Blood.

That addictive coppery sweet smell of blood. It filled my nose to the point it made me dizzy. My mouth watered as I crept through the woods near the Evergreen Park.

My long limbs moved silently, drawing me closer to the tantalizing scent of blood and raw flesh.

When the trees thinned out, I found the source of the smell. I felt a prick of disappointment in the pit of my stomach as I watched another windigo rip into the body of what looked to have once been a man. The satisfying wet crunch of bone met my ears and sent a shiver down my spine.

I wanted some.

I wanted the taste of human flesh on my tongue, to have warm blood flowing into my mouth and the feeling of bone crunching between my teeth.

No! I told myself and forced my body to turn the other way.

A high-pitched scream made my head snap in that direction. My ears perked and my tail flicked as I listened intently for a moment before bolting in the direction the sound had come from. More screams followed, making it easy to find their owners.

I found three more windigos surrounding a woman and two kids. The woman had a little boy that couldn't be more than 3 in her arms and a little girl glued to her side. All three were sobbing, but you could see the determination in the mother's eyes. It was pointless though. They wouldn't survive much longer. The mother would go first. The smell of blood was strongest on her. Blood flowed freely from her left arm and thigh. She was also favoring her right leg as she scrambled to protect her kids from the attackers closing in.

With the little boy securely clutched in her right arm, she held a two-foot stick like a weapon in the other.

Useless, I thought to myself.

Surprisingly though, the woman charged one of the beasts in front of her and managed to wack its skull face hard enough that the stick broke. "Run!" She screamed as she grabbed her daughter's hand and rushed past the dazed windigo. The other two immediately gave chase.

My feet carried me after them before I knew what I was doing.

The smaller of the two monsters lunged forward and clamped its jaws around the mother's leg. She let out a shrill scream of pain, and she and the boy in her arms landed on the ground. "Run, Lily, run!" She shrieked at her daughter who had slowed to look back at them. I expected the girl to run away but no.

Instead, she ran back threw herself on top of her mother and brother. "Go away!" She screamed at the windigos now looming over her. The beasts paused and looked at each other. They growled and hissed at each other, probably debating who got what or agreeing how funny it was that the child had enough courage to come back.

While the monsters were distracted, the woman shoved the boy toward his sister and ordered them to run. "Take your brother and run. You hear me!" She gave the pair a rough push. The girl, sobbing and trembling, picked up her brother and back away slowly from the two windigos. They had turned their attention back to them now and watched with glowing red orbs as they tried to escape.

The smaller one nodded its head toward them, and the other lunged at the mother. She gave a blood-curdling scream, and the creature's jaws clamped down on her shoulder. The kids screamed for their mom, but the girl finally turned as ran as fast her little legs could go while carrying her brother. The smaller one watched the other chow down on it prey for a moment before trotting after the children. They would be an easy catch, so it probably saw no need to run after them. The kids would run out of energy soon.

I was going to turn and leave, so I didn't have to watch the gruesome scene, but instead, I found myself trailing after the kids as well. My long limbs picked up speed until I was running full speed so I could circle around and make it in front of the pair. It didn't take long, they weren't very fast, and the other windigo didn't seem to notice me yet.

I slowed my pace to a slow walk and listened to the girl's heavy steps crash through the leafy forest floor. As soon as they came into view, the girl skidded to a halt at the sight of me. Her head whipped around to see the other monster amble up behind them.

She backed away from the other a few paces before remembering I was behind them as well. She tightened her grip on the screaming boy as she looked between the two of us.

Lily, I'd her mother call her that, was brave for being younger than 10. Despite the tears streaming down her face, she was trying her damnedest to keep her brother safe.

The other windigo let out a screeching roar that I knew was directed at me. Their mine! It screamed.

The sudden sound made the girl scream and jumped farther away only to trip over her feet and fall. The two scrambled to their knees and huddled together. I guessed the girl had lost the strength to carry her brother anymore. I watched them for a second then looked at the other beast planning on eating them. As it stocked forward so did I. It roared at me again. I could tell it was getting anxious and frustrated. I was bigger and stronger, if I decided I wanted these kids, there was nothing it could do unless it wanted to chance a fight with me.

When the black, skull-faced monster tried to lung for the children, I rushed forward and stood over them. Standing tall, I roared back at it for the first time. Mine was deeper and much louder. It reverberated around us and could probably be heard by anyone within a mile of us.

The two huddled up beneath me screamed and covered their ears while the windigo stumbled backward and cowered close to the ground.

The beast whined at me, share? It asked me. I snarled in response. I took a menacing step forward and roared again. That sent the creature running.

With that pest gone, I glanced down at the kids to find the girl peeking up at me. As soon as our eyes met, she squeaked and buried her face into the back of her bothers blue coat. I sat back on my hunches and thought about what I had just done.

Now, what am I supposed to do with them?

I'm obviously not going to eat them. I already ate this month. Should I take them to an orphanage?

As I thought about what I should do, I lifted my hand and stroked the back of my long clawed fingers over the girls strawberry blonde hair. She whimpered and shy away from my touch. I didn't stop though. I continued until their crying died down to soft whimpers and small hiccups. Eventually, Lily turned her head and looked up at me. Her face was red, her eyes were red, her cheeks were red, and there was snot trying to drip out of her nose. She sniffled and sucked up the nasty mucus. Her brother soon turned his head and looked up at me when his sister leaned back enough for him to do so. His face was even more of a mess. Snot flowed freely from his nose and dripped off his chin.

Gross.

I hate when people cry.

I leaned down and swiped my long tongue over the boy's face to clear away the salty tears, careful not to get any of the snot though. He immediately turned his face away with a small whine and wiped his face off on his sleeve.

"Don't eat him!" Lily yelled as she pushed my snout away. I chuckled to myself. I raised my head out of her reach and then put one hand behind her head to keep her from moving and lift my other to wipe her face off. She quickly grabbed my long fingers before they could touch her. "Stop! what are you doing!?" She turned her head away. With a small growl of frustration, I pulled my hand out of her grip and quickly pressed the back of my finger to her face. She squealed for a moment before realizing that I wasn't hurting her.

Her brother suddenly stood up and pounded his little fist against my stomach. "Leh her go!" He shouted.

While still holding the little boy's sister I leaned down and swiped my tongue over his face again, cleaning away a little more of the tears staining his face. "Gah!" He whipped around away from me and wiped my saliva off of his face again.

"I'm okay, Sam," Lily said making me look at her again. Satisfied that her face was clean, I released her and stood up. Turning my attention to the boy, Sam, I raised a paw scooped him up. He fell back onto my hand with a small scream. I sat back down and pulled the boy closer, so I could wipe off all the snot. I let out an odd noise that sounded like grumbling as mucus coated my fur on the back of my fingers.

Gross.

I set the squirming boy on his feet and stood up again. Sam ran into his sister's open arms, and they huddled together on the ground again while looking up at me with wide eyes.

With a flick of my tail, I turned around and started to walk away, keeping my head down, so my antlers didn't get caught on low hanging branches. I made it about 20 feet away when a windigo's howl echoed through the woods. I heard frightened screams followed by two pairs of feet rushing after me.

Unable to leave them behind, I took them home. I'm still not sure if I knew what I was getting myself into that night, but I'm glad I did.

I took the kids to my apartment that night. It was hard to explain things to them when I changed back into my human form, but I guess a child's mind is more open then an adult because they took it rather well. After giving them food and a warm bed to sleep in, I took them to the police station the next morning. There was, of course, an investigation into the murder of their parents and of course the case was closed, and it was said to have been a freak animal attack. The kids were placed in foster care for a while, but I worked my ass off and adopted them. It took nearly a year, but now, Lilyann and Samual are legally my children.

Funny how I ended up with two kids before getting married. I couldn't be happier though. I love these two more than I thought possible.

That being said, I didn't realize how hard it is being a single parent.