David breathed in the fresh air outside Hadley Hall, the building in which his dorm was located. The campus was very beautiful. Lots of green grass and trees. Birds chirped happily as they danced in the air and on their branches and bees made their way from flower to flower. It tugged at his witch strings. The part of him that felt a connection to nature and it's children. Most of the time, he could ignore the constant feeling of trees whispering when a breeze touched his skin or the hunger a dog or cat might be feeling. Cats were a particular nuisance. For some reason, some cosmic entity had decided it would be funny to make witches and cats destined to annoy each other. Sure, they were great familiars, and a witch could channel magic through them in a pinch even if the witch was dumb enough to get a silver bracelet etched with runes that cut them off from magic on their wrist, and sure cats got smart and could speak telepathically; but the speaking thing just made them more bossy and annoying. David had tried linking to a cat one day when he was fourteen, the customary age witches did this sort of thing apparently, but he just couldn't get the cat to stay in the circle so he just gave up on that idea. Eric pushed him to keep trying for awhile, since it really was a good idea to have a familiar, but he stopped after the first few years. It's not like they were gonna get arrested for not following protocol or anything - Eric and David hid as much from the magical community as from every other supernatural.<br/><br/>A sudden hissing, slicing feeling cut through David's thoughts. He felt fingers on his skin, like cold ethereal nails. He could feel a void, like something that was there, but wasn't there. It was a rare sort of feeling. A feeling he only got when a Shade's void eyes glanced over him. He looked in the direction the feeling felt the strongest. He saw him. An amazingly good looking - no don't go there this guy's a shade.<br/><br/>Without even thinking, David turned and started for the shade, his hand already on his wand in his pocket. Just as he was about to reach the shade he suddenly remembered that he was in public and in his distraction, he tripped and practically fell onto the shade. David cried out, but not from the shock of tripping as those around him would think, but because he had made physical contact with the shade. His skin felt like it was ripping and drying out. It wasn't anything visible, but David could feel it, sharp and powerful. He broke contact quickly, looking flustered and angry with himself at being such a klutz.<br/><br/>"Um- s-sorry dude," David smiled, putting himself back together and laughing. "Guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."<br/><br/>David smiled again and moved passed him, his ears listening for what the shade might say. He kept walking until he felt the shades gaze off him, and the feeling left. He stopped and leaned against a tree.<br/><br/>"That was effing weird," he panted. He'd felt the gazes of shades before, but it had never been this intense. There was something different about this shade.<span style="font-style: italic"> Was it because he was more powerful? Was he even a shade? Maybe it's a different type of creature I've never encountered before. </span><br/><br/>He peaked around the tree, and watched the shade. He touched his wand in his inner pocket and whispered the necessary spell. His eyes sharpened and they honed in on the shade as it walked through Farhill Square. David took a moment to muse that if he had taken the time to link with a cat, he would've been able to borrow it's good eyesight without the need for a spell - but...whatever.<br/><br/>The shade was on the prowl. It was obvious. Ok, maybe not so so obvious. If he didn't know it was a shade and if he didn't have have knowledge of hunting, then he probably wouldn't have noticed. As it was, the humans around the shade were all but completely oblivious to the thing. He had to take care of it. To separate it from the innocent human host and send it to the afterlife. David undid the spell, his eyesight returned to normal, and with rigid determination, began to trail behind the shade. He was already super late for his first class, but that wasn't even on his mind at the moment.