Bella Swan is a vampire, and the world of Forks, Washington will never be the same.

The plan was for Edward to change Bella himself after their wedding. But when the Volturi stepped in a few days too early, the Cullens were given a choice. Either they changed Bella at that very moment or else she would be killed immediately. To Edward, this wasn’t very much of a choice, but he did what he knew he must – he changed Bella into a vampire. Three days later, the day they were supposed to be married, was when everything turned for the worse.

Bella’s transformation broke the treaty with the Quilite peoples of La Push. In the week following her change, three more werewolves were brought into the pack, with more showing signs of change. The Cullens, while still on good terms with some of the original pack who knew the pressure under which Bella’s change had taken place, were face to face with a rapidly growing pack of werewolves, all eager to settle the debt by a vicious attach on the vegetarian vampires that inhabit Forks.

Carlisle immediately went to Alaska hoping to persuade the other vegetarian vampires to come to Forks and help protect their newest member. After enough urging, a few came down to stay. Gradually, the news of the dilemma in Forks spread and the honey-eyed vampires flocked to Washington, hoping to protect one of the most influential families in their human-blood free world. But of course, with more vampires arriving on the scene, more werewolves sprang into existence until nearly all of the young men and women of La Push were transforming.

And in the turmoil that eventually sprang up, wild vampires looking for a place to feed where they might go unnoticed, swarmed to the town. Amidst all the fighting and planning against the other side, this group did indeed go unnoticed for quite some time. But then the mysterious deaths became a large enough problem that the group of wild vampires were forced out of Forks, into the surrounding area. There are so many of them swarming the place that even when they work together, the native species of Forks can not keep them all at bay all the time. And leaving the city has never been so dangerous.

The Volturi, resistant to admitting the Forks situation is their fault, are avoiding taking any blame at all. Instead, they’ve sent in members of the guard, both undercover as spies as well as openly agents of the Volturi, into Forks to keep an eye on things. These eyes and ears of the Volturi are keeping them well informed, and also keeping fear a constant in the vampires. For if the Volturi sense that the problem is getting out of hand – well, that will be the end of Forks, Washington as they all know it.

Bella and Edward never got their wedding, although Alice refuses to lose the opportunity to host it. Bella is forced to endure her year as a newborn in Forks; Edward isn't able to leave with all of the tensions rising. Those that are only humans are noticing increased crime rates – which is really wild vampires feeding – in the immediate area. There is talk of gangs from Port Angeles and Seatlle having moved closer to the smaller town, but only a few humans know that this is not true at all.

But what can they tell the rest of the population? That there is a vampire-werewolf war taking place in this innocuous little town? There is nothing the knowledgeable humans can do except wait it out, save their own necks, and hope that the terrible fight ends sooner rather than later.