Later in the series, during the timeline of Darker After Midnight, it is discovered that Sharon Alexander had an affair while in Mykonos, Greece (see Zael), and Dylan was born the following year.

First mention in series: Appears in Midnight Rising.

Sheldon Raines (d.) Human. Minion that Elise follows into a Boston FedEx store in opening scene of Midnight Awakening. He is a violent, belligerent individual, furious when he learns a package he's expecting on behalf of his Master (see Odolf family) has been delayed due to a snowstorm. Elise tracks the Minion to his apartment building and stabs him dead with a dagger in her mission to kill Rogues and the unknown commander they served (see Marek) in an effort to avenge her son Camden's death.

First mention in series: Appears in Midnight Awakening.

Sheryl Human. Lobby receptionist at the Boston Police station the night Gabrielle came in looking for "Detective" Lucan Thorne. On Officer Carrigan's request, Sheryl calls a police psychologist to come down to the lobby and deal with Gabrielle, but Gabrielle leaves before the psychologist arrives.

First mention in series: Appears in Kiss of Midnight.

Sidney Charles. Human. One of Harmony's Native elder residents and the town's long-running, pony-tailed mayor. After events escalate in Shades of Midnight, bringing several members of the Order to Alaska to clean up the situation, Sidney Charles and several dozen other Harmony residents and two newly arrived Alaska State Troopers are gathered at the town's church, where they are all tranced and mind-scrubbed by Tegan, Chase and Hunter.

First mention in series: Appears in Shades of Midnight.

Simon (d.) Breed male, one of Gideon's young identical twin brothers. Simon and his brother, Roderick, were slain in a Rogue attack more than three hundred years ago outside their Darkhaven in London. It is later discovered that the boys were murdered on the orders of one of Gideon's enemies (see Cyril Smithson), a revenge killing following Gideon's slaying of another Breed male-his enemy's father-in a duel.

First mention in series: Referenced in A Touch of Midnight (novella).

Sister Grace Gilhooley (d.) Human. Nun who used to volunteer at the women's shelter with Dylan's mother, Sharon Alexander, twenty-plus years ago. Sister Grace has been turned Minion for Dragos, acting as guardian of a holding cell in her home on the coast near Gloucester, Ma.s.sachusetts, where several Breedmates were imprisoned. When Dylan, Jenna, Alex and Renata arrive at her home, Jenna immediately recognizes the nun as a Minion. Sister Grace attempts to escape, but Jenna attacks her. The nun, being Minion, refuses to answer any questions, quickly poisoning herself to avoid betraying her Master, Dragos.

First mention in series: Appears in Taken by Midnight.

Sister Margaret Mary Howland Human. Octogenarian nun living in a retirement home in Gloucester, Ma.s.sachusetts. Dylan finds the sister's photograph in a twenty-year-old cla.s.s picture type of pose in front of St. John's Home for Young Women in Queensboro, New York, while searching for information about dead Breedmates who seemed to have ties to Dragos. Dylan and some of the Order's other women decide to contact Sister Mary Margaret to see if the nun can help them find missing Breedmates. The nun innocently leads the women to Sister Grace Gilhooley, who secretly serves Dragos as a Minion and holds a group of Breedmates prisoner at her home.

First mention in series: Appears in Taken by Midnight.

Skeeter Arnold (d.) Human. Full name Stanley Elmer Arnold. Stoner, unemployed drug dealer and resident of Harmony, Alaska. Makes money pushing drugs and alcohol on dry Native population and teens in area, covertly supplied by Zach Tucker. Skeeter took cell phone video of the Toms family's bodies after the killings by the Ancient and uploaded it to the Internet, where the video caught the attention of the Order. Skeeter was later turned Minion by one of Dragos's lieutenants. On a mission to eliminate witnesses to the Ancient, Skeeter stabs and kills Big Dave Grant in the medical clinic in town. Kade then kills Skeeter in front of Alexandra Maguire and dumps the body in a steep ravine outside town.

First mention in series: Appears in Shades of Midnight.

Sorcha (d.) First Breedmate of Order member Tegan. They were mated during the period of the Order's founding, mid-1300s. Sorcha was an innocent young woman, gypsy-dark looks and a sweet, trusting smile. She was abducted while Tegan was on a mission, and returned to him sometime later turned Minion. She had been abused, violated, a soulless sh.e.l.l. Tegan tried to make her better, feeding her his blood and draining hers, but she was too far gone. Tegan fell into Bloodl.u.s.t trying to save her. Lucan locked Tegan away to help him recover, then he took Sorcha's life to end her suffering. Tegan long held this act of mercy against Lucan. In Midnight Awakening, Tegan learns it was Marek who took Sorcha all those years ago and turned her into his Minion in an effort to extract information from her about Dragos and the hiding place of the Ancient.

First mention in series: Referenced in Kiss of Midnight.

Sterling "Harvard" Chase Breed male, former Enforcement Agent, current Order member. Son of August Chase, brother of Quentin. Mate of Tavia Fairchild. Sterling Chase was born and raised in Boston more than a century ago. Part of the Darkhaven elite, Chase comes from a well-connected, political family with deep ties to the Breed's Enforcement Agency.

Bound by the Chase family motto, "Duty first." Like the rest of his family, he holds several degrees from Harvard University, and before joining the Order during the timeline of Kiss of Crimson, most of Chase's combat training was academic. This, along with his rigid, by-the-book att.i.tude prompted Dante to nickname him "Harvard" the first time the warrior met him, although the two later became as close as brothers.

Chase's uptight nature disguises an inner turmoil that has plagued him for many years. Those struggles have cost him family and friends, and have become dangerously more apparent in the time he's been part of the Order. Chase's fight to resist Bloodl.u.s.t nearly costs him his friendship with Dante.

Chase and Tavia are parents to fraternal twins, a son and daughter, Aric and Carys, born soon after the close of Darker After Midnight.

Hair: golden blond Eyes: blue Unique ability: shadow-bender Mate: Tavia Fairchild Hero in: Darker After Midnight (Book 10) First mention in series: Appears in Kiss of Crimson.

-T-.

Taggart Breed male, Enforcement Agent. First introduced in the series during the timeline of Deeper Than Midnight. Taggart is a big vampire posted as guard at the door of an Agency watering hole and strip joint (known as a sip-and-strip) in Boston's Chinatown district. Taggart and Sterling Chase have a strong mutual dislike and mistrust of each other. Taggart permits Chase and Hunter to enter the club only after realizing how lethal Hunter is. Taggart appears again during the timeline of Darker After Midnight, when Dragos walks into the Enforcement Agency hangout in Chinatown and blatantly invites the Breed males there to feed from-and kill, should they wish-the humans working the club. Taggart takes part in the carnage, but goes missing afterward and does not appear again thus far in the series.

First mention in series: Appears in Deeper Than Midnight.

Teddy Toms (d.) Human. Nineteen-year-old Native kid, resident of Harmony, Alaska. Teddy is partying with Annabeth Jablonsky, Chad Bishop, Skeeter Arnold and others the night the Ancient slaughters Teddy and his family in their rural settlement outside Harmony.

First mention in series: Appears in Shades of Midnight.

Tegan Gen One Breed, Order member, mate of Elise Chase. Tegan is approximately seven hundred years old. He sees no need to attempt to blend in with mankind, so he's never bothered with a surname. One of the original members of the Order at its founding, Tegan has a reputation for being stone cold, merciless and detached, the loner of the group.

Centuries ago in Europe, his Breedmate, Sorcha, was kidnapped by a powerful Breed enemy of the Order. Bled to the point of no return, Sorcha was sent back to Tegan a Minion of the Breed male who drained her (see Marek). Tegan went mad with grief and rage, and would have been lost to Bloodl.u.s.t if not for Lucan's brutal, but necessary, intervention. Tegan thought he had cut himself off from all emotion until he crossed paths with Elise, a widowed Darkhaven Breedmate he had no right to desire.

Hair: tawny-gold, like a lion's mane Eyes: gem green Unique ability: reads anyone's thoughts and emotional states with a touch Mate: Sorcha (deceased); Elise Chase Hero in: Midnight Awakening (Book 3) First mention in series: Appears in Kiss of Midnight.

Tess Culver Breedmate of Order member Dante. Born in rural Illinois, Teresa Dawn "Tess" Culver is twenty-six years old during the timeline of Kiss of Crimson. Tess's true father was killed in a car accident when she was fourteen. Her mother remarried quickly to a successful local businessman. Tess's stepfather s.e.xually a.s.saulted her on her seventeenth birthday, during which time he suffered a heart attack. Tess's mother berated her daughter instead of supporting her, commanding Tess to use her special ability to "fix" him. Tess halted the man's death, then later takes it back after discovering he has also accosted young children.

Tess flees home, staying with friends until she finished school and began a new life, eventually working as a veterinarian in her own practice. She always knew she was different, and thought moving far away from her past would keep her personal demons at bay. Late one Halloween night, however, she encountered a dark, dangerous stranger in her clinic-Dante, severely wounded in combat. When she tried to help him, he bit her in desperate need of her blood. A bond that began out of necessity soon became a deep and unbreakable love.

Dante and Tess are parents to a newborn Breed son whom they named Xander Raphael, signifying both the healer and the protector their child is destined to be.

Hair: honey brown, long curly waves Eyes: aquamarine Breedmate mark: between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand Bloodscent: cinnamon and vanilla Unique ability: heals with her touch; she can also rescind the gift of her healing with a touch Mate: Dante Heroine in: Kiss of Crimson (Book 2) First mention in series: Appears in Kiss of Crimson.

Thane Breed male. Ma.s.sive, built like a tank, lethal. Black hair, worn in a short queue, with a sharp widow's peak and slashing ebony brows over hawkish green eyes. Thane is one of Reiver's bodyguards, but it is later revealed that he is also part of an elite Enforcement Agency team out of London, sent to infiltrate Reiver's organization with the blessing of a high-ranking Agency director in Boston, Mathias Rowan. Thane invites Malcolm MacBain to join his Enforcement Agency team at the close of A Taste of Midnight, but Mal declines in order to focus on his new Breedmate, Danika.

First mention in series: Appears in A Taste of Midnight (novella).

Tilda Breedmate who works at the Bishop family Darkhaven in Detroit.

First mention in series: Appears in Deeper Than Midnight.

Toni (d.) Breedmate ghost in Goth attire, who appears to Dylan at the hospital while Dylan is visiting her mother there. Toni appears again with other dead Breedmates at the shelter and warns Dylan that Gordon Fa.s.so is Dragos.

First mention in series: Appears in Midnight Rising.

-U-.

United States Vice President, unnamed (d.) Human. Former university professor of Bobby Clarence's in Boston, longtime friend and mentor of the up-and-coming senator. As Vice President of the United States, this man is a high-value contact of Dragos. Dragos had intended to use the Minion senator to get close to the top government officials of the nation, but instead it's Bobby Clarence's death that offers the best chance of bringing the Vice President into Dragos's hands. When a last-minute security concern thwarts the plan, Dragos speeds up his operation and unleashes the Rogues soon after the slight. With the human population in chaos, Dragos arranges another meeting with the Vice President, this time at the politician's residence in Washington, D.C. There, Dragos turns the man into his Minion after the Vice President refuses to help Dragos lead the President into his trap. The Order soon arrives on the scene, and upon killing Dragos, all of his Minions-including the Vice President-die at the same time he breathes his last.

First mention in series: Appears in Darker After Midnight.

Uta Human. Berlin-area prost.i.tute who is standing in a dirty alleyway when Rio is in the city in need of a feeding. She tells him she's off duty, nervous about her pimp (see Big Man). Rio quickly feeds from the woman.

First mention in series: Appears in Midnight Rising.

-V-.

Victor Bishop (d.) Breed male, Corinne's Darkhaven father; mate is named Regina. Victor Bishop is wealthy, well-connected and powerful. Had been allied with Enforcement Agency director Gerard Starkn (one of Dragos's aliases) around seventy years ago, when Victor's adopted daughter Corinne was taken captive by Dragos and another of his a.s.sociates (see Henry Vachon). Victor was aware of the abduction, even permitted it, to spare any harm to his son, Sebastian. After Hunter brings Corinne home to Detroit following her rescue by the Order, Victor Bishop's duplicity comes to light. He later contacts Henry Vachon to warn him and Dragos that they've been discovered. Regina overhears the conversation and confronts Victor. He is prepared to kill her to ensure her silence, but one of the Darkhaven's security detail intervenes (see Mason). The guard shoves the wounded Victor Bishop out of a window, where he dies in the sunlight.

First mention in series: Appears in Deeper Than Midnight.

Victoria Breedmate, Kade's mother. Mate of Kir. Very pregnant with another set of identical twin boys when Kade returns home to the family Darkhaven outside Fairbanks. She has not been aware of how her ESP talent, the ability to communicate and connect psychically to predator animals, has affected her sons.

First mention in series: Appears in Shades of Midnight.

-W-.

Wilhelm Roth (d.) Breed male, second generation. Corrupt Enforcement Agent, director of the Agency in Hamburg, Germany and lieutenant of Dragos. Wilhelm Roth was Claire Samuels's first mate. Prior to Claire, Roth was mated to a Breedmate named Ilsa. He killed her to make way for taking Claire as his mate. Wilhelm Roth is killed by Andreas Reichen during a confrontation between the Order and Roth.

First mention in series: Appears without being named in Veil of Midnight; appears later in Ashes of Midnight.

-X-.

Xander Raphael "Rafe" Malebranche Breed male, son of Dante and Tess. Born December 17, during the timeline of Deeper Than Midnight. His G.o.dfather was to be Sterling Chase, but conflict between Chase and Dante made the new parents look in another direction. During the timeline of Darker After Midnight, week-old Rafe is presented to the Order and to his G.o.dparents, Gideon and Savannah. Rafe enters the series again as a young adult and new member of the Order in Edge of Dawn.

First mention in series: Appears as a newborn infant in Deeper Than Midnight.

-Y-.

-Z-.

Zach Tucker (d.) Human. Older brother of Jenna Tucker-Darrow, and sole police officer on Harmony, Alaska. Has known Alexandra Maguire for ten years, slept together once, but nothing came of it. Zach seems like a good guy, until it's revealed that he's been secretly supplying drugs and alcohol to Skeeter Arnold, profiting off Skeeter's dealing to the local Native residents and teens. Zach's corruption proves his undoing when Alex discovers what he's done and confronts him. Zach chases her on a snow machine, shoots at her, but doesn't hit her. Zach is later attacked and killed by the Ancient. To cover up the slaying, the Order makes it appear that Zach and Skeeter were both killed in a drug deal gone bad.

First mention in series: Appears in Shades of Midnight.

Zael Atlantean male. Dylan Alexander's true father. Golden hair, shot with streaks of copper. Intense, tropical-blue eyes, and bronze, tanned skin. Zael's photo was recovered among Dylan's mother's personal effects after she died. The gorgeous, ageless man is wearing a leather band around his wrist that has a tooled silver emblem in the shape of a Breedmate mark dangling from it. The only identification written on the back of the photo is: Zael. Mykonos. '75.

First mention in series: Referenced in Darker After Midnight.

Reader Q&A Why did Gideon promise Savannah he wouldn't partic.i.p.ate in combat missions? What is Lucan's ESP talent? Will the books ever be made into a movie or television show? How many total books will be in the Midnight Breed series?

From the time the series first debuted in 2007, I've received questions from readers on just about everything you can imagine. There are distinct front-runners--the questions listed at the top of this page in particular. With this Companion book and the novella, A Touch of Midnight, I've attempted to address the most frequent reader curiosities, but I also thought it would be fun to invite readers to submit additional questions--to me or to the characters--on any imaginable subject they liked.

The call went out via my website, and after a couple of weeks, my staff and I collected nearly a thousand questions submitted for consideration. We read and reviewed them all, which was a task both daunting and highly entertaining. Midnight Breed readers are not only smart and inquisitive, but really funny too! It was incredibly difficult to narrow the entries down to just the sampling of questions included in this Companion. I wish we could have included them all!

To those of you who sent in a question (or a dozen!), thank you. To the reader holding this book now, I hope you enjoy this thought-provoking, silly--and just plain fun--peek into the series and my work as its humble, deeply grateful author.

Questions for Lara Adrian If you were to date a member of the Order who would it be and why?

-Tracey A., Manchester, United Kingdom Oh, so hard to choose! This would be a problem, since I gave each of the warriors individual qualities-not to mention, knockout physical looks-that I personally find irresistible. I would probably have to sample them all, one at a time and at great length (ahem), before I could ever make that decision.

How do you come up with the characters, as well as the areas they come from and the places they travel to?

-Lois D., Burlington, MA USA A lot of times, the characters and their backgrounds-including where they're from-pop into my imagination as a complete package. Sometimes, all it takes is listening to the right kind of music or a particular song or lyric and I'm able to bring a character to life. But sometimes it takes a bit more work on my part to make sure I'm not populating the series with characters who are too similar to one another, or who don't bring anything exciting and new into the story mix.

I have a fairly extensive collection of books on character archetypes, names and their meanings, etc., which I rely on when I'm stuck and need help (see the Appendix of this book for more information). As far as deciding on where to set the books, if the setting inspiration doesn't come organically out of a particular character in the story, I'll choose someplace interesting that I've either traveled to myself, or feel would make an exciting or evocative place for the story to go.

Will Brock and Jenna have a child together?

-Phyllis B., Tallaha.s.see, FL USA I'm not sure! Many readers have told me they hope to see Brock and Jenna bear a child, and I think it would be a sweet reward for this couple after all they've been through, but as of now, they're happy together even without a baby in their future. If I get farther into the series and it feels right to me that they should (or even can?) conceive, considering the human/alien being that Jenna is becoming, then I would certainly be open to taking them down that road.