PERSONAL HISTORY:
Lucy joined Maria and Nettie to further her ambitions. Her former coven — just her and her mate — had come under attack from another coven that was expanding its territory into northern Texas. Her mate was killed, but she escaped. She wanted a new hunting range, and the power to keep it. Maria had a good vision for how to accomplish that, so Lucy followed her lead.
After Lucy‘s new coven had established itself, Lucy and Nettie began to feel that Maria had too much power. They did not want to surrender their territory to her and seek another place, so they tried to kill her and her right-hand man, Jasper, instead. They underestimated Jasper‘s abilities, and Maria was able to surprise them with a preemptive attack. Lucy and Nettie were both killed.
MARIA
NAME: Maria
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: 1800s or earlier, at age 19
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Mexico
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5‘1‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Maria is very short and small-boned. She has long black hair and a slight olive tone to her pale skin, denoting a darker skin pigmentation in her human life.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: She formed a coven with Nettie and Lucy in the 1850s, and later added Jasper Whitlock after she transformed him in 1863. Eventually she killed Nettie and Lucy, and Jasper left her coven.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Before Maria‘s time, a young vampire named Benito, from Dallas, used the strength of newborn vampires on a massive scale to wipe out neighboring covens and take over their land.
Once other covens realized what was happening, they, too, created armies of newborns, to try to defeat Benito. The Volturi eventually had to step in to clean up the havoc these reckless armies had created in the South, destroying every newborn they could find. To serve as a deterrent to future newborn armies, anyone associated with the newborns was also executed.
When the Volturi returned to Italy, the survivors in the South quickly laid claim to the land. Before long, the covens began having border disputes and the wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. Newborns were used again, but more quietly. No one wanted to give the Volturi a reason to return.
It was during one of these battles that Maria lost her coven, which included her mate and two older vampires who were — for all intents and purposes — her parents. Along with them she lost control over Monterrey, Mexico, and the surrounding area. Defeated and alone, she looked for allies to help her get revenge. She found Nettie and Lucy, both of whom were survivors of other battles, and together they formed a coven. Maria‘s goal was to reclaim her land and exact vengeance; Nettie and Lucy hoped to gain more hunting territory.
Maria took newborn armies to a new level by choosing humans with combat potential and giving them more training than anyone had bothered to do before. When Maria met a young Confederate officer named Jasper Whitlock, she hoped his physical stature and military experience would make him a helpful addition to her army. She also sensed that there was something special about him, and her instincts were on target. After assessing his abilities, she put Jasper in charge of her other newborns. He was able to facilitate cooperation between the members of the group. Casualties dropped, and Maria‘s army swelled to around twenty newborns — a large number for that time. Even Nettie, Lucy, and Maria were able to work together more easily with Jasper around.
Maria grew fond of Jasper, depending on him more and more.
Thanks to her planning and Jasper‘s gifts, Maria‘s army was very successful. Maria grew fond of Jasper, depending on him more and more. Eventually Nettie and Lucy betrayed their alliance with Maria and planned to turn against her. Jasper was able to give Maria early warning, and she killed them both. Jasper became her only ally. However, she never treated him as an equal or thought of him as her mate. As was normal for the vampire temperament, Maria never forgot her deceased mate or moved on.
Several decades passed, and Maria noticed Jasper growing depressed. He was no longer interested in their lifestyle of conflict and acquisition. Maria grew paranoid that he might turn on her the way Nettie and Lucy had, and she made plans to destroy him first. She selected a few of the older, more promising newborns and plotted secretly with them, offering them Jasper‘s position and perks if they got him out of the way. Jasper was well aware of her shift in feelings toward him, and began making similar defensive plans against her with the newborns he most trusted. Before it came to that, however, Jasper found an alternative and left her coven for a new way of life in the North. Maria eventually forgave Jasper for his defection, and considers herself to be on good terms with him. She continues to zealously defend her territories in Mexico against interlopers.
FAMOUS QUOTE
“I truly hope you survive, Jasper. I have a good feeling about you.” Eclipse, Chapter 13
NETTIE
NAME: Nettie
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Arkansas
HAIR COLOR: White blond
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5‘3‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Nettie was petite, but taller than Maria.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She did not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Nettie was part of Maria‘s coven, along with Lucy.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
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‘s Coven
Riley was the only authority figure the newborns knew.
This 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.