The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner recap

This companion novella follows Bree Tanner, a teenage girl recently turned into a vampire and living among a violent band of newborns in Seattle. Kept in the dark and controlled by a young vampire named Riley, the newborns are fed, hidden by day, and told lies, including that sunlight will destroy them. Bree befriends the calmer, older newborn Diego, and together they discover that the sunlight rule is false: it only makes their skin sparkle. They realize the whole army is being built and manipulated by a mysterious red-haired vampire, working through Riley, to attack a rival clan. Diego vanishes, and Bree, frightened, keeps her discovery secret and stays close to the solitary, self-protecting Fred. Riley marches the newborns to a forest near Forks to destroy their enemies, but the ambush fails and nearly all of them are killed. Bree surrenders to the enemy clan, who show her unexpected mercy, but the ancient vampire rulers, the Volturi, arrive to enforce their laws. Despite an offer to spare her, the Volturi order Bree's execution, and her short second life ends.

Bree Tanner is a teenage girl who was turned into a vampire only a few months ago and now lives among a large, unruly group of newborn vampires holed up in a house in Seattle. Created for a purpose none of them understands, the newborns are volatile and dangerous, forever fighting among themselves, and they are kept hidden indoors during the day and taken out at night to feed. A young vampire named Riley rules them, laying down strict rules and warning them of deadly threats, including sunlight and a clan of enemy vampires, while serving a master the newborns almost never see. Bree survives by staying quiet and out of the way, especially clear of the vicious bully Raoul. As the story opens she keeps her head down in this frightening new existence, beginning to sense that there is far more going on than Riley is telling any of them.

Riley leads the newborn army into a forest near Forks to wipe out the rival clan they have been trained to hate, but the attack goes disastrously wrong and almost every newborn is destroyed. Bree, terrified, surrenders and is taken in by the enemy clan, a family of vampires who live without hunting humans and who treat her with surprising gentleness and even offer to protect her. Their kindness comes too late. The Volturi, the ancient rulers of the vampire world, arrive to make sure their secret laws have been kept and to clean up what remains of the illegal army. Although one of the family pleads for Bree's life and offers to take responsibility for her, the Volturi refuse. On the order of the merciless young Volturi guard Jane, Bree is executed. Her creator's scheme has collapsed, the friend she made is gone, and Bree, who wanted only to survive, dies knowing the truth of what was done to her and the others.