holden should’ve shoved his hand away. should have found the sight around them revolting, a testament to joshua’s extremes. but instead of revulsion, he felt a vague spark of intrigue. their violent acts were becoming more enthralling than horrifying to witness, to entertain, to initiate; each one more exciting than the last. "guess that makes you a dog off the leash," he retorted, meant as a compliment, leaning into the smell of blood and triumph dripping from them. that smile of joshua’s, all teeth and bloom-fresh malice, always did things to him. annoying things. dangerous things. the hybrid turned his head, not to pull away, but to angle closer, so he could look him in the eye. his lip curled just slightly; it wasn't quite a smirk, not quite disgust. "you’ve got something on your chin," he said dryly. his eyes flicked briefly to the smear of crimson still dripping from joshua’s mouth. "sloppy eater." it was the closest thing holden allowed himself to humor these days. still, the tone was near endearing, going as far as reaching out, smearing the blood on their chin with his thumb, a poor attempt to clean the evidence before he stepped back. creating much needed distance, his boots crunched bone fragments beneath his heel as he moved. he didn’t look at the corpses. just stared off down the alley, already ten moves ahead; planning their next kill, thinking about drowning in some bourbon. never leaving enough room to regret ever getting involved in this twisted routine of murder-as-foreplay. the humanity switch made everything quieter. cleaner. the noise of morality, guilt, restraint—all of it dialed down to a low hum. "you’re enjoying this too much," holden muttered, "which is saying something, coming from me."