Cooper blinked. Kurts mother was an elf.

"Doesnt that make you an elf?" He questioned quickly, watching Kurts expression change to something of disinterest.

"No." was the annoyed reply. "Burt is human."

"Half an elf?" Cooper prodded further, interested.

"Are you stupid? Theres no such thing as half an elf." Kurt sounded aggravated, turning away from Cooper, "I just look like her. Hence, yes I have elfish features, give Sherlock a medal. Well done." He retorted snarkily.

Cooper frowned at the sudden change of attitude. Maybe Kurt wasnt comfortable talking about his mother – time to change up the subject. It felt nice talking to Kurt without the usual snark and angry remarks.

"So about the hunt –"Before he could continue, he was cut off but Kurts angry grumble.

"We find the Wendigo cave, if your brother is in there, we save him. If not we go home." He sounded defeated. "We set foot at dawn; we are nearing the middle of the forest anyway."

Cooper felt his heart sink. "Arent we going to keep looking if hes not in the cave?"

He heard Kurt click his tongue, sounding irritate, "Really, Anderson? You want to spend the rest of the winter searching for your brother who is obviously not human anymore?" His voice rose higher, "He doesnt want us to search for him, if you havent realized it yet."

"Im paying you to find my brother!" Cooper growled.

"And we found him." Kurt snapped back, his blue eyes dark with something unreadable. "But all he wants is to kill us. We are snacks for him, if you hadnt heard."

There was a long heated pause before Cooper ducked back down into his tent. He frowned deeply, Kurts words ringing in his head. Blaine isnt Blaine for sure, but he is alive and as long as hes alive, he can be cured. He quickly cupped his mouth when he realized he had been talking aloud to himself.

There was a loud snort from outside.

"There is no cure." Came Kurts sharp voice.

Cooper wanted to strangle the other party.

"You just did elf magic and magically healed my arm, Hummel." Cooper snarled from inside the tent, "Theres always a cure to creature magic – Santana told me before."

Yet again came an amused snort.

"You do know Santana is fantastic at lying right? Shes a little witch thief and a con-artist." Kurt spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You would know Sir-police-officer."

Cooper hastily peeked out of the tent, eyeing Kurts sardonic smirk.

"Well she didnt lie about you and your dad." He grumbled angrily, glaring at the younger boy. Kurts smirk vanished at once and he turned to Cooper slightly, ice blue eyes curious.

"Are you certain?" His lips curved into a sneer once more.

Cooper mentally punched the grinning boys face and he took a deep breath in to calm himself. Sure he had his doubt but after seeing Kurt in action – well, somewhat, he could deduce the boy wasnt as fragile and incapable of hunting as he initially thought.

"I am," Cooper stated bluntly, holding Kurts stare, "I mean you seem to know the forest well and the way you dealt with the creature with your bow skills – I trust you." He thought for a moment, "Somewhat."

Kurt just looked over jadedly, "Flattery doesnt get you anywhere."

Cooper rolled his eyes and threw away all his thoughts about praising Kurt sincerely – the boy didnt seem to be affected by much, plus he seemed like an emotionless drone half the time, it was pointless to try to make small talk with him. He looked at Kurt, who had a tiny grin on his face.

Or maybe he wasnt such an impassive kid afterall.

There was a long pause.

"Elf magic doesnt turn werewolves back into human." Kurt stated suddenly, turning away. "My mother was a healer, but she couldnt save everyone."

Cooper blinked and noticed the slight trace of sadness in Kurts voice.

"She taught me all she could before she vanished into the woods." Kurts voice was shaky, "Just like your brother."

There was a squeak and Cooper spotted a small bone pup pawing Kurts back with its bony paw gently. Slowly, Kurt turned towards the skeleton puppy and held it in his arms tenderly – Cooper blinked in shock at the sight that befell him.

"My mother told me that all of the creatures in the forest deserve to be cared for," Kurt murmured, scratching the bone pups ear, the skeleton puppy making happy barks as Kurt continued, "To treat them like fragile beautiful things that they are."

"None are evil," Kurt whispered now and Cooper watched him closely, the boys face furrowing into a tight frown. "She used to try to make me believe that."

Kurt stopped scratching the bony pups ear and the small creature let out a whimper and bumped his hands for more. The younger boy looked down at the bone pup before glancing back up at Cooper, his ice cold eyes staggering the older man slightly.

"But shes a fool." He snarled at Cooper, who gulped at the fierceness of the younger boy. "There is evil in the forest. Evil that deserves to be dead."

There was a loud squeak and Kurt rolled his eyes before returning to scuff the small bone pup. Cooper was rendered speechless for a long moment.

"Blaine used to believe in that too." He added after a pause. "He said everything that breathes cant be all bad."

Cooper fixed his glance at Kurt, whose eyebrows were raised sceptically at the older man. "Blaine has been the rebellious boy of the family," He explained quickly, an eye for an eye Kurt – you told me about your mother, now I tell you about my brother. "He wanted to be a hunter – not to hunt the creatures but to try to be part of the forest."

Kurt scoffed quietly. The bone pup made a sound, trying to copy Kurt before scurrying away, barking happily. Cooper watched Kurt observe the creature fondly before turning back to Cooper. "Always wanted one of those." He muttered to himself and Cooper couldnt help but grin.

"Blaines the nicest guy Ive known," Cooper continued, "Hes usually so friendly and sweet, he used to get friends coming in to the house all the time when he was back in school." He sighed quietly, "My father wanted him to be part of the police but Blaine relented – he wanted to be part of the forest even if it meant becoming a hunter."

"He couldve been an environmentalist." Kurt commented dully, rolling his eyes.

"Well he wanted to specifically be part of this forest." Cooper snorted, "He studied up on every single living creature here and sneaked out to the forest whenever he could." The brown haired man let out a sigh, "He would retell his stories of his bravery in the woods and how he managed to talk to the creatures – my father wouldnt buy a thing Blaine said."

Cooper looked at the greying bones on the ground. "Bullshit, my father said. Utter rubbish and creatures of the woods should be kept away from humans."

"He is right." Kurt sneered from the left, "Both are dangerous to one other, one being death traps and another as lunch."

Cooper ignored the snarky remark. "Blaine just disregards whatever my father says," he carried on with his story, "He used to tell our mother that one day he would prove our father wrong."

"Oh touché, how wrong he was." Kurt cut in sardonically chuckling, "Look where they both are now."

The boy rolled his eyes and before either of them could say anything, there was a soft clanging sound of bones being pushed and Cooper spotted a bone pup waddling over with a human bone in its mouth, fresh blood dripping from the sides of the large bone. He gasped and looked over at Kurt panicky, "Its got fresh human bones." He whispered.

Heart in his mouth, he backed away slightly in the tent as the skeleton pup approached Kurt. The young boy was watching it warily, a hand on his bow, ready to attack if the bone puppy started to show any aggression towards them.

It stopped right in front of Kurt, its tail high in the air.

Cooper could feel his heart racing and his palms getting sweaty as he watched the bone pup staring at Kurt, the two parties looking upon each other in silence. There was a sudden loud clang and Cooper nearly jumped – the skeleton puppy had dropped the bone onto the ground in front of Kurt.

It let out a low growl.

Cooper got ready to bolt.

Kurt lifted his bow.

And the bone pup started to chase its own tail.

There was a long pause as Kurt stared down at the creature in amusement.

"Whats the bone for?" Cooper asked uneasily, settling down his racing heartbeat. Kurt didnt reply him and reached out for the bone pup, which had fallen onto the ground clumsily.

Cooper blinked slightly when realization hit him hard – it was a gift.

"Oh god, it gave you a present?" He scoffed loudly at Kurt, who was rolling his ice blue eyes.

"No." Kurt sneered back, proceeding to hug the bone pup, who was whimpering quietly and burrowed itself into the younger boys arms.

Cooper chuckled, grinning at Kurt who was trying to look annoyed at the bone pup.

"For a minute I thought it was going to attack us." He smiled pointing at the fresh bone on the floor, his smile vanished when he realized something, where did the bone pup get the human bone from? He glanced back up anxiously at Kurt.

"Probably one of those bandits." Kurt answered Coopers thoughts, "I killed one of them, this puppy probably found the remains."

Cooper recalled the moment where Kurt killed the bandit with soulless ice blue eyes, not even fazed by the sound of the arrow piercing into the mans chest. He turned away from Kurt quickly. The younger boy seemed to read Coopers thoughts and he heard the blue eyed boy let out a scoff.

"If I didnt kill him, we would have a werewolf on our trail. There is no werewolf cure, I told you just now – the only way is silver through its heart." Kurt explained promptly. "I had to do it."

"Why did you go after the other bandit then?" Cooper questioned, feeling strangely hollow inside.

There was silence.

"Kurt –"

"I heard you," grumbled the younger boy. "I dont like humans. Bandits – whoever that treads on this forest looking for loot that the creatures hold."

Cooper frowned. "Still that never gives you the right to kill them." He rebutted Kurt, shaking his head, "We couldve just bring him back to jail –"

"And what?" Kurt growled back darkly, "Let him think about what he has done in a place where theres necessities for him to live a long happy life without regret?"

Cooper remained silent.

"Jail isnt a vacation you know." He muttered after a while.

"Neither is dying." Kurt retorted turning away. "Ill see you the morning, Anderson." With that he walled himself shut from Coopers burning questions.

Sighing, Cooper went back into the tent, lying on the softer ground, willing himself to sleep. He had to find a way to get Blaine back – there is a cure – theres always a cure.

He tossed and turned a few times, the mental imagery of Kurts cold emotionless eyes and him attacking the bandits as if they were nothing but easy prey. Cooper opened his brown eyes, peering at the top of his tent. Kurt said he wasnt an elf but he never did once mention that he was a human. Maybe he was just thinking too much. 

He closed his eyes, when a stinging realization hit him once again.

If the bone pup had offered a present to Kurt, why didnt Cooper get one – not that he liked bones but why only Kurt? Unless it wasnt a gift – after all why would it be giving presents to people who are living in their home?

It wasnt a gift or a token of appreciation.

Cooper felt his blood run cold.

It was an offering.

He felt his heart skip a beat.

What on earth was Kurt Hummel?