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Terry Jackson (Teraphim), Balseraph of the Media Captain of Swank, Demon of TV Marketing |
I first met Terry at the Holiday Inn in Saginaw on the morning before Daimon was brought before the Seraphim Council. Terry is Daimon's agent. Daimon had made several attempts to call him while we were in Alpena, but I didn't relish the thought of him calling in demonic reinforcements, so I hadn't let him make any calls. On this day, though, Daimon was outside my influence. He called Terry in as a favor. He wanted to get Star someplace safe, away from the Council. Terry arrived after the fracas. When Daimon explained his reasoning I agreed that Star would be safer elsewhere. Did Terry take her to safety? No, of course not. Instead he chased our car down and created a big scene before using his powers to totally charm me. I did get in a single solid punch to his jaw.
This must have been when Terry decided I had cinematic potential. It was probably the leaping from car to car and punching through the windshield. I suppose I see his angle, but that doesn't make me like the fact that he charmed me. Even today I cannot shake some of the effects of that first charm. He seemed like such a great guy. The notion lingered long after the charm had worn off.
This was just the beginning of Terry's mischief and meddling. He called all sorts of media types in at the end of the Seraphim Council's meeting. At this point the meeting had degenerated into chaos anyhow. The arrival of the media certainly didn't help much. They did catch Kezef in demonic celestial form, which I suppose had some merit.
Later when we all went to Caro in hopes of leading Kezef into a confrontation with Schiekron, Terry appeared once again. He suggested that we hand Daimon over to Schiekron who would publicly and bloodily massacre him to draw out Kezef. Terry, of course, would see to it that the ensuing combat was all captured on video. The scheme was wacky, but it wasn't until Jered spoke firmly against the idea that we discarded the notion. When I tried to toss Terry out, so we could get some serious planning done he brainwashed me a second time and convinced me to leave with him instead. We went to a sports bar (I had actually suggested this earlier to try to cheer Terry up when he was grumpy). We shot some pool and discussed life a little. I placed a $20 wager on Miami to beat Orlando in their best-of-five playoff series. We got along just fine, even after the brainwashing wore off. I was going to insist Terry never brainwash me again, but Jered and Malcolm showed up first. Terry didn't want me to leave with them. We used his mind powers on me again, but Jered countered with a Song of Ethereal Shields. This led to a short combat between them. We all left in Malcolm's truck. Terry stole my rental car.
The next time I ran into Terry was at a shopping mall in Howell. We were stopping there so Daimonique could buy herself some new clothes. Some locals recognized Malcolm and his car (did I mention we were wanted by the FBI?) and called the police, or so it appeared. I now suspect that Terry set the whole thing up. The police arrived far too quickly and in larger numbers than would have normally responded to a call of this sort. Never the less everyone involved escaped the cops and Terry got everything on tape (despite me driving off with the news van.)
It was at this point that Jered could take no more of Terry's meddling. He proposed that we off Terry. We all agreed, but when Dana later soured on the idea the plan lost support. I was never that big on killing Terry. After all I still liked the guy, demon or not.
It turned out to be a very good thing for me that we did not try to kill Terry. Shortly thereafter I was ambushed, put under a spell of Dark Desire by Caleb, Calibite of Lust, taken to Andrealphus' tether in Caro, and tortured. After 6 or so hours of torture who should rescue me but Terry? He turned out to be a quite competent fighter. Together we slashed through Schiekron's forces. I even slashed through Schiekron himself as we made our get-away. Needless to say Terry got the entire event on video. Now I owe him one.
Upon returning to Fox's tether Terry also filmed a major incident in which Andrealphus and his Calabim destroyed the tether, but were beaten, literally, to hell by Laurence and his Malakim. Nybbas also made an appearance. He made off with all Terry's footage, leaving Terry to be slain by Laurence.
I'll have to admit that Terry's plans do not appear to clash directly with the my duties here on earth. He may be slippery and somewhat unpredictable, but I feel we might be able to help each other in the future.