CHAPTER 26

Liam had planned to keep watch on the cottage until his presence was required in the loch. But after a few hours spent staring at the light in the window, he realized just how pathetic he was and took a walk.

Why had he allowed himself to fall in love with her? Liam kicked at a dead branch in his path. As if he’d had any choice in the matter at all.

So intelligent, so interesting, so brave, and yet so wounded. The way she’d looked him right in the eye and insisted—to him!—that there was no Loch Ness Monster. Yet when presented with undeniable evidence she’d not only changed her goal but also become fascinated with everything about Nessie. About him.

She would tilt her chin just so, and her lips would tighten as she tried to hold in the pain, but her eyes swam with the memories of love and loss and betrayal. Memories she had shared with him. To be trusted like that had made Liam feel truly human.

He’d thought himself miserable before. But now he would experience the agony of loving with no hope of being loved in return. Who could love a creature such as he? He had blood on his hands that would never wash free no matter how many days he swam in the loch.

Even if by some miracle Kris loved him back—perhaps if she hit her head one too many times and completely forgot the meaning of the words liar and murderer—her loss was inevitable, as she would die and he would not.

Too bad the witch who had cursed him wasn’t still alive to witness his pain. She would love it.

Liam wandered, but the loch and the trees and the bright shiny moon did not give him an instant’s peace, so he came back to Kris.

By the time he returned, the window was dark and she was asleep. He glanced to the east. Just a few hours until dawn.

Suddenly a car pulled up. Her brother got out, then pounded on the front door, shouting her name. He rattled the knob. The door held.

Until he kicked it in.

Liam ran across the road, up the walk, and into the house. He knew even before Marty, staring at her open computer, said, “Fuck!” that Kris was gone.

“What happened?” Liam asked.

“There’s an e-mail from Jamaica telling Kris to meet her at the coffee shop.” He headed for the door.

Liam put his hand to the man’s chest. “What is so wrong with that?”

“Jamaica Blue is in a hospital in Inverness.”

Liam’s blood, which had run cold since that cursed night beneath the moon, suddenly ran even colder. “Why?”

“Someone beat the hell out of her, then left her for dead. The doctors have no idea why she’s still alive.”

Liam knew. Jamaica had powers. She’d sworn never to use them again, but when the situation was dire vows would be broken, blood would be spilled, sacrifices made.

“Who?” Liam murmured, the softness of his voice belying the turmoil within.

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be here; I’d be kicking his ass until he occupied a bed in the room next to hers.”

“Why are ye here?” Liam asked. It didn’t follow that Jamaica being hurt would send Marty to his sister.

Marty’s gaze was tortured. “Because the last thing Jamaica said before she lost consciousness was, ‘Save Kris.’”

*   *   *

Kris awoke with a nasty headache. If she got conked on the head any more she was going to wind up with brain damage.

Except she hadn’t been hit. Not this time. This time she’d been drugged.

Which was so much better.

She was cold. No longer inside, but somewhere near the water, as she could smell the loch and … pine trees.

Kris opened her eyes. It was still dark. She hadn’t been out that long. Unless she’d been out an entire day and most of the night. But she didn’t think so.

She lay on the ground. Her hands were bound, but her feet weren’t, so she sat up, and then wished she hadn’t. Not only because of the increase in brain pain, but also because as soon as she did she saw that she wasn’t alone.

“How are you feeling?” Dougal Scott asked.

“Are you crazy?”

Fury flashed in his eyes, and Kris wanted to bite her tongue. Obviously he was crazy. He was a damn serial killer. Pointing that out, however, probably not the best idea while bound and helpless.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said, getting over his anger fairly quickly. “If you’d be up in the middle of the night again and see the e-mail in time.”

“I—” Kris broke off. “How did you know I’m up in the middle of the night?”

“Your lights. I could see you moving about behind the curtains.”

He’d been watching her. No wonder she’d felt so … watched.

“What if I hadn’t seen the e-mail?”

“I’d have come to you.” He shrugged. “But it was easier if you came to me.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“I need them off my back.”

“Them?”

“The Jäger-Suchers. Interpol.” He took a few steps toward her. “Clever to send you. I didn’t suspect. Not until I found your silver knife.”

Hell, she’d known that was going to bite her on the ass.

He tilted his head. “But are you J-S or Interpol?” He continued before she could deny being either one. “Doesn’t matter. I was mad.” He wagged a finger at her. “You fooled me. I thought you liked me. Still, I shouldn’t have used your knife on that girl.” His face fell. “I never meant for her to be found. But she got caught in the damn lock. And that put a crimp in what I’ve been trying to do.”

“Which is?”

“Don’t play stupid!” His shout echoed over the silent loch. Would someone investigate? Should she hope they did or that they didn’t?

He appeared to be waiting for her to answer. Considering his hair-trigger temper, she decided to humor him. “You wanted Nessie blamed for the killings.”

“If they kill the Loch Ness Monster, or capture it, they won’t be looking for me anymore.”

“You’ve been killing people all over the world using the MOs of the local legends.”

Made sense. He’d been studying those legends for most of his life. He had a damn display in his museum. But—

“I thought you didn’t believe in Nessie.”

He made a derisive sound. “No, you didn’t believe in Nessie. I just wanted to get in your pants. I decided that was the quickest way. Then you decided to fuck the monster, and I decided you should die.”

“Why would you want to kill people?”

“Magic’s in my blood. Sacrifice brings power. But no matter how many I killed, the power never came to me. I couldn’t access the magic.”

“If sacrifice didn’t work, why’d you keep killing?”

“I liked it. I may not control the magic—yet—but the rush after I kill…” Dougal breathed in, and his chest expanded as if that power he wanted so badly, the power he’d killed for, had come to him at last. “Having command over life and death makes me feel—”

“Crazy?” Kris muttered, then wished she’d kept her mouth shut when his eyes glittered with both madness and fury. How could she ever have thought his eyes were gentle, intelligent, and attractive? Hadn’t she learned by now that there were more ways to lie than with words?

“Would a crazy person be smart enough to use the local legends as a cover?”

In Kris’s experience crazy didn’t mean “stupid.” It usually meant “freakishly smart.” However—

“The authorities knew what you were doing.” They just hadn’t known who was doing it. “They followed you to Drumnadrochit.”

“I wanted them to. I needed a place where a real legend lived.”

“In the other places there was no monster,” Kris guessed. “Except for you.”

He cast her a narrow glance, then nodded. “I needed something I could blame, and they could kill.”

“Why Nessie?”

“I knew the Loch Ness Monster existed. My family was here when the legend was born. Or at least when the curse was.”

Kris’s head ached. Her mouth tasted like dirt. Her mind wasn’t working as quickly as she’d like, but eventually she caught up. “You’re the witch’s ancestor.”

“Aye,” he said sarcastically. “That I am.”

“I don’t understand,” Kris managed. “Why would you want Nessie dead? Isn’t the monster cursed to eternal torment?”

“He doesn’t seem too tormented to me. Why would he be? He gets to fuck you.”

“He?” Kris asked. “Wouldn’t Nessie be a woman?”

Dougal’s expression revealed how lame he thought her attempt to throw him off that scent.

“I know that Liam,” he said the name with a sarcastic twist, “is Nessie. All my life I’ve heard over and over how that horrible thing murdered our golden daughter. How there must always be one of us here to make sure it was tormented for all time. I accepted the charge. I’m the last of my line.”

Kris tried to wiggle out of whatever he’d used to bind her hands. She couldn’t make it budge a centimeter. No surprise. Dougal’d had a lot of practice binding his victims.

“Imagine my shock,” he continued, “to discover the monster wasn’t tormented but treated like a god. The locals, as well as the tourists, worship the thing. Even my own granaidh, who’d also been charged, allowed it to walk freely among them like it was as human as it appeared. The creature has guardians to protect it.” His lip curled. “But they won’t once they see the film of their precious Nessie drowning a woman.”

Kris blinked, remembering the video that had been playing at Jamaica’s. “Your victim is alive. Nessie didn’t hurt her; Nessie saved her, and she will say so.”

“That isn’t the video I’m talking about.” Dougal’s eyes glittered madly. “It could have been if she’d died. Why did you have to know CPR?”

“Sorry,” Kris muttered.

“I wanted to show you what he was. I thought then you’d kill him, or have Edward do it. But you’re as dazzled by the creature as everyone else. I can barely get people in this village to say hello to me on the street, but that thing they revere.” He glanced toward the video camera and tripod partially concealed by the trees. “Not for long. You’ll be my new star, and you’ll die like you’re supposed to.”

Kris had kind of figured her death was on his agenda. Why else would he trick her and drug her and drag her…?

She glanced around. They were at a remote portion of the loch, backed by a craggy hillside, surrounded by thick trees, the water lolling past a tiny exposed portion of shore, barely big enough to land the small boat they’d arrived in. There were a hundred places like this up and down the loch.

“He’ll never find us,” she murmured.

Dougal glanced at the steadily lightening sky. “Give him time.”

*   *   *

Marty and Liam arrived at the coffee shop very close to dawn. Even though Liam knew he was pushing it, that he could easily shape-shift right in the middle of Jamaica’s shop and pretty much break everything into a thousand pieces, still he ran inside.

Kris wasn’t there; he knew that, too. But they had to follow every clue, even if those clues eventually led to her body.

Fury coursed through him. He would kill whoever hurt her. He would enjoy it the way that he used to. And if that turned him back into a creature unable to value human life, one the Jäger-Suchers would certainly destroy, then so be it.

A piece of paper lay on the ground. At first Liam thought it had drifted from Jamaica’s overburdened desk. He picked it up, nearly put it back without reading it. But the large block letters caught his attention.

DUNWAR.

He shoved the sheet at Marty and ran.

The Interpol agent was fast. He caught Liam as he reached the water. “What does this mean?” Marty demanded.

“ ’Tis a point on the loch. Remote. The quickest way is by water.”

Marty looked around helplessly. “We need a boat.”

Liam’s gaze went to the sky. “I don’t,” he said just as the sun burst free.

*   *   *

Kris had to do something. Dougal planned to kill her, blame it on Nessie, then go about merrily murdering hither and yon once Marty and Edward believed they’d taken care of the problem.

He’d screw up again, no doubt, and have them both back on his trail. But in the meantime, she’d be dead and so would Liam. Kris wanted to avoid that.

Reasoning with him was out. Dougal had lost all reason long ago.

So … She’d just have to kill him before he killed her.

He’d need to get her in the water somehow. Maybe she could drag him in, too. Hold his head below the water with …

Kris yanked again at the bonds on her hands. With what? Her teeth?

“Time for a swim.” Dougal motioned to the loch with his gun. “Get in.”

“I’m not going to be able to swim with my hands tied.”

“No,” he said with a smirk, “you won’t.”

“Won’t that be suspicious?”

“A serial-killing kelpie bound your hands? What a wicked, wicked creature.” He flicked the barrel at the water. “Go.”

“I … uh … No.” She stood. “You want me to drown. You’re not going to shoot me.”

“No?” He lowered the weapon and fired. Dirt flew up a few inches in front of her. Kris couldn’t help but scoot back.

Dougal followed. “Get in.”

Kris lifted her chin. “I won’t.”

Bam!

Earth exploded centimeters from her right toe. She stumbled into water just past her ankles. Kris tried to inch forward.

Bam!

Water sprayed to her left. This time she held her ground, gritted her teeth, refused to move, though she did flinch. Bam, right. Bam, left. Right. Right. Left. Left.

He reloaded so fast and fluidly, she only managed a single step forward before he shot again. Three in succession—to her right and left and right. Dizzy, ears ringing, she swayed.

And the water erupted as Nessie broke the surface.

The creature brushed past Kris, heading for Dougal, teeth bared. Dougal’s eyes bulged, the whites flaring in the bright morning sun. He fired, emptying his clip into the gray seal-like skin.

Nessie flopped into the shallows like a beached fish and lay still.

Kris’s mind froze as solidly as her feet already had in the icy waters of the loch. She stared at the massive bleeding dead lump that was Nessie.

“Huh.” Dougal looked at his gun.

“Th-th-that’s—” Kris’s teeth began to chatter.

“Unfortunate,” Dougal finished.

Kris had meant to say impossible, but obviously not. From what she could see, Nessie had already stopped breathing. Perhaps a descendant of the witch who created the monster was the only one who could end the monster. Who knew?

Kris’s whole world shifted, and everything became clear—an instant too late.

Seduction was one thing, love completely another. Great sex could not make you feel something you didn’t truly feel.

Like the love she felt for Liam Grant.

“Well.” Dougal slapped in a third clip. How many did he have? “I can work with this. Drown you, say she did it and I had to shoot her. Too bad about the video. I would have enjoyed it later, but sometimes you have to improvise.” He tossed the gun aside, grabbed Kris’s arm, and began to drag her into the loch.

Kris struggled. Not that she cared about drowning. Not anymore. Liam had died saving her. He’d died believing she hated him. She’d wondered if she would ever feel again the way she felt about Liam. Now she knew that she wouldn’t, and the luster of life dimmed.

However, she wasn’t going to let Dougal get away with blaming her death on Nessie. And the only way to ensure that was to live.

So Kris fought. She dug in her heels; she struggled and screamed. Dougal yanked and scratched and cursed.

Then he slapped her.

Behind him, the eyes of the Loch Ness Monster opened.

*   *   *

On land Liam was slow and ponderous. But in the water he was king. So he played dead, and he waited for that murdering bastard Dougal Scott to get but a little closer.

Crack!

The distinct sound of flesh meeting flesh caused Liam’s eyes to snap open just as Dougal hit her again.

Liam’s neck snaked out, his body already rolling into the water as his jaws closed on Dougal’s thigh, biting deep, tasting blood. Together they thrashed, but the man was no match for the monster. Dougal’s scream cut off as he was pulled beneath the surface.

“Liam, no!” Kris cried, but it was too late. The instant Dougal had marked her for dead, he had marked himself as well.

Together Liam and Dougal sank into the frigid depths of Loch Ness.