The eldest daughter of the Maddock family (though she beat her twin sister Raicheal by a stretch of minutes), Taryn grew up in Arlington, a sleepy suburb of Boston with a carefully constructed small-town feel. Her childhood and youth were fairly average and uneventful, all things considered, with a loving family, proud if slightly overprotective parents, affectionate if occasionally annoying siblings, and the odd harmless prank, usually involving switching places with Rae just for the fun of it. The Maddock twins also paired off with the kids next door, the Marshall twins, while they were all still very young. Taryn and Zack, and most especially Rae and Zack's sister Leigh, were birds of a feather from the word go -- albeit two very distinct pairs of birds.

It wasn't until just a few years ago that Taryn's adolescence took a decidedly dark and unsettling turn. This new phase of her life began when she spent the winter and spring of her junior year working at her father's Boston antiques store to earn money for a secondhand car -- more than once, she saw and heard things that gradually began to convince her that magic was real, and her father was practicing it; and, moreover, that he was keeping all this from his family. Though hurt and confused, the young woman made no mention of it...and shortly after her last day at the shop ended, David was involved in a violent car accident that brought an abrupt and gruesome end to his life, his body mutilated and pulverized so completely that Maeve had him immediately cremated rather than allow the girls to see him in that state. The Maddock family began to drift apart, each of them going their own way, dealing with the tragedy on their own.

And then, at the beginning of May 2003, less than a month after her father's death, Taryn began having strange dreams, dreams in which she was a number of different girls in all eras of history, always fighting strange monsters, most especially monstrous yellow-eyed figures that she came to associate with vampires. And though she never told anyone, she also began experiencing visions of her supposedly dead father, dreams that were so intense, clear and detailed that she has now become quite convinced that he is somehow alive and living in the city of Shadowgard. This belief has already led her to the blurry edge of the occult world, and her conviction played a large factor in her decision to attend Greyson following her family's move to Shadowgard. So far she's searched on her own, but as she delves deeper into darkness at Shadowgard's core, the opportunity for collaboration is slowly beginning to present itself.

For most of her life, Taryn has been the responsible Maddock sister, tending toward the 'brains' side of the equation while Rae latched easily on to the 'brawn' role. Taryn is also the more balanced of the twins, tending toward modesty, mild shyness, and careful thought and calculation before she takes most risks -- as far from Rae's reckless and rebellious attitude as she can get. This is not to say that Taryn can't be just as stubborn as Rae; on the contrary, she's easily as headstrong or even more so, but she applies that quality in different ways, using it to achieve the goals she's set for herself and see them through. Though she was never a poor athlete, she eventually left athletic pursuits to her sisters and began to take a greater interest in science (specifically physics) and computing, becoming an excellent programmer by the time she graduated high school. She and her best friend Zack even built a small, artificially intelligent 'anthro-bot' named Blockhead that won a prestigious regional science competition their senior year. This, in turn, brought her to the attention of Greyson's 'nerd sorority,' Gamma Lambda Phi, and also brought about her meeting with her current boyfriend, resident computer prodigy Carter Fielding.

Though Taryn recognizes the benefit of her added strength and speed, she is still insecure at best when it comes to her role as the Shadowgard Slayer. Her twin sister is the one with more experience as a fighter and as a leader, and next to her example, the shy, modest computer genius feels woefully inadequate. It remains to be seen whether she will ever fully grow into her role as her new hometown's primary defender.