Tonight was the night of the semifinals for the scholastic football league, and Kyle could not care any less.
He had almost ditched the game, only heading there when the thought of seeing Logan flashed through his mind.
Kyle didn't know why, but he missed his friend.
He was at home, prepping for the game, when he noticed something running through the bushes outside.
He peered out into the darkness, attempting to catch a glimpse of whatever animal action was going on outside, but his eyes didn't adjust fast enough to see anything interesting.
Shame. He remembered enjoying watching the little critters outside, and had hoped seeing a coyote or something might shake him out of this funk he was currently in.
Kyle pulled himself away from the window, checked the time, and then sprinted out the door to his car in a last ditch effort to arrive on time.
~~~~
Kai was excited for the football game. It took a bit of work on his part to convince Kyle he wanted to go to the game, but the potential for a good meal was too good for him to pass up.
There would be all sorts of people frequenting the game, feeling all sorts of different things. He wouldn't have to lift a finger to create any emotions. Instead, the humans were practically offering themselves to him. How kind.
How he hadn't thought to seek out scenes like this sooner was beyond him. After all, it was golden opportunity to fill his belly, free of charge.
Actually, perhaps it was a good thing he hadn't, considering how suspicious that teacher had become.
As Kyle pulled up to the locker rooms, he could feel the tingling anticipation of the players like static on the air from the parking lot.
Unfortunately, he would have to look upon the football players like a lonely child in a candy store - wistfully gazing at that which he could not have. The risks of odd behaviour being spotted by the history teacher were too high to ignore.
Who knew what type of hysteria he could cause if he could find the evidence to prove his claims?
Kai's core grumbled angrily, as if his very being could sense the buffet around him.
'Just a while longer…'
The seconds passed as minutes, the minutes feeling like they were hours long.
The clock ticked so slowly.
Kai would borrow Kyle's body as he felt time passing, checking the clock obsessively.
The temptation, the delectable fuzz he could feel in the atmosphere, was tantalizingly close, yet just out of reach.
The instant he felt a new mind in the surrounding area he leapt out of Kyle's mind, leaving him in charge of himself, before hesitating momentarily.
Funnily enough, despite his all-encompassing hunger, he was still a bit worried that Kyle might do something stupid, if only because he hadn't finished preparing a second host just yet.
His instincts won out over common sense in the end, and he left Kyle in the locker room unsupervised.
Kai phased through the locker room walls and took residence in the air well above the center of the field.
From this bird's eye view, he could observe the happenings of the football stadium with ease.
Cars scurried through the roads and into the parking lot like ants, coming to stops in an organized pattern of randomness.
Humans exited their vehicles, reaching the stadium in clusters. They were ushered through the gates in waves, flowing into the stadium like an unstoppable tide.
Sports fans were truly a force of nature.
The first mind he had sensed was long lost to the chaotic flow of the crowd.
Kai could feel the stadium teeming with energy. It was like adding drops of water into an already-full glass, with each new splash threatening to break the surface tension, flooding the surrounding area.
And yet the bubble never burst, only growing more chaotic as more energy was added to the system.
He could almost feel the impression of football in the turbulent currents, made larger than life by their collective thoughts.
He reveled in the violent shifts in the energy, allowing himself to be tossed about by currents like a leaf on the wind.
He drifted from one side of the stadium to the other before spotting a prime target.
A middle aged woman, dressed as if she had just come from the office to watch the game, was leaning against the metal mesh fence surrounding the playing field. Her hair fell in messily uniform waves, as if it had recently been given freedom from the bindings of a tight bun.
The bags underneath her eyes were highlighted by the dark smears of once-pristine eyeliner, which did little to distract from the puffiness of the eyes themselves.
She was staring at her phone, eyes wide open, paying no heed to the game in front of her when Kai found her standing there.
The woman fit all the criteria Kai had been searching for. Not a student, not traceable to Kyle, and clearly in an emotional state. Most importantly of all, though, she was alone.
With what little self control he had managed to maintain of himself quickly waning, Kai gave in to his hunger and struck. Feelings and flavors and tingling sensations filled his very being with pure ecstasy, just as pleasurable as the times before.
He tasted tart blueberries and the sensation of frozen, stinging rain. Mournful choral symphonies played in the background as if beckoning to the damned. The rains gave way to a haunting mist. Kai drank in the damp chill as if it were the finest sunshine.
Hardly a minute later, the woman had found permanent relief from her internal pains as Kai's euphoria began to fade.
And yet, Kai's night had just begun.