On top of this, there had been the shock of reading the news stories that had identified his work. Although he’d known this moment would come, and had thought he was prepared for it, the actuality had thrown him into confusion. They were calling him a monster, which he’d expected. But he’d thought at least one of them would have realized that there was a solid, sensible reason for what had happened to those arrogant bastards. Instead, nobody had had a word of criticism for his victims. They’d been portrayed as innocents, as if it was inconceivable that they might have deserved to die at his hands.

Sure, there had been speculation about possible motives. A couple of the papers had even suggested he might be an insane animal rights activist making a statement against vivisection. Unbelievable. The answer was staring them in the face and they were too stupid to see it.

The more he read, the more angry he had felt. He began to think he would have to spell out to them what was really going on. But he didn’t want to do anything yet that might expose him. He still had work to do, and now it was going to be a lot harder. One of the newspapers had broken the story that the police were warning academic psychologists to report any contact from unfamiliar media personnel. He didn’t know how they’d uncovered his way of making contact, but he was blown now. Every one of the bastards would be on their guard. He wouldn’t be able to use his cover story to lure them into his power again. Not in Germany, at least.

The next one he had planned was due to be in Holland anyway. Those dirty collaborators were as guilty as the German psychologists, he knew that. Maybe he would be safe there one more time, since the single European market still didn’t seem to apply to news. He’d have to be, because he hadn’t thought up an alternative yet, and he couldn’t afford to wait. He needed to blur the memory of Calvet and prove to himself that he wasn’t a failure. He’d just have to be extra careful. But after that, he was going to have to come up with another way to capture his victims.

It was all too much. By the time he’d gone to bed, his head was swimming. Then his body had proved as treacherous as his brain, depriving him of sleep and sending his temperature on a rollercoaster ride of fever and chill.

It had been dawn when he’d finally fallen into a deep and nourishing sleep. And when he’d woken, it was to find that a miracle had happened. The fog and confusion had lifted, leaving him as clear-headed as he had been on the day he first understood that he needed to provide a blood sacrifice.