Place of Birth: Possibly "somewhere north of Dallas," Texas (Eclipse, pg. 289).
Physical Appearance—
Eye Color: Vampire Red
Personality/Characteristics—
Description: Benito was a power-hungry vampire who sought control of all the prominent southern U.S. cities as well as parts of Mexico. (Eclipse, pg. 289)
Personal History—
Benito is best known in the series for starting the southern Vampire Wars. He invented what is widely considered both the most effective and the most ruthless tactic in vampire warfare: creating armies of newborns.
Born just north of Dallas, he massacred two small covens that shared the area near Houston to increase his own sphere of power (Eclipse, pg. 289). Two nights later, he took on the much stronger clan of allies that claimed Monterrey in northern Mexico. He accomplished all this with his army of newborns.
To protect their coven from Benito, other vampires in the south and in Mexico retaliated with their own armies (Eclipse, pg. 289). Needless to say, this escalated out of control, causing havoc and
bloodshed that spanned across both state and country borders. (It was during this period of newborn warfare that Jasper was created.)
When the Volturi finally stepped in to put an end to the crisis,
they began with killing Benito first (Eclipse, pg. 291).
