He looked up at Kyle's ruined face with the calm, thoughtful expression of a man deciding where to carve the next slice.
"I have been thinking about your friends."
His voice was conversational, almost friendly.
"Specifically, I have been trying to decide which of them I am going to be the kindest to. You know me, Kyle. I'm a generous person, fundamentally. Even when provoked. I like to think I give people a fair chance to earn a little mercy from me before I decide the rest of the conversation for them. Anderson earned none. Zack earned none. Aiden earned none. Brett, we haven't started on, but I can already tell he's going to earn none. You —"
He let the tip of the dagger rest lightly against Kyle's chest, between the two long diagonal cuts, and the flesh around the contact point began to blacken and smoke "— are earning less than none tonight. You've earned a deficit."
