"Different things." Hannibal admitted. "It is not all done for the same purpose or end result, though the end result is generally the same every time. I have killed to rid the world of the rude. I have killed to provide a sort of service." For example, the man that they were carrying now. The whole of the opera house benefited from his end. It was a death that anybody in the orchestral section would mourn. "I have killed to bring retributions for wrongs done on those I love. I have killed for revenge. I have killed for the sake of killing. I suppose that the singularly solid emotion that it brings no matter what the instigation is satisfaction."
Hannibal considered this answer, and was happy with it. There was always some enjoyment when he took a life, but more than that, there was the satisfaction. A sense of pride.
"I do not have a set ritual, nor have I killed any two in the same manner." He added these bits on simply because he felt like it. Hannibal had no idea if Erik would ask, or if Erik cared. The sharing had reached a point where he felt almost giddy with it. No one knew the things that he was telling his companion now. Baba Yaga had seen some of it, she had encouraged what she had seen. But she did not know the hard numbers, she knew what Hannibal was, what he had done. It just all felt different, telling Erik.