Victoria was very aware of the laws of the Volturi, and while she did not inform Riley of all of them, she did tell Riley about their existence, and about the necessity of keeping a low profile. She did not have him instruct the newborns about the Volturi; they agreed that until the newborns were old enough, there was no reason to overwhelm them with information. Riley never realized how similar he was to the other newborns, both in Victoria's opinion of him and in her treatment of him.
When Victoria sensed that she was being tracked, she decided to run rather than hope her unskilled newborns could protect her. She left Riley with instructions to keep the newborns as quiet as possible, and she disappeared.
Riley wanted to go with her and was unhappy to be left behind.
Riley wanted to go with her and was unhappy to be left behind. He worried that she would be killed, and he also worried that she would lose interest and never return for him. But he accepted her logic that, in the long run, the guard was worth the time investment. He grew friendly with some of the newborns in her absence; he enjoyed Diego's company in particular, though he was always entirely loyal to Victoria. Of course he did not find Fred easy to be around. He thought little of Raoul personally, but found him useful in organizing newcomers to the coven.
When Victoria returned, Riley was overjoyed. To Riley, her return meant that she really did love him. He was enthusiastic about her idea to act offensively by creating an army, rather than maintaining a guard for an indefinite amount of time while she waited for her enemies to come after her again. She told him of the necessity of not making decisions and instructed him to keep watch for any possible talents in their army.
Newborn production went into high gear, which meant that Riley was not with Victoria as often. He was busy containing the newborns and searching out more humans whose disappearances would attract little notice. Riley was unaware of Victoria's trip to see Laurent, or of her repeated attempts to get into Forks. Victoria did not tell him about the werewolf problem she'd observed.
As the army stabilized at around twenty members, Riley felt like the time had come to strike.
As the army stabilized at around twenty members, Riley felt like the time had come to strike. He was frustrated that Victoria still wavered. He wanted to train the newborns, particularly the older ones, so that they could fight more effectively. He and Victoria discussed training methods, but she was afraid that putting the training into action would alert Alice. Her hesitance to strike upset Riley; until they got rid of the Cullens, they couldn't really be together. He wondered how committed to him Victoria actually was.
Victoria sent him to Forks to obtain the scent of the Cullens' pet human for a few reasons. First, if she did decide to attack, it would mark her true target. Second, she knew of Riley's impatience and felt this assignment would make him think they were moving forward. Third, and most important, she wanted to test Alice's ability without putting herself in danger. If Riley was instructed to make no contact with the Cullens or any humans in Forks, if he was committed to doing no damage and remaining unseen, would Alice know he was coming? Victoria was thrilled to find out that the answer was no. The more she could learn about Alice's ability--and the flaws in her visions--the better she could know how to proceed.
When the Volturi visited, Riley was terrified but also relieved. He did not understand that he and Victoria were in trouble not just for the attention the newborns had gotten in the news, but also for a truly illegal creation. He just knew that now he would get to act. And once the Cullens were destroyed, he wouldn't have to take care of newborns all the time; he could be with Victoria.
Over the course of his time as warden to the newborns, two vampires, Doug and Adam, had discovered the truth about the sun. Victoria had told him to bring any newborns who knew the truth to her. At first he was shocked and a little frightened when he learned that the penalty for this knowledge was death. However, once Victoria explained what it would do to the coven if all the newborns knew the truth, it made sense. He used the disappearance of Doug and Adam to reinforce the idea that the sun was deadly. He did the same with the disappearances of Steve and Shelly, though those two had simply run away together. When Diego came to Riley and told him about the sun, Riley was disturbed. He hoped that, given the situation with the Volturi, Victoria might reconsider and let Diego live. He knew Diego could keep the secret. However, Victoria's response was even worse than he'd feared.
After it was over she and Riley would run fast and far, until the Volturi got tired of chasing them.
The next few hours changed Riley. Victoria made him choose between being with her and saving Diego's life. Riley chose Victoria and refused to acknowledge the feeling that he had chosen wrong. Victoria was high-strung and paranoid after the Volturi's visit. She insisted on extracting as much information as possible from Diego. In the end, Diego told her everything that he and Bree suspected. Riley was horrified by her actions and the things she made him do, but because he loved her he had to find a way to reconcile who she was with what he loved. He had to close himself off to his feelings of pity and humanity. He tried to enjoy Diego's pain the way she obviously did. Victoria was pleased with the change. Now that she felt Riley had proven himself, she told him the truth--mostly--about the coming battle. The majority of the newborns would be slaughtered before the Cullens were destroyed. She would not join the fight; she would observe to make sure the right members of the Cullen clan were destroyed. If a chance presented itself, she would act. After it was over she and Riley would run fast and far, until the Volturi got tired of chasing them. She lied about only a few things--including who her real target was, and that Riley would be escaping with her.
Riley did well in his last days with the newborns. He was able to manipulate them into exactly the mindset Victoria wanted. He did not entirely understand why the focus should be on the human girl--Victoria said the Cullens would be less effective if they were trying to protect the human--but he primed them perfectly. His only failure was in losing Fred; of course, in the end, he couldn't remember that he'd lost him. After sending the newborns on their way, he met up with Victoria at the rendezvous point she'd chosen. She told him that a key member of the coven had hidden to avoid the fight, and together they were going to make sure he didn't survive.
DIEGO
NAME: Diego
DATE OF BIRTH: November 1987
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: July 2005, at age 17
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Los Angeles, California
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Brown (human); bright red/black (newborn vampire)
HEIGHT: 6'0"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Diego had thick, curly hair and a faint olive tone to his vampire skin. He was lean but muscular.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He did not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Diego belonged to Riley's coven of newborns.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Diego grew up in a lower-class, single-parent home in Los Angeles. He lived with his mother and younger brother. When he was sixteen, his mother relocated to Portland for a job that then fell through. Diego worked part-time jobs to help out while he went to school. He was determined to go to college, and to help his younger brother get an education as well. Diego had some trouble with a gang at his high school, but he did his best to avoid them. He was furious when he found out that the same gang was pursuing his younger brother. He tried to convince his brother to stay away from them, and he talked with his mother about switching his brother to a different school. Before they could come up with a plan to remove his brother from the situation, his brother was killed in an initiation ritual.
Diego went crazy with grief. He stole a gun from the house of one of the gang members. He'd learned who was actually responsible for his brother's death, and he tracked him down and fatally shot him. The other members of the gang came after Diego. They had him cornered when Riley interceded.
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FRED
NAME: Fred; nickname: "Freaky Fred"
DATE OF BIRTH: April 1985
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: August 2005, at age 20
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Vancouver, British Columbia
HAIR COLOR: Blond
EYE COLOR: Blue (human); bright red/black (newborn vampire)
HEIGHT: 6'2"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Fred is tall and broad-shouldered.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He has the ability to make anyone feel physically repulsed. He can use this ability to make someone unable to think of him for a period of time.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Fred belonged to Riley's coven of newborns; he is currently a nomad.
He embraced being a science nerd and related to others academically but not socially.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Fred grew up with his father; his parents divorced when Fred was ten. His mother remarried and had three children, half-siblings whom Fred rarely saw. Fred's father was not very expressive, and Fred found that the only way to communicate with his father was through logic rather than emotion. Fred had a natural inclination toward the sciences, which his father encouraged. In elementary school he was bullied occasionally because he was thin and wore thick glasses. In high school Fred grew very tall, but he was awkward and gangly. He embraced being a science nerd and related to others academically but not socially. He tried to avoid attention, and hated to be singled out except in the classroom. Eventually, Fred received a scholarship to Stanford University. Physically, he had gotten past his awkward stage and was quite attractive, but he was oblivious to this. After his sophomore year, he volunteered for a special research project offered by his favorite marine biology professor. Fred spent the majority of the summer on remote beaches along the Oregon and Washington coast, camping for the most part. It was a solitary trip, and he went several days at a time without seeing another person. Riley found him on one of those beaches and imagined that Fred's disappearance would seem quite explicable. He asked Fred if he was interested in some excitement. Fred said no, but Riley didn't take no for an answer.
Fred is one of three newborns who survived the rest of the coven's demise; he went on to become a solitary nomad.
RAOUL
NAME: Raoul
DATE OF BIRTH: October 8, 1988
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: September 2005, at age 16
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: El Paso, Texas
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Brown (human); bright red/black (newborn vampire)
HEIGHT: 5'10"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Raoul was wiry.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He had a limited ability to make others view him as their leader. It worked best on those who were directionless.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Raoul belonged to the coven of newborns managed by Riley.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Raoul grew up in southern Texas. He lived with his mother and five siblings. He became very involved in an expanding drug-running gang. Despite his youth, he rose quickly through the gang's ranks. When he was fifteen, he shot three members of a competing gang. To keep him from falling into the hands of the law, his gang sent him to Seattle to manage a new branch of the organization. There he excelled, particularly at recruiting new members. Riley found him beating a client who was behind on payments. Riley asked Raoul if he was interested in some real power. Wary but intrigued, Raoul answered yes.
BREE TANNER
NAME: Bree Tanner
DATE OF BIRTH: March 11, 1990
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: March 11, 2006, at age 16
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Las Vegas, Nevada
HAIR COLOR: Dark brown
EYE COLOR: Brown (human); bright red/black (newborn vampire)
HEIGHT: 5'1"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Bree had a slight build.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She did not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Bree belonged to Riley's coven of newborns.
Bree believed that her mother left her abusive father when Bree was four; in fact, Bree's father murdered her mother.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Bree was born in Nevada, but lived in Idaho for most of her life. Bree believed that her mother left her abusive father when Bree was four; in fact, Bree's father murdered her mother. He buried the body in the desert, then packed up and moved to Idaho with his young daughter. Because of the abuse, Bree felt isolated from her peers. She was a quiet, withdrawn girl. No one ever noticed the signs of her abusive home life, despite some physical evidence. Finally, Bree ran away from home a few weeks before her sixteenth birthday. She had enough money for the bus ride to Seattle, but nothing more. She tried unsuccessfully to get a job, and began stealing in order to eat. She slept in parks and alleys--wherever she could find a place that felt a little bit safe. Her biggest fear was that the police would catch her and send her home to her father. She'd been on the run for less than three weeks when Riley found her digging through a trash bin behind a restaurant.
What Bree never knew was that her mother's body had been discovered outside of Las Vegas, and the police tracked down her father a few months after she ran away. When he could not produce Bree, he was tried and found guilty of both murders.
OTHERS MEMBERS OF RILEY'S COVEN
ADAM After discovering that the sun does not injure vampires, Adam revealed his discovery to Riley. He was killed by Victoria.
CASEY Known to Bree as the "Spider-Man kid," Casey was a recruit suggested to Riley by Raoul, who had worked with him when they were human.
DOUG Doug was the first newborn to discover that the sun did not harm vampires. He went to Riley with his breakthrough and was killed by Victoria.
JEN Jen was Kristie's closest colleague.
KEVIN A member of Raoul's faction, Kevin was Raoul's second in command. Kevin was a part of Raoul's human gang, too, and was taken by Riley upon Raoul's suggestion. Riley asked Kevin if he wanted to join Raoul.
KRISTIE Kristie was Raoul's main competitor in the newborn coven. She did not have his ability to gain followers through magnetism alone, but she was smarter than Raoul, and better able to manipulate others.
SARAH Sarah did not like working closely with any of the other newborns, but she preferred Kristie's crowd to Raoul's.
SHELLY AND STEVE Shelly and Steve formed a romantic attachment in the early weeks of their newborn life. After a few months, they decided to abandon the newborn coven. They are currently nomads.
The Romanian Coven
OFTEN REFERRED TO AS "DRACULA'S CASTLE," BRAN CASTLE IS A NATIONAL MONUMENT AND LANDMARK IN ROMANIA. IT WAS BUILT IN 1377--HUNDREDS OF YEARS AFTER THE ROMANIAN COVEN WAS DEFEATED BY THE VOLTURI.
The Romanian coven dominated the vampire world until it was overthrown by the Volturi, between 400 and 500 A.D. Only two members of the original Romanian coven survive.
STEFAN
NAME: Stefan
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Before 1000 B.C.
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Dacia (Proto-Romania)
HAIR COLOR: Dark brown
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5'3"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Stefan is slight and short. He has powdery skin like that of the Volturi, but his eyes are not clouded.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: He and Vladimir are the last surviving members of their coven.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Stefan was one of the original twelve ruling members of what is now known as the Romanian coven. (Romania did not exist as a country at the time of the coven's inception; that area of Eastern Europe was known as Dacia.)
The Romanians were formed in a way similar to the Volt
uri: A group of ambitious vampires called a truce to the usual squabbling between small covens and then joined forces for the purpose of gaining power. This prevailing desire to rule allowed them to overcome their competitive drives and cooperate.
The eventual downfall of the Romanians was their focus on physical strength. They created a guardlike entity--a pattern later copied by the Volturi--composed entirely of vampires like Felix and Emmett. Perhaps because none of the ruling members of the coven possessed supernatural abilities themselves, they underestimated the advantage such abilities could give them in battle. They ignored talented vampires in favor of brute strength. This blind spot was understandable, as no one had ever used talents the way the Volturi eventually did. Talents have also grown stronger over the centuries; the talents exhibited by vampires during the Romanian rule were not as potent as the talents that developed in modern times. Much of that is due to vampires learning to seek out talented humans to transform, and also understanding how to focus and improve their talents after the transformation. Aro's innovative focus on talent over strength was the reason the Volturi were able to defeat the Romanians, though it took them more than a century, and they never wiped them out completely.