Jerrik and the Son He Couldn't Bring Back Under Control

Jerrik and the Son He Couldn't Bring Back Under Control Spoilers for the original Hellchild series. By the time Jerrik comes looking for Olaf, their relationship has been going on for centuries. He found Olaf badly wounded after a battle, killed the soldiers around him, and offered him the blood that made their life together possible. When he calls Olaf his son, there's a whole history behind it. He remembers the warrior he brought into that existence, and he expects that history to still mean something. Olaf has other plans now. He's taking power from supernatural prisoners, and Angelica gives him the prospect of something much bigger. She's a vampire with Hades for a father. To Olaf, that's an opportunity. Jerrik is disgusted by it. That disagreement is probably the most useful thing about him in this story. The older vampire doesn't regard godly blood as an improvement. He calls it polluted and connects their immortality to the purity of what they are. The council in Rome isn't pleased with what Olaf is doing, either. There are rules and other people watching this situation, even if Olaf is acting like New York belongs to him. Jerrik tries to offer him a way back. Leave this behind, help kill Helsing and Hades, slaughter the prisoners, and his crimes can be forgiven. He even offers to lead the city with him. It's a pretty revealing definition of forgiveness. The problem isn't that Olaf has been hurting people. Jerrik is prepared to have the captives killed himself. He's objecting to what Olaf is becoming and where he's taking their kind. I find that much more interesting than having an older vampire show up just to tell the younger one to behave. Jerrik is carrying the authority of a father, the person who changed Olaf, and a wider vampire hierarchy. He wants those things to be enough to pull his son back into line. But the offer assumes Olaf still wants the place he's being offered. When Olaf refuses, Jerrik starts carrying out his threat. He tears Lyra's head off while Olaf objects. She's the witch whose blood has already helped make Olaf more dangerous, and Olaf is furious at watching him destroy someone he considers valuable. Angelica sees her chance in that split. She offers her own blood and her help against Hades. Jerrik can still throw Olaf across the room, but he ends up with Angelica's chain around his neck. She offers to kill him. Olaf wants to do it himself. He calls it a family thing, then drives the stake into Jerrik while Angelica holds him. Later, Olaf talks about how old and powerful his father was and says he'll mourn him for centuries. He's also celebrating the person who helped him do it. That leaves Jerrik in a particularly bitter place in the story. His son hasn't forgotten what they meant to each other. He remembers it perfectly well and kills him anyway, because he wants what comes next more.