At the front desk of an unknown lodging house toward the outskirts of the city, Victor placed a few promissory notes on the wooden counter.
The receptionist's eyes briefly lit up at the sight of the money before quickly sliding a set of keys across to him.
Victor took the keys without a word. Behind him was his vampire wife, Sabina, and she looked impatient.
They both turned and walked briskly up the stairs, barely listening to the receptionist's well-rehearsed welcome speech.
When they finally entered the confines of the lushly prepared room and the door closed behind them, Sabina turned to Victor with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Did he not tell you that Stark has been killed off already?" she asked, her tone half-annoyed. "This is X we're talking about here."
They had initially agreed not to leave their home at all.
Victor didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked over to the window and looked out carefully, scanning the street below.
