Fred

"*Keep it down.*"
—Fred to the wild newborns.
**Fred** is a nomadic vampire. He was originally created by Victoria for her newborn army. He makes his first and only appearance in the *Eclipse* novella *The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner*. He is gifted with the supernatural talent of repulsive magnetism, and is one of three survivors from the army. He was also Bree Tanner's friend and vampire shield before she was executed by Felix of the Volturi.

## Biography

### Early life

Fred was born in Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada in April 1985. He grew up with his father, his parents divorced when he was ten years old. His mother remarried and had three children whom he rarely saw. Fred's relationship with his father was very weak as they only communicated through logic rather than emotion.

He was occasionally bullied in elementary school for being thin and wearing thick glasses. In high school, he grew very tall, but he was awkward and gangly. By this time, he had embraced being a science nerd and preferred to be left alone rather than being in crowds.

He tried to avoid attention, and hated to be singled out except in the classroom. Eventually, Fred received a scholarship to Stanford University. Physically, he had gotten past his awkward stage and was quite attractive, but he remained oblivious to this fact.

After his sophomore year, he volunteered for a special research project offered by his favorite marine biology professor. Fred spent the majority of the summer on remote beaches along the Oregon and Washington coast, camping for the most part. It was a solitary trip, and he went several days at a time without seeing another person.

Fred was turned into a vampire in August 2005 when Riley found him on one of the beaches along the Oregon and Washington coast, and thought that his disappearance would seem explicable, so he asked Fred if he was interested in some excitement. Though Fred declined the offer, Riley forcefully took him away and Victoria changed him into a vampire against his will.

Despite being a newborn vampire, he thinks more clearly than most of the members in his army. His natural avoidance from social company manifested a powerful gift to repel people, which allowed him to keep the violent vampires from touching him. Due to his gift, other vampires often ignored him to avoid his revulsion and gave him the nickname "Freaky Fred".

When Bree Tanner first joined the army, she noticed how everyone shunned away from Fred and sat by his side during the day to avoid trouble: his talent kept both of them alive. Because she never bothered him, he didn't mind having her around and eventually got used to her company.

### *The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner*

*Main article: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner*
 File:The newborns army.jpg
"*I usually kick it behind wherever Freaky Fred is hanging out.*"
"*Seriously? How do you stand that?*"
"*You get used to it. It's not so bad behind him as it is in front. Anyway, it's the best hiding place I've found. No one gets close to Fred.*"
—Bree and Diego
Fred first appears when Bree and Diego reunite with the army after an entire day of tracking them. Raoul and his followers are about to break into a fight with the pair when Fred suddenly uses full potency of his power to evacuate everyone from the room. He then eyes at Bree and whispers "sorry", a clear apology of having to make her feel his power too.

After Diego disappeared and Riley told the army about the yellow-eyed vampires' plan to destroy them, which made the newborns focus and cooperate better, Bree and Fred start spending more quality time together. As the members begin to cooperate and prepare themselves for action, Fred uses his power to avoid getting picked. Rather than hiding behind his shadow, Bree plays cards with him without talking. Subsequently, he grows very affectionate toward the young newborn.

Being a natural to scientific and logical analyzations, Fred finds Riley's promises untrustworthy and runs off to Vancouver hours before the army confronted the Cullens, determined to explore the world on his own. Before he does, however, he promises to wait for Bree and her boyfriend Diego for one day before going off on his own; in return, Bree tells him about the "vampire police" and to hunt carefully. His last remark implies that he isn't very optimistic about being able to reunite with Bree.

His leaving is the key to the army's fall, since his power would have been a great advantage, though no one thought of him when he escaped or when they confronted their enemies. Right before Bree died in the hands of the Volturi, she telepathically asked Edward Cullen to be nice to *him* if the Cullens were ever to cross paths with him.

He is one of three vampires who survived the army's demise, the other two being Steve and Shelly, who faked their deaths sometime before the battle. He now lives as a solitary nomad and has exceeded his newborn year.

## Physical appearance

Fred is described as a tall college student around 6'2" with thick, curly blond hair, broad-shouldered and muscular. Looking older than a majority of the other vampires, Bree once commented about him looking like a "a big blonde elephant in the middle of the room". Bree was also surprised at how handsome he was, handsomer than most of the other newborns. No one dared to look his way because of the power he holds to make them turn the other way. His red vampire eyes were originally blue.

## Personality and traits

Bree considered him a "science nerd" and described him as looking at things in a scientific way and being very smart; in truth, he had a natural inclination toward science. For the most part, he is quiet and does not enjoy attention, which suggests why as a vampire he has a supernatural gift to repel people, as he prefers to be invisible to them. For this reason, he can be considered being similar to Bella Swan since they both enjoy spending free time alone, oblivious to their physical features, with a hard time relating to people, and possessing defensive powers in their vampiric incarnations.

Despite still being a newborn at the end of the novella, he is able to think more clearly than most other newborns. He is also quite observant and finds Riley's words distrustful. Though Fred is mostly a loner, he is proven to be capable of forming bonds during his time with Bree. Bree also mentioned that she left him the books she had read so he could read them as well if he wanted to. He seemed as frightened by the sun as the rest of his army when Riley encouraged them to step into the light, but Bree told him what she had discovered and removed that fear for him. He was also depicted as polite by the girl.

## Powers and abilities: repulsive magnetism

*Main article: Repulsive magnetism*
"*I guess Fred can sort of repel people on purpose. It's all in our heads, though. He makes us repulsed at the thought of being near him.*"
—Diego on Fred's gift.
Fred has the powerful ability to repel people. He can induce an unbearably intense repulsion in those around him, which is useful when his life is at stake or when he wants to be left alone. Over time, he learned to use his power in a wider range, making him disgusting to other people, who then promptly forget about him for an extended amount of time. He developed it to the point where simply thinking about him will cause repulsion in an individual, though he seemingly can select a few people to not feel repelled while using it. When he uses it with high potency, he could drive away a room full of people. This gift also earns him the nickname "Freaky Fred" and made him one of Riley's and Victoria's favorites.

His gift would have been a strong advantage in the battle against the Cullens; but instead, he used it to flee from his troops before the battle commenced.

Stephenie Meyer once compared his power to that of Jasper Hale's emotional control, just only affecting disgust.

## Relationships

Fred is the son of two divorced parents and has three half-siblings on his mother's side.

### Bree Tanner

 File:Bree-tanner3.jpg
"*I'm going to explore on my own, see the world. Or I* was *going on my own, but then I thought maybe you might want to come, too. You'd be pretty safe with me. No one will be able to follow us.*"
—Fred to Bree
Bree Tanner is the only person Fred ever came to being friends, human or vampire. Before they befriended each other, she usually hung at his side to avoid the army's more aggressive members, whom usually fought against each other until one party was destroyed. Because she usually left Fred alone, he did nothing to drive her away.

When the bulky vampire, Raoul, is about to pick a fight with Diego and Bree, Fred uses his power to drive him and his followers away. After Diego is separated from Bree, she begins to hang out with Fred instead of just being around him, and he seemingly begins to think of her as his first friend ever. His fondness of Bree allows him to keep the revulsion less potent on her. This fondness likely comes from the time they spent together when Bree never bothered him while using him as a vampire shield.

Before he leaves to explore the world on his own, he asks Bree to go with him, but she decides to first find Diego (unaware that he is already dead). He decides to wait for her and Diego for one day in Vancouver, saying that he will take off if they don't make it by then. When she leaves with the army, Fred expresses worry that he may never see her again.