Giving up the blood...

In the Twilight novels, the most prominent vampires are the Cullen family. Unlike most other vampires, they do not drink human blood. They live off of animal blood instead, so they can live in peace amoung humans. This didn't come easily to them, though. Vampire thirst is a very hard thing to control, and it took the Cullens many years, possibly even decades to overcome.

In the story they have a semi-permanent residence in Forks, Washington. There is a secret treaty with the Queliutes that states a boundary line they cannot cross into. They live as humans with Carlisle and his love Esme as the parent figures, and Rosalie, Emmett, Japser, Alice and Edward as adopted siblings and other odd-out relatives.

Each member of the Cullen family has a unique trait.

Carlisle Cullen is the oldest, by some odd hundred years, and the most resistant to human blood. He works as a doctor at the hospital in Forks. In all the years he's lived vampire, as a human, he has pursued his interests and studied. His gift is extreme compassion. He has a genuine desire to save and help people. Carlisle was the first in the family to become a vampire. He lived for many years alone before he created the other family members. He created Edward first, but it was only because he was dying as a human, and Carlisle saw it as a way to save him. It was the same for all the others. Carlilse only turned them into vampires if they were near death.

Edward Cullen posesses the ability to read people's thought. Everyone's vampire, werewolf and human, except for Bella Swan's. His love interest is Bella, and whole saga revolves around their fight to stay together. Edward was a human when the influenza epidemic hit. He lay dying in bed, and Carlisle was tone of the doctors in the hospital at the time.

Esme Cullen is Carlisle's love. She was the third to be turned immortal after she jumped off a cliff. Her ability is to be nurturing and love unconditionally.

Japser Hale is the newest family member. It is hardest for his to resist human blood. Jasper can sense the emotional climate of a situation and persuade it to change: for example if a room is full of anxious people, he can calm it down. His human life and early vampire life is unclear, until it is told in Eclipse.

Alice Cullen is Japser's love. She does not remember anything of her human life. She has the ability to see the future of select people as the people themselves make decisions about it.

Emmett Cullen is the strongest and brawniest family member. His love is Rosalie. His human life is unknown; Rosalie found him in the forest being mauled by a bear, and carried him back to Carlisle. She saw something in him that caught her eye, but did not feel strong enough to resist the blood to change him. Rosalie Hale's trait his extreme beauty. Her human life story is also revealed in Eclipse.