So... who drugged the sherry?
There are lots of Theories today, and I thought I'd share my own.
Long post, so I'll pop it under a cut, but in short my answer is: Dracula himself.
We'll need to step through the events in Lucy's memorandum step-by-step, but first, a couple of quick reminders about vampire powers:
This is from Jonathan's journal entry of 24 June:
I thought I would watch for the Count’s return, and for a long time sat doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in clusters in a nebulous sort of way.
[...] Louder [the howling of dogs] seemed to ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to awake to some call of my instincts; [...] I was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the three ghostly women to whom I was doomed.
So, we know that vampires can change their form into 'specks' like dust which can float and whirl around (and hypnotise people). In order to materialise themselves again, the vampire dust has to gather together until it becomes their form.
Also, we know that from the Demeter segment and the storm in Whitby that Dracula can control the weather. This is from the Dailygraph Correspondent's article of 8 August:
The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, mirabile dictu, between the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and gained the safety of the harbour.
'Mirable dictu' apparently means 'wonderful to relate'. The harbour mouth is elsewhere described as 'narrow' (and it also looks very narrow on a map and photos). So this wind suddenly coming from the exact right direction to get the boat into the harbour is, in my opinion, certainly Dracula's doing. Not only can he control the general weather, he can control individual gusts of wind.
With those two points (vampire dust swirls and wind-control powers) in mind, let's take a look at Lucy's memorandum of 17 September. I'll start from the wolf crashing through the window:
The wolf's head crashes through the window
Mrs Westenra dies of shock, pulling off Lucy's garlic is the process, and falls on top of Lucy.
Then:
I kept my eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother’s poor body, which seemed to grow cold already—for her dear heart had ceased to beat—weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while.
Lucy is unconscious for a while
She awakes to various sounds, including the sound of the maids outside her bedroom door, so she calls them in, and they freak out about Mrs Westenra's corpse
Then:
The wind rushed in through the broken window, and the door slammed to.
The maids move Mrs Westenra's body from on top of Lucy
Lucy directs them "to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine."
Then:
The door flew open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went in a body to the dining-room;
Lucy, who is hoping the maids will sit up with her, waits for them to come back.
When they do not, she goes in search of them. She finds that the sherry (a type of wine) has been drugged with her mother's medicine (laudanum, which is apparently very effective at inducing sleep), and the maids are unconscious.
Lucy goes back to her room with her mother's body, and makes her memorandum. The last paragraph of this begins:
The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim.
So from all this my conclusions are:
Dracula is the dust, which is noted in Lucy's room twice: directly after the wolf removes the window, and also right at the end of her memorandum
Dracula's using the wind to open and close the doors when he's in dust form
Dracula can therefore move around the house once he's in it
It's Dracula that drugs the wine
I'm a little unsure if a) the first slam of the door is essentially Dracula having a tantrum about being interrupted by the maids, then he hears Lucy tell them to go to the dining room, so he uses the wind to slam the door open and closed and goes down to the dining room very very quickly in order to get there, resume human form, poison the wine, and turn back to dust before the maids get there (then he gets back into Lucy's room when she's going in or out), or b) the first slam is Dracula leaving the room, he guesses that the maids will want to drink wine and goes to drug it while they are sorting out Mrs Westenra's body, and the door opening and closing by itself is him re-entering the room...
But either way, yeah, my theory is that it's Dracula himself who poisoned the wine.
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June of Doom Day 8
8. “Breathe, damn you!”
| Shock | Amputation | Infection |
TW: deadly virus, major character being sick, enslavement, swearing
A/N: Alternate Universe - Fantasy
~
"Breathe, damn you!"
Montgomery Scott let his head roll to the side to see Dr. McCoy slamming his fist onto an ensign’s chest. The poor lad was probably dead already. Like so many others.
There weren't too many of them left in sickbay. Most of the infected had died or were on the brink of doing so. Scotty was the strongest one left.
Still, he couldn't deny that his body was growing weaker every day. It was getting harder to breathe and most of the dragon pox had spread across his skin.
There was no known way to cure the sickness that had spread down in the airship's engine room. Nobody knew where it had come from. But Scott knew that the ship he called his own, would die in battle, if all their engineers were gone.
They had to send the king a message. Scotty had told Captain Kirk days ago. But the young man didn't believe in no-win-scenarios. His dad had fought and died in the battle against the sky pirates. And so would he.
The Scotsman watched as the doctor dropped his arm to the side, hopeless and disappointed. He had just lost yet another patient.
"Dinnae... blame yerself, doctor. It's... not yer fault."
Scott had trouble breathing, coughing heavily, yet still he croaked out the comforting words. At least he hoped that they could comfort the doctor in some way.
McCoy turned around to look at him, the familar cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth to protect him from getting infected himself. Scotty could see the sadness in his eyes.
"Stop talking, Mr. Scott. Save your strength," the grumpy doctor retorted and Scotty couldn't help a weak smile forming on his lips.
"I'll die... anyway, won't I? Would rather... talk to ye... than sleep until my time's... up."
McCoy sighed heavily, but just when he was about to say something, the door opened, revealing the captain and an unfamiliar man.
Scott eyed the stranger from head to toe. Black hair, pale skin, a dark long coat. There was a strange smile on his face. It was the most obvious thing about the man - he wasn't wearing a cloth to cover his face.
"Jim! Who is this? Do you wanna kill him?!" McCoy scolded the captain, who was also his best friend.
"Oh, don't worry about me, doctor. I'm perfectly fine," the stranger cut McCoy off with his deep voice. However, his eyes were fixed on Scott.
The Scotsman shifted under the cool blue eyes. Who was this lad?
"Perfectly fine, my ass! You'll get infected!"
This time it was Kirk who tried to soothe his friend.
"Bones, it's fine. This man... is a magician of the augmenta clan."
At hearing that, McCoy's eyes widened.
And Scott knew the reason why. The augmenta clan was famous for its dark magic. Most people didn't come too close to them.
"Then this man should leave my sickbay even faster!"
Kirk just shook his head. Even from where Scotty lay, he could see the deep lines of worry on the captain's forehead. He was desperate - very desperate!
"Khan... is here to help us. He will save our crew."
Scott's eyes fell back onto the magician who had stopped in front of his bed, moving his head from side to side.
"Montgomery, isn't it?"
Involuntarily, the Scotsman's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Yet still, he gave him a nod.
"Aye. That... would be... me."
Khan smiled at him and nodded, before he glanced at Kirk.
"Our deal is on, Captain?"
The blond man swallowed hard, looking from one man to another. His eyes wandered over the several patients, dying painfully and slowly. He nodded.
"Yes, Khan. Just... save my crew's lives."
Dr. McCoy regared the magician suspiciously as this one closed his eyes and spread his arms widely, starting to murmur some kind of spell.
A strange tingling filled Scott's body. At first, it hurt, burning like fire, but slowly the pain decreased and it felt like he was flying. In disbelief, the engineer stared at his arms and hands. The dragon pox... they were fading!
It didn't take too long and he was able to sit up. So was everyone else around him. All the patients... were really healed!
Khan stopped his talking and opened his eyes to look around. There was a satisfied look on his face.
"There you go, Captain. Your crew is fine."
The magician walked over to Kirk and with a small bow, came to a halt in front of him.
"I would like for my doctor to check on everyone, if that is alright with you?"
Khan nodded politely.
"Of course. Go on."
Scotty sat upright in bed, waiting for McCoy to check on him. He couldn't take his eyes off of Khan though. Something told him that the dark magician was planning something. And he didn't like it.
When the doctor had examined all of his patients, he eventually gave Kirk a nod.
"They are all fine, Jim."
The captain sighed in relief and nodded.
"Good. Thank you, Bones."
They all fell silent for a moment, before Khan spoke up again.
"Well then, I would like to have my payment, Captain."
Kirk stared at the magician, before his eyes fell onto Scott.
"Scotty... could you... come over here?"
The engineer blinked a few times, before he got up. With every step he took, his legs were getting more heavy. He just wanted to stop and go back to his bed.
"Captain?"
There were tears in Kirk's eyes as he placed a hand on the Scotsman's shoulder and squeezed it tightly.
"I'm so sorry, Scotty. But... I had to do it."
Realizing what the man was talking about, Scott's eyes widened in shock.
"Jim... Don't tell me..."
A cold shackle on his wrist, told the engineer the truth. He looked at Khan who was now standing beside him. The smile on the magician's face was back, wider than ever before.
"Welcome to the ranks of my properties, Montgomery."
Scotty's heart dropped to his stomach and he shook his head in disbelief.
"Tell me that's not true, Jim."
A glance over his shoulder, told Scott that McCoy was thinking the same.
"I'm so sorry. I... I had to save our crew."
Jim's voice was desperate and Scotty knew that the man hadn't seen any other option. Still... he had sold him! That... was just crazy!
"You bastard!"
McCoy gritted his teeth, hands clenched to fists. Scotty knew that he'd attack Kirk any moment now. And Khan seemed to know it, too. He took a step back, pulling Scotty with him.
"Well then... it was nice to do business with you."
Darkness started to surround them and only a moment later, Scott and Khan vanished into thin air.
(To be continued)
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