It’s Friday night. The rain outside Barnes & Noble is torrential — the perfect setting for a group of teens and a couple of grown-ups to gather in a cozy circle between shelves of books and talk about vampires.

But it’s so much more than that. The looks on their faces show the emotional connection they have to the books they’ve come here to talk about. Edward isn’t just a “vampire,â€? and neither are Alice, Jasper and the rest of the Cullen family.

They’re friends. They’re crushes. They’re the people who have lived in the back of these avid readers’ minds for two or three years, in that wonderful way every person who has experienced adolescence and teen years can relate to.

Maybe it was “Star Warsâ€? for you. Maybe it was “Harry Potter.â€? Whatever book or movie or band or celebrity took over years of your life, made you beg

your mom to buy you folders and posters and bed sheets adorning their image, had you wishing on every star that, somehow, these characters could be real and

a part of your life — that is what Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilightâ€? saga is to these girls (and one boy).

And that’s what it is to millions of people around the world, as was obvious when The Free Press asked “Twilightâ€? readers to e-mail their thoughts about the upcoming book, and hundreds of girls (and two boys) from countries across the globe wrote in.

Just a couple of weeks before the release of “Breaking Dawn,â€? the fourth and final installment of the best-selling young-adult fiction series, the group gathered at Barnes & Noble to talk about the books, with a focus

on “New Moon,â€? the second and, many say, the most moving of the three that have been released. With so much anticipation in the air, talk of the next book — which goes on sale just after midnight Saturday —

was focused on what everyone thought might happen.

All of them — as well as all of the hundreds of girls and boys who wrote in, save one — want Bella to get bit.

We should back up a bit for those unfamiliar with the books. Meyer published in 2005 the first book in the series, called “Twilight,â€? about the smart, clumsy and somewhat plain Bella Swan (the narrator), who moves to Forks, Wash., and falls in love with a beautiful, forever-17 vampire named Edward Cullen. The book did well as word of mouth spread and hype started to build.

Meyer, a first-time author and mother of three from Arizona, wrote the book after dreaming about a vampire and a human girl falling in love. After sending a few pitches to publishers, one bit and she even got a movie deal. (“Twilightâ€? the movie releases nationwide Dec. 12.)

The three years that followed have been overwhelming for Meyer, she has said in various interviews. She still has no idea what has made people so crazy for these books, what makes them chant her name at signings and readings, and what makes them camp out overnight at the San Diego Convention Center for a chance to see early footage of the film.

After “New Moonâ€? was released the year after “Twilight,â€? and then “Eclipseâ€? followed the next year, book reviewers, newspapers, magazines and fans have likened her to J.K. Rowling. It’s a comparison that brings great pride, but also quite a bit of pressure, she has said.