DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 2: Equilibrant
Chapter 2
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Ed stood at the entrance greeting everyone who came to the 
wedding. John stood next to him with Beth and Kelly by their 
sides. When Ed did not like the feel of one of the guests he would 
turn to John and, with exaggerated formality, introduce the guest to 
John. This was the clue to the security guards to watch that 
individual closely throughout the afternoon. Rover and Shadow sat 
behind John. If they growled at someone, the individual was 
discretely taken to a remote area for drinks and food. The idea was 
that after everyone arrived, those guests would be quietly escorted 
from the property.

The line of people at the entrance for the wedding had dwindled 
down to a few people that Ed knew and liked. He leaned over to 
John and said, "Can you cover me for a few minutes? There is 
something that I must do."

Smiling at Ed, John whispered, "I've left the line twice to piss and 
you've been here the entire time. Get out of here. Your bladder 
must be about to explode."

Not wishing to contradict John's mistaken interpretation of what he 
had in mind, Ed stepped back and headed towards the house. 
Shadow came running over to him and followed beside him. 
Somehow, the cats knew what he had in mind. As always, they 
knew when one of them was stepping into danger.

Ed entered the house through the front door. Glancing up, he saw 
Tiger on the stairs looking down at the doorway. Anyone that 
broke into the house would be surprised by the sudden appearance 
of the cat from above. The cat didn't react to his entrance, but it did 
make a chirping sound at Shadow. Ignoring the cats, Ed walked to 
his room and opened the door. Just inside the room, were ten 
stacks of folders on the table next to the door. He picked them up 
and continued walking through the house to the side door. Shadow 
followed, but kept its distance from the folders. 

Ed walked directly to the tent where the individuals that had 
created a negative reaction in Rover were being entertained. These 
were men, misguided by a sense of macho, that rejected anything 
out of the normal as sinful or evil. He knew the men in this tent 
would be more than happy to beat him to a pulp in the hope of 
chasing him away. 

When he entered the tent, a hush fell over the men gathered there. 
They all turned to stare at him. The large quantity of alcohol they 
had consumed allowed their real attitudes to surface without any 
pretence of politeness. Ed looked around at all of the people. His 
pale eyes seemed to bore into everyone in the room, making each 
of the men a little nervous. Without greeting, he said, "You think 
that I am doing something immoral and disgusting."

More than one man answered, "You bet your ass. Oh, wait. I 
forgot, your ass is full of cock."

Ed allowed the anger in the room to grow, waiting until it was 
ready to spill over into violence. Emitting a low growl, Shadow's 
ears slowly flattened as it bared its teeth. Once he judged the mood 
in the room to be at the right level, Ed said, "I have come here to 
teach you about evil. When you leave here, you will understand 
what it means to be immoral and disgusting. I do not want to do 
this, but it is in your best interests. Maybe, just maybe, you will 
also understand love before you leave here."

One of the men shouted, "Fuck you, Ed. You're a goddamned 
faggot."

Smiling, Ed looked around the room. Without meaning it, his look 
conveyed the sentiment that he was looking into their souls. It was 
an aspect of his gift and one of which he wasn't fully aware. It had 
the result that it intimidated everyone in the room. He asked, "Are 
you afraid of learning about true evil?"

Richard Green, a man with whom Ed already had several 
encounters since he quit drinking, belligerently shouted, "Hell no."

With a look that could have frozen water, Ed stared at Richard. 
The smile on his face suggested that Richard had made a major 
mistake, Ed said, "You should be. You're going to find that all 
those petty little things that you consider sick and disgusting are 
nothing."

There was a long history of antagonism between Richard and Ed. 
The fact was that Richard was only afraid of one man and that man 
was Ed. The last fight had been easily won by Ed, so easily that 
Richard was concerned what would happen if Ed actually got mad 
at him. Shooting back a shot of whiskey followed by a couple sips 
of his beer to bolster his courage, Richard answered, "Bring it on."

Handing him a folder, Ed said, "Open it if you dare."

As Richard slowly opened the folder, Ed passed out the remaining 
folders to the others in the room. There were more people than 
folders, but the men crowded around the folders to see what they 
contained. Once the folders were distributed, Ed said, "The first 
page is a headline from when John and I captured the Amputation 
Murderer. You will see that our role in that capture is completely 
described."

A number of people flipped over to the next page. Two men ran 
from the tent, throwing up outside. Stomachs weak from excessive 
alcohol and the grotesque pictures made it a sure bet that they 
would be sick. Those that remained slowly turned white. Ed said, 
"The second page shows what he did to his victims. That is 
Kimberly. She was an active, attractive, young woman. Woman? 
No, she was a girl. At the time of her death she was only fifteen 
years old. You will notice that she doesn't have any arms or legs 
and that the stumps indicate that they healed. Unfortunately, she 
couldn't live after her head was cut off."

He looked around the room noticing that many of the people were 
swallowing, trying to keep the contents of their stomach where it 
belonged. The picture clearly showed how her head had been 
hacked off. Continuing, he said, "You might wonder why that 
happened to her. Henry Buckman did it because he was sexually 
attracted to statues without arms, legs, or heads. He wanted to 
create the perfect female."

"If you turn to the next page, you will see a line of heads preserved 
in jars that he kept in his basement. Each head came from one of 
his victims. You will notice the large number of heads. Each one 
came from some young woman." Ed paused and looked around the 
room. Another man ran out of the tent to throw up. One of the 
security guards escorted the first two men back into the tent.

"The next page is a montage that shows many of his victims before 
he butchered them. They were all pretty young ladies. The page 
after that shows the two girls that John and I rescued from that fate. 
They are wonderful young ladies and now have a bright future 
ahead of them." Ed thought back to that afternoon when they were 
just two young scared girls afraid of being raped with no idea of 
what future had been avoided.

Ed waited until the men in the room were looking at him. With 
eyes that seemed to bore into their souls, he said, "That is one form 
of evil. It kills people in the most horrific fashion for its own 
pleasure."

"If you turn the page, you will see another newspaper article about 
John. He captured another serial killer that was known as the 
serious bandit. The page after that shows what this guy did to 
people. This picture came from a bank camera that captured the 
moment when he blew the brains out of a bank customer because 
he wanted to show people that he was serious about robbing the 
bank."

Looking at the men averting their eyes, he shouted, "Look at it. 
Look at the self-satisfied smile on that bastards face. Look at the 
horror on the faces of the other bank customers. Look at that blur 
created by the old woman's brains as they were blown across the 
room. She could have been your mother cashing her social security 
check! That woman did nothing wrong!"

Returning to a conversational tone, Ed said, "That is another kind 
of evil. It kills just to show that it can kill."

The room was silent as the men avoided looking at the picture. Ed 
waited and then said, "Turn over to the next page gentlemen. You 
will notice that this is a newspaper article that describes how John 
broke up a white slavery ring. You will notice that all four of us 
are mentioned there. John was shot and killed, but was revived on 
the operating table. I was wounded in the leg."

A number of eyebrows rose at that statement. Ed continued, "The 
next picture shows some of the victims of that slavery ring. What 
you see are the graves where their bodies were discovered. The 
bodies are just becoming visible as the dirt over them was being 
removed. Those four people were tortured to death by the man that 
bought them from the slavers."

The bleached white skin poking through the dirt sickened the men 
looking at the pictures. Stomachs turned as they stared at Ed. 
Several other men ran from the tent to throw up. All of them were 
coming to the realization that there were bigger problems in the 
world than this marriage of the Carter Clan. 

Relentless in making his point, Ed continued his lecture in a voice 
that resonated through the room, demanding their attention. "The 
next page shows one victim that was saved before his captors 
could have him killed. You will notice that the boy is suffering 
from malnutrition, has open sores on his body, and lash marks on 
his back. His hands and wrists have been rubbed raw from the 
robes used to tie him to the bed. This nine year old boy was tied to 
a bed in what is called lock-box prostitution. Basically, clients can 
come in and do whatever they want to the kid if they have enough 
money. Clients bid to take various kinds of virginity from the kid. 
They lined up to fuck the kid over and over. He served as many as 
a hundred different clients in one day. People paid to whip him 
until he was rendered unconscious. A client was ready to pay to 
torture him to death. You might not believe it, but there was a man 
that was willing to pay to fuck the corpse."

Several more men went out to empty their stomachs outside the 
tent. Ed waited for them to return. This was his chance to teach a 
bunch of bigots what true evil looked like so that they would never 
confuse love with evil again. When the security guards brought all 
of them back, he continued the presentation of a catalog of true 
evil. "Turn the page and you will see a twelve year old girl that 
was one of their victims. The individual that bought this particular 
girl was particularly sick. He vaginally, orally, and anally raped 
her repeatedly, even inviting some friends to enjoy her body. She 
is confined to an institution now, unable to talk or react in anyway 
to anything around her."

"The next few pages list the names of victims taken by this ring. 
There are over seven hundred names there. You will notice that 
more than half of them has deceased penciled in next to their 
names. A quarter of them is institutionalized or undergoing 
aggressive therapy. Many of them have committed suicide rather 
than live with what was done to them." Even now, the thought of 
what those slavers had done to people angered him. He was 
fortunate that he had never been left alone with one of them. 

The men in the room were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of 
information they had been given. It had made most of them 
physically ill. However the greatest effect was on their sense of 
right and wrong. A lot of the things they considered wrong were 
quickly becoming insignificant and petty.

Eyes boring into each and every man in the tent, Ed said, "The 
people they kidnapped and enslaved were young boys, girls, 
teenagers, and adults. Regular people, like yourselves, your wives, 
or your kids. Someone would put in an order for a woman, 
eighteen years old, blond hair, c cup breasts, and a nice figure. 
These creeps would go out and find one. Then they'd kidnap her 
and sell her to the client. They did that over seven hundred times!"

Ed looked at the ashen faces in front of him, pleased to see that his 
words were having an effect. Straightening, Ed said, "The four of 
us, my family, have put our lives on the line to fight that kind of 
evil. There isn't one of us that wouldn't step in front of bullet meant 
for you, despite what you may think of us. We are warriors for the 
good. We live by two rules. If it harm none, then do it. Protect the 
weak from the strong."

Holding his hands open and in front of him in a gesture of peace, 
Ed said, "In fighting such evil, we have found what it means to be 
good. What we are doing is not evil, disgusting, or obscene. We 
are four adults who, having faced real evil, have turned to each 
other for love and comfort."

Looking at the people in front of him, he said, "We know love and 
we know that it is accessible to all of those who are open to it. I 
feel sorry for those that aren't."

Nauseous, with the taste of vomit still in his mouth, Richard asked, 
"What do you think of us?"

Looking down at the floor, Ed said, "I feel sorry for you, because 
you have closed yourself off to love."

"What do you mean by that?"

Ed said, "Tonight, you will go home to wives that you barely 
know. You don't even know what your wives dream about when 
you are out drinking. You don't know how your kids are doing in 
school unless the report card is so bad that you have to slap them 
around a little. You don't even know what pleasure and happiness 
that you have rejected without thought. You'll find some cute 
thing, half drunk out of her mind, and fuck her. Odds are, that in 
the morning neither one of you will remember it.  Such an empty 
shallow life that shall end one day. You will pass without having 
contributed anything to the greater good."

All of the men in the room could hear the truth in what Ed had 
said. It wasn't a very nice assessment of them. One of the men, Ed 
couldn't tell which one, asked, "So what would you recommend?"

"Talk to your wives. Talk to your children. Learn what they dream 
about and help them achieve it. One day they will talk to you and 
find out what you dream about. They will help you achieve your 
dreams. It's that simple."

Richard asked, "What if she wants to sleep with some other guy?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ed answered, "Help her. Perhaps his wife 
wants to sleep with you. You see, right now you don't know what 
you want, what they want, or what the person next to you wants. 
You might be surprised to find out that you all want the same 
things. If it harms none, then do it."

Pointing to the cat, Ed said, "The cats have decided that you 
represent a threat to the ceremony this afternoon. I'm afraid that we 
have to ask you to leave once you've had your fill of the food and 
drink we have provided. I suggest when you leave here, that you 
think about the things that I've talked about."

Ed headed towards the entrance of the tent, but paused before 
leaving. Turning back, he said, "One of the security guards will 
collect the folders and destroy them. My family and I are disturbed 
by the evil captured within it."

Leaving, Ed returned to the front where his family was getting 
ready to head back to the house. At the look from John, Ed 
shrugged his shoulders and said, "I had something important to do 
and it could not be put off."

John and Ed closed the fence to the property, effectively turning 
away anyone that had not arrived. As a group, the four of them 
headed to the house to prepare for the ceremony. The next hour 
passed in a haze for Ed. Nervous about committing formally to a 
marriage, his brain recorded the events but couldn't process them at 
the rate they occurred. He remembered that when he drank from 
the wine cup it was like a jolt of electricity passed through his 
body. When Beth took a sip, the earlier jolt seemed like a drop 
compared to a bucket of water.  

The one thing that burned itself into his memory was the sight of 
the Gods and Goddesses around them. Even though his entry into 
their service was painful, the sight of them filled him with such 
devotion that he was nearly rendered to tears. 

After the ceremony, they returned to the house. In the house, Kelly 
turned to the others and, with the joy that comes from achieving a 
life long dream, said, "That was so intense!" 

Beth was glowing as she said, "My goodness, I had dreamed of a 
normal marriage ceremony with the white dress, the church, the 
rice, and all that stuff. I'll never regret having this one instead."

"We got to wear white!" Kelly twirled in her robe, reveling as it 
billowed out.

John laughed and said, "You wore white because you are not yet 
an initiate. I wore gray because I serve the Gods and the 
Goddesses. Ed wore black because he serves the Two-sided One. 
Those that serve the God wear Red while those that serve the 
Goddess wear Green. Initiates wear blue."

Ed asked, "You aren't the first one to wear gray?"

John answered, "Mary added gray to the colors to handle just this 
case."

Kelly gushed, "I love all of you so much that I can hardly stand it."

John, filled with happiness, said, "We shared our souls with each 
other today. That is the true wellspring of love."

Ed laughed as he said, "I feel as though I will never be alone 
again."

Beth, with tears of joy in her eyes, said, "We are truly one now."

"Now we must change clothes and mingle with our guests. If I may 
make a suggestion, Ed. You may want to talk with the others who 
wear the medallion. You are the only servant of the Two-sided One 
present today. The other is a seer and has avoided me since the first 
time we met. I believe that he has a prophecy that I am not to hear 
until the time is right." 

After changing clothes and sharing a group hug, Ed went out to 
mingle with the other guests. One of the security guards 
approached Ed and said, "I don't know what you said to those 
guys, but they were all sober by the time they left."

Ed asked, "Were any of them angry?"

"Not a one," replied the guard. He walked along side Ed waiting 
for him to say something. 

After a moment of silence, Ed nodded his head, smiled, and said, 
"Very good. You can return to your duties."

Without selecting a destination, he found himself heading to the 
area where the country western band was playing. Ed was shocked 
at how many people he knew that were gathered together in this 
area. There were local people that he expected to know, but there 
were also people from Austin and the university. He had to wonder 
when he had met all of these people. 

Realizing that he was hungry, he took a moment to look around at 
the catering stations here. The variety of food was almost 
overwhelming. Since he almost always ate Mexican Food, 
American fare, and seafood, he decided to try the Chinese food for 
the first time. If it wasn't any good, he had lots of alternatives.

He watched as the caterer went about the process of cooking food 
in the wok, surprised that he was cooking each dish individually. 
Since this was his first time to order Chinese, he had no idea what 
the various dishes were. When he reached the front, he found the 
caterer had pictures of the various dishes. Although he had no idea 
what anything tasted like, at least he wasn't totally lost in selecting 
a dish. 

The cook turned up the gas under a couple of woks and started 
cooking. Watching in amazement, Ed could hardly believe how 
quickly the cook created his dish. He watched, interested like a 
little kid seeing something completely new. It was almost a 
disappointment when he was handed his food.

Taking the plate of food and grabbing a fork and spoon, he turned 
to find a place to sit. Most of the people from town were listening 
to the music and eating. Maria, Carlos, and Rosa were seated at 
one of the tables. They weren't exactly obvious, but there were 
clear signs that they were a threesome. Smiling, he headed in their 
direction.

Ed carried his plate of Sweet and Sour Chicken with fried rice and 
egg roll over to the table and sat down next to Rosa. Glancing over 
at his dish with amusement, she said, "Maybe we should add 
Chinese to our menu since you seem to prefer it over the Mexican 
fare."

Looking down at her plate, he noticed that she had the Chinese 
also. Laughing at the observation, Ed replied, "I had to take the 
Chinese. You guys make the best Mexican food in the state and I'm 
not going to settle for second best."

Rosa laughed and waited for her sister to come over from the 
barbecue grill. When Maria arrived, she sat next to Ed and said, 
"Great wedding. This is quite a party."

"Thanks. John did most of the work setting it up," replied Ed. He 
felt guilty at having left so much of the work for John to perform. 

Maria asked, "Who are all of these people?"

Ed looked around at the huge crowd. Pointing to a group of people 
at one of the other tables, he said, "Those folks over there are from 
the geology department. The group next to them is from Austin. I 
believe they are from the physics department there and used to 
work with John. The group over there is comprised of some people 
that John helped in Austin. I don't know much about them except 
for Marge. She helped me pick out clothes for Betsy's funeral. You 
know the people from here."

As the others at the table discussed the wedding, Ed ate the 
Chinese food. The Sweet and Sour Chicken was okay, but he really 
liked the rice. The egg roll wasn't bad, but after the first bite he 
tried it with the mustard. He had never experienced Chinese hot 
mustard. Biting into it, a look of surprise crossed his face as the 
mustard cleared his sinuses. Maria, Rosa's sister, looked over at Ed 
and laughed. She teased, "Never experience Chinese hot mustard?"

A very surprised Ed looked at the mustard and answered, "Wow, 
that really clears out the sinuses. I like it! I bet that would be great 
on ham sandwiches."

Surprised at how Ed was approaching the meal. Rosa asked, "Is 
this the first time you've had Chinese?"

"Yes, I think I like it. I definitely like the mustard," answered Ed. 
He looked over at Rosa and Maria, noticing that they were holding 
hands across the table. 

Maria glanced over at Rosa and the other Maria with concern. It 
was with more than a little fear that she watched her sister bond 
with Maria. She feared the path her sister had chosen would end up 
hurting her again.  Noticing the concern on Maria's face, Ed said, 
"Our marriage is shaking up people, but the changes that I see in 
town are very positive."

More than a little surprised at what Ed had just said, Maria turned 
to look at him. She said, "There are some things that people don't 
ever accommodate."

Smiling at her, Ed replied, "Some people are bigger targets than 
others. Believe me, no one is looking at anyone except our family. 
I assure you that I will protect others that make choices that are 
normally considered different."

For some reason, Maria believed Ed. She looked away and, in a 
very soft voice, said, "It is all so simple for you."

"Nothing is simple," replied Ed. Smiling at the idea that life was 
simple for him, he knew better. A cowboy entering into a group 
marriage had a simple life? He said, "There are just some things 
that are worth doing regardless of what others may say. Rosa and 
Maria are both very happy. I've never seen Carlos so happy in his 
entire life. Do you think that he's going to let anyone hurt Rosa? I 
don't think so. He's a strong man and can protect them very well."

"Perhaps you are right," replied Maria. She had always known that 
Rosa was attracted to women and men both, but understanding the 
forces driving her sister was beyond her. While she had come to 
accept them, it had surprised her to learn that Maria had similar 
urges. That revelation had made her wonder how many other 
people were in the same condition.

Excusing himself, Ed moved on to mingle with others at the 
reception. There were so many people here that he didn't know 
what to do. Recalling John's advice, he approached one of the other 
Druids. He reached the man and said, "Hello, I'm Ed Biggers." 

The man looked at Ed for a second and then said, "I'm Al Turner. I 
serve the Goddess."

"I serve the Two-Sided One," replied Ed. It was clear that Al was 
not surprised, particularly since he had seen Ed wearing the black 
robes during the ceremony. The muted reaction of the man did 
concern Ed since he had expected a friendlier welcome.

"There are not many that serve the Two-Sided One. Of all the 
Gods and Goddesses, it is the scariest one," remarked Al. Servants 
of the Two-Sided One always made him uneasy. Harry, a prophet, 
usually sent everyone running when ever he appeared in public. 

Ed looked at the horizon for a moment as he tried to figure out 
what Al had meant by that. Finally, he said, "I make you nervous."

Licking his lips, Al answered, "Yes, you do. I don't know what 
your talent is." 

"I am a human lie detector," replied Ed. Looking directly at Al, Ed 
could see that this news disturbed him almost as much as not 
knowing his talent. Laughing, he said, "It's not that bad. I can't 
force people to tell the truth."

Al looked ashamed and then said, "Servants of the Goddess tend to 
deal with life and nature. Servants of the God tend to deal with 
powerful forces like armies and such. But the servants of the Two-
Sided One always seem to know more than others."

Ed considered the implications of the information that he had just 
been given. Having been around John who served the God and the 
Goddess, he had not thought about the nature of the gifts given to 
the servants according to who they served. He also had not thought 
about how those gifts might affect others. Nodding his head, he 
answered, "Yes, I can see where that would make others nervous."

Despite the relaxed and friendly attitude of Ed, when he looked at 
someone it was as if he was seeing right through the person. 
Talking with Ed made Al nervous. "The servants of the Gods and 
Goddesses are good people. I'm sure that you wouldn't use what 
you know against anyone that is undeserving of such attention, but 
still…"

Nodding that he understood, Ed said, "It is human nature to expect 
the worst only because that is what you receive so much of the 
time."

Al looked around at the crowd and said, "Let me introduce you to a 
couple of Druids that are important."

Leading Ed over to the band playing Rock and Roll where a pair of 
Druids were moving in time to the music. One of them turned to 
watch as Ed and Al approached, the interest in the newest Druid 
clear in his eyes. As he approached, Ed examined the man 
carefully. The grizzled man looked to be in his late sixties, but 
generated an aura of strength in a compact high energy package. 
The woman turned to see what the man was watching. After 
glancing at Ed, she turned to watch him approach. Ed recognized 
her as the one that had performed the ceremony. 

When they were within conversational distance, Al said, "I believe 
you've met Mary Darling. I don't know if you are aware that she's 
the head of the Druids that serve the Goddess. This is Jerry Smith, 
he's the head to the Druids that serve the God."

Looking from one to the other, Ed said, "Pleased to meet you. I'm 
Ed Biggers."

With a directness that was refreshing, Jerry said, "I saw earlier that 
you serve the Two-Sided One. Most Druids feel uncomfortable 
around you guys. It is a shame that Harry is not here. He's the head 
of the Druids that serve the Two-Sided One."

Mary opened with a different topic, as she said, "It was fun getting 
the four of you married to each other. Amazing that you could do 
that in front of so many people without protests."

Ed wasn't sure which one to respond to first. Finally, he said, "I 
guess I should track down Harry and report to work."

With amusement dripping from her voice, Mary said, "If you need 
him or he needs you, you'll be driven to seek him out. Until then, 
you can basically ignore him."

Raising an eyebrow, Ed asked, "So in what way is he over me?"

Laughing, Jerry answered, "Good question. We've asked ourselves 
that on more than one occasion."

Confused by the answer and the fact that it had a ring of truth to it, 
Ed asked, "So is anyone over you guys?"

Mary looked at Jerry and then answered, "Of course. John leads 
the followers of the Gods and Goddesses."

"John who?" asked Ed.

Jerry replied, "John Carter, you're husband."

Al watched the discussion with amusement. It was difficult to 
believe that Ed was married to the unofficial head of the Druids 
without even knowing it. 

Ed asked, "Does John know that?"

Mary and Jerry looked at each other in surprise. Mary asked, "Did 
you tell him?

Surprised, Jerry shook his head and answered, "No, did you?"

"No," answered Mary. She burst out laughing at the idea that the 
de facto head of the Druids might not know that.

Watching with more than a little amusement, Ed shook his head. 
He asked, "Does that mean that I'm supposed to do what John 
says?"

While Mary and Jerry were talking to each other about John's 
possible ignorance about his importance, Al answered, "Not really. 
He's over those who serve the God and Goddess. You serve the 
Two-Sided One, so technically you're not under him."

Frowning, Ed asked, "So what kind of this organization is this 
where you can ignore your boss, the guy in charge doesn't know 
that he's in charge, and there isn't really a guy in charge of 
everyone?"

Hearing the question, Jerry smiled and answered, "It is a Druid 
organization."

"What does that mean?"

Mary answered, "We serve the Gods and Goddesses in our own 
individual way. When a group effort is needed, we each do our 
part. Our real bosses are the Gods and Goddesses, the human chain 
of command is more one of respect. Jerry and I have served for the 
longest time. John is the only Druid that serves two of the Gods 
and Goddesses."

The five of them stood there for a moment as Ed thought about 
what he had been told. Looking from Jerry to Mary, Ed asked, "So 
what do you guys think of people that serve the Two-Sided One?"

Grinning, Mary said, "Scary."

With a wink suggesting that he was only half serious, Jerry 
answered, "Spooky."

"I already answered that question," replied Al. 

Shortly after that, Ed rejoined the rest of the people at the party. It 
was a pleasure to see so many people he now considered friends. 
However, not everyone that came to the party was a friend. Three 
assassins attempted to break into the party. A bear and Rover  lead 
to the capture of two of the men. Tiger, the Bobcat, killed the third. 
Shadow had been hit with a tranquilizer dart. John and Ed were left 
to clean up the blood that had been spilled within the house. 

The most difficult part of the day was returning to the party 
without acting like something bad had happened. He spent the rest 
of the party enjoying the food, the music, and the people. Even as 
the first guests left, Ed discreetly returned to the house and went to 
bed alone, but feeling loved.