Name: Santino
Date of Birth: unknown
Place of Birth: Italy
Date Brought into Darkness: mid-1300s, during the reign of the Black Death
Place Brought into Darkness: Italy
Maker: Unknown
Chronicled Appearances: The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, The Vampire Armand
Fledglings: None.
Description: A black-haired Italian vampire, he is the leader of the satanic coven in Rome when Marius lived in Venice. He was born to darkness in the mid-1300s during the reign of the Black Death, and his vision for vampires is that they be a "vexation without explanation" (The Vampire Lestat, p. 301), which causes mortals to doubt God. Santino helps to form the Great Laws and see that they are carried out in all covens. He leads the attack on what they view as the heretic Marius, whom they are trying to destroy because he lives among mortals. Although the attack fails, it drives Marius from Venice and results in Armand's apprenticeship into the coven. Later Armand hears that Santino went mad and abandoned the coven, which subsequently dissolved into chaos. When Lestat and Gabrielle meet the members of another Roman coven, there is no evidence of Santino.
Santino makes more appearances in Queen of the Damned accompanying Pandora to rescue Marius, the vampire he had once tried to destroy.* He is also seen in flashback as Jesse recall his presence on a visit to her 'Aunt' Maharet's home where she also met Mael.
*Ramsland, Katherine. The Vampire Companion: The Official Guide to Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. Ballantine: New York. 1995. Page 406.
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