If on a Winter's Night, Four Travelers

In a luxurious hotel room in Rome, freshly arrived from Turin, Carlo awaits for his lover Patrick to arrive. However, as the shadow of fascism looms ever larger, the tension of meeting in constant hiding is beginning to take its toll. Lady Winterbourne has lost her husband in a tragic accident. Now letters from pretenders to her vast fortune keep arriving every day at her mansion, yet the only thing she's interested in is the bottle of laudanum in her cabinet. Harassed, ridiculed and belittled by his peers, Dr. Jordan Samuels has resorted to the occult sciences in a desperate attempt to turn the tables on his tormentors. But is he truly ready to face the Guardian of the Threshold? As much as Laylah enjoys her job, sometimes she yearns for a bit of variety to distract her from her daily routine -- even if it means going against her very powerful bosses' orders.