The chapter opens in the front desk of Dracula's hotel, where the vampire is complaining about the mismatched suits he's been wearing. He's bummed that the hotel doesn't have enough staff to run the hotel's "pairing party," which is a fancy party where vampires and their guests drink red wine and eat a "pair of bites." The hotel is short staffed, so the vampire has to hire a waiter to do the job. The waiter tells the vampire that he has been involved in running these parties for 30 years, and that they're still going strong today. The vampire asks the waiter how he got out of the hotel, and the waiter tells him that it was a "sweet and mysty odor" that mixed with his blood.