"Do you think the detective will guess it?" said Julian, looking as another victim came in.
So far it was more than half ladies, but this was another gentleman, so Applewhite must have been looking to even out the playing field so she wasn't the only woman left. Nonami-Finklewick was enjoying being at the centre of female attention, again, which gave Alex an unpleasant feeling in his stomach that had nothing to do with dinner and everything to do with his wife, the dignified Lady Darlington.
"I think Lord Herbert would never," said Alex, attention now on Smithson serving half a dozen cups of tea and a second, or possibly third, round for Wicket.
There was a little fumbling there that made Alex wonder how much wine he'd had at dinner, elbow hitting hand causing a hip-check and making everyone gasp and clutch at their drinks. But then everyone was set to rights without a drop spilled, and Alex relaxed.
Wicket set down his drink to drape both hands across the back of the couch, but then his eyes went wide and all the blood drained away from his face. His mouth started opening and closing, and he flailed a hand to his throat, nearly unseating Sylvia Knapweed.
"Someone get Dr. Tamlinson!" said Alex sharply, relieved when Horace flew off from Julian's shoulder before any human could respond.
He got up and went over to Wicket, ladies fleeing unnoticed as Alex loosened the man's cravat and listened to his magic, hearing it break up and fail as whatever it was ate away at him, swiftly and surely.
"Fuck, I can't do anything," said Alex. He didn't have healing powers, or potions, or anything, really. He was never here for this part, where the victim slipped away and died, only afterward.
Wicket's motions grew weak, and Alex saw his lips go purple and then blue, a strange iridescence on his lips as he tried and failed to get air.
That clicked something in Alex's head, but then he was being pulled out of the way while Dr. Geoff came in, grabbing the man's hands, checking his eyes and then moving his hands towards the man's mouth.
"Don't touch his lips!" said Alex, realising what he'd heard, and seen. "He ingested poison, venom from that viper."
Its magic ate away at the bonds that kept the body working together, stopping the nerves from getting signals to the organsand then dissolving those organs into goo that the viper could more easily digest, when it was a mouse.
When it was a human, well. The venom was strong enough that the species wouldn't matter much.
"How would you know that?" said Camellia, still obnoxious even at the edge of panic, staring into his own glass in horror.
"Alex investigates murders," said Dr. Geoff, pulling gloves from his pocket to protect himself. The venom wasn't as dangerous for skin absorption, Alex recalled, but it could still make someone ill from contact. He'd looked the Iridescent Western Viper up on his phone during the long wait by the fire, wanting to know more about the beautiful, if deadly, specimen. "He's qualified, as this is about to become one, since I haven't got antivenin in my pocket."
"Doesn't work for the magical vipers, anyway," said Alex, watching as Nonami-Finklewick went slowly limp. He hadn't been breathing since before Alex got to him, let alone Dr. Geoff, so it had really only been a matter of time.
"What?" said one of the women, Miss Halliwell. "What are you saying?"
"He's saying this man is dead," said Dr. Geoff, checking the pulse in neck and wrist both before folding the corpse's hands over his chest. "Someone here murdered him."
"Someone got viper venom into his drink," said Alex, waving his hand, "somehow." He looked down at Nonami-Finklewick's abandoned drink, seeing the iridescent sheen across the top. "A lot of it, from the way he reacted, and the way the drink looksnow. We'll have to keep this safe for the detectives, whenever they arrive."
At that proclamation, the lights went out, and somebody screamed.
Alex immediately lit a witchlight, glad to see the glass still in place and everyone else standing, stunned, with Lady Winterson looking faint, a hand over her mouth and the evident screamer.
"No one panic," said Smithson from the bar. "The power's out, but there's magical backup that'll work for at least a week. It takes a minute to kick in, is all, in case the power's just a flicker."
They all waited, Julian sending up a warmer witchlight than Alex's cool blue, so everyone was bathed in strange shadows from the two small points of light. It took next to no energy or concentration to keep up a light once it was going, so Alex took a moment to instead go get a container from Smithson and direct Geoff into quarantining the dead man's drink.
"Well," said Alex, looking around and cataloguing all the faces in the room, "This is more than a wink at murder."
Chapter 12
The lights came back on and there was a mix of relief and horror as the body was bathed once again in bright light. Guests aside, everyone got to work properly. Dr. Geoff agreed with Alex's diagnosis pending further tests, Alex put a strong preservation charm on the body to prevent decay, and Chudleigh made endless phone calls. Everyone except Alex, Julian, Geoff, Chudleigh, and the now-widowed Tsukiko Nonami-Finklewick were cleared out of the drawing room and herded back to the main parlour, where the furniture had been restored and women could swear or swoon as their personality dictated.
Servants brought in sheets and the body was wound up and sealed with another spell from Alex, one that would alert him if anyone tried to mess with it.
"I can't believe there's a murder, and no one can get out here to deal with it," said Alex with a huff. "This isn't even my job anymore!"
"It's still sometimes your job," said Julian, sending him an amused poke despite the circumstances.
They were ignoring what seemed to be a polite argument about how to store the body between Chudleigh, Tsukiko, and Chudleigh's butler. With the entire house open for the party, itwas difficult to find space that wasn't occupied, but was also respectful.
