Characters / Fred, The Vampire Accountant

Frederick Frankford Fletcher (AKA "Fred")

A shy and, to put it bluntly, boring Certified Public Accountant, who one day finds himself attacked and turned into a vampire. His life goes on largely unchanged, except he's forced to quit his previous job and found his own accounting firm, Fletcher Accounting.

• Alliterative Name: No wonder he prefers "Fred".
• Badass on Paper: Around the third book, Fred discovers that thanks to his adventures and misadventures, his reputation among other vampires has become that of a formidable super-vampire. Thing is, while most of the rumors about him are technically true, he didn't accomplish any of those things through being the badass warrior people are starting to believe he is — he accomplished them through a combination of luck, Achievements in Ignorance, being able to think outside the box, and because he had help from various friends (and Gideon). Fred himself will insist that his reputation is totally unearned, and most people who know his reputation find him rather underwhelming when meeting him for the first time.
• Badass Pacifist: Fred doesn't fight unless he absolutely has to and isn't particularly good at it. That hasn't stopped him from taking down foes much more powerful than himself and escape unharmed and unscathed from circumstances that should have killed him.
• Batman Gambit: He's got a bit of a talent for these. He manages to get himself out of quite a few sticky situations by pulling off something unexpected and correctly predicting his adversary's reaction.
• Cowardly Lion: Fred will swear up and down that he's a terrible coward who always wants to run away from danger. The thing is... when it comes down to it, he almost never does run away. Time and again, he stands up for himself and his friends, usually by bluffing or coming up with some kind of Batman Gambit, while in the narration insisting that normally he would have run away, except these are exceptional circumstances. As the books go on, he becomes more of a The So-Called Coward.
• Dork in a Sweater: Fred's outfits almost always involve a sweater vest of some kind. Krystal insists that this is why few people bother to take a second glance at him.
• Forensic Accounting: Fred is occasionally called to dig into someone's accounts to find information. He usually does.
• Formerly Fat: As a human he had weight problems. In high school he was a chubby geek who used to get picked on a lot. Being turned into a vampire and moving onto a primarily liquid diet has slimmed him down considerably.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: He's an honest, hard-working, kind of geeky accountant who hates conflict, never wants to hurt anyone, and basically treats everyone he meets with kindness. This very quickly earns him a reputation as an unusual vampire — though vampires are generally feared and respected in the parahuman community, they aren't really liked that much. Fred becomes the exception; he gains the respect of the parahuman community mostly because he is such a Nice Guy, and really good at his job to boot.
• Guile Hero: Vampires are hugely powerful even for parahumans, but Fred isnt particularly powerful for a vampire, and doesn't like violence anyway... and he has a tendency to make both friends and enemies who thoroughly outclass him. So he has to solve his problems using his brains and not his power... a tactic he much prefers even when he isn't outclassed.
• Nice Guy: Fred doesn't have a mean bone in his body. While he does rather quickly learn to not take everything at face value and that not everyone has his best interests at heart, he is generally more than happy to give people the benefit of the doubt, and will give pretty much anyone a second chance if they sincerely need it. The only person he won't give these chances to is his sire Quinn... which really says a whole lot about what an utterly despicable person Quinn is.
• Take a Third Option: Perhaps as a result of never getting properly "indoctrinated" into parahuman society and more or less discovering things as he goes along, Fred is good at seeing the solutions that other parahumans don't. If there's any way to end a situation without violence, or fixing a situation so that everybody wins (or at least nobody loses too badly) Fred will find it.
• Unluckily Lucky: There's something uncanny about Fred's ability to accidentally get involved in life-threatening situations simply because he's at the wrong place at the wrong time. The only thing that's more uncanny is his abilty to get out of those situations because he happens to have the exact right knowledge, or be around the exact right people, or having the exact right coincidences work in his favor.
• Vegetarian Vampire: Fred prefers to buy his blood from a hospital administrator he knows. Later on, he switches to an Agency-approved supplier. He did drink from living people, but the blood was given freely. Also, when trapped in the wilderness by Deborah (she was teaching him), he ended up drinking from a wolf and a bear, even though animal blood is not as tasty or nutritious as human. Both animals survived, though.

Krystal Fletcher (née Jenkins)

Fred's former classmate and current Love Interest (now wife). She has since joined the Agency, which oversees Parahumans all over the country, and has become one of their top agents. She and Fred got married at the end of Undeading Bells.

• Action Girl: We don't often get to see her fight, since Fred doesn't accompany her out on her Agency missions and she tends to cut loose only after she's made certain he's safely away — but on the rare occasions when we so see her in the middle of a battle, she reveals herself to be one of the most formidable warriors in the series.
• Badass in Distress: On occasion. While Krystal is more than capable of handling herself (and usually her Agency missions don't involve Fred and as such aren't part of the narrative), there are some rare occasions when she ends up in some kind of trouble that she can't get out of with her usual methods and as such Fred has to step in to act the hero.
• Childhood Friend Romance: A variant. While Krystal and Fred went to school together and she was one of the few girls he genuinely got along with, they weren't super close and mainly hung out because of shared social circles. It's not after they meet again as adults, at the high school reunion, that they grow closer and end up romantically involved.
• Cursed with Awesome: Krystal is a living vessel for a devil, which comes out when her life is in mortal danger. The devil won't allow her to die and can rip apart most Parahumans with ease. As a bonus point, it also burns calories like crazy, meaning Krystal can eat whatever she wants without gaining a single pound.
• Formerly Fat: Like Fred, she was a chubby geek in high school, but as an adult she's slim and pretty. In her case, it's thanks to being a vessel for a devil, which among other things gives her a very high metabolism.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Given that Krystal is generally powerful enough to handle any threat that might come Fred's way, and is adamant about protecting him, the stories have a tendency to have her be out on a mission and thus not available when trouble shows up — or on occasion, she is there but has her hands tied due to treaties or laws that forbids her as an Agent to get involved.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: She can come across as one to Fred in the first book, being the fun and snarky party girl who makes him come out of his shell and loosen up. While they never lose their Uptight Loves Wild dynamic, though, this trope gets increasingly downplayed as more of her personal history and problems are revealed. In later books the trope is dropped completely and Krystal and Fred are shown to lean on each other equally.
• The Nicknamer: To Fred's chragrin, she calls him Freddy. Roderick, a manager in the Agency's finances department, gets tagged with "Rod."
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: It's generally implied rather than spelled out, but Krystal can swear up a storm, both when she's angry and when she's excited.
• Stepford Snarker: Hinted at more than outright stated, but when Krystal is worried or upset she tends to hide it behind a cheeky, sarcastic attitude.

Albert

Fred's zombie assistant. Originally a friend of Neil's, Albert accidentally died by Erotic Asphyxiation. Distraught, his friend unexpectedly discovered a talent for necromancy and raised Albert from the dead. Albert is a pleasant, quiet person, who wasn't particularly ambitious or clever, but great at following orders. However, thanks to Arch's training, he has become smarter and better at thinking on his feet.

• The Chosen One: Albert turns out to be the new wielder of the Sword of the Unlikely Hero, making him the first zombie in history to be chosen by a Weapon of Destiny. He still doesn't know what he's supposed to do with it, but Arch is training him to make sure he's ready when the time comes.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Neil. They're best friends and so inseparable that you can't really get one without the other. This may be the initial reason why Neil gets accepted into Fred's circle despite the terrible first impression; if they wanted Albert they had to accept that he came with Neil.
• Morality Pet: During Neil's brief tenure of being Drunk with Power and wanting to drain the life force of innocent people, Albert played this role to him, being the one person Neil was always good to. Given how Neil became a necromancer just to bring Albert back, it makes sense.
• Nice Guy: Possibly the nicest character in the series. Even Fred is more cynical than Albert is.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Albert is no mindless zombie. He still has the same personality he had when he was alive, just a little less proactive. Fred notes that he smells a little of earth, which is how he was able to tell that he was a zombie in the first place.
• Took a Level in Badass: By book 5, Albert has become quite proficient with the Sword of the Unlikely Hero, even able to cut a car in half with single swipe. He has also learned to think tactically.

Neil

Albert's best friend. A necromancer prodigy, Fred first encounters him at a LARP event, where Neil intends to drain everyone of life force for a ritual. After being apprehended by Krystal, Neil is placed in the care of Amy Wells, so that she can teach him to how to be a proper magic user.

• Heel–Face Turn: When we first meet him he's Drunk with Power and planning on killing a whole bunch of people. Studying under Amy reels him in considerably, and while he can still be grouchy and argumentative he's firmly on the side of the good guys.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: After Albert's death, Neil was so distraught he considered committing suicide. Then he found an old dusty tome and discovered a latent talent for magic (specifically, necromancy). He raised Albert as a zombie. When Albert became the wielder of the Sword of the Unlikely Hero, Neil, as his necromancer, starts training to support him in the field.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Neil isn't always the friendliest or the easiest to get along with, but he cares deeply about his friends, especially Albert and Amy, and will gladly put his own life on the line to help them. The reason he even became a necromancer in the first place was to bring back Albert from the dead... and even while Drunk with Power and ready to do some seriously messed-up stuff, Neil was never anything but good to Albert.
• Magic Enhancement: Since zombies can't use magic on their own, Neil charges up amulets for him to use in battle. The one Albert uses most often generates a temporary black shield in front of him.
• Status Buff: As the one who originally raised Albert from the dead, Neil is able to vastly increase Albert's physical characteristics, which he demonstrates during Albert's trial combat. Arch starts training them both to work as a team. Neil is also good enough with magic to fight on his own. Neil can also boost the characteristics of any undead, which he does with Fred in Undeading Bells.

Amy Wells

An experienced alchemist, who is known for testing the potions on herself. As a rule, the vast majority of her work involves designing new recreational drugs for Parahumans (the human stuff is typically too weak for them). She becomes Neil's mentor after his arrest.

• Brainy Brunette: She's a brunette, and she's pretty much the smartest person around at any time... at least when she's not high as a kite. And even then she can probably out-think most others.
• Erudite Stoner: A variant. Amy is usually under the effects of one or more magical drugs, partly because of her Professor Guinea Pig approach to experiments, and (it's implied) partly because she just enjoys it. She's high as a kite so often that Fred in his narration barely comments on it after a while — but treats it as a noteworthy events the very few times she's completely sober. For all that, though, Amy's brain functions quite well even when on magical recreational drugs, and she's consistently one of the most intelligent, knowledgeable and mature members of the House of Fred. According to Amy herself, part of the reason she got into alchemy was because of her studies in chemistry and botany, which she got into "in order to grow some killer weed."
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Bubba. They're best friends who spend much of their time together, and if you encounter one it's a fair bet the other won't be too far away. Given Bubba's sexuality, however, there's no romantic attraction between the two.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Amy tests most of her potions on herself, frequently resulting in mental, if not physical changes. Since a lot of her products are of the recreational nature, her mental faculties aren't always at 100%.
• Sexy Mentor: No one can deny Amy's attractiveness, least of all Neil. She's likely aware of his crush on her, but she doesn't reciprocate. In book 8, she orchestrates a Wizard Duel between Neil and an attractive female necromancer in order to get them together.

Bubba Emerson

A weresteed, who (much to his embarrassment) turns into a pony. He's a gruff, muscular Southern guy, who works as a trucker and has a crush on Fred for a short while.

• The Gambling Addict: Bubba is introduced as one, having ranked up a massive gambling debt with the Dracolings. This side of him is heavily downplayed in later books, though, probably because he's now around a wide support network of friends who keep him from sliding back into old habits — it's more than hinted that the gambling addiction grew from a feeling of loneliness.
• Gentle Giant: A huge man with incredible strength and a somewhat gruff demeanor, but he's overall a friendly, laid-back sort.
• Hidden Depths: He usually doesn't make too much of himself, so it can be easy to forget, but Bubba is in fact a lot smarter than he appears. Among other things he's highly skilled with engineering and construction work, able to tell at a glance when a structure is strong enough or not. He also listens a lot to Amy and manages to not only remember but understand a fair bit of her advanced theories and equations. Fred even names him alongside Amy as one of the smarter members of their social circle. By book 8, he's become Richard's right-hand man, managing all sorts of logistics.
• Lightning Bruiser: Being a weresteed, Bubba is both insanely fast and insanely strong. He can pack a mean whallop in both human and equine form, and while his pony form might not look very impressive, it can outrun pretty much any other horse.
• Manly Gay: With a name like Bubba, it's no surprise that he dresses and behaves like a tough guy (he also works as a trucker). What does come as a surprise is Krystal telling Fred that Bubba likes him.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Bubba is a weresteed, meaning he turns into an equine. However, to Bubba's embarrassment, his animal form is that of a pony. At one point, he asks Amy to make him a potion that will turn him into a normal stallion, but it goes awry (as many of Amy's potions tend to). She keeps the recipe, since one never knows when a demonic horse from hell might be needed.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Amy, whom he's almost always seen together with, but for natural reasons has no romantic tension with. He doesn't fit any of the Gay Best Friend stereotypes, though.
• Straight Gay: His sexuality doesn't come up too often; in some of the books it's not mentioned at all and if you only read those books you wouldn't know he was gay.

Richard Alderson

A werelion, who leads the therians in Winslow, CO. As an alpha-therion, Richard is large and powerful. A widower, he's utterly devoted to his young daughter Sally.

• Gentle Giant: He's even bigger than Bubba, and for the most part he keeps up a mask of stern impatience in public, but if you get to know him privately he's actually really chill.
• The Lost Lenore: Richard's wife was killed by his therion enemies. Since then, he makes sure to protect his daughter to spare her from the same fate.
• Meaningful Name: A brave leader named Richard, who turns into a lion.
• Papa Wolf: You do not want to mess with Sally if you value your life.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: While he can seem stern and aloof towards outsiders, he's actually quite personable and accomodating. He does his best to be a fair and just leader to the therians under his command, he's always willing to hear people out and give them a chance (unless they're threatening his subjects, or worse, his daughter) and he always honors his debts.

Sally Alderson

Richard's young daughter. She's betrothed to Gideon, the King of the West, though this is partly so he can act as her bodyguard without having to deal with all the political complications. She is also a rare therian capable of shapeshifting into a dragon, making her extremely valuable for the dragon community.

• Cheerful Child: Sally generally keeps up her sunny disposition even though her situation is anything but ideal for a young child. At most, she'll whine about being bored when she's alone and stuck inside her father's apartment... but as soon as someone agrees to play with her, she's all smiles again.
• Children Are Innocent: An interesting variant, because even as a very small child Sally is perfectly aware that there are bad people out there who would hurt her or use her to get to her father... but even so she retains an innocent optimism and faith that everything's going to work out in the end, completely lacks any kind of guile or malice, and is generally inclined to see the good in people. As the series goes on and she grows older, she gets wiser and wilier, but never loses her sweet, upbeat nature.
• Missing Mom: Her mother was killed by Richard's enemies. He's a little overprotective as a result... though, as it turns out, not without reasons, as kidnapping attempts and threats are so common that she's used to them.
• Nice Girl: Sally's a very friendly and sympathetic girl, even crying for the fates of those who have wished her harm.

Archibald Davenport (AKA Arch)

A highly experienced agent, who recruited and trained Krystal, becoming her father figure of sorts. A chain smoker, he probably would've died of lung cancer long ago, if not for his Parahuman nature.

• Deal with the Devil: The source of Arch's power, and also the reason why he smokes.
• Embarrassing First Name: Not so much embarrassing as outdated. Few people are named Archibald these days, so he tends to go with just Arch. This has also resulted in Fred mistakenly believing him to be an archangel.
• Healing Factor: Arch heals from most damage almost instantly. Even decapitation stops him for 10 seconds at most.
• Must Have Nicotine: Arch is rarely seen without a cigarette in his mouth. He actually hates cigarettes, but it helps to hide the smell of sulfur coming from his mouth due to his Deal with the Devil.

Gideon

An ancient dragon, known as the King of the West, since he controls the American West Coast, having split the country with the other two dragons of equal strength. A Parahuman of extreme power, few would dare to challenge him openly. Almost always appears as a young boy, living in Richard's home and playing with Richard's daughter. Initially distrustful of Fred, he slowly learns to, at least, tolerate him.

• Arranged Marriage: Apparently, he is betrothed to Richard's daughter Sally. This is an agreement between Gideon and Richard to protect the little girl, since the betrothal means that Gideon is legally allowed to protect her from any threat. That said, should Sally choose to refuse marriage upon reaching adulthood, Gideon will let her go.
• Big Good: Despite his reputation as The Dreaded, Gideon eventually turns out to play this role for the series. Though Good Is Not Nice, he's ruthless when dealing with enemies and annoyances, and he almost always has an angle with any good deeds... he's actually far more benevolent than his reputation.
• Deadpan Snarker: Generally of the subtle kind. Gideon's got a huge array of snarky remarks, but they tend to be low-key. When he starts being more blatantly sarcastic, that's a sign he's getting really annoyed.
• The Dreaded: Gideon's name alone is enough to put the fear of God into most Parahumans.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons are some of the most powerful creatures in the world, and Gideon is one of the oldest and most powerful. He has incredible raw magical strength and has even taught Amy a few tricks. A single drop of Gideon's blood is enough to supercharge Fred beyond his wildest dreams (which, in fairness, aren't all that wild). When Gideon later possesses Fred's body in an attempt to escape another dragon's prison, a side effect of that results in Fred permanently becoming immune to silver.
• The Stoic: Gideon's default attitude is a detatched, calculating calm, and the strongest emotions he displays are mild amusement or mild annoyance. Sometimes we see hints of stronger emotions slip through his mask, though... and they're almost always centered around Sally.
• Wife Husbandry: He is betrothed to Sally and pretends to be her slightly-older playmate. It is unclear how much Sally knows about this arrangement or what she thinks of it.

Quinn

Fred's vampire sire and one of the few genuinely evil characters in the series. The reason he turned Fred is because he hoped that Fred would use his newfound strength to rampage across Winslow. He was supremely disappointed by Fred becoming even more of a recluse. He reappears several times, trying to exact revenge on Fred for defying him.

• Faux Affably Evil: He can be polite and pleasant when he wants to be, but it doesn't take long for him to reveal that he's an utter sociopath with no scruples whatsoever.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: According to Deborah, Quinn used to be a kind healer mage until a magical plague struck, killing his wife and all but one child. In desperation, he tried to use alchemy to guarantee the success of a vampiric turning. It seemed to work on him, but it failed to work on his son Beauregard. In reality, Quinn just happened to be one of the lucky ones to survive being turned. Ever since then, he's grown twisted and has been determined to make the humans and the Parahumans pay for being immune to the plague. The only echo of his once kind personality is the fact that he almost always calls one of his flunkies "Beauregard" in memory of his son. Despite this, both Fred and Deborah agree that none of that excuses what he's done since.
• I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Quinn is the only person in the book that Fred has absolutely no sympathy for. It's wholly deserved too.
• Joker Immunity: Every time Quinn is defeated, he manages to slip away, lick his wounds, and come back with another plan.

Charlotte Manor

A Victorian style (and for simplicity's sake, female-identified) Sapient House built by now deceased mages as a fortress, with the ability to create food and drink out of thin air as well as create one or more humanlike projections within herself to interact with people inside, Charlotte Manor ran herself as a bed-and-breakfast for years without anyone finding out her true nature, until an encounter with Fred. In later books, she becomes the base for Clan Fred.

• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Charlotte has the ability to create one or more human "puppets" within herself to interact with the people inside her. These people are impossible to tell apart from actual humans, but all of them are Charlotte; from the elderly receptionist lady to the well-dressed waiter. When interacting with Fred and friends, Charlotte most often appears to them as a young woman, which at least Fred almost subconsciously thinks of as her "real" face... even though it isn't.
• Sapient House: Created magically, Charlotte is fully sapient and self-aware, with thoughts, opinions and emotions. After Quinn's attack destroyed the house, Charlotte's essence was moved to Fred's old apartment building, which has been purchased by Gideon. The place is now called Charlotte Arms.
• Supreme Chef: Charlotte's cuisine is famous. Of course, she doesn't cook so much as she creates the food by magic.

Lillian

A vampire several hundred years old, originally a member of the House of Turva, she chooses to ally with Fred and joins his newfound House of Fred. She also becomes his accounting assistant after Albert quits.

• Heel–Face Turn: When she starts working for Fred she's an extremely obvious plant from the House of Turva, there to spy on his operations. It doesn't take long before she stops even pretending this isn't the case, but hearing Fred's story, as well as being treated with more kindness than she's been given at the House of Turva she quickly gains sympathy for him and chooses to ally with him instead of them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While she's never outright evil, she starts out extremely arrogant and callous towards most non-vampire parahumans, dismissing them as lesser beings who are there to be used and taken advantage of. It gets increasingly clear that this is an attitude instilled into her by the House of Turva, and she learns better over time.

Deborah

An incredibly old vampire, a member of the Blood Council, who comes to Winslow to evaluate Fred's eligibility to form his own House.

• Crazy-Prepared: Given that fire is one of the vampires' only weaknesses, Deborah has made sure that all her clothes have asbestos woven into them. It's not like vampires can get cancer, but it does allow her to protect her body against a blast of fire. It's also why she typically wears long sleeves, so she can quickly throw her arms up to protect her face.
• I Have Many Names: Deborah isn't her original name (which makes sense given how old she's implied to be). She changes her name periodically, usually to honor someone who was important to her. In the current case, Deborah was a mortal woman and a close friend.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: As Prudence, this is Deborah's role on the Blood Council. She is sent to evaluate cases and determine punishment. While she doesn't decide on the course of action unilaterally, the Blood Council usually listens to her recommendations and then dispatches her to carry out the sentence.
• Manipulative Bitch: Deborah is a master at manipulating others. Fred is no exception. She knows that he is a good man and frequently uses that against him, although for not specifically evil means. For example, she guilt-trips him into turning a cancer-ridden woman, as the woman has made a deal with Deborah to provide for her children regardless of the outcome of the turning. When Fred and Krystal are rushing to get married in violation of the Director's order, Deborah stands in their way, unless the newly-turned Asha goes with her for some testing.
• Time Abyss: Apparently, Deborah is so old that she remembers hunting humans, guided only by the light of their campfires, since this was before any settlements existed. After hearing that, Fred feels the enormous gulf of time separating them.

June Windbrook

A half-Fey agent and Krystal's best friend. Krystal used to be engaged to June's brother September, until catching the latter with someone else. Despite the break-up, Krystal remains good friends with June.

• The Fair Folk: June is half-Fey, making her immune to silver but vulnerable to iron.
• Secret Test of Character: June pulls this on Fred during their first meeting in order to make sure he's good enough for her friend.

Asha Patel

A former coworker of Fred's, working as a lawyer at the same firm he had before quitting, who encounters him several years later and learns of the existence of Parahumans. Instead of trying to forget it all, she becomes interested in that world and gets a Parahuman legal license, offering her services as a lawyer to a whole new group of clients.

• Emergency Transformation: In Undeading Bells, Asha is mortally wounded by a car bomb planted by Quinn in Fred's car. As she lies bleeding on the street, Fred has no choice but to perform his second ever turning attempt. It is also successful (unprecedented in the vampire world, where 1 in 10 is seen as excellent odds). But then she starts to scream in pain, as the bomb had silver shards that are now starting to kill her from the inside as her body is changing. Luckily, Sheriff Thurgood arrives just in time and gives Asha a vial of his own blood. Not only does it allow Asha to survive the turning and makes her immune to silver just like Fred, but it also imbues her fangs and claws with silver-like properties.
• My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: Asha is one of the best in her field and can out-lawyer anyone in the Parahuman world.

Alstroemeria (AKA "Al")

Alstroemeria, or "Al" for short, is a pixie who, as of the sixth book, is Fred's assistant at Fletcher Accounting. Her ambition is to one day start her own business and show that there is more to being a pixie than just candies and glitter, but she lacks work experience because, before she managed to get hired by the more tolerant Fred, her nature as a pixie made it hard for her to hold down a job for more than a few days.

• Badass Pacifist: Though an Actual Pacifist who very blatantly does not fight, Al is nonetheless powerful enough that crowds of parahumans pose no threat to her, and she can use her magic to subdue people non-violently.
• The Fair Folk: Pixies are "Summer Fey" who serve as messengers of joy and fun. They're far less fearsome than other Fey encountered in the series, but still incredibly powerful — even if their magic tends to involve candy, flowers, rainbows and such things.
• Genki Girl: Downplayed, but not wholly averted. Pixies are by nature cheerful and energetic, but Al is notably more down to Earth and serious-minded than other pixies. By non-pixie standards, though, she's still very upbeat and cheery, and Fred surmises that she's a bit of an outsider because she's "too serious for her own people; too pixie for the rest of the world."
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Al laments that nobody takes pixies seriously because "everyone just sees bluebirds and rainbows when they look at us." Nevertheless, she demonstrates quite thoroughly in her debut chapter that even magic that's all about joy, fun and pleasure can be a very effective weapon, as she singlehandedly and effortlessly subdues a crowd of rioting parahumans.
• Immune to Mind Control: Or at least immune to any mood-altering magics, spells or drugs. When Amy accidentally drugs an entire room full of parahumans, Al is completely unaffected.
• Our Pixies Are Different: They are very much the tiny, winged little fairies of legends, though many of them have learned how to take on a human-sized form (even if they generally revert to their normal appearance to cast magic). As Al demonstrates, they also have a sort of "residual aura" that sometimes changes things up in minor ways to make them more fun and festive — such as filling the water coolers with lemonade and turning Fred's coffee into hot chocolate.
• Really Royalty Reveal: In book 8, Al turns out to be a royal of the Court of Summer. This causes problems when she gets close to the Winter royal Pieris, as their defensive magics interact and cause an explosion that sends everyone in the classroom into the fey realm.

Gregor of the Slate Claw Clan

Fred's bodyguard, as issued for him by Gideon during the sixth book. He's a gargoyle, whose clan reveres Gideon, and who takes his job extremely seriously.

• The Determinator: If Gregor has a job to do, he commits to it 100%, never giving up on it even if his own life is in danger. Granted, it seldom is in danger since he's so incredibly tough and hard to hurt, but even if he should encounter a genuinely lethal situation he won't back down.
• Our Gargoyles Rock: They're big, tough, and strong as all get-out, being nearly impossible to hurt or kill. They're not good at small menial tasks, but as bodyguards and soldiers they're unparalleled. They also have wings, though we've yet to see Gregor take flight.
• Mighty Glacier: In comparison to Fred, who becomes more like a Fragile Speedster in comparison to Gregor. By human standards, of course, Fred is anything but fragile and Gregor isn't slow, but respective to one another it's a different deal. Gregor is nowhere near as fast as Fred, but he's much stronger, being pretty much a nigh-invulnerable tank. As a gargoyle, he also possesses silver immunity.
• The Stoic: Gregor is serious, always business-like, and seldom reacts to anything with more than sternness or at most annoyance. At one point, Fred sees Gregor chatting with a couple of other gargoyles and looking more excited than Fred's ever seen him before — which is to say, he looks mildly interested in the conversation.
• Undying Loyalty: To Gideon, which means that in practice he also has this for Fred — at least as long as Gideon tells him to.

Sequoin

The headmaster of Trestlevend University. An incredibly powerful Parahuman even Agents are wary of. She has somehow made it so the sun is harmless to vampires while on campus.

• Our Nymphs Are Different: At the end of book 8, Sequoin reveals that she is a dryad, although there were hints of her nature earlier in the story. She also explains that the way she filters the sunlight to be harmless to vampires is by actually having the "sky" over the campus be the canopy of an immense tree that creates the illusion of the sky.