“That’s it?” Tzao asked. “Just concern?”

He paused, eyes flickering toward his right, where the senior vampire in the Coven stood staring at him. Turning back to Tzao he took a breath.

“They fear we are vulnerable, that we’ve become weak and allowed our natural prey to hold a position of leverage over us,” he said. Mausya leaned back, a satisfied look on her face.

Tanya stood abruptly, startling the tall male vampire. She walked gracefully to him, a sheaf of photographs in one hand.

He turned, wary, even though she was a great deal smaller. She gave him a rather brilliant smile. “Sergei, is this you here in this photo?” she asked, holding up one of the photos. It was dark and grainy, taken at night, and the camera angle was from several feet above so his face wasn’t fully revealed, nor was that of the woman he appeared to be talking to.

“The picture is not clear,” he said after a second.

“That is not an answer, Sergei. I need a yes or no, but to make it easier, look at this one,” Tanya said, holding up another photo, taken from a different camera and a much different angle.

The vampire stared at the photo in his hand, his jaw clenching.

“I’ll remind you that the truth spell will deal with lies, omissions, and mistruths violently,” Tanya said. That was mostly a guess on her part, as she didn’t know the details of the spell.

He lifted his eyes to hers, momentarily fierce, then he blinked and looked straight forward, over her head, unable to hold her more intense gaze. He nodded.

“I need you to say it out loud.”

“Yes. Yes, that is me,” he said reluctantly.

“Do you know who the woman is?” Tanya pressed.

“Just a human. Just prey,” he said.

Tanya watched him, but nothing happened. He believed that to be true.

“What’s her name?”

“Victoria Eros,” he said.

“That’s her assumed name. Do you know her real name?”

He frowned. “No. If she made up her name, then I have no idea what the real one is.”

“We do,” Tanya said with a tight smile. “Aoibheann. I guess the modern version might be Eavan. She’s not from around here. Around here being Earth, that is.”

Sergei frowned, confused. Mausya’s eye twitched and about half the panel of Patrons leaned forward.

“She’s from Fairie,” Tanya said, holding up yet another picture, this one two versions of the same shot, side by side. The left side was a normal daytime photo, taken from a very high angle above, but very clearly the girl in the other photos. The right side was different… it was almost three-dimensional, with a cube shape to it and multiple layers of color and imagery. This image showed the girl, but she wasn’t the same. Her body was taller and leaner and her ears had… points.