"Oh yes," he says, with a smile of fond remembrance. "Then comes the fun part. I'd kill you now if I knew how to duplicate the effect."

His hand lifts away from his arm—detaches entirely, suspended at the end of a smooth linkage of blood flowing through the air between the cleanly severed ends of veins and arteries. He wiggles his fingers in a cheery wave. The appendage snaps back into place.

"I can do tricks," he chirps.