The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (38 page)

N
ETTIE

Like Lucy and Maria, Nettie was the sole survivor of a lost battle. The two older males in her coven were destroyed, and
Nettie was driven out of Arkansas. Maria and Lucy approached her and offered an alliance. Nettie wanted the safety of numbers, and she liked Maria’s plan for a special newborn army. However, Nettie had less self-control than either Lucy or Maria, so she was not very involved with the creation of the newborns. It was Nettie who originally suggested to Lucy that they kill Maria and Jasper and take over the coven.

Riley was the only authority figure the newborns knew.

T
his coven of newborns was created by Victoria but controlled by Riley. Riley was the only authority figure the newborns knew. They lived in and around the city of Seattle and existed as a coven for less than a year. In their final organization as a newborn army, they became an illegal creation. None of the newborns knew of the Volturi laws that prohibited their lifestyle. While Riley knew of the newborns’ ultimate fate as an army, none of the other newborns were aware of this fact until a few days before the attack that ended in the demise of the coven. There were three survivors of the coven, who went on to become nomads; none of them were present for the attack against the Cullens.

R
ILEY
B
IERS

Riley was born in Santa Fe and lived in several places in the Southwest and along the Pacific coast during his childhood and adolescence. He lived with his parents and siblings—an older sister and a younger brother. He attended Oregon State University. One night near the end of his freshman year, Victoria saw him playing soccer with his intramural team. Victoria was panicked and seeking protection; Riley looked large and strong. She attacked him on his way home from the game. When he was lucid, she told him that she’d been watching him and had fallen in love with him. Riley was awed by Victoria; he bought her story and quickly returned her perceived feelings for him.

Victoria told Riley many stories, half-truths, and outright lies, and Riley had no reason to disbelieve her.

Victoria told Riley many stories, half-truths, and outright lies, and Riley had no reason to disbelieve her. It was true that Victoria was scared and on the defensive; he could see that with his own eyes. She told him about her enemies, the Cullens, but gave him a false story about why they wanted to kill her, claiming she and her older sister, Anne, had trespassed on their territory, so they had killed Anne and hunted her still. She told him about the talents the Cullens possessed. Though this was the truest part of her story, Riley found it the hardest to believe.

When she decided to create more vampires to protect herself, Riley was initially jealous. However, when she explained her plan, told him that the new vampires would never see her face or know her name, and asked him to choose them for her, he was appeased. Clearly, she had no desire for any romantic companionship besides Riley; she didn’t even want any particular kind of human. She asked only that he choose humans who wouldn’t be missed, or whose disappearance could be easily attributed to another source. The original plan, as Riley understood it, was for the new vampires to eventually be trained as a guard for himself and Victoria, after they were past their newborn wildness and were teachable. Victoria had the idea to tell the newborns that the sun could kill vampires, as was commonly believed by humans. She thought this would make them easier to control during the first year.

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.