His attempts to free himself were in vain though. He tried to pry one of Shadow's black fingers from his arm, but he could barely get more than the tips of his fingers under it. Even when he eventually did, he may as well have been trying to bend steel re-bar for all the good it did him. Shadow's inhuman strength far surpassed the human youth's and the frightened senior was unable to get away. All his struggling did was annoy the already angry Shadow into tightening his grip further on the teen's arm in order to get him to stop. The tighter grip caused him to yelp in pain and he looked over at his friends for help.

     "What the Hell are you are guys waiting for!?" he yelled at them. "Get over and help me already!!!"

     The sound of the captured teen's terrified voice snapped his friends out of their frozen trance and they began to slowly back away from the two.

     "What the Fuck are you guys doing now!?" he asked them. "Get back here and help me!"

     "No way man! No freaking way!" one of his not so loyal friends told him. "No way in hell are we getting anywhere near that thing! We're getting out of here while we still--Oh shit!" the vocal teen's voice raised an octave when Shadow's head turned to look at them.

     "Don't move!" Shadow growled at them.

     "Not moving sir!" the teen squeaked before starting to ramble. "Staying right here, Mr. Monster! Not moving an inch. Not one stinking--epp!"the boy's voice squeaked again as Shadow snarled angrily at him in order to get him to stop. "Shutting up now Mister Monster Sir!"

     The smell of urine permeated through the air soon afterwards as one or more of the elder high school students soiled themselves in fright. Shadow had parted his otherwise invisible lips when he had snarled, and the teenage boys had caught a glimpse of his many long sharp teeth glinting at them from within his mouth. Needless to say, Shadow could be absolutely terrifying when he wanted to be.

     Satisfied that the other offending teens would stay put, he returned his attention to the one he was holding onto. He was angry at all five of them for disturbing his friend and blood bond master, Marlene. But he was down-right furious at the one he was holding for daring to hurt her and her one and only human friend, Gracie.

     Because of Marlene's radical shifts in luck, Gracie was the only friend Marlene had other than him. And, unlike him, she could give her something he could not; the normal human companionship a girl her age needed to stay mentally healthy. True, he could know and understand what she was feeling through the mental link that they shared but, because he had never been human, he couldn't quite relate, empathize, or interact with her like another human could.

     Her parents couldn't or wouldn't full fill this most vital role because they were never really around long enough or often enough to do so. Most other humans avoided getting too close to her as well, for fear of getting hurt when her luck turned south. Those that weren't afraid, were chase off by Marlene herself to keep them from getting hurt when her luck eventually turned bad and herself, when they decided to abandon her because of it. Gracie, on the other hand, was never afraid and had practically forced her way into Marlene's life, in spite of the girl's protests against it.