History Literature / TheVillainsSeries

** Victor shares his first name with [[ComicBook/TheFantasticFour Dr. Doom]], of whom he is an {{Expy}}.

* FamilyOfChoice: Mitch, Victor, and Sydney are this by the second book, with Dominic as their extended family. (Good luck getting Victor to admit it, of course.) Mitch and Dominic have no living family, and Victor and Sydney aren't really on good terms with theirs, but they all stick together and act like an odd combination of [[HasTwoMommies two dads and their daughter]], and two older siblings raising their younger sister (with Dominic as the long-distance uncle). Sydney even calls the guys her family multiple times.

* MadScientist: Victor and Eli, technically. Their process for discovering [=EO=]s is very scientific, as well as very dangerous and quite insane.

The Villains Series is a duology of books by V.E. Schwab which includes ''Vicious (2013)'' and ''Vengeful (2018)''.

''Vicious'' begins the story of Victor Vale and Eliot "Eli" Cardale, two academic rivals and best friends, who are working on their senior theses when a shared research interest leads them to a working theory about the adrenaline response of near-death experiences as a possible origin of super-powered individuals [[note]](called [=EOs=] in this setting, short for [=ExtraOrdinary=])[[/note]]. [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy In a fit of drunken impulsiveness]], they decide to test the theory on themselves, which leads to tragic results and a dead body that belongs to neither of them. Ten years later, Victor escapes prison with his cellmate, a talented hacker named Mitch Turner, and embarks on a revenge-fueled quest to hunt down his former friend, now known as [[MeaningfulRename Eli Ever]]. On the outskirts of a city called Merit, their path crosses with Sydney Clarke, an almost-thirteen-year-old with a bullet wound in her arm, a personal vendetta against Eli, and the ability to raise the dead, sending them all speeding down a path towards an explosive showdown.

* HairTriggerTemper: Marcella responds to evidence of her husband's infidelity by immediately grabbing the nearest knife and trying to kill him. After waking up in the hospital with superpowers that are fueled by her rage, her temper grows progressively shorter as a lifetime of being underestimated and overlooked finally catches up to her, and she proceeds to carve a path of death and destruction through the city of Merit.

''Vengeful'' picks up five years later, with the characters dealing with the aftermath of the first book and the choices they all made that night. Meanwhile, things are shaking up in Merit, with the sudden rise of a powerful and ambitious new [=EO=] named Marcella Morgan. The wife of a recently deceased mob boss, Marcella has been biding her time at her husband's side and formulating her own ideas about how the city should be run... ideas that put her on the radar of a shadowy new organization known as [=EON=].

** Marcella did love her husband... which is why she's so, ''so'' utterly pissed when she finds out he's cheating, as she's always been faithful to him. (And then he tries to kill her, which pretty much ends the romance for good.)

* FamilyOfChoice: Mitch, Victor, and Sydney are this by the second book, with Dominic as their extended family. (Good luck getting Victor to admit it, of course.) Mitch and Dominic have no living family, and Victor and Sydney aren't really on good terms with theirs, but they all stick together and act like an odd combination of [[HasTwoMommies two dads and their daughter]], and two older siblings raising their younger sister (with Dominic as the distant but favorite uncle). Sydney even calls the guys her family multiple times.

* GambitPileup: Marcella's gala at the Old Courthouse serves as the climax of ''Vengeful'', with all the major characters and their various motivations colliding all at once. [[spoiler:Marcella plans to unveil her plans for the future of Merit at the event, while a team from EON is there to finally put a stop to her growing body count -- with Eli in tow to land the killing blow, since he's the only person alive who has a chance to withstand her powers. Eli, however, is planning to use the chaos of the event to make his escape instead. Meanwhile, Victor gate-crashes the party with the single-minded goal of killing Eli, but is first intercepted by June who blackmails him into helping her take Marcella down to keep Sydney safe. The whole situation results in a MeleeATrois, with Eli and Marcella locked in a battle to the death, Victor and Stell briefly teaming up to [[EnemyMine take down her EO bodyguard]], all while Victor is also simultaneously ducking various EON goons and keeping an eye open for a chance to take his shot at Eli]].

* GambitPileup: Marcella's gala at the Old Courthouse in climax of ''Vengeful'', where all the major characters and their various motivations collide. [[spoiler:Marcella plans to unveil her plans for the future of Merit at the event, while a team from EON is there to finally put a stop to her growing body count -- with Eli in tow to land the killing blow. Meanwhile, Eli is planning to use the chaos of the event to make his escape from EON, while Victor, recently escaped from EON, gate-crashes the event with the single-minded goal of killing Eli, but is first intercepted by June who blackmails him into helping take Marcella down to keep Sydney safe. The whole situation results in a MeleeATrois, with Eli and Marcella locked in a battle to the death, while Victor and Stell are engaged in [[EnemyMine battling her bodyguards]], while Victor is also simultaneously ducking various EON goons and keeping an eye out for a chance to take his shot at Eli]].

* HealingFactor: Eli's power.

** Dominic spent weeks in a coma after survived an IED blast that left him with severe chronic pain.

** Victor's a self-centered douche who has no qualms about manipulating people to get what he wants, and Eli's a SerialKiller with delusions of grandeur. Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!

** This is an unfortunate side-effect for [=EO=]'s resurrected by Sydney, who experience difficulty controlling their powers, as they discover once she resurrects Barry Lynch. This is her biggest fear regarding [[spoiler: her resurrection of Victor; physically, he comes back fine, and his power initially appears to be intact, but a few weeks later it begins to go on the fritz. See PowerIncontinence for how that turns out.]]

* CapeBusters: Most Police police departments have officers trained to deal with [=EOs=].

* DeathIsCheap: If Sydney is around, the first death is, anyway. Anything over one is much harder.

* GreenEyedMonster: One of Victor's flaws. He was annoyed and envious of Eli and Angie's romantic relationship, because they made him feel left out. This also bleeds into his jealousy over Eli discovering how to create superpowers, and drove him to even more reckless risks in an attempt to get some for himself.

** It's less obvious, but Victor does genuinely care quite a bit about Mitch.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Victor was by no means a saint in the first book, but he was at least focusing his worst impulses on his rivalry with Eli and was still doing what he could to avoid harming civilians or innocent bystanders. In ''Vengeful'', the combined anxiety over his escalating health problems and the constant threat of being hunted down by EON sends him into darker territory, leading to his decision to [[spoiler:kill everyone he'd previously sought out for help in order to eliminate potential witnesses. Worse, when Sydney objects to his becoming a serial killer, he forces her to choose between their safety or the lives of the people who could identify them]].

* AntiVillain: Victor is not a good person, but he's not all bad, either -- and he's miles better than Eli.

** As stated under BewareTheNiceOnes, the ending of the first book implies this fate awaits Eli in prison. Keep in mind, Eli's abilities don't prevent him from feeling pain. In the second book, we find out the reality was even ''worse''; [[spoiler:a MadScientist got hold of him and studied him via vivisection. Without anesthesia.]]

* MistakenForSuicidal: Victor's first attempt at a near death experience in order to gain superpowers ends up landing him in therapy, under the belief that hes become suicidal.

** As noted above Sydney does age, but at a much slower rate than normal, meaning she still appears to be in her early teens.

** In ''Vengeful'', [[spoiler:Victor's powers are on the fritz after his resurrection, causing episodes where they will suddenly overload and explode in violent bursts of energy that temporarily stop his heart and can cause serious damage to anyone in his immediate vicinity. His health suffers severely as a result.]]

** Marcella's husband attempted to burn their house down around her after she discovered his infidelity and attacked him in a fit of rage.

* VillainProtagonist:
** Both of them. Victor's a self-centered douche who has no qualms about manipulating people to get what he wants. Eli's a SerialKiller with delusions of grandeur. Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!

* WorthyOpponent: Victor and Eli's relationship is a little too personally fraught to really count -- they're so laser-focused on each other that nothing else was ever an option -- but Victor definitely sees Serena as this. Dominic expresses surprise at seeing her for the first after helping Victor kill her, commenting that she's "just a girl", but Victor sharply contradicts him, telling him that far from being ''just'' anything, Serena is the most powerful woman in Merit.

* CameBackWrong: Eli believes this is true of ''all'' [=EOs=]. He thinks they aren't really people, just pale imitations, and that he, as the only [=EO=] he knows whose power can only be used on himself, has been given a mission by God to destroy them. While he latter part is a delusion, he does have a point about the former; all [=EOs=] in ''Vicious'' except Sydney show a conspicuous {{Lack of Empathy}}. Both Serena and Victor agree that coming back takes something away from them, it's just that Victor doesn't care.
** This is an unfortunate side-effect for [=EO=]'s resurrected by Sydney, who experience difficulty controlling their powers, as they discover once she resurrects Barry Lynch. This is her biggest fear regarding [[spoiler: resurrecting Victor; physically, he comes back fine, and his power initially appears to be intact, but a few weeks later it begins to go on the fritz. See PowerIncontinence for how that turns out.]]

** Additionally, '''[=ExtraOrdinary=] Observation and Neutralization''' (EON) in the second book.
* CharmPerson: Even when Serena ''isn't'' talking, mere proximity to her causes people to want her to like them.

* ExactWords: Near the end of ''Vicious'', Serena orders Sydney to go somewhere "safe", meaning out of the way of whatever blowup Victor and Eli are heading for. Unbeknownst to Serena, the only place Sydney feels safe anymore is with ''Victor''.
* {{Expy}}: Victor and Eli for Dr. Doom and Reed Richards--two brilliant former best friends who clash over science theories and a girl. Except for the fact that they're ''both'' bad guys, with Victor actually being slightly better.
* FamilyOfChoice: Mitch, Victor, and Sydney are this by the second book. (Good luck getting Victor to admit it, of course.) Mitch has no living family, and Victor and Sydney aren't really on good terms with theirs, but they all stick together and act like an odd combination of [[HasTwoMommies two dads and their daughter]], and two older siblings raising their younger sister. Sydney even calls the guys her family multiple times.

* FaceOfAThug: Mitch ''looks'' like he's up to no good, which makes everyone assume that that's actually in the case, when in reality, he's a nice guy with the unfortunate habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Angie gets a text from Victor asking for help, and without a second thought, drops everything to help her friend. This sets off a chain of events that gets her killed.

** After learning that Stell is running an organization dedicated to hunting down [[=EOs=]], Victor immediately retraces his steps and eliminates everyone he sought assistance from during his quest to find a cure for his illness.

* ThanatosGambit: Knowing he has little chance of winning a head-on confrontation against Eli due to the latter's HealingFactor, Victor instead devises a complex scheme that uses that fact to his advantage. He first kills Serena to break her and Eli's hold over the Merit Police Department, and then lures Eli to the Falcon Price Project for a confrontation. During the ensuing fight, Eli instantly recovers from every injury Victor inflicts, while Victor is slowly beaten and stabbed to death, and the police arrive on the scene shortly after it's over to find Eli completely unharmed and drenched in Victor's blood. He is arrested on the spot, and the subsequent investigation uncovers evidence of his double-digit body count, sending him to jail for a ''very'' long time. Meanwhile, [[ResurrectionGambit Victor is resurrected by Sydney only days later]], with the full satisfaction of watching as his rival's entire life and public image is destroyed.

** Marcella's husband attempted to burn their house down around her after she discovers his infidelity and attacks him in a fit of rage.

* WorthyOpponent: Victor and Eli's relationship is a little too personally fraught to really count (they're so laser-focused on each other that nothing else was ever an option), but Victor definitely sees Serena as this. When another [=EO=] helps him kill her and, surprised, says she's "just a girl", Victor sharply contradicts him, telling him that far from being "just" anything, Serena is the most powerful woman in Merit.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Sydney's a nice girl, but not one to cross. By the end of ''Vicious'', Eli's the target of her wrath, and she plans to leak the fact that he has a HealingFactor to whatever prison or hospital he ends up in -- the way, his fellow inmates can [[TheChewToy can have fun with him]].

** The ending of the first book implies this fate awaits Eli in prison. Sydney plans to leak the information of his healing factor to whichever institution he ends up in, since that'd make him a ''very'' tempting pincushion to his fellow inmates. Keep in mind, Eli's abilities don't prevent him from feeling pain. In the second book, we find out it's even ''worse''; [[spoiler:a MadScientist got hold of him and studied him via vivisection. Without anesthesia.]]

* CameBackWrong: Eli believes this is true of ''all'' [=EOs=]. He thinks they aren't really people, just pale imitations, and that he, as the only [=EO=] he knows whose power can only be used on himself, has been given a mission by God to destroy them.
** He does have a point about the former; all [=EOs=] in ''Vicious'' except Sydney show a conspicuous {{Lack of Empathy}}. Both Serena and Victor agree that coming back takes something away from them, it's just that Victor doesn't care.
** This is an unfortunate side-effect for [=EO=]'s resurrected by Sydney, who experience difficulty controlling their powers, as they discover once she resurrects Barry. This is her biggest fear regarding [[spoiler: resurrecting Victor; physically, he comes back fine, and his power initially appears to be intact, but a few weeks later it begins to go on the fritz. See PowerIncontinence for how that turns out.]]
* CanineCompanion: Dol, the massive black dog that Sydney and Victor rescue after it's hit by a car in ''Vicious''. The entire team is fond of him, but he's particularly attached to Sydney since she's the one who brought him back from the dead (twice).
* CapeBusters: Most Police police departments have officers trained to deal with [=EOs=]. Additionally, EON in the second book.

* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler:Subverted. Eli ''thinks'' he's having these with Victor in prison, going so far as to think Victor's ghost may be haunting him. Then he finds out Victor is alive...]]

* ExactWords: Near the end of ''Vicious'', Serena orders Sydney to go somewhere "safe", meaning out of the way of whatever blowup Victor and Eli are heading for. But for Sydney, safe ''is'' Victor.

* FaceOfAThug: Mitch ''looks'' like he's up to no good, which makes everyone assume that that's actually in the case, when in reality, he's a nice guy with the unfortunate ability of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
* FeelNoPain: Victor's powers give him the ability [[MasterOfYourDomain to modulate or fully shut down his pain levels]]. He can extend this to either increase or reduce pain levels in other people as well.

* GreenEyedMonster: One of Victor's flaws. He was annoyed and envious of Eli and Angie's romantic relationship, because they made him feel left out. This also bleeds into his jealousy over Eli discovering how to create superpowers, and became determined to get some for himself.
--> [[ItsAllAboutMe ''Victor Vale was not a fucking sidekick.'']]

* HappilyAdopted: Eli's various foster families are all better than his abusive birth family, especially his aunt and uncle.

* ManipulativeBastard: Victor Vale is an expert at getting under people's skins and then manipulating them like puppets in his grand schemes. See ThanatosGambit for his ultimate example.

** Marcella goes back to using her maiden name of Morgan after her husband's attempt to murder her.

** Dr. Haverty, who [[spoiler:experiments on and vivisects Eli in the second book.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: Victor Vale is an expert at getting under people's skins and then manipulating them like puppets in his grand schemes. He tricks Eli into a fight in which Eli ends up ''killing him'' as part of a plan for him to get caught in the act by the police, branded a murderer and arrested, only for Victor to get resurrected by Sydney later.

* ResurrectionGambit: In the first book, Victor goads Eli into a violent brawl, which he knows will end in his own death, because Eli [[HealingFactor can heal from any injury instantly]]. Which means when the cops arrive, they find Eli standing over a corpse with a knife in his hand... [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with no visible injuries]], meaning all claims at self-defense are doomed to fail. And Victor has a young girl who can raise the dead on his side, so once Eli's been arrested, all she has to do is find his grave, dig him up, and resurrect him. Eli, for his part, realizes this as soon as he's arrested and begins screaming at the authorities to burn the body, but [[CassandraTruth they all ignore him]].

** [[spoiler:By the second book, Victor murders various [=EOs=] in order to cover himself from detection as he tries to cure himself from dying]]

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Sydney looks exactly like Serena, just seven years younger.
* ThanatosGambit: Knowing he has little chance of winning a head-on confrontation against Eli due to the latter's HealingFactor, Victor instead devises a complex scheme that uses that fact to his advantage. He first kills Serena to break her and Eli's hold over the Merit Police Department, and then lures Eli to an abandoned building for a confrontation. During the ensuing fight, Eli doesn't receive a single lasting injury while Victor is slowly beaten and stabbed to death, and the police arrive on the scene shortly after it's over to find Eli completely unharmed and drenched in Victor's blood. He is arrested on the spot, and the subsequent investigation uncovers evidence of his double-digit body count, sending him to jail for a ''very'' long time. Meanwhile, Victor is resurrected by Sydney only days later, with the full satisfaction of watching as his rival's entire life and public image is destroyed.

** When Victor learns that Eli's considered a hero, and that opposing him would make Victor a villain, his response is basically, "Sure, why not?"

** The second book also introduces Marcella, who is a [[AmbitionIsEvil highly ambitious]] mob wife-turned-SerialKiller.

* WorthyOpponent: Victor and Eli's relationship is a little too personally fraught to really count (they're so laser-focused on each other that nothing else was ever an option), but Victor definitely sees Serena as this. When another [=EO=] helps him [[spoiler: kill her]] and, surprised, says she's "just a girl", Victor sharply contradicts him, telling him that far from being "just" anything, Serena is the most powerful woman in Merit.

* GreenEyedMonster: One of Victor's flaws. He was annoyed and envious of Eli and Angie's romantic relationship, because they made him feel left out. This also bleeds into his jealousy of Eli discovering how to create superpowers, and became determined to get some for himself.
---> ''Victor Vale was not a fucking sidekick.''

** [[spoiler:After Eli's fight with Victor at the end of the book, the police refuse to believe that Eli acted in self defense, because he's completely uninjured.]]
** Also, when Marcella goes up against Eli, she [[spoiler: cuts loose and ends up destroying ''everything'' around them, including the floor, which allows Eli to break it and send them both falling a fatal distance...for her.]]

* IHaveYourWife: A variant, as June doesn't need to kidnap someone to hurt them--all she needs to do is be able to assume their form, and then hurt ''herself'', as injuries are always transferred to the original. [[spoiler: She makes Victor help her by turning into Mitch and holding a gun to her own head.]]
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In a way. [[spoiler:Why doesn't June just force Sydney away from Victor, as she clearly thinks would be best for her, and she later demonstrates she ''is'' capable of doing? Because she wants Sydney to ''choose'' to come with her, of her own free will, not be forced into it.]]
* IWarnedYou: [[spoiler:In ''Vengeful'', Eli is unsympathetic when EON has difficulty capturing Victor -- as he continually points out, he ''told'' them to burn his body five years ago.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Victor, Victor, Victor! The entire plot is kicked off because he can't stand the idea of being in Eli's shadow.
-->''Victor Vale was not a fucking sidekick.''
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Marcella's husband tries to kill her. She winds up coming back as an EO, and kills ''him'' instead. Very, ''very'' painfully.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:So far, Eli, Marcella, Stell, Dominic, and Serena are all dead-for-real. Eli, Stell, and Dominic still have bodies intact as of the end of ''Vengeful'', meaning they conceivably ''could'' come back in any future installments, but Serena and Marcella aren't so lucky.]]

* LostLenore: [[spoiler:Angie]], for both Victor and Eli.

* ManipulativeBastard: Victor Vale is an expert at getting under people's skins and then manipulating them like puppets in his grand schemes. He tricks Eli into a fight [[spoiler:in which Eli ends up ''killing him'' as part of a plan for him to get caught in the act by the police, branded a murderer and arrested, only for Victor to get resurrected by Sydney later]].

** "Angie," as in "Angelica," which, of course, means "Angel." [[spoiler:Angie Knight dies.]]

** Eli changed his last name from Cardale to Ever, partially to shed his connection to his abusive family and partially because he thinks all the best superheroes have alliterative names.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Serena gets hit with this [[spoiler:about a half-second before Eli tries to kill Sydney.]]

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:Angie]] gets a text from Victor asking for help, and without a second thought, drops everything to help her friend. This sets off a chain of events that gets her killed.

* NotGrowingUpSucks: Well, Sydney ''does'' age, but very, very slowly. [[spoiler:By the second book, she's pretty sick of being treated like a child by everyone who looks at her, even though she's now eighteen years old.]]

* PlotTriggeringDeath: [[spoiler:Poor Angie. Her death is what begins this entire shitshow.]]

** In ''Vengeful'', Victor's powers are on the fritz after his resurrection, causing episodes where they will suddenly overload and explode in violent bursts of energy that temporarily stop his heart and can cause serious damage to anyone in his immediate vicinity.

* PsychicAssistedSuicide: Serena attempts this on [[spoiler:Mitch, but he knew that she would and had already triple checked to make sure his gun wasn't loaded before she arrived]].
* PsychicNosebleed: Happens to Victor when he first tries out his powers. (Of course, having just gotten them can't have helped.)
* QuestionableConsent: Part of the reason Serena dislikes her powers so much is that she knows her passive "you want to please me" aura interferes with a person's agency even if she avoids imperatives--so she can never be certain a sex partner is 100% willing. Since Eli will murder her if she goes too long without ordering him not to, however, she’s fine ignoring this issue when it comes to him.

* ResurrectionGambit: In the first book, Victor goads Eli into a violent brawl, [[spoiler: which he knows will end in his own death, because Eli [[HealingFactor can heal from any injury instantly]]. Which means when the cops arrive, they find Eli standing over a corpse with a knife in his hand... [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with no visible injuries]], meaning all claims at self-defense are doomed to fail. And Victor has a young girl who can raise the dead on his side, so once Eli's been arrested, all she has to do is find his grave, dig him up, and resurrect him. Eli, for his part, realizes this as soon as he's arrested and begins screaming at the authorities to burn the body, but [[CassandraTruth they all ignore him]].]]

** Marcella goes on a rampage through Merit in the second book, leaving piles of bodies behind her.

** '''M'''arcella '''M'''organ.
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Eli ''does'' kill Victor, but thanks to Sydney, it doesn't stick. He ends the first novel in jail, without Serena, and everything he worked for being for naught.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Sydney's a nice girl, but not one to cross. [[spoiler:By the end of ''Vicious'', Eli's the target of her wrath, and she plans to leak the fact that he has a HealingFactor to whatever prison or hospital he ends up in -- the way, his fellow inmates can [[TheChewToy can have fun with him]].]]

* BrokenPedestal: The events just before and during the novel ''shatter'' Sydney's respect and near-idolization of her older sister, Serena. Of course, your sister trying to have you ''killed'' tends to do that.
* CainAndAbel: Serena lures Sydney out to be murdered by Eli, despite their former close bond, because she too believes something is very wrong with [=EOs=].
* CameBackWrong:
** A mild example. [=EO=]'s resurrected by Sydney experience difficulty controlling their powers, as they discover after she resurrects Barry. [[spoiler: Later also true of Victor; personally, he's fine, but his power goes on the fritz. He also dies and comes back repeatedly, which, unsurprisingly, isn't good for his health.]]
** Eli believes this is true of ''all'' [=EOs=]. He thinks they aren't really people, just pale imitations, and that he, as the only [=EO=] he knows whose power can only be used on himself, has been given a mission by God to destroy them.
*** He has a point about the former. All [=EOs=] in Vicious except Sydney show a conspicuous {{Lack of Empathy}}. Both Serena and Victor agree that coming back takes something away from them, it's just that Victor doesn't care.

** Victor [[spoiler:getting Angie killed]] is what sets Eli on his path, though Eli clearly had a screw loose from the word "go."

* DeathIsCheap: If Sydney is around, the first death is, anyway. (Anything over one is much harder.)

* DragonWithAnAgenda: Serena is Eli's right hand only because she knows that if she doesn't help him with his crusade, and isn't always around so she can continually order him to not kill her, she's going to find herself on the wrong end of his gun. (Multiple characters note that, although it seems like Eli is using the police, in actuality ''she'' is using them, just for him.) [[spoiler: Needless to say, the second she finds a way she can get rid of him, she turns on him.]]

* ExactWords: Near the end of ''Vicious'', [[spoiler: Serena]] orders Sydney to go somewhere "safe", meaning out of the way of whatever blowup Victor and Eli are heading for. But for Sydney, safe ''is'' Victor.

* GreenEyedMonster:
** Victor was deeply jealous of Eli discovering how to create superpowers, and became determined to get some himself.
** He was also annoyed with his relationship with Angie, because it interfered with their friendship. Despite this, he did genuinely like Angie as a person.

** [[spoiler:The ending of the first book implies this fate awaits Eli in jail. Sydney considers leaking the information that he can heal any wound, since that'd make him a ''very'' tempting pincushion to his fellow inmates. Keep in mind, Eli's abilities don't prevent him from feeling pain. In the second book, we find out it's even ''worse''; a MadScientist got hold of him and studied him via vivisection. Without anesthesia.]]

** A mild example. After Sydney resurrects Barry, he can't control his [=EO=] ability very well. [[spoiler: Later also true of Victor; personally, he's fine, but his power goes on the fritz. He also dies and comes back repeatedly, which, unsurprisingly, isn't good for his health.]]

* FamilyOfChoice: Mitch, Victor, and Sydney are this by the second book. (Good luck getting Victor to admit it, of course.) Mitch has no living family, and Victor and Sydney aren't really on good terms with theirs, but they all stick together and act like an odd combination of [[HasTwoMommies two dads and their daughter]], and two older siblings raising their younger sister. Sydney even calls the guys her family multiple times. [[spoiler:June is also a firm believer in this trope, saying families that are chosen are more valuable than ones forced on you by blood. She wants Sydney to choose her to be part of her family.]]
* FaceOfAThug: Mitch ''looks'' like he's up to no good, which makes everyone assume that that's actually in the case, when in reality, he's a nice guy.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Sydney is blonde and kindhearted, in stark contrast to her sister.