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 physical repulsion, and is one of three survivors from the army.

Early life
Fred was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in April 1985. He grew up with his father; his parents divorced when he was 10 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 absence from 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 ignore him to avoid his revulsion.

When Bree Tanner first joined the army, she always sat by Fred's side during the day to avoid trouble: his talent kept both of them alive. It is told that Fred can control his power to make it as weak or strong as he pleases. Stephenie Meyer once compared his power to that of Jasper Hale's emotional control, just only affecting disgust.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Fred first appears 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 his power to evacuate everyone from the room.

After Diego disappeared and Riley told the army about the yellow-eyed vampires' planned assault on them, which made the newborns focus and cooperate better, Bree and Fred start spending more quality time together. Rather than hiding behind his shadow, they play cards without talking.

He finds Riley's promises empty and runs off to Vancouver hours before they confronted the Cullens, determined to explore the world of vampires 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. Right before Bree dies in the hands of the Volturi, she telepathically asks Edward Cullen to be nice to him if they were ever to cross paths.

He is one of three vampires who survived the army's battle with the Cullens and shape-shifters. He now lives as a solitary nomad.

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.

Personality traits
Bree considered him a "science nerd" and described him as looking at things in a scientific way and being very smart. For the most part he is quiet and does not enjoy other people's attention, which suggests why as a vampire he has a supernatural gift to repel people, preferring to be invisible to their eyes. In this, he can be considered being similar to Bella since they both enjoy spending free time alone, oblivious to their physical features, with a hard time finding the right people to fit in with, and have defensive powers in their vampiric incarnations.

Despite still being a newborn vampire at the end of the novella, he is shown to be able to think clearer than most of the other newborns. He is also quite observant as he finds Riley's words distrustful. Fred is often quiet and prefers to be left alone, though he made an exception for Bree. Bree also mentions that she leaves him the books she has read so he can read them as well if he wanted to. He was as frightened by the sun as his army, but Bree told him what she had discovered and removed that fear.

Physical repulsion
"... I felt something else, something totally unexpected - a wave of revulsion so overpowering that I couldn't hold my crouch. I crumpled to the floor, gasing in horror."

- Bree on Fred's gift.

Fred has the ability to make anyone feel repulsed. 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, 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".

He used this gift to escape before the battle against the Cullens began, and so became a nomad.

Relationships
Fred was the son of two divorced parents and had three half-siblings on his mother's side.



Bree Tanner
"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 Fred's only friend from his life. Before they became friends, she was always at his side to hide from the army's aggressive members, who usually kill each other for entertainment. 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 separated from Bree, she begins to hang out with Fred, and he begins to think of her as his first friend, ever. This 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.

Appearances

 * The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner