Shaking, I forced myself to take deep breaths. The creature I had just witnessed was as cold and cruel as the Loch itself, as violent as nature could be. It was pure animal, pure evolution, existing solely on instinct. It was magnificent in its primal beauty, and frightening in the ruthlessness of its attack.

I needed to see more. I needed to know more.

Regaining my feet, I grabbed my laptop and hurried around to the front of the gate, quietly letting myself in the grazing area.

Calum stood over the remaining sheep, then shot the injured beast with a revolver. Dragging the dead animal to the water, he pushed the bleeding carcass over the edge. He reentered the grazing area, then saw me as he approached the back of the farmhouse, stopping dead in his tracks. "Ye saw?"

"Everything." Lightning flashed overhead. "Let's talk inside."

He thought for a long moment, then I followed him up the stoop of his back porch and into the farmhouse.

Urquhart Bay
11:25 P.M.

Michael Newman pointed at the screen, too excited to remain seasick. "We lost it after it passed Invermoriston, then it reappeared. See? It's staying deep, hanging out in the middle of the Loch, just south of Invermoriston."

David peered over the engineer's shoulder, high on adrenaline. "Invermoriston? That's like what? Ten miles south? How do we get it to swim up here?"

"Give it time. Maybe it'll smell the bait?"

"And maybe we'll lose it again. The bait's just sitting in the water. If it wanted it, it would have taken it long ago. This thing's not stupid."

David looked out the starboard window. Though the wind had died down, it was still drizzling, thinning out what had been a capacity crowd of more than three thousand. "Brandy, move us closer to the buoy, I have an idea."

Calum Forrest's Croft
11:37 P.M.

I sat at Calum's kitchen table, my pulse beating in rhythm to a grandfather clock ticking somewhere in the darkened living room.

The water bailiff set out two cups of coffee, then added a shot of whisky to each. "Aye takes me a nip or three afore my nerves calm doon. My wife, God rest her soul, often had tae dae it for me."

"How long have you been feeding it?"

"Since afore ye were born, an' long afore that, but only in winters. Come summer, there's plenty o' fish."

"But not this summer?"

He glanced at my injured foot. "I think ye a'ready ken that answer, dae ye no'?"

"This sheep croft, how long has it been in your family?"

"Since the time o' yer kin, Sir Adam Wallace."

"Sir Adam Wallace? Never heard of him."

"Then it's best ye ask yer faither."

"I'm asking you. Was Adam Wallace a Templar Black Knight?"

"He wis the first."

"So the mission of the Black Knights was to feed these creatures?"