Santiago Rigato

Santiago Rigato was a recurring character of the Hunters novels. He was the leader of his own pack and the father of Henry Rigato.

Human Life and transformation
Santiago was born in 1883 in Italy. As a young man, he worked as an actor travelling through the world and was very devoted to his work and the travels. He was an extremely talented actor and found success wherever he went.

At the age of 20, Santiago settled down in North America after meeting a young woman named Emma and marrying her. They had two children named Henry and Rebecca and Santiago was very happy with his life and family.

In 1918 his house burnt down and Emma and Rebecca died from the fire. An unknown vampire saved Santiago and Henry from the fire and transformed Santiago into a vampire to save him before he left. santiago tried to save his son by biting him but he failed due to having not enough knowledge about vampires.

Supernatural Life
Santiago started to form a vampire pack in the 1990s after living a lonely life for about 70 years. He travelled through America in those years, settling down in White Falls again in the 90s and starting his actor job again. In 2006, his recruit Gabriel Sanders kills him in an act of revenge.

After his death, Santiago remains to be a shadow soul in the shadowlands because he can't make his inner peace. The shadowlands don't make him crazy like a lot of other people, instead he regains the ability to feel empathy and regret. In Volume 5, Santiago follows Sazael back to Earth but he betrays his leader and protects his son Henry and Liv Morgan, as if to compensate what he did to Liv's family. Later, Sazael kills him and Santiago probably makes his peace.

Significant kills and bites

 * Henry Rigato (1918, bite, failed)
 * Kelly James (1999, kill)
 * Jeremy Sanders (2000, kill)
 * Eleanor Sanders (2000, kill)
 * Gabriel Sanders (2000, bite)
 * Danny Coyle (2000s, bite)
 * Liv Morgan (2006, bite)
 * Wayne Holling (2006, kill)

Physical Appearance
Santiago is tall and of sporty build. He was a very attractive, pretty young man before his vampire transformation, then a fire burnt his upper body and defaced him very badly. Santiago has red, former green, eyes and black hair that he wears slicked back. He mostly wears a black mask and black gloves to hide his scarred skin.

Human
As a young man, Santiago was polite, kind and open-hearted. He always had a strong temper but could control himself and it was a big part of his charm. Santiago was known to be creative, happy and interested. He used his charm and beauty to get through his life and had a lot of dreams and perspectives.

Vampire
After the fire, Santiago becomes very angry and wishes for revenge. He starts killing and hurting people randomly and over the years he completely loses his ability to feel regret, empathy or love. Sexual relationships are still important to him but he's not interested in family or friends.

Santiago's vampire self is brutal and violent. He is very sadistic and loves to torture other people as well mentally as physically. He completely lost his control over himself and just does everything he wants to do which is why he is very unpredictable.

Santiago is not focused on power like for example Ronan and Damian, he shows more interest in pain and death of other people. He seems to like seeing others suffer. Still, Santiago likes to demonstrate his power over the ones he has transformed.

He probably is traumatized by the fire and the loss of his family.

Shadow Soul
As a shadow soul, Santiago is not crazy or insane like other souls. His time in the shadowlands has helped him to regain sanity and empathy and now he wants to use the time on Earth to help his son Henry.

Santiago is able to oppose to Sazael what shows that he has a very strong will. He is passionate and acts very protective and devotedly, always taking care of Henry.

Supernatural Powers
Santiago is a vampire and has the, for vampires normal, powers that come with this species. He is faster and stronger than humans and has a better condition, in addition he has better senses, can do very wide jumps and is able to see at night.

Because of the death he died, as a shadow soul he is immune against fire.

From 1999 to 2006, Santiago was the Gemini of the White Falls Zodiac after he had killed Kelly James in 1999. When he dies, his power is given to Gabriel Sanders.

Henry Rigato
Henry is Santiago's son and the most important person in his life. They had a very intense bond and Santiago also tried to transform Henry into a vampire but failed because of his youth and missing knowledge. He watched Henry die and was deeply traumatized by it. As long as Santiago lives, Henry's death seems to haunt and torture him.

As a shadow soul, Santiago devotes his existence to protect Henry. Henry also avenges Santiago's last death by killing the demon Sazael.

Gabriel Sanders
Santiago kidnapped Gabriel and transformed him into a vampire in 2000. He loves to demonstrate his power over Gabriel and abuses him. He also tries to start a sexual relationship but gets dismissed by Gabriel. Santiago likes to hurt and torture him. In 2006, Gabriel kills Santiago to avenge what happened to his family and himself.

Danny Coyle
Santiago transformed Danny into a vampire by biting him because Danny reminded him of himself. Danny then lived with him and admired him, maybe even being in love with him. Danny is submissive to Santiago and even has a sexual relationship with him, but Santiago is a bad teacher and doesn't tell Danny enough about how to deal with his new identity. They are also colleagues at the theatre.

Liam Keaton
Liam saved the life of Santiago's son Henry and takes care of the teenage boy which is why Santiago is very thankful to him and later gives him his third alpha life.

Trivia

 * With the biological age of 123 years Santiago is the oldest creature ever shown in Hunters.