Vampire

A **vampire** is a powerful demon created in two ways: 1) they drink the blood of the fallen on the battlefield when they are in a state of near-death, or 2) a human virgin has their blood drained by a preexistent vampire of the opposite sex. This is the most common method to create vampires as this resurrects said corpse as a newborn undead, perpetuating a lineage. Vampires call this lineage a ‘bloodline/family’ but demon hunters simply call it a ‘nest’.

## History

* Before Blackbird
* Blackbird

Any and all vampires and their offspring originate from Valerie Nosferatu, the first and true vampire where vampirism originates. From her came the **Țepeș Bloodline** in Eastern Europe and the **Kreisler Bloodline** in Scandinavia. It is unknown as to how, why, or when she became the first vampire, but Valerie and her children came to dominate humanity alongside Jürgen Wolfblood and his subjects, regularly fighting against demon hunters for thousands of years.

In the late medieval period, Nosferatu fell in love with Wolfblood and conceived Lemar Wolfblood from their secret union. Upon her son’s birth, to ensure the balance of the order of power of both the natural and supernatural realms, Nosferatu and Wolfblood gave him up to Klaus and the Milson who adopted him. Upon adoption, the Milsons first suppressed his vampiric and lycanthropic heritage into dormancy, turning him from a demon into a homo magus, and his name was changed to ‘Ralph’. At sixteen years old, he later became a sorcerer like the Milsons and began hunting demons of all kinds. After becoming a young man, however, Lemar’s latent vampiric and lycanthropic heritage awakened under a blood moon. He slaughtered an entire village, curbing his enormous hunger for human flesh and intense bloodlust which were held back since birth. He would later learn of his true heritage, and it would take time for him to repair the trust he had with his foster family which was eventually settled in a duel.
Over the next couple of centuries, followed by the Milson Family’s journey and permanent residence in North America, Lemar used his vampiric and lycanthropic powers in conjunction with magic to protect his family and battle against the supernatural to keep mankind safe.
In World War II, the Nazis used vampires amongst their ranks along with other forms of demons to wage war against the West before they were decimated by Lemar after he teamed up with Johan Birch and other demon hunters that would later form the Blackbird Organization. Unbeknownst to them, their enemies would create the Phoenix Organization and begin planning world domination over humanity.

Main article: Blackbird (series)
In *Episode I*, the first known vampire to appear in the series was the Unnamed Vampire who, alongside his horde of zombies, attacked Hannah Sommers and boyfriend Malcolm for stepping on his feeding grounds. He manages to have his horde turn Malcolm into one of their own before stumbling upon her and attempting to rape her before turning her into a ghoul. That was when he was killed by Lemar Wolfblood and rescued Hannah from a fate worse than death.

In *Episode II*, .
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In *Episode XVI*, .
## Characteristics

Vampires are a staple of folklore and are said to be the most abundant species of werewolves and ghouls. They possess bloody red eyes, four razor-sharp canines, and pale skin. Vampires have two default forms: their human selves since they are reanimated corpses, and a nebulous otherworldly substance that is black in center with reddish edges and tips that are immune to all conventional weaponry. This form is the catalyst for their ability to reform themselves after being extensively damaged, even regrowing limbs through this darkness. But they can do this only if they have at least one familiar inside themselves in which to exchange their soul.

Their diet is solely the life force of humans contained in their blood. Once they drink the blood which contains it, that said human’s élan vital, or soul, is converted into a familiar and can be summoned at will by their vampiric master for various purposes like assisting them in battle, a personal means of entertainment, etc. They are estimated to be at least six times stronger than humans upon reanimation, but their strength can grow as much as twenty times that of mortals depending on their rank, maturity, and the number of familiars they contain within themselves. If a vampire drinks an entire person of their blood, and they are not a virgin of the opposite sex (especially if they are given permission to be vampirized), that said human will become a zombie which is a soulless demon with a perpetual hunger for human flesh, and those bitten or scratched by zombies will become zombies themselves.

Even though vampires are demons, they still possess a familial bond with those they vampirize, such as Wren’s reaction to the death of his fledglings died at Lemar’s hands. Valerie too expressed familial love towards her newborn son before she died, calling him her “sweet child” affectionately. Lemar also shows affection towards those close to him like Kelly Milson and Hannah Sommers.

Unlike their originator, Valerie’s descendants cannot reproduce sexually since they are already dead and cannot die from old age. Typically, vampires populate their species by converting virgin humans of opposite sexes into their kind, creating multiple different lineages, or ‘families’ altogether. They do this by draining the blood of a virgin’s blood while delivering theirs in exchange. It is unknown, however, how or why humans still have a soul after they become vampires.

## Types of Vampires

Other than the first—i.e. transcendent**/**divine—vampire Valerie Nosferatu or her son Lemar Wolfblood, there are only two types of vampires: **alpha** and **omega**. Omegas are newly vampirized humans who are wholly dependent upon the care and guidance of their ‘master’ who turned them. They require training and understanding so they will mature into fully-fledged vampires or alphas. Once an omega becomes an alpha, they are equal to their masters in both physicality and maturity and can act independently from them. Because alphas are more mature and experienced with their vampirism, alphas are capable of vampirizing humans and can make armies of undead (zombies and familiars).

## Powers and Abilities

* **Immortality/Regeneration**: Vampires can live eternally, meaning they are biologically immortal; however, their supernatural, regenerative, physical, and psychic powers originate from the number of souls of living humans and nonhumans they accumulated over time. Whenever they sustain any sort of injury, any life force they stole is expended to heal themselves, even their clothing and limbs. According to Lemar, vampires can only die by depleting or releasing the entire legion of ‘stolen lives’ they accumulated over their lifetime. This is the point where they are absolutely vulnerable and can be slain by any means.
	+ **Essence Transfer/Familiar Summoning and Control**: Upon drinking the blood or absorbing it telekinetically into themselves, vampires take the entire essence of mortals or immortals into themselves, including their memories and powers which are at their disposal. They can also release any number of these trapped souls from within and use them to fight, completely dominating their will, personality, and overall abilities.
* **Unnatural Strength**: Vampires are much stronger than humans, but it all depends on their rank and state of health. Newborn vampires like Anna Gibson and Ashley Kline are about six times to at most ten times more powerful than mortals, whereas older vampires like Wren Kreisler and Neil Edda are around twenty times the strength of humans. For example, Edda was able to fight against Lemar in physical combat thanks to physical enhancements by Dr. Igor Frankenstein before the latter took the upper hand as he had more experience and power over his opponent. Valerie Nosferatu, the originator of all vampires, had the physical strength of thousands or more humans put together. After her death by being consumed by Wren in an act of treason, Lemar absorbed him and surpassed both him and his mother in physical strength, becoming one of the strongest beings in the Blackbird Universe.
* **Super Speed/Reflexes and Agility**: Vampires are faster and vastly more agile than humans. With their supernatural speed, they can appear as a flash of light, a series of afterimages, or a simple blur to the mortal eye. Vampires can easily dodge automatic gunfire, oftentimes with finesse.
* **High Endurance**: Vampires are extremely resistant to conventional weaponry. There are only three known ways to kill a vampire: magic and silver which is blessed by a Christian prayer; however, ancient vampires like Neil Edda, Wren Kreisler, and Valerie Nosferatu can resist these methods which kill their own kind. Lemar, however, is immune to any of their effects, as demonstrated when he fought Finster Xavion.
* **Extrasensory Perception**: Vampires have an acute sense of smell, touch, taste, and audible range. For example, Wren could hear a person’s living heart rate and blood flow within earshot range and used his fingers**/**nails to feel the slightest sensation of both the walls and ceiling when he fought Lemar. Wolfblood’s senses are supernatural, able to sense paranormal activity and the power of others with just their presence, like when he identified Fu as a fox spirit or Alfonse Günsche a dragon.
* **Telepathy**: Vampires can read and speak directly into the minds of those they have converted into their own kind. A vampire can also manipulate the minds of even strong-willed humans, an ability used by Lemar in *Episode IX* as he, being half (divine) vampire, was also able to cast effective illusions against the famed witch Margery.
* **Telekinesis**: Vampires can manipulate, move, and lift physical objects and control their surrounding environment with their mind. Edda and Wren used telekinesis frequently solely for combat. Valerie and her son Lemar, however, can use telekinesis for both combative and noncombative purposes in more creative and powerful ways.
	+ **Levitation**: Valerie, Lemar, and Wren can levitate and sometimes fly as an extension and more advanced form of telekinesis. It is, however, difficult to perform as Anna and Ashley were surprised when they saw Lemar ‘move through the air’ in different directions.
	+ **Haemokinesis/Hematophagy**: Vampires have the ability to manipulate blood, but this is limited to blood outside the body, as it has never been shown to influence blood while targets were still intact. They can also absorb blood into their bodies as was seen with Lemar, Valerie, and later Wren in *Episode IX.* Vampires require blood to sustain themselves, and they possess four canonical fangs (sometimes they turn into rows of razor-sharp, shark-like teeth) to assist in this job. Their feeding habits vary from the traditional neck biting to completely devouring their targets whole.
* **Form Changing**: Shapeshifting, or polymorphing, is an inherent ability for high-tier vampires since low-tier ones are never seen using this ability at their disposal. Lemar, being half divine vampire, claims he can change into anything he wants, including demonic hounds, several bats, flocks of ravens and crows, colonies or hives of insects, amorphous darkness, and even some “default” forms he uses for most occasions or missions. Neil Edda, an alpha vampire, was also able to change, at will, into several bats, a bloody red mist to render physical attacks useless, and even a similar demonic dog form that looked like Lemar’s. Wren was able to turn into a sentient puddle of blood which he could control at will, plus a clichéd bat or even a crow to spy on his enemies.
* **Underlying Authority**: Vampires have an innate ability to create and command several kinds of underlings, mainly their fledglings and their familiars locked within them. They also naturally command armies of zombies they create from those they have absorbed their soul via their blood. Kreisler commanded an army of vampires, including several fledglings like Neil Edda who also commanded his two newborn ‘children’ Anna Gibson and Ashley Kline.

## Weaknesses

### Blessed silver and holy weaponry

Most vampires, as well as ghouls and werewolves, are susceptible to injuries caused by weapons containing silver that is blessed by a divine prayer. They are especially vulnerable to it when coming into direct contact with it, such as when Wren’s flesh began to burn after getting struck by silver bullets from Lemar’s guns, forcing him to dodge each bullet afterwards. Mystical and weapons and artifacts are also extremely harmful to vampires, but the exact requirements and effects of various blessed silver-alloyed weapons are not explained.

Normal unblessed silver is completely ineffective against all demons as Lemar pointed out that “just plain silver is not enough unless it has a blessing of some divine nature, it cannot under any circumstance ever truly kill a vampire, or any other demon”. This statement is backed up during *Episode IX* when Wren held a silver coin in his hands without any physical harm to him, but Lemar’s bullets that had silver heads were blessed and were blessed and were able to finish him off.

### Impalation

All vampires can be dispatched through impaling hearts, which can be seen when Lemar slew Anna and Ashley (one with a blessed silver bullet and the other with his hand). Lemar, Neil Edda, and Wren have also been successfully impaled and were able to continue fighting. Lemar, in particular, survived all attempts on his life and was able to destroy the greatest number of enemies than everyone else in the series.

### Decapitation

The most common method to kill vampires in both lore and various other media is to remove their heads from their bodies. While never seen to destroy transcendent vampires like Valerie or her hybrid son Lemar, it has been seen with lesser vampires through countless engagements between Lemar, Maria, and members of Blackbird and other demon hunters throughout the series. After beheading Lemar during their first engagement, Finster Xavion thought he defeated him and was even insulted that the latter was weak. Tiberius Birch, who was present, mentioned it is one way to kill a vampire, but not Lemar who regenerated and reengaged with Xavion in battle, causing the latter to escape but swearing vengeance.

### Blood dependency

All vampires must drink blood to maintain their strength and power. It is unknown, however, if they can be starved to death as the vampire Wren Kreisler was reduced to a corpselike state after being starved of blood for a significant amount of time before being restored back to health by Neil Edda. Even Lemar, being a half (divine) vampire, becomes visibly weak if he goes a significantly long time without blood as it is the source of most of his supernatural power and vitality.

### Essence depletion

Once vampires drink the blood of either a dead or living person, that human’s soul becomes their familiar and is stored within their being. This ‘stolen life’ is the catalyst for the vampiric regenerative powers, as when they are physically injured or destroyed, the damage is repaired using one familiar is enough to heal themselves, even going as far as restoring lost limbs. But once a vampire has no more familiars within themselves, they are completely vulnerable to any and all attack and can be killed in this state. Most vampires, however, do not waste their reservoir of souls within themselves but instead, attempt to finish their enemies off as fast as possible.

### Bodies of water

Vampires, according to lore, cannot cross large bodies of water, implicating that this is fatal to them. To compensate, they require some sort of seaworthy vessel or stable bridge to cross. It is never made clear why or how this weakness is lethal for them. Even though they can use their other abilities to compensate for this weakness, it is never shown or explained in the series. Lemar boldly claims that large open bodies of water often reduce the potency of a vampire’s powers, but this is never shown nor is it confirmed by anyone else.

### Daylight

All lesser vampires (omegas and alphas) have a perceived weakness to sunlight, except for Valerie and her son Lemar as this weakness is completely negligible to some extent. For vampirism as a whole, however, sunlight absolutely weakens their powers, and they are, as a species, nocturnal. Daylight is not, according to Lemar and other sources of information by Blackbird, fatal to vampires in the slightest, saying that it is “an insult spread by other demons”.

## Known Vampires

* Valerie Nosferatu (Transcendent Vampire, deceased)
* Lemar Wolfblood (Vampire-Werewolf Hybrid, Transcendent)
* Aoreugif (Alpha, deceased)
* Leumas (Alpha, deceased)
* Zeugirdor (Alpha, deceased)
* Ebaneb (Alpha, deceased)
* Unnamed Vampire (Alpha, deceased)
* Wren Kreisler (Alpha; Transcendent Vampire (briefly), familiarized)
* Neil Edda (Alpha, deceased)
* Ashley Kline (Omega, deceased)
* Anna Gibson (Omega, deceased)
* Vampiric Battalion (Omega Vampires, Phoenix Undead, deceased)

## Works Cited

* “Vampire.” *Hellsing Wiki*, FANDOM powered by Wikia, Web. https://hellsing.fandom.com/wiki/Vampire. Accessed 28 March 2019.
* “Vampires.” *Supernatural Wiki*, FANDOM powered by Wikia, Web. https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Vampires. Accessed 10 July 2019.
* Delahoyde, Michael A. “Vampires.” *Washington State University*, Web. Oct. 4 2012, https://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/vampires.html. Accessed 10 July 2019.