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“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.
