Eclipse recap

As Bella and Edward plan their future, a wave of killings in Seattle proves to be an army of newborn vampires secretly created by Victoria, who still wants Bella dead in revenge for her mate James. The threat forces the Cullens and the Quileute wolf pack into an alliance, and Jasper trains them to fight newborns. Throughout, Bella is torn between Edward, whom she has agreed to marry and who will then change her into a vampire, and her best friend Jacob, a werewolf who loves her and makes her admit she loves him too. Hidden away during the battle and guarded by Edward, Jacob, and young Seth, Bella survives when Victoria and her lieutenant Riley track her down; Edward kills them both, and the newborn army is destroyed, though Jacob is badly hurt. Bella finally chooses Edward, and the two remain engaged as Jacob, brokenhearted, runs away.

Previously: Bella Swan loves the vampire Edward Cullen and means to become a vampire so they can be together forever. In the first book a tracker vampire, James, hunted Bella and was destroyed by the Cullens, leaving his mate, Victoria, bent on revenge. In the second, Edward briefly left Bella to protect her, and during their separation she grew close to Jacob Black, who, with others on the Quileute reservation, is a werewolf sworn to protect people from vampires. Edward and Bella reunited and were warned by the Volturi, the vampire rulers, that Bella must eventually be turned or killed. The Cullens agreed to change her, but only after she marries Edward, and the wolf-vampire treaty and Jacob's love for Bella left both communities uneasy.

Reunited and planning a future together, Bella and Edward are shadowed by two problems: Edward insists she marry him before he will change her into a vampire, and a series of brutal killings in nearby Seattle hints at something dangerous stirring. Edward, fearful for Bella's safety, restricts her movements, including visits to Jacob at La Push, straining her friendship with the wolves. Jacob makes plain that he loves Bella and will not simply step aside for Edward, forcing Bella to face the tangle of her own feelings. Meanwhile Alice's visions and the Cullens' growing unease suggest that the trouble in Seattle is no ordinary crime wave.

The killings in Seattle are revealed to be the work of an army of newborn vampires, newly created and dangerously strong, and the Cullens conclude the army is being built to come after Bella. Bella learns more of the Quileute legends and the true origins of both the wolves and the vampires. Facing a threat too large to meet alone, the Cullens and the wolf pack agree to set aside their ancient hostility and form an alliance. Jasper, who survived brutal vampire wars in his past, begins teaching them how newborns fight and how to destroy them. Bella, meanwhile, is torn ever more sharply between Edward and Jacob.

The Cullens and the wolves train together in preparation for the newborn army's attack, their uneasy alliance slowly steadying. Rosalie tells Bella the painful story of her own human death, warning her against throwing away mortality. Bella confronts the truth that she is in love with Jacob as well as Edward, though she chooses Edward and agrees to marry him. As the danger nears, a plan takes shape to hide Bella away from the battle while the Cullens and wolves fight, and Edward and Jacob are forced into a wary, grudging truce for her sake.

Bella is taken to a hidden mountaintop camp to wait out the battle, guarded by Edward, with Jacob and young Seth Clearwater standing watch nearby. During a freezing night Jacob keeps Bella warm, and the two rivals reach a fragile understanding. Victoria, who has secretly orchestrated the newborn army, tracks Bella to the camp with her lieutenant, Riley, while the Cullens and wolves destroy the army below. In the fight at the camp, Edward kills both Victoria and Riley, finally ending the revenge that has hung over Bella for so long. The newborns are defeated, though not without cost: several wolves are hurt, and Jacob is badly injured saving another.

In the battle's aftermath the Volturi arrive too late, having deliberately let the newborn army grow, and depart with a warning that Bella is still human. Bella, forced at last to choose, tells Jacob plainly that she loves him but has chosen a life with Edward, and Jacob, heartbroken, withdraws. Bella and Edward reaffirm their engagement, and Bella comes to peace with marrying him and becoming a vampire on her own terms. The book closes with the wedding ahead of them and Jacob, unable to bear it, running away into the wilderness in wolf form after receiving their wedding invitation.

Victoria's newborn army is destroyed by the combined forces of the Cullens and the wolves, and Edward personally kills Victoria and her manipulated lieutenant Riley at the mountaintop where Bella was hidden, ending the long threat of revenge for James's death. Jacob is gravely injured shielding another wolf during the fight but survives. The Volturi arrive after the battle, having allowed the army to form in hopes of weakening the Cullens, and leave with a pointed reminder that Bella has still not been turned. Forced at last to choose between the two people she loves, Bella tells Jacob that although she loves him, she has chosen a life and eventual immortality with Edward. Jacob, unable to accept it, withdraws and then, on receiving their wedding invitation, flees into the forest as a wolf. Bella and Edward remain engaged and at peace with their decision, and Bella is now reconciled to marrying Edward and becoming a vampire. The way is clear for their wedding, with the grief of Jacob's departure and the Volturi's lingering attention carrying into the final book.