The dry winter winds buffeted through Kurts thick brown hair. He turned to his left ever so slightly, catching the baffled look on Cooper Andersons face. The older man looked beyond confused with the incident that just partook in front of them both – Wendigoes dont come out in the day.

Kurt had done research on them, he recalled reading books, observing the forest and hearing the woes of the villagers who had lost their children to the beast: none of which had spoke of Wendigoes coming out in the day.

Even with his own experience, Kurt noted the monster never once stepped out in the day; either that or everything he had been reading was a lie and maybe there was more to that beast that meets the eye.

The scent of fresh blood caught his attention and Kurt stopped.

In the distance, there was a trail of rabbit blood leading towards somewhere – just as Kurt thought – that Wendigo was trying to play trickery on them.

"Kurt," Cooper stepped beside him, the older man sounding wary, "I know this is really not the time but Ive been thinking about this for quite some time and –"

The brown haired man let out a sigh, "Why hasnt he killed us yet?"

Kurt didnt answer. He didnt have one.

Instead the chestnut haired boy trekked forward, following the trail of rabbit blood. Cooper followed suit, his winter boots ploughing against the thickening snow trail.

There was silence for a moment before the older man spoke once more.

"I know I am going to sound stupid but what if Blaine recognises me and actually wants me to save him?"

Kurt let out a snort of amusement.

"That monster didnt even look at you." He scoffed, "And yes you sound completely asinine."

Cooper let out a huff. "Then why didnt Blaine kill us?"

"He wants to toy with us until we get so petrified, we start freaking out and die on our own accord." Kurt grumbled an excuse quickly.

"But hes not acting like a Wendigo at all! What if hes still a human –"

"Wendigoes are monsters, Mr Anderson." Kurt cut in brusquely, "They dont act like anything and if you still assume your little brother is a human being; just recall that incident where he tore off that bandits head."

There was a pause.

"You speak of that but you barely act like a human being yourself." Cooper muttered. "You killed a man because he had a werewolf bite and went for the other one for no good reason."

Kurt ignored him, following the trail of rabbit blood which was starting to thin away.

"I mean you do magic and that weird blue fire arrow thing?" Cooper was mumbling to himself now, "Your build and your skills dont even match – no offence but youre a small kid and you hunt monsters?"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"And Sebastian," Cooper declared, suddenly sounding excited, "He called you a monster boy."

The chestnut haired boy stopped in his tracks once more, whipping around to glare at Cooper. "You believe that vile piece of human meat?"

The older man eyed Kurt with new found curiosity. "Youre not a human arent you?" Cooper enquired quietly, his brown hazel pools locking in with Kurts ice blue ones.

Kurt narrowed his eyes and broke the contact, glaring at Coopers nose instead.

"No hunter is." He growled coldly, turning away.

They continued trekking in the snow, Kurt noting the ever so faint red stain on the white ground lessening – they were reaching – wherever the trail led them.

"Because they kill creatures they are not human?" Coopers voice appeared out of the blue.

"No." Kurt shot back, slightly annoyed.

"Is Sebastian human?" Cooper butted in more, sounding curious.

"Hes the spawn of the devil." Came the bored answer.

"Really?"

"No."

There was a pause.

Kurt stopped, the blood trail had vanished completely and all that surrounded them were tall emptied branches of trees. Sunlight was scarce here but there was no sign of the Wendigo or specifically anything. 

He carried on forward, whipping out his bow ready to attack.

"How does Sebastian know you?" Cooper questioned from behind.

Kurt wanted nothing more than to whip around and place an arrow to the older mans head. Gnashing his teeth, he turned around to glare at Cooper with much venom.

"We are hunters. This is a small village." He gritted out, his ice blue eyes filled with infuriation.

"But he knew you." Cooper ignored Kurts annoyance, the man trying to finally pry out the answers he wanted, "He knew your history, and youre not an open book to read."

For a daft man, he was observant, Kurt noted, rolling his eyes and turning away.

"We were friends." He answered Cooper, "Good friends."

There was a long pause.

"Arent you going to continue?" The older man probed.

"Arent you ever going to shut up?" Kurt growled back, rubbing his temples with his free hand.

"You owe me some answers," Cooper snorted, sounding ridiculously like Kurt when he did, "You said it back there that I was a friend of yours. If Im your friend, you should at least explain some things me; I have no clue about this forest at all or the monsters living in it!"

"I feel vulnerable here, Kurt! Im not a hunter, Im a police officer!"

"We are hunting for a Wendigo. I dont think its a time for storytelling, Mr. Anderson." The boy retorted angrily.

He could literally hear the older man sulk.

There was silence as they continued seemingly up a slope. Kurt noticed the air getting colder and the trees getting more barren, snow covering most of the ground and not even a hint of life except for the both of them.

The silence as Kurt never thought it would, started to become a little bit overbearing.

Ever since his mother was gone, the silence was his best friend – it provided him calmness in most situations but it was turning tables against him at the very moment.

"Sebastian Smythe is a liar." Kurt internally sighed when he noticed Cooper perk up beside him at his voice.

"The Smythes are the most notable hunters around." He explained, "Their hunting skills are nonetheless flawless, their family name has been around for centuries – their only flaw is being the lying devious bunch they always are."

"Sebastian and I went to the same school together as kids." Kurt grunted, "We "instantly connected" or thats what he said – but I grudgingly agree, we clicked because of our similarities. But while I loved creatures, he loved hunting them."

"We were weird together and I guess that counted as our friendship."

Kurt trudged up the slope and peered forward. The trees were much denser and blocked up most of the winter road – he could barely make out a smallish cave figure up ahead. He held his bow tightly.

"I am guessing you guys had a bad fight?" Cooper muttered beside him.

"He was competitive and jealous." Kurt snarled quietly as he moved forward, the blurred distance of a cave getting clearer. "He was rude and obnoxious."

"Unfortunately, I was better at hunting than he was – and he was supposed to be better than me," Kurt scoffed, "It wasnt fair for him so he decided to level the playing field."

Was it the Wendigo cave? Kurt peered forward and stopped walking – it was a little smaller than he imagined it would be. A strong gust of wind buffeted against his face and he glanced up – sensing an incoming snow storm.

"Is that it?" Whispered Cooper as he pointed up front, "Were here?" He pulled out his guns.

"Even if it isnt, it looks like were headed for a snow storm and we need some shelter." Kurt muttered. "On three, we run for it."

"Run?"

"Three."

With a burst of speed, Kurt swiftly leaped across the clearing of trees, dodging them fleetly and quietly darting through the thick white snow. He glanced back, surprised to see Cooper making good pace as the older man rampantly dashed across, making his way to the mouth of the cave.

Kurt slowed down at the entrance of the grey cave. Blocked up behind a large cliff leading to the mountains where the yetis stayed – it didnt seem like the Wendigo cave he visited as a child.

Quickly, he grabbed an arrow and shot it through the entrance, the blue flames that surrounded his arrow making a split second illumination through the darkness. It was cleared and there was no sign of any monsters within.

His arrow hit a shallow end and dropped onto the ground. The cave was just a normal cave, Kurt noted, merely a few metres deep but good for shelter.

Beside him Cooper let out a round of gunshots into the cave.

Kurt rolled his eyes but didnt stop him.

The stood side by side in silence as Kurt observed the darkness within the cave. There was no movement at all – nor any noise, only the both of them catching their breath.

The chestnut haired boy whipped around to catch a glance at the clump of forest ground in winter, the winds had begun to rise and the branches were swaying violently at the oncoming threat of the dangerous winter storm.

"A winter storm can last for hours," Cooper grunted appearing in front of Kurt, his face in a tight frown, putting his guns back into his waist belt. "Its better if we just stay here until it dies down."

"Oh yes, Cooper, I would suggest us to run blindly through the thick blizzard screaming for Blaine." Came the snarky reply.

Cooper rolled his eyes, probably used to the sarcasm of Kurt Hummel. He glanced back into the darkness of the cave before turning back to Kurt, their eyes meeting; Kurt could see the fatigue in the older mans hazel brown eyes, as much as he was trained, he was right; he wasnt trained to hunt.

"Since we are stuck here, why not we get Blaine to come here instead?" Cooper suggested quickly, stuffing his gloved hands into his pockets and sighing, a smoke wisp escaping his lips.

"We lure him here; no harm trying. Either way we have to stay put in the cave."

Kurt raised his brows and cocked his head ever so slightly.

"How do you propose we lure the beast?" The blue eyed boy questioned quietly, his gaze resting onto Cooper, "Blood will invite vampires and werewolves. Loud noises might scare or lure other creature we dont really want to mess with."

The dark haired male started to pace around the cave, deep in thought, mumbling to himself about how he had read a lot up about Wendigos and maybe he could find a way through the loopholes even though Blaine wasnt exactly a wendigo.

Kurt peered out into the distance, settling on the ground and watching the other man pace back and forth. The snowstorm was coming, he noted, watching the great gusts of winds blowing snow off the tracks on the ground.

He blinked.

It was winter that threw his life into a flurry of anguish and resentment; the snow used to be something he craved for, weather to huddle indoors with his parents and to hike out in the snowy mornings to find growing ice baby golems. He used to have so much fun as a child – he never once thought winter would harm him.

That night was just as any normal night; he huddled close to the campfire, watching his father write out a report for the villages missing children. There had been a case of children gone missing of recent and some of the parents had come knocking on their doors, asking for help. Kurt had watched as the mothers and fathers of the missing kids weep for some explanation – it had seemed that the children had all walked out on their own accord.

"But she would never do that!" He remembered the rich business man below at his father that same afternoon, "My precious angel never disobeys me!" Kurt recalled seeing poor Burt Hummel cringe at the angry big man as the bearded individual slammed the wooden table with a case full of cash, requesting Burt to get his precious daughter to him immediately.

Before Kurt could eavesdrop anymore, his mother had lightly tapped his shoulder and told him to leave work to his father; how it wasnt polite to eavesdrop on other people. As he left the living room for his bedroom; he heard Burt apologizing and the fat big bearded man hurling insults: angry horrible things about the Hummels.

As he watched his father work on his reports tiredly, Kurt felt a tinge of sadness for the older man to be slaving away countless nights trying to work out on finding the cause of the missing children. There was no clue, no hints – whatever beast that took them was not something they were familiar with.

Kurt remembered the monster trapped in a block of ice – the huge beast with those large-saucer-like eyes. He quietly told his dad that he was going to bed and snuck out of the kitchen window in his boots and pjs, heart set on searching the creature and maybe finding the children.

"FIRE!" A loud declaration snapped him out of his thoughts.

Kurt glanced bemusedly at Cooper, who had dropped his heavy bag pack on the cave ground and was digging excitedly through the mess of his items. His eyes lit up victoriously when he pulled out a candle and a box of matches, a grin on his face.

"Wendigos are intelligent right? A campfire means humans – Blaine will know we are here." He nodded at Kurt, looking proud of himself.

Kurt snorted. A campfire with nothing but a candle? As if on cue, Cooper had read Kurts mind, the older male starting pulling out objects from his back pack and explained his grand scheme.

"Well we dont have charcoal, so a candle will have to do; I can use other things in my bag as a substitute for wood to keep the fire growing." Cooper explained, setting down items on the ground, he glanced up at Kurt who was frowning.

"Or you could be a great help and go grab some bark from the tree outside." He waved a small dagger in front of Kurt, grinning, "The snow storm isnt here yet – you could get a handful while I try to start the fire."

Kurt rolled his eyes but snatched the dagger nonetheless, eyeing the older man as he smiled gratefully at him.

"Get tough wood if possible – soft wood can catch fire quickly but it wont last very long. Judging by the trees out there, you can tear the bark and cut down some of the branches for –"

Kurt leapt up on the ground and had already left the cave, leaving Cooper to yell "good luck soldier" from inside the cave.

Outside the snow storm had started to grow even stronger, the wind buffeting violently against Kurt as he trudged through, dagger poised to attack in case of anything; although the only creatures that would survive a snowstorm would be yetis.

Maybe Wendigos too.

He peered through the harsh snow winds and spotted a medium sized tree nearby. Stuffing the dagger into his back belt, he pulled out his bow and arrow. Muttering a quick apology he aimed for the lower trunk of the tree – like magic, the arrow pulsed a firey blue, bright and warm against the cold buffeting snow winds.

Kurt let the arrow fly.

There was a loud thump as the arrow hit the trunk of the tree. The blue flames seeped into the wood, forming a large blue circle slice around the medium sized tree: there was a bright blue explosion before Kurt muttered "Timber" under his breath.

The entire tree toppled over, falling next to place beside Kurt with a loud thud, causing snow to fall onto his entire body. Rolling his own eyes, the boy trudged forward to take back his arrow lodged into the fallen tree.

As he reached out to grab his arrow, a loud howl caught his attention.

He glanced up – there was nothing in the white distance even with the snow buffeting and blurring his view. He glanced back at the cave, seeing a small whisk of grey smoke escaping the mouth of the small cavern.

The dark long mournful howl came again sending shivers down Kurts spine. It didnt sound like a normal wolf, not a werewolf or anything else he was familiar with. He waited for a moment, watching the entire snow plain for any movement.

There was nothing.

He started to push the tree towards the cavern, ears pricked for any noise and eyes scanning for any motion. The smoke coming out from the cave mouth had started to grow slightly thicker, the winter storm bellowing wisps of cold snow along with it.

He paused for a moment, glancing at the cave wistfully. It was going to take longer than he expected to find this creature – not that it was an easy task in any case. It was daunting and tiresome – Kurt shook his head in disappointment, he failed to save his mother; he would most likely fail Coopers request.

He failed because he couldnt tell the difference between a monster and her.

He was going to fail again.

Kurt glanced up into the mountains, his mouth in a tight lipped frown and he let out a breath he had been holding in.

He was going to fail because this round; Kurt Hummel is afraid.