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Of course, confidence was only confidence.
Evan would not know how far he could push himself until he tested the limits.
Right now, he had a much more immediate problem.
Mary Jane kept trying to feed him.
He wanted badly to tell her to stop shoving formula at his mouth.
He did not need it.
What he needed was dew, clean rainwater, or something alive that he could draw life force from.
Plants would work.
Animals would work better.
Which brought him to the ability he had gained from this evolution.
The first evolution had awakened his ability to evolve.
The second had given him Beast Speech.
The third had given him air-walking.
This fourth evolution had given him Devour.
Before, Venom had done the devouring.
Whenever they needed energy, Evan had to let him emerge and eat the enemy’s body.
Now Evan could do it himself.
His version was worse.
Venom devoured by consuming flesh and absorbing the energy inside it.
Evan could rip life force straight out of a target’s body.
Cleaner.
Stronger.
More horrifying.
If people knew what he could do, they would call him a vampire.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Mary Jane murmured, still trying.
“Just a little.
Please?”
She thought she might be holding him wrong, so she switched arms.
Then switched back.
Then decided the room might be the problem and carried him into the hallway.
After that, she tried the roof.
The result stayed the same.
No.
“Maybe he isn’t hungry,” Peter said cautiously.
Mary Jane turned a glare on him.
“Babies are always hungry.
They eat, sleep, wake up, and eat again.”
Peter shut up.
Eventually, even Mary Jane had to admit the bottle was not working.
She gave up for the night and started fixing the bed.
Peter’s bed was not big enough for three people.
Peter ended up on the floor.
Mary Jane slept on the bed with Evan in her arms.
Night settled over the apartment.
Peter lay on the floor and looked up at Mary Jane and the baby with the wounded expression of a man whose perfect night had been murdered by fate.
Tonight was supposed to have been his night with Mary Jane.
If Evan had not appeared, the two of them would probably be making the bed regret existing.
The thought made Peter look deeply wronged.
Mary Jane drifted off.
Evan did not.
He opened his bright little eyes and looked down at Peter.
Their gazes met.
Peter froze for a second.
For one strange instant, he thought he saw something familiar in the baby’s eyes.
Something like Evan.
Then he laughed softly at himself.
“I’m losing it,” he muttered.
“What, Evan knocked someone up, had a kid, and ran?”
He thought the baby might be Evan’s son.
He would never guess the baby was Evan himself.
Evan heard the whisper and rolled his eyes.
‘Sorry, buddy.
I’m borrowing your wife for a while.
I’ll give her back later.’
After that, things moved quickly.
Peter and Mary Jane got married.
With Harry’s help, they pushed through the legal mess and became Evan’s official guardians.
Mary Jane was busy rehearsing for a new musical, so Evan spent most of his time with Peter.
Peter had no choice but to strap Evan into a baby carrier and take him everywhere.
Having a child also made both of them work harder.
The only thing that worried them was Evan’s refusal to eat.
A full week passed after they took him in, and he still would not drink or eat anything.
Doctors examined him and found nothing wrong.
If anything, his body looked impossibly healthy.
No one could explain it.
One afternoon, Peter sat in a park with lunch.
Between school, food delivery, courier work, and taking photos for a newspaper, he was running himself into the ground.
He had just finished a delivery shift and was eating a hot slice of pizza like it was the only good thing left in the world.
Evan lay on the grass beside him.
Peter was too hungry to watch closely.
‘Damn.
A week without food.
I’m starving.’
Evan stretched one small pale hand and pressed his fingers against the grass.
‘Devour.’
The green patch beneath his hand began to wither.
Yellow spread outward at terrifying speed.
Tiny points of green light rose from the grass, gathered around Evan’s fingers, and sank into his body.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.