Reading from Monday, November 17

Today I read pages 567 - 754. The word of the Volturi's attack has spread, and many covens and nomads have gathered at the Cullens house to prepare. Bella learns that her power is called a "shield". Through practice, she learns to spread it over other people, but only very close people. While they wait, Bella pursues an address Alice secretly gave her. It leads her to a forger who makes fake IDs for Jacob and Renesmee in case they have to flee the attackers. In time, the army of 20 or so allied vampires wait in the clearing to intercept the Volturi. When they appear from behind the trees, Bella's anger flares and with it her strength. She is now able to control her power acutely, spreading it to mold over her allies and protect them. Jane, who inflicts mental pain, and Alec, who spreads a mental numbness through your body, are annoyed by the fact that their powers do not work against the shield. After a long, tense talk, they make peace with the Volturi and convince them of Renesmee's human-ness. Alice and Jasper return then to show another half human half vampire who is 150 years old. It shows the Volturi that, in the future, Renesmee will not be trouble. They make peace for now, and Edward, Bella, Renesmee, the other Cullens, and all their allied vampires can live in peace for the time being. This concludes Breaking Dawn and the Twilight Saga.

Reading from Sunday, November 16

Today I started Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I read pages 1 - 566. After tentatively agreeing marry Edward in return for immortality, Alice sets everything up. Everyone is called, everything is ready, and so they are married. For their honeymoon, the go to Isle Esme - an ocean getaway. Things turn sour when Bella and Edward get intimate with each other, but then it gets worse. Near the end of their stay, Bella becomes pregnant. Now new plans must be made. They get back and Rosalie takes Bella under her wing and protects her when Carlisle and Edward want an abortion. Things are going downhill for Bella, but then they realize that if the baby is half-vampire, it must want blood instead of food. They feed her a cup of donated human blood, and things become better remarkably quickly. In about a week, she gives birth, and dies in the process. Almost dies, Edward injects his venom into Bella's heart and bites all around her body to infect her with his vampire venom, and after about 2 days, Bella's heart stops beating. She has become a vampire. Strangely, she is not like a normal newborn, she can control her instincts enough to meet her half-human daughter in 2 days. Her daughter, Renesme, has the special ability to project pictures into someone's mind by touching them. Life proceeds as normal for vampires and werewolves, but then they are horrorstruck. While hunting with Jacob and Renesme, Bella sees Irina, the vampire who plotted against them, and Irina sees the child, the taboo. Having a child vampire was outlawed because of the threats it posed, and Irina takes this information to the Volturi. Alice sees this in her mind's eye, and she and Jasper leave the Cullen coven. Now all they can do is wait for the Volturi to come, and hope that they will pause for just a second to be reasoned with.