Alexei lunged forward and the bandit swiped, too high and too slow. He swatted their wrist aside with the back of his arm, taking a shallow cut to make himself room to fully grab the limb and twist. There was a wet crunch as the shoulder dislocated, and he used the momentum to follow through and throw them to the ground. They hit the road with a grunt - knife bouncing from their hand and across the packed dirt.

He could have drawn his own weapons and dispatched them - he should have - but his mind clamored for more violence than a clean execution could offer. Something in him wanted to do damage and it wanted them to feel it.

"Dyavolok-" they spat as Alexei knelt wordlessly to pin their uninjured arm with one hand, the other clamping hard around their throat. It was the easiest place to attune to someone else's body - whether to heal or to harm. Under the imposition of his will, given further weight by the malevolence that gripped him, the flesh did as it was told.

The soft tissues of organs went first - putrefying beneath the skin while they struggled against Alexei's grip. It took only moments for the screaming to stop, replaced with a thick, rattling wheeze that only lasted a few seconds more before turning to a wet choking sound. It should have been done when the body went slack under his hands - but without a will of its own left to contest him, it was only easier to call decay forth.

The sound of someone shouting for him finally dragged him back to his senses and his stomach lurched at the sight of what he'd done. He picked himself up off the ground and found his feet, staring down at the rotten corpse that had been alive just moments ago. It had been so easy- some part of him felt sated for it but now, tethered to himself once again, he felt sick with guilt.

Disgust and shame coiled tight in his chest and he finally tore his attention from the corpse, his own fear mirrored on Theo's expression. They dropped their hand from their mouth and only hesitated for a moment before they approached, putting a hand on his arm. Neither of them spoke as Alexei let himself be herded away - careful not to touch them.