Feeding the Beast

S1, E18: When an alcoholic is murdered after a meeting of his recovery group, program leader Monika Howard comes forward but provides little information about the victim. Fighting his own addiction to blood, Nick goes undercover in the group to find the killer, while wondering if the group might be able to help him recover as well. After another recovering group member is killed by an overdose of cocaine, Nick admits to Schanke that he, too, is an addict. When Nick destroys his supply of blood in an effort to overcome his addiction, he is forced to endure horrible nightmares of Lacroix beckoning him to give in to his hunger. Warned that his craving will seem overpowering at times, Nick discovers that Monika's own addiction to sex is driving her closer to him. Pressured to give in as Monika admits her program is just a way to live between fixes, Nick is disillusioned by the hypocrisy and seeks refuge in a hidden bottle of blood. Discovering that Monika has a record of working in massage parlors, Nick throws himself back into his vampirism with a vengeance and nearly takes a new victim before being stopped. As Natalie and Schanke answer Janette's call for help, Nick admits the program is just a charade and flies off to find Monika. However, catching her working as a prostitute and demanding that she join him, when Nick discovers that her customer is dead, he compassionately takes up her defense. Exposing himself as an undercover cop, Nick asks for anyone in the group with information about the killings to contact him at home. Nick is called by group member Angie and he hurries to the meeting hall only to find her dead. Then, after Monika arrives claiming to have been called, too, she and Nick find themselves dodging gunfire. Creating a diversion to allow her to escape and then tracking the shooter, Nick finds Hillary Howard holding Monika at gunpoint. Claiming she is addicted to looking out for her sister and then confessing to being the killer, Hillary is convinced to surrender her weapon and is arrested by Schanke.