The dragon had a funny way of teaching me lessons. Once it told me to jump off the highest tower of the castle in order to prove my worth. I jumped off thinking I would hit the bottom and my body would break but instead something else entirely unexpected happened. Today was no exception either. I had gone up to the Great Glen hoping to retrieve an item from the Loch Ness monster in order to end a war between dragons and vampires. Instead I found a dead legend, a non-existent artefact and my own strength. The mermaid child’s head bobbed up and down in the water and she smiled pleasantly at me.

“I liked how that blood tasted.” She said licking her lips and looking towards my blood stained jacket.

“I would give it to you if the weather wasn’t so cold.” I said.

The mermaid shrugged and looked a little disappointed, heaving a sigh she replied, “Ay, I wish it was a little warmer, people might go swimming then and fall to the bottom of the loch.”

“Okay that was a little bit gross.”

“Nature has no need for manners and niceities. They die and I must feed.”

“Ebony!” The familiar voice of Morag called across the Loch to me. I turned and saw her stood on the boat waving to me. I glanced back at the mermaid but saw nothing but the lake surface. She had gone. I waited for a few seconds before deciding the mermaid was not coming back. I walked back up to the boat and greeted an irate Morag.

“You do better with your time not chatting to idol fish folk.” She said waspishly.

“You saw the mermaid then?”

“Ay, I saw it. Often do, but I take no notice and neither should you. Wicked folk they are with no decency. Choose to live in the lakes rather than with the rest of us civilised folk.”

“She seemed very much against civilisation.”

“Tak no notice of her. Oh I saw your Dante looking beside himself.”

“He’s not my Dante.”

“Did you have a tiff? Was it over that man who was following you?”

“You saw Edvard?”

“Only across the lake giving you longing looks. Is he your bit on the side?”

“No!” I said a little too loudly, “He isn’t! He’s horrible, vile, nasty man and he’s my…my brother.” I explained.

Morag’s eyes widened and her hand raised over her mouth in a gesture of disgust. Embarrassed I looked towards the floor. I didn’t want people to know about my brother’s desire for me. It was sick and I was afraid how people would judge me because of that.

“My dear girl,” Morag said, “Why didn’t you tell Dante about Edvard?”

“I don’t want to rely on Dante for protection. I want to be my own person and be able to stand my own ground without the help of Dante, Henry or even Morgan. If I told Dante that would kind of be asking him for help and I already owe him.”

“I can’t help feeling your making this worse for yourself hen.”

“I want to cut all ties with Dante.”

“Do you now? Tell me Ebony, if the boy repulses you so much why did you let him into your bed last night?” Morag asked.

Heat prickled along my skin as the memory of Dante’s warm body enveloped around mine, his face nuzzled into my hair. My chest ached and suddenly I really wanted to see him again. Morag rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

“I think your mind’s talking nonsense and you should follow your heart.” She said.

“No, I’m never going back to him. You don’t know what he did to me.” I said.

“Do you know what you did to him when you left?”

“I don’t care.”

“Your heart is drumming to a different tune to the nonsense your mouth is speaking.” Morag said.

I swallowed hard. This was hard to listen to. I closed my eyes shut and murmered,

“I’m tired, I’m going for a lie down.”

Morag stepped aside and I went inside the boat to my room. Crawling into my bed I lay down. The pillows smelt of him. Lying in bed I couldn’t stop thinking of him. I tossed and turned restlessly internally repeating the crimes that Dante had committed against me, but no matter how hard I tried my heart would not listen. Eventually I drifted into a light sleep and woke up hours later as the sun was setting. I had slept through the lunch and could hear Morag in a nearby room watching TV. Sleepily I got up and pulled my shoes on. I wondered if Dante was home. I went out into the little sitting area and found Morag watching a stupid quiz show presented by a man who looked suspiciously orange. She was pleasant but made no attempt to engage in a conversation. Awkardly I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. As I waited for the kettle to boil I heard footsteps running down the jetty. Suddenly someone hammered on the side of the boat.

“Morag! Morag!” A adolescent male voice squeaked.

Morag go up and trundle to the front door. There was a fast exchange of words and then she called me. I left the kettle to boil and went up on deck.

“Hey, your boyfriend just got jumped.” A young lad said pointing towards the town.

I was half asleep and couldn’t really process what he was saying, “What happened?” I replied.

“Couple of lads grabbed him in the pub and dragged him outside. The bouncer tried to help but they ran off taking your man with them.”

“Did he offend them with his over inflated ego?”

“No, they looked proper evil. Four solid guys with some other dude who had this freaky an eye patch.”

My senses suddenly came to me. An eye patch? Could that man be Edvard? No, it couldn’t be. My heart began to beat faster and I asked,

“What did the man with the patch eye look like?”

“I don’t know, pale, kind of weird looking-”

“You need to be more specific!” I snapped.

“I’m pretty pissed here lady, I’m trying to help but all I remember is that he had an eye patch and he kept saying your name.”