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.
Before the arrow could find its target, Michael had already grabbed the shaft midair.
"Get her out of here! Now!" He yelled at the men who are too confused by the scene before them to react immediately. One of them, the one without an arrow in his shoulder, yanked the little girl out of the bed and into his arms. Then they bolted down the corridor.
A skeleton warrior made to follow them only for Michael to throw a punch at its head that erased half its body. The bottom half continued to move towards the door until Michael erased that too. Baykok were undead and thus could not be 'killed' again. There were a few ways to actually kill them but Michael did not have time for that. His magic would be more than enough for this.
He eyed the creatures individually as he took a mental note of their number and positions. If even one of them got past him into the rest of the house, it would be a blood bath. The arrow in his hand turned gray and vanished into thin air in his grasp. The archers among them shot more arrows but they all disappeared halfway on their course. The Hunter inhaled softly and closed his eyes. The Baykok immediately bristled at the amount of energy gathering around the man before them, exponentially increasing the threat he posed to them.
Michael opened his eyes slowly, revealing the change in them. Eyes used to be a soft brown color had turned pale gray, almost silver in fact. The Baykok instantly rushed at him with raised weapons in attempt to put him down before he did anything.
"Such futility."
A burst of magic swept across the room and Michael instantly became its only occupant. A sigh escaped his lips as his eyes regained their usual color. The fight, if it could even be called that, had left him feeling a bit unsatisfied with how soon it had ended. But he was glad it happened like that. His Erasure magic was the most suited for dealing with these kind of creatures along with Dean's power. If anyone else had happened upon this situation, there was a good chance that lives would be lost meaninglessly.
The door burst open again and Michael had to stop himself from vaporizing the newcomers in his surprise. More men had arrived with more powerful looking guns poised to fire at any unusual looking thing in the room. Michael noticed that they all wore suits similar to the first pair and wondered what he had stumbled upon. The men seemed more than a bit surprised at the how empty the room was, given the condition they had found two of their colleagues earlier. That was when they noticed the young man standing in a corner of the room and suddenly Michael found himself staring down the barrels of several guns, all aimed at his head.
"I can explain..."
That was how Michael found himself twenty minutes later, sitting in one of the most nice looking offices he had ever seen in quite some time. The walls were painted a cool brown color, with various ornaments from different parts of the world sitting on the shelves. There were only two windows in the room, serving more as a way to view the outside world than a source of ventilation. The air-conditioning took care of that.
The furniture in the room looked as expensive as it probably was. The quality was something Michael could definitely attest to, courtesy of the chair he was currently sitting on. There was a massive desk in front of him that had various files arranged neatly at the sides with a framed picture in the middle. The arrangement of items on the desk gave off the impression that the owner was a tidy person. Michael was certain he would have liked said owner were it not for the fact that the latter was currently staring at him like he was insane.
Antonio Marino would be the first to admit that he had heard a lot of strange things in his life. Being crime lord tended to bring one in contact with all kinds of unusual characters in a city like Starlight Bay. So the fact that he was having trouble believing the young man before him spoke volumes of just how odd the latter's words were.
"So you're telling me that there's an entirely different society out there that's full of creatures from a storybook?" Antonio asked in a tone that did nothing to hide his disbelief. "And no one is aware of this?"
"Only the humans who need to know," Michael answered calmly. He had to go about this gently if he wanted to obtain this man's trust.
"Like who? The government?" Antonio scoffed sarcastically. When Michael did not refute his words, he quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You're serious?"
Michael sighed lightly. "You humans are really strange, you know? You are all so quick to believe in phantasmal beings, to the point where you inculcate them into so many areas of your lives. Yet these creatures exist all around you but you are still unable to realize it. Even when you do, most of you still choose not to believe."
Antonio laughed lightly as he leaned back in his chair to stare at the youth. "We humans eh? So I'll take it you're one of them huh? These 'phantasmal beings'? So which are you? Werewolf?"
The Hunter smiled at him, his sharp and elongated canines showing through slightly opened lips. "You're a really good guesser, Antonio."
Both men watched the other carefully as if assessing the person before them. Antonio felt a small frown coming across his face when he could not detect any false readings from the young man. He prided himself on his ability to analyze people and discern their motives easily. That was one of the things that had helped him rise to where he was today. And right now, this college student was showing absolutely no trace of falsehood. Instead there was a hint of something Antonio recognized immediately to be mild scorn, as if the young man was finding amusement in the crime lord's ignorance.
Finally, Antonio caved and raised his hands in reluctant acceptance. "Fine. God knows there's no way I would have given a damn about what you're saying if not for my men's words."
"That's good. At least I wouldn't have to use your daughter's safety to convince you."
The man's eyes hardened instantly. "What was that?"
Michael leaned forward to place his elbows on the desk and stared the man right in the eye, with no regard whatsoever to the harsh tone the latter had used. "Those things that came after your kid didn't do so on their own will."
"You mean someone sent those things after my child?" Antonio could barely keep his rage out of his voice.
"Seems like it. As far as I know, Baykok do not attack children," Michael replied in a calm yet serious tone.
"Baykok? Is that what they are called?"
"Yes."
"So you know any reason why my little girl is being targeted?"
"Nothing much. The only thing unique I sensed about your daughter was the unusual density of her life force."
The anger on Antonio's face was momentarily replaced with a look of confusion. "Unusual density of her life force?"
"The humans of the supernatural world who use magic do so by utilizing their life force and willpower to create specific phenomena. All humans have these things but there's a particular threshold to cross before they can perform magic."
"And Anna, my little girl has crossed this threshold?"
Michael sighed lightly. "Let me put it this way. The way your daughter is now, there's only one person in this city who has as strong a life force as she does. And this person is someone who is of incredible importance to our world."
"So my daughter is a witch?" Antonio looked conflicted at the mere notion.
"No, but she has the capability to become a very good one."
The man went silent for a while before speaking again, his eyes now alert with a sternness that matched his Italian features.
"Is that why she's being targeted?"
"Well that's the thing. There's been a few cases at the college but I can't be sure this one is related to them. Once I get back, I'll make sure to look deeper into this."