“If you take out the two arcane sources first, before dealing with the others, she’ll know you can sense them,” the natural born vampire, Tatiana Demidova, said.

“Yes, I concur again. I will observe and respond as if I can’t tell which is which.”

The sounds of large entities charging through thick jungle grew louder and Omega stopped his forward momentum and lifted slightly higher off the ground. Below the battle drone, the foliage shook as massive bodies pounded through the forest. The nearest trees and bushes burst apart in seven places simultaneously: branches, wood, chunks of trees, and entire plants exploding outward as giant four-legged creatures, covered in crystalline armor and bearing two or three elves per animal, burst forth.

“Rhinos?” werewolf and mate Stacia Reynolds said.

“Closer to Coelodonta antiquitatis, the woolly rhino, but without the thick layer of insulating fur. Otherwise it is almost identical in physiology to the best-known specimens of that breed, at least as have been located by paleontologists to date. Possibly the result of selective breeding or direct gene modification by the Summer Queen, to adapt them to a higher-temperature environment,” Omega said.

“Fascinating, the amount and variety of extinct Earth-based lifeforms that are still present on Fairie,” vampire Elder Senka commented.

“I have catalogued one hundred and fifty-six such species to date. I have little reason to think my current count is complete. The elven species seems to be much better as stewards for the natural flora and fauna than humans are,” Omega said, lifting the battle drone up and over the charging mega-fauna. Eleven slim-hafted elven spears were thrown through the air, nine with normal spear points, two with glittering arcanely powered crystal points.

Eleven beams of brilliant blue light shot simultaneously from the bottom of the drone, vaporizing all of the missiles at the same time. The two crystal points exploded when the energy beams touched them, but they were halfway between the animals and the battle drone so no real harm was done to either party.

“It would help if we stopped eating everything we come across,” vampire Lydia Chapman said, still on the topic of extinct animals. “Although I bet your researchers would love to get a shot at some of these species, Tanya.”

“You never answered me as to who your researchers are,” Father said. Omega was tracking all of the armored rhinos, their riders, and the multiple enemy contacts his sensors were picking up deeper in the jungle around his avatar, all while his weapons subroutines were plotting multiple firing solutions for all targets with six different weapons systems at the same time. Yet a significant portion of his awareness perked up and focused on his father’s words, his contextual and behavior programs indicating a high probability of his father becoming angry in the next few minutes.

“Well, they’re very gifted and we’re lucky to have them,” natural born vampire Tatiana Demidova said, her voice carefully modulated.