Full Name: Victoria

Status: Vampire

Date of Birth:

Originally from:

Hair color: “Brilliant orange” (TW18)

Eye color: Vampire burgundy (TW18)

Height:

Physical description: Bella describes her as “wild” and “chaotic” with a “distinctly feline” posture, and says that she has eyes that “flickered edgily.” (TW18) Her voice was “high and singsong, like a little girl’s” (BT), a “babyish soprano tinkling” (EC24)

Occupation:

Family members: A member of James’ coven and his mate (NM10)

Nick Names:

Hobbies:

Personal history: Victoria first appeared with James and Laurent in the forest near the Cullen household as the group played baseball during a thunderstorm. When James chose to hunt Bella for sport, Victoria helped him. Jasper realized that Victoria would fight with James if needed (TW19). Victoria followed Esme, who was wearing Bella’s clothes to confuse the trail (TW20) . Victoria was able to do some research for James. She informed him where Bella’s mother lived and that Edward was traveling to Phoenix (TW22).

Victoria returned to the Washington State area frequently after James’ death. Victoria instructed Laurent to do some reconnaissance work for her so that she could kill Bella in revenge for killing her mate, James. (NM10) Victoria wanted to torture Bella before killing her but Laurent planned to kill Bella himself because he was thirsty and tell Victoria afterwards that he fulfilled her mission. Jacob and the rest of the werewolves destroy Laurent before he can attack Bella. Jacob was pleased to learn about Victoria because the information helped the pack with their plans to stop her (NM13).

When Bella jumped off the cliff to reconnect with Edward’s voice, she saw “fire” on the water (NM16) which might have been Victoria lurking nearby – if this was true, only Jacob’s presence saved Bella from death. Victoria was foiled again.

Victoria appeared to have a special talent for self-preservation and survival. She was a master manipulator and very evasive (SM interview #6 TST) Victoria continued to patrol the area near Forks in the hopes of ambushing Bella. While Bella was in Florida visiting her mother, Victoria caused a skirmish between the Cullens and the Quileute werewolves (EC3) – in her “instinct for evasion”, she ran along the boundary line, and prevented her pursuers from catching her.  In Bella’s final year of high school, Victoria also spent a great deal of time in Seattle, Washington. Sometime after James’ demise, she created a new vampire, Riley. With his help, Victoria created an army of newborn vampires. She kept her identity secret from all of her recent creations, so that she would avoid detection. (BT) Some of the vampires Victoria created included Diego, Fred, Bree, Kevin, Raoul, Kristie, Jen, Shelly, Steve, Doug, Adam, Sara, Heather, Jim, Logan, Warren, Dean, and Bree. (BT) Riley reported to Victoria on the status of the army via phone and clandestine visits to her secret hideaway. (BT)  During one of these meetings, Victoria and Riley were surprised by a visit from a small group of Volturi, who interrogated Victoria on her plans for her army. She was allowed to escape punishment temporarily from the Volturi once she promised that she would act within a few days against the Cullen clan. (BT)

Riley loved Victoria, but Bree (who, with Diego, spied on the duo in the forest) felt that when she originally heard Victoria and Riley talk, when she was transformed into a vampire, that “she [Victoria] hadn’t sounded like she was talking to her lover or even her friend. More like she was talking to an employee. One she didn’t like much and might fire soon” (BT) This became clear  when Riley and Victoria found Edward and Bella on the mountain during the newborn army attack (EC24). Edward told Riley that Victoria did not love him and that Victoria lied to everyone to get her own way. When Riley was ripped apart by Seth the werewolf, she “spared Riley no farewell glance”. Edward decapitated Victoria and burned her body so she would never return.

Portrayed in Twilight and New Moon by: Rachelle Lafevre

Portrayed in Eclipse by: Bryce Dallas Howard

Prepared by: Lady Di

Full Name: James

Status: Vampire

Date of Birth:

Originally from:

Hair color: Light brown (TW18)

Eye color: Vampire burgundy

Height:

Physical description: Slighter than Laurent, regular features, very non-descript. (TW18) with a cat-like gait and “vigilant” eyes. His voice was “tenor, pleasant, generic”. (TW21)

Occupation: Tracker/Hunter

Family members:  Leader of Laurent and Victoria

Nick Names:

Hobbies: Hunting humans who are favorites of vampires.

Personal history: James was a lethal and cunning vampire.  James was “not used to being thwarted” (TW19) and lived for the thrill of the hunt. He fed from humans and enjoyed tracking humans that drew the attention of other vampires.  (TW22)

James was in Biloxi, Mississippi sometime around 1919 or 1920 and came upon a vampire who worked in a mental institution and had grown fond of a young, female patient.  James made it his task to kill the girl, but before he could reach her, the other vampire changed the girl, making it useless for James to kill her.  That girl was Alice Cullen. (TW22)

In 2005, when James saw how protective Edward and the Cullens are of Bella, he instantly wanted to kill her for the sport of it.  He followed her to her house, where he overheard Bella’s harsh fake-farewell words to her father. (TW19). He eventually set a trap for Bella in Phoenix, drawing her out of hiding by using her mother’s voice as bait.  He wounded Bella almost fatally, breaking some ribs, her leg, and a cut on her head.  He also bit her hand, sending venom into her system. (TW22)

When the Cullens arrive and find Bella in such a state, Emmett and Jasper grab James and rip him to shreds.  They then proceed to burn the remains, ensuring that James never harms another living soul again. (TW23–TW24)

Bella remembered James as “the sadistic vampire who wanted to torture me to death” (NM1) and had a physical souvenir of the encounter in the shape of a half-moon shaped scar on her hand.

In March of 2006, Laurent found Bella in the meadow and revealed that James and Victoria had been mates. He also told Bella that Victoria fully intended on getting revenge for James’s death in a very painful fashion. (NM10)

When Edward and Victoria fought on the mountain, Edward claimed that James did not care for Victoria as much as she loved him: “Silly to waste so much energy avenging someone who had less affection for you than a hunter for his mount. You were never more than a convenience to him.” (EC24) Edward also knew that James and Victoria had tracked werewolf-like creatures in Siberia, so it appeared that what Edward said about the depth of James’ devotion to his mate was true.

Portrayed in the films by: Cam Gigandet

Prepared by: Lady Di

Full Name: Laurent

Status: Vampire

Date of Birth: 1755 – He is around three hundred years old in 2005(TW19)

Hair color: Glossy black

Eye color: Vampire burgundy

Physical description: The most beautiful of James’ coven, pale olive-toned skin, glossy hair, medium build, hard muscled. (TW18) He spoke with a slight French accent.

Family members: A member of James’ coven along with Victoria.

Personal history: Laurent belonged to a nomadic coven of vampires. He was the group spokesperson and only posed as the leader in social situations.  James, Laurent and Victoria overheard the Cullens playing baseball and came to investigate. (TW18) When Bella’s human status was discovered at the game, James decided to hunt Bella, even though Laurent stated that their coven would leave her alone. Laurent returned to the Cullen house, and warned the Cullens about James’ abilities as a tracker.  Intrigued by the life Carlisle and his family lived, bonded only marginally by convenience and safety to James and Victoria, and unwilling to get in the middle of the fight, Laurent left Forks for Denali.  (TW19)

Laurent eventually returned to Forks and met Bella in the meadow. They converse and Laurent mentioned that he liked Tanya and especially Irina, but that he could not maintain the non-human diet. Victoria located Laurent and asked him to find Bella. Laurent was supposed to allow Victoria to kill Bella painfully, since Bella’s Edward had killed Victoria’s mate, James. However, Laurent was thirsty and found Bella by accident. His plans to drink her were stopped by a pack of monstrous wolves. (NM10)  Bella learned that Laurent was killed and dismembered by the Quileute werewolf pack (NM13).

Portrayed in the films by: Edi Gathegi

Prepared by: Lady Di

 

When vampires are changed from humans, they acquire certain superhuman abilities; speed is one of these. Edward is capable of moving so quickly that no one spots him at all. The incident where Bella was about to be crushed by the truck is one such example of Edward moving in this way: "All I know is that you weren’t anywhere near me. Tyler didn’t see you either." (TW3)

 It isn’t until chapter 13 that we see the true nature of this speed, where the distance covered in several hours of hiking is retracted in a matter of moments, with Edward carrying Bella on his back. The speed with which he races is shown to be entirely effortless, and is pure exhilarating enjoyment: "He streaked through the dark, thick underbrush of the forest, like a ghost. There was no sound, no evidence that his feet touched the earth. His breathing never changed, never indicated any effort. But the trees flew by at deadly speeds, always missing us by inches."(TW13) This speed is terrifying to Bella, but merely "second nature"(TW13) to Edward.

We see the speed of all the Cullens again during the baseball game. Emmett is described as "a blur around the bases" (TW17) and Edward can move so quickly that he is able to intercept a ball that has been hit "like a meteor." (TW17) Esme tells us that Edward is the fastest at running, and the baseball game certainly bears this out. Obviously, Edward becomes slower when he is carrying Bella. He is acutely aware that he cannot outrun the visiting vampires with her.

It is not just physical movement that can be exceptionally fast. Speech too can be faster than the human ear can make out. "Edward was growling something too fast for me to understand, but sounded like a string of profanities."(TW18)

 His love of speed is also picked up in his driving. As Bella puts it: "He drives like a maniac. It was terrifying." (TW10) He enjoys the speed of the car, and grumbles that 80 is "driving slow." (TW10). He has fast reflexes and Bella notes that it all seemed "effortless" (TW14) to him.

Edward’s eyes are a very prominent feature in the book; in fact, it is one of the first things that Bella ever notices about him. His eyes change colour very frequently, depending on how thirsty he is, or when he last fed. Bella initially notices that: "His eyes were black, coal black."(TW1) When Edward’s eyes are so dark, his thirst for blood is at the fore. When they are his lighter "golden" (TW12) or "topaz" (TW11) colour, that reflects that his thirst is sated and he has been hunting recently.

The shared colour of the Cullens eyes is not co-incidental. It is a hallmark of the "vegetarian" vampire who does not feast on human blood. We can see the clear contrast between their eyes and those of James, Laurent and Victoria which are "a deep burgundy colour that was disturbing and sinister." (TW18). This redness of the eyes indicates that these vampires feast on human blood. Meyer writes that, "If a Cullen were to drink human blood, his/her eyes would turn burgundy.

It takes about two weeks without blood for vampire eyes to go entirely black. If that Cullen then returned to an animal diet, his/her eyes would return to dark gold. Brand-newly created vampires are recognizable by their eyes, which are a vivid, bright red due to the massive amount of human blood (the blood that was already in the human at the time he/she was changed) that lingers in the tissues. That red fades slowly over the course of a year." (PC1)

Q:   Other than play baseball and hunt, what might the vampires do on a sunny day?

A:  It just seems natural that they’d want to play–especially since they can’t use their full abilities most of the time.  I think they’d be equally interested in football (though Rosalie probably wouldn’t play something where she’s get mud on her…), but basketball would be harder–the court would never survive!

Sunny days, they do anything we’d do–just out of sight.  Do their thing at home, hang out in the city, catch a bad movie, shop (if you’re Alice), fly to Paris…

Q:  About venom and kissing.  Is Bella in any danger of this venom when snogging Edward? 

A.  I’ve had a few people wondering why Edward always pulls away from Bella when she opens her mouth while he’s kissing her (thinking I have some sort of anti-female-affectionate-aggression agenda or something, I guess).  But, of course, he’s just worried about her safety.  Yes, the venom does pose a danger to her.  It’s not like acid–it has to be in the bloodstream to cause any problems, it won’t hurt her skin.  However, say she had a sore in her mouth, or that she’d bitten her tongue….  Even if that wasn’t the case, Edward’s teeth are sharp as razors.  She could cut her lips or tongue on them easily, and then the conversion process would begin–very painfully and very slowly (because it would be such a small infusion of the venom).  Sadly, true snogging is out.
 

Q:  There really wasn’t a question, but rather a whole conversation about my own thoughts on New Moon.  In a nutshell, all she said was that I was wrong, but she did give me one more interesting fact.  When Bella looked up vampire information on the Internet, she found a name – Stregoni benefici.  I had a speculation about it, which as usual, was wrong.

A:  Stregoni benefici–that would be CARLISLE, my dear friend.  Yes, he created that myth all by himself.

Q:   Are the old vampires weaker than a newborn, even if they have fed?  And is a thirsty newborn weaker than a full one?  Are human blood vampires stronger than vegetarians?  Can human blood vampires go longer without feeding than vegetarian ones?

A:  Here’s the deal with strength–it’s all relative, and there are no finite answers because, like humans, every vampire has a personal range.  Emmett is immensely strong.  A newborn vampire of average strength might be a little stronger than him, but it would be close (and, if it came to a fight, Emmett would win because he’d know what he was doing.)  Emmett as a newborn must have been insanely strong. 
 
As far as hunting affecting strength–it is a very minimal difference with physical strength.  Mental strength is more markedly depleted.  (Remember Carlisle’s story?  How, as he got thirstier and thirstier, he knew his willpower was slipping and he tried to stay as far away from humans as possible?)  If you took two vampires of equal strength, one who had recently drunk human blood and one who had been fasting for a while, the one who wasn’t thirsty would be stronger.  However, the one who was thirsty wouldn’t exactly be weak.  He could still lift a minivan over his head and throw it across a football field.  Human blood does make them stronger than animal blood, but only fractionally.  Big game (bears, wildcats, predators) makes them stronger than the "weaker" blood of herd animals.  It’s not a huge difference and, given that all vampires have individual strength levels, it’s really hard to measure.
 
And this all just applies a straight contest of strength.  So, unless we’re talking about an arm wrestling competition, it’s almost irrelevant.  In a fight, skill is going to count more than strength.

Q:  What is Renee and Phil’s last name?

A:  Heh heh!  I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to work this information in for a long time.  Did you ever wonder why Bella doesn’t go by her mother’s last name, since Renee pretty much had sole custody of her since the first year of her life?  Well, Renee went by Swan, too, until she married Phil.  Her maiden name was Higgenbotham.  (Poor girl.)  Phil’s last name is Dwyer.

Q:  Could you provide us with any more information about Bella’s human friends?  They all have a tendency to blend together for me – especially Mike and Eric.  I get the feeling that Tyler is more of a "geek" than the others, but I’ve been wrong before.

A:  Nope, Eric Yorkie is the geek in this crowd.  (You’ll be happy to know poor Eric finds love with a sophomore in book two—it’s such an incidental thing that I don’t feel bad mentioning it).  Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley are pretty much the school catches.  Mike is a little better looking, but Tyler is the better athlete.  Tyler is the more arrogant of the two, and the less intelligent.  Tyler is about 6’1", with brown hair, brown eyes and a bit more of a tan than the rest of the Forkians.  Mike is 5’11" with pale blond hair and washed out blue eyes.  Eric is a gawky 6’3" with black hair that always looks greasy, brown eyes, and a poor complexion.

Jessica Stanley is pretty well described.  She has no siblings.  Her mom works at the local bank and is the town gossip.  Angela Weber is 6’0" tall and has light brown hair and eyes.  Her father is a Lutheran minister and she has two loud younger brothers.  Angela’s brother’s are 9 year old twins named Joshua and Isaac. They are the apples of her eyes. She lives close enough to the school to walk. Lauren Mallory is 5’6" tall with white blond hair and green eyes.

Let’s see, then there’s Jacob and Billy Black.  Jacob is 6’2" tall (by the prom) with long black hair and dark brown eyes.  His mother, Sarah, died many years ago and he has twin older sisters, Rachel and Rebecca.

The nurse’s name is Mrs. Julia Hammond.  Ms. Cope’s first name is Shelly.

Q:  Where did the Cullens get all their money?  Investments?  Property?

A:  Long term investments, heh heh.  Carlisle originally got some financial help from his Italian friends (remember the painting?  They’ve got an astronomical amount of funds) and then was earning a doctor’s salary all those years without really having normal expenses to worry about.  Edward inherited a lot of property from his parents (he did pretend to "survive" to claim that later, along with his "uncle," because he wanted his mother’s things.  He still owns the house in Chicago).  All this was invested shrewdly (both Carlisle and Edward are good with finances).  And then Alice came along.  Ha ha.  She loves the stock market.

Q:  How do the Cullens forge all the necessary paperwork – i.e. birth certs, past school records, etc.?

A:  They buy them off skilled forgers.  At the present time, Jasper has a contact in Seattle.

Q:  Do they ever revisit an area they once lived in after enough time has past?  Note – this was a silly question once I saw the answer.  She pointed out when Jacob told Bella about the cold ones living in the area a long time ago.  Duh.  But Stephenie did make a few interesting additions.

A:  So the answer is yes.  In the late 1930s, Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett lived a few hours south of Forks in Hoquiam.  Before Edward joined him, Carlisle had already been through the area.

Q:  They are described as being very physically alluring all the time.  How much of that is a change from how they looked when they were human? There seems to be a bit of a contradiction from what you said about them looking exactly as they looked as humans and how they look as vampires and we are just wanting to clear it up.

A:  Hopefully I phrased it right the first time.  After the transformation, there is no more change–hair doesn’t grow, etc.  They are frozen at that state.  But there is a marked physical difference before and after.  Everything intensifies–senses, abilities, and looks.  The change into a vampire makes an average person stunning and a beautiful person absolutely beyond breath-taking.  The reason Rosalie is such a beautiful vampire is because she was the most beautiful girl in Rochester, New York when she was human.  Maybe the most beautiful girl in the whole state.  The reason James is relatively average, for a vampire, is because he was quite unattractive as a human.  This is rare, because even vampires are drawn by beauty.  They tend to, when looking for companionship, choose exceptional humans.  All of the Cullens were attractive humans to start with.

Q:  And what’s with the breath?  Can they get humans to do what they want by breathing on them?  It seems that everyone Edward talks to – breathes on – gets dizzy.  Well, the females at least.  Is the breath soothing?  Do they use it to lure prey? 

A:  Vampires just smell really, really good.  Breath, skin, etc.  It’s the fragrance of the venom that exists in various forms throughout their bodies.  It’s a lure, like the beauty.  It’s a smell that’s so good you want to smell it again, to get closer.

Q:  How about stakes through the heart?  Reflections? Photographs? Holy water?  Garlic?  All that traditional vampire lore.

A:  Bunch of garbage.  I think all of them get addressed in New Moon except garlic and stakes.  But you try shoving wood through granite.

Q:  Who would you say is more conscious about their looks – Rosalie or Alice?  I picture Alice as more of a tomboy, but she is the one who did all the fussing over Bella for the prom.  Maybe it’s the hair.  LOL!  I always have to remind myself that it was Alice and not Rosalie who did all that fussing.

A:  Rosalie’s true defining personal trait is her beauty.  Like Emmett’s strength–they’re both more intensely physical than intellectual, which makes them a perfect match.  Edward just doesn’t pay that much attention to how Rosalie looks.  Can you imagine how much that annoys her?
 
So Rosalie is much more concerned about her appearance than Alice.  Alice fusses over Bella before prom because she is, among other things, fascinated with being around a human.  When she said in the prom scene that she was trying to live vicariously through Bella (that was in there, right?  I keep getting stuff from Forever Dawn mixed up with Twilight rough drafts), that was a key phrase.  She is trying to experience humanity through close association with Bella.  Also, Bella is a very natural girl–not one for makeup or fixating on clothes.  Alice sees her as a blank canvass waiting to become a work of art.

Q:  I understand that Rosalie likes to keep her own last name.  But why would Jasper take Hale as a last name – and even further – why do they pretend to be actual brother and sister?  Why don’t they just say they, too, were adopted individually?

A:  About Jasper using the name Hale–it’s just for convenience.  He and Rosalie look a lot alike.  They actually look like fraternal twins–both the same color blond, both tall, him muscular and her statuesque (with the same pale skin, gold eyes and flawless beauty, of course).  The Cullens use many different subterfuges to try to keep people from looking too closely at them.  Anything that seems to be a certain way–like Rosalie and Jasper seeming to be related–they embrace.  They work within people’s expectations.  People assume the two blonds are related, so they let that assumption stand.  Plus, the more complicated a story is, the quicker someone gets bored trying to understand it, and gives up. 

They don’t always use the same story.  When it was just Carlisle and Edward, Edward pretended to be the young brother of Carlisle’s deceased wife.  Then, after Esme, Edward was again Carlisle’s wife’s younger brother (only this time, the wife was alive).  As the family got bigger, the explanations got more complex. Eventually, the Cullen’s home came to look like a refuge for troubled teens.  (Though the best-behaved troubled teens ever).
 
They could be Whitlocks, it wouldn’t make any difference to anyone accept Rosalie.  Jasper doesn’t care what anyone calls him.  But Rosalie clings to her human past with all ten fingers.

Q:  Did any of them have living family when they were changed?  And was it difficult for them to accept, or did they just run off and avoid telling family?  We ask because of that over active imagination wondering how Renee and Charlie would react to Bella should you decide to change her.  If the Cullens have experience telling family about the change, it might make it smoother.  On the other hand, if those experiences all went sour, it would only add to Edward’s anxiety over changing her.

A:  You know Carlisle had his father, and that Edward and Esme and Alice all had no one, really.  Rosalie, however, had two doting parents and two younger brothers.  After she became a vampire, she never saw them again.  Emmett was the youngest of a huge Scotch-Irish-American brood.  His parents and siblings were all still living.  Jasper had living parents and a younger sister.  Neither of them ever saw their families after becoming vampires.  There is a really good reason for this aside from the suspicion that would result (remember the brilliant red eyes?  Kind of hard to disguise before the invention of sunglasses and colored contacts).  That reason will be explored from several angles…in book three. 🙂  Sorry.

Q:  If the vampires don’t have blood, then where did it go?  Did it just dry up?  Evaporate?  Or were they nearly drained of it by the one who changed them?

A:  The blood left in a newborn vampire’s body is used–burned like fuel, the same way the blood they drink from others is used for fuel.  Here’s an analogy: think of it as the fat stores in your body.  You’re still eating, but you use those fat stores up, too, over time (though not always; more’s the pity, so the analogy isn’t perfect unless you are successfully dieting).  That blood left in them is used slowly over about a year.

Q:  This is going to sound insanely curious but… do the vampires bathe?  Given that you said the hunting is messy (no clean puncture wounds), I’m assuming that they get dirty… or at least bloody.  So do they take showers?  Do they comb their hair?  Brush their teeth?

A:  Vampires do shower, but they don’t get dirty the same way we do.  Outside dirt, yes–blood and mud and whatnot (though most vampires don’t get a spot on themselves when they eat–its all a matter of practice), but not sweat or body oils.  They would never have B.O., ha ha.  One girl asked me why Alice had a bathroom and if vampires have to pee.   No, they don’t (they use all the blood, creating no waste), but they do shower.  (And of course they have to have bathrooms–houses are just built that way, and when they want to move, it would look a little weird on the real estate listing: eight bedrooms, no baths.)
 
They do wash the dust and rain out of their hair, too.  And Rosalie particularly spends a lot of time doing hers.  (Hair is dead cells–the vampire transformation doesn’t affect it.  If you’ve got split ends, sorry!  Not getting better.  Ha ha).
 

Q:   Now here’s a question that came to mind while discussing the book with another friend.  She’s a vampire romance novel -aholic and she wondered why Bella didn’t just prick her finger and let Edward drink from her every now and then.  Personally, I thought that was a bit sadistic – like she would tease him with it.  (I’m picturing Bella with a cut finger, waving it back and forth in front of Edward teasingly saying, "Come and get it!")    Especially since we know how difficult it was for him to stop drinking from her the one time he had to.  But still, what would happen, do you suppose, if Bella had a cut on her finger?  Natural instinct is to put the cut to your mouth – at least it is for me.  Edward tasted her tears in one scene.  Would he be tempted to taste from a wound? 

A:  You picked up on the key to this question–why Bella doesn’t just let Edward have a sip now and then–in the difficulty he has stopping when he’s sucking out the venom at the end of Twilight.  As Alice said, vampires frenzy like sharks when there’s blood "in the water," so to speak.  (That’s why Edward was ditching Biology on the day they were blood typing.  A normal vampire can’t handle being in a room with flowing blood.  Carlisle is a one-of-a-kind exception to that rule.  Edward is better than an average vampire, and he could probably resist a lot of finger pricks (Jasper could not handle that), but why risk it, right?  The Cullens play it safe.)  When Edward is drinking blood, he’s much wilder and less human than usual.  That’s why Bella can’t go on a hunting trip with him.  Once the blood gets flowing, all the Cullens (besides Carlisle, of course) become more like "real" vampires.
 
Edward can’t be around Bella when she’s bleeding without being in intense temptation–to the point of pain.  A few drops would only make it worse.  Like a few drops of water when you’ve been wandering in the desert for days…  You’d totally suck down the whole gallon of Evian.

Several girls wanted to know if Edward would have a more difficult time being around Bella when she’s having her period.  Answer: Yes, a little bit, but he would never say anything about it–much too much of a gentleman.  And Bella would be way to embarrassed to ask.  (It’s not the same as a cut, though.  It’s sort of "dead" blood, if you get my meaning).
 
Q:  Will you be publishing your version of Edward’s story?  And if so, when might that be?

A:  I have no idea if I am going to publish Edward’s version.  I guess I will if the publisher wants it.  I’d kind of like to have it printed up as a companion–a pretty little set.  I’m not sure if the publisher will want Edward’s version.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book like that.  The closest I can think of is Ender’s Shadow (Orson Scott Card’s companion to Ender’s Game), but that book tells the same story from a really minor character’s point of view, so it’s a very, very different book with huge sections that appear nowhere in the original.  Edward is such a central part of Twilight that I’m locked in to following the original story extremely closely.  Too closely?  Is it too boring to print separately?  Too much the same thing?  These are the questions in my head.  If the publisher doesn’t want it, I will post it all on my website.  See, when I think about that though, I know that tons of people will be printing it off in its entirety.  It doesn’t cost that much for a publisher to print up a small lot of books, especially if they don’t have to pay anything in marketing–I can’t imagine they wouldn’t want to print it if it would sell, whether it’s too derivative or not.

So for the answer: I don’t have a clue.  And it’s going slow, so I’m not sure how much I’ll get finished before I have to focus on Eclipse BUT, I will get that first chapter up on my site regardless.
 
Q:  Jasper is the one character I feel like I have no grip on.  He’s like a void for some reason.

A:  Okay, Jasper things.  I love me some Jasper.  Firstly, the reason Jasper has the most trouble with the Cullen diet is that he has been around since the Civil War and he has consumed a LOT of human blood.  He has formed really bad habits.  Also, my boy is a fighting machine (and I’m not talking about Civil War/human fights here, though he was a major in the Confederate army when he was human).  The Cullen lifestyle is like an almost incomprehensibly peaceful retirement for him. 
 
Secondly, he’s really mostly doing this for Alice.  Alice is Jasper’s entire life.  She is the most important thing in the universe to him, and he would do absolutely anything for her.  For Jasper, there would be no limit to who or what he would destroy for Alice.  Not that she wants him destroying anything.  She’s the light side of their relationship–she makes him laugh (and he wasn’t much of a laugher before Alice).  Jasper is the most "vampire-y" of the Cullens, and, while he’s fond of them all, he’s not bonded to them the way the rest of them are.  The way Alice most definitely is.  The whole high school thing really freaks him out.  He’s trying to get better at being around humans, but it’s an uphill struggle.

Q:  What was Edward’s human last name?  And are there any other details about his mortal life that you could pass on to us? 

A:  Edward’s full name is Edward Anthony Masen Cullen.  His mother’s name is Elizabeth and his father’s name is also Edward.  His human life in Chicago was fairly happy and uneventful.  His parents were moderately wealthy (his father was a successful lawyer).  The biggest worry in his mother’s life before they were all caught in the epidemic was the fact that World War I was raging and Edward was only a year away from the draft (in August of 1918, the draft age was lowered to 18–the influenza epidemic hit in September).  Edward’s mother will be briefly remembered in the beginning of New Moon.  When he was human, his eyes were green.  He is 6’2" tall (you’d be surprised at how many people have asked me that).  His birthday is June 20th.
 
Alice’s full name is Mary Alice Brandon.  She was originally from Biloxi, Mississippi.  She was nineteen when her human life ended.  She is 4’10" tall.
 
Jasper’s last name is Whitlock.  He was human in Texas during the Civil War (his story will be told in detail in book three), so only Carlisle has been a vampire longer.  He was twenty when he became a vampire (he was changed by a vampire named Maria).  Alice’s nickname for him is "Jazz."  He is 6’3" tall.
 
Rosalie’s full name is Rosalie Lillian Hale (she prefers to use her real last name rather than Cullen).  She lived in Rochester, NY when she was human.  Carlisle changed her into a vampire when she was eighteen years old (that story will also be told in detail in book three).  She is 5’9" tall.  Emmett calls her "Rose" and every now and then the others can get away with that, too.
 
Emmett’s last name is McCarty and he was living in Gatlinburg, Tennessee when he ran into the bear.  He was twenty at the time.  He is 6’5" tall.
 
Esme’s full name was Esme Anne Platt Evenson.  She was born in 1895 in Columbus, OH.  She was married at twenty-two to Charles Evenson, just before he was shipped overseas to fight in WWI. He returned in 1919.  She ran away from him in 1920, pregnant with their first child.  She lost that child in 1921 in Ashland, WI, and attempted to commit suicide–she was 26.  She was brought to the hospital where Carlisle was working nights.  Esme is 5’6" tall.
 
Carlisle is 6’2".
 
Q:  Other than Debussy, what kinds of music does Edward listen to?  Does he prefer classical or has he a favorite modern style of music?
 
A:  Edward likes a wide range of music (he has a lot of time on his hands for listening).  He likes classical, jazz, progressive metal, alternative rock, punk rock, and some emo.  He prefers indie rock to mainstream.  He doesn’t prefer rock over classical–he appreciates both.  As a general rule, he doesn’t like country.
 
Q:  Does Bella have an after school job?  I imagine her making a mess at work and getting fired for it, but that’s just me!  HA!
 
A:  Bella gets a part-time job during her first summer in Forks to save money for college.  When book two begins, she’s been working at Newton’s Olympic Outfitters for three months.  Mike Newton is her co-worker.  As son of the owners, he had some influence on her getting the job (that doesn’t come up in book two, though).

Q:  I have LOADS of questions about Esme and Carlisle.  That whole relationship and back-story is one that I nearly wrote about but decided there were just too many blanks.  Was Esme married as a human, and if so, what happened to her husband?  I can’t imagine that Esme was too thrilled to discover her attempt to end her life had transformed into an eternal existence.  It’s difficult for me to accept that Esme fell in love with Carlisle right away.  How long after her transformation was she able to see him as the gentle man we know from the book?  Any and all information about their relationship would be very helpful.

 
A:  To understand how Carlisle and Esme fell in love, you have to know Esme’s story. 
 
So you’ve seen a little be of Esme’s life above–it wasn’t so great.  Her marriage was all but arranged by her parents.  She wasn’t in love with the man she married, though she was willing to give it a try.  She wanted very much to fall in love with anyone, but she’d never met anyone that measured up to an encounter she had when she was sixteen.  I’d better describe that a bit:
 
In 1911, Esme broke her leg falling out of a tree she’d climbed.  Her family lived on a farm on the outskirts of Columbus.  The local doctor was away, and it was after dark by the time they got her to the small hospital in Columbus.  She was treated by a Dr. Cullen.  It was his last month in town (he was already claiming to be 35).  She never got over the experience.
 
Esme was the last of her friends to marry (they got married earlier back then).  She was thinking of moving West to be a schoolteacher, but her father didn’t think it was respectable for a lady to live alone in the wilds.  The son of a family friend, a man with good prospects, wanted to marry her, and her father pressured her to accept.  She was indifferent towards Charles Evenson, but not opposed to him.  She married him, and quickly found that this had been a bad decision. Charles’s public face was very different from his private face; he abused her.  Her parents counseled her to be a good wife and keep quiet.  When he was drafted, it was a huge relief to her.  When he came back, it was terrifying.
 
The pregnancy was Esme’s catalyst to escape.  She knew she wasn’t letting a child be brought into that home.  She ran to a second cousin that lived in Milwaukee, and then moved further north when word of her whereabouts leaked to her parents.  She blended in easily, pretending to be one of the many war widows.  She taught school in a small community outside Ashland.  When her baby died (lung infection) just a few days after he was born, she had nothing left.  She had no idea that Carlisle was working in the little hospital in Ashland when she jumped off the cliff outside the town.  Carlisle remembered her, of course, remembered her as the happy girl she had been at sixteen. He didn’t want her to die.
 
So you can imagine what she thought when she opened her eyes, in all that pain, and saw the face that she’d never forgotten in a decade. 
 
Hopefully that gives you some insight into how quickly and easily Esme and Carlisle’s relationship formed.  She was not really that upset to find out she was a vampire–she didn’t take it as in stride as Emmett, but she was just happy to be with the man/vampire of her dreams.  She did always have that maternal ache, and, as the physically oldest of the Cullens, she fell into a mothering role.
 
Q:  You mentioned that Rosalie and Emmett had a wedding.  What about the others?  Are Jasper and Alice married, too?
 
A:  Rosalie is all about show; Emmett loves to make her happy–hence, lots of elaborate weddings.  (When her history is public record, I think it will be more clear why she is the way she is.)  Alice and Jasper aren’t into show, but they have the deeper relationship.  They are married, but once was enough for them.  Esme and Carlisle are also married, again, just the one time.
 
Q:  How young do the vampires pretend to be and how old can they manage to pass for?  Obviously, Edward looks the youngest at 17, but the other “siblings” were in their 20s when they were changed.  Do they all claim to be the same age when they first arrive in a city?  And how long can they stay before the humans grow suspicious?  At 17, I would think Edward has a hard time passing for anything older than 25. 
 
A:  The Cullens each have their own range of ages they can get away with.  Carlisle is the key, since he likes to work as a doctor; it’s his range that dictates the length of time they can stay in one place.  Though he is only 23, he usually pretends to be somewhere from twenty-eight to thirty-five.  If no one is getting suspicious (with Edward, they can gauge that) and they like where they are, sometime they push it. They can all get away with older more easily than younger because of their mature way of speaking and acting. Edward’s range is about fifteen to mid-twenties. He has been to medical school twice (helping Carlisle keep current), but he’s never tried to practice.  He can’t handle blood the way Carlisle can.  Emmett and Jasper have a hard time passing for younger than eighteen, but with their perfect credentials (birth certificates, driver’s licenses, etc.) people tend to accept whatever story they tell.
 
Q:  Do the vampires have fangs or not?  Edward flashes his white teeth plenty of times, but at no point do we ever see his fangs.  Do they grow when they hunt?
 
A:  My vampires do not have fangs.  Their teeth are so sharp and strong that fangs are hardly necessary (they could bite through steel, if so inclined–a human neck is like butter, ha ha).  The non-vegetarian vampires don’t leave living victims (unless they are changing someone into a vampire); this isn’t the neat-and-tidy, two-small-holes-in-the-neck kind of vampire attack that you see in other vampire mythologies.
 
Q:  Do the vampires have blood in their veins even though their heart no longer pumps?  What would happen if they were cut or injured in some way?
 
A:  Most human fluids are absent in my vampires.  No sweat, no tears, no blood besides that which they ingest–they don’t have their own blood.  They do sort of have saliva–the venom makes their mouths wet, at least.  When they drink blood, it runs through their body and makes them strong.  It floods through their old blood ways, though they don’t have circulation anymore.  It lightens their eyes* and flushes their skin slightly.
 
*This reminds me of a question I’ve answered recently.  I thought it was pretty obvious, but then, I tend to do think everything is obvious (one of my editor’s greatest tasks is getting me to explain myself more thoroughly).  Vampires who drink human blood have dark reddish irises that fade to black as they get thirstier.  If a Cullen were to drink human blood, his/her eyes would turn burgundy.  It takes about two weeks without blood for vampire eyes to go entirely black.  If that Cullen then returned to an animal diet, his/her eyes would return to dark gold.
 
Another eye note: brand-newly created vampires are recognizable by their eyes, which are a vivid, bright red due to the massive amount of human blood (the blood that was already in the human at the time he/she was changed) that lingers in the tissues.  That red fades slowly over the course of a year.  New vampires are also immensely strong for their first year of life, also a product of the excess of blood left in the body.  This residual blood does nothing to affect thirst–young vampires are always thirsty.
 
And since we’re talking physiology…I’ve had tons of people ask if vampires can have babies.  The answer is no.  When someone becomes a vampire, it’s as if they are frozen exactly as they are in that moment.  His or her (and we’ll go with her because it’s more central to this discussion) body no longer experiences change.  Hair does not grow, nor do fingernails (if you cut your hair, you’re stuck.  That’s why Alice’s hair is so short–it was growing back from being shaved in the asylum).  This applies to all changes–so a woman would no longer have any kind of ovulation cycle.  If she were already pregnant when she was bitten, both she and the fetus would be frozen in that state.  Which would really suck–pregnant for eternity?  I’m shuddering at the thought.
 
If a vampire were cut, there would only be blood if he/she had freshly drunk blood (and drunk a lot).  Otherwise, there would only be a bit of venom.  It would be like cutting into granite.
 
Q:  I didn’t ask any more at the start, worried that I had already asked too much, but as you can see, Stephenie had more to tell me.
 
A:  Okay, now let’s see what random details I can remember…
 
The Denali coven keeps getting cut out of the story.  For the record, they are Tanya, Kate (Katrina) and Irina–originally Slavic, and they think of themselves as sisters, though they are not biologically so.  They are all almost a thousand years old.  It was just the three of them for many centuries, and then Carmen and Eleazar joined them, attracted by their peaceful lifestyle.  Tanya, Kate, and Irina had an interesting path that led them to "vegetarianism": they are the originals behind the myths of the succubus.  Their fondness for human men eventually led them to feel remorse for their victims, and they slowly trained themselves to resist human blood.  They still like men, though.  Kate and Eleazar are "talented" like Edward and Alice, but I’m not saying more than that.  (Tanya gets a brief cameo in my Twilight-from-Edward’s-perspective).  Eleazar is a man.  He and Carmen (his true love) are both Spanish, only three to four hundred years old, and they joined the succubus sisters later on.  Eleazar has quite a history, which, right now, only shows up in Forever Dawn.
 
Something else that has not appeared in the story thus far: hobbies.  Carlisle has his medical obsession, of course.  Edward likes to collect cars.  Rosalie has a mechanical gift and likes cars, too (more to tinker with than to drive or collect)–it’s one of the only things that she and Edward have in common.  Esme is into architecture and restoration–she’s responsible for the house.  She likes to restore historical fixer-uppers.  Alice loves to shop.  Emmett likes competition–in any form.  Jasper is very scholarly.
 
One last thing–there are laws, or really, just one law, to being a vampire: you have to keep a low profile.  Exposure is not allowed.  And who is not allowing it?  Ha ha ha–read New Moon.