"Caused by some kind of toxin in the water. I don't know where it's originating from or why it hasn't been detected up until now, but it's definitely affecting the wildlife."

"Aye, but there's a more immediate problem. The creature's tasted human flesh again, an' that makes her very dangerous. Same sort o' thing happened long ago with another o' her kind, back when I was a lad. Still, I dinnae want tae see her put doon, she's served us well."

Served who well? The Black Knights?

"Dae ye think ye can free her to the sea?"

"I don't know. Where's the Loch's underwater access route into the Moray Firth?"

He shook his head. "Off wi' ye now, laddie. Godspeed."

I started the engine, then shut it off. "Mr. MacDonald, thank you for saving my life."

He hesitated, then shook my offered hand. "Make it a life worth savin'. One mair thing. Her eyes may be weak frae aye livin' in the dark, but her sense o' smell's unequaled. That's how she hunts. It's said she can sense a man by smellin' the terror in his blood. So take heed."

I nodded, then gunned the engine and drove off, feeling as if an old scar had finally been picked clean to heal.

Clansman Hotel

True was waiting for me in the parking lot when I rolled in ten minutes later. "Ye're late. Sweet Jesus, whit happened tae yer foot?"

"I fed it to an Anguilla eel." I glanced over his shoulder to the wharf and a hub of activity. "What's going on down there?"

"'trucks arrived this mornin' wi' some steel nettin'. A' the boats are bein' fitted wi' them. Urquhart Bay's been cordoned off intae a giant pen. Now whit's this aboot an eel?"

"Later. Is Caldwell down there?"

"Aye. Playin' head honcho for the cameras."

"Playing's the word. Can you call Brandy on her cell phone? Ask her to join us up here, I need to speak with her away from Caldwell."

Leaning back against a pine tree, I could see Brandy as she swaggered down the wharf in all her glory, waving to television crews and journalists. True waited for her at the end of the pier, and I watched as brother and sister spoke.

* * *

"So, Brandy, then it's true?"

"What're ye talkin' about?"

"Zack says ye're sleepin' wi' this Caldwell fella."

"Is this what ye called me out for? Tae discuss who I'm buckin'?"

"I'm concerned, that's a'. Wi' a' ye've been through–"

"Listen here, bro, there isnae anythin' between David an' me 'cept some heavy flirtin', an' most o' that's for the cameras."

"An' one Zachary Wallace as well, aye? I heard whit happened at the Clansman. Ye're rubbin' it in his face, are ye no'?"

"Aye. An' if ye let on about it, I'll smack ye so hard, it'll kill the fuc'in' Crabbitt!"

* * *