After Dawn Broke

Preface

Using the cover story that Edward was the younger brother of Carlisle's late wife, they began traveling together. Two years later Carlisle and Edward moved to Ashland, Wisconsin. There he came across a dying woman, whom he was surprised to discover was Esme, the young girl he had helped after she fell out of a tree, years before in Columbus. Her heart was barely beating, and her condition was so terrible that no one had tried to revive her - they brought her straight to the morgue, which was exactly where Carlisle found her. Esme was suffering from an attempted suicide prompted by the loss of her newborn son. Her son had been all she had left after she ran away from her abusive husband, Charles Evenson. Carlisle remembered Esme as the happy young girl she was, and decided to change her into an immortal. When she awoke as a vampire, Carlisle explained what he had done. She wasn't upset by his decision, and soon they fell in love and were married.

The next person Carlisle turned was Rosalie Lilian Hale, who he had found left dying in the streets. She had been raped and almost killed by her drunken fiancée, Royce King, and his friends. Carlisle hoped Rosalie could be for Edward as Esme was for him, but Edward and Rosalie never thought of each other as more than siblings.

While hunting, two years later in Tennessee, Rosalie came across a young man, Emmett McCarty, who was being mauled a bear. Because he reminded Rosalie of her human friend Vera's young son, Henry, who Rosalie had adored and envied very much - she had to save Emmett. In fear she wouldn't be able to do it herself without killing Emmett, she carried him over one hundred miles to be changed by Carlisle. Rosalie and Emmett fell in love and got married. Many times over the decades, they would be remarried, sometimes living in their own house separate from the rest of the Cullens.

Years later, around 1950, two more animal-blood-drinking vampires joined the coven. Jasper Whitlock, a young civil war major from Texas who can sense and influence the feelings of others, and Mary Alice Brandon, a future-seeing young woman who couldn't remember her past. Alice had seen a vision that brought her to meet Jasper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1948, and one that brought them both to the Cullens.

Alice changed her last name to Cullen, but Rosalie kept her surname, Hale, while Japer changed his to the same so they could pose as twins.

Several years later in the early twenty-first century, the coven of seven moved back to Forks, Washington, the rainiest place in the continental United States. They had lived here previous to Alice and Jasper joining them, and already had made a treaty with the local Quileute tribe, led by a shape-shifter named Ephraim Black, who also ironically happens to be my paternal great-great-grandfather. The treaty stated that as long as the Cullens stayed off the tribe's land and didn't bite any humans - whether to feed or to change them - then the Quileute's would leave them alone and not expose their secret of being vampires. They were able to live in peace for many years because of this treaty.

While attending high school in Forks, (the younger they started out in a place, the longer they could live there without being questioned for not aging) Edward Cullen met Bella Swan, the only person - humans and vampires alike - who he couldn't read their mind. The fact that she was immune to his abilities, and the fact that her scent was stronger and more appealing than other human's he had encountered, Edward was drawn to Bella. She was also drawn to him, rather than the wrongness most humans felt around vampires. After talking to Jacob Black, a descendent of the treaty maker - and my father -, she figured out the Cullen's secret. She and Edward fell in love.

They went through many hardships over the course of two years - Bella seemed to be a magnet for danger - , but throughout it all, their love remained and grew stronger. At eighteen years old, Bella married Edward straight out of high school.

Bella and Edward - and the rest of the Cullens - thought it was impossible for vampires to have children (vampires couldn't conceive), but Bella, my grandmother, conceived my mother while still human.

Their daughter was born a healthy vampire hybrid: half-vampire, half human. Bella nearly died while giving birth, but Edward turned her into a vampire just in time. When she woke two days later as an immortal, she became the last Cullen to meet her new baby. Bella realized how much the infant had grown, looking already weeks old in a matter of days. Since my family didn't even know it was possible for Bella to have had a baby, they hadn't known the possibilities. They worried how long they'd have with the fast-growing child, until they met a young man like her from South America; his name was Nahuel. The half vampire/ half human girl grew fast, becoming a full grown adult by the age of seven. Bella also discovered that her best friend, Jacob Black (my father), had imprinted on her daughter. She always thought of Jacob as a part of her family, but she wasn't too happy at first that this is how it came true.

Bella and Edward weren't too happy about his imprinting on their baby, but they were grateful that she would be immune to the wolves, though, because whoever someone imprints on can not be hurt. My dad didn't choose who he imprinted with, it merely happened when their eyes first met. Destiny. Love at first sight. My parents were literally made for each other.

My mother's name is Renesmee (pronounced Ruh-nez-may). Her name is a bit of a mouthful, but it is very unique; I love it. "Renesmee" is a mix between my adoptive great-grandmother Esme's name and my biological great-grandmother Reneé's name. Her grandmothers. I never got the chance to meet Reneé because she was fully human. She wasn't allowed to know my family and its secrets, even if she was a part of it. Great consequences await those who are not supposed to know our true nature. Besides, these supernatural things aren't for the faint of heart. On the contrary, I am rather close to Esme, though, not as much as I used to be. My adoptive family means a lot to me.

My father is a werewolf, technically a shapeshifter. He can phase into a wolf. His inherited this trait from the first shape-shifters. He is a descendant of a great Quiluete-Indian chief; the same one my family made a treaty with years ago. Most direct descendants inherit this gene, but it only triggers when vampires are near. When the Cullens moved back to Forks, the young descendants were changed forever. As long as Jacob and the rest of his pack continue to phase, they will never grow old. Most of them stop and allow themselves to age so they can grow old with their families. My dad doesn't have to worry about that because my mom doesn't age, but he's worried about me and my sister because no one like us have ever existed. No one knows if we'll stop growing or not.

Anyway, when I see these happy pictures of normal people with their normal families, I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse to live with mine. There are advantages, such as being able to see my future, not having to speak aloud all the time... But there are many disadvantages, as well. Try to plan something or lie to someone who can anticipate your every move, or someone who can hear your every thought, or even someone who can influence your feelings. It isn't easy as all.

I will never have a picture or a life like these normal people in these normal pictures. I will never have parents like theirs; I will never have grandparents like theirs. It wasn't always this way. Every full human that I am related to has already passed away. Not that I would have been able to meet them anyway... They wouldn't understand - they couldn't know the truth.

One thing I do love about being in this family is that I have a gift, kind of like my mom's, but also like my grandpa Edward's. I can project my thoughts into anyone's head, like my mom, but I don't have to touch them like she does.

As you can tell, I'm not your typical fourteen-year-old girl. My skin is russet like my shapeshifter father. Since my mom is only half vampire and my dad is human half the time, I'm much more human than anything, but my heart beats a little faster than a normal human's, and I'm a little warmer than average. On the inside, I'm a lot like my mom. On the outside, I'm a bit more like my dad.

My name is Taylor Black, and I live with vampires and werewolves.