The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (15 page)

T
he 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.

“A
ND 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
? T
HE 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
. T
HE 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)

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 crusader 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.

“C
ARLISLE FOUND ME IN A HOSPITAL IN THE SUMMER OF
1918. I
WAS SEVENTEEN
,
AND DYING OF THE
S
PANISH 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.