His face pinches, troubled. The guilt tortures him, but he has a very Catholic way of keeping it close around his heart like a cage of thorns.

He can't help trying to pull away when Konstantin thinks of his own death, but here too is a similarity. Louis has contemplated ending his life so many times. His heart thrums with the twin feeling. Louis doesn't like looking in the mirror. He shies away from it.

"Were you always like this back home? Born to it?"

It seems more like a parasite than something he'd be born with, but Louis is starting from zero knowledge other than having a worm hiss at him (and hissing back).

"I'm not... natural. I was not born like this. It's... somethin' that happened to me."

The lie can be felt there. The Dark Gift was something he chose, like a moth to a flame.