Trama

The BAU team follows a trail of murders that seems to align with the tour schedule of a rock star.

Tara Ferris is the third and latest female victim killed in two weeks in the Los Angeles, California area where the victims are beaten by blunt force trauma to head, not sexually assaulted, but drained of their blood. By the puncture wounds on the neck and the saliva found near the puncture wounds, the killer is mimicking a vampire. The BAU discover that a connection between all the victims is their worship of a goth/vampire singer named Paul Davies, whose stage name is Dante. A message scrawled on Tara's arm also points to a connection to Dante. Although a suspect since a victim's car is found at his home, Dante asserts that his public persona is solely an act and that he has disdain for people who worship his music. After interviewing him, the BAU learn that he doesn't quite fit the profile of the killer. The BAU also discover that part of their profile of the unsub is incorrect when they receive lab results of the saliva.—Huggo

A Goth rock band performs to the wild cheers of its fans. Song over, the lead singer, Dante, heads backstage. He chugs a bottle of booze and then stares at himself in a broken mirror. The symbolism is thick. But is he fractured enough to kill? Cut to BAU headquarters, where the team discusses the latest in a string of female victims found with minimal blood in their bodies. The latest corpse had "The Liar" written on her arm. Worst of all, there is saliva on the wounds, as if someone drank their blood. Yikes. The team quickly boards the jet. Reid explains that "true blood drinkers" are exceedingly rare. He also theorizes that the killer and his victims have almost certainly crossed paths in some way. We CUT to the home of Dante, a regular bloke who just happens to dress up like the lord of the underworld when on stage. The rock star awakes confused, explaining to his manager Ray that he has no memory of what happened after last night's show. Hmm.

The team lands and heads to the local police station. They are greeted by Det. Owen Kim, who is surprised to learn that Derek has usurped Hotch as the BAU boss. Reid immediately begins looking for common witnesses. "If we could find a cross relationship, someone in all the victims' lives, that would be incredibly helpful," he explains to J.J. Rossi and Emily, meanwhile, head to the dead girl's apartment, where they find dozens of pictures of Dante. "Who's this guy?" asks Rossi, who is clearly hopelessly behind the times.

Cut to a rock-star party, where Dante laments the turn his career has taken to Ray. Not only has he given up making music for being a character, but record sales are down. Dante's spirits are lifted, however, when he spots an attractive young waitress. He invites her out on an impromptu date. "You won't be sorry," he says. Back at headquarters, the morgue attendant debunks the bite theory. The wounds in the victim's necks are too precise to have been done by teeth. "Some sort of boring instrument then?" Hotch asks. The doctor concurs, but can't explain why there is also human saliva on the wounds. Derek suggests the unsub might have licked his victims' after he drained their blood. Suddenly, the team gets a call delivering more bad news: another dead girl has been found dumped near the expressway.

Cut to the expressway. "The Liar" is once again written on the body of dead young woman. Time for a profile. Reid tells the assembled cops that the killer will likely have self-inflicted wounds concealed by long sleeves due to the shame. Also: "There will be a long history of animal abuse," he says. Finally: "I guarantee this someone out there already knows this unsub is very, very sick," Reid finishes. Cut to Dante THROWING UP in a sink. Ray attempts to comfort his client, who cries about not being able to "stop." But does he mean drinking/drugging or killing? Meanwhile, Emily and Derek find out that the latest victim, who had drug problems, disappeared in the middle of her shift as an party waitress. Emily then notices a worker carrying a stack of CDs. It's Dantes new album, which happens to be called "The Liar." Exclaims Emily: "There was a poster of him at Tara's house!" They quickly call Garcia, who is naturally a step head. Turns out Dante is the common thread connecting all of the victims. "They all have cyber shrines set up for him," Garcia explains. "They worship him." Seconds later, Rossi, Derek and Owen head to Dante's home. Emily's eyes go wide as soon as they pull into the driveway -- and not just because the house is enormous. "That car is Erin Hickman's car -- the victims car!" she says.

Dante is brought in for questioning and is met by a crush of annoying media types waiting like vultures. Once inside, Emily interrogates Dante, who recoils at pictures of the victims -- the last of whom is the waitress Dante took home from the rock-star party. "I don't remember," Dante says. "I don't know how that girl ended up like that." Just then, test results on the saliva come back from the lab. "The DNA is from a woman," Hotch tells an incredulous Rossi. That's potentially very bad news for J.J., who has gone by herself to interview the first victim's BFF, Gina. The house is a total wreck and Gina is acting very, very strange. Back at headquarters, Emily allows Dante to call his manager, who crows over the fact that Dante's CD is selling like hotcakes after the media firestorm. "I told you I'd fix it," Ray says. "Absolutely nothing can be tied to you." Ray hangs up the phone and parks his sports car directly outside Ginas house! J.J., meanwhile, is searching for Gina in the backyard. Ray sneaks up behind the agent and -- WHAM! -- bashes her over the head with a shovel.

Cut to headquarters, where Reid reworks the profile for a female. He suddenly realizes that it all points to one of the earlier victim's friends: Gina. To back up the point, Garcia calls with news that Gina has been keeping a very obsessive online diary. Dante, it turns out, is literally her God. The girl writes of being ready to kill for the rock star (or, at the very least, his manager). The team suddenly realizes that J.J. has walked into a potential blood-draining situation. They make haste to the SUVs. Cut to Gina's house, where J.J. manages to swim out of unconsciousness. She listens to the conversation between Gina and Ray, who is clearly using the mentally ill woman to kill fans in a convoluted attempt to build publicity for the new album. "Just one more -- and yourself, just like you promised," Ray tells a gibbering Gina. But J.J. won't go down that easy. She gets up and -- WHAM! -- bashes Ray in the head with her gun. Suddenly, the team arrives. They cuff Gina and Ray.

Back at headquarters, Emily lets Dante go. "It was your manager," she explains. "He used a fan of your's." Dante is SHOCKED. His manager must have been drugging him, or at least putting the stuff within snorting/smoking range. "It never ceases to amaze me how dark obsession can get," Emily says. Ain't that the truth. Case closed.