Mask work.
It's what the oldest vampires call it. I just call it lying.
When they do it, though, it's almost beautiful. They inhabit the lie. They have to. It has to be true to them, or one of the many other kindred with the ability to read their aura will simply know. And so there's no such thing as a spontaneous lie. They are meticulous, planning every detail of their lies - doing the parts that they can predict they'll be asked about so that those are true. In fact only one detail, the most important detail, will be a lie, and so there's no way to tell, unless you can figure out which detail is the most important.
Spoiler alert, you can't, even after it's too late. Most of the time they tell the whole truth, too, so it doesn't do you any good to simply not trust them. That'll do more harm than good. Only the really young do that, passing on the "trust no one, trust nothing" mantra. But that makes them even easier to manipulate, simply by telling them selective truths that make them think they know a truth that isn't..
Pah. and pah. These masks they wear. They are beautiful. They are filled with nuance and soul and thought. In fact, they maybe the only works of art a vampire can make.
