Hannibal relaxed, though he hadn't been visibly tense. He watched Erik move, stepped away so that he could have room to speak to the dying man. And he listened carefully to the words that Erik was saying. Enjoyed the fear that he saw intensify in the eyes of the bleeding bassoonist.
"If this had been my own space, or had I known that you would not disapprove of my methods, he would have been in a great deal more pain than he is already. As it is, I had wanted him to get the gist of my irritation with him before he moved on, and I felt that it was taking too long."
Hannibal wondered what kind of things that he might have in common with Erik that neither of them had known about until this moment. How many people had Erik ended? Did he do it because it needed to be done, or like Hannibal, was the killing done and pleasure taken from it?
While he felt that there was more he could do now that he essentially had the permission to do it, Hannibal knelt once more and plunged the knife's blade through the neck flesh to sever not only the artery, but the vocal chords.