The Hunters Volume One: The Beginning

Episode Five: Investigation

   Michael arrived at Starlight Bay a few hours past nightfall. Most people were heading home for the day and the stores had already began to swap in their night shift workers. The wind had brought with it a chill that was not unusual in the fall so a lot of people outside wore long coats.
   Having given away his, Michael decided to shove his hands in his pockets even though the cold did not affect him in the slightest.
   His thoughts returned to the meeting they had held with the vampires and the witches. As a Hunter, he was obliged to protect people by removing potential threats before innocents were harmed. The protection was not exactly restricted solely to normal humans. Rather the volatile behavior of most members of the supernatural world did not allow much room for peaceful coexistence with their mundane counterparts. He did not particularly have anything against supernatural beings but he had no intention of letting them do as they pleased with the rest of the world.
   'Maybe this might be the answer. If they were able to come to an agreement like this, then maybe there's still hope for a better future.'
   Michael was inclined to agree with his predecessor's line of thought. He as well thought this program held potential for sustained peace among the factions. But that was only in the case that their leaders actually kept their word. He knew more than anyone how easy it was to be betrayed by one's leaders if they felt there was gain to be had. As far as he was concerned, there would always be a possibility of this being a trap.
   'For their sake, I really hope it isn't.'
   "Me too."
   Before he could continue his inner conversation with the other inhabitant of his soul, Michael caught sight of something disappearing round a corner. He would have dismissed it as a person returning home after the day's work were it not for the amount of negativity he felt radiating from the figure. His Hunter instincts kicked in and before he knew it, he had already gone after the shadow. As he rounded the corner, he saw that the person had disappeared. But the negativity was still lingering in the air, refusing to disperse even in the slightly windy night air.
   Movement above caught his eyes and he looked up to see multiple black smoky figures climbing up the wall of a nearby building. His face darkened and his eyes narrowed in recognition.
   "Baykok? What are these things doing here?"
   A Baykok was an evil creature in some Amerindian cultures that was formed by the discontented soul of a fallen warrior. The malevolent spirits often tended to seek violence wherever they could find it and usually worked individually. So their presence in a group in a city like Starlight Bay was enough to give Michael cause for alarm. He observed the creatures for a while longer and realized that they were moving towards a particular window as if in command. That thought got him more than a little alarmed. If there really was someone controlling these things, then there would be something deeper at work. That usually meant more trouble for him in this particular line of work.
   When the shadows were a few feet away from their targeted window, Michael lowered his body slightly and leapt straight up to the wall of the building. His claws sunk into the concrete of the wall easily, allowing him to remain steady as he reached out and grabbed the head of the nearest shadowy figure. With a burst of magic, he erased it from existence. The other shadows glared at him with eerily bright crimson eyes before they dashed into the window, obviously intending to finish what they came for first.

   Not willing to give them that opportunity, Michael followed them into the window as well. When he entered, he immediately sensed an incredibly abundant life force in the room and pushed himself directly in front of it. The room was a bit spacious and seemed to be a little girl's bedroom if the pink wallpaper and teddies were anything to go by. Said little girl was still lying on her bed petrified by fear and screaming her lungs out as she clutched the bedsheets tightly. The shadow surrounding the figures dissipated in the dim illumination of the room's nightlight revealing their true forms. They were basically skeletons with very thin and translucent skin that stretched tightly over pale bones visible to the naked eye. They were dressed in ancient Native American warrior outfits and most of them carried melee weapons. Their eye sockets were occupied with evil looking red orbs of light that promised death to whomever they were fixed on.
   Michael took a quick look around the room and nearly sighed in relief when he saw that the door was not to far away. He had leapt over the spirits when he had entered to block their path to their target whose bed was a few feet shy of the door. As the Hunter was about to take action, the door burst open and two suited men rushed in evidently drawn by the girl's screams. Their movement froze at the sight of the creatures before them.
   "What the hell..."
   In a flash, they had both drawn firearms out of nowhere and released several rounds at the spirits. The projectiles did absolutely no damage whatsoever to the Baykok. One of them who was geared with a bow, pulled an arrow out of the quiver in its bony back and shot one of the men in the left shoulder. He reared back in pain, dropping his gun in the process. The other archer among the Baykok turned to the second man with a grim look in its eyeless sockets and aimed an arrow at him.