A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction for the Twilight Saga. The character, Fred, is based on the vamp who lived in The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. If his last name was ever given in the book, I sure can't remember what it is. Hope you enjoy. –Rita

Chapter 1

I make people sick. I always had the ability to belch and fart on cue, but ever since that bitch bit me and turned me into one of the undead, I can just think of a disgusting smell and it turns people, or in my case, vampires, sick. The only one who didn't irritate the crap out of me was that cute little girl, Bree. I think she hated the bastards as much as I did, but she was afraid of them, too. Me, I was just annoyed.

My name is Fred and I was a full time student at Seattle Pacific University until they kicked me out for my shitty attitude. Not a good time to be going through my agnostic period while enrolled in a Christian university. Anyway to keep the money coming, I told my stepfather I was still in school and he sent me cash and prayed for me. I sure could use the prayers now, not that they'd do any good. I had a job, too, until that night.

I was a dishwasher at a trendy restaurant downtown Seattle. The manager gave the server jobs to the more attractive UW students so I and the illegals were stuck in the kitchen. I didn't mind my job, but it was so freaking hot in the kitchen I ducked out as much as I could without calling attention to myself. This kid named Riley struck up a conversation with me one night outside in the alley as I took my 100th smoke break. He tried to be friendly, but there was something creepy about him. The first thing he asked me was if I needed some weed. I told him to get away from me, but he stuck around anyway. I was beginning to think he was gay, but then he told me about his girlfriend, and how he'd like for me to meet her.

Now I'm thinking he's a pimp and, shit, I haven't been laid since my last night at SPU, so why the hell not? I threw off my sexy dishwasher apron and followed him across the street into another alley. The next thing I knew, I was on fire, screaming for someone to kill me to end the pain. I don't know how long I was writhing on the ground, praying to die, but it seemed like forever. When the pain finally went away, it was replaced by an insatiable thirst. But it wasn't water I wanted; I needed blood; human blood.

Through my fog, I saw that Riley was still there at my side. When I finally stopped screaming, he smiled at me and said, "Welcome to your new family. Let's go feed." He took me to this place I didn't recognize and showed me a couple of people who were lying down on a beat-up, urine-soaked mattress. They were passed out and he kind of smiled at me and pointed to one of them. "You know what to do," he said.

The strange thing was I did know what to do. I went straight for the throat and tore it open; I lapped up the blood like a starving man at a feast. It tasted so sweet that I drank all the blood in a matter of seconds. I pushed the body away and tore into the next one; a woman, I think. She resisted for a half a second, but I discovered I was stronger than I'd ever been before. I could have literally crushed her with my little finger, but I was too hungry to experiment with my new found strength. It took me less time to finish her off. I felt sort of sloshy full, but I was still thirsty. Riley pulled me away and shook his head. "That's all for tonight. I've got to get you inside because it's almost dawn and I don't want to you to burn up. I need you."

Burn up, I thought. What was he talking about?

"You're a vampire now, Fred," he said reading my expression. "She turned you."

Vampire? Was he nuts? Well, I had just drained the blood of two junkies, so maybe there was something to that after all.

He took me to this dark basement and told me this was where I was supposed to stay until it got dark. We couldn't go out during the day because we would burn up. He asked me what I knew about vampire legends and all I could think about was coffins and crucifixes, and what he'd said out sun light. I was pretty scared for a while because he threatened to throw me outside if I didn't obey his every word. It was that important. He dumped me in the basement with about ten to fifteen other vampires who were just as thirsty as I was. We got on each other's nerves and there were lots of fights. Body parts were being thrown about like confetti at a New Year's Eve party and that always pissed Riley off. He told us we shouldn't fight among ourselves that we were going to be fighting a greater enemy.

Riley took us out every week or so to feed in groups of four or five. He didn't want to draw attention to us by the police or the general population. There were enough runaways and derelicts and junkies on the streets to keep us fed. The taste was always slightly off because their bodies were contaminated by drugs or disease. I was thirsty enough to ignore it.

After about three months, my head started to clear up just a little so I was able to think about something besides my thirst. I actually started to look around and watch the others. Riley's little army was growing and they were really starting to piss me off. That's when I discovered my "gift". I could repel them with my thoughts. I even made Riley yak a couple of times. When I wanted to be left alone, I just thought my "good" thoughts and they steered clear of me. Sweet.

After about six months I started thinking maybe Riley was full of shit. What he was saying to us didn't make a lot of sense to me. He was very dramatic and if he was human, I figure he could have been one of those doomsday cult leaders. Everything out there was a danger and we had to stay inside. He loved us and he was the only one who could protect us. This was about the time he started drilling in the danger of the yellow-eyes who were coming to Seattle to kill us all.

If we weren't feeding or ripping each other's limbs off, we were listening to his stupid lectures. Blah, blah. I tuned him out and spent more and more time cocooned away from the others. The only one I'd let in was that cute little girl, Bree. She seemed more aware than most of the others and she, too, had begun to question the crap Riley was feeding us. She told me that she didn't think sunlight would kill us. I wasn't too sure about that from what I knew about vampires, and I sure as hell wasn't going to test her theory.

More often than not, some of the vampires would go nuts and kill people Riley hadn't picked out for us; regular folks who weren't junkies or prostitutes or bums. That's when Riley went absolutely ballistic on them . One night he killed six of our little family he was so angry. He made a large bonfire and threw body parts into the fire. "This is the only real way to kill vampires," he told us.

Really, I thought? What about sunlight? That's when I decided to test Bree's theory.

The basement was sealed off real good, but I managed to kick a hole and crawl into the main building. Nobody saw me because I kept them away with my vampire repellant. I could see light outside and I was too chicken shit to bust out. Okay, I never claimed to be brave. I'd seen From Dusk to Dawn way too many times. I was really pissed off at myself for being such a wuss, so I took it out on everyone around me; making them physically sick.

After my little temper tantrum, Riley pulled me aside and told me I was her secret weapon and that my gift would totally destroy the yellow-eyes. He told me he admired my abilities and was very proud of me and he liked me more than the others; that I had my head on straight. If I hadn't been such a natural born cynic, I might have bought his speech. That's when I decided I was getting the hell out.