Fanfic / Before The Dawn

Before the Dawn by BookwormBaby2580 is an alternate take on The Twilight Saga, starting when Bella decides to spend time in Mexico after Renee’s wedding to Phil. As a result of this impulsive decision, Bella is captured by a vampire and taken to become part of a twisted breeding experiment as he tries to create a whole new race of human/vampire hybrids, only to run into the Cullens when she manages to flee to Forks after her own transformation.

The fic can be found here and here.

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Before the Dawn contains examples of:

• Adorably Precocious Child: Possibly the best description of Alexander, who has spent his first month being told he's 'special' by his father and is eager to learn everything he can from the other vampires, although Bella and Edward attempt to establish limits such as forbidding him from having human blood.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Bella spends the first few chapters being held prisoner and raped by a vampire before becoming one herself.
• Ambiguously Bi: Mike Newton, who was always shown to have feelings for Bella in canon, quickly develops an attraction to Nahuel when they meet, although it is never established if Mike has had feelings for other men or if Nahuel is just unique.
• An Arm and a Leg: During the confrontation with the newborn army, various limbs are removed, and Aro is punished for his actions at the conclusion by having his hands removed.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The Oracle of Pythia was a vampire who is still alive in the present.
• Berserk Button: Bella breaks her self-imposed silence when Carlisle’s words suggest that he thought it was all right that she may have killed people on her way to Forks, denouncing the Cullens as “sick, horrible… things!” and disgusted at the idea that they (seemingly) think it’s OK to kill people. Throughout the fic, apart from when Joham forced her to feed Bella's only human victim was when she acted on instinct while hungry, the Cullens helping her control her thirst as she refuses to be like the monster that changed her.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Carlisle of all people is finally pushed to breaking point when Aro tears off Esme's head and nearly burns it, only being talked out of actually killing Aro because of Jasper's advice about setting an example after Benjamin and Bella save Esme.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Joham’s children have an extremely warped family dynamic, as the one daughter who approves of his plans is considered useless by him because she doesn't have venom. The epilogue includes Alexander observing that Kyra is biologically his niece as her mother was one of Joham's daughters, but she's his cousin by adoption as she was raised by Rosalie and Emmett, and as they grew up together with the other Cullens Alexander and Kyra basically consider each other siblings.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: It’s noted that even after the new laws were drawn up, Joham can’t be prosecuted for his assault on Bella and others as previous rules focused on just protecting the vampires' secret rather than punishing that kind of assault; vampires disapproved of his actions on unspoken ethical grounds, but they couldn't legally punish him.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Discussed regarding Joham; he is clearly intelligent and determined, but it’s noted that his long-term plans for using his hybrid children are relatively unformed, with people observing that he just had vague ideas about world domination through using the hybrids to infiltrate human society but no clear plan on how to actually initiate such a takeover.
• Cassandra Truth: Renee basically uses this to assure Bella that she can be told the truth, arguing that she's so flighty nobody's going to believe her even if she slips up and mentions that her daughter's a vampire.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: A good description for Renee, as she recalls the old tales from Forks to realise that Bella isn’t dying of a terminal disease, but has actually become a vampire.
• Commonality Connection: Bella finds herself acknowledging her bond with Maysun, Joham's daughter, as they each gave birth because of Joham's plans (Joham had another vampire rape Maysun). While they ultimately reacted differently to their children, Bella keeping Alexander and Maysun letting her daughter be adopted by Rosalie and Emmett, the two nevertheless recognise their shared suffering.
• Contrived Coincidence: Suggested for Bella, as she runs into the Cullens by sheer chance after fleeing Joham, meeting vampires who share her distaste for drinking human blood without deliberately looking for them.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: After Bella and the Cullens find Joham, Bella literally takes him apart in her initial blind rage, and Edward subsequently issues a formal challenge for leadership of Joham's coven where he and Jasper swiftly force Joham to the ground, Rosalie holding a lighter in Joham's face until he concedes defeat.
  Edward was a mind-reader and Jasper was… well, Jasper, so [Joham] didn't get very far.
• Darker and Edgier: Bella spends the first few chapters being held prisoner and raped by a psychopathic vampire who has no problem with using humans as ‘breeding stock’, and spends her first few days as a vampire terrified and outraged as she tries to flee from Mexico to Washington without feeding on anyone.
• Dead Guy Junior: A variation; when considering names for a daughter, Emmett suggests 'Lula Mae' as he claims that was the name his grandmother was going to give his mother.
• Demoted to Extra: James, Victoria and Laurent appear, but although James’s history with Alice is referenced, with Bella a vampire the moment they meet there is no reason for his group to go after her, and he and Victoria are swiftly killed as an example of the consequences of breaking the rules.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Charlie basically does this when he confronts Joham at the gathering to make it clear he'll take great pleasure in watching Joham get torn up and burnt if he sees Joham anywhere outside this gathering after what the vampire did to Bella. However, Charlie takes care to confront Joham when he's backed up by five Quillette wolves, so Joham was likely held back by concern for the wolves rather than any real acknowledgement of Charlie as a potential threat.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: As well as the obvious idea of blood being a drug, Bella takes part in a debate with Carlisle and other vampires where they compare human blood to the equivalent of sweets to a vampire where animal blood is their vegetables as human blood tastes better but animal-drinking vampires are more civilised, characters speculating that animal blood encourages the vampires to expand their intellectual horizons and think about more than just their next meal.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Not explicitly shown, but discussed; at one point Bella finds herself meeting a group of female vampires who note that they've all been subject to sexual assault, with one of them explicitly noting that the men who might have been subject to such a thing don't tend to talk about it.
• Driven to Suicide: One of Joham's potential mothers commits suicide by strangling herself with her own bonds.
• Elective Mute: After escaping Joham, Bella spends some time in silence after meeting the Cullens, until she misinterprets Carlisle’s assurances about what she would have had to do to survive as condoning the idea that she killed people and flies into a rant.
• Elemental Powers: Bella becomes friendly with Benjamin as he uses his powers to help her on various occasions, ranging from making Joham's seat at the consensus damp so that he's sitting in mud to helping Bella save Esme from Aro by putting out the fires Aro was going to use to burn Esme's head.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Joham has other vampires impregnate his hybrid daughters, albeit because of his ‘concerns’ that incest would weaken the bloodlines he’s trying to create.
• Everyone Has Standards: Regardless of their attitude towards killing humans, the entire assembled vampire community show contempt towards Joham for abducting and raping Bella and other girls.
• Eye Scream: As punishment for his part in a final confrontation, Alec's eyes are removed and destroyed so that he can't use his ability any more.
• The Fashionista: Edward speculates that Alice's interest in buying things stems from the fact that she remembers having very little when she was human and and sees buying everyone things now as her way of showing others that she cares.
• Fate Worse than Death: Are and Alec are punished for trying to stage a revolt by having their hands and eyes removed respectively; Aro is fitted with advanced prosthetics, but this punishment still deprives both vampires of their old ability. The epilogue mentions that Aro was punished for attempting to escalate North Korea's nuclear weapons program by having his teeth removed, and Alexander notes that if Aro is caught planning anything else he will be killed.
• Faux Affably Evil: Aro comes across as Affably Evil for the most part, as he even has no problem talking with Charlie about the current situation on a friendly basis despite his usual habit of drinking from humans, but ruins this when he tears off Esme's head and nearly burns it just to make a point to Carlisle.
• Fingore:
  • A minor example, but Alice notes that no vampire makes it through the change with their fingernails intact, requiring her to prepare acrylics for herself, Esme and Rosalie, and she also offers them to Bella.
  • Later, Petria, a vampire who was turned by an ancestor of hers (he became a vampire centuries ago and keeps an eye on his mortal descendants), notes that she was once raped by an old boyfriend, and the man was found a couple of hours later with his own severed fingers stuffed down his throat.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Joham was invited to attend the meeting due to his unique knowledge of hybrids, but it is made increasingly clear that nobody likes him, ranging from the other vampires treating him with contempt for raping his 'test subjects' to one vampire 'compelling' birds to poop all over his tent.
• Get Out!: After the gathering is over, all remaining vampires make it clear that Joham should leave without any of his children.
• Happily Adopted: Emmett and Rosalie end up adopting one of Joham’s ‘grandchildren’ (the girl's mother was Joham's daughter who was raped by another vampire), as the child’s biological parents aren’t interested in raising the girl.
• Hidden Depths: Mike Newton, who was little more than the human with a hopeless crush on Bella in canon, is established as a wilderness enthusiast who is uncertain about his father encouraging him to try out for the football team because he worries if he'd get in on his own or just because his father is offering them new uniforms, and quickly falls for Nahuel due to the hybrid’s obvious ‘wild’ nature.
• Hyper-Awareness: After Alec's eyes are removed, it is confirmed that he can still get around by relying on his other senses.
• Killed Offscreen: Most of the Volturi are killed in an uprising that the Cullens are only informed about after the fact, which resulted in the deaths of characters like Chelsea, Jane and Caius.
• Klingon Promotion: Edward challenges Joham for leadership of his coven to ensure that he will have to let Alexander go.
• Losing Your Head: During the final confrontation, Aro attempts to establish his continued relevance by tearing off Esme’s head and threatening to burn it, with Alec shutting down the senses of most of the other vampires present so they can’t stop him. Fortunately, Bella’s immunity to vampires’ powers allows her to stop Alec and free the others, and Benjamin uses his own ability to control the elements to stop any fire Aro might try to burn Esme’s head in until the Cullens can stop Aro, allowing Carlisle to reattach Esme’s head to her body.
• Mama Bear: Although she initially left him behind, once she's calmed down Bella resolves to go back for her son and rejects any idea that he might have to be destroyed as an 'immortal child' (before they confirm that Alexander is something different).
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In as much as any of the vampire 'extras' possessed in the series can be 'mundane', a few characters debate whether Pythia is actually receiving messages from the gods or if she just has a really weird ability in a similar style to Alice's own ability to see the future.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Brought up when Edward is bitten by a rat; Emmett initially laughs at Edward’s shock before it’s made clear that this bite actually broke Edward’s skin, something obviously impossible for a regular rat, which means that the rat is a shapeshifter like the Quillettes.
• Morality Pet: While Alexander is never a full-on villain, Bella stops his last recorded plea to be allowed human blood by asking him how it would feel if someone killed 'Grandpa Charlie' because they wanted human blood to make Alexander consider the full implications of what he would do if he killed someone.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Bella spends a fair amount of time hating herself for leaving Alexander behind, even though she was in no state for rational thought and had enough trouble getting to Forks while dealing with her own transformation without having to worry about protecting an unpredictable hybrid newborn.
• Nightmare Fuel: On top of the traumatic circumstances of her transformation, which included being forced to drink the blood of people Joham murdered right in front of her, Bella is tormented at the thought that her son will kill humans just because he feels like he should.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Reference is made to something that happened to Aro in a port in Shanghai which has kept him out of China, India and Russia for an unspecified length of time because he doesn't want to go back to the continent.
  • The epilogue mentions that Aro attempted to escalate North Korea's nuclear weapons program after the loss of his old power, which led to him suffering further punishment.
• No-Sell:
  • Bella's shield not only prevents Edward reading her mind, but she is also immune to Alec's power, as well as another vampire's ability to create illusions; even Alexander, who can basically render vampires unconscious, can't do anything to Bella.
  • The newborn Fred has the ability to deflect any attempt to pay attention to him, but Bella is immune to this due to her shield, and Eleazar can also see past it due to his ability to see other vampires' gifts, so he's focusing on Fred's gift rather than Fred himself.
  • Brought up when Aro tries to burn Esme's head; Benjamin follows close enough behind that he's able to put out any fires Aro might use, explicitly assuring Bella that Aro can't kill Esme "without [Benjamin's] cooperation".
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: When Bella returns to confront Joham, she quickly determines that he is this as far as other vampires are concerned; while he was a terrifying monster to his human victims, when pitted against other vampires most of them outstrip him physically even if they don't have talents like Edward's mind-reading.
• Nubile Savage: Discussed, as Naheul is described as wearing relatively skimpy clothing due to him living apart from humans most of his life.
• Papa Wolf: Comes up for Charlie; while he soon understands that he can’t do anything to the vampires himself, he is still willing to yell at Carlisle for inviting Joham to attend the meeting even after everything the other vampire did to Bella, and explicitly informs Joham (albeit with the Quillettes backing Charlie up) that if he sees the man anywhere again after the current meeting he will take great pleasure in chopping Joham up and burning each piece individually for what he did to Bella.
• Point of Divergence: Bella’s decision to go to Mexico sets her on a new path to become a vampire, and Maria participates in an attack that leads to the destruction of the Volturi.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Even when the vampires involved drink humans, none of them approve of sexual assault; after Bella explains what Joham did to her, he becomes a pariah among the assemblage even after telling his side of the story.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Eventually Tia is chosen as the head of the new coven assembled to replace the Volturi, as she is shown to be open-minded and willing to listen to others, even experimenting with drinking animal blood where Aro refused to consider it (she does note that she's not planning to make the switch permanent, but Carlisle appreciates that she tried it out at least).
• Refuge in Audacity: When the Cullens arrange to send a large group of vampires after Joham, Rosalie, Emmett and Alice acquire a large range of motorcycles and arrange a banner displaying "Muscular Dystrophy Association: Ride for the Cure", providing a plausible reason for large numbers of people to be travelling in the same direction while covered up.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Edward spends some time assuming that Bella is distant from him because she misses Alexander as her mate, before she clarifies that Alexander is her son.
• Rules Lawyer:
  • Carlisle is able to point out to the Quillettes that no rules have been broken with Bella being turned into a vampire as none of the Cullens changed her and she wasn’t even in Forks at the time.
  • Later on, this essentially works against the Cullens and Bella in terms of punishing Joham; even after new laws have been drawn up regarding inhumane treatment of humans, they can’t punish Joham for the actions that led to the birth of his children as the Volturi’s rules only involved keeping the secret, even if certain ethical standards were still expected without being officially enforced, and punishing Joham for past actions would set an uncomfortable precedent. By contrast, Aro can be punished for his attack on Esme as they had drawn up the new rules by that point even if they didn’t have any ‘elected officials’ yet.
• Sanity Slippage: Recalling his time drinking human blood in a talk with Alexander, Edward reflects that he started out just occasionally targeting criminals, but as he became more and more 'addicted' to human blood he started targeting people on increasingly weak justifications until he realised that he was now basically just an animal, constantly thinking about his next meal rather than his past interests in more intellectual pastimes like literature or music.
• Shout-Out:
  • Bella is shown reading various novels from the Cullens' library, including Sherlock Holmes.
  • When a comment by Charlie prompts the Cullens to consider hosting a vampire gathering, characters joke that Forks is about to become Hotel Transylvania.
  • In the epilogue, vampires, shifters and others are all working together in the Price Coalition, which was named because Emmett noted in an early meeting that “every single one of [them] has been played by Vincent Price”.
• Technical Pacifist: Carlisle's non-violent stance often works against him, as his desire to avoid confrontation prompts him to be more tolerant than he should be; Jasper points out to him at one point that Carlisle can't just let Sam keep setting the rules of their treaty or Sam will never actually respect him on any level.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Carlisle notes that Bella bringing joy to Edward's life is enough to make Carlisle grateful to her even if she'd brought misery to everyone else, he has to quickly clarify that Bella hasn't made the rest of his family miserable, apologising that words aren't always his strong suit.
• Themed Wedding: When Bella officially agrees to marry Edward once she's eighteen, she accepts that Alice will go overboard planning their wedding, but has the condition that the wedding must incorporate pine cones as a theme, as Bella started to fall for Edward when he threw a pine cone at her while they were on a run after the meeting with the Quillettes.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: In contrast to canon, where Bella silently tolerated the idea that even some of the Cullens' allies would feed on humans, here she often makes it clear that she doesn't approve of that diet, explicitly telling Alexander at one point that nobody is so special that other people should die for them, and mentioning within earshot of other vampires that her ego isn't big enough to justify other people dying because she feels hungry.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Newborns retain this advantage; at one point Bella manages to take on the Romanian vampires Vladimir and Stefan, the Volturi's predecessors, with only some help from fellow newborn Fred.
• Vegetarian Vampire: The Cullens are an obvious example, but in the epilogue it’s revealed that Kyra has been able to develop a blood substitute that tastes fine but doesn’t require the death of humans.
• We Would Have Told You, But...: It would appear that Alice saw Bella arriving in Forks at least a few days before she did, giving Alice sufficient time to send new orders of clothing to the house that were suitably sized for Bella (the clothes clearly too big for Alice but not quite right for Esme or Rosalie). She explains in hindsight that she didn't call home to let Carlisle, Edward, Jasper and Emmett know because Bella would have been scared off if they were clearly anticipating her arrival, and Alice couldn't find a flight back for herself, Esme and Rosalie that would have gotten them there in time to greet Bella directly.
• Weredragon: A trio of shapeshifters from China includes a woman who is able to turn into a dragon.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Bella reveals the full circumstances of her turning, Rosalie is initially outraged that Bella abandoned her own child and declares that Bella deserves what happened to her. Emmett quickly steps in to assure Bella that she in no way deserves the brutal treatment she endured from Joham, and Rosalie apologises once she's had time to calm down.

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