The third, and rarest, bonding force is the vampire conscience. Very few vampires are born with or develop a value for human life. The consumption of human blood is such a known aspect of vampire life that few ever question it; the driving thirst for human blood seems irresistible. However, those who do learn to value human life in spite of this reality are able to subsist on animal blood. Vampires who live this way are sometimes referred to as "vegetarians." Animal blood is unappealing to vampires, and thus a difficult diet to maintain. Those who make the sacrifice, though, experience related benefits. In the absence of human blood, the competitive drive disappears. Vampires are able to form bonds of love in addition to the bond between mates. The weak coven alliance is replaced by a strong, family-style union.
VENGEANCE:
Another prevalent vampire trait, along with strong romantic bonds and the intense competitive streak, is that of a vengeful nature. Related again to their unchanging state, vampires are not forgiving; they do not move past an insult or injury. The most common example of vampire vengeance is the aftermath of the loss of a mate. When a vampire loses his mate, he never recovers from it. He cannot rest until the party responsible (usually another vampire, given the strength necessary to destroy a vampire) is eradicated. Centuries can pass without lessening the ferocity of his need for vengeance.
VAMPIRE HYBRIDS
The biological passing of vampire traits is one of the least common exceptions to normal vampire life. Out of the thousands of vampires on the planet, there are only five known hybrids in existence, and these five all originated from only two sources.
Male vampires do have the capacity to pass on genetic material with a human female partner. However, it is beyond the ability of most vampires to be so close to a human physically and still resist the lure of her blood. Also, vampires are so much stronger than humans that any loss of self-control at such close proximity can quickly lead to mortal injury to the human.
Female vampires still carry ova similar to human ova, but the unchanging state of their bodies results in a total absence of a reproductive cycle. Even if the female vampire could somehow continue this cycle, her frozen body would be unable to grow and change to accommodate a growing and changing fetus.
One hybrid, Renesmee Cullen, was created by accident as the result of a rare romantic bonding between a vampire and a human. The other four hybrids, Nahuel and his three sisters, were all purposely created as an experiment by a vampire named Joham.
Vampire hybrids have both vampire and human traits. They are much stronger and faster than humans, with sharper senses, but not as strong, fast, or sharp as a pure vampire. They are strong enough, however, that human females are rarely able to survive the gestation period. The movement of a hybrid fetus causes extreme injury to the more fragile mother. If the gestation is survived, the birth is not. The usual method of delivery for a hybrid is for the hybrid to make her own escape from the womb. The hybrid must utilize her teeth, which have more in common with vampire teeth than human teeth, to pierce the amniotic sac--a membrane nearly as durable as vampire skin. This is too traumatic to the human body to be survived. Only the introduction of vampire venom to the mother's system can heal the injuries incurred; only one mother has ever survived to become a vampire.
Like the amniotic sac, a hybrid's skin is almost as durable as her vampire parent's skin, but it does not have the same prismatic reaction to sunlight. Hybrids can also have supernatural abilities, though not all do. Like humans, hybrids have a circulatory system and are warm-blooded. They can eat solid food, but generally find blood more appealing. They also sleep. Their irises come in the usual range of human colors, and do not change in response to diet. In the first few years of their lives, hybrids grow and change like humans do, though at an extremely accelerated pace. After roughly seven years, the hybrid reaches physical adulthood and settles into the same unchanging state and conditional immortality that vampires enjoy. The hybrid mind develops much faster than the physical body; a hybrid has the mental capacity of an adult human by the time of her birth. Hybrids learn quickly to communicate with their caretakers, picking up their first language mere weeks after birth. This capacity for physical and mental maturation is what sets the hybrid apart from the immortal child.
The Cullen Coven
The Cullen coven, one of the largest stable vampire covens, is also one of the few that does not drink human blood. The Cullens call themselves "vegetarians" because they instead choose to drink the blood of animals, putting more value on human life than do most of their peers. They consider the Denali clan their cousins, as that coven shares a similar philosophy. Abstaining from human prey takes the competitive aspect out of the hunt, and as a result they are able to form stronger family bonds than traditional vampires.
The Cullens prefer to stay in one place as long as possible, choosing cloudy climates where they can go outside during the day without revealing their inhuman nature. But after six or seven years in one location, they are usually forced to move on, before their lack of aging is noticed. They own several residences so that they can return to places they have especially enjoyed--but only after enough time has passed that they won't be recognized as the same people who once lived there.
Each member of the coven maintains several well-tended identities, complete with the documents to support them, which allows the Cullens to establish themselves in new locations as necessary.
Each time the Cullens move, the relationships they claim to share with one another may shift, too.
Each time the Cullens move, the relationships they claim to share with one another may shift, too. In one place, two members might pose as father and adopted son; in another, brothers, or uncle and nephew. Regardless, the bonds of love and respect between members of the coven are immutable.
The Cullen family began when Carlisle transformed Edward. They then traveled across the United States together, gradually adding other members to the coven. The family is currently made up of eight vampires--four of whom have supernatural abilities beyond those of a normal vampire--and a vampire hybrid, who also has psychic gifts.
"AND THEN, AFTER A FEW MILES, THERE WAS SOME THINNING OF THE WOODS, AND WE WERE SUDDENLY IN A SMALL MEADOW, OR WAS IT ACTUALLY A LAWN? THE GLOOM OF THE FOREST DIDN'T RELENT, THOUGH, FOR THERE WERE SIX PRIMORDIAL CEDARS THAT SHADED AN ENTIRE ACRE WITH THEIR VAST SWEEP OF BRANCHES. THE TREES HELD THEIR PROTECTING SHADOW RIGHT UP TO THE WALLS OF THE HOUSE THAT ROSE AMONG THEM, MAKING OBSOLETE THE DEEP PORCH THAT WRAPPED AROUND THE FIRST STORY."
--Bella, on her first impressions of the Cullen grounds (Twilight, Chapter 15)
NAME: Carlisle Cullen
DATE OF BIRTH: circa 1640
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: 1663, at approximately age 23
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: An ancient vampire living in the sewers of London
PLACE OF ORIGIN: London, England
HAIR COLOR: Blond
EYE COLOR: Blue (human); gold/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 6'2"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Carlisle has a well-toned medium frame, collar-length hair, and movie-star good looks. He has a slight English accent from his youth, although he can speak with a flawless American accent.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He does not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
EDUCATION/OCCUPATION: He has attended many universities, both as a student and as a professor. He has studied a variety of subjects, ranging from science to music, and typically works as a doctor.
HOBBIES: He collects art and books.
VEHICLE: A black Mercedes S55 AMG
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: He is married to Esme Cullen and considers Edward Cullen, Rosalie Hale, Emmett Cullen, Alice Cullen, and Jasper Hale his children; Bella Cullen his daughter-in-law; and Renesmee Cullen his granddaughter.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Carlisle's father was his only family. His mother died giving birth to him, and he had no siblings.
An Anglican pastor, Carlisle's father was a crus
ader against evil, leading hunts through London and the surrounding areas for witches, werewolves, and vampires. Self-righteous and compassionless, Carlisle's father caused many innocent people to be burned.
When he grew too old, he put Carlisle in charge of these raids. However, Carlisle had a very different temperament. He was not as quick to see evil where there was none. He was smart and persistent, though, and he eventually discovered an actual coven of vampires living in the sewers. He gathered a group of hunters and they waited for darkness to fall, suspecting that this was when the vampires would come out.
When a thirsty vampire did emerge, he attacked the hunters. Two were killed and Carlisle was wounded. Knowing that anything infected by the monster would be burned, Carlisle hid himself in a nearby cellar. During the transformation he never cried out, despite the agony he felt. When it was finally over and he realized what he had become, he was horror-struck. He tried to destroy himself by jumping from great heights and attempting to drown himself. When these methods didn't work, he tried to starve himself to death.
A newborn vampire's thirst is overwhelming, but Carlisle found the strength to resist. Months passed, and Carlisle, filled with self-loathing, kept to the loneliest places he could find, places where he wouldn't stumble across a human. He understood his willpower was weakening.
One night a herd of deer passed by and, crazed with thirst, Carlisle attacked without thinking. After feeding, he felt his strength and sense of self return, and he realized he could live without killing human beings. He would feed on animals, just as he always had, drinking their blood now instead of eating their flesh.
Knowing that his father would hate him no matter how he lived his new life, Carlisle never returned home. He watched his father a few times from a distance but never made contact.
Carlisle had always been eager to learn, and now he had unlimited time. By night he studied music, science, and medicine in the universities of Europe. During his travels Carlisle encountered others of his kind. Most vampires Carlisle crossed paths with responded to his natural amicability; in this way he is a novelty among vampires.
The vampires of this coven were very different from the sewer-dwellers of London. They were refined and cultured, and Carlisle admired their civility.
While studying in Italy in the early 1700s, Carlisle was discovered by the Volturi, an ancient coven of vampires founded by Aro, Caius, and Marcus. The vampires of this coven were very different from the sewer-dwellers of London. They were refined and cultured, and Carlisle admired their civility. But Aro, Caius, and Marcus never stopped trying to change Carlisle's aversion to what they called his "natural food source," and Carlisle never stopped trying to persuade them of the value of his pro-human philosophy. Over time, a legend formed among the humans in Italy of a stregoni benefici, or "good vampire," who was the avowed enemy of evil vampires, though Carlisle was always on friendly terms with the Volturi. After about two decades in Italy, Carlisle decided to travel to the New World. He was growing increasingly lonely and longed to find other vampires who believed there was a life for them that didn't involve murder.
When Carlisle reached America, things didn't change for him the way he'd hoped. He didn't find other vampires like him. He was, however, able to begin a career in medicine. He felt that by saving human lives he could compensate in some measure for the existence of vampires.
Carlisle couldn't risk more than a cordial acquaintance with his coworkers, for fear of exposing what he was, and his enforced solitude and lack of intimacy pained him. So he began to deliberate creating a companion. However, he was reluctant to steal a life the way his had been stolen.
The goodness and purity in Edward's face finally convinced Carlisle to take action.
For decades he debated with himself about whether or not it was right to doom another to the life of a vampire. The plea of a dying woman, Elizabeth Masen, helped him make his decision. In 1918, Carlisle was working nights at a hospital in Chicago as an epidemic of Spanish influenza raged through the city. Elizabeth's husband died in the first wave of the epidemic, but Elizabeth and her teenage son, Edward, managed to stay alive for a while longer. Carlisle was with Elizabeth on her last night. She begged him to save her son, intuiting that Carlisle was more than what he seemed. She died less than an hour later. Her son lay in the room with her, his own death imminent. The goodness and purity in Edward's face finally convinced Carlisle to take action. Carlisle bit Edward, effecting his transformation.
"CARLISLE FOUND ME IN A HOSPITAL IN THE SUMMER OF 1918. I WAS SEVENTEEN, AND DYING OF THE SPANISH INFLUENZA."
--Edward (Twilight, Chapter 14)
Both Carlisle and Edward were surprised to discover Edward's ability to read minds, but due to his experience with the Volturi, Carlisle quickly understood the phenomenon.
Carlisle and Edward began traveling together, using the cover story that Edward was the younger brother of Carlisle's late wife. In 1921, they moved to Ashland, Wisconsin, and there the Cullen coven gained another member. While working in a local hospital, Carlisle was called to the bedside of a young woman grievously injured in a suicide attempt. Carlisle was surprised to recognize Esme Evenson, whom he had treated for a broken leg about ten years earlier, when she was a teenager. It was almost impossible for him to believe that that vivacious, beautiful girl had come to this tragic end. Carlisle knew he could not save her life through conventional methods.
Influenced by his memory of the happy girl Esme had been, Carlisle bit the dying woman and took her to the home he shared with Edward to wait for the transformation to be complete. When it was over, Carlisle apologized for what he had done, but Esme was not unhappy with the situation. She remembered their first meeting, too, and had always considered Carlisle her ideal of a gentleman. Carlisle and Esme soon fell in love and were married.
The coven's cover story now changed: Edward began to be introduced as Esme's brother. In many ways, however, Edward regarded Carlisle as his father and Esme as his mother. Carlisle now had more than the companion he'd longed for; he had a family.
Carlisle wasn't expecting the coven to get any bigger, but one night while on his way to work at a hospital in Rochester, New York, he discovered the nearly lifeless body of Rosalie Hale lying in the road. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and left for dead. Struck by the waste of a beautiful young life, Carlisle brought Rosalie home and transformed her, hoping in the back of his mind that one day she might be a companion for Edward.
Two years later, Rosalie had only reluctantly assimilated to vampire life. The relationship Carlisle had hoped would spark between her and Edward hadn't happened. So when Rosalie carried the dying Emmett McCarty to Carlisle and begged Carlisle to change him, Carlisle did as she asked. Rosalie wanted a companion of her choosing, and Carlisle felt he could make amends to her in this way.
At this point Carlisle and his family moved to Washington State, west of the Olympic Peninsula. To his surprise, he discovered a local Native American tribe who had the ability to transform into wolves. The Quileutes had previous experience with vampires, whom they called the cold ones, and they considered it their sacred duty to protect humans from them.
Unwilling to harm the werewolves, Carlisle brokered a treaty with the leader of the pack, Ephraim Black, utilizing Edward's mind-reading abilities to communicate. The treaty established boundary lines for both the Cullens and the Quileutes. The Cullens agreed never to hurt a human, which included never transforming a human into a vampire, since the Quileutes considered transformation the same as killing. Both the vampires and the werewolves promised to keep the true nature of the other secret from humans.
The family continued to move when necessary, and in Denali, Alaska, Carlisle found what he'd been looking for when he set off for America--a coven of vampires who shared his philosophy and drank only animal blood. The two covens ended up close friends, viewing each other as extended family.
The Cullen family grew when they were joined by Alice Brandon and Jasper
Whitlock, who had been traveling together as a couple. Since the family was now quite large, a new cover story was devised. Edward, Alice, and Emmett were now said to be the adopted children of Carlisle and Esme. Jasper and Rosalie, who looked alike, were passed off as Esme's twin orphaned cousins.
Eventually, the Cullen family returned to Washington State, this time to Forks, somewhat north of their previous location. Carlisle took a job at Forks Hospital and became well regarded in the community as a doctor and a citizen.
FAMOUS QUOTES
"I look at my... son. His strength, his goodness, the brightness that shines out of him... How could there not be more for one such as Edward?" New Moon, Chapter 2
"I've never been to veterinarian school." Eclipse, Chapter 25
"I can imagine what you think of me for that. But I can't ignore her will. It wouldn't be right to make such a choice for her, to force her." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 12
"She hasn't gone for his throat even once." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 22
"It's an interesting twist. Like she's doing the exact opposite of what you can." Breaking Dawn, Chapter 34
NAME: Edward Anthony Masen Cullen
DATE OF BIRTH: June 20, 1901
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: 1918, at age 17
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Carlisle Cullen
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Chicago, Illinois
HAIR COLOR: Bronze
EYE COLOR: Green (human); gold/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 6'2"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Edward is thin and lanky but muscular. He has untidy bronze hair and boyish looks.
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