
malevolence
that should have consumed him? I took it. I bore it.
I made sure
he never had to feel it
.
And now?
Now he was
abandoning me
.
Turning his back on the very thing that had kept him
pure
.
And for the first time...
I started to wonder.
What if I
stopped
?
What if I let him feel the
full weight
of what he truly was?
Would he still be their
golden boy
then?