Familiar

Familiars are human and demonic souls that vampires absorb through the blood of living entities, bound into eternal servitude and loyalty to that said vampire. In every way, they are superior to zombies and by extension, are a vampire’s own personal army and a legion of companions. When they are locked within their master’s being, they are used consistently as an effective currency to cheat death each time they receive any fatal injury.

Creation
A familiar is produced when a vampire completely drains a non-virgin and/or a same sex victim of their soul through their blood and leaving their real body as a zombie under the vampire’s direct control. Their minds and memories are assimilated into the vampire, like when Neil Edda managed to find where Blackbird HQ was by sucking all of Richard Browne’s blood, or when Lemar Wolfblood discovered Phoenix’s existence upon drinking all of Edda’s blood and attaining his memories. A familiar’s personality can also be altered and/or left intact to some extent, as seen when Alfonse Günsche and Margery interact with Lemar on many occasions, even protecting him in his fight against Wren Kreisler in Episode XVI. There does not seem to be a limit on what lifeform a familiar could be, as in Episode XI Lemar fought, defeated, and absorbed Alfonse Günsche’s soul, despite the fact that he was a dragon (another form of demon). Simple humans, such as Richard Browne, can be familiars and manifest into the real world as their host vampire allows. (This applies also to demons, but it is unknown if they can be dominated or have natural free reign within their master as Alfonse and Margery would banter Lemar on several occasions). Upon accumulating a large number of familiars and the more combative experience they get, the higher a vampire’s rank can be. As long as a vampire has at least one familiar within their being, and is not destroyed once they release them from within, they will be absolutely unkillable. This does not, however, make them transcendental vampires like the primordial Valerie Nosferatu and, to an unknown extent, her son Lemar. Even Wren Kreisler was not a true primordial, as Lemar noted when Kreisler killed Nosferatu and absorbed all her divinity by drinking all her blood.

Usage
When they are inside their vampiric master, any serious injuries said vampire’s soul sustains are substituted by the familiars within them, one at a time, thereby allowing the vampire to come back to life and regenerate at the cost of one familiar’s life. In Lemar Wolfblood’s case, familiars can also manifest themselves in their corporeal form to assist or even protect their master during combat. A particularly dangerous familiar, such as another demon or a well-armed and combative human, could be used as a weapon against opponents. As seen with Edda and Lemar, a vampire could amass a literal army within oneself if it absorbed enough souls, although research and a fair bit of “tampering” from the Phoenix Organization was involved in Kreisler’s vampirism.

List of Notable Familiars

 * Cody Harris (homo magi)
 * Alfonse Günsche (Dragon)
 * Margery (Witch)
 * Wren Kreisler (Vampire; briefly primordial)

Work Cited

 * “Familiar.” Hellsing Wiki, FANDOM Powered by Wikia, .